It’s official. Monolith Productions‘ Project Origin will no longer be a “spiritual successful” to their own hit shooter F.E.A.R. Instead, it’s now a full-blown sequel.

F.E.A.R. fans out there will probably remember that Sierra retained ownership of the F.E.A.R. name while Monolith was left with the rights to the whole F.E.A.R. universe after the latter was acquired by Warner Bros.

This whole situation resulted in the announcement of two F.E.A.R. follow-ups: a “spiritual successor” from Monolith and an “official” sequel Sierra was supposed to make with another developer. For their project, Monolith held a naming contest, where “Project Origin” won out.

Flash forward to 2008. After Sierra’s parent company Vivendi merged with Activision, Sierra had to face the cancellation of most of its upcoming games. Warner Bros. and Monolith weren’t about to let the opportunity pass by, and so they took the opportunity to re-acquire the F.E.A.R. brand.

So, what does this leave us with? F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. Here’s Peter Wyse, Warner Bros. Games’ Director of Production, speaking about the whole thing:

The game’s also finally been given a release date: February 10, 2009. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will be available on Computer, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.

• Project Origin: E3 trailer
• F.E.A.R. has a new name: Project Origin

source pc.qj.net

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When Jeff Gerstmann was fired from GameSpot for giving a less than raving review (to put it lightly) of Eidos Interactive’s Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Personal computer), the gaming industry went abuzz. A lot of speculation came out that he was fired because his review basically antagonized a major advertiser of the site (who conveniently was Eidos, advertising the very game he butchered in the review).

Views were thrown left and right, and the effects have been far-reaching. Gerstmann’s better was fired, a domino effect happened with other reviewers of the site resigning, and Gerstmann - well, he was pretty much considered to be the gaming journalist’s hero for not buckling down from the intense political pressure of those in the suits just to rate the game a good score.

However, that’s only one example (and probably the most highlighted) of the things that game reviewers go through. And truth is, that’s only one side of the coin. This day we found a very interesting article that grants us a peek at the other side of the fence when it comes to game reviews - particularly why publishers put pressure on game journalists, and more intriguingly, why they’re entitled to do so.

Sore Thumbs Blog posted the article coming from a certain “Anonymous Guy from Large Publisher”. According to the site, Anonymous Guy wrote to them to show the PR and marketing perspectives on the whole business of elbowing their way to get a good review.

But some of the points Anonymous Guy raised was how the developers “kill themselves” to complete a game, and how that game is treated rather unfairly by so-called reviewers who only play two hours out of a 30-hour game. Then there’s also the issue on specialized coverage. Sometimes a reviewer who’s actually an FPS gamer would be given a sim racing game to review, and so the appreciation and treatment of the review is not as holistic and objective as it could have been had the reviewer been given an FPS title.

The most interesting bit, however, is how Anonymous Guy observes that there’s no “real” journalism in the gaming industry for a long time now. He says:

The industry has been crying out for real journalism for a long time now. What this means to me is not harsher reviews, but thoughtful analysis about games, real knowledge of game development, and a deep history of playing games. And ultimately, gauging who the game would be fun for, and scoring it accordingly. I think today it requires a specialty if you’re a hardcore RTS players, look at only those kinds of games. If you’re an editor-in-chief, find the right journalists and manage them properly. But no one anticipates this to happen any times soon there is no journalism school for videogames, and the Internet will breed more and more amateurs. So the battles will rage on!

And we do fully expect the battle to be fired up once more with this post. How about you guys? What do you think? Is there ever an excuse for PR and marketing folks to pressure game journalists into giving what they would deem “fair and reasonable” reviews (in other words, good scores for them)? Share your thoughts below.

If you want to check out the whole post (and we’re sure you do) just follow the source link below.

• GameSpot editorial director fired for Kane & Lynch review?
• GameSpot-Gerstmann controversy updates: the domino effect
• Jeff Gerstmann’s superior fired from CNET
• GameSpot speaks Gerstmann, says Eidos did not cause termination

source pc.qj.net

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Earlier this day, we picked up a report from Destructoid saying that Electronic Arts‘ Dead Space (PS3, Xbox 360, Personal computer) has been banned in three countries in Europe, namely Germany, Japan and China. However, the publisher would beg to differ.

According to Eurogamer.de, Electronic Arts has clarified to them that the report on the bannination in Germany is not true at all. Rather, it is still awaiting classification from the USK. That’s by no means equivalent to being banned.

As for the two other countries, Japan and China, EA did not state anything about them so we could more or less hold that bit of the report true — for now.

