EEG News

Boll Wants To Fight You

Uwe Boll is offering a chance for the online gaming community to take their shots at him, in a literal sense. The filmmaker, who has taken a lot of flack by both journalists and internet denizen for his very un-boffo movie adaptations of beloved video game franchises wants a chance to beat up the naysayer on camera. Or get beat up – depending on what the editors can do.

Boll is holding a sweepstakes where critics who have written "extremely" negative articles about two of his films in 2005 via the internet or written text have a chance to fight Boll in a boxing match.

From Gamespot:

To answer his critics, Boll is orchestrating what might be considered one of the more bizarre sweepstakes in memory. After he finishes the ongoing shoot of In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, and the subsequent project, Seed, starring the TV incarnation of Conan the Barbarian, bodybuilder Ralf Moeller (Gladiator), Boll will move onto the big-screen version of studio Running With Scissors' controversial Postal series. During that shoot, Boll will personally take on his biggest detractors in boxing matches to be used in the film.

"Towards the end of the filming of Postal the five most outspoken critics will be flown into Vancouver and supplied with hotel rooms," read Boll's press release. "As a guest of Uwe Boll they will be given the chance to be an extra/stand-in in Postal and have the opportunity to put on boxing gloves and enter a BOXING RING [emphasis in the original] to fight Uwe Boll. Each critic will have the opportunity to bring down Uwe in a 10-bout match. There will be five matches planned over the last two days of the movie. Certain scenes from these boxing matches will become part of the Postal movie. All five fights will be televised on the Internet and will be covered by international press."

You know your film career star is really shining when you have to start throwing punches. But maybe Boll can grab a little glory out of it. Let me direct your eyes to this part of the press release, my emphasis:

Certain scenes from these boxing matches will become part of the Postal movie.

So yeah, don’t be surprised if Boll comes out the winner on the silver screen despite the outcome.

These are the moments where a one must teeter on the edge of reporting news like this, resulting in unavoidable compliance with an unsavory publicity ploy and a desire to sweep said attention seeker under the rug. It burns my fingers, for instance, every time I must type the name of people like Boll or industry demagogue Jack Thompson. I would just as soon ignore them, but they’re just so wiley.

Wii Wins E3

Nintendo took the coveted Game Critics’ Best of Show prize at E3 for the Wii’s official bow and impressive showing.

If the cranky coil of gamers winding around and beyond Nintendo’s booth in day-long waits was any indication, it wasn’t just the 37 game journalists from across the industry judging this contest who were eager to get their hands on a Wii.

From Greg Kasavin, Executive Editor of GameSpot:

Some important questions remain about how the Wii will finally turn out, but by giving E3 show-goers a taste of what playing games on the Wii will be like, Nintendo seemed to gather much more momentum for the system's launch later this year. So despite how many great-looking games were on display at this year's show, the Wii stood out as the single most exciting and remarkable new product at E3 2006.

A further breakdown of the awards. Winners in RED:

Best of Show
Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
Wii (Nintendo)

Best Original Game
Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC/Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best PC Game
Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)
Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)
Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)
Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)

Best Console Game
Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Handheld Game
Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)
Killzone: Liberation (Guerrilla/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Kojima Productions/Konami for PSP)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)

Best Hardware
DS Lite (Nintendo)
Logitech G25 Racing Wheel (Logitech for PC)
PlayStation 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Wii (Nintendo)
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset (Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Note that out of the Best of Show category, only one was actually available to play on the show floor by plebs such as myself. Ah, E3…’tis truely a closed door event.

EEG News Closed For A Wee Bit

EEG News reporter Austin Modine is currently attending the Cannes film festival in France, and won't be updating until the 28th.

Please be patient, and Austin will bring you back a croissant or something.

E3: Microsoft Conference

Microsoft had a solid showing during its E3 press conference, but suffered from a severe lack of surprises.

The star of the show was of course the Halo 3 teaser – saved for the very end of the conference but completely expected. They showed off the HD-DVD accessory some more but didn’t give a price point. They showed clips of games previously announced, announced that Grand Theft Auto would be time-exclusive (no word on how long the exclusivity will last) and brought out Bill Gates to bore everyone, There was some talk about Windows Vista (it’s supposed to be “the best gaming OS ever,” but they’ve been saying that since 1995) and then they called it a day. No surprises, but damned if the games didn’t look good.

The biggest piece of news (as in, new) from the conference was announcing the Live Anywhere service which will integrate Xbox Live with Windows Vista, Windows Mobile and of course the 360. With Live Anywhere, players will be able to challenge other gamers, check stats, message people on Live and more regardless of the Microsoft platform you are on. One example was customizing a car on a mobile phone and sending it to the 360 to play.

Everything looked droolworthy, although I’m getting a little sick of generic shooters on the console. Microsoft just might grab themselves a bigger piece of the marketshare than expected this generation, especially with the announced price of the PS3.

