The Mole: PS3 launch titles...some other stuff

Get out your wallet - Late this week Sony finally announced the games that will be available during its launch window (any time between launch day itself and Christmas). Here's the list:

Resistance: Fall of Man
NBA 07
Genji: Days of the Blade
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII
Call of Duty 3
Fight Night Round 3
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion F.E.A.R.
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Madden NFL 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
NBA 2K7
Need For Speed Carbon
NHL 2K7
Ridge Racer 7
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Tony Hawk’s Project 8
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

Greedy jerks - According to Variety magazine, both Universal and Fox studios have dropped the Halo movie. The studio's were insistant that Microsoft reduce its cut in movie project. The existing deal stated that Microsoft was due a $5 million payment on October 15th, which is what evidently prompted the last second demand. Here's what Ken Kamins, a rep for executive producer Peter Jackson, had to say in the Variety article.

"What happened was this: Universal, on behalf of both studios, asked for a meeting with the filmmakers just prior to the due date of a significant payment. Basically, they said that in order to move forward with the film, the filmmakers had to significantly reduce their deals. They waited until the last minute to have this conversation. Peter and Fran, after speaking with their producing partners and with Microsoft and Bungie respectfully declined."

Jackson is said to be continuing pre-production on the film and is seeking out a new studio.

Blog Update? - I'm sure everyone has noticed how this blog has been down for the past 24 hours. It was all part of a big update that adds more services to you, the faithful reader. You may also notice that I have as many upgrades as Xbox.com and Xbox Live...ZERO.

What was the point of Microsoft's shut down of both Xbox. com and Xbox Live? Xbox.com looks exactly the same, in fact its even worse. I can't log onto my Xbox.com profile. What's up with that? As for Xbox Live, it looks the same as well. No changes to the online performance, no changes to Xbox Live Marketplace - nada, zip, zero zilch.

Its fine with me if these guys need a day to work on their servers or whatever computer geeks do, but to make it sound like there's going to be some cool new features and almost a week later the website still isn't at full speed and Live is exactly the same is misleading.

terry.terrones@gazette.com