Eric Hall, a 24-year-old Floridian and retired Marine, has now been missing for a week. His friends say that shortly after playing Call of Duty (4, we assume), Hall "just got up and said that he had to go." He was last seen departing his home on a motorcycle, which was later found on the side of a road. The local sheriff's office claims that the man was suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks to his time spent serving in Iraq, where he was injured during a patrol by an exploding bomb, which did tremendous damage to the left side of his body, and reportedly decapitated Hall's best friend in front of his eyes.
It's not exactly confirmed that Call of Duty was behind Hall's disappearance -- after all, we found the story on Fox News, who has a less than objectiveview of video gaming as a whole. Regardless, we wish Hall's family the best of luck in locating him, though, as Hall's father pointed out, it's tough to find a Marine that doesn't want to be found.
It's been a week since Fox News ran a largely ignorant news segment on the the brief, minor and optional sex scene found in Mass Effect. The crew of Loading.Ready.Run have produced a satire of the news segment for our enjoyment. All the important interview tactics are present, from the gaming supporter being frequently cut off mid-sentence, having his mic turned off, and the host giving loaded questions and descriptions ("full on hardcore porn sex ... with freaky alien chicks"). The acting may not be top-notch, but the snark is.
For a summary of events surrounding Mass Effect so far, including head-turning comments by Jack Thompson, check out this post. Video embedded after the break.
Perhaps the most well-versed individual on gaming controversy (by merit of instigating many of them), Jack Thompson has found a way to make the Mass Effect Fox News report more ridiculous by defending the game. Unfortunately, weather.com has not updated the current temperature in Hell, but we'll let you know when we find out.
Responding to the latest press release, Kotaku's Brian Crecente asked Thompson what he thought about the Mass Effect story. Thompson responded, "The guy who shot his mouth off about it had no idea what the Hell he was talking about." (We assume he meant conservative columnist Kevin McCullough and isn't confusing Fox News guest Cooper Lawrence's gender.) Thompson later added, "This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous."
To catch you up to speed: just after McCullough apologized for writing about Mass Effect's "virtual orgasmic rape," Fox News' Live Desk with Martha MacCollum ran a similar, ignorant segment on the "Sexbox" (so clever) title that pitted Geoff Keighley against a child care author who openly admitted she never played the game. Publisher Electronic Arts demanded a correction, Fox countered, and Lawrence apologized after gamers review-bombed her book on Amazon.
In what looks to be a standstill, MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo contacted Fox News to follow up on a letter sent to them yesterday by Electronic Arts asking to "correct the record" on the ignorant Mass Effect "sexposé." An unnamed spokesperson replied, "Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on 'Live Desk With Martha MacCallum' to discuss 'Mass Effect' and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response."
We're wondering if an EA representative coming on MacCallum's show would get the same treatment as Geoff Keighley in the original segment. Also today, Totilo contacted Brown, who reiterated his position from yesterday's letter. Hence, both sides are waiting for other to somehow respond. Is someone going to make the next move (we're doubtful), or is this just going to blow away until the next batch of "sex-ified" games? (Potential candidates include Grand Theft Auto 4, Smash Bros Brawl and Spore.)
Update: GameDaily contacted EA VP of Communications Jeff Brown, who wrote the original letter to Fox News, to see if there was any update on the situation. Said Brown, "Not much to say other than there's no interest here in another debate with an 'expert' that will say anything to sell a book. They need to step up and correct the record." We couldn't agree more (and we can't seem to get the image of Brown's razor sharp fangs out of our minds).
With a few notable exceptions, the canon of Fox Interactive isn't particularly noble, in fact, one could accuse it of being downright mediocre. Now, some developers are whispering that the company is set to make a return to gaming greatness good enough. You may remember we haven't heard from Fox since 2004, when the Fight Club fighting game missed its exit at Mediocresburg and had to stay at the Motel 6 in Awfultown.
