Monthly Archives: February 2009

The Killzone 2 demo will launch in the region of 5.00pm today, SCEE’s confirmed.

“PSN updates vary but hopefully around 5.00pm everyone should be able to download it,” a rep said this afternoon.

Internal expectation is high. The spokesperson said he was “very excited” at the prospect of the tester going live.

The demo will contain the first two sections of the game’s first level, as well as the tutorial sequence from the boxed product.

The full banana releases on February 27.

On Destructoid. There’s some environment art there as well. They’re the first proper screens. Fans of the comic, of which there are many, appear to be pretty much divided on whether or not the Warner Bros. adaptation is going to be “good” or not.

Take a look and form you own opinion of an entire videogame based on early images. It’s out for PC, 360 and PS3 this year.

More than 460,000 PS3s have now been sold in Australia, Sony Australia’s announced, 213,000 of them in the last year.

The figure includes 70,000 machines Sony gave away during a Bravia LCD promotion.

By comparison, Microsoft and Nintendo sold over 537,000 and one million Australian units of 360 and Wii respectively in 2008.

More on Gamespot.

Microsoft just posted the Halo Wars demo on Live. Go go go.

Here’s the link if you want to queue it from the web.

It’s 1Gb in size.

Atari put out a new trailer and a bunch of new shots from Tekken 6 today, showing spangly people kicking the shit out of each other.

There’s no specific date on it as yet, but the latest in Namco’s fight series is on track for an autumn release for both 360 and PS3.

Video after the break.

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Disney Interactive has posted a $45 million loss for the quarter ending December 27.

Sales rose 13 percent to $313 million in the period.

“We faced a challenging first quarter with many of our businesses impacted to various degrees by the economic downturn,” said Disney boss Robert Iger.

“We are forcefully confronting current circumstance while investing in the great creativity, brands and assets that are Disney’s strengths and keys to its long-term success.”

The company’s North American studios took a staff hit to the tune of 50 staff last week.

Wii-owning Rock Band 2 fans are now able to grab music from corporate rockers Boston, as well as All-American Rejects and Blondie.

As of yesterday, users can now download the following from in-game Rock Band 2 Music Store for $2.00 (200 Wii points) each:

• Boston – Hitch a Ride, Peace of Mind, Smokin’, Something About You
• Blondie – Hanging on the Telephone
• The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret

Fans of metal band Lamb of God – or just Xbox Live Gold members who fancy the thought of fragging someone famous – are in for Valentine’s this year. The celebrated screamers will be logging onto XBL to play Call of Duty: World at War with the public on February 14.

To get in on the action, Game With Fame suggests you send a friend request to Gamertag “LoG Gwf” by no later than 10:30am EST (3:30am GMT) on the day. The fun starts at 11:00am EST (4:00am GMT) and you may miss out.

More information through the link.

Lots of new releases in Japan this week, with Namco’s Radiant Mythology 2 taking the top slot on PSP. PES 2009 filled both the second and third positions on PSP and PS2.

There isn’t a single HD game in the top ten. Last week’s data here. Thanks, ChartGet.

01. [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (Namco Bandai) 213,000 / NEW
02. [PSP] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 109,000 / NEW
03. [PS2] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 108,000 / NEW
04. [NDS] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Square Enix) 102,000 / NEW
05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 23,000 / 380,000
06. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai) 22,000 / 339,000
07. [WII] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Square Enix) 22,000 / NEW
08. [WII] Wii Play: Mario Tennis (Nintendo) 20,000 / 108,000
09. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 20,000 / 1,634,000
10. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 19,000 / 3,215,000

Capcom has reported a 57 percent fall in profits for the nine months ending December 31, down to ¥179‭ ‬billion from ¥3.57‭ ‬billion in the previous corresponding period.

Sales fell 9 percent to Sales‭ ‬fell to‭ ‬¥47.2 billion.

“The absence of flagship titles as well as consumers‭’ ‬money-saving attitudes also negatively affected‭ ‬sales,‭” ‬said the company.

It was noted in the report that Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV won’t ship until the year’s fourth quarter.

According to Netflix this morning, more than 1 million US Xbox Live subscribers are using the film service through their consoles.

More than 1.5 billion minutes of Netflix movies and TV shows have been streamed on 360 in the past three months.

Netflix was launched on Xbox 360 as part of New Xbox Experience last year.

VG247 has learned from a European source that the rumored Battlefield 1943: Pacific is “real, but still under wraps.”

The game will be shown in Europe this week, so we should know more very soon.

It was speculated overnight that the title will be shown this weekend at New York Comic Con.

We’ll let you know as soon as we know more.

Sony must simply take some pain with PS3, SCEE boss David Reeves has told the Guardian, but no matter how bad the fight is at the moment for the machine, the firm’s still “fighting”.

“We simply have to suffer a little,” he said, “go down in market share and mind-share.

