It’s confirmed that Jim Ward has resigned from LucasArts “for personal reasons”. He will be leaving the company in a couple of weeks. It has been said that Ward’s departure will not impact release dates or development schedules for any of LucasArts’ games. Thank goodness for that. I’m looking forward to the April 1st release date of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Major Nelson posted a reminder on his blog today. The Xbox Live Arcade game Undertow is now free for download. Starting today you can download the game. This won’t last forever, the free offer expires Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST. Supplies are limited so get it while they last. And remember, anyone, Gold or Silver can download this game for free.
Boom!
With all the stories that flow around the Internet about how video games are making kids kill. How they are ruining America’s youth it’s nice to hear this little story. Video games can save lives to. Paxton Galvanek was the first on the scene of a rolled over SUV. He pulled the pair of passengers out of the SUV and then took care of their wounds.
Want to know where he got his training? How about from the video game America’s Army. Yea that’s right from a video game. A recruitment game for the US Army no less. Maybe some of those ignorant journalists that claim video games are evil will choke on their words for just a second before they decide games are evil without even playing them.
Check it out at Yahoo.
M$ as they’re often lovingly referred to on “the internets”, or Microsoft had some problems over the past holiday season. Problems keeping Xbox Live, well, live. The resulting backlash had them release this letter. Basically telling everyone, sorry our service is so popular, blah, blah, blah, we’ll give you a free game to ease the pain. They gave us no real information on what that game was or when we would get it.
So, that day has come, they have announced that the game is… Undertow! Tada. Yay, now we can all be happy and go back to loving big papa Microsoft. Technically they don’t have to do anything, as per their terms of service state nothing about the level of actual uptime or quality of that service. But, being the generous monopoly, I mean company that they are they have decided to offer us Xbox Live Gold customers a free game. All of us, the same game. A game, if you don’t already own, you might play for all of five minutes before going back to Mass Effect or Call of Duty 4.
I’ve heard that if you already own the game, according to Xbox Live front man Major Nelson. He said, “If you have already purchased the game, you can contact support and they will take care of you.” That almost sounds like a threat. I’m sure it’ll be just as painless as it sounds though.
So, when do we get this game? And who gets it? I’m glad you asked. Microsoft has said, “all Xbox LIVE members (Gold and Silver) around the world would have access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game [Undertow] to download free of charge.”…”beginning next Wednesday, 2:00 a.m. PST through Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST, Xbox LIVE members worldwide can download the full version of the recent award-winning Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Undertow.”
Wait, am I reading this right? All Xbox Live Member? Silver to? The people who were effectively unaffected by the Xbox Live outages? Really? Okay.
Why don’t they just give us 800-1200 Microsoft Points, that way, we’re all happy. The people who actually want to buy Undertow can, and everyone else can buy a good game. I’m sure I’m not the only one less than satisfied with this “solution”. What do you think Microsoft should do for Gold Live Members? Let us know. Comment below or post in the forums.
Boom!
Story via GamingNews
Join the forum discussion on this post 
A few chaps over at BusinessWeek discuss if video games are still for kids. In other word….are gamers losers still? Or is gaming a viable form of entertainment?
Humankind’s epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.” However stellar the game play, that’s basically the 1990 movie Tremors minus Kevin Bacon.
-Derek Thompson on Gears Of War.
So wait….I’m slightly confused here….Is he saying it’s a bad thing to be similar to Tremors? That’s news to me! Does he realize that it had Reba in it? Probably not.
Take for instance, last year’s sleeper hit, BioShock from 2K Games, a first-person shooter. The game’s narrative and dystopian setting wove an argument about the relationship between power and freedom, ultimately building to a rejection of Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophy. Not exactly Mario territory.
Gaming in general is becoming more and more sophisticated. So….how long before “Gamers” loose the stereotype of….well…lets have Derek describe it since he did so magnificently in the article.
Today, the average gamer is 33, part of a $7 billion national industry, and, well, possibly still living with his parents.
[slow clap] Yes……ooooh yes! How very comical indeed! You sir are marvelous! Now where was I? Ah yes! Reading my Shakespeare!
Source - BusinessWeek
Unless of course, you’re talking about the great Patches O’Houlihan from the movie Dodgeball.
