Monthly Archives: August 2009

Wii Sports Resort will not replace Wii Sports bundled with Wii any time soon.

This is according to Nintendo of Canada’s Matt Ryan, who told Toronto Thumbs that Sports Resort was a more “full-on software that you’re used to purchasing at retail at that price point” where as Wii Sports is more-or-less just designed to show what the Wii Remote can do.

“The long-term plan is difficult to say, but I can tell you that there are no plans to make Wii Sports Resort what is packed in with the Wii purchase,” Ryan said. “What is in the Wii box will remain the same.”

That’s that, we reckon. For now at least. More through the link.

Via Joystiq.

Monolith has announced via a very strange little video that FEAR 2: Project Origin will get a multiplayer update in the form of “Slow-Mo Deathmatch” for free on September 3.

The video is posted after the break courtesy of Joystiq, and it is rather interesting to say the least.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum releases soon, and Sony has you covered should you purchase it.

The game will unlock a special Batcave Outpost  space for Home, and it looks rather cool.

So, log into Home with your game on August 25 to get these snazzy new space.

More though the US PS Blog, here.

High Voltage has signed a long-term agreement with Terminal Reality to use its Infernal Engine.

This agreement grants a lifetime license to use the engine when developing new titles.

“We already have the most advanced Wii technology available,” states High Voltage founder, Kerry Ganofsky. “By incorporating some of the best PS3/360 technology, we are able to really push the envelope with our next wave of titles.”

Sounds like more titles on the horizon, and not just for Wii, apparently. Maybe.

More through the press release below.

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GRIN founders Bo and Ulf Andersson announced today on the firm’s official website that due to cash flow issues it must close its doors.

“It is with a heavy heart we announce today that GRIN has been forced to close its doors. This, as too many publishers have been delaying their payments, causing an unbearable cashflow situation,” read the statement.

“After twelve years of hard work, employing hundreds of wonderfully talented men and women, it is over.

“It has been a great adventure and the GRIN family has experienced what few have.

“Looking back at twelve years of games, titles such as Ballistics, Bandits, GRAW 1 & 2, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator: Salvation, Bionic Commando and our unreleased masterpiece that we weren’t allowed to finish; it has been a great ride.”

How very sad.

More through the link.

Razer and Blizzard announced that a series of gaming hardware for StarCraft 2 are being designed to “maximize the gaming experience” for the RTS.

A keyboard, mouse and a headset optimized for the game are to be released, although specifications,price and other goodies regarding the hardware have yet to be revealed.

Razer will be showing off StarCraft 2 products at Blizzcon such as the Zerg Messenger Bag, a back pack and an exclusive SC2 PC case.

Thanks, PS3center.

The Beatles: Rock Band will be getting Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are coming to the game eventually, according to the New York Times.

Abbey Road has already been announced for download following the September 9 release.

Also the “first three albums” are to be released down the line.

That’s so awesome we’re speechless.

Via D’toid.

Valve has announced that the next update to Team Fortress 2 will be non-class specific, giving the goods to all in equal opportunity fashion.

The first are new hats -eighteen to be exact -two for each of the nine classes along with a map called Arena Offblast.

The map is a battleground on a mountain cliff where players need to be careful ’round the edges.

Expect more information to be released between now and the next update, per usual.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Responding to user frustrations over the Euro PS Store being way-behind on goodies compared to other regions, European store manager Angela Madronero explained that it’s up to individual publishers to release content for the masses.

“We are committed to working very hard to ensure that our first-party content (the games created by our own Sony Computer Entertainment development teams) is published across all the PlayStation-Stores, simultaneously,” said Madronero over on the EU PS Blog. “The decision about whether and when to release a game for sale is in the hands of the individual publisher.

“There are many reasons why our third party partners may not be able to launch content in one region on a particular time/date; this may be due to technical glitches, digital rights issues, localization requirements etc. So the issues are a little more complex than may first appear.

“We know that there is a lot of frustration when content is released on one store but not another. I can confirm that from a PlayStation Store point of view, we are committed to supporting our third party partners in bringing as much content as possible to the European Store.”

More over on the EU PS Blog.

Lucky folks who open their emails today may see a MAG Beta invite crammed in with all the jokes, spam, and Russian mail-order bride requests.

The e-mail contains a code used to access a closed application form and Sony “will be adding people in waves.”

Don’t worry if you don’t have one, you may get one later for the second wave of testing.

Loads more info over on Joystiq.

NCsoft has reported a sales and income increase for Q2 fiscal year 2010, with net income at $27.1 million which is up 451 percent compared to the previous quarter.

Sales increased 70 percent to $110.5 million, operating profit rose 353 percent year-over-year to $38.1 million.

Aion: The Tower of Eternity, already out in Korea, Japan and Taiwan, made up 34 percent of those sales with Lineage 2 bringing in 31 percent, and Lineage 23 percent.

Based on Q2, the company has raised its revenue guidance by 17 percent to $470 million, with operating profit forecasted at 80 percent to $144.4 million.

NCsoft’s latest MMO, Aion, is expected to launch in the US and UK September 22 and 25, respectively.

More over in GI.biz.

During the SIGGRAPH 2009 conference in New Orleans, Crytek demoed the CryEngine 3 engine.

The video posted after the break, courtesy of Kotaku, shows off the lighting effects that can be pulled off using the engine.

Have a look.

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A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that Midway’s managing director for Europe, Martin Spiess, has purchased Midway’s France and UK offices for €1/86 pence.

