We don't know what it'll be, but Palm is teasing an announcement for later today. As stated on the official Palm blog:
"check back later today (or follow palm_inc on Twitter) for an update direct from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco."
Palm assures us that this isn't some kind of lame April Fools. As such, we're hoping for a release date (by country) and price or at the very least a free, general release of the Mojo SDK. Whatever it is, you'll find the details here just as soon as they are announced.
We've seen some interesting ways people have tried to meld iPhone with car, but this one might top them all. Meet Jon's Mazda RX-8, controllable from anywhere in the world using an iPod touch over WiFi. As demonstrated on video, his custom web app can be used to lock and unlock the doors, start and stop the engine, and open the truck. A telemetry window provides data such as fuel level, battery voltage, RPM, speed, and temperatures. It's even got a GPS so you can track the car's wherabouts with Google Maps. All of this is accomplished with computer hidden in the trunk, hooked up to the on-board diagnostics, and equipped with a 3G modem to stay constantly connected to the interwebs. There's no indication on whether he plans to take the mod further, but if so, we can only hope it involves some well-placed cameras and a tilt-controlled steering mechanism. We pity the foolish thief who tries to steal this "haunted" ride. Check out the video demonstration after the break.
The rest of the mobile industry might be gearing up for CTIA to start, but Apple's phone elves are toiling away -- iPhone OS 3.0 beta 2's just been released to developers, along with the go-ahead to start developing for push notifications. Thankfully, beta 2 also apparently includes a number of stability and performance enhancements, which will hopefully make our tester phone tolerable again -- we've been restarting beta 1 basically every day since we sacrificed it to the hands-on gods. Devs and beta testers know what to do to snag the upgrade, let us know how it goes!
When Samsung's 2009 Blu-ray player lineup was outed at CES this year, all pricing and release date information was conveniently omitted. At long last, Sammy has pushed out the details we've been waiting for at its Spring Fever event in New York City. Granted, the BD-P3600 and BD-P1600 are already on store shelves for $399.99 and $299.99, respectively, but we figured it prudent to pass along those official numbers straight from the source. Of note, we're also told that the ultrathin BD-P4600 will indeed be coming in April for $499.99, and if Best Buy's website is to be believed, it'll be April 19th if we're talking specifics.
According to folks over at Android Community, Google has begun to pull tethering applications from the G1's Market. One of the contributors to the "WiFi Tether for Root Users" app claims that the company is citing distribution agreements with carriers as the cause of the takedowns. In their words:
Google enters into distribution agreements with device manufacturers and Authorized Carriers to place the Market software client application for the Market on Devices. These distribution agreements may require the involuntary removal of Products in violation of the Device manufacturer's or Authorized Carrier's terms of service" Google Developer Distribution Agreement
Of course, this should come as quite a surprise, given statements T-Mobile's Cole Brodman made to us during the G1 launch last year, and Google's seemingly rampant interest in being the de facto open source mobile OS. It's not clear at this point if this is an isolated incident (possibly related to the root nature of the app), or just the beginning of a more widespread move. Google (and T-Mobile to some extent) -- we await your response.
Not that we haven't seen nerdy wedding bands before, but for those who aren't really enamored with networking, we've stumbled upon another option that's just too awesome to pass up. Granted, the sound wave bands have been around a finger or two, but really, how awesome is a wedding ring with an EQ interpretation of "I Do" engraved in it? We'll tell you -- really awesome. Moving on, we've got the 1981 Atari ring, a solid piece of kit sporting an original Atari chip splashed with gold or silver. Lastly, we've got Cufflinks.com's latest, a set of Guitar Hero links that will undoubtedly make the faux rocker in your life grin from ear to ear. Dig in below for more details, but don't expect to purchase any of 'em but the last, and at $50 per pair, you should probably think twice.
It's finally here, and even a few minutes early. Skype for iPhone is now available in the US iTunes store, free of charge. We've heard great thing from the folks in Japan who've been fiddling with it for the last twelve hours, and so far it's sounding pretty good for us, too, with only minor hiccups. Not sure if it's a glitch, but despite what we heard earlier, we seem to be able to dial out while on 3G and not over WiFi (at least running OS 3.0 beta). Hit up the read link for quickest route to the app store page, and let us know what you think. Betcha wish you could ditch that AT&T voice plan now, huh?
Update: We're getting reports the app is crashing for jailbroken iPhones -- and possibly non-jailbroken ones as well. We just got our first denial when dialing out over 3G via a popup notification, but it only happened once and we were back to old habits one call later. We did experience a brief period where no sound was coming through, but that might have something to do with using OS 3.0 and was remedied by restarting the phone.
Update 2: So far, it looks like dialing over 3G's only working for those with OS 3.0 beta, but unfortunately all of us in that situation are now suffering from frequent crashes and loss of audio. Things seem to be going smoothly for those running the latest non-beta firmware, but the calls only work over WiFi. That said, when using the app as intended (non-beta firmware over WiFi), audio quality was surprisingly good, far better than any third party apps we've used.
This mod won't exactly help you much with Street Fighter IV or other button intensive games, but those that prefer to pass the time with the likes of Galaga or Xevious may want to strongly consider following the lead of our friend Mr. Pepsi Pants, and breath some new life into that NES Advantage controller collecting dust in your closet. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a complete how-to available just yet, but the video after the break does demonstrate that this bridging of consoles is indeed possible, and no doubt simple enough for anyone with the necessary skills. What's more, it looks like an SNES Advantage mod is already on tap as a followup project, which should offer a bit more practicality while still maintaining some retro flavor.
This mod won't exactly help you much with Street Fighter IV or other button intensive games, but those that prefer to pass the time with the likes of Galaga or Xevious may want to strongly consider following the lead of our friend Mr. Pepsi Pants, and breath some new life into that NES Advantage controller collecting dust in your closet. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a complete how-to available just yet, but the video after the break does demonstrate that this bridging of consoles is indeed possible, and no doubt simple enough for anyone with the necessary skills. What's more, it looks like an SNES Advantage mod is already on tap as a followup project, which should offer a bit more practicality while still maintaining some retro flavor.
Ahead of the DSi launch this Friday, retailers across the UK have advised consumers to pre-order the handheld as free stock supply begins to run dry.
Consumer demand for the latest iteration to Nintendo's handheld, priced GBP 149, is already threatened to outstrip retailers' supply across the UK, and could leave some early adopters disappointed.
"The supply is tight, there's just not a great amount of stock out there," Don McCabe, managing director of UK retailer Chips, told GamesIndustry.biz.
"Basically everything that we're getting in is already pre-sold before it hits the shop floor. It's a 100 per cent sell out for us," he explained, adding: "Our concern is when the next batch is in and we haven't had an announcement on that yet."
"We're letting customers know that the sooner they put a deposit down the further up the queue they are and when the next batch comes in, if they're the first in the queue then they'll be the first to get one.
McCabe said the pre-orders had been from early adopters and that Nintendo still had some work to do to convince the average consumer that the DSi was a worthwhile upgrade.
"I think a few people are asking why they should upgrade," he commented. "The initial batch will be taken up by the first adopters but I get the feeling a lot of people don't really know what they're going to do with it yet."
He added: "I think Nintendo have a little bit of job to do on the machine to make it a long-term success for them. I'm sure they will do it."
Entertainment retailer HMV also encouraged consumers to place pre-orders ahead of Friday's launch sales, amid escalating demand.
"Pre-orders have been strong on DSi from day one, and with both ourselves and Nintendo ramping up press and PR activity this week, we expect to see them increase even more going into Friday," Toby Burton, HMV's senior games buyer, explained to GamesIndustry.biz.
"At HMV we've put a lot of time and effort into raising consumer awareness of the product, and encouraging customers to place a pre-order in-store, backed by our strong free memory card and re-play deals. We've had a great response from our customers, and with this in mind we feel pre-orders have lived up to our high expectations.
"Obviously we still have a few days to go until launch, so we're expecting some further pre-orders, but we do envisage that we will have some unreserved stock for day one, which I think will go down well at street-level.
"However, we are encouraging our customers to place a pre-order with us to avoid disappointment, as we cannot guarantee that we will have free stock available in all of our stores. We always do our best to satisfy customer demand, but this very much depends on the availability of DSi hardware from Nintendo."
ShopTo's Igor Cipolletta echoed previous comments by saying that pre-orders had been "going very well", but doesn't see supply falling short of demand.
"We've had a good allocation from Nintendo and will be able to have loose units for day one release," he explained.
"I believe that this time Nintendo has managed to predict the sell out units and manufacture the right quantity for the day one allocation, but officially they are already on allocation and we should know better the week after release if their predictions were correct."
Play.com described "phenomenal" levels of pre-orders, of over 250 per cent more than the DS Lite's during the same pre-launch period.
"We've worked very closely with Nintendo to ensure every pre-order we take will be fulfilled and we're confident enough to guarantee delivery of every DSi order and as always we'll do everything we can to remain in stock so every customer has the opportunity to purchase this fantastic console," commented a spokesperson.
Nintendo has said it has no plans for any midnight store openings for the launch of the handheld this Friday, citing that the "DSi is an evolution of the DS family and both platforms will sit alongside each other."
The first few months of the life of Sports Interactive's MMO title Football Manager Live is "going to plan" according to studio director Miles Jacobson.
The game has now grown to encompass over 23 game worlds of 1000 users each, progress which Jacobson is happy with.
"It's going alright. The SEGA ops team is being very proactive in launching new worlds when existing ones are full," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "So it's kind of going to plan - obviously if it was going perfectly we'd have 1 billion subscribers playing," he joked, "and eventually 6 billion, but realistically with the economy the way it is we're doing pretty well...
"We're certainly doing well enough for SEGA to keep pushing us with more content, and certainly the flexibility of the business model is there. When we initially launched the subscriber periods were 3-, 6- and 12-month subscriptions having to pay upfront. We've looked at that, at the comments coming back from people who said they're interested but maybe haven't subscribed, and we've now added another business model which is more like a mobile phone contract - the longer you agree to subscribe for, the cheaper it is, and you pay per month."
He also explained that the company wasn't worried at this point about churn, usually the bane of an MMO's financial existence.
"Well, churn so far has been very low, but then when subscriptions started in January they were a minimum of three months - and when the retail version came out at the end of January it was four months. So we'll probably have much better stats on churn rate at the end of April and May.
"Certainly at the moment it's not something we're concerned about - people seem to be enjoying the game. We know where we expect churn levels to be and they seem to be lower than that at the moment."
Call of Duty: World at War's Map Pack 1 has been downloaded over one million times within its first week on sale for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, according to Activision.
Treyarch's downloadable content features four maps and is available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points and on the PlayStation Store for USD 9.99.
"I'm proud that the team at Treyarch delivered an experience that so many people are enjoying," said Mark Lamia, studio head for Treyarch.
"We're excited that the success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 will continue to drive the popularity of the game's Nazi Zombie mode, competitive multiplayer and chart-breaking success online."
Maria Stipp, Activision's EVP and GM of owned properties, added: "The success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 speaks to Treyarch and Activision's ability to provide fans with quality content during a time when people want to get the most out of their Call of Duty experience."
Call of Duty: World at War's Map Pack 1 has been downloaded over one million times within its first week on sale for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, according to Activision.
Treyarch's downloadable content features four maps and is available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points and on the PlayStation Store for USD 9.99.
"I'm proud that the team at Treyarch delivered an experience that so many people are enjoying," said Mark Lamia, studio head for Treyarch.
"We're excited that the success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 will continue to drive the popularity of the game's Nazi Zombie mode, competitive multiplayer and chart-breaking success online."
Maria Stipp, Activision's EVP and GM of owned properties, added: "The success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 speaks to Treyarch and Activision's ability to provide fans with quality content during a time when people want to get the most out of their Call of Duty experience."
Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has said the company does not believe second hand game sales are in the best interest of consumers.
He said that consumers prefer brand new products, and claimed that sales of second hand goods in other entertainment mediums has not been successful.
"We don’t believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer" Fils-Aime told Venture Beat.
"We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life."
He continued: "Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in videogames."
Fils-Aime suggested that some retailers can't make the second hand business model work, despite trying to copy competitors who have made it successful.
"We just think it’s a bad idea," he insisted. "The one retailer that has a substantial business in this has figured out a way that is effective for the consumer.
"That’s tough for other retailers experimenting with this, in part because their employees don’t have the expertise in this market."
EA has released a de-authorisation tool for its controversial SecuROM digital rights management system.
SecuROM-protected games only allow installation on up to five PCs. Although this is not being changed, the new tool allows users to de-authorise particular machines on the list, thus freeing up "slots" for new installations on other computers.
In fact, de-authorisation needs to be done with game-specific tools, but EA has also made a de-authorisation management tool available. This will show all EA PC games released after May 2008 that are installed on a users machine, and tell the user how many computer authorisations are available for each.
De-authorisation doesn't uninstall the game, so it can be re-activated later if a free slot is available.
Affected games include Spore, Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect, Burnout Paradise, Dead Space and Red Alert 3.
The numbers behind the PS2 and PSOne’s price drops to $99 are radically different — and show how the machine’s 10-year-cycles have been nothing alike.
***
The PSOne was released in Japan in December 1994 and in North America in September 1995 (for $299).
Less than four years later in the U.S.…
The PSOne dropped to $99 on August 16, 1999
By that point, Sony had shipped more than 58.4 million consoles and more than 462 million games worldwide.*
***
The PS2 launched in Japan in March 2000 and in North America in October 2000 (for $299).
More than eight years later in the U.S.…
The PS2 will drop to $99 in April 2009.
By that point, Sony claims the system will have sold more than 138.7 million consoles and almost 1.5 billion games worldwide. *
So it took the PS2 twice as long to get down to $99 as did the PSOne, in which time the PS2 sold more than twice as many consoles and three times as many games.
Imagine what the PS2 sales could have been had the system dropped to $99 four years ago. Then again, Sony didn’t have to do that. In the PSOne era, the Nintendo 64 was a solid competitor for a few years. In the PS2 era, the Xbox and GameCube put up a meeker fight.
Note that the PSOne sold more units after the $99 price drop than it did before, as the system now has sold more than 100 million units.
One other conclusion that’s too obvious to ignore: Sony dropped the PSOne to $99 before the PS2 was released. The PS2 has dropped to $99 more than two years after the launch of its successor.
Two consoles. Two alleged 10-year-cycles. Big differences.
The NY Times reports that the proliferation of free or low-cost games on the Web and for phones limits how high the major game publishers can set prices, so makers are sometimes unable to charge enough to cover the cost of producing titles. The cost of making a game for the previous generation of machines was about $10 million, not including marketing. The cost of a game for the latest consoles is over twice that — $25 million is typical, and it can be much more. Reggie Fils-Aime, chief marketing officer for Nintendo of America, says publishers of games for its Wii console need to sell one million units of a game to turn a profit, but the majority of games, analysts said, sell no more than 150,000 copies. Developers would like to raise prices to cover development costs, but Mike McGarvey, former chief executive of Eidos and now an executive with OnLive, says that consumers have been looking at console games and saying, 'This is too expensive and there are too many choices.' Since makers cannot charge enough or sell enough games to cover the cost of producing most titles, video game makers have to hope for a blockbuster. 'The model as it exists is dying,' says McGarvey."
As we discussed recently, OnLive is trying to change that by moving a big portion of the hardware requirements to the cloud. Of course, many doubt that such a task can be accomplished in a way that doesn't severely degrade gameplay, but it now appears that Sony is working on something similar as well.
A patch that adds Trophy support to Singstar on PS3 has been released today, according to reports.
Not only can virtual vocalists prompt that satisfying 'bling' sound with there voice box, but unlocking some of the 35 new trophies will, for the first time in a PS3 title, earn you rewards in Home.
The trophy lists hitting the internet don't specify exactly what goodies are unlocked, but at least the trophy crossover is a positive step towards the full 3D trophy cabinets Sony promised when Home was first announced.
The European Union has told internet companies to make better efforts to protect information they are given by consumers, or face tougher regulation.
Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told leading e-commerce and internet search firms that standards of privacy are "not satisfactory".
"Basic consumer rights in terms of transparency, control and risk are being violated," she said.
Internet firms say they have recently taken action to protect users' data.
Consumer rights
The technology used by internet companies to profile customers is becoming so sophisticated that more confidential personal information is being recorded than consumer watchdogs believe is necessary.
We must establish the principles of transparency, clear language, opt-in or opt-out options that are meaningful and easy to use
Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs
In a speech on Tuesday, Ms Kuneva warned internet giants such as Microsoft and Google that "the current situation with regard to privacy, profiling and targeting is not satisfactory".
The EU is concerned that consumers are being pressured into handing over personal data to subscribe to internet services, and that confidential information is then abused to create a profile to target the customer for sales.
Last month, the social networking site Facebook was forced to abandon a plan to change its policy towards privacy after a backlash by users.
The EU cites this as evidence that the regulators need to intervene to protect consumers.
Brussels recognises that keeping data that tracks customers' preferences is useful for marketing, but insists that consumer rights must be protected.
Ms Kuneva warned online businesses that if the EU fails to "see an adequate response", the regulator will not "shy away" from its duty to protect consumers.
"We must establish the principles of transparency, clear language, opt-in or opt-out options that are meaningful and easy to use," she said.
Outspoken Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that his company’s WiiWare and DSiWare digital content platforms are a great opportunity for all developers – from the big to the small.
“We’ve shown that the opportunity is quite significant,” Reggie told Venturebeat. “For the NoA territories, 90 per cent of the content is from third parties. Also, in the NoA territories, 18 of the top 20 titles in sales volume have been third party titles. We think it’s a fantastic platform for highly innovative, small development companies to bring their content to the marketplace.
And following news at GDC that an upcoming Wii firmware update will allow gamers to play titles direct from an SD card, Reggie is confident that the Wii will become an established indie publishing platform.
“We’re sensitive that Wii storage has prevented some developers from really embracing the idea. We showcased a solution for that at GDC. Based on everyone I have talked to, speaking right to developers at technical conference, there is huge excitement not just for WiiWare but for DSiWare too.”
This is going to be hard to top. Japanese website Akiba Blog has run a post saying that Dragon Quest IX went on sale last night.
According to Akiba Blog, over two-thousand people lined up at midnight today for DQIX. Midnight. Today. Today is April 1, and Dragon Quest IX is slated for release this July. This is according to the website. Note: people did not actually line up for it last night! The website merely has faked the launch.
Still, very cruel for those who woke up today and checked Akiba Blog website and thought they'd missed the game's launch — especially considering the number of times Dragon Quest IX has been delayed and how many Japanese gamers are impatiently waiting for it.
Still, don't be surprised if frazzled individuals are running around Akihabara, frantically looking for DQIX after reading this Akiba Blog post. If you happen to see any, be sure to let them know the game is sold out and new shipments are expected shortly.
This is just one of many April Fools jokes circulating on the Japanese internet. Website Canned Dogs has a great round-up of today's pranks. Stand outs include a Queen's Blade live action flick, SNK announcing Star Radish and a retro version iDOLM@STER.
Probably. It's on GameStop's website, after all, and last I checked big corporations aren't as prone to throwing up April Fool's jokes as common folk.
As you can see from the image below, there are 15 artists/songs specifically named, out of a promised 40+. And if most of them look familiar, that's because they are, as they're already available on the home console versions.
Shame. On the bright side, the PSP version will have its own in-game store where you can purchase downloadable content, which is something we figured Harmonix wouldn't bother with.
Malcolm Palmer stabbed the mother of his three children and partner of 30 years after having to sleep on the sofa so she could play Grand Theft Auto on a plasma TV in their bedroom.
That, and the 62-year-old Palmer, who is a retired Heathrow airport employee, had become convinced his 46-year-old partner Carol Cannom was having an affair.
The two had purchased a PlayStation (doesn't specify which one — ditto for GTA) for their 10-year-old son, but Cannom apparently started regular gaming marathons. According to prosecutor John Pini QC, "Carol quickly became hooked. He was very unhappy about the amount of time she was playing on the PlayStation."
He wielded two knives during the attack, stabbing her in the chest 20 times. Their son James called the authorities, and Palmer snatched the phone, saying, "I'm sorry. I think I've killed her."
Defence lawyer Timothy Spencer QC stated to the court, "The genesis of this tragedy bizarrely lies with the purchase of the PlayStation."
No, the genesis did not lie in the purchase of the PlayStation — otherwise, we'd have millions of PlayStation domestic murders. More relevant to the motive, Palmer went berserk last November when Cannom threatened to move out, telling him he'd never see his children again.
Your "New Xbox Experience" avatar has just gotten some grown up clothes, eight new pieces of formal and business casual articles that will be a hit at your next Xbox Live con call.
New shirts, slacks, waistcoats and skirts are yours for the virtual closet raiding, provided you want your Avatar to look nice, but not too nice. For the new additions, read on.
Male
Blue Formal Shirt
Moleskin Pants
Waistcoat and Shirt
Suit and Tie
Female
Pencil Skirt
Slacks
Pinstripe Blazer
Twin Set
Looks like publisher Majesco may be bringing 1990's laserdisc western shooter Mad Dog McCree to the Wii, according to a listing from online rental service GameFly. Why would we consider that a good thing?
