Gaming Links
Here are some gaming links while you're waiting for the contest finalists to be announced.First off, here's a story that seems very odd ("odd" as in "stupid"). It appears that Activision is blocking the release of a patch for the PS3 version of Rock Band that would make the Les Paul controller compatible with the game. Here's a statement from Harmonix (thanks Kotaku):
Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision's Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the compatibility patch's release. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision's continued objection.
If this is true, Activision needs to back off as quickly as they can--that's a mistake, and it makes them look petty.
Jane Pinckard (of Game Girl Advance) did an interview with Tracey John of MTV Multiplayer about "gender in the gaming space." The questions are thoughtful, and the answers are as well--it's an excellent interview.
I saw a link over at the Quarter to Three forums to another video by Johnny Chung Lee, the fellow who created the "multi-touch interface" mode using the Wiimote. Now he's back with something even cooler--using the Wiimote to create an interactive whiteboard. Even though I can't describe how awesome this is in words, the video is amazing.
Matt Sakey has two links: one, to a new installment of his excellent Culture Clash column, and two, to an article he wrote for The Escapist about Xbox 360 failures titled Escalation.
I mentioned last week that Eve Online had a client update that could, in some situations, delete a user's boot.ini file.
Oops.
What's worth noting, though, is how Eve Online responded. There's an informational post, and here's an excerpt:
When this problem was discovered, developers were called back to work in the middle of the night to investigate and fix it. Since then we have been working hard around the clock helping our customers that were affected by this problem, quickly establishing phone support and even making arrangements for external support technicians, such as Geek Squad, to assist our customers when necessary. In all, we've been contacted by fewer than 215 users (170 by petition, 45 by phone) who were adversely affected by the boot.ini issue and we will remain diligent in our efforts to see that each case is resolved satisfactorily, first through our Customer Support and if that fails through third party tech assistance such as Geek Squad. (For more information on the boot.ini issue, please visit this webpage.)
Giving specific numbers is always a good idea, and using third party tech assistance when necessary is even better. I think that's an excellent response overall to what could have been a public relations nightmare.
Here's a new lawsuit that's worth following: public relations firm Kohnke has sued Star Trek Online developer Perpetual. In short: investors with and vendors of Perpetual have lost lots of money, and some of Perpetual's asset transfers to another company (allegedly, at well-below market value) are being scrutinized. Shacknews has the story, and more detailed information is available at Ten Ton Hammer.
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