Say What?! - Short Video Game News Clips

No really, OXM actually nominated Dragon Age II for Best Story AND RPG of the Year. I KNOW RIGHT?! That's EXACTLY what I did! 'Cause it didn't have either!.....ok you can stop.....dude really, you're creeping me out....

- To the Moon!: A Sequel to High Moon Studios' smash hit Transformers: War For Cybertron is in full swing, currently carrying the title "Fall of Cybertron," with developers promising "signifcant improvements" for the sequel. Expect to see beefier battles, improved weapons handling, the works. And, if all goes well, expect to see a trilogy round out High Moon's stellar take on the Transformers franchise. -

- Sweet Meat: It seems the fracas between Microsoft and Team Meat, the developers behind the Super Meat Boy franchise, has finally subsided. The developer, who at one time opined that they'd probably never work with Microsoft again, has stated that they've "patched things up" between the two, with Microsoft even putting the title on sale at a ridiculous 66% off ($5) during its Black Friday shopping sale. Now that we've all gotten that past us, how 'bout a sequel Team Meat? -

- Shards of War(craft): Blizzard recently put up on auction about 2,000 of their original server blades, aka "shards",  on eBay with the proceedings going to help the fine people at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Each shard was encased in custom window casings and signed by the developing team. No official count of how much money was raised, save for a "few hundred thousand" dollars noted. All in all, way to go Blizzard. And congrats to all those who own a piece of the largest MMO in existence, a lot of children can rest a little easier tonight because of you. -

- The Price of Inflation: Again, it seems another developer has been caught with their hands in the Metacritic cookie jar, with Telltale employees having been caught "adjusting" the aggregate score of their recent Jurassic Park: The Game to look better than what it was. Telltale was unapologetic about the incident stating that "Telltale Games does not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that any anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee."

Look, I'm all about freedom of speech and all, but come on! Doing stuff like that just seems.....shady to me -

- War Were Declared: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has, yet again, broken sales records across the board, raking in an astronomical $775 million in its first 5 days of release, breaking the previous record they held when Call of Duty: Black Ops hit and made a staggering $650 million. True, the release hasn't been without its controversies (The Metacritic fiasco, customer complaints that it looks/plays/feels the same as the last Modern Warfare games, etc), but it's still number one with modern military fans. Though hopefully, thanks to an impressive rival in EA's Battlefield 3, that firm foothold it's established has become....less of a firm foothold going into the future. Give 'em hell EA. -

- It's Still Evil: According to Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the DNS blocking provision, which is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Stop Online PIracy Act (SOPA),  has been removed from the bill. While it is still possible for someone to request the cutoff of revenue sources for a site, it will no longer be possible to obtain a court order to block all access to that site from within the U.S. In a statement, Mr. Smith says that he is removing the provision "so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."

The bill has been a rather divisive element since coming under the spotlight, with GoDaddy.com, the largest registrar and web hosting company to date,  bearing the brunt of the internet fury after their inital support of the bill, which caused 16,000 domain names under their wing to boycott and close their accounts, severly damaged their reputation. GoDaddy has since backpeddaled on their support of SOPA though in a rather half hearted "we'll support the bill when the internet community supports it" approach.

I'm all for preventing piracy and less than noble approaches to steal what people SHOULD be paying hard working developers for, but in my opinion, SOPA is Broadsword approach when all you need is a scalpel. That thing needs to die. -

Video Game Releases Worth Noting:

NFL Blitz - Jan 4 - PSN, XBLA
AMY - Jan 11 - PSN, XBLA
Oil Rush - Jan 25 - Windows, Linux, Mac
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Jan 31 - PS3, Xbox 360
NeverDead - Jan 31 - PS3, Xbox 360
Soulcalibur V - Jan 31 - PS3, Xbox 360