Headline RePLAY – 7.10.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The games that Nintendo’s legendary designer wants to see made, Sony and Microsoft’s “biggest mistake” and Penny Arcade is selling out to its audience.

It’s not a sign of active development, but Shigeru Miyamoto wants to see Metroid and Star Fox games on the Wii U.

“With Metroid it’s very easy to imagine some interesting implementation for Wii U,” Miyamoto told IGN. “I think that having another screen with the gyro built in really gives you a lot of interesting opportunities for development, and we can bring a lot of our games to life in a completely unique way with that.

“I feel like the possibilities of the GamePad for Metroid could be really fantastic,” he continued. “There’s certainly a lot that you could do there for that game.”

What franchise does Miyamoto really want to “personally” see on the Wii U? Star Fox.  

|Source: IGN

The “biggest mistake” that Sony and Microsoft ever made was making the current console generation “way too long”, says Square-Enix.

“We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years and it’s the biggest mistake they’ve ever made,” Square-Enix worldwide technology director Julien Merceron told GamesIndustry International.

 

“This generation has been way too long, and I say this because you have a lot of developers that work on a new platform, and perhaps will not succeed, so they will wait for the next generation, and will jump on that platform,” he explained. “You could not do that with this generation though. So these developers went elsewhere to see if the grass was greener.

But the current-gen was still ongoing, and there were no other consoles to move to, so developers found other platforms.

“They found web browsers, they found iOS, they found other things and a lot of them won’t come back to hardware platforms,” said Merceron. “So you could look at it that thanks to Microsoft and Sony and the length of this generation, it helped the emergence of other platforms and helped them get strong before the next hardware comes out.”

Merceron believes that Sony and Microsoft need to tackle the next console generation in a “different way.”

“I agree that they will have to look at the market in a different way,” said Merceron. “I think they understand what is happening these days and I think they understand that the current generation has actually been too long.”

|Source: GamesIndustry International

Now for something totally different: Penny Arcade wants crowdfunding to remove ads from their site, and is asking the public for $250,000 via Kickstarter to do it.

The “Penny Arcade Sells Out” project is based on the simple premise that as long as the $250,000 annual goal is met, the “leaderboard” ad is removed from the site. For the price of $525,000, all ads would be removed.

The project reads:

Would scouring ads from Penny Arcade, with everything that entails, be something you’d be willing to reach into your pocket for? The more we considered it, the more we agreed it might just be. Not only would you no longer have to look at advertising when browsing Penny Arcade, but not having ads would create a chain reaction that would lead to a bunch of other interesting stuff. Without the almighty “pageview” to consider, why not populate the RSS with full comics and posts? Why not enable and even courage apps, first and third party, for people to read it however they damn well please?

|Source: Kickstarter

Headline RePLAY – 6.29.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: A status update on the Microsoft vs. Sony console war, a third of gamers prefer digital and why Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC sucked.

Are you curious on the status of the Microsoft vs. Sony console war? As this console generation draws to a close, an infographic shows that it’s a close fight: the Xbox 360 is winning—barely, by 4 million units sold worldwide.

The chart made by Console Fanboyism reports that the 360 sold over 66 million units vs. the PS3’s 62 million. The sales figures are then divided by a six-year period, region, games sold, and other data like controller preference.

It concludes that Microsoft will have the edge entering the next generation of consoles due to advancements it made with the Kinect.

Ultimately, seeing how Nintendo’s Wii fared alongside the 360 and PS3 would’ve been far more telling than just a direct comparison of the two.

|Source: Destructoid

More than one-third of video game consumers who bought games in the past three months rather purchase a game digitally than a physical copy, a study by the NPD Group found; a 10 percent increase from last year.

“Gamers are growing more comfortable in acquiring content online, as we saw the preference for digital increase ten percentage points from last year,” observed NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “The proliferation of free games on mobile devices has reduced the barrier of entry for online gaming to zero, fueling an increase in acquisition.”  

The Online Gaming 2012 report data was collected over a three week period and included nearly 8,500 respondents. The report noted that 40% of those surveyed acquired at least one game in both physical and digital formats.

|Source: IGN

The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow team were victims of their own success, says producer David Cox, explaining why despite the game’s success its only two pieces of DLC were both poorly reviewed and sold.

