AICN GAMES: Monki's Weekly Wrap-Up From Last Week At The Beginning Of This Week!!
Greetings humans, Monki here again with some more video game news and info from the world.
Did you pick up your copy of Crackdown this week? I did on launch day and good lord I've been having a fun time with it. The co-op mode is fantastic and the world is just large enough to have plenty of space to bound around in, killing various gang members and taking their shoulder mounted missile launchers.
I can imagine once you level everything up to 4 stars and have finished off all the bosses things can get a little repetitive, but right now I'm having a great time working my way through the world bouncing around from building to building. Good times.
This week brings some more finger pointing by the media related to video game violence. I'll be talking about that further down. (It's hard not to jump right into the bitch-fest though.)
One last thing before we get started, have you submitted your art for the 8 Bit contest yet? All art is accepted, be it painted or digitally created. Just keep it original and mail it to aicn.monki@gmail.com in the next couple of weeks! Remember, your art could be hanging on the walls of a really for real gallery!
Alright, time to jump on in.
Correction of the Week!
I'm going to start off this column with a quick correction from last week's article.
It seems when I went off on my rant about Quake I missed something. A reader by the name of Dan W. let me know that Quake was NOT the first "true 3-d" title to hit the market.
Apparently Bethesda Softworks released Terminator: Future Shock before Quake actually hit the market.
Checking the Wiki for the game, it seems as though it is in fact true 3-d, but it does use some sprites like the old school games.
So maybe Quake was the first non-sprite based title? Anyway, thanks for keeping tabs on the crap I write in this article!
Do you see any glaring errors in this article? Send them in and maybe you too can end up in the next week's column.
Press Releases of the Week!
So, this release had my buddy Dan (from Dan's Games of the Week) creaming in his khakis. He has been a fan of the Wing Commander series for years and actually is featured in the Wing Commander movie. (Yeah, remember, they made one.) Of course, Dan just had a voice-over line as a ship commander in some crazy space battle scene. But still, that is one more voice part in a Freddy Prince Jr. than I have. Anyway, new Wing Commander game:
Redwood City, Calif., - February 23, 2007 - Electronic Arts today announced the return of its beloved Wing Commander franchise with Wing Commander Arena in development for the Xbox LIVE Arcade*. With up to 16 players, Wing Commander Arena offers the largest multi-player melee experience to date on Xbox LIVE Arcade. The game is scheduled to go live worldwide on the Arcade service in Summer 2007.
Wing Commander Arena is a fast-paced space combat game where players can team up to attack other teams of ships. The game introduces the classic franchise to an arcade style experience that allows up to 16 players online in battle at once. Players can propel their customized ship through space, fire torpedoes and unleash deadly gravity bombs as they try to climb the leader board. Online players will compete for Frag count, high score and dueling stats.
"We're really excited to deliver unparalleled multi-player arcade action," said Chip Lange, EA Vice President. "The design for Wing Commander will appeal to both long-time fans of the franchise and immediately engage anyone who wants the melee style action of an arcade shooter."
Wing Commander Arena will feature four styles of play: single player, multi-team, multi-player free for all and multi-player duel. Within the game there are eight game maps that include team maps, free for all maps and dueling maps, so Wing Commander Arena offers a gameplay experience for every Arcade gamer, whether they want a quick ten minutes of action or a longer more immersive game.
Wing Commander Arena is produced and published by Electronic Arts and cooperatively developed with Gaia Industries. This is the second EA title for Xbox LIVE Arcade with EA's first title Boom Boom Rocket set to launch this Spring.
*Players must have an Xbox LIVE marketplace account to play Wing Commander Arena.
16 player dogfights? Tiiiight.
So, checking in with the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise, I received this release for a new title hitting the DS:
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - February 19, 2007 - Fresh off of the success of Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy, Destineer announces today the second title in its Fullmetal Alchemist series: the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game for Nintendo DS.
A completely accurate translation of the popular Fullmetal Alchemist trading card series by Press Pass, Inc (formerly JoyRide Entertainment), the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game brings the collectible strategy game to the Nintendo DS with nearly 500 cards, a variety of play modes, and extensive touch screen support.
Featuring the most popular characters from one of the top-rated anime programs on Adult Swim, the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game allows you to battle against both AI-controlled opponents and friends via the Nintendo DS' Wi-Fi capabilities. Earn new cards in Character mode, learn to play in Tutorial mode, or even build your ideal deck in Fantasy mode. With every card from the original trading card set and the complete Blood and Water expansion, the Nintendo DS version of the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game has everything that both trading card fans and Fullmetal Alchemist aficionados could want, including:
Multiple play modes, including Single match, Character mode, Fantasy mode, and Multiplayer via Wi-Fi
The complete rule set from the Press Pass Fullmetal Alchemist trading card game
Unlockable characters like Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Father Cornello and Lust, complete with voiceovers from the original English cast
Extensive Touch Screen support: Shuffle and move cards with the DS stylus. You can even tear open booster packs!
