The Select and Start News Report: 05.14.07
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 05.14.2007
Various Xbox 360 news, a new Simpsons game, and Nintendo still rules Japan.
Welcome to the Select and Start News Report, the biggest reality show of the summer. You know, a long time ago I was looking forward to this particular month when working for 411Games, because this would be the time where we would be covering E3. There would be News, Columns, and Previews galore, and probably even TWO whole roundtables. But then it gets turned into a business event. Will there still be News, Columns, and Previews galore? We'll see this July.
In the meantime, there's still other news to be covered.
Big News
TIDBIT XBOX AND MICROSOFT NEWS
Plenty of different things was happening with Xbox this week.
-Microsoft has launched it's update for Xbox Live, with the key feature being the Windows Live Messenger. WLM lets players chat with up to 20 contacts in a single conversation, instant message while playing games or downloading from XBLM, and works with a USB keyboard plugged in. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Even though Halo 3 will be the "story of 2007", Peter Moore says that the Xbox 360 needs to broaden it's audience by attracting the non-traditional gamers. Translation: They need to steal Nintendo's strategy ASAP. [credit: GameDaily]
-With the Xbox division of Microsoft losing $315 million according to their Q3 report, division president Robbie Bach has said that 2008 will be the first year for Xbox to turn a profit. [credit: Gamasutra]
-THQ's Frontlines: Fuel of War for the Xbox 360 has been pushed back to January 2008, likely so it doesn't get lost in the holiday shuffle. With three huge Wii games supposedly coming (Mario/Metroid/Smash Bros.) and Metal Gear Solid 4, I say it was a smart move. [credit: GameSpot]
I LOVE THE GUITAR HEROES [credit: GameDaily, GameSpot, Gamasutra]
We've been hearing about it for a long time but didn't recieve official confirmation until now. Activision has announced that yes, there will indeed be a Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s, coming exclusively for the PS2 and being made by the original developer Harmonix rather then the new developer Neversoft. So far several songs have been confirmed:
"As made famous" Covers:
"Round and Round" by Ratt
"I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow
"Metal Health" by Quiet Riot
"Holy Diver" by Ronnie James Dio
"Heat of the Moment" by Asia
Original Tracks:
"I Ran" by Flock of Seagulls
"I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister
As for whether or not these songs will soon appear on Xbox Live, Senior PR specialist Bryan Lam was pretty vague on the actual answer. Either way, this is going to be all sorts of awesome.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS SO I'M GOING TO SAY "THAT'S GOOD" [credit: Gamasutra, GameSpot]
After doing a countdown parodying that of the GTA4 countdown, EA has announced a new Simpsons game for all systems. The plot of the game apparently is that The Simpsons realize they're inside a video game and so start getting all these weird powers. The game will be worked on closely with the writers of the TV show.
Usually a new Simpsons game wouldn't mean squat since just about every console game except the GTA-esque "Hit & Run" has sucked. Now I would be excited for this one, but I was also kind of excited for the Family Guy game and that didn't fare too well.
NINTENDO REACHES NEW MILESTONES [credit: Gamasutra]
It was a very good month for Nintendo in Japan. After being on sale for 61 weeks, the DS has reached the 10 million mark in Japan. By comparison, the PS2 took 131 to reach the same milestone. So it should also be no surprise that Nintendo dominated the hardware sales this week as well. Also this week, Nintendo also dominated the sales charts where all the Top 10 games are either on the DS or the Wii (the #1 game being FF12: Revenant Wings).
Nintendo will forever own the handheld market. Period. As for the Wii, the constant shortages means that people are still buying them even if it's two gamecubes glued together or a piece of shit or whatever people are calling it these days.
Tidbit News
-Sony is currently creating an MMO based on the comedy action flick "Kung Fu Hustle". A game based on a movie where even the most elderly woman is a kung fu expert? Now THIS is an MMO worth playing! [credit: Gamasutra]
-Remember that live action DOA movie released in Australia? Well based on the dismal reception from Europe, it's never coming to America. Even Jamie Pressley (My Name is Earl, played Tina in the movie) admits that the movie had problems. [credit: 1UP]
-Good News: Square-Enix has announced a Parasite Eve 3! Bad News: It's for mobile phones only. [credit: 1UP]
-This week, Blizzard is about to unveil the latest installment in the StarCraft series, and it's very likely to be the "World of StarCraft" that many has assumed to be. Why do I have a feeling that this new StarCraft game doesn't have a ghost of a chance of getting released? [credit: CVG]
-Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter thinks that PS3 will eventually win the console war thanks to that Blu-Ray thingamajig. Overall, he says Sony will control 36% of the market, Nintendo with 34% and Microsoft with 30%. [credit: GameDaily]
-We all remember (well not really, because I sort of forgot) about Chris Hecker's "Wii = Two ducttaped Gamecubes" comments, but now Microsoft's Robbie Bach says that the Wii "[doesn't] have the graphics horsepower that even Xbox 1 had." The Wii also doesn't have only one game that everybody actually cares about and the ass-backwards compatibility that the Xbox 360 has. [credit: 1UP]
-According to a survey by the NPD Group, 62% of video game players play games online. Now to find out what percentage of those online players are assholes. [credit: Gamasutra]
-The Xfire online gaming communication and community platform has surpassed over seven million registered users and supports over 800 games. The surge of people using come from MMORPG's such as World of Warcraft and Maple Story. Glad to see Maple Story actually be good for something. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Square Enix has announced a 3D versus action Final Fantasy game for the PSP entitled "Dissidia: Final Fantasy". The game looks to be a crossover of Square-Enix games, but so far the only characters confirmed are Zidane, Garnet, and Freya from FF9 and Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile. [credit: Gamespot, The Magic Box]
The Other Crap
PROGESS GAMING
OTHERLY GAME REVIEWS
This week I'm not just going to review one game, but a whole lot of them. Our boss Ashish has just created a site full of Flash games, and I'm going to pick a bunch at random. These are from Tiger Flash Games.
Sneaky Tetris - It's Tetris with an Excel theme to it, so you can probably play this at work if the people are too stupid to notice. This one however seems a bit harder then it should be and it's got that dreaded "Instant Down" button. I hate that.
Throw Paper - Throw the paper ball into the trash by adjusting to the wind speed. See how many in a row you can score.
Colors -It's a Flash version of Simon. I really like the music and look of this game.
Bubble Bobble the Revival - Playing it on FireFox is impossible and IE keeps screwing up every time I press the UP button. I don't know whether to blame this game or the crappy computer I'm working with.
Bubble Maker - Time your bubble maker just right to catch the flowers going across the screen. Short but fun.
Flash Mine Sweeper - You're better off playing the Mine Sweeper that comes with your computer.
Crazy Chess - This isn't a real game of Chess, but rather you're playing as a knight piece and must capture the pawns that keep coming the screen. Really fun to play.
Dots - Touch all the red dots while avoiding the purple dots. Yellow dots give you power ups. Very fun.
Overall, you really should check out that site.
GAMING CALENDAR
May 16th - Halo 3 Beta to be released
May 22nd - Halo 2 for Windows Vista to be released
It was supposed to come out a couple weeks ago, but at least the delay isn't months long.
June 5th - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary to be released
HEY LOOK, A NEW 411 SECTION!
With MMA being so popular these days, it almost seemed obvious to start a new section dedicated to this. Stay tuned for more developments.
Guys competing for a million dollars to do...something
