How Not to Learn a Lesson

You’d think that with all the controversy surrounding media hype, inaccurate previews, publisher pressure and the internet’s eagle-eyed denizens who, among other things, are able to discern the number of pixels actually used in games, that publishers would wise up about releasing doctored gameplay photos of their games.

You’d think that this would be even more the case with Guerilla, the team responsible for Killzone 2, since they were already criticized for trying to pass off a CG trailer as gameplay footage back in 2005 and actually given somewhat of a reprieve this year when they showed a real gameplay trailer that actually came somewhat close (according to media reports anyway) to matching the fake 2005 one.  But some people apparently just don’t learn from their mistakes, as Guerilla has admitted that recently released screenshots are “the tiniest bit touched up.”  Here’s the comparison shot provided:

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All the news that’s fit to print… and more!

We’re all aware that when the mainstream media tries to tackle video games, they often miss the mark.  But you have to wonder exactly how a paragraph so poorly written and filled with complete fabrications can get published in the New York Times (via Joystiq):

“Those who have spent the day trading carbon credits have another opportunity to save the planet, this time from aliens in Halo 3, the third edition of the Xbox 360 game. The PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo 5, a hyper-realistic, high-speed journey, is one of the best sellers for that Sony console, which starts at $299. Microsoft’s Xbox starts at $280. Both are built around the multicore Cell processor, which allows numerous tasks to be done simultaneously.”

Amazing… the rest of the article regarding other technology-related gifts manages not to completely mangle the reporting. It’s just this one paragraph that seems to have been shoddily written and researched and, in some ways, seemingly completely fabricated.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

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Wii would like to play… test.

Downgraded graphics and sound were a given for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III, but how much worse? While the Wii doesn’t support digital audio, it still supports Dolby Pro Logic II, which does an ok job with positional sound.  Guitar Hero III advertises on the box that it supports Dolby Pro Logic II, a nice alternative to Dolby Digital.  Unfortunately, Guitar Hero III apparently doesn’t just lack its advertised Dolby Pro Logic II support, it doesn’t even support stereo sound.  That’s right, Wii fans only get mono-sound Guitar Hero.

The game is obviously still very playable, as even several reviewers didn’t catch on to this problem.  Although, you’d hope with a game so reliant on sound and music they’d at least get this part right. Doesn’t anyone bother to playtest their games now?  You know, make sure all the features you’re listing on the box actually make it into your game?  A novel concept, I know.

I’m curious to see how Activision fixes this.  As of yet, I don’t really know of any “patches” to Wii games that you can download or install on the console.  Any time there’s been a major bug with a Wii game (which there have been only 1 or 2 to my knowledge), Nintendo has had to exchange the actual game disc with a fixed version.  Will Activision have to issue a recall (or at least a voluntary one) for their Wii implementation of Guitar Hero?  I’m sure we’ll hear more about this soon.

Manhunt 2 Part Deux

I will stipulate that the absurd firestorm over Manhunt 2 was both ridiculous and pointless.  I will go further and agree that the game should never have been given an AO rating, and that even had it been given such a rating it should never have been censored.  Yet for all these facts, I cannot conclude that simply disabling offensive content was anything other than unmitigated stupidity. 

Has Rockstar learned absolutely nothing from Hot Coffee?  The big lesson of GTA III was that regardless of what merit the gaming industry’s arguments had, including content like this is asking for a PR nightmare.  I can accept that such a nightmare wasn’t particularly foreseeable back when this occurred, since it was isolated content that few people knew existed and wasn’t particularly offensive to begin with.  But not knowing that this would happen now - after everything Rockstar went through to get the game released in the first place - is inexcusable.  Rockstar already knew that gamers would likely eventually discover how to enable disabled content.  They already knew that people were gunning for their company and the industry as a whole based on the previous Manhunt content.  And they knew that they were dangerously close to getting the industry regulated because of their love of foolish publicity stunts.  This kind of stunt manages to keep this silly debate alive longer while undermining everything the ESRB and gamers have been saying about the effectiveness of self-policing. 

Someone at Rockstar should resign for this, and if they don’t resign, they should be fired.  Immediately.

“Analog” skills still required in the Digital World

I just called my local Gamestop to check whether my pre-reserved copy of Ratchet and Clank was ready yet and received a startling response:

“Sorry, our computer system’s crashed so our inventory isn’t working.  We’re closed until tomorrow when we’ll be handling pre-orders.”

My, oh my… what did we ever do before we had computers to handle our inventories?

I realize that having a failure with a system which you rely upon every day can make your life temporarily difficult.  But honestly, business has been transacted for thousands of years without the use of a computer.  Get out a pen, paper, and calculator if necessary and continue doing your business.  They couldn’t even tell me whether they had received shipment of the game yet.  They can’t simply open up their shipments for that day and, I know this might blow some minds, just look?

Far more serious and difficult operations, such as air traffic control and hospitals still manage to function in some capacity when their systems fail.  I realize that a single Gamestop closing for a day isn’t exactly the worst thing that could happen in the world, but it’s still actually astonishing to me that this Gamestop didn’t have a contingency plan for doing business when something like this happens in the first place.  How much money do they lose when they have to close for a day?  Is this a corporate failing or an individual store’s mismanagement?

Either way, it’s pathetic.

A Comment On The Vagaries Of The Human Mind

I have to really admire anyone who manages to attribute the murderous impulses of a strung-out meth addict to their videogame console.  After all, the obvious choice was some combination of hip-hop and twinkies.

Halo 3 Collector’s Crap

Nothing would piss me off more than if I paid a premium for a “collector’s” edition of something just so that I could get the game in a sub-par case that renders my game disc unplayable.   Why Microsoft would jeopardize what’s likely to be their biggest release ever for the 360 (both now and going forward) with a sub-standard case is beyond me.  If this is as widespread as Destructoid thinks, expect to see hordes of absolutely furious Halo fans on Tuesday.

I’ll be sticking to my standard edition in its usually quite protective standard-DVD case, thanks.

Ahh, Stolen Intellectual Property

I saw this a couple days ago and meant to post it up.  Nothing too interesting, but mildly funny software with an American license (Shrek in this case) can somehow be so easily outsourced to people who obviously couldn’t care less about Copyright or Intellectual Property law and ultimately sold back in the US.  Check it out.

And you thought I was crazy… (Updated)

Here it is: Official confirmation that playing Halo 3 early will get you banned. You can’t even play offline, as your play history will give you up as soon as you connect. Completely ridiculous but as I predicted.

Find Halo 3 in the wild and you may as well just let it go until 9/25.

*UPDATE* Apparently this story has already been nipped in the butt bud (thanks Megan). Microsoft has “clarified” that the ban only applies to Microsoft employees who play the game early. Whether this was the original policy or MS changed it quickly before the story could blow up is uncertain, but now that their stance is clear, feel free to play some Halo 3 early should the opportunity come up!

It’s A-Me, Maturity

Seriously, guys?  “U R MR GAY”?  Not only does that not even make sense, it’s not even that funny.