I realized earlier this week that I play an insane amount of DS compared to how much I ever played my GBA or Game Boy. I’m sure many of you out there are the same way, but to illustrate it I decided to pull out all of my current gen cases (a few are missing from the pic below, however) and stack them up side by side for a quick comparison shot. Is this the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done? Well, if you don’t count the time that I abused my E3 press pass to get Shigeru Miyamoto’s autograph, then yes, it probably is. I was pretty shocked to see how many DS games I’ve accumulated, and I realized that maybe I’m not quite ready for that next Nintendo handheld. Anyway, take a look at the pic below and feel free to send your own in (jar155 [at] gmail dot com) and I’ll post them here. You can also drop a link to any pics you might have in the comments section.
Off the top of my head, I know that 2 PS3 games, 2 PSP games, 3 Wii games, 2 360 games, and at least 6 DS games are missing from my pic. And yes, I own MGS 4, so for those of you that take a magnifying glass to my stack, I’m currently lending it out to a friend.
Ok, I’ll admit it. I have many EA Sports games sitting on my game shelves. From current and past years I have iterations of NCAA Football, Madden, Tiger Woods, and more. However, I really feel like EA goes out of their way to give me a solid nut punch whenever they can. NCAA 09 and Madden 09 both have their share of inexcusable issues, and FIFA 08 was pretty much broken in comparison to 07, but I was having very high hopes for FIFA 09 based on gameplay videos and early previews of the game. Now EA has announced Adidas Live Season for FIFA 09 that will “dynamically update player form in-game to mirror real world performance.” Sounds great, right? Well, it is, except for that EA is making you pay a premium for the service. In a recent press release, EA Sports said the following (emphasis is my own):
EA UNVEILS NEW ADIDAS LIVE SEASON FOR FIFA 09 THAT WILL DYNAMICALLY UPDATE PLAYER FORM IN-GAME TO MIRROR REAL WORLD PERFORMANCE
EA Secures Exclusive Licensing Agreement with Spanish La Liga BBVA; FIFA 09 Demo Available World Wide on Sept. 11
GUILDFORD, UK. – August 20, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a new premium service for EA SPORTS™ FIFA 09 called adidas Live Season that will redefine the football videogame experience by dynamically updating player form in-game on a weekly basis so that player attributes mirror real-world performances.FIFA 09 will now feel and play differently throughout the entire 2008-2009 season matching the weekly rhythm of football. The new service will be available for Barclay’s Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and Mexican Primera Division on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PC.
Each year EA puts out another edition of each of their sports games with only the most minor changes (many times taking a step back in the process), and yet they still charge the full $60. Games like Madden are usually receiving a roster update and a new gimmick, with this year it being the ridiculously stupid Madden IQ. Now when they actually come up with something worthwhile, they decide to rake their fans over the coals. Haven’t we given you enough, EA? To those of us that are stupid enough to buy your marginally updated crap from year to year, don’t you think we deserve a returned favor or some acknowledgment of appreciation? Nah, I guess you’d rather squeeze each and every one of us for every penny we’ve got.
You already sold the naming of the feature to Adidas, shouldn’t that pretty much cover any costs incurred to run the service? Do you really need to turn us upside down and shake us? Thanks, EA, you’re awesome!
