To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: CES Eats My Soul

Ah, we've got an intern. Moar, we need moar!

Spending all day covering video games and playing them should make one jaded. You know, about simple things. Games are so techy! This afternoon, the kid and I went to go fly a kite. Kite flying is more of a New Year's kinda thing in Japan.

I haven't flown a kite since I was, geez, 8? 9? My last memories of flying a kite are fuzzy at best. Don't remember if I like flying a kite or not. But geez, flying that kite today was seriously fun. Great fun. While we were flying the kite down by the river, an old man on a bicycle passed us. He must have been in his late 60's or early 70's. The man got off his bicycle, and stood and watched as I coached my son on how to control the kite. My kid kept running round and round in circles, not watching the kite. Laughing.

The old man smiled — even after Mini-Bash lost control of the kite, causing it to swoop down and almost hit him in the face.

What you missed last night
Split screen with no split screen
Fugly, Real Wii60
Trance vibe in Rez HD
Paramount, HD DVD, Blu-Ray blah blah blah
Early Dragonball movie images

This is 4Gamers' 2.1 speaker setup for the Nintendo Wii. As you can see, the product carries the Official Nintendo Seal. It's also crafted to look like a Wii, with two Nunchuk speakers and a subwoofer that...somewhat resembles the console itself. In much the same way Britney circa 2007 somewhat resembles Britney circa 1999. Strangely there's no mention of it on 4Gamer's own neglected, outdated site, but advertisements for the set are starting to pop up here and there, so we'll go ahead and presume they're real and that 4Gamers really do intend to sell them to you. Sometime. Somewhere.

Lineage, City of Heroes and Guild Wars publisher is staying hush hush about its upcoming project. Rumors started circulating last week when it was noticed that NCsoft Europe was hiring and had put a buncha concept art on its website. As MMO site Massively points out, the concept art has a mystical-meet-militaristic vibe to it. NCsoft Europe is looking for a bunch of new recruits, so this could be part of the company's Sony deal to bring online games to the PS3 and the PSP. When asked what it was up to, NCsoft Europe replied, "No comment." Figures.
NCsoft Europe's New Project [Videogamer.com]

Jaw meet floor. This shockingly bad figurine of popular anime/manga/game character Haruhi Suzumiya has gotten the face right (very important!), but those joins are hideous. Sure, it's supposed to be a posable toy, but couldn't they have tried to raise the bar above freakazoid. This looks like those posable wooden statues for sketching with a Haruhi head stuck on it. So sad.
Fugly Haruhi [AmiAmi via Danny Choo]

Nintendo aren't sitting on their collective asses with this DS and its inherent wi-fi capabilities. Speaking with Japanese news site Asahi, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata says he'd like to expand the device's non-gaming capabilities. Like how? Like say you've got your DS, you get off at a train stop and don't know where you are. He'd like you to be able to whip out your handheld, download a map, get your bearings and turn geographical adversity into triumph. Sounds great to us, but we also know any such service would launch in Japan and stay in Japan.
任天堂社長「ゲームの敵だったお母さんが買ってくれれば」[Asahi, via DS Fanboy]

Remember when we brought news that Japanese telecom company NTT was getting its Wii on? NTT is offering a cut-rate broadband sign up deal that provides online access as well as on-site set-up for Wii users. Here's the first fresh of that NTT/Nintendo marriage, complete with online SSBB battles, eggs and actress Masami Nagasawa. An online provider using the Wii to promote the internet. The irony.

TRUE STORY: When the Wii Remote was first shown off, the first thing I thought of was an Iron Chef game. It seemed like the perfect way to make me very happy and make anyone who made it millions of dollars. Fast forward to 2008, and here we have an Iron Chef game! For the Wii! Except...it's for some bullshit reality TV show that's not really Iron Chef. No no no no no NO. You can put any mug on the cover you like, if there's no Takeshi Kaga, there's no Iron Chef. This has now officially overtaken Sega Superstars Tennis as the most soul-crushing game announcement in recorded history.
United Media Licensing [via Go Nintendo]

Square Enix could always depend on Japan to snap up its seemingly endless RPG flow. Company president Yoichi Wada (on the left) has noticed a dip in core Japanese gamers. He points out about Japanese market growth:

...when it comes to games for core gamers, it's quite weak. Sooner or later core gamers will become impatient, and there'll be a point where 'real' games will resume growth, but it's not happening at the moment. However, for core games, the European and American markets are growing at enormous speed.

