Archive for February, 2007:
PAL Playstation Network Prices Announced
Sony has announced the European prices for the Playstation Network, where games can be bought online and stored to your hard drive. The launch title prices are listed below.
- Blast Factor – £3.49
- Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection £6.99
- Gran Turismo HD – Free
All future games will be competitively priced from £1.99 through £6.99. They are significantly cheaper than that of the Xbox Live and Virtual Console services, which both range from £4.00 to £9.00. Fans should be happy to see that Gran Turismo HD is free of charge, just like in the United States.
Big News for PS3 at GDC
GDC is now just less than a week away, and kicking off the event will be Sony’s Phil Harrison who is a keynote speaker. One thing we can probably be certain of already is that he will have some sort of announcement. Now, our interests are peaked in an interview GameDaily had with conference director Jamil Moledina. This is what he had to tease about in the interview:
“Not to be coy but you’ll just have to come to his talk. All I can say is that I stand behind my ‘very happy’ comment.”
Jamil does not work for Sony, but we can imagine he has a good idea about the contents of the keynote. The media has been really down on Sony lately, so it’ll be interesting to see how this announcement pans out. Or if it will be soon forgotten after Shigeru Miyamoto’s keynote two days after.
Read (GameDaily)
GRAW2 Goes Gold
Ubisoft has announced that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has officially reached gold status. The game has entered production and will be ready to ship on Thursday, March 8th. They have also said that there will be an in-game Achievements tracking menu for every single multiplayer achievement. This means that, it will be easier to find out just how much more work you will need to put in to unlock the next achievement.
Read (gameSlave)
Man Dies During Gaming Marathon
A 26-year-old man from China died during the Lunar New Year holiday after taking part in a non-stop “gaming marathon.” The man reportingly played during most of the holiday. Although, the man was severely obese, so maybe that was the real reason why the man from Jinzhou collapsed. The game(s) he was playing were not mentioned, so at least no bad public relations will occur from this. DigitalBattle has the most sincere condolences for the family.
Read (EvilAvatar)
Next-Gen Games: Non-Profitable
A fresh report made by Screen Digest shows us that next generation games are non-profitable. By using survey data from major software publishers, the report provides an overview of third party attitudes to making games the new console platforms.
The new games for the new consoles uses a lot of resources and time, so the financial investments is insecure. It will take up to the year 2010 in order for publishers to make any profit on the games.
The report tells us that the strategy to make a game exclusive for one console is far more better than publishing a title to multiple consoles. Microsoft uses this strategy, as in games like Gears of Wars; the financial investments were good, because the game only was exclusively released for one console.
It’s worse for the independent game developers, who invest all their money in one game. The result can be a big financial mistake. The strategy today is to buy the independent game developers and only create games for one console.
Beatmania IIDX Coming to US
The extremely popular Japanese music bemani arcade game, Beatmania, is finally coming to the United States. Unfortunately, Konami will only be providing one coin-op machine of Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold. This will be a trial period to see how the sales are, and if successful, there is a chance we will be seeing more machines pop up around the country. Play the game while you can, as the test won’t last forever. If you’re lucky enough, you can play the game starting March 5th, at a bowling center in Naperville, Illinois.
Read (Joystiq)
Sony Denies Lack of PS3 Interest
Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, is claiming that the stacks of unsold Playstation 3’s are a sign of how good the company is managing in handling the production of the PS3, not the lack of interest in the new console. Instead, he says he is pleased to see so many unsold PS3s sitting on shelves.
“Our goal is to fill shelves across the United States. Our goal is not to have empty shelves; it’s to have full shelves. If we have empty shelves, that’s one less consumer who could have bought a PlayStation 3.”
Read (IGN)
Manhunt 2 Targeted by Thompson
It wasn’t too long ago that Rockstar announced the sequel to Manhunt. And it didn’t take too long for Jack Thompson to react to it either. It turns out he has been asked by “certain individuals in the UK” to help stop the distribution of the upcoming game.
Manhunt was the center of dispute in a UK case: the murder of Stefan Pakeerah by his friend Warren LeBlanc in 2004. The game was pulled from stores following complaints and calls from conservative media publications; however, it was later found that there was no link between the game and the murder, and, in fact, the victim himself was the owner of the game rather than the killer.
At the moment it is not known how Thompson plans on stopping the game. We expect him to make his moves quickly, as Manhunt 2 is set for release this Summer.
