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Hooray for Capcom and not bowing down to pressure.

Recently, Capcom promised that Resident Evil 5 will not have any of the gore cut just to garner a lower ESRB rating for a mass audience. According to Rhys Cash, Capcom’s UK Research and Planning Manager:

“We’re never going to create a gore-free Resident Evil title to try and get a lower rating as it’s a game about the horror experience and gore is part of that. We’re primarily about making great games and if it’s appropriate to the title we won’t shy away from making a 15+ or 18+ title.”

This comes in the wake of recent cuts to Mature games to get a lower rating, thus being able to sell games in certain areas - ex: GTA IV in Australia and Fallout 3 being denied certification by the same board.

Cash also went on to comment about how he feels that although both the Ninetndo Wii and DS are more “casual” and “family friendly” types of gaming systems, he belives that there is still a market for Mature games on each one.

“As we’ve shown with Resident Evil 4 Wii and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles there’s still a market for more mature titles even on these formats. There’s no reason why an appropriate adult title should be seen as something to be shied away from. What I do see publishers moving away from is titles whose only raison d’être is ‘adult themes’ and only goal is to shock.”

Resident Evil 5 is slated to be released sometime in May 2009 for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Via: MCV

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As if the hardware numbers didn’t clue you, Metal Gear Solid 4 dominated the software charts for last month here in the United States. The game sold 774,600 units, but if you combine that number with how many Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundles were sold (which include a copy of the game), the NPD estimates that about a million copies of MGS4 were sold last month. I guess people really wanted to know whether or not Snake and Otacon would have that dreamy ending they’ve been wanting since the end of the original Metal Gear Solid.

There are a few other easy-to-predict things in the top ten, such as Guitar Hero On Tour selling quite a few copies, as did Wii Fit and Wii Play. Battlefield: Bad Company (on 360) and Ninja Gaiden 2 both had strong sales, as did Mario Kart Wii.

But the major surprise — aside from GTA IV’s disappearance — is just how well Lego Indiana Jones sold. With the new movie being released, it was assured a good number of sales, but the Wii, PS2 and DS versions of the game combined for 822,600 copies sold, or in other words, straight cash money.

Kris Pigna over at 1UP made a good point regarding On Tour, suggesting that the game’s sales may have been much higher if the DS bundles were included in the figures. It’s worth keeping in mind, but I’m sure Activision is happy with selling 400k copies of a game that will likely have legs.

June 2008 Software Sales

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) — 774,600 (Roughly 1 million including bundles)
2. Guitar Hero On Tour (DS) — 422,300
3. Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) — 372,700
4. Wii Fit (Wii) — 372,700
5. Wii Play (Wii) - 359,100
6. Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360) — 346,800
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 322,400
8. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (Wii) — 294,500
9. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (DS) — 267,800
10. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (PS2) — 260,300

We knew about this ahead of time, but the release of the NPD figures for June make it slightly more tangible for everyone to see: Nintendo has taken the console lead in the United States, with the Wii outselling the Xbox 360 in June 666,700 units to 219,800. Now that it’s done that, I think it can be said that it’s now officially legal to punch anyone in the face that suggests the Wii is just a fad.

Sales for the PlayStation 3 were up almost 100% from May, selling a total of 405,500 units — no doubt thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. That’s almost twice the 360’s total, which is pretty impressive after only outselling the 360 by about 22,000 units in May.

Portable systems had pretty nice months, too. The PSP rebounded nicely with a solid 337,400 units, and the DS went absolutely crazy, selling 783,000. Graduation presents, perhaps?

June 2008 Hardware Sales (May numbers in parentheses)

• Nintendo DS - 783,000 (452,600)
• Wii - 666,700 (675,100)
• PlayStation 3 - 405,500 (208,700)
• PlayStation Portable - 337,4000 (182,300)
• Xbox 360 - 219,800 (186,600)
• PlayStation 2 - 188,800 (132,700)

There are no shots at Grand Theft Auto in the the new screenshots of Saints Row 2, but they’re still worth checking out if you haven’t already gotten your fix of violent, open-world games this year. The game looks pretty good, judging by these stills, even if the “Pimps ‘n Hos” gang style thing just strikes me as somehow being pretentious.

I’ve already got a pre-order down on the game (because I’m a nice guy and like to help out the people working at GameStop), but even as big a fan of the genre as I am, I’m beginning to feel a little burned out on this style of open world game. Mercenaries 2 is close to being released, I played more than my fair share of GTA IV, and I still find myself playing Crackdown from time to time. But I can’t help but feel like many of these games aren’t innovating enough to justify their release.

