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New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land The folks at Sony have the dubious distinction of making Fortune’s end of year wrap up on the boneheaded business decisions of 2007 not once, but twice. While Microsoft also made the list for reasons related to its PR firm Waggener Edstrom Worldwide mistakenly sending an internal profile of a Wired writer to the Wired writer himself, its blunder wasn’t directly game related, as Fortune’s picks for Sony were.
The mag points to Sony’s use of an eviscerated, beheaded goat as a centerpiece for a God of War II promotion as 61st dumbest business move of the year. Close by, at number 63, was the decision to use a bombed out Manchester Cathedral as a backdrop for the PlayStation 3 game Resistance: Fall of Man. Hey, they may have lost a few fans in the church, but this one seems a bit harsh, Fortune editors. It’s not like they actually bombed the cathedral for reference shots.
101 Dumbest Moments in Business [Fortune - thanks, Kenneth!]
If you long for the days when Fred Astaire and Grace Kelly took to the stage, dancing and singing amongst…dancers and singers…AND you happen to love the PS3 sensation Resistance: Fall of Man, then these photos are for you. Created with the help of 40 volunteers and Resistance’s screen-grabbing tool, this is something really special.
In an interview with D+Pad magazine, Insomniac’s Ryan Schneider dropped a juicy, vague, open-ended quote that will get us nowhere but interested in hearing more. It’s been great to have a network that can facilitate the map-pack downloads, demos and trailers for both Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. The number of users on PSN has been rising steadily and we absolutely plan to support them with more new content coming soon.
Notice the use of the word “them”? Yeah, while we’ve expected continued PSN content for Resistance, this is the first mention we’ve seen of anything downloadable for Ratchet & Clank Future. Hmm…maybe Insomniac is planning new guns…or maybe just some additional wallpapers. Time will tell.
D+Pad Nov 2007 [via maxconsole]
The latest patch for Insomniac Games’ Resistance: Fall of Man hits today, bringing with a host of new features. Included in “Patch 6″ is rumble via the still unreleased DualShock 3 for both single and multiplayer games. Also new is the ability to take screen shots with a USB keyboard, with snaps saved to the Cross Media Bar’s photo section. Password protected custom game options have also been added. In addition, there’s a ton of new features that will probably only appeal to longtime online players, plus the usual bug fixes and balance changes.
The full list of changes in the latest patch is after the jump, courtesy of Insomniac’s James Stevenson, a man who simply cannot be faulted for his gaming blog preference.
After first getting pissed, demanding that Resistance be pulled from stores, asking Japan to join the fight, threatening a lawsuit and insisting that Resistance not be nominated for a British Academy Video Game Award, the Anglican Church has finally forgiven Sony. Keep in mind, this is after Sony apologised to the Church of England and the people of Manchester for using Manchester Cathedral without permission — something that Sony was legally able to do. The Dean of Manchester Cathedral, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender has this very snide comment:
I think some important lessons have been learnt. So we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong. In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made. In so many ways Sony have failed to live up to these standards by disrespecting people of faith and the victims of gun crime here in Manchester.
Lessons learned? Like what, not accepting apologies and beating a dead horse? In an odd way, Manchester Cathedral even has benefited somewhat from the brouhaha, since visitors to Manchester Cathedral have increased. Church Accepts Apology [BBC, Thanks SPni!]
Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars is at it again, this time with “exclusive” info on the sequel to Insomniac’s FPS for the PlayStation 3.
Aside from the first and last level, the game takes place entirely in the United States, where someone who may or may not be Sgt. Nathan Hale (who plays a role in the story) has to deal with the Chimeran invasion of the US in such places as San Francisco and Chicago. And there is a cliffhanger ending that sets up for a third title. Vehicles will be included in multiplayer this time around, one will be able to take to the sky with three new vehicles or boogie it down on the ground with the three vehicles from the first game’s Campaign.
