Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Bill will speak, Aspyr on the move, breaking down to buy a Playstation 2?


  1. Halo 2 pre-sales at 1.5+ million
  2. Gates to speak at CES
  3. EA announces another Medal of Honor
  4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas pirated and downloadable
  5. Hey, there's games in my advertising!
  6. Aspyr on the move
  7. Impressions: X-Men: Legends & Star Wars: Battlefront
  8. Fable squashing sales records
  9. Windows Media Center Extender for Xbox
  10. Game updates
  11. Reasons to own a PlayStation 2
  12. New Releases


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NEWS:
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  1. Halo 2 pre-sales at 1.5+ million

    • As of last week (still three away from release), Halo 2 pre-orders exceeded 1.5 million units. This XBox-exclusive baby is going to obliterate records across all platforms ...

  2. Gates to speak at CES

    • Bill Gates will be doing the pre-show keynote for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. The announcement and opportunity lends credence to the rumors that Microsoft will use the show to formally announce the successor to the current XBox.

  3. EA announces another Medal of Honor

    • Electronic Arts (EA Games) announced a new title, Medal of Honor: Dogs of War, will see the big 3 consoles this coming spring. EA promises a "new way of playing, while still delivering an unflinching picture of warfare". the MoH series arguably pioneered the modern WWII FPS ("LOL!" yell the Wolfenstein fans).
    • The title is being developed by EA's "EA Los Angeles" (EALA), the new big gun West Coast EA incarnation responsible for upcoming heavy hitters like The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.

  4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas pirated and downloadable

    • The cirle is complete. First Half-Life 2, then Doom 3, then Half-Life 2 again, then Halo 2, now GTA: San Andreas, and soon (probably), Half-Life 2 again. With Rockstar Games acknowleging their latest game -- manual, cover, and all -- has been pirated and is downloadable, all of the fall/holiday big guns have officially been pirated.
    • Just so we're clear on where I stand on this: Pirating is stealing. It robs talented, hard-working professionals, it drives the cost of our games up, and it ruins my Christmas morning surprise. And software pirates are a$$holes (Gimme a break, this blog gets picked up and shows on some corporate servers) ...

  5. Hey, there's games in my advertising!

    • Activision announced in April-ish they'd be working with Nielson Entertainment to put ads in games, and track gamers' responses. The next step in the relationship is to use Activision's upcoming Tony Hawk's Underground 2 to see how often players interact with the multitude of in-game placements. Chrysler Corporation will participate in a test with Activision and Nielsen and the PC version of the game, to measure players' reaction to the various Jeep placements on a daily basis. Uh, if any of those future THUG2 players are reading these articles, ya think maybe results could be skewed?
    • Activision and Nielsen are arguably just slightly ahead of the curve. Ads for video games raked in about $79 million in 2003, and is projected to be at $260 million by 2008 (excluding advertising on websites). The "13-and-over" video demographic spends about $7.4 billion on games, so it's a much sought-after market segment. Conservative (in my mind) numbers indicate the spending will be up to $8.3 billion by 2008. However, 2003's in-game advertising spend of $10 million is expected to grow to $92 million by 2008, according to the Yankee Group. The trend has got in-game advertising firms like Massive announcing services that let marketers ad realtime ads, and sends back results (like each time an ad is seen).
    • Yeah, I'd like advertising out of my games, but intelligent placement (a la the box office) was bound to strike our games sooner or later. I'm just hoping we can avoid a video game boffo equivalent like Mac and Me, arguably the worst rip-off (of E.T.) and infommercial ever to sear my eyeballs.

  6. Aspyr on the move

    • Austin-based Aspyr Media announced they'll be publishing The Sims 2 for the Mac. Aspyr's own internal development team will develop the title, under license from Electronic Arts. No release date has been set.
    • Aspyr is also the publisher that signed on to publish Halo-creator Alexander Seropian's games developed by his recently formed Wideload Games.
    • Heya, Aspyr, methinks you need a professional voice actor for all of your cool projects ...

  7. Impressions: X-Men: Legends & Star Wars: Battlefront

  8. Fable squashing sales records

    • XBox-exclusive Fable was the #1 seller across all platforms for the month of September, selling 375,000 copies in its first week, and according to NPD Group, more than 600,000 in the total month -- and it didn't launch until September 9!

