In the World of Video Games Today.

Ice

Teh Sexy Monkey Queen
Joined
Jul 24, 2004
Messages
43,800
Location
The World of Icelandia.
A new column by Ice.



In the World of Video Games Today


Wednesday, December 5th, 2007


EIDOS MIO!

News reported around the net that begun yesterday proclaims that the Editor-In-Chief from Gamespot, Jeff Gertsman, has been fired from the website after being with them for the last 10 years. Why was he fired? Simple. He gave a bad review for Kane & Lynch.

No really, he was fired because of that.

Internet rumors, as well as a Penny Arcade comic say/show that Gertsman gave a negative review for Kane & Lynch which highly upset the game developer, Eidos. They then contacted Gamespot which then fired the EIC.

No party of either side will make any comments due to "legal reasons."

Other writers for the website are declaring a massive 'walk-out' for this harsh dealment.

Now, is this fair? How can someone be fired for not liking a game? This of course is utter bull****. No one will like everything. No one has the power to contact companies and have them fire the negative reviewer simply because that's his/her opinion.

This is almost as bad as the company, I forgot the name, who paid off a magazine to give an excellent/perfect review of their racing game. I'm not sure if it was a Project Gotham series or Need for Speed.

Eidos and Gamespot better fix this problem quickly, because no one can be fired for a situation like this. This is a massive lawsuit waiting to happen. Unjustful termination or whatever the legal term is. If I was Gertsman, I know that's the second thing I would do. First would probably kick someone's ***.

Okay, maybe not, but it's fun thinking about it.
 
Last edited:
Huh... that's ****ed up.

EDIT: I also hope the game gets negative reviews overall from the public.
 
Last edited:
I'm not going to say anything bad about the company until the guy actually says that's why he was fired. It could have been for a completely different reason, the review just being a coincidence. Seem like people are really rushing to action based on rumors
 
Huh... that's ****ed up.

EDIT: I also hope the game gets negative reviews overall from the public.

It really is.

As far as Kane and Lynch goes, it's pretty damn terrible. Which is a shame because I liked the concept.
 
I'm not going to say anything bad about the company until the guy actually says that's why he was fired. It could have been for a completely different reason, the review just being a coincidence. Seem like people are really rushing to action based on rumors

True, although it has been revealed that Eidos has been lying about reviews for the game.

This is pretty messed up:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/eidos/did-we-give-kane--lynch-5-stars-329539.php

http://www.gamebump.com/go/official_kane_and_lynch_website_lies_about_its_scores
 
I didn't even know EIDOS Interactive still had clout like that. :shock:

Seriously, I thought they were the least influential of publishers.
 
In the World of Video Games Today

Volume 1 Column 2




Wednesday, December 12th, 2007




Welcome to an All-New All-Different column! But not really. This is a weekly column to help serve you all into what's happening in the world of video games. From news about games to news about what happens behind the scenes, it'll be all covered. To a point.

Unlike other columns out there, I don't have inside people to drop me some secret news or leaked info. You are still, however, getting news that can be either awesome or craptastic. That's up to you.





ONCE, TWICE, THRICE, FOUR TIMES THE FIGHTER

As people already know, Street Fighters IV is on its way soon. In case anyone was freaking out like a rabid monkey (and you know who are, intarwebz lurkers), yes, the game is still coming as a 2D fighting game. The characters are going to be 3D, so again, rest your worry little hearts.

SFIVscreenshot.jpg
Street Fighters IV: Ryu poses for the camera.​

It has been about 10 years since a last 'numbered' Street Fighters game has been released, and God only knows how many rumors have spread about the game. But today, 1up.com brings you the first official news of the next game in the all-popular franchise of footless fighting fighters (wow, try saying that 10 times fast!).

EGMcover.jpg

While not much is being told now, you can check out the January 2008 issue of EGM for more information on the game.




NO BAD IMAGES LEFT BEHIND

The U.S. House of Representatives have recently approved a bill in which any organization or individual that provides open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report any person or persons who access illegal or "obscene" images. The bill is designed to help prevent pictures of child pr0n spread, however the 'definition' of the bill does include cartoon images, hentai, and even fully clothed minors- who have been photographed in inappropriate positions.


The bill won by a landslide of 409-2.



HOLIDAY BUYING AND YOU

We're only 13 days away from Christmas Day (12 from Christmas Eve! ZOMG!) and you're probably still looking for a gift or two. If that person, say just happens to love video games (fat chance, right? *wink* *wink*), why not take a look at Yahoo!'s game gift guide? It's sure to likely help you out.


You have from Top Selling games like Halo 3 to Super Mario Galaxy to The Sims 2 Deluxe, to Family Friendly games Big Thinkers, and more.




