The PS3 had a big launch in the UK. Sold in big numbers, (so many it’s neck-and-neck with the 360 for overall sales this calendar year), surprised a lot of people. Since then, though, it hasn’t been doing too well. Not too well at all. It’s a bit hard to say just how its done without cold, hard numbers (ChartTrack keep those to themselves), but they have divulged that 55% of all PS3 sales in the country were made within four days of the console’s launch. Which was in March. It’s now October. That leaves a whole lot of days without a whole lot of PS3 sales. UK sales of PS3 and 360 neck-and-neck in 2007 [MCV]
Every game convention, every new presser brings one thing certain: A new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer. Since E3 2005, there’s been nine of them so far. Spreading each one out over weeks and months has been key in promoting the game and making sure players keep talking about it. With the MGS 4 due out in early 2008, does that mean we’ll see one last new trailer? Says Kojima Productions’ Ryan Payton:
TGS 2007 could be the last trailer for MGS4. The pressure is really on to finish work on the game, and we have decided not to be sidetracked by any more promotional work.
Good. As nice as a new trailer would be, a finished MGS 4 would be, well, nicer. Payton Interview [Multi-Player Blog via PS3 Fanboy]
Halo 3 sales? We’re impressed. Nintendo of America honcho Reggie Fils-Aime, he’s not. Like really, really not. According to Reggie:
Will they sell a lot of software? Certainly. Will it sell hardware? I think it’s an open question… I think that the Halo 3 consumer already has the hardware, because they’re playing BioShock and Crackdown and a variety of games that are, in the end, quite similar: first-person shooter experience, multiplayer capable online. Tell me what’s new?
We guess mini-games and little online support? Reggie Interview [Mercury News via CVG
To: Ash From: Flynn Subject: Tattoos and a Long Snooze
So I’m finally back from Tokyo, got in last night and the jet lag is just starting to get to me. I also got tattooed this afternoon so the mixture of endorphin rush and jet lag is quite a bizarre feeling. That being said I’m going to get to the weekend recap before I fall face first into the keyboard.
• Master Chief gets sex-ay!
• David Hayter’s voicing Snake again for SSBB.
Is Grasshopper working on Fatal Frame or not? We demand confirmation!
Alright then, I am going to try and sleep off some of this oncoming jet lag and nurse the poor bleeding pin up girl on my arm. Have a great week and don’t forget to trim that mustache (or moustache if you prefer)!
Cubed³’s Adam Riley has a great personal piece up on gaming in Korea – specifically, how is Nintendo doing? What’s selling well – and why? From the sounds of it, the DS Lite is a relatively hot item (at least among the younger set). It’s an interesting piece and well worth a read through:
At last, a nice indication of the youth getting into playing with the DS, and the ages ranged from as low as six to as high as fifteen that day. Revitalised in my mission to learn more, I decided to ask my six-year-old niece to go on a mission the next day, asking people at her school if they 1.) Knew about DS and 2.) What games they played. Being the thorough girl that she is, she went around and asked everyone in her class. The general consensus was that basically everyone had a DS Lite, with it being the hot playground item right now and nobody bothering with other game systems. The boys all played various Mario games the most, with Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros. being the standout choices, whilst the girls plumped for the latter of the two Mario titles because of the fun mini-games found in it. Clearly the lure of Mario is as strong as ever…
I guess classic fun is frequently hard to resist. Only time will tell how Nintendo’s long-term prospects play out in the land of StarCraft.
Cubed³ Goes to South Korea: Nintendo DS & Wii Report [via Cubed³]
Public holiday awesomeness means I’ll see you fresh and early tomorrow!
New Fatal Frame Headed For The Wii” It’s even more fatal than ever before.
Master Chief Gets Sex Change For Charity I reckon she gives Samus a good run for her money. And other things…
Bungie Address “640p” Whiners No, the “p” stands for progressive, not pence.
Gabe Newell Explains Why Valve Hates The Mac He still loves the Big Mac though. Like, he really loves it.
