Next-Gen Consoles NewsWHOEVER WINS...WII LOSE [credit: GameDaily, Gamepro.com, TheStreet.com]
Although the Wii had a successful showing at E3, they may have caught several publishers off guard according to an article on TheStreet.com. "No one's going to make money on the software except Ubisoft. Everyone got caught flat-footed" says one hedge fund manager.
Many believe the problem to be because Nintendo was so tight-lipped on the Wii until E3. "We didn't have the information to work off of," says Miguel Iribarren, Midway's vice president of publishing. "I think everyone pushed [Wii development] to the back burner till they got the information on the machine itself and the business model."
If the Wii succeeds, then yeah, publishers are screwed for not supporting it. But then again, because of Nintendo's stupid mistakes, how can you blame them? Nintendo, you need all the third-party support you can get, and doing ridiculous crap like this is NOT GOING TO HELP!
PSP, R.I.P.? [credit: Kotaku, GWN]
An article on GWN.com explains why the PSP is about to suffer a cruel death. The main points include:
-The development costs for games are too high, with the average cost being nearly the same as a Gamecube or Playstation 2 game.
-Load times and drainage of batter life for UMD result in lost game time
-Only 3 games were million-sellers since launch, while Xbox 360 has also 3 but isn't a year old yet and DS has 13.
-As reported earlier, UMD movies are dead.
-PSP's price is too high.
-The "Xbox portable" (now known as Zune) could kill it.
BUT on the bright side, it also mentions good things about the PSP. The system is a favorite for hackers who make homebrewed software, the 7,000 PS1 emulation games coming soon, and a possible price drop by the end of the year.
Sucks for Sony. Nintendo: Controlling the handheld market since 1989.
15 MILLION XBOX OWNERS CAN'T BE WRONG [credit: GameDaily, Gamespot, 1UP]
After already selling 5 Million units, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell announced that Microsoft plans to have 13 to 15 million Xbox 360s sold by the end of June 2007. Microsoft also noted by this holiday season, the system will have 160 games in it's catalog (not including Xbox Live Arcade games) and that both the wireless racing wheel and the HD DVD add-on for Xbox 360 will be available for purchase this holiday.
With PS3 and Wii both launching this fall, how will Microsoft try to reach that 15 Million unit goal? Three words: Gears of War. If Gears of War is everything people have been hyping it up to be, that will give Xbox 360 a huge lead.
NOT NEW: MICROSOFT THINKS BLU-RAY SUCKS [credit: GameDaily, Kotaku]
Microsoft's Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hyrb (a.k.a. Major Nelson) spoke with Amir Majidimehr, Vice President of the company's Consumer Media Technology Group, about why Microsoft is backing with HD-DVD instead of Blu-Ray. Two of the main reasons were because it's hard to manufacture and the copy protection.
On manufacturing: "Blu-ray moves the recording surface very close to the top of the disc, the top layer of the disc, and as you do that it gets harder and harder to manufacture those discs with high reliability...So when Sony and others first introduced Blu-ray in Japan they put it in a cartridge to protect it, and of course nobody wants a cartridge around their discs... so then they went through a long process of trying to figure out how to protect that layer and they've come up with different surface material to try and provide that protection, but as you try to coat the disc with a protective layer you also contaminate it so that reduces yields and the number of good discs you can get out of a production run."
On copy protection: "Both Blu-ray and HD DVD share one kind of copy protection called AACS....Unfortunately, Blu-ray adds another layer to that copy protection—it's the belts and suspenders kind of thing [laughs]—called BD+ and it's a system that actually runs code from your disc that tells it how to decode and decrypt that content and play it on top of the basic protection that's provided by AACS."
Looks like the Blu-Ray is already suffering problems in the format war. Or is Microsoft just trying to mess with us into thinking Blu-Ray sucks? You be the judge.
Game Company News
CANADA CONTINUES TO RULE [credit: Dignews.com]
The government of Canada was recently praised for taking a strong stand on intellectual property rights protection by several Canadian software and entertainment companies.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) also praised the work of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) for taking action against several retail outlets at the Pacific Mall in Markham, Ontario for selling pirated and counterfeit software.
Canada: Slowly proving just how much better they are then America.
VALVE UPDATES [credit: Gamasutra, 1UP, GamePro]
Team Fortress 2, which disappeared from the face of the Earth since around 2000, is now coming back as a multiplayer mode for Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The military look has been replaced for a cartoonish look similar to XIII. Valve also announced PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Half-Life 2 (w/Episode 1 included) and a Half-Life puzzle spin-off called "Portal".
