Monthly Archives: March 2009

Nikkei.net’s predicted that Wii will pass the 50 million global sales barrier this month.

He machine went on sale in 2006.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata’s keynoting GDC this afternoon, so don’t be hugely shocked if this gets announced.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Prince of Persia dev boss Ben Mattes has told a gathering at GDC that the no-death mechanic in last year’s franchise re-boot was a “mistake” in terms of projecting his own opinions on the game.

“I guess I made the mistake of projecting my own attitudes,” he said, as reported by MTV.

“I believed that, as a consumer base, the gaming industry had evolved to the point where they were punishing themselves for their failures.

“The idea with the Elika mechanic was [that] if you were a really good player, a single fall – when she had to pull you up – would be devastating thing because it ruined your perfect run.”

More through there. Thanks, EG.

A PC demo of Capcom’s Flock! is now available, the company’s announced. Get it on Steam.

Pre-order it and get a 10 percent discount.

The alien sheep-herding thing’s out for PC on April 7, 360 on April 8 and PS3 on April 9.

According to this Siliconera report, Katamari Damacy Tribute will release on PS3 later this year.

It’s a 1080p version, apparently, a first for the series.

There’s a few scant details through there, and there’s no confirmation of the game releasing outside Japan.

SCEA marketing boss John Koller has told Wired that downladable titles for PSP are one of the firm’s “big pushes” for this year.

“One of our big pushes this year is to be sure that the right kind of content and the right kind of games in particular are placed on the PlayStation Network for download on the PSP,” he said, speaking at GDC.

“We’ve been engaged in a wide range of conversations with publishers over the last year, year and a half about software and games overall on the PSP. One significant topic that hasn’t necessarily been covered a lot is inclusion of digital copies of the games that they’re launching on UMDs.”

Koller, by way of giving a timeframe for downloads to hit PSP en bloc, pointed to late 2009.

“In the back half of this year, we should see a good rise in the amount of content that comes to PSN for the PSP,” he added.

Thanks, GI.

Square Enix told VG247 this morning that any European release for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete is “TBC”.

The Blu-ray movie – with its sneak preview of Final Fantasy XIII – has now been confirmed for a June launch in the US.

It hits Japan, with a playable demo of FFXIII, on April 16.

OnLive’s shown its Cloud gaming service running in a press conference at GDC, as you can see in the video after the break.

Watch from 16 minutes. One of the founders is seen playing Crysis at 720p on a crap Dell laptop in a live demo.

OnLive will “change the landscape of the games industry,” the press conference began.

We’d just like to see this work when 5 million people are hitting the same game.

Still. Cool. It’s out at the end of this year.

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Acclaim head David Perry has confirmed he’s working on a Cloud gaming system similar to the OnLive service announced at GDC yesterday.

Perry was to announce the venture at E3 this year, but the OnLive announcement forced his hand, he said. The exec has told VentureBeat that the company putting the scheme together has nothing to do with Acclaim.

OnLive caused a major stir yesterday when it detailed its service for the first time, saying it will allow subscribers to remotely play high-end games at 720p60 via a fast broadband connection and streaming video, without the need for anything other than a bog standard PC or Mac.

The service will require a 1Mb download to play via a browser. Perry said his service won’t even need that, and will be able to work on any computer with a broadband connection.

There’s no solid detail there on when Perry’s to show the service running proper, or when it’s expected to launch.

Dengeki’s reporting that Capcom’s Bionic Commando is to release on June 25 in Japan.

The action listed as May 31 in Europe.

Thanks, Kotaku.

GDC 2009 gets going properly this morning with the first big keynote, being delivered at 9.00am PST by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

To be absolutely clear: that’s 9.00am PST, 4.00pm GMT and 5.00pm CET. Steph will be in the hall liveblogging the entire thing for VG247. It will last one hour.

Speculation is already running hot as to what Iwata will show, with US journalists claiming the exec will show new Wii games, and that film crews have been banned from recording past the first five minutes.

You’ll just have to wait till the curtain lifts. We’ll bring you all the details, blow by blow, as they happen.

In the meantime, do some starjumps and shout at the wall. Drink some lager and smash the can on your head. It’s the big guns, baby. Raining hot Nintendo lead all over your ass from California. We’re pumped beyond all belief. You should see us: we’re huge.

Realtime Worlds MMO All Points Bulletin is to feature Vivox voice chat, the companies said at GDC this week.

“We decided early on that integrated voice chat was a must for APB,” remarked RTW’s Ray Miller.

“We do everything best of breed and we knew we needed the best voice chat available.”

And no, of course there’s no date.