Silent Hill: The Arcade Hands-On Impressions Still waiting on Silent Hill 5 news Konami… so start talking!
Kotaku Originals: From TGS To Halo 3 Last but not least, a nice fat wrap-up of the last couple of days.
I’m so behind on games right now after Tokyo that I really shouldn’t be buying anything new, but I fear that the siren call of Phantom Hourglass will be too strong to resist. What’s on your game purchasing horizon this week?
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) Control Link with your stylus as he sets sail for a new adventure in this follow up to Wind Waker.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC) Take out the Strogg online.
NBA Live 08 (X360, PS3, PS2, WII, PSP) The latest NBA game from EA.
NBA 2K8 (X360, PS3, PS2) Ever notice these things always come in pairs?
Project Gotham Racing 4 (X360) PGR returns for a fourth round of racing action.
RACE 07 – The WTCC Game (PC) A racing game for the PC. See, I told you they come in pairs.
MLB Power Pros (WII, PS2) Little big headed people playing baseball imported from Japan.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (X360, PC, PS2, WII, PSP, DS) The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Crash of the Titans (X360, PS2, WII, DS) Crash Bandicoot spins his way on to the 360 and a possible new career.
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow (PSP) Gabe Logan comes out the other side of a Dark Mirror and finds his own Shadow.
Hour of Victory (PC) World War II gets another workout in this FPS.
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (X360) We like the cars, the cars that go boom.
The Chosen – Well of Souls (PC) Defeat the evil wizard and his hordes of monsters. The classics never die.
CDC, a Chinese company who has a number of wildly popular games in their lineup, is bringing the online RTS/RPG Battle of Shadows (developed by Korean company N-Log, Inc. and known as Darkness and Light in Asia) to the US, and the open beta is going up today. The general manager of CDC’s American operations says CDC “believe[s]Battle of Shadows will be a well-received game in the U.S. market because it combines the appeal of an easy-to-use and quick to play online game with the depth and intensity of RPG and the fun of MMO games.” Full press release after the jump.
There’s been some mixed press for NCSoft as of late: their European arm has just gotten a hefty grant from a British foundation, but profits are sagging and employees in the Korean office have been jumping ship on a fairly regular basis. The Korea Times has an article talking to NCSoft’s CEO, Kim Taek-jin. With a pretty high turnover rate for employees and profits stagnating, it would seem that the company needs to do something different – and soon.
Other than the financial overload, the “Tabula Rasa” project was one of the big reasons many employees of NCsoft lost their confidence in CEO Kim. He hired Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott in 2001 by allegedly paying 16 billion won ($17 million) in cash and 1.5 million shares in stock options, worth 50 billion won. But the brothers failed to deliver the product as promised, and the project has been protracted for six years.
“One of our annual events is to listen to Kim saying: `This year, we will finally release Tabula Rasa in the market,’ in his New Year speech. I heard it four times since 2004,” said a company insider last week. “The only person in the company who have trust in the Garriotts is the CEO,” another said in 2006.
While the CEO was spending a great amount of the company’s budget and resources on the project, many other talented Korean employees deserted him. In fact, the average service length of NCsoft employees is only two years, according to its annual financial report.
Pissed off employees are never a good thing to have in a company. An analyst also points out that NCSoft is targeting mostly the hardcore gaming population, which has a limited depth of market. Will expanding efforts in other parts of the world pull NCSoft out of the apparent slump, or just make problems more apparent?
NCsoft CEO Stands at Crossroads [The Korea Times]
Back before the ubiquitous DDR dance pad, there was the NES Power Pad. The Power Pad was so awesome that it transported you to a jungle gym style kids neon Thunderdome where you can battle your friends by running crazily in place. It was the ideal accessory made for such non-popular titles as Athletic World, Dance Aerobics, Short Order & Eggsplode, Street Cop, Super Team Games, and World Class Track Meet. Those all sound like great games to play after ingesting copious amounts of sugary Fruity Pebbles. Apparently, the kids in the commercial agree.
