1UP Yours Bids Adieu

The final 1UP Yours podcast has been posting featuring the reunion of Luke Smith with John, Shane, Andrew, and Garnett. A great finale to the best videogame podcast that was.

Two amazing dog simulators you must buy!

Fable 2 and Fallout 3 have more in common than just being amazing RPGs, they also both feature some nifty AI dogs! Isn't that strange...

Sackboys and Islam

So apparently there's a music clip in Little Big Planet that quotes the Qua'ran, which is prohibited by their religion. The resulting controversy has caused Sony to recall the game before release in order to correct this perceived offense.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, but Colin Campbell of EDGE has up an interesting article comparing Sony's religious difficulties recently with Playstation 3 titles:

The difference here is in degrees. On the one hand, a game featuring some non-contextual direct quotes from a sacred text. On the other, a violent intrusion into a sacred place.

Sony’s decision to treat one with the utmost seriousness and the other with the utmost contempt is easily explained. The reaction to anti-Christian content in any media is usually measured in a slightly annoyed grey-head appearing on NPR or Radio 4. Content that is viewed as anti-Islamic often raises more visual protests.

Sony understands that extreme religious anger is something any sensible person or company will work diligently to avoid. It’s also something the media really loves to cover.

My point is not about the reaction of different religious people to perceived slights so much as the reaction by Sony to actual trouble.

Sony saw the possibility of bad press and angry scenes and made a very quick decision.

It ran.

Any thoughts?

Buy this game!

E3 Day 1

So we got some cool stuff from Microsoft's Press Conference including:

Fallout 3 exclusive DLC on 360
Resident Evil 5 coming with co-op play
Gears of War 2 having a 5 player co-op mode
Complete Xbox Dashboard overhaul
Xbox Live Avatars
Lips from iNiS, the makers of Elite Beat Agents
Portal: Still Alive exclusively on 360
A South Park XBLA game
Galaga on XBLA
Rock Band 2 to have songs from Chinese Democracy haha!
Netflix Streaming service on Xbox Live
Full Hard Drive installs and 16:10 monitor support for Xbox
Uno Rush and Geometry Wars 2
Fable 2 is done and coming in October
and of course Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360

And from the Electronic Arts conference we found that:

Spore looks amazing
Dragon Age will be a console franchise as well
Left 4 Dead looks amazing
NBA Live 2009 will feature daily updates
iD Software's Rage to be published by EA
Mirror's Edge looks like it could be good

Great start E3 2008!

Microsoft's got some style

You've got to hand it to them, the way they played the internet today was great.

Square Enix's Wada comes on stage to show up some of his games coming to the Xbox 360, which are great but seen before.

Then Microsoft's Don Mattrick comes back to thank Wada and close out the press conference.

But oh wait, says Wada, there's just one more thing.

Bam, Final Fantasy XIII on X360.

Chaos ensues on the internet.

The End

The greatest machinima ever made? Almost certainly.
The most insane production values ever found in a game? Ridiculously so.
The biggest gaming event of the year? Yes.
A great game? The best Metal Gear has ever been.

Sure we can complain about the gameplay to cutscene ratio or any number of other nitpicks, but in the end MGS4 is the epic send off Metal Gear Fans have been looking for. Congratulations Hideo.

What's wrong with PS3?

Well, looks like The Getaway and 8 Days just got the axe. And Sony adds some salt to the wound by announcing Qore, their new pay to play subscription video podcast, demo and beta service.

Which leaves me wondering, what the heck is Sony first party doing anyways?

Let me get the Sony first party story straight: God of War is nowhere to be seen, Gran Turismo 5 is still not out, despite what their pay to play demo might have you think, The Getaway and 8 Days are newly canned, there's no sign of Afrika, no sign of Trico, and SOCOM, Wipeout and Warhawk have been confined to PSN. Not even going to bother bringing up Home. What the heck is going on over there?

Itagaki Quits Tecmo, Sues President

Hot on the heels of the release of Ninja Gaiden 2, a true bombshell has hit the Japanese games industry:

"I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year. In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

"Before the start of development on Dead or Alive 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.' In addition, he made demeaning remarks about me to my subordinates and colleagues, causing me significant emotional distress and worsening my personal relationships and work environment. Thus, I have no choice but to resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd.

The Most Popular Videogame in the World

Slate.com reveals the secrets of the one game no one can stop playing. No, not Tetris, not Mario Brothers, but your all time favorite... Solitaire! Learn all about the sordid beginnings of computer solitaire and FreeCell over at Slate.