In the world of video games, licensed movie titles are both a blessing and a curse. For the publishers, they’re almost guaranteed money-makers; for the fans, you get a chance to play along with a movie or character you really enjoy. But, all too often you end up with a half-baked turd with no polish that was rushed out the door to meet a release date coinciding with a movie. Certainly the E.T. video game is a shining example of turdism (considered by many to be the worst video game ever made). Thinking about the time frame, this may be the game that set us all up for the continuing misfires in licensing for the last thirty years. There are a few gems, especially recently, like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In that case, it was the movie that should have been aborted in favor of the gaming experience. Most recently, Toy Story 3 has received great acclaim as a video game. Meanwhile, SEGA has been exercising their turd shining equipment for games based on both Iron Man films and Thor. Expectations for Captain America: Super Soldier are pretty low.
Then you get licensed games without the timed movie tie-in. These tend to do better, but still have plenty of flops. Batman: Arkham Asylum was mind-blowing. It’s upcoming sequel, Arkham City, has been a big topic in VGQH recently. And it will continue to be as expectations mount leading up to its release in October. But, even without an immediate tie-in, licensed games still manage to suck. 2004’s Superman for Nintendo 64 jumps to mind. As does Silver Surfer from the NES era.
So what’s with the weird editorial? Well, it’s mostly my long winded way of leading up to one of the strangest pieces of gaming news I’ve seen since I started this column. When licensed games are so hit or miss, when is it a good idea to revive a franchise through the use of gaming? More importantly, is it ever a good idea to revive a movie franchise like Child’s Play? According to Alex Tikhman (Co-Founder / Vice President of Publishing for TikGames), “Fans have been asking for a Chucky game for years and, soon, gamers around the world will be able to enjoy highly-entertaining, interactive, downright gory experiences with this brand.” I think it’s more accurate to say that fans asked for a game years ago, not “for years.” The movie series was good once, that first film was downright terrifying. This was clearly a movie that should never be shown to children, but was targeted at them nonetheless. Over the years, the franchise went the way of the ridiculous, as horror films are wont to do. But anyone who first saw Chucky terrorizing Andy when they were still under 14 carries a little trepidation about dolls to this day. The game is being called a “stealth action romp” and is clearly set to be very gory. The announcement leaves me with two questions: Really? and Why now? Hopefully we’ll get some answers when the game releases this fall for consoles and PC.
Speaking of resurrecting old franchises (apologies for the horrible transition), Carmageddon is apparently making a comeback. Why else would the website suddenly be brought back with a countdown timer? Let me save you some calculating time, it’s counting down to June 1st. Obviously no one will know anything until that time, but considering E3 comes about a week later I’d expect some more announcements then. An interesting sidenote to this story is that Square Enix owns the domain name for the website, but are denying any involvement in the game. It appears the IP has been traded off to someone else and anything currently happening with it will be an indie project. If this is a franchise you’ve been longing to see return, I’d suggest you keep an eye on the website. I’ll also recap any news in the June 3rd edition of VGQH.
Sony has recently announced a firm release date for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, along with the various preorder incentives. The game will be available on October 18. Fall is starting to fill up fast with great games. Depending on where you preorder, you’ll have your choice of four bonus weapons. Mr. Zurkon, the T-Rex morph, Sheepinator Morph, and Pyro Blaster will be available at GameStop, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy, respectively.
Isn’t it just perfect that I have some news about Batman: Arkham City today so I can call back to my editorial intro? One of the first trailers for the game quickly showed the Iceberg Lounge and a leaked set of avatar pics also showed what could be the Penguin. Rocksteady has confirmed to Australia’s Sunday Herald that Oswald Cobblepot is, indeed, in the game. But, according to Dax Ginn, he’s not the Penguin you’re used to seeing. “The way that Penguin has always been portrayed is as quite an aristocratic, well-spoken gentleman who’s got these twisted delusions of grandeur. So we’ve made him a really horrible, nasty piece of work – but still with the delusion of grandeur. He dresses well, but in a poor taste, and we’ve made him this brutish, brutal guy but also keyed into the collection fascination that he’s had through out the years.” One of his famous collections is heavy artillery, meaning you’ll have some strong resistance from his henchmen when you meet them after solving one of the Riddler’s puzzles. Ginn didn’t just talk about Penguin though, he also mentioned Catwoman, “The attitude of this Selena Kyle is closer to that of the late, great Eartha Kitt from the cult 60s TV show: strong, confident, sexy and independent.” Silly me, I honestly thought I couldn’t get more excited for this game.
Of more immediate concern, for anyone considering picking up DiRT 3 today, the DLC announcement may be your deciding factor. Two car packs, “Mud and Guts” and “Power and Glory” are coming, as well as two track packs, “Monte Carlo” and “X Games Asia.” Each pack will come with an additional four achievements/trophies (16 total). Release dates and prices have not been announced.
If that’s not enough DLC news for you, then you might be interested in the free pack coming for Dead Space 2. The “Outbreak Map Pack” comes with two additional multiplayer maps, The Academy and The Concourse. You can get the pack on May 31st from XBox or June 3rd on PSN.
If that last sentence has you scratching your head, considering the PlayStation Store is still down, this next bit is for you. Sony’s plan is for the store to be operational again starting today. Content will be updated twice a week starting from the first week it was down and releasing in order until they catch up to the current schedule. Select items may be released ahead of schedule on a case by case basis.
For Sony stockholders, this can’t come too soon. According to a recent announcement, the hack that saw Sony shut down service for about a month, followed by an additional hack of Sony Online Entertainment, is costing the company over 14 billion yen (just over $171million USD). This is especially devastating to the company in the same fiscal year where they will see a 17 billion yen loss from the recent natural disasters in Japan. The combined setbacks, along with other financial issues, have changed Sony’s predicted 70 billion yen this year to a possible loss of 260 billion. Nonetheless, they are predicting a return to profitability in fiscal 2012.
One thing that could help the company in its troubled financial times is the recent announcement of PSP Remastered. This initiative will take popular PSP titles, turn them into HD (maybe even 3D) and bring them to the handheld’s big brother, PS3. While the remastered games are not planned to include any trophy support, your save game can be transferred between your home console and your portable device. That means your Ghost of Sparta game you’d been playing in your basement won’t need to sit on hold while you take your vacation. Just transfer your save and you’ll be kiling gods on the plane just like you were at home. While the announcement has currently only been made for Japan, it’s clearly expected this will move to the US as well.
That seems to be the news for today. I’ll be checking the PS Store this afternoon as I still want to get “The Arrival” for Mass Effect 2. Check back Friday for another quick update on all your gaming news.