E3: Nintendo Press Conference

Super Mario Galaxy

Nintendo kept characteristically (and perhaps rather disapointingly) tight-lipped during their E3 press conference today.

The big N showed small glimpses of highly anticipated titles such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 and dropping the news that Super Mario Galaxy is in the works for the Wii, but any hard information was nowhere to be seen. Nintendo did not divulge a release date or price for its upcoming console which most hoped for and many genuinely needed, to dull the pain of the PS3’s outragous $600 price tag. Nor did Nintendo reveal plans for launch or an online strategy. Nintendo’s message: this stuff is fun. You’ll see tomorrow on the show floor.

I have to say, watching the Nintendo Wii graphics on the big screen didn’t exactly impress me. Nintendo made it clear that graphics will come second to gameplay, and I believe that in theory. I certainly don’t consider myself a “graphics whore,” but everything looked like a Gamecube game. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed when the games I’m seeing at an E3 conference don’t make me go “wow.” It just ain’t right.

I will, however, take Nintendo’s advice and wait to get my hands on the system. Nintendo’s new slogan is “Playing = Beliving,” and I’m more than willing to go along with it. Nintendo’s conference was the only one out of the big three where people actually looked like they were enjoying themselves playing. People weren’t muttering “that looks so cool,” but “that looks like so much fun.” And maybe that’s what it’s about.

At least, that’s what I’ll keep telling myself until tomorrow.

E3: Sony Press Conference

Sony lifted the curtain on some much sought-after PS3 info during their E3 press conference this evening in addition to showing off a number of game trailers.

The PS3 will launch in Japan Nov. 11 and in America and Europe Nov. 17.  The console will be available in two packages; with a 20GB hard drive for $499 and a 60GB version for $599. They will ship 2 million during launch period and 4 million by the end of 2006.

Sony has ditched the boomerang controller they showed off last E3, unveiling a new controller design that looks very much like a Duel Shock 2. However, Sony has – shall we say, borrowed ideas from both Microsoft and Nintendo for their design.

In the center of the new controller is a 360-like media button.  Sony has also included a motion sensor device inside much like the Nintendo Wii.

Game trailers featured in the presentation included Grand Turismo, Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4 and some interesting new titles.  Check out reports on those here.

E3 Begins

E3.  For gamers it's Christmas, New Years, and -- oh, let's say Secretary's Day all rolled into one.  Your truly will be attending this week and I will be updating with news as much as I can.

However, I am but one man and news will be coming in at a steady stream. My mouth is firmly over the spigot but it’s going to get messy.

For those playing the home game; the major conferences will be as follows:

SONY Monday, May 8th. 4 PM pacific.

NINTENDO Tuesday, May 9th. 9:30 AM pacific.

MICROSOFT Tuesday, May 9th. 11:30 AM pacific.

Keep an eye out for major announcements and E3 floor impressions right here.

ESRB Changes Oblivion Rating to Mature

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board has changed the rating of popular PC and Xbox 360 game Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion From T (teen) to M (mature) after apparently pondering the blood and gore for a month and a class 5 nipple alert.

According to the ESRB statement:

"The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or “skin” that, if accessed through a third-party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters.”

The rating change parallels the infamous “hot coffee” scandal that rocked Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where players could access a sexually explicit minigame through third party software. It is currently unknown if the ESRB is aware that a person can mod a topless skin into almost every computer game using “third party software.” Players are also cautioned not to peek under their shirts due to an extreme risk of seeing not just one, but possibly two dirty dirty nipples.

Currently there is no way for 360 users to access these fleshy abominations.

Since we don't know what version the ESRB used to rate the game in the first place, we cannot be sure if additional gore was added to the game before release. However, since the game has involved violent bloody stabbing of monsters and people with a sword since the earliest screen shots, it seems unlikely that gore was the main reason for the change.

Perhaps it’s time the ESRB placed a new label on all game boxes: WARNING: this game, like all software can be modified by someone on the internet to include content unsuitable for minors.

Analyst: Next Gen DVD Format to Determine Console War

Industry analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities Michael Pachter believes the battle between the PS2 and the Xbox 360 will be determined by whether HD-DVD or Blu-ray wins the market.

“Notwithstanding the efforts of all three console manufacturers to deliver compelling exclusive content, we believe that the ultimate outcome of the console wars will be decided by the motion picture studios,” said Pachter.

“Should the studios embrace Sony’s Blu-ray standard for high definition DVDs, we think Sony will gain an insurmountable advantage over Microsoft; should the studios embrace Sony rival Toshiba’s HD-DVD format, we think that Microsoft can maintain its first mover advantage and will dominate software sales for years to come.”

