| Daily Wrap-Up 1.14.10
January 14, 2010 at 10:00 PM
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| | Here's what went on today in the world of video games, popular culture and technology.
- A recent survey sent by EA indicates the company is considering gamers' opinions of Tiger Woods' sponsorship.
- The latest downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins has been taken off of Xbox Live due to issues caused by a recent title update
- VIDEO: Dark Void Developers Discuss Maintaining Capcom Legacy
- We're really hoping Capcom's secret Project Natal game is a reboot of Steel Battalion.
- Q&A: Chris Melissinos, curator of the Smithsonian's Art of Video Games exhibition coming in 2012.
- SCREENS: First Look At How Transformers: War for Cybertron Should Look Like
- Mark Cerny will be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences's Hall of Fame.
- Square Enix has announced work has completed on the "overseas" version of Final Fantasy XIII.
- The British Board of Film Classification has issued a rating for the unannounced Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition.
- Patrick Klepek argues games don't need to embrace 3D because games already went 3D a few years ago.
- HitFix is reporting that Watchmen's Jackie Earle Haley will play villain, Sinestro in The Green Lantern.
- The Writers Guild of America has announced its 2010 nominees for outstanding video game writing.
- Catch X-Play's 'Mass Effect 2' special on Tuesday, January 19th @ 6:30 PM ET
- X-Play's Abbie Heppe got her hands on THQ's Darksiders and put the game through its paces for review.
- Ubisoft has confirmed Beyond Good & Evil 2 and I Am Alive are still in development.
- This week on the links of TheFeed, we'll teach you how to avoid fans of Mall Cop, show off some great Simpsons art, & more.
- Casey tells you about Star Wars: The Old Republic's release window, shows off the new trailer for LEGO Universe, and WoW love!
- Electronic Arts is asking gamers to make suggestions for the collector's edition of Dead Space 2.
- Capcom's real reason for moving Dark Void from a fall release in 2009 was because of...Halo 3: ODST?
- The judging panel was announced for the Indie Game Challenge.
- Hardware numbers are in for December 2009 and it's no surprise that Nintendo crushed the competition.
- Not only did Nintendo dominate December 2009 hardware sales...but they toppled over everyone in software, too.
- A statement released today by Sony regarding the most recent NPD numbers revealed that Sony's motion controller is coming this year.
- In this episode of Feedback, the crew discusses the week's gaming news, CES 2010 and Army of Two: 40th Day.
 
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| X-Play Breaks Down the Best Games of the Decade
January 14, 2010 at 8:31 PM
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| The past decade in gaming featured some of the best games ever created, and X-Play is here to document that with this three-part look at the best that the aughts had to offer. Watch these videos and let us know if you agree or disagree with Adam and Morgan's assessment of the best of the 2000's. Is your favorite game represented in the list? Here's Part One, including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Fable II, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and more.
In Part Two, we encounter Fallout 3, Bioshock, God of War, and other games that burned up our consoles and computers over the past ten years. And, finally, we come to part three of our list, which includes the MMO juggernaut that is World of Warcraft, the action packed Orange Box, and the haunting Shadow of the Colossus. 
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| Feedback -- Army Of Two: 40th Day Edition
January 14, 2010 at 8:10 PM
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| The week wouldn't be complete without another episode of Feedback, right? Don't worry, readers, we're happy to oblige. Adam Sessler, Abbie Heppe, newcomer Jake Gaskill and myself headed into the studio to discuss the week's events, debate how much Electronic Arts has managed to improve its bromance co-op series Army of Two with the sequel, Army of Two: The 40th Day, and more. In this week's Feedback... - I return from CES 2010 with news about the future of 3D in video games: it's overrated.
- We reflect on the avalanche of game announcements and delays we've seen in the past two weeks, including Ubisoft's potentially controversial new Assassin's Creed...with multiplayer?
- There's not much confidence that The Legend of Zelda for Wii is shipping in 2010, but that might be offset by Nintendo's decision to deliver Metroid: Other M before the year is up.
- Irrational Games becomes 2K Boston becomes Irrational Games. The world is right again.
- Find out if Army of Two: 40th Day is worth checking out, especially if you're going solo.
- A reader asks a particularly juicy question about the validity of Hollywood film directors (like, say, James Cameron) becoming involved in video games and whether there's merit to it.
Feedback, talking trash about the products shown at CES since video games decided to leave.     
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| Sony: Motion Controller Is Coming This Year
January 14, 2010 at 7:44 PM
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In a statement released today to the press, SCEA senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold confirmed that Sony will be delivering its answer to Microsoft's Project Natal before the end of the year. "2010 will offer entirely new gaming experiences to consumers as we launch MAG, God of War III, 3D gaming, and the new motion controller this year.” 2010: Battle of the Non-Nintendo Motion Controllers is a go! When Sony unveiled its motion controller during E3 2009, the company said the controller would be released in spring 2010, but we haven’t seen too much about it since then. I contacted Sony to make sure the 2010 release window was correct, and the answer I received was, "Yes, this year.” Whether Sony will in fact deliver on the previously mentioned spring release remains to be seen, but given how little we’ve seen of the technology since it was first revealed (it still doesn't have a name), it doesn’t seem likely. Unless of course Sony is planning to surprise everyone with a stealthy release. Then again, Sony doesn’t have the strongest track record when it comes to keeping secrets, so I wouldn’t count on that either.
When do you think Sony will release its motion controller?
