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Rory Cellan-Jones

The Yahoo Romcom

  • Rory Cellan-Jones
  • 12 Jun 08, 23:41 GMT

The Yahoo soap opera seems to get a new plotline every week and is in danger of moving from melodrama to farce. To recap for latecomers to this romcom:

"Previously on "The Search for Love", Microsoft fancied Yahoo, which played hard to get, and flirted with Google. Microsoft walked away in a huff, only for Yahoo to say it had been hasty, and might well have walked up the aisle if only its suitor had been a little more generous. Then Microsoft said it might be interested again after all, although only in a more "open" relationship."

But tonight came sad news for friends of the star-crossed lovers. "Yahoo and Microsoft no longer speaking" was the headline on one technology blog. Yahoo put out a statementrevealing that there had been an irretrievable breakdown. Microsoft had said it was never ever going to marry Yahoo - and Yahoo had no interest in a more limited relationship, involving handing over search because that "would leave the company without an independent search business that it views as critical to its strategic future."

Instead, though, Yahoo appears to be throwing itself at Google. In the latest enthralling episode, just hours after the Microsoft break-up, the two firms announced a new advertising partnership. Jerry Yang's company explained: "The agreement enables Yahoo! to run ads supplied by Google alongside Yahoo!'s search results and on some of its web properties in the United States and Canada. The agreement is non-exclusive, giving Yahoo! the ability to display paid search results from Google, other third parties, and Yahoo!'s own Panama marketplace." So, let's be clear, just because we're getting into bed with Google, it doesn't mean we're not free to play the field.

I'm not so sure that the competition watchdogs are going to see it that way. Alarm bells were already ringing on Capitol Hill over Yahoo's "limited" trial in April of Google's technology, with talk of congressional hearings. And the Microsofties are keener than ever to paint themselves as minnows in the world of search advertising faced with Google's 800lb gorilla. "We only have 4% of the search market, so we just don't compete," said one.

Harsh words too tonight from sources at Microsoft about why they lost all interest in buying Yahoo. "It's an underperforming business whose staff are all heading for the hills," was the gist of the message from Redmond.

Wall Street seems to agree. Yahoo's shares fell more than 10% after the collapse of the Microsoft talks - though the market closed before the statement about the Google deal. And it's hard to imagine that advertisers will see the Yahoo/Google love-in as a happy ending. It's corporate lawyers who will be sending flowers to the couple - they can expect plenty of business as regulators around the world start asking searching questions about competition in online advertising. Tune in soon for another episode, but be warned, there could be tears before bedtime.

Darren Waters

Solid Snake's last stand

  • Darren Waters
  • 12 Jun 08, 12:09 GMT

If the names Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Big Boss and Raiden mean anything to you then I'm guessing today is an important day.

snake.jpgMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots hits the shops today as a flag bearer for the PlayStation 3 console.

The game hasn't launched with the marketing hype and blitz of titles like Halo 3 or Grand Theft Auto IV, and I'm guessing that hardcore fans of the series are probably thankful - the franchise has tended to attract a more cerebral player over the years.

There was a decent sprinkling of fans at the San Francisco launch, reports Kotaku and a modest crowd in Tokyo, according to Famitsu.

PS3Fanboy has some photos of creator Hideo Kojima at the New York launch in Times Square.

But it's been interesting to see how expectations for the game have become slightly dampened over the course of the last few months.

Once held up as an example of how the PlayStation 3 was going to revolutionise gaming, even the title's creator Hideo Kojima has seemed a bit more pragmatic about his achievement. He even seems to suggest that the PS3 itself constrained his vision, which may be why Sony itself has not tried to extract a marketing dividend for the console from the game's launch.


Review scores for the title have been modest, with lots of eight out of 10s.This perhaps reflects the game's high barrier to entry.

Gamerankings.com, says the average score for the game is 92%. I don't trust aggregators by and large - but I will say that the two outlets I place my trust in habitually - Edge and Eurogamer - both gave it an 8 out of 10.

If you haven't followed the intricate twists and turns of the plots then you are going to struggle. Metal Gear Solid is so complicated it makes an episode of The Wire look like Balamory. The plot does span six games and about 20 years, to be fair.

Here's some of the reviews:

1Up - A

These parts are also a stark reminder that video games have a long way to go before their narrative comes within spitting distance of the best Hollywood has to offer. Fans of balletic violence will be in heaven watching the gloriously rendered mayhem on display, but those who prefer solid acting and effective emoting are likely to be disappointed by the game's uneven performances and scripting.

Edge - 8/10

The cutscenes here are sure to invoke that thousand-yard stare, two in particular coming perilously close to the 90-minute mark.

Eurogamer - 8/10

Flawed, intractable, unspeakably tedious at times, and yet blessed with incredible production values, imaginative design, and a brilliant, brave willingness to think and do the unexpected and impossible.

The fact there are two almost 90-minute cutscenes seems, to my mind, a touch absurd.

There are those who argue that video games can be that mix between films and interactivity - but I prefer something a little more subtle that Kojima's offering.Game designer Hideo Kojima

More than six years ago reviewing MGS 2, I wrote: "Computer games should be about interaction and not just passive viewing. If you want to watch a DVD movie on your PS2 you can simply rent one."

The games industry may have upped the polygon count in the intervening years but Metal Gear Solid 4 still feels like a long way from the breakthrough game that will deliver on action, narrative and interactivity.

Despite all those reservations I am very much looking forward to sticking my copy of MGS4 into the Playstation 3 - not least for the opening sequence.

As all MGS fans know, no-one does an intro sequence quite like Hideo Kojima.

All together now: "Da da daaaa, da da da da daaaa, da da daaa, da da da daaaaa....."

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