The HD 4850 impressed everyone when it is was initially introduced -- but how do HD 4850 cards hold up now, four months later? Does MSI's R4850 have what takes to still impress your average Joe Everyday-Gamer?
Capcom has revealed pricing for Super Street Fighter II TurboHD Remix, which will be downloadable via PSN and XBL next week.
The PlayStation 3 is getting this game on November 25, next Tuesday, and the download will be marked at $14.99. For Xbox 360 owners, the game is expected one day later (Wednesday), and will cost 1200 Microsoft points ($15).
According to Capcom's John Dianomon, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix -- aside from having a really long name -- will also include a "remix soundtrack" that PSN users can download for free, featuring hip hop artists Redman, Hieroglyphics, DJ Qbert, DJ Toure, Zion I, Mistah F.A.B. and Oh No.
So if you have a PlayStation 3 and enjoy hip hop (and Street Fighter), next Tuesday is your lucky day.
Back in July, Google Labs launched Lively, an online virtual world that would allow users to create avatars and personalized rooms to chat and interact.
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, especially with life simulation applications (or games) being popular as they are right now. Unfortunately for Google, their project never really took off. After just four and a half months, Lively is about to end before it even really got started. They'll be shutting it down by the end of the year.
It's really a shame, and the Lively Team conveys their disappointment in a recent blog entry:
Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.
That's why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.
With Lively being discontinued, the Lively Team will also be dismantled, its members moving on to other projects. Current users have until December to preserve their creations by taking videos and screenshots.
According to some rumors kicking around on some Far Eastern hardware sites, a dual-GPU version of the GTX 260 is due to arrive from NVIDIA soon into the new year.
The GTX 260 GX2 is rumored to be making its first appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show, on January 9th, with retail appearances following soon thereafter.
The card has not been officially announced, but doesn't seem unreasonable.
It would also make sense that NVIDIA would want to make a GTX 260 GX2, instead of GTX 280 GX2. Due to GPU yields, and the challenges of keeping a hypothetical GTX 280 GX2 cool, the GTX 260 GX2 seems like a better bet. Especially if NVIDIA decides to use the 216 shader core version of the GTX 260, which has been shown to challenge the supremacy of the HD 4870, the GTX 260 GX2 might be fast enough to make it worthwhile. You have to assume that logically NVIDIA would not release a GTX 260 GX2 unless it had significant odds of competing in cost effectiveness to the HD 4870 X2 cards, which have already been out for a while.
The GTX 260 GX2 will reportedly use a die-shrunk, 55nm version of the current 65nm GT200.
On November 19, the New Xbox Experience (NXE) launched across Xbox 360s across the globe. Not surprisingly, users were met with some issues, some of which were blown completely out of proportion. I mean, who actually reports when things are going smoothly, right?
Well, Major Nelson of Xbox LIVE addressed the problems in his blog, stating that the first day hiccups should have been resolved:
As you can imagine, it's been an incredible day so far for the New Xbox Experience. It's great to see so much enthusiasm…it sounds like you are having fun exploring NXE. With an update of this magnitude, reaching more than 14 million people around the globe, we are aware some of you may be experiencing a few hiccups along the way. The LIVE team is closely monitoring the LIVE service and Xbox.com and are aware of a few issues including what's happening with Marketplace. The team is actively working on the issues, so thanks for bearing with us.
So if you were worried about bricking your 360 and haven't downloaded the update, let Major Nelson reassure you. It is now safe (we think) to turn on your consoles again. At least most users appear forgiving of Microsoft's launch day blunders.
It's a very likely explanation, considering the lengths North American publisher G4BOX has gone to in promoting Cross Fire.
Earlier, G4BOX was giving potential players a chance to sign up for beta even after it was closed to the public. Now they're adding a feature that would allow registered players to invite their friends into the exclusive (or not so) beta.
It's a rather strange move considering how much trouble people usually having accessing closed beta for the majority of games out there. Now, not only will Cross Fire players be able to invite a friend, G4BOX is giving them a chance to invite 10 friends.
The invitations will be sent out via email, which is then used to register a Cross Fire account on the official website.
"A game like Cross Fire is an experience players will want to enjoy with their friends," said Howard He, CEO and Co-founder of G4BOX. "Cross Fire's addictive, high intensity fire-fights have been a hit with first-person shooter fans and now they can quickly and easily get their friends in on the action too."
The Inq reports that Intel is pushing back some product launches:
Auburndale, Havendale, Clarksfield: was Q2, now Q3
Two socket Tylersburg slips a month
Apparently no reason was given for the delays.
Personally, I wonder if they were made in order to not make initial sales look bad - after all, with the economic slowdown people will probably not purchase as many products based on these parts as if there was no slowdown...
Do you like browser games, battle arenas, and hobos? If so, you are luck, because somebody just made a game called HoboArena.
HoboArena is a spin-off of a semi-successful browser game HoboWars[.com]. In HoboWars, you play some sort of hobo that has to make money, and build up his character in order to fight other hobos. You can buy armor, such as "Rags" (-12 armor rating, $3,600) and weapons, such as a "Large Stick" (+50 damage, $62,500). To make money you win fights and collect cans. In your spare time you pursue atypical hobo adventures, such as going to University.
