Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
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Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending Has digital distribution made games cheaper? Uh, no. But lots of people thought it would. That’s not the only myth surrounding the digital delivery of games: the idea persists that selling your games online will be a way to get around the dominance currently enjoyed by big publishers in the bricks-n-mortar retail sector. Well, according to Mark Rein, that’s all a load of codswallop: Digital distribution is not a replacement for a publisher…They’ll be paying for marketing just like they do for positioning in a store. The big publishers are going to own the front of those online stores.
Were I a small-time developer, that would be terribly depressing, but since I’m not, I will admit it does sound like a fairly predictable scenario.
Once upon a time, people thought Microsoft was going to enter the handheld console market. It hasn’t! Maybe, it will one day, but for the time being, the company is sitting on the sidelines. Any regrets? Says Microsoft’s Shane Kim:
We’ve had some bad Steam news today, so let’s balance it out with some good news, eh? Valve have released the latest set of results from Steam’s hardware survey, giving us perhaps the best snapshot possible of just what the average PC gamer’s got to work with. Some of the results (only 0.55% use a 33k modem) are predictable, while others (only 25.68% are on a 16:9 display) are waaaaaay off what most would have put money on. If, you know. You could pop down to the bookies and throw a tenner on the results of a PC hardware survey.
Denis Dyack (right, wearing glasses) might be stepping down. The Silicon Knights president has led the developer through the lengthly Too Human development process, and it seems Dyack is thinking of calling it a day. Says Denis:
Sony have updated their own PixelJunk Eden website with a fact sheet. Why do we care? Well, for one, it’s PixelJunk, so we care. But we care more about this: listed under “key features” for the game is “Trophy Support”. What the hell are “trophies”? There’s been a rumour doing the rounds this week that they’re a form of achievements for the PS3, small 2D trophy images that are displayed somewhere on the XMB. We’ve heard about PS3 “Trophies” since last year. Imagine we’ll hear more about them this year, too. PixelJunk Eden [Sony, via NeoGAF]
Yes, yes it will sadly. Don’t try this at home, kids! Or at work, for that matter!!
Reader Matt writes:
Hi there! My name is Matt, gamertag: Velodyne. I am a 32 year old hardcore Xbox collector. I am married and have a very understanding wife who accepts my gaming addiction. I just wanted to share with you guys some pics of my Xbox 360 and Xbox collection. To date I currently own all of the North American Xbox 360 games (247 games) as well as all of the Xbox Live Arcade games (129). I also own 150 original Xbox games. Various accessories are also shown in the pictures. I am hooked on the Xbox platform and all of the achievements that can be had with owning the games for the platform. I try to play on average about 2-3 hours a night after juggling working as a full time home audio salesman, and looking after my 8 year old step daughter. My wife occasionally plays some of the puzzle games on the system and she can’t wait for Ninja Gaiden to come out to watch me play. She loves the original! As a long time fan of your site, I thought you would like to see my collection as I am definitely an obsessed gamer
Obsessed wasn’t the word we were thinking of. Anyhoo, hit the jump for a look at Matt’s Sony TV. Sony TV? Oh, the irony, the irony!
In 2006, a small Texan company by the name of Anascape Ltd. took Nintendo and Microsoft to court, claiming the pair had infringed on patents Anascape held relating to game controllers (presumably this one, filed in 2000, for a “3D controller with vibration”). While Microsoft decided to settle things out of court, Nintendo stuck to their guns, a move which has now cost them $US 21 million after a Federal jury ruled in Anascape’s favour. The ruling applies to Nintendo’s GameCube, Wavebird and Classic controllers (but not the Wii Remote or Nunchuk). Nintendo have said only that they plan to appeal, and that they expect the court to “significantly” reduce the amount of money they have to cough up.
[Associated Press]
Oh, that oddly sweet yet secretly deranged website Sega had up to promote Condemned 2 wasn’t so bad. Sure, a dark heart of pure malice pumped raw nasty underneath its sugary exterior, but that was part of the fun! Right?
Sadly, the mixed nature of the site, combined with the use of imagery that closely resembles Hasbro’s My Little Pony brand, has brought a stop to Sega’s shenanigans. According to this SMH story, the games publisher was asked to bring down the Offset the Evil website as Hasbro didn’t want consumers to confuse the hobo-smashing message of the site with its cute and mostly harmless kid’s brand.
A representive from Sega said the company didn’t realise how closely matched the images were. It has stated the site will return in short order, once minor changes are made. You can read the full story beyond the link.
Phoney pony website axed after ‘evil’ game link revealed [SMH.com.au, thanks Brett]
In the history of the internet and video game companies using the internet, can safely say that, yes, we have indeed found the most embarrassing URL. Are you ready? OF COURSE! It is:
