Sunday, March 4, 2012

News Roundup: 4 March 2012

Big week ahead!  The long awaited ending to the Mass Effect trilogy drops tomorrow night (that's where I'll be!).  Besides that, I've still been under the Hot Shots spell.  Look for reviews of Hot Shots, WipEout 2048 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss at the end of the month.  With that, on with the news!





Steve Kordek (via www.pinballnews.com)

The man who gave us the two-flippered pinball machine has passed away at age 100. Steve Kordek worked for many pinball companies over the years and is considered a revolutionary genius in that world. Rest in peace, sir. (via Joystiq)


Coming 13 March to the PSN (via www.thatgamecompany.com)

The talented folks behind Zen gaming experiences flow and Flower are looking ahead. Studio co-founder Jenova Chen said recently that the three game contract with Sony ends with Journey, due out mid-March on the PSN. After that, thatgamecompany is looking to bring their unique brand of gaming to a wider audience. If you have a PS3, check out Flower at the very least. Journey, I'm sure, will be it's own amazing experience. (via Game Informer)


This would have been so cool! (via www.egmnow.com)

This is awesome! It's a shame that Day 1 Studios (the folks behind F.E.A.R.) couldn't get any takers on this game. The game would have been in the same universe as the Batman/Jack the Ripper crossover. The steampunk Batman world would be so cool! I love the cape/cloak he has! So awesome! (via SiliconEra)


Dark Energy Games (via www.darkenergydigital.net)

The studio behind Hydrophobia is beginning to lay off employees in preparation for closure. Some in the company haven't been paid in quite a while, reports claim. The studio's sole game was initially a mess on XBLA that was corrected with multiple patches and a “Director's Cut” version released for PSN and PC called Hydrophobia: Prophecy. The game is worth checking out if you like action/platformers! It's a shame to lose any studio, and I hope those affected find work again soon. (via Joystiq)


Help Syndicate's publisher by buying the game! (via www.ea.com/syndicate)

Syndicate developer Starbreeze is asking pirates to reconsider. Embedded in the PC version of the game is a file. That file is normally in a folder where the torrent information and the person who cracked the game gets credit. Within the file is a plea from the developer to the pirates' sense of decency. Reminding them that “hundreds” of people worked “for years” on the game and deserve credit (and their pay from sales), Starbreeze also offers up job opportunities. I'm sure most folks will ignore the file entirely, or toss it out, but maybe a few will realize the error of their ways and buy the game. (via Game Informer)


GAME is in trouble (via www.pspworld.com)

British video game shop, GAME (and Gamestation), has been hard hit lately. Reports surfaced last week that the UK giant would not be stocking Ubisoft titles for the Vita until issues were resolved with creditors. Now come more damaging reports that the company will not have Mass Effect 3 in stock, nor will it carry EA games going forward. The loss of Mass Effect 3 will not be pretty.  This is on the heels of Nintendo not sending copies of The Last Story, Mario Party 9 and the 3DS Tekken title to GAME stores, already reeling from the loss of Ubisoft support. The company seems to be caught in a spiral where new product cannot be stocked, so sales will fall leading to more monetary issues, which lead right around to not being able to stock new games. Eurogamer has an excellent piece up on what this could mean for the gaming community in the UK. For those in the United States, this may seem like a problem that couldn't happen here, but imagine if GameStop went under. That's the equivalent. Hopefully things will get resolved without GAME going out of business. (via Edge)


thatgamecompany's Journey

The PSN exclusive Journey by thatgamecompany has a glorious score. Thanks to the Penny Arcade Report, you can hear how Austin Wintory wrote a song that inspired Journey. Since the game has no explicit storytelling, music is the strongest way to stir emotions. The game is garnering rave reviews thus far. It's out “next week” for PS Plus members, and 13 March for others.


This man is a mad genius (via metalgear.wikia.com)

Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid, started showing off his new game engine entitled the Fox Engine. It's certainly pretty and I can't wait to see what developers do with it. (via Game Informer)


The ever charming Aris Bakhtanians (via www.shoryuken.com)

Giant Bomb has exposed a problem in Cross Assault, the Capcom lead reality show promoting Street Fighter X Tekken. The captain of Team Tekken, Aris Bakhtanians, led a protracted and frankly creepy discussion that centered on his only female teammate, Miranda “Super_Yan” Pakozdi. Bakhtanians did such delightful things like comment on Pakozdi's bra size, her lack of a skirt, told her (and followed through) that he would smell her and used a webcam to film her feet, thighs and breasts. This is all bad enough, but to go a step further, in a discussion with Twitch.tv founder Jared Rea on the sexist nature of fighting game trash talk, Bakhtanians actually said it was “unethical” to force the community to cleanup it's language/act (see the link in the title for a transcript). The matter has garnered a lot of attention from the gaming world at large. Destructoid's Jim Sterling talked about the response of the fighting game community, and how some are actually blaming Pakozdi . Even the thread about the show on Shoryuken, a fighting game centered website, seems to be split between “Yeah, he's a creep” and “So what? Don't like the heat, stay out of the fire” type of responses. Members of the fighting game community responded with opinion pieces of their own, including one that states, in effect, “Aris does not represent us at all.” Eurogamer has an op-ed that really drives the point home: we need to stop allowing this and start to clean up our interactions on all fronts, not just fighting games. Personally, among friends who know it's all in jest, this type of behavior is fine (in a “privacy of your own home” way). But in tournaments, shows and even day-to-day online interactions with strangers this sort of behavior needs to be toned down. I hope that people take a moment to examine their language and keep the offensive stuff to a minimum. We all love to game, and playing together can be a joy. Let's keep it that way. (via Giant Bomb)

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