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They say that if you don't talk to your kids about drugs someone else will. What you may not know is the exact same thing holds true for video game consoles. For example, Microsoft still hasn't announced that they'll be phasing out the Core 360 to replace it with its sleek, cooler cousin, the 360 Arcade. Meaning we have to get our info ... from strangers. Exhibit X (or is it Y yet?) is this retail stand-up captured by Gamespot, that makes mention of (shock!) the 360 Arcade!
All the features are the same as the ones you've heard rumored: five free games, 256MB memory card, a wireless controller, etc. What there's no mention of is the system's price. But, since the other details have held up, we'd bet the $280 we've heard before is spot on. Now, Microsoft, would you kindly announce this thing instead of forcing us to learn about the Arcade on the street?
How dare you, Rooster Teeth, promote same-sex parental separation. Don't you see that this poor, costumed kid is hiding his anguish behind that orange visor?
... oh, wait, this is an allegory for the Bungie / Microsoft split? Nevermind, false alarm. Kudos on winning this week's webcomic wrapup. Second place went to God Mode Onlinewhile Penny Arcadeand Dueling Analogsduked it out for third. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week?
Just after the news that the 360 would be getting some bundles this holiday season, rumors of a Halo 3/360 bundle are starting to crop up. In some of the most concrete proof so far, a poster on elotrolado.net showed off what he claimed to be one of these bundles, purchased in the town of Mijas in Spain. It's a 20GB system with an HDMI port (but no cable). According to a depicted receipt, the purchase price was 350 euros, or approximately $540 in US dollars.
We have no clue if these pics are authentic (our sketchy sense is most definitely tingling), or if this bundle will be coming stateside. Surprising absolutely no one, Microsoft is staying mum on this for now. But with four 360 SKUs on the market, doesn't this seem like a bit of overkill?
If last year's advergaming love affair between Microsoft and Burger King made you at all uncomfortable, you might want to leave the room, because the pair are at it again, though this time things are are a lot less interactive, and a bit more, well, plastic.
In the march up to the October 30 release of Microsoft's 'family friendly' party game-montage, Viva Piñata: Party Animals for the Xbox 360, Burger King has made available a collection of Viva Piñata toys for customers with kids in tow (or adults with more shelf space than sense). The set includes a total of eight different colorful toys, including Horstachio, Sparrowmint, Elephanilla, Fudgehog, Macaraccoon, Fizzlybear, Cocoadile and Goobaa, with each packed with a 'surprise in every piñata,' such as a flying disc or every parent's favorite, a kazoo. Advil not included.
This could be the best thing that's happened in a Joystiq Podcast yet. First, we lambaste the idea that Microsoft would ever let Bungie go, then ... well, you can probably guess what happens about midway through. Seriously, you have to listen to this one.
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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
Over at the house that Major built, Larry Hryb has alerted gamers to a Microsoft pow-pow taking place early next week. Those in attendance include Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, and David Vaskevitch, Chief Technical Officer, just to name a few. Hryb wanted to know, "What would you say to the leaders of services at Microsoft?" So far, the post has received over 400 user comments, with a variety of topics being broached by readers.
The discussion has focused on such lively topics as the "shafting [of] Canadians," general "price of Xbox Live," and ever-so-broad buzzword "innovation." However, some folks appear so damned excited that they're unable to issue coherent suggestions -- tried spell checker? Case in point: Tobe (USA) writes, "u should say that, in the next dashborad update, trails and full games should be seperated in the catagory section of XBLA games." Maybe someone should suggest that Microsoft get up on some educational games, eh?
It seems as if everyone wants in on the gaming scene these days: jocks, cheerleaders, your mom. Even Apple wants a slice of the pie. But not Microsoft's J Allard, and in a recent interview the former Xbox zealot and current Zune front man shared his thoughts on why he feels Zune owners shouldn't expect to be playing Bejeweled or Pac-Man on Microsoft's iPod rival anytime soon. Granted he still has a full nine months to change his mind.
