EA's Medal of Honor Under Fire for Letting Players be the Taliban
Electronic Arts' Medal of Honor game is under fire because it lets you play as the Taliban against the U.S. The video game will be released in October. Fox News interviews a mother, whose son died in the war, who doesn't think a game that lets someone play the opposition in a current war should be sold. The opposite argument is that it is a multiplayer game so someone has to take the other side. Take a look:
CVGreports that Rockstar Games has canceled plans to appear to the June 15th E3 Expo. Rockstar complained that they were not given enough time.
"In the end, we feel we simply don't have enough time to show as much as we would like in the time available," a spokesperson said. Rockstar was planning to show Max Payne 3 and LA Noire at the show.
There should be plenty of other exciting game announcements at E3. Rockstar will use press conferences/events to launch its future games, which are expected to include Max Payne 3 and LA Noire.
Marketwatch reports that data from the NPD Group indicates that April was another bad month for video game sales. Marketwatch says "relatively weak set of releases failed to entice consumers." Sales were down 37% compared to April, 2009. NPD Group says part of the reason was the Easter holiday, but that doesn't fully explain a 37% plunge.
NPD blamed part of the weakness on a difficult comparison with 2009's April period, which included the Easter holiday, while this year's did not. It was the industry's worst year-over-year decline since July of last year.
"In April '09, consumers attributed $55 million of industry sales to Easter as a purchase occasion, which would account for about 21% of the decline from last year since Easter purchasing happened in March this year," wrote NPD analyst Anita Frazier in the report Thursday.
PopCap Games has created a Plants vs. Zombies HD app for the iPad. Plants vs. Zombies has sold more than 650,000 units for the iPod Touch/iPhone. The Plants vs. Zombies HD app for iPad offers all 50 levels of Adventure and QuickPlay modes as well as Survival mode from the original Apple Macintosh and Windows PC game. It also includes four all-new achievements and 18 mini-games. One of the achievements, Buttered Popcorn, enables players to attack zombies by first "buttering" them up before firing corn-cob cannons at them. To defeat the growing hordes of zombies, players can touch them to place butter on their heads.
"The iPad is a fantastic platform for gaming, and Plants vs. Zombies HD allows us to show off the great new features and functionality of this exciting device," said Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. "In this adaptation, we've focused on the iPad's Multi-Touch capabilities and opportunities for new gameplay like the Buttered Popcorn mini-game that will excite both new and current players."
The game can be downloaded from iTunes here. It costs $9.99.
Bride and Groom Create 8-bit Video Game Wedding Invitations
Offbeat Bride reports on a couple that created clever 8-bit video game wedding invitations. You can watch the video invitation below and check out the clever packaging here. Take a look:
Rockstar Games has brought its Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars to the iPhone. MTV Multiplayer says the touch controls make driving around problematic. The game costs $9.99.
Here is a demo of the game from TouchArcade. Take a look:
SurfaceScapes: A Role-Playing Game Project for Microsot Surface
A game called SurfaceScapes was created by Carnegie Mellon University students for the Microsoft Surface Table. The game was based on D&D and was created to show how role-playing games can work using Surface technology.
The objective of the SurfaceScapes project is to create a proof-of-concept for playing tabletop role-playing games on the Microsoft Surface Table. We will be using Dungeons and Dragons as a basis for our prototype, with the option for future expansion to other role-playing games. SurfaceScapes will provide Game Masters and players with a set of features to enhance the combat and role-playing aspects of tabletop games. This will include the ability to interact with the digital environment using real objects such as miniatures and provide automated calculations and visual and audio feedback for actions performed by the player and non-player characters. We are taking traditional tabletop role-playing games to the next level, adding a new layer of immersive and intuitive gaming to the Microsoft Surface Table and assisting both GMs and players in enjoying exciting and engaging adventures.
Microsoft Surface seems perfect for role-playing and strategy type games. Here's a walkthrough of the SurfaceScapes game.
CNET has a review here of a new football game for the iPhone from Gameloft called NFL 2010. The game isn't going to rival the Madden console games but it doesn't sound bad for $4. What's interesting here is that other game publishers can make mobile NFL football games besides Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts has an exclusive NFL license for
consoles and PCs but it doesn't extend to mobile games. That does mean EA won't create a Madden iPhone game and dominate anyway but they will have rivals in the mobile world without an exclusive license with the NFL.
Internet Retailerreports that GameFly.com, a game rental website, has launched a site called Ponged that offer free flash games.
Ponged.com is more than just a straightforward gaming site. GameFly.com built the site with Flash technology that lets users play games on a full screen. Players with web-enabled Wii and PS3 consoles can also use tools to share games and chat in real-time. "Ponged.com provides all players with an extensive library of great games handpicked by our staff of hard-core gamers," says GameFly.com co-founder and senior vice president of business development and content Sean Spector.
On Ponged.com gamers can search by keyword and by categories such as most popular, highest rated and recently added. "Ponged.com provides the best Flash games out there, free of charge," says Spector.
Whether Ponged is a success or not for GameFly obviously will depend on the quality of the games. They have a good blog here that describes new games that have been added to the site.
The Georgia Tech Augmented Environments Lab and the Savannah College of Art and Design have designed an interesting augmented reality game called "ARhrrrr." The game involves killing zombies but not the innocent people inside a zombie-stricken city.
The phone provides a window into a 3d town overrun with zombies. Point the camera at our special game map to mix virtual and real world content. Civilians are trapped in the town, and must escape before the zombies eat them! From your vantage point in a helicopter overhead, you must shoot the zombies to clear the path for the civilians to get out. Watch out though as the zombies will fight back, throwing bloody organs to bring down your copter. Move the phone quickly to dodge them. You can also use Skittles as tangible inputs to the game, placing one on the board and shooting it to trigger an explosion.
One interesting feature of the game is that you can place actually skittles inside the game and they turn into bombs. Take a look:
G4TV previews some of the big games expected to be revealed at E3 Expo 2009. G4TV will have its E3 coverage here beginning June 1st. Some of the big titles at E3 include Alpha Protocol, God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Heavy Rain, Bayonetta, Bioshock 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Final Fantasy XIII and Halo 3. Take a look:
Moshi Monsters is growing in popularity. The site has 1.8 million users. Reuters says the game combines elements of Japan's tamagotchi craze with educational challenges and online networking. Moshi Monsters also includes a virtual world that has its own currency called Rox. You gain more currency by solving puzzles.
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Trailer
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a new Wii and DS game being devloped by Sega under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto. The game will take players to Olympic venues where they can choose from a cast of playable characters. The Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games video game sold over 10 million copies worldwide so Sega is hoping this Winter Games sequel will be another big hit. Alpine Skiing and Speed Skating are a couple of the events that will be part of Winter Games with more events to be announced throughout the year. The game is due out by the end of 2009. MTV has more details. Here's the trailer:
Flying Pizza Kitty is a website with interesting animated comic strips and little time killer online games. The graphics are low quality and old school but that just seems to make the concept of this pizza flinging kitty more fun and amusing.
President Bush showed quick reflexes when an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at him two weeks ago during a press conference in Iraq. No one should be throwing things at the U.S. President but the incident has provided inspiration for the creation of funny animated graphics and free web games. Dvice has posted a round-up of the top ten Bush shoe dodging games. Some of the better ones include Sock and Awe, Bush Shoe Incident and Bush vs. Attack of the Shoes. In the last two games you play the President as you try and avoid incoming shoes.
CVG 
Marketwatch 
Internet Retailer 
