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MadWorld could impact the future of Wii gaming
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/MadWorld_could_impact_the_future_of_Wii_gaming'; The brewing controversy around MadWorld may seem similar, after the Manhunt 2 media debacle, but at least one person is concerned it may have a deeper effect on Nintendo and the Wii's future library of games. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that writer and advertising student Thom Dinsdale thinks the Wii market will be driven by the "Wii Sports generation," and that there will be little place for riskier games like MadWorld. On the face, it sounds like the oldest argument we've heard about the Wii: that the large casual focus is going to somehow damage gaming.Well, Wii gaming, anyway.Dinsdale seems to think that Nintendo is attempting to ride two horses at top speed, and is uncertain the company can balance the casual appeal with games like MadWorld. While he grants the fact that the publications lambasting the game are known for sensationalism, he also reluctantly admits that they're read on a daily basis by millions in the U.K., and he worries that other third party developers will look at the controversy and shy away from future Wii exclusives. We can only hope he's wrong, and have the system's history with Manhunt 2 on our side, but we certainly don't want to see MadWorld toned down ... and we'd rather it not negatively impact future third-party releases, either. Dinsdale's arguments are well-reasoned, but we're keeping our fingers crossed on this one. After all, things are looking up for non-Nintendo releases on the system, and that's after the last major controversy. Gallery: MadWorld [Via GoNintendo] Still not had your fill of storm-in-a-teacup controversy? Then hop over here to learn more about Manhunt 2's woes, here to catch up on Charlie Daniels' unfavorable views of Guitar Hero, or here to read about the fuss over Beer Pong. If you need us, we'll be here, soaking up the latest MadWorld footage.
It's Pandemonium in Final Fantasy XI
News has spread of a grueling new enemy encounter in Final Fantasy XI. The Notorious Monster (NM) Pandemonium Warden is one of the strongest opponents players can face in the game. But it seems Square-Enix may have raised the bar too high, given the extremes to which players must go to defeat Pandemonium Warden. A linkshell (guild) called Beyond the Limitation recently faced off against Pandemonium Warden over an 18 hour period, but the NM was still going strong. The NM shapeshifts into multiple forms, making it even more of a challenge to defeat; Beyond the Limitations fought Pandemonium Warden through twenty of his possible forms, some of which took hours to kill. Pet Food Alpha, a Final Fantasy XI community site, quotes a member of Beyond the Limitation stating: "People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people's lives."
Age of Conan GM fired amidst in-game sex scandal
An Age of Conan player tricked a naïve, Funcom-employed Game Master (an in-game customer service representative) into pursuing cybersex with him. The player posed as a female playing a male character and enticed the male GM with flirtatious remarks and innuendos. After the GM fully threw himself into the moment, the player revealed that he was male, and that the conversation had been a prank.Friends of the player posted screenshots of the conversation on MMORPG's forums, and the ensuing controversy led Funcom to fire the GM for unacceptable behavior and violation of the customer service guidelines. Destructoid then interviewed the prankster and hosted the unedited version of the conversation screenshots.Frankly, we're not sure who is the bigger jackass -- the GM for his unprofessional behavior, or the player for baiting him into it. Everyone seems to have his or her own unique interpretation of this fiasco.[Via Big Download]
MadWorld, indeed: the backlash begins
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Daily_Mail_Wii_s_MadWorld_is_most_violent_game_ever'; Britain's most hysterical newspaper and preferred litter tray liner the Daily Mail has caught wind of MadWorld -- and it wants us to know all about it. For our children's safety. THINK OF THE CHILDREN.In a piece entitled "Parents horrified as most violent video game ever to launch on 'family friendly' Wii," the newspaper illogically huffs and puffs about the forthcoming Platinum Games project, which it claims has "shocked anti-violence pressure groups." Near the top of the article, the Mail quotes a spokesperson from MediaWatch-UK, while a retort from Nintendo is relegated to the very bottom of the article. Little has changed from the Mail's previous coverage of videogames, with the familiar, outraged tone and Luddite views present throughout. The paper also ignores the imminent release of Manhunt 2, and conveniently forgets that MadWorld will almost certainly be granted an "18" certificate.Most absurdly of all, the Mail suggests that MadWorld will "dramatically transform Wii's image," as though the game is likely to sell in the tens of millions. Seriously, if the Wii is synonymous with MadWorld (and not Wii Sports) two years from now, we'll eat the hat of everybody reading this.%Gallery-22964%[Via MCV] Still not had your fill of storm-in-a-teacup controversy? Then hop over here to learn more about Manhunt 2's woes, here to catch up on Charlie Daniels' unfavorable views of Guitar Hero, or here to read about the fuss over Beer Pong. If you need us, we'll be here, soaking up the latest MadWorld footage.
