Over the last few months there has been lots of press about Electronic Arts hostile bid for Rockstar Studios. I sincerely hope that Rockstar Studios does not get sucked up into the giant dark abyss that is Electronic Arts.

One simple thing Rockstar Studios could do to fend off a hostile take over is begin working on a Massively Multiplayer Online version of it mega hit Grand Theft Auto. (more…)

Rather than my usual Wednesdays’ BiB article, I instead wanted to talk about something I seem to be a sucker for, cruddy bootleg GBA games. Back in ‘04 I started this trend by trying to buy the whole Super Mario Advance collection, I found a great deal on ebay which seemed too good to be true, and of course it was. The cartridges looked legitimate enough, no boxes or manual, but that’s not wholly unusual for a used game sale. The first sign that I’d landed my a forgery was when SMA4 performed a crazy save check every time the game started up, the check always seemed to report OK, but it made me uneasy. Sure enough within a week the save vanished into digital oblivion, fortunately I’d not played far into the game, it owned it more for collection reasons. Sometime later I tried to acquire a copy of Pokemon leaf green, which failed the litmus test as soon as I saw the grey cartridge which I never even attempted to play (who wants a Pokemon game that won’t save?).

Just recently I went in for another auction, the detail promised a box, which is something I’d only ever seen with legitimate games, and the image showed two shiny green and pearl cartridges, had to be the real deal, right? Well, sadly no, despite the cartridges that would fool anyone at a first glance they had a couple of flaws that made the games unusable for me; Won’t hold a save file (how hard can that be to build?) and the DS Pokemon games didn’t recognise the inserted GBA game to be a Pokemon cartridge. To the sellers credit, I was refunded the same evening of receiving the games, but I have to figure they must of cost only a few $ to produce and I’m perhaps one of the very few buyers to actually complain or notice, since the other sales included much more than Pokemon games.

Do I have a message or any pearls of wisdom to accompany this post of complaining ? Fortunately yes I do, there’s a few things you can do before and after auction time.

The befores

• Simply ask the seller if these are counterfeit before buying
  Yes, I know this sounds pointless, but counterfeit sellers are looking for buyers that wouldn’t even question the validity of their received game. Although they may not admit to being a counterfeit seller, they will likely deter you from buying.
• Payment protection
  No method is foolproof, but try to make sure you are protected, buy within Ebay and through Paypal if possible.
• Check seller feedback
  Something worth doing no matter what you are buying, little feedback isn’t always a bad thing if you are purchasing from an individual instead of a store, but bad feedback is, well, bad.

The Afters

• Is the cartridge even the right colour?
  Pokemon games have a distinct colour to them which can be copied, but if you have a grey copy of Fire red then it’s a unignorable red flag.
• What’s the state of the box?
  New games should be sealed with cardboard inside, used boxes often have a little sign of wear. If the box is flat-packed, then it came straight off a printer, even if it looks perfect and just as shiny as the store boxes.
  
  These boxes could even fool the Regginator
• Who made the cartridge?
  Amusingly I have one or two cartridges made by that little known ‘Nintondo’ company, check the back.
  
  Nintondo games aren’t so great
• Shiny sticker?
  Pokemon games usually have a little shine to the cartridge sticker, my pirate copy is a plain matte. Also the quality of the sticker may be a little blurry or the image it’s self may be entirely incorrect, although games from other regions always tend to have different images, especially where the E for everyone tag is concerned. This can be hard to check without a suitable comparison
  
  This is a legit copy from a brick and mortar
• How’s the feel?
  This might be just me, but I feel the pirate cartridges feel like they are made from a much cheaper plastic, like I said it might be my imagination, but I’ve handled a lot of GBA games.
• And the circuit-board?
  Perhaps the hardest but best check is to look at the circuit-board right where the game plugs into the GBA slot. This doesn’t require tools as you should be able to do this by eye. Check for a white Nintendo copyright stamp on the board (check your other games for examples)
  
  

Hopefully these steps may save someone the heartache of loosing an established gamesave and rid them of bootleg evilness. Just remember to demand your money back, if they they don’t offer it easily then push harder, remember you’re in the right and they are breaking the law.

