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

Headline RePLAY – 5.23.12

Even Activision Executives Joked That StarCraft II was Never Coming Out |Source: Kotaku

Diablo III is the Fastest-Selling PC Game of All Time |Source: Blizzard

Judge Recommends Import Ban for the Xbox 360 |Source: GamePolitics

Next Guild Wars 2 Beta is on Hold to Implement New Hardware |Source: VG247

Grand Theft Auto V Due by End of March 2013 – Analysts |Source: GameSpot

Headline RePLAY – 5.14.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Steam vouchers are officially on sale at GameStop, Blizzard is hiring to make Diablo III for consoles a reality and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has struck gold in sales.

Contrary to rumor, Steam vouchers have officially gone on sale at GameStop stores today, as the retailer announced its partnership with Valve to provide “more options to customers.”

Called “Steam Wallets,” the voucher comes in $20 and $50 denominations, which allows consumers another avenue to purchase Steam’s 1,800 plus titles.

|Source: Joystiq

Even with Diablo III launching tomorrow, director Jay Wilson revealed to Gamasutra that Blizzard is not “experimenting” with a console release but is advertising as such to hire “better people” in order to increase chances to actually make one.

“That’s why we haven’t kept it super secret,” Wilson explained, “but we also haven’t confirmed it, because we’re not sure yet whether we think it will work, and whether we think we have the resources to do it.”

|Source: Gamasutra

Shortly after its release on Xbox LIVE Arcade, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has already achieved more than one million in sales and players have mined millions of hours into its single and multiplayer modes.

PlayXBLA has released a slew of numbers on the amount of time spent in Mojang’s addictive title: 5.2 million hours spent mining, 4 million total multiplayer sessions played and more than 2.4 million multiplayer gaming hours played.  

And that is a lot of mining.

|Source: PlayXBLA

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 – 4.20.12

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 – 4.3.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Why is the producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Tweeting from Romania? Developers are reporting that the Wii U doesn’t match the graphical levels of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and an Arizona bill could criminalize internet trolling.

Romania. Home of the most beautiful castles in Eastern Europe and where a bulk of Konami’s Castlevania games takes place. What better location for the producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to tease his next game?

“Today and tomorrow I am in the land of Dracul…” Tweeted producer David Cox. “What am I doing there??? You will see…”

When asked for details, Cox simply said: “No comment.”

*Source: @CastlevaniaLOS via Joystiq

Recent Nintendo consoles like the GameCube or Wii hasn’t exactly been cutting edge in raw graphical prowess. Although Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U can produce full HD graphics, according to developers that are familiar with the hardware, it just doesn’t match the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

“No, it’s not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360,” one developer told GamesIndustry International on the condition of anonymity. “The graphics are just not as powerful.”

“Yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360,” another developer agreed. “There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”

GamesIndustry International observes that Nintendo is “hampered” by going with a tablet controller, especially with “cost and graphics power” being “tightly linked.” In order to keep the console’s price at a “desired level,” the publication says the tablet controller is the Wii U’s “big innovation” not “raw horsepower.”

*Source: GamesIndustry International

In order to combat the obnoxious, aggravating dwellers of the internet, Arizona presents House Bill 2549—legislation that would make “trolling” the internet illegal and charge violators with a Class 1 misdemeanor, which can lead to a $2,500 fine and up to 6 months in jail.

Section 1, Part A of the bill reads:

“It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend, to use ANY ELECTRONIC OR DIGITAL DEVICE and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person.”

The bill has already passed both legislative houses last week and is currently waiting to be signed by Governor Jan Brewer.

Supporters of the bill argue it’s a necessary provision to prevent online bullying. Opponents, however, contend the law is “overly broad” and could easily include public forums like 4chan, reddit and other sites that permit commentary.  

“Government may criminalize speech that rises to the level of harassment and many states have laws to do so, but this legislation takes a law meant to address irritating phone calls and applies it to communication on websites, blogs, listserves and other Internet communication,” Media Coalition explained in a letter last week.  

*Source: Yahoo! Games, Kotaku

Headline RePLAY – 3.30.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: BioWare receives and re-donates 400 cupcakes, Microsoft responds to a study that claims credit card information can be retrieved from pre-owned Xbox 360s and analysts believe that neither Sony nor Microsoft will block pre-owned titles on their next-gen hardware.

Yesterday, 400 cupcakes donated by Mass Effect 3 fans as a form of friendly protest to the game’s controversial endings arrived on BioWare’s doorstep at Edmonton, Canada. BioWare went to the forums to thank fans for their “creative” and “thoughtful” attempts but ultimately donated them to a local youth shelter.