 
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| NPD Analysis: December 2009 Software Sales -- It's Nintendo's World
January 14, 2010 at 7:18 PM
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You don't sell almost four million units of hardware without pushing an equally impressive amount of software and December 2009's sales data from the NPD Group doesn't contradict that a bit. Nintendo was the big winner in software sales last month, with the company that Mario built absolutely dominating five of the ten best-selling positions, including the highest three. Here are the numbers: - Wii -- New Super Mario Bros., Nintendo, 2.82M
- Wii -- Wii Fit Plus, Nintendo, 2.41M
- Wii -- Wii Sports Resort w/ MotionPlus, Nintendo, 1.79M
- 360 -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision, 1.68M
- PS3 -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision, 1.12M
- Wii -- Wii Play w/ remote, Nintendo, 1.01M
- Wii -- Mario Kart w/ wheel, Nintendo, 936,100
- 360 -- Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft, 783,100
- 360 -- Left 4 Dead 2, Electronic Arts, 728,500
- DS -- Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Nintendo, 656,700
I wonder how many people bought Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story unaware that it's an RPG, not a brand-new platformer starring the jumping duo. Just seems a little suspicious to me. But there's no doubt about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, however; that's just a game people wanted. "The best-selling game of the month was New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which also captures the third spot on the annual top 10 list for 2009," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier in comments sent alongside the release of the numbers. "6 of the top 10 games totaling 20.8 million units for the year were on the Wii platform as compared to 4 last year at 19 million units." It's good news for software as a whole, but there's a notable absence of anything from a first-party that isn't Nintendo. Both Sony and Microsoft have no presence on the holiday sales charts from their internal studios, albeit Uncharted 2: Among Thieves appears to continue selling at a steady pace. In Microsoft's case, however, the company actively admitted their big bet for Xbox 360 in 2009 was the success of Modern Warfare 2. That bet appears to have paid off for them and Sony. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| NPD Analysis: December 2009 Hardware Sales -- Almost 4M Wiis Were Sold
January 14, 2010 at 6:51 PM
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It's official: the Wii fad is over. Nintendo only sold nearly four million Wiis in December. Wait, what? NPD Group numbers have been released for December 2009 and Nintendo pushed a remarkable 3.8 million Wiis during the Christmas month. To say that number's impressive is...well, there just isn't much to say, really. Nintendo dominated December. Here's how it all shook out: - Wii -- 3.81 million
- DS -- 3.31 million
- PlayStation 3 -- 1.36 million
- Xbox 360 -- 1.31 million
- PSP -- 654,7000
- PlayStation 2 -- 333,2000
"December marks just the fourth month of the year where the industry saw an increase over last year," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier in comments accompanying the numbers. "January and February were both up, and since the decline that began in March, only September experienced growth. The big sales this month, particularly on the hardware front, is a positive move for the industry headed into what will hopefully be a recovery year in 2010." Microsoft is typically quick to issue a statement discussing and bragging about the sales numbers for Xbox 360 but has so far issued no release for December. (UPDATE: That release has since been distributed to the gaming press.)The absence could be attributed to PlayStation 3's surprising push just ahead of Xbox 360 during last month. The price cuts and PlayStation 3 Slim from late last summer appears to have created solid momentum for Sony as 2009 came to a close. How Microsoft responds to this momentum in the short term should be interesting. The PlayStation 2 era appears to finally be coming to a close, but more than 300,000 sales for a console receiving little support from the industry is nothing to sneeze at. It's free money. Nintendo as a whole is remarkably impressive, as well. Nintendo platforms sold a combined total of 7.12 million units in December, far exceeded all the other platforms combined. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| Indie Game Challenge Judges Chosen
January 14, 2010 at 6:37 PM
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It's award-season, folks, and today the judging panel was announced for the Indie Game Challenge sponsored by Southern Methodist University, The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and GameStop. The judges will honor outstanding indie games by choosing 12 finalists for the prize. Overall, more than $350,000 in cash and scholarships will be awarded, as will a chance to meet with industry professionals at the D.I.C.E. conference in February. The 40 member volunteer panel is made up up of professionals from all corners of the game industry, including Danny Bilson, executive vice president Core Games, THQ; Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, co-founders of thatgamecompany and creators of Flow and Flower, Kyle Gabler, co-founder and creative director of 2D Boy, Rod Ferguson, executive producer, Epic Games, Alex Seropian, vice president creative development, Disney Interactive, Mike Hogan, GameStop’s senior vice president of marketing, Mathew Lee Johnson, senior producer for PopCap Games, Roger Hector, senior vice president product development, Namco Bandai, Tina Kowalewski, director of external development, Sony Computer Entertainment America, as well as representatives from publishers and developer! s including Microsoft, Capcom, Harmonix, Volition, Insomniac, id Software, Zipper Interactive and Vigil Games. In short: heavy hitters. Over 250 games were submitted to the contest, and will be culled down to 12 finalists to be announced on January 25th. Winners will be picked at D.I.C.E 2010, on Feb. 19, and each finalist team will receive the chance to pitch game ideas to top publishers like EA, Capcom, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and more. Check out the official site for more details. 
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| Dark Void Was Delayed Until 2010 Because Of...Halo 3: ODST?