While we have no particular attachment to the decades old light gun shooter, already released on multiple formats by publisher Digital Leisure, the fact that Mad Dog McCree is getting a proper Wii port from a licensed Wii publisher is exciting. While still rumored, it could also mean Wii ports of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, games currently relegated to Digital Leisure's DVD-ROM and Blu-ray Java formats.
Digital Leisure says its newer Blu-ray titles don't have the annoying pauses that have made previous iterations far less fun, but we'd like a straight up console version nonetheless.
While Mad Dog McCree requires twitch gameplay, as opposed to some laserdisc games' rote level memorization, we hope that it wouldn't be the last of the laserdisc-era arcade games to get the Wii treatment. Any old, animated arcade classics you'd like to see?
Last year, the -Minus World put its talents to good use on Atari Modern Classics, de-making box art for BioShock, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Portal in the Atari 2600 style. Ready for the sequel?
The NES Modern Classics are just as snazzy, providing us with re-imagined box art for games like Dead Space, Gears of War 2 and Animal Crossing: City Folk—among others—from an alternate universe where we never progressed beyond the Nintendo Entertainment System. A scary thought, but it makes for good box art parody.
We might venture a guess that some of the new "modern classics"—say the NES versions of Killzone 2 and Wii Sports—come with a side of commentary, free of charge.
The DS version of upcoming movie-game G.I. Joe will be a top-down shooter with a slight role-playing game element to it, the developers say.
"The game will share some fundamental designs with the console version," said Nick Pavlich, associate producer on the game. "In the DS version you only control one character, there's a slight RPG element — you can level up, get new weapons and new outfits."
The game will include six playable G.I. Joe characters and five Cobra characters. Gamers will move with the D-pad and shoot with the B button.
A secondary weapon will be tied to the Y button, with dodge on the A button, melee on the X and a special move on the right trigger and reload on the left trigger.
All of the action takes place on the top screen with the bottom screen used for the map and to list objectives. The game won't include touch support because that didn't really work well with the-down arcade feel of the game, they said.
There will be 21 levels in the single-player campaign and three modes in multiplayer: Joe Versus Cobra, Warhead and Defend the Base. Mutitplayer will be multi-card local wireless only and includes four maps for up to four players.
The GAME-800 is just another one of those direct from manufacturer PMP all-in-one pocket devices. And maybe it's just because I was a corpulent kid, but I find the design quite charming.
Emulating NES/Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Super Famicom and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis titles, the GAME-800 is a crudely controlled but effective looking pocket emulator with a 3.5-inch screen and 4GB of expandable storage. It also doubles as an MPEG4 player, eBook reader (with Chinese/English text to speech) and a low fidelity camera.
According to some site we didn't know at all until now, the PS3 Wii-style motion sensing remote is not only not a rumor but a done deal. It's already finished, they say:
Sony is reaching out to key third-party publishers and asking them to implement last minute functionality into their soon-to-be released games and of course compatibility with select future games.
We don't know if it's true or not (heck, I don't even know if it makes any sense at all for Sony to release a Wiimote, although it's entirely possible they would, given Nintendo success). They don't provide any details, however, so remember our first rule of rumors: Fried them until they are golden brown before serving along some veggies and red pepper sauce. Or don't trust them. I keep confusing this one.
Looks like the Ghostbusters are heading to PSP, if this ESRB listing is to be believed. According to the ratings bureau, the PSP will receive its own version of Ghostbusters, based on the PS2 and Wii versions of the game. The game has been announced for pretty much every platform including the DS and iPhone, so it's unsurprising that Atari would want to make a quick buck by releasing a PSP port as well.
Analyst Jesse Divnich of EEDAR believes that the PS2 price drop to a Franklin will boost US sales of the console by 30 percent. Divnich's report also estimates that PS2 software will maintain an 18 percent market share, rather than drop down to 16 percent had there not been a cut.
Gamasutra also spoke with analyst Matt Matthews, who points out that any consumer waiting for the PS2 to reach $100 is "cost-conscious" enough to buy games from the used bin at GameStop, meaning those consumers aren't likely to help new software sales. Apparently, Sony's Jack Tretton agreed with this notion last summer in an Edge interview, when he asked, "If that $30 was the difference between buying a console and not buying a console, how many games are you going to sell to that person?"
At the time, he questioned how strategically important that consumer really is. Apparently, nine months and a fiscal crisis at the company is enough to change some minds.
A new report suggests that Starbreeze Studios is working on a new Syndicate game, with Electronic Arts set to publish. Word of the Riddick and The Darkness dev's involvement with the title first made the rounds last October. Possibly related is a new casting call posted on superannuation for actors in an upcoming "futuristic" Starbreeze/EA title called "DART," which according to the post will be set in a "high tech city."
Though nothing has been formally announced, sources tell GI.biz that the Syndicate series is behind EA and Starbreeze's mysterious Project RedLime, which was originally referred to as a "classic franchise" for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
While that project was said to be "already deep in development" in February 2008, don't expect to revisit the classic cyberpunk series anytime soon. According to the report, the new Syndicate title won't be released until Starbreeze finishes up its current project based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne. Until then, the four gentlemen in the corner giving us the crazy eyes will just have to wait.
A new report suggests that Starbreeze Studios is working on a new Syndicate game, with Electronic Arts set to publish. Word of the Riddick and The Darkness dev's involvement with the title first made the rounds last October. Possibly related is a new casting call posted on superannuation for actors in an upcoming "futuristic" Starbreeze/EA title called "DART," which according to the post will be set in a "high tech city."
Though nothing has been formally announced, sources tell GI.biz that the Syndicate series is behind EA and Starbreeze's mysterious Project RedLime, which was originally referred to as a "classic franchise" for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
While that project was said to be "already deep in development" in February 2008, don't expect to revisit the classic cyberpunk series anytime soon. According to the report, the new Syndicate title won't be released until Starbreeze finishes up its current project based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne. Until then, the four gentlemen in the corner giving us the crazy eyes will just have to wait.
High-profile publishers tend to kick off massive marketing campaigns for their titles years before said titles hit store shelves (did you guys see that trailer for Halo 6 yet?), but preemptive advertising is rarely the strong suit of independent publishers. Speaking at GDC, Sony development relations manager Chris Eden warned self-publishers of downloadable titles about the perils of poor marketing, saying promotion-shy developers often send their brainchildren "out to die lonely and unloved."
Eden suggested that PSN developers take advantage of the official PlayStation Blog and Playstation.com to spread the word about their projects. Of course, success in this venture would require having a title worth talking about, and not a Q*Bert clone with updated visuals and a new protagonist who possesses overwhelming levels of 'tude.
This news was sent to our email, heres the details:
Hello,
I just released this new homebrew video player for the NDS,
All the keys even start/sel do various things. Will work in most emulator such as no$gba, or flash cards. May need to be in root dir if files cannot be opened proper.
DeSmuME the following settings are required: Emulation→GBA
Slot→Compact Flash→folder
New beta version of Sony Playstation 2 emulator for Windows has been released.
Changes:
- Various fixes to MMI and more changes to opcodes to mimic ps2 behavior, thanks to Nneeve.
- Brought back a gamefix for Persona games. They still have missing geometry without it (VU clip flag problem).
- Included Nneeve's recent fixes to DIV / DIVU instructions, regarding MIPS
specific behavior in div by 0and div by -1 scenarios.
- Nneeve fixed the Tri-Ace gamefix so Gradius5 doesn't crash with it enabled
anymore.
- Set Flush to Zero for FPU and VU back to on. Let's see how long it lasts this time.
- Removed the FFX hack from pcsx2! It's still toggled in the GS plugins, the
correct behaviour is having it always on.
- usual code cleanups and optimizations.
Also new versions of plugins.
Particularly, lilypad introduces a new, experimental multitap support and improve the savestates handling, while gsdx solves a few very old and annoying bugs (like the ones in persona...).
On Wednesday afternoon in Kyoto, Japan, Nintendo Co. Ltd. allegedly held a private conference at the Rihga Royal Hotel, where company leaders spoke to third-party publishing partners about a new service in the works for Wii owners. Called 'Wii Expand,' the addition, which utilizes the recently-released Wii System Menu 4.0's new SD card compatibility, enables players to download game expansions, modifications and updates. Insiders who attended the exclusive event said that Wii Expand would launch globally later this year, but could not provide an exact date.
Given that Nintendo's console has lagged behind competitors with regard to downloadable content, we figured it was just a matter of time before a solution came along
Much more surprising is the demo the publisher showcased presumably as a proof of concept for the service: an ultra-violent update to its hit Wii fighter, now appropriately dubbed Super Smash Bros. Brawl X: Extreme. The moniker seems to be a play on the game's original Japanese name of Dairantou Smash Bros. X -- now, though, the 'X' is stained with blood. Insiders explained that via a content download through the Expand service, Wii owners would be able to save the expansion to SD card and could then choose to play the so-called 'Extreme' version of the game upon next booting Brawl.
Sources described several scenes from Nintendo's presentation, all of them depicting gory additions to the fighter. In one such bout, Link of Zelda fame supposedly decapitated Nintendo's plumber. Skeptical, we asked our contacts to provide us with documented proof, either of the event or of the revelations made within, and they did us one better. As a result, IGN can today present the first look at the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl X: Extreme via bootlegged shaky-cam footage from the event. It's not of the best quality, but it's better than you'll find anywhere else.
In the footage provided to us, viewers will hear what we can only presume is a Nintendo spokesperson speaking about the Wii Expand service and of the Smash Bros. Brawl X: Extreme downloadable content. She refers to the add-on as an 'Extreme Mode' (our own sources assert the actual title is Smash Bros. Brawl X: Extreme) and adds, "The add-on will be aimed at adult gamers and we think this mode will be very surprising for them."
The Wii Expand service will allegedly be an addendum to the Wii Shop Channel. Our sources allege that developers who create significant updates for their games will be encouraged to adhere to a pricing plan that ranges between 500 and 2,000 Wii Points depending on the scope of the content offered. Exactly how the different prices per expansion will break down beyond that is not yet known and Nintendo officials did not reveal how much they would charge for the 'Extreme' addition when it becomes available. According to one insider we spoke with, Nintendo has set a maximum file size restriction of 170MBs for Expand service content.
Nintendo of America spokespersons could not be reached before we published today's news. As always, the information contained within today's article should be considered rumor until officially confirmed by the publisher. Stay tuned to IGN for more information on the Wii Expand service and the Super Smash Bros. Brawl X: Extreme expansion because you can bet we'll have more to come in the near future.
Following a couple of portable appearances, SD Gundam G Generation will be coming home shortly through a new installment that's set for Wii and PS2. Famitsu has the first details on SD Gundam G Generation Wars, which will hit the two consoles this Summer.
This latest Gundam title promises the usual vast array of Gundam series licenses. We count over 60 in all, ranging from television shows to comics. The biggest would apparently be Gundam OO, which is making its first appearance in the G Generation series and will offer Mobile Suits mostly from its first season.
Other areas of the franchise are also being beefed up for this latest installment. You'll be able to select from multiple main characters. Of course, customization and growth for your Mobile Suit are important parts of the game just like in pass titles. However, here you now have an "Exchange" option which appears to allow you to trade your machine with a different machine of similar rank.
There's one new system that even Famitsu couldn't get clarification on: the Wars Break system. A "Wars Break" is triggered by meeting certain conditions during play. Aside from that, we'll have to wait for a future update.
G Generation is currently 70% complete. It will presumably be a Japan-only game, so interested PS2 and Wii owners should check with their favorite import shop about obtaining a copy this summer.
Sega of Japan has been teasing about a mysterious "Project Ringo" for over a month now. At long last, the project saw a full reveal in this week's Famitsu. As many had speculated, it's an all new Puyo Puyo game.
Titled Puyo Puyo 7 (the "247" from the teaser campaign is a play on the name's sound), this latest entry in Sega's classic falling blocks series is coming to the Japanese DS, PSP and Wii. DS will lead the way with a Japanese release for July 30. The PSP and Wii versions are due out this Winter.
Based off the DS version, which is featured in this week's Famitsu, Puyo Puyo 7 looks a lot like past Puyo Puyo games, with the basic rules in tact. Sega is adding new rules to the game, however, most notably the "Daihenshin" (big transformation) rule where your character can transform to mini or super sized forms. The former brings out tiny Puyo Puyo blocks which allow for greater ease with creating chains. The latter releases giant Puyo Puyo pieces onto the stage. These can be made to disappear by connecting just three together, rather than the standard requirement of four blocks.
Also set for the DS version is wireless play. The game will support play for between two and eight players, both locally and over Wi-Fi Connection. Sega is also including download play support.
So was this worth a month of teaser site updates? Puyo Pop tends to be an addictive experience no matter how many times you play it, so we'll respond with a "possibly" for now.
Sega of Japan has been teasing about a mysterious "Project Ringo" for over a month now. At long last, the project saw a full reveal in this week's Famitsu. As many had speculated, it's an all new Puyo Puyo game.
Titled Puyo Puyo 7 (the "247" from the teaser campaign is a play on the name's sound), this latest entry in Sega's classic falling blocks series is coming to the Japanese DS, PSP and Wii. DS will lead the way with a Japanese release for July 30. The PSP and Wii versions are due out this Winter.
Based off the DS version, which is featured in this week's Famitsu, Puyo Puyo 7 looks a lot like past Puyo Puyo games, with the basic rules in tact. Sega is adding new rules to the game, however, most notably the "Daihenshin" (big transformation) rule where your character can transform to mini or super sized forms. The former brings out tiny Puyo Puyo blocks which allow for greater ease with creating chains. The latter releases giant Puyo Puyo pieces onto the stage. These can be made to disappear by connecting just three together, rather than the standard requirement of four blocks.
Also set for the DS version is wireless play. The game will support play for between two and eight players, both locally and over Wi-Fi Connection. Sega is also including download play support.
So was this worth a month of teaser site updates? Puyo Pop tends to be an addictive experience no matter how many times you play it, so we'll respond with a "possibly" for now.
Sega of Japan has been teasing about a mysterious "Project Ringo" for over a month now. At long last, the project saw a full reveal in this week's Famitsu. As many had speculated, it's an all new Puyo Puyo game.
Titled Puyo Puyo 7 (the "247" from the teaser campaign is a play on the name's sound), this latest entry in Sega's classic falling blocks series is coming to the Japanese DS, PSP and Wii. DS will lead the way with a Japanese release for July 30. The PSP and Wii versions are due out this Winter.
Based off the DS version, which is featured in this week's Famitsu, Puyo Puyo 7 looks a lot like past Puyo Puyo games, with the basic rules in tact. Sega is adding new rules to the game, however, most notably the "Daihenshin" (big transformation) rule where your character can transform to mini or super sized forms. The former brings out tiny Puyo Puyo blocks which allow for greater ease with creating chains. The latter releases giant Puyo Puyo pieces onto the stage. These can be made to disappear by connecting just three together, rather than the standard requirement of four blocks.
Also set for the DS version is wireless play. The game will support play for between two and eight players, both locally and over Wi-Fi Connection. Sega is also including download play support.
So was this worth a month of teaser site updates? Puyo Pop tends to be an addictive experience no matter how many times you play it, so we'll respond with a "possibly" for now.
Namco Bandai is going crazy with the Tales games. Debuting in the latest issue of Weekly Shounen Jump are three Tales titles for three different platforms.
For the PlayStation 3 comes the much expected port of Tales of Vesperia. But not just a direct port! Namco Bandai is adding a new character to the mix, a young pirate girl named Patty Fruel. Patty has a unique way of talking -- she apparently speaks like an old person! In battle, she makes use of knives and guns and is said to resemble the pirate class from Radiant Mythology 2.
Vesperia's PS3 conversion will hit Japan in 2009. It will be joined by a new Tales of Vesperia movie now in production at Production I.G.
PSP is getting an all new Tales game that appears to have taken some influence from Dissidia Final Fantasy. Set for release this summer is Tales of VS, a fighting game featuring characters from past Tales games. The game offers fights for four characters simultaneously, although there's no word just yet on four player simultaneous play. Confirmed characters include Vesperia's Yuri, Hearts' Shing, Symphonia Dawn of the New World's Richter, and Abyss' Luke.
Finally, the main event: Tales of Graces. This is the Wii "mothership" title that Namco Bandai debuted through a video last year.
In Graces, players take control of Aspel Rant, an 18-year-old who resides on the outskirts of a kingdom. Some unspecified event takes place that leaves Aspel desiring strength. A catch phrase for Aspel listed in the magazine says "I don't want to lose anyone again," suggesting that the unspecified event involved someone's death.
All the other details in the magazine are on the vague side. The game will have the theme of "Protect" or "Defend." Players can look forward to a large scale story along with new gameplay systems.
Graces hits Japan this Winter, closing off what looks like another crowded year for Namco Bandai's flagship RPG series.
GAME has announced that orders for the Nintendo DSi have more than doubled those for the DS Lite during the same pre-release phase.
Selected branches across the UK will host midnight openings on April 3 for the launch, allowing those who pre-ordered the handheld to pick it up as soon as possible. The following morning all GAME stores will open at 7am and begin selling a limited number of unclaimed units.
"We're looking forward to welcoming our customers at midnight or first thing on Friday morning who have been eagerly waiting this new hardware from Nintendo," said Anna Macario, marketing director at GAME.
"We know they'll want to get their hands on it at the earliest opportunity so we've made it as easy as possible. The launch of a new Nintendo handheld is always a major event, and our customers know that GAME will do everything possible to help them buy one as quickly as they can.
"We've worked very hard with Nintendo to create a high impact campaign on high streets and in shopping centres all over the UK, so customers will be very aware of the launch. There will be a lot of activity in our stores to help customers upgrade to the DSi, and get some great deals and products at the same time."
Bethesda has apologised for another show-stopping bug plaguing The Pitt DLC on Xbox Live, promising to let us know when the solution is found.
"Since The Pitt went back up on Xbox Live last Wednesday, we've received feedback that some folks were experiencing freezing issues while trying to access [the content]," writes Bethesda on its blog.
"We're working with Microsoft to get a version of The Pitt up that corrects the aforementioned freezing issue. Once the content is up and available, we'll let you know.
"We'd like to thank all our fans who generously and meticulously reported what they were seeing on our official forums, via email and on this blog. This data was immensely helpful in tracking down these issues," adds the post.
This latest hiccup follows the release of a corrupted version of The Pitt on Xbox Live Marketplace last Tuesday, which caused serious graphical glitches and was soon removed from the service.
The content was re-released two days later; enough time for the disgruntled Xbox 360 community to question the quality control procedures used.
Fallout 3 expands again this month with Broken Steel, which raises the level cap and makes the award-winning role-playing game playable past the conclusion of the main quest.
Brian Crecente of Kotaku recieved a Nintendo DSi cake from old Nintendo today complete with a box, looks tasty too. There's a video of it for better views at the site with some screenshots coming later.
Developer Just Add Water has announced Project V, a first-party Sony game for PSN.
JAW, via Twitter, says a full reveal is scheduled for E3. Sony UK has declined to comment.
"It's first-party for Sony, so we can't talk about it too much, but it's a retro shooting game," chomped JAW boss Stewart Gilray to VG247. "It's for PS3 and PSP.
"We've been working on it for about a year now," he added. "We showed it to Sony last year and they snapped it up straight away.
"
E3 returns to its old format this year and runs a month earlier from 2nd - 4th June. The show will still be trade-only, for now, but 40,000 visitors are expected to trample through the LA Convention Centre, where publishers will spend fortunes advertising their wares.
Hideo Kojima has already singled out the event as the place he'll announce his next game. GDC keynote absentees Sony and Microsoft are also expected to reveal significant secrets.
WiiNewz have posted a warning about some idiots posting dodgy file on the net:
It has come to our attention that there are numerous "joke" or otherwise dangerous files currently in circulation. These include preloader 0.29, several "channel" versions of the USB Loader, etc. that contain "Rick rolls" or otherwise malicious code. Sorry... this is not funny to most of us.
The majority of the apps are originating from GBAT3mp. The administrators there can no longer keep up with the massive amount of lameness that emanates from their forum. As a result, we are no longer allowing hotlinks to their site.
Do not install anything on your Wii until has been confirmed legitimate by more than one user!!!
Well seems that the piraters of the Wii Scene and indeed those with no brain are tainting what should be the best console homebrew scene, thankfully DCEmu is keeping to just legitmate homebrew and not the recent releases that just makes everyone look like pirates
Handy is software dedicated to emulating the Atari Lynx hardware on a standard PC. The software was originally developed by Keith Wilkins and was released under the GPL on 14th April 2004.
Handy/SDL is a port of the WIN32 sourcecode so that it can be used with the GCC compiler and the Simple Directmedia Layer (SDL) library. The Handy/SDL port was developed by the SDLEMU crew
WiiHandy/SDL is a port of the Handy/SDL sourcecode to the Wii developed by raz0red
0.3 - March 31, 2009
Ability to enable/disable vertical sync (NTSC/PAL60 only)
Ability to set the gamma level of the display
Added option to load Lynx boot ROM from the root directory
Gamecube controller support
Fixed a couple of buffer overflow issues causing periodic crashes
Refactor of the source code
Yet another arcade emulator which uses the M6809 cpu.
Should be fairly playable, even has working screen flipping.
I have one more arcade emulator coming up, though I can't find why the music doesn't play.
*Pretty much everything works except sound.
