AICN Games: Monki's Weekly Wrap-Up! Halo 3, John Woo and Doves!!

Greetings humans, Monki here with a steaming batch of game news for you.

A few pretty big stories hit this week. We see the launch of a huge new title from Blizzard and the PS3 finally does something that the XBox 360 can't. Oh yeah, and Quint is turning into Jobe from Lawnmower Man with his Halo 3 consumption...seriously...at least he's good.

Press Releases of the Week!

Finally, someone is taking advantage of the PS3's space advantage over the 360.

CHICAGO, IL - May 17, 2007 - Midway Games Inc., a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer, and Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced an exclusive PLAYSTATION 3 collector's edition for the highly anticipated Stranglehold. This limited edition will feature the game and a full-length version of John Woo's critically acclaimed action film "Hard Boiled" both on the same high-capacity PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc -- a feat not possible on any other gaming system other than PS3. The collector's edition will be available in limited quantity at select retailers for a suggested retail price in the U.S. of $69.95.

Stranglehold allows gamers to play a John Woo-directed action blockbuster movie, complete with two-fisted, stunt-laden gunplay and massive environmental destruction. Stranglehold is a collaboration with world renowned action film director John Woo's Tiger Hill Entertainment and the collector's edition is scheduled for a summer 2007 release exclusively on PS3. Stranglehold continues the story of Inspector Tequila, played by Chow Yun-Fat that started in 1992 with John Woo's action masterpiece "Hard Boiled". "Hard Boiled" appears courtesy of The Weinstein Company and Genius Products who are scheduled to release a 15th anniversary Two-Disc Ultimate Edition of the classic film via their Dragon Dynasty DVD label on July 24, 2007.

"We are very excited to be offering PS3 owners this exclusive collector's edition of Stranglehold, complete with John Woo's classic film 'Hard Boiled'," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Thanks to SCEA, the Blu-ray Disc Association and The Weinstein Company, fans will now be able to fully experience the world of John Woo in one complete and special package."

"The exclusive collector's edition of Stranglehold demonstrates the power of PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc and the total entertainment experience that can only be found on PlayStation 3," said Riley Russell, senior vice president Third Party Relations and general counsel, SCEA. "The 50GB capacity of Blu-ray disc allows PS3 content publishers to do things simply not possible on our competitor's 9GB DVD-based systems. Thanks to the advanced technology found in PS3, developers like Midway can truly realize their visions, bringing consumers even closer to the game."

More information about Stranglehold can be found online at www.strangleholdgame.com

"The 50GB capacity of Blu-ray disc allows PS3 content publishers to do things simply not possible on our competitor's 9GB DVD-based systems." ...OH SNAP! No he diii-uhhhnnt!

I hate to say it, but I see nothing but Blu-Ray displays at my local electronics stores...Anyone know when the $200 BD players are coming out...or when some good HD DVDs are coming out?

Blizzard announced the sequel to StarCraft in Korea. The country exploded.

SEOUL, South Korea - May 19, 2007 - Blizzard Entertainment today unveiled StarCraft II, the sequel to its award-winning real-time strategy game StarCraft, at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Seoul, South Korea. The announcement took place inside the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, in front of thousands of attendees, who received a presentation that included a StarCraft II cinematic trailer and a gameplay demonstration by the development team.

Designed to be the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, StarCraft II will feature the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard's signature approach to game balance. Each race will be further distinguished from the others, with several new units and new gameplay mechanics, as well as new abilities for some of the classic StarCraft units that will be making a reappearance in the game. StarCraft II will also feature a custom 3D-graphics engine with realistic physics and the ability to render several large, highly detailed units and massive armies on-screen simultaneously.

"With StarCraft II, we'll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more," stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We recognize that expectations are high following the long-running popularity of the original game, but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that StarCraft players and strategy gamers worldwide will enjoy."

StarCraft II will include a unique single-player campaign, as well as fast-paced online play through an upgraded version of Blizzard's renowned online gaming service, Battle.net. In addition, the game will come with a powerful, full-featured map editor that will put the same tools used by Blizzard's designers into the hands of players.

Blizzard is developing StarCraft II for simultaneous release on the Windows and Macintosh PC platforms. Further information about the game, including details on the single-player, multiplayer, and map-editor features, as well as system requirements, pricing, and availability, will be announced in the months ahead. To learn more about StarCraft II, please visit the official website at www.starcraft2.com.

Speaking as a loyal Mac owner, I'm happy to see that Blizzard is going to release both the Mac and PC versions simultaneously. Golf clap Blizzard...golf clap.

Pretty Images of the Week

I imagine John Woo walking into Midway's offices to check out the development process. Begin scene:

John Woo
Okay, what can you show me of the game?

Developer
Here is a scene where the hero character has to fight off enemies from all sides.

John Woo
It looks great, but can you put in more doves?

Developer
Excuse me? Having to code all tha...

