Tag Archives: whoops

There’s a video after the break of a kid who can’t “get into” Modern Warfare 2, despite playing it for 17 consecutive hours.

He’s “upset”. We won’t spoil it for you. Take a look. Thanks, Simon.

More »

PSPGo.co.uk has launched, bringing you exhaustive information on Nintendo’s DS and DSi.

Yep. Very official it looks too. Someone’s done a great job of it, to be fair.

Naughty, naughty people.

Looks as though someone’s crossed a few wires here. Despite a Guardian report saying prisoners at UK’s Rye Hill jail had PlayStation 3s removed due to fears they could organise a break-out with the machine’s wireless features, the Ministry for Justice has told IncGamers none of the inmates ever had access to the console in the first place.

“There are not and never have been Playstation 3s at HMP Rye Hill,” the department said in a statement.

“Prisoners in England and Wales have never been allowed access to wireless enabled technology such as that used in some games consoles.

“A decision was taken some years ago that the then current generation of games consoles should be barred because the capability to send or receive radio signals is an integral part of the equipment. Future games consoles with this ability will be banned. This ban applies to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo DS.”

So, yeah. Awesome.

Well, here we are, then. Someone’s posted the entire PSP Go section of June’s Qore episode on YouTube, in direct-feed HD. Thanks, p0rkch0p69.

Fake? Of course not. You can see everything in plenty of detail there.

Rest of the coverage from today’s announcement:

• First shots
• Original YouTube movie
• Eurogamer HD grabs
• Metal Gear confirmed for PSP
• PSP Go to launch this fall

Update: Nintendo’s just made a further statement on this, saying it hopes consumers “understand” the hike is due to reasons outside of the company’s control.

Thanks to the depreciation of the pound, Nintendo’s said it’s to raise the price it charges the UK trade for Wii hardware by £18-20.

The machine has a recommended retail price of £180.

“We are only – reluctantly – raising our trade price now to retailers due to unprecedented and sustained depreciation of the pound,” Nintendo told VG247 in a statement today.

“This is a problem brought about by extreme currency fluctuations that are a symptom of the global economic situation.”

This should be funny.

EA’s dropped its fourth quarter estimates, warning that its holiday roster has failed to meet expectation.

The firm’s stock closed 11 percent down on the day, souring to $19.35.

EA said it expected net revenue to come in between $4.9 billion and $5.15 billion for the year, with earnings of $1 to $1.40 a share.

EA did not give a specific revenue or earnings target in its newest statement. The company said it will not give further information before its next earnings report, due in February.

“While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, we are disappointed that our holiday slate is not meeting our sales expectations,” said CEO John Riccitiello.

More on Marketwatch.

A GameTrailers.com video editor, “Dblock,” has put his nuts in the vice, as it were, and written on the site about how he feels Xbox 360′s control system is “far superior” to PS3′s. As you’d expect, the post has caused something of a “backlash”.

From the piece:

Look, I’m sick of all the kerfluffle about how GT is biased towards 360 and how GT favors 360 and how GT hates on PS3. That ends now! The fact remains that 360 has just released better content than PS3. Period. See what I did there? I put a period after Period. That means conclusion; the end of discussion. The reason why GT gives 360 games better scores in the reviews is because the games are simply better experiences. The main reason for this–and it is often an overlooked and underestimated one–is because the 360 controller is a far superior gaming device than the Sony controller.

He’s added a caveat at the bottom on the passage saying his views don’t reflect those of GameTrailers as a site. Full thing, including more than 400 angry comments, through the link.

US retailer Best Buy has taken the credit crunch firmly in the ass, the firm said today, and is facing really difficulty in maintaining its business.

“Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen. Best Buy simply can’t adjust fast enough to maintain our earnings momentum for this year,” said company boss Brad Anderson.

“We’re beginning to adjust our cost structure to restore earnings momentum and still gain market share. We firmly believe that our strategy of customer-centricity is of great value in driving our performance versus the industry, and that’s the strategy we plan to pursue to continue to strengthen our position in the marketplace.”

Best Buy isn’t the only US high street brand feeling proper heat. Circuit City recently announced it’s facing bankruptcy.

More on MCV.

Take-Two’s shares have plummeted this morning, dropping nearly 30 percent in the wake of news that EA has given up on buyout talks.

In pre-market trading, Take-Two’s stock has plunged $6.44, or 29.4%, to $15.45.

More on Barron’s.

According to peer-to-peer research firm Big Champagne, levels of piracy surrounding Spore are off the chart, with more than 35,000 copies of the game being leeched on Wednesday this week alone.

“The numbers are extraordinary,” said company boss Eric Garland. “This is a very high level of torrent activity even for an immensely popular game title.”

As of Thursday this week, the game had been downloaded 171,402 times since September 1.

DRM issues are obviously being blamed for the trend, with some users actively calling for the title to be pirated.

“By downloading this torrent, you are doing the right thing,” said Pirate Bay posted ‘deathkitten’. “You are letting [EA] know that people won’t stand for their ridiculously draconian ‘DRM’ viruses.

“You have the power to make this the most pirated game ever, to give corporate bastards a virtual punch in the face.”