To capitalise on this expanding market, Square Enix is actively starting to look West, hoping to "develop a strategy to equal the moves made by Sega and Capcom, or maybe exceed them." Our advice: Mix up the genres, put out new IPs and go multi-platform. That means for everything.
Wada Interview [Games Industry]

2007's holiday season saw Americans set new records while shopping for gifts online. While stay-at-home shoppers spent $US 24.57 billion between November 1 - December 31 in 2006, during the same period last year they spent $US 29.17, a 19% rise. Who's to blame for all that spending? Videogames, which were the fastest-growing sector of the market. Total sales of hardware and software were up 129% from 2006, according to market researchers comScore, so all you lazy-ass holiday shoppers, give yourselves a pat on the back. You just made history.
[comScore]

Rock Band gets slightly realer. Ediface from peripheral maker SoundTech is a guitar attachment that lets players jam out to Rock Band/Guitar Hero with an actual guitar. Here's how it works: The Windows XP and Mac compatible peripheral measures the notes being played on the guitar. After Ediface detects the real notes, it turns the sound into MIDI. With the above device, it then switches in any other alternative instrumentation much like a synthesiser. For RB/GH support, program in corresponding colors for notes — the first five frets of the top string, for example. The company is even making adaptors available for all major platforms. So there ya go!
Real Guitar Hero [Gizmodo]

Konami's Shingo Mukaitoge has cornered the Wii's cute-but-ignored market with Elebits and Dewy's Adventure. He also fancies that, after the lacklustre reception both games received in his homeland, he's learned a thing or two about how the Japanese market works, believing it's all a matter of trust and consistency:

Well I've found that mysterious myself, as well, but the Japanese market tends to purchase games that already have previous versions, like franchise games, instead of original ones. Maybe that is one of the reasons. It's not a good thing though...

Don't lose too much sleep over it Shingo, pretty sure that's how it works in all four corners of this ball of dirt humanity calls home.
Konami's Wii Wizard: An Interview With Shingo Mukaitoge [Gamasutra]

Worried about that Dragon Ball Z movie? You, and the rest of humanity. Even if Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat has joined the cast, we're still skeptical. These onset Dragonball set images from Mexico City don't really help. That's Justin Chatwick (Tom Cruise's kid from War of the Worlds) as Goku. He's about to be hit by a car or something. Dunno, really. Does it ever matter at this point?

There's a closer shot after the jump.

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Got a 7.1 surround sound system at your place? No, didn't think so. Let's just imagine more than 0.3% of you do, though, and draw attention to the fact that Sierra's upcoming title Prototype will be the first game to ever support the format at launch. What does this mean? As we already established, to 99.7% of you, squat. But for anyone who's decided 8 speakers > 6 speakers, and then decided to go out and get yourself adequately set up, you'll no doubt be chuffed!
Prototype first to use new 7.1 surround sound [CVG]

CES isn't the only show in Vega$. The 59th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards wrapped up earlier tonight at the Venetian Hotel. The tech Emmys are awarded to individuals, companies or organisations for developments which are improvements or "so innovative in nature that materially have affected the transmission, recording, or reception of television." Last year, Sony snagged an Emmy for the Xross Media Bar and the DualShock, while Nintendo bagged one for the Dpad. John Carmack picked one up as well for the development of 3D software engines. This year? Hit the jump for those exciting results. (Hint: 2008 winners above.)

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For all its faults, I've got a soft-spot in my heart for Assassin's Creed. Mainly because, for everything it did spectacularly wrong, it did others spectacularly right. This is a perfect example. What this guard is doing is wrong. But his cheeky look around to make sure nobody's watching is so, so right.
[thanks MrPants!]

There are some posts that make us deliriously happy. This is is one of them. Flickr user TwystNeko has been twisting and tying up a steady stream of nerd-related balloons. From Mario to Mega Man and from Portal to Poémon, the site has a nice cross section of gaming balloons. Sure, that cake might be a lie, but it still actually looks delicious. We've seen the future, and it's inflated.

Balloon a Day [Flickr, Thanks Chris!]