WoW Addict Goes to Jail
The latest case of World of Warcraft addiction comes from Alaska where a gamer was busted by the police for leeching off the library Wi-Fi network to play the MMORPG online. Brian Tanner, 21, as per the article, had been chased out of quite a few places for leeching off Wi-Fi hotspots, and this is the latest case.
He is now waiting to see if he can be convicted. Apparently, usage of library networks entails following a set of policies set by the government, which includes not using it after hours.
Too bad for Turner, as his laptop was seized, and there isn’t any WoW in prison.
SimCity Goes Dual Screen
Electronic Arts announced today that SimCity franchise is returning with SimCity DS, developed especially for the Nintendo DS platform. In addition to creating and growing your very own pocket sized city while being on-the-go, players will be able to leverage the unique action features of the Nintendo DS system, discovering an entirely new way to play this internationally acclaimed franchise. The product will make its debut to consumers worldwide in summer of this year. Players will also be able to create and control their city on there own free will…and much more. Maximizing the stylus and built-in microphone controls of the Nintendo DS, SimCity DS brings to the franchise like never before the feeling of personal involvement with your city—from blowing into the microphone to put out fires in the city to signing off on mayoral proclamations with your stylus. By enabling the players to communicate with each other, the “wireless data exchange” feature brings additional interactivity into the game. As an added bonus to SimCity fans around the world, the game also offers a wide array of recognizable international landmarks to spice up your city.
Read (GameZone)
Captain N: Now on DVD
Remember the Kevin Keene, who was transported to Videoland? He is also known as Captain N: The Game Master. The show was shown early Saturday mornings on NBC, and is seldom remembered by all old-school fans, as the series was quite short. In case you missed out on the action, or want to take a nostalgic ride into the past, it’s only $23.99 away.
All 26 episodes of the Captain N: The Game Master series has been released on DVD. The disc also includes animated character bios, a look at the concept art, and a Nintendo Power feature about the story. You can purchase it at Amazon.
Read (BBPS)
It’s Christmas for the Wii
Data Design Interactive, announced today that it is planning on porting a dozen of its upcoming games to the Wii console. Currently, the company is in the process of porting six games to the Wii. These games are to be release in the second quarter 2007, with another six games games following later in the year.
The full list of upcoming Data Design Interactive games is:
- Action Girlz Racing
- Hamster Heroes
- Monster Trux Extreme: Offroad Edition
- Anubis II
- NinjaBread Man
- Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland
- Mini Desktop Racing
- Billy the Wizard
- London Taxi: Rushour
- Myth Makers Orbs of Doom
- Myth Makers Super Kart GP
- Earache Extreme Metal Racing
- Elviz – Rock N Roll Adventures
Read (IGN)
MGS3 Going Offline
Konami has announced that the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence servers will be permanently shut down on April 3rd.
“The last day of online service for Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence in North America will be April 2nd. Konami sincerely thanks all of the Subsistence online community for their dedication to the game and support of the Metal Gear Solid series.“
The reason why this may be happening is to attract more fan base to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which also has online multiplayer. So everyone that has this game should play it to the fullest while they can. An online petition has been setup, but those usually don’t work. It doesn’t hurt to sign it, though.
Read (GameSpy)
Probst Out of the Picture
The dominant force in video game publishing, Electronic Arts, has found it best to replace Larry Probst, as CEO, this past Monday. His predecessor is none other than former Electronics Arts executive John Riccitiello. Riccitiello will take the title of EA CEO on April 2nd.
Riccitiello, who joined “Redwood City, Calif.-based EA” in October of 1997, resigned in April 2004. Probst will still remain in EA as executive chairman of EA’s board of directors. He has been criticized on Wall Street for his failure to encourage new titles, but instead rely on sequels. He has this to say,
“The right time to put a new CEO in place is when good times are ahead, as opposed to challenging times. That’s the recommendation I made to the board, and they agreed unanimously.”
Read (Yahoo! Finance)
Major League Baseball 2K7 Now Available
Just today, 2K Sports announced that Major League Baseball 2K7 is now available in stores all across North America for the Xbox 360 ($59.99), Xbox ($29.99), PS2 ($29.99), PS3 ($59.99), and the PSP ($29.99).
Major League Baseball 2K7 offers over 300 unique player animations. So players will instantly recognize the unique pitching styles, batting rituals, and characteristic movements of their favorite MLB players. Major League Baseball 2K7 also offers a range of new replay camera perspectives showcasing the high quality of the next generation visuals, including camera shots outside ballparks, dynamic camera shots of highlight plays, unique camera angles of each batter at the plate and much more.
Read (GameZone)