Kotaku: Problems

Brawl Online Not Working, Nintendo Says Try Again

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:00:28 MDT

Super Smash Bros. Brawl online is not working. Sure, you might find a good match or two during the day, or late at night, but at 9PM Eastern on a school night? Forget about it. Nintendo's forums, our tips box, and my television set are all chock full of Error Code: 85010, which kicks you back to the main menu of the game, disconnecting you from Nintendo WiFi service. It's either that, or "Your connection to other players was lost. Returning to menu". When I reviewed the game, most of my online play was in the wee hours of the morning, and I still had some issues. We contacted Nintendo for comment on the issue, and were told the issue was being looked into, but so far all they can tell is that it seems as if every Smash Bros. owner is getting online at once and the issue would slowly get better. What, as people gave up trying? Their suggestion? If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. How wise.

Trying again is not working either, and I would imagine that once enough people give up and the service starts functioning as it should, the flood of players hopping online once the gaming news outlets reported it would just screw things up all over again. Perhaps we all should get together and work out shift assignments?

They had to have seen this coming. The game had similar issues when it was released in Japan, as Ashcraft reported back in January. If a smaller group of people situated on a much smaller piece of real estate had that much of a problem, how could the U.S. even have a remote chance at flawless online play?

It's frustrating as hell on this end, so I know you guys must be pissed off as well. My last successful online Brawl was yesterday morning around 9AM, so I am currently jonesing for a fix with no relief in sight. In the meantime I've been going through event mode in between trying over and over again to unlock Wolf, who keeps kicking my sorry Hedgehog ass.

We'll keep you posted as the issue evolves. For now, you might want to adjust your sleep schedule or call in sick to work for a chance to play online. Just not everybody at once please.

XBLA Apology Game Revealed - Undertow

Mike Fahey — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:00:37 MST

Hooray! A game I already own! Back at the beginning of the year, Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten announced that due to consistent outages of the service as well as in celebration of the success of the service, they would be offering an Xbox Live Arcade title completely free later in the month. Now I, like many, had assumed this meant a new release of some sort...you know, something tens of thousands of people hadn't already purchased. Instead we get Undertow, available to Gold and Silver members at no charge from 2:00 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 23 through 11:59 p.m. PST, Sunday, January 27. Undertow is an excellent game that I could not recommend enough back when it launched, meaning many of you already own it. So what will Microsoft do for us, the intelligent individuals who already picked up the game?

Upon hearing the news, we immediately contacted Microsoft to ask about those who had already purchased the game, and received a swift response.

If Xbox LIVE members have already purchased the game, they should contact their local support (1-800-4-MYXBOX in North America).

While we're not exactly sure what calling the number will do for you, we assume that they'll do something along the lines of refunded the points you spent on the game in the first place, allowing you to use them at your discretion. I still think they should have just dumped points into everyone's account and been done with it, but at least this way they save some money on people too lazy to dial a telephone.

As for the outages themselves, we still have reports as recent as last night that the problems are still a major issue, and while we had Microsoft's ear we also asked for their advice to those still suffering from Xbox Live difficulties.

With the high number of new members in the system, issues can appear that are independent of the situation over the holidays. As always, we are continuing to make minor adjustments, and are monitoring every aspect of Xbox LIVE closely. If you are having any problems, please contact your local support (1-800-4-MYXBOX in North America) so that we can assist you.

You should probably just write that number on a sticky note and paste it on the fridge.

Undertow free of charge next week [Xbox Live's Major Nelson - Thanks Neocutter!]

Take-Two Considers Sale

Brian Crecente — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:09:10 MDT

Take-Two today announced that they may be selling the company in light of a squabble between shareholders which centers around a move to push out the current board.

In a brief statement released today, the company said they have postponed their annual meeting scheduled for Friday, pushing it back to March 29, so they would have time to "review the proposed actions of the shareholder group and also to evaluate alternative courses of action."

Among the possibilities is the "possible sale of the company."

On March 7, shareholders with 46 percent of the company announced that they planned to overthrow the board and management due to five quarters of losses. Specifically, new CEO Paul Eibeler and CFO Karl Winters are in their sights, according to Bloomberg.

The group of dissidents include the OppenheimerFunds which owns 25 percent of the company.

Bloomberg, citing analysts, lists Electronic Arts as a potential buyer of the company.

This is the latest in a long line of fiscal, shareholder and stock problems that have plagued the company since 2005. Hit the jump for the wordy press release. Brian Crecente

New York, NY - March 19, 2007 - Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) announced today that the Company has postponed its annual meeting scheduled for March 23, 2007 until March 29, 2007. The meeting will be held at a time and location to be designated in a revised Notice of Meeting, to be issued later today. The current record date of February 26, 2007 for the annual meeting remains unchanged.

The Company also announced that, in light of the expressed intention of a shareholder group to act by written consent under certain circumstances, the Board of Directors has set a record date of the close of business on March 29, 2007 for the purpose of determining the shareholders entitled to act by written consent.

