Halo 3 Microsoft Doublespeak?

It has been reported that Microsoft would ban those Xbox Live Accounts who are found to be playing Halo 3 prior to the worldwide release date of September 25th. This has created a rebuff from Microsoft denying that this would happen and that this punishment would only be dealt out to Microsoft employees.

I would like to say that through our retail business we received notification from our supplier today that Microsoft would, in fact, be banning Xbox Live accounts if gamers and retailers broke the embargo date. This is the email that I received today in full. I have not amended or changed any of the content:

"Strict Release Date "The worldwide release date of Halo 3 is the 25th of September 2007. If any Retailer or Video Store is found to have sold or rented a copy of any of the three skus (Legendary Edition, Collectors Edition or Standard Edition) prior to the release date they will be penalised via Microsoft. "The worldwide release date of Halo 3 Console and Halo 3 Accessories is the 20th of September 2007. If any Retailer or Video Store is found to have sold these products (Headset, Controller or Live Points Card) prior to the release date they will be penalised via Microsoft. "Please Note: "If Halo 3 is played prior to the 25th of September 2007 with your Gamertag connected to Xbox Live, this will result in your account being banned. There is no way to reverse this ban. "Please make sure that no copies are sold or rented before the 25th of September 2007. "Thank you for your cooperation."

I do not intend to break the release date, however, what kind of messages are going out here? Microsoft, on the one hand, are saying that they will not punish people for playing the game prior. However, the message that we have received states quite the opposite.

As a retailer it is also good to be able to play the games a couple of days prior to release. Then when customers come in when the game has officially been released you can give them some honest feedback on how the game plays and what other games it is like. Seems like this will not be happening with Halo 3.

It will be an interesting couple of days to see what happens and whether anyone will risk their Xbox Live Account to find out if it is true.

So Close and Yet So Far

I have been extremely busy with work. Since December last year I have had the responsibility of running much of our family business. The business has been growing over the last three to four years. To the point where we have been doubling the sales of one of our product lines over every 12 months. However, we have had some recent changes to the business and I have been a lot busier than before. Unfortunately, this has meant that gaming and writing has taken a back seat. Gaming is my R & R time. However, while some of my more hardcore gaming has had to be placed gently in to neutral my ongoing fascination with Wii Bowling has continued.

The other night I managed to snatch ten strikes in a row to attain a new high score. As with the pursuit of perfection in the beginning you take large steps towards your target. When learning a new skill you take your largest strides at the beginning then as your skill level improves you tend to plateau. Making progress a matter of persisting through a lot of repetition. Then, all of a sudden, you take a step in the direction that you want to head. Then you plateau again.

I am only one strike away from the ultimate score in bowling. The problem I am facing is that the family don't really bother worrying about my score any more. The challenge of the game has transcended competing against other people. They just bowl against themselves. Which means that I end up bowling against myself. Hopefully the perfect score is not far away.

And A Ruined Utopia Is?

Often the gaming media gets caught up in marketing hysteria. So much so that the entire institution of gaming journalism appears to become a completely mindless rampaging beast. Unable to ask questions. Unable to actually do their jobs as a result of the hype of millions of gamers all squealing in unison as the "game of the year" hits the marketplace and falls onto our chosen consoles and PCs.

The hairy beast of hype has rolled in with Bioshock. For some gamers this release has been a bitter sweet experience, but for the media it has been the game which so many have been quick to label as "Game of the Year". This is typical of the journalism that gamers are presented with. A group of individuals, or "the journalists", are too quick to label games with the necessary dosage of hype rather than to question when questions have to be asked. Firstly, where have the journalists been who have been asking the questions which needed to be asked of the DRM system implemented in the PC release of Bioshock? Why aren't they barking down the doors of the publishers and asking questions about the reasons for this choice? Instead gamers have to do this themselves. Chasing these issues through the official Bioshock forums.

Another indicator of a generation of gaming journalists who really don't care and are happy to just report crap is their acceptance of marketing speak as a part of gaming reportage. There aren't many gaming writers around who really care or love the language they use. As such, we are continually seeing writers and journalists reporting inaccuracies in their language describing games. A fallen uptopia is not a utopia at all but a dystopia. As soon as a utopia stops being idyllic and represents the hellish vision which Rapture has become then the place can no longer be described as a utopia. It is a dystopia. This is the opposite of a utopia. However, we continually see Rapture described as a "ruined utopia" or "fallen utopia". These are the terms which Ken Levine used to describe the world of Rapture. If he chooses to describe the world in this way then that is his choice, but surely gaming journalists should pick up on the error and report the world as a dystopia which is what it is.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that gamers really care any more anyway. They don't particularly care about language. They certainly don't care much about the way games are reported. Gamers are becoming the mindless sheep which marketers require of consumers who are conditioned to purchase without thinking first. That is all we are. We are conditioned to believe the hype. We are conditioned to respond to advertising. In this way gaming journalism is nothing more than an extension of the advertising man's copy writer.

Needless to say that Bioshock is an excellent game, shame about the journalism which has had to report it as such.