You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
8_NEWS<br />
U2’s Bono is not a name that may strike you<br />
as synonymous with Grand Theft Auto, but<br />
relatively speaking, Elevation Partners may<br />
soon be with Take Two Interactive. Bono’s firm,<br />
Elevation Partners, is reportedly in talks of a<br />
billion dollar buyout of Take Two Interactive,<br />
publisher of Rockstar <strong>Games</strong>’s Grand Theft Auto<br />
series. Elevation Partners has already struck a<br />
big chord in the gaming industry when it formed<br />
the $300 million dollar partnership of two<br />
independent game studios, Bioware (Knights<br />
of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect)<br />
and Pandemic Studios (Star Wars: Battlefront,<br />
Mercenaries, Chronicles of Riddick). Curiously, Elevation Partners’s Roger<br />
McNamee is listed on Elevation’s site (www.elevation.com) as being an<br />
investor in Take Two previously. So can<br />
the talks, which originally surfaced from<br />
BONO<br />
THEFT AUTO<br />
a New York Post article, of such an odd<br />
couple really be far off? Take Two has had<br />
its strange string of unfortunate events,<br />
with a nearby fire in its New York office,<br />
the resignation of a director and a recent quarterly report revealing numerous<br />
lawsuits being filed across the United States over the GTA: San Andreas “Hot<br />
Coffee” incident. Maybe Take Two’s<br />
Rockstar could use the humanitarian<br />
hand of Bono to bail it out and<br />
reform its gaming talent. If not,<br />
isn’t it the thought that counts?<br />
What better way to kick off<br />
the spring lineup of games than<br />
with an awesome contest on<br />
our very own www.Luv2Game.<br />
com! If you’re not already a<br />
member of our community,<br />
go there now & sign up<br />
for free. The exclusive<br />
FIND BUGS<br />
WIN PRIZES<br />
PSP scavenger hunt begins this month on<br />
our website and will feature fun challenges<br />
involving Daxter, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs<br />
Fireteam Bravo, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror<br />
and Pursuit Force (all titles for the PSP).<br />
Prizes will include a PSP and game packs<br />
of the 4 titles. The Scavenger Hunt will run<br />
through the end of April. Get<br />
off your duff & be the first<br />
to complete the challenges.<br />
This isn’t your grandfather’s<br />
scavenger hunt!<br />
That’s a wrap of this month’s news for your itchy gaming<br />
finger. For more news bits, check out gamingbits.com.<br />
Have some news you’d like to share? Email<br />
alexis@gamingbits.com<br />
Cyborg Peripheral Button Mashing Eiji Morikawa,<br />
a 28-year-old Japanese engineer, has devised a<br />
new device to cybernetically enhance gamers’<br />
hands — the Ore Commander and Shock-C. The<br />
Ore Commander is a device that attaches to your<br />
thumb or index finger and vibrates your finger<br />
to borg-enhanced speeds. The Ore Commander<br />
has yielded up to 22 button presses a second.<br />
An add-on accessory, the Shock-C, allows you to<br />
BIONIC<br />
spaz-O-MATIC<br />
eat with a fork and spoon (or<br />
the optional chopstick add-on)<br />
using your index and middle<br />
finger. Goodbye,<br />
greasy gaming<br />
controllers!<br />
Pay a visit to<br />
PeriBorg’s<br />
Japanese<br />
site at<br />
periborg.<br />
com.<br />
by Alexis<br />
Got that déjà vu gaming experience recently while playing on the Xbox 360?<br />
It came back to me after watching that scene in Tron where Flynn is being<br />
cheered on by a crowd of arcade game players as he hits the new high score<br />
record. Gamers paid less attention to high scores as we entered the 16-bit<br />
gaming era. It didn’t happen overnight. Our attentions turned to conquering<br />
games to see the richly animated endings, RPGs with deep storylines and<br />
competing against the best in multiplayer online games. Microsoft has<br />
returned us to our gaming roots with Gamerscores. Just like Flynn, people<br />
on the Xbox Forums take note of who is leading and breaking the records<br />
in Gamerscores. It can even cause an addiction for some to try to get all<br />
1000 gamer points a single game can offer. There is no regulation as to how<br />
a game publisher distributes the points, also known as “Achievements,”<br />
GAMERSCORE<br />
HIGH SCORES ARE BACK<br />
throughout the game. Some are available only through playing online<br />
multiplayer games, as in Perfect Dark Zero or Quake 4. Some are given for<br />
simply taking still pictures in Project Gotham Racing 3. Others are given<br />
when you complete a level, as in King Kong (which has been noted as one of<br />
the easiest games to achieve gamer points from). Microsoft says over time<br />
as publishers become more familiar with the process, how Achievements are<br />
unlocked will become more balanced. Gamerscores are the new measure<br />
of success, skill and persistence in the Xbox 360 gaming world. While the<br />
score itself is not the only way to enjoy a game, it does give the gamer the<br />
opportunity to fully explore what the game has to offer. Reaching the ending<br />
no longer means you beat the game.<br />
HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 1_ISSUE 9_WARM BUN
Change language