Archive for December, 2005
How the Xbox happened
Here’s an interesting story for you. Next Generation has an exerpt from the book Smartbomb, discussing how it was that Microsoft came to enter the console market. The two pages basically point out a couple of the many ways Microsoft wanted to get into the gaming industry.
To quote from the piece: “Two years before the Xbox’s launch, Bill Gates and his top executives retreated to Puget Sound to discuss Microsoft’s business model. A seismic shift was under way. The late nineties was a time of a burgeoning new consensus among media pundits and high-tech industry folks that the consumer world would turn its eye from desktop computers toward ‘information appliances’.”
No comments »The best videogame news of 2005
Computer And Video Games takes a look at this year in games with some of the highlights of 2005 for “your pleasure and delectation”. Since are archives aren’t quite as a big as theirs (ho-hum) this’ll have to do. It’s really fun to see all the stuff us gamers get excited about throughout the year and now we’re in the middle of that excitement playing the actual games, yet looking forward to a great 2006. While this year has mostly been a DS & PSP affair, next year will be all about next-gen consoles.
Nintendo sells 5 million DS in Japan, giving a market view
Sales of Nintendo of Japan’s DS portable game machine reached 5 million units in less than 13 months after its launch in early December 2004, the fastest-ever pace in Japan’s video game market, Nintendo said today.
Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance took 14 months to hit the 5 million mark in Japan, and Sony’s PlayStation 2 took 17 months, the Kyoto-based company said. “Selling 5 million units in less than 14 months means DS is the fastest among any game machines ever launched in Japan to hit that level,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference.
The PSP has sold just over 6 million handhelds worldwide and the DS is at just under 9 million units sold worldwide. To explain the difference Nintendo has said “To achieve this rapid growth, we were required not only to go after frequent game players, but to reel back people who had left games and to make video games enjoyable for those who had not played games at all.”
18,000 accounts cancelled in WOW action
Thanks to WOW members help, Blizzard announced on their website yesterday evening that over 18,000 World of Warcraft accounts have been permanently banned in the last three months for engaging in activities that violate the Terms of Use agreement:
“A majority of these accounts were found to be using third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such actions can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players. We will continue to actively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the negative effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in the permanent removal of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft. “
The best videogames of 2005
Lists like these are always fun to read. IGN places their choice of the best games of the year per platform. While lists like these are always subjective, as to say to each their own. I wouldn’t take the Xbox360 list too seriously with some genres only having one game so far. But I do tend to agree with a lot of these choices, how about you?
Here goes:
* PS2 – God of War
* Xbox – Jade Empire
* 360 – Call of Duty 2
* PC – Civilization IV
* GameCube – Resident Evil 4
* GBA – Wario Ware Twisted!
* DS – Mario Kart DS
* PSP – Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
* Wireless – Skipping Stone
Holiday Fun
Us here at Video Games Blogger would like to wish all of our viewers a very merry Christmas and happy holidays. Hopefully you will get (or give) one of the many top video games that are lining store shelves at the moment and if not, you can always have fun reliving the classics and working through your back catalog of titles during winter break. Have fun but remember to do at least a little thinking as to why we celebrate Christmas (or whatever holiday is it) and to be thankful for the great entertainment products that we have and those that worked hard to create them for us. 
Project Gotham Racing 3 review video
The popular PGR franchise zooms onto the Xbox 360, expanding many of the Project Gotham Racing features that gamers have grown to love. Project Gotham Racing 3 creates the ultimate roster of the hottest supercars in existence, introduces them to the high-definition era, and drops them into a completely new gaming world, where style rules the road. Gamers drive with style and daring to earn Kudos in front of large crowds, and win badges to reward their skills in all areas of the game. Racers define and create individually customized gameplay, and can race each other — online or offline. The Project Gotham Racing franchise is designed by Bizarre Creations, a long-established independent games developer, based in Liverpool, England.
Bizarre crafts a polished, blazingly fast racer that’s made to last. Watch this Project Gotham Racing 3 video review.
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World of Warcraft surpasses 5 million users worldwide
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. earlier this week announced that World of Warcraft, its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed five million customers worldwide. The subscription-based MMORPG launched approximately one year ago in North America, Australia, and New Zealand and has since released in multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia. This latest milestone comes on the heels of Blizzard Entertainment’s recent announcement of a World of Warcraft expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, which will push the boundaries of the game and offer even more content and features for players.
“World of Warcraft’s growth continues to exceed all our expectations,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We want to reiterate our thanks to the millions of players worldwide and to all the retailers who have enthusiastically supported the game over the past year. Our commitment to continue growing World of Warcraft is stronger than ever, with development on future content patches and on our 2006 expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, well underway.
PSP VS Xbox 360 pluses and minuses
While every side has it’s cons and pros. The PSP Nation has an interesting take on ten reasons why you should invest your dough in a PSP instead of an Xbox 360. The best reasons include the PSP being cheaper and having free online gaming.
I’d have to add on the con side for the PSP that Sony has a bad reputation for failing hardware after warranty is over (but you can always extend that, but still at extra pay). And in the Xbox 360 camp there’s one major con for those wanting to buy a new Xbox 360… you can’t, cause it’s sold out due to low production capabilities (not surprising in the wake of a near-global launch).
Pimp up your PSP
Check out these nicely colored and well priced face-plates for the PSP. If you don’t mind that opening your PSP to exchange face-plates will void your warranty, then be our guests and create your own unique PSP. So far the only official alternative for the black color is the white PSP in Japan.
