Weekly Wrap Up: July 31

Transformers demo rolls out today

            Transformers: Fall of Cybertron’s demo comes out today for the 360 and PS3.  The demo will include two single player missions as well as access to some of the games online multiplayer offerings and character customization.  I guess this means that my plans for the day are to play some Transformers multiplayer, since I’d rather keep the single player fresh for when I get the game.  What about you guys? Are you going to give the demo a shot? The full game will be released on Aug 21^st in NA & the 24^th in EU.

Mass Effect movie script penned

            Many videogames franchises have had rumors and even announcements about being in talks to create a movie adaptation and have had nothing tangible come of it; Mass Effect appears to be a rare exception.  The film is being produced by Legendary Pictures and up until now the film was said to be based in the universe, but would not follow the story of Commander Shepard and his crew experienced in the games.  Apparently things have changed since a script has now been written and it focuses on Shepard and looks to retell the story of the first game.  I think that the Mass Effect universe has much more potential for a transition to film or television than most games, but as with all adaptations, only if done properly.  Retelling the story of Mass Effect 1 might be enjoyable for audience members who are unfamiliar with the games but only offers a subpar version of the story for fans.  No matter what you do you can’t tell the story of Mass Effect better than Bioware did, especially when you remove the ability to choose what to do and lose that large investment given by those playing the game.  Not to mention the fact that there are a large number of fans, the very same people who the film will need to rely on in order to get the word out, that will not be pleased by the fact that the depiction of Shepard and his relationship with his squadmates are not the same as the characters they know and love from their play through.  I think it would have been smarter to deal with The First Contact War or some other event in the Mass Effect Universe so that they aren’t unsuccessfully retreading old ground and living in the shadow of the games, but rather pairing with it and offering an extension to the mythos.

FFXIV trailer

            Square Enix’s second MMO in the Final Fantasy franchise wasn’t met with a whole lot of love.  In fact Square Enix even eliminated monthly fees for a long time because they didn’t feel right about charging their customers for it.  Back in October Square Enix announced that they would stop trying to fix the version of FFXIV that they had put out and instead decided to overhaul the project.  Now they are releasing a brand new version of the game titled Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and it has its first trailer.  The game will be available on PS3 and PC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWhJidYyVk

Is Dawnguard coming to PS3 & PC?

            The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim got its first piece of downloadable content back on June 26^th in the form of an expansion pack titled Dawnguard, but only if you owned an Xbox 360.  Microsoft made an agreement with Bethesda that gave 360 owners exclusive access to Dawnguard for 30 days before it could be released anywhere else.  Those 30 days are up and yet Bethesda still hasn’t released Dawnguard for the PS3 or PC.  So far Bethesda has yet to give a release or even confirm plans to make the expansion available on these other platforms.  I don’t understand why though since a large number of people bought the game on the PS3 & PC and the product is done, it just seems like a lot of really easy money to me.  Although I suppose they could have simply released Dawnguard as soon as it was done for the 360 in order to get their payment from Microsoft and then decided to hold the full release until the fall so that it is still talked about around the holidays and to avoid a summer release like so many companies do.  Plus it gives them a second launch, which some companies tend to do with the PC versions of their games, *cough* like Ubisoft & Rockstar *cough*.  That being said I’ll be shocked if they don’t at least announce Dawnguard on PS3 and PC by the end of August.

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