oh no! my littlebigplanet!

in all seriousness, this has got me feeling pretty cagey.

littlebigplanet has been delayed. and not a, 'the shipment was slow to canada' kind of delay where you wait one to three days to get a game they're already playing in the states or on illegally modded consoles.

it's delayed as in, you offended a giant portion of the world by including inflammatory passages from the q'ruan in the background music to your game.

that's right, in the background music to the first level of the third world (swinging safari) you can hear two selections from the religious book, something that muslims take as offensive.

according to Nsider's open letter to media molecule (producers' of littlebigplanet) via kotaku, they say that:

We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online update, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it.

as someone who's not muslim, far be it for me to weigh in on whether or not they should be reprinted, all i can say, is that as a littlebigplanet beta tester, next week is going to be a long one.

i was planning on making a design document for a few levels that i would start on tuesday but, according to shacknews, i'll be waiting another week after that to finally get my hands on a full version.

i'm sure i'm not the only one who will be sweating the extra week's wait. i just gotta pray that eb doesn't pull their usual nonsense with getting in my pre-ordered games late once the edited disks get shipped.

sadly without sackboy,

JD

now that everyone and their mom has 4.1...

playstation

playstation has released their version of gamercards. see exhibit a in the right column.

they've also pushed back home again, as of E3 this week, but supposedly it will be worth the wait (and from what i've heard, it's looking quite a bit better than the beta did).

more news

more stuff has been happening, though, than the release of another inconsequential status symbol...

the wedding is in like two weeks, and i'm totally stoked for it. actually, at this point, i just want to get there and get it done. i mean, i'm going to have a great time, it's just that this has been a long process and i can't wait to hit the finish line.

oh, and we moved again. the new place is sweet though, even though i've been relegated to the psp since all my consoles are still packed up and most of the apartment is in boxes.

e3

and speaking of changes, has anyone been kind of bored by this years' e3 announcements?

i mean, i know it's been tapering off for a couple years, but microsoft's biggest announcement was jumping on the gui redesign bandwagon (though i am a little excited for the fall update, but not at all for the 'avatars'), and sony really didn't have much to show.

all the games we saw were well known for a while, and i'm getting bored of nintendo announcing more and more casual games that i'll play for about a week. i mean, the wii motion plus looks neat, and 1:1 for the wii remote would be cool, but isn't this what the wii remote was supposed to be on launch?

2 years, and now they've built the perfect wiimote by plugging a chunk of plastic into the end?

yikes.

anywho, off to a fab thursday (i'm sure),

your partner in crime,

JD

i guess i'm the only one with ps3 firmware 2.40 now...

so this is an unofficial test drive as no one else seems to have the 2.40 firmware since it was recalled shortly after being released.

i downloaded it with no complications the morning of so here are my impressions.

to be completely honest, the list of things it can't do is as long as my arm, and if you're expecting xbox live level of usefulness and interactivity, prepare for disappointment.

short list of fails:

- no access to ps store in game
- can't stream music in game (but can play music on the console hard drive)
- can only play music in games that support it

they've also introduced an achievement trophy system. to put it bluntly, so far, it's completely safe to call it half-cocked.

i got ahold of a copy of super stardust hd (don't let anyone else tell you different, this is the only game that currently supports them) and not only is the sound kind of lame (nothing compared to the now classic xbox *bing*) but everything about it is low-key.

quiet unlock noise, small upper-right hand logo for trophy notification, and so far, they're all pretty hard. i think the balance of achivements is lacking, but again, this is only one games' impression worth, so take it with a grain of salt.

*bing!*

JD

newsy news

well, it happened.

i mean, two things happened to be precise. i guess it was three. aww f-it, i'll just start breaking it down.

1. video game deprevation therapy.

first, i took a week off from gaming. it's not a big deal, but i wasn't getting much sleep, i was getting fairly irritable and my hair was getting long. so i got a haircut, and left my xbox packed up for a full week.

2. dusted off wii.
then came the re-awakening of my interest in the wii.

it was just boom boom boom, with mario kart wii being actually a fun online wii game (go figure!), then boom blox with it's physics-based awesomeness and now i'm sitting beside an un-opened copy of wii fit.

i think i pissed off some people today, though, because i didn't pre-order it and i guess people were turned away in the morning at my local eb because they had no pre-orders.

i walked in at 11:45 and the manager (whom i've gotten to know) grabbed one for me. i mentioned my lack of pre-order (which is unlike me for big release games that i'm not sure i'll be getting) and she hesitated for a second and then said 'it's cool' and sold me one of her three non-pre-ordered copies.

rad.

jen will be chuffed.

3. playstation whatnow?

oh, and three, i'm breaking down and getting a ps3.

you see, they've bundled the larger harddrive, backwards compatible, 80GB version PS3 with a copy of metal gear solid 4 for $500 and i can get it shipped to me.

this means a guaranteed copy of mgs4 without having to worry about konami or lines and i can get a ps3 that will play ps2 games all for a not too steep price.

i will now be a three console giant who answers to no man, but still answers to one woman.

peace be the journey,

JD

gta iv is... (a quick explanation for media exposed peoples)

great.

i know you'll read everywhere that it's great, but seriously. g-r-e-a-t.

and for anyone who doesn't get gta, here it is in a nutshell:

take your favorite mob/gangster flick (the departed, goodfellas, casino, basically anything scorsese) and make it interactive.

it's not a murder simulator. it's like a choose your own adventure. you play the game to progress the plot. i mean, as a former teenage male, and as a current early twenties guy, i can identify with the sheer glee associated with destruction and violence but at it's heart, the main appeal of gta has and always will be the underworld of crime, gangs and the story of one man.

just an fyi for your internets,

JD