Features// SPOnG's Review of the Year 2011: February

Still, as one door closes another one opens (or something like that). Borderlands 2 got confirmed. It's the circle of Half-Life. (Gearbox Confirms Borderlands 2, February 10th).

Someone From Mainstream Media Misunderstands Games, Trashes Retail Shocker! Yes, you've read that before. This time, however, opinion was running in an unusual direction. 'Retail guru' Mary Portas got in a tiz when GAME refused to sell her 17 year-old son a 15-rated game. He'd provided an Oyster card as ID, the employee dealing with him wanted valid proof of age and decided that this didn't qualify. Portas went ballistic on Twitter and, because she's really important, got the CEO of GAME on the phone. Having done this, she backed off a little, noting (patronisingly) that he's “impressive and bright”. We're sure he's thrilled. (Mary Portas Throws Weight in Wrong Direction on Video Games, TV Retail Guru Backs Down on Video Game Rating Rant, February 14th).

Dead Island got one of the most effective trailers for a game ever. You remember the one. It told you nothing about how the game actually plays, but it did deal with some emotive subject matter (children, zombies) and got people wagging their chins. Svend didn't see what all the fuss was about. (There is No Dead Island Controversey, February 17th).

On February 18th, Bizarre Creations shut its doors for the last time following 23 years of, in one form or another, making games. Activision, which had bought the company back in 2007, had been on the hunt for a buyer but had failed to find one. The reasons behind the closure have never been made wholly clear. Former design manager at the studio Gareth Wilson suggested, "a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances", but pointed in particular to growing conservatism in gamers' buying habits. “In particular getting a new IP noticed at this stage of the console cycle combined with the global economic situation meaning gamers are less willing to 'take a risk' is really difficult", he said.(Bizarre Creations: Gamers "Are Less Willing to 'Take a Risk'", February 24th.)

Former Bizarre Video Editor & Cinematics Team Lead, Eamon Urtone, created a video to commemorate the studio. (Bizarre Creations 1994-2011 Farewell, February 18th).

Meanwhile, the 3DS only went and launched in Japan, didn't it? Well, it did. On February 26th. Only in Japan, mind. Still, it wasn't a shabby launch. 400,000 units shifted in the first day. (Nintendo 3DS Sells 400k in First Day, February 28th).

Elsewhere on SPOnG Svend had a bit of chat about Killzone 3 with the game's Senior Producer, Steven Ter Heide and another bit of a chat about Anarchy Reigns with Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba. We would refer to Svend as a 'chatty man' if someone else hadn't gotten there first...

Debbie reflected on the Livingstone-Hope Review mentioned earlier on in her piece, Why Would a Graduate Choose the Games Industry?.

Surely SPOnG's most lovely feature of February, though, was Svend's Top 5 Valentines' Day Games, though. Who needs guys and gals when you've got games and guns?

Finally...

This shouldn't be funny, but it is. Sometimes, a mainstream media outlet produces a better parody of its own scaremongering bullshit than we could ever hope to. Like, for example, when Fox News suggested that Bulletstorm could drive up the number of rapes carried out. (Psychologist: Bulletstorm Will Increase Rape Attacks, February 9th).

Huh.