The new HoboArena is basically just the fighting elements of the HoboWars game. Matches are played in rounds, with real life world cash given as prizes for each round, which last about 5 months. This round has $8000 USD on the line, to be split between the top 5 winners, in two categories: the richest hobos, and the highest level hobos.
The game doesn't look all that great, but it must have some sort of addictive quality to it, as it seems many thousands of people play HoboWars, both in its browser game format, and Facebook version.
The game is free to play but those who 'donate' money get to do more with their hobos. It seems unlikely that you could win a round of HoboArena if you don't donate.
It doesn't seem like any actual hobos were used as creative consultants for the game.
It's official -- the latest Terminator title will be paired up with the new movie, which releases nationwide on May 22, 2009. However, the worry is that the game will be nothing more than a movie property tie-in, putting players in the role of John Connor taking on Skynet (like in the film).
Halcyon notes they are going to include some unique models and features in the game, but it's always a problem when companies pull a stunt like this. Despite whatever additional features the game might have, basing it too closely on the original film can be problematic. By watching the movie, we are basically ruining the game for ourselves because then we already know the entire story and ending.
Warner released a brief description of the title:
Terminator Salvation – The Videogame allows players to battle for survival against Skynet enemies utilizing an incredibly fluid and realistic control set,” said Cos Lazouras, President of Halcyon Games. “The player will be led through a visceral story with extremely polished production values to create a fully interactive Terminator experience.”
Terminator Salvation is slated to become a cinematic experience capturing the action and excitement of the original property, and one can only hope that this time around, Halcyon can do what many developers before them have failed at: bringing a worthwhile movie-based title to the masses. They're already one step ahead, considering the Terminator franchise has so much potential for great products. We'll find out more as things progress. I only hope they'll keep it interesting and continue cranking out the violence.
Capcom wants to know what you're looking for, and so do we
The lovely ScrewAttack put together another Top 10 list, this one inspired by Capcom's recent success with classic revitalizations like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Super StreetFighterII Turbo HD Remix, and Mega Man 9. The jist of it is it goes through the ten games (some being Capcom) they'd most love to see brought back to life with a shiny coat of new paint. Check it out:
Have to concur about Power Stone, especially considering how online gaming has evolved since. NBA Jam! Almost forgot about that. How awful of me. Should've definitely put it in my Sega Genesis retrospective. A new version with online play could be inconceivably good. Super Mario Bros. 3: II was particularly hilarious, and as for the #1, well, fortunately that's already been given a "yes"! The future looks bright for retro-futuristic retro games, and stuff.
Now, Capcom it seems is a fan of ScrewAttack and were in turn inspired. A community blog post runs like this:
"After giving Capcom the props for revisiting games like Bionic Commando and of course Street Fighter, he mentions a few things I'd personally like to see (like Starfox!), as well as a bunch of choices from the Capcom stable, including Power Stone, Strider, and... I won't give away their #1 choice.
But really? People want that? We had no idea! Anyway, tell us, what games do YOU think Capcom should revisit?"
I just love it when developers and gamers talk to each other directly. We're all geeks, folks. Peace not console war!
There's already near 200 comments on the site, which suggestions range from Darkstalkers to Comix Zone to Duck Tales, for gosh sakes. It appears the retro community is alive and well, indeed.
Myself, I'd vote Breath of Fire, though honestly, that game couldn't get any more perfect. I also think a new Gunstar Heroes could rule, and none of that lame-o anime cheese stuff -- gimme the hard stuff. Oh, and for the love of god, a new Shining Force that is actually Shining Force (go to hell Neo, EXA, and whatever else -- even if you are decent, you're not Shining Force so stop pretending). Actually I'm going to just make a brief list of games that should be brought to life in their true spirit:
Company celebrates sales success for game launch, breaks previous record as well.
While many saw it coming, maybe some didn't see it being this big, the 24 hour launch data is back for WoW: Wrath of the Lich King and it's pointing out that global first day sales for the game are hitting the 2.8 million unit mark over 15,000 stores. Blizzard expects to see this continue to rise of course given the installed userbase of over 11 million players in WoW. Just for those wondering the figures on that, 2.8m x 39.99 brings the sales numbers right up to $111,972,000 or so in a single day, it would have been handy though to know how many new subscribers they pulled out as well with this launch or renewed players. One would expect the subscription base to continue climbing to 12 million and beyond with the release of a new expansion and so much already existing world content.
A note from Blizzard on the milestone:
“We’re grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead.”
One can only hope that this success is somewhat mirrored in the coming ventures by Blizzard with Starcraft II and Diablo III as it seems Blizzard is also renewing interest in the Battle.net structure for improvements.
Games for Windows LIVE, the counterpart to Xbox LIVE, has (apparently) never been much of a success, at least in comparison to its console bretheren. Recently it's been relaunched, and support will certainly continue (more than 85 titles are planned by the end of the year, and games like Dawn of War 2 will utilize the online component), but with all this comes two bits of news.
The first is that it may become another content delivery service (a la Steam, Impulse, GamersGate, GOG, etc) -- something they say is "on the road map" and is "clearly the next step". The second is Microsoft may drop cross-platform support, meaning PC gamers would no longer be able to play with Xbox gamers.
