Monthly Archives: January 2009

Namco Bandai has revealed that casual fitness game Family Trainer (Active Life: Outdoor Challenge in the US and Family Trainer: Athletic World in Japan) has sold over one million copies, Kotaku reports.

The game comes bundled with an an updated dance-mat that Namco designed for Famicom title, Family Trainer back 1986.

Since it’s release last year, Family Trainer Wii has sold 140,000 copies in Japan, 540,000 copies in NA and 320,000 in Europe.

Congrats.

By Mike Bowden

According to Andriasang, Nintendo Japan has announced the Wii Fit Body Check Channel, brought to you in conjunction with NEC, Panasonic and Hitachi.

The new channel will not only advise you on how best to work out, it will send your fitness data to “health professionals.” This is where NEC, Panasonic and Hitachi come in.

Each company will be offering various health services in a bid to improve communications between professionals and consumers, apparently.

“In addition to Wii Fit data, the Wii Fit Body Check Channel program will support user walking data from Nintendo’s Lifestyle Rhythm DS title (Aruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS),” the article concludes.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Future plc (Official PlayStation Mag, among many others) has blamed “tough conditions at the newstands” in lieu of a fairly tepid trading update for the three months to December 31, 2008.

The company said its games publications had a hard time due to what it calls the decline of PC gaming and the “very tough” US advertising climate, says MCV.

The company did however, reveal that revenue was up 1% compared with the previous year.

“Our focus this year is on guiding our business effectively through the uncharted waters of the current macroeconomic environment and ensuring we remain on course to deliver sustainable growth in the mid-term,” said Future chief exec Stevie Spring.

“While of course we’re not immune to current challenges, we’re mitigating these through the active management of our portfolio and through building in greater cost flexibility. We remain confident that we’re in the best shape we can be to deal with whatever challenges lie ahead and are on track to deliver against expectations for the full year.”

By Mike Bowden

When the Writers Guild announced its nominees for videogame writing on January 12, several of 2008′s major titles weren’t even submitted due to what “industry insiders” cites as politics, writes Variety.

The publishers of Grand Theft Auto IV, Dead Space, Call of Duty: World at War, Mirror’s Edge, Far Cry 2, and No More Heroes all confirmed that they didn’t send a copy of their script and didn’t have credited writers join the guild – the two rules for eligibility.

Apparently, many see these awards as a recruitment drive for the WGA and thus feel ceremony itself is a façade.

Outspoken Braid creator, Jonathan Blow, lent his voice to the cause by saying:

“The problem is that it’s not really an award ceremony,” he said. “It’s a membership drive masquerading as an award ceremony.”

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

SCEE has apparently got in touch with Techradar to flatly deny the earlier rumours that a touch-screen PSP was coming soon.”

“Sony has flatly denied that a PSP mark 2 is in the works,” says the article. No quote was given.

We can’t say we’re surprised at this one, really.

More through the link if you need it.

By Mike Bowden

Nintendo has unveiled the second batch of DSiWare games for Japan, IGN writes. There are eight games in total.

A couple of the more interesting titles in the 200 DSi Point category (£1.70 / €2.40) are Solitaire DSi – no explanation needed – and Nintendo DSi Clock Photo Stand Type – turns your DSi into a clock.

For 500 DSi Points (£4.25/€)600) there’s Hobo Nichi Rosenzu, which, as Eurogamer puts it, “lets you play around with the rail maps for Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Kyoto.”

The remaining five titles are detailed through either link.

By Mike Bowden

Remedy Games got in touch this morning to tell videogaming247 that with regards to Alan Wake, we can expect to see something “interesting” but only “when the time is right.”

“Yeah, I think we will see something interesting,” said Remedy to VG247 when we asked if there was something new to report. “[We] will be looking at our schedules and sorting interviews etc. out when the time is right.”

However, GDC 09 might be “a little too early”, the developer confirmed. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Alan Wake was announced to some fanfare back in 2005. Since then, however, information has been rather thin on the ground.

However, last year, Remedy released some cool looking footage and images.

