Gamer News 08.6.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
If you think you are the s**t when it comes to games, now you can back it up. BringIt.com allows players 18 and over to put up some scratch that says they can pwn you on various games across the PS2, PS3, 360, and Wii platforms. With bets going from a few bucks to a whopping $100,000 maximum, there will be some serious money (and potential tax revenue) moving back and forth for the 39 U.S. states in which it is already legal. Personally, I would love to watch the game that has a $1k bucks or more riding on it. But in any event, this is just another means by which someone could make a living playing video games. Next I want to see more competitive game playing on cable or over the net. Click here for the article on GamePolitics.com. Click here to go to the BringIt website.
Not being a PS3 owner, I completely missed this one. But it seems that up until recently players of the racing game Wipeout HD on that platform were subjected to in-game advertising gone way too f*****g far. See, the standard load time for a new race should be around 8 seconds. But while waiting to begin a race, even offline players were forced to wait as much as 19 seconds so that they could see a commercial in its entirety. Click here for the youtube video demonstrating this. Now the ads have been removed, but this just shows what they are willing to do to force you to watch their ads. Keep an eye out for more of this bullshit in the future. Click here to see the article up on Joystiq.
By now you have heard that Starcraft 2 is being delayed until 2010. Why? So Act/Bliz can build a new Battlenet. Yeah, apparently since they decided to hack a game into three pieces forcing players to dish out more money, and also removing LAN play to force people to use Battlenet, they have now decided that “Gee, we should rebuild Battlenet”. Because just having a public forum where players can meet, talk smack, spam for gold farmers, and occasionally play a game or two, yeah, that’s just not enough. Now they have to push back a major release so we can build more useless s**t that players never wanted and certainly do not require. The chief muckity-muck over at Activision, Bobby Kotick, says that they want to make Battlenet “similar to Xbox Live”. Well, isn’t that just wonderful. What this means I guess is that they will saturate players with ads disguised as game-related items and replace everbody’s game avatars with androgynous, shitty, virtual dollies so we can all play dress up online. Although they are remaining ambiguous on the subject, this will likely place the release of Diablo 3 sometime shortly after commercial fusion power plants begin to go online. Click here for the article on Kotaku.
Tags: Activision, Battlenet, Blizzard, BringIt, Hey Did You Hear..., Starcraft 2, Wipeout HD
Gamer News 08.1.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
A 7-year old got picked up by the cops in Utah for driving a car? That’s right. So what made this child go on a joyride 9 year too early? Video games, of course! Click here for the article on GamePolitics.com. Also, I’ll give you one guess what specific game Fox News suggested was the cause of this incident? If you guessed Grand Theft Auto, then you win the booby prize. Of course the police officer being interviewed had no idea either whether or not it was a video game that taught the child how to drive in the first place. But this was Fox News, so of course it gets pinned on their favorite bogeyman. I’m surprised they didn’t trot out all-around douchebag Jack Thompson to verify that yes it definitely was GTA that is responsible, and the video game makers want your babies dead on the altar of their lord Satan. I guess it never occurred to them that perhaps the kid learned to drive by …wait for it…WATCHING HIS PARENTS DO IT FOR THE PAST 7 YEARS????? Duh.
Dungeons & Dragons Online is still going to be free to play, just a bit later. Click here for the official announcement. The new date is September 9th, 2009. I didn’t realize the challenge rating of this encounter was so very high? Maybe they just rolled a ‘1′ and have to wait a couple rounds to try again.
Tropico 3 is heading to the 360 this fall. Kotaku has some screenies up, and they are pretty scrumptious. Maybe we can get some other city-builders on the consoles. FSM knows, all the RTS titles so far have sucked major portions of ass. Click here to see the Tropico 3 screenshots.