"Cross-platform, we learned when we did Shadowrun, is really hard to do," said senior marketing manager at Games for Windows Live Michael Wolf. "It's very challenging, especially in a first-person shooter, to make cross-platform work where one side isn't being completely dominated by the other. A lot of development time was spent on Shadowrun with professional Counterstrike players and professional Halo 2 players on console, battling it out and providing feedback to try to get that play balancing done right. What they discovered was that PC gamers had an advantage when it comes to long distance because of the accuracy of the mouse for headshots and sniping, whereas the console players had a little advantage in close combat because they could hit combos faster and pull things off quicker. ... So we've shared a lot of that learning with other publishers to try to support them for cross-platform, but the community hasn't really had a huge outcry for it. It's one of those features that's really cool, but we're also hearing that it's not something we have to deliver."
There's certainly a point there. Considering that, should PC and Xbox gamers stick to their own? Of course, Xbox 360 owners are able to connect a mouse and keyboard to their console with the aid of appropriate devices, though I've heard of some major qualms with this approach..nevertheless, it could work in theory, no?
Now, while Microsoft may not be supporting cross-platform play, they're interested in the idea of another studio doing so:
"We've always had this sort of vision of a game where the console gamer is in first-person shooter mode and then the PC gamer is like the general who has the overall strategy and the map... I don't know if anybody is necessarily building that, but I think somebody needs to take that opportunity and take that risk. And that's just a business decision by a publisher to take that risk to support that."
Judge sees no resemblance between game and "Dawn of the Dead"
Most of us remember the rather obvious disclaimers telling us Dead Rising has nothing to with MKR's Dawn of the Dead film. It was on the box, and I believe it was even at the start of the game.
Anyway, that didn't stop the film production company MKR Group from filing their lawsuit, claiming Capcom stole from their 1978 zombie flick. In February, MKR notified Capcom, Microsoft, and Best Buy of its intent to sue for Dead Rising's development, marketing, and distribution.
In addition to the lawsuit, MKR had repeatedly hounded Capcom about their alleged copyright infringements, forcing the company to eventually file a motion for relief from the legal harassment.
"The few similarities MKR has alleged are driven by the wholly unprotectable concept of humans battling zombies in a mall during a zombie outbreak," Capcom stated in their motion.
During the hearing, the Dead Rising developer and publisher provided "dozens of zombie movies and games" in order to establish certain conventions of the zombie genre and prove that any similarities between their game and Dawn of the Dead are purely coincidental.
United States Magistrate Judge richard Seeborg eventually ruled in Capcom's favor. After finding several major differences between the survival-horror game and MKR's movie, he wrote, "The social commentary MKR draws from Dawn of the Dead ... appears totally absent from the combat focus found in Dead Rising."
New screenshots and more juicy tidbits on new PC game
Independent developer ACE has more to say about their upcoming first-person action fighter, Zeno Clash.
The game will be available at detail and online via Steam some time in Q1 2009. More information is also revealed on a finalized fact sheet sent out earlier today.
Screenshots have already shown us a colorful yet dangerous world, spanning from "the anarchic city of Halstedom, a green skied desert with impossible rock formations, the exotic woods where the nihilistic rejects live," and other incredibly bizarre locations. The combat system revolves mostly around melee, and players can chain their attacks into a variety of combos, though Zeno Clash does offer an unusual variety of weapons that can be used to keep enemies at a range. Firearms and explosives are handy additions to the melee arsenal, as different enemies may require different strategies.
Perhaps the weirdest yet most interesting aspect of Zeno Clash is the protagonist's background story:
Zeno Clash is a story driven game. Player’s will play the role of Ghat; the son of a impressive hermaphrodite creature called Father-Mother, who’s children form the most powerful clan in the city of Halstedom. Ghat must escape from his family and start an incredible journey with his female companion Deadra, who will aid him in the dangerous lands of Zenozoik. Unlike most fantasy stories with an obvious distinction between good and evil, Ghat’s motivations could be rebelliousness or revengeful. As new information about Ghat's past is revealed by playing in different timelines, players can make their own judgment.
He certainly looks normal enough, considering his origins; then again, he's also rather mundane compared to other characters and creatures unsettling punk fantasy world. Father-Mother made quite an impression him/herself as narrator in the game's teaser trailer.
Speaking of which, here are the new screenshots for Zeno Clash. We get to see more of the game's odd wildlife, including the familiar and somewhat endearing Mucalosaurus, from ACE's previous batch of images, and a flock of Rathbirds. Oh, and don't forget Father-Mother!
New DLC packs announced just ahead of HD remake for Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Don't worry, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (phew) is cleared for release on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this November 25th and 26th, respectively. As part of the upcoming launch, Capcom opens a new online storefront for all their digital downloads, making them the first third party publisher to open a branded store over PSN and the New Xbox Experience (NXE). To leverage their branded digital destinations, Capcom calls forth the "Season of Street Fighter", a bundle of joy comprising of several Street Fighter-themed digital download packs available over both PSN and XBL. The first pack was already released last week in the form of Super Street Fighter Pinball FX, but there's more direct download titles on the way.
For example, perhaps you might be in the mood for some family friendly thrashing with... Street Fighter UNO Now our dream of unleashing Tiger Up-your-butts in UNO is fulfilled, and the game will feature appropriately themed backgrounds and music to help set that mood. Capcom also hints at another surprise title in the pipeline for the PSN "later in the holiday season".