Nintendo had a lot of things to announce, but lets be frank.. only one of the properties gamers were hoping for really materialized.. Animal Crossing for the Wii and that game looked exactly like it did on the Gamecube. While I’m a big fan of the social interaction of the Animal Crossing series, I was hoping that Nintendo’s implementation on the Wii would be a little more earth-shaking.

Unfortunately they’ve played conservative yet again and we’re basically getting the DS version of the game with an auction house. The core obstacle that holds this back from being a good idea is the conceit that Nintendo seems to have regarding the safety and ease of use of their inane friend code online system. I guess I may be the only person left who hasn’t imbibed the Kool-aid on this one.

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Looking forward to trying out a demo for Far Cry 2 before you decide whether or not to buy the game? Yeah, don’t hold your breath. The game’s developers have confirmed that there will be no pre-release demo for the highly-anticipated shooter. According to creative direct, Clint Hocking:

“One reason is, even if we were to give out what you played today - even if we put invisible walls around it and said, here’s the demo, you can go anywhere you like inside these walls and play it how you want - that’s potentially right there eight-to-ten hours of gameplay. I don’t know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free.”

Ever wonder why you don’t really see demos for open-world games like GTA IV? That’s why. By that token, I wouldn’t wait around for demos from Saints Row 2 or Mercenaries 2 either.

Via Eurogamer

The Florida Judge handling Jack Thompson’s Bar Trial has recommended he be permanently disbarred and fined $43,675.35 for the cost of the trial. In a 169 page document, Judge Tunis makes her recommendation based on evidence presented at the trial as well as her personal experience very clear.

The Florida Bar has recommended disbarment for a period of ten (10) years. This Court respectfully declines to follow the Bar’s recommendation… This case involves factual findings of cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgement of inappropriate conduct…

Additionally, the Court is taking into consideration a review of the Respondent’s conduct not only as proven by the evidence, but by what this Court has witnessed of the Respondent’s behavior throughout the eighteen (18) months of litigation. The undersigned finds no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Respondent is amenable to rehabilitation, or even remotely appreciates the basis upon which a need or purpose for such rehabilitation is warranted…

Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.

Thus, after careful consideration of the underlying facts in the instant cases, together with the Florida Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors and the precedent case law, this Court makes the following recommendations for John Bruce Thompson:

A. Permanent disbarment, with no leave to reapply for admission.
B. Disciplinary costs currently totaling $43,675.35.

It seems that Judge Tunis has come to know Thompson quite well. Thompson first attempted to have the Florida Bar Association declared unconstitutional in 1992. This confrontation has been a long time coming. Thanks to GamePolitics for keeping us up to date.

Yikes. In a bit of a blow to Bethesda, Fallout 3 has been denied classification by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, which means that since it has received and “RC” rating, it is hereby banned from being sold in Australia.

Australia is very stringent when it comes to rating games, and if you have followed the history of such actions in the past, you may recall all the troubles Rockstar has has with the GTA titles, and more recently,  Dark Sector from D3P was cut to pieces just so it could be released in the land down under.

Australia does not grant games a rating above 15+, but allows movies to receive 18+ ratings, and to help you make sense of the classification system, here are the rules:

There are six classification categories for films (G, PG, M, MA 15+, R 18+, X 18+) and four classification categories for computer games (G, PG, M and MA 15+). The R 18+ and X 18+ categories do not apply to computer games in Australia. Films and computer games can also be classified RC (refused classification). RC films and computer games cannot be legally sold or distributed in Australia.

I suppose all the drug use, slavery and addiction references that were just recently revealed to be part of the game were the main factors in the decision. This means that Fallout 3 will have to be drastically cut to get the green light for our Australian brethren, which most likely will be the case because I seriously doubt Bethesda will just skip such a lucrative opportunity  to make money off Australian gamers.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

Looking at it now, I’m a little surprised no one had done something like this already. A guy calling himself “Mentok/Burnt Toast” got together with some friends in GTA IV to recreate some scenes from a few famous films. There’s the toll booth scene in Godfather, the ending of Fight Club, and a few more. Most of them are surprisingly well-timed to the actual films’ audio. It does make me wonder when someone’s going to put together the street shootout from Heat.

Thursday brings us another update from GameTap, and while no new free games were added this week, they still have 141 of them to keep you occupied and too enthralled to participate in fireworks, drunken sack races, or the inevitable overdose of Aunt Mildred’s potato salad.

However, GameTap has added the following subscription games to its ever growing library:

• Descent Freespace: The Great War: The Galactic Terran Alliance and the Vasudan Empire have been at war for nearly two decades. But the arrival of the nightmarish Shivans has forced old enemies to put aside their differences and unite against a bloodthirsty and technologically superior foe. As a fighter pilot in the GTA carrier fleet, you’re on the front lines — and facing deadly interstellar dogfighting.