Tags: Dungeons & Dragons Online, Grand Theft Auto IV, Hey Did You Hear..., Tropico 3
Gamer News 07.29.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
There might very well be an game based on Twilight in the making? I’m sorry to say, I am not f*****g joking here. Check out the site by clicking here. But before you do, shut off the speakers on your device. Just trust me on this. The site’s music sounds like Enya’s farts. There isn’t much in the way of details on the site, but I am reasonably certain this will suck.
I love Steampunk. I rrrreaalllyyyyy love Steampunk. What then could possibly make a game based on Steampunk totally suck donkey boners? If you said Disney, then you probably read Kotaku earlier today. Click here for the details they have up. Here’s some more info up on Gamasutra.
Speaking of Kotaku, there is this link you should click on. I don’t know what it’s about. Something about giving away some games or something……MMMMmmmmmmmm…… Let’s see, right click…save as…now where is that folder with my other “technical documents”? Oh yeah, that’s the stuff…
Tags: Disney, Hey Did You Hear..., steampunk, twilight
Gamer News 04.21.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…Piracy may bring about the end of the PSP? We’re not talking piracy on the high seas here, we’re talking straight up illegal downloading of PSP games. In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Sony’s Peter Dille gave the scoop on all things Playstation, including the future of the PSP. Dille was quoted as saying, “We can look at data…and see how many copies are being downloaded illegally, and it’s frankly sickening.” He went on to say, “I think gamers, if they understood if this meant that a platform would go away, can we convince gamers to pay for their content?” Full story: Gamasutra
…Tuesday was the official birthday of GameBoy? The little portable gaming unit that could marked it’s 20th anniversary on April 21st. 20 years?!! Does that make anyone else feel ancient? I remember vividly when they first hit the scene. Excuse me while I sit in my grandma corner and cry now. Props to Gizmodo for posting a complete timeline/history of this mini legend of gaming. Check it out at: Gizmodo
…the Left 4 Dead Survival Pack is now available for download? This new game mode allows you and your team to battle a seemingly never ending group of infected (think: Horde mode in Gears 2.) You can download the PC version from Steam’s website, or on Xbox Live for 360 players. Details on the official Left 4 Dead blog are slim at best right now, but there is a great recap on Steam’s website of what is included in this download. Full story: Steam
Tags: Gamasutra, GameBoy, Gizmodo, Hey Did You Hear..., Left 4 Dead, News, Nintendo, PC, Peter Dille, Playstation Portable, PSP, Sony, Steam, Survival Pack, Xbox 360
Gamer News 4-14-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
NCSoft has announced that the division that handles the MMO City of Heroes shall henceforth be known as Paragon Studios. That in itself barely gets a notice from me. But what I found interesting was the bit that followed with a quote from Brian Clayton, general manager of Paragon Studios and executive producer for the City of Heroes franchise. “The renaming of our studio to Paragon Studios represents our devotion to the present and future of the City of Heroes series,”. Could this be the first hint of either a new add-on expansion or even a sequel? City of Heroes, as cool as the game still is after all this time, has pretty much turned into a test platform for their other properties. Perhaps there is indeed a full-blown sequel in the works. Click here for the full article.
OK, this is surely the clearest indication possible that Microsoft is admitting yet another fuckup with the 360. Not only are they extending the already extended warranty for the console to include the “E74″ malfunction, but they are also going to pony up and refund the money of people they charged for repairs of the E74, which has previously been considered “out of warranty”. At this point, I consider myself quite fortunate, as I have only had a single RROD, while other owners have had several. Still, I’d like to give the executives that rushed the development and release of the system a good stiff kick in the balls. When will executives understand that they do not know better than the engineers or game developers about when their product is ready for release? Click here for more details of the E74 warranty coverage.
