Archive for the ‘Gamer News’ Category

EA Thanks Loyal ME Fans’ Patience with Launch DLC… But You’ll Have to Pay for It.

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

EA Money Grubbing Jerks

"Well, if anyone previously doubted my motivations, this should clear things right up..."

I don’t think it should come as any surprise that I’d only break “radio silence” on the site to bitch…

But yeah, that’s what’s about to happen. Call it Fanboi rage or something.

Last night, my long wait for Mass Effect 3 finally came to an end. I’ve spent the last month or so playing and re-playing the ME3 demo and wrangled three friends into getting online and playing the multiplayer portion of the demo with me. I went back and played ME and ME2 just to try to get in a fix while I waited.

I’m not against waiting. I actually like when the anticipation builds to a fever pitch and most of the best things in life are worth waiting for. Maybe not all of them but most of them.

What does set my Rage Level to 11, however, is arriving to pick up my game, which, I might note, has been paid for in full since the first day the game was available for pre-order, and discovering there is already DLC being sold the night of the launch.

I have no idea what Electronic Arts was thinking. We’re not talking about some Day One patch that has to be downloaded before I can play but a DLC package that requires me to pay extra to have all of the content on the night of its launch. PAID DLC ON DAY ONE. Let that sink in for a second.

This is like going to the movies and shelling out the cash for your tickets, sitting through a movie you’ve been waiting to see, only to have the lights come on before the climatic ending, and being told that to see the end of the movie, it will be an extra five bucks.

Dirty pool, EA.

It gets better. A little research and Crutchboy discovers that the DLC we’re shelling out an extra $10 for is actually the extra content available with the Collector’s Edition. So now you’ve not just slapped the general gaming populace in the face by providing paid DLC on launch but you’ve also pretty much invalidated the extra content the Collector’s Edition folks were looking forward to enjoying while the rest of us waited for the day when the DLC was made available.

Sure, those who shelled out the extra cash for the CE probably get some physical goodies. Though based on my own lackluster experience with the CE of SWTOR, I can’t say the extra 20 bucks was worth an ME coffee mug or whatever EA packaged into the game since you’ve gone and made the extra content, the actual meat of what you were pitching to those interested in the Collector’s Edition, available to any poor schmuck who feels obligated to give you an extra ten bucks on launch day to make sure they’re not missing out on anything.

This is the end of “us”, EA. I’ve shelled out money for your titles and I’ve been a loyal fan of some of your games for years. You disappointed me when I found my last purchase of Madden to be the version I got the year before with an updated roster and a new coat of paint. You disappointed me when you started tying all of your in-game content to pre-orders of titles I had no interest in or on playing demos of games I really didn’t care to play.

You’ve made some good decisions in the past few years, namely the purchase of BioWare and all of the intellectual property that entailed, but you’ve made some glaring mistakes that I’m finding harder and harder to ignore. Offering me paid DLC on the night of the launch of one of the most anticipated titles on my very short list is the final straw.

You’re not getting any more money from me. Oh, I’ll continue to play the titles I’ve already purchased but I won’t be purchasing any new games or any further DLC from you. I won’t be pre-ordering any more games, giving you the excuse to artificially inflate your sales numbers by counting pre-orders as full sales in the present fiscal quarter.

More importantly to me, though I doubt you’ll notice, will be my silence in regards to any of your new titles. I won’t talk about them, write about them, or recommend them to friends.

And sadly, that means I won’t be purchasing anything else your genius step-child, BioWare, produces in the future because you’ve taken a brilliant product line and applied your ever shadier business model to it.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

QuakeCon, the Reckon Crew, and a Cheerleading Convention

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
QuakeCon 2011

If anything had happened at the Hilton, the world's IT departments may have never recovered...

It seems odd to think that being based in Texas, the Reckon Crew has never been out to QuakeCon. I know, I know, we’re horrible people. Fortunately, the newest addition to the Reckon Crew, photog extraordinaire Jim Brown, made it his personal mission to get us there.

Now we’re kind of sorry he did.

Not because it wasn’t awesome. Seriously, with the computing power in the BYOC, we probably could have opened a portal through time and space and wireless streamed games… from the future.

