January 20, 2007

'Galaxies' Cabal

This will be the last 'Galaxies' post for quite some time. It's getting a little SOE-hatin' heavy here. But...

There are rumblings of SOE accusing groups of players of trying to hurt the game.

An email states:

...one of the moderators from our website mentioned how SOE accused us have having a "cabal" set up to hurt Star Wars Galaxies. A few of our upper-level members have friends (or friends of friends) that work at SOE, and they heard that five our us were named as being part of a secret orgainzation that's paid, by other companies, to spread false rumors and find exploits in their games.

Continue reading "'Galaxies' Cabal"

Posted by William Vitka on 01:44 AM | Comments (4)

Mperia, Bitpass Shutting Down

This is not necessarily a gaming item, unless you count the number of Bitpop and video game-influenced bands that exist there, but news of Mperia’s imminent Big Sleep is at least a little sad. Mperia was a great place for independent artists to house their musical creations for free.

Continue reading "Mperia, Bitpass Shutting Down"

Posted by William Vitka on 01:08 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2007

Crackdown Goes Gold

Crackdown has gone gold according to Microsoft. Not to be harsh, but I think it's safe to assume that the game's presales have more than a little to do with the included Halo 3 multiplayer beta.

Crackdown hits stores Feb. 20.

Posted by William Vitka on 11:44 PM | Comments (0)

Raph Koster's Areae, Inc.

Raph Koster, an industry vet who created the massively successful Ultima Online and then served as creative director for Star Wars Galaxies at SOE before he left in early 2006, has a new company called Areae, Inc. Their aim is to create new virtual worlds - and they're hiring.

Check it out.

Posted by William Vitka on 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

HOOPS, THERE IT IS: Review of NCAA March Madness 07 (360)

AS a former Bezerkeleyite, I gets no love. People associate Green Day's spawning ground with two things: (1) Hippie chicks with carpet samples for armpits who stick daisies in gun barrels between BAMN rallies, and (2) the marina where one totally innocent Scott Peterson was fishing at the exact same time his wife Laci's preggy corpse was being dunked in the Bay (what a strange coinkydink).

But guess what? The People's Republic of Berkeley has a third charm: college hoops, yo! UC Berkeley -- my alma mater, thank ye very much -- was home-court to Sean Lampley, where he was Cal's all-time leading scorer. And long before Jason Kidd was beating/getting beaten up by his wife, he was the star point guard on the Golden Bears, leading them to five NCAA tourneys in the '90s.

So, um, wait. What was I talking about again? Oh right, EA Sport's NCAA March Madness 2007 (dontcha love taking the scenic route?). Hit the jump, chump.

Continue reading "HOOPS, THERE IT IS: Review of NCAA March Madness 07 (360)"

Posted by Chris Bunting on 05:13 PM | Comments (1)

The Goodfather.

Remember back when everyone was all excited about "The Godfather: The Game"? How great it was that every fanboy's favorite movie would be turned into a video game for even more fanboys to get all crazy about? It ended up being a decently good game, thanks in part to the novelty of its hand-to-hand combat controls, but not exactly worth all the hype.

EA showed off the Wii version of the game ("The Godfather Blackhand Edition," due in March) at their Winter Preview event in New York last night. Blah blah blah, additional rival family compounds, new contract hits, bigger hit squads, getting the skinny on dirty cops. All I'm excited about is the "hyper-intuitive Blackhand Control." Basically, I just want to wave my hands around to throttle people, push 'em through windows and slap 'em silly. Why? Because it's fun, not to mention endlessly entertaining to watch uber-serious gamers, with their do-or-die gaming faces, behaving like Marcel Marceau while playing anything on the Wii.

I'm also looking forward to the Xbox Live Arcade game "Boom Boom Rocket," also out in March. It's like DDR for your fingers. Sweet.

Posted by Maxine Shen on 02:54 PM | Comments (1)

January 18, 2007

Ms. Pac-Man at the Shamrock

Ms. Pac-Man is still entertaining. Even though games now are more advanced, old arcade games still endure, and that's testament that video games don't need to be complicated to be entertaining.

Continue reading "Ms. Pac-Man at the Shamrock"

Posted by Steve Soldwedel on 09:54 PM | Comments (4)

Star Wars Galaxies Still Bites: Updated

According to a bevy of current and former subscribers, that is.

A long time ago, while I was trapped in the coal mine known as CBSNews.com, I wrote this piece. In a nutshell, Sony Online Entertainment made drastic changes to the core of their MMO 'Star Wars Galaxies' and as a result started hemorrhaging subscribers.

Continue reading "Star Wars Galaxies Still Bites: Updated"

Posted by William Vitka on 09:49 PM | Comments (22)

January 16, 2007

Gettin' fresh.

My friend picked up these Nintendo Power Mints at a novelty store in Miami. I laughed at how gosh darn retro-cute the tin is. Then I popped a mint and started to cry. They taste so bad. Still, if you're the type that pulls marathon gaming sessions, without paying attention to personal hygiene, they're bound to make your breath (at the very least) more appealing to those around you. Added bonus: some consider novelty items so insanely cool, the mints might just be a conversation starter. You know, for that rare occasion when you peel yourself off the couch and actually leave the house.

Posted by Maxine Shen on 04:41 PM | Comments (3)