I got home from a nice dinner to find possibly the most shocking and disheartening news of the season. Publishing company Ziff Davis has sold gaming website 1up.com to UGO and has ceased publication of EGM. Even typing that seems completely surreal to me. Let's get the details out of the way first:
-EGM will end publication after 20 years with the January 2009 issue
-30 members of the 1up staff (including EGM employees) have been dismissed
-The 1up Show will no longer be produced
-As of now, UGO will continue to use the 1up brand to expand and move forward their games coverage.
Now my own two cents. I have mentioned it in passing on GayGamer and my friends, family, and coworkers know that my interest in games journalism began with EGM. I remember reading my first issue of the magazine when I was barely 6 years old, and reading every issue since then. What began as a childhood hobby grew into a dream which is actually coming true for me, and it can all be traced back to EGM. I knew the writers, or I felt like I knew them, their taste in gaming, their writing styles. These men and women made it into the business, and I was going to follow in their footsteps.
EGM can be credited with why I am able to write this very entry, on this amazing game site that has given me the opportunity to connect with so many awesome gamers. Before working for GayGamer I wrote a weekly video game feature for a pop culture website, and in a moment of sheer insanity I sent one of my articles to our wonderful editor-in-chief Fruit Brute. The article was on games journalism with a specific focus on the staff of EGM. Brute loved, or at least I think he did, and it would be a few months later when I would become a full time writer on GayGamer.net. Before I wrote this post, I went back and reread that article. I know my take on this story is probably the least professional you'll read, but beyond the facts are all the people this effects, a far reaching circle of people. My heart goes out to everyone at EGM. Thank you for everything, and for making me who I am today. Know that these past 20 years have been a golden age in gaming, and EGM will be revered for years to come.
Breaking: Ziff Davis Sells 1UP To UGO/Hearst, Closes EGM [gamasutra]
With CES just around the corner, I guess Capcom decided it might be a good idea to remind gamers that there's a little niche title coming out for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 called... oh, what was it again? Oh yeah, Street Fighter IV. Maybe you've heard of it? And what better way to catch people's attention than with some screenshots and artwork of fan fave Cammy? Well, not so much for our audience, which is why you can find that stuff below, but the main image for the story is of gay icon Kylie Minogue as Cammy from the unfortunate movie adaptation (although this is technically from the videogame adaptation of the movie adaptation of the videogame... now my head hurts). Enjoy!
This week, Amazon.com started offering a free 3-month Xbox LIve Gold membership card with every purchase of Gears Of War 2. So if you got yourself a new Xbox 360 for Christmas and were on the fence about whether or not to sign up for a Gold membership, this could be a good way to try it out. Well, if you were planning on buying Gears 2 in the first place, I suppose. But hey, free is still free, right?
In addition, Amazon put a few Xbox 360 games on sale, including Fallout 3 Collector's Edition ($59.99 down from $79.99), Soul Calibur IV ($29.99) and Halo 3 ($39.99, down from $59.99). So take some of that money you got from your grandmother and do some shopping! (Preferably through our GayGamer Amazon shop... the link is down there on the right!)
Amazon Offers Xbox Live With Gears Of War 2 Xbox 360 [Punch Jump]
I've been a little creeped out by Nintendo's celebrity campaigns of late. Not only do Liv Tyler and Carrie Underwood fail utterly to convince me that they enjoy their DS games, but Lisa Kudrow's latest commercial for Personal Trainer: Cooking made me reach for the Maalox.
How wonderful, then, to see Fred Willard and his trademark deadpan enthusiasm take on the same "game" (can we start calling these DIY DS games 'software' or 'apps' yet?). Although its nearly 8 minute run time lends itself more toward infomercial status than a traditional commercial or trailer, Willard's capacity for sincerity in even the most potentially lame situations is a stellar match for Nintendo's ambitions.
More, please.
Blogs can be dangerous things. Once it's public, everyone on earth can have access to it and even though you may be able to delete them, achieved versions life on forever. In this case some intrepid Sonic fans did some snooping around and found one very interesting blog created by someone named "jpeg" that apparently worked for Sega in some capacity. The achieved blog reveals some potentially juicy tidbits of information if true. Most of the time rumor sites like this are only as good as their last scoop, but this guy saw the "werehog" concept used in Sonic Unleashed years before the rest of us would cringe upon sight of the first trailer, so it gives his statements a bit more credibility over the random gameFAQ poster.