They are compressed with 7zip. You might need to download the 7zip extractor http://www.7-zip.org/
Please note that the readme and archive description both state that emulators using the "Selector" interface are fixed but that is not true. Unfortunately, they are still not showing text correctly. I just don''t have the time to properly apply the fix I came up with a day or two ago. It will just have to wait until the next release.
Also note that I do not have a PAL TV so I am trying my very best to fix this issues but I honestly have no idea if I''ve improved PAL or not in this release. (Crossing my fingers)
New in DR7:
--------------------------------
* Lots more work on the TV-Out tweaker. It now has
better compatibility. Mame and PocketSnes should now
work (They use an older minlib that trahses the VSCL
register for some reason. My tweaker detects this.)
For best results, try to use 4:3 scaling modes, which
preserve the aspect ratio. When Minlib trashes the
register the only way out is to restore it to a 4:3
ratio to the HSC register. Simple eh??? hehehehe
God this tweaker has given me burnout.
Furthermore, I added a new option, "Scaling Tweak" that
should be turned OFF when using LemonBoy2X. Furthermore
LemonBoy2X requires that "YUV Tweaking" be turned ON,
because it does lovely weird stuff with the YUV layers.
Additionally, the tv out option "Stubborn Fix" has
been removed because I figured out a way to do it
in a way that won''t affect other programs, so now it
is automatically applied. Older Fenix games and some
old SDL games now work right no matter what. (Spout,
Blingo, Ruckman, etc)
Rlyeh''s PAL overscan tweak is now optional and can be
enabled in the GMenu2X settings. It was always enabled
before, and I have no idea if it was helping or hurting.
I also fixed the video player, mp2x, to properly set
the scaling registers in PAL mode.
(It was ignoring them before when in PAL mode and this
might be why some people had the bottom of the screen
cut off.)
* Some F200 units had a garbled screen when trying to
first install the firmware. This was probably
because I left an F100 kernel in the F200 install.
I guess some units didn''t like this (although mine
did). It''s been replaced with an F200 one.
* I forgot to mention in DR6 that Open2X now has
stick-click emulation. If you didn''t notice, there
is an option in the Open2X settings to change it from
Vol-/+ to Up+Down+Left+Right or disabled. F200 and
DPAD-modded F100 users will need to know this if
they want to use the bundled music player, Gmu,
as it uses stick-click a lot.
* Orkie''s "Compat" compatibility package is now
included. Launch it from the Applications section.
It allows you to run games that were dynamically
linked and incompatible with Open2X''s newer libraries.
It is NOT yet compatible with Joy2xd or maybe lots
of other new Open2X features. Work might be done
to improve that in the coming months.
New features from Senor Quack in DR6:
-------------------------------------
* Software reset: if a program crashes or hangs, press
VolUp+VolDown+A+B+X+Y+L+R and then release all buttons
and watch as the Open2X kernel kills off the errant program
and automatically relaunches GMenu2X. It should take 5
seconds or so for the menu to start to relaunch, though
it might take a little longer if it''s a big program.
* TV tweaking daemon, customizable for each program. Gives
most programs 100% perfect TV out. Will not work with some
HW-accelerated SDL apps that used double buffering,
however. Supports tweaking the YUV layer if you find your
movies are off-center in the video player, too.
NOTE: I only have an NTSC TV, so I have no way of knowing
if this even works with PAL TVs, please get back to me
and lemme know if it works or not.
* Support for direct control of the GP2X from a USB gamepad.
Joy2Xd is a new background daemon that can be fully
customized for all sorts of USB gamepads. When running,
the first joystick (leftmost USB port) can control
every single GP2X button in every single GP2X app ever
made, including GMenu2X. Play games and watch movies from
the comfort of your couch. If an app crashes, you can
just hit the same buttons you would on the GP2X to relaunch
the menu: VolUp+VolDown+A+B+X+Y+L+R. For each app, you
can configure you you want the USB joystick used to
control the GP2X to be hidden or shown to apps. This
configurability allows compatibility with every single
emulator I tried. Some need the hidden option turned on,
some have good customizability and don''t need it. Be sure
to run the configuration program in Settings before
turning Joy2XD on from the Open2X settings screen.
* Controls remapping for SDL applications (and others that
read /dev/GPIO for their button inputs). In the GMenu2X
links settings, you''ll see you can map each GP2X button
to a different one. This should work on every single SDL
program every compiled for the GP2X that used the SDL
input layer. (Some apps did not but they are very few)
* Support for volume scaling and muting for all applications.
Press Vol-/+ in GMenu2X and see the icon in the bottom
right change to indicate Normal Mode, Headphones Mode, and
Mute Mode. You can configure the volume levels in the
Open2X settings. Mute mode entirely mutes the GP2X for
all apps until you change it back. Headphones mode makes
the GP2X much quieter overall so you don''t lose your
hearing. Thanks to PokeParadox for helping me get this
wedged into GMenu2X.
* Support in GMenu2X for SD insertion/removal. GMenu2X now
stores all links in a special folder on your SD: .open2x_gmenu2x/
Hit X in GMenu2X to unmount your SD card before removing it.
If you insert a new one, GMenu2X will automatically scan and
display its links. Make sure your SD''s filesystems are free
of any errors, as these can make unmounting flakey.
Sometimes Linux just won''t let go of a filesystem and there''s
nothing I can do about it, so sometimes you might find you
still need to reboot if you see Gmenu2X doesn''t pick up the
new card.
* Touchscreen calibrator for F200s
* LCD timings calibrator. Your timings will be applied at every
boot. My F200 unit gained a much better screen image by
reducing the timing to -4. Scanlines were much less
noticable. Even F100 units can benefit. Note: FPLL mode is
not really good to use because it is tied to the CPU speed.
* MMUhack built right into the Open2X kernel. Write buffering
is turned on by default for any and all apps and will not
affect compatibility. This provides a small speedup to a lot
of apps. Write caching is a configurable option for each
link but that often requires that the program originally
used mmuhack.o, lest screen artifacts occur. Most people
will never need this as Open2X now automatically loads its
own version of the MMUhack module when it detects a game is
trying to load its own. (Open2X uses a wrapper for insmod
and modprobe for this purpose)
* Automatic importation of all old GMenu2X links into the new
/mnt/sd/.open2x_gmenu2x/ link location
* Application section links restorer. If you mess up any
links in the application section, this will remove them all
and copy in all the default ones.
* New GMenu2X options: Booting gmenu2xes found on SD cards is now
turned off by default and configurable. Always apply fast RAM
tweak is a new option that overrides all link settings if you
want an overall speedup for no cost in battery life. New
display of current uptime in the bottom info bar so you can
better estimate remaining battery life, especially on F200 with
no battery gauge. There is now a separate gamma setting for
TV mode because I found TV looked washed out most of the time.
External drives can now be unmounted as well as mounted (to
allow clean, safe shutdowns)
* Open2X now has stick-click emulation. If you didn''t
notice, there is an option in the Open2X settings to change it
from Vol-/+ to Up+Down+Left+Right or disabled. F200 and
DPAD-modded F100 users will need to know this if
they want to use the bundled music player, Gmu,
as it uses stick-click a lot.
NEW APPLICATIONS:
-----------------
* Mindless made the Open2X image viewer. It kicks ass, try it out.
LATEST VERSION OF WORLD'S BEST SELLING XBOX 360 CONNECTIVITY KIT !
New in this kit is the ability to extract the key from the new Liteon drives in order for you to be able to use another model drive which can be updated / repaired. Now supporting full USB !!
The CK3 Pro is an optical disc drive adapter (ODD) so that means you will not have to have your beloved 360 hooked up to your PC, no fuss of moving all your equipment across rooms and dragging around that huge 360 power supply! As part of the ODD adapter, advanced features such as a debug mode which allows an ODD to be recognised in Windows/Linux without any special firmware. This provides a future proof way for recognising the drive on your operating system for use with other hack functions later. If you don't have a spare ODD lying around, and let's face it the majority of us don't then this is a really useful piece of kit.
As if that wasn't enough, Team Xecuter have also bundled in a FREE SATA hard drive adapter for the Xbox 360, so now you can hook up your hard drive to your PC without opening your Xbox 360 case in conjunction with freely available software such as Xplorer 360.
Feature List:
- USB Support (Liteon Key dumping)
- Powers ALL XBOX 360 DVD Drives
- Mode-B on Hitachi 59 & Earlier (78/79 Require Slax Disc)
- Compatible with already released tools (dvdkey/dvdkey32/toolbox etc)
- Onboard ON/OFF Switch
- Onboard Eject Switch
- FREE 360 Hard Drive Adapter
- Effortlessly transfer files from your 360 hard drive to your PC without opening up the case!
- FREE USB Cable
- High Build Quality
- Trusted Xecuter Design
- Noob Power Protection to prevent damage to the kit from incorrect dvd drive power lead
The jailbreakers have managed to keep their speed record intact. Just one day after Apple releases an update to the iPhone OS 3.0 beta, QuickPwn updates its wares to support the new firmware. According to the related writeup, it should work with all iPhone / iPod touch models. After going through the jailbreaking process, you'll need to open icy and follow a few more steps to finish the job. As usual, download at your own risk, and for now, crack is for Windows users only.
Looks like all that pent-up demand for SlingPlayer for iPhone has caused the suits at Sling to go mad with greed -- the company just posted up a page saying that owners of every older SlingBox save the Slingbox PRO will have to upgrade to a Slingbox SOLO or Slingbox PRO-HD in order to stream to iPhones. Yes, this is totally ridiculous: we've been told that the limitation is purely money-driven and that previous builds of the iPhone client worked just fine with older Sling hardware -- hell, if a Palm Centro can stream off the original Slingbox, there's no reason at all the vastly more powerful iPhone can't hack it. Sling's offering a $50 credit to owners of older hardware, but honestly, we can't say some token coupon is going to take away from the bitter taste of a forced upgrade here -- unless Sling comes up with legitimate technical reason for crippling such highly-anticipated software like this, we'd say it's about to piss off a lot of formerly-happy Sling customers.
Sony's just released the details for its upcoming PlayStation 3 2.70 firmware update, and while it's nothing that'll knock your socks off, they are some goodies here to look forward to. Additions include text chat for letting you make the best of that new Wireless Keypad -- or some other physical / on-screen keyboard -- with up to fifteen online friends and / or three chat rooms, in-game or out. Speaking of online friends, those can now be sorted by online status to see who most recently logged on, and the file attachment size cap has been upped from 1MB to 3MB. Additionally, you can now back up your PS Store video purchases to an external drive and restore later for playback, and similarly your PSP video purchases can now be transferred to PS3 for a larger-screen experience. No word on the release date for now, but in the meantime, check out video demonstration after the break.
Update: Well that was fast. Firmware's available now, let us know what you think.
Well, it's not quite the release date and price you were hoping for, but it's definitely something. Today Palm -- via a short keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo -- announced that the company would begin taking names and numbers on the webOS dev site for potential developers who will receive an "early look" Mojo SDK. And that's starting right this moment... as in now. That news alone would be big, but reps we spoke with said that the SDK would be made available to developers that the company will be cherry-picking as early as tomorrow. So if you were looking to get into the Pre app game, here's your first big chance.
In addition to the SDK news, Palm is introducing a new set of "integrated cloud services" for developers (called Mojo Messaging Service) which will use a standardized publish / subscribe system to allow data to be bounced from the "cloud" to devices. Basically, it looks like this is Palm's play for some of that push buzz -- though the indication is that this service can and will be used for bigger tasks as well.
Finally, the company announced that third-party developer MotionApps will be making a Palm OS emulator available for purchase to coincide with the launch of the Pre. The application will be utilize the mass storage mode of the device to allow for drag-and-drop of PRCs, though according to the press release, the emulator "won't be able to leverage core webOS functionality," meaning that you probably can't expect pure bliss across all of your applications, particularly those with roots that go deeper into phone databases and the like. What's interesting to note about this app is that it's being built on more than just the standard webOS SDK -- an event which Palm called "unique." They went on to assure us that this was a one-off to allow for emulation, but we're thinking they might want to reconsider that policy by factoring in the clamor for serious gaming on a device like the Pre. You can check an image of the emulator after the break.
So, no pricing, no release date, but lots of movement on the developer front -- which is big news if you're a company trying to launch a completely new operating system. Still, we're getting a bit antsy with all this waiting... it might be time to throw everyone a bigger bone than that tired "first half of 2009" line, guys.
Massive news hit IGN Australia this morning with the leak of what appears to be the design documentation for the next Grand Theft Auto instalment. According to photos provided by a reliable source, these images show 'Grand Theft Auto: Harbour City' – set in a fictionalised Sydney, Australia in the 1970s. What's more, the developer appears to be 'Rockstar Bondi' – formerly Team Bondi, makers of the mysterious and oft-delayed L.A. Noir.
This image has not been altered. Click for a larger version.
IGN has come into the possession of two photos, allegedly taken at the Team Bondi studios last week, showing the cover - the 14th edition of the 'Grand Theft Auto: Harbour City' design document – and a page outlining the overview, key points and gameplay hooks. The email claims that these were taken on an old Nokia handset and had to be "done in a hurry".
This image has not been altered. Click for a larger version.
We've done our best to transcribe what we can make out, and we've indicated points where the text was too grainy to be sure:
Grand Theft Auto: Harbour City expands and improves on (ed: not sure) the benchmark Grand Theft Auto IV from Rockstar North, bringing Rockstar Bondi (formerly Team Bondi) into the spotlight (ed: not sure).
Set during the 1970s(?), the story follows Harbour City resident and low-level thug, Tresle(?) 'Thumb' Conroy (ed: not sure), from his accidental invitation(?) into the high rollers' gambling circuit(?) (ed: not sure) through to dominance of the city's underworld, financial district and celebrity system(?). The tone pays reference to famous Australian con-films(?) 'Chopper' and 'Dirty Deeds'.
The game's mission-based structure will remain in place, with a greater emphasis on side-missions, environmental interactivity and destructibility. Harbour City will run on an enhanced version of the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine supported by the continued licensing of the Euphoria animation engine.
Missions will take players across the iconic Coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge) and Harbour City Amphitheatre (Sydney Opera House), into the sleazy (Seedy? Sassy?)(ed: not sure) Knight's Crown (Kings Cross) and Greenleaf (Redfern) districts, into the surrounding beach communities of (Sheldon? Shevon? Slebbon?) (ed: not sure) (Bondi) and through the tangle of city streets and inner-city residential suburbs.
While Harbour City takes cues from Sydney's urban landscape, a portion of the Australian outback will also feature (ed: whaaaa? Seriously?).
Tantalisingly, the Motifs section points out some of the game's potential themes:
High rollers (ed: not sure), gambling, beach lifestyle, c--(?) (ed: not sure), information (immigration?), drug-running, military ---(?) (ed: not sure), Australiana, celebrities, street racing, nautical activities, committees(?)(ed: not sure)
Finally, the release date is listed as October 2010, which sounds about right to us in terms of timing. The logo looks vaguely retro, which also fits a possibly 1970s setting. The 'Gameplay Hooks' section lists a branching story arc, what we think says 'Enhanced Euphoria animation' and environmental destruction, as well as online stock trading and, tantalisingly, co-op mission structure.
A close-up of the Harbour City skyline.
There are a few other curiosities on offer here. There's a single image of what looks Sydney – Centrepoint Tower appears to be visible. It's not clear whether this is a screenshot, target render, a photograph or conceptual art. We've blown it up for your dissection.
The Rockstar Bondi logo?
Team Bondi has been mysteriously quiet lately, leading some to suspect that their previously announced project, L.A. Noir had been cancelled. However, it appears that Rockstar was impressed with the studio's work – to the point where they've effectively handed them the keys to the GTA castle. Incorporating Team Bondi makes a lot of sense, as does a rebrand to fit under the Rockstar banner. There also appears to be a new Rockstar logo in the bottom-right corner of the page, in green and gold – very Australian.
At this stage, these photos are all we have to go on. We're currently seeking comment from Rockstar's local PR arm to confirm or deny the authenticity of these images and we'll update this article accordingly.
Microsoft has just announced the release of Windows Server 2008 Foundation. Codenamed Lima once upon a time, this release is being billed as a low cost alternative to Windows Small Business Server. Squarely aimed at the OEM set (Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and various Chinese software pirating syndicates have already have expressed interest), this licensing scheme limits the server to fifteen users (even as a member server on a Windows domain), doesn't include hypervisor, and does away with the need for Client Access Licenses (CALs). With today's announcement, Foundation is available in 40 countries in English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish.
No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. President Obama met today at Buckingham Palace with the Queen, and our forward thinking commander-in-chief brought along a little tech for gifting purposes. Obama presented Elizabeth II with an iPod containing video from her 2007 visit to the States. In return, the first family received what is apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries to the Palace -- a silver-framed photo of the Queen and her husband. At a glance, it seems like Obama has a thing for gadgets (and related media); he recently handed off a set of DVDs featuring classic American films to Prime Minister Gordon Brown... who was unable to play them due to incorrect region encoding. Regardless, the Queen appears pleased with the music player, telling the President during their 25 minute tea that she "Finally has something to listen to [her] Pantera records on."
2,000,000,000. That's how many movies Netflix has shipped out since coming on the scene in 1999. Lucky number two billion -- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist on Blu-ray) snagged Clay Shannon a complimentary lifetime subscription (guess he's not too concerned about the new, higher Blu-ray rates.) It took the company eight years to cross the one billion milestone, and only two for the next billion. While there's little indication of a slowdown in the two million movies shipped out every day from 58 distribution centers, we wouldn't be surprised if number 3 billion were just as likely to come as a download than anything else.
Streaming game service OnLive may have stolen his thunder at GDC last week, but industry vet Dave Perry is confident his rival firm, Gaikai, will "win" the battle for consumers in the long term.
Both companies are promising to streaming high-end videogames to home PCs, but Perry believes OnLive's requirement of downloading an initial set-up is a barrier to users who are demanding frictionless gaming.
"Our solution is arguably better than anything OnLive has - they're never going to be able to beat us on this," said Perry in an exclusive interview published today.
"They have to download one megabyte and install it on your computer. What does that mean? It means that everyone in schools, or any kind of uptight or professional business location is not going to be able to download some random game via the internet and install it.
"And they'll have to go through patches and updates and everything else. Ours has no download. That's the difference. It seems trivial, only one megabyte download, but it's not, it's the act of having to download it," claimed Perry
Working for free-to-play outfit Acclaim has highlighted the fact that users dislike downloading or installing software, said Perry, revealing that 60 per cent of users are lost when forced into updates.
There are doubts over OnLive's technical claims, and Perry is likely to face the same questions with Gaikai. Although he promises a big reveal at E3 this June, he does claim that top level publishers are interested in partnering with the service, and that companies, the military and scientists are eager to support the Gaikai technology.
The company is based in Amsterdam, and has been founded along with entrepreneur Rui Pereira and former TMNS consultant Andrew Gault. Gaikai's Streaming Worlds service is in early private beta.
Perry said that he's glad of the competition in the market, and that "overall it's a very exciting thing," but he also warned that now OnLive has gone public with its plans, it needs to follow through with its promises.
"I would be concerned if I was them, I would be very concerned, because they've placed their bet on the table and committed to it now.
"At the end of the day it's going to come down to a technology decision by the consumer, what's easiest? And I think that's where we're going to win."
Two million players have joined the LittleBigPlanet community since its launch in November 2008, creating 725,000 unique levels.
Media Molecule's title has been played more than 125 million times, while players have posted more than four million comments on user-generated levels.
"LittleBigPlanet is giving people from every walk of life the opportunity to express themselves creatively. The game is just the start. This is creative gaming; never ending experiences that take on lives of their own through their players," said Mark Hardy, MD of content and platforms at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
"LittleBigPlanet appeals to a generation shaped by their networks and thirsty for great experiences to share with friends. Where LittleBigPlanet goes from here is up to its community; it is theirs to shape however they like. This makes it much more inclusive than gaming has ever been before."
I should warn fans of the Japanese Game Boy Advance game “Mother 3” that this post may make you sad, but, still, the Nintendo of America president had something to say about the much-heralded role-playing game.
***
The following is an excerpt from my interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. The first part of our interview ran earlier today, covering the Nintendo DSi, the new “Zelda” and some other stuff.
And then, this came up:
MTV Multiplayer: We used to talk about “Mother 3” [the highly-regarded 2006 Japanese role-playing game that has never been released in America, despite a fervent Internet fan movement]. And then I stopped asking you about it after a while.
Fils-Aime: I’m a big “Mother” fan. I have to set the record straight on this topic, because I have seen all of the hate comments. I’m a big “Mother” fan. Huge “Mother” fan. I would love to see “Mother” localized in our market. In fact, I’ve talked to [Nintendo president] Mr. Iwata about it because this is a game he has some history with. [pauses] But it is not on our announcement schedule. [laughs]
MTV Multiplayer: How can that be? [laughs]
Fils-Aime: I am a fan of a lot of different products that aren’t on our announcement schedule.
MTV Multiplayer: How could there be something you like, but it’s not on the announcement schedule? Take me into the psychology of that.
Fils-Aime: Maybe I’m going to burst some people’s bubbles, but just because I’m the president of NOA doesn’t mean that every game that I love gets published in our territory. We run a business. And so, in order for a title to be published, the development, localization, launch, volume, all needs to make economic sense.