“The problem was that the game’s success caught everyone by surprise,” David Cox told Gameranx, specifically talking about Lords of Shadow DLC “Reverie” and “Resurrection.” “It caught senior management by surprise and they want us to do DLC. We never planned to do DLC, so we ended up doing DLC after the fact and in hindsight that was a mistake. It was rushed. We had to rush it to the market.”

Cox says if he and his team can go back and redo DLC it would have to be planned from the “get go” and be a side story that “enriches the original story” versus a continuation.  

“When you have success there’s pressure on you to bring something else to market very quickly,” he explained. “And I think it was wrong of us to do that.”

As far as the upcoming Lords of Shadow 2 is concerned, Cox refuses to comment. But if there was to be DLC for the sequel, “It should add to the experience, not take away from it,” said Cox.  

|Source: Gameranx

E3 2012 RePLAY – 6.8.12

Today on E3 2012 RePLAY: Microsoft won’t join in the mascot brawler bandwagon, the Unreal Engine 4 is unveiled and the fate of Activision-Blizzard.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise, which begs the question if Microsoft will follow suit. The head of Microsoft’s game studios tells gamers today they “do not want” that game.

“You do not want that game,” Phil Spencer told Kotaku after trying to brainstorm a roster for a Microsoft-based brawler.

“I’m not going to take a shot at Sony first-party [game development],” said Spencer. “I think they do some great games. We’re going to try to build games that actually create new opportunity on our platform. I don’t really need to go and fill genres with the teams that we have.

“I don’t compete with games that are already on my platform. Sure, all games on some level compete for a dollar bill, but for us it’s really going to be to try to innovate. I haven’t played the game [PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale], so I’m not saying it’s not innovative, but…”

“We’re not going to get an Xbox mascot fighter?” asked Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo.

“Sorry,” he said.

|Source: Kotaku

Epic Games unveiled the Unreal Engine 4 today with a real-time demo titled “Elemental” that showcased sophisticated dynamic illumination, light-reactive materials, rich particle effects and per-pixel lens flares, Joystiq reports.

The earliest we’ll see shipped games running on Unreal Engine 4 is 2013, based on Epic’s estimates.

|Source: Joystiq

Activision-Blizzard may be up for sale sometime this month following an annual senior executive meeting by Vivendi, the publisher’s parent company.

Vivendi executives will discuss the part or complete sale of its 61 percent stake in Activision-Blizzard, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.

Bloomberg sources also say that a sale of Activision would be Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou’s attempt to unlock value from assets, because of the holding structure at Vivendi.  

A Vivendi spokesman told Bloomberg that the annual meeting is only a “forum of exchange and discussion” and not for “quick-fix decisions or solutions” while declining to comment on specific scenarios.  

Activision-Blizzard’s share price has dropped to $11.70 per share, a 3.3 percent decrease, since the report was made.

|Source: Bloomberg, Gamasutra

E3 2012 RePLAY - 6.4.12

MICROSOFT PRESS CONFERENCE

GEARS OF WAR: JUDGEMENT

FABLE: THE JOURNEY

TOMB RAIDER

HALO 4

SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST

ASCEND: NEW GODS

SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH

DANCE CENTRAL 3 

EA PRESS CONFERENCE

DEAD SPACE 3

SIMCITY SOCIAL

CRYSIS 3

XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

 
STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC — NEW CONTENT PREVIEW

EA PARTNERS WITH UFC 

BATTLEFIELD 3: PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION

UBISOFT PRESS CONFERENCE

ASSASSIN'S CREED 3

ZOMBIU

WATCH DOGS

RAYMAN LEGENDS

THE AVENGERS: BATTLE FOR EARTH

JUST DANCE 4

Headline RePLAY – 5.7.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: A 400,000 decrease in Star Wars: The Old Republic’s subscription numbers, Electronic Arts’ “restructuring” plan and Microsoft’s $99 Xbox 360 with Kinect deal is now official.  

It looks like subscription numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic started to decline much faster than anticipated: the MMO has dropped down to 1.3 million subscribers from 1.7 million, according to an Electronic Arts earning statement.

