THIS IS MADNESS: Bungie ties the knot....

Folks. I just woke up from a horrid nightmare about chimps, plumbers and a petting zoo. And if anyone asks, the chimp was petting the plumber on the hat. But a recent article about Bungie leaves me no choice but to declare this

THIS IS MADNESS!

And no, there's no Sparta around here.

We all know Bungie has worked with Microsoft on the Halo franchise since it released back in 2001. After the completion of Halo 3, it was announced that Bungie would go its separate ways with Microsoft, but not before its final Halo games(Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach) were released.

Recently at the Bungie website, something caused me to cry, and a million fanboys to rage. Bungie has recently signed a 10 year deal with Call of Duty IP owners Activision.

Bungie, the developer of blockbuster game franchises including Halo, Myth and Marathon, and Activision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the #1 online games publisher (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that they have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungie’s next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

3 years after Bungie breaks off from one evil empire, it teams up with yet another evil empire. And yet we happen to have been heckling Activision over losing Infinite Ward's best staff members. We never saw that coming from a mile away.

So why Activision? Why not someone like SEGA, SquareEnix, Capcom, err Warner Bros Interactive?

“We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.”
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Next thing you'll know, they'll be making the next Call of Duty game called "Call of Duty: Combat Evolved."*SHOT*

But we should all be worried about Activision owning Bungie even if the latter is still an independent company and Activision is only a publisher.

Works Cited: Bungie's website
More at Destructoid

Marvel and Capcom, time to HERO

Many decades ago, Capcom and Marvel teamed up with Marvel vs Capcom. The success resulted in a sequel. It was a popular favorite among Street Fighter fans.

Just recently, we got Tatsunoko vs Capcom. A sequel, or a mere taste of what's to come? Then the ultimate surprise.

That's right ladies and gentlemen. Marvel vs Capcom 3 is confirmed.

Confirmed characters

Marvel:
Wolverine
Iron Man
Hulk

Capcom:
Ryu
Morrigan
Chris Redfield

Works Cited:
Trailer
More information at Kotaku

Return of the Maker: Nolan Bushnell joins the board of Atari

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the creator of Atari has come home. Announced by a number of Video Game News sources, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, will join the board of directors of Atari S.A. Here's what Nolan Bushnell has to say, courtesy of Industry Games.

"It kind of is a homecoming. I think Atari has made some really nice strides in the last few years, and I feel like it's the right time and right place," he told us. "I've known [CEO] Jeff Lapin and some of the guys [for quite a while], and I bumped into them a few years ago at E3 and had some dialogue. It just all of a sudden felt natural I think for both sides."

Well Nolan, welcome back home. Now it seems Atari will be one big happy family, don't ya think?

An Atari S.A. news release about Bushnell's nomination to the board also, in a single sentence at the end, mentioned that Phil Harrison and David Gardner left the board of directors. Harrison, the former Sony Worldwide Studios chief, stepped down as Atari president about a year ago, so this completes his departure from Atari. Gardner had been the company's CEO until December.

Wait a minute. You're getting rid of the Giant Enemy Crabs guy? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Works Cited
Industry Games
Kotaku

NPD March 2010: I may have spoke too soon

Hey folks. Remember last month when the Wii fell behind the 360? I actually thought to myself "Wow. Does that mean the Wii is finished? That it was nothing more than a fad, and that a real fad like HD can dominate?"

Unfortunately, I may have spoke too soon about the Wii's demise. Because the new NPD has shown up.

March 2010

System	Sales
Wii	557.5K
DS	700.8K
Xbox 360	338.4K
PlayStation 3	313.9K
Playstation Portable	119.9K
PlayStation 2	118.3K

February 2010

System	Sales
Wii	397.9K
DS	613.2K
X-Box 360	422.0K
Playstation 3	360.1K
Playstation Portable	133.4K
Playstation 2	101.9K

The Wii and DS have both gone up while the PS3 and 360 have gone down. The Wii now stands in 2nd place while the DS stands in first. Interesting is that the PSP and the PS2 sales have gone up. And this, ironically, is when a double whammy of FFXIII and God of War 3 came out. Also, as I pointed out, the DSi XL helped the sales of the DS stay above everything else.

Speaking of which, you all know what is number 1 on the software sales.

Software	Publisher	System	Sales
God of War 3	Sony	PS3	1.10M
Pokemon Soul Silver	Nintendo	DS	1.02M
Final Fantasy XIII	SquareEnix	PS3	828.2K
Battlefield: Bad Company 2	EA	X-Box 360	825.5K
Pokemon Heart Gold	Nintendo	DS	761.2K
Final Fantasy XIII	SquareEnix	PS3	493.9K
New Super Mario Bros Wii	Wii	Nintendo	457.4K
Battlefield: Bad Company 2	Electronic Arts	PS3	451.2K
Wii Fit Plus	Nintendo	Wii	429.6K
MLB 10: The Show	Sony	Playstation 3	349.2K

As I stated, the sales belong to God of War III while Pokemon Soul Silver hangs out in 2nd(Heart Gold is at 5th). Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 is on 3rd with the 360 version at 6th. Battlefield: Bad COmpany 2, EA's answer to Modern Warfare, hits number 4 and number 8(360 outselling the Wii version). And New Super Mario Bros Wii is number 7. Rounding out the Top 10 are Wii Fit Plus and MLB 10.