And it wasn’t that there wasn’t a lot to see. Between the keynote where John Carmack got on stage and demonstrated to us that his brain was considerably larger than our own and getting to get our hands on Rage (only four hours of playtime), there was plenty of firsts for us.

It wasn’t that we didn’t fit in. Honestly, if there were ever a place where the Reckon Crew fit in, it was the liquor drenched halls of the Hilton Anatole where QuakeCon 2011 was held.

Ventrilo ponied up a sweet looking truck (worth a measly $70,000) in a drawing. The entire weekend, people competed in the events id was hosting for a chance to get into the drawing.

QuakeCon 2011 Rage Truck

We didn't want the damn thing anyway! *sniffle*

There was the small glitch in scheduling that had us sharing a floor with cheerleaders from all over the U.S. And not the cool kind of cheerleaders where you can stare for a few minutes and just be normal for checking them out but the young kind (prostitots as one of Jim’s friends advised us they were called) with their creepy little faces done up in makeup and with only the energy that someone that the young can have without being put on medication.

But even that couldn’t mar the satisfaction we felt at finally making it to the premier Texas gaming event.

However, I am fairly certain that small bits of our soul and spleens were left in Dallas after having to come back home.

This is the sort of thing that can make you realize that you aren’t alone out here in the gaming world. It’s a reminder that no matter what you enjoy playing, there is someone out there who would love to throw down in the game with you, with or against, and you can walk away from that experience a better player and with a new friend.

It’s also a good example that Gamettes exist. Not just on our site but out there in the real world. I watched with no small satisfaction as the ladies were able to put a hurt on the boys there that would do any gamer proud. And yes, the boys (including us, we’re not immune) are still prone to staring and forgetting they’re gamers as well as women. It’s always good to have your point of view so soundly proven in that type of atmosphere.

We were loud, we were rambunctious, we drank too much, we stayed up too late. And all the while, we were amid like minded individuals who were doing the exact same thing.

Pedobear and the girls from Charisma+2

Pedobear does exist and he's checking out your girlfriend...

Somehow, during all of the drinking, cavorting, and ingestion of entirely too much caffeine, I was able to make my way to the IGDA Charity Event and play cards for a good cause. I lost early on but I met some interesting people and tried not to make eye contact with Pedobear when he sat down next to me. No, that last part was not an alcohol induced hallucination. Pedobear actually sat down next to me.

The lovely ladies from Charisma+2 were on hand to offset most of the ugly walking around at the Con… okay, so most of the ugly was me walking around the Con but you get the picture.

Somehow we made it home with our livers relatively intact and despite a mishap with my laptop that prevented me from posting this sooner, we managed to make it home with all of our electronic devices as well. No, the thing that made us regret having been at QuakeCon was that it was over and that it would be another whole year before Dallas would see this type of gathering again.

We’ll be there again next year… with more booze.

We might even challenge you to a drinking contest if you’re (un)lucky.

QuakeCon 2011 IGDA Charity Event

Wanna bet how much Gatorade there *wasn't* in that bottle?

Gritskrieg – End of Line

All photos contained in this post were taken by Jim Brown and then nearly lost in a game of Strip Battleship to the Editor of this site so as cool as they are, you’ll have to ask for permission to use them.

Twisted Metal: No guts, no glory

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Twisted Metal Goes For the Gore and the ‘Mature’ Rating, Passing on Public Beta

(Kotaku) – Most Twisted Metal games, despite their carnage, have been rated T for Teen. The lone exceptions are Twisted Metal: Black, the 10-year-old PlayStation 2 game with a darker bent, and this fall’s equally grisly PlayStation 3 reboot.

Eat Sleep Play co-founder and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe told Comic-Con attendees this weekend that the PS3 game, originally designed with a T rating in mind. But the game’s live action cinematics, bloody vignettes based on the game’s key players, were too graphic for the ESRB’s lower rating.

Jaffe showed Comic-Con attendees an incomplete version of one of those live action sequences, this one based on the series’ iconic serial killer Sweet Tooth. Beforehand, Jaffe warned that it probably wasn’t appropriate for little kids, given the blood, violence and grim dialogue. While not excessively gory, the impressive live action cinematic did contain some very intense imagery, with a high body count, some nasty language and at least one eye-stabbing scene. The audience lapped it up, reacting positively to the promise of more graphically violent horror fare from Eat Sleep Play.