MTV Multiplayer: Does DSiWare [the downloadable gaming service for the DSi] open you guys up to being able to release, for example, a much-anticipated, much-desired Game Boy Advance game — that’s pretty small — digitally, where you wouldn’t have to market the same way?
Fils-Aime: Let me answer the question a different way. We have seen effective sales taking content that only launched in Japan and launching it on WiiWare.
MTV Multiplayer: “Sin and Punishment.”
Fils-Aime: Exactly. So it’s certainly something we look at and, for the right titles, we’ll bring to bear.
MTV Multiplayer: What did Mr. Iwata say when you started badgering him about “Mother 3″?
Fils-Aime: [laughs] It was a fun conversation.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime covered a broad range of topics withe me during our interview at GDC last week. In the first of a series of posts, check out our conversation about all things DS, including his hands-on impressions of the new “Zelda” and his expectations for the DSi gaming market.
***
I conducted the following interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime in his hotel suite in San Francisco last week. I’ve interviewed Fils-Aime several times, which allowed the mood to be light, the banter to be quick and for a lot of ground to be covered.
First, here’s the DS-centric part of our interview:
MTV Multiplayer: What’s the DSi software landscape going to be like once the system is out? Will there be DSi-exclusive games? Will there be DS games that have DSi-exclusive features?
Reggie Fils-Aime, president, Nintendo of America: The short answer is “Yes.” There’s going to be both. Our expectation is that most of the content will be, call it, DSi-enhanced vs. DSi-exclusive. Why? One hundred-million installed base of DS. Developers are going to want to leverage that installed base and yet they’ll want to provide extra content via the features of the DSi, like the camera. That’s my expectation as to how it will play out.
MTV Multiplayer: You guys didn’t announce any hybrid games like that.
Fils-Aime: Correct.
MTV Multiplayer: When could we hear about that?
Fils-Aime: It would be reasonable to talk about that after we’ve launched. Part of it is, we want to make sure people understand some of the core functionality. Down the road is when we’ll start talking about DSi-enhanced or DSi-exclusive content.
MTV Multiplayer: “Zelda”? DSi-enhanced?
Fils-Aime: Wouldn’t that be nice?
MTV Multiplayer: Yeah. Now, when you guys were thinking of the subtitle for the new “Zelda” ["The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks"], did you start with my initials and go from there?
Fils-Aime: That was not the driver.
MTV Multiplayer: Ok. Because the “Halo 3” spin-off was originally “Halo 3: Recon.” They changed it to “Halo 3: ODST. And you guys? “The Legend of Zelda: ST”!
Fils-Aime: I have to say that, as we were doing all the naming, and working with NCL [Nintendo's Japanese main office], we were not in the background saying, “It’s gotta be Stephen Totilo somehow!”
MTV Multiplayer: It should be. But that’s a tentative title, right? So people shouldn’t get too attached to it?
Fils-Aime: Correct.
MTV Multiplayer: Can people assume that this game puts a new 2009 “Zelda” game on or off the table, because maybe there can’t be more than on new “Zelda” for the year?
Fils-Aime: What we’ve done is we’ve announced a great “Zelda” game for the DS — one I’m looking forward to. But reading anything more into that would be a mistake.
MTV Multiplayer: Have you had a chance to play it yet?
Fils-Aime: I did play a little bit of “Spirit Tracks.”
MTV Multiplayer: How is it?
Fils-Aime: I love it.
MTV Multiplayer: How does it compare to you as a player?
Fils-Aime: I’ll tell you what I love about it. It takes some of the things I liked about “Phantom Hourglass” to the next level. Example: I thought tracking the path of the boomerang was nice in “Phantom Hourglass.” But the way you use [the stylus] to solve puzzles with “Spirit Tracks” is really provocative. I think the “Zelda” fan will really enjoy it… You do more in tracking and outlining. We showed it in the trailer. You move [an extra] character to a spot in order to unlock puzzles. I really like that. I think it adds a level of gameplay which, for me, hearkens back to some of the classic “Zelda” puzzles.
MTV Multiplayer: If you can have trains in the “Zelda” universe, can you have planes in the “Zelda” universe? How advanced is this universe?
Fils-Aime: ["Zelda franchise director] Mr. Aonuma must answer those questions. I cannot answer those questions.
MTV Multiplayer: Another DS question: “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars” — there was a lot of skepticism about the M-rated market for the DS. What have you been able to determine about whether the market is there for that game?
Fils-Aime: The market is absolutely there. Look at it from a US perspective. Here’s a fun ST-factoid. Fifty-two weeks into the marketplace, the installed base in the U.S. for the DS is larger than the installed base for the PS2 at the same time. And yet there was no concern or disagreement that PS2 had an M-rated consumer they could sell to.
MTV Multiplayer: Well, they launched with fighting games. You guys had a dog game.
Fils-Aime: We didn’t launch with a dog game. [laughs]
MTV Multiplayer: No, you launched with “Mario 64″…
Fils-Aime: Which is still selling exceptionally well.
MTV Multiplayer: Have you seen what the ordering pattern has been?
Fils-Aime: I have not talked to the folks from ["GTA" publisher] Take-Two. We certainly believe that there’s an 18-and-above consumer opportunity with DS, just as we believe there’s an 18-and-above consumer opportunity with Wii.
MTV Multiplayer: One of the things that struck me while playing “Chinatown Wars” was the amount of resources put into it. There was so much effort put into it. Outside of Nintendo and maybe Vicarious Visions, I can’t think of any development studios that have exhibited the ability to put so much time and so much talent into a DS game. I see it as a pro and a con. It’s disappointing that it took five years to happen. What could this developer and publisher been doing on this platform all this time? So what is there about the DS market — and what you guys are doing with it — to ensure that that effort and top-of-the-line quality of “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars” is not a fluke?
Fils-Aime: There are two things we do. The first is to make sure we drive the installed base. Just to put it in perspective, since October — and I use October because that’s when the financial crisis came to ground — we’ve sold over six million pieces of DS hardware. Our job is to create the installed base for the opportunity to be leveraged. The second thing is to work with publishers and to give them technical knowledge and insight to create a stellar game and we do that as well. From there it really is the job of the independent publishers to jump on it and bring the ideas to life.
MTV Multiplayer: So, you can’t pick up the phone and call Blizzard or Valve and say, “You guys are some of the best people out there? We want to have you on this platform.”?
Fils-Aime: We have conversations with western publishers about supporting our platforms. We have a licensing organization that has those types of conversations all the time. All the time.
MTV Multiplayer: Last fall, when Mr. Iwata was holding a press conference, he talked about a piece of software called “Girls Mode,” which is a girls fashion game. And he said this would be big in other territories. One would assume, since we have a lot of girls in the United States, that this is one of the territories he was talking about…
Fils-Aime: And the fact that we had almost a 50-50 split on DS sales, male-female.
MTV Multiplayer: What more can you say about “Girls Mode” for the U.S.?
Fils-Aime: I have nothing to share today.
MTV Multiplayer: Can you talk a little more about what it is, since he said it’s coming to other territories?
Fils-Aime: I’ll describe what it is as it exists in the Japanese execution. The proposition is creating store concepts and clothing that is sold in this game environment, and as you sell more it gives you more resources to put back into the experience. It’s akin to running your own girl-oriented department store. Neat, neat concept. Very well done. Very Japan-centric in its initial execution.
MTV Multiplayer: Circling back to DS and DSi, do you see the DSi becoming the de facto DS for this market in 2009?
Fils-Aime: We will let the marketplace decide what happens between DSi and DS Lite. My belief is that, in the Americas, given the pricing differential and given the current economic environment that these two products will live side-by-side for quite some time.
DS Month: As part of the ongoing DS Month on CasualGaming.biz, we’ve spoken to some of the key figures in the UK games industry about their thoughts on Nintendo’s device ahead of its arrival in the UK on April 3rd.
Here, CG.biz talks to Zushi Games’ marketing manager Chris Brown.
CG.biz: Why do you feel the DS has such mass-market appeal, and what has been key to its ability in expanding the industry's customer base?
CB: There are a number of factors involved, such as the Touch-screen & Stylus interface, which makes the console more accessible to a new audience who would maybe feel alienated in the past by an abstract input such as a Joystick and a multitude of buttons.
This coupled with the fact that the initial software line-up and TV advertising strategy had games such as Nintendogs and Brain Training that would appeal to a wider female audience and an older demographic that would not have played games in the past.
This broke down previous perceptions of videogames being a younger male dominated market and opened up the door for your younger sister, mum, dad and even grandparents to take the plunge and have a go.
Since its launch back in 2006, the phenomenal success of the Nintendo DS Lite® worldwide has allowed publishers to create dynamic and creative games reaching much wider target audiences and establishing themselves what is now becoming known as the emerging casual games market!
Nintendo’s foresight, dedication to its brand and strategic positioning of both the DS and Wii consoles, has allowed publishers like ZOO to become more innovative and focused on their business and product development strategies.
At Zoo we continue to look into our New Product Development Strategy and adopting licenses that will attract the mass-market buyers out there for the DS and now DSi platforms.
This year we’ve self funded a number of games, making sure we drive our product development programmes, both in the UK and overseas to target the individuals and families that enjoy gaming In all its varied genres.
For example, take our upcoming licenses; Love Is…, SmileyWorld® and Jelly Belly®, all of which have mass-market appeal across a wide variety of target audiences. From parents, kids to teenagers, there is something for everyone in the ZOO DS and DSi line up this year!
Zoo have the following games based on their new licenses ready for release in the upcoming months.
Love Is…® in bloom – Take control of the popular Love Is…® characters in their first ever videogame outing as they plant, grow and collect flowers to make beautiful bouquets to sell in their flower shop.. Full of the same endearing charm as the original cartoons you get to work on a blossoming relationship as well as growing a thriving business. There are 12 varied and unique arcade-style games to choose from with user-friendly controls using the DS stylus!
SmileyWorld® Island Challenge - Join Smiley and friends in this exciting adventure game. Marooned on a desert island the only way to escape is by completing each of its challenges while avoiding the perils and dangers ahead, and collecting rewards and treasures along the way. With 14 actioned packed games, trophy rewards for replay value and head-to-head 2 player duel mode using the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi technology to keep players of all ages entertained for hours on end!
Jelly Belly®: Ballistic Beans – Now lovers of the Jelly Belly beans brand can indulge themselves in this official licensed video game with 8 thrilling themes and 5 maniacal modes of bean blasting fun and dazzling power-ups aplenty!
Is it pinball? Is it breakout? No! It’s Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans for the Nintendo DS!
Enrichment and diverse game play entertainment is what we are striving for within our products this year and these all hit the nail on the head when it comes to bringing gaming to life on the DS platform.
All 3 licenses combine vibrant visuals with a real sense of fun and entertainment value, to provide a feel-good factor to the individual and family audiences - the whole essence of what casual games should be about!
CG.biz: What is next for the DS? What can the DSi bring to the table that's not currently there?
CB: As a UK publisher the DSi has made the DS more personal and wants to let avid gamers and people into social networking, keep, swap and edit music and photos wherever possible. It also gives publishers the added security from piracy because of the removal of the physical media cart and GBA slots. We’ve welcomed the transitional move to paid-for downloads of demos, entire games and other content, which we’ll also be focusing a great deal in the upcoming year! There is enough onboard memory and a SD card slot to let enthusiasts take full advantage of sharing content too.
The 0.3 megapixel camera is sufficient although we would have liked to have seen this added feature fully integrated with the device for gamers to use and promote their own bespoke ‘user generated’ content within games and online communities within Social Networking sites. We are definitely excited about the added functionality and the DSi’s potential to broaden players horizons even further and we are currently looking into all possibilities with our developers.
he UK film industry is changing the focus of its fight against piracy.
A series of adverts warning people against the offence have been withdrawn and replaced with a campaign thanking the public for their support.
The Industry Trust says cinema and DVD sales rose in 2008 and its campaign message "You wouldn't steal a car... piracy is theft" transformed attitudes.
But it still sees illegal downloads as a threat and wants internet providers to cut off customers involved.
It also wants the government to step in if self-regulation fails.
The new adverts for cinema audiences and DVD buyers in the trust's You Make The Movies campaign thanks the public for paying to see films.
If everyone chose to buy knock off DVDs and downloads, eventually British film production would dry up altogether
Noel Clarke
The campaign comprises of three trailers directed by Little Britain director Steve Bendelack, which show fans paying homage to iconic moments from Lord of the Rings, the Life of Brian and Jaws.
The voice-over for the adverts is by Bafta award winner Noel Clarke - who played Mickey in Doctor Who and is the director of Adulthood.
He said it was vital the campaign used humour to get its message across.
"We know recession is hard but if you're going to the cinema and you see something like this... it's a little bit of humour to say thank you for coming.
"Here's the industry not saying 'don't do this' but instead it celebrates the public by saying 'here's a skit of a film you may remember'.
Online leak
"It's a way of thanking them because without them doing that the movie industry, particularly over here, could be in jeopardy.
"If everyone chose to buy knock off DVDs and downloads, eventually British film production would dry up altogether."
The Industry Trust For Intellectual Property Awareness said the biggest threat to the film industry is from illegal digital downloading.
The campaign launch comes as a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman has been leaked online a month before its cinema release.
Since being uploaded to file sharing websites on Tuesday, more than 75,000 copies of the film have already been downloaded and reviews by users have started appearing online.
The film is not due for release in the UK until 29 April and 1 May in the US.
Microsoft has announced the upcoming release of Alpine Legend for the Xbox 360. Building upon the established titles of the music game genre, Alpine Legend takes you to the Swiss mountaintops, where you and your friends play up to three Alpenhorns at a time while a fourth yodels along. When you're done playing, you can disassemble the 8-foot horns for easy storage. "Jam with alpine legends like Franz 'The Manz' Lang and Johann Hornbostel. Shake the mountain tops with 100 classic Alphorn tracks including, 'Whose spit is in my horn?' and 'More goat bell (It needs).'"
It's been a busy day for the folks at Blizzard, who have released major announcements for several different games. The next Diablo III class has arrived: the Archivist. Despite their frail appearance and hunched, labored movement, they are quite deft at launching Quest Bolts at nearby foes, or conjuring a whirling Lore-nado of spinning books. Loud monsters can be silenced with a devastating Shush attack. Blizzard also put Starcraft II's latest unit on display, the Terra-Tron, which is a giant, robot uber-weapon assembled from the buildings in your base. Finally, for World of Warcraft they announced two features that have been requested by players for years: a battle of dances, where you can show off your avatar's hippest moves, and the ability to 'p1mp' your mounts. (Not sure exactly what that means, since I don't speak elvish, but there's a Nightsaber with a cannon — holy crap!)
Know what little kids love more than playing the Nintendo DS Lite? Playing the DS Lite for long periods of time and holding it close to their face.
To prevent that, there this: the Health Control Game Timer. The ¥3,990 (US$40) doohickey has a timer with settings for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes and 120 minutes. If a player goes over the allotted time, the DS switches off automatically.
There's also a sensor that can gauge how close the player. If the player gets too close, an LED light illuminates, the DS Lite vibrates and makes a beeping noise.
The Health Control Game Timer fits directly in the DS Lite's Game Boy Advance slot. Shame the DSi doesn't have a GBA slot.
OK, it's been a bit longer than three days. But with Easter around the corner, it's somewhat apt, because just as everyone was done saying goodybe to FileFront, it's now back from the dead.
The popular PC file download service was closed late last month after its owners, Ziff Davis Media (who were trying to offload the site), failed to find a buyer. Yet no sooner did the site close than, with its value crashing through the floor, it seems somebody stepped in to save it. A message on FileFront's website reads:
FileFront has been acquired by the original founders of the site and will NOT be suspended as previously announced. This is NOT an April Fool's Joke.
Several more paragraphs of that make it rather clear that, yes, this is not a joke. As of writing, all "previously suspended" services are up and running, and the new/old owners "look forward to improving FileFront and serving the gaming community for years to come."
The recent release of Rei Cho Aniki—a remake of the original homoerotic side-scrolling shooter for the PSP—wasn't cheap. But thanks to the PlayStation Store, cash-strapped importers can have it for a song.
As Siliconera points out today, the digital download of Rei Cho Aniki, via the Hong Kong version of the PlayStation Store, is selling the PSP game for $220 HKD (less than $30 USD). That's about half of what the retail version goes for at 6,040 yen plus import mark ups. Not a bad deal for such a niche shooter.
Setting up a new account for the Hong Kong PlayStation Store is a breeze. While I've personally done that portion of the process, I've yet to actually drop the cash. Siliconera says it can be done with any credit card—no PlayStation Store Ticket required.
This could be a good step in the right direction, bringing import-only titles that are likely never to see the light of day outside of Japan or the rest of Asia to a global audience. More digital downloads, please!
It's the biggest StarCraft II announcement since the game itself -- and would make Michael Bay proud. Blizzard today unveiled the largest unit to date in its RTS franchise: the Terran Terra-Tron. This hulking bipedal war machine is actually built from the combined pieces of an entire Terran base. The base "transforms," if you will.
As if its sheer mass and weapons load-out weren't enough to intimidate Zerg and Protoss adversaries, the thing speaks. Phrases such as, "Hell, it's transformin' time" and "Terra-Tron, terrorize!" should turn any rush into a retreat. Blizzard has videos of the Terra-Tron doing big things on the game's official site -- but hurry, it might be gone come April 2.
Russian hacker Vortex has released a beta version of a 3.0 Jailbreak. It is packaged in the Dev Team's windows Quickpwn software and reportedly works on the iPhone 1st gen, iPhone 3g, and iPod Touch 1st gen. It unfortunately does not install Cydia instead it only installs Icy. However you can install SSH via Icy and then install Cydia manually . On the plus side the download is only 3.2 mb because it is only packaged with Icy.
Be warned this is NOT Dev Team approved. This 3.0 Jailbreak while using the Dev Team's Windows jailbreak software and method is not using files packaged by the Dev Team.
Only a two weeks or so after iPhone 3.0 beta 1 was released Apple has seeded iPhone 3.0 beta 2 to developers registered in the iPhone Developer Program. This beta is very similar to the last one with one major addition: push! The feature that Apple promised AGES ago has finally been implemented with iPhone 3.0 beta 2 allowing developers to use the APIs to begin developing push applications. As expected this beta also has been updated for better stability and performance.
Developers signing on to the iPhone SDK program are now expressly forbidden from writing iPhone apps that can be installed via jailbreak, or any software for any Apple technology that messes with security or DRM. http://i.gizmodo.com/5194770/apple-d...-cracking-apps
For some, the April 7 release of Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena can't come soon enough. To help ease the pain of waiting, we present two new trailers from the game (viewable after the break). The first clip shows our anti-hero storming one of the ship's generators, while the second clip showcases the many enemies that try to get in Riddick's way. Oh, you silly NPCs ...
If you want your experience to be extra authentic, shave your head, turn off the lights, and don some shades while watching. Around the office, we call that Vin-O-vision.
Announced sometime around the end of WWII itself, The Saboteur has managed to survive EA Pandemic's recent shake-up and is on track for 2009 release on 360 and PS3. We never really saw much of the game to begin with, so comparisons between how it looks now and did back then are difficult to draw. According to info on the newly launched official site, though, the core gameplay is still very much same as it ever was.
By that, we mean the "Will to Fight" mechanic, where more Parisians will join the player's fight against the Nazis as the city is gradually liberated. The site also makes a bullet-point out of the fact the game is the first to feature an open-world recreation of Paris. Hmm, we'll go with the former as the more exciting of the two "features." Unfortunately, all of the site's screenshots are tragically small and low-quality. Sabotage perhaps?
Announced sometime around the end of WWII itself, The Saboteur has managed to survive EA Pandemic's recent shake-up and is on track for 2009 release on 360 and PS3. We never really saw much of the game to begin with, so comparisons between how it looks now and did back then are difficult to draw. According to info on the newly launched official site, though, the core gameplay is still very much same as it ever was.
By that, we mean the "Will to Fight" mechanic, where more Parisians will join the player's fight against the Nazis as the city is gradually liberated. The site also makes a bullet-point out of the fact the game is the first to feature an open-world recreation of Paris. Hmm, we'll go with the former as the more exciting of the two "features." Unfortunately, all of the site's screenshots are tragically small and low-quality. Sabotage perhaps?
The XBLA approval process has always been a process shrouded in mystery ... until now. Developer Introversion, the folks behind upcoming XBLA game Darwinia+, are laying all the cards on the table -- design documents, internal emails, weekly reports, code from the game and even the project plan -- thus providing transparency of the XBLA approval process. Available on Introversion's website, the company has made it clear that it'll show "the good, the bad, and the very very very bad" that takes place during game development. "If we can show it to you -- we will."
Teaming up with GamesIndustry.biz, the company will also be regularly updating an ongoing series "critiquing the ongoing development process," and presumably helping those outside of Introversion to understand more intricately what has gone into creating Darwinia+. The game is set to release internally on September 24, so with any luck we'll see it not too long afterward.
Fracture advances players to the year 2161, where the effects of global warming have altered the planet’s landscape, and a clash in ideologies over human enhancement places society on the threshold of war.
In utilizing the core gameplay mechanic of Fracture, a destructive next-generation technology known as Terrain Deformation, players are equipped with an arsenal of futuristic weaponry to strategically reshape their surroundings on the fly.