The iPhone is a smash hit. People who were never into high-end electronics are picking them up. Great news for Apple, crap news for the rest of the industry. Says EA mobile division VP Travis Boatman:

...it's a replacement for someone who had a Razr before. They still want their content but there's no distribution platform in place so there's a negative impact on the industry... These devices are capable and powerful. They'll be great in the long term but it will take some time as people adapt to devices.

Not only that, it will take developers time to adapt as well. Since Apple hasn't let users download anything they want, the mobile game industry fears iPhone owners might be giving up on mobile gaming. We're pretty sure though the iPhone has nothing to do with that.
iPhone Hurt Mobile Gaming [PC World via Pocket Gamer] [Pic]

Having grown used to tapping merrily away on my DS, I hate text-entry on a PSP. No doubt you hate text-entry on a PSP as well. Now, three years after the PSP first launched, Sony are coming around to the fact, and have pledged to do something about it. They've told GameSpot that they're hard at work on an official keyboard for the the PSP, which should be out sometime towards the middle of 2009. No comment on what it would look like (that one above's an abortive attempt by Logitech), but with the release so far off they've got plenty of time to sort that out.
CES '08: PSP GPS, Camera US-bound in '08; keyboard revealed [GameSpot]

Treasure's legendary shooter IKARUGA has recently appeared on Xbox Live's Partner Net (the "insider's" version of XBL). Previously, the 49MB game appeared on Partner Net, but it wouldn't load. This time around, it's downloadable and playable. The game will support both 16:9 and 16:10 widescreen. It's appearance on Partner Net doesn't mean it's going to be out anytime soon. Fingers gently crossed that it be, however.
Ikaruga Coming Soon? [Shmups Forum via Arcade Renaissance]

Yes, it's even more Prototype content. Images instead of words or a video this time.

You'll find a mix of concept art and screenshots after the jump (including a nice one of the Specialist). I was going to caption them, but I think they speak for themselves. Pro tip: They mainly say "Rawr".

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As promised, here's the latest clip for Radical Entertainment's Prototype, which contains details on the game's newly announced faction, the Black Watch. There's also bits and pieces about the back story and characters - if you want to learn how to make bad guys look scary, this video is for you.

It's the same one I was shown today at Vivendi's Prototype presentation, just smaller. That doesn't make it any less cool, unless you have a dislike of small things.

Ahem.

The Financial Times are reporting that part of Paramount Studio's deal with the HD-DVD camp included a get-out clause. Said clause would be triggered when and if Warner turned coat and signed with Blu-Ray. Oops. Paramount are now "poised" to do just that, leaving the vast majority of studios aligned with team Blu-Ray and HD-DVD dead in the water. Man, I hope this is true. Not because I give two hoots about either "side" in this "war", but because this fixation with two movie formats has been one of the stupidest distractions from gaming this industry has ever seen.
Paramount in HD DVD blow [FT]

So Bill Gates gave his last keynote. End of an era! But what about the man? Some of you would like to know more. We've run loads of creepy KotakuStalku posts, but this has to be one of the creepier. (Oh goodie!) France's most famous blogger Loic Le Meur dishes to Shiny Shiny's Kat about the time he took a whiz next to Microsoft honcho Bill Gates at another conference. Le Meur says:

You know what I'll tell you. I will look like I'm full of shit if I tell you... I went to the bathroom, and the person next to me was Bill Gates. So, I had more than eye contact. Well, no contact. No, no, there wasn't any contact, right. But, you know, it's kind of a weird situation. You're kinda like, 'I know this guy.' There was no bodyguard or nothing there... That's a true story.

True or not, we take this as startling evidence that Bill Gates is in fact human.
Peeing Next to Bill Gates [Shiny Shiny] [Pic]

You may remember in early December, Vivendi sent us a nifty-looking email to promote a press event for the publisher's recently announced title Prototype. That event was held today.

Prototype is being developed by Radical Entertainment, based in Vancouver, Canada. The company's previous efforts include Scarface and The Incredible Hulk, so the open world nature of Prototype is as familiar to them as a pair of well-worn shorts with a hole in the crotch.

The game combines the superhuman elements of Hulk and blends them with a complex story fitting of Scarface. If you want another comparison, think Crackdown meets Assassin's Creed.

Today's event was a big affair for Vivendi and Radical - not only were we shown as-yet-unseen section of the game, we were introduced to a new faction - the Black Watch. And it wasn’t just Oz game press that got to see the goods - reps from Microsoft, Sony and various retailers were also present to inspect Prototype.

