Bungie: Sorry for Costly Legendary Edition
Special version of Halo 3 was a "tough thing to price".
by Rob Burman, IGN UK

UK, March 19, 2007 - Bungie's Frank O'Connor has apologised for the $129.99 price tag on the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 but reckons "hardcore collectors will be pleased with the end result".

Last Friday, Microsoft announced firm details for the super duper version of this year's biggest 360 game, which comes with two behind-the-scenes discs and is packaged in a snazzy replica Spartan helmet.

Originally the Legendary Edition was set to retail at $99.99 and many have already pre-ordered at that price. Speaking on Bungie's official website, O'Connor conceded the new, higher price was unlikely to alter, despite the usual 'subject to change' caveat from Microsoft. "It's fair to say that these things usually don't change. So apologies for that," he said.

He went on to claim that nobody was forcing the price on Halo fans and that fans could always "buy the regular or Limited Edition and forego the thrill of [their] very own Spartan helmet" if they want.

O'Connor also noted that Bungie staffers have been placing their own orders for the Legendary Edition from retailers because it is so limited - each one is individually numbered - and they're "simply not guaranteed to get one".

Source

Ok now $130 for a Special SPECIAL edition of Halo3 is still stupid. I almost feel insulted that they want so much for an extra disc and a helmet that I can't wear. If I could actually wear that helmet then I might, MIGHT, consider paying for that package. As is I'm trying to justify buying the $69.99 CE version of it. It may just be me, but I imagine a lot of you feel the same way, but after getting shafted with Halo 2 I am very weary about buying the 3rd game. The ending of the 2nd one left me feeling more pissed off then pumped to play the third game. Now their new marketing slogan feels like a slap in the face, "Finish the Fight". Why?! Why do I want to finish the fight I started over 3 years ago that I should I have finished then!

So Symphony of the Night is hitting this coming Wednesday. And I'm very excited over it, but wasn't it supposed to support widescreen? Oh wait it does. It adds those stupid FUCKING boarders that all these classic titles use. This has really got to fucking stop. I could run the game on my old PSX and get visuals that look just as good and stretched to fit my 16:9 TV. If you are going to support widescreen, then make the damn game widescreen.

First time this happened to me, I had downloaded Frogger. Now I wasn't expecting much from a 400 point game as it at least had an updated graphics option so I could play Frogger in "newer" graphics. Then I started to download other classic games that just didn't have any updated graphic options and these crappy background images.

So my REAL beef is that by adding these background images the game can now claim it is in HD! Talk about a cheesy selling point.

Ok thats the end of my Rant, and now I can look forward to playing some more Castlevania as I have finished PoR at 100%.

First off let me reference what I am referring to in this post, EGM's Latest Podcast. In it the guy from Too Human is bringing up many many issues in the current games industry.

I have to agree with him on almost everything he said. The industry has to change. People like IGN, EGM, etc need to no longer be shown half finished games and expected to figure out what the final product is going to be like from there. I don't think that a total blackout is what the consumers want. I have no problem is a company says "Hey we're working on a action game called Too Human, but no one is going to be able to play it until its done." That's fine, but waiting until its done before you begin a 6-12month marketing campaign for the game I don't agree with.

I think the publisher should go to the developer and ask "Is this a finished product(AKA under x number of small bugs)?" If it is then they are told they have 3 months to try and get as many of them fixed as they can, but if they aren't, they aren't and it's shipped. All the while those 3 months the marketing campaign takes off, media reviews right after based on that code(shouldn't be game play affecting bugs), print ads, etc. They continue for 3 months after launch to try and ensure continued purchases.

Big thing being that we don't see anything until that X point is reached. Then we start to get screen shots/video/demo/etc. Then we aren't seeing CG demos of what could be, a bad buggy version of what is going to be, and false promises that were made.

Will any of this ever happen, yes. I think to a large degree you won't be seeing anything from publishers until they feel their product is finalized enough for people to start passing judgment on it. While this is going to seem like a blow to the consumer, it will actually help us in the long run. We don't need a DOA4 that is so buggy it erases our save games, just cause the publisher wants it out the door after hyping it up as a lunch game.

Yes there is still going to need to be previews, we can't get away from that. In this day and age, us consumers have been burned too many times by games like Force Commander to not be frugal with our purchases. I think it needs to get back to the old Shareware days where you had a large enough chunk of game play to pass judgment on how a game will play and if you should spend your hard earned money on it.

The things I don't agree on is that a bad review at E3 is going to make me want to play the game less. That is something I've watched over the years, reviews, previews, etc mean nothing in the end. The only way that an E3 review would throw me off is if the game was due out within a month of the E3 showing. Now with E3 going the way of the Dodo, I hope a lot of this crap goes away with it. As a gamer I don't like to get false promises.

I've added a news section to my Blog which I hope to be expanding real soon which will display more headlines. Until then enjoy the 1UP.com headlines!

BTW I'm designing with FireFox, so I may run into some issues with IE until I get to work and have a chance to test it out.

Games for Windows Live Launches May 8
But will you pay $50 a year to play with 360 gamers?
By Patrick Klepek, 03/14/2007
We already examined much of the difficulty Microsoft faces in adapting their wildly successful Xbox Live service onto the Games for Windows platform, so let's skip right to the point: Microsoft announced today Games for Windows Live will launch on May 8th, alongside Halo 2 (playable only on Vista -- don't ask us why).

Shadowrun, allowing for Xbox 360 and PC owners to play against each other given the PC user has forked over $50 for a year-long subscription to the service, ships in June. UNO will also launch on the service later this year, and will also support cross-platform play. No word on whether Microsoft will start making simultaneous Arcade releases.

Go figure, it launches on my birthday of all days. Well I've already got my 360 Subscription so I won't have to worry about paying the $50. I'm very excited as I like the way the Xbox Live service works for most games. There are some that really suck when it comes to how they implemented the online element but in general its been done very well. I won't how PC gamers are going to adopt to it?

Then again there has been multiple game matching services up and running on the PC for some time now. I think every game I install has a different one, XFire, GameSpy, etc. I think a unified one would be GREAT.

Blu-ray Outsells HD-DVD For Second Month Running
Sells 2:1 against HD-DVD in February.
by Gerry Block

March 13, 2007 - Trade magazine Video Business reported today that Blu-ray outsold HD-DVD in February for the second month running. According to the magazine's figures, roughly 250,000 Blu-ray movie titles were sold in February compared to only 125,000 HD-DVDs. In January movie sales for each format were roughly the same.

Debate over what factors are contributing to Blu-ray's recent dominance has generally focused on the impact of the PlayStation 3. Somewhat less than 2-million PS3s have been sold since launch, which effectively means a roughly similar number of HD-DVD and Blu-ray players are presently in circulation.

Some within the movie industry questioned whether PS3 gamers would choose to use their consoles extensively for movie playback in addition to gaming. Current sales figures would suggest that a fair number are, which hardly surprises us since hardcore gamers tend to also be big fans of new technology and movies.

With a second month of leading sales in the bag the Blu-ray camp is gaining confidence. There won't be an end to the format war any time soon, but if a few more months of Blu-ray outselling HD-DVD 2:1 stack up the industry will of course take notice.

While I've seen various results on this, nothing is really telling me that the market is swarming at all to these new Hi-Def formats. I know personally I am not sold on either of them. My current DVDs look GREAT and cost at most half the price of the same title in Hi-Def. For the visual difference it makes on my 32" Widescreen TV, I won't be forking over any hard earned money for either of these anytime soon.

EA Los Angeles (EALA) is pleased to announce that the highly anticipated Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ for the PC has officially gone gold and will be on stores shelves Nationwide March 28.

Fast and fluid gameplay, a breakthrough single player campaign, the ability to transform online battles into a spectator sport, next-generation graphics, and an epic story with full-motion video sequences featuring top Hollywood talent, mark the return of the genre-defining Command & Conquer™ series.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars is rated "T" (Teen) by the ESRB and has a US MSRP of $49.99. A special, numbered collector's edition will be available simultaneously and has a US MSRP of $59.99. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars: Kane Edition is a definitive collectible for any Command & Conquer or Real-time Strategy fan and will feature an enormous amount of exclusive content including a bonus DVD with a behind the scenes documentary, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, a series of gameplay strategy videos, and more. The Kane Edition will also feature exclusive in-game content and wallpapers.

Source

So I can't wait to get my copy here in the next few weeks. I'm really looking forward to this game after playing the demo until I picked up Def Jam Icon. I can't to see what this new race plays like. Not to mention the return of Kane has me intrigued.

Not to mention that the first month I own the game I will stand a chance at beating my best friend in Command & Conquer. A feat that is almost unheard of in our gaming past.