It's hard to predict the future. Sure, I attempt to do that all the time here at G4, but that's not going to stop me from poking fun at other folks who did the same thing. Thing is, sometimes people are right. I combed through quotes from the past decade attributed to some of the industry's most important voices and found out where they were right, wrong and just plain crazy.
Into the time machine we go...
"[PlayStation3 is] for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."
-- Ken Kutaragi, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, the father of PlayStation, July 2005
Kutaragi made this proclamation more than a year before the launch of PlayStation 3, back when Sony believed its $599 price point was simply a testament to the amount of technology the company had packed inside. Arrogance in the video game industry is not always immediately rewarded through karma, but time and time again, we've seen it catch up to seemingly unstoppable companies. It happened to Nintendo and it happened to Sony. PlayStation 3 has spent years making up lost ground -- a fight the company is still waging to this day.
"To expand the gaming population, it is necessary for us to make it so that any family member feel like they can pick up the controller."
-- Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo, unveiling the Wii controller for the first time (then called Revolution), September 2005
When Iwata removed a prototype Wiimote from his jacket at Tokyo Game Show 2005, the games industry literally gasped. The reactions ranged from "this could change everything" to "Nintendo has completely lost it." Most gamers fell on the latter side of the spectrum. No one had tried true physical interaction with a game on the level that Nintendo was proposing. Gamers were immediately skeptical about the gimmicky nature of the concept, something Nintendo still struggles with to this day, but Iwata's theory was right on the money. And it was proven by the tens of millions of Wii consoles he's sold since, all based on "last generation" hardware.
I like Crackdown a lot, mainly for the obsessive collection of orbs. Don't ask me why, but I love collecting those damn things. I like collecting orbs so much, they call me Roy Orbison. While I can't be certain of the contents of Crackdown 2, I'm confident the 360 action game will contain more orbs -- precious, precious orbs.
Oh, and it will be out in the first half of 2010, according to Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, speaking on Major Nelson's podcast. Crackdown 2 will join Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Alan Wake as part of Microsoft's list of "triple-A, exclusive" titles coming in the first half of the year.
Come to me, oh beautiful orbs!
Source: Major Nelson (Via Joystiq)
Yeah, I was amazed when I realized my agent changed as he improved skill. Really cool feature. I will buy this one for sure :-)
Posted: 44 minutes ago by InHumanMarine
Leave a Comment »Bryan Singer Returning To X-Men; What Can We Expect?
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Posted 1 hour 52 mins ago - By Joseph Baxter
With the recent revelation that Bryan Singer would indeed return to the X-Men film franchise with X-Men: First Class, the questions about the substance of the film have undoubtedly increased.
The long-discussed prequel film, which was initially to have its scribe, Josh Schwartz (creator of The O.C. and Gossip Girl) take the director's chair, will instead welcome the return of the man who helmed the first two outings of the film franchise in 2000 and 2003, respectively. This confirmation comes after speculation in recent months due to Singer expressing a desire to return to the mythos of Mutants, Morlocks, and Sentinels. As Singer tells Variety:
"This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn," Singer said. "There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from 'X-Men' will figure into the plot, though I don't want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain."
There are also comparisons being made to JJ Abrams' reboot of Star Trek, as Xavier and Magneto are said to be depicted as "twenty-somethings" in the film. As Singer continues:
"Whether it's 'Batman,' 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Star Trek,' if the characters are good, you want to see them on their journey even if you know their destiny," Singer said. "I put myself in the fan's position, and I think this story is something I would want to see, and so will they."
To put this into better context, earlier this year, producer, Lauren Shuler-Donner said of the First Class project:
I have nothing against Brett Ratner, but if they bring in the script writers that did X-Men 3, then I'm not paying money to see this. I'll say it once and I'll say it again, X-Men 3 sucked because of the script, not Ratner, and if the general public knew how filmmaking works, they would realize that.
Posted: 36 minutes ago by JDarkley
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According to Ripten, the recent title update to the PS3 version of Madden NFL 10 fixes up some minor problems with the game, but also something you probably don't want: More ads. Specifically, Madden now reminds you that Madden Arcade is available to download with a pop-up window... before every. single. snap. That means you'll see advertising for Madden Arcade at least 4 times with each possession (barring turnovers) which adds up to hundreds (thousands?) of ad impressions per day for hardcore Madden players.
