The Select and Start News Report: 06.04.07
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 06.04.2007
What Activision has in common with Dr.Phil, Wii's Virtual Console > Wii?, and Nintendo...stuff
Welcome to the Select and Start News Report, where I'm pissed off that of all people to host any awards show, it's Sarah Silverman. Based on how she was in Spike TV's VGA's 2006, she probably just insulted everybody on how much they sucked at the MTV Movie Awards. I didn't actually watch the show because 1) I hate Sarah Silverman, and 2) I don't watch MTV anymore since they got rid of Wrestling Society X. Did her TV show get cancelled yet?
Anyways, enough ranting about her, time for the news!
Big News
I DIDN'T KNOW DR.PHIL WORKED FOR ACTIVISION [credit: Joystiq]
In a conference call with investors, Activision says that Harmonix's Rock Band is an imitation of the incredibly popular Guitar Hero. There's a good reason for that however that Activision seems to have suddenly forgotten: Harmonix created Guitar Hero before the license got sold to Activision when they bought out RedOctane.
There's only one picture that can describe Activision for this statement:
Speaking of Guitar Hero, the dicks at Activision released some gameplay footage.
VIRTUAL CONSOLE DOING AS GOOD AS THE CONSOLE IT'S A PART OF [credit: GameSpot, Gamasutra, GameDaily]
The biggest feature of the Wii, the Virtual Console, has had it's 100th game released today, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Nintendo announced that the Virtual Console has now had 4.7 million downloads worldwide. Four of the top five games are Mario games (SMB, SM64, MK64, and SMW) and Zelda for the NES.
The sad thing about this though is that at this rate, the Virtual Console might actually have more games worth playing then the Wii. Hell to be honest I've haven't played anything on my Wii in a while, and since I'm going to be focusing on Final Fantasy XII, I'm not sure what I'm going to play next on it.
TIDBIT NINTENDO NEWS [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-In select theaters in the UK, Nintendo is planning "Live Ads", where a commercial for the Wii will start playing, then suddenly a mother shouts in the theater looking for her son. The son will stand up and the two will face each other in a game of Wii Sports Tennis right there in the theater. This is either going to be the best or worst marketing strategy ever.
-Nintendo has become so profitable that each employee generates $2.5 million each. Compared to other huge companies, Google generated $994,000 each and Microsoft's employees generated $624,000 each last year. Jack Tretton, of course, ranted on how this won't last for long because the Wii is inferior and all that.
-Nintendo of America Vice President of Marketing George Harrison says that the current console lifecycle could be longer then five years and that Nintendo could ultimately control over 50% of the market. He also took shots at Microsoft and Sony for trying to be Nintendo like and failing; Microsoft with Viva Piñata in response to Pokemon and Sony with the Sixaxis in response to the Wii remote. Basically, he's bragging for Nintendo.
Tidbit News
-The ESA has joined with 29 other copyright-related organizations to form the Copyright Alliance "promoting the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth." Why do I have a feeling that news reports will soon break out about how these are as big as dicks as the RIAA and Activision? [credit: GameDaily]
-Konami says that Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Xbox 360 has not been confirmed. But c'mon Konami, we know you're going to do it eventually. [credit: CVG]
-It was a slow for Japan, as the top two gamer were anime licensed titles Kekkaishi: Karasumori Ayakashi Kidan (DS) with 40,000 units and Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 (PSP) with 37,000 units. [credit: Gamasutra]
-The 3.50 firmware for PSP has been released. The update makes the PSP Remote Play ready for the PS3. [credit: GameSpot]
-EA is more confident then ever that their FIFA franchise is going to beat out Pro Evolution Soccer this year. Unlike Activision, they aren't calling Pro Evo. Soccer an imitation. [credit: CVG]
-More then five million different users have now used the Nintendo DS's Wi-Fi Connection for multiplayer games. Meanwhile, we all still wait to go online on the freaking Wii. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Blizzard has officially said that Starcraft 2 isn't going to come out this year. Like I said, I predict an early 2008 release. [credit: CVG, GameSpot]
-Ubisoft's Chief Financial Officer Alain Martinez says that the company is interested in acquiring some independent developers. But since they didn't exactly give any names, there isn't much to say about it for now. [credit: GameSpot, GameDaily, Gamasutra]
Profits and Losses
ACTIVISION: These dicks made some money ($1.51 billion in revenues for the fiscal year), but Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter says that "all things are not perfect in Activision's world", with Rock Band (from the original creators of Guitar Hero) coming out that could cripple Guitar Hero sales. [credit: GameSpot, Gamasutra]
UBISOFT: During the previous 12 months, the Paris-based publisher posted record earnings, taking in 680.3 million euros ($917.1 million)--a 24.4 percent increase over the year before. Gross profit rose 91.7 million euros ($123.6 million) to top 452.4 million ($609.9 million). Net income for the year was 40.5 million euros ($54.6 million), way up from the 11.9 million euros ($16.1 million) it took in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were 0.91 euros ($1.23). [credit: GameSpot]
The Other Crap
PROGESS GAMING
This week I'm going to begin Final Fantasy XII and try to have it done by the end of the season.
OTHERLY GAME REVIEWS
You've probably already heard about how you can create your own songs for Guitar Hero with some DVD burning and modded PS2, but how about created GH songs the same way it's done for StepMania? I recently discovered this PC program that allows you to do just that, and while it's not as really developed as StepMania, it's still pretty cool. This is Freetar Hero
Freetar Hero Format: Java Genre: Music
(screenshots taken from website)
The game is split into two different programs: one to edit your songs and one to actually play them. Since there's no guitar controller for a PC yet (unless you know one) so you either use a keyboard or regular controller. Though the controls are responsive, one problem I've noticed that if you try to disable the "strum to play note" feature, it won't work. However, I'd still check the site out.
DAILY SMASH BROS. ROUNDUP
This week we learned about:
-Delfino Plaza. This stage was the main area in Super Mario Sunshine. In this one players will fly around above the island and land in various areas to do battle. It sounds a lot like how the Mute City stage in Melee worked.
-Moving and shooting. Remember how you couldn't move when firing with weapons like the Super Score or the Ray Gun? Well now you can. What an age we live in!
-The Cracker Launcher. Brand new shooting item where once you pick it up, it starts firing firecrackers that explode. You can tilt the direction of the launcher by using the control stick. This could be one of those items everybody tries to grab a hold of.
-The Final Smash. Remember that E3 2006 trailer where Mario grabbed that Smash Bros. icon and did some ultimate special move? That's the Final Smash. The only details about it is that it can only be done once. Mario's Final Smash has been named "The Mario Finale."
-Pit's Special Moves. We learned of Pits special and up-special attacks. The regular special is the Palutena Arrow, where he fires an arrow at a very fast speed and the direction can be tilted. His up special is "Wings of Icarus", where he can fly for a certain amount of time.
This week was really interesting, but now I'm hoping for more character based updates.
GAMING CALENDAR
??? - Halo 2 for Windows Vista probably released already
June 5th - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary to be released
August 20th - Metroid Prime 3 to be released
September 25th - Halo 3 release date?
March 1st, 2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released
July 29th, August 19th, November 17th, and December 15th - Airdates for the 2007 Season of WSVG on CBS Sports
The WSVG signed another deal with CBS Sports to air the events on the days they take place. The games to be featured include Blizzard's World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, Activision's Guitar Hero II and EA Sports Fight Night Round 3. So expect recaps of those events here in the near future.