There’s this superhero movie coming out in a few days, I think. You hardly see anything about it in the media. I think it’s called Mongoose, or maybe Weasel? I’m joking of course, but as you must know by now, there is a video game coming out tied in with the Wolverine flick. After my disastrous purchase of the s**t-fest that was the Iron Man game, I swore off of movie-tied-in-games completely. Anyway, this trailer comes out for the Wolverine game that is getting released on the 1st of May. After watching it, I may just add this one to my que in Gamefly. Click here to watch the video that features a scrap between Wolverine and Gambit. That’s nice I suppose, but I was more interested in the shots of Wolverine ripping a Sentinel to pieces. I always hated those guys.
If you have been wondering why you should shell out $250 (US) for the Beetles Rock Band complete set, then click here and see the details of what will be included. Basically, custom instruments are the real draw here. If you got the cash, and the hankerin’ to rock out with the great Fab 4, then get your credit cards ready. And the really good news…no Yoko Ono is included.
Tags: E74, Hey Did You Hear..., NCsoft, News, Paragon Studios, RROD, The Beetles: Rock Band, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Gamer News 4-1-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News, The Shit to Get
Have you seen the news coming out of a study from Huddersfield University for the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference? Yeah I was on the edge of my seat too. Well anyway, the results of the study found that racing games cause more aggressive reactions in players than do violent shooters. Either way, Jack Thompson is still a dickhead. Click here to read about the study.
The Entertainment Consumers Association has had a little pow-wow with the FTC about some of the issues that we gamers frequently run afoul of, especially with PC gaming. Those are DRM and EULAs. Specifically, Hal Halpin of the ECA is recommending to the feds that EULAs be standardized, and DRM be noted on the exterior of game packaging. Naturally game publishers hate the idea, presumably because they want gamers to be ignorant victims of their bullshit. Click here for details.
When the development of the online streaming game service OnLive was revealed recently, people were naturally very skeptical of the claims made by the developer. Now the founder of OnLive, Steve Perlman, is addressing the skepticism. He is among other things, pointing out that OnLive has been in development for 7 years now, and the partners involved, which are some of the biggest game developers in the business, have signed off on the new technology. Click here for the article. Personally, I’m looking forward to the possibility of not having to sink gobs of cash into a gaming rig every year just to stay up to date with the latest games. I really hope that OnLive works out.
Guys, are you looking to get married to that special lady in your life? Give her this ring. If she swoons, then she is the right woman for you. If she starts crying and screams a lot, and not in a good way, then dump that zero and go play some Resident Evil 5. Click here to gaze at its glistening majesty.
Tags: Entertainment Consumers Association, Hey Did You Hear..., Jack Thompson, News, OnLive
Gamer News 3-23-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
Those RRODs that us 360 gamers have had to deal with because of Microsoft’s incredibly shitty heat dissipation half-assed into their console have been “solved” if you believe the bullshit. Even if you haven’t had another RROD in the past couple months, there is something new to worry about. Called the ‘E74′ error, it will kill your box, M$ says it’s not their problem, and they will charge you $100+ to fix it. Yeah, and you jackholes expect us to lay out a few hundred $$$ for Windows 7? Well, pucker up and kiss the fattest part of my ass. Click here for details. On the E74 error, not my ass.
New map packs are coming soon for both Gears of War 2 as well as Halo 3. Well, the update coming for GOW2 is a bit more than just a map pack. Perhaps just shy of a full blown expansion, there are lots of goodies to try to lure players away from games of lesser levels of pwnage. Click here for details of the GOW2 update, which will be available on March 24th, with the map pack to follow on the 31st. The Halo 3 map pack is coming on April 9th, though if you laid out the extra $$$ for the Halo Wars limited edition you can get it now. Click here to see details on the Halo 3 map pack.
So features that should have been included in Resident Evil 5 upon release, are not only coming as DLC (which you will have to pay for), but now they have been delayed. April 9th is the new day (for North American players) when you will have the honor of paying for the developer’s rush to market. Seriously, I don’t care how great the game is, this should have been available at launch, or made available for free by the developer. No amount of fanboism or justification can account for these shenanigans. Click here for details.