“It’s like Ali v Foreman – go eight or nine rounds and let him punch himself out. We’re still standing, we’re still profitable and there’s a lot of fight in us. I don’t say we will land a knockout blow, but we’re there and we’re fighting.”

Reeves was speaking after the release of dour PlayStation family sales figures for last year, in which both hardware and software sales declined against 2007.

“My objective is financial – to make a profit in our territory by the end of March, and we will,” Reeves added.

“Our priority has always been the PS3; the forecast was 10 million at the beginning of the year and it’s still 10 million. If we’d cut the price, lost another billion dollars, we might have had a huge Christmas but it would have been followed by a huge loss.

“The company could have thought: ‘Hmm, I’m not sure I want to be in this business at all.’ But we’ve shown Sony this is still a good business to have.”

There’s loads more through there. Well worth a read.

THQ boss Brian Farrell said in the firm’s Q3 earnings call last night that fewer core games are to be developed by the publisher in the coming year, but those that are will be more polished and better marketed.

“With respect to the core gamer, the aggregate spending will come down,” Farrell said.

“The idea is focus, focus, focus. But we will compete aggressively…when we launch.”

THQ is “putting fewer core gamer titles into full production,” but focusing more heavily on the development and marketing of each.

Farrell added: “Clearly, this is one of the most challenging holiday retail environments that I’ve experienced in my 18 years at THQ.”

The exec’s comments come in the wake of the announcement of a $191.8 million loss for the three months ending December 31. Around 600 THQ staffers are to lose their jobs.

More WWII? Possibly, if EA’s handing out postcards at this year’s New York Comic Con – and not cruel jokes.

According to EA’s NYCC schedule, Battlefield 1943: Pacific postcards will be delivered unto EA faithful at some point during the show. As expected, EA recently removed that listing from the Internet, but a Google Cache version of the page stirs some proof into the pudding.

This, of course, implies the existence of Battlefield 1943: Pacific, an unannounced Battlefield title.

Even more telling, French site JeuxActu has posted what appears to be an official announcement for the title, which – a mere sentence ago – was unannounced. Apparently, the World War II shooter will deploy on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Earlier this week, developer DICE’s announcement bash was thwarted by snow. Fortunately for society’s well-being, however, terms like “console-only” and “yet to be announced” were sent in to quell the rising mobs. We’re guessing there’s some sort of connection here, but we’re contacting EA just in case our hunch is completely, embarrassingly false.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Want to know what people say when they’ve lost nearly $200 million in three months and have to fire 600 people? Wonder no longer. Seeking Alpha’s published a transcript of last night’s THQ Q3 earnings call in its entirety. Get it here.

Snowblind Studios, creator of titles like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, and Justice League Heroes, is now officially bedding down with Warner Bros. Guess some people just can’t endure our single, hipster lifestyle.

“The acquisition of Snowblind is an important milestone for our games business, allowing us to expand our development capabilities even further,” said Martin Tremblay, President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “We are proud to be associated with such a talented team that is focused on executing innovative and captivating game designs.”

Warner Bros. has now corralled a total of three game development studios: Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R.), TT Games (Lego Batman), and Snowblind, obviously.

Currently, Snowblind is giving its full attention to XBLA game Death Tank. Don’t try calling; you’ll only get the machine.

Full press release after the break.

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THQ’s the latest publisher to announce horror end-year financials today, revealing a $191.8 million loss for the three months ending December 31.

Sales for the period were $357.3 million, a year-on-year drop of 30 percent.

The company had already confirmed it was to drop 250 staff, but extended the redundancies today to 600, 24 percent of its total workforce.

The move should cut costs by $220 million in fiscal 2010, said the firm.

“Our focus for next fiscal year is to return to profitability and to generate cash,” CEO Brian Farrell said in a statement. “Our fiscal 2010 plan will reflect the benefits of our focused product strategy and strong actions on costs.”

Average prices for new game releases are getting lower, according to research by EEDAR.

According to analyst Jesse Divnich, publishers are putting out more console titles below the usual $59.99 for PS3 and Xbox 360, and the $49.99 price point for Wii games.

Compiling data from his company’s GamePulse information service, Divnich feels this is happening for many reasons, one of which is the highly competitive retail shelf space, which can tend to hurt new titles.

Whatever the reason, it’s good for the wallet.

Full thing through the link.

Telltale’s announced a Wallace & Gromit episodic series for Live and PC, to release this spring.

Players will switch roles between the cheese-loving Plasticine man and his dog in the game.

No confirmation on how many episode there’ll be, or how much they’ll cost.

“Our episodic series focus on story, character, humor, and cinematic presentation—very much like a television or film production. This all makes for a great living room experience through the gaming console,” said Telltale CEO Dan Connors.

“We’re looking forward to expanding our catalog onto Xbox LIVE Arcade.”

Press release after the break.

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