- Uncategorized
Is The iPhone Getting A New “Premium” Games Store?
There are hundreds of games on the iPhone at the moment. Problem is, most of them are awful, little more than rubbish flash games with a $0.99 price tag. According to a report on PocketGamer, however, Apple may be looking at a way to get around this, by dividing the App Store‘s games into two…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
PlatinumGames Launches Website, Promises To “Get It”
MadWorld developer PlatinumGames sends its new English language website into orbit today. The site’s first post lays out the site’s M.O. Japanese game companies are notorious for not “getting it”. They are thought of as slow moving, orthodox, and out of touch. One of the places where Japanese companies seem to not “get it” is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Let’s Break Down Nintendo’s Biggest Selling Wii Games (Let’s!)
You’ve seen us break down Nintendo’s DS sales. Now let’s look at the Wii sales! Since this includes the Christmas quarter, sales are looking good, in both Japan and The West. These are the sales numbers for the period April 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, and include not just total Wii game sales, but…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo’s 2009 Launch Schedule Includes Punch Out
Nintendo announced its “Launch Schedule of Primary NINTENDO Products by Region (Jan. 2009～)” for Japan, The United States and Europe. There’s hardware, there’s software, there’s Nintendo, and there’s Giant Reggie Face. Japan • Nintendo DS DS Uranai Seikatsu 2009/1/15 Mario and Luigi RPG 3!!! 2009/2/11 Rittai Picross 2009/3/12 Tomodachi Collection(Temp.) 2009 Famicom Wars DS2(Temp.) 2009…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Let’s Break Down Nintendo’s Biggest Selling DS Games (Let’s!)
Nintendo has released the financial findings for its Nintendo DS games sold last year. Included are the numbers for the April 1 – December 31, 2008 financial period as well as the breakdown for Japan and overseas. What’s more, there are new life-to-date totals for the games. Here’s the breakdown: Brain Age: Train Your Brain…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Survey: 47% Of PC Game Purchases Are Digital
Getting sales data for the PC market is hard. The NPD Group try, but they don’t cover digital downloads, so there are big holes in their data. Enter Rock Paper Shotgun’s ginormous reader survey. In an effort to try and get a sense of how many PC purchases are of the digital variety, the PC-focused…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Bruce Shelly And Ensemble Studios Say “Goodbye and Thanks”
Ensemble Studios is being shuttered. The studio’s Bruce Shelly leaves us with one last (and bittersweet) blog post. He writes: “My expectation is that this is the final ES blog that I will write. I have enjoyed pulling it together for the past several years and sharing with you what I could about the inside…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
This Is The New Xbox Experience That Could Have Been
Design firm Grid/plane worked with Microsoft on early design ideas for the New Xbox Experience. While the NXE we ended up with is a different beast, it’s interesting looking at what could have been. While Grid/plane’s ideas obviously centred around a new menu system, they also “dreamt up an immersive 3D environment for users to…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Has “Something Big Gone Wrong” At Nintendo?
Respected analyst Hiroshi Kamide thinks so. Following Nintendo’s announcement last night of a cut in profit forecasts, Kamide thinks the revision was made because the company know “something big has gone wrong”. “Today’s revision suggests that the roaring pace of Wii growth that we’ve seen until now may be over”, Kamide told The Times. “The…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
SEGA Making 20 Player Mecha Arcade Game
Border Break: SEGA NETWORK ROBOT WARS is an upcoming, well, networked robot wars arcade game from, yes, SEGA. There’s not an official image of the game yet, but rather, a large question mark placeholder. The game will be unveiled at the upcoming AOU Show in Japan. What we do know: Border Break supports up to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Batman: Arkham Asylum Screenshots, Trailer
While one Batman game lies rotting in the dirt, another, more promising title lives on. And it’s been a while since we heard/saw anything on Batman: Arkham Asylum, so let’s go take a look! Or, more importantly, let’s take a listen. Ah, Mark Hamill. You were born to play Luke Skywalker, but we live to…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Here Are Good Ways To Study English Says Japan
In Japan, there’s a great interest in learning the English language. It’s big business. Japanese speakers have several options to learn the King’s lingo. These are the most popular. Based on data from internet information sharing company iSHARE INC., 413 individuals answered a poll covering how they studied English. Out of the sample group, 52.3…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Rumor: Need For Speed PSP, EA Canada Staffers Axed
Another batch of Vancouver area game developers are looking for work, as sources tell us that EA Canada‘s Burnaby location was the latest to be hit by Electronic Arts’ ongoing layoffs. The count numbered as many as 55 EA staffers, according to a regularly reliable source, one who tells us that the cuts might also…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Get Secondhand Lands For Free
There are two things everyone needs when the economy’s down: free stuff and a lot of laughs. Looks like you can get at least one of those from Secondhand Lands. Secondhand Lands is a fantasy satire MMORPG starring such parodies as the Sugar Prune Fairy, Princess Pwnies of the Apocalypse and cable trolls. Starting today,…
By AJ Glasser Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Take A Closer Look At Halo 3’s Mythic Map Pack
The official Austrian Xbox blog has posted a few screenshots of Halo 3‘s Mythic Map Pack, along with – for the first time – some names and descriptions to go along with them. The first map – Sandbox – has a variety of vehicles at your disposal, as well as allowing extensive modification via Forge.…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings Revealed In New Nintendo Power
We’ve already seen the trailer and been properly prepared by Nintendo Power‘s own teasing, so the cover treatment given to Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings isn’t exactly a shocker. But we’ll take it! The March issue of Nintendo Power promises the first (print, we assume) look at LucasArts’ next Indy adventure, in which…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Yuusha 30: Turns Out Countdown Clocks Are Sometimes Warranted
Marvelous Entertainment‘s PSP-bound Yuusha 30 looks clever. Clever enough for us to forgive them their use of a countdown clock teaser that led many to think it was The Legend of Zelda related. As already revealed by Famitsu, Yuusha 30 lets players save the world from evil “Demon Kings” thirty seconds at a time. It’s…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
PlayStation Store Update: Savagely Mooned & Bejeweled
So much to see! So much to do(wnload)! Whether you need PlayStation Network original games or new Sackboy outfits, there’s a lot to like about this week’s North American PlayStation Store update. Let’s look! Savage Moon and Bejeweled 2 give PlayStation 3 owners something new to play, while the new Final Fantasy XIII trailer gives…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
We Require More StarCraft II Screen Shots
The waiting for StarCraft II isn’t the hardest part. It’s determining which media is new. And these, we’re fairly certain, are new screen shots of StarCraft II. This one‘s definitely new. But this one? Pretty sure that last one is old. And by “old,” I mean internet old, possibly as ancient as three weeks under…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 29, 2009 - Uncategorized
Reviewing Flawed Code
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Golly, Pie With Cheese Is Good I know I’ve ranted about this before, but I just don’t get how so many people can write reviews of games using early builds and just ignore the issues. Sure they’re issues that will most likely be fixed for retail release. But what if…
By Brian Crecente Published January 29, 2009