The Stupid Gamer

For the folks that ran out and picked up the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 that haven’t popped in the bonus discs yet, you’re in for a big surprise. The supposedly remastered discs look like garbage, especially the Halo 1 clips. Despite advertising that the package would contain re-mastered cutscenes in hi-def, the disc provides the cutscenes at a degraded level of quality. Complaints started popping up on message boards and some gaming site editors starting prodding Bungie for a response.

Hilary Goldstein of IGN Xbox asked forum users, “Anyone get the Legendary Edition and watch the second disc? The promised re-mastered cut-scenes are 4:3 and look like garbage. Anyone else seeing this?” After a little while he returned with this post: “The entire second disc is 4:3. First disc (that comes with special edition) is 16:9. But even the halo 1 cutscenes look worse than the original, like they were recorded on someone’s VCR.” In a final post, Hilary offers up an explanation of sorts. He said, “Just got the official response. Yes it’s going to look like ass. That really was the message. Will post one of the god-awful cut-scenes tonight in case you were contemplating the Legendary Edition.”

At this point everybody found out that the discs weren’t mistakenly bad, but that’s how they were approved and sent out. So gamers were left confused. What did the extra $70 go toward besides the MC helmet? Well, over at the NeoGAF forums we got the Bungie response:

“The cutscenes were remastered, the pop-in reduced and they were output as as high resolution TIFFs one frame at a time to improve the quality over the originals.

They were not, contrary to popular internets remastered in “HD” and this was always advertised as a DVD disc, which obviously can’t play HD content anyway.

Apologies to folks feeling ripped off, but the false advertising claims are well, false.

Watch the remastered ones side by side with the originals to see how much they’ve been improved.

And hopefully folks can see past our old school graphics and listen to the commentary, which is the important part of that content anyway.”

What a load of crap. Even Xbox.com was advertising these things as HD. Quote: “ …including remastered, high-res versions of the Halo and Halo 2 cinematics;”

So what’s going to happen? Nothing. We got shafted. Sure, the helmet is cool, but the real reason I went with the Legendary was to get the bonus content. I like the idea of being able to run through the Halo storyline quickly and easily as a refresher, but I can honestly get just as good quality by firing up YouTube. So what’s the point? The game is great, so I can eventually forget all of this, but I hate being taken for $70 due to false advertising.

Thanks for the blatant F*** you response, Bungie. Feels good to get screwed…

With the Halo theme coming at me from two angles (a car playing the OST loudly and a goofball strumming it out on a guitar) and a crowd of about 350 people strong surrounding me, I stood outside my local Gamestop last night and waited eagerly for them to call my number and let me in to pick up my copy of Halo 3. The sights of the launch were all very interesting. The crowd was a pretty diverse mix of kids trying to look 17 or older, parents waiting with their kids, older teens congregating in groups, mid-20s guys who seemed to only want to get the game to go back to bed, and the 30+ crowd that was all amped up to be reclaiming a bit of their youth again, even for just one night. There were skateboarders looking like idiots packing the parking lot and making everybody that drove there fear that a rogue board might slam into the side of their ride. It was quite the crowd to see.

As midnight neared, I finished up the article I was reading on The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters in GameRoom Magazine and started checking with the people around me to see if I was in the right spot in line. I found that I was about 30 people back from where I should be, so I hopped up to my correct spot and watched as people filed into the store empty-handed only to come out with a goofy grin on their face and a copy of Halo 3 in their hands. The line moved quickly, and despite being 108th in line, I was still home a little before 12:30am to unpack my Legendary Edition box and get some time in with the game.

The first hour and a half of the campaign were enjoyable, but it’s all I could manage to get in before responsibility took over and forced me to get ready for bed. I checked my friends list on Xbox Live and noticed that Halo 3 had taken them hostage and was most likely going to keep them up much later than I was willing to. All in all, it looks like the launch of Halo 3 was quite the success.

Impressions and more to follow.

Well, Halo 3 should make most people ignore the rest of the week’s offerings, but take a look anyway.

Consoles/Handhelds

• Halo 3 (360)
• CSI Hard Evidence (360)
• Hot Wheels Beat That (360, PS2)
• World Series of Poker: Battle (360)
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance Enhanced: Platinum Hits (360)
• NBA 08 (PS3, PS2, PSP)
• Skate (PS3)
• World Series of Poker 2008 (PS3)
• Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle (Wii)
• Hot Wheels Beat That (Wii)
• Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire (Wii)
• Balls of Fury (Wii)
• Jackass: The Game (PS2, PSP)
• Bratz: The Movie (PS2)
• Dance Dance Revolution: Supernova 2 (PS2)
• CSI 3 Dimension of Murder (PS2)
• Soul Nomad (PS2)
• World Series of Poker 2008 (PS2)
• Original Frisbee Disk Sports (DS)
• Backyard Basketball (DS)
• Spelling Challenges and More (DS)
• Animal Genius (DS)
• Backyard Hockey (DS)
• Crayola Treasure Adventures (DS)
• Race Driver: Create & Race (DS)
• Math Play (DS)
• Artic Tale (DS)
• Battleship/Connect 4/Sorry/Trouble (DS)
• Kurupoto Cool Cool Stars (DS)

