September is upon us ladies and gents and that can be a sad time. With summer slipping through our fingertips and the “S” word rearing its ugly head, we look back on the summer that has past and ask “did we fulfill our outer-self?” But forget all that depressing and reflective garbage because we’re gamers and gamers love the fall because the holiday push has officially begun with the heavy hitters of 2010 vying for your holiday dollars. With big games come big rumors and as such my butcher table as become full of enough gossip and hearsay to make the Gossip Girls blush. So, without another delay let’s take our end of summer frustrations out on these rumors and judge their worth with EpicBattleAxe.com’s The Rumor KILL!
THE RUMOR: A Call of Duty: Black Ops beta is coming
THE SOURCE: Destructoid
MY TAKE: Well it’s almost November so sure as Mario will never stick his wrench in Princess Peach’s pipe there’s another Call of Duty about to headshot its way onto store shelves. That of course causes a few months of over-speculation, over-hyper and over-marketing (not saying that COD games are bad games but Activision’s marketing of the franchise is as subtle as a freight train crashing into a propane truck) that will plague us well into Black Friday. Good news is this will produce rumors by the bulk-load and the one to kick it all off is a supposed image of a Call of Duty: Black Ops beta in the PSN Store. Now the image has already been proven fake with people figuring out it’s the same photo as the fake Gran Turismo 5 beta shown a while back (speaking of GT5, did you hear Duke Nukem Forever is finally coming out? Neat eh?!) . Despite the photoshop fake being exposed that doesn’t kill the rumor. Betas are great for finding glitches and hammering them out and overall improving the multiplayer experience. Treyarch would be foolish to pass on one, just ask Infinity Ward.
THE VERDICT: SPARE IT!!!
As much as I believe Treyarch isn’t foolish enough to not create a beta, I know for a fact Bobby Kotick and the rest of Activision is and since they ultimately have the say, I don’t see it happening. But, I won’t kill this rumor for a couple of reasons. One is that Treyarch seems to be really good at learning from Infinity Ward’s mistakes. MW2 didn’t have dedicated servers, Black Ops will. MW2 banned party chat from most game modes, Black Ops won’t. See the pattern? Infinity Ward thought they were too good to have a beta and that cockiness caused the game to have more glitches then pixels. Treyarch won’t want to make the same mistake. The second reason I won’t kill this is because Call of Duty: World at War had a beta which tells me Treyarch is definitely comfortable with the idea if Activision greenlights it and that keeps my hopes for a beta alive, at least for now.
THE RUMOR: Valkyria Chronicles 3 will be announced at TGS
THE SOURCE: 1UP
MY TAKE: Okay so really this started last week when Sega registered valkyria3.jp as a website but I didn’t cover it because…well don’t worry about it I’m covering it now. Anyway, this week the gasoline was poured onto the fire in the form of a teaser site called “code1935.jp” and shows the image above. September 16th of course is the first day of the Tokyo Game Show and the 1935 could easily refer to the year the first game is set in. When looking at this evidence it seems like this rumor is cut and dry, unless of course this isn’t Valkyria Chronicles 3 and it’s actually a remake of the first game, or a companion to the very recently released Valkyria Chronicles 2 or even just a PS3 port of the game. It’s amazing how a seemingly simple rumor can become so complicated.
THE VERDICT: BELIEVE IT!!!
I do believe the third Valkyria Chronicles will be announced at TGS on the 16th but I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be Valkyria Chronicles 3 but instead one of the other possibilities I mentioned above, oh which I’m leaning towards a PS3 port of Valkyria Chronicles 2 though I cannot be sure. The reasoning is that the announcement would be too close to the release of Valkyria Chronicles 2 which was released in January in Japan, though it didn’t see North American shores till last week. Even still, that seems like a really short time between sequels and something the developer wouldn’t be eager to do. I could be wrong though and Sega WOW is making Valkyria Chronicles the Guitar Hero of tactical role playing RTS’s.
THE RUMOR: C. Viper is in Marvel vs. Capcom 3
THE SOURCE: Destructoid
MY TAKE: You can’t be serious, with all the characters in Capcom’s roster that haven’t had the chance to be featured in a Marvel vs. Capcom game and they’re apparently choosing the newest and to me the one of the most forgettable Street Fighter character they have to offer. Well that’s what it looks like if we examine an image from the MvC3 website that possibly shows a silhouette of the double agent and could very well make her a fighter in the game. That could have mixed reactions since a lot of long time favorite characters like Sir Arthur and Mega Man could be giving up their roster spot for her; unless there’s a C. Viper cult following I don’t know about. Still it’s possible that she just shows up in one of the cut scenes or something and Capcom is just out to confuse us or it could even be another character altogether. Possible I suppose, but unlikely.
