Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks After the termination of established GameSpot reviewer and editorial director Jeff Gerstmann, we heard from employees of the site who spoke of the threat of “mass resignations.” Today it would seem we have at least one confirmed casualty from the CNet/Gerstmann fallout, longtime freelance reviewer Frank Provo. The reviewer, with over seven years worth of contributions to GameSpot and some 751 reviews, confirmed on his work blog today that he was no longer writing for the site. “I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons,” wrote the reviewer “I believe CNet intends to soften the site’s tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy.”
A trio of Texan gamers are looking to capitalise on the service disruption that Microsoft has been experiencing with Xbox Live over the past fortnight, writes the Seattle Times. A class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft alleging breach of contract over connection issues and server errors many were experiencing when trying to play online. The three plaintiffs claim that MS “failed to exercise reasonable care or competence in communicating information regarding the nature of services offered through Xbox Live” resulting in damages suffered. I’m no lawyer, but I bet there are some Twitter server logs that will argue otherwise!
The complaint, which is available for download via the Seattle Times, doesn’t mention what damages are being sought by the group, but does point out expenses associated with Live subscription costs and attorney fees. Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen!
Xbox Live holiday outages prompts class action lawsuit [Seattle Times]
Valve has welcomed Rockstar Games into the fold today, with the publisher’s catalog arriving on the Steam digital distribution platform. We’d heard rumors about it from a few Steam users over the past couple weeks, but now it’s confirmed. That means Windows gamers can enjoy titles like Manhunt, Max Payne, Midnight Club II and the Grand Theft Auto series from the comfort of their broadband connections. There are some very solid deals to be had, with a 10% price break on the available titles during launch week.
What kind of deals? How about both Max Payne games for $US 13.45? No? What about every GTA PC game for $26.95? If bundling is your thing, you may want to check out the Rockstar Collection, which features ten titles for the price of one (give or take). It’s fun and financially sound.
Rockstar Games On Steam [Steam]
Over the holidays, the gaming community lost one an influential member in Martin Sikes, one of the founding members of Black Box Games. Black Box was probably best known for creating titles like NHL 2K and Sega Soccer Slam before being acquired by Electronic Arts in 2002 and helming the Need For Speed franchise. Sikes and other former Black Box staffers later went on to co-found United Front Games, a start-up studio that formed in the summer of 2007. Sikes, who died suddenly on Christmas Eve, is survived by his daughter, parents Rita and John, and sister Belinda.
Details on memorial services are available at the Vancouver Sun.
Martin Sikes co-founded Black Box Games [Vancouver Sun - thanks, Victor]
Perfect Dark Zero and Viva Pinata developer Rare looks to be targeting Xbox Live Arcade for its next release, according to Xbox 360 Fanboy. The site reports today that it has details on the Microsoft-owned studio’s The Fast & The Furriest, culled from presentation materials on the XBLA game. The sporty minigame collection would feature heavy Xbox Live Vision cam support, allowing for face (read: balls) mapping and EyeToy-style control. Classic Rare characters, like that clock from Diddy Kong Racing and dozens of fuzzy, googly-eyed woodland creatures, would feature prominently.
The presentation materials also point to a Wii-like motion control system that didn’t make the final cut, which could lend more weight to Microsoft’s interests in a simplified waggle scheme.
The Fast & The Furriest: Rare’s latest XBLA project [Xbox 360 Fanboy]
PQ Crash dropped us a line to point out that The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s playoff preview for the upcoming Seahawks’ this weekend. The spread shows quarterback Matt Hasselbeck transformed into an 8-bit sprite in a landscape ripped from a Super Mario Bros. title.
The latest batch of rumors from EGM’s venerable Quarterman character/column points to a mysterious “major Japanese third-party publisher” signing on for a series of classic remakes to be delivered via the PlayStation Network. Who? EGM won’t say, but 1UP head Sam Kennedy tosses out a few ideas—Konami, Capcom, Square-Enix. No word on graphical overhauls or Xbox Live Arcade-style releases featuring both visual updates and original versions, but we’re hoping that they’re not just upscaled.
Sony’s low-key announcement that peer-to-peer calling service Skype would be coming to the PSP was vague on details, but a recent report from Japanese outlet Nikkei Net helps to shed some light. According to Gamespot’s retelling of the account, the service, free for PSP users and limited only to those in possession of the PSP Slim revision, may be launching as early as January.
There’s no charge for PSP-to-PSP and PSP-to-PC calls, but a microphone accessory and dedicated phone number service will both carry a fee. The Nikkei Net report priced out PSP-Skype plans strictly for Japan, but we suspect Sony will have more to say about the calling service at next week’s CES. Who else is psyched for some sidetalkin’?
Report: PSP Skype launching this month [Gamespot]
By John Gaudiosi
The year 2008 is going to be a very busy year for controversial film director Uwe Boll, who has a legion of detractors in the gamin community after films like Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne and House of the Dead. The prolific filmmaker, who independently finances every one of his movies, has a slate of movies in the can. He talks about what the coming year brings in this exclusive interview.
First up for Boll is his $US 60 million fantasy epic, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. The movie, which stars Ray Liotta, Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, Kristanna Loken, Matthew Lillard and Burt Reynolds, will open on 2,500 screens across North America on January 11–making it Boll’s biggest film release yet.
In another “win” for “consumers” Warner Bros. Entertainment announced today that it would be going exclusively Blu-ray for hi-definition movie releases as of May 2008. This point in the W column for fans of the Sony-backed, PlayStation 3-approved format will probably help in calming those still basking in the furious red glow of rage born of Paramount’s decision to go HD-DVD only. Consider that HD disc format war “stalemate” now over, Sir Stringer!
The reason for Warner’s new Blu-ray allegiance? According to WB CEO Barry Meyer, “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger.” He’s seconded by President of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group Kevin Tsujihara, who says in press release form “A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption…” Confusion, as you can see, is the cause.
That’s right, PlayStation 3 backers, the upcoming hi-definition release of Catwoman is all yours. Print out your commemorative press release, which you’ll find after the jump.
