April Fools? The Joke's on Gaming!
With stories like these over the last month, who needs April Fool's day? Full rant inside!
So how many times have you been fooled so far this morning? It's that special day of the year when everyone - particularly your favourite gaming sites - tries their darndest to trick you, big style. But at the risk of being party poopers, we'd just like to point at some stories from the last month or so, and ask: who needs April Fool's day when you've got these corkers?
The Headlines!
Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka, Tosihiro Nagoshi to Leave Sega!
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| Nakked Off: Yuji to call it a day? |
Far more interesting was a paragraph suggesting what all Sega fans fear most: that Yuji Naka, Yu Suzuki and Toshihiro Nagoshi will all follow the lead of Mizuguchi-san and do a runner. "There are reports from Japanese insiders that the mood is very bleak at Sega. Some say that Sega president Hisao Oguchi, who opposed the Sammy merger, will have no option but to resign, and that key Sega staff, such as Nagoshi, Naka and Suzuki, will follow." That's good to hear isn't it, chaps?
Nokia to Unveil N-Gage 2 in Two Weeks!
An official email sent out by Nokia's UK PR agency last week seemingly confirms that N-Gage 2 is closer than any of us though. "You've heard the rumours. You've read the hype. Now, see the reality!" Says the email, inviting journalists to an event taking place in London on April 14. The N-Gage gamedeck, which has tried its very best to be accepted within the industry, has struggled to gain a footing because of design flaws, such as game changing process, piracy issues, and making you look like a twat if you use it as a phone. These are all issues expected to be sorted with the N-Gage 2. The invite continues: "Join us on Wednesday 14 April to be one of the first to see into the revolutionary future of 21st century mobile gaming - no crystal ball necessary!" We will, of course, have all the details in April 14, no jokes included.
New id Game to Offer Fire Extinguishers!
Er, what? At his GDC speech last week, id Software boss John Carmack revealed that Doom 3 is nearly finished (perhaps that'll look like a joke in a year's time), before "announcing details" of id's next game. Or so you would have thought from some reports. He announced: "We're hoping that our next title will be able to reuse at least some of Doom's assets." You what? "It's going to be some near-future [game]. A present day or near-future thing where we can reuse the fire extinguishers, the waste baskets and some of those things like that in the game." Excellent! That's just the kind of game we were hoping for.
Mizuguchi to Create Rez 2!
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| Mizuguchi: Rezzed Up |
Games Magazine Cover Stories
Are really starting to annoy us. Games magazines are the first ones to bitch about the "credibility" of online gaming publications, often remarking, "Don't believe what you read online!" or "ALL the reporters are kids!" - when gamers are clearly spoilt for choice when it comes to quality, reliable online gaming sources these days. Utterly pathetic.
But what makes it worse is the astonishing irony that, taking almost any games mag at random, you'll see at least a couple of LIES splashed all over the cover and throughout the magazine. We won't mention names, but one magazine on sale in the UK right now effectively claims an amazing "World Exclusive" Halo 2 vs Killzone style head-to-head, having played neither. It's the same magazine that "played" MGS3 and Halo 2 at last year's E3 (er, yeah). It also claims "world exclusives" with Onimusha 3 and Breakdown, both of which were obviously covered online some time ago. Better yet, another UK based PS2 magazine has been claiming GT4 "exclusives" for months, when actually it's just more from Prologue each month - yep, the same Prologue all the online guys got their hands on last December and covered to death. In fact, the magazine's Prologue coverage kicked off with the cover story "Gran Turismo 4 - World exclusive first verdict!" - with no mention of "Prologue" inside at all. And it's not just the UK mags that are up to no good either. It really is April Fools every issue with these jokers. Well done guys!
New Screenshot!
And the Rest!
Nintendo Europe Announces £10m Giveaway
Sega publishing Sammy games in Japan and Europe
Kevin Bachus Moves to Infinium
Death by Degrees - Tekken: Nina Williams
XSN Sports games Canned
Ninja Gaiden Difficulty
Games like Halo 2 and Doom 3 are so God-like that the developers need only release one screenshot at a time, every couple of months or so. Because after all, everyone is going to buy them anyway. Why bother keeping your fans happy with information and screens? And in the case of the latter company, which might have an entire office floor dedicated to suing magazines and websites, the drip-feed strategy is all the more amusing when you consider the vast information, asset and code leaks for its two biggest titles in development right now (the other one was Quake IV). Thanks guys! It's a pretty curious strategy when compared to other massive games like MGS3 and Half-Life 2 which have both seen tonnes of screens and media released in the last year or so.
Don't get us wrong, there's nothing actually wrong with this. But it is quite funny in some twisted way we can't quite land our finger on. Although no different to Microsoft's recent similar giveaway.
It's well and truly started. Get in line for Samurai Showdown 20XX. And some other games too.
Only time will tell what this one's really all about.
The game previously known as Nina gets a final name, complete with awkward hyphen + colon! Superb!
For this year at least. Oh well. At least we can look forward to loads more ESPN games from Sega. Oh, hold on...
This one caught everyone off guard didn't it? Still, Ninja Gaiden has unquestionably been the highlight of an active Q1. Here's to many more defining titles throughout the rest of the year.
Satoru Iwata Video Interview - the late Nintendo president spoke with Kikizo in 2004 as 'Nintendo Revolution' loomed.
Kaz Hirai Video Interview - the first of Kikizo's interviews with the man who went on to become global head of Sony.
Ed Fries Video Interview - one of Xbox's founders discusses an epic journey from Excel to Xbox.
Yu Suzuki, the Kikizo Interview - we spend time with one of gaming's most revered creators.
Tetris - The Making of an Icon: Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers reveal the fascinating story behind Tetris
Rare founders, Chris and Tim Stamper - their only interview? Genuinely 'rare' sit down with founders of the legendary studio.
The History of First-Person Shooters - a retrospective, from Maze War to Modern Warfare