Better still, the cinematic did a very capable job of explaining why a serial killer was taking part in a car combat competition run by Twisted Metal’s Calypso.

What may disappoint fans of Twisted Metal were two thing Jaffe all-but shot down: a public multiplayer beta and a collector’s edition of the PlayStation 3 game. Jaffe said that Twisted Metal would see a private and semi-private beta, but that a wider beta test wouldn’t really be necessary. As for the collector’s edition, Jaffe poo-pooed the idea, implying that the game itself would comprise the complete package.

Twisted Metal is on the books for an October 4 release date on the PlayStation 3 in North America.

[Full article at Kotaku.com]

How a Muggle Learned to Enjoy a Harry Potter Movie

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Yeah, I make the comparison. Don't cry...

Earlier last month, it was announced that the local theater would be running a Harry Potter Double Feature, Part 1 of Deathly Hollows and then Part 2 right at 12:01AM Friday morning.

There’s a long, convoluted story about how I got roped into attending but I’ll try to give you the short version.

A cute girl asked me to go with her.

Okay, so that wasn’t nearly as long or convoluted as I thought, but there it is. And that’s how I found myself in a line that reminded me of my younger days when I stood in a horrendously long line to see “Return of the Jedi???.

There were so many “school kid??? costumes that I briefly thought maybe AC/DC was playing live in the theater. I had to remind myself that these were the chosen costumes of this decade.

I have to take a moment to explain a few things. To begin, I am not what you’d call a huge Harry Potter fan. Sure, I enjoy the movies but I’ve never read the books. I’ve never felt the need to put on a gold and red necktie and draw a lightning bolt on my forehead with a Sharpie.

I’ve also never seen a Harry Potter movie on opening day much less waited in line to see a double feature that would have me in a hot theater till 2AM. Yes, the AC was on the fritz and it was hot. The only thing worse than being trapped in a theater with a bunch of sweaty people is when the majority of those sweaty people are wielding wands and pretending to cast some sort of cooling spell during the intermission.

But here I was, a large popcorn in my lap, my large lukewarm soda providing a mild comfort against the heat, sweating along with these kids. These are the same kids who if they’d seen me waiting in line to see “Return of the Jedi??? would have yelled “NERD!??? and possibly thrown rocks. My congratulations to J.K. Rowling in that respect. She brought Nerdy back.

(more…)

Duke Nukem Forever Review by Taffeta Darling

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Duke Nukem Forever by 2K Games

Recently I was lucky enough to take part in the Gearbox release of Duke Nukem Forever. I remember this being the first computer game that I played as a young 8 year old gal. My Dad’s best friend had it on his IMB/PC , and each time we paid him a visit I would beg for him to let me get my game on. This assembly of my body and his computer convened regularly till I was 11.

It was no surprise to me that a new Duke Nukem was coming out this year. I was excited, thrilled and quivered with anticipation at the fact I’d get to be holding my stick hailing to the “King???, once again, but in 3D!!

I agree with those who say that the palpability that DNF actually made it to my local game store is an attestation of the industry’s insistence. I’m all about games in 3D, assuming they’re done in the style I can enjoy. Well, after being at the release party, and playing this game before the general public I stopped quivering and started groaning with disappointment. Really, I won’t be dazed if this game is definitely remembered as one of the biggest let downs of this year if not years. Let me break it down with the whys:

Controls:
Anyone familiar with shooter games should have no concerns with getting right into the game. The basic button employments are alright in regard to running and jumping, but the aiming pissed me off more than ever. There’s an obnoxious lassitude with Duke’s aiming. I’m not braggin; but I do well with shooters, especially well and tend to be accurate. Using Duke’s crosshair aim is pretty pointless and anesthetized. I found this out in just the first few minutes of the game.

Gameplay:
The game seems to take place maybe a decade later with the aliens back to have their vengeance by pilfering Earth’s [presumably] hot women. It’s pretty ridiculous and this storyline lost my interest quickly with my want to push forward to the next level.

Speaking of pushing forward; instead of progressing on from one stage to another, the shooting segments are copiously separated and had me roaming around aimlessly trying to find the next clue. I hate that, it turned boring, fast!