As hard of a time as we're giving them, there are a few series from Fox that we absolutely wouldn't mind seeing make a return, though we're not sure about who owns the rights to what these days. Die Hard Trilogy and No One Lives Forever spring to our minds ... what about yours?
The high-definition format war was due for a shakeup. Following yesterday's news that Paramount will be ditching Blu-ray in favor of HD-DVD exclusivity, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM (whose video releases are, not coincidentally, handled by Fox) pledged more support for the Sony-backed Blu-ray, citing the format's dominant sales compared to HD-DVD.
That pledge totals 29 new Blu-ray releases by the end of the year, which breaks down as follows:
Six new films from Fox, including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Live Free or Die Hard, that will be released day and date with the DVD version.
Four day and date (for U.S. only) Blu-ray and DVD new releases from MGM
19 titles deemed "must have on Blu-ray" from the two studios' collection
Additionally, Fox has promised to bring television drama Prison Break to Blu-ray. According to the announcement (via GameDaily), Fox said it intends to release "at least one state-of-the-art title per month featuring numerous BD 'firsts.'"
After some speculation last week, Sierra has finally let us in on some of the details behind their upcoming PSP game based on this winter's Aliens vs. Predator movie. Most importantly, the new game is being developed by Rebellion, best known for their well received 1995 Jaguar game, Aliens vs. Predator, and its similarly named (and even better received) PC successor.
Unlike those outings, this PSP release will be a "third-person action-adventure" (that's okay, since we know how FPSs on the PSP invariably turn out), putting you in the giant slimy boots of a lone Predator, with all the accompanying goodies. These, of course, include Super Heat Vision™, Invisi-Cloak Tech™, and Ultra Wrist Triangle Red Lasers™, always good for a chuckle ... oh, and for killing Aliens and future governors. Though the press release doesn't say, we'll presume the target for this game is this holiday, alongside the movie.
Adam Kline, former VP of business development at Ubisoft, is now the VP of new-media enterprises at 20th Century Fox. His new title is just a fancy way of saying he'll oversee video game projects and develop ways to make cash through e-commerce. He will oversee things like The Simpsons Game over at EA along with the Alien games over at Sega -- and probably a bunch of other Fox related titles we'll see in the near future.
So, with Kline's existence having previously been in the gaming space over at Ubisoft, we can hope he won't be the typical suit who'll keep the chain of bad video games based on movies going. We hope Kline just keeps a tight leash on the Alien games being developed by Sega. We need more quality Alien games like Alien vs. Predator and less ... well, almost everything else.
A trailer for the film adaptation of Hitman will be shown in the previews preceding Live Free or Die Hard, opening this Wednesday, according to reputable film site ComingSoon.net. The movie, starring Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, began filming on March 27.
No official confirmation has been made from distributor Twentieth Century Fox, but the action-packed Bruce Willis vehicle would be a perfect fit for the trailer and is also distributed by Fox. If true, look for the teaser to find its way on the internet likely by Wednesday afternoon.
And now for something completely different. Though the corpse of the Halo film project once co-produced by Fox and Universal is still warm, that hasn't stopped Fox from looting the grave -- just six months after its untimely demise -- for Master Chief's lucrative MJOLNIR exoskeleton and all sorts of other tchotchkes they know we'll want. You see, they haven't decided to go back to making the movie, but they have signed a deal to become the primary licensor for Halo merchandise, and what timing!
With action figures, and branded controllers arriving just in time for the September 25th launch, Fox is poised to capitalize on all that hype with "a broad array of products, from books to apparel to collectible merchandise." But don't expect it to stop there! Elie Dekel, exec VP of domestic licensing for Fox, "said he's confident his division can continue to sell licensed products in the next few years until a fourth Halo game comes out." Or maybe, if they sell enough Master Chief underwear, they'll just keep going until the movie comes out. Eventually.
