Monthly Archives: March 2009

Deutsche Bank analyst Satoru Kikuchi has claimed that Nintendo stock has peaked and now faces a downward trend.

Assigning a sell rating to the company’s shares, Kikuchi said he expected the gaming giant to report “profits this month in excess of guidance” and predicts a decline of 18 percent the next year and 19 percent in 2011 due to slowing sales.

Kikuchi said that profits will “peak and decline after growing on the success of the Wii and the DS,” and earnings could “return to past levels if the company fails to come up with new blockbuster platforms”.

Thanks, GI.biz

GameQuarry is back, and instead of using Metacritic data to figure out consistency in publishers this time around, developers are under the microscope.

Scores were given a letter rating. A: 90 percent or higher (2 points), B: 80-89 percent (1 point), C:70-79 percent (0 points), D: 60-69 (-1 point) and F: 59 percent or lower (-2 points). Just like school.

At the top of the list of 1,700 companies? Visual Concepts, the Take-Two studio responsible for loads of 2K Sports titles, with grand total of 45 points. Ten of it’s games got an A, 40 were ranked B, 11 got C’s, 7 were given D’s and 4 were given an F.

The top twenty list is as follows:

1. Visual Concepts
2. EA Tiburon
3. Nintendo
4. EA Sports
5. Neversoft Entertainment
6. Konami Tokyo
7. Harmonix
8. Sports Interactive
9. Intelligent Systems
10. Valve
11. Rockstar North
12. BioWare
13. EA Canada
14. Criterion
15. Bethesda Softworks
16. Raven Software
17. Firaxis
18. Insomniac Games
19. Infinity Ward
20. Epic Games

Blizzard says that the requirements for WoW dual talent specialization have been relaxed for the game’s next patch.

Dual specs will be available to those level 40 and above instead of the previously stipulated 80, will cost 1,000 gold to access, and players will no longer be required to be near a Lexicon of Power to switch talent specs. It can happen anywhere as long as you are not in combat, but know that it takes five seconds to switch, and all mana and other resources will be at zero afterward.

There’s a bunch of other stuff on Eurogamer.

Mountain Dew’s Game Fuel is back, this time promoting World of Warcraft instead of Halo 3.

“Citrus Cherry” is being called “Horde Red” this time around, and a new berry flavor titled “Alliance Blue” is in the can as well.

More syrupy drinks loaded with caffeine to appeal to MMO players on an all-night grind. Like we really need a something more potent to eat us from the insides. Red Bull already does the job.

Look for these at Walmart and other stores sometime soon.

Thanks, D’toid.

The SCEA PS Blog mixer at GDC next week features tons of games, demos and whatnot. The list of developers attending was confirmed today. It’s pretty damn cool.

Tuesday – March 24

• Sucker Punch will be on hand to to demo inFamous

Wednesday – March 25

• Titan Studios will be demoing Fat Princess
• Insomniac will provide a case study for Resistance 2′s co-op and multiplayer
• Jack Buser will be talking Home
• Media Molecule will be there all day discussing LittleBigPlanet and the rise of user generated content.

Thursday – March 26

• Q-Games’ Dylan Cuthbert will demo PixelJunk and give the audience hand time with it.

It’s gonna be fun. We’ll have dictaphones at the ready.

Edge is starting a series of weekly graphs highlighting gaming “market interest areas or trends”. This week, it’s Xbox 360.

From data complied with Entertainment Design and Research, this week’s pictorial representation shows 360 game that have received review scores of 85 or higher, compared to those that got 65 or lower.

As you can see, from 2005 through 2008, 13 percent (48 games) have received an average score of 85 plus, and 38 percent received a 65 or lower.

The chart disclaimer? Multiple SKUs and special editions were removed so as not to be counted twice. Guitar Hero: World Tour and its 3 SKUs were used as an example.

Next week: PS3!

Can’t wait.

Simple question: do you like Resident Evil 5 enough to buy a “wall scroll” for your “wall”?

You’re in luck. Mad Catz just released a ton of RE5-related tat, including a 360 faceplate, a bag, and a big picture of Sheva you can touch yourself to of an evening.

See it all here. Press release after the break.

