Monthly Archives: August 2009

Peter Moore confirmed an EA Sports Active expansion in EA’s Q1 investor call tonight.

The add-on will release this holiday.

Moore said “development resources” from the EA Sports tennis team were being used on the new fitness franchise, and as a result, the 360 and PS3 versions of Grand Slam Tennis have been delayed.

EA Sports Active has been a major hit for Moore, having now shifted almost 2 million units.

During EA’s Q1 conference call to investors it was revealed that EA Sports Active sold 1.8 million copies on Wii.

John Riccitiello stated that the company is pleased with the quality of its games, and Sports Active has cemented EA as the third best-selling third-party publisher on Wii.

Peter Moore is thrilled with the title, as it is the company’s best-selling Wii title to date.

The call is ongoing, so expect more to come out of it.

EA has posted a $234 million loss for the first quarter, compared to a loss of $95 million for the prior year.

Sales were down from $804 million last year to $644 million.

Operational costs, though, were drastically reduced for the period, down to $25 million compared to $239 million a year ago.

“Good execution delivered better-than-expected financial results in the first quarter,” said boss John Riccitiello.

“We are very pleased with the success of both The Sims 3 and EA Sports Active.”

Full-year revenue estimate stuck at between $3.7 and $3.85 billion. A total-year loss per share is expected to be between $0.85 and $1.35.

The conference call’s kicking off now. Get the full financial report here.

Turn 10′s Dan Greenwalt has revealed 11 American muscle cars that players will be able to drag race with in Forza MotorSport 3, along with the physics behind the mode.

“Obviously for short one-eighth mile races, all-wheel drive cars have such a distinct launch advantage that they’re going to do very well on that track,” he told Gamespot. “Managing weight and weight distribution, putting more friction onto the rear tires–these are all things that are important to consider when you’re in a rear-wheel drive shootout. What it really comes down to is that we’re just letting our realistic physics system handle the nuances of drag racing while we frame a proper game design element around the proceedings.

“We have four drag strip lengths in the game: eighth-mile, quarter-mile, half-mile, and one-mile. They are all purpose built, and these different lengths require vastly different setups and tuning.

“In terms of multiplayer, drag racing is one of our big umbrella options, [for] which then you can go and customize rules to create nearly limitless variations on drag racing game types. It’s even possible to get multiple cars on the grid drag racing simultaneously, which makes for some interesting team-based battles. By default, it’s set up to be a heats-based tournament.

“The net is that it’s really up to our community to come up with clever drag racing modes online, which we may then adopt into the official Turn 10 party hopper.”

Here are the cars:

• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
• 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 2006 Dodge Ram SRT-10
• 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8
• 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8
• 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
• 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429
• 2008 Saleen S331 Supercab
• 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C

More through the links.

High Voltage has stated via a Radio-Blodec podcast that it plans on a least one sequel to The Conduit.

“It all depends on the fans and sales but it’s a little early for now to assume anything,” said producer Joshua Olsen. “Anyway, we are very interested to make a sequel to The Conduit, it’s quite a robust world and there are more stories we want to tell.

“The Conduit is the first part for our hero and we want to make more parts to tell more things about him.”

While it sounds like a sequel is definite, Olsen was quick to point out that High Voltage has not started on one yet.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Volition has outlined an upcoming patch for Red Faction: Guerrilla.

All three of the main game modes are receiving an upgrade, and while the patch has yet to be finalized, Volition promises it will be made available very soon for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Here are the full notes:

New Features

• New Wrecking Crew mode – Challenge Mode: There are 3 rounds of distinct submode/weapon/backpack settings per level. Each participant plays through all 3 rounds to try to get the highest score possible. Challenge Mode is the best way to enjoy WC by yourself, and we’re also allowing all modes to be played with a single player.
• Wrecking Crew Leaderboards: Your scores for Challenge Mode only are automatically uploaded to leaderboards (1 per level) so you can compare how you’re doing against your friends and the world. Leaderboards are only available for Challenge Mode.
• Bonus Wrecking Crew levels unlocked: The 4 pre-order bonus WC levels are now unlocked for everyone, giving you 10 levels in which to blow everything away.
• Weapon and Backpack disabling in Multiplayer: Prevent any specific backpacks or weapons from spawning in a level within a custom match.
• XP multiplier for matchmaking playlists: Double XP playlists are now possible (and will be used).
• Ore Deposits on Minimap: Mining ore that hasn’t been mined will now show up as purple pulsing dots on the minimap. This will help players to obtain the “Working the Land” achievement/trophy.
• Support for upcoming DLC: Demons of the Badlands, our first DLC pack, will be released on August 13th.