Busy Gamer Gamette Taffeta Darling

Again I found myself forcing the momentum. There’s some subjection to awfully long loading times when Duke runs out of his “Ego??? [HP] during fighting sequences. Not to mention the hiding and waiting for those health points to power back up. I thought the fact that Duke has to run and hide to wait for his “Ego??? to boost up was pretty lame, not so fearless. Now, there are some interesting [not so much enjoyable] skirmishes, including the bout with the Alien Queen, which again, is pointless and tedious. However; it does lead to an awkward and unsettling lap dance. The rest I won’t spoil, I’ll let you pick out highlights for yourself, if you make it that far.

Art Design/Graphic Styling:
Obviously they’ve jolted the graphics up on this version, but it no way stands on common ground with the likes of modern day shooters. It preserves the visual aspect of first generation xBox titles. It reminded me of a motion comic that had little variation to the maps. Even the Titty City of Las Vegas failed in detail, most uninspiring.

The voice acting isn’t too bad. I mean, I met the guy who does the voice and I totally got into his shtick. He has good energy and passion for the role. But alas, the over the top one-lines are either lifeless or in bad taste.

Moving on to bad taste:
When Duke accidentally kills a woman, he makes a remark which I thought was inappropriate and somewhat tasteless. There is another stage when Duke stumbles upon two ladies and they beg for their lives. Instead of saving them, he gives them a stupid explicit filled pun and watched them explode. I’m no prude and can play hard with the rest of the ballers but there is a point at which my liberal mind says “Just stop, dude???.

It is my opinion, and it is only an opinion; that Duke Nukem Forever is for neophyte gamers looking for mindless play. After 15 years of anticipation, hype and months of facebook posting; this game finally dropped and I’m totally sorry that I picked it up.

Duke Nukem has become his own lampoon and I can’t imagine this “relic??? being good for any era.

The Taffeta Darling
www.curvesandcomics.blogspot.com
www.thetaffetadarling.com

3 suspects arrested in Spain for alleged PS3 “hacktics”

Friday, June 10th, 2011

In no way did it happen like this, but it would be cool if it did.

(Reuters) – Spanish police arrested three suspected members of the so-called “Anonymous” group on Friday on charges of cyber attacks against targets including Sony’s PlayStation store, governments, businesses and banks.

The police said the accused, arrested in Almeria, Barcelona and Alicante, were guilty of coordinated computer attacks from a server set up in a house in Gijon in the north of Spain.

Spanish police alleged the three arrested “hacktivists” had been involved in cyber attacks on Spanish banks BBVA and Bankia and the Italian energy group Enel as well as Sony PlayStation stores.

Members of the loosely coordinated “Anonymous” group, known for wearing Guy Fawkes masks made popular by the graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” had also attacked government sites in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, police said.

“They are structured in independent cells and make thousands of simultaneous attacks using infected ‘zombie’ computers worldwide. This is why NATO considers them a threat to the military alliance,” the police said in a statement.

“They are even capable of collapsing a country’s administrative structure.”

The arrests are the first in Spain against members of the “Anonymous” group following similar legal proceedings in the United States and Britain.

The police did not rule out further arrests.

E3: Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure with Coin-Op TV’s Hailey Bright

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Here we have another one of Coin-Op TV’s installments of some E3 coverage with Hailey Bright (Busy Gamer’s Gamette of the Year 2009). Hailey talks with Toys For Bob’s executive producer Jeff Poffenbarger about Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. Check it out!

Thanks to Coin-Op TV for sharing this video from E3 with us, you can check out more of their E3 coverage here at www.coin-op.tv.

First glance at the new Wii U controller

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Wii U? Wii Me. Well it’s pronounced (Wii-Yoo), and it’s the first peek at the impressive new hardware going along with Nintendo’s new Wii U game system. The console is not nearly as impressive looking as the controller, but this bad boy above clearly makes up for it. Looks like we have a nice view screen for ‘game inventory’ type stuff along with the regular buttons and whatnots. Wonder if we will be able to play mini games on it too? Who knows, maybe even with the console powered off. More on this as we get it!

E3 UPDATE: June 08, 2011
(Gamespot) – As with the Wii, the controller is the heart of the Wii U. And it’s large–think somewhat smaller than an iPad and considerably bigger than the original Sony PSP. The reps on hand noted that the controller was designed to offer a new way for players to interact with the console, games, and other players. They understood that, much like the first time we saw the Wii Remote, the only way to really understand was to show us.