More »

Ubisoft just confirmed that western prequel Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will release for PS3, 360 and PC this June.

It was listed as a Q2 title last week.

The game promises to be an “bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West.”

Sounds dandy. Should see a lot more of this soon.

Seriously, they do. See after the break. The game’s out for PS3 and 360 in May.

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Gamespot’s posted up four new shots of The Ki ng of Fighters XII. Go take a gander.

The drool-worthy scrapper’s headed to PS3 and 360 in July.

Overlord and Mirror’s Edge writer Rhianna Pratchett’s launched her new site, giving info about what she does, how she does it and other Rhianna Pratchett-related stuff.

See it here.

“After over a decade in the industry, I thought that it was about time that I had a little corner of the internet to call my own,” said Pratchett.

“An online home where I could highlight the projects and teams that I’ve been lucky enough to work with.”

Press release after the break.

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Global Gaming and SCEA are hosting a Road to Retribution Tournament, offering $25,000 in Sony prizes into the bargain.

Players will be going up against one another via the PSP third-person shooter in 2v2 and 4v4 ladders.

The contest runs from now through May 10, and the top players will go into their respective brackets for the play-offs May 13-31.

If you think you have what it takes, click here for more information.

Martin Walfisz, the Massive founder confirmed as leaving the studio yesterday, has said that new owner Ubisoft sees a big future for the Swedish firm.

“I will not manage Ubisoft Massive going forward. Last week I decided not to accept the offer to manage the studio, and my last day with the team was on Friday,” Walfisz told GI.

“Ubisoft has very ambitious plans for Massive, and they are undoubtedly a great publisher, but they are not the right employer for me at this time in my life.

“Nevertheless, Massive is in good hands and I have no doubt that the company will continue to do greatness in the future. I want to thank everyone at the studio, and all the fans, for the good times so far.”

What’s that? Clancy? What?

CVG’s posted an anonymous quote from a “major retailer” saying Sony’s about to announce a PS3 price drop.

From the piece:

A major UK high street retailer told us this morning that they’ve received word from Sony regarding PSP and PS3 price drops “definitely coming soon”, but that it was yet to confirm when or by how much.

“It’s been on the cards for a while,” they said, “but manufacturers are not in the habit of giving exact dates so as not to effect sales”.

Know something? It’s not what we’ve heard.

There’s a video after the break of someone playing Metal Gear Solid Touch on their iPhone. It looks pretty good. Nice and shooty.

That’s it. It’s out tomorrow in Europe, priced €5.

Thanks, Kotaku.

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To the bunkers, Capcom. EA just announced that Godfather II’s to get a multiplayer mode via DLC at launch on April 7. Cost? Nada.

The mode’s called Don Control, brilliantly, and takes the game’s “strategic gameplay into an online environment and allows players to build a family, command them in battle and view the action from a bird’s eye view above.”

Resident Evil 5′s multiplayer DLC costs money. The humanity.

Press release after the break.

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Seen Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder? That’s Chris Ellis. The exec was made “Senior Vice President & Managing Director, International” of IGN today. He probably has a G5 “airplane”.

He was previously a commercial boss at MySpace.

“I’m excited about building on these accomplishments, there’s a job to be done ensuring that our breadth and reach outside of the United States is recognised in the industry”, said Ellis.

“I’m here to make sure that our achievements in terms of user numbers and quality local content are mirrored
in our commercial success.”

Press release after the break.

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Codemasters has put out a dev diary of Overlord II (after the break) explaining how Overlord sex gave rise to the sequel’s protagonist.

Honestly. There’s plenty of in-game footage there. Very swish it looks, too.

HD consoles and PC this June.

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Sony Bend, the developer behind Resistance: Retribution, will be chatting to the public on the PS Blog later today.

Developers John Garvin and Chris Reese will be on-hand to answer questions from 12.00pm PST this afternoon, or 8.00pm GMT if you’re a UK fan.

According to this CVG story, Coca-Cola’s giving away $37,000 (£25,000) in MS Points on Live this week.

Yep: they’re free.

The partnership will see three million Points given away via a Happiness Factory promotion on Xbox Live.

Apparently you need to register on a Coke Zone site, or something.

More through there.