Netflix and Sony announced today that the movie streaming service will be coming to PS3 as soon as November. The service will be available to PS3 owners for a few due to there be no equivilent to Xbox Live Gold and that initially you will need a disc that Netflix will provide to activate the service.
This news relates to Nintendo in that Michael Pachter today said that "We believe that the exclusive arrangement limits Netflix ability to appear on the 'dashboard' of the PS3 or Wii. We anticipate that a similar arrangement will be announced for the Wii in the next 12 months."
It was just a matter of time before Netflix found a way to get around the exclusivity to consoles that Microsoft had and it appears that a similar service might be heading to Wii in the next year. Would you watch movies over your Wii console if the service was available? Do you like the idea of having a disc to access the service or would you prefer it to be a channel on the Wii's menu?
Source: GoNintendo, MTV Multiplayer
Monday, October 26, 2009
Another Nonsensical Rant Against Video Games
"Dorm rooms are like bacteria dishes where crueler and more virulent microorganisms are constantly introduced to breed in a frothy frenzy of poor judgment. When video gaming is added to a culture of persistent sexual experimentation in a peer group of sex radicals fueled by vast amounts of mind-altering narcotics, reality is the big loser. …Sharp colors and quick movement like you find in Grand Theft Auto make these couch potatoes feel as if they’re really moving through life at a brisk pace while in reality growing obese. It makes them feel important, as if they’re achieving something, while their textbooks sit unopened on nearby desks. It sucks up hours upon hours when these children could be learning business or engineering. Instead of American history, they memorize the satanic rites of Resident Evil, thrill in emotional suffering with Silent Hill or train to be Columbine-style murderers with Dead Space Extraction. The foundation of modern morality so necessary for the next generation to lead is not something you children will get sucking on the end of a filthy bong while yanking a joystick around the streets of San Andreas, gunning down minorities and looking for “Hot Coffee” as some mysterious classmate from Art History oils your tensed-up pecs. This might seem fun now, but it’s truly destroying your soul." - Author Stephenson Billings
Source: Game Politics
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Is today National Pile on Video Games Day and I didn't know about it? What exactly is going on? This is the second story I've posted that dealt negatively with gaming. The first was about the man who was drunk and shot his son over a missing video game. While that dealt indirectly with video games, this is a full on attack on them.
Let's just take each of Mr. Billings facts and discuss them. "Sharp colors and quick movement like you find in Grand Theft Auto make these couch potatoes feel as if they’re really moving through life at a brisk pace while in reality growing obese." What's making these people obese is taking in more calories than they burn. While it's true they may be sitting ont he couch playing video games, they could be reading a book, or watching TV. There are a huge number of activities that Americans do each day that don't burn calories and a number of them are things people consider constructive. Grand Theft Auto does not make people feel like they're moving through life and that description could have just as easily been about someone's favorite TV show.
Last time I checked in a Resident Evil game you were not encouraging satanic rituals, you were attempting to stop a crazed bio organization or a group of cultists from releasing a deadly virus to the world. There are no rituals to memorize or spells to perform. You're shooting zombies and infected humans in an effort to rid the world of the plague they were causing. If you haven't played the game, Mr. Billings you can't talk about it.
Silent Hill is not a thrilling game. It's scary. It's not necessarily a fun experience. There are people out there who enjoy getting scared, but it's not because they delight in the suffering of others, it's because they like the adrenaline rush that comes with being in that situation. I don't remember any high school students in Dead Space either. That was a ship that had been over run by aliens and turning humans into unholy creatures known as Necromorphs. Next time there is a high school filled with those creatures, let me know.
Mr. Billings needs to sit down with a controller in his hand and play everyone of those games he mentioned. And while he's at it, pop in Super Mario Galaxy and tell me that's rotting the souls of our generation and the generations to come after us. Let me know when there are studies that prove that petting a virtual dog is harmful to your health or knocking down towers in Boom Blox leads to terrorism. (Wait that's plausible. /sarcasm)
Chances are there aren't any five year old children sucking on bongs while playing GTA IV or Dead Space Extraction. They're playing with Mario and Spiderman, or the Jedi from Star Wars, in Lego form. Gaming's not evil, Mr. Billings and this is coming from a conservative.
