That’ll teach you for naming names. In Electronic Gaming Monthly’s last issue Editor-In-Chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu wrote some editorials about game publishers bullying game publications. You know how the game publishers respond? With some bullying. Game Publishers Midway, Sony, and Ubisoft have “allegedly” banned EGM from writing about their products. Can they do that?

It seems they didn’t like what Mr. Hsu had to say about them and their games. There is currently no confirmation with the publishers as to these claims. However, in the wake of other recent publisher related scandals, like Gerstmann-Gate and all, I wouldn’t be so surprised.

Source: Video Game Media Watch

Boom!

So Thursday night I was heading home at about 9 o’clock. With thoughts of Mass Effect swirling in my head I pushed the gas to the floor only to run into some traffic a mere 1/4 mile from my home. As I crested the hill I noticed at least 20 or more flashing police cars. Something is wrong, this can’t be good I thought. As my car creep closer to the nearest police car I noticed traffic was being diverted away from my road.

“Excuse me officer can I get to my road from the other side?”

Officer “Yea I think its open”

So I made my way around to the other side only to be stopped by another police officer who informed me that I cannot go home. Why, why can’t I go home? I need my Xbox 360! So I headed to a local Publix parking lot. I spotted a policeman and pulled up next to him.

“Excuse me sir, whats going on?”

Officer #2 “Two police officers were serving a warrant, when they were fired at and wounded”

What followed was a 14 hour standoff in which the suspect barricaded himself in his room firing at SWAT teams that tried to enter the home on several occasions. “Tear” gas was fired into the house as well as concussion grenades. The next morning they stormed the house to find the suspect dead in a closet. The standoff was over and both officers that were wounded were both in stable condition and are going to make a full recovery.

But what’s this got to do with video games? Well with a combination of being late and a little laziness mixed in, I LEFT MY XBOX ON! Oh no 16 hours of my beloved baby just sitting there heating up waiting for the dreaded RED RING OF DEATH to set in. What was I to do? “Ummm officer do you think I could be let through the barricade so I can turn off my Xbox? I swear I’ll come right back out!” So I spent the evening at a friends house keeping up with the standoff and worrying about my baby. I spent the night sleeping on the floor only to wake up and still not be able to go home yet. There was a story of a doctor who lived on the street, who had a helicopter fly in and pick him up. Sadly my helicopter crew wasn’t available so that option was gone.

Finally though the standoff ended and we were allowed to go home. I rushed to my house with fear and anxiety rushing all over me. I bounded up the stairs like a gitty school girl that had a pony waiting for her. Would my baby’s beautiful green eyes be turned to red?

I burst through the door and was nothing but relieved as I saw the green light still burning bright. I couldn’t turn it off fast enough. I let it cool down for about a day and turned to back on. I am proud to say it is still working today. I guess I’m lucky. The horrific epidemic that is the red ring of death has not struck me yet. I know of quite a few friends who have been afflicted by it. One guy 5 times, no lie folks 5 times.

I know that the red ring of death could strike at anytime but I feel like I got away with one on this occasion. To all who have had to get a cardboard coffin and be without your Xbox for 4-6 weeks I salute you.

The swirling tornado of Xbox 360 rumors that has been tearing its way through the Counter Agent offices for the last week is starting to die out. So far there has been no announcement from the folks at Microsoft at CES about the much hyped HD/DVD integration on the 360.

According to Kotaku Microsoft issued this statement concerning those rumors:

“We have reiterated multiple times since launching the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player that we have no plans to integrate an HD-DVD player in to the Xbox 360. We feel that offering the drive externally is the best way to give consumers the ultimate choice to create their own high-definition experiences.”

Makes no sense to me but hey I’m just a guy who plays video games.

Thanks Kotaku

Bill Gate’s gave his last keynote CES earlier tonight. How was it? What giant revelations did he have? Is he still as boring and un-charismatic as ever? Read on to find out. Oh, but yeah, he still can’t deliver on the charisma thing.

It all started with some of the crappiest music I could endure, Paulson, whatever. That led into the much hyped reveal of Mr. President and CEO of CES, Gary Shapiro, yeah no Gates yet. Once he was done pimping CES he introduced Bill Gates. (Note: this is his 12th and final CES). The Xbox was announced at CES some years ago, as well as a number of big Microsoft products. Mr. Gates walks onto stage to a funky remix of the ‘If you believe in magic’. He starts with talk about hopes and dreams. The technologies that have grown in the past few years.

