Halo 2 Continuation

Lots of people continued playing Halo 2 past the midnight deadline Microsoft gave over 2 weeks ago for discontinuing original Xbox multiplayer support. Fourteen have managed to still keep their consoles connected and running since, prolonging the game’s final goodbye indefinitely.

Console overheating concerns and dropped Internet connections have whittled their numbers, but so far, neither Microsoft nor Bungie has gone in and turned off the lights. Writes Joe Campbell, who started a thread on the sit-in/tribute on the Bungie forums:

We will keep playing until we are all forcibly removed. It could be by Microsoft, Bungie, our Xbox’s overheating, or just lagging out. Not for competition, not for a prize, but for the love, and memory of Halo 2.

I want to thank everyone that I’ve played with in the past few days, this is by far my favorite memory in all my gaming history.

A few live streams have captured several hours of footage of the Halo gamers playing long past the bell.

As of writing, the final 14 are: Agent Windex, APACHE N4SIR, sherlok 1, SieferSword, Rob2D, Detenn, z0mbie stench, Lord Odysseus11, xxMAKDADYxx, H2o Shoagie, xxBooker Dxx, DirtyCajun, AForeignObject and HiredN00bs.

It’ll be interesting to see how long Microsoft/Bungie let them continue…

New PS3 Console Cheaper to Run

Sony has apparently released an updated model of the PlayStation 3, code-named CECH-2100A, which makes the console both cheaper to run (for you) and cheaper to manufacture (for Sony).

Because the console’s graphics processing unit has been reduced in size from 65nm to 40nm, this new model of the PS3 will use less power, and thus also be less likely to overheat, which in turn means it needs less cooling.

These changes also translate to a reduced manufacturing cost for Sony, though whether it’s enough to finally make the machine profitable for the Japanese company remains to be seen.

One of the main reasons Sony ditched the “George Foreman” build of the PS3 and went with the new “Slim” was to cut back on manufacturing costs. Try and get back into the black. But they’re not quite there.

According to a report on iSuppli  the total cost of manufacturing a PS3 Slim as of December 2009 is $336.27. And they sell for $299. Meaning Sony are still slugged with a $37 loss for every console sold.

Sounds bad – and when you multiply that $37 by millions, it certainly seems that way.

But with the cost of materials continually on the decline, provided Sony can stick at a $299 price point for a while to come, you’d expect the PS3 to start generating a profit sometime this or next year.

More Infinity Ward losses

Cross a few more names off of the Modern Warfare 2 credits as the departures continue from Activision studio Infinity Ward.

Senior designers Mohammad Alavi, Chad Grenier and Brent McLeod are out, along with programmer Chris Lambert and designer Jason McCord.

That brings the list of departures from Infinity Ward up to at least 17 since the start of the ongoing Modern Warfare drama. This saga became public in March when IW heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired by parent company Activision due to alleged wrong-doing including acts of “insubordination.”

Last week, West and Zampella announced the formation of a new game-making studio, Respawn Entertainment, and a publishing deal with Activision rival EA. Yesterday, seven of the departed Infinity Ward developers were confirmed to be going to Respawn.

There is no word yet about where the latest freshly ex-Infinity Ward game makers will go.

Departures are commonplace among all development teams, but the rash of exits from Infinity Ward does appear to present a challenge for the studio behind Modern Warfare, a studio Activision has been determined to keep viable given the commercial and critical reception of its Modern Warfare and Call of Duty work.

They’re obviously not doing a good job…

Japan’s Game Charts

New Super Mario Bros. Wii holds onto its first place position in Japan for another week, outselling every other console game in the nation, including the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 re-release of Grasshopper’s zany No More Heroes.

No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise debuted in the top ten, but well below New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Tomodachi Collection and others, securing seventh and eighth place. The addition of No More Heroes in higher-definition gives us a rare top ten sight, with four PS3 games holding onto top of the chart spots, the dominant top ten platform this week.