Last week Eternal Darkness was going to come back. This week we got Team Fortress. NiGHTS, I'm still looking at you!
YET ANOTHER LAWSUIT INVOLVING STOCK OPTION GRANTS [credit: GameSpot, GameDaily, Gamasutra]
Ryan Vazquez, an Activision shareholder, is suing the companies senior executives with improperly adjusting their stock option grants to their own benefit and to the company's detriment.
The lawsuit claims that the "extraordinary pattern" of stock surges immediately after the option grants were made is due to the grants being backdated. Vazquez's complaint says the alleged backdating "improperly increased the value of the options to the officer defendants and improperly reduced the amounts they had to pay the company upon exercise of the options." As a result, Vazquez contends the defendants violated the terms of the stockholder-approved stock option plans, failed to recognize the extra compensation expenses, and lied to shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission to hide their actions.
Activision has responded that "The Company is reviewing the allegations in the complaint and will respond appropriately."
AND THEN...former Activision employee Cathi Canuti is suing Activision for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by knowingly misclassifying some of its employees as exempt from overtime pay and minimum wage laws.. The violation is compounded from the publisher's failure to provide employees with an accurate record of hours worked and underpaying members of the workforce. She is also suing for wrongful termination when she brought these complaints to her superiors.
Is it me or does every week have some company getting sued? If this keeps up I just might have my new weekly column to write about. EA, Take-Two, Activision...which company will be accused next of screwing with it's employees?
Specific Game News
GOD OF STORY NO MORE [credit: GameSpot, Gamepro.com, GameDaily, Gamasutra]
David Jaffe, creator of God of War, has said he's lost interest in making games tell stories. "Since God of War, I have lost interest in the genre of single-player action/adventure games. In fact, I've really lost interest in making any kind of game that does not fully and only embrace interactivity in the most purest sense. I don't want to tell stories with my games anymore."
As for how his time with making "pure experience" games is going compared to action/adventure: "... for the stuff I am directly working on, I am trying to take steps towards more pure game experiences and see what I can do with those. I have to say, I'm having a blast so far...the nice thing is, besides the game being a blast to work on (whereas God Of War was a slog), it's also a game that I am enjoying playing. That is something I can't do with the single player, action-adventure stuff I work on."
I think it's good Jaffe decided to try something else and enjoy it rather then feel like he's "slogging" and winds up making a terrible game. With Jaffe moving on to new things, it'll be interesting to see if a God of War III will actually happen or not. In the meantime, I'd like to see more of the game he's currently working on that promises to be a pure game experience.
CARTOON NETWORK GETS AN MMO [credit: GameSpy, GameDaily, Gamasutra, Dignews.com]
The Cartoon Network and Grigon Entertainment (a South-Korean game company) are teaming up to create an MMOG to be released around Spring 2008. The game will be free to download, with subscription and micro-transactions available to players to enhance the gaming experience. Mac and Bloo, Ben 10, Kids Next Door, and other characters from the Cartoon Network will appear in the game. New areas for exploration and play are planned and will be added regularly over a span of several years.
A free MMOG with special payment offers to enhance to experience? Sounds exactly like the free MMORPG Maple Story. And that game really sucks. This game probably won't suck as much as Maple Story unless they decline to have Johnny Bravo. He's the one man army damn it!
DDR AND DISNEY...AGAIN [credit: GameSpot]
Konami and Majesco have announced that they will be making a Disney version for their upcoming DDR plug'n'play product. The game will feature remixes of songs such as "It's a Small World" and "Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah", plus many songs from the original DDR Disney game from 2001. They've also announced a Strawberry Shortcake version.
A plug'n'play DDR game is an awesome idea. Doing it with Disney (again) is awful. Worse, they're putting ""Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah" into the game, which is based on the racist movie Song of the South. And Strawberry Shortcake? Who's thinking up this crap?
OMG FEEDBACK?
This news report didn't get feedback, but rather the preview I did for Smackdown vs. RAW 2007. Rick Landis wrote in asking if there will be an ECW brand. Considering I got all the info for the preview from March to May and ECW didn't start until June, they only have one title, and a smaller roster, then it's not likely. But it's still possible for ECW guys like Sandman and Sabu to show up as hidden characters and maybe some hidden arenas. And speaking of Smackdown vs. RAW 2007...
SMACKDOWN UPDATES [credit: IGN]
Check out all these latest updates on Smackdown vs. RAW 2007
Two more stars were announced: The Undertaker and Johnny Nitro. That's right, JOHNNY F'N NITRO!