A forum user at GameFAQs that was responsible for leaking tracks for Guitar Hero III has released what he is saying is a setlist for Guitar Hero World Tour. Sorry for the sloppy copy and paste job, but here are the tracks:
Eagle Rock High School Tour:
“Dope Nose” by Weezer
“The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World
Encore: “Today” by Smashing Pumpkins
Big City Kids Tour:
“Roland” by Interpol
“Santeria” By Sublime
Encore: “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
Feelin’ Nostalgic Tour:
“Take It on the Run” by REO Speedwagon
“Hold the Line” by Toto
Encore: “Rebel Yell” by Billy Idol
Vixens Tour:
“Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar
“All Around Me” by Flyleaf
Encore:”Misery Business” by Paramore
Undertow Tour:
“Stinkfist” by Tool
“Lateralus” by Tool
“Schism” by Tool
Synchronicity Tour:
“Guitar Battle Vs. Sting” (Guitar Career Only)
Encore: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police
Fight the System Tour:
“The Kids Aren’t Alright” by The Offspring
The Good Left Undone” by Rise Agaisnt
Encore: “Bleed it Out” by Linkin Park
QQ Tour:
“Face Down” by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
“The Kill” by 30 Seconds to Mars
Encore: “Thank You for the Venom” by My Chemical Romance
Rockin the Carnival Tour:
“Dammit” by Blink 182
“When You Heat Stops Beating” by +44
Neva’ Forget Tour:
“Jumpin Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult
Encore: “Light My Fire” by The Doors
We Want the Funk Tour:
“Take it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Renegades of Funk” by Rage Agaisnt the Machines
Encore: “No Sleep till Brooklyn” by The Beastie Boys Feat. Kerry King
Rockin’ the Joint Tour:
“Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz
“I Don’t wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith
On Top of the World Tour:
“Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains
“Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe
Encore: “Spin the Black Circle” by Pearl Jam
G. Stinger Tour:
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
“Car Chase City” by Tenacious D
Encore: “Everlong” by Foo Fighters
Lands End Tour:
“Animal” by Def Leppard
“Runaway” by Bon Jovi
Encore: “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses
Doin’ it Different Tour:
“Song for the Dead” by Queens of the Stone Age
“Vasoline” by Stone Temple Pilots
Encore: “Assassin” by Muse
Hootin’ and Hollerin’ Tour:
“The Boys Are Back in Town” By Thin Lizzy
“Life in the Fastlane” by The Eagles
Encore:”Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
All Pissed Off Tour:
“Here to Stay” by KoRn
“Dragula” by Rob Zombie
Encore: “Bat Country” by Avenged Sevenfold
Here Me Roar Tour:
“10,000 Fists” by Disturbed
“Duality” by Slipknot
Encore: “Toxicity” by System of a Down
S.D.M.F. Tour:
“Guitar Battle Vs. Zakk Wylde” (Guitar Career Only)
*Encore: “Demise of Sanity” by Black Label Society
Fathers of Metal Tour:
“Don’t Talk to Strangers” by Dio
“Heaven and Hell” by Black Sabbath
Encore: “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne
Making Progress Tour:
“The Spirit of Radio” by Rush
“Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd
Encore: “Pull Me Under” by Dream Theatre
Eruption Tour:
“Beat it” by Micheal Jackson Feat. Eddie Van Halen
“Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen
Tooth Fang & Claw Tour:
“Guitar Battle Vs. Ted Nugent” (Guitar Career Only)
Encore: “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent
Decades of Metal Tour
“Warriors of Time” by Black Tide
“Leather Rebel” by Judas Priest
Encore: “Hallowed be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden
Livin’ in a Nightmare Tour:
“Angel of Death” by Slayer
“Tornado of Souls” by Megadeth
Encore: “Master of Puppets” by Metallica
Legends of Rock Tour:
“Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry
“The Wind Cries Mary” by Jimi Hendrix
Encore: “Purple Haze (Live)” by Jimi Hendrix
Bonus Tour:
“45″ by Shinedown
“96 Quite Bitter Beings” by CKY
“Bombshell” by Powerman 5000
“Clavado en un Bar” by Maná
“Enjoy the Silence” by Lacuna Coil
“Feuer Frei” by Rammstein
“Fury of the Storm” by Dragonforce
“Never Too Late” by The Answer
“Nottingham Lace” by Buckethead
“One Armed Scissor” by At The Drive-In
“Satch Boogie” by Joe Satriani
“Schrei” by Tokio Hotel
“Soul Doubt” by NOFX
“We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad
“Guitar Battle Vs. Sting” by Sting
“Guitar Battle Vs. Ted Nugent” By Ted Nugent
“Guitar Battle Vs. Zakk Wylde” by Zakk Wylde
Sample Songs:
“Untitled Drum Sample” created by Chad Smith
“Untitled Drum Sample” created by Dave Grohl
“Untitled Drum Sample” created by Travis Barker
“Cliffs of Dover” created by Neversoft
“Misirlou” created by Neversoft
“Walk This Way” created by Neversoft
“YYZ” created by Neversoft
If this is true, there is lots of good stuff on there. I hate seeing the guitar battles being included in there; those were easily the worst part about GHIII. Anyway, both this and Rock Band 2 have stellar lineups, so music rhythm fans should be pleased.
Ubisoft has never been shy about milking their franchises. I mean, c’mon, how many Tom Clancy games can they put out per year? Anyway, one of the best new franchises of the past generation was Beyond Good and Evil. The game was amazing, and fans of the game have been clamoring for a sequel for quite some time. Sadly, the original didn’t sell well, and years passed by with fans having a pretty negative outlook on their chances. Well, just a couple of days ago (sorry I’m late, folks), Ubisoft showed the teaser trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2. Yes, it’s really coming. Below is the teaser trailer that should get you all giddy.
