The Week In Review

In this weeks’ edition, Butler and Pokémon, movie censorship, Bobby’s Blizzard business blunder, and ratings boards talking about sex.

Stupidly Titled Action Game Gets Butler Treatment

MAG – which stands for “Massive Action Game” – should win two awards: One for ‘Lamest Game Title of 2010’ and one for “Gameplay Idea That Sounds Good, But Will Likely Be Awful’; but gosh darn it if Kevin Butler isn’t so good that he can sell even the ropey concept that is a 256 player battle. In the video – which you can see by hitting the link – it would appear the Butler’s days at Sony are numbered. Let’s hope that that only applies to the his in-ad job, and not his appearance in the ads themselves. (link)

Pokemans?! It’s Over 9000!

That’s right, I’m mixing memes; consequences be damned, in this case it’s warranted. A British Pokémon fan has collected over 12,000 pieces of merchandise from the franchise’s 14-year history, making her the record holder for having the most Pokémon crap in the world. If you desperately want to see a huge pile of Pokémon staring at you with their cold, unblinking eyes, hit the link for a video. (link)

No Pandora for China

Following fears from the government that it might cause social unrest as its themes of eviction and relocation resonates with residents of Chinese cities forced out their homes to make way for new development, the 2D version of James Cameron’s Avatar is to be pulled from Chinese cinemas on Saturday. The 3D version of the movie is to run until the end of February, although 3D equipped theaters are much harder to come by for the average Chinese citizen, making this effectively a ban on the film. (link)

“Seven Million for That? You’re Crazy!”

Bobby Kotick may not that popular amongst gamers, but it’s hard to deny that the guy has a fair amount of business acumen. Even the great Kotick makes the occasional mistake however, as he recalled a time he nearly did a spit take when a business associate told him that he’d paid $7 million for a small developer called Blizzard back in 1995. Twelve years later, Activison would pay significantly more ($7 billion) for the developer when it merged with Vivendi to form the Activision-Blizzard megacorp. Still, you won in the end, eh Bobby? (link)

ESRB Spoils Best Parts of Heavy Rain

The ESRB listing for David Cage’s not-porn, not-game-anymore, entertainment product Heavy Rain contains some fairly epic spoilers. In the interest of keeping children safe from a game they probably won’t want to play anyway, the ESRB have revealed the very worst of the sex and violence that the game has to offer so that parents can be informed when their child asks them for another game entirely. To be fair, the ESRB is only doing its job, but it’s still a bit of a shock to have things spoiled in such a way. If you want to read the spoilers yourself, hit the link. (link)