NUMBERS GALORE

Reported recently on G4's The Feed segment/podcast, Mass Effect has sold over 1 Million copies. This of course, is just part of Microsoft's icing on the cake as their other console exclusive game, Halo 3 has already achieved, if not surpased, 5 Million copies sold. This does not, however, include the Legendary or other special packages of the game.




IT'S HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE...

That's it for this week's column. Come back next week for more news and insights to the world of video games. If you have any questions or news you want to see mentioned, feel free to PM me or e-mail me at: [email protected].


There's no second period, you know that right? That's just to end the sentence. Didn't they teach you that in english?



Column 1
 
Last edited:
NO BAD IMAGES LEFT BEHIND

The U.S. House of Representatives have recently approved a bill in which any organization or individual that provides open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report any person or persons who access illegal or "obscene" images. The bill is designed to help prevent pictures of child pr0n spread, however the 'definition' of the bill does include cartoon images, hentai, and even fully clothed minors- who have been photographed in inappropriate positions.


The bill won by a landslide of 409-2.
STUPID.
 
now they're calling our RIGHT to bear arms a priviledge. that's stupid. it's not a priviledge.
You should read Eagle, it had the greatest defense of tighter gun control as explained from the perspective of the pro-gun culture demographic.

Back on topic, this means you have to monitor EVERYONE on the wi-fi service. What happened to privacy?

And even if you adopt some form of content blocker or site-screening device/software, there will always be sites that slip through the cracks.
 
In the World of Video Games Today

Volume 1 Column 3




Wednesday, December 19th, 2007




Welcome to an All-New All-Different column! But not really. This is a weekly column to help serve you all into what's happening in the world of video games. From news about games to news about what happens behind the scenes, it'll be all covered. To a point.

Unlike other columns out there, I don't have inside people to drop me some secret news or leaked info. You are still, however, getting news that can be either awesome or craptastic. That's up to you.






EIDOS, NOT AGAIN!

Two weeks ago I brought you the news of Gertsman getting fired from GameSpot's website shortly after his Kane & Lynch review. There are people who don't believe that true, but most gamers are not convinced. Eidos was a big supporter of the website, being an advertiser for GameSpot.

EidosLogo.jpg

Of course, without being able to give any interviews for whatever legal reason there may be, there isn't much to say. There's always the possibility that there were other reasons that were leading up to Gertsman's firing, but unfortunately for Eidos, there are too many 'coincidences' that just make them look worse. As mentioned, they are a big advertiser of the site, the firing happening right after the review was posted, GameSpot not only removing Gertsman's video review, but COMPLETELY changing his worded review, and of course, let us not forget that Eidos lies about reviews…




WiiSHING FOR MORE?

From the Holiday 2007 Special of Nintendo Power, it is revealed that there will be lots of original new games as well as brand new installments of popular franchises that will be available for download next year from the upcoming Wii Ware Channel. From the 100 games that have been created so far, the genres range "from puzzles to shooters to RPGs."

Some of the games mentioned are:

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King & the Promised Land.

Continuing on from its GameCube predecessor, in here you will be able to create your kingdom from the ground up. You'll start off with a patch of land and use crystals to help make your castle as well as the town that will surround it. Afterwards you will be able to expand your kingdom with taxes and hiring people to go on adventures, whatever they may be.

Dr. Mario's Virus Buster

Dr. Mario returns with this Tetris style game. A new version of this classic will be out next year and will include Wi-Fi versus play as well as four-player mode. And if you want to, you can have your Mii show up in the game instead of Dr. Mario, if that's your liking.

Star Soldier R

Star Soldier R is a game developed by Hudson. It will be a vertically-scrolling shooter. It will be like the old versions, shooting through waves of enemies and collecting power-ups.

Maru Bou Shikaku

Translation: "Circles, sticks, and squares." And I'm not kidding. A puzzle game where you must move objects to clear the stages. It comes along with different challenges for lots of players.

Mojipittan

Originally to be an arcade game, Mojipittan has been made into lots of versions from the GBA to the DS. This game is basically Scrabble and will not, however, be making it to the NA markets—possibly ever.

Minna de Puzzloop

A former version of this game has been done as "Magnetica", which was sold here in the NA markets. This game has marbles rolling around you in a curvy path and your job is to take them out with the same color marbles you'll shoot at them. In other words, it's just like Zuma, which was probably a version of something else, too.

Pokémon Farm

Not shown in the magazine with a new screenshot, this game will be one of the first to be released from the Wii Ware channel. There really isn't much to this one besides the fact it will have your Miis interacting with your Pokémon.

Oh, but there's only one drawback:

As of right now, all this is for Japan only (excluding Pokémon Farm).