So, have you heard about the recently announced Blacklight? This is the wave of the future in a quickly coalescing entertainment industry. Zombie Studios is developing a futuristic-themed shooter called Blacklight. Well anyway, Fox Atomic has signed a deal with them to help in the development of said game, in addition to producing a comic series and feature film on the same game. Click here for details as well as the first screenshot. Well, there’s not too much info available yet, but if they keep Uwe Boll away from it, they may have a chance. Click here for the official site, or rather what there is of it at this early stage.
Tags: Blacklight, DLC, Fox Atomic, Gears of War 2, Halo 3, Hey Did You Hear..., Microsoft, News, red ring of death, Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360, Zombie Studios
Gamer News 3-17-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
Big Huge Games is up for sale, again. A brief writeup up on Crispy Gamer informs us that THQ is looking to unload the developer. If they can’t find a buyer, then they are hosed. THQ is also looking to separate itself from both the Heavy Iron and the Incinerator studio as well. Seeing as how video games have been a driver of computer technology for many years, second only to pr0n, perhaps they could get some of that bailout money instead of those AIG executives? Click here to read about it.
Did you hear that there is going to be a sequal to Mass Effect? I know, this came as a complete surprise to me too. I bet it takes place in space, and there are aliens. Now that I have gotten to blatantly obvious out of the way, there is now a tentative time frame for release, which according to Dr. Muzyka over there at Bioware will be sometime “around” early 2010. Everybody with half a brain knew that this was coming, but now it is “official”, so you can rejoice. I am kind of glad they are shooting for an early2010 release, because this indicates that the DRM-mongering rectal parasites at EA are not pressuring Bioware to rush it out early for a holiday season ‘09 release. Click here to see the official website. All you gamers under 18, don’t you click this at all. You have to put in your birthday to enter the site, so that means there is absolutely no way for you to possibly get past their security. It is impervious to fake birthdays, absolutely foolproof. Don’t even try. And as teasers go, this one sucks.
Tags: Big Huge Games, Bill Roper, Diablo III, Hey Did You Hear..., Mass Effect, News, World of Warcraft
Gamer News 03-10-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
Congressional video game critic and general pain in the ass Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) had his house broken into. Among the items stolen was a Nintendo Wii. Gee, I sure hope the senator only had games that the ESRB had played all the way through before awarding a rating. Anything else would make him a two-face assclown and a typical government hypocrite. Click here for details on this story. I wonder what was on the laptop? Wouldn’t it be funny if it was a collection of material that would prove “inconvenient” to someone planning on running for governor of Kansas in the near future? Naw, it’s probably just pr0n.
There was electronic fun before PCs and consoles became popular? Wired has a lovely gallery up on electronic games and toys from a bygone age of the rotary phone and when the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t completely suck. Click here to see the gallery for yourself. I so wanted the Bigtrak, but simply couldn’t afford one with my Dungeons & Dragons addiction. If you are over 30, check out the games and count how many you either owned or hung out with some kid because they had one. Except for Paco and KP1gl37 who probably have all 14 of them sitting around their living room.
