Typewriters and Spartans

Jun Takeuchi, the producer of Resident Evil 5, has revealed that the game will not use the trademark typewriters that all previous installments of the series have used as save points. This is by no means a big deal, but it does bring a small tear to my eye... Also, Stuart Beattie has presented a movie script to Bungie for a Halo movie who is in turn in talks with Microsoft. The movie script is based on the novel "Halo: The Fall of Reach." If this comes to fruition and doesn't suck, I will be a happy man.

Fable 2 Collector's Edition

Supply issues have resulted in the scale down and price drop of the Fable 2 Collector's Edition. It is now $70 instead of $80 and no longer includes an ugly figurine and some worthless cards. Also, the CE box is no longer being used either, but the cover art is the same as the normal box so, who cares anyway. This leaves the "Making of" DVDs and some in-game extras as the only incentive to get this and the first game's "Making of" DVDs weren't that spectacular, if I recall correctly. In short, I don't think either CE would be worth the asking price and I plan on buying the normal retail version of Fable 2.

Blizzard wins Glider law suit

Blizzard has won their $6 million law suit against the company that created Glider, a botting program for World of Warcraft (and other MMOs, I believe). I don't have much to say about it besides I'm glad that they won. Having fewer people that fail at the game at the level cap will make good groups more likely. Most would say it helps the game's economy too, but I'm almost always a buyer so the extra goods the botters flood the market with helped me most of the time. However, I don't begrudge people their virtual profits and this will make "playing the auction house" more profitable, for sure.

Street Fighter IV anime

Street Fighter 4 'Chun-Li Anime' trailer

Apparently an anime centered around Chun-Li is being created that will cover the events between the end of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV. I haven't seen a version of this trailer with subtitles yet, so I have no idea what's going on, but It probably won't have the best storyline an anime's ever had. However, the other anime adaptations of Street Fighter have had superb fight sequences and fairly good music, so I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.

Max Payne Gamers' Cut?

So, John Moore has managed to secure a PG-13 rating for the Max Payne movie. He previously had a disagreement with the MPAA, which had originally given it an R rating, stating that it was no more violent than the recent Dark Knight film that got a PG-13 rating. After trimming some frames, the MPAA reconsidered it's decision and gave it a PG-13 rating. What I'm more interested in though is his decision to include a "Gamers' Cut" in the DVD release. Apparently, it will re-introduce a small bit of the violence, but more importantly it will also re-introduce some of the more atmospheric pieces that are being omitted for the theater release to the brain-dead shoot 'em up masses. If I'm interpreting this correctly, the "Gamer's Cut" should be much more the film noir story of the game than the theater release will be.

Prepare to Drop

Halo 3 'Keep It Clean' teaser

At 7:07:07 this morning, Bungie released a new teaser for...something. No one really knows what the hell it's a teaser for at the moment, but there is a Halo 3 logo at the end which leads me to believe that it's either new content for the game or a new game that's a closely related tie-in. We shall see... Also, Jack Thompson was officially and permanently disbarred today, not that anyone really took him seriously in the first place. At least now the courts don't have to entertain his outlandish drivel.

New Halo 3 Achievements and Fable 2

So, Halo 3's got some new Achievements that just went out a couple days ago and I think the way that they keep adding content and motivation to a console game is great. Usually, when you buy a console game, you pay your 60 bucks and don't expect anything else beyond that. It's nice to get something out or your $50/year Xbox Live subscription beyond the ability to play online, which in this day and age is taken for granted. While I understand that this is more of a hook to get people to buy the Legendary Map Pack than anything else, it's a good one and I'm thrilled that Bungie is still putting a great deal of effort into their game a full year after its initial release.

In other news, Fable 2 went gold sometime in the last few days. While the first one was a disappointment, it was by no means bad. It was over-hyped and alot of the features Lionhead wanted were cut before the finished product went out the door, so the game was much less ground-breaking than was promised, but it was still good. Thankfully, the hype train this time around has been toned down a bit and while I still don't think they're really pushing the limits on anything, I think it will at least be a solid successor to the first installment of the series, which is quite enough for me.