2007 in video gaming/May

**2007**
January • February • March • April • May • June • July
August • September • October • November • December

See 2007 for other events during the year.

Gaming bill A08696 has been approved by the New York Assembly. This is of course the bill that would make it a felony for game store clerks to sell games depicting scenes of brutal violence to children.
[1]
* ***DOA: Dead or Alive coming to North America***

DOA: Dead or Alive is coming to North America on June 15, 2007. Despite rumors that it is going straight to video. The film is directed by Corey Yuen and is loosly based off of the Dead or Alive series.
[2]
#### May 30 2007 (Wednesday)

* ***Killzone: Liberation gets updates***

Guerilla Games' Killzone: Liberation got downloadable content today for the PSP. The update is now available at YourPSP.com and Killzone.com free of charge. The update features a fifth chapter in the game.
[3]

* ***Two new DS lite colors in Japan***

Nintendo announced that they will release two new Nintendo DS Lite colors. The colors are Metallic Rose (ie. metallic pink) and Gloss Silver (ie. silver). The two new DS Lite versions will be out on June 23.
[4]

#### May 29 2007 (Tuesday)

* ***E3 conference schedule released***

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will be holding press conferences at the 2007 E3 business Summit in Los Angeles. E3 is set to take place in Santa Monica, California on July 11 and 13. Microsoft is scheduled to kick off the event on July 10. No conferences are so far listed as scheduled for Friday, July 13.
[5]
#### May 28 2007 (Monday)

* ***King Of Fighters***

Double Edge Entertainment has announced the acquisition of the rights to a film based on SNK Playmore's King Of Fighters game franchise, with Hong Kong director Gordon Chan. "Fearless" scripter Chris Chow will be the writer, and Japanese firm Micott & Basara and sales agent Arclight/Easternlight are co-producers.
[6]
#### May 27 2007 (Sunday)

* ***Steam reaches 13 million***

Valve Software's Steam online service has reached 13 million users. Steam works by downloading the games directly to your hard drive, so you don't have to go find them. Prices of games range from 10 to 45 US dollars.
[7]
#### May 25 2007 (Friday)

* ***Idiot waste tax payers money***

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich blew through a million dollars of taxpayers' money trying to fight a 2005 federal court ruling that a state law banning the sale of violent or sexual-explicit video games to minors was unconstitutional. The amount spent was uncovered by an Illinois House committee earlier this week.
[8]
* ***Lawsuit Alleges Xbox caused fire***

A lawsuit was filed against Microsoft by the Kliner family in Illinois because of a fire that killed their son (Wade Kliner) in December 2004. The family seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000 from Wal-mart and Microsoft. They claimed that the fire was caused by a overheated Xbox power supply unit. This week the case is being shifted from a state court to a U.S. District Court in Illinois
[9]

* ***Jack Thompson challenges Master Chief to finish the fight***

Jack Thompson strikes again. Yesterday he sent a letter to Bill Gates stating that the upcoming game Halo 3 is violent and if sales are not stopped online and in stores to persons under seventeen, Jack will take legal actions.
[10]

* ***Idiots license The Sims for a movie***

Of all things to make a movie of, 20th Century Fox have picked up the rights to make a movie based on The Sims, an open ended simulation created by Maxis. No director or producer has been named, but Brian Lynch will be writing. The challenge now is to come up with a plot since the game is so openended.
[11]
#### May 24 2007 (Thursday)

* ***Gamestop up in profits***

Retailer GameStop has released record Q1 results showing profits are up by 111%. This is due to the supply constraints of the DS and the Wii and the selling of the PS3 and Xbox 360. GameStop said its top selling games were Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Sony’s God of War II, Activision’s Guitar Hero II, Microsoft and Real Time Worlds’ Crackdown, and Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2.
[12]

* ***New GTAIV screenshots***

Rockstar games has released different screenshots to Gamespot, IGN and 1UP on their upcomming game Grand Theft Auto IV. The storyline is based on a stereotypical rags-to-riches theme or pursuit of the American Dream type theme. New features include breaking windows to jack parked cars and calling individuals for missions on a cell phone.
[13]
#### May 23 2007 (Wednesday)

