Bitmob_vb_ Bitmob is now a part of VentureBeat
Separator

Daily Blips: Game News from May 13th, 2009

Default_picture
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Microsoft is really good at copying the competition. And we don't blame them -- any product that makes us look like morons is an instant-sell for us.

News Blips:


• Say cheese: Microsoft to use camera to document your idiotic movements. We've been hearing about this news ever since the Wii debuted, but it seems like Microsoft may finally be showing off its 360 gesture-based motion camera at this year's E3. Still, don't expect to be shamelessly waving your limbs until 2010 -- word is it'll take a year before Microsoft can get their copy-Nintendo camera on the market. Until then, you can always play this game. [VentureBeat]

• New flashcart encourages Nintendo fans to become pirates. The DSi makes it harder to be a law-breaking cheapskate, so that's why the company Supercard created a flashcart that lets you play pirated games on your fancy new system. Not that we support this. Because it could get you arrrrrrrrrrrested. [Kotaku]

• Lunar: The Silver Star casts a phoenix down on itself. The latest issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu revealed Lunar: The Silver Star (this time renamed Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star) is coming the PSP. In case you didn't play it on the GBA. Or the PS1. Or the Sega CD. Or the Atari 2600. [1UP]

• Analysts use supreme intellect to predict obvious. A bunch of number-crunching videogame analysts are saying the upcoming Wii MotionPlus doohickey will sell a lot -- 10 million units to be exact. Well, duh. In other news, punching yourself in the face makes you say, "Ow!" [Joystiq]

Hit the jump for some video blips, including a painfully obvious Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pop-up clip, retro Commodore 64 load screens, board games you can't buy, and...more.

 

 

Video Blips:

• Game Trailer's Pop-Block Call of Duty video shoots you in the face with obvious. Get this: You use guns in the game. Did you know that? Probably not. Why else would they have made this video, silly soldier.

 

• City of Heroes expansion trailer finds home on your computer screen. Watch some random costumed-freaks yap it up. Hopefully they'll include this guy. 

 

 

Cultural Blips:


• Retro game title screens look retro. Yeah, it's a little redundant to vector-ify some classic Commodore 64 loading screens, but that doesn't make them look any less snazzy. [GameSetWatch]

• Old-school developer creates ancient-school game. Brenda Brathwaite, the woman behind PC franchises Wizardry and Jagged Alliance, created a board game that intentionally has no replay value. And cannot be bought. Perfect for, uh, no one, actually. [Play This Thing!]
 
Tags: Daily Blips, Microsoft, Lunar: The Silver Star, Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star, City of Heroes, Wizardry, Jagged Alliance, DSi, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, wii motion plus
Problem? Report this post
BITMOB'S SPONSOR
Adsense-placeholder
Related Stories
 
Comments (11)
Add a new comment
Default_picture
Hans Gruber
May 13, 2009
If they bundle Wii plus with Wii Play then It'll sell 20 millions.
Default_picture
Michael Donahoe
May 13, 2009
Hans Gruber? Aren't you dead?
Default_picture
Ted Perry
May 13, 2009
[i]I am itching for some more info on Modern Warfare 2.[/i];D
Default_picture
Michael Donahoe
May 13, 2009
[quote] I am itching for some more info on Modern Warfare 2.smilies/grin.gif [/quote] Scratch it?
Default_picture
Kimosabae Grant
May 13, 2009
"[i][b]Analysts use supreme intellect to predict obvious. A bunch of number-crunching videogame analysts are saying the upcoming Wii MotionPlus doohickey will sell a lot -- 10 million units to be exact. Well, duh. In other news, punching yourself in the face makes you say, "Ow!"" --Bitmob [/b][/i] I really hope the writers here have higher standards set for themselves than the teenage, jaded sarcasm typically found in other Kotaku/Joystiq comment sections. You do realize these analysts don't work for petty, cynical video game forum communities, right? -Kye
Default_picture
Michael Donahoe
May 13, 2009
[quote]I really hope the writers here have higher standards set for themselves than the teenage, jaded sarcasm typically found in other Kotaku/Joystiq comment sections. You do realize these analysts don't work for petty, cynical video game forum communities, right?[/quote] It's a joke. We obviously know they do real, hard work. But it's funny for an analyst to predict something that's pretty darn obvious, such as a Nintendo-made Wii product selling well. Especially one that's gonna work with a Wii Sports-inspired sequel. ;D
Default_picture
Kimosabae Grant
May 13, 2009
I understand it's a joke, but It seems as though I can't read any analyst predictions in the gaming community at large, without having to wade through the petty criticisms of teenagers that aren't conscious enough to realize that every commodified concept actually employs people to make it relevant to other people. The attitude seems to have filtered into the media. The tendency for the games media to be so easily influenced by the readership is one of the many criticisms I have of video game journalism. Not attacking you or this post in particular. -Kimo
Default_picture
Kimosabae Grant
May 13, 2009
The most important point I forgot to make is that the readership at large either will not recognize comments such as that as a joke, or do not care -- it filters into the collective consciousness anyway, and influences how they view the substance being criticized. -Kimo
Default_picture
Michael Donahoe
May 13, 2009
I totally get what you're saying. But I can't help but find the humor in reading something so obvious. And it's like I said earlier, if the analysts were to say the Wii MotionPlus will bomb, that'd be a really interesting story and worth promoting. But the story as it is pretty much a no brainer. And, because of that, I poked fun at it. That's pretty much it. I think you're reading a little too far into my tongue-in-cheek banter. ;) And I have no disrespect for analysts because I used to use them all the time in the stories I wrote back at EGM. Sometimes they can point out some really interesting ideas or trends most people would never even think about. So I'm all for analysts predictions...especially when they're asked intelligent questions :) Moral of the story: analysts are smart; silly stories are funny. That's all. Sorry if I offended you! :)
Default_picture
Joshua McCluskey
May 13, 2009
Me + Gesture-based motion camera = trying to play halo ODST with my wang....
Default_picture
Paul Smith
May 17, 2009
Pertaining to the analyst discussion: Donahoe, I think that your jab was a well deserved poke in the stomache to the analyst industry. Even though, journalists use analyst research in their articles, journalists are not the main demographic for analysts. Analysts do have a service that is provided to the industry and because they have jobs and make money means that people need them to keep analyzing. But, poking fun at an obvious article of research is just entertainment. It like a military analyst in Iraq saying, "With continued conflict in the region, we will need to manufacture more ammunition to maintain our prescence." Duh! I have read some interesting findings by analysts, but I am not the intended audience. I don't buy large stocks of games or hardware. I don't look for teams of developers to make products for me. Just like the majority of the audience that comes to this blog doesn't have buisness pertaining to the industry. But, we do come to be informed and if we are informed in such a way that makes us smile or laugh, we will come back. I am a teacher. I love video games. I am from Omaha, NE. I have a brain that works. I also have been able to see the similarities between analysts and weather reporters. They use facts to make a prediction about the future. Those predictions are valuble to some people and to others they are just random information. They might be right, they might be wrong, but we still make fun of the forcaster who is wrong about rain tomorrow. We can laugh because we aren't the farmer in the field trying to get out of the mud, or the buyer who purchased way too many copies of Pony Princess, only to find that it wasn't 'just like' Nintendogs.

You must log in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.