An Old Franchise is Made New on WiiWare
This week's episode of Nintendo Week on the Nintendo Channel has announced that ExciteBike will be returning, this time courtesy of WiiWare. The game, known as ExciteBike: World Rally, features updated graphics, but old style game play. The track editor also returns and you will be able to compete with other players online.
Fans will be able to control their racer with either the Wii Remote in a classic NES style or by using the remote's motion sensing capabilities. I know I spent hour designing tracks that would only be deleted later and I am very excited about this announcement.
The game is set to launch on WiiWare on November 9th, so we're just a couple weeks away.
Source: Nintendo Week
Fans will be able to control their racer with either the Wii Remote in a classic NES style or by using the remote's motion sensing capabilities. I know I spent hour designing tracks that would only be deleted later and I am very excited about this announcement.
The game is set to launch on WiiWare on November 9th, so we're just a couple weeks away.
Source: Nintendo Week
Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition Wrap Up
The Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition took place over the weekend on Saturday, October 24th. The event has been held annually since 2003 and features exhibitors showing off their collections of classic gaming memorabilia.
For starters there are a number of arcade machines that are all set to free play for anyone to enjoy while they are there. They ranged from vector graphics machines, such as Space Wars to Frogger and Joust. Only one machine was not playable, the Star Wars arcade game, and that was due to some interference from the Dark Side according to the Out of Order sign.
My daughter, Katy attended the event with me and we spent about half an hour playing Space Wars. For anyone that doesn’t know, this was an arcade machine created by Larry Rosenthal, a graduate of MIT and featured two player space combat. One player controlled a ship that looked like the wedge ship from Asteroids and the other controlled a ship resembling the Starship Enterprise. These ships were controlled with five buttons, one to move left, one to move right, a thrust button, a button to fire your ships gun and a hyperspace button that would teleport you to a random spot on the screen. The object of the game was to destroy your opponent the most in a time limit. Each credit would get you a minute and a half of time. There were a number of gameplay options that could be selected at the beginning of the game. You had the ability to change the speed of the game, the amount of gravity or a combination of those two and the different options varied widely from each other. The only objects on the screen besides the player’s ships were an asteroid that would randomly move around the battlefield and a star in the center that would destroy any ship that touched it. This was also were the gravity was centered and would pull player towards. The game play was super simple, but extremely addicting. Space Wars was available for purchase, but I did not have the $1000 that the owner was asking.
There were a number of vendors present as well, many who had playable systems from the late 70’s and early 80’s all the way up to the early years of this century. One man, Joe Hamilton, had a history of Nintendo that featured nearly every console the company has released, including the Virtual Boy. It was the first time I had a chance to see what that system was all about and I have to say that after playing it for about fifteen minutes I didn’t want to play any more. Mainly because it was so uncomfortable leaning forward to put my head in the giant binocular display that the Virtual Boy had. The owner of the system said that if he plays it for any extended period of time he lays back on the couch and just rests the system over his eyes, which didn’t seem too comfortable to me either. I was also able, at that booth, to get my hands on a Famicom for the first time and aside from being essentially the exact same thing as the NES I didn’t like the controller, only because the wire sticks out of the side and my hand was pushing against it the entire time.
It seemed that the most popular display at the show was the history of fighting games that had somewhere around 100 different fighting game titles all on display. Greg Little, the man behind the collection said these were only his one on one fighting games and he didn’t not include his extensive of multi player fighting games. Even though, I’m not a fan of the fighting game genre, outside of some casual Street Fighter action, the collection was impressive and it really showed off just how fighting games have evolved throughout the years.
I also had the chance to get my hands on some time with the Vectrex. The first game I played was Minestorm, which is essentially an Asteroids clone. You controlled a ship that you could move around the screen and you were tasked with shooting mines that were floating through space. The game featured controls that I liked a bit more than Asteroids. The ship did not float around the screen after a booster thrust and, while not being as “realistic” as Asteroids I liked better because I had more control over what I was doing. The Vectrex featured a screen that displayed simple black and white graphics, but to get around that game designers would include color sheets that you would place over the screen to give the game the appearance of color graphics. The game I played that showed that off to its fullest effect was a Space Invaders style game. The screen featured three different areas of color and as the invaders would pass over them they would change color. It gave a very impressive illusion of a game with color graphics and it really did enhance the game over the simple black and white the Vectrex could produce.
