Kotaku: dice 2009

Electronic Arts Adds Microtransaction to Real Golf

Brian Crecente — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:00:01 MST

Last week's DICE summit kicked off with a game of golf in the Nevada desert. To keep things interesting, and raise a bit of cash for charity, Electronic Arts added microtransactions to the game.

We heard about the event through some of the coverage last week. It involved golfers buying power-ups that could move golf balls, allow you to kick a ball into the water or arm golfers with beach balls.

Hit up MTV's Multiplayer for the full menu of options. They should look at adding this to the PGA.

EA Transformed Golf Last Week, Adding Beach Balls And Microtransactions [Multiplayer]

GameStop COO: Used Game Sales Don't Hurt New Ones

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:20:00 MST

J. Paul Raines bravely faced a roomful of video game developers at this year's DICE Summit, letting them know that the used game sales that butter the retailers bread do not hurt new game sales.

Raines, GameStop's Chief Operating Officer, told DICE attendees that the company's used game sales account for only 4% of sales of current titles, according to a report from G4. How it defines "current," we couldn't tell you right now, but he further spun the good news for devs by adding that the presence of new copies of titles has shot up 7% over the past six years.

The GameStop company man also said that trade ins on video games help contribute to purchases of new games, with 14% of new game sales "funded by trade in credit during the first 60 days of a game's release date" and the majority of trade-in credit going toward the purchase of new titles. So, good news all around.

Just kidding. There actually is a bit of good news.

Raines told DICE attendees that "collector's editions" of titles account for a healthy portion of overall new game sales, with 36% of Metal Gear Solid 4 sales being of the "limited edition" variety, with more than half of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe sold at GameStop sold to "collectors."

That's an extra tenner in your publisher's pocket, at least! Congratulations to all involved.

Live Blog: DICE 2009 - J. Paul Raines, GameStop COO [G4]

EA Announces New American McGee's Alice Title

Brian Crecente — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:00:00 MST

Talking at DICE 2009, Electronic Arts John Riccitiello announced that there would be another Alice game coming from American McGee to the PC and consoles.

More details, he said, would be coming later today.

Live Blog: DICE 2009 - John Riccitiello, Electronic Arts [The Feed]

Capcom's Jun Takeuchi on the Rise of Western Gaming

Brian Crecente — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:00:00 MST

Speaking at this week's DICE conference in Las Vegas, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi talked about Japan's shrinking importance in the global gaming market.

Japan only makes up six percent of the total global market for game software, he said. Sales, Capcom decided, are made in North America and Europe, so Capcom has started pushing to make 70 percent of their revenue there.

During his talk, entitled Un-Japanese Games: Creating Entertainment for a Global Gaming Audience, Takeuchi walked DICE attendee's through the precarious process of trying to court "foreign" gamers without losing your studio's identity.

While struggling to come up with games that other cultures could enjoy, Capcom realized three things: risk reduction can actually create risk, you have to culturally invest in the market you're wooing, it's not always just about selling more copies of a game.

With Dead Rising and Lost Planet under their belts and apparent success headed their way with Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5, Takeuchi outlined Capcom's Ten Commandments of development. Something, MTV's Stephen Totilo summarizes smartly over on MTV's Multiplayer.

Live Blog: DICE 2009 - Jun Takeuchi, Capcom [G4TV] and DICE 2009: The 10 Commandments of Capcom Development [MTV]