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Universal nixes plans for non-combo Land of the Dead / Dazed & Confused HD DVDs
Quite frankly, we reckon this move has more to do with lackluster demand than anything else, but nevertheless, Universal is reportedly canning its plans to bring back Dazed & Confused and Land of the Dead in non-combo HD DVD form. If you'll recall, both of these flicks were dished out in 2006 as HD DVD / DVD combo discs, but the studio had previously expected to re-issue them both as standalone HD DVDs next month. According to HighDefDigest, a company representative did mention that they could "resurface at some point in the future," but gave no rhyme nor reason as to why the duo is being canceled (if only momentarily).[Thanks, Brian]
GameTap gets interviewed on Myst Online's untimely demise
Recently, Ten Ton Hammer sat down with GameTap's Creative Director and VP of Content to discuss the death of Myst Online: Uru Live. The interview itself covers a lot of ground on the why and how of the game. Subjects like the reason GameTap originally picked up the title are covered, as well as how satisfied the publisher was with Cyan Worlds' first season of content. It's a fairly short interview, but there is some knowledge to be gleaned from it for anybody interested.It's not surprising to us that their biggest disappointment was a lack of subscriber interest. We have to wonder just how many people actually ended up playing the game, considering its alternative nature. Niche titles are loved by many of us here at Massively, so one thing we've been noticing is that some developers are still trying to figure out the exact cost-to-profit ratio when creating them. Hopefully GameTap learned something from this venture and doesn't shy away from other alternative MMOs in the future.
Tobold cancels his account (until next expansion)
Tobold, MMO blogger-at-large, has posted that he has cancelled his World of Warcraft account.Sign of the times or outraged for the wrong reason? That's for you to decide-- Tobold says his guild has moved on to Serpentshrine, and since he's not attuned yet, he probably never will be, which means there's no point to moving on. Apparently no one has told him about Vashj's attunement scrolls, which will let a guild that beats Vashj attune whoever they want to SSC. Of course, he'd have to wait until his guild actually beats Vashj, but hope is not lost yet.Then again, maybe Tobold's just going with the flow. If you ask me, leaving because your guild has moved on is a terrible reason to leave-- not only is there lots to do out there, either on your own or with the people in your guild who don't happen to be running SSC, but I do believe there is more than one guild in the game. Surely someone else would be willing to take Tobold to Karazhan, right?Either way, it's his choice. As he says, cancelling the account sends a clear message to Blizzard that he wants things to change. And if enough people send that message (for whatever reason), then you can't but agree that they will.
E3: The party's over
It looks like my first E3 was my last -- not to mention everybody's last. Joystiq has the shocking news:Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Entertainment Software Association is expected to announce within the next 48 hours that E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the definitive video games show, has been cancelled. Industry sources have told Next-Gen that the reasoning behind this move is primarily one of cost versus return. Publishers aren't getting the media attention that they expect from the large amounts of cash that they're putting down to exhibit at the show. Good Lord. I feel like Santa just called off Christmas. Is the industry trying to tell us they have better things to spend their money on than giant multi-million dollar booths, bikini-clad models and goofy chotchkes, all on noisy display for the edification of sweaty game journalists. Sure, they'll replace it with some pale shadow of the real thing, but E3 was about spectacle. Glorious, glowing spectacle, where corporate giants sqared off in the public relations equivalent of a Roman circus. The pressure was always on to top not only the other exhibitors, but last year's show. Ultimately, that pressure led to this sad truce. It might make economic sense, but it's hard not to feel like a major part of our shared fanboy culture died today.As an Xbox 360 fanboy, I want to know what role Microsoft played in the decision to scale back E3 until it's not E3, thereby breaking the hearts of millions of 14-year-olds and millions more 30-year-olds who wish they were 14. I understand that that the big guys don't want to have to compete for attention. But the competition -- the grand stage -- is what created so much excitement in the first place. It's the end of an era.
E3: RIP? Like, for reals?
Say it ain't so! One of the most important technology and entertainment trade shows in the world, E3, has apparently been killed -- at least according to Next Generation. Apparently trustworthy sources have been in touch and gave them the word that publishers are getting tired of spending millions of dollars to one up each other in front of the press and retailers, and might prefer to use that money to better their own campaigns and smaller, more focused shows instead of grandstanding on the E3 show floor. The firestorm that supposedly led to the impending collapse of E3 may have been brought on by a number of large exhibitors jumping ship, which caused smaller companies to do the same (we'll save the finger pointing for now). Frankly, in our opinion the whole matter is a double edged sword. Yes, massive industry events are often better at sorting companies with and without stellar marketing budgets than the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, but it's also a necessary evil. It's simply not always feasible for hundreds of companies to round up retail professionals and game journalists the world over to show off new product in bits and pieces throughout the year every year -- which is why we have massive shows like CTIA, E3, CES, CeBIT, etc. Then again, we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves here; the death of E3 has yet to be confirmed (and might be greatly exaggerated), so we'll have to wait until Monday before we can expect to hear either way from the Entertainment Software Association, the organization we hope won't be burying our second favorite show of like, all time.[Via Joystiq]
Desperate Housewives to despair on PCs
If all goes according to plan, fans of the desperate housewives on Wisteria Lane will be able to live out their soap opera dreams on their PCs before the TV show's canceled.Disney (which owns the ABC television network that distributes Desperate Housewives in the States) has set its Buena Vista Games division to publish a PC-based adaptation of the sudsy Sunday-night staple this fall.While negotiations are underway to secure additional cast members to represent themselves in-game (they've only gotten the deceased housewife narrator on-board so far), we hope this license works out better than the recent video game adaptations such as 24: The Game, Alias, and Dark Angel (where the DA game actually came out after the show was canceled). The screenshots revealed seem to display more suburban architecture than gameplay, but the game will involve taking on the role of a new neighboring housewife. It has not been disclosed, however, whether you can take prisoners in your basement as of yet.[Thanks, riffgod, bandersnatch, Nick, & GunForHire; via Yahoo! & the BBC]See also: Mark Green discusses 24: The Game Metacritic metascore for 24: The Game (on the PS2): 61 out of 100 Metacritic metascore for Alias (on the PC): 55 out of 100 Metacritic metascore for Dark Angel (on the PS2): 48 out of 100