As is the case with North America, there aren’t a ton of new releases hitting Japan. Only four new titles managed to crack the top 30 this week. Read on for Media Create’s tally of the bestselling games in Japan for the week of April 12 to 18.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 32,000 / 3,687,000
02. Tomodachi Collection (DS) – 21,000 / 3,111,000
03. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 (PSP) – 21,000 / 103,000
04. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 (PS3) – 19,000 / 107,000
05. Fist of the North Star (PS3) – 19,000 / 510,000
06. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki (DS) – 16,000 / 396,000
07. No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise (PS3) – 16,000 / NEW
08. No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise (Xbox 360) – 15,000 / NEW
09. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – 15,000 / 1,833,000
10. Yakuza 4 (PS3) – 11,000 / 530,000

11. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP)
12. Sekaiju no Meikyuu III: Seikai no Raihousha (DS)
13. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
14. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 (PS2)
15. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
16. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
17. Sokukoku no Kusabi: Hiiro no Kakera 3 Portable (PSP)
18. Dragon Quest IX (Ultimate Hits) (DS)
19. Alice Clover (PS2)
20. God of War III (PS3)
21. Nicola Kanshuu: Model * Oshare Audition (DS)
22. Gundam Assault Survive (PSP)
23. Judie no Atelier: Guramnat no Renkinjutsu – Toraware no Morito (PSP)
24. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
25. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2010 (DS)
26. Crayon Shin-Chan: Obaka Daininden – Susume! Kasukabe Ninja Tai! (DS)
27. Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (DS)
28. God Eater (PSP)
29. Dragon Quest VI (DS)
30. Dead or Alive Paradise (PSP)

Activision vs Infinity Ward; Activision speaks out

Activision community man (and former games writer) Dan Amrich has taken to Facebook to chat with people about his employer’s recent public relations issues with Infinity Ward. I don’t think he’s helping things.

Attempting to shed light on the legal mess surrounding the fate of bonus payments due to Infinity Ward staffers – especially deposed bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West – who worked on Modern Warfare 2, Amrich writes:

Vince and Jason had very large bonuses; those bonuses are being redistributed to everybody else, to the people who did not allegedly attempt to steal company secrets. (Please see Activision’s countersuit for details about Vince and Jason’s surreptitious attempts to photocopy and scan sensitive documents.) Activision is not pocketing that bonus money; it’s still going to the people who work at IW. But you have to work at IW to get it, see? I don’t want to see talented people screwed out of a paycheck any more than you do.

See…he may well be correct. But right? I dunno about that. Basically, he’s saying ‘We’re screwing Infinity Ward employees over, but if they want the money they’ve earned, they have to sit and take it.” At least that’s what it sounds like to me…

Thanks to Kotaku for the quote.

Top Gear In Gran Turismo 5

Continuing a partnership begun with the game’s prologue, Gran Turismo 5 is once again teaming up with British TV series Top Gear, with the inclusion of the show’s famous test track in Sony’s PS3 racer.

Die-hard fans of the game (or show) may remember a fleeting promise of this all the way back in 2007, but having recently been measured on the ground and photographed from the air over the course of four days, the track – which is used on the show to test cars as well as the driving skills of celebrities – is now, finally, ready to be one of the many included when the game ships…whenever it ships.

Of course, it’s not like the occasion was going to go by without series creator Kazunori Yamauchi heading out onto the former airfield for a spin. Asked by Top Gear’s website what it was like out there on one of the world’s most famous courses, he replied “I tried driving it myself, but it’s really hard to find the driving line. It’s so wide that it becomes difficult to find markers and visual points. It was only after I sat with the Stig as a passenger that I finally realised where all the turn-in points and the correct driving lines were.”

Sadly, Kaz was not a passenger in the show’s “reasonably priced car”, so he won’t be taking a run at its famed leaderboard of top times. Nothing stopping you from doing the same, though, once you get your hands on the game.

I mean….How Hard Can It Be?

New Marvel vs Capcom 3 pics.

I love these things.

When a new fighting game is announced, sometimes the company will release teasing pictures like this, which will obviously be added to over time, silhouettes of characters, so sad people like me can guess who they might be playing once they buy the game. And I will be buying this game, count on it.

Anyway, the picture;

Obviously Iron Man, Wolverine and the Hulk from Marvel, and Ryu, Morrigan and Chris Redfield (in his muscle-tank Resident Evil 5 style) from Capcom. They were revealed in a cinematic trailer a few days ago, which I shall be posting soon probably. But what about the shadows behind?

As a fully fledged nerd, I can see Deadpool, Chun-Li, Felicia, Captain America, Frank West, Super-Skrull, Dante, and MAYBE Doom. Two of them seem to be a bit beyond me now, although I have my suspicions. Maybe I’ll post up a labeling image post afterwards or something.