Fixes

• House Arrest icons now reflect their proper completion status after you finish the last mission.
• Convoy spawning is now fixed after you finish the last mission. Previously some convoys would be prevented from spawning.
• Scale of some icons on the full-screen map and minimap has been fixed.
• Parties are no longer allowed to matchmake into Anarchy through the “Any Playlist” selection option.
• Ties no longer count as losses on the MP leaderboards.
• Various minor matchmaking fixes.

Square has announced that Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will land on DS October 9.

The series tells the story of Roxas from KHII, and his days as a member of Organization XIII.

“Kingdom Hearts goes from strength to strength,” said Square’s brand VP Larry Sparks. “With Kingdomw Hearts 358/2 Days, we are delighted to be revisiting these wonderfully unique worlds and very excited about the addition of a multiplayer mode. I am sure fans will find this another thrilling and essential entry in the series.”

KH358/2 is the fist title in the series to offer a multiplayer mode.

More details follow in the press release.

More »

Shadow of Destiny has been outed by the ESRB for release on PSP.

Konami has not officially announced the title for the US, but a Japanese version was officially announced last month for a UMD release October 1 – same day as the PSPgo is expected to ship to North America and Europe.

Kotaku has all the goods on this, along with the ESRB listing for Contra Rebirth on Wii, which was announced in early July.

Peter Moore has posted a developer diary of sorts over on the US PS Blog.

In it, he discusses the success EA has been having with its sports titles and how the company plans to support these titles via PS3.

Here’s just a taste:

• In Madden, PS3-PSP integration will enable NFL fans to build their own formations & plays from scratch. Via connectivity with the PS3, fans can perfect their plays on-the-go and download them to their PS3 anytime.
• In the EA SPORTS Complex on PlayStation Home, Club Fight Night is now open and drawing in Fight Night Round 4 fans, while four new Red Tournament poker tables have also been added to handle the overwhelming interest (nearly 2 million games played to date).
• We’ve recently announced that this fall our revamped EA SPORTS Challenge Series will create a global online competition exclusively on the PLAYSTATION 3. In addition to the robust online competitions, our first live event is later this month in Dallas. Get in the action today and get all the details by visiting www.easportschallengeseries.com.

Game’s out August 14, but a demo is up on PSN right now in the US.

Marvelous Entertainment’s Yasuhiro Wada has weighed in on Nintendo’s core user to casual user ratio, and says that the company needs to focus on its small core userbase to help the games market grow.

“The Nintendo market is pretty humongous right now but I think that’s primarily because of all the light users, the casual users,” he told Gamasutra. “The core userbase for the Wii is really still small. One of the things that Nintendo is trying to do, like with the Motion Plus, is try to make it more advanced and more friendly to the gamer-gamer.

“But it’s still not enough because Sony and Microsoft are starting to do the same sorts of technology. In those cases they are still weak, but I think it’s really important to have more core titles such as Zelda and other titles from Nintendo to grow that core market area, so the whole market can grow as well.”

Wada goes on to state that while Marvelous creates plenty of games for Nintendo consoles, it is only bound to those platforms due to not using HD during the development process.

“It’s not like we really are in love with Nintendo, we’re in love with making good games. Some of those just happened to appear on all those Nintendo platforms. We’re in love with all the other platforms as well, so we orient any game to whichever platform.

“A lot of different companies are going to HD-heavy platforms, meaning their technology isn’t really so advanced that they can really utilize it. And because of that the idea part doesn’t have to be that solid but the technology is enough for people to play. I don’t think that Marvelous is at that level of technology yet, so that’s why we have to really fight with our ideas game planning and game design.

“At a certain point we will reach that place and we can advance to multiple platforms and different other venues.”

Valve has announced new DLC coming to Left 4 Dead titled Crash Course, due in September.

The storyline for it takes place between the end of the No Mercy campaign and the beginning of Death Toll.

It’s a new Campaign and new Survival maps, essentially.

As well as new locations and new dialogue from the original cast, a recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay, according to Valve.

A sneak peek of it will debut on GameTrailers TV next week.

It’s going to be free on PC and 560MSP on 360.

Full press release is below.

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Chris Morgan, who penned screenplays for Wanted and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, has been hired by Red Eagle Games as story director for games based on The Wheel of Time series.

“As a massive fan of The Wheel of Time series, and a lifelong gamer, I jumped at the chance to be part of the Red Eagle Games team,” Morgan said. “The world that Robert Jordan created is so rich, the characters and storylines so varied and inventive, that I feel like a kid in a candy store. It’s really a dream opportunity for me.”

EA has announced that it will publish multiple titles from the Robert Jordan series for PC and consoles, with an MMO also in the cards.

Morgan is also working on film adaptation of Gears of War.

Full thing through the press release below.

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Cryptic has released a new video for Champions Online focusing on the melee powers characters can pull-off in the game.

The teleportation travel power has also been highlighted which, as you will see, looks rather cool.

It’s posted after the break courtesy of IGN.

Via Massively.

