Monthly Archives: July 2008

Capcom’s posted Q1 revenues of ¥16.35 billion ($151 million), up more than 14 percent from the same quarter the year before. Profits were up more substantially, more than doubling year-over-year to ¥2.38 billion ($22 million), up from ¥1.13 billion ($10 million) in the corresponding previous period.

Japanese PSP adventure Monster Hunter was the main driver behind the positive figures.

There’s more on Gamespot.

You’d think that watching giants like EA and Activision lumber around would have Sega ambitiously planning to reach the same lofty heights. Not so, Sega of America president Simon Jeffery said in an interview with Forbes.

“We don’t intend to be an Activision or an Electronic Arts–one of those juggernauts,” Jeffery emphasized. “We’re actually really happy where we are. We can be small and agile and yet extremely profitable and successful. It really feels like this year we’re competing with the next tier up, and THQ is a good company for us to model ourselves on and go after in terms of market share.”

But don’t think that means Sega doesn’t have big plans in store. When asked where he’d like Sega to be in five years, Jeffery explained:

“Where I would really like for us to be is at the cutting edge of every platform, to be the go-to publisher for Sony with its next system and with Microsoft with its next system. We kind of are like that with Nintendo right now, and thanks to our relationship with Apple, we are kind of like that on the iPhone at the moment. But I want to really get that same kind of recognition with Microsoft and Sony. We have solid relationships, but when they’re launching a new platform I want them to come to Sega to build their killer app.”

Check out the link for Jeffery’s thoughts on EA and Take-Two, Sega’s plans going forward, and gaming’s rapid growth. Definitely worth a read.

By Nathan Grayson

According to this NintendoEverything piece, Metal Gear dev star Hideo Kojima will return to Germany for Games Convention this year, after demoing MGS4 to press at the event in 2007.

Other stuff the publisher’s looking to air:

Games

• PES 2009
• Silent Hill Homecoming (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Castlevania Judgement (Wii)
• Dancing Stage
• Rock Revolution
• Lost in Blue (Wii, NDS)
• Eledees: The Adventures of Kai and Zero (NDS)

Stage shows and presentations

• Hideo Kojima (Will discuss Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Online plans)
• Koji “IGA” Igarashi provides insight into the Castlevania series
• Thomas Hulett (Associate Producer) talks about Silent Hill Homecoming
• Rock Revolution presentation with Associate Producer Niais Taylor
• Dave Cox, responsible for product planning at Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, own future developments in Konami Europe

We’ll be there. For some of it, anyway.

Mythic’s released minimum system specs for Warhammer Online, to be found after the break.

As you can see, there’s nothing especially mental going on there, news that will no doubt be welcome to the untold legions of fantasy fans waiting for the MMO to ship.

Have a look. Thanks, IGN.

More »

ESA’s released what, according to Joystiq, is a first annual report.

The report covers federal work, a state-by-state breakdown and goes into other initiatives, like anti-piracy and general research. Good to know where your money goes, right? Take a look.

According to this US PS Blog post, “Gran Turismo 5 Prologue owners will receive a significant update,” the thrust of which is the launch of GT TV.

Notes from the site:

• For the first two weeks only, we are providing all pay-per-view content for at a discounted price of $.99! It’s a good way to get a taste Gran Turismo TV. The HD content we shoot for our exclusive stuff looks pretty amazing. Following the initial two-week period, content will start at $1.99. So start downloading away!
• Be sure to check the full content list for a full content list, as we will be adding new programs on a regular basis.
• Gran Turismo TV will also include new features that allow viewers to fast forward, rewind, and move between chapters when viewing video content.
• Viewers can download up to 8 episodes simultaneously and pause individual downloads.

More through the link.

THQ’s put out a new Dawn of War II trailer, presumably as part of its Q1 financial release last night. You can be excited about space marines getting nailed by eldar. We’ll allow it. Take a look.

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THQ has excelled itself with its decision to hire porn star Tera Patrick to promote Saints Row 2, as you can see after the break. There’s a movie there consisting of the “actress” removing her blouse while talking about “extensive customisation options.” Seriously. Lots more of this to come, apparently.

