News – Page 45 – StuffWeLike

GameSpot Loses a Champion, GameSpot Loses Me

Jeff Gerstmann

After 10 years of loyal service GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann has been fired. Currently there are only rumors circulating around as to why GameSpot let him off. I’ve watched Jeff for years and he is the guy that I think of when I think of GameSpot.

On November 16, Jeff gave Kane & Lynch a 6 out of 10. GameSpot’s review system calls this “fair.” Apparently Eidos didn’t want to advertise on Gamespot’s website because of this review. The website Rock Paper Shotgun said that this was the last reason to fire him.

If this is the reason alone, I will ditch GameSpot until they publically appoligize for firing a truthful employee. Kane & Lynch deserves a 6/10, I’ve played it, it’s a crappy game. There’s no reason to support a company that lies to its consumers to appease it’s advertisers.

StuffWeLike wishes Jeff Gerstmann the best. Maybe he’ll start his own video game review website. We can only wish.

Deus Ex 3 announced, teaser revealed, pants wetted

I’ve always maintained that Deus Ex is the greatest game ever made by man, and with good reason. It was thought-provoking, immersive, intelligent and its unique game mechanics were plain perfect. While its sequel never lived up to its predecessor’s timeless glory, I still liked it for just being. I’m in need of underwear right now, because Eidos has just announced Deus Ex 3. That’s right, folks – Deus Ex is back with a vengeance!

Of course, Ion Storm saddeningly dissolved a long time ago, so this is Eidos’ Montreal studio’s first game, and that’s a blazing inauguration. Gamasutra reports the company’s structure, their goals and other details not concerning Deus Ex. What I found to be interesting was that Eidos mentions that the new studio will have tightly-knit, multi-discipline groups (at the most 80 people) working on a single project. Also, their development cycles will reportedly last 24 months, as opposed to the much lesser numbers of their competitors.

Eidos also released the teaser for Deus Ex 3, which you can find below. It’s as ambiguous as you’d expect from a teaser, and depicts a bio-augmented foetus, along with some mysterious words from a narrator. There are also a series of pictures that run damn fast. There’s a list of what they are at Wikipedia, if you’re that interested. (UPDATE: We have just learned that the guys at Shacknews have spent a good portion of their lives taking screenshots from the series of images. They have 20 images here right now, and I have no idea if those are all the images or not.)

While this is all excellent news, I have a strange fear in the back of my mind that this may get “consolized” as well, just like (*shudder*) Invisible War. Also, the fact that Montreal is facing a development cycle, no matter how long, hints at the same. Deus Ex, the beautiful game, in its unadulterated form is one that can only be reasonably played on the PC in its entirety. I hope that Montreal tries to recreate that, rather than tossing this legendary franchise into the unwashed masses of multi-console video games.

20th Century Fox pulling bad reviews from YouTube?

Now, I’ve come across pages on YouTube saying that 20th Century Fox has just acted like an ass and have taken off a video for copyright infringement (when it really was the case). But it turns out that movie leaks aren’t the only thing 20th Century Fox is pulling out. If this guy at The Movie Blog is right, then his negative review of the truly abysmal Reno 911: Miami may have been yoinked by ‘Fox.

YouTube sent him an e-mail telling him that 20th Century Fox doesn’t want that video on, due to copyright infringement. The guy, “John”, retaliates by saying that all the content he used in the review was from free trailers, the sort of stuff you don’t pay for, you know? He has not used pirated material in the review, and has hence, not infringed no copyrights.

20th Century Fox hasn’t yet talked about the matter, giving John ample time to spread the message that they are yoinking bad reviews from YouTube and so on. Is this the truth? Is a big, veteran corporation like 20th Century Fox capable of preying on us inferior, internet-obsessed weaklings just to keep reputation? Like hell they are.

A KotOR-fanboy-ish analysis of the LucasArts-Bioware press release

Two days ago, LucasArts and Bioware released a press release announcing their newly-forged alliance and made a fancy domain address at www.lucasartsbioware.com as well. This has put all the internets on red alert, especially considering the recent rumour that Bioware’s top-secret MMORPG is based on Knights of the Old Republic. I, being the KotOR fanboy that I am, could not resist it.

Below, we have dissected the press release to try and guess its meaning, and build up some more hype for this unannounced game in hopes of being hired by the LucasArts marketing team. For the full press release in its unadulterated form, use the LA-Bioware link above. Hit the jump to read the analysis in all its glory.