Check out my gallery so you can compare.

First off I want to say that I am not in anyway shape or form trying to diminish Ms. Jade Raymond. From all of the interviews I have seen and read she seems to be an incredibly talented and very intelligent person. But lets be honest most gamers are male, and the name Jade Raymond makes us think of two things, a very attractive woman, and oh yeah great video game. (more…)

It’s been a fine year for gaming, some folks are already calling it a golden year with all the major consoles throwing out their big guns while we sit back and reap the gaming goodness. I’ve been fortunate to of played all the big hitters that were released this year for most of the major systems (largely in thanks to GameFly), sadly I missed out on a couple of games, such as Uncharted, since I am still sans a PS3 and a Crysis capable PC.

Before I run down my top 10 list I will echo the complaint many have had about the batch of releases at the tail end of the year, as sad as I was to see Smash Bros Brawl, GTA4, Mercenaries 2 and the rest fall into 08, this last month has just been so chaotic with games that it just makes my head hurt to think about it, but it sure was a fun ride!

10: God of War II for the PS2

Few games entered my PS2 this year, Guitar Hero, Persona were both admirable games, but when I look back at my PS2 and all the games it has seen, God of War II is its jewel, nothing here feels like a last generation action game and it would feel perfectly at home on a PS3 with its combat mechanics, puzzles and great level design.
(review)

9: Super Paper Mario for the Nintendo Wii

Another release from earlier this year which is easily forgotten, Super Paper Mario gave me the first reason to pick up my Wii controller since Zelda. My expectations here were high, perhaps too high since Mario jumped short of reaching them, it’s still a solid Mario RPG though and manages to slip through a narrow crack into my top 10 list
(review1 review2)

8: Pokémon Diamond / Pearl for the Nintendo DS

Yes Diamond was released here in 2007 as hard as that is to believe. Pokémon gets a bad rep from a whole load of people and really Diamond and Pearl aren’t much of an advance from the older Pokémon games, this just makes it easier to reminisce of playing good ol’ red/blue back in my teen years. I’m still just as obsessive with collecting the little buggers as before and thanks to the very slick wireless features it’s a whole lot less frustrating.
(review)

7: The Orange Box for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

If there was an award for sheer value then this Orange Box would get my vote every time, the entire HalfLife 2 storyline up to now, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, each would do well individually but when their powers combine they form something better than Captain Planet could ever hope to be. Portal has been winning awards left and right for it’s originality, and rightly so, as a first person puzzle game, it’s simply mind-blowing! Team Fortress 2 is by far the most fun I’ve had in multiplayer in years, I don’t tend to play well with others but Team Fortress’ depth and charm are irresistible. It’s hard to say why Orange Box falls so far down my top 10 list, perhaps it’s my recent apathy towards FPS, but it’s my list and 7th is where it will stay.

6: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS

It seems like Nintendo just can’t screw up a control method no matter how zany it sounds, Zelda controlled entirely through the touch screen sounds just as ludicrous as Mario Galaxy, perhaps more so, but Phantom Hourglass takes its place as a true sequel to Wind Waker and has the same charm as the classic overhead Zelda games, Zelda and Mass Effect are the only two games I’ve yet to complete, Mass Effect’s calling me to return just a little louder than Zelda’s “Hey! Listen!”

5: Mass Effect for the Xbox 360

I finally got down with Mass Effect last weekend after patiently letting it idle around the house until I had enough free time to devote to it, although I was surprised to be at the final level after just 10 hours of gameplay there feels like there’s a whole lot more left behind for me to see and I’m truly looking forward to finishing the story just so I can go back around and do it all again to see how I can effect the world with different decisions. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in up there with my top 10 games of all time and Bioware gave Mass Effect that same compelling RPG experience, even without the lightsabers.

4: Forza Motorsport 2 for the Xbox 360

Recently I’ve found myself playing a whole lot more racing games and a whole lot less FPS, Forza is by far the highest quality driving simulator I’ve ever experienced. The physics are just as realistic as advertised, once you add in the customization and online community, you have one heck of a driving experience.