Next month will be a quiet month. Will Monter Hunter 3 prove to be ferocious for Wii owners? Or is it too wild for even the most hardcore of em? Stay tuned.

End of an Era

And now, a moment of silence. Last night was the final night anyone with an oldskool X-Box could play on X-Box Live. As of now, X-Box Live is shut off for anyone with an oldskool X-Box. That means Halo 2 players on the X-Box 1 will no longer be able to play on Microsoft's X-Box servers. And don't even think about trying these BC X-Box games on 360 or download an X-Box Original on the 360.


The service was due to be switched off at midnight PDT, i.e. about 20 minutes ago.

As a result you can no longer play Xbox 1 games online in any way - not using an original Xbox, nor by playing a backwards-compatible title on Xbox 360, or even by downloading an Xbox Originals effort.

Hardest hit by this is Halo 2, which has sustained a decent following since its spectacular November 2004 launch. (Read our extensive farewell, The Making of Halo 2.)

Folks, this marks the end of a long era of X-Box Live, that brought us online play for a small fee. To you X-Box Live fans, game on.

Works Cited: Eurogamer
You can read Eurogamer's Farewell to Halo 2 and Bungie's Final Night with Halo 2

Double, I mean Triple Trouble: Activision vs IW, Bricking PS3s and Nintendomination

Folks, the last week has put so much on the edge that it is no longer Double Trouble, but rather TRIPLE TROUBLE

First off, the battle between Activision and former Infinite Ward workers has intensified, with Activision calling the former members 'self-serving schemers.' The lawsuit according to Activision, claimed that the company FIRED Jason West and Vincent Zampella because the two "morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision's assets for their own personal gain."

The lawsuit, according to the Plantiffs Jason West and Vincent Zampella, accuses Activision of firing them just so they deprive the developers of royalties earned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has generated more than $1.5 billion in worldwide revenue since the game launched in November.

When we get involved with Video Games, we don't have much reason to go after each other's throats other than to win, or to whine about how the opposing side cheated. When it comes to game development as a career, publishers and developers fight over who gets their fair share of cash. Reminds you of Goldman Sachs vs the People? But what about Wall Street?

So far, Wall Street has taken little to no notice of Activision's legal drama. The Santa Monica company's shares have steadily risen from $10.94 on March 1, when West and Zampella were fired, to $12.12 on Thursday.

Wait a minute. You mean Wall Street was in on Activision's firing of Jason and Vincent? IT'S A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU! RUN FOR THE HILLS FOLKS!

But enough funny talk. Next up, many owners of the Playstation 3 are upset that the new update will disable their right to use Linux on their systems. However, owners of the Phat PS3s are in for a shock when the new update BRICKS THEIR PS3s.

Some users are reporting infinite loops where the installation routine never completes, others are complaining about the inability to use a variety of different controllers during the process.

But what if your PS3 doesn't get bricked? What if your Phat survives the installation and is alright? It will be alright, right?

Plenty of people who have been lucky enough to get the install to work are saying that Internet connectivity after the upgrade is sluggish, non-existent or subject to frequent unexplained disconnections.

Others are reporting problems with random screen resolutions and HDMI connections no longer working.

OMG! You mean this update will Gimp my Phat PS3? Well I won't install. You can't make me and I have my right to do so.

Many users who have elected not to install the obviously broken update are complaining that they cannot connect to the Playstation Network or play online games. Some are even saying that the consoles will no longer play or eject Blu-ray disks.

Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you'll still *CENSORED* me with these updates regardless if I choose to install them or not?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But enough of that. Finally, Gamasutra has reported on the Global Market of video game consoles. Those of you who hope the Wii to be in last place are gonna be shocked. According to the report, the Wii owns 47% of the Global Market. That means one thing: THE HARDCORE MARKET IS SHRINKING! But there is one thing that is growing

The report estimated average development costs for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games at $15-$30 million per title. With games that cost that much, game companies need to sell between 500,000 and 1 million units to break even, excluding overhead. Marketing costs can amount to as much or more than the cost of actual game development, the report said.

That's compared to Xbox, PS2 and GameCube games that cost around $3-$5 million to make on average, Ibis said, while Wii games cost $5-$7 million.

That's alot of moolah just to make a video game. I wonder how long till Development exceeds Movie development by more than twice that? But there's more bad news when it comes to Video Game Generations. The report also mentions the rise of Digital Distribution and what may be the end of Video Game Generations.

The report said that the Wii "dominates" the current console generation in terms of revenue share. Ibis said the Wii captures 47 percent of global platform revenue, followed by Xbox 360 with 35 percent and PlayStation 3 with 18 percent. 2009 console revenues were over $30 billion.

Ibis forecast $40 billion of global console-related revenue by 2013, driven by growth in North American and European markets and new "eighth-generation" platforms expected to arrive 2013-2014. Asian console growth is expected to be limited by piracy and MMO and casual games.