January 14, 2010 at 6:24 PM
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You'll have a chance to play Dark Void next week, but Capcom's high-flying new franchise was originally scheduled for last fall. Capcom decided to hold the game back, claiming time time would be used to further polish the game and let Dark Void launch in a less crowded market. Capcom did have a date picked out for Dark Void, however, but there was a problem: Halo 3: ODST. "Dark Void was gonna be a fall [release] and truthfully, being candid, the date it was supposed to ship was the day [as] Halo 3: ODST," explained a laughing Christian Svensson, Capcom's VP of strategic planning and business development, during an interview at CES last week. "They're [Microsoft] like, 'ta-da, we're shipping, I don't know, I forget what it was, Sept. 27 or whatever' and we said 'okay, sounds like a perfect time to move Dark Void!" Halo 3: ODST was released on Sept. 22. Svensson moved Dark Void out of the shadow of Bungie's latest shooter, but Capcom's original statements about the delay weren't really far from the truth. The time did help the game. "Truthfully, we put the extra couple months [to good use]," he said. "We did the PhysX integration on the PC side of things; some of that stuff was not necessarily going to be there at launch, now it is. We put that time to good use, for sure." Dark Void launches next week on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| Japan Getting PS3 DVR
January 14, 2010 at 6:11 PM
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If you live in Japan, you'll be able to pick up the above, limited edition 250GB PS3 in February. You'll need that big drive, too: If you wait until March, you'll also be about to buy the new Torne accessory that turns your PS3 into TiVo style DVR. Purchased separately, the Torne will cost $110, and will allow users to record a show while they're watching something else on TV, playing a game, watching a DVD or just eating a banana or something. Once shows have been recorded, they can then be transferred to a PSP for watching on the go, too. Sounds pretty slick. Gamers in Europe and Australia already have access to PS3-enabled DVR through Sony's Play TV service, but here in the United States, we're currently without a DVR feature for our PlayStations. So what's the deal? Why hasn't Sony allowed this kind of technology here in the United States? I've contacted Sony to ask when/if we would get this PlayStation 3 function. I'll let you know when I hear back. Until then, let me know: Are you interested or more like "meh?" Source: GameSpot 
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| Ubisoft Confirms Beyond Good & Evil 2 And I Am Alive Still In Development
January 14, 2010 at 5:18 PM
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I have good news for you, readers. There have been excited headlines today about Beyond Good & Evil 2 and I Am Alive still in development, based on a brief response from a Ubisoft France executive at Gamekult. The excitement's based on a translation, however, which can easily be misinterpreted. With something like the sequel to Beyond Good & Evil, a project Ubisoft's been very quiet about, you want to be sure. Luckily, Ubisoft has confirmed to me the news is accurate. "Yes, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and I Am Alive are both still in development," said a Ubisoft representative in a brief statement, "but there’s no additional info to provide at this time." That's all most people needed to hear, though: Beyond Good & Evil 2 isn't cancelled. Rest easy and wonder what designer Michel Ancel is currently cooking up for Jade's second adventure. I am. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| Darksiders Review
January 14, 2010 at 5:03 PM
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X-Play's Abbie Heppe got her hands on THQ's Darksiders and held this title up to the bright light of criticism. The action-adventure title is ambitious, no doubt -- The game takes its inspiration from the apocalypse and battle of Armageddon described in the Book of Revelation, with the player taking the role of "War," one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- but does it live up to the grandeur of its premise? According to Heppe, not so much: "The new year is being welcomed by a deluge of games portraying the epic struggles between ecumenical forces—Heaven and Hell, gods and man, angels and demons. One of the first “holy war” releases of the year, Darksiders, is, like the archetype it's based on, nothing new." Read the rest of the review here. 
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| X-Play's Mass Effect 2 Special Tuesday @ 6:30PM
January 14, 2010 at 4:33 PM
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Commander Shepard returns to the world of gaming with Mass Effect 2, and on Tuesday, January 19th at 6:30PM ET, X-Play takes a look at the long-awaited sequel in a special devoted to the epic shooter/RPG hybrid. Adam and Morgan get an in-depth interview with the developers at Bioware about the changes in the new game, including new crew members like the Thane Assassin, an arsenal of more powerful armor and weapons, and the ability to control your conversation with physical moments of intense action.
Plus, you'll get an inside look at the sequel's story, as Commander Shepard joins forces with an old enemy to face a terrifying new threat to humanity. Secret missions and alien encounters abound in Mass Effect 2, and X-Play has all of the information you need to prepare yourself to take controller in hand and help determine the fate of the universe. Make sure you tune in to X-Play's Mass Effect 2 special on Tuesday, January 19th, at 6:30PM ET. Don't miss it! 
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| Writers Guild Announces Video Game Nominees
January 14, 2010 at 4:31 PM
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|  The Writers Guild of America has announced its 2010 nominees for outstanding video game writing.
The list is very heavy on sequels, eh? Note that the only entirely original game there is Wet. The winner of the WGA award for best writing in a game will be announced on Feb. 20 at the WGA's awards ceremonies at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theater at the Broadway Millennium Hotel in New York. Any kind of list of the "best" examples of any artistic field can be guaranteed to cause controversy and heated discussion, but serious, Modern Warfare 2 for best writing? I'm not seeing it. It's a great game, but plot and story-wise, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It seems a lot more like a bunch of action set-pieces (barely) held together by some threads of narrative. Also: Wet? Seriously? It's an interesting game to be sure, but hardly among the best written games of the entire year, at least in my opinion. Last year's winner was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed... an interesting choice, to say the least, especially when you figure that Fallout 3 was nominated as well. What do you think of the list? What was left off? Who do you think is going to win? Source: Variety 
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| Casting For The Green Lantern Complete? Sinestro?
January 14, 2010 at 4:01 PM
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With filming set to begin in March, director, Martin Campbell's upcoming rendition of The Green Lantern should be just about wrapping-up its casting stage. With recent news about the casting of Gossip Girl's Blake Lively as love interest (and future Star Sapphire,) Carol Ferris, and Peter Sarsgaard as villain, Hector Hammond, it certainly seems that star Ryan Reynolds has his primary cast just about locked-in.
However, one question has been looming: What about Sinestro?! He's only Green Lantern's primary villain and former mentor! Surely he would have some kind of place in this film? This question seemed to bug HitFix's Drew McWeeny, so he did something about it. After proactively digging up some info, he's come to the conclusion that old rumors about the character are indeed true. According to him, Sinestro WILL in fact, be in the film, played by none other than Jackie Earle Haley. Haley will be coming off a monumental performance as the homicidal badass vigilante, Rorschach in Watchmen and a supposedly amazing performance as Freddy Kreuger in the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, (both, like Green Lantern, are efforts for Warner Bros. studios.) According to McWeeny, Haley has established a good relationship with the studio based on those outings, and that, in no ambiguous terms, he is "the only choice for Sinestro by the studio."
As it seems to be playing out, the film will feature two known villains: Hammond and Sinestro. Will this (still unconfirmed) revelation render the film too crowded? It takes an exceptional comic adaptation story to pull-off a film with multiple villains. Even before Joel Schumacher cemented such a theory, Tim Burton even seemed to have his narrative hands full with Batman Returns. However, while there may be little reason to doubt the idea that Haley will indeed be on board as Sinestro in the film, it may be possible that the character will not be fully realized.
Based on the details that have been revealed over the last year, it seems that this is a film intended as a long-term franchise, so maybe the idea is to establish Haley as Sinestro in some form or another in a "General Zod's cameo in Superman 1" way. As a veteran member of The Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro is known for being an early mentor to Hal Jordan in the aftermath of his inheritance of the Power Ring from Abin Sur. Based on the casting call details revealed last fall, I predicted that Sinestro would serve as sort of a "Palpatine" to Hal Jordan's "Anakin," playing the role of the seemingly trustworthy and wise advisor, while really leading him towards the primrose path. In fact, as McWeeny states: "Don't expect him to stroll in and suddenly be pure evil in this film. And don't expect him to be onscreen for the entire! movie."
If that assertion proves true, Haley's role as Sinestro merely needs to serve in that smaller capacity, as a good portion of the film would be focused on Jordan's battle with the huge-headed telepathic and telekinetic villain of Peter Sarsgaard's Hector Hammond. Of course, we could get some obvious hints dropped as to the nature of Sinestro's wolf in sheep's clothing, but nothing more than a big reveal of his villainous status needs to occur in this debut film, setting up the sequel.
Yes, Sinestro, in all his glory could theoretically be saved for The Green Lantern sequel, which would surely be a bigger, more evolved spectacle. However, with $150 million behind it, while about half the budget of Avatar, The Green Lantern (1) is still going to be monster when it hits on June 17, 2011. However, the sequel is surely the real goal line towards which the studio is moving. As it stands, Jackie Earle Haley's involvement as Sinestro has still not officially been announced, and it was only via some sleuthing that the idea was cemented. It could very well be motivated by the desire of having the full presence of Haley's Sinestro saved for "the big one."
What do you think about The Green Lantern as it stands now? Source: HitFix 
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| We Don't Need 3D Games Because Games Already Went 3D
January 14, 2010 at 3:49 PM
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If the push at CES 2010 was any indication, we're all about to enter a 3D world, whether we like it or not. The global financial success of James Cameron's Avatar has convinced the higher-ups in tech that consumers are ready to be poked in the eye with 3D...repeatedly. We're going to see a massive influx of 3D in movies, music, television and, yes, video games in 2010 and beyond. But outside of the cost concerns related to purchasing a 3D-enabled HDTV (not to mention the expensive glasses), I propose the tech industry is behind the curve on video games adding a brand-new dimension to the mix. Video games have already gone 3D. We're there, we've been there. The video game industry adopted 3D when Nintendo successfully launched Wii back in 2006.
The concept struck me while discussing the prospects of 3D for video games on a recent episode of Feedback, just days before I hopped on a plane to Las Vegas for CES 2010. One of Nintendo's most important accomplishments with Wii was acknowledging the diminishing returns from a technological arms race in visual fidelity (which had dominated games until that point) before it'd occurred to the rest of the industry. It was an entirely different, completely contrarian philosophy, epitomized by Microsoft's tech-loving Xbox 360 slogan of entering the "HD era." With games, Nintendo argued, it's not how it looks on the screen, it's about how the game played. Evolving video games wasn't necessarily about a continued push to realism, but changing how the game plays you. The third-dimension for video games is movement, interaction, interface -- it's a redefinition of what a controller needs to be and its role in the video game experience. Wii took it one way, DS took it another, and both Sony and Microsoft are following Nintendo's lead with Project Natal and the unnamed Sony motion accessory. Games are interactive. Its 3D should be, too. Regardless of whether Microsoft and Sony achieve the same success as Nintendo, it's an acknowledgement of a paradigm shift in video game interaction, a shift that's already been accepted by the masses a new way to play video games. 
