Monthly Archives: February 2009

Viacom-owned Harmonix has sued Konami over Rock Revolution, claiming the game infringes patents related to music game controllers, Bloomberg reports.

The complaint, filed in Boston yesterday, seeks cash compensation and a block on sales of the Konami game.

Konami sued Harmonix and New York-based Viacom in July, claiming Rock Band infringes two of its patents for simulating musical instruments.

More through there.

We don’t care what you say: Red Alert 3 is the best-looking strategy game ever made, and a trailer released this morning of the upcoming Uprising expansion does nothing to damage our view. Watch it after the break.

The pack includes tons of new challenges and lots more video. Which means more Gemma. And that can only be a good thing.

Uprising releases for PC on March 31.

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In a yanked interview with GGL Wire, actor Brad Hawkins has revealed that DOOM 4 is to feature distinct civilian and military groups.

The piece has been pulled from both the site and Google’s cache, according to this RPS story, but Slashdot saved the day with some swift cut and pasting:

“‘[Filmmaker Mark Bristol] was very specific on the civilians having a certain personality and the military characters having a separate one as well. The body language of the civilians is less, well, “trained.” They carry their guns in a looser fashion and are a little sloppier when they run, a little more freestyle. The military characters are sharp as razors, with very swift moves, exact hand positioning and can turn on a dime.’”

This is the summary total of everything known about the game so far. Don’t hide it, id. You can’t beat the internet.

PCGA head Randy Stude – don’t forget the “e”, for God’s sake – has told BigDownload that PC game piracy has benefitted companies like Stardock, Valve and id by simply allowing users to play their games for free.

The full quote:

The PC Gaming Industry’s history is littered with examples of start-ups (including Stardock and Valve) that actually benefitted from widespread piracy to grow a market for their future titles. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating piracy… However, how would Quake, Doom, StarCraft, Counter-Strike, or Half-Life have been able to grow widespread brand recognition without a widespread network of gamers openly sharing these games. These titles (and many more) defined the industry. Personally, my first experience with a first person shooter was with Doom (back in the day) and I did not pay for it. Id Software turned the corner and has a very successful business built on the back of the early free/open source exchange of their games…

Randy’s a pirate! Thanks, Blue.

In short: down, down, down, down, down, up, down.

Yep: Xbox 360 was the only hardware platform to see a sales rise in Japan last week, up a phallus-engorging 204 units.

Thrilling stuff. Last week’s data here.

• DSi – 49,529
• PSP – 34,969
• Wii – 20,412
• PS3 – 16,082
• DS Lite – 12,484
• Xbox 360 – 8,311
• PS2 – 5,089

Wrath of the Lich King was the biggest selling PC game in the US last month, NPD figures have shown, with Spore and the WoW: Battle Chest coming in at second and third place respectively.

Full top 20 below. Hit this for all the rest of the new from last night’s NPD release.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
2. Spore
3. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
4. Left 4 Dead
5. Fallout 3
6. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
7. Call Of Duty: World At War
8. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
9. World Of Warcraft
10. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
11. Grand Theft Auto IV
12. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
13. Warcraft III Battle Chest
14. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
15. Far Cry 2
16. Diablo Battle Chest
17. Lord of the Rings: Conquest
18. MS Flight Simulator X: Gold
19. Civilization IV
20. Spore Galactic Edition

Oh dear. Square Enix said in Japan yesterday that the now-confirmed Dragon Quest IX delay may cause a slip for Final Fantasy XIII.

“There is a possibility that Dragon Quest IX delay could effect Final Fantasy XIII,” said president Yoichi Wada.

He added: “The next term’s schedule has been fixed yet.

“Presently, I cannot say what kind of effect we will experience from moving the Dragon Quest IX launch from March to July. I cannot say there won’t be an effect.”

Dragon Quest IX was pushed back from March 28 to July 11 in Japan yesterday.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Microsoft is to open its own shops, according to this Reuters report, in what is probably safely termed as “doing an Apple”.

David Porter, a former DreamWorks exec, has bee hired to head up the chain.

It’s not known if this is a US-only thing as yet, and Microsoft hasn’t said yet how many stores it’s looking to open, or when, or which products would be available.

The BottleRocket team fired by Namco for a still unknown reason has issued a statement saying it wishes the publisher “the best” and is to start work on a new game.

“Namco canceled the development of Splatterhouse on February 6, 2009,” said the note.

“BottleRocket wishes Namco the best in completing their project.”

The statement went on, saying that the “development team is looking forward to turning their attention to a new project soon to be announced.”

Thanks, Joystiq.

