Gamerscoreblog posted up this video of two Aussies playing Project Gotham Racing 3 on their Xbox 360 in the pool. All it took was an outdoor TV set-up, two wireless controllers and four ziplock bags. Man, I wish I had a pool. That looks like fun.
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Filed under: Culture, Business
The 100-meter dash, the discus throw … Unreal Tournament? It could happen, and Ted Owens of the Global Gaming League is pushing to get competitive gaming into the XXIX Olympiad, set to take place in Beijing in 2008. Owens is hoping that China — a country where gaming, a billion-dollar industry locally, is embedded into the culture — will be open to adding the event.
While the Chinese government is being encouraging, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is less than thrilled at the idea of putting a demonstration sport into the Olympics. However, there are many reasons they should rethink their position:
While we doubt gaming will ever become an Olympic sport — at least not until sports like golf and the soon-to-be-dropped softball are added — the IOC should consider taking a step in the right direction and adding competitive gaming among its list of recognized sports (alongside bridge, chess, and tug of war).
[update 1: fixed a typo. Let the post-hating continue!]
[update 2: fixed one more typo, ‘cos I’m cool like that.]
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The improbably spelled Matte Morgan sent us this cool picture of a fire spitting Mario he painted on a power plug.
I just moved in with my girlfriend &her kids. To make my self feel more at home I painted one of the power plugs plates in the kitchen, (my girl friend just painted the kitchen) It is the plug that I use for my coffee grinder in the mornings after I wake up, so its nice to see something that cheers me up first thing in the morning. Its not the greatest paintings , but I gonna do another more in tune to The New Super Marios Bros., I just picked it up and it inspired me.
Great job, Matte! Remember: painting talent is not necessary to make something cool looking. Also, we love the entire idea! Moving into a house full of small children? Why not make those power sockets even more attractive to the exploration of their prodding fingers and tongues?
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Filed under: Culture, Simulations, Interviews, Business
Will Wright has had a very busy month thanks to his upcoming game, Spore. Everyone that saw the gameplay video from GDC ‘05 knew that the real highlight of this May’s E3 would be Wright’s presentation. Although his presentation at E3 didn’t reveal too much that we didn’t already know about Spore, the slightly more mainstream appeal of E3 has resulted in some well deserved coverage from the mainstream media. The positive endorsement by Robin “Sniper” Williams can’t have hurt either.
The two most notable examples of MSM picking up this story are featured in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and the BBC. The Beeb covered Spore and Wright from an angle of user generated content, comparing it to current and past titles that have popularized the concept (e.g. Second Life, The Sims and the popularity of mods like Counter-Strike). The quirky video interview with Wright that runs alongside the article also gives a good idea of how much Wright values user generated content (i.e. a lot).
The WSJ picked up the story from a more general “profile of Wright” viewpoint, although it was displayed very prominently. If you picked up last Saturday’s edition of the paper it’s possibly the first article you would have seen, it being on the front page and all. One of the world’s most recognizable and respected business publications profiling a game developer on the front page: they’ve finally wised up!
Read - BBC video interview with Wright
Read - Wall Street Journal Spore article
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Relations between Nintendo and Sony are turning into a downright pissing match in the U.K. First Nintendo’s UK boss David Yarnton attacked Sony’s new controller saying Sony “didn’t innovate, they copied.” Now SCEE’s Phil Harrison denies that, saying they’ve been working on motion sensing for “a long time.”
Hit the jump for the full load of Harrison BS.
In a way I understand why people say [we stole Nintendo’s idea], but it is a little stupid, if you forgive the remark.”
When we brought the PlayStation to the market in 1994, we introduced real time 3-D graphics for the first time,” he noted. “When Nintendo launched its N64 in 1996 it also had 3D graphics, did we say, “Nintendo stole our idea!”? Obviously not. Such innovations become possible because of a combination of technology, cost and manufacture capacities.
We’ve been working on [motion-sensing technology] for a long time and Nintendo has certainly likewise already been working on something similar. The difference between our strategy and that of our competition is that our controller is still similar to the Dual Shock, the industry standard controller. I estimate that nearly 400 million Dual Shock controllers have been sold worldwide.
Weird, because I’ve been thinking about motion sensing controllers for a long time too. So there you have it, the motion sensing concept was invented by Nintendo, Sony and I.
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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Business
Though not directly about the PlayStation 3, this profile of Sony’s worldwide appeal in Sunday’s New York Times dovetails nicely with my look at the lead up to “the price.”
Titled “Cutting Sony, a Corporate Octopus, Back to a Rational Size,” writer Martin Fackler examines the marginalization of Sony in the international marketplace. The company’s name was once synonymous with not only portable music, but electronics in general; now, faced with increased competition, they’re looking to “restore” their image “to prevent the problems in Japan from spreading overseas.”
A Merrill Lynch analyst said, “What is Sony? We don’t even know anymore. Consumers used to pay more because the brand meant something special.” Another echoed that sentiment, saying, “Sony has to trim its premium … The brand equity, although still high, is clearly on the decline in consumers’ minds.”
