Strike Team Day

I hadn't really planned on posting til I got back from my trip, but considering the best cop show ever, The Shield finally returns for season 6 on April 3rd, I thought I'd post some pretty awesome Strike Team vids to get everybody pumped. I personally haven't even started season 5 yet, but I plan to rent it and get it done in the next couple of days so I can catch up (warning, MAJOR SPOILERS are contained in pretty much most of these, so you are forewarned):

Ronnie-Til Kingdom Come



Shane-Devil in Me



Lem-Behind Blue Eyes



Vic-Hurt



Season 6-This Night

New York, New York, it's a helluva town

There it is, the trailer for arguably the most anticipated game of the year, GTA IV. My thoughts? I'd be pumped if this was a movie, but as a game, I'm saying so what? Sure it looks pretty, but if it's just the GTA of old in a shiny new HD package, I'm not the least bit interested. I didn't even like San Andreas very much, so hoepfully this'll at the very least be an attempt at something more engaging than forcing me to watch my virtual calories. Multi-player seems to be the big demand from the gaming public, but I'm just not sure how that would be properly done. We still got nearly 7 months til this monster is unleashed, so a lot could change, especially with Take 2 being in a giant corporate upheaval, which may result ultimately in a buyout by either Sony or Microsoft (or hell even Nintendo, but that seems about as likely as Jack Thompson actually playing a game before judging it).

Though it means I probably won't be privy to any more updates, it seems like Gamers the show has gained some real steam in becoming an actuality, as you can see by checking out their website. Unfortunately part of the problem may be there's not a great fit for a show like this. MTV may have the right demographic, but most people who aren't complete idiots loathe MTV, especially geeks. G4 is a shell of the gamers paradise it started out as,now seemingly pretty much a sub-standard clone of Spike TV, which seems to survive solely on CSI reruns. Let's all hope this is the next great comedy, and not something that should've been huge, but never caught on like so many favorites (Firefly, Arrested Development, Freaks & Geeks, etc.).

Clearly, there is one movie choice this weekend, it just depends on whether you've got kids or not. If the youngins' are dragging you to the multi-plex, you'd better hope Disney finally remembered how to make a good film without Pixar, as that's what you've got with Meet the Robinsons. And just for reference, Disney's last non-Pixar animated film was Chicken Little, which was one of my more painful experiences of 2005, so I'm not holding up high hopes for this one.

Now if you are over the age of 10, your clear choice is Blades of Glory with Will Ferrel and Jon Heder. Sure, this is basically Anchorman/Talladega Nights on ice, and Ferrel playing this type is getting stretched a bit thin, but I think he's got enough for one more film, and having Will Arnett, Jenna Fischer & Amy Poehler in the cast should help keep it very amusing.

Finally, I am going on vacation for about a week starting this Saturday, so while I won't completely rule out updating, there most likely won't be any posts until at least next Sunday (definitely not until after the weekend at the earliest, so I don't get fooled by any lame April Fool's stories and look like a jackass). Knowing my luck, something profoundly earth-shattering will happen and if so I will try and update.

Back in Black

Finally acknowledging what most would consider the worst kept "secret" in the industry, Microsoft officially unveiled it's spanking new Elite 360 today. What makes this edition elite? Why obviously the much cooler black cooler, you fools! But seriously, it comes with a much bigger 120 gig hard drive, an HDMI port along with an HDMI cable (which I'd like to note Sony was too cheap to include in their still significantly more expensive system). But oddly enough, no improvements to the hardware to make it run cooler or quieter. So what will all this run you? A not too-outrageous $480, but that seems to be enough of a difference to make MS not drop the price of their premium model anytime real soon. Now obviously, the 120 hard drive is the big deal for any current 360 owner, but at a fairly steep $179 suggested retail price, I'm guessing most current 360 owners will hold off on that until they absolutely have to upgrade, and quite frankly, unless you're incredibly lazy it's not that difficult to use USB 2.0 any external hard drive that already exists.

And the instant Sony response is of course that now their so-called superior console is only $20 more. Yeah, a console that claims graphic superiority it hasn't shown yet with a smaller hard drive. Let's also forget the fact that the 20 gig model is already all but dead in the water, with no retailer being dumb enough to order it.

And supposedly MS is claiming they have one more big announcement that they will reveal sometime during the course of the day tomorrow, which will most likely be about the long-awaited Halo 3 beta (you know, so people can use Crackdown for something besides a coaster), and it may even be officially up and running shortly after they announce it. If that's the case, I may see about renting me some Crackdown early tomorrow.

FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Bubble Tanks

Shiver Me Isles

Unless you are an Oblivion nut, this is an incredibly dull week, with crap for both straight up game releases and downloadable content. But for you Oblivion nuts, there's a solid 30+ hours added to the hundreds you've already probably spent in The Shivering Isles expansion, available now on the 360 marketplace and for PC as well. I've been off the Oblivion addiction for more than a few months, but this may just be enough to tempt me to dive back in.

TMNT was a fun movie, I honestly think anyone who believes it was a disappointment was again looking for something on the level of a Pixar film, when most of us old school TMNT fans were just looking for something that does justice to the cheesy fun movies & cartoon shows we remember, and if you ask most of those people, it did.

And it took me about a week and a half of dvds and hosted blurry internet links, but I'm all caught up on Battlestar Galactica, and I completely renounce any previous opinions on Sci-Fi champs. This is better than any Sci-Fi show I have ever seen, yes even better than the tremendous but short-lived Firefly or the vastly underrated Babylon 5 (which BSG actually shares quite a bit with thematically). It's too bad the show's done and not coming back for about 8 more months, I need to find some new TV addiction.

That's really it for today, I'll try and post again tomorrow on... something.

SIMS + ANIMAL CROSSING= THE APOCALYPSE

Ahh, holy crap. MySims for Wii is coming, and it's going to take over the world. I mean seriously, you take the virtual life elements you see in the never-ending line of Sims games, crossed with the ridiculous cuteness of Animal Crossing along with the interactivity Sims games were lacking. Whenever this comes out, the Wii will officially dominate the world. I hate the Sims, but Animal Crossing dominated my life for nearly a year, so watch the videos, and just surrender. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!

TURTLE POWER!

Well, whether this weekend completely sucks for movies or not is basically dependent on one thing-your inner child. Cause either you're an old school TMNT fan who can't wait for their hopefully fun return to the big screen. It's definitely made more for the older audience, actually picking up after the live action films, but that means it's also missing a couple of fan favorite elements, namely Shredder. The early reviews haven't been too kind, but quite frankly they seem to be from people who are expecting some Pixar-quality production, most of us old school fans aren't asking for that, just seeing something that does justice to the cheesy and fun cartoons & live action TMNT films of old.

The PS3 is out in Europe & Australia now, but to say it's a rousing success is quite a stretch, with stores resorting to things like giving away free TVs and cab rides and making fake crowd sounds over the radio in order to make the event seem bigger. But, the capper is definitely MS taking a huge swipe at them on launch night by parading this all throughout France:



Well the good news is there's a virtual guarantee of no violence with the fact that's there's almost no excitement for the launch. Good job Sony!

YES

It's happening. Forgive the slightly misleading fan-made teaser above as Nights 2 is happening not on the 360, but on the Wii where it so rightfully feels natural. Now granted, this is no guarantee of some awesome revival of a classic, as the original is now over a decade old, but Yuji Naka, the original creator is on board with a totally new team, which gives me much more hope as Sonic Team's last few years have produced mostly miserable results. Supposedly it's been in development for a while, so bet on it being in full display at E3 and I'd be willing to bet on a late summer release. This could be one huge killer app if done right.

Even better news: SAM & MAX ARE COMING TO CONSOLES! That's right, the Wii & 360 get them first and though not confirmed the PS3 is most likely getting them sometime down the road. I was sort of hesitant to buy the new episodes on PC, but I'd love to either do some classic point & click adventure on the Wii or get some crazy achievement points on the 360 with these games. Now the only problem is which system to go with(maybe I can alternate, a different system for each episode)?

So apparently Sony is already willing to throw the goodwill they got at GDC out the window. The European launch is this Friday and Sony's European VP is sounding just as arrogant and batshit insane as everybody else in the company, in a new interview he essentially says the delay was good thing, that the PS3 is already a success even though it hasn't launched, once people play the PS3 the PS2 will have nothing to offer them, cause we all know the PS2 sucks, right? And finally, that of course this year will set record precedent sales for the whole Sony console family.

The European CEO is just as stupid, he doesn't want the console to sell out, apparently. I mean christ, literally 99% of Sony's bad press has been a result of their ridiculously arrogant statements & attitude, do these high ranking execs miss that PR seminar that teaches how to not act like they don't even need the support of consumers? Phil Harrison's slight showing of humility at GDC did wonders, but if he's the only one making a turnaround, Sony is quite frankly burning any bridges they have left with the hardcore gamer crowd they are supposedly aiming for.