Pachter went on to predict the Blu-Ray format will prevail, despite arriving second to the market. In the meantime, Pachter believes Microsoft will “enjoy a first mover advantage for the next two years, capturing approximately 42% of U.S. and European combined next generation hardware units sales through 2007.”

Pachter’s analyst crystal ball also had good news for the Nintendo Wii, saying it will thrive as a second console for consumers.

Wiiskey Tango Foxtrot

Sick for one day and Nintendo goes and releases the official name of their next console.

And it’s a dozey.

The console, formally codenamed Revolution, has been renamed Wii.

Yes, Wii. As in "we."

Internet gaming communities have exploded with a lot of hate and a little bit of love for Wii. And Nintendo seemed to be prepared for it.

The name is stupid, yes, and Nintendo certainly isn’t doing themselves any favors by naming their next console Wii, but we’ll get used to it. Together.

After all, it was a bitter pill to swallow when Microsoft further evoked images of Dew chugging eXreme Sk8rZ by adding a “360” after the already lame moniker “Xbox.”

Certainly, Nintendo’s decision to release the name before E3 was smart. The last time Nintendo dropped a bomb on its audiences at E3 was with the cell-shaded Zelda, Wind Waker. The footage was met with shock and disbelief rather than the expected applause and cheers. The big N bowing the name now gives people a chance to get used to it.

So let’s do it together.  Wii.

Wii.

Okay, so maybe I need more time.

The news also puts Nintendo in the E3 spotlight. For better or worse, people are talking about Wii. (Oh god, it just sounds so wrong.) There's no such thing as bad press, after all. Sony is going to have to jump through some flaming hoops to steal Nintendo’s momentum now.

Microsoft To Buy Massive

Microsoft plans to buy in-game advertising company Massive Inc.

The deal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), is valued between $200 million to $400 million. Microsoft plans on officially bowing the deal next week. Massive’s current clients include Coca-Cola and Honda.

Massive's business model involves placing dynamic ads in video games such as on billboards or soda machines that can be updated via internet.

It remains to be seen whether videogame ads can help Microsoft's broader advertising goals. The videogame-ad market is growing and has garnered much interest among advertisers and game publishers. For now, though, it's small. Advertisers spent about $56 million on advertisements in videogames last year, up from $34 million the prior year. But a recent report by the Boston research firm Yankee Group predicts the in-game advertising market will reach more than $700 million by 2010. Yankee Group also predicts the number of games with advertising in them will double by the end of this year to more than 200.

Let’s just hope developers keep advertisements reasonable. When they start to put soda machines in medieval role playing games for the slamming ye olde Mountaine Dewe, it will be a sad day indeed.

New Revolution Controller Info

This person keeps their house rather tidy.

Advance Media Network reports rumors that the Nintendo Revolution controller will have an accelerometer have been confirmed by a “developer incredibly close to Nintendo.”

The accelerometer supposedly will be build into the “nunchaku” controller peripheral (pictured in the left hand), and would sense when it is tilted in different directions. The tech was previously featured in the Gameboy Advance game, Wario Ware Twisted.

Nintendo and those who work with the company are notoriously tight-lipped about their products, so break out the salt shaker – even though it sounds like reasonable speculation. E3 is about two weeks away, so it won’t be long before all is revealed.

'Silent Hill' Takes 'Scary' Crown

“Silent Hill” won the weekend boxoffice fisticuffs match with “Scary Movie 4,” grabbing the top spot with a $20.2 million bow.

Despite the cold reception from critics (RottenTomatoes.com currently has “Silent” listed at 24 percent), Sony TriStar’s treatment of the first game in the popular survival horror series averaged $6,904 on 2,926 screens.

Pic scored high sales with teens, with 67% of the audience under 25 years old – and surprisingly, only 55% male.

The critical reaction certainly isn’t what many vidgame fans hoped for in the first game-to-movie translation in recent memory that actually tries to stick to the source material somewhat (and doesn’t rely on camp. I’m looking at you “Mortal Kombat”). However, the box office numbers seem to indicate there will be another Silent Hill movie in the future.

PS2 Price Drop

Sony announced a price drop on the PS2 today…but it’s only $20 less, so don’t get too excited.

The price, lowered from $149 to $129 will be effective immedietly. It may not be a big discount, but hey, it’s better than a punch in the mouth.

Winstron Ramps-Up 360 Production

The 360s are coming!

After being an endangered species on retail market shelves for five months, Xbox 360 production is finally getting a kick in the pants.

Taiwanese electronics manufacturing firm Winstron Corp has announced it will step-up its production of the console to one million units a month by the end of the year.

The firm will also be expanding its Xbox 360 manufacturing facility in China.

Having more 360s on retail shelves will doubtlessly play a role in the console wars when the PS3 is released world-wide – likely facing the same shortage Microsoft experienced with its own console.