This week, Apple picked off two guys with heavyweight résumés – Richard Teversham, Microsoft’s former Xbox strategy-mans, and Bob Drebin, who at Advanced Micro Device created the Gamecube’s graphics processor. Those developments, added to Apple’s investments in graphics and semiconductor technology, translate to “snappier, better looking games,” on the iPhone and iPod Touch, writes Forbes.

Also notable, programmers say Apple reminds them to develop for different resolutions and screen sizes. Considering the profound success of the iTunes App Store, which just passed a billion downloads, and gold-rush tales of indie developers striking it rich with simple games, Apple’s investment in creating more robust games and apps is a no-brainer. But whether it amounts to a new device, or one with a gaming focus, is anyone’s guess.

Apple’s Interest In Gaming Isn’t Casual [Forbes]

Earlier this week, Forbes writer Peter C. Beller made a tit of himself when he swallowed some Activision PR and reprinted it in his article on Bobby Kotick. Today, surprisingly, he stands by it.

To recap, in the original piece, Beller called Rock Band a “shameless knockoff” of Guitar Hero, seemingly oblivious of the fact Harmonix designed both games, and equally oblivious of the fact Guitar Hero World Tour is a “shameless knockoff” of Harmonix’s own Rock Band.

Explaining himself to GameDaily, Beller writes:

My terming Rock Band a “shameless knockoff” of Guitar Hero was based on the fact that it came out after Guitar Hero and sported very obvious similarities with Guitar Hero, including color-coded prompts moving onscreen along a fret board. It even accepted the same Guitar Hero guitar controller, I believe.

If you define knockoff as “a copy or imitation of someone or something popular” the way Merriam-Webster does, then I think Rock Band fits the bill nicely.

I was aware that Harmonix designed both but Redoctane, then Activision, actually owned the game. When Harmonix sold to MTV and produced Rock Band it appears likely they took their know-how from Guitar Hero to create Rock Band along a similar vein. Which is a better game? Not for me to decide.

The point I was trying to make was that just because Bobby Kotick spent $100M for Guitar Hero, or has a long-running skateboarding franchise, doesn’t mean he can churn out sequels without the threat of competition. More broadly, creative talent, on which the industry depends, is quick to migrate to where it feels most appreciated and remunerated.

So…not much of an explanation at all, then.

Media Coverage: The Press Responds [GameDaily]

Financial publication Forbes takes a look at some of the things people are still willing to spend money on in the face of the recession, and of course, our favourite hobby makes the cut.

The economy might be tanking, but we still need our stuff. Without our stuff, what would we be? Stuffless…and no one wants that. Forbes details 10 of the stuffs that people are still willing to hand over their precious, precious money for. Video games were the second item on their list, right after smart phones.

Consumers today desire affordable escapism, and video games fall into that category. Two top-selling games—”Madden NFL ‘09″ and the “Wii Fit”—sold 5 million units combined in the third quarter of 2008, according to NPD.

Other items that made the list include toy building sets, car maintenance items, and personal hygiene items. I never thought I would see video games in the same list as personal hygiene items, but there you go.

Ten Things We’re Still Buying [Forbes.com - Thanks Josh!]

Media/Press,

On Friday, November 21th, Forbes.com did an article on Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. The article is located here http://www.forbes.com/ebusiness/2008/11/21/games-eedar-developers-tech-ebiz-cx_mji_1121eedar.html . Unfortunately, there was a miss-quote in the article that a lot of sites noticed and reported on. Below is the line from the article.

“Only 4% of games that make it to market actually make a profit, he says. About 60% of a game’s budget is spent reworking or redesigning a game. Armed with all this data, companies can make those tough calls early in the development process.”

The actual statistic is only 4% of games that enter production will return a significant profit. Of games that are released to the market, only 20% will produce a significant profit. (Source for the second sentence: Secrets of the Game Business by Francois Dominic Laramee).

We understand that miss-communications can happen, especially during phone interviews, but given the inaccuracy of the statistic and how many other sites have picked up on the story, we wanted to ensure that the major media outlets received the correct statistics on the subject.

Geoffrey Zatkin, EEDAR’s President and COO, has provided some clarity on the subject:

“Only 20% of games that begin production will ever finish. Of those 20% that are finished and released to the market, only 20% of them will ever realise a significant profit (Source: Secrets of the Game Business Francois Dominic Laramee).That equals 4% of games that start production return a significant profit.

During the concept and design process of a game, publishers and developers often analyse every feature in a game to ensure proper implementation for a successful release. At EEDAR, we believe that enough historical information is now available to aid publishers and developers during the concept and design process of a game. The EEDAR database, which now consists of over 6 million historical data points, can help remove the burden for publishers and developers from having to justify every feature in their title. Specifically, our DesignMetrics™ reports help publishers and developers by identifying early in the development cycle the correct feature combinations most likely to meet consumer expectations. This allows developers to focus more time and resources on creating a high quality and well polished video game.”

As well as the rather ill-received virtual world Lively, the article points out that Google already has some technologies that could mix well with gaming. Google Earth could make a for an excellent flight sim (in fact, it already has) while streetview might be useful in a GTA-like game.

I’d love to see the Google brain trust attack a problem like enemy AI or random terrain generation. It’s just a shame we will have to wade through adverts to get there.

Will Google Play Games? [Forbes]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the winner at 9.4 million. Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock clocks in at 8.2 million, but after that, it’s nothing but football and shooters: Three versions of Madden (06, 07 and 08), Vice City, Halo 2 and Call of Duty 4.

This list is almost immediately out of date, of course. Grand Theft Auto IV has shipped 11 million copies and sold 8.5 million, with an analyst saying it’ll move 15 million by the end of the month. That’s a global figure, but really, who wouldn’t expect it to park at No. 1 and bump Madden ‘05 off the list at No. 10.

The top all-time U.S. sellers, in order (since 1989):

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock
• Madden NFL 07
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Madden NFL 06
• Halo 2
• Madden NFL 08
• Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Grand Theft Auto 3
• Madden NFL 2005

America’s All-Time Favourite Video Games [Forbes]

Games Girls Play [Forbes]

…no rival can touch GME’s used-game business.

They continue:

Indeed, Electronics Boutique represented the only real threat in this area. Furthermore, GME’s Edge program promotes customer loyalty by awarding bonuses for trade-ins and purchases. In addition, pressure on new game sales arising from deteriorating consumer spending trends should be offset by used-game sales as shoppers seek to save money. This bodes particularly well for GME, since profit margins on used game sales are more than double those of new titles.

If only GameStop supplied a free slice of bread with every purchase, we’d really have something. GameStop’s Second-Hand Recession Edge [Forbes via MaxConsole]

Portal Brain Age 2 Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass BioShock Puzzle Quest Rock Band Super Mario Galaxy Wii Sports The Witcher WoW: Burning Crusade

Needless to say, a fiery debate will rage in the comments and give this list a good sorting. I’m actually not so sure about BioShock, of all choices, as single player FPS experiences don’t seem to stand the test of time (meanwhile, multiplayer is a whole different story).

And now that the industry has become so successful at creating high quality, more polished sequels, will any of these titles really be in play a decade from now?

The Future Of Videogames [Forbes via WiiWii]