On top of that is the continuing loss of exclusivity. We already know Virtua Fighter 5, Mercenaries 2 & Assassin's Creed were also coming for 360, but another huge feather in MS' cap is that we have official confirmation of Devil May Cry 4 coming to the 360 as well, day & date with the PS3 release. Hell at this rate we may see Ratchet & Clank & God of War on 360 someday (probably not, but Final Fantasy is looking like a real possibility). Now in reality, this is simple console math. Games are getting more expensive, companies need to hedge their bets, and console exclusivity just won't do that. But image is everything, and stuff that not only appeared to formerly be something you could only get on Sony platforms, but that could reportedly only be properly done on the PS3 and now is appearing on what is according to them a vastly inferior platform just looks bad, period.

That's it for today, but I have plenty to talk about this coming weekend, so I should be posting pretty regularly up through Sunday, in the mean time, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: ORBITAL

Men (and women) in Tights

Tomorrow, the 2nd and final season of Justice League Unlimited comes out and anyone who wants to really know what's wrong with cartoons today should pick this up. The whole run of the show (4 seasons of you count the original Justice League show Unlimited spun-off from). What is wrong, you ask? It that very few, if any cartoon shows these days are anything like Justice League. It's smart, brilliantly animated, filled with great long arcs and twists, pretty much up there with the likes any highly acclaimed modern drama, but of course, never got the same respect simply because it's animated, and it's quite a crime that it only lasted a few seasons when they were able to make you care about so many normally bland DC heroes (I mean really, there's a reason only Batman & Superman have movies and no one else from the DC universe does).

So, it seems like the general reaction for TMNT Arcade for Xbox live hasn't gone too well, with people citing the difficulty level, the simplicity, and the graphics as issues. My response? IT'S A 15-YEAR OLD ARCADE GAME YOU FUCKING NITWITS. I agree that it's unnecessarily difficult and the fact that you can't alter the amount of credits is a bit of bullshit, but it's an accurate recreation of an arcade classic for $5. I think the real problem is people were expecting it to be Turtles in Time, which granted is a far superior title, but that's their fault for expecting it to be something it never was in the first place.

PS3 Owners finally get their hands on Oblivion this week, but minus all the cool expansion stuff you can get on the 360 for now. Great start to your online experience Sony, hope you got this kind of shit figured out before HOME launches.

This may end up being a fairly big week for Wii owners as well. Cooking Mama is easily the biggest title out, as aspiring chefs can have a go at making virtual dishes. I'd probably pick it up if it had online, so hopefully that'll happen when the next edition rolls around.

Potentially equally as intriguing is The Godfather: Blackhand Edition for the Wii. Admittedly, I was ready to write this off as just another in a long line of sloppy ports, but IGN actually gave it a good review, mainly due to the nicely revamped controls. I'm all for ports as long as they are given proper treatment, so hopefully most will be given the same treatment if not better than The Godfather and we'll some some familiar faces worth playing again down the road.

Finally, is NIGHTS coming to the Wii? Probably. Maybe. Oh who the hell knows. All we really know is that The Official Nintendo Magazine, a UK publication, posted this image as a teaser in their latest issue:



Of course there was a lot of speculation-Kid Icarus, a big feature on Mario Galaxy, and of course, a giant April Fool's joke to make us all look like jackasses for getting so hyped over nothing. But the net has picked up this story and ran with it like a juiced marathon competitor, and ONM has confirmed that it's definitely not an April Fool's joke, and is news about a new game, but their next issue doesn't hit for about 6 weeks, so til then, I leave you this comparison shot to consider:

But suddenly, a new contender has emerged...

Just a quick note before I get into my rant-Sandra Bullock films & stupid movies about dead scary ventriloquists and their dolls aren't worth writing about, so I won't be discussing this weekend's films unless I somehow get dragged kicking and screaming into the theatre this weekend.

And Sony was just getting used to their crown. But Nintendo has a chance to be the new lord and master of all idiots, and predictably it's because of online. We all know Nintendo has a bad history of online. Even when their system supports it, they just barely seem to care. Even with the DS, which has had tremendous success with online, Nintendo has the very ass-backwards friend code system and has only produced a handful of titles that even have any noteworthy wi-fi capabilities to date.

