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Lifehacker
To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE:Mr. Crecente
Wife back. House still dirty. Off to buy eggs. She wants scrambled eggs. Now.
It's like 10pm.
What you missed last night
Not planning DS or Wii price cuts
Zombies
Favre cover
Activision is no EA
Shigeru Miyamoto? Geez, what has that guy done? Well, besides pretty much everything, not much. No wonder Time readers voted the following people in front of Miyamoto for the most influential people of the year:
Hoping for cheaper DSs and Wiis? Hope some more, and then after that, hope some more. Ain't gonna happen says Nintendo. While Nintendo's competitors have slashed prices, Nintendo is being conservative. Nintendo doesn't need to cut no stinking prices! Says company president Satoru Iwata:
Peach and Samus? Hot. But Peach and Samus...dead? Then reanimated, and driven by a hunger for the flesh of the living? Not ho-....ah, who am I kidding. Still hot. Maybe even hotter. Samus is obviously above, with Peach after the jump, because she may be NSFW. Things look awfully decomposed down there. Still not 100% sure.
NYC Comic Con geek-gasm [Boing Boing TV]
That Nintendo tattoo? Neat. That Nintendo tattoo on some guy's arse? Yeah... What happened? Some guy likes Nintendo. Some guy has arse. Said some guy gets Nintendo tattooed on his arse. What we know:
Mr. Lobes geeky arse cheek tattoos were done by Brad at Atomic Zombie in Edmonton, Alberta. I don't know if he's planning on pounding more colour into them, but I hope so, even though they look great as is.Contextual, NSFW pics after the jump.
New York City's iconic. So it's natural that it features in a ton of games. But how many, and for how long? I have no idea. I'm no historian. The Bowery Boys (a NYC history site) fancy they are, though, and have compiled this excellent list of some of the more notable games set in the great city, from the obvious (GTA IV, True Crime: NYC) to the...less obvious (the original Mario Bros.). There are stops at Punch Out and the TMNT arcade game along the way, but I was a little (just a little) upset to see they left off probably the grandest tribute to the Big Apple of them all: the Commodore 64 version of Ghostbusters.
The history of New York City in video games [The Bowery Boys, via GamePolitics]
As retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre announced on The Late Show with David Letterman, he's the 2009 Madden coverboy. The game will mark the franchise's 20th anniversary. Here, have a look at what apparently that coverboy's 2009 cover looks like. The boxart is popping up online, but we haven't gotten anything official from EA as of yet. Still, not bad, not bad at all.
Cover 2009 [Greg Dobs]
Retired Packers QB Brett Favre has just wrapped up an appearance on Letterman, during which it was indeed announced that, yes, he'd be appearing as the cover athlete for this year's version of Madden. Well...cover guy. Anyway, here's the cover. This would be where we'd make another joke about the Madden Curse, but won't, because remember kids: the curse ain't real.
[Pic via Gamespot]
Poor Uwe Boll! Not only does he make bad movies, but people hate him for making bad movies. A while back, the internet swirled with news that Uwe was trying to make a Metal Gear movie without Konami's permission. According to the director, things didn't go down like that. Boll was conned by two French con-artists.
This was an absurd story... Two French guys wrote a script, said they are from Konami hired to write the script, said 'You wanna direct it?' I read the script, I liked the script. I said, 'Yes, I can do it.' ...I read on the internet Konami said they had nothing to do with me, they had nothing to do with the movie. So it turned totally against me in the press.Fascinating. See, now that absurd story sounds like a pretty great movie. Boll's got it all wrong! Don't make movies about games, make moves about Uwe Boll.
Let down! Wii Fit isn't one hundred percent exactly as Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto pictured it. Instead of just weighing people, Miyamoto wanted it to weigh pets. According to Newsweek:
Video game sales prognosticators predict that Grand Theft Auto IV will sell some 9 to 12 million copies this year, lining the pockets of Take-Two execs and Rockstar Games employees. It may also help the PlayStation 3, at least more so than the Xbox 360, says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. It's not just him, either, as BMO Capital Markets' Edward Williams thinks GTA's PlayStation heritage may inspire some to drop the cash on a new PS3.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G madness continues to drive PSP sales, with another solid week for Sony's handheld in Japan. Console spending is down this week across the board, with Xbox 360 performance dipping close to three figure lows. Nintendo hardware is mostly neck and neck, with not much in the way of big releases expected next week. Perhaps Sega's handsome Senjou no Valkyria will help unimpressive PlayStation 3 sales.