And Prototype really was the word - the build we saw was just 20% complete, a taste of things to come.

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The PS3's start? Fairly close to disastrous. Things are slowly improving, though, and Sony chieftain Howard Stringer wants to ensure they keep improving. To that effect he's told News.com that the PlayStation Network will soon be expanded, after which Sony will finally begin distributing videos and other multimedia content straight to your PS3. Good news! Because if Microsoft can do it, you'd like to think Sony (who, you know...own both movie and music studios) can do it too. The article mentions a press conference Sony will be holding in two month's time, guess we'll find out more (or maybe even see it launched) then.
Sony's challenge for 2008: Take on software companies [News.com]

Never used it myself (I played the original on Dreamcast), but certain flavours of gamer were big, big fans of Sega's "Trance Vibrator" peripheral for the PS2 version of Rez. So it's a shame we won't be getting one for the 360 version, right? No shame here. Microsoft have told Joystiq that any additional 360 controllers you've got lying around the house can be commandeered by the game to serve as...well, vibrators. Indeed, the game will support up to three of them, just in case you need to...OK, you know what, never mind.
Rez HD: extra controllers double as trance vibrators (seriously) [Joystiq]

Ack! Dubbed the "ITC One," that monstrosity contains, are you ready, a Wii, an Xbox 360, an HD DVD player, an HDD recorder, a sound processor, an iPod dock, amps and a whole lotta tackiness. Price: $US 25,000. For that, you'd think maker Se2 Labs would've thrown in a PlayStation 3. Company CEO Michael Pyle tells game site Siliconera: "The PlayStation 3 is not as user friendly and it doesn't have access to a Windows Media Center." The head-scratching doesn't stop there: Se2 Labs didn't make it possible to remove the Wii and expose the GameCube ports. According to Se2, most consumers don't care about BC anyhoo. Kooky, huh? Makes about as much sense as, well, creating the ITC One.
Se2 Labs [Siliconera] [Pic]

It'll make sense when you watch the video. Basically, this new tech from Texas Instruments allows two players to play against each other on the one screen, without the need to split the screen. Instead, A variation on 3D glasses tech allows two screens to be super-imposed on top of each other, with each player only able to see their screen. It's just as susceptible to cheating as regular split-screen, but at least it frees up some prime TV real estate. Video's at the link below.
Texas Instruments Tries to Simplify Multiplayer Gaming With DLP DualView Technology, Makes it More Complicated [Gizmodo]

To: Bash
From: Crecente
Re: What Trent Reznor and Bashcraft Have in Common

So, when I was scheduling things and people I sort of forgot to check the old calendar. I somehow managed to sched every single person out of pocket for the day. And not just any day, but the first day of CES, oh and the starting day for Tori, our new Intern. Fortunately Tori was a quick learner and she was able to help out by posting up a handful of posts as I waded through the storm of news coming out of CES.

What you missed:
Our latest intern
New LEGO Batman Screens Hit
Nintendo Torpedoes The Wii Grey Market
Rumour: LittleBigPlanet Hits in September
Lode Runner XBLA Gallery
GameSpot Owner CNet Eyed for Hostile Take Over
Gates: Live Outage a "Hiccup"
Sony Touts Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 Exclusivity At CES
CompUSA Reanimated
LittleBigPlanet Updated Impressions From CES
Sony Makes Blu-Ray-To-PSP Movie Transfer Official

Due out Jan. 22, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the DS will feature, among a slew of popular Track and Field events, some pretty odd sports. Watch the vid to check out Dream Table Tennis and Dream Fencing.

If you own an old PSP, and are a little teary at the prospect of missing out on all the Skype fun PSP-2000 owners will be getting in on, sorry. Nothing's going to help you. Your "ancient" device just can't do it. Apparently. Hopefully the knowledge of why you can't get in on the action will help you in the mourning process. SCEE's Nick Sharples explains:

Although PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 are identical in basic functions, there are differences in hardware specifications to some extent and for that reason, PSP-2000 may differ in features from PSP-1000. We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series.

