Ian is out today as he follows his frog down a giant hole in the ground. Don’t worry, he’ll be back Monday. Here’s what going on in the world of gaming:
The top story in the gaming world is the European (and Australian, but really that’s Europe too) launch of the PS3. Recent stories have been about Europe’s mild interest in PS3, Italy jumping the gun on the launch date and this tidbit from the BBC.
As its being reported, the first 100 people who attended the midnight launch party in London received, in addition to their shiny new PS3, a 46-inch HD television and a cab ride home (so two Americans didn’t shoot them in the face). The total cost, about £250,000, which is like a billion dollars U.S. give-or-take. Its odd, because when my friend waited in line for a PS3, he received, in addition to his system, mocking and ridicule from Gamestop employees for “throwing his money away on a shitty Blu-ray player.” And no cab ride. America, fuck yeah!
By the way, things aren’t going so well for Sony in Australia.
For those God of War fans, director David Jaffe in an interview with GameDaily Biz, opined on the future adventures of godly nutjob, Kratos. Based on God of War II’s ending, actually it should be called “place where game stops,” it was beyond clear there would be at least one more installment. Jaffe, however, while trying to set a record for using the word “fuck” in a business interview, isn’t sure how many more sequels there will be, maybe one, maybe two, maybe more.
I know, I know, many people will scream, “it depends on how much money they make,” but I’m in the doesn’t-have-to-be-a-trilogy-boat, so as long as the story stays above-average, the gameplay improves and they iron out the glitches, he can make nine for all I care.
On the Xbox side of things, Newsweek, who seems to cover gaming much more than other news magazines, is running a story analyzing why the Xbox 360 will not win the console war. The summary of reasons include the lack of conversion of Xbox owners to the 360, the lack of a new Halo game (huh?) and inability to reach the “casual gamer” despite producing so-called critically lauded titles.
One reason not given was the fact that the 360 is about as reliable as my uncle Greg, the heroin fiend. Actually, I just think 360’s are pure evil. If I caught my 360 setting up a hidden camera in the shower, I wouldn’t be surprised. My question is of 10 million units shipped, how do they count the three I’ve gone through in the past three months?
No, no Microsoft you keep up with things to put on XBLA and come up with a black super-duper 360, while I sit on the phone with Xbox support every time I want to play a game, download a movie or even look at my 360. Keep coming out with more content ladies and gents. Don’t worry about the fact that the most suspense I get playing an Xbox game is when I turn on my system. Bravo! Can’t wait for 720!
Just so I hit all the major consoles, Nintendo announced that the final version of the Wii internet channel, which was supposed to be launched at the end of March, won’t be out until the end of April. The good side is that the free trial period will be also extended into July. Nintendo is sticking to its guns, however, maintaining that the final browser, which really isn’t necessary at all, will cost 500 Wii Points, ($5). Yeah, I’m going to pay five bucks for the crazy zoom browser. Call me when I can get porn (movies) on my Wii.
That’s all for today!