Written for the week of 2/6/11 - 2/12/11
Hey All. So here's another late entry in my blog series that I am doing. Still trying to catch up but school won't let me and it sucks. I feel really guilty for having these up so late so let's hope that sometime in the near future i can get these done on time. But enough of my problems, let's get to the news. I think what i will do this week is focus on one company that made several major headlines during this week. Some of you may know where I am going with this.
News
Activision Edition
So Activision made a couple of headlines this week that I think they should have the headline's for this whole week. So score another one for Activision. To start this, I will pick the biggest headline of this week.
- Kill Many Games
Sorry for the ugly headline. Anyway as it states Activision has killed many of it's upcoming games and franchises that were to hit this year. First off they cancelled
the upcoming True Crime game. That game was to be set in Hong Kong and from what I have heard on several different podcasts, that game was not turning out so great. I was excited to at least see the game announced because I liked the previous games. They were not that bad I think. Another game they said would not come this year is a new Tony Hawk game and franchise. This is great news as the past few entries were not so great, especially the past two. Time off should do a game some good, but in Tony Hawk's case, it went horribly. But probably the biggest news of the week was the cancellation of the Guitar Hero Franchise. It's sad to see a pioneer in the franchise already see it's peak and downfall in less than a 10 year span, shorter than Tony Hawk's. Some could say that after Activision bought the Guitar Hero name, they drove it into the ground by releasing game after game after spin-off after game in two years. It was this that drove the music game genre into the ground as well, leading to poor sales of Rock Band 3 and DJ Hero 2 this past year and also the cancellation of the DJ Hero Franchise. If I can be honest for a minute, I loved the Guitar Hero games better than the Rock Band games. The songs might be better on Rock Band but I like GH's art style and early game presentation than the Rock Band games. And circles are better than rectangles. Now it's not to say that the games are cancelled but taking a long, much needed break and if we will see these games again down the road, who knows. So with that said, the people who are working on these games will work on news one's right? - Massive Layoffs
WRONG! Activision has layed-off workers from Vicarious Visions and Freestyle Games. Vicarious Visions mostly worked on Activisions Wii and DS ports of its big games, including Guitar Hero, as well as the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Franchise. Freestyle Games developed the DJ Hero Franchise. - New Call of Duty Studio
Activision has announced that it has created a new studio in the form of Beachhead Studios. Beachhead Studios will oversee the creation of all things online in the Call of Duty Universe. Whether this is just New Map Packs for their new games or the long rumored Pay-to-Play Call of Duty service was not said. This studio is a good thing for Activision because it gives their CoD developers more time to focus on the disc-game and less time worrying about what they are going to make for the post-game. It is a good move for Activision to make this studio.
That just about does it for that news this week. Let's get right into...
Quick Fire
Lot's of other stuff going on this week. G4 has a bunch of DICE stuff over here so check it out. But other than that.
- BlizzCon 2011 has a date. Get your Blizz on on Oct. 21-22, 2011
- Epic's Duty Call's Parody already has 1.25 million downloads! That sounds like great marketing on their behalf.
- It sounds like MTV Games isnt being shut down like I said last week but has "ceased publishing operations". Either way they are still alive.
- Harmonix Has announced that it has layed-off some of it's workers as well. My condolences to those who were affected.
- On that same topic, Hudson Entertainment is closing it's doors at the end of the month. Makers of the Bomberman and Mario Party series have been shut down after parent company Hudson Soft was bought out by Konami. My condolences to those affected as well.
- Warner Bros. is re-releasing both of the Mortal Kombat movies on Blu-Ray with a special code for the Classic Jade costume for the PS3 version of the game. No word yet on an Xbox 360 release of the costume but we have to assume it's coming, right? Well Ryan talked about the movies on TANG. Movie 1 and Movie 2 are there.
- In more MK news, there will be an album released "Inspired by the Warriors" of the series. More info here.
- Sony has launched Filmy, a cool new way to view your videos, recorded from a Sony camera, on your PS3.
- XBLA House Party is this season's new game sale. Games include Beyond Good & Evil HD, Bejeweled Blitz, and others.
- DC Comics has announced a six-issue mini-series to prelude the upcoming game Batman: Arkham City. The comic will take place between the upcoming game and the previous Batman: Arkham Asylum. Digital and retail issues will cost $2.99.
- Duke Nukem: Forever is getting a Collector's Edition in the form of the Balls of Steel Edition. Contents of the pack can be found over in this direction.
- The Interactive Achievement Awards were held during this years DICE Summit in Las Vegas. The winners can be found here.
- New Games were announced including:
Release Dates:
- Torchlight 2 is delayed until July. No specific date.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike DLC will strike the PSN on March 3, 2011.
- PixelJunk: Shooter 2 will hit the PSN on March 1, 2011
And Release Dates of the XBLA House Party are:
- Hard Corps: Uprising on Feb. 16
- Bejeweled Blitz on Feb. 23
- Beyond Good & Evil HD on March 2
- Torchlight on March 9
- Full House Poker on March 16
New Releases
You Don't Know Jack
(X360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS) Quick Look here and Reviews here, here, here and here.Test Drive Unlimited 2
(X360, PS3, PC) Quick Look inserted here and a Review here.Stacking
(PSN) Quick Look EX here and Reviews 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are located there.Explodemon
(PSN) Quick Look herePlants vs Zombies
(PSN)Tales From Space: About a Blob
(PSN) Quick Look goes here and a Review Here.
Video of the Week
Some of the websites I visit while making the list to create the blog post YouTube videos often. I look at them and I like some and I had one to show to you but I this this one is better. This just might be a sign of things to come. My favorite part is the ending but just watch for yourself.
Phew, alright. I've been playing WAY more CoD Blops than I would like to. I mean I have two 360's, one in my room and one in my family room connected to the internet. I don't have a WiFi adapter and they are too expensive to buy one. So I choose to play CoD Blops online as opposed to the other games i can play in my room, like Dirt 2 and Deadrising. I know i should play those games but I don't. I think I'll try to play this week. My biggest concern is the saving. I have no Hard Drive for it and only 2 memory sticks (64 and 512). I'll try anyway. And since my friend is STILL fixing my PS3 from the YLoD, I have no time to play PS3 games, like finish Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood or the other games I bought on Black Friday.
Well that's enough about me. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as i enjoyed typing this until 1:30 in the morning Pacific time. If I have missed any news for this, please let me know. I will edit it in or just post it in the next blog. As always follow on the Twitter's @teejay311 and I will see you when I see you. No idea when the next blog about the actual last week will be up. I'm just gonna stop guessing.
-TJ
EDIT: forgot to put the links to the Mortal Kombat MOvies from TANG. They are there now, so go!
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