The Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior: some pre-E3 lineups, tons of updates, and Jack Thompson
Last week’s Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior was interesting, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with this week’s Warrior offerings.
In addition to some E3 updates from Square Enix and Capcom, we’ve also got some special appearances from Michael Pachter, Jade Raymond and Jack Thompson! We’re pretty sure that last name caught your attention, so head on over to the full article to know more.
The Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior segment is back once again with a grand recap of the important news that occurred this week. While last week’s Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior was pretty exciting, with the whole price drop rumormongering and all, we have even more exciting news this week – and that makes writers happy campers!
In store for you today comes even more word of that Xbox 360 price cut, E3 news, a generous helping of game delays and announcements, and a report on Jack Thompson.
Jack Thompson, you say?
He’s the second to the last entry for this week’s Weekend Warrior, so you can scroll down if you want and read up on what’s happening to him. Just remember to check everything else, because there are some pretty important announcements in the game world you might want to read up on.
The pre-E3 news frenzy
E3, even if it isn’t what it used to be, is still a big source of important news for games journalists like myself. Of course, analysts have a different take on it. For one thing, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter thinks the E3 of today is “virtually useless for retail and for investors” because everyone knows what games are coming up already; the big announcements don’t feel as big as they used to be.
Link: Pachter: E3 is virtually useless for retail and investors
Speaking of game announcements, Square Enix and Capcom have gone out and released the list of games they’ll be showing off for E3. Luckily for Xbox 360 users, there are at least six games from the two devs that you can experience if you happen to be at E3, with three of them being Square Enix-quality RPGs. Sweet.
Link: No sign of Final Fantasy XIII: Square Enix unveils game line-up for E3 2008
Link: Capcom announces game line-up for E3 2008
Related to this, the newly-made Activision Blizzard has also put a damper on a highly-anticipated game. Tim Schafer said that Brutal Legend won’t be making it to E3 and further announcements on the game are on hold until the merger is all well and done. That’s just… well, brutal.
Link: Tim Schafer: Brutal Legend will not be showing up at E3
On the lighter side of things, the ever-so-lovely Jade Raymond is in the news again, with a rumor that her latest project, a post-catastrophic FPS called I Am Alive, will be headed to E3.
Link: I am Alive to debut in E3, Jade Raymond working on it?
Finally, we have two bits of news that should be of interest to Xbox owners. The first is an announcement stating that certain important E3 proceedings will be made available to people via Xbox Live. The second is a list of the important E3 proceedings we just mentioned. Expect tons of downloadable content and announcements coming your way via the console in the coming week.
Link: Xbox Live brings home the bacon with E3: Bringing It Home 2008; Too Human as downloadable demo
Link: E3 2008: schedule of press conferences from Sony, Ninty, MS, more
All the news that’s fit to print… and there’s a LOT of it
There’s a ton of news for this week so let’s get right to it!
In Microsoft news today, the company has denied rumors that Xbox 360 Elites are suffering from rampant malfunctioning (or red rings of death). They cited Geoff Croft, customer service of Micromart, a repair service company, who said that very few Xbox 360 Elites had been in for repair.
Link: Rumor: Microsoft expected to pay 500 million GBP for faulty Xbox 360 Elites?
Link: Repair specialist: Xbox 360 Elite RRODs not so rampant
Merger news this time. Electronic Arts’ bid for Take-Two Interactive took an additional step closer to legitimacy as both companies have finished filing all pertinent information with the FTC. One merger also took off this week, as Activision and Vivendi have finally combined into the juggernaut we can now call Activision Blizzard.
Link: EA bid for Take-Two now FTC compliant, no action until August planned
Link: Call them Actizard: Activision-Vivendi merger gets official
Link: Activision Blizzard finally completes transaction for merge
Lots of general gaming news today, so let’s start with the news of newly-announced games. Capcom has announced a new game in the 19xx series of shmups, called 1942: Joint Strike. On the other hand, Midway has announced their arcade-styled football game Blitz: The League. SouthPeak Games has also announced an “expanded reinvention” of the PS2 title Brave with Brave: A Warrior’s Tale. Finally, Sega and Creative Assembly are working together to create a new sci-fi RTS game called Stormrise.