Beyond the next generation of consoles, Ibis speculated that digital distribution could eradicate disc-based consoles as we know them. "Digital downloadable content and game delivery reduce likelihood of a ninth generation console cycle, creating potentially significant long term issues for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and GameStop," said the report.

Folks, this means one thing. IT'S THE END OF THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY AS WE KNOW IT! And yet I feel fine. So what will happen when the era of Physical Media in Video Games comes to an end? Stay tuned. And while you're at it, more information on the Global Game report is in the Gamasutra link below.

Works Cited:
LA Times
Thinq UK
Gamasutra

The truth about the Game Industry

Folks, it seems its time for me to reveal what is the truth about the video game industry and the hidden messages that Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard and Valve are known for. Now, you are all aware of these 6 companies

Nintendo
Sony
Microsoft
Apple
Blizzard
Valve

Nintendo is well known to being one of the oldest companies in this vast planet. They are also known now for the development of the Nintendo Wii, DS and the upcoming 3DS.

Sony is known for the Playstation line-up. Especially the Playstation 3 and the PSP. Not to mention the PSP Go

Microsoft is well known for the X-Box 360 and an OS that crashes every 3 seconds.

Apple is known for iPods, iMacs, iPads, iToys, and iSpy

Blizzard is known for its Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo Franchises

And Valve...they're just known for Steam.

Alone, they are merely innocent companies who sell their products to customers all while making money just to buy themselves a Yacht. But combined, there is a deep dark secret, or set of secrets. Lemme point it out. If you take the I T from Nintendo, the S and the O from Sony, the C and S from Microsoft, the A from Apple and the L and I from Blizzard(Dunno where Valve fits in, but what the hey), you get

Socialist

It's Glenn Becks' worst fear come true. He'll freak out when he learns the Video GAme industry is a bigger Socialist party than Obama will ever be. But it doesn't stop there. Take the I from Nintendo, the P from Apple and the E from Valve and you get....

Pie

Now who on earth would want Pie? Real men eat Cake. And Cake is not a lie. But there's more. I found this as well. Take the I from Nintendo, the S from Sony, the R and T from Microsoft, the P from Apple, the A from Blizzard and the E from Valve. What do you get?

Pirates

Exactly. The entire operation is being runned by Pirates. I can hear this from Miyamoto to Hirai

- Shiver me Timbers Kaz Hirai, I got me a new game I plan on presenting to dem landlubbers. Eet involves using Wii Balance Board to make der fat walk da plank

- Arrgh. I also be developing me own workout. Eet involves me camera and me wand.

- Hohohohoho. Yee be good Hirai. Let's go get us a drink and celebrate

But it gets worse. Just recently, I have discovered the strings behind the Video Game industry. It's not Jack Thompson, it's not Orly Taitz, and it ain't Beavis and Butthead. How do I know? Take the N, I and N from Nintendo, the I from Microsoft and the A and P from Apple, and what do you get?

PANINI

And I'm not talking about those Panini sandwiches



That's right. I'm talking about this monster. Known for obsessing over a certain someone with an overeating problem. She knew the show she was on was coming to an end. So she snuck Motion Controls into the 360 and PS3, Cataclysm into World of Warcraft, and who knows, she may be sneaking cartoons into Steam.

But I'm taking this up a notch. Take the T from Nintendo, the S from Sony, the M and R from Microsoft, the A from Apple, the L, I and A from Blizzard, and the V, A V from Valve, what do you get?

VIVA LA SMART

It's a conspiracy. They're out to make us smarter. Well guess what video game industry. We protest this. We are proud to be stupid and we will not start for Smart elitism. In fact, we protest it so much that we...

PROTEST

Wait a minute. I almost forgot. The T and E from Nintendo. S from Sony. The R, O and T from Microsoft, and the P from Apple. It spells out...PROTEST! NOOOOO! THEY TRICKED US! BY PROTESTING, WE ARE AIDING OUR ENEMIES INTO CONQUERING US! THEY KNEW THEY WERE GONNA PROTEST AND WE FELL FOR IT! WHYYYYYYYYY! This unfortunately leads to this. I will stand up to my Patriotism and American spirit and...

AMERICA

AHHHHHH! You mean my country was in on this? All by taking the I and E from Nintendo, the M, C and R from Microsoft, the A from Apple and the A from Valve. America. Why? Why did you do this? That's it. I'm moving to Canada. That way, I can be free from these monsters and....

CANADA

Why? Why did it come to this? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? The D from Nintendo, the N from Sony, the C from Microsoft, the A from Apple, the A from Blizzard and the A from Valve. It's not like they took the earth and....Wait. You mean you can't spell out Earth with those letters? AHA! Caught ya red handed.

So in conclusion, I have one thing to say, with the T from Nintendo, the S from Sony, the I from Microsoft and the P from Apple

SPIT

Because I spit on this article and this stupid April Fools Joke.

(Chowder(Copyright Cartoon Network and Time Warner) was created by C.H. Greenblatt, who is now working with the Walt Disney Company.)