Not all Season of Street Fighter download packs will be digitally distributed games. Capcom will also release the "Street Fighter Underground Remix", a direct-to-download music album featuring hip-hop tribute tracks "inspired by the Street Fighter series" from such artists as DJ Qbert, Hieroglyphics, Redman, Oh No, DJ Toure, Mistah FAB and Zion I. These tracks are exclusive to the PSN and will be free to download once the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix game launches.
Despite all its hype, LittleBigPlanet saw a lackluster debut according to NPD.
In October, Media Molecule's little gem rounded up a meager 215,000 sales -- compare that to 790,000 Fable II units sold. After its UK launch on November 5, research data show LBP took fourth place on the UK's All Format chart, dropping to 19th the week after.
David Wilson, head of Sony's public relations in the UK, has tried blamed the mediocre sales on the fact that LBP is "a brand new IP," overshadowed by sequels such as Gears of War 2, Fallout 3 and, of course, Fable II. However, LBP is meant to have a longer appeal than other games, which should make up for its slow start.
Wilson said as much in his response to inquiries concerning LBP's thus far unremarkable performance:
"Our industry is littered with examples of brand new innovative titles that have been lauded by the critics but have sold dismally. But Sony is delighted and honoured to be working with hugely talented developers who can create brilliantly creative original games. LittleBigPlanet has broken this stereotype by not only being brilliant and original but also by selling really well on a global basis. LittleBigPlanet is breaking many preconceptions. There are some games that are hardcore experiences that the kudos lies in getting it first.
LittleBigPlanet is excellent on day one but even better as time goes by. If you bought this game on day one, you'd play your 50 plus levels on the Blu-ray and dip into the 12,000 levels created by the beta testers. If you bought the game one week later you've got over 84,000 user created levels to play with. This game gets better and better as an experience and as a value proposition.
It is also a game that will benefit enormously from word of mouth and from people trying it out with friends or in store - it drips fun and charm in equal measure. Also the bulk of our marketing including our six figure TV advertising campaign doesn't roll out until December, so we genuinely believe that Sackboy hasn't even hit his stride yet."
LBP has been experiencing problems before and after launch, after being hit with a delay due to controversial song lyrics in the soundtrack. Recently players have been complaining about unfair moderation as levels are deleted for possible copyright infringements.
With low power computers such as the Eee PC and the Wind PC becoming popular, Intel wants to field some lower power consumption quad core processors to enable high-performance small factor systems with reasonable power consumptions
According to Digitimes, Intel will introduce three 65W TDP quad core processors mid-January 2009 to address this market:
$245 Core 2 Quad Q8200s at 2.33GHz with 4MB of L2 cache
$320 Core 2 Quad Q9400s at 2.66GHz with 6MB of L2 cache
$369 Core 2 Quad Q9550s at 2.83GHz with 12MB of L2 cache
(prices above are in 1000 unit OEM quantities)
Apparently Apple, Acer, HP and Dell are planning to launch products with the new processors.
Don't get too excited about your new NXE. It looks like Netflix has stopped Xbox 360 users from streaming movies from Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
This sudden restriction applies only to 360 users, of course, and PC or Mac users still have access to the unavailable films. When asked whether all these movie licenses just coincidentally expired at the same time (and just when NXE has officially launched), Netflix VP of corporate communications Steve Swasey declined to comment.
Swasey did say that he hopes this mess will get sorted, so the movies can be made available on the Xbox 360 service once again. In a emailed statement, Swasey shed a dim light on the current situation:
"In the case of Xbox 360, a few hundred titles are temporarily unavailable to be streamed via the Xbox game console. Those titles are still available to be watched on subscribers’ computers and on TVs via other partner devices, and we hope they’ll be licensed for Xbox 360 shortly.
As watching instantly becomes a more prominent part of the Netflix service, our goal is to have all of our streaming content licensed for all of our partner devices. We’re doing well in this area, but it will take some time before we fully achieve that goal. Today, titles regularly come in and out of license and there is a natural ebb and flow to what we have on license at any given point in time.”
Despite the frustrating issues surrounding movies from Columbia, those distributed by Sony Pictures are still up, and we're hoping these flicks don't get pulled as well.
The Falcon Northwest Mach V makes your gaming beast look like an infant
I remember back last summer I reported on a military supercomputer called 'Roadrunner'. The machine had reached a new milestone in computing history, surpassing a speed of over 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second, attaining the petaflop measurement. Reader 'bigjdubb' amusingly commented, "But will it run Crysis???" It was a great joke, and while obviously an exaggeration on the game's requirements, it certainly wasn't unfounded.
For instance, CNet has just reported the Falcon Northwest Mach V, the fastest all-around desktop they've ever tested, is now the first machine to run Crysis at a full 60 frames per second (fps) in high resolution. Here are the specs:
1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive; 80GB Intel X-25M solid state drive
Optical drive
20x dual-layer DVD burner with LightScribe; 4x dual-layer Blu-ray burner
Operating system
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
Eight grand is actually a fair bit less than I expected. But yeah, you could buy about 40 Xbox 360s, 20 PS3s, 27 Wiis or 130 games for that price. Demanding, much?