The purposes of the Board's actions are to provide additional time to review the proposed actions of the shareholder group and also to evaluate alternative courses of actions that could potentially be presented to the shareholders, including a possible sale of the Company. An additional objective of the Board is that shareholders, including the shareholder group, not take any action that would preclude an evaluation of any alternative that the Company might develop and that could potentially be presented to shareholders. There is no assurance that any specific alternative proposal will be forthcoming.

PS3 Manufacturing Issues Fixed

Mike Fahey — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:40:39 MST

Sony, which obviously didn't meet its llaunch target of 400,000 systems, is now reporting that all manufacturing issues have been overcome and the company is full on target to have a million systems shipped by the end of the year. From Sony communications boss David Karraker...

While initial day-one launch shipment goals weren't achievable due to early manufacturing issues, those problems have been resolved and we do remain focused on having one million PS3s in the pipeline by December 31, 2006.

See? Everything is okay! Sure people were beaten, robbed, cheated, and in one case shot to death by police over the much-anticipated console, but we can put that all behind us now. All we need now is some tolerable games other than Resistance that aren't better on another system and we're in business! Michael Fahey

PS3 problems now resolved - Sony [GamesIndustry.biz]

Sony: Game Sector Is "Weak"

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:22:39 MDT

Earlier, we reported that Sony was sucking up big time. Well, it still is. At the press conference, Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda blamed the obvious: The battery recall and the PS3 delay. Continuing, he stated:

We would have been on track with the midterm plan, or more than that. But the game segment is weak and is the major challenge for us now.

Chin up, Sony. With the console launch just around the corner, it can only get better! Right? Right?! Brian Ashcraft

It's Gonna Get Better [Games Industry]

Sensor Bar Gave Nintendo Probs During Development

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:22:58 MDT

We are so not worried about sunlight and the Wii-mote. Once we get ours, we'll take it outside and look at it. Then, we'll take it inside, plug the it in and seal Kotaku Tower in duct tape so we can play Super Monkey Ball in pitch black darkness.

We've heard whisperings of Wii-mote sensor interference back at TGS, and recent chatter of OMG-Wii-mote-hates-sunlight has hit the intertubes. Game site Go Nintendo directs our attention to an Nintendo-interviews-Nintendo in which company CEO Satoru Iwata quizzes Product Development dude Akio Ikeda about apparent problems:

Iwata: This so-called 'beam' connecting the user and the television was something that had never been attempted before. Didn't you run into any difficulties during development?
Ikeda: In the early stages of development we ran into a number of problems that we hadn't anticipated, like the fact that the controller would react to fluorescent light, for example. Creating a mechanism that prevents the controller from responding to fluorescent light and sunlight may sound like low-profile activities, but it still gave us a lot to work on.

No worries! Iwata and the boys are on it! Bring on the sunlight. (Just keep it away from the sensor bar.) Brian Ashcraft

It Was a Prob [Go Nintendo]

The Modified Xbox Error

Brian Crecente — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 07:00:44 MST

A disturbing thread started up over on the official Xbox forums Tuesday morning about people getting locked out of Live service. Initially the posters were worried that tech support would accuse them of hacking their consoles, but support just told them there was an issue with Live service and that it would be fixed in the next few days.

The latest update from tech support is that they are working around the clock to fix the "Modified Xbox Error" and that a fix may have to come in the form of a patch. Odd.

old xbox...won't connect to live due to modification error [Xbox Forums]

Animal Crossing: WW Hits Online Snag

Brian Crecente — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 08:00:42 MST

It looks like the NiWiFi bits of Animal Crossing: Wild World is acting a bit wonky for some DS owners. A thread popped up over on the official Nintendo forums discussing the issue. It s not clear what s causing the issue, but gamers on the thread have come up with some workarounds. I wonder if Nintendo go do patches over their network?

Stuck at the "Connecting to WiFi" screen in animal crossing [Nintendo Forums]

Scratched 360 Disc Pic

Brian Crecente — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 12:00:35 MST

We've received a few nice pics illustrating some of the rumored problems with the 360. One appears to be a pic of a 360 game with some major scratching around the circumference and two show the fabled three red lights of death on the 360. Check the jump for the pics and a nice little song entitled We Three Red Lights written by Christopher Coulter.

We Three Red Lights

We three red lights are;
Bearing destruction, we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder Ring of Light.

O red light of wonder, red of light,
Red ever so bright,
Westward venturing, not proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect green light.

Born on the pre-order plain
Games I bring to it again,
Power forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to play.

Fans to offer have I;
String owns a power supply high;
Frustration and pleading, voices raising,
Cursing on high.

Three red lights flashing mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes death of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Glorious before, now behold it not arise;
Toil and sacrifice;
Anguish, Anguish,
Sounds through the earth and skies.