The Money in the Bank Ladder Match has been added to the game. Six wrestlers compete and whoever gets the briefcase first wins and gets a title shot. But how exactly this will work out in the career/season mode is still unknown. Still awesome though.
The Ladder Match will also see several improvements. Players can now lean one ladder on another and do a clothesline or spear just like Shelton Benjamin did at Wrestlemania 21 (YES!). You can also position ladders on the turnbuckle horizontally and use the ladder to sandwich opponents between it. Grabbing the belt is also different, as the joysticks now act as arms. Moving the left stick moves the left arm and the right stick moves the right arm. Once the belt is grabbed, players will have to find the "sweet spot" by moving the joystick around until the controller starts rumbling. A "Ladder Guage" then pops up and if the player keeps holding the title as the meter disappears, the player frees the belt and wins. Using both hands to grab the title makes it easier to disappear, but at the same time you must find the "sweet spot" quicker because you have no hands to hold the ladder and risk falling off.
The Table Match is also getting several improvments. This time, to slam your opponent through a table, you have to meet two requirements: Have a finishing move icon stored and have your momentum meter filled. Once that happens, you'll have to Irish whip them on to the table and execute a finishing maneuver to win. There will also be a variety of different table finishers, depending on where you set the table up and specific superstar finishes, plus it ends in a cinematic fashion. You can now also double stack the tables and superplex your way to victory.
This game is looking more awesome as time goes on. This very well could be the best damn wrestling game ever.
BUT THEN...As if mimicking the real injuries on Smackdown, it was just announced that Playstation 3 owners would not get this game until the holiday season of 2007, as in NEXT YEAR. As if I didn't have enough reasons to not get a PS3.
TIDBIT NEWS
These are news that either I didn't get enough info on or just didn't feel like detailing.
-Some hidden Wii pages surfaced for a while at nintendo.com,revealing Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam and Smash Bros will go online, the friend-code system will be used for online play, and more Wii Party games could be on the way. [credit: Joystiq]
-Miyamoto talked with IGN about the Wii, including a party game where four players use one controller and the controller calls out the player that goes next. Because remembering who goes next is such a chore. [credit: Evil Avatar]
-The Wii received some negative press from UK-based Arena Magazine about possible weaknesses, including how small TV's won't work with motion-sensing games. And here I was liking the Wii because I DIDN'T need to buy a big screen HDTV to play it. [credit: Joystiq]
-Lucasarts has announced at Comic-con that they will be supporting all next-gen consoles, including the Wii. Lightsaber Wiimote = Awesomeness. [credit: Evil Avatar]
-An article from BBC News says that due to the rise of development costs, publishers may rely heavily on in-game advertising and is expected to increase over tenfold by the year 2010 to as much as $700 million. [credit: Gamepro.com]
-Atari has announced that Test Drive Unlimited for the Xbox 360 will retail for $39. Whether Atari tends to make up good reviews for the game remains to be seen. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Animal Crossing is going to get its own animated movie, set to be released December 16th this year in Japan. A movie based on a game with no real plot? At least it's not Crazy Taxi. [credit: Gamespot]
VIDEO GAME VIDEOS
Every week I'll be posting a link or links to video game related videos. This week, check out these humanized versions of Pong and Space Invaders.
Human Pong
Human Space Invaders
Guys who probably look better than me
Joshua had news yesterday with The Digital Pulse
Tommy will have news tomorrow in The Negative Edge News Report
Cal (I'll think I call him that) has Thursday with News from Bitopia
Previews!
Superman
Need for Speed Carbon
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Patch
Super Monkey Ball Adventure
Reviews!
Pirates Of The Caribbean
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
NFL Head Coach
Columns!
Damian Sarcuni in Angry Gaming ; this week taking a look at rehashed clichés.
Jamie Lyons in Ask 411 Games; you ask him stuff, he answers.
Brad Garoon in The Greatest Stories Ever Told; learn the story in the Legacy of Kain games.
Jordan Williams in Working Title; This is his overview. Tomorrow he'll be talking about the PS3.
Derrick Seabrook in Second Chance Glance ; didn't buy Unreal Championship 2 for Xbox? Check out this column.
Steve McHugh in Retro Review ; Is Virtua Fighter 2 still as good today as it was? Go there and find out.
Me and Joshua were first for 411Games' Fact or Fiction
And that does it for this weeks news report. If there's anything to have learned today, it's that trying new things is good, but trying to screw your employees is bad. See you in seven.