Sigh. Grand Theft Auto IV has been getting all kinds of conflicting reports on its PC release date. I've heard December 2, 3, and 20 from various sources. Rockstar's Social Club TV website its December 2, so let's go with that, hm?
When the game launches, they say with it will come a video editor; if you're a member of the Rockstar Social Club, you can post your videos online, track the ones you've posted, and get in on special contests and video-based competitions. Once the game is out, you can confirm/link your Games for Windows LIVE Gamertag to your account and "get on your way to becoming the Cecil B Demille of Liberty City."
If you ask me, this is a great idea true to the spirit of Grand Theft Auto; half the fun I've long thought is hanging out with friends and outdoing each other in terms of how much craziness and/or humour you can create. So props to you Rockstar, not only for this, but for making the PC version of the game worthwhile (even if it is coming over six months later).
The company says these "Social-Club-TV-supported in-game video features" will be in many more Rockstar titles in the future.
There are four videos up on the website already which you can check out. Here's one of them, a personal favourite titled "Niko vs. Niko":
"It is imperative that the gameplay reflect [a] level of urgency"
PC buffs may have already been hoping for it, and it is indeed coming -- Mirror's Edge will utilize NVIDIA's PhysX hardware acceleration when it hits the open platform this January. Assuming you have a GeForce 8 or better GPU or will be getting one, you can confidently flip off your console-only friends and their "weak Unreal engine" (I'm kidding a terrible lot, here). The tech has been used in over 140 current-gen titles on all platforms to date, but Mirror's Edge hasn't been one of them.
NVIDIA described the technology's utilization as follows:
With the NVIDIA PhysX physics engine, the world of Mirror's Edge comes to life with real [e]ffects of wind, weapons impact, and in-game movements. Every-day objects within the game become part of the overall experience. Cloth, flags, and banners can now impact weapons and players; ground fog interacts with the player's footsteps; explosions fill the air with smoke and debris; and weapon impacts are enhanced with interactive particles.
DICE's senior producer Owen O'Brien stated why it's so necessary:
“Faith’s world in Mirror’s Edge is visceral, immediate, and very dangerous; it is imperative that the gameplay reflect this level of urgency. Nvidia PhysX technology affords us the ability to bring a totally new level of immersion to the game, and by doing so, gamers can truly become part of the world.”
NVIDIA sent out a video of the technology in action with the title, which you can see below. It's YouTube, so it doesn't give you the best idea, but still a pretty good one. Course, you can always go to the source of the video and click 'watch in high quality' for a considerably better experience. Anyway, here it is:
If you didn't preorder Natsume's Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon from Amazon.com for this adorable squirrel (we think) plushie, that's too bad. Oh, I didn't either.
But for those interested in the Harvest Moon franchise, the latest title is out for the Nintendo DS and available for around $29.99. This fantasy action-RPG is rated E, not surprisingly, so it could be a nice little present for a younger relative if not yourself.
"We are thrilled to finally bring Rune Factory 2 to our fans who have been eagerly awaiting its launch," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume.
"Rune Factory 2 builds upon the elements that made the first title a huge success, and expands the series' RPG elements while offering beautiful graphics, innovative Touch Screen controls, and an all-new, multigenerational plot."
Rune Factory 2 takes place several years after the first game.
Crazy about baseball? Then here's a potential new way to experience your favorite game.
Online game publisher GamesCampus has announced today that it has signed an online interactive licensing agreement with MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media company of MLB, granting them rights to use the official MLB league and club marks and logos as well as other registered trademarks in their upcoming micro-transaction online game, MLB Dugout Heroes.
Whew, that was a mouthful. MLB Dugout Heroes is a free PC-based baseball (obviously) game set to launch in the 2009 baseball season.
"It is an honor to be working with MLBAM to bring baseball fans a fully licensed online baseball experience," said David Chang, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, GamesCampus. "Baseball fans are so passionate about the teams they enjoy following, and now they will have the opportunity to play as their favorite team in a high-quality online game experience."
The multi-year agreement with MLBAM gives GamesCampus the rights to all current and historical Major League teams, ballparts, All-Star teams, and jewel events. The publisher will also be able to use the 2009 MLB regular season game schedule in their game so fans can simulate the season in the PC game.
MLB Dugout Heroes features a 3D cartoon style, targeting casual gamers with easy to pick up mouse-only controls.
"We are excited to partner with GamesCampus in offering fans this interactive baseball gaming experience," said Alex Pigeon, VP of international at MLBAM. "The ability to utilize current or historical teams and ballparks along with simulated on-the-field management will be an engaging way for players to interact with the game."
As former suitor Square Enix moves to the West, Tecmo of Ninja Gaiden fame is finalizing its deal with Koei, the father of Dynasty Warriors and some of the most atrocious video game dubs in history. The stock deal is valued at $207.2 million and seals on a merger that won't be made official until April 2009.
When Tecmo and Koei first announced the formation of a joint committee in September, they promised changes within two months. Well, about two months have passed since then and now we are indeed seeing some activity as the two companies move ahead with their plans.
Analysts expect the resulting holding firm next spring, called Tecmo Koei Holdings, to generate over $727 million in sales with a $166.2 operating profit by the end of March 2012. Those are impressive figures compared to the companies' combined operating profit of $87.5 million and sales of $423.7 million ending March 31, 2008, the end of the last business year.