There’s even a tentative release date of November 2008. Again, it could all be pure speculation, but if it turns out to be true, you’ll thank us. Or Surfer Girl. How about both?
Exclusive: First-ever Resistance: Fall of Man 2 details. [Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars]
To: Ash From: Flynn Subject: New Haven and Rose McGowan
Well, I’ve been back from Japan for a week now and my sleep schedule is just finally starting to get back to normal. I’m living out of three suitcases at a friend’s place in New Haven, CT until December when I move back to SF after seven years. New Haven is nice and all but it feels a bit strange to be in such a small college town after living in big cities for so many years. Thankfully my tenure here will be short and I’ll be able to get back to living a real life soon. I miss my dog and my friends and having all of my stuff close by so December can’t come soon enough. At least I have games to occupy my time.
It seems like money and apologies aren’t enough to satisfy the great Church of England. BBC News is reporting that the Dean of Manchester Cathedral is calling for arch nemesis Resistance: Fall of Man to be removed from a list of games that have been nominated for a British Academy Video Games Award after an unsuccessful bid to have the game removed from th UK’s store shelves. Says the Dean:
It is a disgrace that Resistance: Fall of Man has been shortlisted… Sony has admitted that they did not have permission to film or use Manchester Cathedral in their computer game… BAFTA should not be seen condoning such behaviour unless they are saying it is acceptable for producers to walk into historic buildings and film interiors – ignoring contracts, rights and liability.
BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has stated that the award which Resistance is up for, the PC World Gamers’ Award, is public voted. Although they didn’t say it outright, I’m assuming this means they are absolving themselves from any responsibility in the matter and basically telling the Church to take a hike. This final bit from the Dean of Manchester Cathedral, however, is priceless:
(The Dean) then called on Sony to abide by new “sacred digital guidelines” as he feared other buildings would be cloned for “virtual desecration”.
Sacred digital guidelines? Wow… just, wow. Sounds like something a certain Florida lawyer might come up with…
Church criticises gun game award [BBC News]
[Thanks, HellblazerUSA]
The flap over the portrayal of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man has long since settled, but Ian Bogost has an interesting take on the significance of including such a structure within a video game in his Gamasutra column. The depiction of the cathedral shows off the PS3′s capabilities, but the inclusion of such an important landmark is not simply a standard of the apocalypse genre or something that serves to cement the time and place of the setting, but a homage – not a desecration – of a site:
Manchester Cathedral was ransacked during the English Civil War in 1649, half-destroyed by German bombs in 1940, and bombed by the Irish Republican Army in 1996. It survived all these attacks. Its patrons rebuilt it.
And it stands still today. Resistance adds a fictional homage to the church’s resolve, this time in an alternate history fraught by an enemy that neither understands nor cares for human practices like religion. And it survives this as well. The Church of England sees their cathedral’s presence in Resistance only as a sordid juxtaposition, the sanctity of worship set against the profanity of violence. But when viewed in the context of the game’s fiction, the cathedral serves a purpose in the game consonant with its role in the world: that of reprieve for the weary and steadfastness in the face of devastation.
The Manchester bishop obviously didn’t agree, but Bogost points out that this flap provided yet another platform for ‘concerned citizens’ to rail against video games and perceived links between virtual and very real violence. Would the flap been as big if there hadn’t been some religious angle to foam at the mouth about?
Persuasive Games: The Reverence Of Resistance [Gamasutra]
Any of you that have been following my posts for a while will know how terrible I am at FPSs and shooting games in general. And when I say terrible I mean embarrassingly awful. Unless there is some sort of lock on feature, I’m completely useless. Somehow I can never manage to aim properly and end up shooting the wall or one of my comrades. Let’s also not forget about my tragic foray into Gears of War where I managed to blow myself up with my own grenade. So you can imagine that when I bought a PS3 recently (I don’t want to hear it, I got a really good deal) and was faced with the prospect of playing Resistance: Fall of Man, I was more than a little bit nervous.