Link: 1942: Joint Strike hitting XBLA, PSN later this month
Link: Midway Games announces Blitz: The League
Link: SouthPeak announces Brave: A Warrior’s Tale for Xbox 360, Wii, PSP
Link: Sega, Creative Assembly announce new sci-fi RTS for Xbox 360, PS3, PC
For those looking for something new to play, Schizoid and Golf: Tee It Up! are now available on Xbox Live.
Link: Schizoid and Golf: Tee It Up! to hit XBLA on July 9
In the realm of upcoming games, we have news regarding Fallout 3, Soul Calibur 4, and the supposedly WiiWare-only Mega Man 9. Fallout 3’s been banned in Australia, and the word out is that it’s because of the game’s portrayal of drug use. On another note, one more character has been added to the Soul Calibur 4 roster. Her name’s Kamikirimusi, and she carries a giant bat/mace thingy. Lastly, the new news for Mega Man 9 is that it’s again been labeled as a mutliplatform title, according to a recent report from IGN.
Link: Three new screens and tons of new details on Fallout 3
Link: Rumor confirmed: Fallout 3 denied classification in Australia
Link: OFLC: Fallout 3 banned in Australia because of drugs
Link: Kamikirimusi of SoulCalibur 4 unveiled
Link: Mega Man 9 confirmed to be a multiplatform release, VC will get Mega Man 1 and 2
Now for some lawsuit news! Yeehaw! The lawsuit this time comes from Konami, who is suing Harmonix and Viacom for using their patents in the creation of Rock Band technology. Harmonix is surprised at what they’re calling “baseless litigation” and intends to fight the lawsuit every step of the way.
Link: You got served: Konami sues Viacom and Harmonix over Rock Band
Link: Harmonix fires back at Konami over Rock Band lawsuit
Lastly, we have some rumors-turned-news. There’s supposed to be an impending Xbox 360 price cut happening around or on E3, as reported last week. This week, we have pictures of a GameStop circular announcing just that, along with confirmation from Kaizer_911, who happens to be a GameStop employee. Also, Target seems to have already dropped their price for the Xbox 360 Pro, if the online listing for the store is to be believed.
Link: Leaked pictures: impending Xbox 360 price drop at GameStop *update*
Link: Target already slashed US$ 50 off Xbox 360 Pro?
The Dava Tunis Report (aka the Jack Thompson recommendation letter)
Our last bit of important news today has to do with John Bruce Thompson, the man we all know as Jack. When we last heard of Jack Thompson, the Florida bar asked Judge Dava Tunis to offer a report with her recommendations regarding Thompson. Originally, the Florida Bar’s recommendation was for Thompson to receive enhanced disbarment (disbarment for 10 years). Tunis, however, disagrees.
Her recommendation? The permanent disbarment of Jack Thompson and a US$ 43,675.35 fine.
Now, it’s a 169-page report, but the best bits can be found at the end. Check the link below for a quote from Tunis’ recommendation for Thompson, and remember that this is still a recommendation; the Florida Bar will have to decide what to do with Thompson based on what they know and what’s been recommended by Judge Tunis.
Link: Judge Dava Tunis recommends permanent disbarment, US$ 43k fine for Jack Thompson
Weekend Warrior musings: on vaporware
This week’s Weekend Warrior ended with a pretty big bang in the form of the Jack Thompson Recommendation Letter. However, not everything ends with a bang; some things just end with a whimper… or aren’t even announced, period.
This is exactly the thing that’s plaguing the title known as Hydrophobia. The game’s supposedly as good as done, but there’s been no announcement for it whatsoever anywhere.
Thus, our weekend warrior musing for this week is for vaporware in general. Should we give potential vaporware titles like Duke Nukem Forever and Hydrophobia the benefit of the doubt? Or should we let them drown in obscurity (or infamy, as the case may be) due to a lack of information or hype from the people involved in the project?
Link: The vaporware bin: does Hydrophobia hold water?
That about does it for this week’s Weekend Warrior. Check back next week, as we discuss everything that’s been announced for E3, and hopefully, see something really exciting in the future.
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