Video Game Pulse

Sad news is something that can strike anywhere, Be it your favorite football team losing, or you not getting that promotion, or even … a death! Death is something that is enevitable, it can and will happen to everyone, and the game industry is no exception. Games like Burnout Revenge are dedicated to people like Dr. Rabin Ezra who created the technology that makes Burnout so great!

Recently Mark “Chip” VanDeVelde, vice president of Crave Entertainment passed away. No information on his death has been confirmed so far. Mark is a person who has been in the industry for a long time and with Crave since 1998. Before Chip joined Crave, he was the national sales manager for Konami. The only solid information that I could pull up on Mark VanDeVelde was that he also worked at Dart Management Ltd., and had been invited to an Oxford event.

Visitation will be held at the McDonald-Allen-Grennan Funeral Home on Thursday, February 23rd from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and the Funeral service will be held on Friday, February 24th – 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

Mark “Chip” VanDeVelde was also a father of an 11 year old daugher, Callahan. SVG Distribution / Crave Entertainment will be starting a scholarship fund for Chip’s daughter. Below you will find the info you need to donate to this fund.

If by check make check payable to:

Crave Entertainment Group, Inc. FBO Callahan N. VanDeVelde

Please mail check to:

Crave Entertainment Group, Inc.
Attn: Lynda Broderick
4 San Joaquin Plaza Drive, Suite 200
Newport Beach California 92660

If by wire please send to:

Crave Entertainment Group, Inc.
For the benefit of (FBO): Callahan N. VanDeVelde

ABA # 121100782
Account number: 751-000373
Bank of the West
300 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90071.

Anyone who owns a PSP and knows what DVD’s are probably was excited to hear that movies would soon be available on a format called UMD. Soon after the hype ended we realized a problem, and it wasn’t anything small. These UMD Video’s don’t come with any extras, they can’t play on a regular DVD, and you are paying more for it then you would a DVD. Anyone who has a 2GB Pro Duo card is lucky enough to be able to just purchase the DVD and put it on the card for viewing later on.

In a not so rash and completely predicted move by Sony, they have decided to cut back on production of UMD Videos. It really makes a lot of sense, these companies aren’t selling enough of these things, and it costs to much to make them. Later on down the road when the format is cheaper to make, it will probably be more feasible. Articles such as that on Defunct Games reported on this when the system launched, their feature is titled “How the DVD killed the UMD“.

This news should not be a surprise to anyone, but what is news is that Sony wants to make the format playable on a TV, and what a better time to do it then with an addition to the PS3. Nothing has been confirmed about this speculation, but it makes enough sense. There was early rumor of a UMD burner inside the PS3, but when E3 2005 hit, and we didn’t see it that rumor kind of died off. If Sony wanted, they still may unveil a UMD player for the PS3, or a stand-alone unit.

Eventually it will become so cheap to manufacture these UMDs that the cost won’t matter. No more then 4 years ago, a DVD-R for a consumer cost anywhere between $2-5, now you can get them for pennies. A 1x DVD Burner In 2001 cost $600, a 4x in 2003 cost $300, and my brand new 16x DL-DVD Burner from 2005 cost me $30. Times change fast, and things get cheap, UMD Videos will probably be a logical step in two to three years.

MMORPG is probably one of the longest and most tongue twisting acronyms in the gaming industry. This word may strike fear in the hearts of many, and may strike happiness in others. Personally, I have never had a great MMORPG experience to justify the expense of a monthly subscription. Many of my friends; even the ones without jobs, play World of Warcraft and they constantly try to suck me into their realm. Members of my own family have gotten so addicted to these types of games that they spend hundreds a month on the game.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game’s are something that has had roots since the early days of Phantasy Star Online and Everquest. The question you need to ask your self is simple though, have you heard of SoG? Well, from the acronym I haven’t a clue what it is. SoG is the prequel to Dark and Light. The game takes place in the land of Ganareth, where you will be part of the first territorial conquest to build the fortresses of Ysatis and Agnar. Settlers of Ganareth (SoG) is not only the prequel of Dark and Light, but it also doesn’t cost a dime!

Don’t get the wrong idea though, just because it is free doesn’t mean that it is going to suck. Many fun and great MMORPG’s start out free, many made by the Koreans. This game could suck, but it could rock, the real thing many may have to worry about is if this will eventually got to a pay service like all the other MMORPG’s of its kind.

“Settlers of Ganareth is a cost-free prelude to the most anticipated MMORPG game of 2006, Dark and Light.” said Jason Ovitt of SSPR. I’ll let you ponder that quote for a second. They are stating that it is the prelude to a game that hasn’t even been released yet. Are they going to get people hooked to the free prequel and then pull it, forcing people to continue their fix playing Dark and Light? Can this game really be called a prequel when it is coming out before Dark and Light? Wouldn’t that make Dark and Light a sequel? Maybe I’m just reading too much into it, I’m sure it will be a great baiter…. err… game.

