Kotaku: trash talk

Activision Takes A Crack At Gearbox's Hell's Highway, A "Crappy War Game" [Update]

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:40:11 MDT

Fightin' words. That's what Call of Duty: World At War senior producer Noah Heller had for Treyarch's World War II competition, Brothers In Arms. Asked about Gearbox Software's take on the genre, the newest iteration of which will be Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Heller said "I watched the trailer and I'm was like 'These guys aren't even in the same league.'" Heller has even more gentlemanly things to say about the Brothers In Arms series.

"We don't even think about them," Heller noted, giving his opinion about the other WWII hold out. "They're not a game we even think about when we're playing, we think about the best shooters, we play [Call of Duty 4] Modern Warfare, we play... Gears of War, we play Halo, you know, that's the competition. We want to look at the games that do great storytelling."

Heller sums up, "We don't want to look at someone who's just making a crappy war game." Guys, guys, take it easy. Can't we all just get along and agree that you can both make crappy war games? There's enough to go around.

Just kidding, Gearbox! How's that new Halo game coming along anyway?

Update: The friendly mudslinging was originally and inaccurately attributed to a Treyarch senior producer, but is actually employed at Activision as senior producer. The headline has been updated!

Exclusive: Call of Duty: World at War - Interview [Eurogamer]

Pachter: GTA IV Earnings Are Over-Estimated, Recommends Layoffs

Mark Wilson — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:40:22 MST

Our own favorite Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter doesn't want the holiday spirit entering the veins of Take-Two employees just yet, because he's clarified to investors that GTA IV, while sure to be a success, is no "panacea" (word deriving from the Greek goddess of cures) for the company, much because the game itself will require so much money to promote and launch. So close to the popular Christian holiday, we'd have preferred a more timely and fitting allusion to religious healing figures, but we'll honestly take whatever Michael "Mythology Buff Scrooge" Pachter gives us. He also took a shot at management while reiterating his "sell" rating on Take-Two stock.

New management appears to us to be sincere, but we think it is important to state the obvious: they are new. They have not managed a business like this one in an environment like this, and we don't see them making tough decisions fast enough to deliver upside to the low end of company guidance...We are somewhat surprised that there were not staff reductions following the abysmal performance of All-Pro Football, especially after keeping the development team occupied with that game a full two years after competitor Electronic Arts signed an NFL exclusive

Did Pachter just armchair-CEO Take-Two? We think so.

GTA IV is No 'Panacea' for Take-Two, says Analyst [gamedaily]

Robbie Bach On PSN - No Competition

Mike Fahey — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:40:32 MST

With a four year head start on the competition, Xbox Live has pretty much set the standard for what gamers look for in a console-based online service, and while the PlayStation Network is a fine service in it's own right and free to boot, it still has a long way to go to catch up with the numbers Microsoft's service is pulling in. Just ask Robbie Bach, the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times he displays supreme confidence in the superiority of their service.

It's fair to say that Xbox Live is clearly head and shoulders above anything anyone else has tried to do. We don't have competition. Sony has done some things online, but nothing that can be called a service. We have a big advantage and we're going to keep pressing that advantage.

Nothing that can be called a service? You know what? I'm just going to sit back and let you folks discuss this in a calm and responsible fashion. Just remember what Monday this is
Xbox Live hopes to press more players into service [LA Times (Reg Required) via GamesIndustry.biz]

Clip: Smash Talk vs. Trash Talk

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:00:43 MDT

CheapyD from CheapAssGamer is back, in need of a shave and reviewing the Trash Talk for the Xbox 360. We featured the Smack Talk a while back, but Cheapy gives a quick run done on how the Trash Talk works and offers his two cents on which is a better buy. The peripheral seems pretty annoying, actually. Then again, that is the point! Brian Ashcraft

Improve Your Smack Talk

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 07:21:44 MDT

Meet smack talk Version 2.0. With the GameDR Smack Talk, press one of five buttons to taunt your Xbox Live foe with a movie one-liner ("Go ahead, make my day"), a music clip ("We Are the Champions") and any other customized sound bite. Here's how it works: Plug the pint-sized accessory into the Xbox 360 controller's bottom and the headset jack. There are five preset sounds that run the gamut of evil laugh to crowd applause, which can be replaced. The clips can run up to five seconds in length, stored on Flash memory. Drops this October for US $29.99 and will hopefully lead to more creative smack talk. Until then continue with the "I pwn noobs" and the f-bombs. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [CNET]