Plus Wrath of the Lich King, Guitar Hero, Football Manager, more
Despite grumblings from the gaming community about Call of Duty: World at War, the game has sold vastly well. So well, in fact, it's more than doubled its already massively popular predecessor, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. More than that, the game is now the UK's third fastest selling video game of all time, behind Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Activision Blizzard (who published the game) continue their domination of the charts with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, now the third fastest selling PC title, a record which has been held since March 2003 by Championship Manager 4.
Guitar Hero: World Tour meanwhile shoots up from #17 to #6, with the complete band packs no doubt being a factor.
Astonishinly, sales from just these three games accounted for one-quarter of all games sold last week. Dangerous, to be sure, but on the bright side, at least they're great games.
PC gaming is indeed looking up, as Football Manager 2009 comes in at #3, making it Sega's fastest selling game of the series. Meanwhile Gears of War 2 sales slip 64% (from #1 to #4), EA's FIFA 09 falls three spots to #5. Nintendo stays in the Top 10 with Professor Layton and Mario Kart Wii, which both fell one place to #7 and #8, but rose in sales, up 9% and 12%. Dissapointingly, (for Nintendo), Wii Music only hit #16, and (for gamers like myself, and DICE/EA, surely), Mirror's Edge got the #20 spot.
I don't know about you, but sometimes all this talk about PC gaming gets me down. There's the developers who say piracy is killing their sales and PC gaming in general, and/or they're not doing PC exclusives or even ports anymore. It's not 100% unfounded, as piracy rates can be huge sometimes, but there are several things inaccurate with this theory, not the least of them being pirating doesn't necessarily mean a given person isn't also buying the game. But that's a whole thing in itself, and if you're keen on it, you can read more here.
My point is with all this is sometimes it's easy to wonder why anything gets ported and/or made exclusively for the PC. Well, some new statistics from Jon Peddie Research (JPR), "the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia," take that perception and turn it on its head -- they're downright uplifting. To start off:
• The Enthusiast segment has a worldwide compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% • The Performance segment will have a CAGR of 19% • The Mainstream segment CAGR is 21% Gaming PCs touch all segments of the market, with the most expensive at the high-end, known as the Enthusiast segment where the utilization for gaming is highest, down to the mainstream where the purchase motivation for gaming is about 6 percent.
Indeed, it's not all good news, but it's certainly in a helluva lot better shape than I'd been led to believe. The report goes on to say the total value for PC gaming hardware this year has been just over $20 billion (!!!), and will grow to over $34bn by 2012. These systems, they say, pull in an additional $6bn in software and services sales.
And of course, this all has a relationship with the economic recession and console gaming. It seems the "assumed growth" of console gaming may be negatively affected, and all because of HDTVs. "The cost of an HDTV for the console is a serious investment," the report reads, "Particularly when a console is limited in what it can do, unlike a personal computer." I can attest myself to this, as I've recently said "Phwew, glad I'm saving money by not buying an HDTV/console." Sure it'd all be very nice, but console gaming is more expensive than it's ever been.
Now, it's not all rainbows and sunshine -- naturally different countries have different habits when it comes to PC gaming, and the research company advises hardware suppliers, having studied thirty-seven countries in seven regions: "Don't get caught sending the wrong stuff to the wrong place." This is the report with the "highest granularity" on PC gaming hardware ever, so it's not to be taken lightly.
In terms of gaming PCs, notebooks showed strong gains.The "DIY and aftermarket" sector, meanwhile, was found to be "robust", with lots of folk who upgrade their systems with high-performance gaming graphics boards.
"Don't let the retail numbers fool you," said Ted Pollak, co-author of the report series. "Enthusiast PC gamers often latch onto one or two games that offer multiplayer options and stick to these titles for years. Hardware is where they spend the big bucks. The retail numbers don't capture the casual and digitally distributed games either. Retail software figures are not an accurate barometer for the health of the PC gaming industry."
Perhaps then developers should make less games for the PC, and focus more on quality (and less on DRM)? Myself, I like to play quite a few PC games, but I could certainly see his theory being accurate (see: Diablo, StarCraft, Unreal, etc) for the general population.
"The PC Gaming Hardware industry is a worldwide growth phenomenon and there are striking changes to the environment on the horizon," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie research. "Don't get caught surprised - our PC gaming hardware reports will provide virtual binoculars for companies involved in the space so that they are prepared for the approaching shifts. Now, more than ever, suppliers can't afford to make any missteps in their marketing and sales strategies."
Update: GamePolitics notes by way of caution, "this data comes from a press release issued by JPR as a means of attracting companies to purchase their reports."
More of Liberty City made playable in upcoming DS game
Chinatown isn't the only area making the jump to DS. In a recent issue of Nintendo Power, a feature on the upcoming Chinatown Wars revealed that four of Liberty City's five boroughs would also be making the transition.
Dukes, Bohan, Broker, and Algonquin will be playable in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, while the Jersey-inspired Alderney is sitting this one out. In addition to these explorable regions, the game will also have a rotating camera that provides the player with a top-down view of the city. Pedestrians and vehicles are making an appearance and will once again be at your mercy.