3: Rock Band for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2

Guitar Hero has been a guilty pleasure of mine since I first picked up a store demo after wondering what all the fuss was about, I recently purchased GHIII and although the track list is solid, it’s hardly a leap forward. Rock band truly takes things to a new level, epically when you have others around to rock out with the whole shared experience of really shredding a song is incomparable

2: BioShock for the Xbox 360 and PC

Except for ‘the trailer‘ I hadn’t kept up to date on the details of Bioshock before it’s release, I believed to to be a good looking FPS, turns out it is a great looking FPS but also so much more. Tremendous story, unique weapons and a real feeling of immersion come together making Bioshock feel it had the time and attention it deserved in it’s years of development
(review1 review2 ZOMG review3)

1: Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii

I am as happy to see Galaxy reach the top of my list as I am surprised to see it there. After watching numerous gameplay movies and really wondering just how Nintendo could pull off such an ambitious idea, I was happy to get my hands on this and to find out it is all that was promised, that feels perfectly like a Mario game should with all the upgrades and pizazz you’d expect.

Anyone who follows video game news knows that Jack Thompson is to video games what mold is to food. But it seems that his shock jock techniques of flamboyant methods of practicing law may have finally caught up with him. Game Politics is reporting that this week the lawyer who is suppose to be persecuted by Rockstar studios has found himself on the wrong end of a lawsuit. In fact the state of Florida isn’t looking to just slap Jack on the wrists this time, they are talking about Mr. Thompson being permanently disbarred. If that were to happen I would expect Take-Two and Rockstar Studios to declare a company wide holiday and take the day off to celebrate.

I my humble opinion it is too bad that it has come to this. While I do not agree at all with the methods used by Jack Thompson to increase public awareness about violent video games, I do see some benefit has come from it. Now it seems that many of the major retailers are verifying age for Mature rated games. I believe that the message that we need to help parents keep inappropriate material out of the hands of kids is a valid message. But sometime I think all the circus antics that Mr. Thompson used overshadowed that simple powerful message.

It looks like the court will be hearing evidence all week, and Judge Tunis has until December 21st to make a final decision. As more information becomes available we will post about it right away.

Link

Before Atari 2600 and even before Pong machines people use to play board games. I know that for some of our younger readers this might seem like an impossibility to play games without some sort of an electronic device to display stunning visuals or waving a controller in the air to mimic real life movements in game. But it is true just a few decades back, people would gather around cardboard squares and roll small cubes with numbers on them and move small metal pieces around these cardboard squares in predefined patterns. This would actually bring hours of enjoyment and bonding between friends and family. Before gathering around the controllers, people use to gather around the board games. Yes one of the great past time of yester year was the board game.

The Wall Street Journal Online published a great article about the history of one of these board games. Probably one of the most famous board games of them all a game called Monopoly. The article explains how this game actually helped Allied World War II prisoners of war escape from Nazi war camps. It is a really interesting article, and I encourage anyone who is into gaming to pay a little tribute to the past and check it out.

Via Wall Street Journal Online

Special thanks to MajorNelson for posting this little tid bit on his twitter blog.

With the release of Manhunt 2 all the usual suspects are taking this opportunity to cash in on some easy publicity. They make statements about training children to become killers and all the other psycho babble they routinely parrot every time a game comes out that involves anything other then a Disney character running around on the screen. Creating unreasonable fear and blaming most of the world’s problems on the imaginary video game boogey man does not do help fix anything, but it does increase publicity and boost ratings. In reality what many parents need is help in identifying what games, movies, and music their children are consuming. In this article we will focus mainly on monitoring video games but many of the same principles apply to other forms of questionable media.

Many parents work long hours and have very stressful jobs, it is understandable that after a hard day at work all you want to do is unwind with your favorite television program or head down to the gym and work out for a couple of hours before heading off to bed. The easy way to parenting is to let a DVD or video game entertain your child and keep them occupied while you unwind from the stresses of life. But really, isn’t parenting about guiding and preparing your children to be responsible adults? Face it most of the content in television, movies, music and definitely video games is not going to do that for you. You need to be the one who decides what is good and what is not so good for your children to consume. Remember the age old adage of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep unwanted content out of the house as much as possible. Look at the covers of all the video games that your children want you to buy while they are still at the store. Video Game companies are not trying to hide anything from you. Look for a big white box that says “ESRB”, below that will tell you what group this games was designed for and all the different kinds of content that are in the game. It is spelled out in easy to read language. Also you can go to the ESRB’s website at www.ESRB.org to get more information.