“The gesture certainly gained our attention both with its creativity and deliciousness,” said BioWare’s Chris Priestly. “However, while we do appreciate that fans were creative in how they expressed their views, after a lot of discussion, we decided ultimately the reason that they were sent was not done in the context of celebrating the work or accomplishment of the Mass Effect 3 team. This is a subtle, but important aspect in determining how to pass the feedback to the team.”

In that context, rather than handing out the cupcakes to staff or “wasting good food,” BioWare instead donated them on behalf of the fans to a local Edmonton youth shelter.

“We know that for the kids that have to use this facility, something as simple as a cupcake is a rare treat and would definitely brighten up their day,” said Priestly. “Thank you for the fine folks at the local youth shelter for accepting the donation and to the fans who donated the cupcakes.”

*Source: BioWare Forums

After it was reported that hackers can obtain credit card information from pre-owned and refurbished Xbox 360s, Microsoft responded swiftly to assure owners that the company is investigating Drexel University’s research.

“We are conducting a thorough investigation into the researchers’ claims,” said Jim Alkove, Microsoft’s General Manager of Security of Interactive Entertainment Business, in a statement to Kotaku. “We have requested information that will allow us to investigate the console in question and have still not received the information needed to replicate the researchers’ claims.

“Xbox is not designed to store credit card data locally on the console,” Alkove explained, “and as such seems unlikely credit card data was recovered by the method described. Additionally, when Microsoft refurbishes used consoles we have processes in place to wipe the local hard drives of any other user data. We can assure Xbox owners we take privacy and security of their personal data very seriously.”

*Source: Kotaku

While it’s no secret that many in the videogame industry would love to see the pre-owned market disappear, analysts all agree that it would be suicidal for Sony or Microsoft to implement such technology on next-gen consoles despite rumors suggesting the contrary.

“It isn’t really in Sony’s or Microsoft’s best interests to blocked used games,” said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst. “It would benefit Activision and EA slightly, and would hurt GameStop a great deal. If Sony unilaterally did this, I could see GameStop refusing to carry their console, and sales of the PS4 would therefore suffer.”

Pachter is confident none of the big three console manufacturers (i.e. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony) “are stupid enough to do this unilaterally” nor “evil enough to do it together.” The analyst argues “if one does it and the others don’t, the one who does it will see a loss of market share.”

DFC Intelligence’s David Cole concurs, and adds that a console with anti-used technology would deter hardcore gamers. “A system that tried to stop used game sales would probably turn off the core consumers that rush to trade in their old product to buy a new product. In other words, I don’t think it would do so well in the core market.”  

“Customers would rebel,” agreed Lewis Ward, IDC’s research manager. “Until there’s the equivalent of a great ‘used’ digital console game trade-in program up and running, gamers will continue to like the ability to trade in discs and basically get discounts on other games.”

*Source: GamesIndustry International

Headline RePLAY – 3.29.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The producer of the Street Fighter series steps down, hackers can steal credit card information from pre-owned Xbox 360’s and Dragon’s Crown is not cancelled.

Yoshinori Ono, the man responsible for Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter x Tekken, is stepping down as producer of the franchise in the wake of being hospitalized last week.

Ono apologized to fans on Twitter for causing concern about his welfare and wanted to thank them for all the get-well messages. The Street Fighter producer then announced that he’s stepping down “for a while,” and that an unannounced individual has taken up the reins of the franchise.

In the meantime, Ono is going to still provide support but will stay out of the “limelight” while he contemplates about the “new future of fighting games” and assured fans that he’ll try his best to “be back.”

*Source: @Yoshi_OnoChin

If you’re thinking about selling or giving away your Xbox 360, you might want to reconsider: researchers at Drexel University discovered that with just common tools, hackers and modders can access the console’s hard drive to steal credit card or personal information.  

“Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information,” Ashley Podhradsky, a researcher at Drexel University, told Kotaku in a phone interview. “But they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data.”

Podhradsky noted that even restoring the 360 to factory settings won’t completely remove all the data it contains. She said Microsoft was doing a “disservice” to customers by not protecting their personal data better.

Alongside Drexel University colleagues Rob D’Ovidio and Cindy Casey and Pat Engebretson from Dakota State University, Podhradsky bought a refurbished Xbox 360 from Microsoft last year to experiment on. The team downloaded a basic modding tool to use to crack the console, which gave them access to its files and folders and resultantly was able to identify and extract the original owner’s credit card information.

“A lot of them already know how to do all this,” said Podhradsky. “Anyone can freely download a lot of this software, essentially pick up a discarded game console, and have someone’s identity.”

To combat the danger of getting your personal information compromised, Podhradsky recommends detaching your 360’s hard drive, connecting it to your computer, and using a program like Darik’s Boot & Nuke to wipe everything. She cautions that reformatting won’t be enough.

