UNSCleric.com

Most people in the know already know that sites like GameSpot and magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly are paid-off and bribed for coverage and nice reviews, but unfortunately, most people aren’t in the know.  That brings us to today’s story, where a several-year employee of GameSpot.com, one of the most corrupt figures in the industry behind Sony and EA, has been fired for his “tone” in a review for a game that was enjoying (and paying GameSpot for) a large advertising campaign on the popular gaming site.  Here’s the full story from Kotaku.com, a site that has time and time again exposed the rampant corruption in the industry along with me.

We’ve heard an unsettling rumor today from an anonymous tipster that longtime game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been let go. That wouldn’t necessarily be newsworthy, but the conditions under which he was allegedly dismissed were. According to the source, Gerstmann was fired “on the spot” due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos’ Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. A visit to Gamespot shows that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game has taken over the site very prominently, with backgrounds and multiple banner ads all pitching Kane & Lynch. Allegedly, publisher Eidos “took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign.”

A screenshot of GameSpot’s excuse for a gaming site.

Jeff’s review was certainly less than glowing. He assigned the game a 6.0, otherwise known as “Fair” on the Gamespot scale. The game is currently enjoying a Metacritic score in the 65 to 69 range, which the site describes as “mixed or average reviews.” According to our tipster, it wasn’t necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann’s rumored axing, but the “tone” of the review.

Gerstmann has been no stranger to controversial reviews, as his scores of 10 for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and 8.8 for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had sensitive internet users up in arms. It’s now possible that many bitter fanboys may have had their wishes for his firing granted.

As our tipster points out, if the rumor is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNet. “As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life,” wrote the tipster.

Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot hasn’t proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNet contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a “no comment.”

The most shocking part of all this for me isn’t that GameSpot did this, but that EA wasn’t involved somehow.

More information on what will be added in the Fall Update have been released via a press conference with Microsoft Japan.  It’s basically just more re-working of the user Interface in the Games blade/Xbox Live Arcade section, and there’s also going to be two new options that hit more on a personal level.  There will now be a “Personal Profile” option when you look at someone’s Gamercard, and in this section you can write a mini-biography about yourself, add some links to favorite sites, (hint: UNSCleric.com) and anything else you want.  The other option you will have is the ability to delete Arcade demos off your Gamercard.

There’s also been a Backwards Compatibility update today that added around 80 games., bringing the total to over 300.

Tech.co.uk has posted an article discussing what kind of technology will be available in 2011 and 2012, which are the most likely release years for Microsoft’s next console (I’ve always believed it’ll be 2011 and so does the article).  Here are some excerpts:

CPU Speed

The CPU clock speed quadrupled between the Xbox and Xbox 360, so that might imply that the 2011 CPU would be running at 12GHz.

But Intel is claiming its 32nm Sandy Bridge architecture will arrive at 4GHz in 2010, and clock speeds for the top desktop CPUs have remained steady at around 3GHz since the tail end of 2003. So we can’t see a console processor hitting 12GHz, even in 2011. The core clock would well be a fairly minor leap forward - it could be running at just 5GHz.

Processors

One thing the Xbox 2011 CPU will have, however, is processing cores - lots of them. The Xbox had one core, and the 360 has three. Looking at current trends, we predict there will be at least eight processing cores in the next version, possibly as many as 16 - and there could even be up to 32. After all, desktop PC chips with eight cores are due at the end of 2008 in the shape of Intel’s Nehalem architecture.

RAM

Since we expect the console’s operating system to be a 64-bit environment, memory in excess of 4GB would be perfectly feasible. But we suspect the amount of RAM will remain well behind desktop PCs, for cost reasons - maybe just 8GB?

The Rest

The chances are that the next consoles will be very much network-connected devices, something Microsoft has pioneered with Xbox LIVE.