• Off-road Redneck Racing: Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! See a group of ill-mannered rednecks go doorhandle to doorhandle over some of the most grueling off-road courses on Earth! Thrill to fantastic barrel rolls! Boggle at finishes so close it’ll make your razor jealous! If you miss this you’d better be dead, or in jail! And if you’re in jail…break out!

For the full list of both subscription and free titles visit the official GameTap website.

Recently, Rockstar sent some interesting swag to Popular Mechanics to kick off their holiday sales push. This awesomely shocking bit of swag is none other than a tongue in cheek metal baseball bat complete with the GTA IV logo.

Popular Mechanics writes:

Because they couldn’t legally send us an Uzi thorough the mail, [Rockstar] sent us the 14th most deadly weapon in the blockbuster game’s new arsenal: a metal bat… It just arrived with a press release informing us “‘Tis the Season To Swing Big and Go GRAND,” promoting GTA IV as a perfect stocking-stuffer for the Christmas season.

But who needs the game when you’ve got the bat? In the spirit of giving, we can now give a GTA-style beat-down to random strangers on the street, just like our favorite Eastern European criminal thug, Niko Bellic. And when the cops catch us, we can say that we never would have done it were it not for the influence of violent video games. And for the first time, we’d be right!

Oh, Rockstar, you are just asking for it. As much as I enjoy your shenanigans and your games, this time, I think the backlash will be much more interesting that usual. While I am all for pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable behavior in society and what is frowned upon, this is just a little too extreme. Hilarious, but too extreme considering all the crap that our favorite numbskull JT has caused, one would think that the controversy surrounding the GTA IV release would be enough. I guess not, but more power to them. They have enough money to quell the backlash should something unsavory arise due to the baseball bat stunt.

That being said, what the hell do I have to do to get one, Rockstar?

Via: GamePolitics

While it’s been promised that Saints Row 2 will be a more lighthearted affair than Grand Theft Auto, the new “Storyline” trailer certainly doesn’t demonstrate that aspect. Instead, what you’ve got is a trailer filled with guns, violence, swearing and a stripper for good measure — in other words, a nice evening out on the town. I can’t embed the trailer here because of all those things I just mentioned, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in seeing what the story is going to be all about in Saints Row 2.

If you haven’t watched it before, now would be a good time to check out the “Activities” trailer, which pokes fun at some of the more mundane tasks you partake in when playing GTA IV.

Saints Row 2 is still on track for a release this October, after it suffered a delay in May so that they could tweak co-op (i.e. because they were blown away by GTA IV and needed more development time.)

The 2,676 people who filed claims against Rockstar in the “Hot Coffee” class action lawsuit will be splitting a monetary settlement of less than $30,000, according to the New York Times.

The contents of the settlement which Jonathan reported yesterday, stated that the customers who were offended by the sexual mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be granted anywhere from $5 to $35 each, or a revised edition of the game. Those who were “offended” had to enter a certain code to even get to the content, so if they did it was their own fault in the first place if they were offended.

Take-Two stated that the claims amount to less than $30,000 but unfortunately the company spent $1.3 million in legal fees. Add to this the $860,000 charitable donation the company agreed to and you get a bill totaling $2.19 million plus the production cost of the altered game and the distribution of it.

However, there is still the possibility, although small, that the civil lawsuit can still go to trial. The  settlement will go before Manhattan’s Federal District Court for final approval next Wednesday, so keep your eyes peeled for more details.

Via: New York Times

Anyone who’s played GTA IV remembers that infamous rape scene in the game, which allowed to accumulate points and…what’s that? You…you don’t remember that? Oooooh, that’s right, because there wasn’t one. Well, try explaining that to Connecticut Senator, Gayle Slossberg (D). She’s apparently convinced that the rape scene is there, she just has to get far enough along in the game to access it. At a press conference last week, she stated a law requiring clearer warning labels was needed to curb the corruption of youth. She doesn’t seem to know quite what the labels should read though, considering this statement on them:

“I mean what would it say? ‘This game will make you a sociopath’?”

Yeah, they really need to label those games better to make sure parents know about all the wild and crazy scenarios that aren’t actually in the game itself. Like how in Pokemon Snap, Pikachu would sometimes sell you drugs in exchange for sexual favors. That got you bonus points from Professor Oak, as I recall.

Via New Haven Advocate

Pandemic has unveiled a new batch of screenshots for the upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. As we’ve come to expect from any new media for this game, these images feature lots and lots of huge explosions. Well that and a few new gameplay reveals, such as returning character Christopher Jacobs and the addition of motorcycles. Since the last Mercenaries game was a pretty awesome GTA clone, I wouldn’t expect any less from this sequel.

You can check out the rest of the images here.