Build and save your own custom decks
Sounds, music and voices from the Fullmetal Alchemist series on Adult Swim
The Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game will transmute into stores this summer. More information can be found online at www.fullmetal-alchemistgame.com.
I haven't played a lot of card games since someone stole my Magic: The Gathering deck in middle school, but I wouldn't mind checking this thing out. Lot harder for someone to steal your deck when it is virtual! Mwuahaha! ...sorry.
Pretty Images of the Week!
Last week I brought you the Spider-Man 3 game trailer, this week I bring you some pretty nifty still images from the game. The models look pretty rad. Check it out:
But the question remains, IS BRUCE CAMPBELL IN THE GAME?
This next trailer is for the upcoming Tomb Raider: Anniversary title. Personally I think the idea of remaking a game with new technology is genius. Check it out.
Some friends of mine recently finished up a mod for Doom 3 called Classic Doom. It is basically the original Doom using the Doom 3 engine. Check it out.
That being said, Lara Croft is still hawt. Even with C cups.
Monki's Seven Most Important Stories of the Week!
The ESRB is now hiring full-time game reviewers. Millions of potheads everywhere rejoice at the idea of playing different games daily and getting paid for it.
WoW bot creator is suing Blizzard and they are suing him back. As bad or worse than gold farmers? WoW quota for the week: check. Pleasing the two people who bitch about not covering WoW enough: never going to happen.
TMNT the Arcade coming to XBLA? A possibility. Still won't pull me away from the arcade cabinet I have of this game. Great for parties.
Alien Hominid releases this week on XBLA. To quote John Hurt, "not again..."
NeoGeo games will be arriving on the Virtual Console for your Wii! That is of course if you have a Wii. Plenty of PS3s available.
The Other Side of the Story of the Week!
Video games are not evil.
Say what you will, people who kill other people have some kind of problems going on a little bit deeper than playing Grand Theft Auto.
The point of which fantasy stops and reality begins is not a fuzzy line. It is very clear cut and 99.9999% of people who play video games understand that.
That being said, video games are under attack by people who think the internet is just a series of tubes. Greyhairs are pointing the finger at mature titles that should be kept out of the hands of kids by their parents, and saying that games made them the way they are.
Start up the roller-coaster, here we go again. Shortly after this hit, Gabe over at Penny Arcade wrote a column about parent responsibility. Basically putting the blame a lot on the parents not teaching their children the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
He received an email shortly thereafter from the step-mother of one of the boys who was involved in the attack.
With permission from the Penny Arcade guys, I am going to reprint the letter in it's entirety here. You need to read this.
Gabe,
Your news post about the kids and the homeless man yesterday made me sick to my stomach, before I even read the CNN article. I knew what it was going to be about before even reading the article. It was not the article itself, or even your post that made me sick, it was the fact that I know this boy. Or, rather that I could be considered one of the "parents" of this boy.
The boy's father and I have been together for almost seven years, and I had what I guess could be called a "stepmother" relationship with the kid. To say that living with this kid was hell would be a complete understatement.
I don't think I have ever actively hated anyone in my entire life, but this kid just makes my blood boil.
As I write this, my teeth are clenched, my hands are shaking, and my whole body is seething with the hatred I feel for this kid and what he has done. Seeing the article brings back all the horrible memories from when he lived with us.
He was constantly in trouble in school, with the cops, with us, with his mother, and with anyone else who was an authority figure. Not a week went by that the school or the cops wouldn't call us for something. His attitude was basically "fuck you, I don't have to listen to you" said with a shrug.
We tried absolutely everything we could think of to get him to behave like a normal human being... we tried groundings, negative reinforcement / punishment, positive reinforcement, counseling, and anything and everything the counselors suggested. We tried to get him interested and involved in extracurricular activities, like hockey, drama, music, art, anything, but he got himself kicked out of every group he was in with his "make me" attitude. When we would ground him, we took away everything. No TV, no computer, no phone, no leaving the house, no snacks or junk food.... Everything. When he was grounded, he was only allowed to sit in his room and read or draw. He was actually a pretty good artist, and we tried to encourage him to spend his time working with his talent. He would just sit there and take it... the groundings had absolutely no affect on him at all. Most of the time, he didn't even remember why he was being grounded. At the end of it, we would ask him if it was worth it to have everything taken away in exchange for what he did... he usually just shrugged. He could be grounded for weeks, or a month at a time, and then the very next day would do something to get back in trouble again. Most kids get grounded or punished a couple of times, and then they want to avoid having to go through it again... not this kid, nothing seemed to phase him.
And we're not talking the usual teenager stuff, like coming home late, or refusing to do the dishes. We're talking stealing cars, setting fires, drinking, getting picked up for drugs, beating up handicapped kids at school (yes, really) stealing things out of our house... all with this "I'll do whatever the fuck I want" attitude.
We had absolutely no idea what else we could do. We already had him in counseling, and we did everything the counselors suggested. We tried rewarding his good behavior (what little there was) to try to get him to see that when he behaves like a normal human being, things are good and people enjoy being around him. Nothing phased him at all.
Then, things took an even worse turn when he decided that whenever he didn't get his way, or we did something he didn't like, he told his counselors and teachers that we were abusing him. (Never happened.) And for some inexplicable reason, everybody believed him. I understand that child abuse is a very serious situation, and that they have to take every possible case seriously, but this was clearly a case of him manipulating people to get what he wanted. We had people from the school, cops, and social services over at our house or calling us on a weekly basis stating some new abuse that he had made up. At 14, the boy was already 6'3" and over 200 pounds. Of course, there was never a mark on him, because no such abuse ever took place.
One particular night (cops involved, as always) he decided that he didn't have to listen to anything we said, and that he wasn't coming home. He went to live with his mother, where things got worse by the day. He stole everything out of her home and sold it. He invited gang-bangers and drug dealers to her home, and she feared for her safety constantly. She called the cops numerous times because she feared for her safety, but again, the boy said that she abused him, and the cops always took his side. (For reference, the mother is about 5'3" and barely clocks in at 115.) He planted a loaded gun in her room, called the cops and told them that it belonged to the mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend actually ended up serving time because of this fucking bastard kid. She had two other young children in the house, and the gun and the abuse charges were an intentional plot to get the other two kids taken away from her. She tried restraining orders against the kid, but since he was a minor, they wouldn't allow it. Every time he got picked up, she pleaded with the cops to take him to jail, maybe that would finally get though to him, but they just kept bringing him home to her. I don't understand why everyone who was involved with this kid just blindly took this juvenile delinquent's word over all else!
The night that he and his friends murdered that poor homeless man, the mother said that he was acting particularly cocky. Then he threatened to kill her. We had absolutely no idea of what he had done until they found the man's body. He was immediately waived into adult court (at 15) and sentenced to 15 years. We were all absolutely sick with grief for this man.
We were also sick with guilt... "What could we have done differently?" was a constant question in all of our heads. After the kid was sentenced, all the cops, counselors, social workers, and people at the school that had been dealing with him contacted us and his mother and apologized for not taking us seriously. They are all trained to take all accusations of child abuse seriously, and as a part of that they blindly took the kid's side for everything, and dismissed us as "the lying abusers". Many of them told us that they wished they would have taken our pleas for help seriously. Everyone thought we were exaggerating about how fucked up this kid was.
I completely agree with your statement of "These kids were twelve kinds of nuts and that's a fact." But the reason I am writing this to you is that, after reading your news post yesterday, I felt that I needed to defend the boy's parents. His mother and father and I did absolutely everything we could think of to try to keep this kid in line. Even the kinds of things that normal teenagers get in trouble for would have been a blessing compared to what we've been through with him.
What I gave you today is a very small sampling of the kinds of things we were dealing with every single fucking day with this kid. When people hear about what he's done, I can always sense the "I'm sure there was something you could have done" comment coming up. What would you have done? How do you deal with a kid like this? Like I said, we did everything the counselors suggested, and nothing seemed to matter.
If you want to add another element to the "nature vs. nurture" idea, this boy has a brother. Both boys were raised in the same house, with the same values. The brother has developed into a kind, considerate, responsible, and independent young man. He is currently working his butt off right now to save up money to go to school for architecture. The only thing I regret is that we spent so much time and energy dealing with the bad kid that this boy missed out on having a normal family life with a normal sibling relationship.
I am sorry this got so long. I have been reading PA since the very beginning, and I feel that both of you are very much like me. I think we are the same age (29) and I have been a lifelong gamer like the two of you. I can't stand hearing about the so-called correlation between games and real-life violence. Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it's unfortunate that the correlation is there.
The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he's done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants.
The only good thing (if there is such a thing) that has come out of this whole ordeal is that the kid is behind bars. That is exactly where he needs to be.
Again, I'm sorry about the length of this. Thanks for allowing me to "tell my side" of the story.
Video games didn't break this kid. He was just crazy. Some people can't be saved.
Will you see this information on the news? Probably not. I wanted to share it with you because I'm given a tiny soapbox to stand on once a week and I feel that this is something important to share with all of you.
Wrap-Up of the Wrap-Up of the Week!
Alright, after that sobering note let's wrap up with a little bit of fun.
As it happens, I get e-mail sometime from some readers. One such email was from The Infamous Billy the Kidd. Billy works on a site called Wii.TV.
The site features reviews, news and other assorted stuff for you Wii fans. Check it out. The video quality is pretty awesome and provides for some laughs. Check out one of Billy's reviews below.
Pretty awesome. Go through the rest of the site and enjoy.
Okay, this has been a long one. I'm ending it on a video that RespectTheRad sent my way. Well done song. Enjoy.
Gotta love when creative people get inspired and do stuff like this. Alright, that does it for this week, until next week back up the tree I go!
