Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies replicates the best part of Treyarch’s otherwise inferior Call of Duty game — Nazi Zombies — to the iPhone. It looks great. It sounds great. And parts of it, like the multiplayer over Wi-Fi, work great.

It doesn’t feel great though. The controls suck. We’re all used to the inherently mediocre virtual joystick, a pale translation of a three-dimensional control implement into a flat two-dimensional space, which here moves you backward and forward, and strafes left and right. Turning and looking up and down is both finicky and imprecise, accomplished by sliding your thumb in the direction you want to turn or look — a longer slide makes you turn faster and further. What’s tricky, and tensely uncomfortable, is trying to turn while moving with the virtual joystick. It winds up being jerky and spinny, like your soldier had one two many peppermint schnappes before fighting the undead.

Even with the computer helping your sorry arse aim — a little too much, actually — it just doesn’t work. Often, you’ll try to turn by swiping your thumb and accidentally tap the button to aim down your sites, or fire, sending your bullets past the zombie, who proceeds to om-nom-nom on your brains. Knifing is still awesome though.

But in the end, the lack of tight controls crushes the whole experience, which is otherwise a pitch-perfect translation, down to Activision planning to charge for add-on maps on top of the $13 you already paid for the game. [iTunes]

Launching November 10 for $599, the console bundle will also come with a copy of the game, two wireless controllers and an Xbox 360 headset.

We’ve asked Microsoft if they have any plans to release the 250GB HDD as a standalone peripheral, although we haven’t had a response yet. If they are planning it though, you can probably expect it to be fairly pricey…

[Xbox]

This special edition bundle not only comes with a JAY-Z and EMINEM 2-CD bonus, but a higher quality turntable with metal controls. And telescoping legs. And a big arse case to carry and store it all.

With the standard edition of DJ Hero retailing $US120 on its own, it’s not hard to imagine all this extra junk assisting the Renegade Edition in breaking the $US200 barrier. And while I guess that hardcore fans may look at the supersized peripherals as monuments to their passion, most of us at Giz are sick of tripping over a series of controllers that work for one game—especially when all the controllers really do is help justify a single video game costing as much as the console it’s playing on.

See more shots at: [Kotaku]

Asked about Activision President and CEO Bobby Kotick’s threat to stop supporting the PS3 on account of prohibitively expensive licensing and development fees, Howard Stringer was a little bit indignant, frankly describing Kotick’s move for what it was:

He likes to make a lot of noise. He’s putting pressure on me and I’m putting pressure on him. That’s the nature of business.

So instead of engaging with Kotick—who to be fair, threatened Sony—Sir Howard just decided to let us all know that he’s kinda annoyed, OK?

When pushed about the “logic” of cutting the various costs of owning and developing for the PS3, Stringer wasn’t much more patient:

I (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make – how’s that for logic.

I mean, he’s right, but he also sounds stumped. Could this little tussle blossom into a beautiful corporate executive mudwrestling match? Only time will tell. [Reuters via Kotaku]

From Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick:

I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation…When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support [PS3 and PSP].

Kotick wants to see Sony’s licensing fees reduced (Activision paid Sony $US500 million in royalties last year) and a PS3 price cut. He probably wouldn’t mind seeing some incentives like advertising dollars, either (something Microsoft can be pretty generous about).

Oh, and if there’s one publisher that can say these things, it’s the conglomerate makers of Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, multiple Dreamworks and Marvel movie titles, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo—even if those Blizzard games aren’t on consoles at this time.

As of now, Kotick’s words are just corporate smacktalk (bottom line: Activision still makes money on the platform). But what if a company like EA came forward and said the same thing? No good can come of this for Sony. [TimesOnline]

It looks the same, but it’s not! On the inside, anyway.

The touch strip on the neck used to be analogue but now it’s completely digital, so Activision says it’s now “100 percent accurate.” The strum bar has also been redesigned internally, so it’s way more durable. I didn’t actually get to hit it to see if you can feel how much more solid it is. But hopefully the DJ Hero turntable is a pretty nice indication of the quality of hardware we should expect this generation. The whammy bar has been subtly redesigned as well, and now you’ve got some fake chrome tuners instead of fake plastic tuners.

I’ve always preferred the Guitar Hero guitars to Rock Band’s since I think the latter’s strum bar is too squishy. What were you hoping would change with the new guitars?

It’s grown up a bit since the initial reveal sprouting a glossy black panel that docks on either side of the main turntable. It holds the mixer, effects dial, euphoria button and hides the usual Xbox buttons behind a small panel up top.





Here’s how you play the game, with someone much better at spinning tracks than I will ever be showing us how a DJ Hero kills it: We didn’t get to use the controller to play the game, but we handled it after the demo, and it felt remarkably solid—weighty without being heavy, the plastic adequately resilient, and not too cheap feeling. The spin action itself is super smooth and effortless, with a light wrist flick sending into a fairly zoomy spin. The Xbox buttons are hidden up top in the dockable half, to reduce the complexity of the controls as much as possible. Yes, it is wireless. Interesting trivia bit: All of the DJs in the game wear Monster’s Dr. Dre Beats headphones.

Guitar Hero already destroys my hand-eye coordination past medium—with buttons, spinning things, effects dials, mixers, I already know there’s no effin’ way I can handle this game. But I’m going to try because it looks like it makes you even more like a DJ king than Guitar Hero makes you feel like a rock god.

It’s notable that all controls seem to be placed on the record, meaning that, just as Guitar Hero can’t teach you guitar, DJ Hero won’t teach you mixing (unless we missed that red, blue and green button standard on vinyl for all these years). Good to know that the musically inclined are keeping those pesky gamers in their place. Look for DJ Hero this fall.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 7, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) is set to once again revolutionize how consumers interact with music by releasing three new titles this fall – DJ Hero(TM), Guitar Hero(R) 5 and Band Hero(TM) – that will redefine the company’s popular music gaming platform. The slate will transform the way consumers enjoy and engage with music by offering the largest variety of music genres, innovative technologies and new social entertainment experiences for existing fans and millions of new consumers who previously have not joined Guitar Hero’s global community of fans.

— The company’s groundbreaking DJ Hero expands Guitar Hero’s
signature social gaming to all-new consumers with the addition of
diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and
dance. Introducing an all-new innovative turntable controller, DJ Hero
transforms players into DJs who rule the club scene by creating original
mixes of popular songs and music from the world’s most exciting
artists and DJs.

— Letting fans continue to fulfil their rock fantasies, Guitar Hero 5
features the hottest rock and roll artists today as well as classic rock
bands and gives players an unprecedented level of control over the way
they play the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and
change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly.

— The franchises’ first E10+ rated console game, Band Hero delivers
an exciting music collection featuring top-40 hits designed to expand
the appeal to a broad family audience who can play together on the
guitar, drums, bass and microphone and experience a new genre of music.
The game builds upon Guitar Hero’s easy-to-play,
difficult-to-master signature gameplay and allows novice players and
expert fans to join together on their favourite songs.

“Guitar Hero has made music social again and has become one of the most popular ways to experience music,” said Dan Rosensweig, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Guitar Hero franchise. “Today’s fans enjoy a variety of music and are looking for more ways to engage with their favourite songs, artists and fellow fans. These games will let them listen, participate and socialize with music in ways they have never been able to before.”