There was a time when E3 was a really, really big deal. Now, it’s simply a really big deal. One of the biggest factors of its whole big dealness comes from the console manufacturers’ press conferences. They typically range from the epic (introduction of the Wii) to the horribly, horribly wrong (introduction of the PS3 and real-time weapon changing). So how did this year go for Sony?
Do you ever stop to consider that perhaps the entire world has gone crazy? Stories like this are enough to make you do so. Apparently a 15-year-old boy in Marble Falls, Texas was shot in the head potentially over the game God of War.
The details state that the 15-year-old shot and another boy were over visiting the shooter, a 13-year-old. The two visitors were playing God of War when the 13-year-old left the room, retrieved some bullets and then returned and without saying a word shot the 15-year-old in the head. It is unclear exactly how the shooting tied to God of War (a game in which there really aren’t guns). The link is credited to a parent. (more…)
The new trailer for The Bourne Conspiracy doesn’t look particularly revolutionary. In fact, it appears to be nothing much more than the assimilation of many different recently popular titles. However, it looks to assimilate them so well. There’s the run, duck, cover and fire of Uncharted, and what surely appear to be some quick time escape events a la God of War. Still, in looking for games to “borrow” from, a developer could certainly choose worse subjects. It may not redefine the genre, but it at least looks to be a worthy entry.
Al De Leon, PR Manager of SCEA, posted on the official Playstation blog that a special PS3 bundle would be released to coincide with the release of MGS4 in North America. It will include one 80GB PS3, a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the Dualshock 3 controller. You can get this bundle for the very reasonable price of $499.99. This could be a big move for Sony to move even more consoles with the release date upcoming, but it’s not clear why they announced it so early. Now, instead of consumers buying PS3’s up to MGS4’s release, they can just opt to wait for the bundle.
De Leon also posted that a new special edition PSP would be released in June. The fire truck red PSP will be released in June. It will feature the face of Kratos on the back of it to signify that it is, indeed, a God of War PSP. For $199.99, you will receive: The limited edition red PSP, God of War: Chains of Olympus PSP game, a voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops for free from the PS Store, and Superbad on UMD video. Bet you didn’t see that one coming. Now you can get your God of War and McLovin fix all at once.
David Jaffe, designer of such madcap romps as Twister Metal and God of War, thinks there might be merit to a one console platform. Does this maverick know no bounds with his heresy?
To be fair, Jaffe is not advocating one unified console platform as much as he is waxing philosophically about it. He questions whether the competition between the hardware manufacturers really does much to benefit gamers, or simply themselves. He’s updated his original blog post a few times now, including explanations of how a consortium of big name developers such as Electronic Arts, Capcom, Square, Ubisoft, and others could make such a fantasy a reality. He even defends against the idea that this would simply be the 3DO2 (or 3DO 360 if Microsoft made it). There’s been some negative reaction, especially to his assertion that it would be the equivalent of the standardized DVD, VHS, and television broadcast formats. And he’s right, because of the nature of the format.
Unlike with unified home video formats, which often are fought out, video games are a uniquely home format. Ever since the death of the arcade in the 1990s, it isn’t like there’s some other first-run format for a video game other than your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii. Want to play the newest Madden? Your only bet is to buy the full game, or perhaps rent it. This is quite different from film, where you actually have a wide variety of avenues. There’s theatrical release, pay-per-view, pay cable (such as HBO), broadcast TV, DVD, etc. Several different stops await a film along its distribution path before it runs out of new ways to generate revenue. Video games, on the other hand, essentially have one. (more…)
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