Gamertell

  Coming to the close of its Halo machinima series Red vs. Blue, Rooster Teeth is getting busy on a new miniseries based on the new Shadowrun game for PC and Xbox 360.  Titled 1-800-Magic, the first episode features a gun fight, commentary on morale boosts, the titular help line and a fellow with a mustache making funny voices.  Dialogue heavy as Rooster Teeth can be, a few timing and sight gags put much needed breaks in the often wordy comedy.

One might worry that lip-syncing would be some poor smacking jaws but I was joyfully surprised to see that mouths in 1-800-Magic not only move reasonably but also with great sound matching that suggests Rooster Teeth was given extra tools that don’t typically appear in the game.

Read [Rooster Teeth]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

I would bet an extra-thick milk shake that everyone loves the internet because, for once, everything seems to just come to you instead of requiring a step into the damp, unforgiving wilderness of human civilization for new information on anything.  Before I further betray my distaste for radio, behold the fruits of this internet: magazine scans of hot, shiny, barely legal games baring all!

Gamepro got one of the hottest exclusives of all summer in it’s July 2007 issue: Halo 3 info that can’t even be extracted from the beta’s data stream.  Much of this information is familiar and old for anyone enjoying the beta, but some new tasty bits are revealed, such as customizable armor for players to strut in over Xbox Live, the skinny on the new Brute Chopper and some neat details on some new maps (and a couple remakes).

Radar Jammer, because the fourth wall is only fun when it’s broken

New map Shrine, apparently a huge open desert.  Perfect for vehicles and headshots.

New map Epitaph.  Confusion and vulnerability from every angle?  I’m so there.

Some fresh chest and helmet options, for the fashion concious Spartan.

I’m reminded of Storm Troopers from Star Wars here.

Just as anyone might expect, something this hot (and easily scanned) won’t stay on paper pages for long.  At first, it was all uploaded to an image share and posted on Gamefaqs.  Unfortunately, it looked as if those versions were taken from a digital camera pointed down into the providers lap and are as such very glary and blurry.  Luckily we dug up some sharper scans that leave little to the imagination.  If you want it even sharper, however, just have to go out and by the magazine.

Read [The Last Boss]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

One young lady over at Destructoid has posted a rant about “girl gamers.”  Besides the usual grumblings about how girl gamer “stars” like the FragDolls look like models first and gamers second, she raises some good points about the atmosphere of gaming culture:

“Sometimes you can’t really trust if your actually liked or if you’ve only got popular because you have tits. For example, myself. I managed to get number 1 blog on 1up.com for a few weeks. I was on the front page for a number of weeks also. Now was it because people actually liked my writing, or because I am female? I am not really a great writer. And some of my 1up messages are all “omg your hot” or “omg girl gamer.” I usually introduce myself as a female gamer. I’m 20 years old, I am not a girl any more.”

When the industry tries to cater to girls with That’s So Raven and Bratz games, you know something is awry.  I’ve known many girls who play the same games as most guys.  My girlfriend is working on Odin Sphere as we speak, though I often remind her that she’s not just controlling the camera when we play Gears of War over Xbox Live.  And I’ve noticed a sudden surge over hearing little girls meandering over how much they love Zelda.

It just seems like something the industry doesn’t want to move on just yet.  They just keep making their games to the 18-34 male crowd and girls can either bite that particular wax tadpole or get left out to dry.  I just wonder how far we are from games made in the vein of romance novels.  One shudders to think what it’d be like for a local game retailer to have the same clientele as any Barnes and Noble book store.  One shudders twice to think of the profits, since all of those games would be largely derivative, just like their paperback counterparts.  One shudders thrice because lists of three have better rhythm than lists of two.

Site [Destructoid]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

The recent further delay of Halo 2 for Vista is due to “an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity.”  In the wake of Rockstar and Take Two’s “Hot Coffee” fiasco, where a sex game could be unlocked from the original code via third party modifications, game developers have been under close watch regarding hidden content.  Bethesda also suffered a re-rating from the ESRB when it was discovered that nude textures existed for all of the characters, though again third party software was necessary to access it.

Microsoft and Bungie have explained that the delay itself comes from developing a patch to completely obliterate this mysterious “partial nudity” and from creating labels to send to retailers so that consumers would be aware of this hidden content.

This fervor over naughty content that was technically “locked out” before release is maddening.  Should the effects of third party software really factor in on a game’s rating?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to include modifications and Gameshark code shifting in the same clause as “game experience may change online”?  A lot of Hot Coffee’s attention was over the fact that Take Two and Rockstar lied repeatedly about the existence of a sexual mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but Bethesda was much more forthcoming about their content and were still dealt more than a slap on the wrists.

Luckily, Bungie caught this “obscure content error” before release.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to spend another summer hearing parroted reports and exposés on how children are getting their hands on games too mature for them in the first place, thanks to childrens’ abilities to melt a parent’s heart into buying inappropriate toys and games.

Site [NextGen]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

CMP Media, responsible for organizing the Game Developers Conference each year, has been busy adapting to the changing global climate of game development.  Just this week, two new events have been announced: GDC China and PC GameOn.

Taking its show to the Far East, CMP Media will hold the first annual GDC China in August 2007, which promises to be the same event in spirit though tailored to the unique demands and interests of the Chinese game development community.  China is one of the world’s fastest growing game markets and the program is promising content for the native Chinese developers as well as international developers interested in opening in, moving to, hiring from, or outsourcing to China.

While announcing publicly no intention to turn the GDC into the glitzy media frenzy that E3 used to be, it’s instead begun to fill that void with a consumer-oriented event to reveal hot new tech and games of the personal computer persuasion.  PC GameOn’s site is still light on details, but promises more will be forthcoming in “June.”  It’s scheduled to immediately follow the Austin Game Developers Conference and Game Career Seminar.

Site [GDC China] Site [PC GameOn]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and UK mobile phone service provider BT have joined forces to turn the PSP into a mobile video phone.  BT has developed software that allows phone calls and video calls over the internet, a natural fit to leverage the PSP digital camera accessory and built-in WIFI capabilities to add video phone the multi-purpose handheld’s list of uses.
Each company has a lot to gain from the partnership: BT has a relatively popular and powerful mobile platform for their highly useful 21CN technology, which is available in any of the 102 countries BT serves, and Sony gets a stake in the lucrative mobile phone market without having to take time and money to develop a whole new device.

Even though this new functionality will likely do well to momentarily invigorate PSP sales where free WIFI is readily available, I can’t help but think this move is too little and too late compared to the Apple iPhone.  It seems to be in line with the PSP’s long list of features: just novel or useful enough to catch someone’s attention but inconvenient or expensive enough in execution to be frustrating and ultimately shrugged off.

Site [BT Group] Also read [EuroGamer]

• Xbox Live update includes new features, Facebook and Twitter account access
• 60 percent of UK gamers in CNET survey say their Xbox 360 has failed
• Gamertell Review: Cute Knight Kingdom for PC