Activision About To Screw Up Guitar Hero DLC

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From Destructoid:

“Guitar Hero 5 downlodable content will be compatible with future Guitar Hero and Band Hero games,” a rep told us, “however the advancements and innovations made to the franchise do not allow for downloadable content to be backwards compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour.”

Those advancements and innovations include a harder drumming mode and a tweak to how vocals get powered up, but by not allowing new DLC to be played on older games, Activision risks lower DLC sales and, more importantly, the ire of the gaming community that in large part has made Guitar Hero a success.

From the same page in the comments section:

Well f**k you too Activision.

Tony Hawk Trying Really Really Hard

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The upcoming Tony Hawk Ride comes with a skateboard peripheral, unveiled at E3, for use on your living room floor.  The idea is you re meant to fake skate by standing on the board, pushing your other foot along the side to mimic gaining speed, and then to spin the board to create tricks.

It sounds absolutely crazy, and we’re just waiting for the ow i just totally smashed my face into my plasma screen tweets for rides gone wrong, but we re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Even after watching a video that, at least to us, is a little cringe-inducing.  Pro skateboarders having a try at fake skateboarding is sort of, well, wrong.  The whole point is to have poseurs like us think we re really skateboarding.  It s hard to believe pro skaters like Paul Rodriguez would really be that enthusiastic about pulling off an ollie when they do that in their real lives every day.

Anyway, here’s the video.

Stop The Bullshot

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Joystiq had a funny piece yesterday regarding some screenshots they received for the Wii version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare:

All jokes aside … have a look at the dead guy in the foreground of the above shot. Does something look a little odd to you Perhaps a closer look {link no longer active} is in order. And those clouds  {link no longer active}. Didn’t we see them in our Betamax copy of Apocalypse Now?

Companies have been using photoshop to touch up screenshots for years now, but blogs have been getting wise to them for just as long, going so far as to coin a term for those kinds of screenshots: bullshots.

The Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare example is a bit more egregious than most, but in general we believe the game’s need to market themselves.  The slow erosion of consumer confidence once those bullshots are found out is something that can be tough to reverse, so keep in mind, if you want to make your game look better, leave it up to the developers.

Unboxing The New PlayStation 3

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Sony’s recent unveiling of the PlayStation 3 was handled beautifully at their Gamescom press event in Germany this week, but it was what they managed to do back in the States that should be appreciated.

Shortly after the announcement of the new PS3 version, Sony started delivering the console, brand new and in a retail box, to a multitude of press outlets just minutes after the event wrapped up.

Engadget, Kotaku {link no linger active}, Joystiq and more were able to post their hands-on impressions with the compact new machine, with most of them creating their own unboxing videos for their readers.

Sony did it right: big announcement followed directly by hands-on press coverage from around the world, all leading up to a global launch in just a matter of days.  Kudos.

Video Of The Day: Don’t Try To Be Cool

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CNN has been trying to reach a larger, hipper audience through segments that really speak to the youth, like What The… and Just Sayin .   Oh CNN, you used to be a real news network.

Jon Stewart, a longtime antagonist of the original cable news network, took the opportunity to highlight CNN’s cringe-worthy efforts on one of this week s episodes of The Daily Show, and it’s our video of the day.

The moral of the story?   Don’t try too hard to be cool, because it can backfire with a fury.

Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort Push Continues

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Wii Sports Resort was July’s biggest selling game, according to NPD, and that was with less than a week on sale at the tail end of the month.  We analyzed the Wii Sports marketing push in our exclusive feature two weeks ago, and we noticed it is continuing with a new TV spot for the U.S. audience.

Gotta love the summer feel of these US spots.For curiosity’s sake, we took a look at what Nintendo’s European and Japanese arms are doing to promote the game. 

Below is the latest European spot, starring UK golfer Melissa Reid and Italian basketballer (and current New York Knick) Danilo Gallinari.
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The UK campaign is a little bit different, going the informative route and discussing the Wii Motion Plus in more detail.
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Lastly, Nintendo’s home country gets an ad spot that isn t as good looking as the others, but shares similar sentiments by showing people at play with the game.
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We prefer the American spots for their clean look and immersive visuals, but what do you think?

Killzone 2: Even The Credits Look Good

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It’s not often that a game can look visually stunning from the first cinematic right through to the end of the game, but Killzone 2 manages to do that and more.  The graphical feast continues right past the final confrontation with the enemy and well into the credits sequence — that s showing some care to the user’s experience.

From SubmarineChannel:

The credit sequence of the higly anticipated FPS game Killzone 2 for the Playstation 3 were made by the Dutch 3D designer Joost Korngold of Renascent. “They first hired me to redesign the main game interface,” recalls Korngold calling from his studio in Amsterdam,  “but creatively speaking, I was most interested in designing the credit sequence. “

Guerilla Games gave Korngold carte blanche in creating the main credits and provided him with a few dozen in-game 3D models such as the game levels, vehicels, weapons and characters. “Those were the building blocks that I used to create the compositions,” says Korngold. “I spent one month freaking with the game models and based on that I developed the graphic style. ”

Take a look at his beautiful handiwork here.

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Gamescom: How Do You Market Love?

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Heavy Rain is one of PlayStation 3’s most anticipated games to come out, with no release date set in stone.  The game looks to be extremely story-heavy, with a focus on the characters and script rather than the gameplay.

The latest trailer, which debuted today at Gamescom, deals with a father and his children, and poses the question, “How far are you willing to go for love?”
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Pretty heavy stuff, and a marketing challenge that Sony seems to be handling by portraying the game more as a movie.But will gamers pony up $60 for what looks like an interactive movie

Borderlands Box Art Blowing Minds

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2K Games has some huge stakes riding on the upcoming shooter Borderlands.  Other 2K games like Bioshock 2, Mafia II and Red Dead Redemption have been delayed to 2010, and the holiday season already has some heavy hitters from other publishers, including Halo 3: ODST and Modern Warfare 2.

So it helps when you release a box cover like this one.

The striking image is meant to communicate that the game will “blow your mind,” but the intended consequence of such an image means the gaming blogosphere will pour over it, as has been the case.

2K Games has been proactive with a response as well, with developer Gearbox Software and its CEO responding through IGN:

“It’s certainly an extremely provocative image for a box cover and I think some will call it controversial,” [Randy] Pitchford said. “Certainly there were some people inside of Gearbox and likely also at 2k that weren’t sure about this approach and may have felt compelled to go with something a little less provocative.”

“In conversations I had with Christoph Hartmann, President of 2k Games, it was really clear to me that he really believed in the value of the risks we were taking with the game and how it pushed things forward and he really was eager to push things with the box cover as well,” he added.

“Judging from the response so far, it looks like it was the right call,” he said. “It makes me really glad that we’re in a world now where gamers want freshness and originality and people like us are being rewarded and applauded for taking risks and pushing things and that is certainly what I see happening with Borderlands.”

When was the last time you saw box art make an under-the-radar game (sorry, 2K) into an anticipated holiday shooter this quickly?  Everything (even a game’s cover) matters.