We were all hoping they'd at least sort of turn a corner with the Wii. Sure, it has a slightly unfriendly code system like the DS, but it seemed like that would be the biggest problem. After all, supposedly the main reason Nintendo was doing this was to protect the kids, and with the seemingly unnecessary steps of having to not only send each other long friend codes, but having to individually register them, it seemed like enough. Well, not for Nintendo. Now, apparently under the pretense of it's what best for the youngins', you'll have to register different friend codes for every single online Nintendo title, even if you already have a bunch of people that you send Miis to. I never thought Nintendo would come up with something as slick as Live or even Home (if that indeed turns out to be as slick as it looks in the first place), but this seems inclined to turn gamers away from online. Sure, certain titles (like Super Smash Bros Brawl), will probably sell through the roof and people will play them online and Nintendo will show that as an example of how their system is a success. But bottom line, these almost EA-style tactics will turn off a lot of people who are used to it being easy, as it should be. Nintendo has repeatedly said they want to lose the kid image, and appeal to a more casual gamer. Well, nobody, casual or hardcore, is going to be pleased with this, and anything that's online and doesn't have Nintendo behind it will most likely suffer greatly. You're only a strong contender for Sony's crown as lord of the idiots right now Nintendo, you have time to fix it by at least making this friend code thing optional so parents have the security they want and gamers over the age of 10 don't have to deal with these ridiculous hassles.

FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: 8 Planets

Why am I more excited about a $5 game than a $50 one?!?

Because it's one of the all time greats:


That's correct, in a little over an hour from this writing, the classic TMNT arcade game will be available on Xbox Live for a measly FIVE DOLLARS. Considering this was by far my favorite arcade game and I probably spent several hundred dollars of my parents money on it when I was a kid, this is probably the best bang for my buck in history. If by some miracle you missed out on this absolute classic, you need to pick it up, and anyone who played it should not need any convincing.

But what $50 game am I still pretty excited about, that would be the PS2's last AAA title, God of War II, which should be in stores tomorrow afternoon. It's a sort of bittersweet note, as this will most likely be the last game most people buy for their slowly dying system, but at least unlike it's last-gen brethren, it's going out with one hell of a bang.

Are Wii owners left in the cold this week, though? Most definitely not, as the highly anticipated Tiger Woods 07 hits this week, hopefully delivering on all the potential shown in Wii Golf. Granted, EA is hardly known for delivering innovation, but they seem to be having a fantastic track record on the Wii with Madden & SSX Blur already under their belt.

That's pretty much it for today, aside from just quickly saying that I saw 300, and it was truly glorious. This is a movie that screams to be seen on the biggest possible screen, so be sure to check it out in a theatre (or IMAX if that's a possibility).

Best Accountant/PI Ever

Although it doesn't really premiere til next week, you can catch what's easily the best new sitcom of the past TV year: Andy Barker, P.I. on NBC's website. I admit the promos didn't look too impressive, but after watching the episodes I'm convinced this deserves a spot on NBC's awesome Thursday night comedy block, though with 4 good comedies it may be hard to squeeze in(here's an idea, dump ER!!!).

Only one movie opening wide this week, but it's so potentially awesome that nothing dare stand in its way. 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller (the same guy who wrote Sin City). From all reports it's basically 90 minutes of Spartans kicking some major ass, which means I'm completely sold and can't wait to check it out tomorrow.

Microsoft may be teaming up with Peter Jackson, but the Wii has a powerful Hollywood Honcho in their corner as well. Steven Spielberg is apparently a big fan and is developing an exclusive game for the system. Details are sparse now, but I'd bet even money on something involving a whip and a fedora...

That's all as it's been kind of a slow day, but I'll leave you with this killer new trailer for Super Mario Galaxy:

Home Sweet Home

GDC is well under-way, and unlike the past 9 months, Sony is coming out to an impressive start. Key is their execs seem to be finally smart enough to not say stupid contradictory things or outright lies, but also is the extremely impressive showing of their user community, called "Home". The two videos below should show it off better than I can explain it, the first is a long 20-minute presentation, the second is a brief trailer, both get the point across that this is a potentially awesome setup, though.





Despite the different approaches by all three companies, all agree that developing a gamer community is extremely important to the future of gaming. If Sony really delivers on all this promises, it could definitely be the key to not only regaining some much needed ground, but ultimately winning the console war.