Earlier that same month, Remedy explained that the reason the psychological thriller is taking so long is because there is only a small development team at work on the game.

Alan Wake is expected sometime this year for Xbox 360, and going by the above quote it seems we might know more very soon.

By Mike Bowden

Darren Jobling, business development director at Eutechnyx, has told GI is worried that the UK development community is about to enter it’s demise.

“I think we’ll see more consolidation between publishers and developers, and more mergers,” he said. “I also think we’ll see a lot more closures in terms of publisher-owned studios. Some publishers see remote development studios as a drain on their resources and when it comes to cost-cutting, they’re usually first in the firing line.

“My worry, though, is that we’re going to see the decimation of the British game development community.

Just as the British game publishing industry was hit by a bunch of buyouts and closures in the 1990s, the late 2000s may see the publisher-owned development community being hit every bit as hard.”

Newcastle Eutechnyx have been in the industry since The Stone Age. The company has produced a large number of games for Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and Amiga. By the early 90s the Ferrari Challenge development house was also making games for PC and consoles such as the Sega Mega Drive and SNES.

Full interview here.

By Mike Bowden

Writing on the firms dev blog, CCP Whisper has detailed how wormholes will work in the EVE Online expansion pack due this March.

“These wormholes are unstable and will spawn and vanish randomly throughout the known universe”, said Whisper. “A pilot who stumbles across one of these stellar phenomena can fly through it and travel to unknown space, where there are no stargates or stations, just the unexplored void of a new solar system.

“And when I say ‘new solar system’ that is exactly what I mean. It will not be moving you to instanced space but rather to one of the thousands of new solar systems we will be adding to the EVE universe.”

“Wormholes will shift all the time,” he went on. “They will open and close and reopen at random locations throughout New Eden and thus present you with an ever-changing area of space that no-one can control all the choke-points to.

“While it is theoretically possible to move a control tower into wormhole space, set it up and maintain it, the logistical challenge and risks of fueling and defending a tower in a system with no permanent links to known space would be considerable. But then again the potential rewards are equally great.”

Loads more through the link. Thanks, RPS.

2008, meet your twin, 2009. Looks like we’re going to see another year where Nintendo and its balance board outsell everything else, as Wii Fit holds top spot for another week.

Call of Duty World at War won’t give up, however, and holds that second spot again.

In fact, the only change to the top three is Skate 2, which débuts at third this week, taking Lord of the Rings Conquest’s place.

Last week’s chart here. Full top ten below:

By Mike Bowden

MTV Multiplayer has got the lowdown on just how the drug dealing in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will work.

Basically, it’s just a way to make some extra dosh on the side, innit.

“Huang Lee [your character]will not be a crime boss or top-earning mercenary,” the Rockstar rep said. “He’ll make peanuts for his anti-social efforts. So he’ll need to make extra money to buy extra weapons and who knows what else. Dealing is one such way to make the money.”

Drug prices will vary across town, but Rockstar ensured that as places to buy and sell are abundant, you can take care of business en route to a mission rather than having to drive back and forth across town every time you wanna make a quick buck.

February’s Edge magazine also reveals a rather excellent, innovative gameplay twist to the proceedings:

Chinatown Wars’ Dope Wars-like trading minigame is lent greater depth by an economy that’s affected by CCTV cameras. When destroyed, these cameras are the equivalent of ‘”GTA IV”’s pigeons or “GTA III”’s hidden packages, but have a distinct effect on the economics of the area they’re in. Prices tumble in regions where cameras have been taken out, while remaining higher where they still work, though the risks of being caught in the act of dealing are also greater.

All sounds very good indeed.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is out March 17 in the US with Europe getting it three days later.

By Mike Bowden

Epic has freed up details of the latest patch for Unreal Tournament, and it’s a whopper for sure.

The Steam achievements mentioned in the headline are only available to those who acquired the game through the service, whilst the rest of the patch and its fixes are available to all.

Epic is also readying some new maps in what it calls the Titan Pick. Lead designer Steve Polge told BeyondUnreal that Titan will be “substantially bigger than any bonus pack we’ve released in the past.”

