Sunday Supplement – 13th November

Comic courtesy of Fat Gamers.

One step forward, two steps back

This week Microsoft announced that Halo and Halo 2 will be compatible with the 360 (was there ever any doubt?) and that Halo 2 will be fully supported by Live play. Not only that, but both games will have a next-generation facelift – widescreen, 720p progressive scan and full-scene anti-aliasing (smooth outs jagged edges in the image) will give Master Chief a much needed makeover this Christmas.

Bungie said: “We didn’t redo any of the old textures or geometry – this is simply the game you already own, running at a higher resolution. The results are not miraculous, but for owners of HDTVs (or VGA monitors with the appropriate cable) they are sweet.”

So perhaps not what we were hoping for then. And lets be honest, the percentage of game players with a HDTV is minuscule. In reality, Bungie have missed an opportunity here.

Imagine a makeover of gargantuan proportions – the kind that chavs experience on Trisha (start looking like Britney Spears buying vodka in the local offie and finish looking like Britney Spears cavorting on stage with Madonna).

I’m not saying they should have given Master Chief some bling (although, with the deepest respect, that protective suit of his could do with a gold chain or two). But maybe some new weapons or an extra mission? It’s not so improbable. With Xbox Live and the 360s obvious graphical capabilities, would it have been hard to offer major enhancements as a download? Perhaps it was impossible, but perhaps not.

But then you’d have an ageing last-generation game overshadowing the entire 360 launch line-up, which, to be honest, would have been a little disappointing. Then again, if work on an improved Halo and Halo 2 had put the team months behind on Halo 3, maybe we should just be thankful for what we got.

Moot, moot, moot

But it’s a moot point of course, since in all likelihood, you won’t be playing a 360 this Christmas anyway. Be it Halo 2 or rushed next-generation launch title, Santa simply hasn’t the stock. The reason for this is a simple and logical: there are only about ten of the damned consoles in existence.

I’ve moaned about this before, but it really deserves another high-pitched whine – one I hope will pierce the brain of whoever decided it would be a good idea to whip up a hype storm over the 360, then not allow anyone to buy one, all the while chuckling insanely to themselves in whatever lair they call ‘the office’.

This week, Microsoft said they were fighting to prevent shortages of the 360 this Christmas. Fighting who exactly? Themselves? They’re the only ones who can be blamed. “Microsoft executive punches himself in face shock” would be the headline. Fighting to avoid shortages my arse.

Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson said: “Xbox 360 is the hottest gift this Christmas and will be hard to find – but we’re working hard to ensure there’s a regular replenishment of stock to retail.” Has anyone figured out exactly why there will be shortages?

The blame game is an interesting one. I find it hard to believe retailers can be held responsible. By starting a pre-order campaign in the summer, you might accuse them of over-enthusiasm, but surely they will have been briefed by Microsoft about the numbers they might expect to have in stock rooms across the country come December 2. Maybe I’m doing Microsoft a disservice. Maybe they said to retail to only accept a limited number of pre-orders, but in the scramble for guaranteed sales, they went nuts anyway. You definitely can’t blame gamers. We’re an excitable bunch at the best of times, but coming up to new console launch we reach ‘kid in a sweet shop’ levels of excited ness.

And now there are rumours flying around that the UK will only get 50,000 in time for the December 2 launch (although if you read elsewhere, there are reports of up to 500,000 hitting these shores). If true, that’s pitiful. I know it’s great PR to have mainstream media headlines reporting “360 SOLD-OUT EVERYWHERE” but this could really come back and bite. In one fell holiday season swoop, Microsoft could undo all that hard work they did with the Xbox and Halo when they achieved hardcore gamer respect. Christmas shall be interesting indeed.

Ahh the possibilities

This week NCsoft chief executive Tack Jin Kim revealed the City of Heroes and Guild Wars publisher is “actively developing” for next-generation consoles. Sources suggest that NCsoft prefer the PS3 to the 360 as a viable platform for further penetration outside Korea, where they are the biggest gaming company and publish Lineage, the massively popular MMO.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean the PS3 will see a City of Heroes port over Sony’s online network (when they implement it). There’s nothing stopping NCsoft changing tack completely and developing a bog-standard console game for the system. It would however, be out of character – NCsoft has shown throughout its history that MMOs are its speciality. It does them very well. Maybe we’ll see a daring new MMO from the publisher (NCsoft certainly isn’t afraid to rake a risk or two in a competitive market, just look at Auto Assault). It might even be exclusive to the PS3, which would have the PC gaming community up in arms.

With the advent of the next-generation, we are witnessing the convergence of the PC and the console. The 360 and the PS3 will do what PCs have been doing for the last couple of years – stable and extensive online play, hard drives, media entertainment functions. It’s all in there. Will it be long before the publishers dump the PC and develop exclusively for consoles? To the uninitiated, stick a mouse and a keyboard in a 360 and there’s not much difference.

I’m playing devil’s advocate of course – stimulating debate. I can’t see a future where the PC platform is devoid of gaming altogether. But what I can see is the consoles biting into that lucrative MMO market with more gusto than ever before. Rumours abound that we’ll see World of Warcraft on a console in the next few years. Will the PC run scared from the console challenge, or will it fight back, reclaiming the virtual streets it once called its own?

This week on Pro-G

Just in case you’ve missed anything, here are the reviews featured on the site this week.

Capcom Classic Collection (PS2 and Xbox)

Evil Dead: Regeneration (PS2 and Xbox)

NBA Live 06 (PS2, Xbox and GameCube)

Call of Duty 2 (PC)

Operation Flashpoint Elite (Xbox)

Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

Nanostray (DS)

This week’s new releases

It’s a mixture of good and should have been good this week. From what we’ve played The Movies definitely seems like a good purchase, with a solid career mode and some great movie making tools for the more adventurous player. Then there’s The Matrix: Path of Neo, a game that promises so much, but delivered a mess. We’ll reserve full judgement until it’s been properly played, but we’re not confident of a nice outcome.

WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2006 is THQ’s latest money spinner from the world of Sports Entertainment. This year’s version looks to offer some nice improvements over the last game, but still doesn’t match up to some wrestling classics on now deceased consoles. Gun, from Activision and Neversoft, is perhaps the biggest release of the week. This is the game that Activision bosses were claiming would be the game of the year, and while it’s certainly a good game, it falls some way short of being the classic that was promised.

Of course, the real big release of the week will be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Its release on every platform under the sun will no doubt help, but the fact it’s Harry Potter (who most kids and even a few adults seem to love) should ensure it tops the chart next week.

Battleground Europe (PC)

Cold War (PC, Xbox)

Crime Life: Gang Wars (PC, PS2, Xbox)

Gun (PS2, Xbox)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (PS2, Xbox, Cube, DS, PSP, GBA)

Legion Arena (PC)

Lost in Blue (DS)

Mario Superstar Baseball (Cube)

Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves (PS2)

S.L.A.I: Steel Lancer Arena International (PS2)

The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA)

The Matrix: Path of Neo (PS2, Xbox, PC)

The Movies (PC)

WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2006 (PS2)

Zoo Tycoon (DS)

Next week on Pro-G

Next week we’ll have reviews of The Movies, The Sims 2 on consoles, Dead to Rights II, Crash Tag Team Racing, Civilisation IV and more.