This Week in Xbox — 3/14/08

BioShock 2 Officially Announced

In an announcement that thrilled many and surprised absolutely no one, Take-Two Interactive revealed in a recent financial report that a sequel to last year’s highly successful shooter BioShock is indeed in the works (or, if you go by unsubstantiated internet gossip, a prequel). The new game is being developed by 2K’s newest studio: 2K Marin, which—as you might have noticed—is not 2K Boston, the developer of the original. Also, while some sources claim that Ken Levine’s involvement has been confirmed, the extent of his involvement remains unknown. What does this mean for BioShock 2? Guess we’ll have to wait until its Q4 2009 release to find out.

VERDICT: Obviously we’re excited to hear that the game actually exists, but we can’t help but be a bit skeptical. New team? No word on Levine’s involvement? Living up to the original would have been hard for anyone to do. Let’s hope this new studio is up to the task.

Arcade and Premium Prices Cut in Europe

Earlier this week, Europe joined Canada in the ranks of regions that have received Xbox price drops. Those jerks. The price of the Premium SKU was cut from €339 down to €299, while the Arcade SKU dropped from €279 to just €199, which is actually €50 less than a Nintendo Wii. And yes, this did indeed include Britain, though the price changes were slightly different and the Elite also received a slight cost reduction. Still not in the price drop club: the US, though that actually makes sense seeing as sales are far stronger here than in Europe and Japan.

VERDICT: Surely this price drop is an effort to fix those aforementioned sales problems, but will this really be enough to turn things around for Microsoft? Hard to say at this point since the reasons behind the Xbox’s lackluster performance in Europe aren’t exactly concrete. But hey, the Arcade in less than a Wii, so if sales are ever going to pick up, it’s now or never.

Activision Embroiled in Legal Drama

Activision sure managed to keep the legal system busy this week, as it was slapped with a lawsuit by Guitar Hero creator Harmonix and filed a suit against Guitar Hero instrument sponsor Gibson. The first lawsuit was pretty straightforward: Harmonix attempted to sue Activision for royalties (about $14.5 million of them) from various Guitar Hero related things but then withdrew the suit the next day in order to discuss the situation with Activision outside of court. Ok, fine. The Gibson lawsuit, on the other hand, was (or, more accurately, is) kind of bizarre. Apparently Gibson patented the idea of pretending to be a rockstar back in 1999, but decided not to mention it to anyone until this past January. Activision filed a suit in hopes that the court would rule that the patent doesn’t actually cover or apply to what players do in the Guitar Hero games. The specifics of Gibson’s patent aren’t actually all that specific, but hey, that's why we have judges, right?

VERDICT: The fact that Harmonix withdrew its claim so quickly suggests that Activision’s reaction was something like, “Oh, um, yeah, I guess we do owe you guys some money, huh?” So we get that part. But seriously, what the hell, Gibson? How do you help make three Guitar Hero games and then just suddenly realize you have a patent on the idea? Come on.

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