Archive for August, 2008:
QuickPicks
Iiford exhibits Galerie and Omnijet product ranges
MSI Announces New Gaming Laptop, the GX400
Spacey Joins ‘Moon’ Cast
Daily Battle – 8/30/08
Quite a slow day today, at least we got a few interesting tidbits. For one, Gears of War 2 will not be coming to the PC, for now at least. There is always the possibility it will get ported in years to come. Also, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has been delayed a couple of days, nothing to get upset about for those of you waiting for the game. Lastly, we will see a vampire based game come to the DS at some point in the future as developer Renegade Kid recently announced they are working on one.
As always:
STALKER Clear Sky Delayed
EA: Used Games Represent Critical Situation
No Gears of War 2 on PC
Penny Arcade Expo Expands to Second Location
EA: Retail Not Threatened by Digital Distribution
Analyst: Activision Doesn’t Need Warner
Renegade Kid Working on Dracula Game
STALKER Clear Sky Delayed
Shacknews carries confirmation from publisher Deep Silver that the North American release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has been delayed a “few days”.
The cause of the delay is a manufacturing issue specific to the North American edition where a printing error saw the game being distributed without CD keys.
It is not known if the delay will push back the game’s release on Steam. The European release on September 5 has not been affected.
EA: Used Games Represent Critical Situation
Having spoken about digital distribution, Jens Uwe Intat, the European VP at EA, turned his attention to the sale of used games, terming it a “very critical situation.”
“We are actually giving away the rights to play,” said Intat, “and if you just pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, that is not comparable to second-hand sales in the normal physical goods area where you have physical wear-out.”
About solving the problem, Intat was vague but very optimistic, noting that they are not going to be “overly confrontational” with the retailers, but that they’re going to solve it with “better, more interesting and online offerings.”
No Gears of War 2 on PC
Quite distressingly, Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski has revealed that Gears of War 2 will not be released on the PC, noting that it will be fully exclusive to the Xbox 360. But then again, they said the same thing for the first Gears of War.
“Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360, and therefore we’re focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We’ve decided we’re not going to do a PC version this time around,” he revealed to IGN.
The first title was released back in 2006 as a Xbox 360 exclusive, followed by a PC release almost a year later. The sequel is due for release this November.
Penny Arcade Expo Expands to Second Location
Following up on the success of the Penny Arcade Expo, which has gotten bigger with every year, the duo behind webcomic Penny Arcade announced an expansion, adding an east coast event which will start in 2010.
The event will be in Boston and will complement instead of replace the current PAX in Seattle.The Boston event is currently in the early planning stages, with the two – Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik – “determined to return to the city since delivering a presentation at MIT a year years ago.”
PAX is open to the general public and is host to various tournaments, competitions and showcases of upcoming games from publishers.
EA: Retail Not Threatened by Digital Distribution
Many love predicting how digital sales and downloads of video games will soon put traditional retail stores out of business, but EA European publishing manager Jes Uwe Intat doesn’t think retailers will be going anywhere anytime soon.
“I think there will still be a need for a physical distribution starter, and then services and additional content can be distributed online,” he said.
Intat noted that the ever-increasing size of games is also a major roadblock for digital distribution.
“We used to be below 1 GB, but we’re now building games that have 8, 9, 10 GB–and if broadband distribution is going to allow 10 GB to be distributed in half an hour, we’ll have games that are 100 GB,” he said. “Our software developers eat up storage space so much quicker than telcos can build distribution.”
Download-only games have become popular on consoles, with Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network hosting quite a few games that wouldn’t find retail space anywhere on the planet. Digital distribution platforms like Steam are also gaining, no pun intended, steam, but bandwidth and restrictions have become major roadblocks in popularizing the system.
Analyst: Activision Doesn’t Need Warner
Warner Music recently went on record to say that publishers of music-rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band should pay more royalty to the record labels. While more money may be the labels’ goals, they forget one thing: the publishers don’t really need them at all.
Or at least that’s what famed gaming analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Morgan thinks, bluntly telling Gamasutra that “Activision doesn’t ‘need’ Warner Music at all.”
“There are over one million songs out there–probably two million–and Activision is going to turn fewer than a thousand of them into Guitar Hero songs every year,” he said, adding that “they don’t need to deal with a label that represents less than 20 percent of artists.”