On top of displaying mini-games, the dual touch screens can also act as an all-in-one PDA, handling many of the computer functions found in GTA IV like checking email, viewing maps, GPS navigation, changing the radio, and game statistics.
"This has the full weight and energy of a GTA production," producer Dan Houser assured GTA followers in his interview with Nintendo Power. After the game was delayed, some fans might be expecting one hell of a game.
A big question and answer document was released today by EA. If you are a fan of answers -- or merely like reading questions -- you might find the following Questions & Answers very stimulating:
The Sims 3 Q&A
After all these years of creative thinking, Sims Fans have made many interesting Sims, houses and other objects. Will it be possible to transfer Sims from previous version to The Sims 3? And what about other objects like house and furniture designs?
There are so many innovations in The Sims 3 so it’s really not possible to transfer items or Sims from previous games. The level of detail in The Sims 3 is so high that any conversion from older games would not be satisfying for players.
Also many Sims fans have gathered a huge pile of CD’s with add ons for 2nd version of the game, which will turn into junk once 3rd version comes out. And what add ons will be included in The Sims 3? Can we expect pets, seasons and magic in the initial release? And what of additional extras for previous version we will have to re-purchase for new one?
At the moment, we’re only thinking about The Sims 3. We have a huge team devoted to making the best possible game and we’re not going to think about anything else until it’s perfect.
Also there are many questions about ‘living neighborhood’. Before Sims 3, player-made families just waited patiently until someone plays them, now it appears to be that they will live on their own. Let’s assume that player created two families: “Mary and Bob” and “John Smith”. Then he played with “Mary and Bob” for long time, almost forgetting about that other family. It’s quite possible that when the player returns to John Smith, he’ll find no one there, since he could live his entire life, get old and die, so there will be no opportunity to play with him. Is there any solution already?
There are lots of options in The Sims 3. In the example that you just presented, the families that you don’t control will develop along with the household that you are controlling. However, you can switch between families at any time. You can also move families between save files, so you can develop one family to a specific point and then merge them with another save file. Story tellers will do that a lot.
We’ve already heard that there will be ‘Hand of the God” in the game, that allows to pick up and move Sims and other objects. Also it will be possible to feed and clean Sims with one click of the mouse. Which other simplifications should we expect?
There isn’t a feature that works exactly like you describe. However, players can do something that we call “live dragging”. In simple terms, you can manipulate some objects directly with your mouse. In the past, The Sims had to clean up everything for themselves. Now you can grab trash and throw it away, or grab an item from the floor and put it in your Sim’s inventory.
And what about robots, Aliens, Vampires and others? Will be they available in the initial release or we will have to wait for them to appear in outgoing expansions?
We have some tricks up our sleeve…
Since there will be quite big virtual universe on player’s disposal, are there any plans for minigames like car driving? And what about dance simulators, which are so popular on consoles?
There are some really interesting collection games and skills have a lot of rich detail.
Are there any plans of extending Sims’ vocabulary, e.g. will their words really mean something? Or they will keep mumbling some meaningless Simmish like before Sims 3?
The Sims always speak simlish. We’ve tried to teach them the languages of the world but they don’t want to listen.
Some years ago The Sims Online was started. But we didn’t heard about this project for a while. Are there any plans to include some online components in Sims 3, like chats or minigames where players can use their Sims as avatars?
The Sims 3 players will have unprecedented freedom to customize the look of their game. A player with creative aspirations and no technical training or knowledge can make changes to the look of just about everything in their Sims life, right in the game. We call the technology Create-a-Style. In the past, fans made their creations outside of the game and then shared them on the exchange. We wanted to give the power that our artists have to the players.
The process of getting creations online is easier than ever. The Sims 3 launcher helps you install and manage custom content so that you don’t have to hunt around for directories or anything like that.
Finally, The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.
What kind of player activity have you planned for The Sims 3?
Sims can do things that they couldn’t do before, like ride bikes, work out at the gym, go to the beach, grab a snack at the bistro and more!
What about the game has been upgraded and what is completely new? Also, can you explain a bit about how the new 'boundaries' work? What kind of activity will be opened up for the Sims?
The first thing that people will notice about The Sims 3 is the world around them. If you see it, you can go there. In the past, The Sims players were confined to playing on little levels that we called lots. Now there are now boundaries. The technology is incredible because we can show you the tiniest detail of your home, like the petals on a flower. A few seconds later you can look at the tiniest freckle on a Sim on the other side of town. This all happens in real time. We're in a great place as developers these days: Realism has been achieved...check. We can just focus on style and delivering seamless experiences so that the player can be completely immersed in their story.
How, if at all, has the customisability of The Sims evolved for The Sims 3? How will players be able to integrate this into their Sims experience?
We're going to give the player unprecedented control over the visuals in the game so that they have the same control that our artists have, right in the game. The new Create - A - Sim allows players to make just about any person they can imagine, and there are tools in the game that let you change the look of almost any surface on your Sim or in their home.
Can we expect to see our favourite Sims families return, having grown, as they did between The Sims and The Sims 2?
Yes! You will see many of your favourite things from past games in The Sims 3.
How has player feedback impacted changes you have implemented for The Sims 3?
