Still, I wasn't as big of an a*hole as that Jeff Vader character:
Still, I wasn't as big of an a*hole as that Jeff Vader character:
All I got was an insurance bill.
Send hate mail!
My own kid has become quite a devotee of the Pixar-based games, with Cars and Wall-E currently in heavy rotation.
So here's my column that ran this past Saturday on what it was like for me growing up as a gamer, and some of the things I worry about and enjoy with regards to my son becoming a gamer.
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Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities' gaming uber-analyst, just sent out a note on the ongoing mating dance between Electronic Arts and Take-Two.
In his opinion, EA will either buy Take-Two through a friendly, mutually-agreed upon deal, or Take-Two will spurn EA once again and EA will go into hostile-takeover mode:
In our view, there are only two potential outcomes: Either Take-Two negotiates a friendly deal at a price close to $25.74, or EA returns to hostile mode. In the former scenario, which we think is most likely, the parties should reach an accommodation within one or two days following FTC approval at a $1 - 2 premium to EA's current $25.74 offer. If Take-Two management overestimates its leverage and holds out for a price in the $30s, we expect EA to go hostile again, likely at a price closer to $20. We don't consider this likely, as we think that Take-Two management understands its lack of leverage, particularly given the dearth of other bidders. If Take-Two management remains realistic and negotiates a price below $27.50, we expect a deal to get done.
The wait is almost over! Electronic Arts Inc. and Maxis today announced that Spore the most anticipated video game of the year from the creator of The Sims, has gone gold and will be available for the Mac and PC at retailers September 5 in Europe and September 7 in North America and Asia Pacific. Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS and Spore Origins for mobile phones will also be available globally September 7.
Full release from EA after the break.
Players who preorder Spore or Spore Galactic Edition from participating retailers will receive a coupon good for $10 off their next purchase of custom merchandise at www.zazzle.com/sporestore. For the ultimate Spore fan, the limited Galactic Edition will contain the 'Making of Spore' DVD, 'How to Build a Better Being' DVD (a 50 minute National Geographic Channel documentary DVD hosted by Spore mastermind, Will Wright), 'The Art of Spore' hardback book, an exclusive Spore poster, and a premium 100-page Galactic Handbook.
"We are so excited to finally get Spore into the hands of fans and players," said Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer of Spore at Maxis. "The Maxis studio has had an absolute blast creating Spore, but the fun is just beginning. The most engaging stories are truly the ones people create themselves, and we can't wait to see how players not only craft and explore the Spore universe, but hear what stories they have to tell as a result."
Spore gives players their own personal universe in a box, allowing fans to create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even spaceships. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world via the Sporepedia™ and explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers*.
For all the latest Spore news, screens, videos community content, and to try out the trial version of the hugely popular Spore Creature Creator, visit www.spore.com.
*Internet connection required.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS Freestyle TM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S and/or other countries.
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As I noted in a previous posting, Electronic Arts was not exactly thrilled with my last column on complaints about glitches and flaws in NCAA and Madden.
So I wrote a follow-up column, explaining that I found some of the responses from EA to be valid, but others less so.
I also wrote about the Midnight Gaming Championship -- a free video game tournament -- currently going on at various McDonald's restaurants around Dallas during August.
Here's the official MGC Web site.
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In my Saturday column, I wrote about the growing number of complaints with EA's just-released NCAA 09 football game and the soon-to-be-released Madden 09.
In the column, I referenced a forum posting from a Madden developer who -- to me, anyway -- seemed to be acknowledging that the new Madden title was missing some key elements that a lot of Madden fans had come to expect.
Over the weekend, I received an e-mail from that developer who said that I had misinterpreted some of his comments, and he noted that he had posted a follow-up to his original comments.
Definitely go read the follow up if you're a hard core Madden fan, because it does seem to address some of the gripes gamers had with missing gameplay settings.
I never did hear from anyone at EA about NCAA, though.
I'll admit right here that I'm not a big football gamer, so I don't really have the expertise to say how critical these problems are (although the videos I've seen of NCAA's problems would be obvious to a catatonic chimp -- here's one, with plenty of profanity), but the unrest among the hardcore fans is undeniable.
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Okay, I've been sort of the invisible man around here for a few weeks (iPhone launch, vacation, stomach virus), but I do return bearing gifts, or blog posts, anyway.
First up, QuakeCon!
One of the DMN's interns, Ian Hamilton, went out write a story on all the QuakeCon tournament and expo shenanigans, and you can read it here, and see a video of the event shot by one of our photo staff.
Second, I had a chance to do a one-on-one interview with id Software head honcho John Carmack, and he talked about why he's so excited about developing games for the iPhone (he says it's basically as powerful as a PS2 or Xbox), id's growth as a company (get your resumes in now), and his side project: building spaceships.
By the way, I didn't have space to address this in my article, but you may have read some of the headlines that Carmack said during his QuakeCon keynote speech that the Xbox 360 version of id's upcoming title Rage will look worse than the PS3 version.
I asked Carmack about this, and here's what he said:
]]> According to Carmack, the XBox 360 is in nearly every way a better, more developer-friendly console than the PS3 except for the PS3's high-capacity Blu-ray drive.The Xbox 360 is, as everyone knows, stuck with a standard DVD drive.
Now, Rage on the 360 will ship on two DVDs, but, to match all the data being poured onto the PS3's capacious Blu-ray discs, the 360 version would have to ship on three DVD discs.
That's technically feasible, and id doesn't think the in-game disc-swapping would be all that onerous, but apparently Microsoft charges a licensing fee for each disc included in the case, rather than just charging a single licensing fee for the entire game.
So the cost of going to three discs would just be too expensive for id under the current licensing structure, and so the 360 version will not have all the graphical tidbits that the PS3 version of Rage will have.
Now, Microsoft could solve this problem by altering the licensing program, charging just per game rather than per disc, but id doesn't expect that to happen. Or, if it does happen, it probably won't happen in time for Rage's release.
Talk about a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach by Microsoft (do they really want to give Sony and the PS3 fanboys this kind of ammunition?), but that's the situation.
Incidentally, id is famous for never offering release dates for its games until they go gold, but the fact that Carmack doesn't think Microsoft will change its policy in time for Rage's release suggests to me that the game is no more than a year away from release, and perhaps even sooner than that.
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According to the Official PlayStation Blog "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty will be available for download on the PlayStation Network Store on August 21st for $14.99." Great news for PS3 owners and 'R&C' fans!
The Entry goes on to say:
As for the gameplay, Q4B focuses heavily on exploration and platforming, along with some of new experimental action for the franchise. For example, Ratchet will use the new kinetic tether on his Wrench to manipulate the environment, and he'll use elements such as light and shadows to his advantage.
I, for one, am anxious to see how I can handle DOWNLOADING an A-list title. I love having a physical copy of a game... it's why I bought the store version of 'Gran Turismo: Prologue.' Let's see how this goes...
]]>I totally forgot... QuakeCon starts this Thursday at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas.
If you've never been, and you're a gaming fan, sign up now (HERE) and go. It's amazing just to walk around and see one of the most ridiculously cool LAN parties on Earth. The vendor area is also pretty geektacular. Best of all, it's FREE!
The keynote speeches (with iD's John Carmack) and workshops are fascinating, even if you're not big into PC gaming. And, as a bonus, you can sometimes spot some celebs in the crowds too.
I always leave wanting to buy a $30K neon lit, liquid cooled PC to play games that will look like dirt 18 months from now. It's evil that way.
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