Archive for May 19th, 2008:
Why No MMOs on Consoles?
Tons of MMOs are in development for PC, but where are the console versions? Pirates of the Burning Sea producer Joe Ludwig detailed several reasons why we don’t see MMOs on consoles.
His first point is that platform holders would demand a cut of the revenue, which he points out to be between 25 and 35%. “With one more player getting a piece the revenues shrink for both the publisher and the developer and it becomes harder to turn a profit from a ‘modest success’,” he writes on his blog.
He also mentions that while there are about 19 million Xbox 360s worldwide, as well as the countless numbers of Wiis and PS3s, there are closer to ten times that number of PC equipped with graphics processor, making the PC install base larger and more lucrative than consoles.
Ludwig also points out the lack of a built-in keyboard, long certification time for patches and long development times as the reason behind the absence of MMOs on consoles.
Herd Barnyard Animals and Shoot Lasers in WiiWare Today
Having launches the WiiWare service last week, Nintendo today added two new original games and one retro release to the Wii’s Shop Channel.
First up is Konami’s Critter Round-up, which has up to four players trying to herd barnyard animals. The game will cost 1000 Wii points. The second game is Hudson’s Star Soldier R that tests players’ skills in 2 or 5 minute increments, or through the Quick Shot mode. It can be bought for 800 Wii points.
This week’s lone retro release is Skykid, Namco’s NES bomb-dropping shooter. It will let players experience the rivalry between Red Baron and Blue Max for 500 Wii points.
Warhawk Tournament Giving Away Limited Edition Statues and Exclusive Weapon
GGL and Sony Computer Entertainment America send word that they have teamed up for an official Warhawk Team Tournament, where the top squad will win Warhawk Limited Ediiton Statues from Gentle Giants Studios, as well as an in-game special weapon called the Champion’s Blade. It will be awarded exclusively to tournament winners and cannot be acquired any other way. This weapon replaces the knife and will look completely different, making the player stand out from the rest. Here’s the scoop:
A Practice Ladder is open now, so jump in, form your team, and start challenging and playing opponents. On 5/27/08 the Practice Ladder will be reset (all squads’ records and points set to 0), and we will start the official Ladder Stage. You can challenge other squads, play matches, and move up and down the ladder. Points are awarded not only for winning, but also just for playing, so the more you play the better you will do! At the end of the Ladder Stage on 6/29/08, the top 32 squads will advance to a single-elimination bracket, and the winner of the Bracket Stage takes home the prize!
This is a team tournament, but you and your opponents can agree on the number of players on each side before each match. If you need help finding players for your squad, you can try our “Find/Form a Squad” forum. This prize tournament is open to U.S. residents only, but Warhawk players from anywhere in the world are welcome to join open competition ladders on GGL’s Warhawk Game Group (http://www.ggl.com/groups/warhawk_game_group).
If you’re into the game, join now, invite your friends, form your squad and play to win.
Pirates WiiWare Title Announced
With the WiiWare in service, Oxygen Interactive has announced Pirates: The Key of Dreams, an upcoming WiiWare title that offers players the chance to sail their way across the Caribbean, looting booty, running blockades and ultimately battling Blackbeard himself.
The player is charged with control of a Navy captain sent deep undercover as a pirate to seek out and retrieve the Key of Dreams, a valuable artifact. The game will have various weapons and three forms of controls including the Wii Remote, Nunchuk and Classic Control.
There will be over 35 levels and multiplayer support. It will be released later this year.
AMD Game! Announced
Following in the footsteps of Microsoft, hardware manufacturer AMD has announced its plans to simplify the process of determining PC gaming system requirements for mainstream consumers. Dubbed AMD Game!, the program will allow consumers to purchase hardware that meets a certain set of minimum requirements. New processors, graphics cards and other parts will be labeled with AMD Game or AMD Game Ultra badges, meaning that the machine will be able to play “today’s games”.
The company hopes to update the specifications every six months to keep in line with industry advancements. Quite a few other companies have jumped on the initiative, including Microsoft, Alienware and Acer. Select retailers have already begun selling AMD Game hardware in North America. Below are the speficiations.
AMD Game!
Minimum 30FPS performance at 1280 x 1024 for tested games.
Min Specs:
-AMD Athlon X2 process 5600+
-ATI Radeon HD 3650
-AMD 770 chipset or Nvidia nForce 500 series chipset
-2GB DDR2
AMD Game! Ultra
Minimum 30FPS at 1600 x 1200 for tested games.
