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If there is one sector that is sure to ride out the economic downturn in some comfort it has to be business punditry. Today's instalment in Things That Will Be Either Better Or Worse In The Next Financial Cycle comes from the HD3 Conference in LA, where a panel of entertainment execs discussed how the Blu-Ray format might suffer as the credit crunch begins to bite.
The Wall Street Journal has some advice — we're guessing unsolicited — for Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger: Maybe it's time to buy Electronic Arts. Why? Well, the price might be right (right now) given that EA's stock has taken a pretty serious hit lately, partly due to general economic turmoil and on second quarter corporate earnings from the Madden publisher that WSJ calls "disappointing." Why does it makes sense?
Disney's Pirates of the Carribean Online is celebrating its one year anniversarry in much the same way all the other MMO's are celebrating this time of year, with a Halloween Spooktacular zombie invasion! Starting tomorrow the game world will fall into permanent darkenss, and when the moon reaches its fullest, players that don't take cover will be transformed into the shambling undead, forced to attack towns and one another in Jolly Roger's name.
Or, to be more precise, puts the Mickey into Mario, in this figure by Dave Bondi, which actually has zero Disney/Nintendo involvement whatsoever. We know, we know, it's another pretentious "urban vinyl" figure, but the sheer horror of seeing Disney's and Nintendo's flagship mascots thrown in a bucket together makes it worth a closer look. *looks closer*. Oh, the horror.
If anyone has the November edition of Electronic Games Monthly -- big rumour is that LittleBigPlanet will be soon announcing DLC, and the content is "non-Sony" or, more specifically, Disney's IP. And, rampant speculation on who that might be in 3 ... 2 ...
Really though, is this true, and if so, is it a good idea? Part of LBP's appeal is that it managed to create iconic characters that have no other presence outside this particular world. To have Mickey, Minnie and or Goofy tromping all over creation seems more than a little inconsistent with that look. It sounds like Kingdom Hearts meets LBP.
EGM November 2008 Reviews and Rumors [NeoGAF via Joystiq]
Saying "peripheral-free" is like saying "castrated" when it comes to music games. Isn't half the fun of playing Rock Band the plastic instruments?
But there must be market for people (parents) who don't want to deal with a plastic drum set and two guitars cluttering up the living room - and for these spoilsports comes Ultimate Band on Wii.
Ever wanted to sing along with iconic Disney characters such as Aladdin, The Littler Mermaid, and Cinderella? Well, if you live in PAL regions you can. The Playstation 2 is still alive an kicking it seems as this Autumn PAL people can enjoy another new SingStar game. Now that's a regional exclusive I'm jealous of. So I know most of you are wondering, yes, the characters will indeed sing with you on screen. Imagine, if you will, singing "A Whole New World" with the Aladdin! The mind boggles. Check the jump for the full release plus the current track list with more expected to come.
A-har me hearties! Avast ye swabs! Other pirate cliches!
Disney would love you to try a spot of piracy — just the sword-wielding high seas kind, mind you, not the intellectual property kind. Slitting throats for booty is one thing — just don't mess with the Mouse.
To encourage the mass adoption of eyepatches and Keith Richards' swaggering, Disney are opening up the paid-for bits of their Pirates of the Caribbean MMORPG this weekend.
Basic Access to PotC has always been free, with some abilities and equipment reserved for the fee-paying Unlimited members. This weekend (August 15 — 18) all Basic members will get an upgrade to Unlimited and be able to form guilds, stock up on weapons and skills, and generally get their buccaneering on. Unlimited class members wont lose out either, with up to 50% discounts in the in game stores.
This Weekend Only! [Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean]
Last year's Spectrobes on DS sold around a million copies, but I have heard tell that critics found it lacking in substance a bit. From what I saw at Disney Interactive's E3 booth, though, they've fleshed things out.
For monster-collector nerds like me, it's exciting to know that Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals has doubled the number of Spectrobes you can unearth through touch-screen archaeological digs, and it looks like they've expanded upon the battle system, too.
So how does the new Spectrobes stack up?
It's no Pokemon, but it looks cute and complex enough to possibly be fun. You play as either Jeena or Rallen, interplanetary police officers, and as you traverse the story you unearth fossils that you can take back to your ship to make into creatures. Each one has a child form, an adult form and an evolved form, and, paging through the scrapbook of character designs, I was thoroughly impressed.