For those of you that missed out on the original, tracking down a copy isn’t always so easy. The GameCube version is the best out there, but if you have to “settle” for the PS2, I still think you’ll be happy. I do kind of wish that the visual look from the original had carried over to the sequel, but I’m so happy right now that I’ll just take it any way it comes.
Each month when the new sales figures come out fans of the “losing” console freak out. They lose their sense of reality and just start spamming message forums with damage control. This month Sony fans are in backpedal mode, and here are a few choice cuts. I plan on doing this each month, we’ll see if I can keep up the desire to do so. I’ve basically gone to a couple of forums and pulled random quotes that I felt were dumb. I’ve then added a response of my own that is debatable in its humor value. For the most part, the original comments speak for themselves.
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Damn close between 360 and ps3.
also, holy sh** at psp games in the top 10, and TWO OF THEM!
Snarky Response: Yes, ignore that the Wii was even on the charts. It will go away. The PSP taking 1/5th of the top ten is the only remarkable occurence of the month.
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(Quoted from another post) - “Damn, Guitar Hero III on the Wii just keeps trucking!”
good…maybe it will force nintendo to add a friggen harddrive
Snarky Response: Right, because GOOD sales typically force companies to change their strategies. Oh wait.
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Holy crap, are people on Wii just playing Smash and Guitar Hero?
Snarky Response: Yes, and PS3 owners are only playing Army of Two. The top 10 doesn’t account for all game sales, champ.
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(Quoted from another post) - “I wonder why the high def consoles dropped..kind of discouraging.”
state of economy?
Snarky Response: It must be! That’s why March was the biggest non-holiday month in the history of gaming (in regards to overall sales). This, my friends, is called grasping at straws.
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I think millions of hardcore gamers are going to cry out in pain the day WiiFit is released.
Snarky Response: Probably for two reasons this guy is correct. First, because it will be the first time they’ve ever done a push up, and secondly, once Wii Fit releases secret police forces will remove all “traditional” games from shelves and immediately shut down the production of any non-Wii waggle heavy title.
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The interesting thing about the Wii is that Smash Bro probably contributed very little to that number. Most of that are driven by Wii Sports.
Snarky Response: Yeah, I can’t see how a game moving 2.7 million copies could have an impact on sales at all.
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Are we going to consider the PS3 and 360 a tie since it is only 5k discrepancy? Since NPD does not get full report from all vedors, ie Toys R US, IE Amazon.
Snarky Response: Faulty logic. WOuldn’t you have to increase the 360 and Wii numbers as well? Oh wait, we only play this card when our system of choice is behind. I keep forgetting that.
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Wasn’t Easter in march? Isn’t that considered a mini Christmas? Could that explain the huge sales number of the Wii?
Snarky Response: Lucky for Nintendo Miyamoto is the Easter Bunny and he doesn’t support non-Nintendo products. Look, I have proof!
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I love Metal Gear 4. I think it is the best online experience of any game ever. Same with the single player. Let me swim in the awesome Kojima.
Snarky Response: Nice time to talk about the sheer awesomeness of an unreleased game, huh? Hey buddy, that deflection tactic didn’t help sales any.
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I don’t get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we’re all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!
Snarky Response: Again, top 10 sales aren’t all the sales. The Wii, like the DS, has a massive userbase and their sales are spread out across a large library. Wii software sales have actually been higher than 360 sales 3 out of the past 4 months (overall).
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Guys debating Wii vs 360/Ps3 must be the same guys that like to debate ice cream flavors.
“Chocolate > strawberry, and it sells the most too, so there should be only chocolate.”
“But i want more than chocolate. I actually like to mix Chocolate with strawberry flavor”
“F*** you.”
…. Seriously people. Give it a rest.
Snarky Response: I can’t believe he took the time to come up with this analogy. Analogies are dumber than a gorilla in a snowstorm. I’d never use one.
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And who cares how well Wii sold? It’s not even competing with PS3 and 360 IMO.
Snarky Response: Adding “IMO” to the end of a post doesn’t give you immunity. What a stupid post. So can Pepsi just claim that they’re number one because they don’t consider Coke a competitor? If so, they should IMO.
Note: IMO is lazy forum speak for “in my opinion”. It’s often used when somebody knows they’re saying something stupid and they don’t want to take heat for it because they can’t back up their statement with any basis in reality.