While the earnings statement didn’t detail any explanations for the drop, a conference call this afternoon revealed that the decrease was due to “casual and trial players” rotating out of the game.

|Source: EA

In the name of a “restructuring” plan, EA is reducing its workforce by an undisclosed amount and taking a hit of $40 million in costs, of which $23 million consists of severance and “other employee-related costs.”  

EA has reiterated this afternoon that despite the layoffs that would result from restructuring, the publisher anticipates an increase in its workforce from 9,200 employees to 9,700 by the end of its 2013 fiscal year.

Last month, EA notably denied a report by StartupGrind that alleged the publisher plans to layoff 500 to 1,000 employees.

|Source: EA

Microsoft is leading the charge on rent-to-own consoles with their Xbox 360. At the cost of $99 and a two-year contract for $14.99 a month, consumers get a 4GB Xbox 360 console, a Kinect and two years of Xbox LIVE Gold.

Over the course of two years the deal will cost a total of $458.76, whereas purchasing a $299 Kinect bundle outright plus two years of Xbox LIVE Gold at $59.99 only costs $418.98.  

Buyers should beware of the early termination fee: $250 in months one through three, $240 in month four, and $12 less every month after. A full refund is only applicable within the first 30 days and even then the first month’s subscription fee is nonrefundable.

The deal is only available at a Microsoft Store.

|Source: The Verge

Headline RePLAY – 4.25.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The Wii U can’t run Crysis 3, the father of Resident Evil returns to survival horror and the attack of the ads on Xbox LIVE.  

Recently there were conflicting rumors about the upcoming Wii U’s hardware capabilities. When one of Crytek’s directors says there’s “not a fat chance” that the Wii U can run Crysis 3, the limitations of Nintendo’s next console seems to be laid bare.

“I don’t think it’s going to be possible,” Crytek’s Rasmus Hoejengaard told Destructoid. “It’s not in the cards.”

Hoejengaard noted that Crysis 3 is planned for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 however.   

|Source: Destructoid

Shinji Mikami, the man responsible for coining the survival horror genre, is returning to his roots with a project codenamed “Zwei.”

In an interview Famitsu, Mikami reveals that he’s the executive producer of Zwei, which happens to be a survival-horror game. Mikami tells the magazine that he chose survival-horror, a genre where he excels, to meet player expectations.

A first look at Zwei’s image boards is expected later this week, of which Mikami said would be close to expressing the game’s atmosphere.

|Source: Andriasang

Expect more commercials in Xbox LIVE’s future: Microsoft revealed on Tuesday that more media apps will now include 15 to 30 second TV-like ad spots.  

ESPN, Last.fm, Manga Entertainment, GameSpot and MUZU.TV join the rank of media apps that now show video ad spots. Previously, only UFC, TMZ and Crackle engaged in the practice.

According to Gamasutra, the move is part of a larger initiative to turn the Xbox 360 into a “full-blown entertainment hub.” And Microsoft reports that the plan is working: entertainment app usage has doubled every year for U.S. Xbox LIVE Gold members.

Case in point: ad spending on Xbox LIVE has increased by 142 percent since 2010 and Gold members spend an average of 84 hours a month using the service.

With these numbers, it just makes sense for Microsoft to expanding its lineup of advertising partners on Xbox LIVE.

|Source: Gamasutra

Headline RePLAY – 4.20.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA is turning its franchises into “online universes,” the story producer for the Dead Space franchise blasts Gears of War’s writing and Microsoft’s Xbox division loses $229 million.

“Online universes” are the future of EA brands, a term being applied to all of the publisher’s franchises including FIFA, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Star Wars, The Sims and Need for Speed. EA’s Northern Europe boss Keith Ramsdale said the concept is more than “simple online play”; it involves the ability to play a “brand” with a variety of devices that can contribute to a singular goal and profile.  

“Imagine a player gets up in the morning, plays an online match on his 360 before going to work,” Ramsdale explained. “On the bus, on his way to work, he practices his free kicks on his tablet. At lunch he looks at the transfer window on his PC. On the way home he chooses his kit on his smartphone.

