Humpdate 05-21-08

It’s midweek, and that means the GameHounds Humpdate comes to you direct from our temporal lobes to your tympanic membrane.

This week, Edie and Simon D.I (of Cyberpunks Gaming Podcast) discuss the recent events of the gaming-news week.

Topics and links after the jump…

• Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness is aaawwweesome!!
• More insight as to why Vivendi/Activision and LucasArts pulled out of E3. Seems last year’s move of E3 from the LA Convention Center to Santa Monica and making the event invite-only cost the ESA $5 million in fees, necessitating the association to substantially increase its membership dues to offset the costs.
• Wii Fit launch delayed until May 21 (from May 19) due to apparent supply-chain issue.
• Banjo Kazooie isn’t like the original Banjo Kazooie. And that’s a good thing.
• Konami may have been the granddaddy of all music-simulation games, but its late entry into the field now dominated by Rock Band and Guitar Hero — Rock Revolution — seems really, really dumb.
• Free Radical’s Haze really is as bad as we first thought, or so says IGN, which gave it a 4.5/10, calling it a “middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters.”
• Metal Gear Solid Mobile comes to the… N-Gage?!?! Huh-whaaa???
• With Sony’s host of new games heading to PS3′s near you, community websites will abound: LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, SOCOM: Confrontation, Motorstorm: Pacific Rim, and Resistance 2 will all reportedly have community websites. Hopefully Sony will learn from the debaucle that is Rockstar Social Club.
• The judge presiding on the Florida Bar trial of Jack Thompson has recommended that he be found guilty of 27 out of 31 counts of misconduct.
• What’s in a name? Cliff Bleszinski says he’s retiring his nom de plume, CliffyB and now wants to be called by his first and last name. Will a Cliff by any other name smell as sweet?
• James Cameron said at Microsoft’s Advance 08 advertising conference that the new Avatar game (based on the sci-fi movie) will be in 3D. Yes, as in you’ll have to wear those goofy glasses.
• Killzone 2 delayed until February 09 due to an already-full release schedule, says Sony PR people on PlayStation Blog.
• What is Retro Gaming? We Americans frequently forget that the retro-gaming experiences of our youth were vastly different from those in Europe. For example, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, BBC Model B, MSX, and Atari ST. If you Americans like retro gaming and you want something different, check out the emululators. Thanks Kropotkin (of All Games’ Superhappyfuntimeshow and Kropotkin’s UK News) for the heads-up!
• More GTA IV Easter eggs, including:

1. Where to find purple dildoes with which to beat cops about the head and shoulders;
2. Mini-golf figurines that harken to older GTA titles.
3. How to stop your car immediately without launching yourself through the window using your camera;
4. Where to find references to Halo and Two Girls, One Cup.

Enjoy!