The Bulletin is a roundup of a few game-related news stories from the previous week.
More dogs to be put to sleep next year in sequel to Sleeping Dogs
Sorry, I meant to say, “More dogs will be sent away to live on a very nice farm.” Either way, a sequel to Sleeping Dogs is coming, however, it will likely focus more on Hong Kong’s criminal underworld than on puppies. This comes by way of Joystiq, which reports that United Front Games, the studio behind Sleeping Dogs, recently filed a trademark for “Triad Wars,” which it says will be a new game set in the “same universe” as Sleeping Dogs. Whether this portends a direct follow-up or a side story remains to be seen, but at least its development will probably be less rocky than that of its predecessor. Sleeping Dogs was originally announced as a Hong Kong-based reboot of the True Crime series (which is most notable for giving the world this terrible/awesome theme song) before the project was canceled by Activision and later revived by Square Enix. Maybe Triad Wars will be another canceled game resurrected under a different name. Fingers crossed for Star Wars 1313!
Far Cry 4 soundtrack to be sexy stuff; one critic will call it “European”
Far Cry 3
That’s a reference to the movie Drive. Have you seen Drive? It’s great. Anyway, Polygon is reporting that Cliff Martinez, the composer for Drive, is going to be working on the soundtrack for the yet-unannounced Far Cry 4. For those who haven’t seen Drive, its soundtrack had a cool dark ’80s techno vibe, which seems a little more in line with the neon insanity of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon than the stealthy jungle romps of the main series. That’s pretty much the only detail about Far Cry 4 that we can glean from this report. As far as the existence of this unannounced sequel goes, Ubisoft, the game’s publisher, told Gamespot in July that it is “clearly going to make another one,” which is strangely forthcoming for a video game company. It makes my job a little bit easier when I don’t have to explain that companies always lie and say they’re not making a sequel to something when they obviously are. Far Cry 4 is in the works, and it will probably have a cool soundtrack. See how easy that was, game publishers?
Even companies that no longer exist don’t like Electronic Arts
UFC 2009 Undisputed
THQ (or “Toy Headquarters”) used to be one of the mainstays of the video game industry. Then it had the crazy idea that people would want to play video games with a tablet, and it threw away all of its money. Before selling off its properties, THQ put out series like Red Faction, Saint’s Row, and—most importantly for our purposes here—UFC (or “Ultimate Fighting Championship”). THQ sold the UFC license to EA (or “Electronic Arts”) in July of 2012, and now THQ wants it back. This comes via Polygon, which is reporting that THQ has filed a lawsuit against EA and UFC from beyond the grave. The suit alleges EA shared THQ’s financial information with UFC so that EA could wait out its rival publisher’s money trouble and get the Ultimate Fighting license on the cheap. THQ wants the UFC license back or, barring that (especially since it isn’t really a company anymore), it wants the equivalent value of the license. In summation, what’s left of THQ wants loads of money from EA because THQ believes it got screwed in the initial sale. I know what you’re thinking: It’s hard to believe a company as kind-hearted as EA would ever do something like that. But here we are!
Chinese students get a chance to touch the PlayStation 4 early…as they are forced to manufacture them
The PlayStation 4
This one’s for anyone who thinks the gaming news world has been a little too anti-Xbox One lately. Sony isn’t perfect either. Case in point: It decided to manufacture its PlayStation 4 consoles at China’s Foxconn factory (as reported by Dongfang Daily by way of Kotaku). Not familiar with Foxconn? Let’s just say it’s a giant electronics manufacturing plant that had to install nets to stop people from committing suicide at work. Anyway, that Kotaku report says that “thousands of students” from a local university have been drafted into a “work-study program” at the factory, with the students being told that they would lose their diplomas if they refused to take part. Reportedly, the students were forced to complete tasks that were “unrelated to their majors or fields of study” and worked 11-hour days (not counting additional overtime and night shifts). Foxconn has responded to the allegations by saying the forced overtime and night shifts are a violation of company policy. “Such work is voluntary,” Foxconn said, adding that the students have the right to “terminate their participation in the program at any time.” Presumably, once you terminate your participation in the program, you will receive a swift kick in the butt instead of the degree you would have otherwise earned.
