The Select and Start News Report: 06.16.06
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 06.16.2008
Capcom uses eBay to measure game popularity, the EA Take-Two Buyout saga continues, gamers decide to sue EA over the NFL license, the iPhone could kill the DS (not really), and more.
Still waiting for Metal Gear Solid 4 to install? You've come to the right place.
Big News
WILL EBAY CONVINCE CAPCOM TO BRING BACK MARVEL VS CAPCOM? [credit: The Escapist, Destructoid, Joystiq]
In an interview with the MTV Multiplayer blog, Capcom Associate Product Manager John Diamonon says that one of the way Capcom measures a game's popularity for a possible remake is how much the games sell on eBay.
"To choose titles to revive, we see if we can give old franchises the modern touch, and we evaluate the fanbase and see if there's a market for it. Sometimes we see games on eBay, and that's how you see what games people are willing to spend $80 on. It's certainly not the only thing we do, but sometimes we look there to assess the market value of a game."
You know, with the Marvel vs. Capcom games selling for high amounts on eBay, maybe Capcom will get the hint that we'd like to see this ported to the consoles! Now while most people would like a Marvel vs. Capcom 3, what I'd really want is the 4 games compiled on one disc like a collection edition. But besides MvsC, I decided to check out other Capcom games on eBay to see if any other games were selling for a decent amount. So far these games have been seen for over $20:
Capcom vs. SNK: $24.99 for MF2000 on Dreamcast, $29.99 for MM2001 on PS2
Rival Schools: $47.99 for PlayStation
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: $26.94 for Dreamcast
[credit: GamePolitics, Gamasutra, GameDaily]
Here's the latest in the saga of how EA still doesn't own Take-Two, and people are still pissed off because they don't get an easy payday.
-Take-Two is refusing to give the FTC any information regarding the bids EA is making. Take-Two feels like they shouldn't have too considering EA are the ones making the unwanted takeover attempt, and have already spent one million dollars in providing a limited amount of info to the agency. A June 24th hearing has been set by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to determine whether Take-Two is actually required to comply with the FTC request.
-Rumors are now going around that Ubisoft is interested in buying out Take-Two. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently revealed a $1.2 billion warchest of funds, which the company intends to use to acquire new studios and companies and expand its move into other markets, and Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick has talked about how other companies are interested in Take-Two. Ubisoft's Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director of worldwide studios, also said that Ubisoft will not be overshadowed by an EA Take-Two buyout nor the Activision Blizzard merger.
[credit: GameDaily, The Escapist, GameSpot]
Ever since EA got exclusive rights to make NFL games (and other football leagues), many have seen this as a sign of EA going to get lazy with the Madden games now they had no competition, which got pretty severe when NFL 2K5 was being sold for $19.95 and put a big dent in EA's profits. It's been a few years since then, but two gamers in Washington, DC, and California are suing EA in a class-action lawsuit for creating a "blatantly anticompetitive conduct." The plaintiffs are requesting damages for anyone who purchased an EA football title since August 2005, return of all profits stemming from anticompetitive behavior, and related agreements declared null and void.
...BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Wow. Do these two honestly expect this to happen? The only way I can see these gamers winning is if this lawsuit becomes a trial by jury and Nicholas Easter becomes one of the jurors.
In other lawsuit news, Nintendo is suing Nyko, alleging that the company's Kama Wireless Nunchuck Controller for the system infringes on the official Wii Nunchuk. Nintendo claims that the design of the Kama controller, right down to the color scheme, the packaging, and the product manual, are close enough to the official Nunchuk controller as to confuse customers about the product's origin.
Based on the pics, the Nyko Nunchuck does look like the regular Nunchuk, but has a couple buttons and the Nyko logo on it. I don't think consumers are going to be that confused about telling the difference.
THE IPHONE KILLING THE NINTENDO DS? [credit: GameDaily]
Brian Caulfield of Forbes magazine wrote an article about how the Apple iPhone could be a major competitor against the Nintendo DS because of the upcoming game app along with the iPhone's touch-screen and motion sensing capabilities.
"Unlike Nintendo, which has created a gaming console with a motion-sensitive controller and a touch-sensitive handheld gaming system, Apple has crammed both capabilities into its iPhone and iPod Touch. The ability to pour fresh software into the iPhone, wirelessly, at the touch of a button already has game developers interested. ...The worst sign: Sophisticated games such as Electronic Arts' ambitious new god-game, Spore, are already slated to be released for the iPhone at the same time it goes on sale for PCs, Macs and the Nintendo DS. ...Looks like the handheld gaming business, so long dominated by Nintendo, could be about to undergo a little evolution too."
Considering that the Nintendo DS has sold about 70 million units worldwide and that the closet competitor to it, the PSP, is nowhere near that number (but has been doing pretty good), there is NO WAY the iPhone can ever compete against the Nintendo DS. Besides, remember the last time someone made a gaming phone to compete against the Nintendo DS?