So the Xbox 2011 will more than likely come with a big hard disk - or even gigabytes of Flash storage - and your games will download straight onto this. It’ll destroy the second-hand trade-in market, of course. But maybe we’ll all be selling our electronic license keys on eBay instead!

Our prediction for the next Xbox is…

So here’s the bottom line for the Xbox in 2011, based on current trends and what we know is happening over the next few years. Check back here in 2011 to see if we were right!

• CPU/GPU - Integrated chip with 16 x 5GHz processor cores, 32 x 2GHz graphics cores
• Memory - 8GB GDDR8
• Media - Dual-format HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive for backwards compatibility and movies
• Storage - 4TB hard disk for online game (and movie) delivery
• Built-in camera - for gesture-based control
• Built-in microphone - for voice-recognized control

In other news, Microsoft announced another feature of next week’s Fall Dashboard Update.  One of the new features will be the ability to…look at your friend’s friends list.  My first and only reaction to this was expressed over on Unscripted360.com’s post on this.

This is the dumbest feature I have ever heard of.

Not only is it pointless, but it’s going to cause nothing but problems for those who don’t disable it or don’t even know you can.  If someone is friends with someone and wants you to meet one of their friends, they will tell you their Gamertag, there’s no reason you need to be able to see people’s friends list.  An absolute waste of time. 

A feature I want, and will begin pushing for once the Fall Update comes out and most likely doesn’t include it, is an“Achievement/Invite” Notification only.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, there are little pop-up notifications for when friends come online, you get Achievements, or you get invited to a game,  Currently, you can either disable them all, or turn them all on.  What I want though, is to be able to only have a pop-up when I get an Achievement.  This would come in handy especially when playing through a new game where I don’t want to be distracted by my maxed-out friends list constantly having people come online.  I would like a list of checkboxes that would go something like this:

[] All Notifications
[] Friends Online Only
[] Game Invites Only
[] Achievements Only
[] Disable All

Anyway, we’ll see how popular the idea of the feature is and maybe someday it’ll be implemented.

Also, there is supposedly a big announcement for the newly released Rock Band coming sometime soon, and on a personal note, I will begin Mass Effect tonight!

Oh yeah, and Asteroids Deluxe is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday!

The Xbox 360 came out two years ago today!  I have great memories of the Xbox 360 launch, which I shared with you all on this very site. 

What are your Xbox 360 launch stories?

Also, The Hitman movie came out yesterday, and I can’t wait to see it.  I’ve been a big fan of the Hitman series since the second one came out on Xbox all those years ago, and 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money for the Xbox 360 was insanely fun, I put about 40 hours into it in less than a week.  I might go see that tonight, so look for a mention of how that was in a future entry.

Also, on the Marketplace today there is a demo for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, which is full of spoilers that will instantly ruin Half-Life 2 and Episode 1.  So if you haven’t played through the whole game yet, don’t play this demo, and tell all your friends that too, cause they will ruin what is one of the best gaming experiences you can have, all for a very short demo that isn’t even fun. 

Also out today is a free download for Guitar Hero III, and it is the official Halo (electric guitar) Theme.  Very nice.

 
First image of Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Press Release: Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that it is developing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas 2 for next-generation consoles and PC. Developed at Ubisoft Montreal by the same team that created the award-winning Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas, the highly anticipated sequel is scheduled for a March 2008 release. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is the sixth iteration in the wildly successful Rainbow Six franchise which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008 with more than 16 million units sold worldwide to date.

The highly anticipated sequel to the winner of numerous awards, including IGN’s 2006 Best First Person Shooter and Best Online Game, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will push the franchise to new heights by adding new gameplay features and even more stunning visuals. Players will encounter an intense solo campaign that uses new tactical possibilities in various locations around Sin City. As expected with one of the pioneer franchises for online multiplayer Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will also break new ground in both co-op and adversarial modes, while providing unprecedented interaction between the solo and multiplayer modes.

