Trouble in (Online) Paradise

Apparently those Xbox 360 games with hard drive requirements - - at least to enjoy the entire game - - aren't just those in the MMO genre anymore, reports Opposable Thumbs. HDD-less fans of the popular (and not a racing title no matter how much they scream) Burnout Paradise for the 360 might find themselves up a racing track without a transmission if they try to challenge others in the online mode.

According to publisher EA, the HDD is only required, "....to store temporary data when playing online as the data transferred from one console to another requires storage space greater than what the memory card can contain."

Meanwhile, savvy gamers out there may have noticed that Microsoft's main white boy with soul announced years ago that developers shouldn't be banking on that HDD being in all consoles. Furthermore, Microsoft as a whole made it pretty clear at Gamefest 2007 which kind of games would be allowed this requirement. And with no forewarning on the box art, someone might have a legitimate lawsuit on their hands (unlike those other lawsuits.) What's next?! Cats and dogs, LIVING TOGETHER?!

[EDIT]: Apparently there is, hidden amongst the many tiny words on the back of the box, an indication that you'll need the hdd to play online. Our bad! (However, as pointed out in this article, online shoppers would have no idea about this requirement. Either way, after playing the Burnout Paradise demo last night for an hour solid, this writer would suggest buying the game either way - - and if you don't have an hdd, well, why don't you have an hdd?)

More Portal to Come

Eurogamer reported today that there will, in fact, be more Portal. While they're still working out the finer details of the project, it will be more than "a bunch of new puzzles" according to Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi.

As someone who wears her Weighted Companion Cube t-shirt regularly and has "Still Alive" as her ring tone, I greeted this spectacular (though not entirely surprising) news with a little dance. I'll spare you all from the cake jokes though.

Step Right Up! March! Push!

Being the jerks we are here at QPHQ, we can't help but love when the united army of nerds tips off us internetfolk and reveals some juicy juicy magazine subscriber tidbits before the mag arrives on newsstands (we're sorry, Francesca Reyes.)

The biggest hits on the list come from The Police with, "Message in a Bottle" and Metallica's, "Fuel." This writer can honestly say he'll be dancing for a full hour in celebration of the three excellent skull crushing Nine Inch Nails songs. What do you burgeoning rock stars out there want to see in April? And when are we going to see those full album downloads?

Full track list for March is as follows:

March 4 - Thrash Pack
At The Gates: Blinded By Fear
Evile: Thrashes
The Haunted: Shadow World

March 11
Bad Company: Shooting Star (cover)
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Simple Man
The Police: Message in a Bottle

March 18 - NIN Pack
Nine Inch Nails: March of the Pigs
Nine Inch Nails: The Collector
Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug

March 25 - Metal Pack
Iron Maiden: Wrathchild (cover)
Black Sabbath: Supernaut (cover)
Metallica: Fuel

New Animal Crossing for Wii Elicits Squeals

In case you were wondering what that high pitched squeal was you just heard, it came from this guy and this guy. Apparently, in a recent financial report to investors, Nintendo revealed a few unannounced release titles slated for 2008 release (in Japan - - I know, I know.) Among them, new Animal Crossing and Kirby titles, as well the "available first quarter of 2008" Wii Mariokart; in fairness to Nintendo, their definition of "first quarter" starts in April.

If the idea of living in a village with a bunch of talking animals doesn't sound like an enticing one, you can look forward to standing up and swinging away in Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball. We all knew there were Mario sports titles in the pipeline, it's just nice to hear they may actually see light of day within the next 12 months (though probably not stateside unfortunately.)

Also listed were Wii Music and Disaster: Day of Crisis - - the latter of which this writer thought to be vaporware at this point. Now that we have actual real confirmation of these titles for 2008 (just like that other game), we should start placing bets on losing horses. My bet goes with Kirby. Hell, Nintendo already told us the title doesn't exist. Which is your pony?

An Army of United Nerds, or, How I Learned to Think Like a Group of People

The shit storm began roughly two weeks ago. Well, the most recent shit storm at least. Joystiq, like many other videogame news sites, has been running nearly daily coverage of the ridiculously outlandishly overblown controversy around EA/Bioware's, "Mass Effect." (The story has even warranted its own wikipedia page.)

Initially, the controversy was just one unheard of conservative blogger ranting about his gut reaction to the few YouTube videos of, "Mass Effect" he somehow stumbled upon. As gamers discovered his piece, they reacted to him and, as if things weren't ridiculous enough in his piece, Fox News even picked up the, "story" and ran with it. Geoff Keighley (yes, that Geoff Keighley) was asked to appear on Fox News to, "discuss" their claims - - and when he did, he was lambasted from all sides by arrogant downtalking and infantilization. The video is a great example of how Rupert Murdoch has turned Fox into all entertainment all the time. Political consideration aside, the lack of any respect towards the integrity of their own institution, none the less journalism on the whole, makes me wonder who's really out there, as a gamer, watching Fox for news.

Gamers run the gamut from conservative to liberal, politically speaking, just like the rest of the U.S.A. Gamers are not a unified group of people with the same political views, the same religious views - - we can't even agree on what horse reigns supreme. Fox News misrepresented the facts and, at very least, blew things way out of proportion. In doing so, Fox officially unified gamers behind something: a common enemy.

Cooper Lawrence, an "expert" in developmental psychology (I'm putting my money against that), became that figurehead. Ms. Lawrence thought she'd drop by a Fox newsroom and appear on a quick mid-day television show and in doing so, also promote her book. Based on her commentary, gamers flooded the Amazon.com page of the book she was promoting with negative reviews, claiming, much like she had, that they had never read the book but it was clearly terrible.

My question is this: Should gamers be enabling more stupidity like what happened at Fox by reacting as such? Yes, Ms. Lawrence acted that way herself - - does that mean we should too? Funny: clearly. Mature: not so much. And you? What do you think?

France Declares Games an Art Form, Roger Ebert Eats His Own Hat

Over at Gamasutra today, a feature story ran on the French Governments decision to support the videogame industry there with essentially a 20% tax break, given their business adheres to certain guidelines. These criteria can mean anything from, "obligatory narration driven, artistic expenses..." to , "...violence that could mentally, morally or physically hurt end users."

Who decides which violence (videogame violence for instance?) is going to be deemed as able to "mentally" and "morally" hurt end users and which isn't? Who watches the Watchmen?! Let's just hope the French Government continues its progressive stance with regards to game developers.

The point of the feature, however, was to point out that the European Commission only doles out this tax break normally to, "traditional" forms of the arts. Now, for all economic and legal purposes, Europe officially considers videogames an art. I'm not sold still - - how 'bout you?

Welcome/Wilkommen/Bienvenue/Bienvenidos

Hello and welcome to the Quarterplay videogame blog - - a website dedicated to the future of videogame writing in all its forms. We seek to expose new writers to the world of videogames and help to further everyone's careers (ours too!) through an (almost) open-source format. Our writers must be able to write clearly and concisely, adhering to the Videogame Style Guide's format rules. New ideas and suggestions are certainly welcome! Without further adieu, I present Quarterplay. Visit often.