* ***Splinter Cell Conviction***

Splinter Cell: Conviction, the newest game in the Splinter cell series will be ran on the Havok engine. In the game you play as Sam Fisher who runs away from the Third Echelon and must buy equipment from the black market. The game is structured similar to Splinter Cell: Double Agent but Sam Fisher must follow his own instincts instead of orders. In the game can interact with more objects such as tables and chairs, using them as weapons or barricades. Sam will wear a hoodie which allows him to pass by guards stealthily. Sam can also create diversions in the environment to distract guards. It is set to be release in December of 2007.
[14]
#### May 22 2007 (Tuesday)

* ***New York Game Law Passes Senate***

Four days after Senator Andrew Lanza introduced his violent video game legislation to the New York State Senate, a press release has been issued signaling the bill's passage. The bill requires games that are sold to carry visible ratings, creates an Advisory Council that would focus on youth violence and interactive media and the ESRB, establishes a parent/teacher anti-violence awareness program, and makes it illegal to sell games contrary to their rating. The bill is now sent to the assembly to become a law.
[15]
#### May 21 2007 (Monday)

* ***Rockstar reveals GTAIV Special Edition***

Rockstar Games announce that they are releasing Special Edition for Grand Theft Auto IV. It is expected to be released for $90 and available for pre-order starting immediately, and will be packed in a "customized Grand Theft Auto metal safety deposit box." Other features include a soundtrack CD from selected artist, a book with concept art, a Rockstar key chain with keys to the box, and a Rockstar duffel bag.
[16]
* ***80GB PS3 confirm for Korean launch***

On June 16 the 80GB model of the PS3 is set to be released in South Korea costing 518,000 won (approximately $558). The model also lacks the Emotion Engine chip present in the US and Japanese versions. Koreans will not be able to choose between the 80GB PS3 or the 60GB PS3.
[17]
#### May 19 2007 (Saturday)

* ***Starcraft2.com goes live***

StarCraft2.com is now filled with trailers, wallpapers, and artwork of Blizzard's new game StarCraft 2. Currently there are previews of Protoss units. Zerg and Terrain units are coming soon. There are also previews of the gameplay. The Terran hero is revealed to be Tychus Findlay
[18]
#### May 18 2007 (Friday)

* ***Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow coming to PSP***

SCEA has unveiled Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, a third person shooter for the PSP. The story is written by Greg Rucka, who wrote the Queen and Country novels, and features the music of composer Azam Ali. The game uses the Havok physics engine which displays realistic characters and environments.
[19]
#### May 17 2007 (Thursday)

* ***SOCOM Confrontation Debut***

SCEA has unveiled a new SOCOM Navy Seals game titled SOCOM Confrontation. A trailer was shown during SCEA's Gamers Day at their Santa Monica Studios. The game will be released November 2007 and will support 32 players online. The game will be developed by Slant Six Games instead of Zipper Interactive.
[20]
#### May 16 2007 (Wednesday)

* ***Halo 3 Release Date announced***

Today Microsoft has announced that September 25th release will be the release date for the full version of Halo 3 in North America. The European release will be on Wednesday September 26th. Microsoft is expecting the game to break day one entertainment sales records, with pre-orders for the game already reported to be extremely high.

[21]
#### May 15 2007 (Tuesday)

* ***Sony face massive losses from PS3***

Analyst from Bloomberg.com reports that Sony has lost 1 billion dollars due to its gaming division and the PS3. The gaming business more than offset gains from Bravia HDTVs and the box office performance of Spider-Man 3, according to the report.
[22]
#### May 14 2007 (Monday)

* ***V-tech Rampage game***

googum.com produced a controversial flash game titled V-Tech Rampage that was released today. It is a short RPG game similar to Super Columbine Massacre RPG. There are 3 different stages. The game walks the player through events of the Virginia Tech massacre. You play as Seung-Hui Cho. The first thing you must do is kill a girl and any witnesses to the kill, then you must dodge police and mail a package, and last you must kill everyone in the Norris Hall building. Play it here.
[23]
* ***Parasite Eve 3***

Square Enix announce that they are making a third sequel to the game Parasite Eve 2 titled Parasite Eve 3. Parasite Eve 3 is set for the the mobile phone market.
[24]
#### May 12 2007 (Saturday)

* ***Square-Enix Party 2007 Starts***

Today is the start of the Square-Enix Party which is held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba in Japan. The party is open to the public and free of charge. The event held July 2005 drew a crowd of nearly 47,000 visitors. The party is a 2 day event from May 12–13. Key games being displayed are Dragon Quest Swords (Wii), Final Fantasy XIII (PS3), Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS), Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP), and The Last Remnant (Xbox 360 & PS3)
[25]
#### May 11 2007 (Friday)