Tags: Fable 3, Fable III, Hey Did You Hear..., MadWorld, National Institute on Media and the Family, News, Nintendo Wii, Sam Brownback
Gamer News 03.05.09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…Amazon.com launched a video game trade-in feature on their site? It allows you to send Amazon old games in good condition in exchange for Amazon gift cards. You will also be able to buy from the stock of used titles. The program is still in its beta phase, but you can learn more at: Amazon
…Some hardcore gamers can now rent games from GameFly straight from a kiosk rather than waiting for their queue to ship? The unit, called “G-Box” made its first appearance at Texas Tech University, and offers Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii rentals for $2.49 a day. Full story: The Daily Toreador
…Jimmy Fallon is showing the love to hardcore gamers? The late night funny man has vowed to cover notable video game releases on his new show Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Fallon has vowed to treat games in the same way most late night hosts cover movie premiers including interviews with the dev team and footage from the game. Here’s hoping he focuses on some of the smaller dev teams who crank out some amazing work, rather than a Late Night Madden Party (yawn.) Full story: Random Gamer
Tags: Amazon.com, GameFly, Hey Did You Hear..., Jimmy Fallon, kiosk, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, News, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, PS3, Random Gamer, Texas Tech University, The Daily Toreador, Xbox 360
Gamer News 02.02.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…Microsoft is courting us girl gamers in a big way? A recent marketing program for Xbox 360 gave female gamers a $150 Xbox pack in exchange for hosting a gaming night with 10 of their girlfriends. Goodies included a copy of Scene It, microwave popcorn, an Xbox universal remote and more. See ladies, us girl gamers are a valuable commodity! Full story: News-Press
…Disney is rumored to be working on a Tron game to coincide with the 2011 launch of the Tron remake movie? If it’s anything like the 80’s original, we’re all going to need some more drugs. Full story: Tech radar
…playing video games can help you win friends and influence people? Ok, so maybe not, but it can at least give you something to talk to the guys about. Our friends over at Destructoid have a great story to share about one hardcore gamer who made the journey from gaming nerd to “cool” gaming nerd. Great read.
…Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II multiplayer beta is available to download now for FREE? Check it out and enjoy the ork-y goodness at: Steam This is just a guess, but I’m thinking our own Dreadsorrow will have a little something to say about this…
…Penny Arcade has released a series of Left 4 Dead inspired valentines? Each features a hilarious, cartoony, gory ode to one of my favorite games of 2008. They were created by forum user beavotron. Check out the downloadable PDFs and then share the love at: Penny Arcade
Tags: 000: Dawn of War II, Beta, Destructoid, Disney, Hey Did You Hear..., Left 4 Dead, Microsoft, News, News-Press, Penny Arcade, Scene It, Steam, Tech Radar, Tron, valentine, Warhammer 40, Xbox 360
Gamer News 01.28.09: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII is out? The trailer, launched this week, includes new game play footage. Check it out at: Square Enix
…Team Fortress 2 will be launching a new Scout pack in the near future? According to the TF2 blog, the pack will include new weapons and achievements, and should be out following a few bug patches on the way. Full story: teamfortress
…looks like the wait for a touch-screen PSP will be a little longer than people hoped? Sony officially dispelled rumors that a PSP2 with a touch screen is in the works, despite the recent reports from IGN to the contrary. Full story: Techradar
…video game writers gave a collective middle finger to the Writer’s Guild Awards this year? A number of the top selling games of 2008 were not submitted into the WGA’s video game writing category this year including GTA IV, Call of Duty: WaW and many more. In addition, some games like Left 4 Dead were not even eligible due to a lack of “official writing credits”. So why did some game developers decline to enter? Many feel that the award is more of a drive for Writers Guild memberships, and not a true awarad based on merit. So what games DID get nominated? The nominations for best video game writing in 2008 are: Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble, Fallout 3, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Tomb Raider: Underworld all of which had meh, but not award winning stories. Full story: Variety
…video has been released from the Jan 17th Halo wedding? In case you haven’t heard about it, a hardcore gamer couple wanted to extend their love of Halo all the way to their nuptuals, so they had the first ever Halo wedding. Their ceremony was officiated by Master Chief. The bride wore her Halo avatar on her dress and walked down the isle to the Halo score. When the ceremony was over, they were pronounced “teammates for life.” Guests were given candles that resembled plasma granades as favors. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. Take that you lame medieval-renaissance-fair-themed weddings! Get the inside scoop on the wedding and check out the video at: MTV
Tags: Final Fantasy XII, Halo, Halo Wedding, Hey Did You Hear..., IGN, MTV, News, Playstation Portable, PSP, Scout Pack, Sony, Square Enix, Team Fortress 2, Techradar, trailer, Variety, Writer's Guild Awards
