Holla me amigos and welcome to another week of back-fence news as brought to you by Epicbattleaxe.com’s The Rumor KILL.  Now I know all you Axeheads are full of gaming news and knowledge courtesy of GDC and to be honest I was a little nervous this week.  Gaming conventions such as GDC tend to solve rumors instead of creating them and even if some rumors are started most gaming journalists don’t report them because they have their hands full with the festivities.  For such an occasion I have a great rant planned out about the subliminal messages in Disney films and video games!!!  Just kidding……fortunately my fears did not become reality and we still have many rumors to dissect and discuss so take out the pruning shears it’s time to get whacking!

THE RUMOR: Robin will be in Batman: Arkham Asylum 2

THE SOURCE: Kotaku

MY TAKE: This is news that will have Batman fans pretty much divided equally.  After seeing Batman Begins and The Dark Knight it pretty much solidified in most people’s minds that a solo Batman is a better Batman.  Even before that the four Robins (Stephanie Brown does NOT count) have mixed reactions.  For the most part Robin’s reputation was forever tainted when the absolute atrocity known as Batman & Robin hit the big screen.  Anyway back on topic……including Robin in the next Batman game will be a gamble.  First off it has to be explained why Robin was absent from the entire game with no bio, no audio tape and only a couple mentions by Joker and Clayface to even hint at The Boy Wonder’s existence.  Still if they can pull it off and perhaps throw in some co-op into the sequel it would make for an interesting addition to the game.

THE VERDICT: SPARE IT!!!

Warner Bros. has already shutdown the IMDB listing which had Vincent Martella as the voice of Robin but they didn’t directly acknowledge the rumor of a Robin appearance.  Therefore it’s hard to say is we will see Robin in Batman: Arkham Asylum 2.  It would make sense though because if the “Asylum” is actually a huge piece of Gotham City then it would be quite a bit of ground for the Caped Crusader to cover.  Therefore it’s possible a little help could be needed to clean out the Asylum.  Or maybe he’s included in a co-op mode like in Spinter Cell: Conviction that is completely separate from the main story.  If Robin does find his way into the sequel in a way that doesn’t interfere with what the first Arkham Asylum accomplished.  My only condition is that Robin’s suit CANNOT have anything that looks like nipples on it.  If it does I’m calling a boycott!

THE RUMOR: The PS3 will be compatible with 3D TVs in June

THE SOURCE: IGN

MY TAKE: Here’s a quick question: does anyone really care if the PS3 gets magical firmware to make all the games look like cheap Avatar knockoffs?  Odds are you don’t and you shouldn’t because this probably won’t affect the average gamer for a few years.  It’s not like the PS3 is only going to be playable in 3D it’s only for people with 3D TVs which won’t be many for a while.  However, since the first 3D TV will be released in Japan in June the timing of the firmware with the release of the TV makes a strong case.   Though this won’t do anything graphically for non 3D users it’s interesting to imagine Kratos ripping of Helios’s head in 3D.  Actually sounds kind of cool, though I don’t know if I would buy a $4000 TV for the new experience.  Still, there’s no harm in releasing it for those who really want to jump onto the 3D bandwagon I suppose.

THE VERDICT: BELIEVE IT!!!

To be honest I wasn’t expecting this to happen so soon but the evidence is compelling.  Releasing the Firmware right when the 3D TV is released means that the Playstation 3 will be compatible immediately, which will probably be a good selling point for the TVs themselves.  Also the marketing campaigns can immediately be pushing a feature that no other console has, 3D compatibility.  Now that may not seem like a big deal right now since the 3D TVs are not widespread but remember when the PS3 was the only system to support 1080p output before 1080p TVs were in wide circulation?  Now almost four years later that’s definitely paid off hasn’t it?  You can also say the same thing with most of the cutting edge technology inside the PS3 from wireless compatibility to using Blu Ray technology.  Getting their hands into the 3D technology could be just another edge that the PS3 has on its competition.

