Monday, August 4, 2008
News
Nintendo Want The Developing World’s Money, Too
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | For all the talk of Nintendo’s “dominance”, it’s a relative thing. They’re dominating videogame sales amongst a small percentage of the world’s population. Namely, the developed world. North America, Western Europe, NE Asia, Australasia, etc. And a few other places. But why stop there? There are over 6 billion people on this planet, so Nintendo may as well go take everyone’s money, rich or poor. Boss Satoru Iwata: After we complete our mission in developed countries, then we’ll have to start thinking about how to make our products appealing in developing countries. We’ll have a whole new dimension of issues to tackle like pricing, quantity availability and regional adaptation. We’re not going to meet our goals that easily. In other words, take over the world. Satoru Iwata: part-time Nintendo president, full-time Bond villain. Keeping Up Nintendo’s Momentum [WSJ] More »
Devil May Cry Guns In Airsoft Replica Form!
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Look! Check out what Hobby Media discovered at this year’s Wonder Festival: Airsoft pistol versions of the guns from Devil May Cry carries! That’s right, here are pellet-shooting replicas of Dante’s swish Ebony & Ivory firearms. Unlike those guns, these don’t have unlimited ammo. Still pretty neat. Hit the jump for ebony: More »
Chances of Having Sex Gaming Graph…
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | The above graph was made by some dude (NOT ME) to show a correlation between the hours he spent playing video games and the chances of him having sex with his wife. As you can see, playing video games over an hour causes this fellow’s odds of getting some to nosedive south. And more than two hours causes those same odds to hit near impossible. But, as game blog Hawty McBloggy points out, maybe this guy’s chances look more like this: More »
Mirror’s Edge vs Portal
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | As the headline says. It’s the demo level from Mirror’s Edge recreated in Portal, only with less jumping and scrambling. The fact you’re not a jumpy, able-bodied girl with a laptop bag is made up for by the fact you’re a girl with robot chicken legs and a teleportation device. More »
‘Don’t Think About Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 Right Now’
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | During this past weekend’s Square Enix event, Final Fantasy XIII director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama reassured the fans that the game’s development hasn’t changed. What’s more, he continued: We’re making the PS3 version first, and then porting to the 360 later…. I’m telling [the development team] to not think about the Xbox 360 right now. We can think about it after the development kits arrive… Right now, we’re fully concentrating on the PS3 version. Well that’s good. The bad news is that, as GameSpot notes, the PS3 version will mostly likely be held back for that simultaneous platform release in North America and Europe. Wonder if the same will be true for Japan, where the Xbox 360 hasn’t been announced. Boy, multi-platform is tricky! Square Enix: 360 FFXIII development hasn’t begun [GameSpot via EDGE] More »
There Are ‘No Plans’ For Yoda v Vader In Soul Calibur IV
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | While some could-be-real, could-not-be-real images and video of Vader battling Yoda in Soul Calibur IV have surfaced over the past few weeks, the rumour that both characters will feature as DLC (Yoda for PS3, Vader for 360) is far from confirmed. Enter Soul Calibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki, who…fails to confirm or deny said rumours, saying “We don’t have any plans” to add the pair as platform-crossing DLC. Once was a day “no plans” meant just that, there were no plans, but these days it could just as easily mean “sure we will, but we’ll announce it in a month’s time when you’re starting to get sick of the game”. XCN Soul Calibur IV Q&A with Katsutoshi Sasaki, Director [MSXBOX World] More »
Team Fortress 2 Getting A ‘New Type Of Environment’
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Team Fortress 2 sure looks gorgeous, but nearly a year on from release, it’s also looking…well, not stale, but perhaps overly familiar. So Valve are going to be adding not just new levels to the game, but new “environments”. While the obvious possibilities are things like “snow levels” and “forest levels”, it’d be neat if Valve messed around with weather as well – a snow level where falling snow not only obscured your vision, but slowed your outside movement would add a little spice to the tactical recipe. TF2 Environments [TF2 Blog] More »
Thai Teenager Tries GTA For Real, Kills Cab Driver
8:00PM Logan Booker | A taxi driver was killed by an 18-year old with a knife in Thailand over the weekend. Not exactly gaming news, except for the fact the teenager cited Grand Theft Auto as his inspiration. As a result, New Era Interactive Media, the game’s distributor in Thailand, has requested stores remove the title from shelves, and the Thailand Culture Ministry has taken the opportunity to push for stronger classification measures.
Although the person in question was 18, surprisingly, the government identified parents as the important factor in keeping inappropriate games (and other mediums) out of the hands of their children. From the Herald Sun story: More »
News
1:30PM Logan Booker | Retailer rumours? Bah! This is more like it. The Office of Film and Literature Classification has acknowledged that it is has a new version of Fallout 3 from Bethesda, and is in the process of judging its appropriateness for our market. Note this build could also be refused classification, though it’s highly unlikely.
Last month, Fallout 3 was refused classification by the OFLC for its depiction of real-world drugs. An edited version will assure the game gets into the hands of the average consumer, however, those seeking sane pricing and a “pure” experience will still look to the miracles of importing.
Fallout 3: May see an Australian release, after all [Internode Games Network] More »
OFLC Has New Fallout 3, Classification Pending
1:30PM Logan Booker | Retailer rumours? Bah! This is more like it. The Office of Film and Literature Classification has acknowledged that it is has a new version of Fallout 3 from Bethesda, and is in the process of judging its appropriateness for our market. Note this build could also be refused classification, though it’s highly unlikely.
Last month, Fallout 3 was refused classification by the OFLC for its depiction of real-world drugs. An edited version will assure the game gets into the hands of the average consumer, however, those seeking sane pricing and a “pure” experience will still look to the miracles of importing.
Fallout 3: May see an Australian release, after all [Internode Games Network] More » 