FOURSCORE AND 20 YEARS AGO-

We were first introduced to the lovable blue robot Megaman. Wow, 20 years already, huh? In all of these years, Megaman has gone to star in over 50 games. He's been from his first series on the NES to Megaman Legends on the PS1 to Megaman X in multiple consoles and more.

But games haven't been his only forte. He's also haD his own TV animated show as well as his own comic book series. Megaman now waits the day for his turn on the big silver screen.

Megaman.jpg
megamantoday.jpg

Megaman 20 years ago and Megaman today.​




BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE…

This by now is about a few weeks old, but the companies Blizzard Entertainment and Activision have merged together. Together they are…ACTIVISION BLIZZARD! Yeah, I know. The name just oozes goose-bumps down spines, right?

Straight from Blizzard's press release:

Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Vivendi (Euronext Paris: VIV) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi's interactive entertainment business -- which includes Blizzard Entertainment's® World Of Warcraft®, the world's #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise -- with Activision, creating the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

Activision, one of the world's leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, is best known for its top- selling franchises, including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty® and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man™, X-Men™, Shrek®, James Bond™ and TRANSFORMERS™. Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, has projected calendar 2007 revenues of $1.1 billion, operating margins of over 40% and approximately $520 million of operating profit. Blizzard owns the #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise, World Of Warcraft, which currently has over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard's World Of Warcraft, Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo® games account for four of the top-five best-selling PC game titles of all time. Vivendi Games also owns popular franchises, including Crash Bandicoot™ and Spyro™. Pro forma for calendar 2007, Activision Blizzard expects to generate approximately 70% of its revenues from owned franchises. As a result of the business combination, Activision Blizzard expects to have the most diversified and broadest portfolio of interactive entertainment assets in its industry, positioning the combined company to capitalize on the continued worldwide growth in interactive entertainment.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi stated: "This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi's games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform. We believe this transaction will create significant value for Activision Blizzard and Vivendi stockholders. In Activision, we have found a partner with a highly complementary business and strong operating team. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly are industry pioneers, well known for creating shareholder value. The combined strength of the existing management teams at both companies will set the stage for further profitable growth of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead."

René Penisson, Member of the Management Board of Vivendi and current Chairman of Vivendi Games, added: "We are very confident that by combining forces, Activision Blizzard will set the highest standards in quality, reputation and profitability, and will bring together the best creative teams in the industry. The combination of this unique product portfolio with highly professional employees gives us great confidence in the growth prospects for Activision Blizzard."

Said Robert Kotick, Activision's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: "This is an outstanding transaction for Activision and our stockholders, as well as a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry. By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences. By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business and gain a large footprint in the rapidly growing Asian markets, including China and Korea, while maintaining our leading operating performance across North America and Europe. Activision stockholders will benefit from significantly increased earnings power and the recurring nature and predictability of subscription-based revenues, while also having the opportunity, if they choose, to receive $27.50 per share for a portion of their shares in the post-closing tender offer."

Kotick continued: "Vivendi Games provides Activision with unique strategic and financial benefits and will allow us to leverage our franchises into emerging online opportunities as Blizzard has done so successfully. Activision has been very focused on margin expansion, and this transaction will meaningfully increase our overall operating margins as we expand our franchises online and in new geographies. Diversifying our revenue base among subscription-based online, console and PC formats, as well as wireless and casual emerging opportunities, gives us the broadest platform to capitalize on industry growth. With Blizzard's successful franchises, such as World Of Warcraft, StarCraft and an exciting pipeline of yet-to-be announced titles, Vivendi Games' and Blizzard's management team will join with Activision's strong and experienced leaders to become an even more powerful force for innovation in online and offline interactive entertainment across a wide range of platforms. This transaction also provides a unique relationship with Universal Music Group – the world's largest music company – which will benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizable leadership position in music-based games."

Mike Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, added: "Blizzard's industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World Of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision's highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before."
Structure & Terms of Transaction Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share – a premium of 31% to Activision's average closing price over the past 20 trading days – for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.

Within five business days after closing the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share. The tender offer will be funded by Activision Blizzard's cash on hand at closing, including the $1.7 billion in cash received from the Vivendi share purchase. In addition, Vivendi has agreed to acquire from Activision Blizzard additional newly issued shares for up to an additional $700 million of Activision common stock at $27.50 per share, the proceeds of which would also be used to fund the tender offer. Any remaining funds required to complete the tender offer will be borrowed by Activision Blizzard from Vivendi or third-party lenders. If the tender offer is fully subscribed, Vivendi will own an approximate 68% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive in its first year post-closing for Activision's stockholders and slightly accretive for Vivendi's stockholders. Activision Blizzard is targeting pro forma operating income of $1.1 billion and pro forma earnings per share (EPS) in excess of $1.20 in calendar year 2009. The transaction is expected to be at least $0.20 accretive to Activision stockholders in calendar year 2009.