THE RUMOR: Dragon Age sequel coming “02.01.2011″?

THE SOURCE: Neoseeker

MY TAKE: You’ve got to love a good mystery.  A mystifying pamphlet arrives in your new copy of Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening points to a seemingly unimportant date which will be a “big day” for the Dragon Age franchise.  Could this be the date for the release of the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins?  The timing seems to suggest a sequel which BioWare has already confirmed is coming at some point so the possibility is there.   They also mentioned that they want new technology in the sequel so this could mean the technology is ready and the sequel is well on its way.  The question becomes is it possible for the date to already be set in stone enough to tell everyone almost a year beforehand?  I mean you don’t have to look hard to see clear example of release dates gone wrong (Alpha Protocol, Red Dead Redemption, so on and so on).

THE VERDICT: KILL IT!!!

I want to say believe I really do but when it comes to release dates, especially release dates called a year in advance I get REALLY sceptical.  Too much can happen in this industry over the course of a year;  anything from delays to layoffs to issues as big as the Infinity Ward debacle can happen and cause a game to be pushed back.  So then what is the magical date on the pamphlet referring to?  It is probably the day BioWare will officially announce the sequel, showing off whatever they have and at that point giving a release date, whether it is an exact day or a ballpark date.  BioWare promised that February 1, 2011 will be a big day, what would be bigger than the debut of the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins along with showing off that tech.  I know I’ll be bringing out my elf ears on that day.

THE RUMOR: The latest Bioshock 2 DLC is already on the disk

THE SOURCE: Destructoid

MY TAKE: Do you know what gamers hate more than DLC that cost money?  DLC that costs money when it’s already on the disk and all you’re downloading is a key to unlock it.  Now to state my position I’m all for DLC.  I think it’s great when developers continue to create new content for their game after the review copies have been finalized and the disks are being made.  However when the “DLC” is on the disk already then it’s not really DLC.  It’s paying to get access to content you technically already own and that is a load of bullcrap!  I paid $60 for the damn disk I shouldn’t need to put down an extra $5 to access content that is already on the DAMN DISK!  It’s the equivalent of buying a house and finding out after that you need to pay the owner an extra $100 to access the master bedroom.   It’s damn criminal and there’s no way it should be allowed!

THE VERDICT: BELEIVE IT!!!

Just look at the size of the DLC for Christ sake!  It’s 108 KB on the Xbox 360 and the PC download is only 24 KB.  There is no way that 2 new characters, 20 new trials, a third attachment for every gun, 5 new masks and increasing the level cap to 50 only takes 24-108 KB of data to put into a game.  It’s freakin’ impossible!  Even the Versus Mode for Resident Evil 5 was 2 MB and that was the same thing, locked content that was on the disk.  Now 2k Marin can lay down any excuse they want but the bottom line is we are paying for data we already own and I will say it again, that’s not right.

THE FINAL SAY

So the Playstation Motion Controller has finally been named and after what I can only assume was countless hours of discussion, debate and brainstorming the creative minds at Sony finally decided on the one name that defined the ground breaking technology they had created and that name ladies and gentlemen is The Playstation……………..MOVE!  Now I want to know how BAD the other ideas were for the Move to be the best idea they had?????  Like seriously we had the “Arc” which I talked about before (good thing I SPARED it eh?) and even though I bashed that name it’s still better then the MOVE.  I’m just waiting for Microsoft to name Project Natal the “Microsoft Flail”.

So here we are again another week has come and gone and another week of rumors has been dissected and analyzed so now the ball is in your court Axeheads.  Give your input on these rumors and tell everyone if you think that the rumors I talked about should be BELEIVED, SPARED OR KILLED.  Also bonus points as always goes to anyone who can confirm any of these stories.  As always I am Lucas Archer and I will see all ye Axeheads next week for more of Epicbattleaxe.com’s The Rumor KILL!