The lower price point of Wii helped the machine stand out from Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at launch, but if consumers were truly driven solely by the advancement of what's in front of their eyes (3D or not), Nintendo would have seen a massive slowdown in Wii sales, especially after Microsoft was able to deliver a piece of Xbox 360 hardware that's cheaper than Wii. But that hasn't happened yet. Because so many other divisions at Sony are embracing 3D visuals, it makes sense for the PlayStation division to acknowledge its impact on the rest of entertainment and make it a bullet point for PlayStation 3. Microsoft, however, told me it's enabled 3D games to appear on Xbox 360 but they remains cautious about mainstream acceptance of 3D visuals outside a movie theater. "I think 3D is a great experience in the theater and I thought Avatar was fantastic," he Xbox group product manager Aaron Greenberg at CES last week. "But there's a lot of challenges about 3D in the living room. I don't know about you, but when I play games or watch TV, I've got my phone, I've got all kinds of things going on. I get up, I get down, I'm looking outside at the weather and it's...I'm not in a dark theater, wearing glasses, staring at a screen. I think it's just a different environment." There will be 3D video games, but the industry's gambles have already been made elsewhere: interaction. There's no reason for video games to worry about 3D when, hey, they've already done it. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| Square Enix Completes Work On Final Fantasy XIII For Everyone Else
January 14, 2010 at 3:01 PM
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Japanese gamers (or English gamers able to translate in real-time) have been enjoying Final Fantasy XIII since December, while the rest of us patiently wait for March 9. We're one step closer, as Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama released a statement on the game's website declaring that development has finished on the "overseas" version of Final Fantasy XIII. "The overseas version was developed simultaneously with the Japanese one as we wanted to ensure it comes out as soon after the Japanese release date as possible," said Toriyama. Toriyama noted how the team worked hard to match the voices to the lip-synching. "Don't get distracted," he warned, concluding. "You will see the truth when you hold it in your hands. Please be patient a little longer for the 'day of the battle against the fate!'" I feel ready for a Japanese RPG. It's been a few years. The tradition begins anew. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
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| Mark Cerny To Be Inducted Into AIAS Hall Of Fame
January 14, 2010 at 2:29 PM
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|  Over the past 13 years, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences have inducted a number of legendary figures in the gaming world into their prestigious Hall of Fame: Shigeru Miyamoto, Sid Meier, John Carmack, Will Wright and Peter Molyneux, just to name a few.
Well, the academy has announced that the next industry giant to take his place in the gaming "hall” will be Mark Cerny, whose impressive resume includes such titles as Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man and God of War III. Oh, and he also created Marble Madness. Not bad.
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president, Joseph Olin, describes Cerny as, “the closet we have come to a modern-day Da Vinci,” going on to point out that the franchises Cerny has been involved with have generated almost $2 billion in sales.
"Each step of the way he’s redefined how the industry thinks about game design, technology, and production philosophies,” said Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells. "The franchises he’s helped launch are some of the most influential in the business.”
Cerny will be presented with his Hall of Fame Award at the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards during the 2010 D.I.C.E. Summit on Feb. 18 in Las Vegas.
 
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| Q&A: Chris Melissinos -- Curator Of The Smithsonian's Art of Video Games Exhibition
January 14, 2010 at 1:50 PM
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|  Back in December, the Smithsonian American Art Museum announced that it would be opening a brand new exhibition devoted entirely to the evolution and appreciation of video games. Sadly, the exhibition won’t open until the middle of 2012, but thankfully, its curator, Chris Melissinos, chief evangelist and chief gaming officer at Sun Microsystems and founder of PastPixels.com (oh, and huge, huge, huge gamer) was generous enough to speak with me about the project’s origins and what he hopes to achieve with this ambitious, daunting and groundbreaking project.
G4: For those readers who might not be familiar with your work, tell us a little about your background, and why you’re particularly suited to curate this exhibition.
Chris Melissinos: I’ve been around the games industry for well over a decade. Most people, when they look at Sun Microsystems, which is where my principal job is, don’t necessarily put Sun and video games together, even though most people are carrying around Java-enabled telephones, use Java on the desktop, Java in the browser and all of the games that are played there…So I’ve been around for a long time, but more importantly I’ve been a gamer my whole life. I started programming at nine, wrote a game at 12; I collected systems. I’ve got 43 at home now, some of which are going to be on loan to the museum for this exhibition.
G4: How did your involvement with the exhibition come about?
CM: Back in January [2009], I was invited to come into the museum along with 19 other technologists to talk in general about next-generation museum patrons, and my big concern was: how are we reaching our kids in a way that’s meaningful when they live in a world of immediate gratification from an entertainment perspective? Being able to reach out from a myriad of devices to the network, to each other to play, how do we infuse museums and that environment with stuff that would be interesting to kids. And, quite honestly, not just kids. The first kids who grew up with computers in the home are now in their mid-30‘s; gamers raising gamers.
During the planning session...I was like the one voice of dissention, sitting next to guys from Facebook [and] MySpace, going, "Blogs and Twitter accounts are not the answer to reaching a new audience. What you need to do is find out how interactivity plays into this, how gameplay plays into this. How do you make the museum going experience more engaging and fun? Because it’s through fun that we have a better propensity to learn.”
