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High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle Activision Blizzard have around $US 3.5 billion in cash lying around after the merger between the two companies. Where’s it going to go? Who knows. Some of it on fancy new office stationary, probably. Some on getting fair trade organic coffee sold at the company cafeteria. And some on this brave endeavour: Acti boss Bobby Kotick thinks that, between the franchise’s popularity and Vivendi’s ownership of Universal Music, Guitar Hero as a platform could someday become a music download service to rival iTunes. Sounds fairly ridiculous considering said service would be for a game using plastic instruments rather than one allowing you to buy music for your music player, but whatever. It’s your $US 3.5 billion, Bobby.
It may have settled for a third place showing last week, but with less fierce competition the week after Daigasso! Band Bros. DX gets a chance to shine in the top spot. Media Create’s Japanese software ranking shows drifting drama Initial D Extream Stage relegated to second. Not bad for a PS3 game (still), but a low key week across the board.
Little in the way of new debuts makes for a rather dry chart. Still, if you want to see how the PS2 port of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters fared, it’s after the jump.
The 360′s all but assured of being a cheaper console come Monday. And when Monday comes – with the Pro model tipped to drop to $US 299 – it’ll be a full $US 100 cheaper than the PS3. So, will Sony get with the program, and cut their prices too? Nope! Sony’s Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda (pictured, glimpsing the future) has said that “Our strategy is not to sell more quantity for PS3 but to concentrate on profitability…Our plan is not to reduce the price”. Note he’s not saying they don’t want to sell more PS3s; he’s just saying they’re happy with the rate they’re already selling at, and are more concerned with making the PS3 cheaper to manufacture. Just so, you know. You know.
Sony CFO: No Plan To Cut Price Of Playstation 3 Game Console [Beurs][Pic]
Gears of War 1 ballparked around 6 to 9 hours. For some, that’s a little on the short side. So for Gears of War 2, lead designer Cliff Bleszinski wants to make it a tad longer. Says The Cliffster:
We definitely want it [Gears of War 2]to be longer. We won’t specify a number of hours right now, but it will be longer — I can guarantee that. And it’ll have a little bit more drama too… I think that, with campaigns like in Gears, Halo or Call of Duty, my personal preference is around the 10+ hours mark, with a co-op and a multiplier you can play in the longer term.But I find a lot of games are filled with padding to make them seem longer. They do stuff like, at the half way mark, demand that you play through all the levels again backwards, and you think “kiss my ass”. We’ll never do that. We’d always rather push forward and provide new experiences.
Added value! That’s because The Cliffster cares. He really, really does.
Kyle Shubel, Manager Producer on LittleBigPlanet and Killzone 2 plus “massive damage” and “giant enemy crabs” dude, answers a bunch of questions about a bunch of stuff. Shubel’s an excitable guy, and his enthusiasm makes the clip enjoyable. We like his shirt slogan: “Doesn’t expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?” Yes, yes it does.
Inside the Developers Studio: Kyle Shubel [PlayStation.Blog]
The latest Game Informer’s rocking a fairly extensive preview of the upcoming Rock Band 2. If you’re up for a trip to the local newsagent (or wherever you Americans get your magazines), it’s got the game’s first screenshots, as well as a ton of information that may or may not be news to you. Pick of the lot, though, is information on the game’s “new” drum kits. See, there’s two. One’s the “standard” kit, which looks a lot like the first game’s drums, only now with a number of improvements, like new drum pads that generate “far less noise” (they’re also “velocity sensitive”), slots to clip on cymbals (which will be sold separately) and a whopping great metal-reinforced pedal. But the other drums? Oh my.
DS title Pokémon Platinum details are divulged in the August issue of CoroCoro comics. Besides announcing official Japanese release date is September 13th, there’s a bunch of new details like a new “Wi-Fi Club” area that’s able to hold up to 20 folks at once, a new Team Galatic member, new international police member, a “Battle Recorder” that allows trainers to record and share battles, and Dialga and Palkia appearing simultaneously in story.
Newly-merged Activision Blizzard are the world’s #1 publisher for a reason. Well, four reasons: World of Warcraft, Tony Hawk’s, Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. So with the ink only just drying on the Activision/Blizzard merger, it makes sense for the new company to move to secure the talent behind those games. Variety reports that all the “top execs” at Blizzard have been signed to new, five-year deals, company boss Robert Kotick saying “We realised it would be impossible to compete [with 'World of Warcraft']and so ultimately my only issue was making sure they were committed for at least five years”. Smart move. The heads of Infinity Ward and Neversoft have also been signed to new deals, locking in most of the new mega-publishers top talent. Here’s to five more uninterrupted years of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty!
Blizzard, Infinity Ward, Neversoft execs sign long term contracts with Activision Blizzard [Variety]
Over in Germany, Burger King is running an edgy Vice City inspired campaign called Veg City. The website has a true Grand Theft Auto-style map, and there are mini games like a sniper games, red light district multiple choice game minus vegetable fucking, and an airport baggage game. Nothing quite like pickle hookers and capsicums getting cavity searches! Imaginative stuff.
Welcome to Veg City! [Official Site via Marblehead Blog via GamePolitics]
