Today on Headline RePLAY:
One physicist’s contribution propelled Angry
Birds’ success, Grand Knights History is not coming to North American shores and Nintendo
believes that digital downloads are equal to packaged software.
Erin Catto is a father, a video game enthusiast, a
Cornell graduate with a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. Oh, and he’s
the physicist responsible for coding in the Newtonian laws that govern Rovio’s Angry Birds—and only received a
sweatshirt for his trouble.
“I’ve always been
interested in the way things move in the real world that we see, like, why does
it move like that? Why does it slide like that? And why does it tumble? So I
have always wanted to explore that and recreate that,” Catto explained.
Angry Birds uses a physics engine called ‘Box 2D,’ which Catto developed
in his free time to teach programmers about coding the laws of physics. He distributed
it for free on the internet in 2006, which was picked up by Rovio for Angry Birds in 2009.
Angry Birds made millions, but Catto never saw a dime. “Almost
everyone says ‘Jeez, Erin, you could have your own island by now if you just
charged for Box 2D!’” said Catto. “The ironic thing about that is then I wonder
if Angry Birds used something else
because I was gonna charge for it? Well, maybe if they used something else that
wasn’t as good, maybe Angry Birds
wouldn’t have succeeded. And I’m just happy that everyone is enjoying the
games.”
His name and Box 2D is
in the Angry Birds credits, however,
and Rovio has even sent him a free Angry
Birds sweater.
“I
have the sweatshirt but actually I never worn it because it’s red. I generally
don’t wear red. That’s a silly reason. If they would send me a blue one I would
wear it!”
|Source: KPCC
Disappointing news for
RPG fans: XSEED Games announced yesterday that it won’t publish Vanillaware’s Grand Knights History for North American
release.
“Unfortunately, it was
determined that development resources required to localize the game were not
available, necessitating its cancellation,” read a statement from XSEED to
Joystiq. “We regret not being able to bring the game to our fans, but we are
committed to our 2012 lineup and look forward to sharing more on these games in
the coming weeks and months.”
Last month, another of
Vanillaware’s upcoming titles, Dragon’s
Crown, handed publishing duties over to Atlus and consequently delayed to
sometime in 2013.
|Source: Joystiq
In a financial results
briefing last week, Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata explained to investors
why physical and download versions of a game would be offered at the same retail
price.
“We do not hold such a
premise that digitally distributed software has less value,” Iwata began. “In
fact, as we have discussed this with a number of software publishers around the
world, we have found that their opinions are completely divided on the topic of
the price points of the digital distribution of packaged software.
“Some publishers
believe that the digital versions should be cheaper,” Iwata explained, “while
others insist that both versions must be set at exactly the same price. So, it
is not only Nintendo’s idea. Each publisher has various ideas on this point
and, among them, Nintendo is now offering both versions at the same price point
(the same suggested retail price).”
|Source: Nintendo
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