Apparently, the 360 version works the same way, except with even more annoying ads for Microsoft's new Bing! search engine.
Eventually, the sheer volume of Madden commercials might break you down, and you might download the game, just to kill the constant in-game spam; but sorry. The ads reportedly continue, even after you download Madden Arcade. So, yeah, gamers, happy holidays.
Source: Ripten
Bing sucks and I will never buy Madden games. MICROSOFT TAKE NOTE. More ads are not the answer. That's why I use Firefox with Ad Blocker Plus. Try to put more ads on my Xbox and I will gladly give my money to either the Playstation or Nintendo side. And I will never pay for lame Avatar clothing either so suck it.
Posted: 42 minutes ago by InHumanMarine
Leave a Comment »Avatar (Predictably) Dominates The Weekend Box Office
17 Comments
Posted 3 hours 50 mins ago - By Joseph Baxter
In what was, perhaps one of the most sure bets of all time, James Cameron's long-promoted epic, Avatar tops the box-office this weekend, grossing domestically $77,025,481 million on 7,000 screens and 3,453 sites. (With a $159,180,000 million foreign total.)
The film will also claim the title of being the highest-grossing opening for a newly-launched, non-sequel/remake/adaptation franchise. While the film's presence surged overall box-office business by 50%, it can only claim the second-best December opening weekend behind Will Smith's Omega Man remake, I Am Legend, which grossed $77.2 million. Also noteworthy, is the fact that this weekend's overall numbers were actually lower than the Dec. 14, 2007 weekend in which I Am Legend premiered. (Which also saw the premiere of Alvin and the Chipmunks.)
Was Avatar a hit or a bust, then? It obviously made money, a prediction that anyone outside of Amish country could have made. However, for a film cooked-up on a $300+ million budget and many months (technically, years) of constant hype about how the face of film would forever change, $77 million might be seen as a drop in a bucket. Sure, sometimes hugely-hyped films like this tend to have a studio ratcheting-up excitement to a point where a hugely successful weekend like this can still give the perception that it came up short. Avatar, even if it does maintain its momentum in the coming weeks (which I don't think it will,) can definitely claim victim-hood from the hype machine.
@RGforce
please take a grammar class. your posts make my head hurt.
Posted: 43 minutes ago by cmdluke
Leave a Comment »X-Play Comedy: Crazy Adam's Holiday Extravaganza!
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Posted 3 hours 51 mins ago - By Stephen Johnson
It's the holidays, kids, and that means one thing: Crazy Adam is bringing you his annual Holiday Extravaganza! That's right, the best deals possible on all the games no one would ever want to find under the tree.
I don't know about you, but I've been looking forward to Unicorn Warfare 4 for a long time; the first three Unicorn Warfares left a lot of unanswered questions.
hahaha yay this made my day
Posted: 3 hours 9 mins ago by christof_
Leave a Comment »Nugget From The Net: Every Day The Same Dream
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Posted 4 hours 12 mins ago - By Stephen Johnson
While most people play video games to "have fun" or "escape from their boring lives," artsy-farts like me enjoy games that remind them of the ultimate futility of existence within late-industrial Capitalism. That's why indie Flash game Every Day The Same Dream is my personal Game of the Year!
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One of the weirdest gameplay innovations announced in the last few years (maybe ever) is the Wii Vitality Sensor. Nintendo proudly showed it off at the last E3, but never offered any info on how, exactly it taking your pulse would make gaming more fun, but a European patent application dug up by Silicon Era might shed a little light on the matter. Nintendo has filed a trademark application for "WiiRelax."
Prior to this trademark, Italian developer Pub Company, mentioned a game called "Wii Relax," but they've been entirely silent since May, leading to the speculation that Nintendo either blocked them or bought out their idea for a Wii “zen experience."
At this early date, no one has any idea how one would play WiiRelax, but I can only assume I would be a master of this particular title, as relaxing is one of my most cherished mutant skills. I am a master of relaxation -- yogic monks often seek my counsel on how to best attain spiritual calmness. I can only hope that there is multiplayer, so I can totally destroy you at serenity.
Source: Silicon Era
As stupid as this idea sounds it could work, I mean who knows it is Nintendo we're talking about here and at this point I think they could pull off almost anything.
I really think they're just trying to find a way to change the games industry and the way we play games through these crazy endeavors and they are slowly succeeding as can be proven by Sony and Microsoft's motion technology.
At least though when this experiment is over there will be a new look to the games...
Posted: 39 minutes ago by Gorillaman69
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The sequel to 2K's Bioshock is among the most anticipated titles of 2010, but can the return to Rapture live up to the standard set by the original? The answer is unclear, but we have clarity on one advantage Bioshock 2 has over the first game: Multiplayer.
Brian Leahy got his hands on Bioshock 2's multiplayer modes, and brought back word on the good, the bad and the ugly, noting:
The foundation of the experience is solid. Gamers will earn points during their multiplayer sessions that rank them up and lead to unlocks like weapons, weapon mods, Plasmids, and Tonics. There are even "Trials", which are basically Modern Warfare style challenges that reward bonus ADAM, the game's experience points...
But does it all add up to a satisfying game? Check out the rest of the preview for the verdict!
can't wait loved the original praying this one holds up...
Posted: 3 minutes ago by bleeorg
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Noted director Terry Gilliam of Monty Python, Brazil and 12 Monkeys fame will be making his way to Attack of the Show tonight to discuss his new film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Find out what he has to say about working with an all-star cast that includes Johnny Depp, Tom Waits, Colin Farrell and, of course, the late Heath Ledger.
Chris Gore will also present a special Monday version of DVDuesday with his top holiday flick picks, so be sure to watch G4 at 7:00pm tonight.
Microsoft Patents Avatars That Reflect Real Health Of Players
30 Comments
Posted Today 8:03 AM - By Stephen Johnson
A recently uncovered patent reveals that Microsoft is considering the idea of avatars whose appearance depends on users' actual health. To put it in the words of the application, Microsoft's "Avatar Individualized by Physical Characteristics is "An avatar generator for a virtual environment [that] reflects a physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into the capabilities or appearance."
"An undesirable body weight could be reflected in an overweight or underweight appearance for the avatar. Only requisite health levels are allowed to compete in a certain competition level. A dedicated gamer could exercise for a period of time until his health indicator gadget shows a sufficiently high health/health credit in order to allow reentering the avatar environment.'
Health would be determined through a variety of "nonvolitionally obtained" information, like readings from a pedometer, pulse-rate measuring device or some kind of health smart card.
But that's not all. Microsoft also envisions avatars shaped by "psychological and demographic information such as education level, geographic location, age, sex, intelligence quotient, socioeconomic class, occupation, marital/relationship status, religious belief, political affiliation, etc."
Yet another reason to hate xbox avatars
Posted: 1 hour 39 mins ago by Aerindel_Prime
Leave a Comment »Much can change over the course of ten years. Tastes evolve, trends disappear and emerge, technology advances, ideas blend together, and theoretically, we keep moving forward by making things better. The last decade of game development has seen some remarkable changes, and if you think back to the type of games you were playing at the end of 1999 compared to the ones occupying your disc trays (or hard drives!) now,we've come a long way in such a short time. Distilling a decade of development into ten choices is a difficult task, and there's plenty of room for argument -- we've made our 10 picks, feel free to suggest changes, additions or subtractions in the comments below.
The Sims (2000) -- The Rise of the Casuals
Why It Was Influential: For us traditional gamers, The Sims provided the opportunity to screw around with digital people, building rooms without doors (or bathrooms) and watching the digital nervous (and digestive) system break down. It was a science experiment without any controls or psychological repercussions. But for the millions of people whose experience playing The Sims was the first time they ever touched a video game, it was a chance to build fantasy versions of themselves...what they'd like to be if money and real-life social awkwardness were taken out of the equation -- a different version of life that was more under control. A flurry of expansion packs kept the fire burning, and prior to the splash Blizzard would make a few years later, The Sims absolutely dominated the PC gaming space.
Effects Still Felt Today: The Sims established the perfect mix of traditional and what would become to be known as "casual" gaming, and it made an entire new segment of the population more comfortable with the idea of playing games -- something Nintendo would eventually capitalize on six years later in a monumental way.
Oh nvm Cod 4 was posted, my bad; I overlooked it. Still, this is a good list.
Posted: 3 minutes ago by assassin323
Leave a Comment »Morning Hangover: RPGs And The "Total Jerk" Option
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Posted Today 6:00 AM - By Stephen Johnson
Welcome to Morning Hangover -- an excellent way to start your day with the crew at TheFeed...no matter what you're recovering from. Every morning you'll hear musings from our editors and have the chance to share your thoughts on what's going on in the gaming world.
So I've been playing a lot of Dragon Age: Origins lately, and it's pretty fun, but I noticed something about the dialogue trees that applies not just to Dragon Age, but to most complicated, plot-driven RPGs: The Total Jerk option in dialogue trees.
Know what I mean? That line of dialogue that indicates that the player is an absolute d*ck who would have no friends or even acquaintances in real life? Like, a kindly old woman says: "Please, will you rescue my daughter from the dragon?" And you reply: "I'm not your errand boy, fool!"
While I have played RPGs as an "evil" character, I have never played a game as "total jerk." Not only do I hate people like that in real life, I can't imagine even navigating a pretend world in the guises of loudmouth douche bag. What about you? Do you ever go full jerk?
I usually follow the path of the righteous in most games, though every once and awhile the urge for world domination and general bastardry takes over. Mass Effect was probably the only game I played all the way though as "evil" (after having played it as a paragon first. WEAK). It's cool to see how the dialogue changes, and the reactions you get when you hit the Jerk Button.
Posted: 2 hours ago by Deathinflames
Leave a Comment »December 21st, 2009
Dear Me,
It's you. Don't be alarmed, I'm merely transcending time and space by writing to you from 10 years into the future. You see, you live in Los Angeles (yep) and work for this website called G4tv.com, and you're in charge of coming up with these highly creative, informative and humorous features. You are doing...okay...at your job. The week I am writing this, you're kicking off a series of features on the past ten years of gaming, which for you means the next ten years of gaming. The articles are going reasonably well, but I wanted to give you...er, us...a heads up on a few things.
If my calculations are correct, you should be receiving this letter the morning after Minnesota beats Green Bay on Monday Night Football, essentially eliminating your beloved Packers from the 1999 NFC playoff picture.
One day, Brett Favre will win in the Metrodome. He'll put up ridiculous numbers as he leads his team to the top of the NFC North, re-energizing the fans and getting another legitimate shot at a Super Bowl victory. The circumstances surrounding this, however, you are not prepared to know. But as you stare at your autographed Sports Illustrated cover from the 1997 Super Bowl, just keep this one thing in mind: things change.
What I'm about to reveal to you concerning the last ten years of gaming is meant to be helpful and informative as you finish college and begin your career as a “guy who writes about games for a living” (we still haven't settled on the “games journalist” title). Some of it you may find shocking and unbelievable, but trust me, it's completely true. I only lie to my present self.
buy stock in Google!!!!!!!!! In 1999
Posted: 25 minutes ago by SiK
Leave a Comment »Weekly Wrap Up: X-Play's Game of the Year Winners
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Posted Yesterday 6:14 AM - By Stephen Johnson
The big story this week: X-Play picked the best video games of 2009! But that's not all. We're on the countdown to Christmas, too! It's less than a week until the big day, but we haven't let the holiday spirit get in the way of producing a bounty of original web shows for you to check out:
- Sessler's Soapbox: Adam Sessler talks about his choice for Game of the Year.
- The MMO Report: This week's MMO Report touches on World of Warcraft and Age of Conan.
- Fresh Ink: Blair Butler takes a look at the best comics of the week.
- Feedback: The weekly nerd-roundtable goes in-depth on X-Play's game of the year nods.
And now, the news:
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Lots of crow-eatin' in this thar article!
Posted: 18 minutes ago by 66jzmstr
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