Microsoft previously toyed with the idea of releasing games on the portable, though with a new line of Zune devices hitting retail shelves this week, Allard addressed his particular concerns with bringing games to the Zune format, specifically surrounding customer satisfaction and portability of purchased games as hardware advances from one generation to the next. While Microsoft's move into the portable gaming space has been long awaited, we agree that it's good that Allard is voicing these sorts of concerns up front, rather than carelessly jumping into portable gaming sight unseen.
Still, the executive managed to leave the door open for Zune gaming by praising what Microsoft has managed to pull off in getting its XNA development platform to work with a variety of different types of hardware, though, Allard adds, "the Zune isn't playing Halo 3 anytime soon." Good thing, Allard my boy, since the idea of getting teabagged on the commute home is enough to ruin anyone's day.
There's a bit of bubbling on the internets that post-Halo 3, Bungie and Microsoft might split ways. This is seeming more and more unlikely, but if it were to ever happen, Microsoft would most likely retain rights to their FPS cash cow, and the milking would begin. The question is, who would be signed to develop the next true Halo sequel?
Over at MTV's Multiplayer blog, Stephen Totilo does the dirty work and compiles a list of likely suspects to continue the franchise. Notable on the radar are developers like Rare, Free Radical, and id, with each possibility being given "wholly speculative" odds on the likelihood of such a thing ever happening.
Of course, it's all just speculation at this point, but it never hurts to wonder. Who could work best with Bungie's golden franchise? For that matter, who could do the most damage to its hallowed reputation?
Bill Gates: Listen, those Bungie guys are OK, and it's great having them on the softball team and all. But I think it's time we set them free.
Shane Kim: Yes, of course sir.
Bill: Let's let them get out there in the world, you know? Make that Pimps at Sea game they're always talking about. After all, Halo 3 only brought us in $170 million, that's like 10,000 Segways, that's nothing.
Shane: Actually sir, our most recent report is that the game made $300 million in its first week.
Bill: ... How late is Shackles, Chains and Beyond open?
Though we're still standing by our initial assertion for now, Game Informer has now come forward to say that they, too, have contacted an anonymous source who claims Bungie staffers are "tired of making Halo" and that shareholders have managed to buy back the Bungie name from Microsoft for an unspecified but significant amount of money.
Part of that deal reportedly has Microsoft retaining rights to the Halo franchise and also having the first shot at publishing future Bungie titles. We could very easily see every (or almost every) employee leaving the studio to start a new company (see: Wideload Studios, Certain Affinity, Giant Bite, Double Aught, etc.), but how much is the Bungie name worth? To Microsoft, probably a lot, but to the employees, would the incredible amount of money required to pay Big Daddy Gates really be worth it? Wouldn't they be better off using that money to build a nice developer environment?
We're still receiving the stock response from Microsoft: "There's been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3." Here's how some other sites have weighed in on the rumor:
This morning we received a tip from 8Bit Joystick writer Jacob Metclaf, telling us that "a friend of [his] who has someone close that works at Bungie" is privy to inside information that Microsoft is allowing the Halo developer to just up and leave. Let that one sink in: Microsoft, in its apparent benevolence, is reportedly allowing its cash-cow acquisition to graze in other pastures, content to simply retain the Halo brand. It's an absurd notion, and we at Joystiq HQ chortled a bit this morning before shrugging it off. Then we got flooded a few dozen more times, all deriving from the same source. So it's time to address the story.
That's not to say it couldn't somehow happen: after all, there are penguins who go shopping for fish. But why on Earth would a multi-billion dollar company even think to let go of what is arguably their greatest acquisition – a developer that can single-handedly make its Xbox division profitable in a matter of months? The Bungie name alone is worth millions – potentially billions – to the company.