One way to improve that brand image: trim the premium (sorry little buddy) and focus on “champion products.” CEO Howard Stringer says “[they] need to rebuild the brand seriously in terms of energy and perception around the world” and the PS3 and Blu-ray are a serious part of that strategy.
[Thanks, Stephen]
(Update: Merril is spelled Merrill)
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First, some dating advice: hanging out in the Women’s Studies section of your local Border’s is a great place to pick up chicks. After all, it’s a small leap from being fellow book lovers to becoming fellow lovers. We recommend half a bottle of cologne, your shirt open down to your hair navel and perhaps a gold chain featuring interlocking male symbol/female symbol medallions. When you ask for her phone number, refer to the imaginary phone number she will inevitably give you as her “digits.” Snap your fingers and wink after every sentence, turning even the most inane small-talk doofusism into an innuendo. Girls love that… right, Eliza?
With that said, more on girls and books: Phoenix Amon, an Oblivion modder and book lover, has created an interesting mod aiming to give every book in Oblivion a dynamically gilded cover. Some of the covers she’s designed with her system are intricate, beautiful. She makes some odd comments on the universal qualities of god’s greatest creatures, women, but her work is superb.
Take a hope to Guilded Lillies to read an interview and see some more screenshots of her impressive work. This small mod is already ten times better than some of the stuff Bethesda has charged two bucks a pop for.
So Many Virtual Books: Oblivion Book Jacket Mod [Guilded Lillies]
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Filed under: Culture, Retro, Business
Alright, kids, sit down and let us give you a history lesson. A long time ago, all the way back in 1999 (9.9.99, to be exact), Sega launched what would be their final console, the Dreamcast. It was an impressive console for its day, with a built-in modem and a controller with a memory card that you could use as a separate game unit. It was even priced to move, at just $200. Unfortunately, frequent lulls in title launches and the launch of Sony’s PlayStation 2 six months later all but killed Sega’s system, and the company left the console market.
IGN has relaunched their Dreamcast site, and has promised to look back at all 243 titles released in the US. Every title will be reviewed again, with new screens and videos, current prices, and all 243 titles will be ranked in terms of sheer awesomeness. Only one title is up right now, San Francisco Rush 2049, ranked as the number 4 best Dreamcast game of all time (and it only cost them $12 to buy). We’ll be sure to keep an eye on how they rank our favorites. Right now, you can pick up a Dreamcast for around $100 — not a bad price at all for a console with an awesome library of games.
[Thanks, Ryan and Rob]
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CERO (Japan’s ESRB) has announced its revamped rating system. There are now two separate ratings for “M” type games. The difference? A title gets a “D” rating if it’s made for gamers 17 years old, while the “Z” rating is for adults 18 and up. A clever way to brand games as “harmful.”
The games currently calling the “Z” rating home include:
The “D” rated games after the jump.
It’s not because between the ages of 17 and 18, humans undergo such a tremendous emotional and physical change that this distinction was made. CERO’s “Z” rating is Japanese for video games-as-porn.
More Here [Siliconera]
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The Xbox crew videoed Jack Black’s recent Game with Fame session. The look on Black’s face is priceless when he hits his first game and the first thing he hears is “What’s up Jack rock ooooon!” Yeah, that’s your fan base buddy.
The video ends with Black saying “It’s no secret I’m a gamer. My skills are sharp. My skills are extremely sharp.” Yeah, but we don’t see you wrapping your girly hands around the controller for a little Halo 2, do we?
Jack Black is a Gamer: “My Skills are Sharp…” [Gamerscoreblog]
GamesFirst has posted one of those useful compendiums of all available information on the upcoming Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS.
Doesn’t this sound like a bit of a pain in the ass, though?
Players will be able to switch between Charlotte and Jonathan at any time. There will be times when both characters will be needed simultaneously to solve various puzzles or tag team enemies with attack combos. When both characters are on the screen at the same time, players will be able to control the movement of the active character with the D-pad, and use the stylus to control the movement of the sub-character by dragging it around the screen.
The wording of that is a bit odd. If it’s just for puzzles and the like, it’ll likely be fine. But navigating the labyrinthian corridors of Dracula’s castle dragging some brain-dead secondary character around behind me on a stylus-drawn leash sounds shuddersome.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Preview [Gamesfirst]
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Kotakuite Cesar C. found us some more cool gaming origami… this time, three-dimensional avatars of Advance Wars units! Face Red Army vs. Blue Army off against one another in a Lego city, making explodey noises with your mouth as the arcing rockets spangle in the sky, then smash the losing army into a two-dimensional piece of paper with your first.
These look a tad more complicated, so zen origami patience may be required.
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360
When Microsoft bragged about how hack-proof their console was, we wrote, “Going out of your way to boast about how hack-proof your next product is going to be is probably the only surefire way to get an army of hackers on your ass.” Turns out we were right. Huang says of his motivation, “It’s about overcoming the challenge Microsoft has set out there … They’ve bragged about the security for the Xbox 360, so now it’s like: Well, let’s see.”