You know what's really popular? Tax season. It seems like every year, tax fever sweeps across the nation and people just can't get enough of doing their taxes. But you know, they've never made a movie about taxes. Do you know why? Because it would be eyeball murder. Now, could somebody please pass the lesson along to 20th Century Fox? They've just picked up the movie rights to The Sims.
Now, is this just a crass ploy to get up in the Matchbox 20 money that The Sims series pulls down? No, not according to Sims Studio head Rod Humble. He says it's all about the story. "The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it," he said. "Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling." Gross, now we've got synergy all over our keyboard.
Oh, lest we forget the best part, a guy who helped write Scary Movie 3 is writing the screenplay. So, yeah, enjoy. We're going to go kiss Uwe Boll on the mouth.
This week, EA has been strutting The Simpsons Game (working title) with good reason; I sat in on a demo and was impressed with the style and visuals of the game. EA -- in collaborating with Gracie Films and Fox -- seems to respect the franchise and wants to deliver an authentic Simpsons game, citing 8,000 lines of original dialogue created by show writers and recorded by the original cast.
The Simpsons Game looked as good as I could imagine, with great graphics and a sense that EA understands the franchise, but there's always a caveat; EA only showed the style and basics, so I have little idea of if the "Game" part of the working title will be realized. Due Fall, 2007 for all current platforms besides PC, if it's fun to play -- and yes, that's a critical "if" -- The Simpsons Game could rate high compared to any title, not just franchise tie-ins. At the very least, it should be the best-looking Simpsons game yet.
Maybe if Doctor Melfi tried this with Tony Soprano, he could've worked out his anger issues without that near-death experience. Nothing soothes the angry nerves of the savage beast like a few rounds of a GTA-like game. Of course, you need to be careful you don't carry it over into the real world. Whenever we play GTA for hours (days) and then finally get in a car, it is so tempting not just fly off a ramp and bypass traffic.
No idea what system they're gaming on either ... just check out all the buttons on Bart's controller. It's like the red-headed stepchild of the Dreamcast that never came to fruition and only exists as some ideas doodled on a napkin at a Japanese karaoke bar somewhere.
The interview with Microsoft's Robbie Bach is all over the grid today. While most of the hubbub on the net concerns price cuts for the 360, there's another little gem in this interview. Bach replies to a question about the lagging progress of the Halo movie by saying, "There are a couple of things you have to recognize. Does it make sense for Microsoft to be in the movie business? It's not what we do, nor would I anticipate us ever doing it."
Bach is saying this to the people who ask why Microsoft doesn't just fund the reportedly $200 million dollar budget film themselves. It's also why Microsoft got into trouble with the film to begin with. Both Fox and Universal pulled out of the deal because MS wanted them to pony up $5 million upfront and then 10% of all the film's profits later. The three companies couldn't come to terms on the deal when the studios tried to change things, and the picture fell apart.
I'm not one to normally watch the local news -- especially during November sweeps -- but after recording my dog's evening news' debut Saturday night (she's the fluffy, white one), TiVo recorded the news again on Sunday night. Just in time to find out about the PlayStation "pornable" (a moniker undoubtedly borrowed from Minneapolis affiliate station, Fox 9) from another local Philadelphia news outlet making specious claims about handheld game systems to get a quick boost in the ratings department.
The best part: when they show Google's first result for "psp porn" to be a humble Joystiq post about a pornographer's attempt to bring the online porn world to your PSP ... don't bother, the link in question has ostensibly been dead since June 2005. But what they're talking about is a web browser, not a game system. Type "porn" into Google, sans "PSP" and you're still gonna find porn. A slightly less sensationalistic piece would have discussed the prevalence of web browsers in various devices; or shown parents how to actually, y'know, use the PSP's parental controls to restrict access.
Nope. Instead they rode porn, terrorism, hate groups, pedophilia, sexual predation, and other "pathways to trouble" all the way to ratings heaven. "Eye-opening" clip embedded after the break.
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