The guitar compatibility saga continues.  A few days after Harmonix announced that Activision is blocking a patch they had ready to allow Guitar Hero III controllers to work with the PlayStation 3, Activision quickly retaliated stating that they wanted to cooperate but Harmonix refused to make a deal. 

In an article from The Boston Globe, Activision spokeswoman Maryanne Lataif explained why their company blocked the patch further.  According to her:

Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision.  We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology.

Harmonix spokeswoman Spencer Saltonstall in the meantime commented that they want the best for gamers.  According to them:

We are looking at this from the consumer standpoint.

Pooch: “Compensated”?  Sounds fair in a corporate world.  But in the end, the consumers will be on the losing side.

It’s strange that they would block a compatibility patch for the PlayStation 3 controller.  Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III guitar controllers work perfectly on the PlayStaion 2 and Xbox 360 version of Rock Band.  Why block them now? 

We already know that there is a shortage of Rock Band controllers and coupled with the defective ones that shipped out, the promised four player cooperative play is hard to realize.  Most PS3 players have bought both games, and were hoping to use the Guitar Hero controller as an extra guitar.  Now that option isn’t available, and many gamers are understandably unhappy about it.

Activision’s move is obviously a ploy to crush their rival.  They have already successfully taken over what Harmonix started with Guitar Hero, now they want to make sure they dominate their niche in the gaming world.  Blocking the patch will hurt Harmonix, particularly since Rock Band isn’t selling well.

As of now, Guitar Hero has a huge lead boosted by its cheaper price and compatibility with the PlayStation 2.  With 1.9 million units sold in November alone, they decimated Rock Band’s 382,000 units sold for the same month. 

They may be selling now, but Activision’s hard-balling may backfire on them in the long run as gamers get more and more annoyed with the company.  They are already facing a lawsuit.  In the meantime, EA seems to be doing a better job at taking care of their customers.

[Source:  The Boston Globe]

Elf Online is one of those MMOs that targets the non-hardcore gamers. With cute graphics and a relaxed game environment, it seems like confronting enemies would be so much fun if you’re a fan of small, loveable creatures beating each other. Oh and it seems they have an original concept called the prank system. Whatever that is, check their game out and see as their beta is already open.

Check out these screenshots:

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

(Source: Gaming Today)

Technorati tags: Elf Online, Elf

Since gaming news has been slow because of the holidays, we’ll give you a feature instead.

Ever heard of Phoenix Wright? If not, then it’s like purchasing an NES without even playing Zelda. In other words, it’s madness! The game is original, it’s beyond fun, and it’s one of the main reasons why you should get a Nintendo DS.

“Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” puts you on the shoes of Phoenix Wright, a defense lawyer fresh out from law school. The game is an original because no game was ever made yet that features a court hearing as its gameplay, it’s fun because aside from exciting court hearings where you get to object and interrogate, you get to investigate places and meet a lot of strange, if not stranger, people that give you clues and evidence you need for the trails. it’s one of the best games ever made because the game is not mindless fun as you need to solve cases. And randomly doing so will almost always give your client, a “guilty” verdict. (Unless of course you’ll use a walkthrough, which pretty much removes the idea of this game: to think)

You will need to play the game to understand what I’m trying to say. I rarely recommend games in my posts and when I say it’s good, it really is. Unless of course you have a bad history with lawyers. That’s how confident I am with this game. If I were to give it a score, I’d give it a 9 out of 10.

Oh and just for fun. I found this parody comics on the web and the team laughed as hard as I did when I saw it.

Now THAT is enough reason for me to watch this movie!

As was confirmed that a New Street Fighter movie will go into production next year, it seems like Kristin Kreuk will be taking the character of Chun-Li.  Kristin doesn’t only have a pretty face, but I really like how she acts in Smallville. Though I don’t really think she can pull a Chun-li off, I think It’d be decent enough if the directors really wanted a caucasian actress for Chun-Li. I mean, aside from Chun-Li being Asian, I can’t Imagine Kristine in a Martial-Arts film even if she has a few snippets of action sequences in Smallville (Better to be skeptic than highly anticipating a film, then be dissapointed in the end).