Another suggestion is keep video games in common areas of the house. If kids can go down in the basement or hide out in their rooms to play video games this may give them a sense they may be able to get away with something they are not suppose to. But having to play in a living room or other common areas will let them know that you are watching or that you could walk into the room where they are playing. This will help deter them from smuggling in content that has been forbidden. When you know children are playing video games check in on them regularly. Watch the actual game play, if every time you come in there is nothing happening on the screen and it looks like they are in a menu system you should hang around there is a good chance they do not want you to see what they are actually doing inside this video game. That said ask to play the game with them. Many games today allow two or more players to play at the same time by splitting the screen in half or even into four pieces. This is something that a parent and a number of siblings can all enjoy together.

If children are asking for a game, research it. This site, as well as thousands of other sites on the internet are created to provide you with information about games and the content within them. Do a Google search on the game title and chances are you will come back with more information then you could ever read in one setting.

There are many different game renting services that will allow you to play a game before you buy it. This is one way to be absolutely sure of what your child is playing. If your children are asking for a specific game you may want to rent the game and play it before buying it for your kids. This will also help with picking out the crappy licensed material games that are actually terrible games that have popular television or movie characters in them.

Civil rights are for adults who can afford lawyers. You as the parent should never feel guilty about going through your children’s room and looking for inappropriate material or eavesdropping on conversations and looking up titles of games, movies, or music that they are listening too. Your job as a parent is to make sure your children become responsible adults. Bending what your children may perceive as civil liberties is nothing to be ashamed of. Besides if you do not find anything then you know that your child has a sound basis of what is right and wrong and you know you are doing a good job in parenting. Or they are really good at hiding stuff!

Once you feel your child is old enough it may not be a bad idea to sit down with them and explain that there are things that are acceptable to do in video games, but in the real world those things are not acceptable. If they are able to understand that games are make believe, a way to live out some exciting fantasies but when they quit the game the real world rules come back into play then you may want to take that fact into account when deciding what is acceptable for them to play and what is not.

Let the Tech lend a Helping Hand
Most console manufactures are trying to help parents out as much as they can. Both the Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii have some pretty good parental controls built into them. The Playstation 2 had them in but I myself have not researched the PS3 parental controls enough to speak about them.

Do not be shy about looking into how these controls work, and how to use them. If you feel over whelmed by them go back to where you purchased the console and ask for some help, or consult the manufacture’s webpage on how to use these controls.

Here at AroundtheController.com we are going to do more articles in the future to help parents monitor their children gaming habits. But it really does fall back on you as the parent to be informed and stay on top of this situation. Do not let the government parent your children for you. Looking at most politicians and seeing what they do at their jobs and in their free time makes me scared as to how my child would turn out if they were allowed to raise my child. Try to also parse out what people on Television and the internet are saying. Some of it is good information, but allot of it is just them trying to boost their ratings or get more attention for themselves.

First off I have to say I write allot on the blogs about the grief my wife gives me as a gamer and how she sometimes does not always make it easy to enjoy the games and consoles. But I have to thank her for using her camera phone and taking this picture.

You know you are kind of a gaming nerd when you get all excited at the Grocery store to get your picture taken with Master Chief. I can remember a few years back seeing a card board cut out of Angelina Jolie from the Tomb Raider movie in the same store. Like any red blooded male in this world I sure enjoyed looking at the likeness of one of the sexiest women in the world. But I did not even come close to wanting to get my picture taken with that card board likeness. Master Chief was a whole different story, the idea of getting that picture just made me feel like a little kid getting their picture taken with Mickey Mouse at Disney World. So if you are like me and you want to feel like a kid again, start looking everywhere that sells the Gaming Fuel Mountain Dew.

Update: I sure do feel tall standing next to him!