THE VERDICT: BELIEVE IT!!!
The silhouette matches way to well for it to be anyone but C. Viper. Seriously look at the source it’s almost like they copied her directly out of the SSIV promotional art. Also, the fact that Capcom hasn’t really shown any characters that aren’t playable seems to tell me that all these mystery silhouettes that we see in the promotional photos are playable fighters and C. Viper is taking up one of those precious 35 or so spots. This (at least in my opinion) sucks. This is a more limited fighter count than Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and it seems to me that character selection has to be one of the most important issues this game will have. There is no room for a dud character and having C. Viper in the place of potential characters like Dr. Wily and Spiderman, SPIDERMAN for Christ sake!!!! How can you have a Marvel game without the face of Marvel? That’s like a DC game without Superman and a Pokemon game without a Pikachu. Well anyway, it won’t destroy my future fighting game of the year, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, because for every C. Viper I’m sure Capcom will throw in 10 other awesome characters; after all while making an omelet you’re bound to find a few rotten eggs.
THE RUMOR: A $100 “Platinum” Xbox Live Membership is coming
THE SOURCE: Michael Pachter via Industry Gamers
MY TAKE: Yep, Wedbush’s gaming guru Michael Pachter, the man who successfully predicted the $10 XBL price hike we’re seeing in November, thinks that Microsoft is just getting started with the price increases and will eventually be offering a $100 plan for those Richy Rich gamers out there. Now before we all start freaking out and start storming Microsoft headquarters with pitchforks let me say that Pachter is not leaking any inside information or basing this of any evidence of any kind. This is pure speculation which is why we’re talking about this here and not as a news article. Pachter explains in the source article that the extra $10 we’re paying for XBL works out to be $100 – 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft which in turn could be reinvested to create a $100 membership that has $100 – 200 million worth of extra goodies to play with. This could be anything from media centre type options like managing iTunes on your 360 or virtual goods like special Halo armor. Could this actually be pulled off? Who knows, Microsoft has already justified users paying $60 for a service that Sony offers for free and we seem to me at least marginally okay with it. Would an extra $40 for $100 million worth of extras really be that much different?
THE VERDICT: KILL IT!!!
I like Pachter I really do, but sometimes I think he’s insane! What he and all these other business people need to realize is just because you CAN ask for more money, doesn’t mean you should. If by some miracle Michael Pachter actually reads this I want him to realize something, the average gamer…hell the average person cannot afford that kind of investment. We already throw down $150+ for a console plus $60/game plus if you own a 360 $60 for Xbox Live. That, on top of the price of controllers and headsets and a TV to play the games on all adds up to a serious chunk of change. Most of us aren’t making the 6 figures necessary to spend $100/year to play online and enjoy crap we might not even use. At that point it would be cheaper to buy a different console and play online for free. I could be wrong though and gamers really do want to have a “platinum” experience on their console no matter the price. Please feel free to let us know below because I’m sure this story will spur a pretty sweet discussion.
THE FINAL SAY
My final say this week, of course, is about Duke Nukem Forever but really, it’s more about Gearbox Software. For one, I got to give props for Gearbox who are starting to become one of my favorite developers. It takes a lot of balls to take what was essentially vaporware from a studio you have no connection with and make it into a functioning game, but Pitchford isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. Afterall, this is the man who made a game with a zillion guns; he’s not going to be scared off by 13 years of expectation. So despite my rant a few weeks ago about being sick of Duke I have to say that if Gearbox makes a good game out of the mess they were given they deserve developer of the decade!
So there you have it, an end of the biggest bad joke in gaming history also means the end of another edition of EpicBattleAxe.com’s The Rumor KILL!!! For those who are joining me in going back to school good luck and for those who aren’t all I have to say is: #@$#%@!% you lucky ducks!!!!
Black Ops will not have a public beta (only closed internal one). I watched an interview but don’t remember the site to link you to it. game-something-radio maybe?
I want a Black Ops beta. They better have one or it will be MW2′s multiplayer glitches all over again. C. Viper will be fun in MvC3 but I want more variety. I don’t think there will be a platinum level for live because they just raised the price. And I can’t wait for TGS. Sony will have a good show.
