After reading Richies thoughts regarding the biggest things to hit us in 2007 I felt compelled to write a preface of sorts. Lucky for me, Richie obliged me. 2007 has been a big year for gaming, and has been something of a preview for the coming generation.
From launch, the Xbox 360 quickly carved out a reputation for
un-reliability, ranking somewhere between a cheap fortune cookie and a
helicopter made from fresh cat shit. Teething problems just couldn’t
account for it; something very fundamental was wrong with the 360.
After two years of epidemic failure rates, topped by the now infamous
‘Red Ring of Death’, Microsoft had little choice but to bite the bullet
and implement a new three-year warranty on all 360’s sold before
January of 2006, and refunds for anyone who had work done before that.
The bill for such a huge retroactive warranty upgrade? An estimated $1.15 billion. Ouch.
makes good games. Activision makes good games. Together, they’ll have
the power to eclipse the ultra-mega ‘We Buy Everything’ Electronic Arts
as the biggest third-party producer on the planet. That means
competition for EA, which means good things for us.
They’re officially calling themselves Activision Blizzard, but we agreed that ActiBlizzard or Blizzavision
would be at least 12 times cooler AND easier on the tongue. But does
this merger mean the milking of the World of Warcraft and Starcraft
franchises? Only 2008 will tell.
It must be said that ‘split’ is a bit misleading: Microsoft isn’t
letting go of Halo, and Bungie intends to develop primarily for
Microsoft platforms. Still, cries of Viva la Resistance! could be
heard worldwide from Bungie and Apple fans alike.
Despite the split, I’m not counting on Halo DS in the near future, and neither should you.
Jeff, of course, will be fine; an editor with as much
experience and popularity as he will have no problem getting another
(better) job. But the aftermath rocked the community, leaving gamers
to question the integrity of gaming journalism, and reviewers wondering
if management would have their backs in the future.
The PS3 Price Cut – Nov. 2nd
Like a shot of heroin straight to the eyeball, Sony’s price cut of its 80GB PS3
model and the introduction of the Emotion-less 40GB saw sales numbers
almost triple in November, just in time for Black Friday. Of course, Sony was already losing $150-200 per unit before the price cut. But needs must, and the PS3 needed sales numbers.
compatibility, Sony have check-mated owners into buying PS3 games,
rather than PS2 games which, seven years on, are still plentiful.
Sucks, huh?
One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should
offer." Just gotta eat your own words sometimes, huh Phil?
Five years later, and we’re still on the air, waxing lyrical about games to anyone who’ll listen. From E3 trips, to exclusive interviews, to WeezerJedi and his Metal Gear, it’s been a good time had by all.
With arguably the best lineup of staff ever, and the gaming industry
growing like a sunflower under the noon sky, we’re set to stick around
for another five. Here’s hoping we’ll see you in 2012 (The end?).
Manhunt 2 getting an AO rating from the ESRB – Jun. 19th
This, in itself, wasn’t big news; the original Manhunt was often
classified as an interactive snuff flick, and banned in several
countries as a result. I expected nothing less from the sequel.
But Rockstar, desperate to get its game on retail shelves, got the AO
rating dropped to an M after blurring out some of the gore. The
hacking community quickly found a way around this, and instructions
were posted on how to return your copy of Manhunt 2 to its pre-blurred
glory.
The likes of Liberman, Clinton, and our own Brownback took notice,
bringing the ESRB rating system into question, and backed their
concerns by introducing new legislation. To Hillary, a presidential
hopeful, this controversy couldn’t have come at a better time.
See you in the game.