'Militant atheists' up in arms over Spore's sim-religion
You'd think that a life simulation that begins with single-cell organisms and follows their evolution into space-faring races might get some folks from the "intelligent design" camp riled. It turns out that what Spore creator Will Wright refers to as "militant atheists" seem to be the most bent out of shape by the inclusion of a religion mechanic in his latest opus. "I didn't expect to hit hot buttons on the atheist side as much; I expected it on the religious side," Wright said in an interview with Eurogamer. "What we had was a good, sizable group of players that we might call 'militant atheists,' and the rest of the players seemed very tolerant, including all of the religious players."If anything, we'd expect Spore to be an equal-opportunity offender. After all, it implies that the biological material giving rise to its in-game life came from another world, but also has players acting in a "God" role to influence its evolution. "We didn't want to go too far down that path," Wright explained, adding, "We leave the whole creation of the universe question open." Open ... to debate, it seems.
The bright side of gold farming?
Let's face it. Gold farming and RMT are the bane of many players' experiences in MMOs. Bots spam poorly-spelled gold ads in every MMO title with anything even resembling an in-game economy. From a player's perspective, it's a huge problem, and not surprisingly leads many to dislike the idea of RMT. But aside from the occasional media coverage of 'digital sweatshops,' most of us know relatively little about how gold farming operations are actually run, or what effects they have on real world society. Professor Richard Heeks from the University of Manchester has put together a substantial piece of work on gold farming. The Working Paper's abstract states Heeks' intention "to provide the first systematic analysis of the sub-sector." The paper is titled "Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on 'Gold Farming': Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games." (Say that three times fast.) It provides an overview of gold farming followed by an in-depth analysis of its economics, sociology, enterprise, and development. In terms of development, the paper considers the benefits gold farming may create, particularly for workers in Asia. While there is a wealth of information in Heeks' work, one aspect that stands out is a question it raises: Which is more important in the grand scheme of things, socioeconomic progress for people in real life, or the enjoyment of a game?[Via Virtual-Economy]
Manhunt 2 controversy rules out Saints Row Wii
The controversy that was whipped up over Rockstar's naughty Manhunt 2 may be more far-reaching than we originally thought; for example, it's pretty much scared Volition right off the idea of producing a Saints Row game for the Wii.Volition's Dan Sutton thinks that a Wii iteration of the crime epic would create little more than an unwanted hoo-hah, particularly with motion controls thrown into the mix. "With games like ours you get much more controversy when you add motion controls like you saw with Manhunt 2," remarked Sutton to CVG, before going on to explain how motion-controlled chainsaws and satchel charges probably wouldn't win many friends in the various regulatory bodies.So where do Wii-owning, virtual-hooker-killers turn now? Take-Two has already played down the idea of a Grand Theft Auto game on the Wii, and now one of the next best alternatives has been emphatically ruled out. Ooh, how about a True Crime game? Actually, just not caring sounds like a better option to that.
Mythic's Paul Barnett on believers and heretics
Paul Barnett, the Creative Director at Mythic Entertainment, is not a man who minces his words, particularly when it comes to Warhammer Online. We covered how Barnett envisions Warhammer Online being free of the 'corruptive' influences of World of Warcraft. Gamasutra expanded on Barnett's talk at the Develop Conference and Expo in Brighton, distilling other aspects of the speech down to his top lessons learned. Barnett emphasized the importance of simplicity in game design, citing other titles that became mired in complexity. "People like the illusion of choice... they like a long menu at a restaurant despite the fact they will always order from the same three things," he said. On the topic of having a singular vision, given the time and cost involved, he stressed that game developers tend to fall into two camps: heretics and believers. Mythic hasn't "got time for people who have no morale or don't think we're going to succeed, and mess around in palace intrigue. Heretics must be burned publicly. It doesn't matter how talented they are. If they're a heretic, they go, because cancer spreads." Conversely, he stated his preference to hire less-talented 'believers' with intense drive over those talented 'heretics' whose skills come with limitations. Have a look at the Gamasutra piece for more of Barnett's views on game design and a little more of what we can expect from Warhammer Online. Some of his ideas are bold and intended to stir up controversy, but the man definitely has some memorable lines.