“Here’s the thing: when he gets home to play again on his 360 that evening, all those achievements and upgrades will be alive in his game.”

This allows the consumer to play “how he wants, when he wants, and on the device he wants,” Ramsdale said.   

“We’re very focused on transforming all of our brands into these online universes. That gives the consumer full control of how and when they play in a rich world of content.”

|Source: Eurogamer

In an interview with EA’s “The Beat,” Chuck Beaver, the story producer of the Dead Space series, calls Gears of War “literally the worst writing in games.”  

“Story can only ruin a game for those who care about story, so it’s a conditional answer. For instance, Gears of War,” said Beaver. “It contains atrocious, offensive violations of story basics. Yet it doesn’t seem to ruin it for many, many people. It’s literally the worst writing in games, but seems to have no ill effects.

In contrast, he points to Portal as an example of good writing. “On the other hand, you’ve got the Portal series, which, to me, succeeds at least as much on its writing as its masterful platformer level design.”

But Beaver also had issues with his own work on the Dead Space series, saying the original was “just simple haunted house story that we later pasted a personal aspect on top of.” On Dead Space 2, he recalled the challenges of taking elements that were “poorly thought through” and “getting that into shape,” yet still not “fully” making it.

As of writing this post, the interview cited has been taken down, whether it was due to Beaver’s comments remains unknown.

|Source: EA

Microsoft is far from being in Sony’s precarious position, but its entertainment and devices division has recently reported a loss of $229 million in a three month period since March 31st after Xbox 360 sales fell almost by half.

The division saw a revenue drop of 16.5 percent, down to $1.6 billion. Only 1.4 million Xbox 360s were sold this quarter, equating to a 48 percent drop. In contrast: 2.7 million units were sold last year in the same quarter, which increased the division’s revenue by 60 percent.  

Microsoft attributed the loss to a “soft gaming console market,” but noted that the Xbox 360 has been the best-selling console in the U.S. for 15 consecutive months, according to the NPD last week.

As a whole though, Microsoft’s revenue did increase by 6 percent, totaling $17.41 billion, while operating income rose to 12 percent to $6.37 billion.  

|Source: Edge

Headline RePLAY – 4.17.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Tekken series producer promises no paid-DLC characters, CBS Interactive expands its eSports operations and Halo 4’s release date.   

In sharp contrast to Capcom’s recent DLC practices, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada has vowed that his games will never offer paid character DLC.

“Tekken has never had DLC before and charged for it,” Harada told Edge during Namco Bandai’s Global Gamer Day event in Las Vegas. “This isn’t really directed at Capcom, I have always said this, but I see the characters and their move sets as chess pieces—they are essential items necessary in the game and we would never sell any of those individually.”

Most importantly, Harada has not ruled out paid DLC in Tekken, it’ll just be in the form of vanity items like alternate costumes. “There are some strange people on Twitter who ask for really peculiar items like bikini suits for Lee Chaolan,” he said. “Obviously, we wouldn’t have had that in our original development plan, so if we were going to do it, we’d need to create it right now, without a budget—obviously we’d have to charge a little bit for such items.”

Harada insists that characters or items offering a competitive advantage will never be available via paid-DLC. “I was saying this before the Capcom thing happened. My stance hasn’t changed.”  

|Source: Edge

eSports coverage won’t be exclusive to YouTube, select gaming sites or Korean cafes anymore as CBS Interactive announced its partnership with TwitchTV and Major League Gaming this morning.

The partnership makes CBS Interactive the exclusive online broadcaster of Major League Gaming’s Pro Circuit events in addition to being the sole vendor of advertising for its streaming service.

CBS Interactive’s sudden interest in eSports could be measured by the sheer amount of video game related footage the broadcasting company claims is seen by visitors per month—3 billion minutes. According to CBS Interactive, viewers tune to live gaming competitions for 23 minutes at a time versus the three-minute average of other internet videos. 

|Source: Kotaku

Apparently Master Chief is running for president this year, as 343 Industries and Microsoft announces the release date of Halo 4 to be on November 6th, 2012.

