With Brett Favre booked for a one-way ticket out of retirement and into New York (as a Jet!), Madden NFL 09 will look decidedly vintage when it releases next week with Favre on the cover ... as a Packer. Some may attribute the gaffe to evidence of the "Madden Curse" at work (c'mon, it can do better than that!), but EA Sports boss Peter Moore assures, "There's a plan."
While IGN has already confirmed there will be no second printing -- Favre will remain a Packer on the surface of Madden 09, at least -- a Crispy Gamer interview with Moore and marketing director David Tinson published last week addressed the possibility of Favre switching teams; to which Moore offered his vague assurance. "It will ship with what you've seen. Yes. And then we'll have a plan if he's not [a Packer]," Tinson added. Day-one roster update confirmed!
Update: EA will indeed release a day-one update placing Favre on the Jets (and reflecting any other relevant roster changes), reports MTV Multiplayer. But that's not all: "We do not plan to re-issue packaging, but WILL offer a free downloadable cover in the coming days on easports.com featuring Brett Favre in a Jets uniform. Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of Madden NFL 09," a company spokesperson revealed to MTV. See, EA did have a plan! ... But if you're not feelin' it, why not make your own cover?
So there was talk about Stuart Beattie – you may know him better as that guy adaptingGears of War for the big screen – giving the stalled Halo movie some much needed TLC in the form of a new script based on Eric Nylund's novel Halo: Fall of Reach. The original source of that rumor now claims to have five pieces of concept art from the new script, which are all part of "an eventual presentation" to be given to the fat cats at Microsoft. Here's where you come in: they'll be dropping one a week on y'all for the next five weeks.
We've got some concept art for a Halo movie right here: it's called Halo 3 and it's a whole DVD full of aliens, 'splosions, and Master Chiefs. But if you've just got to see a larger version of the above concept art, we won't stop you from clicking that Source link below.
In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences, filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what each of the big three console makers intends to announce at arguably the biggest trade shows of the year.
Today's card is for Microsoft (special thanks to X3F). We're going out on a limb and giving Avatars away as the free space. Click on each of the slides above for more information about our predictions. Microsoft's E3 press conference is scheduled for next Monday at 10:30 am PT (that's 1:30 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.
Stay tuned for more press conference bingo cards in the days leading up to the conference. (Also: check out our bingo card for Sony's press conference.)
Just a friendly reminder that today (July 7) is Bungie Day, which means free Bungie-related gamerpics and themes available on Xbox Live today (and only today). Additionally, the new Halo 3map Cold Storage is also available free of charge for today. As for that announcement that was teased over the weekend, we've heard nothing so far. Trust us, though, if and when Bungie announces something, we'll let you know.
No sooner does Sony (briefly) improve the PS3 user interface with the much-talked-about version 2.4 firmware update, than some at the company feel cocky enough to start badmouthing the competition's interface. Speaking to Next-Gen, PlayStation Network Director of Operations Eric Lempel took the bait, comparing Sony's redesigned PlayStation Store to Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. "I think if I look over at the competitors' UI they may have some issues just displaying content," Lempel said, "and scrolling up and down lists isn't the easiest way to find things." Tell that to McSweeny's, why don'tcha?
Lempel also pointed out that the PlayStation Store interface has "a lot of room with virtual shelf space to put a lot of things," a not-so-subtle jab at Microsoft's recently announced plan to de-list some Xbox Live Arcade games. "Depending on what type of UI you have you can accommodate a lot of titles," Lempel continued, "and specifically with our new store redesign which launched back in April we have a great ability to merchandise a wide variety of titles." That's all well and good, assuming your PS3 is currently working.
Folks, it's the end of an era. As of last Friday, June 27, Microsoft founder Bill Gates had officially left the company, although he's staying on as non-executive chairman. Engadget spent all day celebrating the man whose company was responsible Windows, Xbox and Flight Simulator. If you're interested, be sure to check out his top ten hits (and misses); Xbox and Xbox 360 make the list (in the hits category), while Games for Windows - Live earns a cameo in the other list.
Honey, your coffee just got cold. Lawyers who sued Take-Two Interactive over the hacked "Hot Coffee" sex scene in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas claim that only -- wait for it ... no, really, wait for it -- 2,676 claims were filed. GTA: San Andreas had sold approximately 12 million copies according to Take-Two when the scandal broke in mid-2005, meaning that 0.022% of consumers were actually "offended and upset."
The New York Times writes that, awkwardly, the only real winners in this whole situation are the lawyers who triumphed in the "Hot Coffee" suit against Take-Two. They are seeking $1.3 million in fees, when Take-Two may only pay out about $30,000 in claims. For our international readers, despite what you may have heard about our litigious society, it's not par for the course that lawyers walk away with more settlement cash than their clients. A hearing is scheduled today in the Federal District Court in Manhattan to conclude whether the lawyers will get their money.