Ryan Davis talks up Giant Bomb's explosive re-launch
When Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann was abruptly fired under controversial circumstances late last year, it set off a sort of domino effect. In the wake of the scandal, Gamespot staffers Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker and Vinny Caravella all decided to leave the venerable site to start a new project with Gerstmann: a project called Giant Bomb. A skeleton of the site has been up since March, but the project really got going Monday with an overhaul that mixes user-created, wiki-style pages with editorial reviews, videos and podcasts from the four-man ex-Gamespot crew.We talked to Giant Bomb co-founder Ryan Davis about his thoughts on the new site and his departure from Gamespot, and game journalism in general. Some excerpts from our conversation (be sure to click the "Continue" link for the full interview):On Gerstmann-gate and the state of game journalism"Obviously we still have lots of friends and a ton of history there [at CNET], but we're so focused on the good stuff we're doing now. ... [Gerstmann-gate] certainly helped get our names in people's mouths in certain circles. ... Before [Gerstmann-gate] even happened, I felt like people needed to be more skeptical about what they read, with the massive influx of news-blogs giving little distinction between rumor and fact."We're not in the business of reporting news, but as far as the review process goes, we're being very open about a review being that person's perspective. We don't use fancy math to come to our reviews, we just go with what the reviewer feels the game merits. I think when a review has to represent an entire organization's perspective on a game, that's where you can run into trouble. Also, for what it's worth, I've never considered myself a 'game journalist.' I think they exist, but I'm a reviewer and a commentator more than anything."
Microsoft: Bungie announcement 'held back' for special event
The saga of Bungie v. Microsoft in The Case of the Missing Haloes continues. The L.A. Times spoke with Xbox senior VP Don Mattrick regarding the omission of Bungie's announcement from its Monday press conference. Mattrick told the writers that Microsoft decided to nix the reveal during the show to "save time."Let that sink in for a moment, you 5+ million Halo fans. Time. Word around the campfire is Microsoft's conference was originally set to run for two-and-a-half hours, but Mattrick wanted to cut the show down to 90 minutes. Of the items to be cut from the show? Anything named Halo. Mattrick told the paper that Microsoft's conference already contained, "an embarrassment of riches," so the Halo trump cards were removed from the docket.At least we still got to see that sweet Lips presentation though. Now that's a franchise!Surely it had nothing to do with the fear of taking attention away from Final Fantasy XIII for 360. Balderdash! Or, Gears of War 2. Poppycock!Now the question remains, when will we see the new secret Halo game Bungie is working on? "We felt we could do this game more justice with a more dedicated event," Mattrick said in the L.A. Times piece. Sounds like it was planned all along, it's just funny that Bungie took it the way they did. It's almost like they were left out of the loop.
Beer Pong with less beer, more tossing, extra controversy
It's official: Beer Pong was way too controversial for the family-friendly Wii, and the forthcoming lulzworthy WiiWare game has undergone a name change. Beer Pong: Frat Party Games is now Frat Party Games: Pong Toss. What, like taking the beer out of the name takes it out of the frat party? That will certainly work. Next up: Frat Party Games: Quilting. You know how those boys at the chapter house like to fight over the best remnants.Here's the thing: in this case, it really did work. Not only is Beer Pong now operating under a different title, but all the references to alcohol have been removed, too. Publisher JVGames already made the change (in response, we assume, to previous protests), which resulted in the assumed rating being dropped down to E. Now, a whole new argument has arisen, thanks to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who feels that, despite the lack of beer anywhere in the game (it's juice in them there cups), an E rating will encourage underage drinking. Blumenthal wants an AO-rating, which just ain't happening -- liquor references in games rates teen, per the ESRB.The ESRB is having none of it, though; they smartly responded with a racing game analogy: if you pulled the same stunts in real life as you do in a racing game, they'd certainly be illegal. However, as they noted, many racing games are rated E. So why give this one, with no overt alcohol use and no illegal behavior whatsoever, a restrictive rating?From the screenshots, we can't help but think people should have not only left this one alone, but also be celebrating this game as a PSA. If drinking makes everything look like this, we're taking the first train to sobertown.%Gallery-27047%[Via Game|Life]
CoX July desktop wallpaper recalls controversial issue
