Archive for September, 2006:
Peter Moore Thinks MS Will Sell 100m 360s
Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment and Devices Division (all Microsoft bosses have really long, cool titles), says during an interview that Microsoft will sell 100 million Xbox360 consoles. They’ll do it by expanding the market and target general non-gamers.
“If you’re going to hit 100 million you need to address that market. We’re still finding ways to be able to do that, but we will. I absolutely guarantee that we will.
BF2142 Collector’s Edition + Demo Announced
EA’s upcoming futuristic shooter, Battlefield 2142, will come in a Collector’s Edition version; only released via the EA Downloader, and not in retail. The Collector’s Edition includes a game soundtrack, behind the scenes video and a special 24-hour head start on the upcoming demo of the game, scheduled for release sometime next week.
The game has just gone gold and will be released on October 16. Three new screenshots have also been released, more after the jump.
Wii Hardware Walkthrough Video
[gv data="http://www.youtube.com/v/BzGDqVB-f1I"][/gv]
IGN’s ultimate Nintendo fanboy and Wii reporter Matt Casmassina got a chance to play around with some Wii hardware and made a video walkthrough, presenting the Wiimote, nun-chuch accesory and the Wii console itself.
Commodore 64 On Wii
Epyx has announced that they will be delivering several of their Commodore 64 games to the Wii Virtual Console. The Virtual Console already has Turbografx 64, Sega Genesis, NES, SNES, and N64. It is unconfirmed exactly which titles will be released, but you can see the list of games Epyx released after the jump.
Assassin’s Creed Xbox360 Has Better AI
Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft says that while the Xbox360 and PS3 versions are “nearly identical”, the Xbox360 game will have a better AI system. According to an IGN article, Producer Jade Raymond says,
“The hardware also allows for improved threading, which will improve even further the crowd AI,”
The article only mentions “crowd AI”, and not enemy AI, so the difference is probably insignificant. However, it suggests that the Xbox360 hardware is easier to work with, as the chip architecture is simpler to that of the PS3.
Read (IGN)
Nvidia G80 Pictures
Pictures of the upcoming Nvidia G80 graphics card have emerged. The card is larger than any other on the market, and sports a massive cooler (one version with a water cooler as well). It has two 6-pin power connectors, which fuels the rumor suggesting it will consume 300W, more than the entire power consumption of a moderate computer. More pics after the jump.
Buy Songs For Zune With Microsoft Points
Microsoft’s brand new portable media player, called Zune, will be accepting Microsoft Points for purchasing Zune songs. Microsoft Points will be available via retailers and the Xbox Live Marketplace. The price of each song you can purchase is 79 Microsoft Points, which is the equivalent of 99 cents, which is also the exact price of a song that could be purchased on iTunes.
The Zune will launch on November 14, 2006 with a $249.99 price tag. It is unsure at the time if the Xbox360 will be able to communicate with Microsoft’s Zune media player, but with the Microsoft Points system being used, it may be possible.
Nintendo Running Out Of Plastic DS Boxes
Apparently Nintendo is selling so many DS games that they are running out of plastic boxes. At the moment they are using GBA style cardboard boxes for top sellers such as Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Tetris DS. So far only Europe has to bear with the cardboard boxes, but Nintendo includes an offer to order a plastic replacement when they have enough plastic.
See also: Pokemon Sells Millions In Hours
Reggie Will Sell The First Wii
Only a few months to launch and obviously Nintendo and Sony are trying to get all the PR they can at this point. Nintendo’s president Reggie Fils-Aime said during an interview with ABC News that he would be selling the first few Wii consoles in New York on launch day, November 19. He said
“Those consumers, the core gamer, are very important to us. And you know what? I’ll be at a store in the New York area, where they will camp out and I will be handing out some Wiis that very first minute that we’re available for purchase.”
It’ll probably take place at the Nintendo World Store, where other Nintendo events also have taken place. Check out the full interview here (10 mins), where Reggie talks about the Wii and how they plan to expand the gaming audience.
Pokemon DS Sells Millions In Hours
Those Japanese gamers, we never quite get them. Apparently, the launch of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl for the DS sold over 1 million copies per game during the first few hours it went on sale. In addition, 500,000 units of customized Pokemon DS Lites were sold. Both games and the speacial edition DS Lite are sold out now.
Photos of hundreds of Japanese gamers waiting in line to get a Pokemon game after the jump.
Oblivion Coming To PS3 And PSP
The Official PlayStation Magazine reveals that the top-selling Xbox360 and PC title Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is coming to the PS3 and PSP sometime in 2007. The PS3 version will have some new content, including a new faction that players can join, called “Knights of the Nine.” Plus the usual new characters, weapons and locations.
The PSP version on the other hand will be called Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion and will take place outside the world of Oblivion. More information is expected in the upcoming weeks.
[Update 1] It turns out that Oblivion will be a launch title for the PS3, while the PSP version be released in Spring 2007.
Stunning Alan Wake Screens + Video
We recently reported on Remedy’s upcoming game Alan wake, running on quad-core CPUs. This time, we have stunning screenshots, and a video showing the game running on an Intel Core 2 Quad. More screens and the video after the jump.
Big News At X06
Microsoft’s yearly Xbox event, X06, had a lot of interesting news this year, besides the pricing of the HD-DVD add-on. Exclusivity was a big buzz word this time, with several new titles announced exclusively for the Xbox360.
Peter Jackson working on new Halo games
Film maker Peter Jackson (Lord of The Rings, King Kong), currently busy producing Halo the movie, and is working with Microsoft Game Studios on two new Halo games, exclusively for Xbox360.
Doom available on Xbox Live
The original Doom is now available on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points, or $10. The game includes the original single player campaign, split screen and online multiplayer features as well.
Xbox360 HD-DVD add-on coming this November
Priced at $199 in the US, €199 in Europe and £129 in the UK. More here.
Halo RTS game announced
A Halo RTS game, called “Halo Wars” was announced, currently in development by Ensemble Studios (creators the Age of Empires series). The game is stated as an Xbox360-only title (no PC version). Other new game were announced, including Project Gotham Racing 4 and Banjo Kazooie.
Exclusive Splinter Cell game coming to Xbox360
An unannounced Splinter Cell game is being developed exclusively for the Xbox360 by Ubisoft. The game is the next in the series after the upcoming Splinter Cell: Double Agent.
Exclusive GTA4 content
Rockstar announced that they will be bringing two new “episodes” of GTA4 via Xbox Live, with new missions and “hours of more gameplay”. The game will be released on October 16, 2007.
Via Joystiq, Kotaku and Major Nelson
Official Wii Box Art
The official box art for the upcoming Wii games has been revealed, and it’s nothing special really. Compared to the Xbox360 and PS3 standard boxes, the Wii ones are rather boring actually. But you should never judge a game by its cover anyway.
Via IGN
Xbox360 HD-DVD Priced In US/Europe
Microsoft’s HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox360 will launch this November for $199 in the US, €199 in Europe and £129 in the UK. It will be bundled with an Xbox360 Media remote and (for a limited time) a HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
The add-on will make the Xbox360 one of the cheapest HD-DVD player for a long time to come, but will still end up costing just as much as a PS3 with built-in Blu-ray player. Let the format wars begin!
Read (MajorNelson)