So [the museum] invited me to come back in, and I started brainstorming with them on a few ideas, and we kind of went down this road of, "What is it about video games that we as gamers feel is redeeming in terms of the medium?” I mean, obviously people like Roger Ebert go, “Games aren’t art. They’ll never be art like movies.” Well, sorry that’s not the case. People said the same thing about movies when they started. So it was really about saying, "When we get down to the root of what are in these games, even some games that seem so benign from a perspective or a message, can really have a much deeper meaning. 
The one I bring up all the time is David Theurer, the developer who created Missile Command. And one of the pieces that I brought up in front of the museum management was: here’s a guy who was asked to make this target shooting game, however, he had some very clear moral delineations for how the game was to proceed. So for example, in Missile Command, we never fire missiles at Russia. It’s a totally defensive game. It’s about defending our country. And [Theurer] goes onto say, “When you think about nuclear annihilation, it’s really the most horrific, frightening thing to think about.” And during the course of creating the game, he actually experience night terror. Like waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweating because he was dreaming about these nuclear bombs falling on his town. And he said these dreams persisted for years after the creation of the game.
There is a message behind this thing, and it’s when you frame it this way, and you start to look at the underpinnings of games. Is it high art? Is it avant-garde art? Is it what we call fine art? That’s not for me to decide. That is what the exhibition will examine. G4: What were some of your points of focus in terms of fully examining the scope of video games and the gaming industry?
 CM: I started on this pitch of: let’s examine how popular culture, socioeconomic issues and technology advancement impacted game design, generation to generation, but also let’s examine the artistic breadth of artistic range of expression that was enabled as a result of technology progression and social progression. So when you look at things like Metal Gear Solid 4, anyone who plays it will say, "Oh, it’s a great stealth game, military game, shooting game,” but the intended message of the game is anti-war. And it’s those sorts of things that we miss when we look at the game on the face of it.
I saw this as a real opportunity to: number one, highlight the very deep messages that some of the games have, and the very lighthearted nature that some have, in an exhibition like this; and number two, and probably more importantly for me personally, I see this as a way of helping the industry have another very present form of legitimization. Having the Smithsonian American Art Museum recognize this as a legitimate form of artistic expression by saying, “Look. This is no longer relegated to the bedroom or some trivial pastime. This is worthy of examination as an art form.” is extraordinary. I see this as the very first stepping-stone to a much greater appreciation, and adoption of this medium in the museum culture.
G4: Given how time intensive video games are, it can take many hours to truly understand/grasp their artistic value. How do you get that value across to people who are just walking through an exhibit?
CM: So how do we create the “CliffsNotes” of emotion for video games? [Laughs] What we can do is express these stories that exist within some of the games. But I think more importantly than the stories of the game themselves are the stories of the people that create them. I want to know what the artists were feeling. I want to know what the designers were thinking. I really want to explore the process by which these games came to life. What was the influence behind this thing? Is there a deeper message? And in some cases, there might not be, and that’s perfectly fine too. So much of what we look at in the fine art world, you could sit there and go, “OK. There is no back-story or channel of information about this piece. It’s all about how you internalize.” And that’s what games can be as well. 
When we look at games like Flower for example, we could very easily hold it up and say, “Wow. Look at how artistic. Look at the artistic slant or bent that took place in creating this game.” And I have no problem saying this. There was a part in Flower where I teared up, because, in a very general sense, parts of the game are about rebirth, pollution and destruction, about rejuvenation of the city and these sorts of things. But what tied it together for me was the personal relationship I had with the material, and the music, and how I internalized those messages. And that’s what we can demonstrate. We don’t need to have to have them sit down and play 12-hour games. What we can do is show them the artistic process for some of these games. What I’m keen to demonstrate is how the story and message and the artistic medium evolve over time but stay true to! core game tenets.
G4: For example?
 CM: If you look at the original Space Invaders, on the [Atari] VCS, the ground is green, and the invaders are against a solid, black mass…You’re establishing a very abstract notion of defending some place you live against things coming out of the blackness of space. Take one step into the realm of Intellivision, and look at Demon Attack. Demon Attack has your canon placed on a bright white colored cratered environment, and, in the background, you can see the Earth. So you’re already starting to establish a more refined framework for the conflict, and a back-story for the things that have happened with that space. So it’s through that technology progression that you’re able to start to connect and create a bigger framework that your body of work exists within. We can take the core mechanics of the VCS version of Space Invaders and demonstrate how those mechanics they match up with Super Stardust HD on the [PlayStation 3] – things out of space, increasing when they diminish in number, using shields as defensive measures, etc.
What I think is extraordinarily interesting is to see – and this is something we don’t get to see in most other mediums – how, even though those same gameplay tenets, you’re able to have a massive amount of flexibility in storytelling, and experience, and environment. I think that is really, really kick ass. And that is part of what I want to explore in this exhibition, to show, that while technology and story and art and everything else play into the evolution, you can hear the echoes of the original mechanics for those genres still today; and they echo back 30-40 years.
G4: What are some of the results you hope to achieve with the exhibition?
CM: With the average age of a gamer in the United States being 32 years old, which means we have a good mass of people that are going to be above that age; we can create a multi-generational exhibition. Imagine having a grand-parent, their child and their grandchild all deriving the same kind of feeling out of one exhibition. That’s the goal. 