This concludes The Bulletin
As you’ve probably heard, The Gameological Society will be going through some changes soon, and that unfortunately means this will be the final installment of The Bulletin. I can’t overstate how much fun I’ve had trimming the fat of video game news for you, and I hope you’ve had fun reading my dumb jokes and semi-obscure Simpsons references. The Bulletin wouldn’t have meant half as much to me as it did if it hadn’t been for the Gameological community. I want to thank you all for showing up every week and chastising me for being too mean to Microsoft or too mean to Nintendo or not mean enough to Sony—or not mean enough to Microsoft. All I ask is that you think of me the next time EA does something stupid (probably next week), and that you continue to say “Xbone” when the full name would have done just fine. Hopefully you’ll see me pop up on Gameological some more in the future, so this isn’t goodbye. This is more “Your princess is another castle.”
The Bulletin
2013 – 2013
Beloved husband, father, giver of snark.
The Bulletin
Year of Luigi-Year of Luigi
You will be missed.
Let ‘er rip
Teacher, mother, secret lover
You’d better keep on popping up. I think Gameological will only make AV Club better, but moreso if EVERY SINGLE WRITER KEEPS WRITING FOR IT.
I don’t want my princess in another castle. I like this castle.
It has wall sconces that you pull down to reveal secret rooms.
And a taco bar. Restocked hourly.
BONG
Upvotes, downvotes, AVC gimmick responses…It’s like the move has already happened!
Leave it to the Taco Bell bell to help ease the transition!
Certainly one can always count on the big bong to help with emotional distress.
And they didn’t even tell us when the other castle will appear.
The dude lifting up his arm and cheering in the Far Cry 3 picture looks weird. I know they’re trying to render a baggie hoodie (who wears a hoodie to the beach?), but it looks like he has a giant arm; or a leg where his arm should be. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the DayQil talking.
I played Far Cry 3 and I don’t remember enough about those guys to tell you if he has an arm-leg or not.
Well, if he does have an arm-leg, I hope it is completely unexplained in the game. Sorry, to see The Bulletin go, but thank you for the articles, Mr. Barsanti.
Well if it isn’t my old friend Mr. McGregg, with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg!
See, you don’t have to give up the semi-obscure Simpsons references. As long as you’re part of the AV Club family, there will always be Simpsons references.
A masterful semi-obscure Simpsons reference. I guess Jason Brody’s friend shouldn’t have gone to a doctor from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College.
@His_Space_Holiness:disqus @Sam_Barsanti:disqus
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as an obscure or semi-obscure Simpsons reference on the AV Club. Everyone has seen the every episode of the golden age just as many times as you have.
Quiet, you.
I’m really disturbed by the dead-eyed stare of the fighter on the left in the UFC picture. Like really disturbed.
I know I stare off into the middle distance and get all soul-searchy, when I try to break people’s arms.
So many things to be disturbed about in that picture. I’m going to go with the totally flat, featureless sole of his left foot, though.
Hey, that flat left foot kept him from being drafted, at least!
New Sleeping Dogs game = WOOHOO! Still my favorite sandbox/mission/GTA-style game to day.
I liked Sleepy Dogs a lot, but I found all the praise for it’s handling of ludo-narrative problems in video games pretty silly. Wei Shen is a straight up psychopath.
Perhaps, but I think they did at least slightly better at making him conflicted over his Cops vs. Triad allegiances than similar games, which works better than the typical “character in main storyline vs. totally different character in regular gameplay” problem. At least most of the in-game missions and collection tasks fit in with the overall story, instead of being totally separate.
At least the introductions to many of these tasks fit in, though the completion of the extra ones in each group may not. For example, starting on street racing to stop a guy who’s murdering his competition fits the undercover cop story, but continuing to compete in them just to make a few hundred thousand dollars afterward might not.
I was a fan of the size of the game – it was open-world, but not huge enough to
Yeah, but you didn’t have to kill most of the cops or pedestrians. Gang members, yes. But callously killing pedestrians as you work through the missions is completely avoidable. Unless there’s something I’m forgetting, it’s been a little while.
Each story mission has Triad Points and Cop Points. You lose Cop Points for running people over, crashing into (non-enemy) cars and so on.
Yeah, see. I’m not saying he’s an angel, but the widespread massacre of innocents is the act of the player, not the character.
