Monthly Archives: January 2009

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says he has lowered his expectation to toward PlayStation 3 for the year ahead as he doesn’t believe the console has any bona fide system sellers.

“Although there appears to be a reasonably robust slate of games for the PlayStation 3 this year, Sony continues to lack a clear ‘must-own’ title that will drive sales, while its platform continues to be the most expensive in the market in the midst of a consumer slowdown,” he said.

“Meanwhile, highly publicized platform initiatives such as Home have failed to get off the ground.”

His overall assessment of 2008 was just as damning saying: “Following another year in which PS3 unit sales lagged behind the Wii and Xbox 360, it is now clear that Sony has failed to establish the PS3 as the console of choice among hardcore gamers this cycle.”

Creutz now expects PlayStation 3 to sell 4 million units in 2009, compared to his previous forecast of 6.25.

Read the public resaerch note in full at Gama.

By Mike Bowden

Tonie Manders, a politician who sits on the European Parliament’s Committee, has recommended to The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), that Europe should universally adopt PEGI’s rating system.

Mander’s draft report on videogames acknowledges that games and can also be used “well for valuable educational purposes.”

He also believes the PEGI system “provides an elegant solution to the questions raised by the evolving global games industry.”

“Toine Manders has taken a very close look at the needs of a rating system for games that works well across the EU and concluded that PEGI is the right way forward both on- and off-line,” said Michael Rawlinson of ELSPA.

“It is a ringing endorsement of the rating system that we in the UK were instrumental in helping to set up several years ago.

“The protection of children is of paramount important to this industry and we are delighted that a body as significant at the EU’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee fully comprehends the merits of PEGI.”

In July last year, the BBFC said that PEGI rating were performed by a “couple of blokes” in a bitter war words about whose ratings system was best. (seriously)

Later than month, Ubisoft, Sega and Nintendo all backed PEGI.

By Mike Bowden

Rockstar has sent over some lovely new images from its forthcoming GTA IV DLC, The Lost and Damned.

Everything’s all looking, and sounding, as though it’ll be worth your while shelling out the 1600 MS Points when the 360 exclusive goes on sale on February 17.

Check them out after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

The Euro PSN update is almost identical to the American one. There’s the F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin demo, the American-themed Buzz! questions pack and the aforementioned unlock-everything-in-the-game-without-playing-it, Time is Money DLC for Skate 2.

Eurogamer has everything else.

By Mike Bowden

Konami will release a free update for Metal Gear Online next week that adds a new ‘Bomb Mission’ mode.

“In the new mission, the offensive team’s objectives will be to detonate a bomb at a targeted location in the map and protect it until it explodes,” says the release.

“The defending team must protect its stronghold and prevent the planted bombs from detonating by using a special coolant to nullify an activated bomb and stop the attacking team from approaching the base.

“To complete the mission and come out victorious the attacking team must detonate the bomb within the mission time limit if they fail the defending team wins.”

The Bomb Mission update goes live on January 27.

Thanks, CVG.

Capcom has released an updated pack shot of its action horror sequel, Resident Evil 5.

It’s exactly the same as the old one, but this time the system link 2-16 players” has been replaced with “system link 2″ tag instead.

There was some confusion this week when D-Pad noticed the 360 box art hinted there was going to be 16 player offline multiplayer.

Capcom has since admitted that its inclusion was an error and now publish the above picture to prove it.

Resident Evil 5 will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 13.

By Mike Bowden

The US PlayStation Network video store has updated, and this week you can watch the whole of 24 Season 7 to date in your underpants with a beer in one hand and an all-meat sandwich in the other.

There’s also Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde if watching things blow up isn’t your thing, and for those of you who haven’t yet seen it, the brilliant L.A. Confidential is on there too.

Full list over at the PSBlog.

By Mike Bowden

Sega has told videogaming247 that there are still no plans to bring Japanese open-worlder, Ryū ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) to the West.

We thought we’d ask after being subjected to two sets of screenshots, an excellent looking trailer, and have seen the announcement of Japanese exclusive white, dragon-themed PS3 all in the space of one month.

However, when we asked Sega if it was on its way West, a company rep replied: “Not that I know of.”

One day, eh?

Yakuza 3 is released on February 26 in Japan.

By Mike Bowden

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has issued a broadside at Sony saying that the company is a “distant third” in the console price and that price is killing the PlayStation 3.

“Sony has historically priced at its production cost (or above), but it has historically been in first place,” he told CVG.

“This generation, the company is a distant third, and is falling behind at a rapid pace.”

“Keeping the PS3 price high kills Sony, and gives Microsoft a huge competitive advantage,” he went on. “In my view, every Xbox 360 sold is a lost opportunity for Sony to sell a PS3, and Microsoft has no intention of taking a sabbatical.

“Lowering the price will cost Sony a lot, but it should generate sufficient future profits from game and Blu-ray movie sales and royalties to offset those losses,” concluded Pachter.

Sony announced yesterday cuts were to be made to its “Gaming Segment” as the firm looks to save ¥250 billion this year.

By Mike Bowden

Kotaku is reporting that Square Enix has banned hundreds of Final Fantasy XI players as an issue that allowed for the creation of multiple items was exploited.

“[Square Enix] discovered an issue that allowed players to create multiple items for certain treasures and rewards in areas such as Salvage and Assault by exploiting the game system,” said the company today.

Apparently the bug has been known about for some time and was fixed in November last year. However Square Enix wanted to single out those who carried on exploiting the MMORPG’s system after knowledge of the workaround was made public.