We've read various internet folks justify this rumor by comparing it to Microsoft's acquisition of Rare in 2001. Let's clear up some confusion here, too: Nintendo only owned a 49% stake in that developer when Microsoft bought a 51% majority. In contrast, Microsoft currently owns 100% of Bungie. While it may be true that some of the dev's employees are moving on – much as they have in the past (see: Wideload Studios, Certain Affinity, Giant Bite, Double Aught, etc.) – we're quite confident that Bungie Studios isn't going anywhere. When asked directly about the story, a Bungie representative declined to comment citing the studio's policy of not commenting on rumors.
With Activision gobbling up Project Gotham Racingdeveloper Bizarre Creations, the future of the Microsoft's racing series seems to have a lot of question marks attached. Interestingly, lead designer Ged Talbert has already been talking about what they could do to improve on the series, telling CVG, "Obviously Gotham 4's about to come out and we're really happy with it, but behind the scenes we've already started ripping our game to pieces. We know where we failed in certain areas."
Bizarre's going to be popping out a new racing IP for Activision now, so we'll have to wait and see if the improvements Talbert wants will be implemented in PGR 5, or in some new series. That said, are we the only ones who are a bit more worried about the future of Bizarre's other property, Geometry Wars? Traditionally, it's been a part of PGR, so will it be in someone else's hands too?
Looking for those elusive nine golden skulls scattered throughout the Halo 3 campaign? The folks at MyCheats have created a video unveiling the location of each skull. Warning: if you haven't finished the campaign, you might spy a potential spoiler by merit of seeing a future level. For everyone else, let the skull hunting begin.
Microsoft has just sent word that its flagship soldier Master Chief has come back from the battlefield with $170 million dollars in the first 24 hours ofHalo 3 deployment in the United States. As noted, this would mark the biggest day in US entertainment history, beating out Spider-Man 3 and all Harry Potters (of course, the price of entry for those events were a lot less, but that's a technicality when it comes to record books).
According to the press release, September 25 was also Xbox Live's most active day so far, thanks in no small part to one million online Halo 3 players. Bundled with every copy of Halo 3 was a free 48 hour trial, so we're interested in seeing how many people tomorrow decide to pay the Gold fee and keep on fragging.
We're eagerly awaiting the sales figures for the game elsewhere in the world, especially Japan.
"Just like that girl you dated in college, Halo 3 has some issues." (5) "This game might not be everyone's cup of tea, despite the immense hype machine surrounding it." (4) "No one aspect of the game is life-changing on its own" (1) and "anyone would be hard pressed to call it mind-blowing." (1)
"It's genuinely disappointing to note the number of missteps in the single-player campaign. (7) "The campaign ... is Halo 3's weakest point. It doesn't capture the cavalier spirit of the original Halo." (5) "The gameplay doesn't stray too far from Halo 2." (6) "Rather than trying something new, it sticks to the run and gun formula of the first two." (9) "Everything is now pretty much a known quantity ... and a bit of going-through-the-motions gameplay numbs the excitement " (1) "To be honest, it begins to feel a little rote and by-the-numbers by the halfway point." (8) "Others might criticise the developers for a lack of new ideas." (3) "It doesn't hold any big surprises for fans of the last two titles." (1)
They say that if you don't talk to your kids about drugs someone else will. What you may not know is the exact same thing holds true for video game consoles. For example, Microsoft still hasn't announced that they'll be phasing out the Core 360 to replace it with its sleek, cooler cousin, the 360 Arcade. Meaning we have to get our info ... from strangers. Exhibit X (or is it Y yet?) is this retail stand-up captured by Gamespot, that makes mention of (shock!) the 360 Arcade! 
"Just like that girl you dated in college, Halo 3 has some issues." (5) "This game might not be everyone's cup of tea, despite the immense hype machine surrounding it." (4) "No one aspect of the game is life-changing on its own" (1) and "anyone would be hard pressed to call it mind-blowing." (1)
