Sunday, June 8, 2008

I’m Sorry I Have to Do This to You

11:00AM Owen Good | Warning, this is supremely obnoxious and you should turn your speakers down. Dad sometimes asks me for explanation of certain video games, and since his frame of reference stops at 8 bits, and todays titles are far deeper than anything I played as his dependent, the conversation gets a little difficult at times. But If he ever asks me what Team Fortress 2 is all about, I’m gonna point him to this video. More »

Robbie Bach: Xbox Makes Money This Fiscal Year

7:00AM Owen Good | “That’s the first time we’ve been able to say that”, Bach, chief of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, told the San Jose Mercury News”. That’s total Xbox business — service, software and hardware.” Well, they’ve got a two-quarter head start toward that bold proclamation. It probably takes some sting out of the depressing sales numbers over in Europe, where an analyst warns that that weak sales there could see the 360 de-listed by retailers in some territory. Some more outtakes from a chat he had with the Merc are after the jump. More »

MMO Business Models: Subscriptions vs. Free To Play

6:30AM Maggie Greene | Gamasutra has an interesting look up at the MMO free to play/micro-transaction vs. traditional subscription model up – talking with SOE’s John Smedley, Three Rings’ Daniel James and EA Mythic’s Mark Jacobs. Unsurprisingly, there are differences in opinion on the utility of the micro-transaction model, with some participants in the discussion coming down on the side of the traditional subscription model: More »

Leonardo DiCaprio to Star in Atari Movie?

6:00AM Owen Good | OK, OK, kinda misleading headline — his production company is producing “Atari” a biopic about Nolan Bushnell, Pong’s developer and Atari’s founder. Paramount bought the rights yesterday. Indications are that he will star, but not knowing the story yet, I don’t know if that means he would play Bushnell or, perhaps, another character through whom the story of Bushnell and Atari is presented. The Hollywood Reporter describes “Atari” as drawing on themes of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington“, and “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.” I was hoping it’d be a movie adaptation of “Space War” — just two ships drifting to the centre of the screen, shooting each other. Maybe a love interest. Somewhere. Maybe not. Wherever the story ends up, it sounds like it’s getting very serious treatment, and the outlook sounds favourable for a well made biography. Plus I love period pieces, even if I’ve lived in the period described. Leonardo Di Caprio to Star in ‘Atari’ [The Hollywood Reporter, via ComingSoon.net, thanks reader D Elfman] More »

Sims Franchise To Explore, uh, Virtual Worlds?

5:30AM Maggie Greene | In a somewhat bizarre interview with The Times Online, Nancy Smith (head of the Sims division at EA) said that ” in light of the popularity of virtual worlds … the Sims may soon become a multi-player game”. The article fails to mention the failed experiment of The Sims Online, later rebranded to “EA-Land” and scheduled for closure in August. But Smith talks of potential new (and old) modes for online play: Ms Smith was adamant, however, that The Sims would not break wholly with its past, and would continue to require players to buy and install software on their machines before being able to play. Some virtual worlds, such as Club Penguin and Habbo Hotel, can be played entirely within a web browser …. The Sims franchise would also continue to explore new revenue models that have become associated with virtual worlds, she said, including sponsorship and the sale of ‘virtual goods’, as on the fashion-focused virtual world for teens, Stardoll.com. It’s a really odd interview in light of the online element that already fell flat on its face; maybe second time will be the charm for the Sims? The Sims prepare for a sociable future [The Times via Worlds In Motion] More »

Are We Facing a Summer of Virtual Worlds?

4:30AM Maggie Greene | While Second Life is still a media darling (though I think the general press is down in number of articles touting this new! and amazing! and wonderful! virtual space since this time last year), Bruce Damer has an interesting piece up over at Terra Nova: are virtual worlds facing a serious downturn in the near future? I suspect the comments section will get more interesting than the body of the post, which goes through eight potential pitfalls: More »

Boo-Hoos for The Who

4:00AM Owen Good | One comment from a huge interview with The Who’s Pete Townshend indicates that half of The Who’s seminal album “Who’s Next” will likely never end up on Rock Band. That’s the deductive reasoning of a fan belonging to both The Who and Rock Band’s official forums. Commenter obsoleteshock on the Rock Band Forums read through a lengthy interview with Townshend and saw that the master copies for “an entire side” of Who’s Next have been stolen, apparently. “Someone, somewhere, has it in a cupboard and is waiting for us to die? What then?” Townshend laments. Yeah, Pete we’re sorry and all but what about the gamers, mmkay? Without masters, that means no 5.1 DVD-Audio remix which means no Rock Band DLC. And obsoleteshock reasons that since “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is out, the missing side is Side 1. That means classics like “Bargain” and “Baba O’Reilly” are not coming down the pipe, but perhaps “Behind Blue Eyes” will. Who fans on the board were really looking forward to the former two, and are serving up resentment to Harmonix for not being clear about which songs they could count on. No one knows what it’s like to be the bad man, to be the sad man … Dropping the Who’s Next Bomb: A Sad, Sad Day More »

Game Retailer to Donate 10% of Sales to China Disaster Relief

3:30AM Maggie Greene | Hong Kong games retailer Renchi is making a nice gesture, and has pledged 10% of all sales through June 20 to disaster relief for victims of the Sichuan earthquake. Renchi will be donating to Hong Kong World Vision Sichuan Earthquake Relief (via, I presume, World Vision), which has promised to use 100% of donated funds for relief work, and World Vision has had teams on the ground since shortly after the quake. Full release is after the jump. More »

A Politician Who Actually Games

3:00AM Owen Good | Meet Jeanne Stevens, the Republican nominee for Connecticut’s House of Representatives (101st District). She will not allow Grand Theft Auto IV in her home. That’s OK, she’s also a level 70 Orc hunter in World of Warcraft. As for GTA IV, “If you’d like to play it in your home, go for it.” More »