Yes, that’s right…Mortal Kombat 8 is going to feature DC Comics characters mixed in with traditional Mortal Kombat, er, Kombatants. Not much has been revealed yet, but I’m sure the stir that the first videos and screens cause will be truly amazing. Here’s the first teaser pic released.
So, it will be interesting to see if DC is comfortable with allowing Batman to have his spine ripped out or with Superman having his head sliced off. For gamers I guess it means that you can finally have Batman just obliterate Robin and finish him off with gory results. Yay? We’ll see.
C’mon, EA! This is ridiculous. In an official press release EA Sports announced the ship date and price for Madden 2009. Here are some cuts from the release (we’ll whine after the quotes):
Madden NFL 09 will be available in retail stores in North America on August 12, including a special collector’s edition in celebration of the 20th anniversary of one of the best-selling video games franchises of all time. The Madden NFL 09 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be the ultimate interactive NFL experience - featuring full versions of both Madden NFL 09 and the all-new NFL Head Coach 09, exclusive classic Madden NFL gameplay, and an extensive library of bonus video content.
Additionally, gamers will be able to import their user-designed plays from NFL Head Coach 09 and put them into Madden NFL 09 to create customized playbooks for complete control on the field.
Madden NFL 09 will be available for the Xbox 360™ video game system from Microsoft, PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems, Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system and is rated RP by the ESRB. At a suggested retail price of $89.99, Madden NFL 09 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be available for the Xbox 360™ and PLAYSTATION®3.
So let’s look at this. The standard price for a collector’s edition this generation as been $70, a price that already feels way too high…so EA feels that somehow $90 is fair. Great. Oh, sure, you’re going to get NFL Head Coach with it, but who really wants that? It’s like Madden, but somebody takes the controller away from you when the game starts.
The most disturbing, however, is that you’ll need NFL Head Coach to be able to draw up your plays. Yes, if you don’t buy this inflated and ridiculous version of the game, you’ll no longer be able to draw up your own plays in Madden and use your own playbook. I’m tired of this crap, EA. Madden has been in a constant state of degeneration ever since 2005 (the last year NFL 2k was a competitor). Unless we see a HUGE leap forward in gameplay, I’m done with this series for good. After taking so much from gamers over the years, you’d think to celebrate 20 years of strong support from the gaming community that EA could give something back, rather than just screwing over their fan base once more. Guess not.
Some people love them, others simply tolerate them…it’s the NPDs. This month things are looking pretty similar to what happened last month, except for the PSP has fallen back a bit. Microsoft needs to get rid of the Arcade pack (new ‘tard pack?) and just get the version of the system out there that everybody wants (the Pro). Until they do that, they’re going to continue to limp in sales, because nobody is eager to pick up the lesser version of the 360 at this point. Software looked great on the 360, as always. Call of Duty 4 is just an absolute beats, kicking out almost another 300,000. After this long, it’s great to see that game continue to steamroll the charts. Anyway, here are the numbers:
Hardware
Nintendo DS - 587,600
Nintendo Wii - 432,000
PlayStation 2 - 351,800
PlayStation 3 - 280,800
Xbox 360 - 254,600
Sony PSP - 243,100
Top 10 Software
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) - 296,200
Devil May Cry 4 (360) - 295,200
Wii Play (Wii) - 289,700
Devil May Cry 4 (PS3) - 233,500
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) - 222,900
Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games (DS) - 205,600
Lost Odyssey (360) - 203,600
Turok (360) - 197,700
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) - 183,800
Rock Band (360) - 161,800
Gamepro compared the battery life of each of the major three console maker’s first party controllers, and they published their results this past weekend. Here’s a chart showing how the results played out:
So the chart is showing the the 360 has by far the longest battery life, with the Wii in the middle, and the PS3 with a very disappointing showing. I kind of have to question this, because I’ve owned 5 (yeah, long story) 360 controllers and I’ve found that I can’t ever get more than 8-10 hours out of them before they need to be plugged in. With the PS3, however, I’m definitely getting at least 20. The Wii time shown there looks to be just about right. The big bonus with the 360 controller is that you can charge it with a reasonably long cable while you play. With the Wii you can’t charge and play at the same time. And with the PS3 the charge cable they give you is so short that the only way you could charge and play is if you’re willing to press your nose up against your TV set.
What does this all mean? Nothing really, but it’s interesting to see Gamepro’s results. Am I the only one that finds the 360 numbers extremely exaggerated? Have I just had a bad run of controllers?
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