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Next Thursday, August 13, Media Molecule will release the History Kit for LittleBigPlanet.

It will set you back $3.99/€3.99/£3.19 and includes the following:

• 4 Objects: Chinese Bell, Egyptian Mask, Ancient Greek Vase, Gothic Gargoyle
• 5 Materials: Antique Maps, Islamic Tiles, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Cave Painting, Tapestry
• 13 Decorations Including Roman Plaque, Persian Brooch, Laurel Wreath
• 140 Themed stickers
• Sounds: ‘Sounds of yore’
• Music: ‘The Chrysalis of Eternity’ by Kenneth Young
• Background: The Pantheon

The costume pack will run you $2.99/€2.99 /£2.39 and includes:

• Ada Lovelace: Wig, Hair, Dress
• Genghis Khan: Beard, Hat, Trousers, Armour
• Boudica: Spear, Hair, Sandals, Dress
• Mozart: Powdered wig, Breeches and Socks, Coat

There’s a video of it posted after the break.

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Chris Avellone, lead creative designer for Alpha Protocol, feels that story is important in an RPS, but not so much that it interferes with the game.

“It’s important. I don’t think it’s as important as systems design or level design, but the story is an important piece that gives systems and level a reason to exist, and helps to compel the player to move forward,” Avellone told Destructoid. “Don’t get me wrong, I love narrative and character design, but I prefer to create story and character mechanics that are game systems rather than divorced from the systems or levels — when the story is a mechanic, in terms of reactivity, perks, mission changes, and open/closing of hubs and endgame choices, I think that’s the purpose of a game story.

“When a story paralyzes a player (watch this cut scene, stop and read this book) or has to work to force itself onto the player with exposition, I think you start traveling down the dark road of cutting off immersion and turning a game into a passive experience, rather than an active one. Also, and to cue off a lecture from Ken Levine, I think much of a story or character can be told in a game level or in the environment itself, without a bunch of text or books littered around the game world.”

As far as sex scenes in videogames, Avellone feels that not including real-world actions such as this in an RPG is doing the genre a disservice.

“I think it’s an important step, and it’s not sex for sex’s sake, but it’s part of human interaction that makes you more involved in the game world and your characters,” he added. “Just like in the real world, sex runs the range from entertainment to a symbol of the depth of feeling between two people, and not having that reflected in a role-playing experience feels does RPGs an injustice.”

Alpha Protocol and its love making scenes will land on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 October 6.

Bethesda has announced that it is to publish Archer McLean’s futuristic racer Wheelspin on Wii.

Due to hit stores this fall, the Awesome Play developed title will contain both solo, race, and battle modes with speeds reaching up to 650kph.

Super fast.

“Wheelspin was designed exclusively for the Wii – with the intention of pushing the hardware further than any other Wii racing game to date,” said Archer Maclean in a statement. “You have to see the graphics moving to believe its coming out of a Wii – the visuals rush past smoothly at 60 FPS all in widescreen 480P mode.

“We are very pleased to be working with Bethesda, many of whom have been involved with my previous titles going back 20 years”.

More through the press release after the break.

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DeepSilver, a division of Koch Media, will release the upcoming add-on for the PC version of Sacred 2 on August 28 in Germany.

Titled Ice & Blood, an international release date has not been provided as of yet, and the expansion for the console version is still being planned as well and you can keep up with its progress here.

Ascaron, it closed its doors a few weeks ago due to bankruptsy, and the subsidiary company of Ascaron: Studio 2 closed shop on July 31.

Thanks, Lutz.

Weekly values for the UK games market were up 16 percent thanks to Wii Sports Resort.

According a report from MCV, Gfk-ChartTrack/ELSPA figures show a market jump from £16.9 million week ending July 10 to £18.6 million for week ending July 25 with unit sales hitting 907,501.

Currently, sales figures are down two percent to £18.3 million, with unit sales up two percent to 923,204.

Upcoming games for August include Batman Arkham Asylum, Wolfenstein and Ashes Cricket 2009 with September promising The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST, Professor Layton And Pandora’s Box, Need For Speed Shift and Dirt 2.

Looks like September will be a decent month.

More through the link.

Sony just announced a pre-order incentive to Gran Turismo PSP in the form of one of the game’s top cars in an exclusive colour.

You’ll get a voucher which allows you to choose from a list of some of the fastest cars in the game, including the Bugatti Veyron and the Enzo. You’ll have day one access to whichever you pick.

Hit the link for the full list and pics. The game’s out October 1.

THQ has inducted Saints Row 2 and WWE: Smackdown vs Raw 2009 into Sony’s Greatest Hits Collection.

Listed over on GameStop, THQ and Sony have yet to announce the inclusion of these titles, but GS has pictures of each featuring Greatest Hits packaging.

Can’t get either one just yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Both games will run $30 each.

Via Kotaku.