While Huang hasn’t had many successes himself, another 360 hacker (who goes by the hacker alias “Acid Burn” “The Specialist”) has had a couple, exploiting the console’s DVD-drive’s firmware. Huang rightfully doesn’t consider it a full decoding of the system, but acknowledges he might not be the one to do it either. “Things are different from a few years ago … The stakes are higher for Microsoft and the hacking community has intensified its efforts.”
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Remember when Gabe Newell mentioned that Half-Life 2 for the XBox was the company’s biggest disappointment? Like me, you might have noticed an ectoplasmic exclamation point suddenly exude from the peak of your skull, followed by a supine question mark, then a rapid succession of one after another. ?!?!?! Half-Life 2 had an XBox port? Huh? When?
Yeah, it caught many of us by surprise. Gabe may have been disappointed by its sales because, you know, nobody knew about it. But we don’t want Valve to give up on consoles cold turkey, so we’ll plug here Half-Life 2’s second coming to the XBox, this time on the 360 on 5 February, 2007. At least according to EBGames and GameStop, so take with a crystalline boulder of salt for the time being.
Actually, we’re curious about this. Early 2007 is when Episode 3 should trickle out, finishing off Half-Life 2’s episodic quasi-sequel. It may not make a lot of sense for Valve to redo its only failure for a next-gen console. But maybe they’ll release Episodes 1 through 3 on the 360 when it’s all been trickled out on the PC?
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This past Sunday, the Dream Party was held in Osaka. The bishoujo convention takes place twice a year in Osaka and Tokyo and features very Japan-only PC games and PS2 titles like Festa: Hyper Girls Party. I missed the one last fall, and the one over the weekend. However, Den-Den Town blog Ota Road took loads of pics so we can all relive the otaku experience that includes cosplay, figurines and anime Dr. Pepper.
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Atari has issued an official response to questions about the cancellation of the Neverwinter Nights premium module program, as well as all future support or patches. They basically pimp NWN2 instead.
Atari understands the importance and popularity of the mod community, which has supported the Neverwinter Nights franchise for years. Atari remains as committed to the franchise and the growing members of the community as ever and we’ve still got quite a bit more news in-store for everyone between now and September. Our goal is to make Neverwinter Nights 2 one of the most compelling RPG experiences seen in years by also making it one of the most mod-friendly games ever.
Fair enough, I’m sure NWN2 will be great. But what many of us are interested in is NWN2’s official premium content. NWN was a great experiment, allowing a community-oriented game to flourish long past the point of technological obsolescence through continuous patches that added features for which the mod community clamored. Those patches were funded by premium modules. Is NWN2 going to handle this the same way?
Atari Responds to Neverwinter Nights Non-Support Rumors [Firing Squad]
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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360
Nintendo sent out a list of all of their slated releases from now until the end of October (available after the break) and, guess what? There ain’t much! Gamers know that along with brighter skies and warmer temperatures, an absolute dearth of game releases is a surefire way to tell it’s summer.
While researching a summer gaming guide (for my other job), I realized this summer was bad … really bad. A confluence of events — next-gen development, Microsoft’s fall focus, general summertime slumps — all conspired to make the task at hand fairly difficult. Luckily, I’m not the only one who’s taken notice.
MTV’s Stephen Totilo took a look at the problem and managed to dig up with some interesting explanations:
So there you have it folks. We’re not getting many new games this summer because of Europeans, sports-gamers, and pesky fall console launches. Knowing why helps, but it still hurts. A shiny new DS Lite may make it all better.
Nintendo DS
Nintendo GameCube
Game Boy Advance SP
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Kotakuite Lord Hewett passed along this scan from the latest Electronic Gaming that says the original PlayStation Final Fantasy VII is supposedly getting redone for the PS3. Remakes certainly seem to be the soup du jour, but what do you faithful readers think?
Advent Children Flick [Square Enix]
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Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, PC, Portable, Sony PSP, Wireless, Business
Wireless gaming will be getting a boost over the next few years, thanks to broadband technologies such as WiBro and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). WiMAX was created to enable cheap and easy wireless Internet access over ranges spanning 50 km (31 miles), and Intel has been working to deploy WiMAX networks worldwide. Through their Asian Broadband Campaign, the world’s leading chip maker is building wireless broadband networks in Taiwan and across Southeast Asia. South Korea is also on board and has pledged to make their WiBro (Wireless Broadband) standard compatible with WiMAX.
Chinese gamers, however, might be late to the party. Despite having their WAPI national standard dismissed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) last year, China still figures to have a hand in the evolution of wireless networking protocols. The Chinese government has not only filed an appeal to ISO alleging unfair play by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), but a group of Chinese corporations and academic institutions have drafted a proprietary WiMAX specification to counter the recently adopted IEEE 802.16d and 802.16e standards. This will make life difficult for PC manufacturers such as Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba who have a strong presence in the booming Chinese market, as they wait to see which standard prevails in the People’s Republic.
See also:
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Everyone sing the Silent Hill song!
By the way, those aliens have exactly the right idea on how to deal with that freaky town: nuke it from orbit with heat rays.
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Related: More Mario Anime