Last week there was apparently something foul about as they tried to rebuild the Ostarian Bridge, which links players from English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian countries. It was a failed attempt to reclaim it as a free territory of Ganareth. With that, I will leave it to you to keep and eye out to see who wins the race to release. Will SoG be a prequel, or will Dark and Light be a sequel? All this and more in the wacky and wild world of miss-reporting!

All the good stuff is coming out next month, so you better gear your self up for what may be the most expensive month of the year so far. If you have a PSP, then you are going to be in bliss playing some long awaited and well deserved good games. You may have noticed my very first preview on this site was for a game called Pursuit Force. Pursuit Force is a game that even the most hardened Nintendo fan will want to play. Some may shunt this off as yet another racer, but I assure you it is not, it is more of an arcade shooter then anything else, and since when could you get out of a car in a racer? Expect this game March 7.

Pursuit Force isn’t the only game hitting the block come March, you can expect to see Daxter on March 21, which may be and so far from the demo, looks to be the very first solid and very enjoyable 3D Platformer on the PSP. If that isn’t your bag, then you may want to pick up Metal Gear Ac!d 2 on March 28, it is one of the very first sequels to hit the PSP. Hell, if you don’t want any of these games, then maybe some senseless sticky ball rolling will do you some good. Me & My Katamari is the very first appearance of the Katamari Series to hit the PSP set to release March 21 along side Daxter. Some may ponder about the lack of two joysticks as did I, according to the people who played it TGS they thought it was awkward. A few months ago the game was actually released in Japan, and people changed their tune and now praise the control.

If you are looking for some good FPS action, then maybe the new Splinter Cell Essentials is for you, which releases the same day as Pursuit Force on March 7. If it is some puzzle/adventure games you are looking for, then the wonderful Worms series is what you are looking for, Worms: Open Warfare may be one of the best things to hit the PSP yet, coming March 13. If it’s sports that is up your alley, you can pick up MLB 06: The Show on February 28, which really isn’t in March at all, but its pretty damn close!

Well, that is about it for the exciting releases coming up next month, some others that you can look forward to are listed below.

Bounty Hounds, Payout Poker and Casino, World Poker Tour, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code, Samurai Warriors: State of War, From Russia With Love, Stacked with Daniel Negreanu, Neopets Petpet Adventure: The Wand of Wishing, Astonishia Story, Mega Man Powered Up, Brothers in Arms, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed, Def Jam: Fight for NY: The Takeover, Mortal Kombat: Deception Unchained, Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, Pilot Academy, OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

The people who come to this blog often (you know who you are) will notice from time to time that I publish press releases that I receive from various companies, Most notably, I-Play’s Anna Brog, and SNK’s Michael Meyers. I have no bias however when I post press releases, as long as it is topical to gaming. So it seemed odd when I received an email from a learning software company by the name of Fogware. “Thank you for taking the time to review our press release.” says Mike Rothstein, Fogware’s co-founder and president.

I immediately started thinking, “hmm, well I’m glad that my PR work has been noticed”. I decided to hunt down the post where I talked about whatever product they e-mailed me about, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I looked through my email and still, I could not find any traces from Fogware. To suffice, I am either reading this wrong, or they are out and out lying to me. Either way, I have a few choice words about the product they are trying to push off onto me.

STUDENT HOME LEARNING SYSTEM is the newest from Fogware, set to release on February 27, 2006. The Student Home Learning System is comprised of 200 educational software titles, 20 hours of DVD video, over 200 hours of audio books, a total of over 20,000 lessons, activities and Q&As, as well as an array of top reference materials, all meant for grades 2-12 and at an affordable price of under $150, it is everything needed to provide a full range of educational materials.

Mike Rothstein, Fogware’s co-founder and president goes on to state that, “The Fogware Learning System contains everything the student will ever need, without having to go on-line at all.”. This is where I am a little biased in this area, I used the internet for everything when I was in grade school. Everything from Math to Science to Literature, the internet had the answers I was looking for. I’m not saying that this software is bad or anything, or isn’t very informative, But the reasoning why you should use it is illogical, there is no way that any piece of software can contain the expansive knowledge of the internet. Consider this, Fogware wants people to buy this product by having people advertise it on their websites and blogs, but you give the parents good enough reason not to have internet, and you just cut your self off from them.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, the internet can be a wild and dangerous place, full of graphic images, violent depictions, and crude language. The same can be said about TV and Magazines and Video Games. That is why there is content blockers, be it the MPAA, ESRB, or AOL, or Parents themselves. I suggest that if you have children, you should buy them this software, because I believe that every child deserves the opportunity at learning all they can at a young age, but don’t buy it to replace the internet. Until next time, when I rip apart Game On, yet another piece of controversial software from Fogware.