One of the most fascinating claims the blog makes is the true history behind Sega's update to NiGHTS. Sega blog, tssznews has the dirty details...
...it [the blog] reveals an internal strife between Sonic Team and Sega of Japan, highlighted by the fact that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams was originally developed as an Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 title - going so far as to say he [jpeg] played an Xbox 360 build of NiGHTS at one point. Upon witnessing the overnight success of the Wii, Sega of Japan apparently forced Sonic Team to retool the game for Nintendo's lower-spec platform, something its producer (Takashi Iizuka) was not happy about. Despite the shift in platform, the game's fast-approaching release date and limited development budget remained firmly unchanged, giving Sonic Team roughly one year to rebuild NiGHTS exclusively for the Wii (when most games typically take two years or more to develop).
After spilling the beans on a few other Sega-related topics, "jpeg" pulled all of his posts and left a goodbye message that revealed his possible but very likely identity: Ben Andac of Sega Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Whoops!
Having just recently picked up the NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for Wii, I'm not sure I'd really like to see the game anywhere else. I'm sure the HD visuals would have been nice, but half of my fascination with the game stems from how the controls work, not the rather dated gameplay. What do you think of these rumors? Real? Totally fake? Either way it sounds entertainingly plausible enough.
Normally I'm pretty down on gamer tattoos. Much like family reunions, they seem to be wrought with shame and regret. Seriously, how many times have you gotten drunk, thought it would be great fun to have Pac-Man gobbling up your nips and then woke up the next morning with a big gauze bandage and a lot of questions. Me? I'm fortunate to say I've only got one story that starts with "Well, I was 18 and..."
Now, this guy, he has successfully wooed me with his gamer tattoo. Seriously, I've not seen but one other gamer tattoo that I could sit down and say I would totally wear that. Congrats Milano, your Patapon tribe makes me smile.
Patapon Tattoo [Milano by beer]
[via Kotaku]
UK's The Times reported yesterday that corporate upheaval of nearly cataclysmic proportions is coming to Sony, in the form of desperately needed cost-cutting moves. According to sources, Sony is looking at "sacred cow-slaying measures" that "will abolish or fundamentally alter many of Sony's long-established business practices."
Word is that the big shakedown will become public knowledge sometime before CES ends on January 11.
It's hard to imagine that the PlayStation brand - or even just the money-hemorrhaging PS3 part of the business - could ever, ever be "abolished." But with sales of the PS3 tanking even as Wii and Xbox 360 sales continue to rise compared to the same period last year, and in such a dismal economy, it's hard to imagine that the PS3 isn't on the Sony bigwigs' list of troubled properties.
As the PS3 enters its third money-bleeding year in a row, the facts are almost moot - never mind that it now has a respectable game library and features on par with the 360, it's price is still far higher than the 360, its capabilities as a Blu-ray player continue to be undersold, and Blu-ray itself on shaky ground... who can say?
One bone-chilling possibility is that Sony might end up taking the same dose of medicine it once forced upon Sega: dropping manufacturing to focus more exclusively on content production.
Other things that could be on the block: the PSP, continued investment in Blu-ray hardware (there are likely to be huge contracts with studios regarding Blu-ray disc development), or a massive shift from within Sony's consumer electronics business.
"Sacred Cow Slayings" Rumored at Sony... Is PlayStation In Jeopardy? [GamePolitics]
Many of us were disappointed to see that Columbia Pictures had pulled their videos from Netflix back in November. Well, most specifically they pulled them from the play instantly queue. It was a dark day. Later, we were happy to see that a few of the videos had made their way back onto the lists after some brief talks with some execs, some hush hush dealings and general black box deals. Still, we were not allowed some of the titles previously available.
In a rather bizarre, and unannounced turn of events, it appears that all the videos have returned. Perhaps the people over at Netflix finished importing and reencoding their video, perhaps some more under the table, black box doings transpired, perhaps it's a server hiccup. Regardless, I'm happy to see them back.
