A few months back, Microsoft’s director of games platform strategy, Andre Vrignaud (better known as Ozymandias), created the Co-op Game Bill of Rights which contained a list of features and key elements gamers expect to see in their co-op games (as well as some features that aren’t absolutely necessary). There was a lot of discussion about it around the web; I wrote up a similar story that took a more broad look at games in general, but 1UP wanted to know more from Vrignaud and how that list plays into Microsoft’s relationship with developers.

Your blog has a disclaimer about how “not everything posted accurately reflects the views of my company, my management, Microsoft partners, affiliates, or even my mother.” That given, would you say that co-op gaming is something Microsoft is very interested in or concerned with this generation? Are you bringing your feelings on co-op games and this list of “rights” to bear in particular?

Certainly, a lot of people at Microsoft are believers in co-op. That can be seen throughout the organization, including the platform side and Microsoft Game Studios. I’d highlight Crackdown, Halo 3, and Gears of War as having some of the best co-op implementations in the industry today, and that’s certainly not by accident. As for bringing the list “to bear,” I guess I’d say that that’s not really my role. My job at Microsoft is to help define and evangelize a killer platform for developers to build upon. Through that work I’d certainly like to believe that my co-workers and I have valuable lessons and insight to share… and we’re happy to do so. In fact, we’ve had some great conversations with different folks inside and outside Microsoft on the topic. But at the end of the day, it’s up to the game developers to innovate on the platform as they see fit. If we can help with ideas… great!

Have you shared the Co-op Game Bill of Rights with developers or publishers, or are there plans to do so?

I’ve shared it by publishing the Co-Op Game Bill of Rights on the web. Also, I’ve had conversations with some MGS folks, but there are no plans to publish this beyond that. Again, we sincerely believe that our role is to provide a fantastic platform for developers to build their visions on. We don’t define their games. If some of our co-op thoughts are seen as useful and adopted by this publication, great! But we’d never mandate this sort of thing.

With Grand Theft Auto IV in the books and several months’ time gone by, is there anything you’d now add to either the Co-op Bill of Rights or my list of required game features?

If you’re going to do a bizarre, CSI-inspired parody video, you might as well go all out. This short clip, titled “Halo 3 Homicide Detective,” basically shows a world without the replay features of Halo 3 that allow you to find out just what the hell killed you from time to time. I almost wish a team of detectives actually would pop out after a strange kill during the game to stand over your corpse a theorize about what happened. Now if only CBS could pick this up for a full season…

Katauri Interactive has made selections from the King’s Bounty: The Legend available on the official game website. The selections are dark and dramatic pieces that create atmosphere for different locations and game events. You can download them here.

Video game music is coming into its own thanks to the efforts of Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico. Video Games Live has taken these background compositions and interpreted them as art in their own right. To illustrate how much influence these concerts have had on everyday life; I just attended my daughter’s spring orchestral concert where a high school string ensemble performed an arrangement of the theme from Halo. It was recognizable and actually very good.
via King’s Bounty: The Legend

Oh the hilarious horror!

Apparently, a 13 year-old Texan who ordered a credit card in his Dad’s name, ordered two hookers from an escort agency, bought an Xbox 360 and played Halo 3 with said hookers in a hotel room has been convicted of fraud and given three year’s worth of community service.

Ralph Hardy from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card and subsequently took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, and the credit card company involved said it was not liable for him getting a hold of the card because it is common practice to send them out providing that all security questions are answered correctly.

It does not say whether Ralph ordered the card via an automated system, or actually spoke with a customer service rep who could not tell the difference between a 13 year-old’s voice or a grown man.

Luckily the hookers were not charged in this case because according to the “escorts”: “the kids said they would rather play Xbox than get down to business.” Looks like some hookers do not adhere to the “13 is not an adult” rule, and were most likely willing to “do the deed” providing they were getting paid.

Thank goodness the boys did not want to have relations, because not only would the gals be charged with prostitution but sex molestation charges as well due to the kids being underage.

The narc in this case was hotel management, whom after delivering supplies of Dr Pepper, Fritos and Oreos had been asked by the kids “where they could score some chicks and were willing to pay”. Saying that they had just made a “big score at a “World of Warcraft” tournament and wanted to get some relaxation”, the clerk notified the police after realizing the boys ages.

Upon arrival to the hotel room, the police found $3,000 in cash, electronic gadgets, an Xbox 360, numerous games, and two hookers. Ralph told police that his father wouldn’t care because it was his birthday and his Dad has forgotten to get him a present. The father, who is a lawyer of all things, stated that while he had indeed been busy and did not buy him a present, he had planned on making it up to him by going on a surprise trip to Disneyland.

Apparently, the father is not only forgetful, but out of touch with what 13 year-old boys really like – loose women, video games, and Dr. Pepper.

Via: Money

As Microsoft has been revealing more and more information about their top-tier titles for 2008, a few glaring omissions to their lineup seem to hint at some news they may not be revealing. For starters, they’ve been curiously silent about Halo Wars this year, indicating the game may have been pushed back into 2009. Along with this, it seems like Alan Wake is getting delayed again, and probably competing with Duke Nukem Forever for the title of “most delayed game.” Finally, the complete lack of information on Mass Effect 2 is being viewed as a sign that EA is indeed taking the franchise multi-platform. Good news for PS3 owners, but also a sign that EA may be further tightening its grip on BioWare. Of course, all these companies could just be waiting until E3 to make their huge reveals; but I’m already betting on the worst.

