Gamer’s Roundup – Week One, February 2010
So we’ve been gone for a bit…but fear not, (Cool) Shite readers! The Gamer’s Roundup is back for 2010!
Original Xbox to be removed from Xbox Live service
April 15 will mark the end of Live service to those dedicated (or cheap?) gamers who use an original Xbox for their online matchmaking needs. All Xbox original titles – most notably, Halo 2, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and Counter-Strike – will lose online capability on that date.
In a notice to Live members, Xbox Live general manager Marc Written said,, “I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly…but after careful consideration, it is clear that this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community.”
Microsoft has stated they will shortly be in contact with those Live gamers who utilise original Xbox titles for online play. If you are one of those gamers, keep an eye on your associated email address or your Xbox messages via the console.
Iron Man 2 tie-in game not to suck. Honest!
Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo was…lucky…enough to sit down with the developers of Iron Man 2 to find out, in Totilo’s words, why “[it] won’t be dreadful.”
Iron Man 2 -- promised to be less sucky.
Kyle Brink of Interactive Entertainment goes into great detail here about key changes in this title as compared to the original tie-in game. Notably, enhanced controls, a unique story, better environments and destruction effects, and War Machine seem to be the reasons why you won’t want to throw this game through the nearest window.
My favourite bit about the interview? Brink honestly says he tried to make Iron Man’s combat system more like Batman: Arkham Asylum. Let the DC vs Marvel war begin.
To boldly go where one million have gone before…
After less than a week, new MMO Star Trek Online can already boast over one million players.
In related news, the massive multiplayer title is already offering microtransactions: be willing to part with more cash (aside from what you already dropped buying the game AND for your monthly subscription) if you’re looking for a Starfleet officer with a Klingon or Ferengi background.
I personally won’t be delving in to this game, despite my love for Star Trek, as I like games where THERE IS AN ACTUAL ENDING AND/OR POINT. What about you? Have you played it? Do you love it? Let us know.
Sonic 4, please do not suck.
Are you excited or scared?
Not a company to be discouraged after several thousand failed attempts at a decent Sonic game, Sega has recently announced they’re trying again…and this game might actually be good!
Abandoning the 3D look and feel of most recent Sonic games, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be a direct sequel to the GOOD (read: 2D) titles in the series, the last being Sonic and Knuckles in 1994.
Not only is the series going back to its roots, it also promises that Sonic will remain the only playable character in the game.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be available on Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 around July. Logic dictates that further episodes in the sequel will be released at regular intervals thereafter.
Sony stops A-grade downloadable titles for PS3
In a move that Gizmodo’s Mark Wilson calls “Sony’s latest PS3 mistake,” large downloadable titles like Warhawk will no longer be able to be lazily grabbed off of teh interwebs via the PlayStation Network straight to the PS3 console.
While it is believed Sony has made this decision due to ever-shrinking space on the PS3’s internal HDD (as most Blu-ray games require hefty installs to the HDD before they can be played) or large download files (average PS3 games can weigh in at 50GB and would be tough to download), Wilson can’t help but compare Sony’s revised downloadable game model to Microsoft’s and laugh.
“Microsoft has assembled an impressive library of $20 titles on the 360, and they’re intelligently slapping games like, say, Mass Effect on there before Mass Effect 2 comes out. This kind of strategy is good for the game studios, sure, but more importantly, it’s convenient for the consumer,” Wilson said.
Sony’s ‘The Tester’ is way cooler on paper
Or, "Would you Like to Open a Drive Tray?!?"
Sony ’s new original PlayStation Network reality series, called “The Tester,” debuts on February 18. Eleven gamers will compete over 8 episodes to become an actual PlayStation game tester and pick up a $5000 signing bonus in the process. Sound good? Those in the industry think not.
My favourite ACTUAL piece of reality about the show comes from Tycho of Penny Arcade fame, who describes what the show’s winner could look forward to:
“We know a lot of testers. Testing is an umbrella term in the gaming industry, and isn’t entirely sufficient as a descriptor. My friend Clinton did “testing” at Microsoft on the original Xbox, and this testing involved him opening and closing the system’s drive tray all day. He just got back from Iraq, but if I were to ask him what the most unrelenting and psyche abrading job he ever held was, I know he’d have to pause a moment before answering.”
Here’s hoping “The Tester” gets to preview…I mean, test…Resistance 3 or something as opposed to Barbie’s Horse Adventures 4: The Clydesdale!
Bits and bobs
Microsoft confirms Game Room rating ceiling — Joystiq
250GB Xbox HDD headed to Japan in March – Joystiq
Online Multiplayer Assassin’s Creed 2 Coming to the iPhone – Kotaku
Kojima considers Japanese Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker delay a “crime” — Joystiq
This week’s notable releases
Family Party: 30 Great Games Winter Fun (Wii)
Data East Arcade Classics (Wii)
Bioshock 2 (PC/Mac, Xbox 360, PS3)
Scene It? Twilight (DS)
Dante’s Inferno (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP)
Star Ocean: The Last Hope International (PS3)
Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll (Wii)
Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy (PC)
Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)
World Cup of Pool (DS)
Stargate Resistance (PC)
The fine print
This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive roundup of the entire week’s news. All stories are chosen for no other reason than that they got my attention and might capture yours. If something you think is more important, chime in on the feedback; we’d love to hear comments and have a conversation about it.
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