Columbia movies back on Netflix instant view [360 Fanboy]
The New York Times has an interesting article that went up on Sunday about the Army invading your mall. Now before you run to your Space Invaders turrets to fight off the impending horde, they come in peace (and bearing free games). Apparently in the lovely city of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia) the Army Recruitment division has closed down 5 recruitment centers in the city and replaced them with The Army Experience Center. The Center takes up 14,500 sq. ft. in the Franklin Mills Mall there and has numerous gaming rigs where visitors can play Rainbow Six: Vegas, Madden, and Halo 3 for free. They also have three full-scale simulators that try to recreate for a small group what it is like to be part of the U.S. Army.
The Center is a prototype that the U.S. Army is testing out to try and increase awareness and presence in urban areas. The Army has used many techniques to increase enlistment in recent years such as direct marketing promotions, online presence, recruitment-themed music videos, and even home video games like America's Army. This new arcade-like center seems to be the newest push; however, according to the powers that be, recruitment is not the overall goal of the facility:
"We want to put people in the Army, but that's about our third priority. Most people think joining the Army means being a grunt, and that Iraq equals death. We try to show them that there's more to the Army than carrying a gun. If people come in here and they learn that but they don't join, that's O.K."
The center opened in August and since it has opened the facility has recruited 35 people, which is lower than what the five recruitment centers it replaced normally bring in during that time; however, if we are to believe what they say, recruitment is not the end goal. I find the use of videogames and simulators as a means of PR interesting, much like the Burger King XBox games, and while I am not a big fan of joining the U.S. Military myself (unless this guy was going the recruiting), I have plenty of friends who have and great respect for those that do serve in the armed forces. In the end all that really matters is that if someone drags you to the Franklin Mills Mall, you can get in some free gaming while they go off to shop, and that I can definitely get behind.
Urban Tool in Recruiting by the Army: An Arcade [NY Times]
Our very own DenDen Boy is here in San Francisco staying at Chez Brute so he can attend Macworld this week. He'll be providing coverage of the entire event including live blogging this morning's keynote. The keynote starts in just a few short minutes so don't miss out! With more games coming to the often overlooked Mac platform and the endless stream of iPhone games, you can expect to hear a lot that might interest you coming out of this conference so be sure to take a daily check up on Homotron for all the latest.
Over the weekend one of the craziest rumors I've heard was started that the next LEGO game from Traveler's Tales could be LEGO Rock. Thankfully, there were other rumored possibilities including a LEGO Indiana Jones sequel focusing on the fourth movie and a LEGO Harry Potter game. Well, now we can at least cross one of those possibilities off the list with a "source working close to Traveler's Tales" telling Eurogamer that there are no plans for a LEGO Harry Potter game in 2009.
So one possibility is knocked off, but can we add more? Of course we can! In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Traveler's Tales producer Loz Doyle had this to say about the new LEGO game, "There's always the possibility that we would revisit a franchise. And you never know, it might not be the end of Star Wars, it might not be the end of Indy - we keep our options open."
What's that, a new LEGO Star Wars possibility? LEGO Knights of the Old Republic? LEGO Yuuzhan Vong Invasion? Or could my dream game, The Legend of Admiral Ackbar, finally be arriving in LEGO form? Not likely, but I'd say those chances are higher than LEGO Rock Band. Of course the option of a LEGO conversion of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is still on the table, but considering that most Indiana Jones fans I know hang their heads in shame at the mention of that movie, let's not think about it right now.
To further compound matters, in the same radio interview another Traveler's Tales producer, Nick Ricks, said, "There will be a LEGO game in 2009. And I think it's okay to say that you'll be a bit surprised." Come to think of it, upon checking the LEGO website, there does seem to be another licensed franchise that hasn't yet been exploited in videogame form. I'm of course talking about Spongebob Squarepants. Let the speculation commence.
No LEGO Potter in '09 Says Source [Eurogamer]
Have an Xbox sitting in your closet? Maybe that old controller is gathering dust and your copy of Advent Rising is being used as a coaster? Well if you want to unload your old Xbox gear, do it quickly because come February 9th, GameStop won't be taking them anymore. Does that mean Microsoft's original console is officially dead? Having acquired the console a few months back, I could not be happier that GameStop has made this declaration. Being a perpetual optimist, I'm hoping this means a fire sale on the games and I can stock up big time on all the games I never had a chance to play.
Remember kids, GameStop isn't the only way to rid yourselves of the past. Support your local bank account by selling it on ebay, or pass the systems along to friends who were too snobby to check it out on the first go round.
GameStop to stop accepting Xbox trade-ins on February 9 [Destructoid]
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Name: Dave