Any news on the supposed “Pay for your own goddamn dedicated server” with the new CoD Black Ops?
Ive heard it, I assumed it was a rumor, but if its not in the rumor kill, what must this mean!?
Source: http://twitter.com/JoshPeckler/status/22766249936
SFIV is definitely an important mark in recent Capcom history, getting a signature character from that particular iteration of SF makes total sense to me. (You can argue if Viper was the right choice – for me it was). Still I think at least of of the 5: Fuerte, Rufus, Viper, Seth or Abel should make it into MVC3.
Unfortunately Silhouettes mean nothing now in MvC3 after what Seth said on the stream:
- According to Seth Killian, there is one Marvel character that is one of the craziest things ever put into a Capcom fighting game
- This character would be broken, but the designers were able to cleverly implement things
- Marvel vs. Capcom 3 silhouettes should be taken with a grain of salt
- Some characters may not be in the game anymore even if they were in a silhouette
- Seth Killian said that characters mentioned in the suggestion box were too late
- This is because the roster was practically finalized by then
- X, Phoenix, Gene mentioned when Seth was talking about character suggestions being too late
Source is the PAX Unity Live Stream.
Everybody has their own opinion on what characters should and shouldn’t be included. I don’t mind Viper, and I don’t even play her. I probably still wont either. I’m mad that they skipped SF3 though. No one is ever going to be truly happy with everybody. I’m mad that morrigan, felicia and chun li were recycled (but not ryu). Someone else out there might be thrilled though.
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I dunno…
A platinum model on the 360 wouldn’t necessarily mean the demise of the gold subscription we have today. Personally I’m fine with silver but most people seems to be happy with gold when it comes to connectivity and multiplayer goodness.
If they do launch a third option my guess is that it would be more akin to Sony’s effort on the PS3 – a free game here and there, exclusive DLC’s, exclusive access to beta’s etc etc. Content added on top of the already existing gold stuff, so to speak.
And I think it’s actually quite likely that it’ll happen eventually. Sooner rather than later even.
Yes, I regularly read EBA: you guys are the best.
I don’t think Microsoft will create Platinum in order to get EVERYBODY to switch; rather, I think we’ll see it as a supplement for the wealthy gamer (or the one whose parents will pay for anything to indulge them), and I see only 1 – 2 million out of the current XBL Gold membership switching over. The company will very likely continue to offer a great experience for the other 14 – 16 million XBL Gold members, and only those with way too much money will add Platinum out of fear of missing something. The appropriate analogy is the collector’s edition of a game, which costs $10 – 40 more for a few collectibles. If Microsoft gives away $40 – 100 per year in “free” virtual goods for Platinum members, a lot of people will consider the $100 price point a bargain.
You’re right, most people can’t afford this. However, there are 40 million Xbox 360s out there, and Microsoft continues to sell around 8 million a year, so we’re talking about only 2 – 5% of 360 owners switching to Platinum. That pretty much limits the new tier to the very wealthy, or to the extremely committed fanboys who have to have everything.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Sony is definitely on the path to charging everyone, with the introduction of PSN Plus just the beginning. I think you’ll see them dumb down the free offering and try to emulate XBL Gold and push everyone in that direction over the next five years.
The gamer demographic is changing…the average age now is what 26 or 28. That means companies can charge more due to simple economics. The average player is older and therefor more likely to have the income to afford more crap. I am not saying this is right but as an industry matures both as an industry and its consumer base then price increases are bound to happen. Consoles, games and memberships will continue to rise as the gamers continue to get older in average. My kids will be paying like $1000 for a console, $120 for a game and probably membership fees of $80 a month (But it will be bundled with highspeed internet, TV and phone) HAH!
(gonna assume this really isnt pachter since this is the internet after all)
As Long as I have access to the game marketplace and online play for free, I dont care what happens on PSN. I do own an Xbox but all I really use Gold Membership for is those two features, the only reason they wont make a subscription with only those two features for a bit less money is because without online play you really have your costumers by the balls.
I dont even get much use out of XBL anyways since I don’t really like shooters and therefor Online play doesn’t get used much so after my subscription tuns out I will probably not be renewing it just so I can have all these features i barely or never use.
The Only exception is if Capcom announced Monster Hunter Frontier’s 360 version in America, which will likely never happen since the series doesn’t do very well here because Capcom never advertised the first game stateside. even though they did so with MH3, most people don’t buy sequels to games they never played unless alot of people say it was good (once again going back to not a lot of people played MH1 and MH2 never even left japan).