Archive for September 8th, 2006
BREAKING: G4 Makes Kissyface to Aeropause, Tranquility Returns to the Internet
In the coolest move they’ve ever made, gaming network G4’s Attack of the Show has posted a very sincere, very well-worded apology to our darling Aeropause.
G4’s slight, as mentioned earlier today, was using Aeropause’s instructional Dead Rising video on Attack of the Show without giving credit for the fantastic clip, which demonstrated how to attain the coveted Megaman blaster by destroying nigh unto 60,000 zombies.
The Attack of the Sorry:
What happened was awful, embarrassing and it doesn’t matter why it happened, it was wrong. We’re a corporation (although we have Space Invaders on the carpeting) and we take copyright law extremely seriously. We get pissed off when people show our stuff and don’t give us credit; I wouldn’t expect anyone out there to feel differently.
Like I said before, we take our role as citizens on the information superhighway very seriously. However, unlike a lot of people out there in the universe of the worldwide web, we aren’t afraid to fess up to our mistakes and say we’re sorry.
And so on. But they don’t stop there! Not only do they fill a page with gracious explanation and apology, they go above and beyond and actually compose a little I’m Sorry song to Aeropause, complete with acoustic guitar and stylish hat.
Let this be a lesson to all tubedwellers: eating humble pie earns you a high score. As a bonus lesson, let it be known that a slick little grandpa hat and some nice glasses can dress up your jeans n’ teeshirt geek uniform something fierce.
This post goes without a photo because our uploader is broken.
Attack of the Show apologizes as great length [G4]
Nintendo’s 8-bit power play a staple for MBA courses
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Business
Two of my MBA courses this semester include cases on Nintendo, the first of which centers on Nintendo’s well-documented tendency to play hardball during the 8-bit era.
As luck would have it, we’ll be covering the case just before I head to Tokyo to cover TGS for Joystiq. If I’m not too slammed, I’ll post a synopsis of the class discussion here. In the meantime, here’s a summary of the case, to whet your appetites:
“The home video-game industry began in 1972 with the founding of Atari. After riding a dramatic boom and bust in the early 1980s, most players left the business. Nintendo of Japan then rebuilt the industry–establishing a commanding worldwide position by the end of the decade. By 1990, Nintendo game systems could be found in one out of every three households–in both Japan and the United States. The company’s stock market value exceeded that of Sony or Nissan. The case describes the steps Nintendo took to achieve this success. Also covers the U.S. antitrust investigation of Nintendo.”
Wharton bschool profs appear to be hip to happenings in the games industry. Last semester, I had a final exam question on the hot coffee scandal. In an operations management (OPIM) class, we discussed shortages around the launch of the PS2 and PSP. And even the Dean of the school has been touting the benefits of game-like simulations for learning.
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Chuck Norris vs. Everyone: Not Yet Rated
I don’t have the slightest clue how we missed this, but Destructoidite FRONZ uploaded it sometime in July and I dug through our archives but I didn’t find it. So. At the risk of posting old meme, and for the sake of completeness, I give you the trailer for Last Champion, which hopefully really is actually coming to Xbox Live Arcade Because you know what? Why the hell not.
Thanks, D-Toid.
Lt. Cmdr. Dudefella WoW Trading Card
Awhile back, Penny Arcade’s Gabe revealed that he did some artwork for some of the cards for the upcoming World of Warcraft Collectible Card Game and posted up an image of the Leeroy Jenkins Card.
Today posts up the art for the Lt. Commander Dudefella card. The human mage is apparently the leader of the Fancy Lads guild and one-time co-founder of the Penny Arcade Alliance guild.
Love the quote.
Student Filmmaker Treats Halflife with More Respect than Hollywood Ever Will
A well-executed faux trailer for a Halflife movie, by student filmmaker Justin Seau. According to Aeropause this was put together for this digital video editing class, and uses all original footage.
Second Life’s user database breached
Filed under: Culture, Mac, PC, Online, RPGs, MMO
Hackers broke into the Second Life user databases on Thursday, according to this post on the official blog of Second Life parent company Linden Labs. Intruders gained access to Second Life account names, real life names, contact information, encrypted account passwords and encrypted payment information.
So what?
Well, there’s something scarier about this theft. Name, address and credit card information is stolen daily from various inept ecommerce sites. We’re kind of accustomed to that level of theft. But how many of us are really comfortable with data stolen from the place where we spend our leisure time?
To put a finer point on it, what happens when archived MMOG chat logs are breached? It’s going to be ugly, like AOL ugly: “I swear honey, that Furry meant nothing to me. It was totally just research for my new book. I’ll sell the teledildonics equipment on eBay first thing tomorrow.”
Gamers haven’t been paying much attention to privacy of in-game communications. Given how intimate some of those communications have become, maybe it’s time for more scrutiny of privacy protection measures taken by MMOG providers.
