Hey Got Gamers,

This week on Got Game we are going to talk about a TVO (Ontario’s Public Broadcasting Channel) sponsored game called Pipe Trouble that they produced as a companion application to a documentary about oil pipelines. There has been an update to that situation, and it turns out that at some point late on Friday TVO decided to pull any reference to the game from their website.

Screen capture of Pipe Trouble gameplay.

However, don’t be worried if you’re not 100% sure what’s going on just yet. We’ll explain it all from the beginning in this week’s edition of Got Game, and as luck would have it the March 24th 2013 edition can be found in the audio file below this paragraph.

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This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

• A) Texas media outlets reporting on the idea that women are playing videogames
• B) A TVO sponsored game called Pipe Trouble

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WE’LL ALSO TALK TO RYAN SIMMONS, THE TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR PROJECT MANAGER, ABOUT NEXT TUESDAY’S RELEASE OF TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 14.

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SHAWN ELLIOT, A LEVEL DESIGNER AT IRRATIONAL GAME, WILL JOIN US AS WELL TO TALK ABOUT ONE OF THIS YEAR’S MOST ANTICIPATED GAMES: BIOSHOCK INFINITE.

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AND IN OUR REVIEW SECTION WE’LL HEAR THE FINAL VERDICT IN THE CASE OF GAMERS VS GEARS OF WAR: JUDGMENT.

By Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’ll be looking into an online game partially paid for and promoted by a taxpayer-funded broadcaster that shows the bombing of a gas pipeline.

A blog post supporting the game appeared on the website of TV Ontario. It also provides a link to the game, called “Pipe Trouble,” and offers a free trial.

But questions were raised Thursday about the game’s introductory video, which appears to show activists protesting before a pipeline blows up.

The TVO blog describes “Pipe Trouble” as a “companion ethical game” to a documentary that deals with local opposition to pipelines and the bombing of pipelines in Peace River, B.C.

TVO says the game uses “over-the-top satire to cleverly explore the two sides of the energy extraction debate.”

Wynne said Thursday she doesn’t know anything about the game or TVO’s involvement and would like more information before commenting on it.

“I know nothing about that,” Wynne said.

“It sounds somewhat disturbing to me on the face of it. So I’m going to ask the Minister of Education to have that conversation about TVO because I think there does need to be a question asked about that.”

Education Minister Liz Sandals issued a statement a few hours later acknowledging that there have been “some concerns” about the online game.

“The government, along with TVO, does not condone illegal activity,” she said.

“That is why we have asked TVO to ensure that this online game adheres to their existing programming standards and does not condone such activity.”

TVO denied suggestions that the game draws a link to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship oilsands crude from Alberta across the U.S. Midwest to refineries on in Texas.

The project has come under fire, with thousands of U.S. protesters showing up in Washington, D.C., last month to urge the 1,800-kilometre line be scrapped.

Canadian pipelines have been targets in the past. In 2000, anti-oilpatch activist Wiebo Ludwig was found guilty on five charges related to bombings and vandalism of oil and gas wells in northwestern Alberta.

Ten years later, his farm was searched by police for evidence related to six Encana gas pipeline bombings in B.C. Ludwig was never charged.

But the Keystone pipeline isn’t mentioned at all in the documentary or the game, said TVO spokeswoman Jill Javet.

The game is meant to engage people actively on both sides of the pipeline debate, by allowing them to see the connection between their actions and the effect of those actions, she said.

It looks at the construction of a pipeline from the perspective of the pipe layer and the protester, she said. To get a perfect score, the player has to lay down as few pipes as possible while not disrupting the environment.

“So you have to build the pipeline as economically and as environmentally responsible as you can,” Javet said.

As players go through the different levels, they’re also given “news report snippets” that provide both pro-industry and environmental facts, she said.

TVO spent about $100,000 on both the documentary and the game, she said.

Documentaries and digital projects can take on provocative, complex and sometimes controversial subject matter, she said.

“TVO is not afraid to take on projects that enable people to understand better the world in which we live,” she added. “That is fundamental to our role as a public broadcaster.”

Players can buy the game for $1.99, with a portion of the proceeds going to the David Suzuki Foundation.

Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli said it’s not appropriate for the taxpayer-funded broadcaster to be promoting a game that makes money for another organization.

“It is a use of government funds to put a link towards funding one specific foundation,” he said.