It’s all about the first “Digital Decade”. He claims all media will be software, not hardware driven in the future. All about customizing your experience wherever you are. The TV meeting the Internet, i.e. their very own Windows Media Center.

Holy crap, then they did this crappy montage, skit thing about what Bill Gates last day will be like. I think they’re trying to make him lovable or something before he goes. They had him rapping with Jay-Z, working out with Matthew McConaughey , rocking out with Rock Band while on the phone with U2 singer Bono. Steven Speilberg, George Clooney, John Stewart, even Hilary Clinton, Obama, and Al Gore make cameo’s. All of the guys at Microsoft like to let their hair down and have a good laugh. They’re people just like you and me, not a gigantic, retarded, monopoly, right? More…

So, it looks like we will be getting something as compensation for the lack of service last week. It will be a yet-to-be-determined Xbox Live Arcade game sometime in the near future, whatever that means. Ooh, wow, they really know how to fix things. I’m sorry that was sarcasm, it’s a very hard thing to convey in written form. Anyway, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten sent out this message last night:

“During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you.”

It seems as if Microsoft just wants to thank everyone for making this past week the best week ever for Xbox Live. They make it sound like the crappy service was a good thing. I’m wondering what happens to all the Live members that already own said arcade game. Here’s hoping it’s something awesome like Root Beer Tapper or Frogger. More sarcasm.

Boom!

While earlier stories had pegged the Wii as a novelty workout and not really much good for fitness or losing weight, it seems some doctors have found a great way to use the “game” machine for rehabilitation purposes. You could call it “Wiihab”. Get it, like rehab. Looks like the PS3 isn’t the only console helping (you know about their Folding@Home thing).

I’m just happy to see someone finally get some use out of the Wii. What’s kind of funny is that they’re still just using the Wii Sports games. Seeing as how those are the only games anyone plays on the Wii.

Boom!

Source: GameTrailers, CNN

“If you’re not careful, your 360 may jettison you out an air-lock. The red ring of death is just the first sign that something has gone terribly wrong and not only will you not be playing any games, your 360 may rebel and simply kill you.” - Splitreason.com

I came across this shirt on Splitreason.com and fell in love. The comment was LOL funny too so I had to include it in my article. Splitreason.com has some pretty funny shirts you can buy. This one was going for $18.95. This site is just full of “gear for geeks and gamers.” So check it out before I red ring you!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE CO-OP!!! There is just nothing like beating a good game with one of your gaming buddies. Whether it’s online or local, it makes a good game that much better. I believe co-op to be a great way for gamers to interact with others and make sometimes anti-social people a bit more social.

It looks like the guys at computerandvideogames.com agree. Check out this really good article they had in PC Gamer magazine. It’s a good article with some interviews with developers who have made use of good co-op in their game.

I thought that Cliffy B’s comments where pretty good he said,

“It is difficult,” he admits, “but if you want to have a multi-million selling shooter you have to have a great singleplayer and a solid co-op mode. I think there’s a huge gulf between casual and hardcore players, and co-op is a way to bridge that.
“You can have a husband and wife, with one player leading another through the game. She might feel less intimidated with her husband’s help. It’s this kind of stuff that will bridge that gap.”

As I played through GOW single player, by myself, I couldn’t help but think about how great a co-op game this is. As I had to replay a few parts over and over because Dom kept doing stupid stuff and getting himself killed, I yearned for someone with a real brain to control him.

I’m playing Mass Effect now and I’ve thought, how great would it be to have 1 or 2 other friends controlling the other members of your squad? Each having different weapons and biotic’s they can use. Of course ME is already a huge game so I’d imagine co-op for a game like it would be tough. It would be pretty amazing though.

This year already looks strong for those of us that like co-op, Army of Two, Left 4 Dead, and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 are all coming soon. I know that AOT is getting pretty abused by everyone and it does look a little crappy. But just the fact that it is totally built around co-op makes it a game I’m interested in.

Please game makers, PUT MORE CO-OP IN YOUR GAMES IT IS GREAT!

That’s right we have forums now. So check them out. I posted my top 3 games of 2007. Go to our forums and tell us your picks for 2007. Keep it clean everybody but feel free to let your let your opinions fly.

Well 2007 is gone and 2008 is here with a vengeance. To be honest I’m a bit bummed that 07 is gone. It might have been the best video game year ever. I’m saying that it was. I’ll admit that most of the year was somewhat weak and it didn’t pick up until later in the year. But it was so good in November that I can over look the slow summer. With that said here’s what I loved and didn’t love about 07.

More…