I also learned a lot about the thriving Atari 2600 community from Brad Prillwitz. He was there showing off his collection of new and homebrew applications for the Atari 2600. I mentioned, on the podcast, a game called Chunkout 2600 that is a new puzzle game that was just released for the system. The screen was filled with a number of colored blocks and you have to remove them from the screen. You can remove any group of two or more colored blocks that are the same color and the object was to clear them all from the screen. The game featured four different difficulty levels that you would select by adjusting the switches on the back of the system and the higher difficulty levels were very challenging. It was a lot of fun and if I had the system and the $30 for a new Atari game I would have bought a copy right then. He told me that new games are coming out for the system all the time and the community of 2600 developers is quite large. I thought the system had died long ago and was simply a jewel for collectors. Apparently I was wrong.
The event brought in just over 500 people and it was quite interesting to see the number of dads that were out with their younger children showing them what gaming was like when we were younger. I know my daughter enjoyed it and said she was already ready to go back again next year. She was introduced to a lot of gaming’s past that she found very entertaining and I had the chance to try out some systems I had only heard about. The game play for many of those older systems was simple, yet completely addicting even today. It would have been very easy to spend thousands of dollars in there adding to my gaming collections, but for the sake of my marriage I had to restrain myself.
It was a great event and I encourage anyone in the area to attend next year’s event. You’d be pleasantly surprised.
For starters there are a number of arcade machines that are all set to free play for anyone to enjoy while they are there. They ranged from vector graphics machines, such as Space Wars to Frogger and Joust. Only one machine was not playable, the Star Wars arcade game, and that was due to some interference from the Dark Side according to the Out of Order sign.
There were a number of vendors present as well, many who had playable systems from the late 70’s and early 80’s all the way up to the early years of this century. One man, Joe Hamilton, had a history of Nintendo that featured nearly every console the company has released, including the Virtual Boy. It was the first time I had a chance to see what that system was all about and I have to say that after playing it for about fifteen minutes I didn’t want to play any more. Mainly because it was so uncomfortable leaning forward to put my head in the giant binocular display that the Virtual Boy had. The owner of the system said that if he plays it for any extended period of time he lays back on the couch and just rests the system over his eyes, which didn’t seem too comfortable to me either. I was also able, at that booth, to get my hands on a Famicom for the first time and aside from being essentially the exact same thing as the NES I didn’t like the controller, only because the wire sticks out of the side and my hand was pushing against it the entire time.
It seemed that the most popular display at the show was the history of fighting games that had somewhere around 100 different fighting game titles all on display. Greg Little, the man behind the collection said these were only his one on one fighting games and he didn’t not include his extensive of multi player fighting games. Even though, I’m not a fan of the fighting game genre, outside of some casual Street Fighter action, the collection was impressive and it really showed off just how fighting games have evolved throughout the years.
I also learned a lot about the thriving Atari 2600 community from Brad Prillwitz. He was there showing off his collection of new and homebrew applications for the Atari 2600. I mentioned, on the podcast, a game called Chunkout 2600 that is a new puzzle game that was just released for the system. The screen was filled with a number of colored blocks and you have to remove them from the screen. You can remove any group of two or more colored blocks that are the same color and the object was to clear them all from the screen. The game featured four different difficulty levels that you would select by adjusting the switches on the back of the system and the higher difficulty levels were very challenging. It was a lot of fun and if I had the system and the $30 for a new Atari game I would have bought a copy right then. He told me that new games are coming out for the system all the time and the community of 2600 developers is quite large. I thought the system had died long ago and was simply a jewel for collectors. Apparently I was wrong.
The event brought in just over 500 people and it was quite interesting to see the number of dads that were out with their younger children showing them what gaming was like when we were younger. I know my daughter enjoyed it and said she was already ready to go back again next year. She was introduced to a lot of gaming’s past that she found very entertaining and I had the chance to try out some systems I had only heard about. The game play for many of those older systems was simple, yet completely addicting even today. It would have been very easy to spend thousands of dollars in there adding to my gaming collections, but for the sake of my marriage I had to restrain myself.