Anyway, a new gaming site has just launched, Game Patch Central, dedicated to game patches, though not limited to. Among patches they also include some of the most popular new demos, some FAQs, and walk-throughs. While the service the site offers is a benefit to the gaming community, it’s a shame the gaming community needs this so much. This hasn’t always been the case. Game publishers and developers have gotten lazy, sloppy, or just plain greedy, shipping unfinished products and expecting us, the consumer, to wait for a fix once we’ve already paid for the product.
If this was any other media product, movies, music, books, whatever, these kind of practices wouldn’t be tolerated. When was the last time you bought a movie on DVD, took it home, and if it didn’t play or work like it’s supposed to you’re told they’re working on a patch so you’ll have to wait? Hmm. Let’s see, how about never! Ever read a book with a missing page, then later they announce the page has been completed and they’re sending it to anyone requesting it? No. It just doesn’t happen outside of the gaming world.
When a product is shipped it should be complete. If I have to pay $50 to $60 for a game, it better be finished. This problem has existed in PC gaming for quite some time. It’s only recently that these issues have trickled onto the consoles with the addition of online connectivity. The problem isn’t getting better. It’s expanding. What can we do to help? Not much really. Just don’t buy a broken product. If a game doesn’t work out of the box, then the game is broken. What about all those console gamers that aren’t connected to the internet? Yes, there are still some. What happens when their game doesn’t work without a patch? Think about it. They’re just stuck with a broken game, period.
Boom!
What do you think? Is anyone out there actually a fan of patches? Let us know. Comment below.
The word epic is tossed around allot today. I for one have been reluctant in the past to use epic when describing video games. Well today I choose to use epic for a video game. That game is Mass Effect. The shear scale of this game is pretty amazing. I feel I must start this by saying that I am not the biggest RPG fan out there. Yea I loved KOTOR, but that was Star Wars and I like me some Star Wars. Besides KOTOR I’ve never played a RPG I loved until Mass Effect. I really wasn’t even all that stoked on this game in the first place, but in the spirit of equal opportunity I gave Mass Effect a chance. I sure am glad I did. More…
Alex Navarro is the latest to leave Gamespot. Guess he’ll have to update the above video. He put in his notice on January 10th according to Kotaku. No one knows exactly why he’s decided to leave. However, we could speculate (because it’s fun) that his exit has something to do with, I don’t know, the firing of Jeff Gerstmann maybe?
One day we’ll look back at this as the beginning of the end of Gamespot. I have a personal dislike for Gamespot as they are owned by Ziff Davis, and good ole Ziff Davis sent us a cease and desist letter for an article on Street Fighter 4 pics last month. As you may remember, the Internet formed a quick Blackout Monday the week after Gerstmann’s firing. While that may have been less than successful, it looks like we may still be seeing the shockwaves of it now and in the future. We here at CounterAgent continue to support the permanent ban of Gamespot. Oh, and I stopped listening to their podcast too. Gerstmann was the best. Alex Navarro wasn’t bad either.
Funny thing, not that this really matters, but Rich Gallup, host of all the media content on GameSpot left on July 27, 2007. So, maybe he was the start of this mass exodus of all the good at Gamespot.
Anyway, according to Ripten, Alex Navarro has been a frequent contributor to Gerstmann’s blog (aptly titled “still alive”) and webcast lately. Gamespot Editorial Director Ricardo Torres was asked about the thinning staff at Gamespot, he replied by saying that “they’re going to be realistic about their output and that they’re looking to fill positions as quickly as possible.” So, if you’re looking to join the darkside and like games and being part of the man, looks like they’re hiring.
Boom!
This game just moved up a few notches on my anticipated games for this year. It’s now confirmed that Bandai Namco Games are adding Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader, and mean green force machine, Master Yoda, to the line-up of playable characters in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV. Watch the video and be amazed. Thanks to Gaming Today for the original article.
With this move they may have single handedly expanded the franchise beyond the current fan-base. Just think about it. Star Wars games sell no matter what. The fans are rabid. Fanatical even. People will now buy this game without ever playing a Soul Calibur game. This has got to be the best “secret” character since they had Link in the Gamecube’s Soul Calibur.
Boom!
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