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Here. Read ten pages of Julie MacMedan, Brian Farrell and Colin Slade banging on about why THQ lost $27 million in its first quarter, assuming you really have nothing better to do.

As reported by Gamespot, THQ’s posted a loss of $27 million for the first quarter ending June 30.

The shortfall is nearly triple the $9.3 million deficit it suffered during the same quarter last year.

The loss was mainly down to development costs, however, and the company posted net earnings of $137.6 million, $33.1 million more than the corresponding previous period.

More through the link.

There’s a reason the VG247 wasn’t updated last night: we were eating beef and talking crap with PR people at the Metropole in Brighton at the Develop Awards 08. Rockstar was the big winner on the night, taking gongs for Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment, Technical Innovation and In-House Developer titles.

Rockstar also won the Grand Prix award, for being super-amazing, etc.

There’s detail on the other winners on GI. We’re very sorry there was no news yesterday evening. Honestly, we had writers’ guilt. It’ll never happen again.

According to this GamePlayer story, server space in LittleBigPlanet will be limited, so you won’t be able to just keep uploading levels from the blue-sky PS3 platformer to your heart’s content.

All is not lost, however. Those that create more popular levels will be allocated more space, apparently, meaning the more creative in the audience will be given room to shine.

There’s no source for this, but the Media Molecule chaps are at Develop today. We’ll try to grab them later.

According to this CVG piece, Tom Clancy’s HAWX has been delayed from the end of 2008 until next year.

It’s not the only Ubi game to take a tumble, apparently. The site’s also reporting that Gearbox’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway has been pushed back to September 26 from an anticipated August release.

No reason has been given for the delay of either game.

2K Boston’s Ken Levine has refused to comment on why a PS3 version of BioShock wasn’t released last year, saying the decision to stagger the 360 and PS3 versions was taken entirely by 2K.

“That’s above my pay grade,” Levine told VG247 when asked why the game didn’t release on PS3 at the same time as the 360 version.

“The only thing that I knew at that point was that we were working on the 360 version and we weren’t working on the PS3 version. And that comes down to a corporate decision level.

“Just strictly from a production stand-point, it was a luxury for us because we could focus on a single platform. So strictly from a production standpoint, we weren’t complaining.”

Levine added that he’s excited about the PS3 version, despite the fact he’s having nothing to do with its production.

“Now, especially, that the PS3 is coming into its own, it’s very exciting… I’m a gamer that buys every single platform the minute they come out, so I always forget that there are a lot of people out there that haven’t seen the game because they’re PS3 gamers, and that’s really exciting.

“There’s a whole audience that hasn’t seen that game. For me it’s kind of a kick to have it still be a new title for a lot of people a year later.”

Neither Levine or BioShock lead designer Bil Gardner would comment on the game’s additional content, saying it was a “2K thing,” although Levine did explain where the game was being produced.

“It’s a mix,” he said. “The PS3 technology was primarily developed by the guys in Australia. Some of the technology’s done in Boston… I think they have a few people at Marin and there’s Digital Extremes, and the additional content is being developed almost entirely in Boston.”

Levine said he had no control over the additional content for the PS3 version, and that the project was 2K-led.

Levine and core members of the original BioShock team are currently working on a band new IP at 2K Boston, which the dev boss described today as now being out of the “blue-sky period.”

2K Boston’s Ken Levine has responded to rumour that certain members of the original BioShock team left to work at 2K Marin because of dislike for him personally by saying talk of its kind simply doesn’t matter.

“My wife finds it more upsetting than I do,” he said, talking to VG247 at Develop in Brighton today.

“I think the thing that was the most damaging is that it’s not something I can respond to. There’s no point in it. Look at the BioShock credit list and see how true that rumour is. My personality? I don’t know. Maybe I am an asshole.

“Honestly, the people I respect? Maybe I’m the nicest guy in the world, maybe I’m the biggest asshole. I couldn’t tell you. I think people choose to work with me because I can work with them and make a game called BioShock.

“Do you like to see people say you’re inconsiderate? No. When it comes to hiring, does it really matter? No.”