John Woo
MORE DOVES!! I DEMAND MORE DOVES!! HAVEN'T YOU SEEN FACE/OFF?! MORE DOVES!

...annnnndd scene.

Seriously, this man loves doves. Even in polygon format. Freakin' radical.

Now THIS is a good teaser trailer.

I'm just curious how they got that character model to look so much like Merrick. The likeness is uncanny!

Monki's Seven Most Important Stories of the Week!

Go Texas! Bring those companies to the Lone Star State.

I can guarantee you that my ass would have been up there too. Alcohol + microphone = drunk Monki singing.

Spider-Man 3, summed up by AICN Games friend Billy the Kidd.

Bungie had a bit of trouble getting the Crackdown Halo 3 invites out. It's all fixed now and they've given everyone a few more days to play! Joyous rapture!

Halo 3 responsible for loss of productivity beginning September 25th, 2007.

"Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making...uhm..video games?" ...I guess Pearl Harbor sucked...just a little bit more than I miss you.

Obligatory WoW article. Hee-hee...he said "water mounts."

Monki's Plead for Sanity of the Week!

I never really played a lot of online video games. I'll be honest, I didn't play Halo 2 online except for when I was hanging out at a buddy's house. I didn't have an XBox Live account until I purchased my 360.

Of course, all of that was different back in the mid-90s before the "intarweb" became a household name. I'm an old-school dial-up kid. That's right, I'd crank on my 9600 baud modem and dial into my BBS of choice, BigToe, based here in Austin.

BigToe was just some guy who dug tech stuff, he had a brother who had a kid who liked gaming, so he set up a BBS with either 8 or 12 lines (the memory is a bit fuzzy) of dial-up goodness. BigToe is where I first experienced the joy of Doom and Doom 2 via APCI Doom, a shell that let up to four people play together over their modems. Digital bliss. Legends of the Red Dragon! Jesus! I'd wait for hours to let my character reset so I could get my extra turns to go hunting for gold and experience.

Everyone on BigToe knew everyone else, those new to the board were taken in and quickly became part of the group. Everyone was included.

Then the LAN parties started up when I was in high school. Quake and Quake 2 were the drugs of choice. At one point we had guys out on the back porch on folding tables playing along with those of us in the living room, kitchen, garage and bedrooms. Once again, everyone knew everyone else. If not, at least you knew that SOMEONE vouched for the guy eating Doritos and schooling your ass in Jailbreak in Quake 2. Life wasn't so bad.

Then it happened.

The internet exploded. Everyone I knew was getting on Prodigy or AOL and gaming wasn't too far behind. (Of course, Quake and Quake 2 were on the cusp of the internet, but cut me some slack, that was a decade ago.) Soon you could frag along with your pal in California from your den in Florida. Slaying some kid from Poughkeepsie while in your jammies in Denver.

At this point, when literally everyone was becoming connected, there was a disconnect from reality. People stopped seeing their digital adversaries as humans and started seeing them as targets. Soulless robotic bullet-catchers. The game became less of a game and more of a test of pride. Gentle teasing became outright shit-talking very quickly as people used anonymity to their favor.

This tide of anger hasn't stopped growing. We went from blowing someone into gibs in Quake 2 to tea-bagging in Halo 3.

But then, a few nights ago, I caught a glimpse of something miraculous. I was lucky enough to get myself into the Friends and Family multiplayer beta of Halo 3. For those of you who don't know, or don't care, the friends and family beta was set up for ...well... friends and family of Bungie and Microsoft. Only about 2,000 users had access to Halo 3 for about a week. To give you an idea of the exclusivity of that, as of writing this there are currently 293,721 Halo 3 players online.

I'm not mentioning my early access to brag...I'm mentioning it because in the brief amount of time we had access to it before the public, I experienced something that I had forgotten I had. I had a good time playing online with completely random strangers.

Every person in the F&F Beta was vouched for in some way by someone else. There were no children running around screaming into their microphones. No wanna-be rappers freestyling while playing a round of Crazy King in Snowbound. Females weren't afraid to talk on their microphones.

I added more friends to my buddy list in that week than I have since I've started playing online.

I'm telling you this now as a plea for our future. Our collective future. Wouldn't you rather have a fun time playing a round of Halo with some people online instead of getting pissed off when someone teabags you after a shotgun battle? No need to drop F-bombs while running around maps like a madman. Just relax...remember that the person behind the Master Chief mask you just killed is a human being too. I hate to say it, but...can't we all just get along?

Video-riffic Wrap-Up of the Week!

Before I head back off to Halo 3 with the angry 12 year olds, I leave with a video that I find remarkable. It was done by Australian machinima-maker Thuyen Nguyen. Excellent work here sir.

"While things change, the sensation remains the same."

I'll see you kids next week. If you are looking for a Halo 3 match-up with someone who is just decent, drop me an email with your gamertag and we can go nuts. Until then, back up the tree I go!

-Monki