AP News, January 30th, 2008
News from the virtual world:
_BATTLE-SCARRED: I really like Electronic Arts' "Battlefield" games, although I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated when it comes to playing with strangers over the Internet. I suspect a lot of gamers secretly feel the same way; it's fun to go to war by yourself, but who wants to go online just to be called a girlie-man by some hyper-aggressive 10-year-old?
That's why I welcome the fresh approach that EA is taking with its forthcoming "Battlefield Heroes." First, it's appealingly cartoony, closer to Valve's "Team Fortress" than Microsoft's grittier "Halo 3." Second, EA promises it will be easy to pick up and play, and that gamers of equal skill levels will be matched up to ensure fairer competition.
Most important, EA will be offering "Battlefield Heroes" free. It's the company's first experiment in its new "Play 4 Free" business model, in which the company hopes to make money through advertising and online sales of new gear, like armor and weapons.
"With the new online model, we will continually add new content to keep the game fresh and keep players engaged, while integrating player feedback in real time, " said Ben Cousins, senior producer at Stockholm-based Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (EA DICE, for short). "As a game developer, it is such a cool new way to make games."
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_PATRIOT GAMES: Politicians (such as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) have scored points with social conservatives over the years by attacking video games for violence, profanity and sexual content. But the industry has been fighting back, and now it's planning to start a political action committee to donate money to candidates who aren't so spooked by gaming.
"We will be writing checks to campaigns by the end of this quarter," Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association, told The New York Times. "This is about identifying and supporting champions for the game industry on Capitol Hill so that they support us."
The news immediately drew the wrath of the media watchdogs at the Parents Television Council. "Any public servant who cashes a check from the video game industry will be exposed by the PTC as taking a stand against families, and his or her actions will be communicated to constituents in his or her congressional district," said PTC President Tim Winter.
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_SATANIC 'MASS': BioWare's fine outer-space adventure "Mass Effect" has become an unlikely combatant in the war over video-game censorship, thanks to a brief and fairly subdued sex scene near the end of its 40-hour-long story. Fox News Channel saw it differently, telling its viewers that the game contains "full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex."
Electronic Arts, which recently acquired BioWare, refused to let that stand. As the Kotaku Web site reported, vice president Jeff Brown wrote a letter to Fox pointing out that "Mass Effect" does not contain frontal nudity, adding, "These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time" ... like Fox's own "The OC." "We're asking FNC to correct the record on 'Mass Effect,'" Brown said.
Fox hasn't retracted the report, but a spokesperson told MTV.com that it has invited EA to come on the air to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, Cooper Lawrence, a writer who compared "Mass Effect" to pornography during the segment, has apologized. "Now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke," she told The New York Times.
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_TOY PRIZE INSIDE! The video-game industry sure loves to give out awards. Spike TV held its splashy (OK, tacky) Video Game Awards in December, and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced its nominees a few weeks ago. And now we have the Game Developers Conference, whose attendees have announced their picks for 2007's best.
Game of the year nominees will sound familiar to anyone who pays attention to this sort of thing: 2K Games' "BioShock," Activision's "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," EA/Valve's "Portal," EA/MTV Games' "Rock Band" and Nintendo's "Super Mario Galaxy." The favorites, with five nominations each, are "BioShock" and "Portal." Winners will be announced at the conference in San Francisco on Feb. 20.
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_NEW IN STORES: Things blow up real good in Hudson's "Bomberman Land (for the Wii, PlayStation Portable) and "Bomberman Land Touch! 2" (DS). ... Sony puts the pedal to the metal in "Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice" (PSP).
