Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Nintendo’s Wiggly Waggly Handheld Patent
3:30PM Luke Plunkett | The DS sells. The Wii, it sells too. Combine them and you’ve got some kind of world-devouring, money-printing contraption, whose coming would herald the very end of days. That seems to be the idea behind this patent application from Nintendo, which is for a handheld gaming device with Wii Remote-esque motion-sensing abilities. Sure, this probably won’t go anywhere, since it’s the legal equivalent of Nintendo doodling some ideas on the back of a dirty placemat after 17 beers down the karaoke bar on a Friday night, but it’s still nice to look. And imagine. Mainly how you’d actually play the thing without killing yourself and those dear to you, what with all the flapping and flailing that’d be going on. nintendo working on a motion sensing wii portable? [technabob, via Gizmodo] More »
Japanese Home Trailer
3:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Home? I’m really excited. The idea of using my PS3 to dress an avatar and moved furniture around actually sounds oddly cool. And in Japanese. Personally, I can’t wait. You? More »
New Halo 3 Zune Military Edition
2:50PM Luke Plunkett | Microsoft have just announced another Halo 3 Zune tie-in. This one’s a bit more limited, and a bit harder to come by than the regular Halo 3 Zune, as it’s a military-issue Zune. As in, you can only buy them from military retail stores. These ones are brown, will be available sometime later this month, and all US military personnel and their families will be able to buy the Zune at a discounted rate. Which is good news! The bad news? J Allard’s name is not mentioned once in the press release. Click through if you want to check. More »
80GB PS3, Price-Cuts Coming For Japan Too?
2:40PM Luke Plunkett | Enterbrain’s chief marketing analyst Mitsunobu Uwatoko has told British tradesters MCV he believes Japan will shortly be seeing the 20GB and 60GB PS3 models kicked to the curb, replaced by the 80GB model. To help ease the transition, the outgoing models would see a price-cut. This move certainly has a precedent. And so is hardly the work of nostradamus. Only question is when can Japan expect this to take place. Oh, and as a bonus question, why can’t Sony come up with a worldwide PR strategy for this replacement scheme? It’s all very confusing. Enterbrain: 80GB PS3 is heading to Japan [MCV] More »
Take-Two Shares Decline After GTAIV Delay
2:30PM Luke Plunkett | In news that should shock NONE of you, Take-Two’s share prices have been in a steady decline since the GTAIV delay last week. Last Thursday, right before the announcement, a single share in the company could be bought for USD$16.91. Now, it’s down to USD$13.59, a drop of 19 percent. Over the same time period shares in EA, Activision, THQ and Konami closed up. Think they’re excited there’s more room on the shelf and in consumer’s wallets this Christmas with no GTAIV? Bet they’re tickled so pink they’ve moved on in search of even more jubilant colours. Take-Two Shares Slide as Rivals Rise [Next-Gen] More »
Microsoft Drops Xbox 360 Price
2:20PM Brian Crecente | The rampant speculation, the endless images of circulars, the bogs of “insider emails” are all correct: The Xbox 360 is getting a $US50 price drop starting this Wednesday, Microsoft announced tonight. As of Wednesday the Elite will be $US449, the Halo Limited Edition Xbox 360 (when it hits) will be $US399, the standard will be $US349 and the core will be $US279. The price drop is meant to be timed to the upcoming release of Madden 08, said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, as a way to grab up all of those Playstation 2 Madden fans who haven’t yet upgraded to the Playstation 3. “Madden is the number one selling game, and we felt like that was the right title to lead with,” he said. “We know Madden will bring a lot of PS2 owners into the store and that’s a specific reason for this timing. We feel we have the showcase platform for Madden this year and with this drop we hope to be the home for those gamers this season.” Greenberg said that the decision to time the price drop with the release of Madden has been in the works for a very long time and that the 360 price drop has nothing to do with the recent PS3 pricing flux. “We’ve had this on our plans for a long time, an extremely long time,” he said. “We did not make this decision even heading into E3, this is all based on before hand. We had the first media briefing (at E3) so we could have been the first to announce it, but it was never on our calendar. The benefit of pre-planning, of having this time, outweighed being one-upped, perhaps, at E3.” Greenberg pointed out that the 360 has been the same price for 21 months, the longest any console has maintained their launch price. Too bad Microsoft didn’t drop the core down a bit more and make it competitive with the Wii. I think $US249 would have made things very interesting for Nintendo. More »
Musika: Actually Play A Decent Game On Your Ipod
2:20PM Luke Plunkett | Masaya Matsuura, creator of PaRappa and Vib-Ribbon, has been a busy boy. He and his team at NanaOn-Sha have been working on a new rhythm-action game. Thing is, it’s not for a console. Or a handheld. It’s for the iPod! Called Musika, it’s probably best explained as an interactive visualisation program. As a track’s playing, letters are swirling around the screen – see one that’s in the song’s title and you hit the button. I actually had a chance to check this game out back in March, when it was still called Rhythmica, and walked away with one impression: this shit would be the next Snake. It’s on a widely-used platform, is simple to play, simple to learn and (depending on your playlist) has almost endless replayability. Plus, it looks nice. Very trippy. Matsuura says of Musika: …almost all the other ipod games are basic and limited – like a simple puzzle. Our game will be very advanced compared to the others. This will last. Hear that? It will last. Like the Rolling Stones, and organised religion. Musika has just become available for download in the iTunes store. More »
Halo Edition 360 $US400 with 20GB HDD
2:10PM Brian Crecente | The Halo 3 Limited Edition Xbox 360 will sell for $US400, Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, told us earlier today. The limited edition “spartan green” console, he expects, won’t even survive the holiday rush. It comes packed with a “spartan green” wireless controller, “spartan green” headset, a play and charge kit and a wimpy, wimpy wimpy 20GB harddrive. That’s right, it may be “spartan green” but this 360 is no elite. The special 360 will also include a slew of special Halo themes and gamer pics, he said. I asked him why the Halo edition console won’t come with a Halo edition copy of Halo 3, he said it was something they debated but decided in the long run it didn’t make sense. Microsoft believes people would likely rather decide which version to buy on their own. I also asked if there were any plans for a limited edition Madden 360, since that is their targeted game for the price drop, and he said that Microsoft doesn’t think that a special edition console really fits the Madden demographic. More »
Nintendo, Capcom Employee Porn?
1:50PM Brian Ashcraft | Adult video maker Plum has a series of hardcore flicks called “First Time Amateurs Live.” Here’s the hook: They’re young women who’ve worked for major Japanese corporations. Women who’ve apparently worked for Nintendo as a secretary (link NSFW), a Capcom PR lady (ditto) and Makuhari Messe receptionist (likewise). Makuhari Messe? That’s where they hold the Tokyo Game Show! Note that no Nintendo or Capcom characters actually appear in these videos. Mosaics, however, do. Company Workers Dirty Movies [Insert Credit] More »