]]>Holla me amigos and welcome to another week of back-fence news as brought to you by Epicbattleaxe.com’s The Rumor KILL.  Now I know all you Axeheads are full of gaming news and knowledge courtesy of GDC and to be honest I was a little nervous this week.  Gaming conventions such as GDC tend to solve [...]http://epicbattleaxe.com/the-rumor-kill-031310/feed/0http://epicbattleaxe.com/the-rumor-kill-031310/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/epicbattleaxe/~3/HWnO2chYuUk/PC NewsPC/MACAPBFGR_HuckleberrySat, 13 Mar 2010 03:29:56 PSThttp://epicbattleaxe.com/?p=12684

Joystiq, today, said that they have received info from “tipsters” telling them Realtime Worlds will be sending out another wave of invitations to the beta for their persistent online title APB.

Realtime Worlds, makers of a little title called Crackdown, calls the new game “the next evolution of action games into the persistent online space.” If your interested in being part of the beta and you’re not yet registered, you might want to head to the APB website to get signed up.

If you do get into the beta, or are already in, be sure to let us know what you think!

Source

Greetings Axeheads and welcome to that little slice of heaven we call the weekend! With this week’s blitzkrieg of news coming out of GDC we’ve seen a veritable ass-cake worth of new screens and videos to get us sold on a new slew of games. Impressive as some of them are, it all smells a bit dog to me.

You see, advertising isn’t about a clever product that solves a problem, or getting a laugh out of someone before you show them your URL (those all these can be effective tools). Advertising is about linking a product to a person’s identity or even creating that identity. To really sell someone something you don’t appeal to what they like, but rather who they are.

At this point you’re asking yourself, “Brent, what the shit are you talking about?” I’m talking about Valve. I’m talking about one of the most clever viral marketing ops in recent memory. And it all started with an innocuous update to Portal.

On March 1st, Vavle’s seminal puzzle-shooter Portal was patched; the release notes stated: “Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.” Upon booting the game players discovered radios scattered throughout the various levels; some out in the open, some hidden, but all with something in common. When picked up and walked to specific areas, the radios began picking up coded signals.

Not all were Morse Code, some were much denser and more complex signals.

Additionally, it was discovered that the ending to the game had been slightly altered (spoiler warning):

Certainly seems like Valve was letting us know things weren’t over for our intrepid antagonist. But what about those crazy radio signals? What’s up with that? Morse code is easy enough to pick out and translate, but what about that second type of signal? Turns out they were slow-scan television, which is an archaic way of transmitting static images. But what sort of images? We didn’t have to wait long before people started decoding the messages.

Among the translations was a number string, which when ran through an md5 has translator was revealed to be a phone number to a Valve BBS. The login credentials were also obtained through the decoded files. People dug out their old baud modems and started dialing up. It was rough going, the line was constantly busy, but the persistent were eventually rewarded with a series of ascii art images depicting some familiar and not-so familiar environs from Portal.

Of course by now actual Portal 2 screens have begun circulating from a forthcoming Game Informer article and and the ascii art star is somewhat on the decline. I’m sure by E3 when we get more info from Valve, this will be all but forgotten. But right now, I’m not quite through marveling at this excellent little marketing campaign. Like I said earlier, advertising isn’t about what we like, its about who we are. Valve knows who we are. And we love this shit.

See you next week.
Viking Brent

Greetings Axeheads! We come, once again, to the end of a week full of insightful discussion and superb punditry. We’re going to close out the conversation on game delays with a Battle Cry that puts some pragmatic perspective on the high-profile delays of 2009. Were the rash of delays from late last year a good thing? Could we have afforded all those games anyway? Is the game industry harming themselves irrevocably by leaning on the delay crutch too often, rather than simply being smarter with their scheduling? AxedWheelie makes the case…

AxedWheelie Says:

My Battlecry goes to the EPIC Holiday Game Delays of 2009, While all those highly anticipated titles like Bioshock 2, and Starcraft 2, Bayonetta, etc were delayed it is my opinion that these delays were good for these games. Thou it irked the gaming community greatly.