Renegade Kid Working on Dracula Game
Developer of Dementium: The Ward, a survival horror shooter on the DS, Renegade Kid announced today that it is working on a secret project based on “one of the biggest horror icons of all times.”
While few details were given, this teaser image suggests that the studio is working on a Vlad the Impaler game for the Wii.
Interestingly, GameSetWatch reports that the studio is already working on a game dubbed Son of the Dragon, which Gamasutra noted translates to “Dracula” in Romanian. Coupled with the teaser image, the studio is certainly working on a Dracula game whose inspiration is often cited to be Vlad the Impaler.
More details are promised for later this year.
Daily Battle – 8/29/08
(Starcraft 2)
Let’s take some time to recap on the day in another edition of the Daily Battle as August nears its end. There was a bunch of news today, all of which is below, but here are a few things I would like to touch on.
For one, the original Red Alert will be available this Sunday for download free of charge, so make note of that if you don’t already have it. The new PSP-3000 was confirmed to have less battery life that it’s predecessors, which was predictable given all the fancy new features. And last, but not least, execs over at Blizzard have said that it is quite possible that, through an expansion, we may eventually see a 4th race added to the Starcraft 2 gameplay. Hmm, I wonder how that will factor into competitive play.
Sims Creator: E3 is a Zombie
Red Alert for Free this Sunday
StarCraft 2 to Get Fourth Race Through Expansion Pack
Locksley Fill Rock Band DLC Void
Dead Space to Launch Early
Rush Hour Director Wants to Make Guitar Hero Film
Oddworld Hits Steam
Square Enix Wants Tecmo
Sony CEO: “Wii has Better Business Model”
Left 4 Dead DLC Details
Bioware Including Creation/Customization Toolset
PSP3000 Has Shorter Battery Life
Sims Creator: E3 is a Zombie
Famed designer Will Wright has dubbed the E3 show “the walking dead.”
The man responsible for The Sims and the upcoming Spore game added to an increasingly negative sentiment in the games industry claiming the E3 convention has outlived its usefulness by evolving into the low-key event from the big, brash show it was previously.
“I think they [the organizers of E3] were looking for a way to sign the arms treaty and de-escalate the whole thing,” he remarked. “I understand why they really pulled the plug on the big E3. Looking at the amount of money a company like EA would spend on it, it was ridiculous amounts of money just to be present and competitive with everyone else.”
The industry is looking to other shows to fill the void, including the Leipzig Games Convention and the Penny Arcade Expo, where many publishers will be present this year.
Red Alert for Free this Sunday
To celebrate the 13th anniversary of the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert this Sunday, August 31, publisher EA will give away the game for free. The company did not disclose how long the game would remain free, but noted that it will be available all day on the 31st.
The free download will be posted on the Red Alert 3 website as a promotion for the upcoming sequel which will hit PC and Xbox 360 in October. Those who pre-order the game will also get a free download of Red Alert 2.
StarCraft 2 to Get Fourth Race Through Expansion Pack
While StarCraft 2 will feature three races like its predecessor, Blizzard has suggested that a fourth race may appear as part of an expansion pack.
“We don’t have the resources or time to add a fourth race to the launch of StarCraft II, but I’m sure in the event that we decide to do an expansion set it’s a feature that’ll come up for discussion,” said Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce.
Pearce explained that the team has originally considered adding a fourth race to the game, but chose to focus on the “cool, best ideas on the existing three races rather than diluting those ideas across four races.”
StarCraft 2 is expected to be released sometime next year.
Locksley Fill Rock Band DLC Void
Following word that the whole album DLC “Moving Pictures” by Rush was delayed due to technical difficulties, Harmonix has announced that they will release three songs from New-York based rock outfit Locksley.
The songs are “All Over Again”, “She Does” and “Don’t Make Me Wait” by the band, which has been claimed to be one of the best bands on MySpace by Rolling Stones.
The tracks are expected to be available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network later today.
Dead Space to Launch Early
In surprising news, EA sent out word that it will release Dead Space, its highly anticipated space survival horror game, one week before its previously scheduled release date of October 31.
The company noted that development of the game at EA Redwood Shores finished ahead of schedule, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions shipping October 24. However, the PC version is still set for release on October 31.