Anyway, it’s reasonable to assume that people like Spiderman will be in the game, but not showing him in the shadows (I think) is probably a good move on Capcom’s part, since he’s such a sure bet. Better used for space on the ‘hopefuls’.

Anyway, MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3!! STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT! GONNA TAKE YOU FOR ANOTHER RIDE!

Marvel vs Capcom 3

Confirming the rumors, PlanetXbox360 reported that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was shown at Capcom’s Captivate event in Hawaii.

There’s an embargo on the details, so you won’t be seeing screen shots, movies and other things until early next week, but here’s the notes they were able to get together.

• Confirmed characters so far are Wolverine, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Magneto, Storm and a few others will return.

• The Marvel vs. Capcom 3 development team said they will be blowing fans out of the water with the sheer number of characters this game includes on the disc.

• This will be another 2D fighter — gameplay-wise — but will be something of a cross between the original Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Street Fighter 4.

• The rumored release date is late 2010 or early 2011 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, no plans right now for other systems.

• The game will run in 1080p resolution.

• It will be a disc-based release.

• Apparently the game will have unlockables again.

• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will be playable at this year’s E3 which is held on June 15 – 17th.

Pretty much just amazing news for all fighting game fans, since it’s two prequels are immensely fun masterpieces!

Infinity Ward; Dead.

The mood at Infinity Ward, the studio behind 2009′s biggest game, is terrible and corporate parent Activision is unsure how to fix it, a source close to the development studio tells Kotaku. Infinity Ward, they said, “will continue to crumble.”

The source is privy to the goings on in Infinity Ward this week, an eventful period since Monday’s news that Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former chiefs of Infinity Ward who were fired by Activision in early March, were starting a new company, Respawn Entertainment with EA it seems…

Top Infinity Ward developers started leaving the studio last week and have continued to since the Respawn news, costing the under-100-person operation more than a dozen development employees.

[Apologies for language]

“They’re scared shitless,” Kotaku’s source said of Activision management. “They never saw this coming. They can’t believe what’s going on. At first they gave us some bullshit about moving up payments of all the money they owe us to sooner increments. That was when [designer] Todd [Alderman] and [engineer] Frank [Gigliotti] left. But with the announcement of Respawn and all the people leaving, they just got there heads in their hands.”

Activision had not responded to a request for comment regarding the state of Infinity Ward.

While Activision’s counterclaim against the fired West and Zampella accuse the men of trying to undermine both Activision and the financial well-being of the Infinity Ward developers who worked under them, the Infinity Ward insider painted the former bosses in a positive light, blaming Activision for withholding Modern Warfare 2 payments. “They fired the two most amazing leaders we’ve ever seen, and then shafted us all out of a lot of money that was promised to us…there is nothing they can do to gain our trust or respect. And I’m pretty sure they know it now.”

The pace of departures has slowed slightly, with no news in the past 48 hours of anyone else leaving Infinity Ward. Our source says that Activision is bringing in people from other studios to fill in gaps created by the departures, in the hopes to move ahead with the expected Modern Warfare 3. That won’t work, according to Kotaku’s source said: “IW as you know it is dead…and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave.”

Original Xbox Live is gone…

It’s April 16. If you own an old Xbox and play online with it, or still play original Xbox games on Xbox Live via your 360, you should know two days ago was the last day you’ll ever be able to do so.

As Microsoft promised earlier in the year, at midnight  the plug was  pulled on the world’s first truly successful online gaming service for consoles, which first set up shop on the original Xbox all the way back in 2002. Even if it did cost a bit.

While Xbox Live itself will obviously live on for the Xbox 360, the games that got the service its start – those for the original Xbox -  are no longer supported, nor will online play via the original Xbox console.

The move paves the way for a brighter future for the Xbox 360, one where friends lists aren’t capped at 100 people, but the celebrations for the future will be marred by tears for the dearly departed, as we bid farewell to clasic multiplayer titles like Battlefront 2, Crimson Skies and of course the original online juggernaut, Halo 2 (though with its singleplayer campaign it’s at least still useful…I guess. Never was that fond of it myself.)

Never liked the original Xbox much anyway myself. Huge black box with a lava lamp in it. And holding the huge controller was a pain too..

On second thought, Good Riddance!