And a lot of the police reports you unlock do kind of hint that Wei is a bit unstable and may not be the best candidate for undercover work…
What I liked so much about it was that Wei Shen’s fellow gangsters were actually really likeable for the most part. I hated Mafia 2 because every one of the gangsters is an awful person, except for the one guy who is a snitch.
When that [SPOILER] novice gangster guy who was friends with Wei dies [/SPOILER? COULDN’T EVEN REMEMBER HIS NAME] I was genuinely upset. That doesn’t happen in games much, especially the gta type.
Wei only dates girls once. Sociopath.
Yeah, I love that it combines beat-em-up action with the GTA model, and features a more resonant, better voice-acted story. Its sense of place and atmosphere was fantastic, and its mostly non-white/American cast a breath of fresh air. I actually traveled to Hong Kong because of that game. It was always on my list of places to go, but the game moved it up to #1. And that’s saying something.
Hey you guys should really respect the Xbox One. It had a lot of marketing and developing money put into it and as dumb consumerist sheep we just look like idiots when we mock something so superior.
The problem with the Xbox One is that it may not be able to compute emotions as effectively as I require.
Good point. Not enough polygons.
the students were forced to complete tasks that were “unrelated to their majors or fields of study…”
Think on that when you open the box to your PS4 and a console-shaped piece of dyed-and sewn fabric flutters out. You will know it was the kid getting their B.A. in textile arts working on your system.
Manufacturing PS4s is completely related to my piano performance degree. That’s the only job I’ll be able to get after graduation.
In my day, that was called “Work-Study”.
I’m cautiously excited about Triad Wars, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. This might be a mobile spin-off, just like Squeenix did with Deus Ex.
I’m going to miss The Bulletin and its goofy take on gaming news. Don’t get me wrong – I love Sean O’Neal and his work on the AV Club Newswire – but I really appreciated your laughing but loving take on the news, Sam. I hope you find a way to work that into the gaming Newswire when Gameological gets folded back into the AV Club.
Jesus, I’m gone for one week and this is what I come back to? I just had one rule for you guys while I was gone: NO CHANGE. One simple rule!
And we broke your favorite lamp playing football in the house.
We glued it back together in hopes you wouldn’t notice, but it fell apart as we were figuring out if you’d be able to tell or not.
We should have told you in the first place. I’m sorry.
Also, I’m pregnant.
You feel sorry for the lamp? That’s because you crazy!
B-but…
I LOVE LAMP.
Who broke my favorite fan??
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
*gasp* I thought Sam was a one-fan man!
Hopefully he won’t notice that we accidentally killed his goldfish and replaced it with an apparently identical one. With hilarious consequences!
Annnnd, the disqus change just happened too. Thanks a lot, Obama.
And the community button no longer ranks posters by likes! HOW WILL I DETERMINE MY OWN SELF-WORTH NOOOOOOOW?
Number of posts is still counted, though.
So, I think
I may
have developed
a solution…
A man who never eats pork buns is never a whole man!
Sometimes, when I’m really feeling lonely and sad, I just have to ask myself one simple question. Why don’t I have a pork bun in my hands?
Every person in Hong Kong knew Wei’s name. Vendors cater to him personally. And yet you still have to earn face… Just how much respect do you need Wei? Such ego.
Well MY parents DID send our dog to a nice farm up state, though they never let me visit him…and how come they were only gone an hour? OH MY GOD!
This truly is a bitter end.
Oh, wait, no, that’s the other feature today.
This truly is a The Bulletin.
I don’t really need any more Far Cry Regular, but I do want more Blood Dragon.
Maybe we’ll get Far Cry: Feces Unicorn.
Ooh, the elusive down vote. Congratulations, Doc.
I can’t tell if people hate feces or just my awful, awful attempt to translate Bodily Fluid Magical Creature into something so unseemly as a poophorse with a horn.
Should’ve gone with Mucus Bugbear, especially since feces really shouldn’t be fluid.
Aw man…
Thanks for spoiling the ending to RDR in that last screencap! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO PLAY IT AGAIN AND FORGOT THE ENDING!
Well, that is news about Sleeping Dogs. When the original sells so poorly that it contributes to the CEO getting fired, a sequel is not guaranteed. Pretty good game, too.
Also, Cliff Martinez’s score for Drive is top notch. Very good to hear he’s involved with Far Cry 4.