“I think Microsoft has a longstanding pattern of this,” said Podhradsky. “When you go and reformat your computer, like a Windows system, it tells you that all of your data will be erased. In actuality that’s not accurate— the data is still available… so when Microsoft tells you that you’re resetting something, it’s not accurate.

“There’s a lot more that needs to be done.”

*Source: Kotaku

After Dragon’s Crown mysteriously disappeared from Amazon.com and GameInformer happened to receive reports that customers had their pre-orders cancelled, it’s no wonder why cancellation rumors began to run amuck.

In response to all the speculation, Vanillaware illustrator Shigatake leapt into the fray on Twitter to assure fans that the game is most definitely not cancelled. “I personally can’t say much, but I’ll just say, regarding Dragon’s Crown, although there lots of rumors and conjecture, it’s still in development. Please wait patiently for an official update.”

Dragon’s Crown was initially revealed at E3 2011 as a spring 2012 title, but news of the game has been scarce recently despite its rapidly approaching release date.

*Source: Andriasang

Headline RePLAY – 3.13.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: No Episode 3 for Sonic 4, Xbox 360 users discover their achievements wiped out and Double Fine Adventure’s fundraising concludes with a massive payoff.

Sonic 4: Episode 2 could be the last we see of the classic SEGA Genesis-era hedgehog—for now. Producer Takashi Iizuka revealed to Digital Spy today that SEGA is not planning on an Episode 3.

“We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from the users for Episode 2,” Iizuka told Digital Spy, “but we are currently not planning to release another episode.”

Instead it looks like SEGA is looking for more feedback, as Iizuka noted that the publisher is more interested in seeing “how the users accept this episode.”

*Source: Digital Spy

The internet was abuzz today with panicked reports of Xbox 360 users who had their game achievements wiped completely. 360 users flocked to the official Xbox forums in search for answers, but found others on the same boat:

“Earlier I was playing Mass Effect 3 on Xbox and decide to eat something,” recounted Louie Falls. “I came back, turned on Xbox and loaded up Mass Effect. I then got a message saying that my Gamertag has been used on a different console and that my game will start from the last time I played on this console. Then I realized that when I got an achievement, my whole Gamerscore was reduced to 0. It’s happened to about 50% of the people on my list.”

Thankfully, Microsoft was already aware of the issue and quickly provided a resolution. All affected 360 users are instructed to logout and login to get their achievements restored.

*Source: Destructoid

As Double Fine’s Kickstarter project to make a classic adventure game drew to a close, it managed to collect a whopping total of $3,336,371 in the course of a month—way exceeding its humble $400,000 goal.

“It’s been an amazing experience,” said Tim Schafer. “So much love.”

“I don’t want to say this is the end of the whole game industry as we know it…” he continued. “…it’s not, it's not!"

*Source: Kickstarter via Joystiq

Headline RePLAY – 2.7.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: North American PS Vita owners will miss out on the UMD Passport program, the Kinect Star Wars Bundle has a release date and Mass Effect: Infiltrator for the iOS is announced!

Possibly a deal-breaker for many PSP-owners planning on transitioning to the PS Vita, Sony has told Kotaku there won’t be a North American equivalent of the UMD Passport program, which would’ve allowed PS Vita owners to transfer their PSP games over.

Sony announced the program back in November, which Japanese PSP owners could opt to register their games onto PSN accounts, pay a small fee and re-download the games on the PS Vita. No alternatives were provided at this time.

Déjà vu. Reminds me of the situation with the PSPgo two years ago, which almost guaranteed the handheld’s doom.

Sony has yet to provide an explanation for the exclusion.

*Source: Kotaku

Overhauled for 2012 in the form of a Xbox 360 and controller, R2-D2 and C-3PO will finally be in the hands of Star Wars fans and gamers alike in the Kinect Star Wars Bundle, which is slated for release on April 3^rd.

Price is set at $449 for the 320GB system and it comes with the droid-themed console and controller, a white Kinect sensor and a copy of Star Wars Kinect Adventures.

*Source: Engadget

In what could be the first mobile tie-in to Mass Effect 3, BioWare announced Mass Effect: Infiltrator was coming to the iOS.

The title was announced at a press event in New York today, where it was described as a “fully featured iOS third-party shooter” with “stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series.”

It isn’t a Mass Effect title without story, and BioWare doesn’t disappoint here: the narrative will involve freeing prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base and collecting evidence of the organization’s crimes.

Players will “receive rewards” for gathering evidence and increase Galactic Readiness. “Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase a players’ Galactic Readiness rating directly through the ‘Galaxy at War’ system in Mass Effect 3,” said EA.

As icing on the cake, actions taken in Infiltrator can affect the Mass Effect 3 storyline and weapons unlocked in the mobile title can be used in Mass Effect 3 too.

*Source: Kotaku