Virtual Console

• Kirby’s Avalanche
• Streets of Rage 3
• Legend of Hero Tonma

Xbox Live Arcade

• No announcement yet

Sony PlayStation Store

• No announcement yet

As people are picking up their Halo 3 Limited Edition, they are finding that the way Bungie/MS packaged and shipped the discs is causing some serious scratching. In some cases, these scratches are rendering the discs unplayable. The problem is due to a weak plastic nub used to hold the discs in place that doesn’t quite get the job done. It seems that the shaking and movement of shipping is more than enough to toss the discs around. So if you preordered the Limited Edition disc, you may want to open up the package before leaving the store to make sure that your discs are ok. You might be able to swap damaged discs on the spot. Here are some pics of the gore submitted by forum users around the ‘net so far. Caution: This is not for the weak of heart.

I know that this comes a bit late, but I’m hoping the extra attention helps another handful of individuals to get out and see what I feel is one of the best gaming-related films ever made. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a documentary that follows two avid gamers as they compete to claim the world record score for Nintendo’s classic arcade title, Donkey Kong. In typical fashion, the documentary chooses their protagonist (Steve Wiebe) and their villain (Billy Mitchell) early on and encourages viewers to pick their pony to cheer for as the plot unfolds.

As each player makes attempts to one up the other, you get peeks into their daily lives and their lifelong struggles. For Billy, it seems that everything has always come easy to him. He’s always been the best at what he’s involved in. You see montages of Billy being handed awards, being praised, and even being named the video game player of the century. On the other hand, Steve is portrayed as the guy that’s always had a rough road ahead of him. Steve’s music career fizzled and failed, he was laid off of work the day he signed the papers for his home loan, and he just can’t seem to quite get to the #1 spot in anything he aims for in life, despite being a very talented and likeable guy. The emotional favorite defintely is Steve, but there’s something about Billy that makes you want to see him stick it to all his critics and envious opponents time and time again.

There comes a point in the film when it ceases to be about a video game or a high score and becomes more about the human spirit and an investigation into what drives us to seek out opportunities to excel in life. The documentary is full of highs, lows, comedy, and genuinely touching moments that you wouldn’t expect to find in a film tied so closely to a simple video game. The people, while certainly portrayed in a way that nearly reduces them to mere characters (possibly the only real flaw in the film), are so genuinely devoted to their hobby that you can’t help get swept up into the excitement of the chase for a new world record.

I would encourage any gamer to see the film, but I also think non-gamers would get a kick out of The King of Kong as well. My wife, who only casually approaches this hobby was laughing and smiling throughout the showing. And I, as a gamer, haven’t had so much fun watching a documentary in all my life.

According to jeux-france.com, Metal Slug 7 has been announced in the latest Famitsu and will be a Nintendo DS exclusive. Personally I’d like to see another arcade release, but with the decline of the arcades this makes much more financial sense for SNK Playmore. It will be interesting to see how the dual screen setup and DS features affect the series gameplay.

So I have to wonder if this is just another nail in the ever-solidifying coffin of the arcade scene. Metal Slug has always been a favorite of mine to drop a few (handfuls) of quarters into, but with Metal Slug 7 getting a release exclusively on the DS, it probably means we won’t be seeing much more from SNK in arcades. It was bound to happen, I guess.

Hooray! Nintendo finally came out and officially confirmed online play for SSBB. Sure, they had said in the past that online play was coming, but it had been a while since they had talked about it. Details of the online play can be found here: Smash Bros. Dojo.

Expect a thorough beating from Samus should you challenge me online.

The first of many Neo-Geo MVS titles arrived in my mailbox today and I was all giddy as I hefted the carts and checked them out. While I still don’t have a cabinet to play the games in, I’m working on resolving that very soon. I’ve always been a big Neo-Geo/SNK fan, but I’ve never owned either an AES or MVS system. My exposure to SNK had been through console ports or within the arcades themselves. So for me, it’s all very exciting. I already have more games on the way, and I have a good line on a cabinet source, so here’s hoping it all comes together soon.

Oh, here are the two games that showed up:

Ninja Combat

Samurai Showdown II

Oh, and here’s some awesome SNK-inspired art. Enjoy!

A lot of games this month overall, but not a lot of great looking games. There are a few “must-rent” titles in the mix, but it’s probably more of the type of release week that allows you to catch up on your backlog.

