Crispy Gamer News

THQ, already known for its hit WWE SmackDown vs. RAW series, apparently has enough stroke to even put the fighters of the Ultimate Fighting Championship down for the count. According to a Sports Illustrated report, UFC fighter Jon Fitch has been terminated from the franchise (along with many of his American Kickboxing Academy teammates) for refusing to sign away rights to his image for use in THQ’s upcoming UFC video game.

According to the report, the problem stems from UFC’s requests that fighters sign a merchandising deal giving the UFC rights to use fighters’ likenesses in various licensing deals for life. The issue with Fitch apparently finally came to a head when he was approached with the THQ deal.
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Hey. Someone got their Assassin’s Creed in my Prince of Persia. And yet, much like peanut butter and chocolate, this looks like it may be two great tastes that taste great together.

In a bit of a surprise announcement, Ubisoft clued gamers in on a new perk for linking their Ubisoft.com user accounts with either their Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network accounts. By doing so, players who pick up Prince of Persia will gain access to a special character skin of Altair from Assassin’s Creed.
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Fans of the Dead Space comics - based on EA’s recently released horror survival game set in space - will be happy to hear that all of the comic books related to the game have been re-released in one single hardcover tome.

The Dead Space hardbook serves as a prequel story for the videogame that tells the tale of a deep space mining colony that unleashes a deadly alien life force from a dark rock. The Dead Space hardbook combines all 6 Dead Space comics written by Antony Johnson and illustrated by Ben Templesmith with exclusive cover art by Templesmith, an exclusive bonus art section, and a background section on the major characters.

Those interested in buying it can find links on the Dead Space Blog.

How quickly Google has put this one to bed. The company has already put a bullet in the head of Lively, the company’s MMO-like space that it launched only a four and a half months ago - according to TechCrunch.

“..despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we’ve decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year,” Google said in a statement.” It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.”

They encourage users to take videos and screenshots to commemorate the rooms they created. Users do not find this solution very pleasing and are gathering in rooms called “Lively is Murdered.” They probably will not go quietly, but at some point, it will not matter.

I wasn’t convinced that Google was really behind the whole idea of Lively in the first place, and its short life span convinces me that my first impression was correct..

Capcom dodged a bullet recently when a federal judge threw out a lawsuit by MKR group, the producer of George A Romero’s Day of the Dead. The lawsuit alleged that Capcom’s popular game Dead Rising, infringed on Romero’s movie about survivors fending off zombies in an abandoned shopping mall. Judge Richard Seeborg disagreed with MKR, noting that the similarities beyond the setting and the zombies were minuscule. The judge said that the concepts used by both the game and the movie were too vague to be copyrighted.

In my opinion this is a good thing for the game industry because some concepts just cannot be copyrighted and the movie industry would do well to save its money and avoid these kinds of lawsuits altogether. Dead Rising isn’t really about survivors anyway - it’s about what the player does in the few hours he has in the mall. Romero wishes his films had that much thoughtfulness and focus..

Capcom will bring its Wii Dead Rising game to America in Q1 2009, but it doesn’t like like it will be as much fun as the original on which it is based..

Source: GI.biz

SCI FI and Trion World Network have hired two key industry veterans to help co-develop a connected video game and television show. Kevin Beardslee joins Trion to serve as Senior Development Director for the project at Trion’s San Diego development studio. Television writer Peter Egan has been tapped to write the pilot episode. 

Kevin Beardslee has over 15 years experience in game design, with over a decade spent developing MMO’s. Most notably, Kevin served as a key member of Blizzard Entertainment’s core development team for MMO World of Warcraft before founding Carbine Studios, a division of NCsoft North America, where he created and oversaw the development of an unannounced MMO. Working with Trion, Beardslee will act as the Senior Development Director for the co-developed SCI FI – Trion MMO video game. Peter Egan’s television experience includes Playmakers (ESPN) and Over There (FX Network). For NBC Entertainment, Peter served as a writer on several series including Medium and Medical Investigation. Egan also served as writer and story editor on the SCI FI series, The Dresden Files.

Trion and SCI FI hope to transcend the standard television and gaming experience by simultaneously co-developing a game and cable television property. The Trion – SCI FI partnership promises a synergy between entertainment mediums creating a “single rich, fictional universe of story telling.”

This story is sure to baffle people like Jack Thompson, who think that games like America’s Army do nothing but teach murder.. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Military Advanced Training Center now has a state-of-the-art driving simulator to help wounded servicemembers return to driving independence, thanks to technology provided by folks behind America’s Army.

This simulation allows patients to practice with adaptive driving equipment, gain confidence in their driving proficiency and apply mental skills training in a commonplace activity. Walter Reed leadership launched the driving simulator at an official ceremony today in Joel Auditorium as part of Warrior Care Month.

Using the same technology used to create America’s Army, the developers created a driving simulation that reacts to the driver and provides feedback in a non-threatening and constructive manner enabling Warriors in Transition to learn to operate a vehicle safely. The simulator vehicle is a Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab chassis and is equipped with: active steering, brakes, accelerator, Gear select and instrument panel; driver inputs tied to America’s Army gaming software, a Bruno Orbit Seat for passenger side; Minox hand controls; adjustable seating height and an interior redesigned for easy cleaning and maintenance.

Good deal. Check out www.wramc.amedd.army.mil.