Min Specs:
-AMD Phenom X4 9650
-ATI Radeon HD 3870
-AMD 770 chipset
-2GB DDR2
EA Extends Take-Two Offer, Take-Two Wants More Money
And it’s on once more… EA has once again extended its offer to acquire Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of blockbuster titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock.
“Extending our offer will allow the FTC review process to continue,” said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of EA Corporate Development. “EA’s offer price remains unchanged at $25.74 per share and our offer is still subject to conditions that include regulatory approval. As stated earlier, we retain the right to terminate the offer if the conditions are not satisfied.”
Take-Two has already officially responded, saying that it is the same conditional proposal EA originally offered to the company’s stockholders; it was deemed inadequate and contrary to the best interests of the company’s stockholders as decided by the Board of Directors. In other words, Take-Two is basically asking for more money.
Let’s see how this goes. It feels more like Microsoft-Yahoo once again.
EA on ESA Departures: "They Lack Leadership Skills"
The ESA saw major blows last week, following the departures of Activision, LucasArts and Vivendi. While no reason was cited for their exit, EA has publicly commented that these companies withdrawal from the US-based trade body shows “an unfortunate lack of leadership.”
“They’re a big company and we feel that when you’re a big company you’ve got a responsibility to consumers to work on policy issues which are very, very important to consumers,” said Jeff Brown, EA’s VP of corporate communications. “And the best way to do that is with an industry consensus. That’s the way it’s been done with the ESA in the US, and with ELSPA in the UK.”
He added that EA was not reconsidering its position in the body, but is urging the ESA to make a strong case to remaining members for their ongoing participation.
“There are always tensions inside these organizations, but for the most part it works,” he insisted. “So it was sad to see them step away from that responsibility. We hope that others don’t do that, but I think that the onus is on the ESA to prove that membership in it is good for the company and good for consumers. And I think we’re going to see the ESA redouble its efforts to prove that.”
The ESA currently has 25 remaining members. It is going to hold E3 2008 from July 15-17 at the Los Angeles Convention Centre.
Miyamoto’s Ten Best Games
Shigeru Miyamoto is one hell of a designer, having gained legendary status through his great works. His games have provided fun for many and have been technical marvels for their generations. In fact, Miyamoto can not only be called the father of Nintendo, he might be the father of gaming – if not for his contributions, I don’t know where we would be right now.
With that said, it can be very difficult to tag ten games out of the man’s vast library of 84 titles to be the best ones. But GamePro took on that daunting task, listing what they think to be the ten best titles by the famed designer. Here’s a taste:
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
Just when you think Mario has worn out his 25-year welcome, Miyamoto mans the designer reigns once more to reinvent and surprise gamers with one of the most refreshing games released in the last decade, Super Mario Galaxy. In reality, the title is more Super Mario 64 evolved than true revolution, but the varied level design (both in 2.5D and 3D perspectives) was clearly inspired by the gaming gods and is a pleasure to play again and again.
Read the whole list to check out the fabulous games. Also check out the number one title – it’s a surprise!
Ted Nugent in Guitar Hero 4
Guitar Hero 3 tried to add something new to the franchise by introducing bosses. Though the game was subtitled “Legends of Rock”, it had nothing more than two boss battles with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and Guns n’ Roses Slash, as well as a brief cameo by Poison frontman Bret Michaels. Fans looking forward to more guitar gods were left disappointed, to say the least.
Activision may be about to change that, as legendary guitarist Ted Nugent has announced on a radio show that he is going to be present in the upcoming fourth game. The whole radio interview, which can be downloaded for free, about the man reveals the motion-capture process (using colorful language, no less); though no specific songs were disclosed, Nugent did mention the song “Strangle Hold” that might be in the game.
No further details on his participation in the coming title were detailed. Guitar Hero 4 is due out later this year.
Age of Conan Collector’s Edition Sold Out
Following up on word that their game is insanely popular with the fans, Funcom announced that the Collector’s Edition of Age of Conan is now completely sold out in all markets. Announced back in January, the Collector’s Edition has been sold out for weeks, a result of which was the manufacturing of additional boxes which have been sold out, too. A total of 111,000 units have been sold.
As for the standard edition, a total of 700,000 copies have been shipped on day one by Funcom. These numbers are fueled by impressive pre-order numbers, which comes as a result of interest in the game. In fact, Funcom has not been able to fulfill orders of the game in several markets due to current server capacity limitations; extra orders of servers are in place to facilitate more customers.
“Everyone in Funcom is delighted and humbled with the historical pre-order numbers for Age of Conan. If the information we have is correct, they represent the highest pre-order number for any global launch of an original PC game, ever, including the original World of Warcraft launch,” said Morten Larssen, Funcom’s VP of Sales & Marketing.