If only Chun-Li would be played by either Karen Mok or Zhu Qi, now THAT would really be legendary.

The new Street Fighter movie, dubbed as Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li, is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, director of Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, and Cradle to the Grave.

(Source: Gaming Today)

PSP phat (slang) came, then PSP slim, and now a foreseeable future PSP version 3 may be in development.

The assertion of a third PSP model arose when homebrewers came accross a file named “pspbtcnf_03g.bin,” a file that was quite similiar to a file they found before the PSP slim was released.  “Pspbtcnf_02g.bin” was the name of that file.  Homebrewers didn’t know what the file was for until after it’s release, and they found out that it was the file name for the Slim’s instructions. 

Though evidence is quite solid, Sony has no news yet whether they’re gonna be releasing a new version of the PSP.

W-h J: I don’t think it’s gonna be a PSP version 3. I’m guess it’ll be a new product, carrying with it the PSP software. A new Sony phone maybe?

(Source: Gaming Today)

Capitalizing on the success of Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars, Electronic Arts is now porting the concept into another first person shooter (FPS) game for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.  Called Command and Conquer: Tiberium, the game is set 11 years after the third Tiberium war, or roughly around the same timeframe as Command and Counquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

Not much is known as of now, but EA has hinted that the gameplay will involve squad battles.  The star of the game will be a character named Ricardo Vega, an ex-field commander from GDI who comes out of retirement to lead a R.A.I.D. (Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment) squad to fight a yet to be announced opponent.  According to Game Informer, the missions will take place in the “Mediterranean Red Zone.”

Only 1 photo of the game has been released so far, and we are glad to show it to you.  Enjoy!

 [Source: 1UP]

Remember that article about EA giving away a free game for players who received broken guitar controllers for the popular game Rock Band?  I expressed fears that they may just send out crappy stuff in a futile attempt of consolation for their customers.  Alas, that fear was unfounded it seems.

Electronic Arts has pulled the stops.  They now released the list of games you can pick from (yes you can choose!) and my oh my do they make my fingers itch!  Instead of old outdated games, they are giving away some of their best recent titles such as Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, The Simpsons Game, NBA Live 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for free! 

EA is really turning this fiasco into their advantage.  Sure a lot of people will be bummed out for receiving broken guitars, while some will be even more annoyed by the delay in shipping out replacements, but such generosity should placate the majority of these people, and place the company in a better light.

This brings in mind a question, are you unlucky or lucky if you get a broken guitar controller for Rock Band?  I’m beginning to think that you are the latter.

With the holiday season coming into full swing, the huge demand for Wiis has caused a large shortage of the coveted console.  The Wii is so scarce, Nintendo is actually considering pulling out their TV advertisements in selected areas.  The huge demand has prompted some opportunistic retailers to jack the console price by sometimes double the original price by forcing users to purchase the console along with some predetermined selection of games.

The widespread bundling of the Wii has gone to the point that in some areas, there is no option to purchase the Wii without games.  At on UK based site, some of the bundles start at around $400 and includes the game Sonic and the Secret Rings.  That bundle is currently out of stock, and the next cheapest available bundle costs $500, which includes the console, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and The Golden Compass.

Gamestation has even more expensive Wii bundles starting at a hefty price of around $600 and include Billy the Wizard, a 1GB SD card and any three selected Wii titles.  Some combos go up to about $765.  The Wii when bought alone has a recommended retail price of only $250.  In comparison, the PlayStation 3 can be bought starting at $399, while the Xbox 360 is available at a starting price of $349.99

The president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aim has expressed disdain over the widespread proliferation of these bundles.  In a statement to Reuters, he said:

Retailers have already been given feedback that we are not big fans of that. We think it masks some of the price advantage we have versus our competition and, frankly, the consumer should decide what they want. We don’t have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers.

Pooch: You can’t blame the retailers for capitalizing on the phenomenal success of the Wii.  However, some of these bundles really does take away one of the Wii’s main advantage in the market and that is its price.  At those price ranges, the other consoles seem a lot more attractive.  Even the bundled games are average at best… and Billy the Wizard?!? Geez!  Oh wait!  I get it!  Some of these games won’t sell at all, so now you want to force people to buy them!  Genius!

