Valve and Steamworks

Valve is releasing tools for game developers and gamers called Steamworks. The best part is that they are releasing it for free. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a full press release showing the things that will be possible with Steamworks.

"The suite will allow developers to perform many of the tricks that have distinguished Valve, such as monitoring sales stats, hefty anti-piracy measures, automatic updating, voice chat, multiplayer matchmaking, social networking and even the ability to run beta testing. The possibilities this opens up for independent developers, and smaller publishing companies, could be enormous."

Valve is allowing the end user to build out their game and even sell it on Steam with the ability to give updates. It will be interesting to see where game developers will take this and how much free gaming will come from it.

Cooper Lawrence Recants Her Mass Effect Slandering

The lady who lied about Mass Effect being pornographic has admitted to the New York Times that she "misspoke". I call it lying and not doing any research. She goes on to say,

"I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography, but it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit."

Thanks for looking at the game after going on national TV and telling the viewers lies about it. I think she only apologized because she saw how the gaming community fucked over her book reviews on Amazon.com. She also wrote these books if you are interested in leaving some comments and feedback: The Fixer-upper Man: Turn Mr. Maybe into Mr. Right in 5 Easy Steps and Been There, Done That, Kept the Jewelry: Find True Love--Turn Your Tarnished Dating Past into a Brilliant Romantic Future.

NASA MMO on the way?

NASA is looking at throwing their hat into the massively multiplayer online gaming arena. The government space agency has put out business opportunity for someone to develop an MMO for them. Apparently, they are inspired by the Army's success with America's Army.

The posting calls for "a game engine that includes powerful physics capabilities could support accurate in-game experimentation and research. It should simulate real NASA engineering and science missions in a medium that is comfortable and familiar to the majority of students in the United States today."

Seems interesting and like it could be educational, but I doubt it will be a huge success. Educational doesn't sell games. And realistic simulations of space manuevers aren't that great either. America's Army sold because people like shooting other people.

(Although I wasn't a big fan because it was too realistic. I couldn't tell who the enemies were and I would always die.)

GTA IV Coming in April

Rockstar Propaganda has sent out emails and press releases that Grand Theft Auto IV will be released April 29th, 2008.

Free XBLA Game This Week

Remember when Microsoft had those Xbox Live problems around Christmas because of all the new gamers? And remember when Microsoft promised a free XBLA game to make up for the outages? (And then remember when some moron thought that wasn't enough and tried to sue Microsoft for $5 million?) Well, the free game is availabe this week!

The free game will be Undertow, a relatively new XBLA game that takes place underwater and has had a lot of good reviews. The game normally costs 800 Microsoft Points($10). If you already have the game, they say you can contact Xbox Support about a "possible" refund. Don't hold your breath, though.

Undertow will only be free for Gold and Silver members from January 23rd - January 28th.

Mass Effect Libeled by Ignorant Columnist

So, I came across this article thanks to N4G. It's a columnist at Townhall.com talking about the presidential race and how games are corrupting our youth. I could barely finish his ill-informed rant that talked solely about how Mass Effect is a sex game.

According to the writer, Kevin McCullough, players can customize their characters in Mass Effect(TRUE)and that they can customize the characters they have sex with(FALSE).

But the most ridiculous claims are that characters can engage in "the most realistic sex acts ever conceived" and that Mass Effect is "a game in which the women DO submit without choice, are made to appear as Barbie streetwalkers, and perform whatever act can be imagined." He also states ""Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes." Now either this guy has A) never had sex, B)has no imagination or C)I got a broken copy of Mass Effect.

I believe there are THREE total possible sex scenes in Mass Effect. I have seen two of them. And neither was anything very explicit. Now, unless Ashley(or the dude) is a totally controllable sex slave in Mass Effect, this guy is crazy. (Of course, that does make me want to go play and try to get Ashley to sleep with me to see...)

Are there sex games? Yes. Is Mass Effect one of them? Not at all. I believe all the porn games are PC only. Consoles tend to shy away from such things. Maybe this guy was playing a different game. Ass Effect?

PSP Getting Skype

Gamasutra reports that Sony has announced that the Skype rumor is true. In a firmware update coming later this month will allow PSP owners to use Skype on the PSP. Now your portable gaming unit can play music, movies, and make calls and it's also supposed to play games from what I hear. Jeff can even call Sony support to tell them that he's having firmware update issues on his older PSP because it will also support land line calling.

January Game Releases

Okay, so we’re about a week in 2008, and I’m off to a bad start with the release lists. Of course, I was deathly hungover on the 1st… Let's see what the new year brings us!

DS Titles
January 8
• Brain Challenge
• Jackass: The Game
January 15
• Miami Nights: Singles in the City
• Nanostray 2
January 21
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
January 22
• Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games

PC Titles
January 8
• Sims, The Carnival SnapCity
• Sims, The Carnival BumperBlast
January 15
• Carrier Strike Force
• FlatOut: Head On
• History Channel: Lost Worlds
January 16
• Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition
• Rail Simulator
January 21
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
January 22
• Mission: WWI Combat
January 29
• Sims 2, the Castaway Stories

PS2 Titles
January 7
• World Champion Paintball
January 8
• Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Bundle
• Harvey Birdman
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Beginning of Destiny
January 29
• Iridium Runners

PS3
January 8
• NFL Tour
January 22
• Burnout Paradise

PSP
January 8
• Harvey Birdman
January 15
• FlatOut: Head On
January 29
• Pursuit Force 2: Extreme Justice

Wii
January 8
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law
• Luxor: Pharaoh’s Challenge
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
January 11
• Kidz Sports: Ice Hockey
January 15
• CSI Hard Evidence
• Furu Furu Park
• Nitrobike
• Samurai Warriors: KATANA
January 18
• London Taxi: Rush Hour
January 21
• Endless Ocean
January 22
• Kawasaki Jetski
• One Piece Unlimited Adventure
January 29
• Bomberman Land

Xbox 360
January 8
• Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
• NFL Tour
January 22
• Burnout: Paradise