Consoles/Handhelds

• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (360)
• Eternal Sonata (360)
• Warriors Orochi (360, PS2)
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (360, PS2, DS)
• Stuntman: Ignition (PS3)
• Cosmic Family (Wii)
• Anubis II (Wii)
• Fishing Master (Wii)
• Dewy’s Adventure (Wii)
• My Sims (Wii)
• Mercury Meltdown: Revolution (Wii)
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (PS2)
• Growlanser: Heritage of War (PS2)
• Digimon World: Data Squad (PS2)
• Honda: SBk-07 Superbike (PS2)
• Singstar 80’s (PS2)
• Singstar Amped (PS2)
• My Sims Wi-Fi (DS)
• Digimon World: Dusk (DS)
• Digimon World: Dawn (DS)
• Spelling Challenges and More! (DS)
• Pet Luv Spa & Resort Tycoon (DS)
• AniMates (DS)
• 7 Wonders (DS)
• Backyard Basketball (DS)
• Namco Museum DS (DS)
• Master Jin Jin’s IQ Challenge (DS)
• Nancy Drew (DS)
• Sonic Rush Adventure (DS)
• Original Frisbee Disk Sports (DS)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 (PSP)
• Coded Arms Contagion (PSP)

Virtual Console

• Yoshi’s Story
• Super Thunder Blade
• World Class Baseball

Xbox Live Arcade

• Nothing announced yet

PlayStation Network

• Nothing announced yet

A post over at the ScoreHero forums lasted for about 2 minutes before getting yanked that claimed to have shown the complete setlist for GHIII. Here’s the post:

Tier 1:
Foghat- Slow Ride
Poison- Talk Dirty to Me
Pat Benatar- Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Social Distortion- Story of My Life

Encore: Kiss- Rock and Roll All Nite
Co-op Encore: Beastie Boys- Sabotage

Tier 2:
Mountain- Mississippi Queen
Alice Cooper- School’s Out
Cream- Sunshine of Your Life
Heart- Barracuda

Boss: Tom Morello- Guitar Battle
Encore: Rage Against the Machine- Bull’s on Parade
Co-op Encore: The Strokes- Reptilia

Tier 3:
The Killers- When You Were Young
AFI- Miss Murder
The Who- The Seeker
Priestess- Lay Down

Encore: Rolling Stones- Paint It Black
Co-op Encore: Red Hot Chili Peppers- Suck My Kiss

Tier 4:
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
The Sex Pistols- Anarchy in the UK
Sonic Youth- Kool Thing
Weezer- My Name Is Jonas

Encore: Pearl Jam- Evenflow
Co-op Encore: Blue Oyster Cult- Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll

Tier 5:
The Dead Kennedy’s- Holiday in Cambodia
Scorpions- Rock You Like a Hurricane
Aerosmith- Same Old Song and Dance
ZZ Top- La Grange

Boss: Slash- Guitar Battle
Encore: Guns N Roses- Welcome to the Jungle
Co-op Encore: Bloc Party- Hellicopter

Tier 6:
Santana- Black Magic Woman
Smashing Pumpkins- Cherub Rock
White Zombie- Black Sunshine
Tenacious D- The Metal

Encore: Stevie Ray Vaughn- Pride and Joy
Co-op Encore: Matchbook Romance- Monsters

Tier 7:
Slipknot- Before I Forget
Disturbed- Stricken
Queens of the Stone Age- 3’s and 7’s
Muse- Knights of Cydonia

Encore: Living Colour- Cult of Personality

Tier 8:
Slayer- Raining Blood
Eric Johnson- Cliffs of Dover
Iron Maiden- Number of the Beast
Metallica- One

Boss: Lou- Guitar Battle
Encore: The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Bonus Tracks:

An Endless Sporadic- Impulse
Backyard Babies- Minus Celsius
Bret Michaels Band- Go That Far
Die Toten Hosen- Hier Kommit Alex
Dragonforce- Through the Fire and the Flames
Fall of Troy- FCP Remix
Gallows- In the Belly of a Shark
The Hellacopters- I’m in the Band
Heroes del Silencio- Avalancha
In Flames- Take This Life
Kaiser Chiefs- Ruby
Killswitch Engage- My Curse
LA Slum Lords- Down N Dirty
Lacuna Coil- Closer
Lions- Metal Heavy Lady
NAAST- Mauvis Garcon
Prototype- The Way It Ends
Revolverhead- Generation Rock
Rise Against- Prayer of the Refugee
Scouts of St. Sebastian- In Love
Senses Fail- Can’t Be Saved
The Sleeping- Don’t Hold Back
The Stone Roses- She Bangs the Drums
Superbus- Radio Song