• Oh the horror: Dead Space banned in three countries
• Dead Space release dates moved up again
• Dead Space rated 18 by the BBFC
• Dead Space devs speak about story’s importance

source pc.qj.net

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After the tumultuous past couple of months for Team Ninja and Tecmo, a beam of light is finally found at the end of the tunnel. A settlement has finally been reached for Team Ninja members who filed a complaint back in July against Tecmo for unpaid overtime.

The suit originally claimed that Tecmo placed workers on a “flexible hours” work scheme four years ago, and since then, overtime wasn’t paid. Plaintiffs represented all 300 Tecmo employees and demanded for 8.3 million yen (US 77,000). The lawsuit also alleged that Tecmo had false documents to cover up for the accounting documents.

And now, a settlement has been reached last September 1. The translation of the released statement is below:

Regarding the litigation against our company, on September 1st a settlement was reached as indicated below:

Settlement for the Lawsuit Has Been Reached

On July 16th, two of our employees brought suit against our company regarding unpaid overtime in the Tokyo District Court and presented a proposed settlement. On September 1, 2008, a judicial settlement was reached.

Now that that’s over, will we be seeing Itagaki and Tecmo making peace anytime soon?

Related Team Ninja lawsuit articles:

• Tomonobu Itagaki leaves Team Ninja, sues Tecmo for damages
  
• Tecmo responds to Itagaki lawsuit
  
• Tecmo issues gag order on Tomonobu Itagaki
• Rumor: key Team Ninja members leaving Tecmo as well
• Tecmo taken to court for alleged labor law offenses

source pc.qj.net

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Square Enix offered. Tecmo rejects. Baffled Square Enix responds to Tecmo’s rejection. Tecmo ignores. Square Enix pulls out. This is how the short-lived love story of the two companies panned out.

The proposed Squeenix takeover was dubbed to be a “friendly” one, offering a controlling interest in Tecmo by purchasing the company’s shares at a 30 minimum. They did also say that if Tecmo rejects the proposal, then they’ll withdraw their offer.

But first, they wanted some explanations now on the following issues:

1. Please confirm that the decision on the begin of discussions with KOEI toward integration of management is the reason for rejection of the Proposal.
2. If that’s the case, please clarify concretely that major terms of integration of management with KOEI (form of the integration, stock prices assumption, integration ratio and so forth) are favorable for TECMO’s shareholders than the Proposal.
3. If not, please clarify that TECMO has an alternative plan, which is favorable for TECMO’s shareholders than the Proposal.

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Here’s something that doesn’t happen everyday. A game’s about to be released earlier than expected! Envision that! It is possible after all! Electronic Arts‘ Dead Space was originally tagged with an October 31st release date, but now it’s been moved up a week early.

The console versions for PS3 and Xbox 360will now be released on October 14. The PC version, meanwhile, also gets bumped up the calendar with an October 20 launch. This is the second time the release dates for Dead Space were moved up. That’s a nice way to get your treats early for Halloween.

• Peek-a-boo: Dead Space gets pre-Halloween release

Buy: [Dead Space (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Dead Space (PS3)]

source pc.qj.net

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The E3’s been disappointing fans and developers alike, and we all know they need to shake things up or else. Now we hear of a rumor surrounding the games industry event as reported by Kotaku, and it seems like they’re thinking of opening it to the public.

There’s no official word on this yet - we’ve heard lots of “official words” regarding changes in the event’s format, only to be found totally wrong later on - although it’s been said that the idea has already been brought forward for discussion by the board of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

Instead, what we found as an update on Gamespot is a “No Comment” comment from ESA senior vice president for communications and research, Rich Taylor.

As we do every year, the ESA solicits feedback and direction from exhibitors and attendees on how best to adapt and evolve the E3 Media & Business Summit to ensure it meets their needs. Each element of the Summit is opened for discussion, and that process is ongoing to execute a productive and efficient experience. Regarding today’s published reports, the ESA does not comment on rumors and speculation, and will make an announcement about the details and logistics of the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit at the appropriate time.

There’s been some major fallout in E3’s circle of pals, like Activision Blizzard who selected to skip the party this year, and instead hold its own event in the same week. That’s apart from all the critics who’ve thrown in their two cents on the current form of E3, such as EA’s John Riccitiello, Ubisoft’s Laurent Detoc, and EA Sports‘ Peter Moore.

Let’s see if ESA can cook up something that’ll lure them back for the 2009 E3. Keep it posted here for more updates.

• E3 2008: Bungie does a no show for this year’s gaming event
• Activision not attending this year’s E3

source pc.qj.net

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