More on Forbes.

Just a hunch, but we’re guessing this wasn’t supposed to be released. The THQ Australia Warhammer 40K game – now confirmed as Warhammer 40K Space Marine – has been shown off overnight in a ten-minute gameplay video, complete with developer commentary.

Watch the entire thing on Tiscali Games. There was a GameTrailers version of this doing the rounds in the past few hours, but it looks as though it’s been pulled.

The game looks very cool, pitching the player in a third-person combat environment as, obviously, a Space Marine. Ranged combat looks to be limited to pistols, with emphasis placed on sword fighting and finishing moves.

Watch it. Quick, before THQ has a fanny.

According to this Joystiq report, E for All 2008 is looking extremely sparsely attended, with a grand total of two of the majors – EA and Microsoft – having confirmed their support.

Full thing through the link, including a coloured chart that shows PAX 08 to be looking extremely good this year.

According to this Edge report, SCi is poised to show a £100 million for fiscal 07.

“We have a clear strategy in place and have taken decisive steps to become a studio-led business with a focus on cornerstone franchises and a flexible approach to distribution,” said CEO Phil Rogers.

“There has been substantial change and the business is in good shape to take advantage of the strong overall market for video gaming worldwide.”

The company is currently working on its previously announced aim to reduce staffing levels by 25 percent.

The info comes from a trading update. More through the link.

According to this GI report, Kwari’s closed down. The company was based on the business model of selling ammunition in its own game and encouraging people to bet on matches.

Obviously, it wasn’t the best thought out thing in the world: Kwari only launched at the beginning of this year.

More through the link.

Videogamer.com has retracted the August 29 date it posted for the Wii, PS2 and PS3 versions of the European Rock Band last night, saying it’s contacted EA and was told the info was incorrect. From the site:

VideoGamer.com earlier contacted EA regarding the date following the presence of an August 29 release date on a Rock Band fact sheet.

EA’s confirmation has now been retracted. The publisher telling VideoGamer.com that the European release date for Rock Band on PS3, Wii and PS2 “isn’t confirmed, and is on the factsheet in error”.

All EA is willing to confirm is a “later this summer” date, which is back where we started.

So there you are.

Capcom has pulled the demo for the PS3 version of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition in the US as, for some as yet unexplained reason, it refused to connect to multiplayer servers.

“The multiplayer demo for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is temporarily being removed from the PlayStation Network in order to address issues that have come to light,” said a post on the US PlayStation blog. “We will be working overtime to correct the issue and expect to upload a new version to the PlayStation Network as soon as possible that accurately reflects the incredible online features of the game.”

Double ow. According to this, Sega’s laying off 400 staff on the back of disastrous financials for the fiscal year so far. The company has revealed losses of 15.77 billion yen for the nine months to December, compared to a profit of 49.38 billion yen the year previous.

“Due to Sega failing to respond to changing business environment, the operating performance of its core businesses, including the amusement facilities business and domestic consumer business, has not been performing well,” said Hajime Satomi, chairman and CEO. “As part of these measures, Sega has determined to solicit voluntary retirement of employees to reduce fixed costs and gain greater cost flexibility through optimum employment.”

Sega also confirmed recently that it was to close 110 unprofitable amusement arcades.

Sometimes you can’t do anything right. Despite leading the entire videogames race, Nintendo’s shares have hit a seven month low on the Nikkei, following a general trend in the Japanese market caused by the strong yen and a rotten US forecast. Shares in the company fell 5.9 percent today to (£219.30), the lowest price since July 2 last year.

“There’s an increasing chance that the U.S. will post negative growth in the first quarter, and that’s tough news for cyclical markets like Japan,” said Akio Yoshino, chief economist at Societe Generale Asset Management Japan.

Tiscali’s denied it’s blocking CoD4 play deliberately, following news that the ISP wasn’t allowing P2P connections at peak times. The shooter uses a P2P system for game-matching and is therefore unplayable for those with Tiscali connections during the evening.

“Reports suggesting that we were deliberately blocking specific games are incorrect. We are constantly working to upgrade and refine our network to ensure our customers can enjoy their favourite applications,” said a spokesperson here. “Work is currently underway on routine updates and we will keep you informed.”

Deliberate or not, Tiscali has something of a “situation” on its hands. Check out this 42-page forum thread written by Tiscali-using gamers to see what we mean.

EA has issued financials for its third quarter – ending December 31 – showing a $33 million loss despite record revenues of $1.502 billion, up 17 percent on the same period last year. The loss related to 10 cents per share, compared to a 50 cents per share profit for the company’s third quarter in the previous year. Deferred revenue and restructuring charges were blamed for the loss.

Before charges, profits for the quarter were up 44 percent over the same period in fiscal 2007. Before exceptions, investors would have enjoyed 90 cents per share profit.

“This was a record revenue quarter for EA and the single biggest revenue quarter for any third party publisher in our industry,” said CEO John Riccitiello. “While we are disappointed that two titles slipped out of the March quarter, Burnout Paradise is off to a terrific start and we are looking forward to the upcoming launches of Army of Two and FIFA Street 3.”