On the face of the controller you’ll find a 6.2-inch touch screen (Nintendo declined to say whether it was multitouch capable). A stylus slides out of the controller for use on the touch screen (which makes us think it’s based on resistive touch technology). During the E3 2011 press conference, Nintendo showed the stylus being used for fairly complex sketching, which shows us how detailed the touch screen will be. The matte screen has great viewing angles and offers vivid colors and brightness, making it ideal for use by two people at the same time at very off angles. The pixel density seems to be high enough to put it on par with modern smartphones. Nintendo stated that it’s not high definition, but the resolution appears to be substantially higher than the 3DS screen. We’re guessing the screen is under 1280×720 and above 640×480.

Nintendo eschewed a complex controller with the Wii by limiting the number of buttons. By contrast, the Wii U controller practically bristles with them. Two circle pads, similar to those found on the portable Nintendo 3DS, flank either side of the screen. A D pad resides on the left; A, B, X, and Y buttons are on the right; two shoulder buttons are on the top; two trigger-like buttons are on the bottom; and the usual array of start, select, and home buttons line the bottom. But it doesn’t end there.

Like the Wii, the Wii U controller also features motion controls that should be on par with the Wii MotionPlus. Although you won’t be using it like a Wii Remote, as its bulk and unwieldiness prevent it from mimicking sports equipment like bats and rackets.

A front-facing camera sits at the top of the controller, ostensibly for use in taking pictures and possibly for augmented-reality capabilities. At its E3 2011 press conference, Nintendo revealed that the controller will have video chat capabilities. Built-in speakers also play back sound, and the controller also features a headphone jack.

The controller is capable of playing games even if the TV is being used at the moment for something else, like watching shows. It’s portable in a sense, but only within wireless reach of the main console, because all of the controller’s visuals are generated by the console and then streamed to the controller.

One of the key features of Wii U is its backward compatibility with Wii controllers (remotes, nunchuks, and more). Many of the cases we saw involved anywhere from two to four remotes, with and without nunchuks, and one player on the Wii U controller. Players on Wii Remotes would generally get split-screen gameplay on the TV, while the player on the Wii U controller would primarily use the screen on the controller. Most of the games we saw would give the player on the Wii U controller extra information, or an entirely different perspective paired with vastly different controls. In general, the player with the Wii U controller was pit against the players with Wii Remotes.

E3: Coin-Op Tv’s Hailey Bright and Prototype 2

Monday, June 6th, 2011

We get uber delighted when our past Gamettes are out covering gaming events, especially the major ones like this interview over at E3 this year in Los Angeles. Take a peek at Coin-Op Tv’s Hailey Bright (our Gamette of the Year 2009) interviewing Radical Entertainment’s Chris Ansell for Prototype 2. Good stuff, and keep your eye out for the return of the BG Crew at SDCC in July 2011. Pending court dates of course (just kidding, we’ve been good this year).

Thanks to Coin-Op TV for sharing this video from E3 with us, you can check out more of their E3 coverage here at www.coin-op.tv.

Star Wars TV series scripted, but cameras not rolling. Yet.

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Hey George, don't be jedi mind tricking us about more Star Wars stuff!

We heard last year, or even earlier than that, that there was a ‘made for TV’ live-action Star Wars series in the works. A recent quote from George Lucas himself sparked a media frenzy. Has Lucas already secretly filmed 50 hours of the series and then shelved the project?

George Lucas recently gave the media a big update about the progress of his mysterious live-action Star Wars TV show, which is rumored to be set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. In the interview, with Attack Of The Show, Lucas said:

“We have 50 hours and we’re just waiting to figure out a different way of making movies, a different technology we can use … to make it feasible to shoot the show…When we do figure this problem out it will dramatically affect a lot of movies. Right now it looks like the Star Wars features.”

This quote begat a lot of rumors that Lucas had managed to film 50 hours of live-action Star Wars television. A Lucasfilm PR rep confirmed that Lucas was only talking about 50 hours’ worth of scripts that had been written. Nothing had yet been filmed.

View the full video interview over at G4′s Attack Of The Show.










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