I’m probably one of the few that are actually into the storyline of Rainbow Six Vegas and I am very excited to see how the cliffhanger ending of the first Vegas continues this coming March when Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is scheduled to be released.

As predicted, Halo 3 will be getting its first batch of DLC before Christmas.

Earlier today, Microsoft Game Studios announced that the DLC Bungie has been working on will be available December 11th to the tune of 800 Microsoft points. The Heroic Map pack is comprised of the first three maps of our intended downloadable suite to support Halo 3’s multiplayer. Christopher Barrett, (AKA Barry) the creative director of Downloadable Content and Steve Cotton, the DLC design lead answered a host of questions, some reasonable, some borderline nonsense to give folks a little better idea about what they are seeing when they look at the three screenshots of the maps we’ve released (there will be more coming sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday). 

Click here for a Q&A session with Bungie about the three new maps.

In Bungie’s update on Friday they hinted about what the new multiplayer maps they are working on are like, talking at one point about how one of them feels similar to Coagulation, but is not similar at all in terms of visuals.

Does that mean Jodrell Bank is a remake of Blood Gulch or Coagulation? Absolutely not, in fact it isn’t anything like it aesthetically, but in terms of the engagement distances, it feels like Blood Gulch.

Anyway, at the end of the update, Luke talks about how there will be no weekly update, podcast, or any updates at all really this coming week due to the holiday, but then he says the following:

But, on Monday (November 19) folks are definitely going to want to check back in here at Bungie.net and keep faces pressed to their monitors like children breathing on school bus windows in November, because there will be news. Oh yes, there will be news.

Could it be the Halo 3 DLC release date being announced or the DLC itself?  We will find out within a few hours.

Previously: September 2007 Sales Numbers

Hardware Results
Wii 519K
Nintendo DS 458K
Xbox 360 366K
PSP 286K
PlayStation 2 184K
PlayStation 3 121K

Top 10 Software Sales
360 HALO 3 * MICROSOFT  1 433.8K
360 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITACTIVISION - 383.2K
WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITACTIVISION - 286.3K
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITACTIVISION - 271.1K
NDS LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS NINTENDO - 262.8K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA - 239.7K
360 HALF LIFE 2: EPISODE 2 THE ORANGE BOX ELECTRONIC ARTS - 238.4K
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION - 231.7K
PS2 FIFA SOCCER 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS - 129.7K
NDS BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES A NINTENDO - 116.9K

Once again, the Xbox 360 and Wii continue to dominate the hardware sales charts.  The PS3 on the other hand continues to barely break 100K units a month, selling only about 30K systems a week.  On the software side, unlike last month, when the PS3 had a game at #10 on the sales charts finally, they don’t even get up there at all this month, but the Xbox 360 continues to be the software-selling king.

Major Nelson has answered the question about achievements and Xbox.com now has a page dedicated to Xbox Originals:

I have gotten quite a few questions about yesterday’s Xbox Originals announcement. Specifically, folks want to know if these games will have additional functionality like Achievements and Gamer score. The answer is no. These are the original games that were created before Xbox 360. In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release.  I hope that clears that up.

I would assume the Guide (along with Live features like the friends list) will still be available while playing these downloadable games though, if not, they should be.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the Xbox Live service, Microsoft will be offering Carcassonne (Hexic 2 in Korea) free to all subscribers for 48 hours starting at 12:01 a.m. EST on Nov. 15th, along with 500 Microsoft Points for members who have been members since 2002.  In addition, Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports that ‘Xbox Originals’ will be made available for download starting Dec. 4th as part of the Fall Update (the update’s additional features have yet to be revealed). Each game can be purchased and downloaded for 1200 points ($15).

In its press release, Microsoft explicitly named Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies and Fable as titles for the Xbox Originals initiative, but did not confirm exactly which games will serve as the jumpoff: “This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games.” Third-party reports claim the preliminary lineup will include Halo, Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3.

All of my specific questions on this new service (below) are yet to be answered.