Future’s Official Nintendo Magazine was delayed to February 14 earlier this week, promising “great exclusive content” as a result.

It was Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Winter Games.

The Sega sequel was announced yesterday.

So there you are, ONM subscribers. There you are.

Sony hasn’t yet put out a post-NPD press release. A quick look at its hardware figures for January may show why.

All PlayStation platforms saw a serious year-on-year decline in the US last month.

PlayStation 3 sales were down nearly 25 percent compared to January 2008, selling 203,000 as opposed to 269,000 last year.

PSP also dropped 25 percent, moving 172,000 units compared to 230,000 last year.

And last but most definitely least, PS2 started to properly nose-dive. The ancient machine was down almost 62 percent year-on-year, selling 101,000 units.

By comparison, Xbox 360 enjoyed 33 percent growth for the period, and Nintendo hardware growth was off the chart and 148 percent and 99 percent for Wii and DS respectively.

Spike TV’s announced a new multi-year deal with presenter Geoff Keighley.

The contract is “expansive,” according to the press release, and will see Keighley developing a range of programming for the network.

No time period was give for the agreement.

“Geoff is the best host in the game industry and a big reason why Spike is the number one network for video game programming,” said Kevin Kay, pSpike TV boss.

“We are excited to enter into a new, long-term agreement with him and support the game category with even more coverage in the years to come.”

Microsoft confirmed in its post NPD statement this morning that the Halo Wars demo had been downloaded more than 2 million times in one week.

The demo was released on February 5.

The game itself, the last for developer Ensemble, launches for 360 on February 27.

Day and date with Killzone 2, as was the demo. You guys.

PSP has now sold-in more than 50 million units globally, Sony announced today.

Around 9 million units have been added to the console’s installed base since August 2008.

The machine launched on December 12, 2004 in Japan; March 24, 2005 in the US; and September 1, 2005 in Europe.

Microsoft’s post-NPD statement’s a happy affair, dwelling on 33 percent growth for 360 sales in Janaury compared to the same month in 2007, and claiming last month set a record for people signing up to Live.

More than 17 million people have now signed up to the online service, said the company, and the Halo Wars demo was downloaded more than 2 million times in the first week of release.

You can hear the gigantic smile from here. Full thing after the break.

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Nintendo’s post NPD statement doesn’t pander to bullshit: the company’s “offsetting declines on other platforms” with its astonishing hardware growth, it said.

“Nintendo kicked off 2009 the same way it finished 2008: with a bang,” said the firm in a press release.

“While the video game industry grew by $150 million (12 percent) year-on-year, Nintendo’s total sales grew by $300 million in January, offsetting declines on other platforms.

Wii sales hit almost 680,000 unit in January, up 148 percent compared to the previous year. DS sales also helped, said Nintendo, with sales up 99 percent YoY to 510,000 units.

The US industry was up 13 percent overall in January.

God bless you, Nintendo!. You’re the Superman of US games.

Full thing after the break.

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StarDock and Gas Powered Games announced today that Beta 3 of Demigod will be released on February 19.

Beta 3 is being launched so the devs can “nail down balance and begin trying out the Pantheon – the persistent multiplayer universe,” and fix any balance issues before moving onto the final phase: getting the multiplayer matchmaking system to work.

If you want in on it, sign up now. The beta window will close in a week.

The game is expected to land on PC April 14.

More through here.

Lips users: here’s a new bit of downloadable music for your karaoke game.

Each tack will run you 160 MS Points ($2) and should be up on XBL as we type:

• Avril Lavigne – My Happy Ending
• Olivia Newton John – Magic
• The Pussycat Dolls/ Snoop Dogg – Buttons

How many people who own this game are actually old enough to remember that Olivia’s offering was from the film Xanadu?

Better yet, how many parents want their kids singing that Pussycat Dolls song?

Not a good line up this week, Microsoft.

Atari has released a single-player demo of Codename Panzers: Cold War, Stormregion and InnoGlow’s RTS.

The story’s set in the early 50s, and takes advantage the Cold War setting.

The game goes beyond build-and-rush tactics, instead using a Point of Interest system. Structures on the map show areas that teams must occupy to gain Prestige Points, which can then be used to call in special attacks like napalm or helicopter support, or to produce additional units.

Napalm! The demo is around 1Gb in size and be downloaded from  FileFront, and GamersHell.

SOE MMO Free Realms will launch in early April, Eurogamer reports.

The news comes from a press event in London today.

The beta test will begin very soon – within “a couple of weeks”, according to associate art director Sebastian Strzalkowski.

The game’s aimed at 10-14 year-olds, but when did that stop anyone?

More through there.