Tidbit News
-Microsoft recently announced new JRPGs coming to the Xbox 360 from Namco Bandai and Square Enix. Coming in August for Japan and USA is Tales of Vesperia, and along with the game, Namco Bandai will be releasing a monthly magazine every month dedicated to the Tales franchise. Square Enix announced that Star Ocean 4, officially titled Star Ocean: The Last Hope, will be released on the Xbox 360 in 2009. Also coming this September from Square Enix is Infinite Undiscovery, developed by the same company that does Star Ocean. Finally, SE also announced Last Remnant, with more details about the game to come at E3 and the Tokyo Game Show. [credit: GameSpot]
-According to Gartner's research VP and Chief Analyst Bryan Lewis, the reason for the Xbox 360 suffering from the Red Ring of Death was because of a faulty graphics chip...created by MICROSOFT THEMSELVES! Lewis says that Microsoft wanted to avoid paying a third party ASIC vendor so they made the chip themselves, and once problems started to arise, Microsoft then had a third-party company redesign the chip. Microsoft has not said anything in response. Has Lewis discovered the truth, or is this just some crazy conspiracy theory? You decide. [credit: Destructoid, Gamasutra]
-It looks like Tomonobu Itagaki won't be the only one leaving Team Ninja. Rumor is that as many as three dozen other people in Team Ninja will be leaving as well, and they'll all be suing Tecmo in a class-action lawsuit over unpaid bonuses as well. [credit: 1UP]
-Laurent Fischer of Nintendo of Europe recently apologized for his comments about how only geeks and otakus want more storage on the Wii. You know how you can really apologize? By actually releasing something to give us that extra storage! [credit: The Escapist, Destructoid]
-NVIDIA's vice president of content business development Roy Taylor believes that there are no longer going to be any PC exclusive titles considering that a majority of PC gamers own consoles and consoles are becoming the "baseline" for game development. He does point out however that for games ported from consoles to PC like Gears of War or Assassin's Creed, the PC version is always better. [credit: Joystiq, The Escapist]
-Microsoft's Robbie Bach, head of the Entertainment and Devices Division, says that the PSP lacks original content and contains mostly ports of PS2 games, while talking about how much better the Zune is. Wow. A guy from Microsoft hating on a Sony product? I've never seen THAT before. [credit: GameDaily]
-In light of the killing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district last week where 25-year old Tomohiro Kato had stabbed and killed 7 people, Konami had cancelled the launch events for Metal Gear Solid 4. Konami was concerned that the presence of Old Snake, the game's knife-wielding hero, would draw "unwanted scrutiny" and was concerned about the safety of the public. [credit: The Escapist, Joystiq, GamePolitics]
Gaming Calendar
June 17th:
Secret Agent Clank (PSP)
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS)
Space Invaders Extreme (PSP, DS)
Arkanoid DS (DS)
June 18th - The Political Machine 2008 (PC)
June 22nd:
-Rock Band (Wii)
-Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
June 23rd:
Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3)
Top Spin 3 (Multi)
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (X360)
June 24th:
Alone in the Dark (Multi)
Hail to the Chimp (PS3, X360)
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS)
June 28-29 - Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational convention to be held
June 29th - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (PS3, X360)
Q2 2008 - Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms (PC)
July 8th:
-Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii)
-Activision and Vivendi to have merger vote
July 15-17 - E3 Media & Business Summit to be held
July 22nd - Final Fantasy IV DS
August 1st - EA Land (PC, formerly The Sims Online) will close down
August 2008 - Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)
Summer 2008 - Air Traffic Chaos (DS)
September 2nd - Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360)
September 7th - Spore (PC)
September 16th - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
September 22nd - Sim City Creator (Wii, DS)
September 2008 - TNA iMPACT (Multi)
October 2008:
-LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
-Bioshock ported to the PS3
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Xbox 360, PC)
October 3-5 - E for All 2008 to be held
October 9-13 - The Tokyo Game Show 2008 to be held
November 2008 - Gears of War 2 (X360)
Fall 2008:
-Resistance: Fall of Man 2 (PS3)
-MySims Kingdom (DS, Wii)
Videos of the Day
World of Warcraft's New Expansion Pack: World of World of Warcraft
Snake has defeated many strange and powerful opponents over the years, and will face his worst adversaries yet. But can he handle the wrath of a kid that shoots tops?
A change in reviews?
It seems these days more and more people are starting to think that grading a game with a number or letter or what-have-you isn't the way to be reviewing games anymore, and there are several reasons as to why (fanboys starting arguments about a game getting a 9 instead of a 10, reviewers getting fired over not scoring a game high enough, or that complex opinions can't be summarized with a simple grade). So if measuring a game with grades isn't the way to go, how should reviewers start judging games from now on?
Here's my suggestion: Instead of grading a game, you make two lists; people who you think would like the game, and the kind who would hate it. For example, take Super Smash Bros Brawl. Despite the high grades many people gave it (including myself), many have also come out to point out how overated this game is and how it's actually bad game to everybody but Nintendo fans. Is Smash Bros really that bad, or is this just another case of trying to bash mainstream games and Nintendo for being the kiddy company? So instead of giving a grade, let's break it down into two lists of who would like this game.
The best scoring system ever. Your example using SSBB was perfect. In my opinion, that illustrates the target audiences for that title.
Posted By: David (Guest) on June 16, 2008 at 01:33 AM
What the hell is that SSB clone?
Posted By: Mathew Sforcina (Registered) on June 16, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Dream Mix TV World Fighters. It was a Smash Clone with Konami, Hudson Soft, and Tomi. Characters included Bomberman, Snake, Simon Belmont, Tyson from Beyblades (the one in that video), Optimus Prime, Megatron, and more.
It was released back in 2003 or so and wasn't that good I've heard.
Posted By: Vincent Chiucchi (Registered) on June 17, 2008 at 08:54 AM