This month's desktop wallpaper for City of Heroes recalls Issue 3, A Council of War. This was one of the most content-packed issues, bringing (among other features) the Striga Isle zone, the Hess Task Force (still a firm favorite) and the Kheldian epic archetypes. New Epic Power Pools were opened up for the regular ATs, and 'zone events' such as the Ghost Ship, the Clockwork Paladin and Lusca, the giant octopus of Independence Port, were added.There was also a key change made to the game world itself, which excited controversy across the official forums and beyond. The Fifth Column villain group was replaced with the Council, an organisation very similar in powers but conspicuously lacking the Nazi background. As A Council of War coincided with the official European release of City of Heroes, some irate players reached a seemingly obvious conclusion: the Fifth Column had been removed due to 'political correctness'
EVE Online's CSM summit covered in The New York Times
EVE Online has cropped up in The New York Times twice this weekend. Powerhouse alliance Band of Brothers announced their plans for New Eden in one story, while the Council of Stellar Management's (CSM) summit with CCP Games also caught The New York Times' attention. A number of members of the press were in attendance at the CSM summit in Reykjavik, a first for EVE Online and for the MMO industry itself. It's refreshing to see increased mainstream coverage of the niche title that avoids the 'gee golly' tone so prevalent when MMOs are discussed in mass media. Seth Schiesel from The New York Times reports broadly on the 12 hours of meetings between the players who comprise the CSM and the developers and executives of CCP Games. As with any democratic process, differing viewpoints on how the CSM should operate led to some internal conflicts, Schiesel writes. It's interesting to note that the American CSM delegates favored "full and total disclosure" while their European counterparts on the Council preferred to deliberate privately before going public with recommendations and announcements. Given the controversy and forum outcries surrounding the CSM in recent weeks, it's understandable that this divide in outlooks would persist. But whatever issues the CSM had with one another, they were put aside as the Council performed their elected duties, representing the interests of their constituents face-to-face with CCP. See The New York Times piece for more details on the CSM meeting in Reykjavik, and for a brief profile of some of the delegates next to their alter egos.
Former GameSpot reviewer sheds light on more PR hijinx
In an interview with former GameSpot reviewer, Alex Navarro, MTV Multiplayer Blog was able to extract a telling tale from the newly appointed community team member at Harmonix regarding the oil-to-water relationship public relations practitioners have with the press.When tasked to review an unnamed Wii launch title, Navarro was sent a note along with his copy of the game--which he provided as evidence to Steven Totilo.The note read: If the review is 9.0 or higher you can post immediately. Lower than 9.0, could you please hold until launch day, November 19th? Thanks."And that's not the first time I got something like that," Navarro told MTV. Navarro, who left GameSpot after the public and controversial firing of then-reviews editor Jeff Gerstmann, said GameSpot ran their review for this game based on a copy bought in a store and they panned it for what it was.
Anti-Aliased: Age of Con-troversy-an
I'm going to hijack my own column this week to cover a topic that I believe is worth spending some space on - Age of Conan and the buzz of negative media attention it has been getting. Age of Conan's controversy spans almost all aspects of the game, from fatalities, to nudity, to even such odd things like race selection.Now, I've written a few of these articles. I enjoy controversy as the next person and I'm always interested in seeing the opposite viewpoint. It wasn't until I started getting some very, very nice hate mail in my inbox that I began to wonder if anyone understood my own viewpoint on the matter. So, this column is dedicated to other people's opinions, my opinions, controversies and, of course, Age of Conan.
Controversy never ends with Age of Conan
First it was the gore. Then it was the fatalities. Then it was the promise of nudity. Then it was the nipple toggle. Now there's more controversy in the Age of Conan - the Stygians.Richard Cobbett brought up a new area where AoC might offend some of the more religious people in the population in his online journal. The Stygians, the infamous followers of Set, love demonic magic. And when we say love demonic magic, we really mean that they can turn into demons if you're a Herald of Xotli or summon demons if you're a Demonologist. The word Stygian can even be translated as "dark" or "infernal".While this is pretty tame for those of us who are into fantasy settings, it's just another part of where AoC can be offensive to those around it. Funcom has no doubt pushed the envelope with this game, but as any good Conan fan will say, "It's just another normal day in Hyboria."