[Via Techcrunch]
[Image via furry.wikia.com]
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New Rule of Rose Gameplay Footage
There’s some new Rule of Rose stuff over on MTV’s game site, Overdrive (which runs like complete crap on OSX Firefox), and it’s completely without context. Who’s talking in the clip with the broom goblins? The subtitles don’t seem to correspond with anything. The music is pretty, but extremely repetitive. A lot of it is inappropriate for the variety of scenes it’s laid over.
Basic gameplay doesn’t seem all that great, or at least not much of an improvement. It could be that combat is not a big part of the game so what we’re seeing here is a rare event.
Do pay heed to the character animations in the cutscenes, which look fairly good. I especially liked the way the villain’s fingers fluttered when she put her hand on the fat girl’s head.
Although it looks like once again, the main character is the blandest in the game. Her expressions are very toned down, and her face and posture are extremely restrained. I’m guessing that player characters are the ones subjected to the greatest amount of committee review, and have all their edges worn smooth by the time they’re put onscreen. What a shame.
I believe Rule of Rose comes out next week, and I’ll definitely be picking it up. After all, I’m in this for the steampunk lolitas and the fishblimp, not the broom goblins. Or the dog.
New Rule of Rose stuff on MTV Overdrive [MTV, thanks GayGamer]
Wii Thrustmaster Wheel Revealed
IGN spent some time with Tats Myoio talking to him about Ubisoft’s still- in-development Wii racer GT Pro Series.
The most important thing to take away from the story is the above picture of the Wii wheel, kinda sweet, though it’s going to totally feel stupid using.
The game is going to include 80 licensed cel-shaded cars and will have the wheel, made by Thrustmaster, bundled with it.
And if you ever get ticked playing the game, it should be fairly easy to discus the wheel through your flat panel.
Interview: GT Pro Series [IGN]
PSP Portable Home Theater, Master of Hyperbole
Gizmodo pointed out that GameExpert has come out with a “Portable Home Theater” for the Playstation Portable. Apparently, the difference between a portable home theater and a docking station is four blue LED’s, the sole purpose of which appears to be adding blue-tinged glare to your PSP while watching movies.
That’s certainly worth $75.
GameExperts’ PSP Portable Theater Fancy Way of Saying Dock [Gizmodo]
Today in Joystiq: September 8, 2006
Joystiquery
Wii chip production well underway, say IBM, Nintendo
An apology, and a note on hype
Joystiq interviews GameTap’s David Reid
The Political Game: The Virtual Candidate
Joystiq interviews Penny Arcade Adventures’ Hothead Games
News
Michael Dell at the Austin Game Conference
Bioware demonstrates digital actors at Austin Game Conference
Viva Piñata animated series on FOX, will your kids take the bait?
Batman to LEGO brick consoles everywhere
Sneak peek at Xbox 360 fall dashboard update
Japanese hardware sales, 28 August - 3 September: major megaton edition
A Double Fine deal with Sierra
Splinter Cell infiltrates Wii launch lineup
Rumors & Speculation
MCV speculates on UK Wii date, price
Xbox 360 HD-DVD bundle to undercut PS3 in Europe, according to uh-oh … “retail sources”
Culture
Happy video game piano medley day
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess FAQ
Limited edition Shadow of the Colossus tee
Winner of strongest fall lineup is … PS2?
When gaming meets and eats gourmet
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G4 Lays Down the Diss on Aeropause
Aeropause’s Richard is dignified but disappointed after receiving the game media equivalent of “you’re not on the list” on TV game network G4.
I was at my desk today when all of a sudden I hear Kevin Pereira mention something about a video showing how to get 60,000 kills in Dead Rising. I immediately perked up because if you are a loyal Aeropausian you will remember that we made a video on just that subject a few days back. To my surprise they were showing the video that I created. I was happy to see something I did on TV, but then I noticed that they gave absolutely no credit to our humble website. I posted the video on Youtube so I expected that it would be used on some other blogs, which did happen, but unlike those blogs G4 decided not to give any credit whatsoever.
For shame, G4. Considering how rapidly that video spread, how instructive it is and how many people are probably using the advice therein at this very moment, credit was a pretty crappy thing to omit.
G4 Disses Aeropause [Aeropause]
Tell Msoft What you Think of the 360 Dashboard
Wild Chicken, one of the guys working on the Xbox 360 User Interface, has posted up a call for comments on his site. He’d like to know what needs to be changes, kept the same, fixed and added to the Xbox 360 dashboard and such.
I just want them to do something about music sorting. I hate having to page through 4,000 plus songs everytime I want to find something to play. Maybe make it sortable by first letter groupings, like A-C, D-G, that sort of thing.
Also, I wish there was a way to save playlists to the 360’s harddrive for songs that are not on the 360, like my iPod songs.
Do you have any requests? Hit the link or bitch here.
