Week In Review: 02/20

In addition to Jeff and Nick's reporting from this year's DICE Summit, we brought you some pretty cool exclusive content this week. In case you missed any of it, here’s everything that happened this week in one semi-coherent post.

Monday’s Weekly Roundup revealed little to get excited about in terms of games – but that didn’t stop some gamers from getting worked up anyway, over the critical reception of Aliens vs. Predator. Ben Reeves' review sparked an unexpected backlash from diehard AvP fans, who claimed the subpar gameplay elements Ben criticized were actually fan service. Other reviewers are apparently making the same mistake. Ben and Reiner also discuss the game in this week’s Game Informer Show, which also covers Tim and Dan’s impressions of a few unknown indie games they saw at X10, such as Fable 3, Dead Rising 2, and new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC. P.B. Winterbottom also gets discussed, both in the podcast and in Impulse Weekly. I have yet to play the game myself, but his name sure is fun to say.

If humorous names aren’t enough to bring a smile to your face, we had plenty of other content to keep you happy. This week’s Replay was all about the horrible Star Wars fighting game, Masters of Tera Kasi, which Reiner thought translated to “Steel Butt.” He was close. We also had an insightful Afterwords on WoW’s Wrath of the Lich King, and we posted some new screens of L.A. Noire. We also ran a bunch of exclusive interviews: Richard Ham discussed the cool aspects of Brink with GI's handsomest interviewer, while the team at Remedy talked Alan Wake, and Ubisoft discussed the next Prince of Persia. If that’s not enough exclusive content for you, check out Adam’s impressions of StarCraft II’s closed beta.

Sony fans have reason to be happy, too. The company is reporting a console shortage stemming from holiday sales. Sony also said more publishers are interested in the PS3 than ever before, thanks in part to poor third party sales on the Wii.

If you’re still not smiling, I’m not done yet. Civilization V was announced, and Bethesda told Fallout fans that New Vegas will take hundreds of hours to fully explore.  A gigantic, 90 minute Darksiders demo is on the way, too. That’s like going to see a Jerry Bruckheimer movie for free – only it’s actually good.

Ladies have a reason to be happy, too: they now make up the majority of social gamers.  And in what's sure to brighten up everyone's weekend, Phil posted an exclusive hands-on with Blizzard’s new line of WoW plush toys. I saw them, I held them, and they’re adorable. If that doesn’t make you happy, you’re just not trying!

Now let’s talk DICE. The annual conference isn’t a big place for new announcements, but focuses more on industry figures sharing their personal stories and insight. Disney Kicked off the event with a keynote speech that possibly revealed the name of the Sony Motion Controller. Another Disney executive also hinted that Epic Mickey could arrive on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Meanwhile, Kotick discussed his gaming roots, and lamented over not partnering with Harmonix. David Jaffe called Calling All Cars a mistake, while EA’s John Schappert named Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space as failures. Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford discussed video game perfection, and Matias Myllyrinne talked about Alan Wake’s delays and having an unpronounceable last name (okay, I made that last part up and I definitely shouldn’t talk). Finally, Ultima creator Richard Garriott stated he feels most developers have failed at story-telling. Apparently not Uncharted 2, though – it won 10 AIAS awards. But if you want more DICE news, why not just check out our hub page already?

There was also some non-DICE news this week. Square Enix announced that the areas cut from Final Fantasy XIII won’t be released as DLC. It’s good to know it wasn’t a ruse to make more money, but we’re guessing gamers would’ve appreciated it anyway.

Speaking of DLC that might possibly not exist: It was rumored this week that a Jimmy Hendrix DLC pack might be in the works for Rock Band, or he may even get his own game. If rumors aren’t your thing, here’s some Rock Band DLC that was officially confirmed this week.

Assassin’s Creed II got some new DLC this week. Ubisoft stated it will be releasing key franchise titles like Assassin's Creed every year, which garnered criticism from one industry analyst (and gamers too, judging from the comments section).

Ubisoft also received negative publicity over its new DRM scheme, which can cause players to lose game data if their internet connection gets interrupted – even if they’re playing an offline game.  Ubisoft responded later in the week with why it shouldn’t be a problem, but Adam remains unconvinced.

Sony is also irking gamers with its own anti-piracy scheme in SOCOM Bravo 3, which requires gamers to register their copy with a one-use code before they can play online. And EA upset some gamers too, announcing it will shut down more servers for games that people aren’t playing enough.

And now for the segue orphans: The Sex Squad must defeat the phallic-limbed Sperminator in a new STD awareness game from Canada.  But here’s something even more shocking: Mario and Sonic At The Winter Games has sold over 6 million copies. Now I’ve heard everything!

Other random tidbits from this week include the news that Street Fighter IV is coming to the iPhone, a DS with tilt functionality may be in the works, and LucasArts released Star Wars-themed items for the PlayStation Home. Oh, and Reiner pretended to post spoilers for God of War III, which some readers didn’t realize was a joke, thus making it 300% more hilarious.

And that wraps up another Week in Review. For even more content, check out this week’s Blog Herding, which highlights the more creative posts GI’s editors have to offer, as well as posts from the GI community. See you next week!