Beware of the 'Meat Shield'
Sometimes it almost feels like people are trying really hard to start controversy where there isn't any. Arizona's KTVK-TV is the latest in a long line of videogame fear mongering by warning parents of the horrors of the 'meat shield,' according to Game Politics.Citing a Yahoo!Games report detailing features in Gears of War 2 KTVK-TV warns, "A popular video game for the Xbox 360 is getting a sequel this year - and it seems to be raising eyebrows with its level of gore and detail ... The game certainly attracted attention for its realistic visuals and battle scenes, but caused some pause when game designers showed off a new attack players can use in the game."The report continued to warn, "Players can pick up the corpses of fallen enemies and use them as a "meat shield" to protect themself from enemy fire as they engage in battle from behind the corpse."As good as Gears 2 looks, calling it's visuals realistic is like saying E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is based on a true story. Are we really resorting to hyping-up hate for a game months before it releases?
Mario beheaded by Banjo, everybody freaks
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Proof_RARE_Pissed_Off_at_Nintendo_Mario_beheaded_by_Banjo'; Rare unveiled a trailer yesterday for its forthcoming Xbox 360 vehicle-based platformer Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. It looks very lovely, as Rare games often do, but discussion about the video now seems to be less about the game, and more about a brief cameo from Mario.Towards the end of the two-minute trailer, the bear and the bird are seen flying a customized plane towards a huge model of Mario, before blasting the revered plumber's head clean off! The cheek! Later versions of the same footage have had the decapitation edited out (there is an unedited version after the break), which suggests that Rare got a slapped wrist over the (hardly scandalous) "scandal."Anyway, with grim predictability, this scene resulted in the entire internet getting its panties in a bunch. Everywhere one looked, people were speculating boringly over what this could possibly mean. And now, Rare has enlightened us: it means nothing. Zilch. It was all a bit of light-hearted fun. Haha.MTV's Stephen Totilo spoke to lead software engineer Salvatore Fileccia about the cameo, and came away with the impression that some rascal at Rare had constructed the Mario figure using the game's vehicle editor, and that the scene had been added to the trailer at the last minute, with Microsoft none the wiser. But before you all grab your pitchforks, know that Rare still has tons of respect for Mario, with Fileccia himself commenting at the presentation of the trailer: "Action platformers have gotten a bit stale, except for Mario."Crisis over, then. Now back to praying for a Banjo game on the Virtual Console.
GTAIV: Mainstream reaction roundup
With all the controversy surrounding anything even resembling violence or sexual content in games taking over news networks we felt it was time to round it all up for your viewing disgust pleasure. Have you ever heard the expression, "taking your cake and eating it too?" Watch as networks and talking heads die to portray any resemblance of pop-culture understanding, ironically alienating a segment of their current and future viewers, by grasping at straws to the content in Grand Theft Auto IV then cutting to commercial break, post fear-mongering, for a quick cash out.There's violence and criminal activity in Grand Theft Auto? Who knew?! You know, other than anyone who can read the title that is. Sexual content? Yes. No argument there. However, watching the spin added to the optional sexual material included in the game makes us wonder what happened to investigative reporters.If we made a claim here and were wrong our readers call us on it, but time and time again "respectable" reporters from mainstream networks get away with shoveling countless false claims against the gaming industry.Much like GTAIV's own radio news network, the whole thing is a giant joke. Jump in for some choice selections of news links and video clips revolving around GTAIV.
DS 'turned kids into monsters'
Everybody's favorite scaremongering rag the Daily Mail is at it again. Regular Mail scribe and middle England mom Rosie Millard has written about how a Nintendo DS "turned my delightful, curious and funny children into argumentative demons full of aggression." In the 1,000-word article, Millard laments that her blissful domestic existence was disrupted by her offspring squabbling over the console, and knows exactly where the blame lies: the "hideous" DS.So far, so predictable, but whereas we'd usually be irked by something like this, we actually found most of it amusing. For example, Millard unwittingly admits to purchasing pirated games ("The pale blue, £150 Nintendo finally arrived last November, fresh from Hong Kong, crammed with a 'bundle' of 20 games including Brain Trainer, Fifa 08, and Nintendogs"), while some of the language used is so ridiculously over the top and inflated that we couldn't help but smirk -- apparently, the DS encouraged a "mood [...] of anger, confrontation, pain and frustration." Eyes. Rolling. Our advice, Rosie? Get a Wii -- they're lots of fun, and more suited to social gaming than the DS. As far-fetched as it seems, maybe you'll even crack a smile and have a go.[Thanks, Matt!]