  9. Windows Media Center Extender for Xbox

    • The Windows Media Center Extender for Xbox has finally made an appearance on Microsoft's official XBox.com hardware list. No price is currently available, though a release date of "November 2004" is part of the description. The media extenders require Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, shipped earlier this month. Wireless requirements have not been released, but the only technology to currently be Media Center approved is D-Links dual band turbo 802.11a/g, which both run at a theoretical 108 mbps.

  10. Game updates

    • The Urbz: Sims in the City -- Maxis Studios/EA Games next console iteration of the franchise has gone gold will ship November 9. Not pirated as of this writing.
    • Scaler -- Platformer Scaler puts Global Star Software's (Take-Two Interactive's) titular hero in the hands of all-audiences everywhere. This could be a sleeper hit, but we'll wait and see. Made it to stores without being pirated.
    • Doom 3 -- More Doom 3 is on the way from id Software and Activision, by way of an expansion pack. Hopefully, this extra content will also make it to Vicarious Visions XBox port of the game, though I worry if it's offered the XBox Live route, id will charge for "premium content".
    • B.C. -- Fable creator Lionhead Studios, announced cancelation of development of this Black-and-White-esqe prehistoric action/sim game. Staff will be deployed on other Lionhead projects; possibly the unnanounced Fable 2? Cancellation may have been a ploy to keep the title from being pirated.
    • The Bard's Tale has not been pirated, but check out a lampooning press release from inXile Entertainment, as they consider "some form of leak" to further the impression the game is in the "same category as a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2 and Halo 2".


  11. Reasons to own a PlayStation 2

    • Yeppers, I preferentially lean toward our giant black 'Box, but occasionally other contenders give me pause. Such is the case with the recently re-released PlayStation 2, in a smaller form factor (1/4 the size), integrated connectivity (broadband and dial-up), and a top-loading drive (which won't break as often as the ^%*&#! XBox Thompson DVD tray drives). Other reasons to think about owning a new PlayStation 2:

      1. Killzone -- This Guerrilla Games-developed, SCEA-published slighlty futuristic squad-based first-person shooter will support full online play, looks amazing, and has been Sony's "Halo Killer" -- not because it has anything in common other than the FPS perspective), but it looks to be a "reason to own a PS2" franchise.
      2. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex -- Seriously, if you don't know about the Ghost in the Shell anime, it's recent Innocence sequel and two Stand Alone Complex TV series (the second just now finishing up in Japan), I'm not sure I want to know you. Really. GitS is a powerful Bladerunner-ish inspired cyberpunk manga and movie that has already spawned one decent game on the original Playstation, and this upcoming third-person iteration puts gamers in the shoes of Major Mokoto Kusanagi and her partner Batou, with solid controls, a great story, and solid gameplay. GitS is being developed by Cavia Inc. and published by Bandai. Check out a great feature spread in November's Play Magazine.
      3. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge -- Developed and published by Capcom, this title puts pop culture icon (and personal favorite hero) Jack Skellington under your control in a sequel to the original Tim Burton 1993 film. Disney, Capcom, don't screw this one up!
      4. Have you seen this thing? Rarely do I look at a piece of hardware and say, "DAY-UMN!" (that corporate thing again). Any, the new PS2 is tiny, it's sexy ("Size Matters" works backwards with guys and gadgets), it's quieter, and its the same price as its now-clunky forbearer. Which makes the XBox just look friggin' huge ...


  12. New Releases

    • Week of 10/24/2004

      • The Bard's Tale (RPG)
      • Bicycle Casino (Puzzle)
      • Chessmaster (Action)
      • Dead or Alive Ultimate (Fighting)
      • Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut (Survival/Horror)
      • The Incredibles (Action)
      • Monster Garage (Driving)
      • OutRun2 (Driving)
      • Scaler (Platformer) (shipped last week, early)
      • SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie (Platformer)
      • Ultra Bust-A-Move (Puzzle)

    • Week of 10/31/2004

      • Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures (Sports)
      • Godzilla: Save the Earth (Action)
      • High Rollers Casino (Puzzle)
      • IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 (Driving)
      • The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age (RPG)
      • Pinball Hall of Fame (Puzzle)
      • Sonic Mega Collection Plus (Platformer)
      • Spikeout Battle Street (Brawler)
      • Spyro: A Hero's Tail (Platformer)
      • XBox Live Arcade (Multiple)



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