Via Xbox Evolved

Awhile back, WETA created a real-life working Warthog modeled after the ones found in Halo. Well it looks like the Covenant-stomping vehicle made an appearance in New Zealand for a convention called “Armageddon,” which allowed NZGamer to snap some more close-up pictures of it. From the looks of things, WETA really went even more all out than originally thought. Even the inside of the vehicle looks authentic, and the whole thing is painted to look more battle-worn (at least I think that’s paint). Now if they could jsut make that thing street legal…

Via NZGamer

They said it would never happen, but Microsoft defied the naysayers once again as they announced this week that its Entertainment and Devices Division posted an operating profit of $89 million for the third fiscal quarter, which ended on March 31, 2008. Through its first three fiscal quarters, the division has seen an operating profit of $614 million, compared with a loss of $746 million during the same period in the previous year.

Microsoft attributed much of the success to the Xbox 360, which saw sales of $1.58 billion, which is an increase of 68%. The first three quarters saw an increase of 34% to $6.57 billion, shipping 7.5 million Xbox 360 systems, 1.3 million of which were in the third quarter.

“During the three months ended March 31, 2008, Xbox platform and PC game revenue increased $418 million or 85% primarily as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, Xbox 360 video game sales, and Xbox Live revenue,” the company said. “Xbox platform and PC game revenue increased $1.4 billion or 42% during the nine months ended March 31, 2008, as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, Xbox Live revenue, and Xbox 360 accessory sales.”

With GTA IV set to launch well in time to have the figures reflected in Microsoft’s fourth fiscal quarter, it’s likely that the Xbox division will once again have a successful quarter. But we’ll be judging that success compared with how the 360 fares against the PlayStation 3 in the Grand Theft Auto war.

via GameDaily / image via technabob

Not one to be proven wrong all that often, Electronic Gaming Month’s Quartermann has some hot rumors he’s reporting on in the upcoming June issue of EGM, which should be arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes soon.

The biggest rumor is that one of the titles Bungie purportedly agreed to make for Microsoft as a way of securing its independence is a third-person action/adventure spinoff of Halo. The game would take place before the first Halo and would focus on ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers; gosh, get with the times, will ya?) encounters with the Covenant. It’s unclear if this is the Peter Jackson project, but Jackson’ WETA studio will be involved either way. Details are expected to surface around the same time that Gears of War 2 makes its way to retail later this year.

Of course, that’s not the only juicy rumor — Rockstar is also working on both Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Revolver 2, both for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in addition to the PS3 exclusive L.A. Noire. Oh, and one other little game from Rockstar is in early development: a massively multiplayer Grand Theft Auto is apparently in the works.

And while Guitar Hero might be working on adding instruments to its currently guitar-only experience, Rock Band 2 (slated for this fall) won’t be adding to its current load of instruments. Hopefully that means current Rock Band owners won’t need to buy anything more than a copy of the game to get the full experience.

As for the rest, you’ll have to check out the June issue of EGM to get all the details. It’s the one with Splatterhouse on the cover.

via 1UP

STOP! Have you already paid for the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack? If not, you might be interested to know that Circuit City is currently running a promotion that could net you the pack for free. Right now, if you pre-order Ninja Gaiden II through them, they’ll e-mail you a code to download the map pack at no charge. Granted, it’ll take up to a week for them to get the code to you, but, hey, free is free. So you pretty much guarantee yourself a copy of a game that already looks great, and you get some new maps for Halo 3. Or I guess you could just wait three months for the maps to become free. You can click the link below if you want to put in your pre-order.

Via Circuit City

Now, I don’t want to go jumping to any dramatic conclusions based upon a single quote from Halo.fr’s interview with Ensemble Studios’ Graeme Devine. But Devine did once again suggest that the average multiplayer match in Halo Wars would last somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 minutes long. (A previous update on the Halo Wars website pegged the number as being between 15 and 30 minutes.) That leads me to think that Ensemble is really taking a different approach with Halo Wars that will work better as a console experience than simply porting a PC RTS game.

As for the control scheme, which is generally thought of as the major hurdle in making RTS games work on consoles, Devine believes Halo Wars controller setup is actually superior to a keyboard and mouse.

“We spent the first six months of the project looking at the controller and it could work with an RTS game. I think our control scheme actually works better than the keyboard/mouse combo and that we have really gotten past that barrier. I can’t wait for everyone to pick up the controller and try the game, I don’t think it will be possible to convince some people until after they try it.”

Devine didn’t sound particularly optimistic about there being a public beta, saying, “We’ve been focusing on our daily internal playtests and using that feedback loop and that allows us extremely fast iteration and testing of features.  At this point that kind of internal turnaround and feedback is still very useful to us so we’ve not looked beyond that.”

An RTS game that has multiplayer matches lasting 20 minutes and works better on a controller than on a keyboard/mouse? I can’t say I blame anyone for feeling skeptical, but I’m still optimistic. Maybe that’s just my Halo fanboyism seeping through, but I can’t help it.