Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Battlefield Heroes Not Coming This Winter
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | EA’s gritty, nay, visceral take on free-to-play modern combat – Battlefield Heroes – was originally slated to appear over the winter. Thing is, winter’s already here, so what gives EA, you holding out on us? Oh, it’s been delayed? Right. Noted. The announcement came during EA’s conference call yesterday, with the promised addition of new “social networking features” meaning it’s being held back until the end of the year. In the mean time, we’ve never seen this screen before, showing the game’s “bad guys”. Cartoon Nazis or the Max Headroom Army? You be the judge. More »
‘Old E3 Was Worst of Nerd Culture Meets Worst of Frat Culture’
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Some people really hated on E3 2008. Said it was boring or there weren’t big announcements or whatever. Scott Alexander from Playboy has a nice look back at this year’s E3 and what it all means in the big picture. He writes: The old E3 was all the worst parts of nerd culture mashed up with all the worst parts of frat culture. When these two natural enemies join forces it can only presage the eldritch touch of Satan. Imagine a giant steaming helping of brain-dead rah-rah awesome bro ‘tude combined with sweaty, hygenically challenged man-children futilely chasing their ever-receding childhoods. The old E3 was a three-day migraine with a side order of Asberger’s Syndrome, which turns out is neither pretty nor pleasant. Plus, some of us were trying to get work done. Seriously, no one likes a good party more than me, but a good party has to ebb and flow or people get exhausted. The old E3 was like a four-day bender with your friend who just discovered how awesome crystal meth is. It’s entertaining at first, then it gets tiring, then annoying, then scary, then you wake up in jail without your pants. Sounds like Revenge of the Nerds, but better. Way better. How To Sound Smart About E3 [Playboy] More »
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Capcom Sales Up, Put Rough Window On SFIV Release
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | Capcom released its financial statement today, revealing a 14.5 percent increase in net sales and a 110.8 percent increase in net income with compared to Q1 last year. According to the release, the weaker yen meant a foreign exchange gain of ¥840 million — “a significant boost to ordinary income”. Net sales for home console games were up 31.5 percent in comparison to the previous year’s Q1. Game sales were powered by the Monster Hunter Freedom 2ndG phenomenon, which has shipped 2.48 million units as of July 2008 in Japan and Asia. More »
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British Sales Charts
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Nintendo, Wii, DS, Wii, DS, Nintendo, DS, Wii, Nintendo. That’s all last week was to you, Britain. A chance for Nintendo games to parade up and down the high street, flaunting their money-printing wares while your little sisters run shrieking into the streets to buy yet another copy of Big Beach Sports and Guitar Hero DS. Indeed, so entrenched was Nintendo’s dominance in the UK last week that 29 of the top 40-selling titles were for either the Wii or DS, including the entire top 10. More »
Do BLANK With Me?
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Above we have two backcover magazine ads. One is for Soulcalibur IV, and the other one is for Moe Sta. You remember Moe Sta, it’s that English training game that features cutesy girls and features 5,000 English questions that cover the spectrum from junior high school school tests to the Tokyo University entrance examination to help players “level up” their English. While SCIV is rated CERO C (15 and up) for violence most likely, Moe Sta is CERO B (12 and up). Just check out that Moe Sta ad! It reads: “Do BLANK with me?” Hit the jump for a bigger version. More »
Weta’s Fancy Halo Statues
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Yeah, Weta are a special effects house (Lord of the Rings, etc), but they’re also in the business of selling merch. And when Weta sell merch, they don’t do lunchboxes and cheap action figures. They do expensive stuff. This is their upcoming Halo 3 collection, featuring five statues that vary in not only size, but tackiness as well, as they range from the classy to the, well. Tacky. No word on price yet, but here’s a hint: they won’t be cheap. More »Raidou Kuzunoha Vs Avadon King Announced
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft |
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The GBA And GameCube…Still…Function!
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | The Game Boy Advance and GameCube. Relics of Nintendo’s early 21st century efforts. Purple, plastic-looking consoles that, for all their strengths, were the company’s flagship devices during the “dark days”. With the Wii and DS on the scene nowadays, and printing all kinds of cash money, they’re dead machines, yes? Gone, no further need for them, thanks for the memories, right? WRONG. They LIVE. Nintendo’s quarterly earnings show that, while they’re hardly raking in the big bucks, both consoles are still selling units and still making money well into 2008. While nobody in Japan, Europe, Asia or Australia bought a new GameCube between April and June, somewhere, somehow, 40,000 Americans did. As for the GBA, well, none were sold in the US, but globally, 180,000 of them found new homes. 180,000! If you ever wonder why Nintendo have never publicly proclaimed the death of the little handheld, that’s probably why. More »
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DS, Wii Totally Cooling Off In Japan
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | In 2006, the DS ruled Japan. (Heck, in 2007, too.) The hardware was hard to come by, and things got so back in 2006 that American DSes were re-imported into Japan to satisfy the demand. Things have tailed off considerably. According to Nintendo’s Q1 FY3/09 statement, DS hardware sales dwindled, moving 580,000 units in Q1 this year. In last year’s Q1, Nintendo moved a staggering 2 million plus DSes. Hardware isn’t the only thing that suffered; DS software sales are down as well. Last year’s Q1, 979,000 units of DS software were sold, compared to this part quarter’s 493,000 units of DS software. Same’s true for the once red hot Wii console. In the previous year’s Q1, Nintendo shifted 950,000 units. This past quarter, Nintendo sold 530,000 Wiis. Good news is that Wii software sales are up. Last year Q1, Nintendo moved 2.78 million units of Wii software. What about Q1 2009? A strong 3.9 million units. As the domestic business continues to diminish, Nintendo is clearly finding success with customers in North America and Europe. Japan, it seems, is on the decline. Comparison after the jump More »
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