Exclusives be gone! One of the PS3’s premier titles has gone the way of Assassin’s Creed. Devil May Cry 4 will not only see release on Sony’s newest console, but also on the Xbox 360 and the PC, many sources are reporting. Not only that, but Virgil won’t even get timed exclusivity, as the PS3 and 360 versions of the game will ship at the same time. Now, as one, let’s all bend our thoughts toward breaking Kojima and getting Metal Gear Solid 4 to go cross-platform.
After a year of mayfly bills attempting to regulate videogame sales and content at the state level, GamePolitics is reporting that the issue has returned to the federal government. Republican Representative Fred Upton has filed the Video Game Decency Act of 2007, which bears a lot of resemblance to his own Video Game Decency Act of 2006, which went nowhere. The bill is currently under review at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The most interesting part of the bill is that it refers back to the Hot Coffee scandal, requiring developers disclose every piece of content in the games submitted to the ESRB, whether used or unused. This is another example (well, the same example) of legislators trying to regulate things they don’t understand, since unused code is inaccessible without determined amateur hacking; it only exists in potentia. I have the potential to drop my pants in the middle of a crowded street, which also would get me some legal attention, but only dedicated folks could force that to happen. Or tequila.
Want a chance to ask Sony’s Phil Harrison a question or two? If you’re a member of the Slashdot community (or can shortly become one,) then you may get that chance. In this thread, they are compiling questions from the community. Harrison has agreed to answer a selection of those highest-rated by the backbiting, vindictive, anonymous community. Slashdot has run these Q&A sessions before, and they’ve always turned out well, in terms of significant questions ending up in front of the interviewee. Whether Harrison does anything more than blow smoke is another matter entirely.
There’s a new game, posted at the IndyGamer Blog, which starts the gears a-turnin’ once again on the videogames as art debate. The game is called The Marriage, and can be downloaded from the developer, who is also an Electronic Arts employee. It’s a game that deserves entering cold; though simple in design, it provides enough material for your gray matter to soak in for a while, unless you’re the type that gets bored in museums. If nothing else, it has inspired me to finish up my argument favoring videogames as an art form, which you’ll probably see here before too long.
To finish things off with a less intellectual diversion: how about some You Don’t Know Jack? I wonder if Cookie has driven anyone to suicide.