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Dragon's Dogma: The Kotaku Review The death penalty of various MMORPGs is a topic of interest to many people – I’ve seen a number of thought provoking posts, and what more cheerful topic than death of your virtual avatar right before the holidays? Elder Game has a look at the death penalties of WoW and EQ2 and the ramifications of the death penalties, which often spin off to unexpected territory (like the way people play the game):
Embattled Rockstar Games title Manhunt 2 got dealt another blow in the British Courts this week. As you know, the game was banned by the British Board of Film Classification for sale in the UK back in June, but Rockstar was able to revamp the game enough to get an appeal on the ban and convince the UK Video Appeals Committee to reclassify it with a new rating. But, it seems that the BBFC isn’t ready to give up the fight just yet.
This week, they were able to argue to a judge that “game had been approved for release on a misinterpretation of the law.” The judge accepted the argument and awarded the BBFC the right to fight the game’s release in the British High Court.
This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for a game that (to me anyway) doesn’t seem any more violent than most of the other M rated titles out there. Couple that with the fact the BBFC recently approved (with no cuts) the ultra violent film Eastern Promises with the excuse that “…it was up to adults to decide what they wanted to watch and that movie-goers were free to look away from the screen”, and it makes their continued rallies against Manhunt 2 seem rather flimsy and hypocritical. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out as it will more than likely have a long standing effect on how games are rated and dealt with in the UK and possibly across Europe.
Manhunt 2 to face court challenge [BBC News] [Thanks, DBP]
Leigh Alexander has an interesting ’07 wrap up of sorts that’s not a top 10 list, but a look at some of the major trends in gaming this year – which can be summed up in the word ‘accessibility,’ which she defines as many different things. Making the ‘entry barrier’ to console gaming low with the Wii; allowing people to play in bite sized chunks instead of hours-long grinds; the line between the gamer and the non-gamer is becoming increasingly slim (maybe?):
Smashing the holiday hopes and dreams of MegaMan and Smash Bros. fans everywhere, Keiji Inafune has stated uncategorically that at this time, Megaman is not going to be a character in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. In the most recent Bionic Commando podcast, Inafune says:
Well, I really do love Super Smash Brothers. It’s a great series…but, Nintendo hasn’t asked me yet if they can use Mega Man in their game. I’m still waiting…we have a little bit of time left, it’s not coming out for another few months. They might get around to asking us if we’d like to put Mega Man in Super Smash Brothers. Maybe if somebody from Nintendo is listening to this podcast, they’ll give me a call.
I know this is going to come as quite a blow to all of you out there had been keeping your fingers crossed for Megaman’s appearance, but it looks like you’re out of luck this time. Or are you? As he says “we still have a little bit of time left.” But will it be enough time for some last minute coding?
Shanda – one of Mainland China’s heaviest hitters in the MMORPG world – was asked by police to remove virtual items from a player’s account during an investigation into the sale of stolen virtual items. Shanda did – then forgot to give them back like the police had told them to. When the player discovered his missing virtual items, he flipped his lid and sued them. Shanda lost and has been ordered to apologize and pay a restitution of 5,000 RMB (a little less than $US 700) – but to add insult to injury, the player has even more lawsuits in mind:
The gamer surnamed Zhang discovered six virtual items, worth more than RMB1,500, missing from his game account on November 22, 2006 and contacted Shanda regarding the disappearance. Shanda said that the company had taken the items in accordance with a police investigation regarding the sale of stolen virtual items. According to the report, Shanda failed to follow police instruction and return the items after the investigation ended. Having spent much time away from the game, Zhang said he plans to take Shanda back to court. This time he plans to sue for the RMB150,000 he claims to have spent in the game during the past five years. Zhang sued Shanda in the Hunan Qiyang People’s Court.
Over $US 20,000 seems excessive, to say the least. Will it fly in a Chinese courtroom? I guess we’ll find out.
Shanda Pays For Stealing Gamer’s Toys [Pacific Epoch via PlayNoEvil]
This week is not only notable for the Christmas holiday but (possibly even more importantly) this week also happens to be the 20th Anniversary of MegaMan (aka RockMan). Website Platformers.net has taken a little look back at the long running franchise. It’s a nice medium length retrospective that will be perfect for holiday reading if you want to learn a little bit more about the man in blue and all his various games.
Happy Anniversary, MegaMan. May you see twenty more without becoming boring and repetitive.
Japan Focus| Happy Birthday Rockman! [Platformers.net] The Official Megaman Website [Capcom] [Thanks, Graham]
Or, they do once you follow dxprog’s how-to instructions. And then? Oh, man, as you can see above, you can proceed to rock your own socks off as you go all Dave Lombardo/Animal on your Windows controller setup screen. This one goes straight in the “Merely Promising Until We Get A Freeware Drum Hero” folder on my heart’s desktop.
Rock Band drums on Windows [dxprog, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Or we would, had Kotaku Heavy Industries been attending the game’s Japanese launch party instead of alternatively stuffing our faces with turkey or rocking out on Rock Band. See, not only did Yasuhiro Wada turn up for some free drinks and a go on the final build of the game, but all attendees were given a parting gift. Toilet schwag.
To review: It started with a Japanese TV program. They called it “human Tetris,” and it was funny. Then came a Big Brother and a Nadie es Perfecto rip-off. So not funny. Another copycat surfaced, then time with butt cheeks. Likewise, not funny! And then, after all this, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres decided to rework “human Tetris” as “Thru The Wall” and include money, screaming and Mariah Carey. I haven’t seen American TV in a while. Is it always this pedantic?
Thanks, Chesu!
John Carmack used to hate Nintendo. With a fire that burned wildly inside of him. Some may say it’s because Nintendo (was rumoured to have) completely ignored his idea for a Mario port on the PC. Carmack says otherwise: We ignored Nintendo for a long time for a number of fairly good reasons — we hated dealing with them 10 years ago, as they always lagged behind the front runners in terms of raw technology… now we’re branching out onto lower-end platforms, so now its an interesting platform for us to be looking at. Six months from now, when our current projects are done, we have all sorts of options we’re focusing on.
Ah well. Whatever the reason, least they’re all chummy now! Interesting he talks about “options” there, too. If those “options” don’t include either an official Doom or Quake on the DS I’ll eat your monkey’s uncle’s hat.
Carmack, Kang Talk Id Mobile, Nintendo Love [Gamasutra][Image]