Levine reiterated the point that his wife takes the brunt of the scuttlebutt.

“It really, really hurts my wife,” he added. “But I could be Britney Spears with my gut hanging out on TMZ. It’s mild compared to that kind of stuff.”

Ken Levine has confirmed that his new IP has entered development proper.

“We’re not in the blue-sky period any more,” said the developer, speaking to VG247 at Develop today. “We’re actually building design elements and building it out… But it’s, you know, it’s going to be pretty crazy ambitious.”

Levine refused to confirm specifically the identity of the new title, but did flesh out some primary details.

“I’ll say this about it. It’s important to us that whatever we do has the same impact on the gamer that BioShock did. And so, I think that the company’s position on us and what we do is that we’re going to be breaking down barriers and breaking down doors.

“Whether we succeed or not, that’s our goal. In terms of our timeline and the resources we have and the people we have working on it, I’m really fortunate to have Bill [Gardner, BioShock's lead designer - Ed] and Nate [Wells, 2K Boston’s art director - Ed] who designed the Big Daddy… that BioShock team, and sit around with the guys that did the original BioShock and come up with this thing that we’re working on now.”

Levine did said that he was “not substantially” working on BioShock 2.

“I’m doing my thing and making my game,” he said.

“It’s not Bioshock 2.”

It was confirmed that Levine would not directly work on BioShock 2 when the sequel was announced in March, and would instead embark on a new IP at 2K Boston.

Speaking at Develop in Brighton today, Frontier boss David Braben’s given the first solid details on The Outsider, saying the game is an open-world action title based on the story of a framed cop.

“Obviously, we’d be mad not to consider GTA as competition because of the open-world nature, but in terms of the story-telling, I’ve not really seen people that are in that [place] yet, but I think that will come. I do think we’re genuinely innovating there,” he told VG247 today when asked which games he’d consider competitive to the secretive project.

“The themes: there are a lot of other where you get agents accused of terrible things. Certainly in cinema that’s very common.”

Braben added: “We’ve worked a long time on technology, and it’s been in game development now for more than a year.”

He described it as being pitched at the 18-35 year-old male.

“Yes, very much,” when asked if that was the target audience. “We’re writing the game for the sort of people that are working on it. You will get a game that’s very rewarding to play.

“It’s a very, very exciting project for us. It brings in some really interesting new issues to game development. It’s fantastic. Just dealing with a story that’s genuinely open presents lots of new challenges.

It’s open-world, but it’s getting the story [right]. If you think of most stories they’re very linear with the occasional branch: it’s not like that.”

The developer boss wouldn’t be drawn on a release date, saying he wants to keep the title under wraps to prevent fatigue.

“That’s intentional,” he said of the lack of information on the game. “We don’t want to put lots and lots of news about something in advance. It’s good to drip a bit out.”

The Outsider has previously been confirmed as an Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release.

Sony’s posted up a Warhawk tutorial video on the US PlayStation Blog, for all those in the audience that find the game baffling. Be baffled no longer: kill your friends with ease. Take a look.

Missed this n the rush yesterday. Blizzard’s announced that BlizzCon 08 is to be televised in the States, thanks to a partnership with pay per view channel DIRECTV.

Tickets have already gone on sale for the event taking place at the Anaheim Convention Centre in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11.

“BlizzCon is one of the most highly anticipated gaming conventions of the year, and we are excited to partner with Blizzard Entertainment to deliver coverage of the show to gamers nationwide,” said DIRECTV’s Steven Roberts.

“With our BlizzCon pay per view package, members of Blizzard’s gaming communities who are not attending the event can now experience it in crystal-clear HD.”

More on GI.

Nintendo’s announced first quarter results, showing a net profit rise to 107.2 billion yen ($99 million), up from 80.3 billion yen in the corresponding previous period.

The number of Wii consoles sold worldwide was 5.17 million – bringing lifetime sales up to 29.62 million.

Mario Kart Wii proved popular during the quarter with 6.42 million copies sold, while the figure for Wii Fit was 3.42 million. Total Wii software sales stood at 40.41 million units – up from 24.2 million units last year.

More on Eurogamer.