We're all fans of The Sims, and a lot of our team worked on The Sims and The Sims 2, so player feedback is built into our team. We also spend a lot of time interacting with members of The Sims community around the world. I don't think the game would be what it is without The Sims community. Fans have always wanted more interaction with a community of Sims. If you think about it, The Sims is the most detailed depiction of contemporary life to be presented in a work of fiction, but half of life was missing. In The Sims 3, we’ll let you explore the other half of life that happens when you are not at home.
How do the 'new personalities' work?
There are over 70 personality traits that players can choose from. When you choose traits they are represented as a simple word that you might use to describe someone you know so it’s easy to understand what they will do in the game. What makes traits so powerful is that they can change the game in profound ways. You’ll see different behaviors, interactions, advantages and goals depending on the traits that your Sims display. Just to name a few examples of more extreme traits, you can let your Sims be Insane, Evil, Kleptomaniac, Paranoid, Brave, Hates Kids, Genius and more.
What challenges did you face in the creation of The Sims 3?
Working to tune the AI so that the people who live in your town have lifelike behavior. Over time, all of The Sims in the town grow and develop, and it takes an impressive amount of tuning to make this work just right. I think that people are used to seeing lots of other characters in a game world, but they’ve never seen a game world where every character is being motivated by unique personality traits and motives like The Sims 3. Another thing we’re working on is a feature called Create A Style which allows players to customize just about everything, from clothing to furniture to cars. We want players to be able to change the game like our artists can. The interface is really powerful and we want to make it perfect.
We understand that the game features a continuous neighborhood and no loading times, but there won't be multiple neighborhoods as in The Sims 2. Tell us a bit about this decision. How will it change what different players do with the game once they get it in their hands?
There is one neighborhood, and it is pretty amazing. We’ve been working exclusively on this one neighborhood, Sunset Valley for the last few years. It’s bigger and richer than anything we’ve made before. We really just wanted to make something that would blow people away, and we wanted to do more with the town than we have in the past.
No two towns will ever be the same after one generation in The Sims 3. As I mentioned, every Sim has complete AI throughout their life, so you’ll see people grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, get jobs, move out, have families, grow old and pass away. It’s also possible to change all of the Sims in your town, so you can fill the town with whoever you like…yourself, your friends, characters from your favorite show, favorite band or sports team, anyone you can imagine…you get the point.
We understand that every Sim has a dream that can be fulfilled as part of a lifetime achievement goal. What are some examples of lifetime achievements, and what happens when you reach it? What if you fail?
Just like people, The Sims have wishes. Some of their wishes are really big and we call those Lifetime Wishes. A Lifetime Wish is a really big achievement like becoming a rock star, raising a huge family, getting rich or becoming an astronaut. Along the way to achieving your lifetime wish, you’ll fulfill smaller wishes. As you fulfill a Sim’s wishes, you earn points that can be used to purchase special Traits and reward objects that are generally hilarious and awesome. There really is no way to fail in the game, but you can make some really funny things happen if you want to cause trouble for your Sims.
How much dedication does it take to reach the pinnacle of your respective career ladder? Are there any shortcuts to the top?
If you play your cards right, you might be able to get to the top of more than one career in a lifetime, but it would take a lot of hard work and your Sim would need the right traits. Workaholic Sims will be happy if they live at the office, so that might be a good way to go. There are definitely some shortcuts, and your Sims will get Opportunities from time to time that give them a boost.
Plenty of open-ended moral choices will pop up in The Sims 3, like giving you the choice to skim off the top of campaign contributions in the political career. Give us some more examples of these moral choices depending on your career. What are the consequences of such decisions?
The game is full of moral choices. Some of them are presented to the player as career Opportunities. I don’t want to give too much away on this subject. A lot of the moral choices in the game come from the social simulator, and this is where the game becomes so compelling. A lot of players use the game to explore moral questions in their own lives. It’s sort of a “what if” simulator. For example, your Sim can choose to Whoohoo at work, but if they get caught then both Sims run out of the office naked. Now, that could be a lesson you don’t want to learn in the real world!
What can you tell us about the community features and sharing options players can use to build and share with their friends and with the larger Sims fanbase?
The Sims 3 players will have unprecedented freedom to customize the look of their game. A player with creative aspirations and no technical training or knowledge can make changes to the look of just about everything in their Sims life, right in the game. We call the technology Create A Style. In the past, fans made their creations outside of the game and then shared them on the exchange. We wanted to give the power that our artists have to the players.
The process of getting creations online is easier than ever. The Sims 3 launcher helps you install and manage custom content so that you don’t have to hunt around for directories or anything like that.
Finally, The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.
As in The Sims 2, throwing parties is all the rage in The Sims 3. What are the different party types available depending on your career?
There are new party types in The Sims 3, but there are also some pretty cool locations to party with your friends. If you want to call your friends down to the beach and set up an afternoon BBQ, you can do that. Break out your guitar, turn on the radio, call up some friends and chill out. If you’re a rising politician, you can throw campaign fundraisers to build up your campaign fund as well.
Please give us an update on the game. What aspects is the team working on at the moment?
A lot of our time is spent playing and perfecting the open, living neighborhood and all of the gameplay that takes place there. In The Sims 3, we’re opening up the other half of life that players have always wanted to explore. What happens when you’re not stuck at home? It’s been a huge undertaki
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