The guys over at Pixel Perfect put together a list of all the things that suck about each of the consoles. It is a fairly common list of complaints that you will see on any blog, forum, or website. But it is interesting to read through their thoughts.

The one thing on the list I do not agree with is the comment about non standard PS3 headset support. I like the idea of having a simple Blue Tooth headset. It is easy to work with and it allows the user some flexability.

Via Pixel Perfect

Joytiq is reporting that EA plans to shut down 42 servers as of September 1st, 2007, and another 7 as of November 1st, 2007. As a gamer who has not completed all of Madden 2006 yet this is a little disturbing. Not to mention that this is clearly EA’s way of pushing gamers into purchasing the latest sports game expansion pack …… excuse me I mean latest versions of all their roster changes for sports games …. Whoops slip of the tongue I mean latest full version their sports games line up and other games that have newer versions out.

Microsoft seems to be able to keep the servers up for the Xbox version 1? And it has always been a Mystery to me why exactly EA needs to maintain servers aside from the Xbox LIVE servers? It always seemed like a great way to obtain email address to send advertisements (Cough, SPAM, Cough) about their new products not to mention data mine the other information they force you to enter. Aside from Square Enix, it seems that EA is the only other company that needs to maintain redundant servers to allow online game play. Since Square Enix does this to charge extra and allow cross platform play it leaves one to wonder what EA has up their sleeve in the future, and I doubt it is cross platform game play.

I am sure there are a pages of statistics and an army of bean counters over at EA that can tell you that hardly anyone is using those servers, and that it costs truck loads of money to keep them running. But here is the deal, if we as gamers can only use these sports games for a year or two maybe we should not have to clean out our wallets to buy your game. Maybe games that require EA servers to be maintained should only cost $30.00 or $40.00 to buy. I also think that EA should be much more forth coming about the fact that you will only be able to play these games for two years or probably less in the future. I would bet that within a few years they will shut off their servers the day that the next versions are released. I honestly hope that Microsoft and Sony step in and do something about this, because I think it is really a black eye to both platforms that EA can swindle money from customers using their respect platforms. I would encourage anyone who has purchased games that are affected to send emails to EA, Microsoft, and Sony about your feelings on this matter. I hope this makes everyone think twice about buying EA games and additional EA content. Lets all hope that 2K Sports can step up to the plate and give us all a true online gaming experience.

Check out what the guys at Penny Arcade think about EA, I definitely agree! Click here!

Here is the schedule for the mass unplugging

September 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Arena Football for PlayStation 2
Arena Football for Xbox
FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox 360
FIFA Soccer 06 for PC
FIFA06 for PC
FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation 2
FIFA Soccer 06 for PlayStation Portable
FIFA Soccer 06 for Xbox
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PC
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation 2
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PlayStation Portable
FIFA World Cup 2006 for Xbox
Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation Portable
Fight Night Round 3 for Xbox
Madden NFL 06 for Xbox 360
Madden NFL 06 for PC
Madden NFL 06 for PlayStation 2
Madden NFL 06 for PlayStation Portable
Madden NFL 06 for Xbox
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for PlayStation 2
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for Xbox
MVP 07 NCAA Baseball for PlayStation 2
MVP 07 NCAA Baseball for Xbox
NASCAR 06 Total Team Control for PlayStation 2
NASCAR 06 Total Team Control for Xbox
NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360
NBA Live 06 for PC
NBA Live 06 for PlayStation 2
NBA Live 06 for PlayStation Portable
NCAA Football 2005 for Xbox
NCAA Football 2006 for PlayStation 2
NCAA Football 2006 for Xbox
NCAA March Madness 06 for PlayStation 2
NCAA March Madness 06 for Xbox
NFL Head Coach for PC
NFL Head Coach for Xbox
NFL Head Coach for PlayStation 2
NHL 06 for PC
NHL 06 for PlayStation 2
NHL 06 for Xbox
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 for Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 for Xbox

November 1, 2007 Online Service Shutdown
Burnout Revenge for Xbox
Burnout Revenge for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Underground for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Underground 2 for PC
Need for Speed Underground 2 for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed Most Wanted for PlayStation Portable
Need for Speed Most Wanted for Xbox

Via Joystiq