You know what’s interesting, my peers, some of them grew up playing games, and then stopped for whatever reason. It’s great because they can watch their kids play, and then go, "I can download Donkey Kong on the [Wii] Virtual Console! Alright, now here’s where dad’s going to take you to school." Even if you stopped playing games, you remember at some point in your life where games and technology were present, and that is only going to continue to increase, because in most modern societies, you’re hard-pressed to find anyone, kid especially, who’s never touched a computer. And that for me, on a very personal level, is what’s so cool and important about this. We’re going to be able to create a commonality, a point of discussion within families that come to see this exhibition, because there’s something in there for everybody.
G4: Speaking to that point, how do you go about presenting the wide spectrum of content and subject matters found in games – a good chunk of which is specifically intended for adult sensibilities – to younger gamers who will be attending the exhibition?
CM: So basically, how do I shield 6-year-old from more adult material in Grand Theft Auto?
G4: Exactly.
CM: That has completely been taken into consideration. The idea is not to go ahead and have on display for consumption 24 hours a day all of the material within these things. There’s many reasons why I don’t think that’s the appropriate way to go. The cacophony of having all of these systems going on at the same time in a museum setting doesn’t lend itself well to that kind of environment. That doesn’t mean we can’t showcase this stuff, and we can’t have the developers’ impressions about these sorts of games in there. 
It doesn’t mean we have to be graphic or explicit about it, because you can still have the discussion about the Grand Theft Auto series without having to delved into the things that aren’t really intended for those immature audiences. There’s plenty about the Grand Theft Auto games that we can talk about. “Well, my influence for [Grand Theft Auto: Vice City] clearly came out of the 80s, out of the decade of decadence and excess, Miami Vice sort of thing, but underpinning that is a real message about drug use and trade in lower income slums.” Now, the people that play the game are going to be able to say, “Yes. There is all of that, and I can jack cars and the soundtrack’s awesome.” Again, it’s making sure that we present the materials in a way that is appropriate for the widest breadth of an audience. That does not m! ean excluding pieces that are important just because they may be rated Mature. It’s how we present them in a manner that examines their artistic merit that will be important.
G4: Clearly, you’ve been thinking about this exhibition for a long time. How, and when, did you decide it was finally time to make it happen?
 CM: I first started getting concerned about the curation of this industry about three and a half years ago, when I first visited a friend’s home, Mike Mika from Other Ocean [Interactive]. He has about 6,000 games in his house. When I walked in, I was speechless. That’s when he presented me with a 1971 Pong system board that says Syzygy on it, which was the name of Atari before it was legally Atari. It was incredible. And he gave to me. He was like, "You’re obviously a guy who appreciates this stuff, so here. I’d like you to have this." So the first thing I said to him after picking my jaw off the floor was, “How much insurance do you have in this house?” And the real answer was, “There isn’t enough insurance to cover what would be lost if indeed we lost this.” And that’s the real truth of the matter. I interviewed him for a show I used to have on the web and you can check out his game room interview here (LevelUp).
We are a young industry, and the advantage we have right now is that most of the people that created the industry are still alive, and we don’t have that in any other medium. So for me, it was important that we try to do something to start the legitimization and capture of this data before it’s lost. And I think this is the very real first step in having a highly respected global institution, stamping onto the medium that, yes, this is an important thing to discuss and to discover and to examine. And that was really my focus for doing it, just out of pure desire to make sure that we start to capture an industry that means so much to me personally..
G4: So we should expect an entire video game wing of the Smithsonian in the near future?
CM: If I had my way, absolutely. And depending on the success of this, it could be the very first step. And more than just the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I see a real opportunity to create an advisory body or consortium that drives a global standard for curation, information gathering and collection. Adhering to this, we could still have the private collections, and at the same time, able to cross-reference each other, so we can get a holistic view, globally, of the entire industry. So wouldn’t it be great to say, "I need to see Ion Storm documents from ’92 through ’94 that only pertain to this line of work," and then be able to go ahead and hit all the known repositories of data, and be able to get a complete view of what’s out there? I think that is really the next big step; how do we springboard out of this into something even bigger and better for the industry. But judging from the response we’ve gotten already, this thing is just going to be massive, and I’m going to put my heart into it to make sure it’s as good as it can be. 
G4: I know you can’t really talk about this just yet, but how heavy will the exhibition be in terms of memorabilia? Because Sterling McGarvey would love to donate his Fumito Ueda-signed copy of Shadow of the Colossus to it if that’s possible.
CM: Let’s just say that you’ll be able to sample from the gameplay experience to the interaction with the artists to just being able to absorb and appreciate the games for what they are. Again, it’s not like you’re going to be able to go in and pick up any controller and play any of those games all day long at the museum. There will be some of that, but the goal is for patrons to examine the art of video games and how that is expressed over time. And I’ve already been getting outreach from artists, sculptures, people saying, “We have supplemental pieces that might help round out the exhibition.” Suffice to say, I’d like to cram as much as we can into this exhibition as long as it doesn’t detract from the rest of the museum. The important thing is that the exhibition really gives you a sense of the gravity and incredible expanse of work that this industry represents. As for Sterling’s copy of Shadow of the Colossus, I am happy to put it in MY personal archive! In all seriousness, the outpouring of people looking to donate materials to the exhibition is amazing, and we will definitely be leaning on them to make sure we have the best possible exhibition to represent the medium.
G4: Can you share anything about how gamers will be able to contribute to the exhibit itself?
