Welcome back to another episode of Twisted Gamer Radio. On today’s show we help the elderly with depression instead of the Wii, we chat about the Activision vs. Infinity Ward beef, as well as cover the PSN bug that hit last week and how it affects the Playstation Network. Plus, a great new infomercial for Zoobooks in Sound Clip Corner.
- PSN Bug Chatter
- 2K Sports Talk
- Real Baby Dies, Fake Online Baby Lives On
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The recent events over at Infinity Ward are shaping up to be something out of a bad movie script. According to sources, the President and Studio Head of IW ( they are the studio behind Modern Warfare, both of them) have been let go for apparent insubordination. To top it off, apparently security guards are escorting people out and their office resembling something of Darth Vader boarding a rebel ship in search of a renegade Princess and a couple of gay droids.
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Yes sir, we here at Loot Ninja have heard rumors that Activision is being hit with layoffs over the last few days, and now it seems the original guys that published the breakout Guitar Hero series (Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2) are being laid off. 30 or 40 members of the RedOctane staff are being let go, with only a few people being assimilated and reporting into Activision. The ones rumored to keep their jobs are the developers and hardware designers that bring you the awesome Guitar Hero controllers.
This rumored news is in response to Activison stating that they are going to be cutting back on the Guitar Hero SKUs from 25 in 2009 down to less than 10 in 2010. I personally see this as a good thing, with too much saturation in the market being a bad thing. Consolidate your titles and focus on making those better, isntead of pumping out another rendition of Band Hero. The two titles Activision is looking to back the most going forward is the new DJ Hero and of course Guitar Hero.
It’s really a sad day today. I mean, I know that most of the core developers from RedOctane left and started up the Rock Band series, but still, they must have had a few people left that worked on the original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 games. I’ll be sure to go home and play some Cowboys From Hell by Pantera or Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Ozbourne to mourn the loss.
[via 1UP]
Activision has been kind enough to give everyone some insight into just what the industry giant has in store for 2010 and mentioned two of their biggest moneymakers in the process. The foremost, the Call of Duty franchise, will have another title to be released in 2010, most likely towards the winter months. They did not say whether the game will be Modern Warfare 3, which is likely not the case. If their prior actions are of any relevance, expect a historical war genre game. Vietnam anyone? We will let you know as soon as we hear the deal on this.
The other tidbit that made the news was the rather large scaling back of music SKUs (stock keeping units) from 25 in 2009 to only 10 in 2010. Furthermore, there will be no more PS2 peripherals which may piss off a whole bunch of people. They also are planning on focusing solely on DJ Hero and Guitar Hero, and not the family friendly Band Hero. It may seem the music genre may have hit it’s pinnacle.
Rhythm games are getting a little long in the tooth. It’s going to take some innovation to keep people interested. Guitar Hero Van Halen doesn’t give anything new and, in fact, seems to strip previous features away. Taking the Guitar Hero 5 core gameplay and adding new character skins and songs, the game just doesn’t deliver.
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Tony Hawk has taken skateboarding games to the next level with RIDE. It’s too bad that level is crappy, small, poorly laid out, and lacks imagination or creativity in every possible facet. If you are a fan of skateboarding games, like me, you know that the Tony Hawk series was great early on, and even the T.H.U.G. releases were good, but the franchise got a little tired in the Project 8 and Proving Ground releases. Then SKATE and SKATE 2 came along and revolutionized the way we think about skateboarding games. They opened our minds about skating in the truest sense of the sport’s freedom and it’s creativity. Tony Hawk RIDE takes all the great concepts of those classic skateboarding games, throws them out the window, and goes one step further with the new controller. Unfortunately, that step also takes you straight back to the game store to get your money back. Now, if only there was a receipt for your wasted time. Hit the jump for more details.
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Things to do this weekend. Play Modern Warfare 2. Raise money for charity. Mingle with celebrities. All on Microsoft’s and Activision’s wallets. Yes it is possible.
This weekend only Xbox Live Gold access will be free so UK gamers can get online and play Modern Warfare 2. For every UK gamer playing MW2 Activision will donate money to the War Child Charity. So that’s free XBL Gold from Microsoft and Activision coughing up to a quarter of million GBP for a damn good cause. That’s about four hundred thousand US dollars. All you need to do is play a little MW2 online this weekend to dip into Activision’s pockets then go and play whatever else you want with your free XBL this weekend. If you don’t have MW2 UK retailer GAME is sponsoring this event and probably very happy to sell a copy to you if you ask nicely.
Lay some hate down in Modern Warfare 2 this weekend and you can raise money for children impacted by war. Sounds odd, but it’s true. So I expect to see every UK gamer with MW2, a 360, and an internet connection playing this weekend. It’s for good, so please find it in your heart to go online and frag someone this weekend. Thanks for listening folks and thanks to Microsoft, Activision, and GAME for putting this together. See you in my crosshairs.
Yep, you read that right. Modern Warfare 2 has the best first five days of an entertainment product ever. Let that sink in for a second. Raking in a whopping $550 million over the first five days, here’s what Modern Warfare 2 beat out (from the press release):
- The largest reported five-day opening worldwide box office gross figures, held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million)
- The largest reported five-day opening domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($203.8 million)
- The largest reported five-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (6 million units, $500 million)
- The largest reported opening first-day domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($66.4 million)
- The largest reported first-day book sales in dollars, held by Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows ($220 million)
- The largest reported first-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (3.6 million units, $310 million)
Pretty damn impressive. There was no doubt this was going to be a huge success, but breaking all these records is crazy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play some Spec Ops.
As you all know by now, the year’s most anticipated FPS title has finally dropped, and we’ve all been living, sleeping, eating, and breathing Modern Warfare 2 for 6 days now. I decided to hack my way through the campaign before I touched the multiplayer, and managed to hack my way through on Veteran Difficulty in just under 9 hours, yielding me roughly 600 points worth of achievements. Now, I make no bones about being a huge fan of the COD series, but this campaign was awesome. I know a lot of you buy the COD games only for the multiplayer aspect, but with this iteration in the series, you are only ripping yourself off. Why? Hit the jump and find out.
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Well, the wait is over, and MW2 has finally fallen into our grubby little ninja hands. And let me start off by saying, this game is totally living up to all the hype. First, the story is enthralling, and extremely well-written. Other articles I’ve read, and people I’ve heard talking, have said they thought it was too far-fetched, and unrealistic. I disagree completely. I think the story flows very well, and is entirely plausible from a “possible-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” viewpoint. It’s not any more far-fetched than the standard season of the 24 TV series. The story and character development both carry on perfectly from the last iteration of the Modern Warfare series, and also introduces a few new characters as well.
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