Many have contemplated if websites like Gamespot.com and IGN.com would replace the need for magazines like Gamepro and Electronic Gaming Monthly. The simple fact is that nothing will replace the felling of a good (or bad) magazine in your hands, you can’t take your computer into the bathroom with you, or on the road, or in a plane, or in a boat going to Spain. Maybe if you have a laptop and a wireless connection you can do some of these things, but how mundane would that be? I think both can co-exist.

However, what about a magazine that you can subscribe to on your computer? And read on your computer? With digital advertising? This is the very thing that Computer Games Magazine plans on doing in the near future! I’m not sure I really like this idea my self, if I wanted gaming news on a computer, I would go get the most recent up-to-date info off a website, not read a monthly magazine on my desktop. I really think that Computer Games Magazine missed the ball on this one, I’m not too sure they understand what the vantage point of a magazine is and what its limitations are.

Apparently they will be publishing it through an online company named Zinio; who specializes in this exact thing. I’m not to sure how popular or useful this service is, but subscribers will have to download the Zinio Reader to be able to read the magazine. Interestingly enough this company also publishes quite a handful of other popular magazines, including Penthouse and Playboy. Now, when I am looking for pictures of girls that get my goat, I usually head over to Vivid.com, Google Image Search, or some other place that is a hotbed of nude photos of women, Heck even Penthouse.com! They are all updated more often then a monthly magazine, and need I mention the necessity of taking a Penthouse in the bathroom??

Yet another publication available from Zinio is Business Week, now I guess I must have missed the point of this one, Business Week is one of those magazines stock traders and the like in the big NY read while in a cab or on the subway, right? I mean, head over to money.cnn.com, or any other outlet that will tell you minute by minute what is going on in the business industry!

Keep in mind, I don’t plan to rip apart every publication they offer, even though I could easily. There is however a few that just stands out from the crowd. How many times have you been in an auto repair shop, or a friends garage and they have had a stack of dusty, oil soaked Popular Mechanics magazines? Well, now they can get it on a computer, far away from the car!

I’m not sure what crowd this technology is marketed for, but it is over my head why you would get a digital subscription to a magazine that is outdated minutes after it hits your desktop. Blogs, game sites and more get updated more then half an hour a day, making what you are reading in your digital subscription to EGM a complete waste of technology.

Anyone who has played the Dynasty Warriors series knows that they can expect yet another sequel in a few short months, probably at least 3 a year. The PSP is now getting towards the end of its first year on the market, and the sequels are due to hit anytime! On March 28 Metal Gear Acid 2 will hit shelves, along with Dynasty Warriors: 2nd Evolution. Koei actually only sent me an email about their “other” release on March 28th, Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, I had to dig around Magic-Box for the PSP game info; now a word from them.

The game features a new Stage Divergence element, you can select multiple branches after completing each stage. There are also twice as many stages than the previous work, the game supports up to 4 players simultaneously over WiFi.

The Secondary Officer System is further strengthened, there are close to 300 characters in total, you can perform dual combo attacks with the partner officer. There is a new Stable system, you can customize the appearance of your horses.

Overall, this PSP version looks to strengthen the series on the PSP, but it will probably be no time before we get bi-annual or tri-annual sequels for this series. As for Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, it marks the 7th game in the series released since last March. There are more games though from Koei that will be released in March ‘06, you can expect to see a sequel to Warship Gunner for the Playstation 2 and Samurai Warriors: State of War for the PSP.

Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires adds one major improvement to the series. The game now gives you total control of the kingdom. You can now issue direct orders to each officer or signal general commands to the officers in the field. No longer will you just rush with your army behind you, now you can order them to take the offensive, defensive, or gather for an ambush. Now you can even entice the captives to join your army, or even kick people out of your army!

The standard fare of pick-ups still apply in this game, but overall it seems like it may be a much welcomed addition to the series, we will find out all the juicy details of whether or not this game is nothing but a rehash, or a push forward!

Awhile back Michael Meyers, the PR agent for SNK Playmore let us in on what was going on with the Samurai Shodown series. We just got yet another update from MMPR regarding the workings on the King of Fighters series over at SNK Playmore. King of Fighters is one of the great fighting series that takes characters from all of SNK’s games and puts them against each other. Capcom’s series has lost its weight in the arena of game characters fighting each other. Has Akuma fought the Purple Teletubie yet? I guess that is a little harsh, Capcom vs. SNK was a brilliant game.

The King of Fighters: NEOWAVE is the newest addition to the series; It marks the continuance of an excellent series. KOF: NEOWAVE is yet another XBOX exclusive from SNK Playmore. The game features 12 three-man teams made up of some of the characters form SNK’s 11-year history. The Fatal Fury Team is made up of Terry, Joe and Andy, and the Women Fighters Team is made of Mai, King, and Yuri, that is just a few of the teams announced so far! There is a total 43 characters including 7 Bonus characters that make up 12 of the most dangerous fighting teams ever assembled.