Midway UK and France are now owned by Spiess Media Holding UG and Midway’s European teams now have 90 days to sell the rest of the Midway stock they are holding.

Basically a management buyout, Midway Germany’s general manager Uwe Fürstenberg has purchased his end as well.

A clause in the agreement says the offices must drop the Midway name immediately.

Loads more financial and legal stuff regarding this are over on MCV.

Former Grin staffers led by Peter Bjorklund have formed Outbreak Studios, which will focus on the creation of digital games for Xbox Live, GWL, PSN, PSPgo, and iPhone.

The twenty five former employees most recently worked on Terminator Salvation, Bionic Commando and Wanted: Weapons of Fate.

Bjorklund was previously responsible for DICE’s network engines for the Battlefield games.

Rumors surfaced this week that Grin studios in Barcelona and Gothenburg have closed, with the fate of the Stockholm location up in the air.

Grin has refused to comment on any of the studio closures.

Via GI.biz.

Future games portfolio boss James Binns has told VG247 that the publisher’s decision to not audit its magazines this summer is a matter of saving money.

“We’re not auditing our Games portfolio this half-year – instead we will be publishing full year figures for Jan-Dec 09 at the start of 2010,” said the exec.

“On a company-wide level, Future made the decision to ABC only three titles from our UK portfolio. Our choices to ABC are always taken to reflect the commercial requirements of each magazine.

“Like many businesses, our particular focus this year is on aggressive cost-management, so we have only paid for those titles with a very clear commercial need to be audited.”

It was reported earlier that Future had made the decision to keep its sixth monthly figures private. As far as we’re aware, this is the first time in the company’s history – it was formed in 1985 – it has failed to publish these figures for its games titles.

Still. Roll on 2010, eh?

Sports Interactive and Sega announced today that Football Manager 2010, for PC and Mac and Football Manager Handheld 2010 for PSP will release on October 30.

It features new tools and changes to improve ease of use, navigation and a brand new match tactics system, along with the debut of the Match Analysis tool.

“We have worked very hard with the Football Manager community to target not only the areas of the game that needed re-working but also what we could add to improve what’s already there,” said Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “We’ve also conducted extensive usability studies which has led us to overhaul the whole presentation of the game, which we’re really excited about.

“There has been a lot of polish to existing areas of the game but it’s also driven us to introduce changes to answer some of the feedback. We’re very confident that having done that we will deliver the very best Football Manager to date in October.”

Good news there.

More over on CVG.

Reaction to Risen being refused classification in Australia has caused the president of the Game Developers Association of Australia to describe the rating system as “awful”, “ridiculous” and “antiquated”.

“We are once again caught in this awful, ridiculous web of the antiquated classification system that we all have to endure,” Tom Crago stated in a radio interview. “Here in Australia the sooner that changes, the better; it is obviously a battle to ensure common sense prevails. We will get there eventually, but in the meantime as gamers in Australia we suffer, and to be honest we are embarrassed at how backward our government is.

“We are the butt of a lot of jokes. I travel; obviously a lot, talking to other developers and publishers and people cannot believe it that we still have this ridiculous system here in Australia, designed twenty or thirty years ago, and hasn’t changed since.”

Crago added that an R rating added to the mix would help matters, as all games must adhere to the requirements for an age 15 rating, further stating that “the law needs to evolve and move with the times”.

“The way I look at it, ultimately the war is won, we will get there in the end, and it’s just a case of counting the days until common sense prevails.”

Thanks, GI.biz.

In UK industry circles this is a proper megaton: MCV’s reporting that Future won’t release six-monthly ABC figures for its mags this week as expected.

Future normally releases January 1 to June 31 sales figures for all its titles every August.

Full-year figures are still expected in February next year.

We’re dropping a mail over now.

Montreal International Game Summit organizers officially revealed the five headline speakers who will keynote the sixth annual industry event November 16 and 17.

The official keynote speakers include:

• Yoichi Wada is President and CEO of Square Enix Group, will share his vision of the future of video game development.
• Paul Holden of Media Molecule will speak about challenges encountered in developing LBP.
• Valve’s Jason Holtman will talk Steam and the SOURCE engine.
• Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb: The Question for Art Entertainment & Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution.
• Chris Hecker from Maxis/EA will deliver the closing session where he will attempt to answer the question “Can videogames be considered as cultural products in the same way as literature or theatre?”

Full press release is below.

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Digital download sites Steam and Direct2Drive have released charts for week ending August 8.

Looks like Dawn of War II led the group over on Steam, with the Aion Collector’s Edition pre-sale still going strong.

Over on D2D, Champions Online preorders have taken over, with Fallout 3 and the Sims 3 still doing well.

Here’s the full thing courtesy of Shack – notice Hearts of Iron III debuted on both charts:

Steam

1. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II
2. Aion Collector’s Edition (presale)
3. Left 4 Dead
4. Hearts Of Iron III
5. Counter-Strike: Source
6. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition – Director’s Cut
7. Red Faction: Guerrilla (presale)
8. TrackMania United Forever
9. Team Fortress 2
10. Prototype

Direct2Drive

1. Champions Online (presale)
2. Fallout 3
3. The Sims 3
4. Hearts of Iron III with Sprite Packs Bundle
5. Best of Indie Bundle Vol. 1
6. Rise of Flight
7. Hearts Of Iron III
8. Aion (presale)
9. East India Company
10. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition