Prince of Persia Box Office, PSPGo still Sucks & Hidden Xbox 360 games? – Welcome to the column that had its pile of shame declared a national terrorist threat known as Dare to Play the Game.
Well there is some good news and some bad news this week in the land of the World of Warcraft. Good news, my dwarf shadow priest is level 79 and about half-way home to 80. So, needless to say I am very happy that my character made it that far and look forward to a maxed out character. The only drawback is that once he hits 80, I might never play him again.
A terrible thing happened this Memorial Day weekend. As you know, Sarah my wife is the one who got me into World of Warcraft and has her own account. Well, this weekend her account got hacked. Most of the characters were stripped to the bone and left with no gold at all. Also, some of my beginning characters when I first started playing were on her account and were also stripped (like my level 75 rogue).
I’m not sure how it happened since both of us are pretty computer savvy. Sarah went through the proper channels and we are waiting to get our stuff back from Blizzard. I did order an authenticator (extra security measure) for my account but I really don’t plan to go any further once I hit 80 with my dwarf if she can’t get her stuff back. Like I said, she is the reason I got into WoW and it might sound selfish but if I can’t play with her, I really don’t see the point to keep on going.
As many of you know, the IPhone App store in February went all postal on any app that was deemed sexual. Naturally, a few apps went by the waste side that were in a grey area of not porn but I guess in the minds of Apple objectifying women. Rip! Mosatsu is one of those apps. It is a series of popular photobooks and published by one of Japan’s largest publishers. One of the models is the lady above, Megumi Ohori. You simply tear away clothing to reveal underwears and bras.
However, there isn’t any nudity, just scantily clad women. It was approved in December but removed in February. So Apple runs wild again. Not that I was going to run out and buy this app but if you put a ratings system in place, wouldn’t that be a better way to do things than banning at will? Especially previously approved apps? Way to piss off publishers Apple, congrats.
Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia had a big budget and some big names behind it, but all the sand (and marketing) in the world couldn’t ensure its opening weekend was the biggest in American video game movie history.
The film’s opening weekend take in the US was just over $30 million. That’s a respectable figure, but it was also only good enough for third spot on the charts, the debuts of the new Sex & The City and Shrek movies drawing more bums on seats than Chesty Jake and co.
$30 million also puts it third on the list of all-time opening weekends for video game adaptations, beaten out by 2001’s Tomb Raider ($47 million) and 1999’s Pokemon ($33 million). Maybe it’s my intense dislike for Angelina Jolie, but I don’t remember Tomb Raider being that big. Least, not that big compared to Disney’s marketing push for Prince of Persia.Don’t let the third spots put you off: I liked the movie. Sure, it’s dumb fun, but not all fun has to be smart.
UPDATE – Good news, everyone! While the Prince couldn’t unseat an overblown troll and a pack of middle-aged sluts in the United States, it could in the rest of the world, ending the weekend as the number-one film in 41 overseas markets.
Memorial Day box office just wasn’t happening this year as Prince of Persia nabbed about $38 million in the four-day. However, that was good enough for second place, beating out the middle-aged Golden Girls but not beating out a troll and his pack of merry cohorts. Actually, box office sales were down 15% for Memorial Day which is a little bit distressing. In all, this summer most movies have not performed quite as good as many were hoping.
Overseas, Prince of Persia did much better and has already done almost triple the box office of her in the US. Why the huge difference? Well, other nations are still in love with anything that Disney has its name over. The second reason, it has the name Persia in it. Only later did most movie goers actually realize it was adapted after a video game. I’m probably not far from the truth on that one.
But what does this mean for video game movies? Well, in the right market they can still do huge business. Whether that tends to be domestic, international, dvd sales, tends to vary from movie to movie. The problem is removing the stigma that video games are just for kids, so the movies must be the same way. I think in the future with possible video game movies like Mass Effect or Heavy Rain, this could change and we could see some real mainstream success.
See I provide for the ladies who enjoy seeing men who were previously in a movie about homosexual cowboys. I try to appeal to all people who might read my page.
Xbox Community Games
I play a lot of games, but I need to play more. Thankfully, Kotaku reader Kobun is covering one of my blind spots, Xbox Indie Games. Thanks to Kobun, I know about a milking game and the possible $1 RPGOTY. Kobun starts a review of Ninja Chop with this:
Ninja Chop features a busty girl slicing through milk. The milk explodes, leaving her looking as if she was just paid handsomely to entertain a group of Japanese business men. Really? Apparently the game is bad. Shocker, but still interesting to know it exists.
And Kobun’s convincingly glowing Breath of Death VII review includes this delightful detail:
The third and final point is the one which means the most to me: Breath of Death VII fixes random battles. How? They’re limited. You go in a dungeon, and you are told that there are a dozen or so encounters. Once you beat them all, that’s it, no more random battles. This is brilliant and effectively fixes two major complaints all RPGs suffer through: random battles getting in the way of immersing the player in the plot and making the player fight more creatures (re: grinding) than needed because of the unknown dangers which lay ahead.
Could Breath of Death VII, for a mere 80 Microsoft points, really be the role-playing game of the year?
These are just two of the many Xbox Live Indie Games that Kobun is writing about. They make me feel all the more negligent of the work being done for that channel. At least I won’t be negligent of Kobun’s write-ups. Keep an eye on Kotaku’s Xbox Indies page, curated with care. Great job, Kobun!
No, I did not purchase Ninja Chop. Seriously, what kind of guy do you think I am? Don’t answer that. However, I did purchase Breath of Death VII in about an instant after playing the demo for 5 minutes. After all, it was only a dollar but in all honesty, why would I buy such a cheap game? Perhaps, it was the rush of old school excitement but perhaps that it was just designed better than a lot of games that were 10-15 times the price.
The best way to describe Breath of Death VII (which has one of the best game names on record, regardless of actual game quality) is a combination of 8-bit role playing games with heavy doses of Final Fantasy & Dragon Warrior thrown in. The fixed encounter is a welcome change and it does help the game a lot too. When I get some time, I will probably try to do a short review but seriously this is one community game that everybody should contribute their dollar to.
A picture from Breath of Death VII. It’s a great game, seriously. Also of note is the branching leveling system where you get to pick your powerups, it gives some customization where you wouldn’t normally expect it.
PSP
The original PlayStation Portable continues its reign as Japan’s bestselling platform, with the PlayStation 3 and Wii continuing their close battle for second place. How’d every other platform fare?
The Nintendo DS may not show as well in the weekly contest for install base, but combining all three variations puts Nintendo’s handheld platform on top. Sitting at the very bottom was the poor PSPgo, selling less than it did last week when it dipped below the 1,000 mark for the first time.
For the console war tally, courtesy of sales tracker Media Create,
check out this fabulous unordered list.
* PSP – 22,462
* PlayStation 3 – 19,075
* Wii – 18,465
* Nintendo DSi LL – 14,108
* Nintendo DSi – 9,356
* Xbox 360 – 4,656
* Nintendo DS Lite – 2,681
* PlayStation 2 – 1,175
* PSPgo – 851
Okay, so I have a bit of correction from last week’s post. It seems that PSP does sell quite a few handhelds in Japan. Of course, the only reason for this is that nobody bothers to add up the DS numbers which are still more than PSP. I’d say that’s about 26,000 compared to 22 1/2 thousand. Also, everybody in Japan has a DS or DSi, they are probably just looking for other games to occupy their time.
What is really more interesting is that PS3 is on top of the console sales. It even outpaces the Wii, which means that people are finally coming around to the Playstation 3 like most industry speculators have thought from the start. Let’s face facts, each of the big three consoles are doing well once you factor in U.S. sales and other countries not named Japan. And regardless of who you think is the best console out there, I think we can all agree that the PSPgo needs to go because the concept and the system absolutely stink.
Ever remember the Peanuts comics that had Snoopy and how he would fight the Red Baron a top his flying dog house? Well, you are in luck because they turned that into a video game. In this game, Snoopy aboard his Sopwith Camel will be fighting in World War I in this sequel to the PSP/PS2/PC game, Snoopy vs the Red Baron. However, this time he will be able to get out of his plane as well. The environments look spruced up and this might be one heck of a novelty game.
Note: Since both Ben 10 and Voodoo Dice came out last week on Xbox Live Arcade (and it’s the same game), I’m going to do you and myself a favor and just reprint the information I posted last week:
Familiar with Ben 10 Alien Force? It’s a pretty decent cartoon series, and this is the first time a downloadable title has existed for the toon. Ben can harness the powers of the Omnitrix which enables him to transform into a wealth of creatures including Big Chill, Echo and Echo and now Lodestar (that supposed to mean something I guess). You’ll be facing Hex and his minions as you try to make sure that they don’t gain control of the Earth.
Roll the dice and try to solve the puzzles in this unique game. There are enigmas to figure out and everything is solved by where the dice falls. There are plenty of enemies to fight in the 3-d worlds that include Jungle and the Castle. Plenty of play modes and sixty first person levels might make his a pretty worthwhile game. That or I could just be reading the promo information and still have very little clue what the game is about. Hey, I’m being honest.
It is the Beaver Defense. A bunch of wisecracking robots who want blow crap up and destroy things are available in this tower defense style game. Build up your towers carefully and make sure you can destroy the waves of robots who are sure to come your way. There is heavy firepower and lots to control in this strategic warfare game. There is humor too and it will be very present in the Story mode. Survival Mode is also available for those who want to dispense with wisecracking and get to blowing things up.
Finally, we get another Virtual Console, rejoice! This Wild West shooter classic on the Super Nintendo let you play as Clint or Annie who were take on the Kid gang and their army of robots who have taken over the town. The environment can best be described as Steampunk, a genre that blends Wild West with robots powered by steam. An odd version of the future. It’s a third person shooter with big bosses and lots of fun. Hopefully this won’t be the only VC title for the next 4 weeks.
PS2
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow
PS3
Alpha Protocol
Backbreaker Football
Pure Futbol
Xbox 360
Alpha Protocol
Backbreaker Football
Record of Agarest War
Call of Duty: The War Collection (2,3, WAW)
Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt
Pure Futbol
Wii
Tetris Party Deluxe
Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii
America’s Next Top Model
Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt with Precision Pointer
Line Attack Heroes
DS
Tetris Party Deluxe
Farm Frenzy: Animal Country
America’s Next Top Model
Dragonology
The game of the week is Alpha Protocol which is published by Sega and is affectionately called a third person espionage role playing video game. You are Agent Michael Thorton who after a failed mission is cut off from all contacts and betrayed by his superiors. Wait, this sounds an awful lot like Burn Notice, the tv show. Anyway, it’s getting average reviews but seems to be in the vain of Mass Effect with its dialogue system, so it might be worth a look.
Outside of that, we actually have a PS2 game which is a port of the PSP game of the same name in 2007. The last Syphon Filter game I picked up was Omega Strain, I didn’t even play Dark Mirror. This new one is a $20 release, so it might be worth a look in my long forgotten PS2 library. There is also a new football game called Backbreaker which will use the Euphoria engine, a pretty fancy physics engine that does the whole interactions on the fly (like with tackles) rather than canned animations.
One final thing, I would like to find one person that reads this column and buys these Bass Pro Shop or really any hunting game, and just ask them why? Really, why?
So, since there is the possibility that I might not be playing World of Warcraft anymore, needless to say I am formulating ideas on what to play next. Mainly because I will be a gamer until the cows come home or I’m forced to pay some teenage kid in quarters to play a video game and allow me to just sit and watch. Okay, nevermind that just sounds really creepy.
Anyhow, I’m probably going to try and formulate a list of games and run it by the wife and see if any pique her interest. Since, she might be out of a game too, I know that she might want to play something as well. There are plenty of games that I own on the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii that deserve some consideration. There is going to be a huge RPG void that needs to be filled, so it is possible that a Final Fantasy title or something like a Zelda game could certainly be in the cards.
Honestly, when I’ve been on the 360 lately, it’s been a lot of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010. It’s funny because I’ve long ago achieved 1000 achievement points but I just keep playing for the simple pleasure of fantasy wrestling matchups that I think up in my head. It’s become a glorified wrestling simulator. Anyhow, I’ll let you know what we do next week. Wish me luck, I need it but it should be fun in the process. Take care kiddoes.
As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)