It was a great event and I encourage anyone in the area to attend next year’s event. You’d be pleasantly surprised.
Video Game Blamed For Death
This story, from the Houston Chronicle, is a sad story. A 40 year old man shot his 17 year old son over a missing video game. This story only directly relates to video games in that the mainstream press will add it to their ever growing list of stories claiming video games are bad.
I, being a conservative Christian man, will never blame video games directly for anything. Video games don't cause people to go out and shoot someone. They don't cause people to go on rampages. Many times, they are a convenient scape goat. Sometimes they may ignite underlying issues that ultimately cause people to do things they woulndn't normally do, but never is the video game itself the object that causes these terrible things to happen.
In the story above a drunk man shoots his 17 year old son over a video game. In the end, it could have been anything. If he had been looking for the remote they wouldn't have even mentioned it, but because it's a video game he was mad about it gets press. Video games have both good and bad qualities, like anything else we do in life. Video games don't hurt people in the same way a gun doesn't kill a person, the person holding the gun does.
I cannot stand all the news stories that go out of their way to mention video games in a negative light because it's convenient. You have to go to places like this, or Kotaku or Gamasutra to see the articles that show the beneficial qualitites of video games. They can be used to increase a child's reading ability. They help develop hand eye coordination. They give some families the ability to open up and talk about things they might not otherwise talk about.
I have never once seen a story where a video game hurt or killed a person. It's always someone with other issues in their life, much like the man in the story above. Gaming is entering more and more homes and it will continue to be more and more common to see a video game system in a home. The media will then latch onto the fact that the person has that console in their house and say that is the cause of their problems, when in reality it is a bad home, relationship issues, too much alchohol or inattentive parents that are the root of the problem.
I, personally, don't like the GTA games. I won't have them in my home, but they're not the cause of the problem, generally that so many in the media tend to think. There, in the end, are other issues that need to be looked at more than the video games. They're just a convenient fall guy.
I, being a conservative Christian man, will never blame video games directly for anything. Video games don't cause people to go out and shoot someone. They don't cause people to go on rampages. Many times, they are a convenient scape goat. Sometimes they may ignite underlying issues that ultimately cause people to do things they woulndn't normally do, but never is the video game itself the object that causes these terrible things to happen.
In the story above a drunk man shoots his 17 year old son over a video game. In the end, it could have been anything. If he had been looking for the remote they wouldn't have even mentioned it, but because it's a video game he was mad about it gets press. Video games have both good and bad qualities, like anything else we do in life. Video games don't hurt people in the same way a gun doesn't kill a person, the person holding the gun does.
I cannot stand all the news stories that go out of their way to mention video games in a negative light because it's convenient. You have to go to places like this, or Kotaku or Gamasutra to see the articles that show the beneficial qualitites of video games. They can be used to increase a child's reading ability. They help develop hand eye coordination. They give some families the ability to open up and talk about things they might not otherwise talk about.
I have never once seen a story where a video game hurt or killed a person. It's always someone with other issues in their life, much like the man in the story above. Gaming is entering more and more homes and it will continue to be more and more common to see a video game system in a home. The media will then latch onto the fact that the person has that console in their house and say that is the cause of their problems, when in reality it is a bad home, relationship issues, too much alchohol or inattentive parents that are the root of the problem.
I, personally, don't like the GTA games. I won't have them in my home, but they're not the cause of the problem, generally that so many in the media tend to think. There, in the end, are other issues that need to be looked at more than the video games. They're just a convenient fall guy.
Guitar Hero + Facebook = Awesome
The Guitar Hero franchise has a Facebook page and Activision was pleased to announce today that the Guitar Hero Facebook page is the first game specific page to have one million fans. In a press release today they announced the historic feat as well as Guitar Hero having more than 38 million sales world wide.
They tout the Facebook page as a place where fans can go to discuss their favorite artists and songs featured in the Guitar Hero franchise. Fans can also get the latest information in the goings on with Guitar Hero, exclusive news and content not available anywhere else and share their favorite Guitar Hero experiences.
Are you one of the more than a million fans of Guitar Hero on Facebook? If so let us know if you use that service and what you've gotten from it.