Hey Got Gamers,

As you’ll notice really quickly, Tim Ashdown from C&G Magazine joined us this week because Momin was out of the country. Tim put forth an interesting question about what Momin was doing across the ocean in Turkey, and a quick search of Momin’s twitter revealed the answer so I thought I would share it. Momin has been walking around parts of Turkey showing off this t-shirt.

However, this is Got Game, and not Got T-Shirt, so lets talk about some videogames. As luck would have it, we have a brand new episode full of videogame discussion in the audio file below this paragraph, but we’re just calling it the March 17th 2013 edition of Got Game.

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This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

A) The end of the NCAA Football cover vote
B) The start of the Madden NFL 25 cover vote
C) News from Deep Silver that Saints Row 4 will be out sooner than you think
D) Why so many people have had issues trying to play the new Sim City

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WE WILL TALK TO ALAN VAN SLYKE, THE SENIOR PRODUCER ON GEARS OF WAR JUDGMENT, ABOUT THE RELEASE OF HIS GAME THIS WEEK.

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THERE WILL ALSO BE REVIEWS OF GOD OF WAR ASCENSION FOR THE PS3

AND CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW: MIRROR OF FATE FOR THE 3DS

Hey Got Gamers,

I just wanted to take a second to point you in the direction of the blog post that went up just before this one. It’s mostly images of our trip to the Game On 2.0 exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre.

A collection of vintage gaming equipment. The red machine is a Computer Space cabinet from 1971 and they are is generally accepted as the first commercially sold coin-operated video game.

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The above image is just a teaser of what you’ll see in the blog, and that blog post is just a teaser of what you’ll see at the exhibit itself. Not Convinced? Well don’t despair. We’ll talk in length about our time at the Science Centre’s newest exhibit during this week’s show, and for convenience sake you’ll find that discussion and other topics in the audio file below this paragraph. However, we’re just calling it the March 10th 2013 edition of Got Game.

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This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

• A) The Ontario Science Centre’s newest exhibit on videogames
  
• B) Sports being added to the FAN EXPO‘s line up

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WE ALSO TALK GOD OF WAR ASCENSION‘S WITH THE GAME’S LEAD ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST (for multiplayer and cinematics) JOHN PALAMARCHUK.

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OUR FRIEND CISKO WILL ALSO JOIN US TO REVIEW MLB 13 THE SHOW.

AND WE’LL REVIEW THE NEW TOMB RAIDER.

The world’s largest touring exhibition on the evolution of video games is about to make its first Canadian appearance at the Ontario Science Centre. With more than 150 playable games, Game On 2.0 focuses on game developments from 1962 to the present day; from the very first commercial coin-operated arcade cabinet to games launched as late the end of 2012. This Game On 2.0 exhibition will run from March 9 to September 2, 2013 and is free with general admission to the Science Centre.

“Video games have changed the way we think, learn and play” said Ontario Science Centre CEO Lesley Lewis. “They have evolved from a leisure activity focused on youth to an activity that engages people of all ages for purposes of education, mental stimulation or simply fun. This immersive exhibition gives visitors a powerful perspective on the past, present and future of video games.”

Lesley Lewis and other key members of this project discuss their thoughts on the exhibit.

“The phenomenon of video games continues to grow in popularity, with Ontario being the hub of this thriving creative sector industry,” said Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. “By exploring this prevalent part of our culture, the Ontario Science Centre’s Game On 2.0 exhibition will have widespread appeal for visitors of all ages. Our government is delighted to assist the centre in bringing this exhibition to Canada.”

We’ll talk about the Game On exhibit in further detail on this weekend’s edition of Got Game, but in the meantime please enjoy this photo tour of the exhibit. Despite the large number of images here, please keep in mind that there are 150+ pieces in the exhibit and the majority of what we’re showing in this blog does not include the playable games.

A collection of vintage gaming equipment. The red machine is a Computer Space cabinet and they are is generally accepted as the first commercially sold coin-operated video game.

The Neural Impulse Actuator is basically a videogame controller that uses your mind for command input. I am pretty sure it showed that Calhoun is brain dead.

Mappy, Track and Field, and Out Run are all playable.

This is probably the only place in the world were Puzzle Bobble, Portal 2, and Scribblenauts are side by side.

A 1977 Cinematronics Space Wars Cabinet, and no that’s not a typo.

Steel Battalion with the full control panel. You still need to flick the 5 toggles at the start of every mission.

Midway and Atari… side by sides… just like in the 1980s.

A PSP-1000, PSP-3000, PSP Go, and the Europe only PSP-E1000 which was sold across the PAL region starting in October of 2011 for €99.99.

More handhelds from across time and space.