Also of note was the one big game Sony was really promoting, LittleBigPlanet, which very much falls under the "why the hell didn't anyone think of this before?!?" department. I mean really, a co-op online platformer seems like such a brilliant and easy to do idea, yet Sony of of all people seems to be the first to really put forth a seemingly amazing effort for it, check out the vid:



Luckily, Nintendo, despite reports that they would be mostly silent about anything new, were anything but. They announced that the Wii Online play starts June 25th with Pokemon Battle Revolution, and hopefully others will be soon to follow. They also were showing off quite a bit of Super Paper Mario, which is looking great, as you can see by the vids below (can't wait til April 9th for this):









And Nintendo has a big day tomorrow, with Shigeru Miyamoto having a keynote address in the morning, so hopefully that won't be the last big news we hear.

Finally, I did spend a good portion of the day playing Worms, and I can confirm it is well worth your $10. It's just an insane amount of fun.

Those rectangular thingies with words in them...

Yes, despite my many hours in front of all things involving a monitor, I do regularly read books. I generally prefer paperbacks, not necessarily because they are cheaper (though that is a plus), but I honestly just like the compact size and feel. That being said I will make the occasional exception for a book I'm particularly excited about, and that is the case this week with the release of Hardcore Diaries, another book about his most recent WWE exploits, but it also gos very in-depth on the "whole behind-the-scenes" aspect of wrestling. Now generally I'm not a huge fan of autobiographies, especially ones by wrestlers, as they tend to be extremely phony and full of kissing one's own ass if not their superiors. Foley's books are always incredibly funny and well-written along with being incredibly earnest. Even non-wrestling fans should enjoy this.

Is XBLA finally starting to not suck? It's well on its way. In addition to the highly anticipated Worms being available to us in just a few short hours, the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game has been confirmed for release on the 21st, and for the very sweet price of only $5. The only arcade game I ever played more than this classic was The Simpsons Arcade Game, which had a pretty similar setup anyways(I can only pray that'll be on XBLA somewhere down the line). I'll be looking forward to many hours of Turtle Power in the coming weeks with this and the new movie, which looks fantastic.

More blundering by Sony at GDC? At least it's more up in the air this time, depending on your view. Apparently one of Sony's big plans to differentiate themselves from their competitors in the online arena is to have not just episodic content, but full-on episodic games. Some people don't mind them, but that's really the best opinion you'll get. In my opinion, they are a bad & dangerous step in gaming, offering completely rushed and feeling very unfinished short term thrills to nickel & dime us to death. I absolutely refuse to buy games in "episodes", just give me the damn finished product.

At least PS3 players finally have a reason besides Resistance to pick up their controllers. Motorstorm is finally out this week, and from all reports is the first truly worthwhile post-launch game. If you've played the demo at various PS3 kiosks in retail stores, you know it's fun and looks amazing. 12-player online racing sounds really sweet as well.

Also out this week is Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for 360 and Def Jam: Icon for both 360 & PS3. I'm sure GRAW 2 is great for guys who enjoy realistic tactical team FPS games, but I'm definitely not one of those. And Icon's reviews pretty much confirmed what I played in the demo-that it's pure crap. It's funny cause you would've expected EA to play it safe and release a game that was roughly the same as Fight For New York, only with shiny new-gen graphics and a roster update, and I would've been happy with that. For once they tried to do something different with a franchise, and it bites them in the ass.

Finally, if you want to get some goosebumps just from reading an article, check IGN's "Mass Effect-The First Hour", but really the best line that should sell anyone is the one right under the headline: You are Jack Bauer in space, blasting zombies with your boomstick.

Free Game of the Week: Break In

You down with GDC?

Well you know me. What may be the biggest gaming event this year is upon us this week, the Game Developers Conference. Key note speakers & hopefully big game news is par for the course. We likely already know what Sony's big news is thanks to the giant temper tantrum they had just a couple of days ago, but Microsoft is hinting at something big, and has been able to keep it under wraps (hopefully it's an incredibly awesome to plan to make XBLA not suck). Unfortunately, the word from Nintendo is that there will be no word on anything new due to an impending stock trade. Granted, not like they really need to announce something huge at this point, but it just looks bad with the other two having major announcements and Nintendo not saying anything.

And what if like me you'll be busy checking the web most of Wednesday for GDC news and want something to do in your downtime? Why not join me in a friendly game of Worms? That's right, Worms is FINALLY coming to XBLA this Wednesday, and yours truly plans to spend a good majority of the day blasting the hell out of other worms with classic weapons like the Uzi and the exploding sheep. It's probably the best $10 you'll ever spend.