[Source: Reuters]

Yippie kay yay! (Oh wait, that’s Die Hard)

After a decade of waiting (the game was officially announced in 1997), it seems like Duke Nukem: Forever will FINALLY shed some light on their fans with a trailer coming out tomorrow.

According to 3D Realms employees:

Last Saturday we had our annual company Christmas party. It was a lot of fun as usual but it featured one special surprise. It turns out that several people had been secretly working late nights and into the wee hours of the morning preparing a special video for those at the party. They created a short teaser for Duke Nukem Forever.

After seeing the teaser we thought it was something we should share with all of you and while it’s just a teaser, rest assured more is coming.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th, around noon CST, we will release the first teaser trailer from Duke Nukem Forever…

W-h J: Why am I not surprised if it’s just gonna be a trailer and nothing else follows for the whole year of 2008? I’m usually not a pessimist but look at how the game developed over the decade. From Wikipedia:

1997: was officially announced on April 28, 1997 along with the purchase of a license to use the Quake II engine.

1998: In August and September, the first screenshots of Forever were released in PC Gamer. In its November issue, Scott Miller restated that the intended release date was 1998.

1999: George Broussard, one of the original creators of the game, said that Forever would be released in 1999.

2000: In December, 3D Realms released a Christmas card that suggested that Forever would be released in 2000.

2001: 3D Realms released another Christmas card that suggested that Forever would be released in 2001.

2002: after hiring several new programmers, the team completely rewrote the renderer and other game engine modules, beginning work on a new generation of game content.

2003, 2004, 2005: On May 20, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin, then CEO of Take Two, told reporters that the game would not be out by the end of 2003. In response, George Broussard commented on Shacknews, saying that “Take Two needs to STFU imo.”

Later in the year, on December 18, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin said that 3D Realms had told him that Duke Nukem Forever was expected to be finished by the end of 2004, or the beginning of 2005.

2006: On August 30, 2006, Shacknews reported that several key employees had left 3D Realms. (Though Broussard denies that the game would be delayed further)

2007: A trailer for the game will be revealed on December 19, 2007.

There. Having reported the development history of the game, is it still just me, or will we only see the game’s trailer all year round for the year 2008?

Commercial name: Duke Nukem: Forever
Missing caption of the game’s name: will make you wait forever

XD

(Sources: Gaming Today, Wikipedia)

And I am not kidding you.

The reason is not just because Guitar Hero III is one of the best gifts you could give this holiday making it already quite scarce in video game stores, but it has a history behind it. Listen good and listen well, whippersnappers.

Apparently, a dad who goes with the alias k_lid on Ebay was proud to have purchased a Guitar Hero III package just in time for his son on Christmas day. He can’t wait to tell his son about it but he was quite surprised to see when he came home early from work: his son smoking weed with his two friends.

Angered, he yelled and drove his son’s friends out of the house (common thing that any parent would do). However, he wanted to teach his son a better lesson and scolding him this way was not enough.

Selling his newly purchased Guitar Hero III on Ebay seemed to be the best idea. According to k_lid, watching it end together as an auction on Ebay would be sort of like a “Father-Son bonding experience.”

The auction ended on December 10 this year.  Many reacted violently while at the same time, a lot also supported the father’s decision. You can read the full details of the story in his Ebay page.

Anwyay, no matter what discussion happened in his page, some saying he was too sadistic while others saying what he did was ok, his auction ended with a whopping bid of $9,100.01.  The winner of the auction was  “aspire1700computer,” an Ebay user that seems to be a legit user garnering a 98.9% positive feedback.

W-h J: Well it seems like many bidded on it (bogus and non bogus bidders alike) to probably support the dad’s decision. I guess the skyrocketing of the bid was a way to support the dad’s way of disciplining his son. I guess many concerned parents hope the kid learned his lesson and may it serve a lesson to all the kids out there (Dang, I sound so old there). Think before doing something bad or something so dissapointing like this may happen to you.

Video game usage sure is getting more and more useful: Entertainment and taming a kid.

(Source: Ebay, Gamespot)