The delays have ensured that 2010 we gamers wouldn’t have a dry Q1, and Q2 like the game drought of 09. As for how it will affect the game sales, It is my belief that it wouldn’t affect the over all sales from fans of the series, where the sales will be lacking is grabbing those who are still on the fence.

New I.p’s like Beyonetta would suffer sales also, but I think that is because of it’s over hyped sexually driven ads and not from the delay of it’s shipment date.

Delays in the game industry are a double edge sword it helps but at the same time it hurts us all. we all know the pro’s and con’s of this terrible game.

Pro’s:
It gives the gaming community time to save up enough money to buy all the games that they want to play.

Gives the developers breathing space between releases.

Con’s:
Lost of sales, initial interest, lost of spontaneous sales “due to media hype”

TOO DAMN MANY! Dev’s and Publishers are delaying their games. (I can forgive a few delays through out the year because it happens and there’s nothing you can do in certain cases, but when everyone is doing it like it’s the latest hollywood trend, then it hurts our community over all.)

Well that’s my rant on todays delay.

End

Though its an unintended consequence of the many games that were delayed from Q4 2009 to Q1 2010, I think AxedWheelie’s point is not less profound. If all those games had come out when originally slated we’d be in the middle of the biggest dry spell in a decade. Certainly, last year we were all very aware of the slump in releases leading up to the ‘Rocktober’ blitzkrieg. The delays, while they weren’t necessarily intended to, helped prevent a similar situation from occurring again this year. And certainly the titles that are coming out now have benefited from some extra polishing time.

Sometimes its important to keep things in perspective and today’s Member BattleCry made some great points to that end. Thanks for sharing your thoughts AxedWheelie! And let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and if you have something else entirely that you’d like to sound off on, then feel free to do that over on this week’s topics starter post where you can SUBMIT A NEW TOPIC:

SUBMIT YOUR MEMBER BATTLECRY IN THE COMMENTS SECTION HERE.

Alright everyone, that’s gonna do it for now, but we hope you have an awesome weekend and keep your rants, raves, and recommendations coming here on EpicBattleAxe.com!

Stay Brutal,
Viking Brent

Ubisoft’s Maxime Béland appeared on-camera recently to answer some fan questions. In the video, Béland confirmed that there will be a demo available for Splinter Cell: Conviction. What map will be featured in the demo? Well its a secret. When should we expect it? Secret.

If only they’d employed this same strategy when dealing with the actual game’s release date. Its difficult to even prove there’s been a delay when the release date is such a closely guarded secret.

Souce

As you might have imagined, there is a plethora of game videos coming from GDC right now. So we thought we’d put together a small collection of links so you can browse some of the ones we’ve seen so far. We also found a video on 1UP.com that is not from GDC – but it is still worth a look! It is called Lust Cause 2.  Cast your gaze below for the rest of the list.

The GDC List:

Joe Danger

Bit.Trip Runner

EyePet

Motion Fighter

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Blade Kitten

Sports Champion

SOCOM 4

FIFA Soccer 10

Split/Second

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Alpha Protocol

Brink

All in all, the game is looking pretty sweet. IMO, the level of success it enjoys will be directly tied to the game’s story and the player’s ability to care about and be immersed in Alpha Protocol’s characters and world.

Anyway, check out the walkthrough and let us know how you’re feeling about Alpha Protocol as we near the game’s launch here in the states on June 1, 2010.

So, check out the new trailer, visit the new website, and be sure to let us know your thoughts on the game below.

Greetings! As the discussion continues this week on delays and whether they help or hurt the games we play, we bring you another stellar Member BattleCry. We’re seeing a lot of good points raised in the dialogue on this subject and many people are pointing out two situations; one where the delay helped and the other where not so much.