As I'm kinda beat, that'll be it for today, but I am stopping the "Stand-Up of the Week Feature". Partially because with Corporations really cracking down on sites like youtube it's getting harder and harder to find content, but mainly I just wasn't that into it. But in the meantime, I leave you with this geeky yet entertaining twosome: RYAN VS. DORKMAN:

The non-dream team

I can honestly say I have a hard time thinking about a worse idea for a blatant vanity project than Wild Hogs. I mean, the only one in this cast who even has any dignity left at this point in their career is William H. Macy, and really, he's pretty much the American Michael Caine, seemingly showing up wherever they'll pay him regardless of the role. The idea of a bunch of over-the-hill guys on a road trip has some potential, but you can see in the previews it's already limited to ridiculously juvenile humor even though it seems aimed at a more sophisticated audience by sheer age of the cast alone.

Luckily this is a rare weekend where not everything looks like a disaster. David Fincher has released what looks to be the first genuinely good thriller in a long, long time in Zodiac. Fincher is excellent at suspense and tension, and according to most reviews, this is a long overdue shot in the arm for the genre, so I'll definitely be checking it out this weekend.

And finally for something very different there's Black Snake Moan with Samuel L. Jackson & Christina Ricci. The premise sounds interesting enough, with Jackson essentially keeping her prisoner for her own good and very Tarantino-esque look & feel to it. But it also seems like the film just may have nowhere to really go from the setup. It does intriguing enough to check out, though.

I did pick SSX Blur, but as I've still got an incredibly full plate of games to go through, I've only played with it a little, but enough to be sure it's a worthwhile purchase.

Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to some very enterprising nerds. Gamers is an interesting idea for a TV show that's actually about gamers, by gamers. I think if it was actually picked up and network execs didn't interfere too much with it, it could be great. They've already gotten money to make a pilot, so that's a start you can click the banner you see at the top of my post to check out the website, and here are 2 trailers I think are pretty funny:





I really hope this gets off the ground, so I'll be sure to post updates on it regularly.

FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Resident Wiivile

For you are Sony, lord of of the idiots

There will be two separate posts today cause the first one is about one singular subject and a little long to continue with what else I have planned to talk about in one post. The next one will follow a few hours later and talk about more general things.

Yes, George, a new contender has emerged. It's pretty obvious that the gaming press has been piling on the hate for Sony, but a lot of it is their fault with everything from ridiculous arrogance to downright lying. But this week, it's like they are just baiting everybody with their ridiculous actions.

First, they claim rumble is a "last-gen" feature. But then they just settled a huge lawsuit over rumble and talk like it's something that is a big part of their future plans. If this was all that happened this week, you could simply write it off as a bad PR timing, but oh it gets much worse (or better depending on your view).

Then there's the oh so fun claims that not only is the demand for the PS3 "unprecedented", but that they are striving to meet the huge demand, and that all "shortages" should be worked out by May. Of course a quick visit to any store that carries PS3 will show you that not only are they readily in stock, according to the latest figures, Sony hasn't even sold half of what they've shipped so far. And yet, you could still even right this off as simple arrogance that should be overlooked...

But finally, really, what cemented Sony a the new lord of the idiots, is the flurry of internet action that happened only a few hours ago. Sony was promising something big that would make gamers very happen at the Game Developers Conference next week. Kotaku followed up with a seemingly solid rumor that Sony was doing something akin to Wii's Mii system, and that would be the big announcement at the show. Now, normally this is the course that would follow-Nintendo fanboys claim Sony is juts copying Nintendo again, Sony fanboys claim it'll be better than anything on that faggy little machine with the lame graphics, and of course your usual "No Comment" from Sony, but that didn't happen this time.

In fact, Sony asked nicely, then threatened Kotaku to not publish the story, and when Kotaku did, they acted like a spoiled brat and swore they would not provide any support to the site (no interviews, no demos, no exclusive stories, etc). This is the absolute stupidest move anyone could do, with not surprisingly there being a huge shit storm on Sony in a matter of a couple of hours, and it gives validity to what was at the start of this merely a strong rumor. Sony must've realized their mistake, as shortly after, they patched things up with Kotaku, but this is an action that can't really be taken back. Once it's out there, it's out there for good. Sony will forever be known as the only game company that punished a site for publishing what was simply at the time a strong rumor which thanks to their reaction blew up into sheer certainty and brought the wrath of just about everybody on all sides down on them. Enjoy your new title Sony, may your reign as Lord of the Idiots be long and full of even bigger mistakes than you made today.