David likes cereal but not with rat traps. Interesting…
Should Rockstar Be Prosecuted For Thai Murder?
The murder of a Thai cab driver at the hands of an idiot teenager in Thailand has stirred up a controversy that is to GTA4 what Hot Coffee was to San Andreas. With global response to the incident, Rockstar seems to have riled up a bunch of video game violence critics.
In the latest chapter of this story, we have Somchai Jaroen-amnuaysuk, deputy director of Thailand’s Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups Office going against poor old Rockstar, developers of GTA4.
He says that when a player “copycats a crime he or she sees in the game”, the makers of the game should be prosecuted. Prosecutions will force the game makers to act more responsibly, the director says. This is a pretty much WTF kind of idea, because till now, I’ve only heard these critics go against publishers, distributors and the like.
The fact that Rockstar is in good ol’ America is consoling, seeing as if it were a Thai company, it would probably have been “prosecuted” already. And speaking of Thailand’s legal system, let me remind you that the 19-year-old kid who killed the cab driver may be sentenced to execution by lethal injection. Not good news for the game makers.
J.J. Abrams doing Cloverfield: Earthquake?
After awing the cellphone-owning world with this year’s Cloverfield, J.J. Abrams will be looking into another disaster movie. Except this time, we won’t have any mysterious monsters. This time, it’s all going to be natural, ’cause Abrams will be doing an Earthquake film.
Signed on is David Seltzer, who will be writing the script with Abrams. Seltzer can be best known for his scripwriting expertise on all of the Omen movies (yes, even the crappy new remake). As usual, since this is a fresh announcement, we have very little knowledge of what the movie itself will be about other than earthquakes.
Abrams hints that relationships will be at the core, like in Cloverfield. While I can’t imagine a disaster movie that doesn’t involve emotions (Day After Tomorrow, perhaps?), Abrams did a decent job on Cloverfield, so I’m hoping for something here. Still, a notch higher than Cloverfield would be appreciated.
We’ve also no confirmation that the movie will use the handycam-style from Cloverfield, but that’s just some wishful thinking on my part. I mean seriously, that style makes all standard disaster movies look outdated.
Of course, still no info on Cloverfield 2. Perhaps Abrams is secretly developing it under the guise of this earthquake movies? Perhaps a viral marketing campaign will reveal clues? The mystery never stops!
Siggraph 2008: The Year of Softimage?
It may be difficult to comprehend now, but it was only two years ago that many in the video game world had given Nintendo up for dead. Despite the early success of the DS handheld, the company’s Gamecube had finished in distant third vs. its same generation competitors. And with the next generation of consoles dawning, the XBox 360 was lighting up the charts and the Playstation 3 was about to become reality. Then at E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled the Wii and the rest is history.
While nothing unveiled at this week’s Siggraph conference in Los Angeles will have that level of mainstream consumer impact, the event may feature a similar underdog story that will have far-reaching consequences for the business of video game development.
Crysis Music plays at Video Games Live
Video Games Live and German based developer Crytek are pleased to announce the music from the multiple award winning PC blockbuster CRYSIS will make its world premiere on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at the 7,000 seat Leipzig Arena in Leipzig, Germany during the world renowned Games Convention. Recently the “Video Games Live – Volume One” album debuted on the Billboard charts at #10 and in week 2 of the release has climbed to #8 (SOURCE: Billboard Top 10)
Star Trek Online Coverage
The game that was flip flopping all over the place, apparently is actually being made. Yeah and it doesn’t look that bad either!
I honestly can’t wait. The game takes place 30 years after Nemesis. You get to work your way up to Captain. You get to control your character across planets, go aboard your ship, and then fly it around space.
Create your own race or go with a race we’ve already seen (Humans, Vulcans, and everyone else). Customize your ships and characters. At launch you can be part of Star Fleet or the Klingon Empire. Combat, exploration, tactical actions are all here.
The graphics look solid for an MMO.
Still no news on when it will be released. Below is the video conference held by the developer Cryptic Studios at the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas.
Star Trek Online Las Vegas Webcast from Cryptic Studios on Vimeo.