Every action they perform dynamically reshapes the earth in ways no videogame has.
Sate your desires for destruction in Fracture, split the ground, erect barricades with lose soil, the future is in your hands, shape it to anyway you like. The game is available as a PlayStation3™ Austral-Asian version, at an unbeatable bargain price of US$ 9.90 only
The maximum amount of purchase is set to 3 units per customer, so be sure to get a copy for your friend.
The Leisure Suit Larry® Box Office Bust video game gives gamers an all-access pass to the glitz, glamour and gorgeous women of Tinseltown. In this third-person adventure game, Larry takes a summer job working on his uncle Larry’s movie lot doing odd jobs and trying to uncover a mole from another studio who threatens to air the studio’s dirty laundry in the tabloids.
Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust is a rollicking, innuendo-laden lampoon of Hollywood that features open world sand box game play that includes exploration, platforming, racing and puzzle-solving to complete missions. Additionally, the game will feature an all-new Directors Game that allows the player to create their very own “Larry Feature.”
features
Contains three PixelJunk games on one disc
Includes PixelJunk Eden, PixelJunk Monsters and PixelJunk Racers
description
The PixelJunk 3in1 Pack contains three popular PixelJunk games previously released only on the PlayStation®Network on one Blu-ray disc. The ultimate collection for all PixelJunk fans.
PixelJunk™ Racers
PixelJunk™ Racers is an addictive slot car racing game that supports 1080p and features single player and multiplayer fun (up to 7 players simultaneously offline!). Intuitive controls, 32 different race modes, and online rankings will provide countless hours of racing mayhem.
PixelJunk™ Monsters
Inspired by the popular and addictive "tower defense" genre, PixelJunk™ Monsters takes the simple real-time strategy concept of building, researching and base defending and presents it in a uniquely attractive style. With meticulously hand-drawn 2D art, PixelJunk™ Monsters recreates the look of a classic with crisp graphics designed for optimal viewing in Full 1080p HD.
In PixelJunk™ Monsters, the player controls a defender-of-the-forest character in a lush 2D environment. The player's goal is to strategically defend the pathway to his homebase from an onslaught of various threatening monsters. In between waves of monster attacks, the player scrambles to reinforce his defenses by collecting gold coins and jewels from fallen enemies to finance new towers and research deadlier weapons. Eventually, the player can harness the elements throughout the 20 different stages to cast lightning storms across the forest. Gamers can enjoy PixelJunk™ Monsters with a friend in offline co-op mode, which requires careful strategy and communication.
PixelJunk™ Eden
PixelJunk™ Eden is the third PSN title from the addictive PixelJunk series by Japanese developer Q-Games. Utterly unique and spell-bindingly beautiful, PixelJunk™ Eden welcomes you to a psychedelic world unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. As a tiny, silk-spinning ‘grimp’, it is up to you to collect the lost “Spectra” that have been scattered across all the gardens of Eden. You grip, jump and swing, destroying “Prowlers” and collecting their pollen which lets you grow more plants to take you further and deeper into the garden to locate the precious ‘Spectra.’ Lush visuals, slick controls and amazing music make it an incredibly atmospheric and addictive experience.
Amami Shuu is a modern magician who combines science and technology with his magic.
With full knowledge of what he is and the danger that he may come to, he could not be close to any ordinary people, and thus rejected Shione, a sweet girl who confessed to him. However, his rejection incurs the wrath of Shione's best friend Mio who has a hidden agenda.
Besides trouble with love, he is entrusted with investigating a case of missing persons. Replicas of people start appearing in town, and once the original comes to contact with the doppleganger, the original disappeared.
He enlists the help of the Library's witch Kanae as his informant, but suspects that the case is not as simple as she puts.
One night, he witnesses the fight between Mio and a doll-like girl, and realizes that Mio, like him, is a modern magician while the girl will soon become his classmate.
Battles, magic, cute girls and utter chaos, 11eyes Crossover is the answer to any adventure gamers' dreams. The game is available as a limited edition and standard edition
The latest issue of Nintendo Power published with the first story on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Wii. This is not an April Fool's joke. Rumors floating around the Interweb previously suggested the title might be a remake of the original PlayStation game, but according to the magazine, the WIi title is far removed from its predecessor. In fact, Konami describes it as a "re-imagining" of the original game.
Excerpts from the article itself have also made it online, and reveal a great deal about how the new game will look and feel.
"This is a reimagining of the first Silent Hill," says producer Tomm Hulett in his Nintendo Power interview. "It's not a remake or a port. That's an important distinction. It really feels like a new game."
Other aspects of the game have also hit the Net, including some interesting pieces based on the story itself, as well as the game's ability to "watch" users as they play. Hulett mentions that characters will be playing different roles in the game, and events won't necessarily carry out in the same order or how they did in the original project. Fans of the main character Harry Mason will be happy to hear that the title still revolves around his search for his daughter, though.
Another major element within the game is that it watches you, and will actually react to how you play. Your behavior dictates the action, so to speak, with the game always aiming to not only get into the protagonist's head, but "Your head" as well, according to Hulett. The remote itself is also being used to interact directly with the environment, rather than just having button presses dictate specific actions. As Hulett puts it, "You're not just hitting buttons to choose things." It also seems there will be a larger emphasis on streamlining the whole process, with a few minor details suggesting that there's a way through every door in the game, and a whole lot less backtracking overall.
Details beyond that are sparse, but IGN can confirm that this is in fact not an April Fools joke, and that Shattered Memories is a very real, very anticipated Wii offering from the folks at Konami. As for the Nintendo Power issue, more information has yet to break, though you can expect more news to hit through us very soon, with coverage on Konami's take on Wii's darker side ready to begin.
Be sure to check back soon, as we'll have a whole lot more on what is sure to be an impressive, mature offering for the devoted "core" Nintendo fans.
Nintendo has been focusing on New Play Control games of late, but that's going to change shortly. The latest Shounen Jump offered up first solid details on Takt of Magic, a first party Wii game that's now set for May 21 release in Japan.
In Takt of Magic, you take control of Orwell and Sharlot, two childhood friends who, for a reason that's currently unclear, face off on the battle field against monsters and enemy soldiers.
Jump promises an in-depth look at the game's "new style battle system" and "deep story" in its next issue, but this issue provides a couple of hints about the game. You hold the Wiimote like a wand and draw out shapes to perform magic. The game includes over 100 spells. In addition to casting magic, you also control a battle party, whom you direct on the battle field from an overhead perspective.
A May 21 Japanese release means further online details should be on the way shortly. Stay tuned!
Here is the release of my plugin PSPluginInfo "which is now in version V0.5.
And here is the list of innovations:
Quote:
- Added restart function (VOL + and VOL-)
- Added function to load eboot (VOL and select) -> ms0: / PSP / PSPluginInfoPRX / EBOOT.PBP
- Added USB function (screen and L)
- Added screenshot function (screen and R)
- Add the hook function (R function)
- Added function autoboot (L at startup)
- Fix bugs
- Added some other minor features
To use the "hook function in XMB" place the eboot in the following folders:
When you think of classic perpetrators of April Fools Day jokes, the Entertainment Software Rating Board usually doesn't spring to mind. However, the ESRB's latest listing has a tidbit so juicy some might just chalk it up to April 1st shenanigans.
Apparently, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is coming to the PSP. No, it's not. See update below.
Although the game's been announced on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS, this Everyone 10+ rating is the first time the game has ever been mentioned for Sony's platform. A message left with Atari about this craziness was not immediately returned.
If it's true, the PSP joins the PS2 and Wii in the Everyone 10+ rating while the PC, 360, and PS3 are going with a "Teen" and the DS gets a flat "Everyone." We'll keep you updated as details become available.
UPDATE: Atari says the PSP version is not happening.
"Currently a PSP version is not a part of the release plan for Ghostbusters: The Video Game," a reprsentiave said. "Atari will release the Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 2 system, the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC, Wii and Nintendo DS. Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be available around the globe as Sony marks the film's upcoming 25th anniversary."
Jak and Daxter are back. No, this isn't an April Fools Day joke; no, this isn't another racing game; and no, this isn't another spin-off. This is Jack and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, the next chapter in the storied franchise.
Set for a simultaneous release this fall on the PSP and PlayStation 2, the Lost Frontier picks up where the series left off and puts you back behind the controls of Jak in a third-person platforming/action/vehicle adventure. It's being developed by High Impact Games -- the folks behind Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank -- and described on the PlayStation Blog as a tale that takes our heroes "all the way to the edge of the world. There they must battle their way past air pirates and sinister creatures in their quest to find a cure for the world's eco shortage."
JMEBoy is a Game Boy emulator available for mobile phones using J2ME.
Quote:
Release Name: JMEBoy 1.3
Notes:
The jar archive contains the compiled code of the JMEBoy project. The jad file contains a decription of the contents of the jar file and is needed on some devices.
This release is only for usage on mobile devices supporting J2ME with MIDP 2.0. Use the latest Android release for a version that can be used on Android-based mobile devices.
After uploading the jar file to your mobile device, you should be able to run the emulator. On some devices the jad file is also required to be transferred to the mobile device.
You may optionally execute the following steps to include Gameboy programs into the archive, prior to transferring it to the mobile device:
- Rename the .jar file replacing the .jar by a .zip
- Add the Gameboy ROMs (.gbc,.gb,.cgb) you want to be able to run to the programs folder and add these programs to the programs.txt file.
- Rename the archive replacing the .zip by a .jar
If your device supports the FileConnection API, then you may omit this step and instead transfer the programs to the file system of your mobile device and use the "Search Programs" menu entry to make these programs available to the emulator.
In case that you modify the jar archive as described above, you may not use the downloaded jad file as the file size information it contains is then incorrect!
The javadoc zip file is meant for those who are interested in the class structure of the application, i.e. rather developers than end users.
Changes:
1.3 (based on rev. 267)
- added MIDI-based sound implementation that should make sound work on most modern mobile devices
- show a progress bar when loading a game
A new version of OpenTTD has been released. Quote: "OpenTTD is a clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", a popular game originally written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features. OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. For more information, see the file 'COPYING' included with every release and source download of the game."
Publisher Detn8 Games Ltd. and developer Awesome Play Ltd. announce the upcoming release of Speed Zone, a graphically-stunning, futuristic racing game for the Wii home video game system.
Set for North American release in late May, 2009, Speed Zone breaks new ground for graphics on Wii with game play to match. Furiously fast and silky smooth, the game runs at a bar-raising 60 frames per second. Stunning terrains are set on colorful planets, floating asteroids, and space stations. Speed Zone features three core game modes - Solo, Race, and Battle – each with multiple goals and a progressive, level-unlock structure.
Multiplayer options in Race and Battle modes break new ground as well, allowing for up to eight players (split screen) using four Wii Remotes and any combination of four Nunchuks, Classic Controllers, Nintendo GameCube controllers, or Logitech Speed Force Wireless force feedback racing wheels. Speed Zone is the first Wii game to support up to four of the Speed Force Wireless wheels.
A 3D, three-sided pyramid menu provides access to the game's 30 levels. The pyramid menu displays 10 Solo tracks, 10 Race tracks, and 10 Battle arenas. Initially, only the lowest-tier levels are unlocked. Players need to achieve a number of goals to unlock level links to the more challenging levels above on the pyramid menu.
In Solo mode, players try to ignite jet thrusters with boost pads to accelerate "into the zone," with phantom cars and racing lines to help set lap records. When a player beats the targeted Zone-Time, the next level unlocks. Players can find secret pickups and shortcuts and earn bonus rewards by setting new best times. Bonus rewards can be used to buy new cars, skins, aerodynamic aides, and performance upgrades, which give the player the opportunity to go even faster when revisiting levels.
In Race mode, players compete against seven computer-controlled AI cars. Players unlock the next level by finishing in the top three (or better, depending on the difficulty level).
Battle Mode is an all-out, futuristic demolition derby, using some spectacular weapons. Players can fry opponents with a lighting gun or shatter them with an overactive chain-gun complete with flying shells – not to mention a plethora of other weapons, including rockets, missiles, lasers, and mines. Defensive pick-ups include shock-jumps, shields, and a stealth cloak.
Speed Zone comes from UK-based Awesome Play Ltd., a studio headed by renowned developer Archer Maclean. Archer Maclean has a 30-year track record of award-winning hits, including the seminal PSP launch title "Archer Maclean's Mercury." Among Maclean's other acclaimed works are Pool Paradise, World Karate Championship (a US #1 hit in 1986), IK+, andthe classic Dropzone.
Awesome Play Ltd. is a console game developer located in Banbury, UK (www.awesomeplay.co.uk). Detn8 Games Ltd. is a console and handheld video game publisher located in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, IL (www.detn8games.com).
If this had emerged a day earlier, I'd have dismissed it as an April Fools joke. But it didn't, so I accept no liability if it turns out to be bogus.
It seems a study of 1,130 British men conducted by 'the UK's only specialist PS3 price comparison site' PS3pricecompare.co.uk has found that two-thirds would rather play video games than have sex.
To be fair to the UK's male population, the study was conducted on a PS3 site, and the damning figure only applies to new games. Only 32 per cent of respondents said they'd rather play video games generally than have sex - it's only with the qualifier 'new' that the number shoots up to 72 per cent.
Amongst the reasons the men gave were that their partners were 'hard to please.'
It's not that hard, boys. You just need to learn the right combos and finishing moves. If you get stuck, there are numerous strategy guides online. Four player co-op is good fun, although versus mode can get a bit sticky. A good quality joystick is essential.
Despite a turbulent couple of years and the global economic downturn, Sony marketing head John Koller has revealed to VG247 that Sony expects PSP sales to go up 15 per cent over the coming year.
Why so confident? "It's for a number of reasons," says Koller, "but primarily because of the entertainment packs and line-up of software that's coming. The software line-up alone should drive a lot of hardware sales."
True enough - this year sees the release of a number of high profile titles on PSP, including Assassin's Creed, Ghostbusters, LittleBigPlanet, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, and a bevy of others. In terms of quality, you can't fault Sony's efforts.
However, this year also sees the release of the DSi (out tomorrow) and the iPhone 3.0 software, both of which will give impetus to Sony's already dominant rivals. Koller's probably right: this year's line-up will drive sales. But a significant hardware update is pretty much due.
A utility to analyse the play history on the Wii (shown under Today's Accomplishments on the Wii Message Board). Show such stats for each game/channel, including total time played, total number of times played, average time played, first and last time played.
Rules
The rules are simple. You take turns with another player to drop red or black pieces into the board. Pieces fall in from the top and slide down to stack up on top of each other. The goal is to get 4 of your pieces touching in a straight line (diagonals also count) before your opponent does. This is similar to Tic-Tac-Toe.
Details
This is a 2 player game. Unless you have a split personality, you will need to install a second player (not included) somewhere near your wii.
By default the game only uses one wiimote. If you want the added convenience of a second wiimote, or if the other player has snot on his hands, you can set control TWOWIIMOTES in the settings.ini file.
FluBBa is back with another arcade emulator for the GBA, nice to see the GBA get some loving
Yet another arcade emulator which uses the M6809 cpu, this time from Konami.
This one has sound as well, though no speech.
*Pretty much everything works except speech.
Will my long time rumor claiming that guests will be able to buy their own ‘wand’ that will interact with the Wizarding World come true? Could be… because the latest online poll at the preview website asks you what “What kind of wand would you prefer to own?” The choices are: A personalized Ollivanders wand that chooses you, a hero replica wand or a villain replica wand. To date, neither Universal or Creative Kingdoms is talking…
On April 5, Nintendo launches Nintendo DSi, the third iteration of the best-selling portable video game system and the latest evolution in hand-held gaming. Nintendo DSi gives new and veteran gamers the ability to customize, personalize and share their experiences with friends and family. Two built-in, interactive cameras let people snap and modify photos, while recorded sounds can be played and manipulated in interesting and imaginative ways. Also on April 5, Nintendo will launch the Nintendo DSi Shop, a new online storefront where users can redeem Nintendo DSi Points to download an ever-growing variety of inventive games and applications. Nintendo DSi will be available in the United States in Blue or Black at an MSRP of $169.99.
"The concept of entertainment is clearly expanding to enable self-expression and creation in ways never before possible," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Nintendo DSi is loaded with software to help people do exactly that. It's not just about the cameras or audio playback, but what people can do with these features that makes Nintendo DSi such an enjoyable game system."
Beyond the creative user experience, these features also give developers the tools to create new games and applications not previously possible. In the same way that WiiWare has given developers big and small a way to deliver their most original games directly to Wii users, Nintendo DSiWare provides access to the latest and most inventive hand-held games from a variety of studios and genres. Here are the Nintendo DSiWare titles that will be available when the Nintendo DSi Shop launches:
- WarioWare: Snapped! - Using the built-in Nintendo DSi camera, this outrageous title puts players right at the center of fast-paced mini-games, challenging them to race the clock and get a peek at Wario's photo album.
- Bird & Beans - Using an elastic tongue, players must scramble to collect falling beans. The harder a bean is to catch, the more points it's worth.
- Brain Age Express: Math - In this math-focused edition of the popular Brain Age series, players can enjoy a mix of new and familiar training exercises. A new Themes mode also lets Nintendo DSi users experiment with images and voice recordings in fun, unusual ways.
- Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face - This game uses your Nintendo DSi as a prop in a card trick. Draw a face on the touch screen and astound your audience as the face tells them which playing card they picked.
- Art Style: AQUIA - The newest addition to the eye-popping Art Style series, this mesmerizing underwater puzzle game challenges players to help a scuba diver reach the ocean floor by matching a series of colored blocks.
In addition to a diverse, constantly expanding lineup of DSiWare game titles, visitors to the Nintendo DSi Shop can also download the free Nintendo DSi Browser to enjoy portable access to the Internet. Powered by Opera, this simple-to-use application makes use of the Nintendo DSi system's dual-screen display to provide fast, intuitive Web browsing.
As an incentive to get people connected and enjoying the online content, consumers who buy a Nintendo DSi system and connect it to the Nintendo DSi Shop by Oct. 5, 2009, will automatically receive 1,000 Nintendo DSi Points. (Visit dsioffer.nintendo.com for more details.) Software in the Nintendo DSi Shop will be available at four price points: free, 200 points, 500 points and 800+ points. Users can purchase additional Nintendo DSi Points in the Nintendo DSi Shop or via a Nintendo Points Card sold at retail locations. Nintendo DSi Points will be available in increments of 2,000 at an MSRP of $19.99.
Nintendo DSi allows users to create and share unique moments using a number of distinctive features. Two cameras - one pointing at the user when the system is open, one facing away - let people take photos and manipulate them with 10 built-in "lenses" including Distortion, Graffiti and Mischief. The cameras inspire creativity by letting users personalize their photos and trade them wirelessly with friends and family. The Nintendo DSi Sound application lets people put their own spin on their music with the ability to play and manipulate AAC sound files accessed from an SD card. These sonic tweaks are not saved or stored – they're meant for having fun on-the-fly, changing the pitch or playback speed of a clip with a simple touch of the stylus.
Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today announced that Steal Princess, the genre-bending puzzle-platformer for Nintendo DS, has been delayed until May 19th. Unrelated to the delay but serving as a special treat to fans that either pre-order or pick up the game at launch, each and every copy of Steal Princess will include a special mini-poster with beautiful art inspired by the game.
"Releasing a few weeks later gives us more time to familiarize gamers with this creative, original title," stated Tim Pivnicny, VP of Sales and Marketing at Atlus. "Because Steal Princess will be available through fewer sales channels and in smaller quantities than other Atlus releases, finding the optimal launch conditions is critical to ensuring that this daring new release avoids getting lost in an already busy April."
The mini-poster extra, selected by fans through online voting, will be tucked behind the cover art, ensuring it reaches pre-order and launch date customers in perfect condition. This continues the Atlus Spoils program that provides fan-favorite extras with many Atlus games at launch.
3-D puzzle platformer -- Dive into a playing field of simple design, but deceptively complex challenge, that combines action elements with puzzle-solving skills on a 3-D, isometric plane. Jump, swing, climb, and attack as you search for the key to complete each level.
Over 150 levels to beat -- Levels spanning different geographies and requiring different strategies deliver on the promise of true breadth. Play them again to beat your best times, earn higher rankings, earn better endings, and collect more gems to unlock items.
Create and trade custom levels -- A robust custom map maker lets you construct levels with any enemies, items, and victory conditions you want. Trade maps with other players over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and local wireless for a never ending challenge!
Steal Princess has been rated "E10" for Everyone 10 and older with Language, Mild Fantasy Violence, and Suggestive Themes by the ESRB.
News via PSPita (although i cant clarify if this is the source or not)
Is released today a new version of 2ube, homebrew to view the videos from you tube on your psp, leading to version 0.0.3. The changelog in Japanese unfortunately not possible to understand what changes have been made to this version, but it seems that has been boosted by the rescue of searches video.I follow the link for the download.
Namco Bandai is going crazy with the Tales games. Debuting in the latest issue of Weekly Shounen Jump are three Tales titles for three different platforms.
For the PlayStation 3 comes the much expected port of Tales of Vesperia. But not just a direct port! Namco Bandai is adding a new character to the mix, a young pirate girl named Patty Fruel. Patty has a unique way of talking -- she apparently speaks like an old person! In battle, she makes use of knives and guns and is said to resemble the pirate class from Radiant Mythology 2.