Update: Changed GTA: SA sales figures to when "Hot Coffee" hit in mid-2005. Altered percentage.
Just because there are Spartans in it doesn't mean it's a history book. Sci-fi scribe Tobias S. Buckell has been tapped to write the sixth novel based on and in the Halo universe, Halo: The Cole Protocol, due this fall.
Buckell is no stranger to the genre, his most recent work, Ragamuffin, having received a 2007 Nebula Award nomination for Best Novel. According to Bungie, The Cole Protocol promises plenty of fan service, focusing on the whereabouts of the Spartan Gray Team and "an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered." Formed and shattered.
Always willing to entertain the question "what if," our friends at Nintendo Wii Fanboy have introduced a new column, Born for Wii. In the first edition, Panzer Dragoon Orta is re-envisioned as a Wii title. Control scheme diagrams are included, as well as a proof of concept with the PC version Panzer Dragoon played on the Wii remote. Go on, let your imagination run wild.
A hero's true worth lies in his ability to overcome the greatest of villains. Metal Gear Solid's slithery protagonist, Snake, has conquered not only the greatest of villains, but the weirdest mustache-twirlers gaming has ever seen.
Forbes, with data supplied by NPD, has released a list of the top-selling games in the US over the last 15 years. NPD only began tracking data 15 years ago, so there may be an outlier from the '80s or early '90s, but it appears the industry really ramped up this millennium, with the top games all being released after 2001.*
Holding on to the top title -- and we imagine not for very much longer -- is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with 9.43 million units sold. Surprisingly, Guitar Hero III isn't too far behind with 8.2 million. Madden titles occupy four of the top ten spots. Find the full list after the break.
*Figuring it would be brought up, we checked with NPD about the original Pokémon Red and Blue released in 1998. Although they do have different titles, they are arguably the same game. NPD's data shows that Pokemon Red and Blue combined sold 3.1 9.9 million units. Pokémon Red with 4.9 million and Pokémon Blue with 5 million.
Update: NPD gave us incorrect Pokémon numbers. We've updated the figures.
GameTrailers continues its Metal Gear Retrospective by going over the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 and what went down in the jungle with Naked Snake back in the '60s. The back end of the retrospective episode covers the events of MGS: Portable Ops., which occurred six years after MGS3. For those who didn't play, it's a good chance to fill in the back story of Naked Solid Liquid Geriatric Snake beforeMetal Gear Solid 4 releases next week.
If you're looking for more, don't forget to check out the otherthreeepisodes in the retrospective. You can also learn more about what it's actually like to replay the MGS series by checking out our dear Mr. Kietzmann's b[ack]log.
We realize that with yesterday's announcement of "Beyond Good & Evil 2," some folks may have tragically missed out on the first entry in the series. We've put together a quick list of places where those not familiar to the series can get the game and meet up with Jade, Pey'j and -- our favorite personal assistant -- Segundo.
GameTap (PC) -- $1 for the first month, $10 after that.
GameFly (Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube) -- Various rental plan prices, but currently copies are subject to availability.
GameStop -- Currently, we can only find the somewhat dodgy PS2 version available online for $8. Check your local shop and you may get very lucky.
Those who find a GameCube version can rely on the Wii's backwards compatibility to play the game, and PS3 owners can pop in the PS2 game if their systems support BC. The Xbox 360 currently does not offer backwards compatibility for the Xbox version of BG&E. We're sure there are more corners of the internet to find Jade & Co., but it appears that $10 is what you're likely to pay.
We admit that the Wii is capable of many things, arm cramps and printing money chief among them, though even we had not counted resurrection among its laundry list of features. Yet that appears to be the case, at least with regards to formerly defunct original Xbox platformer The Kore Gang (shown above), with the title having been given new life as an upcoming release from Zoink Games and SnapDragon Games for the Wii.
Originally developed by Unique Development Studios, a Swedish outfit that closed its doors in 2004, the game now carries the shorter, and all-capital name KORE. As a title that originally began life on Microsoft's freshman console, thankfully the name is not all that's being revised. Publisher Zoink notes that much work has gone into the game's design and story, which tells of a trio of characters stuffed into a mechanical suit as they protect the center of the earth from bad guys, leaving us hoping that at least one of them is Brendan Fraser.
Update: Just for clarification, this is in no way a confirmation that a sequel to Crimson Skies is being entertained by Airtight or any other developer at this point, as much as we may wish it to be so. Jose Perez has not actually commented on any sort of timeframe for a potential sequel and has only said that Airtight is open to the idea of revisiting the franchise. Airtight is currently developing Dark Void, which may or may not be preventing the studio from working on a new Crimson Skies, or any other title for that matter. What follows is pure speculation.
_thumbnail.jpg "I Am 8 Bit: 2008")
