Rumors of the demise of EGM and the sale of 1UP.com to various suitors have floated around the interwebs for awhile, but now, unfortunately, it has come to pass: 1UP.com has been officially bought out by UGO, resulting in a enormous rash of firings. Many other blogs have covered this event well, so instead of just copy-pasting their hard work for the sake of site-hits or content, I’ll merely link to three stories that I feel are most pertinent. Said links and my personal feelings on the 1UP “fallout” after the jump. Just a warning: it’s pretty long.
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tl;dr Viral marketing is a tricky business, and these guys aren’t good at it. If it weren’t for IGN and its claims, we’d never guess that this obscure video is supposed to advertise or relate to an upcoming Wii exclusive.

Should I be excited or shouldn’t I? I can’t tell from this film clip, which IGN says is supposed to advertise or at least relate to an upcoming exclusive Nintendo Wii title. Apparently, they got an anonymous e-Mail that made these claims, but if it weren’t for IGN’s hinting, we’d never guess.

If we take IGN’s word and assume that the clip does have some significance, then we can try and analyze it for any clue as to what kind of title’s coming out. There’s a brief but noticeable glimpse of a retro-style gaming screen in the art style of Geometry Wars, perhaps suggesting another casual title along the lines of Boom Blox or Wii Play. IGN did indeed say that one of the frames from the clip contains a glimpse of “the Wii title itself”.

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A few days ago, Major Nelson gave us word of a new tool that Xbox owners could use to regain licenses for their downloaded content such as Arcade games and add-ons. The Microsoft DRM has been a point of considerable debate, as users can only use their content on one registered console without being connected to the Internet. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Xbox 360 has a less-than-exemplary hardware reliability and so many users who had to get their consoles replaced (including myself) found the content that we had paid for crippled due to the games not being played on the console with which they were originally downloaded. Until this new DRM management tool was released, Xbox users had no way of transferring their licenses. Have I lost you?

Hit the jump for more details on what is possibly the most inept remedy I’ve ever seen.
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The staff has been hard at work preparing to start recording what we like to call “The Mushroom Cloud,” MEGATONik’s new podcast dedicated to serious and not-so-serious discussion on facts that are important to gamers. We’re not talking about the latest sales figures or boring things that people in suits care about. The Mushroom Cloud will go that extra mile to give you the latest gaming news, thoughts, and enough not-safe-for-work jokes to land you in your office’s gender-sensitivity training for the rest of the week. We’re doing this for you, our readers, because we care.

We’re finishing up the details and preparing to record our first episode next week. Prepare yourself for a show that will take your questions and discuss with us live. Expect reviews, live games, and plenty of ridiculous humor that will leave you rofl-ing all over yourself. Nasty, huh?

We’ll be posting show notes and much more for the first episode in the middle of next week. Until then, let us know if you’ve got any ideas for topics, features, or live games. I promise that this podcast will be worth your time, or I’ll post embarrassing pictures of Cortez. You’ll be entertained either way.

Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference, EA’s David McCarthy revealed that within the next year, EA Sports games will be bundled with peripherals. McCarthy said “I think you’ll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months,” so long as the accessibility of a game isn’t compromised. McCarthy did not expand on whether or not the peripherals would reach all three major consoles, or even what specific games they are being developed for.

Regardless of the game, I think we can all agree that this console generation’s obsession with peripherals is getting a little out of hand. Whatever happened to picking up just a disc whenever we wanted a new game? Now I have to get an entirely new controller. The recently announced Guitar Hero 4 is supposed to have drums as well, and I sure as hell don’t need two drum sets.

This leads me into a greater argument about sports games as a whole. I feel that if you really want to play a sport, then go out and play it! There is some rationality to using a standard controller and playing online, but if someone is already swinging a virtual bat, that’s just one step away from actually playing baseball. Some may argue that music games such as Rock Band should follow the same guidelines, but learning the basics of an instrument is definitely more time-consuming than learning the basics of a sport. If you’ve ever had gym class, you should know how to play basketball.

Hey, EA, why not get to work on a new SSX instead?

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

I am truly disturbed…

A new trailer for Guitar Hero: On Tour is out, and I have to say that it just plain sucks.

It’s not very well done and it just keeps on going, so it ends up being embarrassing for everyone involved.

I know this isn’t meant to be a serious trailer, but I don’t think it was supposed to be this bad either. They are trying to sell a game, after all. They could have went with the easiest option and just put some almost naked chicks in there somewhere, or they could have followed the Guitar Hero: World Tour approach and just showed people rocking out with a list of features, both of which would have ended up a lot better than some guy picking his DS and some dumbass singing about all the features. Especially when you have the kind of features that Guitar Hero: On Tour has.

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As the release of Grand Theft Auto IV nears, we’re seeing even more controversy involving the series and its violence. Both politicians and the media seem to blame the series for being one of the causes of violence in America, but this time, the complaint is coming from inside of a prison.

Inmate Jonathan Lee Riches filed a request for a restraining order on April 9, against Take-Two and Rockstar. The order was filed because the game apparently “put [him] in prison.” Riches was incarcerated for wire fraud.

In his claim (which can be seen above), Riches stated:

“Defendants contributed to Plaintiff committing identity theft. Defendant’s games show sex, drugs and violence which offends me. Defendants put me in prison. I face imminent danger from violent inmates who played Grand Theft Auto who will knock me out and take my gold Jesus cross.”

GameSpot seems to have also found out that Riches is suing Activision and Atari as well for making games that are a threat to his safety in prison.

Yahoo! News reported today that a little girl from Pa. was beaten to death by her mom’s boyfriend with a controller. While the report doesn’t specifically say what kind of controller it was, I’d place a bet that it’s a 360 one. The Wiimotes are too small and the Sixaxis is too light, I think. Yes, I know it’s in bad taste to speculate on such a thing, but I know that you’re all probably wondering the same exact thing. Anyway, the guy that did it is in jail and the mom has been charged with endangering her kid’s welfare.

Since I’m sure Thompson’s going to have a field day with this, I’d like to say that on behalf of the video game community that the fact that a controller was used as a weapon doesn’t necessarily have a correlation with what kind of games the guy played. Heck, when I play “Clue” and it turns out that Colonel Mustard killed Miss Scarlet with the lead pipe, I’m not likely to suspect every plumber I meet of being a murderer.

Ok, I’ve vented enough. Hit the jump for Yahoo’s original report.

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After weeks of back and forth between the two software giants, it seems that a deal has finally been reached under which Take-Two will be absorbed into EA. Many were certain that this wouldn’t happen, due to Take-Two’s continual rejections of Electronic Arts’ offers.

It turns out, according to a source within Take-Two (who has asked to remain anonymous), that EA made an offer that, simply put, couldn’t be refused. Things are still being finalized, but information on what will be happening to Take-Two’s biggest franchises can be yours after the jump.
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