Vesperia's PS3 conversion will hit Japan in 2009. It will be joined by a new Tales of Vesperia movie now in production at Production I.G.
PSP is getting an all new Tales game that appears to have taken some influence from Dissidia Final Fantasy. Set for release this summer is Tales of VS, a fighting game featuring characters from past Tales games. The game offers fights for four characters simultaneously, although there's no word just yet on four player simultaneous play. Confirmed characters include Vesperia's Yuri, Hearts' Shing, Symphonia Dawn of the New World's Richter, and Abyss' Luke.
Finally, the main event: Tales of Graces. This is the Wii "mothership" title that Namco Bandai debuted through a video last year.
In Graces, players take control of Aspel Rant, an 18-year-old who resides on the outskirts of a kingdom. Some unspecified event takes place that leaves Aspel desiring strength. A catch phrase for Aspel listed in the magazine says "I don't want to lose anyone again," suggesting that the unspecified event involved someone's death.
All the other details in the magazine are on the vague side. The game will have the theme of "Protect" or "Defend." Players can look forward to a large scale story along with new gameplay systems.
Graces hits Japan this Winter, closing off what looks like another crowded year for Namco Bandai's flagship RPG series.
Gandja, gives us a new homebrew for the PSP, it is PSPLBreakout2, a port of the game of the same name. If you love jigsaw brick, this game is for you.
Originally developed by Michael Speck, a brick-busting. However, it proposes a number of bonus (and penalty) interesting. As you destroy bricks, bonuses fall slowly. Green, they will give you benefits (bar wider explosive ball, wall to prevent the ball falling into the bottom of the screen, bonus points, extra ball, etc.).. In red, you will be dropped (sometimes physically, because the bar can be shortened when you're in the dark, the ball starts bouncing unexpectedly, etc..). Beware of bricks hit of question marks, the surprise is not always pleasant. wiki framasoft
News via PSPita (although i cant clarify if this is the source or not)
JR59278 The coder has released a graphics mod for homebrew Star Guitar, Guitar Hero clone for PSP developed by Festi. JR59278 homebrew has made even more similar to Guitar Hero, creating a graphic theme that reflects the characteristics of the Activision game.
Sony has made and launched an official YouTube channel for LittleBigPlanet.
Here be videos of user-created content and community shenanigans, as well as tutorials from developer Media Molecule, cultural collaborations, challenges and all sorts of hints and tips.
Sony also plans to run special weekly giveaways for the community. The first of these challenges players to pick a country or area of the world, base a level on it, film the level, write the theme tune, sing the theme tune, then submit the film. Grand prize is a pair of around the world tickets, 14 nights accommodation and GBP 1000 spending money.
Sony announced earlier that there are over 750,000 user-created levels for LittleBigPlanet now, and over 2 million players.
Visit the official LittleBigPlanet Youtube channel here
In an interview conducting during last week's Game Developer Conference by Eurogamer, Peter Molyneux hinted that future Fable games may not be RPGs.
"Whatever happens in the future of Fable, I don't want you to think you know exactly what features are going to be in there," Molyneux told Eurogamer. "Don't think about this as an RPG franchise --think about it as the world of Albion. There's a niche for Fable as there's humor in there and there's a Britishness and I think we'll keep that side of it. But whether it's more action or RPG or MMO or some new genre--that's what we have to do."
For Molyneux, it won't do to keep pumping out more of the same. "I think it's not good enough just to say, 'OK, we'll do another Fable.' Because in the end you're just driving yourself off the cliff. At some point, someone's going to turn round and say, 'You know, I'm a bit bored by all this.' We don't want that to happen."
And then Molyneux reverted to his recent habit of coyness, stating that if he were talking about Fable 3, "I would hope there would be three enormously big things about the Fable 3 that would surprise and shock you. Not that I am talking about Fable 3. Hypothetically speaking."
During the same interview, Molyneux teased his next game, which doesn't sound as if it is related to Fable. When asked if he would be able to show anything at E3, he said, "I would show you now if it was up to me." But it's not up to him. Lionhead is owned by Microsoft. According to Molyneux, he first needs to get a thumbs up from MS to continue developing the project and then needs something tangible to show people. However, showing it off internally, he claims to have received "probably the best reaction I've ever seen to anything I've done."
So what is the new game? Let Molyneux's cryptic description sink in. "When you look at it I think you'll say, 'Well, that's just insanely simple. Why has it taken so long?' But what makes it so hard --and this is teasing you horribly--is making it so simple, and yet to have all this unbelievable technology behind the thing."
While it's possible Lionhead's next project could be announced or shown at E3, it's unlikely. Over the past several E3's, Microsoft has focused its press conference on games coming out in the same year and have done very little to promote its future projects.
It seems the brilliant PixelJunk Monsters has really started a trend for tower defence games on PSN, with the third game of that kind, Comet Crash, arriving on PSN today.
In Comet Crash, however, you're not restricted to defence because the ultimate aim is to launch your army swarm to conquer your enemies' base.
"In the Campaign, your goal is to take control of four different comets that alien forces have sent to wreak havoc on your home planet. To save your planet, you'll have to capture and secure each comet," details John Bates, president of developer Pelfast.
"The Campaign supports up to 3 players for offline co-op play and offers three difficulty levels: Beginner, Casual, and Ranked.
"Battle mode let's you play against your friends, supporting 2 to 4 players offline. Teams can be configured however you want. There are 12 different maps to choose from. Fight over resources, build up defenses, and attack each other with massive armies," he adds, via the PS Blog.
Check out the gameplay video here - looks pretty cool. Expect the full PSN update list later.
Amidst all the April Fool's Day stories about Crocodeagles (Qualcomm), rogue AI that loves Pandas (Google), and more going on Wednesday, it was easy to look at PopCap's Web page and assume that the newly-revealed Plants vs. Zombies game was part of the April 1 fun. PopCap carried what many around the office considered to be a joke even further by including a hilarious music video for the game, as well as an optional Japanese version of the song! But it turns out that it's all real, and it's apparently the next big game from the maker of such insidiously addictive fare as Peggle, Bejeweled, and Bookworm.
PopCap isn't saying much beyond the initial reveal and that the game is coming out on May 5. But we did manage to ask PopCap spokesperson Garth Chouteau some questions, and he was kind enough to reply in a typically fun PopCap kind of way.
Bethesda, excited by the onset of spring, has halved the price all Oblivion Xbox 360 DLC. All except Horse Armor, that is, which now costs double.
The discount encompasses big and small expansions Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine, plus the long list of miscellaneous extras: The Fighter's Stronghold, Spell Tomes, The Vile Lair, Mehrunes' Razor, The Thieves Den, The Wizard's Tower and The Orrery.
You can browse and buy at the Xbox Live Marketplace for PC. Bethesda says prices will remain halved for the next week.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion provided Xbox 360 owners with their first essential Western RPG. And most retailers offer the game at a much-reduced price these days.
Remember the blurry blob of pixels reputed to be Samsung's entrance to the Android handset market? It was initially expected to come into focus sometime after July, but word from Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, a Samsung VP, is that the phone will see international release a month earlier, in June. He has also confirmed that two other Google-powered handsets are in development by the company, both set for US release sometime in the second half of the year. The phones are said to be "totally different" from each other and will be so at odds they'll have to go to separate networks or risk creating a hilarious feud of the type we haven't seen since TV's Perfect Strangers. Both are said to offer considerable enhancements and tweaks to Android that should distance them HTC's offerings, but will the two ever stand a chance of getting along? Don't be ridiculous!
Chinavision's CVFH-N03-4G may not have the catchiest titles, but it does boast an impressive array of emulators to satisfy your on-the-go retro gaming needs -- although we imagine those tiny shoulder buttons would prove irksome after a while. Support includes NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy Advance, SNK Neo-Geo and Capcom arcade systems CPS1 and CPS2 -- sorry, no love for Atari 2600 or Commodore 64, here -- all accessible through a menu that in no way, shape, or form resembles Sony's Xross Media Bar. It also plays MP3, MPEG5, FLAC, WMV, AVI, and a few other audio / video formats, and reportedly can function as an e-book reader with text to speech capabilities -- y'know, just in case there weren't enough entities peeved at it being a beacon for ROMs. As for hardware, we're looking at a 2.8-inch QVGA LCD, 4GB internal memory, a mini-SD card slot, and AV out for the television. Buy one for $87.31, three for $83.82 apiece, or if you're feeling generous, pick up 50 for a more generous, undisclosed discount.
Longtime Palm fans are gonna want to lock the doors and turn down the lights -- our friends at PhoneScoop just got the first demo of Motion App's Classic Palm OS emulator for the Palm Pre. Palm OS apps can be installed by just dragging the .prc files over the Pre in mass storage mode, and they're run as though they were on an SD card. There's no tethered HotSync, although there's a compatibility mode of some kind and apps will be able to pull data down over the air. Check the video after the break, including a demo of ePocrates, which we know a lot of potential Pre owners are interested in.
Well, what's this? A recent Zune job posting says the boys down Redmond-town are looking for someone to come up with "innovative user interfaces for delivering a rich, deep interactive media consumption experience in a living room environment." That sounds to us like integration of the Zune software team into the ConnectedTV division is starting to kick into gear -- the listing also specifically mentions on-demand audio and video content, which seem like a natural direction for ZunePass. We're not sure how any of this is going to pan out, but at least Microsoft is making moves to keep the struggling Zune platform alive -- whether or not that involves actual Zune hardware in the future is still up for debate.
They're back; Google has restored the tethering applications pulled from the Android Market earlier this week. What, can't you see them? That's because you live in the US. In a statement sent to affected developers, Google says:
We inadvertently unpublished your application for all mobile providers; if you like, we can restore your app so that all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US network will have access to your application.
Thanks so much T-Mobile US, Google.
The Nintendo DS has held onto the hardware sales lead in Japan for another week as almost all platforms saw numbers recede over the previous week, according to data from Media Create for the week ending March 29.
The DSi sold over 57,000 units to take it past the 2 million lifetime sales number in the country, while a further 8400 units of DS Lite sales saw the platform overall notch up 1 million for 2009.
The PlayStation Portable was second on 54,000, despite the top two titles in the week's software chart both being PSP games, while the PlayStation 3 was a long way back on just under 23,000.
The Wii continued its recent lacklustre sales numbers at 17,000, while the PlayStation 2 outsold the Xbox 360 for the first time in a long while - the venerable Sony console shifted 5200 units while the Microsoft flagship was listed at just over 4800.
In terms of software sales, there were three new entries at the top of the chart, with the latest Mobile Suit Gundam title taking top spot with sales of 85,000.
Disgaea 2 was second with 39,000 while Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009 for the DS was in third.
Mario & Luigi RPG 3 continued to sell fairly well in fourth, and should pass 500,000 unit sales in the coming week, while Super Robot Taisen K was in fifth.
The rest of the top ten boasted fewer than 30,000 unit sales apiece for that week, with Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 in sixth place and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) in seventh.
Musou Orochi Z, Resident Evil 5 and Rittai Picross 3D rounded out the top ten.
The full hardware and software sales charts are as follows:
Hardware
1. Nintendo DS: 65,809
2. PlayStation Portable: 54,148
3. PlayStation 3: 22,825
4. Nintendo Wii: 17,276
5. PlayStation 2: 5246
6. Xbox 360: 4849
Software
1. Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (PSP): 85,000
2. Disgaea 2 (PSP): 39,000
3. Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009 (DS): 37,000
4. Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (DS): 36,000
5. Super Robot Taisen K (DS): 32,000
6. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (PS2): 27,000
7. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (PSP): 24,000
8. Musou Orochi Z (PS3): 21,000
9. Resident Evil 5 (PS3): 17,000
10. Rittai Picross 3D (DS): 16,000
Empire: Total War has held onto the top of the US PC software sales chart for the week ended March 21, according to data provided by NPD.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and The Sims 2 Double Deluxe both also held onto their positions in second and third place respectively.
THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II claimed fourth place, with the World of Warcraft: Battle Chest taking number five and World of Warcraft itself coming in at six.
The Sims 2 Apartment Life took seventh place, while Spore came in at eight. Civilization IV re-entered the top ten at number nine, pushing Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst down a place to ten.
Full US PC sales chart follows:
01. Empire: Total War (Sega of America)
02. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard)
03. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (EA)
04.Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II (THQ)
05. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest (Blizzard)
06. World of Warcraft (Blizzard)
07. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack (EA)
08. Spore (EA)
09. Civilization IV (Take 2)
10. Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst (Activision)
A Quebec law which prohibits the sale of English-only videogames if a French alternate is available has come into force, to the consternation of local retailers.
The law could see new games delayed as they are localised for French speakers, this could cost local retailers business as consumers turn to the internet or cross the border to get the latest releases without delay.
"I'm afraid it's going to cost me my business," Ronnie Rondeau, co-owner Game Buzz, told The Star. "If it really was going to make a difference, I'd be for it, but only a small number of people want to play in French. The rest don't care.
The gaming giant told MTV Multiplayer what is true about the “Bob’s Game” story and what it recommends other amateur developers should do.
***
For the last few months, amateur game developer Robert Pelloni has made an Internet sensation of his quest to make an official Nintendo DS game. Pelloni claimed to have spent five years, on his own, developing a role-playing game for the DS. He called his work “Bob’s Game,” and posted video clips on his site to show how much he had accomplished.
Late last year, Pelloni let the world know that he was frustrated with Nintendo. He said he contacted the gaming company to obtain a DS development kit, so he could release his game officially. But, he claimed, the company reneged in providing him one.
In December he began a dramatic locked-room protest. His protest proved popular on gaming blogs and message boards. But the 100-day protest ended weeks early. After it ended, he wrote a creed on his website against Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and other company officials, threatening to reveal secrets.
None of this elicited public comment from Nintendo, whose representatives declined requests I made during the protest for the company to explain its side of the story.
Pelloni also appeared uninterested in talking to the press, as he and I failed to schedule an interview despite repeated attempts. In January, he noted in our last e-mail exchange about setting up an interview that he had been “abducted by aliens.”
With neither side commenting, it’s been hard to figure out what really happened with “Bob’s Game.”
Last week, just days before Pelloni released a downloadable demo of his game (available through his website), I brought the matter up to Fils-Aime.
MTV Multiplayer: Since you were talking about hate that you get, I have to ask you about Robert Pelloni, maker of “Bob’s Game.” Did he actually contact Nintendo for a development kit? Did you guys just not fulfill his legitimate request for one? Or is there some other part of the story we’re not getting?
Fils-Aime: He did submit to be a licensed developer. We have an evaluation process. We evaluated the opportunity. We decided at this point in time that he did not meet the requirements to be a licensed developer.
MTV Multiplayer: Here’s a guy who programmed a game on his own and appeared to be developing a game he poured a lot of himself into. He seemed to be trying to go through just that one last hurdle to take his dream — to get a development kit and put his game out. Can other people who are inspired by that part of his story think that, if they pursued things that way, that they might have a shot? Or is there something about the basics of what I just described that would be the wrong path for an amateur developer?
Fils-Aime: My hope is that people would be inspired by the story of 2D Boy and “World of Goo“: professional developers knowledgeable about their craft who shared their vision with us and have seen tremendous success as a WiiWare title. I think that is the model for how knowledgeable developers should think about the opportunity with Nintendo. We love taking big ideas with small budgets and bringing them to life.
MTV Multiplater: So what did they do that…
Fils-Aime: We, unfortunately, cannot get into the details of Bob …
MTV Multiplayer: I understand that, and I’m not trying to corner you into details that you can’t share about what was wrong with [Pelloni's situation]. But I’m trying to clarify, for people who have a dream for a DS game, what path they might take. Kyle Gabler of 2D Boy was an ex-EA guy. So he had EA on his resume. Their game was a nominated for the Independent Games Festival. Those were some of the credentials they had going in. They weren’t a garage developer.
Fils-Aime: There are a ton of stories. “Tetris.” Just a guy out of Russia. “Pokemon” is another example. Before that was published in Japan, what was “Pokemon”? I think it’s fair to say that Nintendo has a history and a legacy of bringing novel, unique ideas to the marketplace.
MTV Multiplayer: So if I’m someone doing homebrew DS programming, I shouldn’t feel that my options are out?
Fils-Aime: My hope is that any developer who has a compelling idea will reach out to our licensing organization and share their idea and go through the process of becoming a licensed developer for the Nintendo platform. And we have a legacy of supporting that type of development.
My wide-ranging interview with the president of Nintendo of America covered everything Wii from “Grand Theft Auto” and “Disaster Day of Crisis” to a recent patent and the danger of dropping Wii sales in Japan.
The following interview was conducted last week in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference. I’ve interviewed Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, several times. So the mood remained light even as he occasionally danced around my questions. As ever, he was the picture of confidence, suggesting the grand potential of the Wii to sell a million units a month. (After reading this, be sure to check out my conversation with Fils-Aime about the Nintendo DS.)
MTV Multiplayer: If we’ve gotten to the point where we can have a “Grand Theft Auto” on the DS, how much progress does that bring you guys, Take-Two and gamers to getting a “Grand Theft Auto” on a Nintendo console?
Fils-Aime: I’ve said this — and it may have been in one of your interviews –from the get-go. I as a gamer — and Nintendo as a company — would love to see a new “Grand Theft Auto” on our home console. We think the volume opportunity is there.
MTV Multiplayer: Right. You said it to me a few years ago. It took five years to get a “Grand Theft Auto” on the DS. How long is it going to take for all the stars to aligned for there to be that kind of game? You’ve been talking to the publisher, right?
Fils-Aime: Our job is to create the installed base for that type of opportunity to be leveraged. It’s Take-Two and Rockstar’s opportunity to make the game.
MTV Multiplayer: You could give them marketing money. Isn’t that how Microsoft got those exclusive episodes on the 360?
Fils-Aime: We support publishers with marketing investment. We don’t buy exclusivity.
MTV Multiplayer: There was a patent unearthed several months ago for something called the “Kind Code” [Note from Stephen: I referred to the patent by the title Kotaku had used for a DVD-menu-like technology that would make it easier to play through of tricky adventure games]. This was going to be a way to pop in a Wii game and get extra menus. This was a real patent filed by Nintendo’s legal team. What can you say about it?
Fils-Aime: We don’t talk about patents and work in development.
MTV Multiplayer: You’ve got to add that: “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation and patents.” [laughs]
Fils-Aime: Obviously, it signifies that we have some technology that is unique and warrants protection. In terms of when that will show up in a game… nothing to share today.
MTV Multiplayer: A couple of titles fans wonder about the status of coming to the U.S. “Disaster Day of Crisis.” It’s been out for a long time and didn’t do so well where it came out. On the table for a U.S. release or off the table?
Fils-Aime: It is not on our announcement plan.
MTV Multiplayer: “Fatal Frame 4,” published by Nintendo in Japan. There’s been confusion and mixed signals about whether that’s coming to America.
Fils-Aime: We are not the publisher of that title in the Americas. So I can’t comment on it… I don’t know if it has a publisher.
MTV Multiplayer: What do you make of the fact that you guys are no longer the least expensive console? Has that applied any new pressure to what you’re doing? The 360 is cheaper than you guys.
Fils-Aime: On the Wii side? No. Our objective is to sell as many consoles as possible. Up until recently our biggest problem has been having enough product going into the marketplace. We’re getting closer and closer to where supply and demand are intersecting. That creates us wonderful opportunity to provide even more marketing to Wii. For us, what prevents us from selling 800,000, 900,000 or a million units a month is our own ability to supply the marketplace and drive our marketing. It is not our competition.
MTV Multiplayer: Some analysts are looking at the sales in Japan, which are flattening — it’s actually being outperformed by the PS3, which has had some strong software releases recently — the commentary is that Wii has reached its peak. The point is the Wii is not the dominant console in the weekly sales that we’re seeing there. What steps do you need to take in the United States to ensure the Wii doesn’t start getting outperformed weekly by the other consoles?
Fils-Aime: In this business, software sells hardware. In the U.S., we have the benefit of “Wii Fit” and “Wii Play” and “Kart” and “Smash” and Activision’s “Guitar Hero.” Looking to the future — “MadWorld,” “Conduit,” — we have a range of software that in our view will continue to drive momentum for Wii.
MTV Multiplayer: Do you think you’ll have a better fall of new games than you did this past fall? If there was one thing people were disappointed about for the Wii last year, it was that “Wii Music” or “Animal Crossing” didn’t excite the way other games had.
Fils-Aime: Stephen, I think that’s a great question to ask me in early June at E3.
MTV Multiplayer: You don’t want to tell me right now that the fall is going to be better? That’s an easy one!
Fils-Aime: You know, one of the things that we know is that our loyal fans have huge expectations for us. When we give them the smallest little inkling, it gets exploded into expectations that are almost impossible to meet.
MTV Multiplayer: What are your expectations for the New Play Control line [of GameCube games being re-introduced for Wii]? What is the strategy for that line in terms of how much of the GameCube line-up we might see coming out?
