Archive for January, 2007
Driver 76 driving to PSP in honk honk March
Ubisoft announced that it will launch a new Driver game for the PSP. Driver 76 will feature all-new content with 27 new missions exclusively designed for gaming on the go. Driver 76 is the first all-new edition of the famed Driver series to be released since Ubisoft acquired the franchise in 2006. Developed by Sumo Digital and Ubisoft’s Reflections studio, Driver 76 will be released in March 2007.
Faithful to the brand spirit, Driver 76 is an action driving game that features Hollywood-style car chases while also letting the player experience the open environment on foot. The game thrusts the player into the heart of the 1970s, through 27 missions divided into six main plots. Players can take side jobs, earning cash that can be used to modify their rides. Driver 76 also offers an extensive multiplayer mode and a host of mini-games ranging from street races to all out carnage in Destruction Derby mode.
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No comments »Microsoft expects to sell 12 million Xbox 360s by June 2007
Microsoft today announced record revenue of $12.54 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, a 6% increase over the same period of the prior year. While it’s not surprising a huge company like Microsoft has a lot of revenue. What was a turnaround last year was that during the same period almost a quarter of that was from the Xbox 360 in the Entertainment and Devices Division.
Their press release can say less loss is good, but it’s still losses resembling Microsoft’s past reports that by September 15, 2005, they booked a four billion dollar loss in selling the Xbox. It’s starting to look like the Xbox 360 isn’t doing much better financially after another $1.26 billion loss launching the Xbox 360. But better none the less when they announced today that revenues rose 76% to $2.96 billion, but operating loss increased slightly from $286 million to $289 million. For the six-month period that ended December 31, 2006, revenue was similarly up 74% to $3.99 billion, and the division’s operating loss actually narrowed 17% from a $459 million to $383 million loss the last half year of selling Xbox 360’s 2006.
Clearly Microsoft’s goal still stands: for them to sell as many Xboxes as possible and that seems to be working. They sold about 4.4 million Xbox 360 units the last three months of 2006! Since the Xbox 360’s launch in November 2005, 10.4 million units have been shipped to stores. And in that shipped number and Microsoft’s goal of selling 10 million Xbox 360s lies the difference that’s now catching up with them…
Following the release of Microsoft’s Q2 fiscal results, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell told Reuters that Microsoft aims to ship a total of 12 million Xbox 360s by the end of its fiscal year on June 30, 2007, down from a previous target of 13 million to 15 million. He said: “We are just being cautious about the second half. It was always going to be a slow half. We’ve done very well in the first half. There is a reasonable amount of inventory in the channel.”
Unreal Tournament 2007 renamed to UT3 and delayed to 2nd half of 2007 for PC, PS3 & also Xbox 360
Since you can’t very well name a game after the actual year it comes out (it’s a future thing, don’t ask) Unreal Tournament 2007 has not been renamed 2008, but instead to Unreal Tournament III. Midway held a press event yesterday in which they also revealed a delay of the PC, PS3 & Xbox 360 game to the second half of 2007. You didn’t misread that, after hinting at UT on Xbox 360 last year, it’s now official.
Using Epic’s own Unreal Engine 3 the FPS game promises beautiful graphics and brutal futuristic weapons. Changes include: increased aggressiveness and intelligence of the AI, more gameplay modes -like the new Warfare mode- and characters to choose from, and over 24 weapons like the new long-range Shock Rifle and short-range Flack Cannon.
Epic plans to provide advanced online changes to suit all three platforms, bringing seamless loading, improved matchmaking and co-operative campaign online play. Here’s the first Unreal Tournament III trailer that shows new weapon models and the “KRALL”.
Star Fox 2 unreleased SNES 3D shooter walkthrough in 47 minutes
Yesterday we posted an interview with the Star Fox Command producer Takaya Imamura in which he didn’t just talk about the DS game, but also revealed it had its strategy roots from the unreleased SNES game Star Fox 2, in which he’s credited with a special thanks. That’s the sequel to 1993’s SNES game Star Fox, which was the first to use the Super FX chip that accelerated the new polygon 3D graphics at the time. But what if I told you that unreleased SNES game was fully completed in 1995? It’s true, programmer Dylan Cuthbert said this as well as mentioning some of the ideas and gameplay were salvaged for 1997’s Star Fox 64.
