61 Frames Per Second : pre-order bonuses

The Monkey's Paw of Pre-Order Bonuses?

Bob Mackey — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

And now, a conversation between me and the Internet:

Internet: Hey, Bob; Chrono Trigger is coming out for the DS!

Bob: That's good.

Internet: But it's just a port with no major additions that will cost 40 dollars.

Bob: That's bad.

Internet: But you reserve it at GameStop, you get a free CD soundtrack!

Bob: That's good.

Internet: The bonus CD only has two songs.

Bob: Can I go now?

As much as I appreciate free shit--and we all love free shit--this CD isn't much of a pre-order incentive. In fact, being the accomplished nerd that I am, I already have these two songs from older CD releases. Game|Life reports that the two tracks are "Chrono Trigger, Orchestra Version" and "Chrono Trigger Medley Orchestra Version," which I'm almost positive are from the 2001 PSX re-release of the game and/or one of the Orchestral Game Concert CDs. Whatever the case (and at the risk of sounding ungrateful), TWO songs!? If Square-Enix ever checked out the pre-order goodies for something like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, they'd know how to throw together a great bonus soundtrack instead of "meh" incarnate.

Don't get me wrong--I appreciate the offer. But I think I'll stick to my MP3s.

Related Links:

The Chrono Trigger Port: Are You Excited or Disappointed?
The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 1
Where is Yasunori Mitsuda?

LittleBigPre-Order Confusion

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:00:00 GMT

It's almost hard to believe that after all we've seen of Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet in the past seventeen months, the game still isn't out yet. Sony saw fit to make these last two months of waiting even more difficult last week when they unveiled a number of incentive goodies for LBP pre-orders: a guide to the game's massive creation tools, a book of stickers from the game, a Sackboy burlap pouch to hold your game case (shown at right), and downloadable costumes to transform your Sackboy into either of Sony's favorite scantily clad barbarians, Nariko from Heavenly Sword and Kratos from God of War. The fan community's reaction was expectedly positive to the power of outrageous. What most didn't realize, however, was that each pre-order would only receive one of these gifts, and which one depends on where they place their order.

As explained on the official LBP blog this week, those who preorder from Amazon will receive the creation guide and those who preorder from Gamestop will receive the exclusive downloadable Kratos costume. Though many fans have requested a "special edition" of the game that includes all of the bonuses, reps from Media Molecule have said there are no such plans. Still no word on where one would need to pre-order to receive the sticker book, burlap pouch, or Nariko costume, nor if any of these will be made available seperately after the game's release, but producing this many store exclusives is bound to only upset fans, much like the recent Smashing Pumpkins album "Zeitgeist" (which featured a different bonus track for each Best Buy, Target, and iTunes and then another bonus track for the Best Buy reissue). Also like "Zeitgeist," this move reeks of desperation to attract buyers to a third-place console.

Worse still, recent reports have indicated that LBP will not support music or graphics from the PS3 hard drive, requiring instead that all user-generated graphics be captured with the PSEye peripheral. Though this is as yet unconfirmed by Media Molecule or Sony, such a decision would cripple the creative element of the game that seems to be its entire focus. Say goodbye to those gorgeous stickers of zombie Schwarzenegger you Photoshopped last night and your Pink Floyd collection, say hello to poorly lit webcam photos of your cat and the same Go! Team song over and over again. I'm still looking forward to this game, but I really hope this last part about user-generated content on the hard drive is wrong. I gots to have my zombie Ahnolds.

Related articles:
E3 Opinion: Because It's Cool To Complain...
Games Cost Money: Sony Cans The Getaway and Eight Days
SCEE Playstation Day 2K8 Roundup: Killzone 2, Home, LittleBigPlanet Dated
Alternate Soundtrack: The Go! Team vs. Super Street Fighter 2

Help Activision Choose Box Art for Spidey

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:33:00 GMT

Activision is letting gamers vote on which cover art they prefer for the Xbox 360's upcoming Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows.

The choice will doubtlessly keep you up all night. It's between "generic" and "stupid."

The cover art vote is part of Activison's "Seize Control" theme, which I guess is some push to make gamers think they're in control of the content for a big-name license. In addition, anyone who pre-orders (all three dozen of you) gets to choose one of three pre-order bonuses: a T-shirt, a poster or a figurine.

Do not choose...poorly.

No, really, don't. It's not hard to see that the T-shirt is the way to go, unless Gamestop is planning to pass judgement on people based on what they pick. Sort of like Moses with the gold and hot coals.

Going back to the cover art, both the choices are pretty bad. Option uno makes it look like Spidey is holding New York in a snow globe. It took a few minutes for my brain to unscramble option two; I seriously thought Spider-Man is holding Venom and Wolverine by the scruffs of their necks. Naughty Wolvy, I saw you pee on the rug. Into the Bad Box for a time out.

What's actually going on is that Spider-Man is crossing his arms and the two characters are reflected in his forearms fooooor some crazy reason. I admit I'm not up-to-date on which heroes can do what nowadays, but I don't think Spidey totes arm-mirrors for those bad hair days.

(What hair?)

Anyway, you've exercised your right to vote. You've done your bit for Democracy. Activision salutes you. Just one more thing: It probably won't matter.

Activision shall not be bond by the outcome of the community vote and Activisions decision(s) and selection(s) shall be final and binding.

To be fair, they don't have the courtesy to put that on an actual US election ballot. This way, you can skip the false feelings of hope and voter's pride and sink straight into the apathy. Enjoy!