A Simon and a Speak and Spell. Just like when you were a kid.

There is even a Kinect because nothing is perfect.

Yes the theme of all of these machines is 1970s/1980s Science Fiction.

Yes there are a ton of racing games as well.

I do get the irony of posting a picture of old TombRaider and old Sim City stuff this week.

Original TombRaider concept art.

There is more than just videogames at the Game On 2.0 exhibit.

A wide selection of console games you can play.

The exhibit also features a large selection of old home game systems on display:

IBM PC 5150.

NEC Laseractive.

Commodore CDTV.

SNK NEO GEO.

CBS Colecovision.

Atari Jaguar.

Hey Got Game fans, Christine here.

Today Ubisoft officially released the first trailer for their next installation in the phenomenally successful Assassin’s Creed franchise – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

(WARNING: This post contains spoilers)

The trailer, narrated by famed pirate Black Beard, introduces us to Edward Kenway – a highly regarded pirate in the West Indies who has been trained by assassins and has a personal life no man dares look into.

He’s charismatic, ruthless, charming, confident and a seemingly born leader.

But where does Edward fit into the history? Well he’s the father of Haytham Kenway and the grandfather to ACIII hero Connor. This makes Edward a direct ancestor of franchise regular Desmond Miles, which brings about the question – will our present time hero return from the dead? Before the release of ACIII, the folks at Ubisoft said this would be the end of the story for young Desmond and that proved to be true at the close of the game. So where do they go from there?

Well a few possibilities, I think, are through Desmond’s father William, Haytham Kenway has a half sister Jenny and although we don’t know if she ever had a child it’s a possibility, or the modern day Assassins team will be able to craft memory through the existing data collected from Desmond’s memories over the years.

Only time will tell which way Ubisoft has decided to go with this.

Here’s what I like about this new assassin – he’s a bit of a bad boy. From Altaïr to Ezio to Connor, our assassins have all been relatively serious men, driven by honour and loyalty, which has been perfect for the time and environment they have lived in, but Edward seems to be a bit more of a renegade.  Being a pirate allows him to have character traits not previously seen in our assassins, such as greed, lust and a general joy for life. I mean how many times have we seen an assassin smile? I’m looking at you Ezio…

The stories of Edward’s gun toting, pillaging, showboating, philandering ways makes wonder if this new hero will turn out to be a cross between Cpt. Jack Sparrow and John McClane – which I think would be a wonderful way to give a new edge to the history of the assassin and refresh the brand.

The game is scheduled to be released Oct. 29.

Click here to watch the trailer. Warning the trailer contains material which may not be appropriate for those under the age of 18.

Hey Got Gamers,

As we promised during this week’s show, here is the new Beyond: Two Souls trailer featuring Willem Dafoe.

It’s highly impressive, but not the only thing we discussed during this week’s show. You can find all our discussion topics in the audio file below this paragraph; however, we’re just calling it the March 1st 2013 edition of Got Game.

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This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

• A) The final round of NCAA Football cover voting
• B) Leaked information regarding Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
• C) Our Hands on time with Lego City Undercover

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WE HAVE NO REVIEWS THIS WEEK, BUT INSTEAD WE’LL TALK TO CRYSTAL DYNAMICS‘ STUDIO HEAD DARRELL GALLAGER ABOUT TOMB RAIDER.

WE ALSO TALK TO DAVID COX, THE STUDIO HEAD OF KONAMI’S UK STUDIO, ABOUT CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOWS: MIRROR OF FATE.

Hey Got Gamers,

Don’t forget to go check out our PlayStation 4 Announcement Live Blog if you missed the press conference. The majority of it will be discussed in this week’s edition of Got Game, but to Sony’s credit they announced a lot and it was to much to fit into our show this week.

However, before Momin, Christine, Bryan and their guest Rob Keyes gets started, let’s take a moment for a photo primer of the PS4 announcement.

Sony confirms that this is the new PS4 controller and a camera peripheral.

Mark Cerny holding the new PS4 controller.

Knack was the first PS4 title to be announced and is being created by Mark Cerny.

Image of a Helghast foot soldier from the new Killzone ShadowFall

DriveClub title card.

inFamous Second Son title card.

Screen shot from Jonathan Blow’s puzzle game: The Witness.

Level of graphical capability that a PS4 will be capable of rendering in game and on the fly.

Diablo 3 announced for the PS4 console.

Screen shot from Bungie’s new game: Destiny.