Fils-Aime: The New Play Control line is strategically about introducing some key games to consumers from the GameCube library. For example, “Pikmin.” At E3 last year, Mr. Miyamoto made the commitment that a new “Pikmin” was coming. Given that, it’s important that our installed base of Wii owners understands what the “Pikmin” franchise is all about. So that’s why that product is out in the marketplace. “Mario Tennis” was, in our view, a great way to take all the consumers who are playing “Wii Sports” tennis and give them a slightly different experience. And get them enjoying the fun, wacky aspects of the Mario world. What that means is, if you look at what our launches will be, they will strategically be titles we believe either we weren’t able to fully maximize during the GameCube life cycle or can help drive future products when we look to where Wii is going.
MTV Multiplayer: Finally, a reader asked me to ask that, now that you can download games for the Wii to an SD card and boot from the SD card, does that change any plans at all for there to be downloads of demos for games, be they WiiWare, Virtual Console or whatever else?
Fils-Aime: It doesn’t change our core philosophy. And our philosophy around demos has always been: how much demo do you provide to have the consumer excited but not so much that all they do is play the demo? That’s been an ongoing Nintendo philosophy.
Nintendo launches its revamped handheld console - the DSi - in the UK, hoping to maintain the global success of its portable device.
With more than 100 million Nintendo DS handhelds shipped around the world, there might not seem to be much of a need to tinker with the device that has become the dominant platform in the handheld console market.
Given the current rate of sales of the machine, it would be no surprise if the DS were to overtake the PlayStation 2's global sales of 150 million to become the most popular dedicated gaming platform of all-time.
Time warp
When Nintendo first launched the DS, its chunky, retro design and two-screen, touch screen approach - combined with the lack of a web browser and inability to play multimedia - baffled many observers.
Sony's sleek PlayStation Portable with its more advanced graphics hardware, UMD movie library, and connectivity with a PlayStaton 3 seemed the obvious victor in the handheld console race.
Wind the clock on four years since its launch and there is only one winner.
While the PSP has sold modestly well, the DS has steamrollered it - one key element in Nintendo's strategy to broaden the appeal of gaming. In 2008, 47% of DS sales in 2008 were made to women.
But there is a sense that the Nintendo DS is beginning to age.
Newer rivals - including more powerful mobile handsets such as the Nokia N81 and N96, as well as the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, with more than 30 million sales - are now serious contenders.
Nintendo's answer would appear to be the DSi.
At first glance you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the second generation DS Lite and the new machine.
The built in camera will only take pictures at 0.3 megapixel resolution
The DSi is slightly thinner, with 8% more screen size, but such external changes are generally more aesthetic than tangible.
So what else is new?
It has two built-in cameras, a SDHC card for more storage, the ability to record sound and playback AAC files, a web browser, a focus on personalisation through playing with audio and vision and a new DSi online shop, through which developers are being encouraged to "think outside the box" with new applications.
Limited functionality
The headline changes sound impressive, but the details reveal a disappointing lack of change.
The DSi can only play back AAC, not MP3, arguably the globe's common digital audio standard.
The two cameras are only 0.3 megapixels - so pathetic indeed that it makes the iPhone's famously poor 2 megapixel camera look like a Hasselblad.
Once again, Nintendo has changed the charging cable, so if you are an original DS or DS Lite owner, you won't be able to use your existing cable as a spare.
Own worst enemy
The internal storage of the device is just 256 megabytes - and applications have to run in this paltry amount of storage.
The DSi is no longer compatible with GameBoy Advance games either.
Nintendo are caught in a dilemma of their own making.
With more than 100 million Nintendo DS handhelds already sold, the company cannot afford to turn their back on this audience and encourage developers to create games that use the DSi as the starting template.
So there is unlikely to be much change to the core experiences that games for the Nintendo DS offer.
The changes will be at the fringes - through the DSi shop, and the possibility that some first-party games will be "enhanced" for the DSi.
Nintendo's first device - the NDS - sold over 150 million units
And while the Nintendo DSi largely stands still, rival devices are adding new features all the time: from accelerometers to near HD resolutions in your pocket, GPS and the combination of gaming with mobile communications.
Nintendo, of course, has been written off before, and it would be foolish to do the same again.
The company has successfully shown that simple, addictive games prove very attractive with users, without the need for technically clever controls systems or mobile communications.
But many observers were hoping the company would have gone a little further, a little faster.
One for tech geeks, this. Guerrilla released on PSN a playable version of the 'Killzone in 4-D' tech demo, apparently used in a US TV commercial (featured below) to show off the game's impressive visuals.
The download, now entitled Behind the Bullet, gives you "an inside look at the making of the commercial, enabling you to take control and slow down the action, move the camera axis and pivot, hear audio commentary from multiple selectable sources such as the art director or technical director at Guerrilla Games."
And if you're a real geek, you can fiddle with "a variety of buffers and filters to see how every single frame of the commercial was created using the game engine technology," explains Sony. Screens of it in action are below.
The developers over at Jolt Online Gaming have released Legends of Zork to the general public. It's a free, browser-based, adventure game based on the world of Zork. You play as a Traveling Salesman, recently laid off from FrobozzCo. You start off in a clearing, where a white house has a boarded up door. From there, you can do what you like. Explore the world, fight other salesmen in PVP, or try out your Darkvision Goggles in the dark — just try not to get eaten by a grue."
It's free in that you're given 30 Action Points each day, which are consumed by moving about and fighting. Their business model is that if you want more Action Points, you can purchase more.
Like we said, the Street Fighter IV National Tournament is the biggest SFIV tournament ever (not hard, seeing as its sponsored by GameStop). And this month, it reaches the business end, with the finals.
On April 18 in San Francisco, the 16 best Street Fighters in the United States will converge on the Fort Mason Festival Pavillion to engage in bloodthirsty combat. Every finalist will get a spot in the world finals, to be held in Vegas later this year. But the winner?
Well, the winner gets not only a ticket to the worlds, but also a Street Fighter IV arcade cabinet. Tasty. The action kicks off at 7pm, and it's open to the public.
Was at the pub the other night, and got into a fight over subscription-based MMO growth. Some bloke said the market wasn't growing, I said it was. Researchers Screen Digest have proven me the winner.
Having conducted a study on the finances of the (*breath*) subscription-based massively multiplayer online gaming market (which excludes games reliant upon microtransactions instead of a flat monthly fee), Screen Digest have found that the market grew by 22% in 2008 over 2007's figures.
That means $1.4 billion was spent on MMOs in 2008, 58% of that going on World of Warfare subscriptions alone. No wonder Blizzard can, in a time when other studios are sacking workers, go out and commission a giant false idol.
We know. You're a fighting game pro. Can't spare the time to blink while fighting, let alone juggle cords. Which is why you may want to take a look at Dream Arcades' wireless 360 stick.
It's a chunky, sturdy arcade stick, with the addition of being, well, cordless. The fact it's wireless is a pro. The fact it looks like a bad Chinese rip-off stick from 1998 is a con.
No word on pricing yet, but if you own a 360 and take your fighting games, and your wireless modern lifestyle seriously, preorders should open soon at the site below.
Capcom and Nintendo have announced a new, "Premium Edition" DSi console, to be released in conjunction with upcoming Ace Attorney title Gyakuten Kenji.
It's out in Japan on May 28, and a bundle including a special DSi - well, a regular DSi with Ace Attorney stuff on it - along with a copy of Gyakuten Kenji will go for ¥23,940 (USD$240). Not as Ace Attorney-branded as many fans of the series may have hoped for, perhaps (no green leather & oak frame lawyer's table motif, guys?) , but Capcom/Nintendo obviously felt the need to keep things simple.
I must admit, it's been a while since I downloaded a game from the Virtual Console. Then again, it's been a while since a Nintendo 64 Zelda game was released on the Virtual console.
As a special treat for long-suffering European and Australian Nintendo fans, Nintendo will be releasing (or have already released, depending where you are) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on Friday, the oft-overshadowed little brother of Ocarina of Time.
It's 1000 Wii Points, and should get you the weekend just nicel
In April 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy. How time flies when you're having fun, because it's now April 2009, so a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" is in order for the venerable little machine.
Having sold around 120 million units in its 14-year production run (that's including sales of the Game Boy Color), the Game Boy gave way to the Game Boy Advance, which begot the Nintendo DS. Which isn't anywhere near as great because it's not called the Game Boy DS.
Being near-indestructible, easy to carry around and with plenty of battery life, the Game Boy saw off a number of competitors in its lifetime, from Atari's Lynx to Sega's Game Gear, before finally being retired in 2003.
It brought us portable gaming. It brought us Tetris. It brought us Pokemon. So drink up, old man, and enjoy your special month.
Frogster continues to throw all the gameplay they can possibly find into Runes of Magic, introducing a suspiciously kart-like horse racing mini-game, complete with mystery power-ups.
The Wind-Runner Race is an 8-person horse race that players sign up for in the city of Varanas in the game world. Once the race card is full the race begins, with players avoiding magical traps on their way towards the finish line. Just like many popular kart racing titles, players can help themselves and hinder their foes by picking up any of 8 different horse powers, represented on the field by question mark icons. Boost your speed, slow down an opponent, or trap them in a web...all's fair when in game currency is on the line. You can see a brief video of a race in action at the game's official site.
It just amazes me how much stuff Frogster is tossing into Runes of Magic. I eagerly await the announcement of an in-game FPS archery mini-game in the near future.
[How have downloadable PS1 titles fared in Sony's PS3 PlayStation Store? Gamasutra's Matt Matthews reached out to Sony and came away with an exclusive top ten of titles to date, with some surprising results.]
Among the software that Sony offers on the U.S. PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 are about 30 titles which originally appeared on Sony's first PlayStation console.
These games are generally playable on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable and range in price from $6 to $10.
All of PS1 titles on the PlayStation Store to date have been published by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA).
Even games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, originally published by Konami, were published on the Store by SCEA.
With Capcom expressing interest in bringing more of its PS1 catalog to the PlayStation Store, I thought it would be helpful to see which classic games have sold well so far.
Sony graciously provided me with the top selling PS1 games since the PlayStation Store launched in 2006, as follows:
Having seen this list, it becomes a bit more clear why Capcom is eager to get more of its games on the Store. Even though its Street Fighter Alpha has only been available for only seven months, it is already the best-selling PS1 game on the service.
The second and third Crash Bandicoot games are the only other games from 2008 which made the top 10, but each has has been available for nearly twice as long as SFA.
Another popular third-party title, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, took the #2 spot in the top 10. The lesser-known Castlevania Chronicles, originally by Konami but published on the PlayStation Store by SCEA in December 2008, did not make this top 10.
Fans have long hoped that Konami would release the seminal Metal Gear Solid as a download on the store, but Konami has been content to release it only in its home territory of Japan.
All other titles in the top 10 are games originally published by Sony.
Some notable third-party titles available on the PlayStation Store that didn't make it into the top 10 are Tekken 2 (originally published by Namco) and Rayman (originally published by UbiSoft).
So far in 2009, no PS1 games have been released on the PlayStation Store, although there have been assurances from Sony that more are coming.
[How have downloadable PS1 titles fared in Sony's PS3 PlayStation Store? Gamasutra's Matt Matthews reached out to Sony and came away with an exclusive top ten of titles to date, with some surprising results.]
Among the software that Sony offers on the U.S. PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 are about 30 titles which originally appeared on Sony's first PlayStation console.
These games are generally playable on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable and range in price from $6 to $10.
All of PS1 titles on the PlayStation Store to date have been published by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA).
Even games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, originally published by Konami, were published on the Store by SCEA.
With Capcom expressing interest in bringing more of its PS1 catalog to the PlayStation Store, I thought it would be helpful to see which classic games have sold well so far.
Sony graciously provided me with the top selling PS1 games since the PlayStation Store launched in 2006, as follows:
Having seen this list, it becomes a bit more clear why Capcom is eager to get more of its games on the Store. Even though its Street Fighter Alpha has only been available for only seven months, it is already the best-selling PS1 game on the service.
The second and third Crash Bandicoot games are the only other games from 2008 which made the top 10, but each has has been available for nearly twice as long as SFA.
Another popular third-party title, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, took the #2 spot in the top 10. The lesser-known Castlevania Chronicles, originally by Konami but published on the PlayStation Store by SCEA in December 2008, did not make this top 10.
Fans have long hoped that Konami would release the seminal Metal Gear Solid as a download on the store, but Konami has been content to release it only in its home territory of Japan.
All other titles in the top 10 are games originally published by Sony.
Some notable third-party titles available on the PlayStation Store that didn't make it into the top 10 are Tekken 2 (originally published by Namco) and Rayman (originally published by UbiSoft).
So far in 2009, no PS1 games have been released on the PlayStation Store, although there have been assurances from Sony that more are coming.
With a price drop to $99, the Playstation 2 is being repositioned as a family friendly video game console for the casual gamer.
Something that could put the Playstation 2 directly in the Nintendo Wii's big blue ocean, says John Koller, SCEA's director of hardware marketing.
"I think you can look at the PS2 as the competitor to the Wii," he said. "If you look at the technology and types of games launching for the Playstation 2, it lines up much closer to the Wii than the Wii does to next generation consoles And the Playstation 2 has a significant advantage in terms of broader consumer appeal."
Koller went on to congratulate Nintendo on what he called a "tremendous success story", but added that he thinks that there is an opportunity for the Playstation 2 to "steal some share base with this price and game line up."
While the Playstation 2 already has a more than 1,900 game library, both third-party party developers and Sony Computer Entertainment itself plan to continue to make games for the console, Koller said.
"Seventy to 80 titles will be launching this year and about the same next year," he said. "We are going to support it extensively."
But that doesn't mean that triple-A Playstation 3 titles, like God of War III, would be getting the PS2 treatment. Instead Sony will be focusing on social gaming and sports titles for the console with games like Sing Star, Buzz and MLB.
Koller added that there are "strong game franchises" coming to the Playstation 2 in the latter half of the year which will excite core gamers.
Because the Playstation 2 is the fourth console in a crowded market, Koller said that SCEA has been talking to national retailers to ensure that the console gets shelf space.
"This price drop helps in keeping or expanding shelf space," he said. "There is always pressure for shelf space."
And Sony doesn't think that this price drop will dig into potential Playstation 3 sales.
"We don't at all," he said. "These are different consumers. The Playstation 3 appeals much more to early tech adopters than the PS2 and the PSP attaches to mobile consumers."
Though, it's interesting to note that almost 80 percent of Playstation 3 owners own or owned a PS2, according to Koller.
"Do we think that someone who purchases a PS2 on April 1 is going to buy a Playstation 3 on April 2?" he said. "Probably not, but they eventually will."
With a price drop to $99, the Playstation 2 is being repositioned as a family friendly video game console for the casual gamer.
Something that could put the Playstation 2 directly in the Nintendo Wii's big blue ocean, says John Koller, SCEA's director of hardware marketing.
"I think you can look at the PS2 as the competitor to the Wii," he said. "If you look at the technology and types of games launching for the Playstation 2, it lines up much closer to the Wii than the Wii does to next generation consoles And the Playstation 2 has a significant advantage in terms of broader consumer appeal."
Koller went on to congratulate Nintendo on what he called a "tremendous success story", but added that he thinks that there is an opportunity for the Playstation 2 to "steal some share base with this price and game line up."
While the Playstation 2 already has a more than 1,900 game library, both third-party party developers and Sony Computer Entertainment itself plan to continue to make games for the console, Koller said.
"Seventy to 80 titles will be launching this year and about the same next year," he said. "We are going to support it extensively."
But that doesn't mean that triple-A Playstation 3 titles, like God of War III, would be getting the PS2 treatment. Instead Sony will be focusing on social gaming and sports titles for the console with games like Sing Star, Buzz and MLB.
Koller added that there are "strong game franchises" coming to the Playstation 2 in the latter half of the year which will excite core gamers.
Because the Playstation 2 is the fourth console in a crowded market, Koller said that SCEA has been talking to national retailers to ensure that the console gets shelf space.
"This price drop helps in keeping or expanding shelf space," he said. "There is always pressure for shelf space."
And Sony doesn't think that this price drop will dig into potential Playstation 3 sales.
"We don't at all," he said. "These are different consumers. The Playstation 3 appeals much more to early tech adopters than the PS2 and the PSP attaches to mobile consumers."
Though, it's interesting to note that almost 80 percent of Playstation 3 owners own or owned a PS2, according to Koller.
"Do we think that someone who purchases a PS2 on April 1 is going to buy a Playstation 3 on April 2?" he said. "Probably not, but they eventually will."
A mandatory update has just hit the Xbox 360. According to Microsoft's Larry Hryb, "This update addresses interruption issues that some Xbox LIVE users may have experienced when playing a limited number of Xbox 360 games."
Meaning? "There are no other changes or enhancements in this update…in other words no new features."
Those magic Gelflings known as "sources" have whispered into the ear of The Cut Scene that Brütal Legend is coming to the Wii -- but it won't be developed by Tim Schafer's Double Fine studio. Hey, funny thing, that's what we wildly (not really) speculated yesterday, but we didn't have Gelfings to back us up ... so sad.
The Cut Scene goes on to explain why Brütal Legend on Wii makes strategic sense for EA. Short version: EA could use the cash and having its newest franchise on the top-selling console is probably a good idea.
On the heels of high February sales numbers, Reuters is reporting that the game industry is actually thriving during the economic recession (so long as you don't work for the game industry, anyway). The article notes that the games market has expanded, largely thanks to the Nintendo Wii, which has brought an influx of female gamers. Reuters states -- as have others -- that many consumers are turning to home entertainment in the current economic environment. Analysts expect the industry to continue growing, with IDC's Billy Pidgeon expecting double digit growth in 2009, though he adds that gamers "will consider purchases more carefully" given the recession.
Analysts expect the recession to have other effects on the game industry as well. Interpret's Michael Cai expects used games and budget titles to take up a more significant share of sales this year. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, unsurprisingly, expects hardware manufacturers to cut the price of their consoles. We're assuming he wasn't referring to the PS2.
According to research conducted by Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the Japanese gaming industry's year-to-year sales dropped in 2008. Total industry revenue reached ¥552.42 billion last year -- an 18 percent decrease from ¥676.95 billion in sales during 2007. Hardware sales dropped 27 percent from the previous year to ¥231.52 billion, while software sales only fell 11 percent, ending up at ¥320.91 billion.
Flamewar-fueling financial figures were also revealed in Enterbrain's study -- the DS reigned supreme in 2008, with 3,983,205 units sold. In addition, Pokémon Platinum was the year's highest grossing game, with 2,372,336 copies purchased. Second place went to the PSP with 3,230,563 units sold. Trailing behind, the Wii moved 2,257,575 consoles, the PS3 sold 999,903 units, and the Xbox 360 ended with a total of 398,633 consoles sold -- effectively doubling Microsoft's Japanese hardware sales figures from 2007.
What's with the slowdown, Japan? Did you guys collectively take up knitting or something? Don't get us wrong, knitting is awesome, but letting it interfere with your ludological purchasing habits is just plain irresponsible.
The first installment in a series of developer diary videos for X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped today, bringing with it a number of heady promises from the folks behind the sextuple-clawed slaughterfest. Included in these promises are reminders of the title's feral protagonist's badassedness (the frequent use of this adjective might make the video NSFW, if you work at like, a monastery or something), and a solemn vow that Wolverine will be "the movie game that finally does not suck." The dev team behind Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game begs to differ.
If developer boasting isn't your cup of tea, the video also provides some nice gameplay footage from the title. However, this footage could leave you worried about Logan's mental health -- we're fairly sure wielding knuckle cutlery whilst traversing a rope bridge isn't the safest way to get around.
We've known since last summer that Turbine, developer of Lord of the Rings Online, is working on a console MMO -- just not what said game is. Enter Destructoid, which reports a rumor that the company is bringing LOTRO to Xbox 360.
We contacted Turbine for comment and spoke with its director of public relations, Adam Mersky. "We saw that rumor, too," he told us, adding, "We're not talking about what we're working on specifically, only that we're making a console MMO and actively working with Microsoft and Sony."
Mersky said Turbine is "making good progress" on the title, but any rumors that a console version of LOTRO is close to finished are false. "We plan to make more noise in a couple of months," he responded when asked about its plans to unveil the title. Will it be at E3? "We'll definitely have something to show by summer," said Mersky.
Crytek revealed that it has considered the possibility of a streaming game service like OnLive or Gaikai before, but abandoned the idea due to technological limitations. "We had our research in 2005 on this subject but we stopped around 2007 because we had doubts about economics of scale. But that was at a time when bandwidth was more expensive," CEO Cevat Yerli told GamesIndustry.biz.
High-speed connections have yet to be cheap or reliable enough to work, in Crytek's estimation: the company determined that a streaming service may be possible sometime between 2013 and 2015. This is also the approximate period in which most consumer PCs will begin to be able to run Crysis. Yerli said that such services must rely strongly on broadband providers.
"We're not involved [with OnLive], we just allowed Crysis to be tested on it," Yerli said. Publisher EA is behind the addition of Crysis Warhead to the service.
Now, there's no easy way to break this to you, so we're just going to come out and say it. Dungeon Hero, one of the last remaining remnants of Gamecock's feathery empire, has been delayed. For how long, we can't say, though Firefly Studios assures us that the tongue-in-cheek dungeon crawler still "lives on."
According to the developer, Gamecock's purchase last October "created a number of challenges" for Firefly, forcing the company to put off the game's eventual release. Still, the dev has confidence in the property, writing on its site that in addition to Dungeon Hero, the studio is also working on "a couple of exciting projects built around the Dungeon Hero universe." Firefly also teases that it may be announcing a new Stronghold game in the "very near future." Until then, keep your chin up. It's not all bad.