Coky14 checks in with not only two such examples, but also so insightful comments on how gamers perception affects their attitude about the delay as well as the psychological impact of  a firm street date being broken vs a vague release window changing. Let’s turn things over to him…

Coky14 Says:

Here’s my Epic Battle Member Cry,

I really prefer to see a game delayed so they can work on it a litle longer so we, as gamers and customers, get a better and more refined experience. The problem, as the last choice of the poll says, is that publishers shouldn’t announce a clear date when they don’t know if they’re gonna ship in time.

The best example of how to do it is, God of War III. Announced for MARCH 2010, in June 2009, they gave themselves a large window to see if other games could make them change their idea or if the developpement went faster or slower than supposed. I also feel that if God of War would have been delayed, because the date wasn’t set in stone, it would not have been taken so harshly by the community.

The counter-example, is Splinter Cell : Conviction. How to completely destroy momentum. The game was awaited for so long. They released a trailer this winter where it the release was dated for 23.02.10. The whole point of the trailer was to say the release date. Now, the codeofconviction.com thingy (which I participated in) helped us get the real release date as for April 13th. After 5 years more or less of developpement it really didn’t need that. Shame on marketing or the developpement team for that bad decision. We’d better get our cash out of that game or else you’ll have a line of frustrated gamers ready to NOT buy another Splinter Cell game as they will have lost their faith on the franchise.

Finally, the positive affects are mostly unappreciable by gamers as we will never get to understand the amount of polish that was made during the time of the delay (of whatever the game was actually delayed for). It’s mostly intengible. This is why we see so much delays as a bad thing.

The negative effect is mostly dangerous for smaller franchises or new IPs. God of War III and FFXIII will sell as much on March or on April. It could sell well in Christmas time, Easter, Halloween, etc. People have confidance in their developpers and know they’re doing the right choice. Alpha Protocol (sorry Daniel), as much as they can delay that game, it’s not looking too good. I’d be happy for SEGA if they get a 85 from critics. The game looks clunky, the style seems weird, caracters empty, and delays won’t change that. As said, we haven’t been conditionned to think SEGA will release triple A titles.

Finally, my Battle Cry is in fact to developpers who have to make the heart breaking choice to make these delays happen or not. Will you break the momentum to make a better game? Can think of what I would do I such a position.

End

People can agree or disagree on his assessment of how delays have affected God of War III and Splinter Cell: Conviction. However, I think he makes an extremely good point about why gamers often view delays as inherently bad…we often have no basis for comparison; we don’t know how bad things were to begin with or how much better they are after some more time is spent tweaking things. I also appreciate him taking a look at things from the devs or publishers point of view. These can’t be easy decisions to make, especially when we gamers can be as hard to please as we often are.

So what do you all think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and if you have something else entirely that you’d like to sound off on, then feel free to do that over on this week’s topics starter post where you can SUBMIT A NEW TOPIC:

SUBMIT YOUR MEMBER BATTLECRY IN THE COMMENTS SECTION HERE.

That’s gonna do it for now, but we hope you continue having an awesome week and keep your rants, raves, and recommendations coming here on EpicBattleAxe.com!

Stay Brutal,
Viking Brent

OnLive, the cloud gaming service being developed by WebTV alum Steve Perlman, will be going public on June 17, 2010. The service will have somewhere between twelve and twenty five games at launch and will be available on the Mac and PC. Perlman has stated that the launch of the micro-console, which allows you to play games on your TV ala an Xbox or PlayStation, will be announced at a later date.

The service will debut at a price of $14.95 a month with game purchases and rentals costing an additional fee (though we don’t know if that fee will be less than or equal to a retail game).

OnLive is offering the first three months of its service for free for the first 25,000 people to sign up. Will OnLive be a game changer? I guess we will wait and see.

via Joystiq and Engadget