“As a result of the investigation, approximately 400 players were temporarily suspended based on evidence gathered,” Square Enix stated.

“Approximately 550 players who committed more serious misconduct had their accounts banned.”

Ouch.

By Mike Bowden

After the break you can see four new videos showing some awesome looking Street Fighter IV gameplay.

Don’t know what else to add apart from we want the game.

Capcom’s Street Fighter IV is out for 360 and PS3 on February 20. PC date’s still TBC.

Check them out.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Following rumour this morning that EA UK would be the next part of the publisher to face staff cuts, the firm’s issued a statement saying cuts are necessary in order to “make the company stronger,” but has refused to confirm location specifics.

“By way of a reminder for you,” a rep told us, “we announced a six percent goal for headcount reductions in our earnings call on 30 October,” said the company this afternoon.

“When we issued a warning on 9 December, we announced that the personnel cuts would be greater than six percent and just before the holidays, we provided the first details on that plan and said that it would include a cut of approximately ten percent, or 1000 people.

“That’s where we are today. I cant give you more specifics on how many people in what locations, but we are making deep cuts in our cost structure to help make the company stronger.”

By Mike Bowden

Sega has released yet more Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) screenshots revealing what appears to be a Karaoke mini-game.

There’s a girl standing up singing, some text on the screen and some icon prompts below it.

If that doesn’t get you excited, maybe if we tell you you see our white-suited friend standing in a restaurant doing nothing, that’ll get your juices flowing.

Maybe one day we’ll be able to write that Yakuza will be due out sometime in the West. Today however, is not that day.

After the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

THQ Asia Pacific is thinking of over taking over where fallen Australian Capcom distributor Red Ant left off, reports MCV.

“THQ’s Asia Pacific headquarters and namely, its Australian based IceStorm Entertainment arm, are perfectly poised to manage any viable distribution opportunity,” said Martin Good, the senior vice president of THQ Asia Pacific.

Red Ant also distributed Midway, Bethseda and Konami’s titles in the region.

Capcom has since allayed fears that its key titles would be affected by Red Ants’ closure saying it announced that it didn’t expect delays in the region.

More through the MCV link.

By Mike Bowden

Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist has updated his blog to reveal that some changes have been made to the company’s new MMO, The Secret World, meaning it’s going to take time to implement and therefore delay the overall development process.

“We’ve recently made some Big Changes to the game and those need to be worked through,” he wrote.

However just what those changes were, Tornquist didn’t reveal. “It’s a bit too early to talk about the details,” he offered.

“The story and the setting is the same as it’s been since the early 00′s… The gameplay is going through a redesign – for the better, let me assure you – and we’re revisiting content produced in the past two years to lift it up to a whole new level.”

More over at EG.

By Mike Bowden

Below you can see some more images from Starbreeze’s Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

It seems Atari is going into overdrive as full single and mulitplayer details were released yesterday.

Game’s out in March for PS3, 360 and PC.

Update: We’ve added a couple of developer walkthrough videos below. Watch and listen as Ian Stevens, head of game production at Tigon Studios, talks you through the second level.

Spoilers, obviously.

By Mike Bowden

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Below you can see some brand new screenshots of the Café, a brand new location in Son’y lifestyle app, PlayStation Home.

There isn’t that much going on as yet but that’s to be expected said a Home beta manager on the official PlayStation forums.

“As with all things in Home, the cafe evolves over time. Remember, we’re in BETA,” said the rep..

“It is a public space, for everyone’s enjoyment. Give it a spin, give us feedback, and watch it grow. We encourage you to actively participate in this BETA version of Home.

“While specific events will be hosted in the Cafe, in the end it will be used for all the same purposes every other space in Home is – socializing with other PS3 users. That’s what Home is about. But that’s not to say that we can’t turn it into something different if that is what the community calls for. Ah, the joys of being in BETA…” the rep added.

Check it out after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Skate 2 is the biggest title to be released this week but don’t under estimate the draw of SI’s Football Manager Live either. Tomb Raider: Underworld PS2 is out today as well as My Fitness Coach for Nintendo Wii.

Full list below. Thanks, EG.

• AC/DC Live: Rock Band (PS2)
• Football Manager Live (PC)
• My Fitness Coach (Wii)
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure (PC, Wii, DS)
• Skate 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Tomb Raider: Underworld (PS2)
• Word Academy (DS)

By Mike Bowden

Red Alert 3 senior producer, Amer Ajami has said the reason why PS3 owners have had so long to wait for a Command and Conquer port is simply because it was announced too early.

“I think we just announced it too soon to be perfectly frank,” Amer Ajami told CVG.

Apparently, it was the development team’s single core engine that was the reason for the delay: “It just took us longer,” said Ajami.

The Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition PS3 is due in March.

By Mike Bowden

EA has told videogaming247 that “there won’t be any concrete information provided on the Mass Effect franchise” at this year’s GDC09.

The company was referring to the CMPEvents listing that revealed two of BioWare’s developers are holding an hour-long seminar entitled, ‘The Iterative Level Design Process of Bioware’s Mass Effect 2′ at the conference this year.

“Bioware has always stated that Mass Effect would be a trilogy,” a senior company representative told us today. “This GDC event is an academic panel, but there won’t be any concrete information provided on the Mass Effect franchise other than what has been outlined on the GDC website.”

Last night, EA confirmed to VG247 that rumours pertaining to a PS3 port of the original game were “inaccurate.”

By Mike Bowden