“With Halo 4 leading the charge, we’re confident 2012 will be the most successful year in Xbox history,” said Microsoft Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer. “We are beginning a new saga with Halo 4 and embarking on a journey that will encompass the next decade of Halo games and experiences.”

|Source: Halo Waypoint

Headline RePLAY – 4.16.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Electronic Arts denies alleged layoff reports, Microsoft plans to “further monetize” Xbox LIVE and a LEGO enthusiast wants to reconstruct level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.

Electronic Arts is denying a report by StartupGrind that alleged the publisher is planning to layoff 500 – 1,000 employees sometime this week.

“There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing. At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services,” EA has told MCV.

Yesterday, StartupGrind claimed the downsizing could be attributed to a variety of factors including a disappointing fiscal year from Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, declining stock prices from $61 to $16 and Zynga’s acquisition of some of EA’s top executives.

|Sources: StartupGrind, MCV

A LinkedIn profile revealed that Microsoft is planning to implement a new strategy to ‘further monetize’ Xbox LIVE subscribers later this year.

Praveen Rutnam, a group product planner for Microsoft, has recently added the following to his profile: “Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012.”

What form this new “strategy” would take is currently unclear.

|Source: MCV

Zachary “The LEGO Maniac” Pollock wants $26,400 via Kickstarter to buy 780,000 LEGO studs to reconstruct level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. in its entirety.  

The funding will pay for the “ridiculous amount of LEGO bricks” in addition to plywood, Plexiglas and mounting hardware. When finished, the “Epic Mario” project will be six feet tall and 90 feet wide.

“This project has a couple goals,” Pollock wrote on Kickstarter. “First and foremost, I want to inspire a new generation of LEGO enthusiasts. I also want to show people what they have forgotten, that building with LEGO can be done at any age. My second goal is to use this project to test the waters for a foundation I would like to start that will work with children doing healing art projects using LEGO bricks.

“This project aims to push the limits of imagination about what you can do with LEGO bricks and particularly to break down stereotypes people have about both LEGO and videogames only being toys. I want to show the world LEGO and videogames can be works of art as well.

“Last but certainly not least I, and I think many other people, really want to see the entire level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. made from LEGO because it is just FUN! Right now I think we all need a little more fun in our lives.”

|Source: Kickstarter 

Headline RePLAY – 4.2.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Yet more rumors about the next Xbox, Sony wants first dibs on marketing their next-gen console and Capcom responds to Better Business Bureau complaints about Street Fighter X Tekken.

Not to be outdone by the wave of PlayStation 4 (a.k.a. the “Orbis”) news, new but contradictory details about the next Xbox have emerged:

In contradiction to recent reports that Microsoft’s next-gen console is going digital, VG247 claims that it will have a Blu-ray drive. Despite the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive, however, the console will require a constant internet connection.

According to VG247, the specs of the machine include two GPUs. One of VG247’s sources said, “It’s like two PCs taped together.”

Additionally, it will have “four or six” cores to its CPU: one reserved for the built-in Kinect and another for the console’s OS.

*Source: VG247

Hot off the heels of all the PlayStation 4 coverage last week, rumors suggest that Sony is seeking to beat Microsoft to the punch in marketing the next-gen console.

“Sony [is] completely in the belief that they have the jump on Microsoft this time,” sources told VG247. “You should be watching the timing of next year’s E3 keynotes, and who’s going to go first.”

One such source tells VG247 that Sony is “confident” that it “will have the console at market ahead of the next generation Xbox next Christmas.”

*Source: VG247

The Street Fighter X Tekken on-disc DLC drama continues: after receiving complaints from consumers via the Better Business Bureau, Capcom responds that they see little difference in the medium that DLC is delivered.

Capcom recites their official stance that the company believes on-disc DLC provides “more flexible” and “efficient gameplay” for the game’s lifecycle. However, the kicker comes in when Capcom observes there is no distinction between on-disc DLC and DLC delivered later as a download:

“There is effectively no distinction between the DLC being “locked” behind the disc and available for unlocking at a later date, or being available through a full download at a later date, other than delivery mechanism.”

Apparently, to Capcom, completed content that is on disc is equivalent to content released post-launch received through a server, which begs the question: what is legitimate DLC and what was content cut from games to be released at a later date?

*Source: Gaming BLEND