However, we’ll talk about all this and more in this week’s show. You can find it in the audio file below this paragraph, but we’re just calling it the February 24th 2013 edition of got game.

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This week on Got Game the crew discusses:

A) The news released this week about the PlayStation 4
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WE’LL ALSO TAKE TIME TO REVIEW METAL GEAR RISING REVENGENCE FROM KONAMI

AND CRYSIS 3 FROM EA GAMES

Welcome to the PlayStation 2013 announcement live blog. Keep refreshing to see new images and annoucements as they come out!

UPDATE – 5:57 PM

Nothing happening yet, so I decided to go troll Steve Tilley’s live blog while I wait.

UPDATE – 5:59 PM

Elevator music starts playing. Can’t be long now.

UPDATE – 6:00 PM

Apparently imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality. I had no idea we were at war?

UPDATE – 6:03 PM

Montage of past Sony titles are done. Andrew House is the first on stage? Where’s Jack? Words hardware used though nothing announced yet.

UPDATE -  6:06 pm

First real announcement is a focus on mobile gaming and finding ways to use the playstation Vita in the living room (that sentence did not end with “because no one uses it on the go.”)

UPDATE – 6:09 PM

PLAYSTATION 4 ANNOUNCED OFFICIALLY!!!! THEY SAID IT.

UPDATE – 6:10 PM

PLAYSTATION 4 is apparently not just a box, but a focus on user experience.

UPDATE – 6:11 PM

MARK CERNY is now on stage. Apparently, he’s the lead system architect?

UPDATE – 6:14 PM

MARK CERNY keeps talking about ways to make a platform better for an ever changing development climate. Why does this sound like cloud gaming to me?

UPDATE – 6:16 PM

SYSTEM specs announced:

CPU – X86

GRAPHICS – PC GPU

SYSTEM MEMORY – 8 GIGS OF RAM

STORAGE – BUILT IN HARDDRIVE

UPDATE – 6:18 PM

Sony just confirmed that image we saw last week of the playstation controller is real. Christine Chubb also called it. Each controller will also basically be a move controller. Sony also announced a camera that will work with the controllers “glow pads” to work as a playstation move controller.

UPDATE – 6:18 PM

MARK CERNY showing off the new playstation 4 controller.

UPDATE – 6:23 PM

MARK CERNY announces that PlayStation 4 will have a function that acts like hitting the Xbox button on an Xbox controller that causes a menu to come up, and streaming data. You’ll be able to start using a movie or something while the whole data file downloads in the background.

UPDATE - 6:25 PM

You’ll be able to log into your friend’s games remotely from your console and help them through difficult parts of their games.

UPDATE – 6:29 pmThe first PS4 game is announced. 3rd person character action game.

UPDATE – 6:30 PM

CEO OF Gaikai is now on station. Gaikai functionality will be part of the PlayStation network.

UPDATE – 6:31 PM

Sony will be using the Gaikai service to stream trial games right out of the PlayStation store.

UPDATE – 6:33 PM

Anyone can press a button on their controller that allows you to broadcast your gameplay to your friends list. As a media professional, I have to wonder if I’ll be able to live stream games before launch?

UPDATE – 6:35 PM

Remote play with PlayStation Vita will be built into the PS 4. Kids taking over the living room is the common example Sony used.

UPDATE – 6:38 PM

As you would expect, Sony’s music and movie services, plus Netflix and blah blah blah….

UPDATE – 6:40 PM

Sony marches out your favorite game developers to talk about how much they love working with the PlayStation 4. Does this really play with anyone?

UPDATE – 6:43 PM

Really surprised by how much Sony is talking about instant playing. It sounds cool, but I wonder how much of this is a result of the general user’s vocal response to PlayStation 3 patches. Maybe instead of buy Gaikai they should have researched not patching their firmware every week.

UPDATE – 6:44 PM

That “live stream your game button” is called the Share button. It will also be good for taking screen shots and videos, along with live streaming.

UPDATE – 6:47 PM

Guerrilla games is now up on stage, and they start talking about Killzone Shadow Fall. The new Kill Zone game…. looks great!

UPDATE – 6:52 PM

Image from gameplay of Killzone Shadow Fall. Started with a civilian city bombing. Looks like it will be a dirty war.

UPDATE – 6:57 PM

Sony announces Drive Club. The trailer showed a lot of cars reviving their engines at a starting line. Apparently it will be about Teams or “clubs.” You’ll race within or against other racing clubs.

UPDATE – 7:00 pm

Apparently Driveclub will be like Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo series in terms of the focus on the cars. Hopefully, their development times are faster.