The newest issue of EGM, due to arrive any minute now we hope, features more than just sexy details on Splatterhouse, it also contains rumoured details on Halo developer Bungie's next project. Unsurprisingly, EGM says that it will be a shooter set in the Halo universe, with a move to a third-person perspective and a setting that predates the original Halo.
It's been a great first year for Lord of the Rings Online, and Turbine has an entire month of celebrations planned for one of the most successful MMO launches since World of Warcraft. It all starts with the launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-King, which adds the frosty reaches of Forochel to the landmass and a brand-new Monster Player class in the Defiler, seen menacingly above. Monsters will be dropping rare items throughout the month that you can exchange for in-game rewards, and if returning players want to check those out they'll be allowed five days free play to see how the game has evolved since launch. Finally, special subscription plans are in effect for a limited time, with plans over 90 days in length costing only $US 9.99 a month, and the return of the launch premium lifetime memberships for only $US 199. Hit the jump for more details on the celebration of a year of l337-speaking Hobbits.
Posted by Logan Booker at 10:48 AM on April 25, 2008
Hey folks. We're going to be taking the next 24 hours or so off, as it is currently ANZAC Day in Australia.
Don't freak - things will be back to normal tomorrow. Until then, go outside, enjoy the sun (unless you're in Sydney, in which case it might be better to stay inside) and have a great day.
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, confirms in an interview with Portfolio what we've suspected for years—Electronic Arts runs on the power of human souls! Maybe we're reading it wrong, but Kotick definitely said that EA "did a very good job of taking the soul out of a lot of the studios it acquired." Hey, even EA boss John Riccitiello kind of agrees, pointing out at DICE this year that older acquisitions like Bullfrog, Origin and Westwood were examples of the publisher blowing it and that taking away developer autonomy is "a profound mistake."
Surprise - GameStop is hosting midnight openings for Grand Theft Auto IV! Okay, not so much a surprise. GameStop has announced that over 3,500 of their stores across the U.S. will be opening at midnight to sell Rockstar's latest masterpiece, with most stores hosting special events starting at 9PM on Monday the 28th, complete with trivia contests (what is doing a hooker, Alex?) and Grand Theft Auto character lookalike contests. You can hit up their official list to see which stores will be open, though it is a pretty safe bet that unless your GameStop is in one of those uptight malls that doesn't want possibly armed young adults wandering around with firearms after regular hours you'll be golden.
They say ignorance is bliss, whoever "they" are, and the new batch of multiplayer focused media for Capcom's Bionic Commando Rearmed proves it. To me, anyway, as I was blissfully ignorant of the fact that Rearmed had such a strong multiplayer component, with team deathmatch, free-for-all and more in the features department. Now, I'm experiencing multiplayer knowledge bliss! I suppose I'll have to reeducate myself on the XBLA and PSN remake to see what else I've been missing. Hey! A swinging mechanical arm! Neat!
California senator Leland Yee—an outspoken critic of violent video games and the ESRB and author of a bill that targeted ultra-violent games—has a reminder for parents—don't buy Grand Theft Auto IV for your kids. Yee, doing his best by-proxy parenting, says that Rockstar Games and Take-Two "have a history of deceiving the ratings board and the public on the true content of their games" and that the game "glorifies violence, is extremely realistic and designed for adults only." Duh!
Yee's press release then reminds parents with some questionable wording that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was "found" to have "graphic scenes of oral sex, nudity, and simulated intercourse" and paints a dire picture of ratings enforcement.
In related news, I issued my own warning to parents, urging them to, you know, look at the four guns on the cover and the girl fellating a lollipop and think for a second if their kids should be playing that. And that the answer was no, moron. Only Senator Yee's press release is after the jump, though.