Source: Press Release
Nintendo Download: Week of October 26th
Nintendo Offers Downloadable Halloween Fun from Axe to Zombies
WiiWare
Publisher: Gameloft
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points™
Description: Fazzy the ghost has been locked out of his mansion by some evil spooks, and he’s willing to give his treasure to anyone who can chase them out. Work cooperatively and competitively with friends and family to defeat the ghosts and discover a huge hidden treasure. Travel around this wild mansion in board-game fashion, landing on mini-games that everyone can enjoy. You’ll even engage in challenges on the board itself as you try to collect magic scrolls and hints to reveal the secret word that will open the doors to the treasure. Get your Wii Remote™ controllers ready – you’re about to play with them in ways you’ve never imagined.
Publisher: Telltale Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Comic Mischief, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description: In the third Tales of Monkey Island chapter, Guybrush gets in deep – literally – as his quest for the voodoo exfoliating La Esponja Grande takes a scenic detour through the guts of a giant manatee. Our hero encounters a surprising band of castaways, including the long-lost explorer Coronado De Cava. Can the Mighty Pirate win the suspicious De Cava’s trust? Will sexy pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay prove to be a ruthless enemy or an unlikely ally? Will the group find La Esponja Grande in time to save Elaine from the rampant Pox of LeChuck? And will the world be crushed by the gnashing teeth of a certain demonic skull? Tales of Monkey Island’s moist and absorbing third episode, “Lair of the Leviathan,” will answer some of these urgent questions and raise even more as the five-month adventure builds to its epic climax.
Virtual Console
Publisher: LucasArts
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Cartoon Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: You will play the game as one of two brave kids: Zeke or Julie. Both kids use the same control scheme and have the same characteristics. If you’re playing in two-player mode, each player must pick a kid. You can’t have two Zekes or two Julies. Each player starts with three lives. When your life bar runs out, you lose a life. There are hidden 1-Up bonuses in the game. You may also earn bonus lives if you have 10 victims left when you finish a level. Get ready to conquer 48 levels of giant ants, mad scientists and big babies. Find seven bonus levels (look for the question marks), earn points and stockpile your water pistols and other weapons.
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Blood, Fantasy Violence
Price: 900 Wii Points
Description: In this original arcade game that launched the popular Golden Axe series, the evil Death Adder has invaded your land and taken the king and princess prisoner. Three mighty warriors step forward to bring the villain to justice: powerful fighter Ax Battler, Amazon warrior Tyris Flare and mighty dwarf Gilius Thunderhead. They will use their weapons and magic to fight their way through Death Adder’s hordes. Along the way, they’ll mount fearsome, fire-spitting beasts to help even the odds. Team up with a friend and enjoy two-player simultaneous game play for a better chance of survival.
Nintendo DSiWare
PictureBook Games: The Royal Bluff
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Aristocratic opponents square off in PictureBook Games: The Royal Bluff, a game of strategy and deceit. Compete for points by adding or subtracting colored chips from rows on the game board and trying to guess each of your opponent’s secretly assigned chip colors. Once you’re confident in your deduction, issue a Call Out attempt to earn bonus points – at the risk of giving your opponent an extra point if you’re wrong. Three modes of play (Tournament, Free Play, DS Wireless Play) offer a variety of options, from facing off against an assortment of computer opponents to competing in a wireless match with up to four players. Throw Trick Cards into the mix and you’ve got a winning combination of tactics and trickery that’s sure to score points.
SUDOKU
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: SUDOKU offers hundreds of number-crunching puzzles that will stretch your brain power to the limit. Take it even further by playing in the exclusive Newspaper Mode. Add a daily puzzle from your favorite paper and build your very own collection. From Easy to Insane, a total of five different levels are available for novices and masters alike. Enjoy a host of grid designs that will keep you coming back for more. This worldwide phenomenon delivers an exhilarating game of logic that’s not only challenging, but also surprisingly relaxing. It’s everything you want for a quick puzzle getaway. Make life easier by taking advantage of smart features like automatic annotation for effortless calculation of your achievements. Stumped? Get help with error-checking tools and friendly cell hints. Track your stats and test your reaction time with the in-game timer. This addictive brain game has been polished to perfection and renders a sleek design that’s easy on the eyes.
Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.
Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit Wii.com or NintendoDSi.com.
Source: Press Release
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