* ***Lost Planet PC Demo***

Capcom plans to release Lost Planet for the PC. A demo will be released on May 15. The game can use DirectX 9 and 10 so you can run it on Windows XP or Vista. There will be no cross-platform support with the Xbox 360 version. The game will feature 16 players online via the internet as well as LAN.
[26]

#### May 10 2007 (Thursday)

* ***Sega announces new game lineup***

Sega has recently revealed its 2007-2008 line-up of games. The games are as follows:
* Condemned 2: Bloodshot, a sequel to Condemned: Criminal Origins for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, developed by Monolith Productions.
* Ghost Squad a shooting game developed by Sega for Wii
* Happy Tree Friends False Alarm an action puzzle game developed by Stainless studios and will be available for download on PC and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade
* Universe at War: Earth Assault a RTS game by Petroglyph will be available for the Xbox 360 and PC

[27]
#### May 9 2007 (Wednesday)

* ***Xbox 360 update available***

A Xbox 360 update is available for download on xbox live. The update adds compatibility with Windows Live Messenger and is also intended to tighten up Marketplace regional controls. Other features include more detailed achievement pop-ups, enhanced family settings for video and voice chat, and faster access to demos in the auto-downloads section.
[28]
#### May 8 2007 (Tuesday)

* ***Uwe Boll films Far Cry in Canada***

Far Cry the movie, which is based on the game Far Cry which had backgrounds of tropical beaches, is being filmed in Vancouver, Canada. Instead of filming at a tropical area such as Hawaii, Uwe Boll decides to wreck the background by filming in the great white north.
[29]
#### May 7 2007 (Monday)

* ***ESRB rating awareness***

According to a new survey conducted on behalf of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), 90 percent of American parents, while 85 percent use them regularly when buying games for their families. The study also revealed that an increasing number of parents are using the ratings to restrict their children from playing games rated M. The survey also found that 73 percent of respondents said that they checked the ESRB rating "every time" before renting or buying a game.
[30]
#### May 4 2007 (Friday)

* ***Wii supply problem***

Satoru Iwata has answered numerous questions on the nintendo website addressing the Wii shortage and mobile gaming. Iwata explains a factor of the shotage is bottlenecks in the process, in which one area of production is bottlenecked while another is cleared. He explains that there is a Wii production increase at the start of this month.
[31]
#### May 3 2007 (Thursday)

* ***Boy kicked from school for making a Counter-strike map***

A Texas school board is divided over the case of a student who played Counter-strike using his high school as the backdrop. 17-year-old Paul Hwang played Counter-strike on his home computer using a map of Clements High as the setting. The Police evaluated the student’s PC and determined that no criminal charges were warranted. But Hwang was transfered to an alternative school district.
[32]
#### May 2 2007 (Wednesday)

* ***Atari lays off 20%***

Atari has announced that it will be cutting 20 percent of its workforce, including approximately 26 percent of its administration employees. These cutbacks are for reducing Atari's general and administrative cost.
[33]

* ***Jack can't sue kotaku***

Jack Thompson's attempt to sue kotaku's parent Gawker Media has failed again. Thompson tried to reinstate the lawsuit again yesterday but was denied by Judge Huck. Thompson is also suing the Florida Bar and Florida Supreme Court.
[34]
#### May 1 2007 (Tuesday)

* ***Xbox 360 Elite Launched***

April 29 was the official sell date for the Xbox 360 Elite. The elite features a sleek new black finish, a 120GB hard drive, and HDMI audio-video output. The elite comes with a cable to transfer content from older 20GB 360 HDDs. The cable is out for a limited time for individuals with a xbox 360. Customers must fill out an authorization form with both serial #s for the free cable.
[35]
## Game Releases

May 29

* Tomb Raider Anniversary (PC) (PS2)
* Mario Party 8 (Wii)
* Shadowrun (X360)
* Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)

May 25

* SchoolMate (PC)

May 22

* Halo 2
* Rainbow Six Vegas (PS3)
* Pony Friends (DS)
* Death, Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom (DS)
* Naruto: Ninja Council 3 (DS)

May 15

* MLB 07: The Show (PS3)
* Code Lyoko (DS)
* Etrian Odyssey (DS)

May 14

* Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Wii)

May 10

* Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)

May 4

* Spider-Man 3

May 1

* Rayman Raving Rabbids (X360)