Can't post. Busy playing Typeracer. Like Typing of the Dead but online multiplayer. Type quotes from books, movies as quickly as possible. Fun. Need more competitive typing games. More Typing of the Dead, too. You play. Is good. Playing now.
The second PlayStation Store update to hit for the recently relaunched service is certainly not lacking in style or substance. The weekly batch of new additions kicks off with a pair of promised echochrome demos along with the return of some PSP "classics." The first full album for Rock Band, Judas Priests "Screaming For Vengeance" also debuts. The competition from Activision answers with a misfire of a Def Leppard track pack, begging the questions "Photograph? Live? Why?" We're sticklers for studio recordings!
For the rest of the goodies, including new add-on content for Call of Duty 4 and Eye of Judgment, please continue.
Toys R Us is alerting customers that they will have "more Wii in-store than ever before" this Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! They also plan to have bucket loads of the current best reason to buy a Wii: Mario Kart Wii. Both can be pre-ordered, which I would assume would guarantee you copies, though I bet I'm assuming wrong.
The big ad push for the Wii comes hours after we first broke the news that Nintendo would be upping production of their tiny, white console. Wow, that was fast!
[Thanks DragonYen]
Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division saw revenue up 68 percent in its third fiscal quarter, thanks to "robust" demand for Xbox 360 consoles, the company announced today. The console sold 19 million units during the three months ending March 31st, a 74 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
The Wii Fit marketing bonanza has yet to begin proper in North America, but today we finally get a look at how Nintendo will be pitching the game in print ads, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. Using the tag line "How will it move you?" expect to see Nintendo's attempts to appeal to women and moms—Nintendo's sales and marketing SVP Cammie Dunaway's words—show up only after the fitness game has been released.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick isn't worried about Guitar Hero growing stale or Tony Hawk losing out to Skate. Or, at least that stuff isn't keeping him up at night. The bigger threat to Activision games is (dun dun dun) social networking. He explains:
Figuring out how to make the game experience more fun than any one of a hundred Facebook applications is going to be a challenge.It seems like baby boomers and even some Gen Xers still don't grasp the more modern concept of multitasking. Mr. Kotick, you may want to sit down for this. We may use ten apps within Facebook, but we often do so while playing a game.
Mario Kart Wii holds on to the top spot of the Media Create sales charts for the week of April 14 to 20, as mascot karting and monster hunting continue to keep a tight grip on Japan. Not much in the way of new additions for the week, as Nintendo's fossil diggin', dinosaur battlin' Boura wa Kaseki Holder for the Nintendo DS is the only new debut in the top ten.
For the rest of the top thirty software stars, make the jump. If you don't, you'll never know how well Square Enix's DS bookkeeping software for level 3 LEC exam training charted and you'll look like an uninformed jackarse at your next cocktail party. Your call, pal!
From here on out, game trailers lose points with me if they don't have a guy green-screened over the gameplay footage, pointing out features like some gaming weather man. Witness Age of Conan product manager Erling Ellingsen (whose name does amazing things to the tongue) discussing the finer point of PVP in the game, from the PVP level system to the different locations available for wholesale slaughter of your fellow players in Hyboria. I love how he calls them PVP mini-games. Makes me think that at any moment Wario is going to pop out and demand you pick his nose in under three seconds, which is a feature that would completely sell me on the game.
According to GameDaily, for the 20th anniversary of the Madden series, retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 09. As pizza-raised Chicagoan, I can only say that it's a shame Favre will inevitably succumb to the Madden curse and throw out his back while playing shuffleboard, or maybe get a concussion from a low speed collision with one buffet's rogue sneeze guard. The announcement is expected to come tonight when Favre appears on David Letterman.
Scoop: Brett Favre to Cover Madden NFL 09 [Game Daily]
The first issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly ran back in May of 1989. But even those of us who read it probably don't still have the issue on their nearest coffee table. Now Retromags has gone back in time, stolen some poor kid's reading material and posted it out of spite. Well, that, or they paid a bit too much for an antique issue after months of searching, spent hours retouching any signs of aging in Photoshop and then made it available to us in PDF for free. You can go with whichever version of the story best reaffirms your faith in humanity and the power of the human spirit. We'll be catching up on the latest rumours about Mega Man 2.
Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 001 (May 1989) [Retromags via GnomesLair]
The FedEx guy just dropped Mario Kart Wii off at my house. I think my son is going to faint when he comes home. The timing is perfect. It gives me something to play with him until Grand Theft Auto arrives and I disappear from his life for several weeks.
"Mommy, is Daddy dead?"
Good times, good times. Hit the jump for plenty of pictures of the wheel. SEXY!
Sorry fanboys. Have you seen that letter from "Rockstar" conceding defeat to those already pirating GTA IV, urging Holland to ignore the April 29th release date as to not lose any more sales? Well, needless to say, it's not real. But if our own assurances aren't enough, Rockstar has confirmed that, no, it's not real.
Still, how anyone would have a heart dark enough to forge such a teasing document is beyond us.
Evan Wilson, a senior research analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, has an interesting take on how game companies should handle their most talented members of their staffs—that's not so different from what we see in professional sports, music or the movie industry.
There are very few people in this world who know how to create hits...multiple hits. Those creative minds should be recognised and remunerated in the video game industry for their contribution as much as other forms of media. From a business perspective, that might be more expensive, but if the reward is better selling games the trade-off is worth it.In other words, Nintendo shouldn't release Super Mario Galaxy but Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario Galaxy. It's, of course, an American viewpoint in an industry still very much rooted in Japanese culture.
What if Grand Theft Auto had been released in the 80s? Well, aside from being the best game ever (When you play Grand Theft Auto, it's like you're really in the game!), it would have featured an awesome commercial. A kid would have been sitting in his room on the brink of dying from boredom. But just in the nick of time, a leather-clad "biker type person" would pound down the door, do a few shots of tequila and discover where a friendly night of Nintendo could lead once the lights went out. Hit the link for a glimpse of history we missed only by a decade and some puberty.
Grand Theft Auto for the NES [College Humor] Thanks Andy!
We already know that over 65% of PS3 and Xbox 360 gamers play on an HDTV. But we didn't know that 18% of HDTV watchers played Xbox 360 or PS3.
Assassin's Creed as a brand will be around for "years to come," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during today's conference call.
Assassin's Creed has sold 6 million units since launch, Guillemot said, as he summarised a corporate strategy that relies on enduring in-house brands balanced against the introduction of new franchises.
No mention of February 2008's Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles for DS was made during the call, but Ubisoft's enthusiasm for the original game's "better-than-expected" performance seemed to indicate an interest in more adventures for Altaïr in the future.
We talk about innovation in a number of ways in the game industry, some of which are very far off in the grand scheme of things: erudite discussions of game play, biomechanics, tailoring an experience to each individual. We have the less esoteric, more realistic discussions of what can be done with games now, and that sort of 'innovation,' I think, is really more a discussion of games 'growing up' and heading into more mature territory. Perhaps some of these debates are being cast in the wrong terms, or at least, there are multiple avenues of discussion to be explored.
What defines 'maturity'? I think the entertainment industry is somewhat hampered by defining works that include sex or violence or rough language as having 'mature themes': clearly there is an age component ('Should 10 year olds be watching this stuff?'), but it's overly simplistic at best. In my media collections, I have works I consider thematically "mature" in the ratings game sort of way, and the works that are mature in a different way. The ones that play with preconceived notions of the way things are or should be; the ones that deconstruct the traditional, reconstitute it as something new; most importantly, the ones that can be read on a number of levels.
Ubisoft sales jumped nearly 37 percent during their latest fiscal year, which ended last month, rocketing from $US 1.07 billion to $US 1.46 billion over the year, the company announced during their annual call today.
The jump was mostly due to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Assassin's Creed doing better than expected, they said. Vegas 2 sold close to 2 million, while 6 million copies of Assassin's Creed were sold. Ubi said they were also happy with their Games for Everyone brand, which includes titles like My Word Coach and My French Coach and brought in $US 361 million.
