Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Pikachu Toy Orchestra
11:20PM Brian Ashcraft | Japanese circuit bender Kaseo has built an orchestra of modified Pikachus. Above, a Y.M.O. (Yellow Mouse Orchestra) made up MIDI-controlled circuit-bent Pikachus, performs “Rydeen” by the actual Y.M.O. (Yellow Magic Orchestra). After the jump, spiky Pikachu! So awesome. More »
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Square Enix Gonna Make Games For Everyone, Everything
11:00PM Luke Plunkett | When Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the 360, it was hard to miss the high-pitched scream that went out across the internet. Mostly from Sony fanboys, aghast at the thought of a Final Fantasy game appearing somewhere other than a PlayStation. Which was good for a giggle, what with Final Fantasies I-VI on Nintendo machines, Final Fantasy VII & VIII going to the PC, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles going to GameCube and Final Fantasy XI going to every machine known to man. Not like there wasn’t a precedent, people. So rational, normal humans shouldn’t have as much trouble digesting these words from Squeenix boss Yoichi Wada, who knows which way the current generation’s winds are blowing: More »
Saucy Halo 3 Spartans
10:30PM Brian Ashcraft | Here’s a batch of suggestive Halo 3 screenshots game blog Hawty McBloggy has collected. Suggestively suggestive! There’s nothing like riding a Mangoose. Nothing. Hit the link for a possibly NSFW gallery — depending how you view Spartan sex. Hot Spartan Pr0n [Hawty McBloggy] More »
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‘Ghostbusters Is Not Cancelled And Will Not Be’
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Earlier, we brought word that Activision was taking inventory of Sierra’s catalogue and picking and choosing games it wanted to publish. Some games, like Crash Bandicoot, made the cut. Other games like Ghostbusters: The Video Game did not. Does that mean the game’s been canned? Well, no. It means that the game doesn’t have a publisher. The dev team is still there! Dan Aykroyd is still there! Ernie Hudson, he’s still there!! Activision isn’t the only show in town, and as a Vivendi spokesperson told game site Destructoid: “It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled”. We are following up. Future of Ghostbusters [Dtoid] More »
Shane Kim On MMOs: ‘We Haven’t Been Able To Crack The Code’
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Making an MMO can be hard. You can put years into developing not just the game, but the necessary infrastructure, only to launch it and have it die within weeks. Sure, Blizzard know how to do it, but few other developers have managed. Microsoft certainly tried, and tried twice (Marvel Universe, True Fantasy). They also failed twice, with both projects canned, something Shane Kim takes full responsibility for: I’ll admit MGS has not had success in the MMO space, and that happened under my leadership, so I take full responsibility. It’s a tough and challenging space that’s evolving all the time – a lot of shifting sands. We haven’t been able to crack the code. There there Shane, chin up! What do we do when we fall off the horse? Shane Kim Talks 360 MMO Washouts [Edge] More »
Up To Fable 6 Planned (Molyneux Also Keen To Make Sports Game)
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Lionshead head Peter Molyneux is best know for Populous and Black & White. And while he and his team are hard at work on the upcoming Fable 2, Molyneux divulges that the studio has more Fable games planned — Fable 3, Fable 4 and Fable 5, actually. What’s more, Molyneux confesses his desire to work on a sports game of all things: One day I really should do a sports game, just because it really seems such a genre which is just locked in stone. We know how we do sports games. That is a real challenge to me. Same with things like driving games. What I want is for a game I do next is a really big challenge. Oh man, Peter Molyneux hyping a sports game. Can you imagine? Molyneux Intervew [GameTrailers via vg247 via Eurogamer] [Pic] More »
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Sony Shifts 1.5 Million PS3s, 3.7 Million PSPs In Q1 2008
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Sony just posted their quarterly financial results (of note: the games division’s revenue is up from ¥196 billion to ¥229 billion, and is finally making a profit, going ¥5.4 billion in the black). Amidst the investor-only, super-boring stuff are some hardware sales numbers. And what are sales number? All together now: sales numbers are fun. Between April and June, Sony sold 1.56 million PS3s, 3.72 PSPs and 1.51 PS2s, for a total of 6.79 million pieces of hardware sold. That’s an increase over the same period last year, which saw them move “only” 5.49 million. And they accomplished that in spite of sliding PS2 sales, which are down 44%, meaning, yes, the PSP is still selling like hotcakes (up 75% from the same time last year) while the PS3 really starts to pick up steam (up 123%). More »
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PS3/PSP Sales Up, Overall Software Sales Down
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | In a financial report released today, Sony reports PS3 software sales were on the rise in first quarter 2008. In Q4 2007, 16.8 million units of PS3 software were shifted worldwide compared to 22.8 million in Q1 2008 — that’s an increase of 18.1 million units! The financial report does not specify if that includes purchased PSN games or not. PSP worldwide software sales were also up: In Q1 2008, 11.8 million units were moved, which is an increase of 2 million over the last quarter. While both PS3 and PSP sales were up, PS2 sales were down. Because of that Sony states, it means that overall software sales for the PlayStation platforms were down as well. Q1 2008 saw 19.3 million units sold, and that’s a decrease of 11.8 million units. More »
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