IT'S HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE...

That's it for this week's column. Come back next week for more news and insights to the world of video games. If you have any questions or news you want to see mentioned, feel free to PM me or e-mail me at: [email protected].


There's no second period, you know that right? That's just to end the sentence. Didn't they teach you that in english?


Column 2
Column 1
 
Last edited:
In the World of Video Games Today

Volume 2 Column 4




Sunday, January 13th, 2008



Welcome to an All-New All-Different column! But not really. This is a weekly column to help serve you all into what's happening in the world of video games. From news about games to news about what happens behind the scenes, it'll be all covered. To a point.

Unlike other columns out there, I don't have inside people to drop me some secret news or leaked info. You are still, however, getting news that can be either awesome or craptastic. That's up to you.



A NEW YEAR, A NEW VOLUME


Hello and happy belated New Years, Christmas,Channukah (did I get that right?), Kwuanzaa, Birthday, and etc., etc., etc. A new year means a new volume to the column. Fun right? I know, huh? Ok, back to the column goodness.



TEKKEN: THE MOVIE

Old news by now, but it's official that Tekken is to be made into a movie. Expect the major characters to show up, but how many is (probably) yet to be seen. I only wish for two things:


  • Howearang (Listen, it's been years. And even then, I could never remember how to write the guy's name) better show up.
  • Paul better still look like Charlie Sheen. Or I will sue. I so will.


Let's just see if this doesn't join the disappointment club of games-to-film gone bad. I've heard Silent Hill is an exception (and a quite good movie either way).




THE BEST OF THE BEST IN 2007

We're in 2008. So you know what that means. The lists begin for "Best of '07" from lots of people. Here we have
Yahoo's Top Video Games of 2007
.

See who won from Best Action Adventure Game to Best Overall Game. I hear the winners are a doozy!


But not really.




ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND GAMES

Remember the good ol' days where you could say what you want without having any casualty coming your way? Yeah, neither can I. A big fight these days, or rather, a fight that has gotten bigger, is that advertisers want only good coverage for their games (but who doesn't?) or no coverage at all. They'll pull away from whatever magazine gives them bad rep, but that also hurts them, because if they keep pulling, who will actually review their game?
It's a tough world for reviewing. Most people wouldn't expect it to be such hostility as there is, but thems the cards your delt. So either you play with them or build a card castle.


1up.com knows what goes on. See here:


"It used to be game companies would pull advertising if they wanted to punish a magazine for unfavorable coverage. In more recent times, they're pulling the coverage as well. It's an interesting setup: Don't let us see the games, and we can't write anything bad about them. But don't let us see the games, and we can't write anything good about them, either.

Gamemakers have been taking issue with our reviews for as long as EGM's been around (almost 19 years now). It goes with the territory: Be honest and tough with your critiques, and you're going to piss just about everybody off at some point. But when I took over as editor-in-chief in 2001, I also wanted us to get more real with our previews. I was tired of the press-release rehashes our industry had become accustomed to, so I asked for more sincerity and opinions from our writers and editors. Naturally, you have to be fair -- the products aren't finished yet, after all -- but judging from reader feedback, our opinionated previews have been a hit.

Except with some game publishers, of course. Less-than-totally-positive previews don't sit well with those who are used to those press-release rehashes. Combine that with our candid reviews, and you can imagine the consequences that we have to face constantly.

For the time being, you'll get little, late, or no coverage of the following products: anything Mortal Kombat (they didn't like our reviews), anything from Sony's sports department (ditto), and now, anything from Ubisoft (it seems our coverage of Assassin's Creed was the last straw). So in case you're wondering why you're seeing so little of these games in our magazines and on our websites, now you know.

What do we do now? Nothing. We won't treat these products or companies any differently, and we'll just cover them to the best of our own abilities, with or without their support. Because, after all, we're writing for you, the reader -- not them.
"




LONG BREAK, SHORT COMEBACK

Yeah, I know I took a long time to come back from the holidays. But no worries, I am back regularly with a Sunday night special. And there still will be another column this Wednesday, and a much bigger one at that (that's what she said!).





IT'S HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE...

That's it for this week's column. Come back next week for more news and insights to the world of video games. If you have any questions or news you want to see mentioned, feel free to PM me or e-mail me at: [email protected].


There's no second period, you know that right? That's just to end the sentence. Didn't they teach you that in english?


Column 3
Column 2
Column 1
 

Latest posts

Back
Top