Some people might say that walking around Liberty City is a boring affair. While I wouldn’t go that far, it would be nice if you had access to the game’s excellent selection of radio stations while on foot — it would make wandering the back alleys while looking for those blasted flying rats a bit more enjoyable. That’s been a feature I’ve wanted since the third Grand Theft Auto rocked the scene. Rockstar had the feature implemented in GTA IV until fairly late in the game’s development cycle before it was yanked, MTV Multiplayer learned last week.

“Some people on the team didn’t like the music/mobile phone idea for various reasons, but they went back and forth on the idea until the very end,” Rockstar spokesperson Darlan Monterisi explained. “This is VERY common. We do it in every game we make. We still prefer the balance of music in car and the ambient world’s noise on foot, but we are constantly reviewing this stuff.”

From the sound of what he’s saying, it seems like Rockstar would consider releasing a music player through an update if there was enough interest in it. I don’t quite understand the decision to completely omit the feature; why not just give players the option to listen to the radio while on foot, even if it isn’t by default? Hopefully they keep “reviewing” this and decide to amend their decision. (And it better be free.)

The next time you boot up GTA IV for either the Xbox 360 or PS3, you should be prompted to download a new, helpful patch from Rockstar. The new patch essentially offers a number of changes and fixes that should improve the overall experience for everyone. Some of them are minor changes like more frequent leaderboard updates, while others are major fixes like eliminating game-crashing bugs. You can check out the full list of fixes below:

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to enter or exit vehicles in GTA Race.
• Fixed an issue where scripted vehicles were causing games to unexpectedly crash.
• Improved reliability and frequency of PS3™ online leaderboard updates.
• Fixed a rare hang some players encountered when moving from a Race or GTA Race lobby into gameplay.
• Fixed a hang that would occur when players were switching teams during the countdown in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to get ridiculously high scores from Cops ‘n Crooks matches.
• Changed GTA Race and Race so that the last player remaining always receives a reward of $250.
• Fixed an issue where spectating players would prevent the game from finishing.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to spectate in Round 2 of Cops ‘n Crooks games.
• Changed countdown timer in lobby so that it no longer resets when new players join a game.
• Changed the kick option so that kicked players are no longer brought back to single player.\

Via Rockstar Social Club

It’s Friday, and the 1UP Show is back. This week, the gang gets together to discuss Legendary: The Box, along with the game’s producer, John Garcia-Shelton. It’s essentially an FPS that has you fighting hordes of mythical creatures after they are unleashed from Pandora’s Box. Next up is Wheelman, based on the upcoming Vin Diesel movie, which is kind of similar to GTA, but with more emphasis on driving. They also take a look at the Metal Gear Solid 4 launch event and the Korg DS-10, which turns your Nintendo DS into a lean, mean, music-making machine. As always, you can download the show from Filefront by clicking the links below.

QT M4V (Podcast)
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It looks like Pixeloo — the digital artist behind the disturbing image of a realistic Mario — is up to his old tricks again. This time, he’s, um, “realified” the protagonist of GTA IV, Niko Bellic. Actually, this is probably one of the least disturbing portraits Pixeloo has ever done, since Niko’s feature’s weren’t all that cartoonish to begin with. Still, he definitely looks like someone you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Via Pixeloo

This is a great time to be a gamer. With all of the different developers, publishers, genres, consoles, PC and handheld options we have, it is no wonder that videogames are a billion dollar industry. If you take into consideration that at least 6 out of 10 games created are going to be enjoyed by you or your household thus becoming a commercial success, those really are not bad odds. Granted, not all games are going to pull in the numbers that a Halo or GTA title will, but a good solid title can garner just as much respect and provide just as much enjoyment as a mega game such as those.

Another reason it is a great time to be a gamer, is because of the wonderful games created by Activision and Harmonix by the way of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. This is also a great time for people who love music, because while there are some who can play a musical instrument, not everyone can and these games help us live out our fantasies of being musical icons in our very own living room.

With Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band 2, and Konami’s Rock Revolution all looming just over the horizon, it is indeed a great opportunity for us all. If you like the music simulation games, you basically have a nice variety now to choose from. Before, you really only had Guitar Hero I & II until Rock Band came out – now, Activison seems to make a new announcement every week regarding SOMETHING pertaining to either Guitar Hero III or and upcoming game destined to rock your socks off. Rock Band has promised us a new album every month for download, and while they have been really slow getting there, at least they are starting to make good on their promise. How “The Cars” and “The Pixies” will fare, is anyone’s guess really, but at least they are indeed releasing something.

Now comes news that Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution will be following the footsteps of Rock Band with extra peripherals to round out your jam sessions in front of your favorite console. Many people are judging both Activison and Konami a little to harshly in my opinion, because the truth is, you have to evolve or die. Plain and simple, and that is the case with every form of entertainment. So are these games really such a bad thing? Really?

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