Game! Website Articles - January 17, 2011
Wii loses Rock Band, Wii Fit diagnoses Parkinson’s, Gameloft accused of plagiarizing.
Harmonix cuts Rock Band Network support for Wii #
Newly-independent developer Harmonix Music Systems has announced on its forums that they will be dropping the Wii out of the Rock Band Network effective January 18, 2011.
“Next Tuesday, 1/18/2010, will also be the last scheduled batch of Rock Band Network songs brought over to the Wii,” Harmonix developer hmxhenry posts on the forum. “With the smaller online install base, limited demand for releases so far and the significant amount of work it takes for our producers and audio team to convert and process these additional tracks we’re no longer able to continue submitting RBN content to the Wii. Regular Wii DLC, and RBN releases for the 360 and PS3 will continue uninterrupted.”
Rock Band Network is a service which allows for bands to author, upload, and sell their own songs as DLC for the Rock Band games. Once uploaded, Harmonix staff prepare the songs and chart notes for various difficulty levels to make the tracks playable in-game. It’s likely that the recent sale of Harmonix from Viacom to Columbus Nova had much to do with this decision to drop Wii support on the Rock Band Network.
Wii Fit identifies Parkinson’s symptoms #
Julie Wilks, British mother of two, couldn’t have known that a simple bout of Wii Fit with friends would break the news that something was not quite right with her body.
Despite performing excellently in many of the minigames, indeed netting a Wii Fit age 13 years younger than her actual, the game reported that her weight was being heavily distributed to the left side of the board, indicating an unbalanced posture. Though her friends laughed and insisted Julie was throwing the balance games on purpose, the event stuck in her mind.
After playing Wii Fit, Julie began to notice behavior which up until then seemed of little importance:
In the beginning the symptoms that I had were so subtle that I adapted myself without realising. I am left-handed but started texting on my phone and using the computer mouse with my right.
I started buying more sensible shoes with velcro and flat heels but never questioned why I felt odd in my stilettos and couldn’t walk safely in them any more.
When I knew something was definitely wrong I still didn’t get help because I thought I had sleep problems because of stress or vice versa.
I live alone so I had no one to notice I had a problem. At work I managed to muddle through but no one was sure what was wrong with me, apart from that I was always tired.
When Julie eventually visited a neurologist, her fears were confirmed as she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. She remains optimistic, however, and is determined now to fulfill her dream of travelling Route 66. Julie has since set up a website asking for donations to help fund research to fight the disease.
Playgerize #
If you’ve owned an iTouch, iPhone, or iPad for any length of time in the past few years, you’ve probably heard of Gameloft. Founded by Michel Guillemot, brother of Yves Guillemot - the boss of Ubisoft - Gameloft has brought to the iOS quality titles worthy of the hardcore crowd. Finally, the Apple throng can play Gangstar: Miami Vindication, Starfront: Collision, and Shadow Guardian, games that are respectively similar to Grand Theft Auto, Starcraft, and Uncharted on their beloved mobile devices.
What’s the problem? Critics are concerned over how these games, and in fact all of Gameloft’s major iOS titles, are too similar to their inspirations. IGN questioned Guillemot about these claims of plagiarism.
The video game industry has always played around a limited number of themes. There is maybe one new idea a year," says Guillemot. He says that many games are just re-expressions of the same ideas and themes, such as the number of games that jumped on the Grand Theft Auto bandwagon or the rise in action games that are not entirely unlike God of War. (Incidentally, Gameloft has its own God of War-esque series, called Hero of Sparta.)
Guillemot defends Gameloft from this charge on two fronts. “If a type of game is not available, then you should make it. The damaging thing is if you do a bad expression of a good idea.
Two sides of the argument seem rooted on solid ground. On the one hand, copying ideas is a pretty low way for a developer to make a name for itself in the business. On the other hand, those games wouldn’t be available to a niche group if Gameloft hadn’t copied them. However, one thing seems evident: the quality of Gameloft’s rip-offs is good enough to believe that they could inject some originality in their releases, if they really wanted to.