Thursday, April 24, 2008
 So a pirated copy of the PAL (Australia, New Zealand, and the EU) version of Grand Theft Auto IV - in part, the subject of the cover story of this week's Phoenix - hit the internet last night. Presumably, someone leaked an advance review copy (don't look at us, we haven't even gotten it yet.) But here's the thing: the people who are playing it illegally - some of them, at least - are not too smart. Why? Because in addition to posting a series of videos to GameTrailers.com, they're playing it while signed in to Xbox Live, meaning that Microsoft, if they so chose, could quite easily find out their names and billing information. And, from the sounds of what Xbox Live honcho Major Nelson told Kotaku, they're planning on doing exactly that. So way to go guys, you're about to usher in a new era of paranoia from game publishers. What's next, watermarks?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
So there was a lot of excitement over what Microsoft had planned for the Game Developers Conference, which is going on right now in San Francisco. Turns out that the big announcement was Gears of War 2, which, while awesome, is hardly an earth-shattering surprise; the original was, after all, a huge hit, and for a while was the best reason to own a 360. But we're not complaining, and we will dutifully post the teaser that was posted to YouTube, like, less than an hour ago:
Friday, October 19, 2007
Last Friday, the Phoenix visited the Central Square offices of Harmonix, the video game development house behind the first two Guitar Hero products, and, with help from their new parent company, MTV, the upcoming, hotly-anticipated Rock Band, which, as you may have heard, takes Guitar Hero's authentic musical simulator feel and stretches that to accommodate a drummer and vocalist. There's video forthcoming, but in the meantime, we present our conversation with Sean Baptiste, their director of community development, and one of the game's de facto spokespeople. One of the things that came across that might not come through in text, though, was just how passionate and genuinely excited about Rock Band he was. You get a clear sense talking to him that he will gladly talk about it for hours, and never lose interest. He even told us as much. Anyway, here it is after the jump:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
 Microsoft officially announced what we've been expecting all along: the 360 will be getting a $50 price cut across the board on all models starting tomorrow. The standard model will now check in at $349 with the "elite" model setting you back $449. Makes sense that Microsoft would do this now: there are some amazing-looking games coming in the next few weeks and months, including Halo 3, Rock Band, Bio Shock, Blue Dragon, Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero 3, Mass Effect, Jericho, Lost Odyssey, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box... you get the idea: lots of games with greatness potential. So, of course, Microsoft's press released focused on Madden: The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than
any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates
that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360," said Mitch Koch,
corporate vice president, Global Retail Sales and Marketing Group,
Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.. "On the eve of the
best holiday games lineup ever and the launch of 'Madden NFL 08,' there
has never been a better time to jump into Xbox 360.
Admittedly, yes, Madden is the top-selling game every year. But it just drives us nuts that more people don't actively reject this game when all it amounts to is a roster upgrade with some incredibly stupid bells and whistles that don't enhance the experience in any way shape or form. Remember this?
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