Thursday, October 23, 2008
PSP Sales Up, Will Beat Sony’s Own Forecasts
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | Chin up, Sony! It’s not all bad news. Sure, the economy is in the shitter, and it’s dragging you down for the ride, but not everything’s doom and gloom! Look at the PSP! It’s doing gangbusters. Where previously your own internal forecasts had you selling 15 million handhelds this year, it now looks like you’ll be selling 16 million handhelds instead. That’s an increase in sales, and an increase in sales is an increase in cash flow, and an increase in cash flow is something to be cherished in these crazy, crazy days. Sony says to beat PSP sales forecast in 2008/09 [Reuters] More »
News
Vivendi Games, End Me, End Me Please
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | December 2007, Vivendi Games merged with developer Activision, forming Activision Blizzard. Nearly a year later, we get an email from a reader who claims to have been a QA Tester at Vivendi until the company merged. The full email is after the jump and (if true), it should provide an insight from how the merger was perceived by those on the ground. More »
Why Are EA Still Using FMV And Actors In 2008?
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Aside from the obvious reasons (see above), it’s a good question! One that we were kicking around only a few weeks ago. In this day and age of fancy polygons and rendered sequences, why do EA still insist on littering their Command & Conquer games with full-motion-video cutscenes? Aren’t they relics of the 1990s? More »
News
Sony Issues Profit Forecast Shock Warning
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Did you hear? The economy is in the shitter. Big companies like PS3 platform holder Sony are feeling the pinch. The company has now issued a whopper of a profits warning that cuts its earning forecast by 57 percent. Previously, Sony expected to pull in $US4.7 billion from its game consoles, TV screens and electronic devices. Now, Sony expects to hit $US2 billion in profits. The dip is the result of a weak global economy and a strong yen that hurts its export business. Analysts, though, say Sony will be lucky to hit $US500 million in profits. More »
‘Can You Pat A Patapon?’
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Rhetorical question. We don’t really care whether you can or can’t. That’s your business. We only care about Patapons and petting in the context of game art done in the style of Dr. Seuss. Like this piece, by Rebecca Clements. Which, after a hard day’s internetting, was enough to put smiles on our mean, tired faces. More »
Cute Japanese Sticker Gals Plus GUNS
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | While in an arcade earlier today, I spotted this sticker picture machine, called “Queen of Pink 2.” No big deal. Seen tons of sticker pictures machines while living in Japan and while hanging out in arcades. This machine did have something different, peculiar even. More »
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Just a quick heads up for our Italian readers. (Hi Italian readers!) There’s an upcoming event in Torino called VIEW Conference 2008. There will be speakers like Pixar’s Brad Lewis (Maybe the site means Brad Bird?), Capcom’s Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Devil May Cry 4), Will Wright of Will Wright fame, plus Pixar Director of Photography Sharon Calahan and Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor. More details in the link below. VIEW Conference 2008 [Official Site] More »
SNES Gets 8-Player MP, 10 Years Too Late
7:30PM Luke Plunkett | You kids today, taking your 32-player online networked internet games for granted. Once upon a time two players in the same game was exciting, and four was just crazy. Take the SNES, for example. The good old SNES. Most players it could ever support was five. Which is why German programmer Matthias Nagler took it upon himself to code a game for the console that supports eight players. His creation – brawler N-Warp Daisakusen – allows you to plug two multitaps into the one SNES, and while it looks pretty rough, it’s the thought that counts. Those feeling brave can download the game from Matthias’ site and craft themselves a cart. Those feeling less brave (or just lazy) can get the ROM and run it through an emulator. 8-player SNES game? Load up on spells, bring your friends [Opposable Thumbs] More »
News
Phil Harrison Talks Development Mistakes
7:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Former Sony and current Atari exec Phil Harrison has been in the industry for eons. He’s learned things. And while talking about Unity middleware platform at the Unite 08 conference in Copenhagen, Harrison discussed why many game projects fail. It’s inside baseball, but here’s Harrison: More »