On Ripten. The game’s releasing round about the same time as the new Star Trek movie comes out in May. Looks… a bit light.

First details popped up last night. It’s a top-down shooter for Live and PSN.

Tecmo showed off Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 at GDC last night, promising the game will be the full stop as far the Ninja Gaiden IP’s concerned.

“We really want this to be the total package, the ultimate package, the game you remember as having everything you’ve seen and experienced throughout the Ninja Gaiden franchise,” producer Yosuke Hayashi said at the game’s reveal.

Locations in the game include Venice, the Amazon, Tokyo and New York, and you’ll get to fight on the Statue of Liberty.

As was previously know, Hayashi confirmed that Dead or Alive’s Ayanne will b playable in the PS3 title, and that online co-op will be included.

It’s out in the US and Japan this autumn. More on Eurogamer.

We saw this at the weekend, but it seemed a bit sketchy so we didn’t do it. Everyone else seems to think it’s real, though, so what the hey.

Blu-Ray.com has apparently confirmed Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete for a US release on June 7. Here’s what you’ll get:

• “Legacy of FINAL FANTASY VII” Featurette
• “Reminiscence of FINAL FANTASY VII” Original Story Digest
• On the Way to a Smile – Episode: Denzel Animated Film
• “Reminiscence of FINAL FANTASY VII Compilation” Story Digest
• Exclusive Sneak Peek at FINAL FANTASY XIII
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Trailers

No word on whether or not it does actually include the FFXIII demo hitting with the Japanese version.

Thanks, Kotaku.

The official Italian Nintendo site’s confirmed that the upcoming Punch Out!! is to feature Balance Board support, IGN reports.

From the piece:

A rough translation confirms that Wii Balance Board, the controller included in Wii Fit, will be utilized in Punch-Out!! to dodge and weave by players shifting their weight. The Balance Board will be utilized in conjunction with the standard Nunchuk and Wii Remote controls.

Expect the game to feature in Iwata’s keynote today at 9.00am PST (4.00pm GMT).

It’s out in May.

Xbox games head Phil Spencer’s defended the firm’s decision to publish a Halo RTS, saying the decision wasn’t exploitative but rather a way of introducing new consumers to the franchise.

“With Halo Wars, we thought we had an interesting story, an interesting universe, and we were trying to find ways that we could expose that world to more people, maybe people who aren’t dual-thumb capable,” he told Edge.

“It’s not as if we’re doing something like Halo Kart. That doesn’t seem to move us forward with the IP.”

Spencer went on to say that Microsoft’s approach to developing the Halo IP is a measured one.

“For us, we don’t look at how we can somehow amortize the value that we have in Halo today over as many genres as we can,” he added.

“We think we’re at a point with Halo where the future of the franchise is actually bigger than its past achievements. We’re not really just looking at exploitation. We’re trying to see if there are certain ways that the IP matches with our platform goals, and also what the customer is looking for.”

Tons more through there.

We have no idea if this is real or not, but an Italian video of two people playing something called Wii Qube has appeared, as has some product shots of a “Wii Expander,” some “Relax” Wii headphone and a “Wii Silicon Belt”.

Watch the video after the break. The shots are here.

There’s a press release there mentioning both “Wii Qube” and “Wii Relax”.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is to keynote GDC today at 9.00am PST (4.00pm GMT). Is a cat out of a bag? That video looks sketchy. We’re sure you see the woman’s pants at one point.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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Bethesda’s Peter Hines has told Kotaku that a new, unbroken version of Fallout 3 DLC The Pitt should be available today.

The update was removed yesterday after gamers complained of floating exclamation marks in the add-on, graphical glitches and freeze issues.

Bethesa eventually said there was a problem with a corrupted file and pulled the product. We’ll let you know when it goes back up.

Joystiq’s backed up a claim we were told last night that Firmware 2.70 will release this week, reporting that Resistance 2′s upcoming patch and the hardware update will arrive together, most likely today or tomorrow.

“Resistance 2 is the first game to fully log-in two PSN accounts. LBP only logs you in locally, and does not register both accounts as online through PSN,” Insomniac Games’ James Stevenson told the site.

“This is a big difference, and what is required for split-screen online co-op with other folks.

“And it was dependent on a Sony update, hence why it wasn’t in when the game shipped.”

The Resistance 2 patch launches tomorrow. Hold onto your hats, Firmware fans.

On Joystiq. Titan showed Fat Princess in the PS Blog Lounge at GDC yesterday, but Steph didn’t turn up till late and we can’t see too much about it elsewhere.

For shame. No specific date as yet.