UPDATE – 7:03 PM

Next guy starts talking about the time he got tear gassed at a political rally, and the american “Big Brother.” Is this Ubisoft’s Watchdogs?

UPDATE – 7:30 pm

No this guy is from Naughty Dog, and aparently their next game will deal with Superheros who have super powers you that security agents can’t track.

UPDATE – 7:09 PM

I screwed up. It wasn’t Naughty Dog. It was Sucker Punch who got on stage, and guess what they announced.

UPDATE – 7:10 pm

Jonathan Blow gets up on stage to talk about his new game: The Witness. I hear it is a trippy puzzle game. This should be interesting. The Witness will be a PS4 exclusive apparently.

UPDATE – 7:15 PM

Here is what the Witness will look like.

UPDATE – 7:16 PM

David Cage of Quantic Dream gets up on stage, but apparently he won’t be talking about his new game. He’ll be talking about how he becomes inspired? On any other day David Cage could talk to me about the phone book and it would be interesting, but today could I just see the PS4 already?

UPDATE – 7:17 PM

David Cage got on stage to talk about Skin shaders. This will apparently be the level of graphics that the PS4 can generate in real time.

UPDATE – 7:22 PM

PlayStation Move will still be part of the PS4… well no one is perfect.

UPDATE – 7:27 pm

Apparently, every major 3rd party developer and publisher will support PS4.

UPDATE – 7:32 PM

CAPCOM gets on stage and shows a trailer that isn’t exactly a game, but more of a representation of what CAPCOM game on the PS4 will look like… why does it look like Monster Hunter?

UPDATE – 7:34 PM

The CAPCOM game that is not officially a game is apparently called Deep Down. This isn’t the first time they’ve tried to make an off-brand Monster Hunter. I am looking at you Dragon’s Dogma.

UPDATE – 7:36 PM

Square Enix gets up on stage now. Next generation Hitman anyone?

UPDATE – 7:40 PM

Nope.

UPDATE – 7:42 PM

Square Enix is working on a new Final Fantasy for the PS4. More details to come at E3 2013.

UPDATE – 7:43 PM

Yves Guillemot from Ubisoft is the next to take the stage and starts talking about Watch Dogs.

UPDATE – 7:48 PM

Ubisoft is showing a brand new Watchdogs gameplay demo. So far the player character has walked around a big city where everyone had cell phone icons over their head. Then he stole someone’s banking information, and later stopped a whole TTC style subway train. I would be such a jerk with that skill… just walking around turning off people’s cell phone.

UPDATE – 7:52 pm

WoW!!!! They got someone from Blezzard to come on stage at their press event. That’s big! Shoutout to rock and roll racing.

UPDATE – 7:54 PM

Blezzard announces Diablo 3 for consoles! Where is Patrick Luciani? Someone sit them down before telling him. More details to come at Pax East.

UPDATE 7:57 PM

ACTIVISION takes the stage and is promising big support at launch. They start talking about Destiny. Will we get real details this time?

UPDATE 7:58 PM

Destiny to launch on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 at the same time.

UPDATE 8:05 PM

THAT’S IT!!!! Last piece of information. Sony confirms Holiday 2013 launch date for the PlayStation 4.

Hey Got Gamers,

As promised here are those images of the theoretical prototype PlayStation 4 controller that hit the internet last week.

Image courtesy of Destructoid.

Image courtesy of Destructoid.

It’s days like this that I wish we had more time for our radio show because Christine Chubb made a great point between taping segments of our show and we ran out of time to discuss it on air. Her comment revolved around the blue light at the top of the controller. In the first image it is powered, and in the other image it is off. However, in both images it looks like the top of a PlayStation Move controller. Could every PlayStation 4 controller come with build in PlayStation Move support? That’s the question Christine put forward.

Luckily, we found a chunk of time to discuss other parts of this controller, and you can find that discussion in the audio file below this paragraph. However, we’re just calling it the February 17th edition of Got Game.

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This week on Got Game the crew also discusses:

• A) The winner of the Canadian cover for MLB 13 The Show
  
• B) The Show Live mode of MLB 13 The Show
  
• C) 2K Sports picking up the rights to publish WWE games from THQ
  
• D) An odd release date for The Last of Us
  
• E) This information that we expected to hear about regarding project Destiny

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PLUS WE TALK TO JOHN VIGNOCCHI ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SKYLANDERS AND DISNEY INFINITY.

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AND WE REVIEW ALIENS COLONIAL MARINES.