There you have it. Don't blame your PSP's girth, that's shallow. Blame its smaller memory. Then blame Sony, because even if that's the truth (and we have our doubts, what with this being a great "incentive" for people to upgrade), if you're an early adopter this kinda sucks.
PSP memory was key factor for Skype decision [Pocketgamer]

Last year, Sony was proudly showing off the PSP and PlayStation 3 in its CES booth, featuring a number of high profile games like Lair, Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm on playable kiosks. This year, however, you'd hardly know Sony was in the business of games, as the number of PlayStation 3s on the floor I could count numbered only five. Only two of those contain playable game demos within, as the others are dedicated Blu-ray disc players or running reels for the PlayStation Eye. Couldn't actually find a PSP yet, unfortunately, so no Skype calls to mom and dad for me today.

Given that Sony has given better foot traffic real estate to the Rolly, the dancing MP3 playing toy, we're a bit concerned about the company's interest in pushing what's coming for the PS3. Maybe there's a secret room with playables stashed in the convention center basement, so we'll keep looking.

When Skype hits the Playstation Portable later this month, it will come as a free download, but you'll still need to have a Skype membership to get it to work. Contrary to earlier reports, it looks like the hardware to use the PSP's Skype likely won't look like that snap-on microphone used for the Talkman software. The reps in this video say it will be a headset, hopefully a wireless one, though they don't really say.

The PSP's had a rough time living up to its promise as a top-shelf multimedia device. Short battery life hasn't helped, but perhaps most damning for the system has been - thanks to convoluted formatting processes and a useless proprietary disc format - it's movie playback. It's a pain in the ass! Well no longer. Sony have made official at CES today something they've been planning for around a year now: the ability to buy a Blu-Ray movie, insert it in your PS3 and download it to your PSP. For keeps. Awesome news, and it's sure to increase interest in all parties involved, particularly Blu-Ray.
Sony Demos Copying From Blu-ray Disc [PC World]

The wait for more original PlayStation Network games is almost over, fair PlayStation 3 fans. Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Gamebryo has been selected to help beef up the stable of PlayStation Network titles. Gamebryo and the Emergent Elements engine are behind games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, and SOE says that the partnership will help to bring developers the tools they need to speed up the game development process. Gamebryo, according to SOE, will provide a solid framework for various types of downloadable games on PSN. PS3 users will only have to wait a little bit longer, as the first of the SOE games are scheduled to launch before February's Game Developer's Conference.

SOE Licenses Gamebryo For PSN Games [IGN, via Evil Avatar]

One of the two playable games at Sony's CES booth this year was the "play, create, share" showpiece LittleBigPlanet piloted by producer Leo Cubbin. While the pre-built levels on hand were familiar to those of us who played the game at Games Convention and Tokyo Game Show, the editor has seen a few changes, with new materials, backgrounds and stickers plus an update to the level editor interface that sees less screen real estate.

While the game is still pre-alpha, with an Autumn release date planned—they wouldn't commit to September, specifically—there's a surprising amount of content to play around with, far more so than in previous builds.

Of the new materials now available—various stones, polystyrenes, sponges, all types of new cloths—I started building out a sandbox level with black rubber. Unfortunately, your little Sackboy can't hold onto the material, helpful for building more challenging levels, I'm sure, but not good for a tradeshow demo level. Also new were a handful of environments, including a graffiti splashed New York City style sidewalk and one with a mid-western feel, acres of corn fields spanning the background.

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A pair of PSone classics that my be coming soon to the PlayStation Store—then ultimately to PSP and PlayStation 3—have been rated by the ESRB. Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha and Ubisoft's Rayman were recently added to the software ratings board's database. Unlike some of the ratings for Wii Virtual Console games, the turnaround time for ESRB ratings to become additions to the PlayStation Store is generally fairly quick, but we have no details yet on when these games will see re-release.

ESRB Game Ratings

Normally, "humorous" clips that involve executives showing off their acting chops are nothing short of cringe-worthy, an exercise in amateur comic timing. Not this fictional video of Bill Gates' last day of full responsibilities at Microsoft, however, as the solid cameos and moments that capitalise on Bill's inherent geekiness make the head Borg at MS seem hilariously human. Stick around for Bill's blippy wailing on a Guitar Hero II controller. This clip, courtesy of our brothers at Gizmodo, represents but a grain of sand in the vast desert that is their CES 2008 coverage.

Larry Hryb points out that Omega Five and Tron will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. Omega Five will be 800 points, while Tron will be 400. Gamerscoreblog also posted up this short phone interview with Hudson which also shows you some Omega Five gameplay.

This week on arcade: Omega Five and Tron [Major Nelson]