CM: That part I really can’t give away, but here’s my intent. This is not “Chris’ Favorite Picks of the Past 30 Years,” although that may make for a great VH1 series, eh? My goal is to make sure that the voice of gamers who want to see works preserved and displayed have some say in the materials presented. That’s all I can tell you right now, but, to be clear, that is one of the critical pieces that I’ve had in this plan since it’s inception. It is important, because we are a community that is global, a community that spans multiple generations, multiple likes, and I think this should be something that the public feels a part of. When we talk about playing games, we see ourselves reflected in them. We put ourselves in RPGs because we can decide to be the hero, or the villain. We put ourselves into race cars because we’re drivers, because that’s what the medium provides. Why should this be any different? I want people to be able to come in and say, “You know what? I voted for that thing. I see part of what I love in this display because I was a part of helping get it here.” 
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| Capcom, Your Secret Project Natal Game Better Be Steel Battalion
January 14, 2010 at 1:41 PM
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Onimusha and Strider seem like natural selections for Capcom's Project Natal reboot. They're weapon-based action games that could easily involve sections where players were moving around and swinging a sword. But Capcom says we can't guess what it is, right? With that in mind, it must be something a little more niche, a little less known. A brand not many would even remember. What could it be? It's impossible to know until Capcom announces it, but Kotaku senior editor Michael McWhertor proposed The Greatest Idea Ever over Twitter. Capcom should adopt the idea immediately. Steel Battalion. I own a copy of Steel Battallion, massive controller and all. It's stuck in a Wisconsin garage, but at one point, I enjoyed Capcom's most expensive game in recent memory. And it's exactly the type of game that'd be both simplified and enhanced through Project Natal. Movement of the mech could be handled with a controller in one hand, while the complicated buttons and switches to manipulate the mech's ancillary functions are triggered by moving your hand around in front of the Project Natal camera. A man can dream, right? I'm going to be so disappointed if this doesn't come true. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter. 
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| Is EA Waffling On Tiger Woods Sponsorship?
January 14, 2010 at 12:42 PM
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Electronic Arts and golfer Tiger Woods have a long, lucrative history, but Tiger's recent extra-marital adventures have caused some of the athlete's other sponsors to drop him from endorsement deals. A recent survey sent by EA indicates the company is at least considering gamers' opinions of Tiger's sponsorship. While the official EA line remains "We're sticking by Tiger," the survey asks: EA SPORTS made a Tiger Woods video game. Has the controversy made your impressions of EA SPORTS more or less favorable, or has it had no impact? ...and... Has the controversy made you more or less likely to buy a Tiger Woods related video game in the future? Whether EA will drop Tig is a mildly compelling story, but it's of particular interest to me and Patrick "Scoop" Klepek. I think EA is going to drop Tiger before the next game, and Patrick thinks not. We have made a bet, the terms of which are as follows: If EA drops the "Tiger Woods" name from their next "full" PGA golf game (Tiger Woods 11), Patrick has to play through all of Rogue Warrior, on the PS3. If the company retains the Tiger name, I have to play it. We even shook hands on the deal (see photo above.) My theory is that there is still a proverbial shoe to drop in the Woods scandal -- maybe a video. Maybe a love child -- and this Tiger revelation will totally destroy Woods' viability as a game sponsor. Everyone else at G4 thinks I'm nuts, but I shall be vindicated! What do you think? Is EA going to keep Woods around for PGA 11? Or is Patrick going to "Go Rogue?" Source: Kotaku 
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| Nintendo DSi XL Releasing In Europe March 5
January 14, 2010 at 12:26 PM
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|  Nintendo announced today that its newer, fatter version of its mega popular DSi, cleverly named DSi XL, will be releasing in Europe March 5.
The beefier device sports duel 4.2 inch screens, and before you ask, yes, that’s a 93 percent increase in screen size compared to the DS Lite. The stylus has also been juiced up and is now more pen than stylus. The DSi XL also comes pre-loaded with Dr Kawashima’s: Little Bit of Brain Training: Arts Edition and Dictionary 6-in-1 with Camera Function, so you’ll have something to amuse yourself with right out of the box, which is always nice.
Color wise, it’s rather limited at this point, with just dark red and dark brown being your only options. Here’s hoping that Nintendo decides on some more inviting color schemes when the device lands stateside sometime in early 2010. The DSi XL launched in Japan in November of last year.
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| Man Arrested For World of Warcraft Fraud
January 14, 2010 at 11:45 AM
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Clearwater's Christopher H. Bouffard is in some trouble. The authorities allege the 23 year-old committed fraud by selling World of Warcraft characters online, and then not delivering the promised Night Elves and/or gnomes. He's being charged with scheming to defraud and two counts of grand theft. Cops say Bouffard accepted around $800 from a couple of people for characters, then never delivered them to their intended recipients. Bouffard was being held on $20,000 bail, which proves that crime doesn't pay, even when the crime is something incredibly stupid. I'm not sure what the maximum punishment would be, but I gotta imagine grand theft holds the possibility of jail time, and prison has to be very difficult on a guy who's nerdy enough to sell a Warcraft character, yet slimy enough to default on the sale. Can you imagine the conversation in the yard? Bouffard: What are you in for? Spike: Murder one... but he had it coming. What about you? Bouffard: Selling a World of Warcraft character. It was a totally sweet lvl 70 Warrior; protection specced. Spike: You didn't go for Fury? We're going to have some fun in the showers, punk. Source: Miami Herald 
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When it comes to collector’s editions, they usually fall into one of two categories: super cool or overpriced pieces of junk that should never have been approved let alone allowed to go to market.