Full patch notes over at Shacknews. Date for download is still forthcoming.

By Mike Bowden

Designers Republic, the firm responsible for the original look at feel of the WipEout franchise, has closed.

A story on design mag Creative Review’s blog confirms the closure, quoting founder Ian Anderson as saying: “We’d lost a couple of clients, didn’t win a couple of pitches, got a tax bill which should have been sorted out and wasn’t and a major client who didn’t pay the money they owed us – in themselves any of those things would have been fine but when they come all at once there’s not much you can do.”

The studio’s nine staff have all been made redundant. Anderson’s vowed to return, however.

Thanks, Develop.

Hellgate London will continue to be published as a free-to-play title by Korean outfit HanbitSoft, the company’s confirmed.

No territories have been specified. Namco has already confirmed it’s to shut the game’s servers down in the West.

HanbitSoft said yesterdav that future updates for Hellgate: London are in the works, with a focus on “strengthening community features”.

The next “large-scale” patch, according to HanbitSoft, will be released “soon,” and will “combine the two game play modes, unifying the split two communities into one.”

More on Gamasutra.

Square’s put a date on the American version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. The Wii and DS game will land in the US on March 24.

The title allows Wii and DS owners to play the game together, which should provide a good sell-through rate to the “hardcore.”

It’s still listed from “spring” shipping in Europe. Press release after the break.

More »

Both Planet Xbox 360 and MLGPRO are offering early access to the Halo Wars demo, assuming you can’t wait until February 5 for the general release.

Winning a code from either site means you’ll be able to get involved from January 29. That’s this Thursday.

The game’s out later in February. Thanks, Joystiq.

Nelson’s confirmed the launch of the first piece of 360-exclusive Fallout 3 DLC, Operation: Anchorage.

Blurb:

[ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD AND GORE,INTENSE VIOLENCE,SEXUAL THEMES,STRONG LANGUAGE,USE OF DRUGS] Enter the simulation pod and embark on one of the greatest military campaigns of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. Experience harrowing winter combat using Fallout 3’s patented V.A.T.S. targeting system, and employ powerful new equipment like the Gauss Rifle, Chinese Stealth Armor, Winterized T-51b Power Armor, and more. Enlist today, soldier!

Buy it. You may as well.

You can always bank on World of Warcraft. Wrath of the Lich King’s top of the US PC charts. As it was the week previously.

Data for the week ending January 17. Thanks, Kotaku.

• WoW: Wrath of the Lich King
• The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
• Fallout 3
• World Of Warcraft Battle Chest
• Spore
• Left 4 Dead
• The Sims 2 Apartment Life
• World Of Warcraft
• Call Of Duty: World At War
• World of Goo

Creative Assembly console RTS Stormrise has units, obviously, so you probably need to know what they do if you’re going to play it.

The futuristic war game features Scorpions, Enforncers and Infiltrators, according to GameInfoWire, so you should be in good stead to fight the fight when it’s released for PS3 and 360 in March.

Which really isn’t that far away.

South Australian Attorney General Mike Atkinson, the Australian politician usually blamed for the fact the country doesn’t have an 18 rating for games, has told Gamespot AU that his stance is necessary to protect children and vulnerable adults from explicit, interactive content.

“Some of your readers may believe that the present system restricts adult liberty,” he told the site. “It certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price of keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults.

“In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it. Classification exists for advertising, films and books for the same reason – to protect children and vulnerable people.”

Atkinson, in a lengthy comment to Gamespot, explains his stance in detail, claiming violent games are more affecting to children and impressionable adults than film.

“The interactive nature of electronic games means that they have a much greater influence than viewing a movie does,” he added.

“People are participating and ‘acting-out’ violence and criminal behaviour when they are playing a video game. They are essentially rehearsing harmful behaviour. Children and vulnerable adults (such as those with a mental illness) can be harmed by playing video games with violence, sex and criminal activity.”

Australia’s maximum game rating is 15+, meaning many more “adult” titles must be either edited of banned to make sale in Australia.