Tag Archives: disaster

This just gets rosier. According to a filing made by new Midway owner Mark Thomas, Midway’s going to very quick cash from Acquisitions Holding Subsidiary, his shell company, and he wants his investment collateral protected.

“It is beyond dispute that [Midway has] an immediate need to access and use AHS’s Cash Collateral,” said the filing.

“Nor can it be disputed that, based upon the Debtors’ 13 week forecasted Budget, [Midway is] hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate. Indeed, the [Midway] Budget indicates that between February 9, 2009 and May 4, 2009, [Midway] will burn through approximately $12,392,598 in cash representing an approximately 75% depletion of its cash reserves.”

Happy talking talking happy talk. More on GamePolitics.

Oh dear. GI’s reporting that some Xbox Live users who let their Microsoft Passport Hotmail accounts expire are at risk of getting their Gamer Scores wiped. For good.

“The only alternative is to set up a new Gamertag with your preferred email address,” said a rep today.

Yep, that’s right. Anyone hit by the fault will lose all Achievements and score completely, even if they’ve been working at it for the past four years.

Microsoft’s investigating the problem, apparently. You’d bloody hope so.

After the break. Seriously, this is a step too far. There’s a global financial disaster going on, you know.

Thanks, Kotaku.

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Update: SCEE’s made a statement here.

SCEA comms man Patrick Seybold has confirmed on the US PS blog that PS3 Firmware 2.40 has been removed from the company’s servers after receiving a “low volume” of complaints regarding installation. The complaint being that the update “bricked” people’s consoles.

“As has been reported on many gaming blogs and websites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline,” said Seybold. “We’ve received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3.

“While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to providing the PS3 community with XMB access features delivered in the v2.40 update. We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up.”

Threads on the official boards began popping up yesterday afternoon saying that installation of the software was literally breaking some customers’ PS3s.

SCEA took the decision to remove 2.40 from its servers late last night.

Expect more on this later today.

Speaking to GI, EA UK MD Keith Ramsdale has said that if proposed ratings changes outlined in the Byron Review go ahead, British gamers will face delays to the release of new titles.

“The government’s proposed changes to the existing age rating systems will create further delays in getting hit games to the UK,” he said. “An extra and unnecessary layer of administration beyond a single system slows the process, and that delay will get passed on to the players themselves.”

Oh dear. More through the link.

Sorry, we posted this then deleted it in Harrison frenzy earlier. Nintendo’s cofirmed it won’t be attending Games Convention this year. According to Kotaku:

Nintendo Germany’s Dr. Bernd Fakesch iterates that this decision applies only to GC 2008, the last year it’ll be held in Leipzig. As for next year’s bigger, better, badder Games Con in Köln, they say they’ll “evaluate” the decision next year. Right. Poor Leipzig.

Press release (in German) after the link.

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Gametrailers is experiencing something of a meltdown over a comparison trailer showing GRID’s physics – in the opinion of the masses – as superior in the game’s 360 version.

Unfortunately for the site, both videos used in the movie were from the PS3 version, as seen clearly from the controller map in the bottom of the screen.

Gametrailers has now removed the video and according to various reports is removing all comments from the site related to the issue and has disabled it’s email contact function in reaction to teh internets going shithouse mental.

Someone, of course, nabbed the video before it was removed. A genuine error? Probably. Watch it after the break. Can’t beat the internet, Gametrailers. Third law of life.

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According to Kotaku, both Activision and Vivendi have left US trade body ESA.

ESA’s Rich Taylor said in a statement:

“While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged.”

This could be very nasty for both ESA and E3. Activision-Blizzard will be the biggest publisher in gaming after it merges this year, and all know what happens when the biggest names in the business pull out of “things”. Don’t we?

Kotaku’s reporting a rumour that the new Mortal Kombat won’t have any fatalities. The game – titled Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, was announced this morning. From the site:

A former Midway employee has contacted us and said that he worked on the game, and that Mortal Kombat v DC features “no fatalities and little-to-no blood”.

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Oh dear. Looks as though the 360 version of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 comes with its own glitches, following news that the PS3 version’s multiplayer is pretty much unplayable. According to this, the 360 game has an Achievement bug if you’re bringing data over from the first title, and also carries stat-tracking issues. Not so good. You’re being asked to report bugs here. Isn’t the bug-reporting bit supposed to happen before the game goes on sale?

The Nikkei’s reporting the Toshiba is likely to write down just under $1 billion in its failed war on Blu-ray. The company has refused to comment on the report, which has hit the firm’s share price to the tune of 2.3 percent. Toshiba is still expected to post a 250 billion yen operating profit for the year, despite the decision to ditch HD-DVD.

Atari’s announced a third quarter loss of $0.3 million, compared to a $0.6 million loss in the three months ending December 31 2006. Despite shaving a little off the drop, revenues dumped significantly, down from $95.3 to $64.8 million for the nine months leading to December 31, year on year.

Loss for the nine-month period was $20 million.

“Atari will not be holding a conference call for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007.”

More here, if you can stomach it.

Gamespot staffer Ryan Davis has said that Jeff Gerstmann’s sacking from the site last November signalled the end of his time at the site, at which he’d worked since 2000.

“Jeff’s firing just destroyed me, and I think it shed a light on the other stuff that I had been kind of rolling along with,” he said.

Davis quit yesterday.

In a Joystiq interview, Davis said he wanted the people left at the site to be seen by readers as the real deal.

“I want people to have some faith in the editors that are still there,” he said. “These are honest people doing honest work that honestly isn’t being mangled by marketers and salespeople. I just don’t think I have it in me to try and repair the damage that’s been done in the process.”

Required reading.

Long-time staffer Ryan Davis is to leave Gamespot, says this, the reason apparently being the November departure of Jeff Gerstmann following a 6/10 review for Kane & Lynch. The news brings the tally of lost staff due to the incident to four, if Gerstmann himself is included.

New editor-in-chief Ricardo Torres confirmed the decision.

Davis wrote in a blog post last December, “It’s been almost 8 years since I started working at GameSpot, and Jeff was there for nearly all of my fondest and most memorable experiences on the job. Simply put, I would not be in the video game business at all were it not for Jeff Gerstmann, and I am loathe to imagine what I might be doing with my life right now without the focus I’ve earned from having this ridiculous job. But now, Jeff’s gone, and I’m not afraid to say that it absolutely breaks my heart. I felt the departure of Rich Gallup from the site earlier this year in my bones, but this goes deeper. Jeff was a rare constant, and this marks the end of an era for both GameSpot and myself, a fact that doesn’t seem to be getting any less upsetting for me.”

Hardcore. Good luck to you, Ryan.