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Titles revealed for next Rambo, next Harold & Kumar, Wolverine movie

It appears that Hollywood has been absorbed by an ugly orgy of revealing title names, hoping to make them as bold and imposing as possible. While we haven’t encountered anything that beats the next Indiana Jones movie (whose title is reportedly as long as the length of Russia), we have come across some interesting title revelations, which will now reveal before you and dissect with pristine beauty.

First, the next Rambo movie. It’s early title was “John Rambo” but that was too wimpy for an Italian roaming the jungles with a machinegun and a heart of vengeance. Next came Rambo: To Hell and Back, and that sucked too. Well, we’re ignoring the rest and giving you the dope straight on. Rambo 4’s title is: Rambo! Applaud, people!

Not only is this going to cause oodles of confusion when you want to watch all the Rambo films in order some 30 years later, it is also rather unoriginal. I mean, when people say a new Rambo movie is coming out, you don’t need an imposing “RAMBO” to tell them that. Sheesh.

They even came out with a poster, which in all its clichéed glory, captures the essence of post-2005 movie posters. Black and white? Check. Cool pose? Check. Sublime hints at violence without being overly graphic? Check. Mild deja vu? Check again. Here it is (click for larger pic):

Now, we’ll move on the next Harold & Kumar flick, something that will hopefully involve lesser machineguns, jungles and brawny muscles. This time, the two are locked in more trouble and the title reflects that. The title is (drum roll): Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Bold, satirical and it has the “zing” factor.

The movie’s earlier title was Harold & Kumar Go To Amsterdam, but they scrapped it when they realized that the two don’t go to Amsterdam anyways. Similar reasons were involved when they scrapped the title “Harold & Kumar Conduct Vegetable Slavery and Eat Carbonated Orangutans”.

In the movie, the duo are mistaken for terrorists and locked up in Guantanamo. They escape, Homeland Security chases them, blah blah. You don’t need more in a synopsis, believe me.

And last but not the least (*dodges abuse*), we have the title for the new Wolverine movie. The movie will focus on everyone’s favourite admantium-laced X-men member with a penchant for violence, Wolverine. The movie is dubbed X-Men Origins: Wolverine and that sounds decent to me. In fact, it hints at more X-men movies focusing on character histories, which isn’t an entirely bad thing. Just count me out when the Cyclops one comes out.

Also announced is that the movie will be released somewhere in May 2009. As we have reported before, the summer of ’09 (heh) is going to kick ass considering the awesome barrage of movies coming out. All we need to finish it off is a sequel to 300.

I’m, uh, going now.

A day of woe: EA buys Bioware, Pandemic

’tis truly a sad day in the gaming industry. Two of our most loved game developers, Bioware and Pandemic have been bought by the corporate giant that is EA. Well, I don’t need to list EA’s evils before you, but let’s just say that they are a large corporation, and Microsoft and Sony are also large corporations.

Bioware is one of the most popular and trusted game developers in the industry, standing by the likes of Valve, Epic, Bungie and so on. Their forté was RPGs and not just any RPGs, but really good ones. Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate series, and for God’s sake, Mass Effect, all of them are from Bioware. With EA’s acquisition, we may just be looking at a writhing death for any more awesome titles like these.

Also, Bioware is working on a top-secret MMORPG project for release somewhere in the future. EA is now going to get all the cash. EA’s CFO Warren Jensen stated bluntly: “”In fiscal 2009 and 2010, we expect the BioWare and Pandemic properties to deliver revenue in excess of $300 million annually.” That made me chuckle. Halo 3 brought in that much in a week. But it does make you wonder: Is the Bioware/EA acquisition headed for a model similar to the Bungie/Microsoft one?

Pandemic Studios is famous for its Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront lines of games. They also created Destroy All Humans! and its sequel, two fun games that went unnoticed. Again, all their base now belongs to EA. They have no chance to survive, make their time.

The total deal has cost EA $860 million, which is more than a hole in the pocket. Regardless, it could be possible that EA is not only trying to diversify its portfolio, but gain a substantial lead over its competitors. Besides, Pandemic is known for its LucasArts games (Mercenaries, Battlefront) and one of Bioware’s finest is also an LA title (Knights of the Old Republic). Is EA trying to humiliate LA? Is LA going to strike back? Are both LA and EA fronts of an organization planning to take over the gaming industry? God, I hope so.