Anonymously-sourced rumors from Asian trade publications should be taken with, like, four grains of salt, and this is no exception: Digitimes reports that OmniVision has received orders for 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensors, for a new iPhone.
The battle over enabling Japanese emoticons on iPhone has been a strangely passionate one. First they're there, then they're gone, but now they're there despite having been told to be gone. What the hell, Emojis?
We heard about Documents To Go for Android a few months back, a Microsoft Office document reader/editor/creator for mobile devices on its way to the Android platform. Now it's out for $20.
As you probably already know, the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software was upgraded with Stereo Bluetooth A2DP audio. That means you can pair it with a compatible device—like the stereo installed in this Toyota Venza.
Sweden's new anti-piracy policy allows copyright holders to quickly obtain the identity of major pirates and prosecute them directly through the courts, without going through the police. And it's scared a lot of Swedes straight.
The drop was measured by Netnod, a Swedish web tracking firm, who found that traffic fell from 120GB/s to 80GB/s on the day the law went into effect.
Christian Engstrom, VP of Sweden's Pirate Party (love it) is not concerned, however. He told the BBC:
"Today, there is a very drastic reduction in internet traffic. But experience from other countries suggests that while file-sharing drops on the day a law is passed, it starts climbing again. . .One of the reasons is that it takes people a few weeks to figure out how to change their security settings so that can share files anonymously," he added.
The law is catching a lot of flak for effectively letting corporations enforce anti-piracy code with lawsuits, rather than leaving them to the police to deal with offenders on a criminal basis. Copyright holders can no go straight to the uploader's ISP, get his IP address and identity, and sue him up good.
From the country that gave us the Pirate Bay, though, I'm sure someone will figure out a way to subvert this.
If you've been disappointed by the level of calories burning from flailing wrists, Wii Jog can add the element of walking into almost any Wii title.
Spotted a few months back in a less polished form, Wii Jog is a small, pedometer-like box that plugs into the Wiimote. You simply walk in place and aim the Wiimote the direction you'd like to go. Your onscreen persona should follow suit.
It's a bit hard to believe that Jog works for each and every game. There's a list of only 100 compatible titles for the PS2 version of Jog—the company claims "jOG works with any video [Wii] game, but some work better than others. We think it works best with sports games, shooters, platform and adventure games and our favourite game is Lego Star Wars." But for about $37, it's not a huge risk.
Funcom is proud to announce that 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' is now available as a free trial. Funcom, Fileplanet and Ausgamers have teamed up to provide gamers everywhere with the opportunity to download and play `Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' for free for a period of seven to fourteen days. This is the chance to experience the brutal, savage and sexy world of Conan where you can live, fight and explore in the world of Hyboria together with thousands of people from across the globe.
"The time has finally come for us to open the flood gates," says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "There is a world of gamers out there who have never played `Age of Conan' and we want them to experience what hundreds of thousands of gamers have before them. The game has matured tremendously since launch, and we feel confident that this is the time to launch a trial. `Age of Conan' is simply bigger and better than it ever was, and we want both new and previous players alike to experience that!"
All you have to do to start playing `Age of Conan' today is visit the www.ageofconan.com/trial website, download the game and off you go. Funcom has also teamed up with Fileplanet and Ausgamers, and depending on which source you download from you will receive between seven to fourteen days free play time and a host of special rewards. Various websites across the world will also be doing exclusive give-aways where gamers can receive a special key that will unlock rare virtual items in addition to the free trial play time.
Since launching last year, the development team has made significant updates to the game. Too many to list at once, here are a few highlights of what has been done in the past few months:
NEW CONTENT! Experience countless hours of more content and adventure through new areas such as the expansive Ymir's Pass and the massive Xibaluku dungeon. Embark on new quests, face new challenges and experience entirely revamped dungeons and gameplay!
ENHANCED PVP! The world of Conan is now more brutal than ever before. Increase your player vs. player level and reap the exclusive rewards as you slaughter enemy players, but be ready to face the violent consequences should you engage in criminal activities!
BETTER SIEGES! The entire siege warfare experience has been improved, making sieges more fun and easier to get into. Warfare between guilds is now even more dramatic with specific resources that must be fought over in order to build and maintain battlekeeps!
ENHANCED PERFORMANCE! Major updates have been made to technical stability and performance, allowing for a much smoother gameplay experience across a wider range of computer systems - even with higher levels of graphical detail enabled!
... AND MORE! Many more improvements and additions have been made to Age of Conan since launch. More voice overs, more travel options, a new friend interface, new GUI options, easier access to PvP mini-games, better tradeskills and much, much more!
Launching in May last year `Age of Conan' quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, `Age of Conan' became the third best-selling PC title of the year only beaten by `Spore' and `World of Warcraft'. In the weeks after launch `Age of Conan' simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. `Age of Conan' is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well.
With a constant stream of new updates and improvements, Funcom continues to push the game forward and the development team is now working on a new expansion as well as a series of free updates that will take the game to even greater heights in the months ahead.
When 2K Games released the first trailer for its upcoming BioShock sequel, Rapture fans were held rapt by the brief teaser, which showed a young girl standing by the ocean at sunset among a tight group of stylized sandcastle skyscrapers. The scene faded slowly into a barnacle-covered Bioshock 2 logo, and the phrase "Sea of Dreams" floated up from the bottom of the screen.
It's was a pretty short leap to the assumption that "Sea of Dreams" was the subtitle of the sequel, but 2K corrected the record on March 19th, saying the game is officially called Bioshock 2, which no subtitle. So why the confusion? Was Sea of Dreams dropped as a subtitle, or was it just an evocative phrase meant to get gamers going early on?
"We name most of our trailers at 2K and the name of the teaser trailer we released last October for BioShock 2 is called 'Sea of Dreams,' 2K spokesman Charlie Sinhaseni told IGN. "There was talk about adding that as an official subtitle, but we decided to simply keep it BioShock 2. We're sorry for the confusion, but we're glad people are so interested."
So there you have it. BioShock 2 has no subtitle. But if you'd like to turn your experience in Rapture into a sea of dreams when the game releases later this year, we're pretty sure 2K won't be able to stop you.
Starbreeze, the Swedish development studio that made the upcoming Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, recently spoke to Eurogamer about the next game based on Robert Ludlum's Bourne series.
Electronic Arts announced in February that it picked up the rights to the Bourne franchise, and the publisher chose Starbreeze to develop a game based on the spy series. Last year's Bourne release was developed by High Moon Studios and published by Vivendi, now part of Activision Blizzard.
Although details on Starbreeze's Bourne effort remain thin, the company has confirmed that there will be multiplayer and that the studio is going all-out with its motion capture and voice capture tech.
"It is the same team that's going to create the Bourne game that did Riddick as well as The Darkness," lead designer Jerk Gustafsson told Eurogamer. "We've already begun work. There are some personnel in a development cycle that are free a little bit earlier than others and those guys have been working on the Bourne project.
There's still no release date for Bourne, and Starbreeze and EA haven't announced platforms just yet.
Uforia announced today that it has made some major updates to its Three Kingdoms: The Battle Begins game. The first major change is that the PVP Battles occur every hour of every day. The addition of nearly twice as many battles allow players who previously were not available to participate in them to compete for experience points and in-game gold. The battles take place in multiple locations throughout the game and players are alerted to their whereabouts via a pop-up alert notification box.
For more information about the Hourly PVP Battles, please visit the information page at:
The other major addition to the game is the increase in number of premium items for the Chests of Fortune. This item is a container that when purchased gives the player a chance of receiving an item which in turn can boost a character's stats or enhance character appearance or restore a player's HP. Players can purchase Chests of Fortune in the Item Mall.
Developer Curve has announced a downloadable game called Explodemon, headed for WiiWare, PC, and PlayStation Network this year. Described as a mix of classic platformers like Mario and Mega Man with a modern Halo or Half-Life 2 twist (!), Explodemon will be presented in 2.5D. Curve is apparently a big fan of Super Nintendo-era Japanese platformers. Explodemon himself looks like a super-deformed Iron Man.
The developer previously delivered Buzz! Master Quiz and Buzz! Brain Bender to the PSP. Screenshots of Explodemon have definitely caught our attention and we'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Developer Curve has announced a downloadable game called Explodemon, headed for WiiWare, PC, and PlayStation Network this year. Described as a mix of classic platformers like Mario and Mega Man with a modern Halo or Half-Life 2 twist (!), Explodemon will be presented in 2.5D. Curve is apparently a big fan of Super Nintendo-era Japanese platformers. Explodemon himself looks like a super-deformed Iron Man.
The developer previously delivered Buzz! Master Quiz and Buzz! Brain Bender to the PSP. Screenshots of Explodemon have definitely caught our attention and we'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Developer Curve has announced a downloadable game called Explodemon, headed for WiiWare, PC, and PlayStation Network this year. Described as a mix of classic platformers like Mario and Mega Man with a modern Halo or Half-Life 2 twist (!), Explodemon will be presented in 2.5D. Curve is apparently a big fan of Super Nintendo-era Japanese platformers. Explodemon himself looks like a super-deformed Iron Man.
The developer previously delivered Buzz! Master Quiz and Buzz! Brain Bender to the PSP. Screenshots of Explodemon have definitely caught our attention and we'll be keeping an eye on this one.
When Apple announced the 3.0 iPhone firmware, they let us all know that MMS would FINALLY be allowed.
Until now, we weren't sure whether videos would be fair game as well in MMS - but the guys over at BGR have given it a try on 3.0, and it looks like its working great.
Video Formats: RM/ RMVB (720 x 576 maximum), AVI (800 x 480 maximum), WMV, DIVX, XVID, ASF, MP4, 3GP, MOV, MPG
Directly Plays Flash Video Formats
- FLV (Compatible with YouTube)
- Built-in High Speed Flash Memory
- 260,000 TFT True Color Display (LCD size: 3.0 inch)
- Built-in T-Flash/Micros Card Slot
- Built-in game
- Built-in high quality speaker
MP3
- Support MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, ACT Music Formats
- Support ID3: The songs' titles and lyrics can be shown on screen (Software Included)
- 7 Playing Modes: Normal, Repeat One, Folder, Repeat Folder, Repeat All, Random, Intro
- 7 presets EQ for your music: Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classic, Soft, Pop, DBB
Support 16 Languages:
- English, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Polish, Russian, and Turkish
- Inter-changeable animated startup screens
- Icon display function: direct icon display, accompanied with icon/ text
Fm Radio:
- Built-In FM Radio: FM stereo radio
- Support stereo sound radios
- FM Frequency Range: 87-108MHz
- Powerful automatic channel search function
- Powerful FM recording function
E-Book Function:
- Support txt Format files
- Phone book support
Voice Recording:
- High Quality Voice Digital Recording, 3 Recording Mode: Fine REC, Long REC, Long VOX
- Up to 64 hours of high quality WAV format voice recording and up to 288 hours of ACT format voice recording, Recorded Messages can be saved in 9 Folders and 99 Files
- A-B repeater
- Built-in Microphone
- Built-in Speaker
Picture Viewer:
- Built-in Picture Viewer, support JPEG format pictures or JPEG photos downloaded from internet
USB Storage:
- Act as USB Flash Drive (Can store other data file), USB 2.0 high speed transferring, Plug and Play in Windows (no driver required) except Windows 98 or earlier
Others:
- Use rechargeable Li-ion Battery
- Output Frequency: 20 Hz to 20 KHz, MP3 Bit Rate: 8kbps-320kbps
- Fast Forward, Reverse, Skip and Back Track. Sleep mode, auto Power-Off, Power-Saving mode available
- Size: 90 x 50 x 13mm
- Weight: 60.5g
- Audio Connector: 3.5 mm headphone jack
Video Formats: RM/ RMVB (720 x 576 maximum), AVI (800 x 480 maximum), WMV, DIVX, XVID, ASF, MP4, 3GP, MOV, MPG
Directly Plays Flash Video Formats
- FLV (Compatible with YouTube)
- Built-in High Speed Flash Memory
- 260,000 TFT True Color Display (LCD size: 3.0 inch)
- Built-in T-Flash/Micros Card Slot
- Built-in game
- Built-in high quality speaker
MP3
- Support MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, ACT Music Formats
- Support ID3: The songs' titles and lyrics can be shown on screen (Software Included)
- 7 Playing Modes: Normal, Repeat One, Folder, Repeat Folder, Repeat All, Random, Intro
- 7 presets EQ for your music: Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classic, Soft, Pop, DBB
Support 16 Languages:
- English, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Polish, Russian, and Turkish
- Inter-changeable animated startup screens
- Icon display function: direct icon display, accompanied with icon/ text
Fm Radio:
- Built-In FM Radio: FM stereo radio
- Support stereo sound radios
- FM Frequency Range: 87-108MHz
- Powerful automatic channel search function
- Powerful FM recording function
E-Book Function:
- Support txt Format files
- Phone book support
Voice Recording:
- High Quality Voice Digital Recording, 3 Recording Mode: Fine REC, Long REC, Long VOX
- Up to 64 hours of high quality WAV format voice recording and up to 288 hours of ACT format voice recording, Recorded Messages can be saved in 9 Folders and 99 Files
- A-B repeater
- Built-in Microphone
- Built-in Speaker
Picture Viewer:
- Built-in Picture Viewer, support JPEG format pictures or JPEG photos downloaded from internet
USB Storage:
- Act as USB Flash Drive (Can store other data file), USB 2.0 high speed transferring, Plug and Play in Windows (no driver required) except Windows 98 or earlier
Others:
- Use rechargeable Li-ion Battery
- Output Frequency: 20 Hz to 20 KHz, MP3 Bit Rate: 8kbps-320kbps
- Fast Forward, Reverse, Skip and Back Track. Sleep mode, auto Power-Off, Power-Saving mode available
- Size: 90 x 50 x 13mm
- Weight: 60.5g
- Audio Connector: 3.5 mm headphone jack
More than a year ago, famed Japanese copywriter and creator of Earthbound, Shigesato Itoi interviewed Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, covering a plethora of topics ranging from Nintendo to Iwata’s philosophy on design and a brief history of how the two men met. To date, I still think it is one of the Iwata interviews I’ve read, owing largely to his relationship with Itoi and his website, “Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun.” If you’re an Iwata fan, I would highly recommend reading the piece.
Recently, Yasuhiro Nagata from “Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun” conducted a special edition of the popular “Iwata Asks” series of interviews, with Iwata once again taking the spotlight and being grilled on a number of Nintendo-related matters. Here’s the portion of the interview I found most interesting:
Iwata: I’ve heard complaints—some not entirely bad, such as about having to lug around a bunch of game cartridges, for example— and noticed that, even though we have changed the nature of gaming with the Nintendo DSi, the other Nintendo DS family systems hitherto has represented the same old concept centered around plugging in a single game cartridge.
Also, sometimes when using my cell phone, I’ve thought that adapting this or that service to the DS would make it much more convenient. And, above all, I’ve thought about what should be done so the DS platform will remain vibrant years down the road.
But I wonder if perhaps Nintendo DSi solves all these problems by allowing users to tailor their own unit and walk around with their personalized Nintendo DSi systems.
I’ll admit, that is easily my biggest gripe with the DS at the moment.
Iwata goes on to state that famous Miyamoto quote that a true idea is “something which solves multiple issues at once.” Well, making it possible to load your DS games to an SD card on DSi and carry them all with you would solve the inconvenience issue and might also help offset piracy to an extent. That sounds like a true solution to me.
Atlus pushed Steal Princess back another month rescheduling its release to May 19. Previously, Steal Princess and its blend of isometric puzzle platforming was slated for April 21. Before that the original release date was March 24. To make up for the delays Atlus is packaging a mini-poster with every launch copy of the game.
Looks like Steal Princess is going to be rarer than your usual already hard to get Atlus game too. Tim Pivnicy, Vice President of Sales and Marketing explains, “Beacuse Steal Princess will be available through fewer sales channels and in smaller quantities than other Atlus releases, finding the optimal launch conditions is critical to ensuring that this daring new release avoids getting lost in an already busy April.”
A tipster told us Gamestop canceled his/her pre-order a few weeks ago. It doesn’t look Steal Princess is in Gamestop’s database either. Amazon is still carrying the game, though.
features
Beat ‘em up that lets you shoot ‘em up — When fisticuffs aren’t enough, add guns to deliver a whole new brand of justice to the mean streets of Tokyo. Pick up a variety of weapons, ranging from handguns to rocket launchers, for intense action on each level.
70’s cop shows have nothing on this — Outrageous style, over-the-top substance, and no holds barred hardboiled police action mix with madcap humor and sharply-written dialogue. Dishing out justice to the seamy underbelly of Tokyo has never been this satisfying.
Multiple characters & endings — This sordid tale of Tokyo’s criminal set unfolds through the eyes of three different cops with unique play styles. Story branches lead to multiple endings that determine whether you’ll get your shot to beat down the ultimate crime boss.
description
Experience the sweet nostalgia of classic coin-op beat ‘em ups, using your fists, guns, and anything else that happens to be lying around to round up and beat down the foolish criminals of Tokyo. Who stands between hope and despair, order and chaos? Enter the Beast Cops, tireless servants of justice. These men and women struggle night and day for the heart of the city. They’re Beast Cops because they will do whatever it takes, pay any price, inflict as much damage as necessary, in order to restore peace and security to the streets of Tokyo.
features
Control units and issue commands while viewing the battle from the 3rd-person POV of any unit on the battlefield. The 3rd-person camera offers unprecedented immersion in the game world and presents warfare in a more visceral, emotional, and epic manner than ever before
Gone are the flat levels of traditional strategy games. Engage in warfare on battlefields comprised of sprawling cities and towering skyscrapers that let you play in a truly 3D environment
Groundbreaking control method for quick and intuitive controls. ‘Tactical Playbook’ which gives players all the strategic choice they get from a traditional RTS, but with the simplicity and accessibility of a playbook
Multiplayer modes feature “join anytime” functionality, previously only seen on First Person Shooters and a breakthrough for console strategy titles
description
Lead from the front in the world’s most immersive and first truly 3D RTS
Assume command on the frontlines of battle! Experience the rush of battle in ways no other real-time strategy game has ever offered. Stormrise is the first truly 3D, next-gen RTS that, via the 3rd person camera perspective, puts you directly in the action. No other RTS game combines this level of immersion and emotional intensity with the scale and depth of a strategy game. Designed for next generation consoles (PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360), Stormrise puts you on the frontlines of battle as the heroic leader of your troops, allowing you to lead from the front in the world’s most immersive RTS.
Earth’s protective atmosphere has been stripped away by a catastrophic event centuries ago. In a bleak and barren landscape, the planet’s inhabitants have had to adapt radically in order to survive, resulting in the creation of two distinctly different races; the Echelon and the Sai. With both factions constantly battling for supremacy, the rebuilt civilisation is on the brink of another catastrophe…
features
Control units and issue commands while viewing the battle from the 3rd-person POV of any unit on the battlefield. The 3rd-person camera offers unprecedented immersion in the game world and presents warfare in a more visceral, emotional, and epic manner than ever before
Gone are the flat levels of traditional strategy games. Engage in warfare on battlefields comprised of sprawling cities and towering skyscrapers that let you play in a truly 3D environment
Groundbreaking control method for quick and intuitive controls. ‘Tactical Playbook’ which gives players all the strategic choice they get from a traditional RTS, but with the simplicity and accessibility of a playbook
Multiplayer modes feature “join anytime” functionality, previously only seen on First Person Shooters and a breakthrough for console strategy titles
description
Lead from the front in the world’s most immersive and first truly 3D RTS
Assume command on the frontlines of battle! Experience the rush of battle in ways no other real-time strategy game has ever offered. Stormrise is the first truly 3D, next-gen RTS that, via the 3rd person camera perspective, puts you directly in the action. No other RTS game combines this level of immersion and emotional intensity with the scale and depth of a strategy game. Designed for next generation consoles (PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360), Stormrise puts you on the frontlines of battle as the heroic leader of your troops, allowing you to lead from the front in the world’s most immersive RTS.
Earth’s protective atmosphere has been stripped away by a catastrophic event centuries ago. In a bleak and barren landscape, the planet’s inhabitants have had to adapt radically in order to survive, resulting in the creation of two distinctly different races; the Echelon and the Sai. With both factions constantly battling for supremacy, the rebuilt civilisation is on the brink of another catastrophe…
features
Intriguing storyline following a journalist’s eyewitness account of a tragic assassination
Wii Remote controls create a whole new level of interaction and accessibility to vibrant and detailed settings
New hint system prevents players from ever getting stuck on puzzles by offering tips and advice when needed
Discover the adventure with an all-new two-player mode, allowing two players
New story elements and settings – piecing together events before and after the original Broken Sword
Exclusive puzzles add new depth to the exploration gameplay
Stunning hand-drawn illustrations by renowned artist Dave Gibbons
Animated facial expressions depict empathetic and emotional storytelling
description
Broken Sword®: The Shadow of the Templars – Director’s Cut for the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo builds on the original, boasting a new and explosive narrative interwoven with the first story. After witnessing the brutal and horrifying murder of one of Paris’s richest and most influential statesman, the player will be pulled into a sinister conspiracy
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