NEOWAVE also introduces three new modes of play – Super Cancel, Guard Break and Max2. The all-new “Heat Mode” will allow the character to exchange life in order to power-up their attacks, can anyone say Thrill Kill! You can also link a Special Move with a Super Attack in the Super Cancel Mode to cause extreme damage. I can’t wait for this masterpiece to hit the XBOX like a ton of bricks!

What if I told you that Playstation 2, Gamecube and XBOX games were going up to $100 and XBOX 360 games were going up to $120? Since most likely you are a gamer, and realize how insane this is, you probably have to change your underwear about now. Well, maybe after I tell you that this is going to become a reality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok lets tone down the hyperbole. This will only affect those that live in Texas. “The Republican primary candidate wants to eliminate property taxes by heavily taxing games the government deems ‘violent.’” Reported Tor Thorsen of Gamespot.com earlier this week. Chances of this law passing are hopefully very slim. I’m not quite sure what the gamer/conserve-republican (non-gamer) ratio is in Texas, If any of you reading this live in Texas, please chime in with a response; If you are a conserve-repub, I await the hate mail!

This man goes by the very erotic name of Star Locke, He is all about the health of our children or as he says, “our most precious blood”. I don’t have an issue with some of his policies, But he went too far the other day. Star Locke’s Family Security and Protection Act aims to take away liquor tax, property tax, and vehicle tax! He will balance this out by creating a board of 10 people that he chooses; they will deem what is violent and what isn’t. The Music/Movies/Games that are deemed violent will have 100% sales tax, any food cooked with grease will have 50% sales tax, and any beverage to contain sugar will also have 50% sales tax. These are all the things that us gamers crave, and live off of!!

Besides the fact that this is the reason the constitution was made in the first place, he will not win the election. There are a lot of gaming companies and companies that sale games that are based out of Texas, they will flood the competitors campaign just to make sure he wins. Some of you may have played Perfect Dark Zero, a game set in the future where companies control everything; unlike today where … companies control everything! Even in the off chance that Star Locke makes it, he will be tried for treason the second he passes one of these laws, because it is against EVERYTHING the constitution stands for, Taxation without representation.

Jane Pinckard, The hook-up from Game Girl Advance, The journalist from 1up.com just recently reported on a story regarding Rockstar/Take-Two and their most recent lawsuit, which pins them with a $10 million dollar hit. What are they being sued for now you ask? Misleading an investigation. Oddly enough it isn’t Jack Thompson leading this battle, but rather the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

City Attorney Rockard Delgadillo claims that Rockstar/Take Two deliberately withheld information that would have kept Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas off the shelves of major retailers. The suit also charges Rockstar with having blamed hackers for code that was subsequently found to be programmed by the developers.

The reader response of this article has been varied, with some saying that Rockstar deserves what is coming to them. The simple fact is that Rockstar doesn’t deserve any of this. They didn’t “hide” code, they simply scraped the idea. Have you seen the hot coffee video? It looks like shit! I have seen music video’s that turn me on more then that crapfest.

Think about this logically, Rockstar programmed a game with an extra feature of “virtual sex”, they decided to scrap the idea, due to the fact that it was stupid looking and would not pass the rating board. Instead of rebuilding the entire code of the game to completely eliminate this feature, they stripped it from being accessed. Rockstar should not have to predict that a person with a Game Shark, and knowledge of a Memory Card trick would uncover this code. And since when did dry humping become so evil?? I hate to break the news to everyone out there, but the Grand Theft Auto series is made for adults, not children, the M on the cover means that it is advised that you are 17 or older to play the game. People put the blame on video games, not on parents. The rating system was implemented so parents could monitor what their children were asking them to buy. It says on the back that it contains “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs”… wait a fucking minute!!! Did that just say “Strong Sexual Content”??? This is the game box info as of its initial release, so why wasn’t this a tip of for parents?? Why can’t parents be held responsible? What are we afraid of??

If you have ANY evidence that Rockstar/Take Two is targeting children with their GTA series, let me know. If you can think of any (logical) reason letting a 15 year old play GTA is bad, let me know. I really want to hear the logical point of view on the other side of the fence.

P.S. I was going through adding the links as I do… and was going to add a link to the ESRB Rating Description Page. While doing so, I discovered that AO is described as “Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.” One thing that caught my eye was “prolonged scenes of intense violence”, doesn’t that count Manhunt, and a bunch of other M rated games?? As for the Strong Sexual Content that was already listed on the original box, it is described as “Graphic references to and/or depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity”. I’d say the ESRB did their job, and the parents didn’t!