Of course that’s not what we want to hear that parts of the game made it into two other games in the series. That’s why it’s interesting to know the completed Japanese Star Fox 2 (which already had English voice acting) was leaked, dumped from a proto cartridge, and put on the internet. Aside from the fact that Nintendo MUST release Star Fox 2 for fans dying to play the game on the Wii’s Virtual Console, let’s avoid the legalities of the leaked version that would otherwise be lost in a vault, and talk about a 2004 fan-made translation patch for Star Fox 2 that changed the 3D shooter from Japanese to English text and removed the non-functional bits and debug functions so emulators could simulate a finished game.
The storyline once again calls on Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team to defend their homeworld of Corneria against the attacking forces of Andross. Watch the game from start to end in 47 minutes below, or see a bigger Star Fox 2 movie here.
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Interview with Star Fox Command producer reveals its based on the unreleased Star Fox 2
Star Fox Command was released in the US on August 28 last year. But tomorrow the game will be released in Europe, and so Nintendo of Europe interviewed the man behind the new Nintendo DS game.
If there’s one man that knows the Star Fox series inside out, it’s Takaya Imamura. Beginning his career as an artist on the SNES original Star Fox (Star Wing in Europe), Imamura-san went on to become lead artist on Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars) on N64 (Nintendo’s first rumble game), then supervisor of the GameCube’s Star Fox Adventures and co-producer of Star Fox Assault. Now at Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis & Development Division (EAD), Imamura was the ideal choice to become producer of Star Fox Command, the series’ Nintendo DS debut.
Star Fox Command introduces not only intuitive touch screen controls but also a new turn-based strategy element to the long-running saga of Fox McCloud and co. Before each thrilling 3D dogfight, you can now plot your ships’ flight paths simply by drawing on the touch screen.
We began by asking the question that’s been on the lips of Star Fox fans since ‘Command’ was first announced…
Nintendo of Europe (NoE): Imamura-san, why did you decide to bring strategy to a series that is most famous for being purely a shooter?
Takaya Imamura (TI): “A game called ‘Star Fox 2′, which was not actually released, once existed. In that game, there was a strategic system, which we thought suitable for Nintendo DS. That is how we started the project.”
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Sega has a Crush on the PSP ;-)
Did you notice that big fat wink up there? Yeh it’s SEGA announcing a new PSP exclusive puzzle/platformer called Crush, for summer 2007 release. Developed by the UK based Kuju Brighton, it’s reminiscent of Exit, Crush is a thinking man’s game, allowing you to transform a 3D world into 2D in order to overcome obstacles and move on in the game.
If you look at the trailer below, you can see how unique it is. Crush introduces a new gaming experience that fits well on PSP. Set within a complex, hypnotic 3D world, players will use the game’s unique crush mechanic to “crush” the environment and transform it into a more simplified 2D platformer. Once flattened, players will utilize the 2D space to move to new areas to solve otherwise impossible challenges, and unlock secret items that were previously unobtainable in the 3D environment. Players will then “uncrush” the 2D environment and return to the 3D world.
Designed for a wide and varied audience, Crush tells the story of Dan, a man with a lifetime of unresolved issues and bottled up emotions that have turned him into a nervous insomniac who is too tired to turn his life around. Desperate for a cure, he turns to hypnosis. It is during this state that he is given one last chance to sort through the wreckage of his past, before he loses the last thing he has – his sanity.
Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal announced for Xbox 360 and Wii
Warner Bros. Interactive has announced the return of Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in fall 2007. The game features seven playable characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Gossamer and a “special secret character.”
The game emphasizes cooperative gameplay, with fast-paced combat, puzzle solving and vehicle-based action. Locations in the game include places like Camelot, Ancient Egypt, Mars, the Wild West, World War II, and more. The Xbox 360 version will feature real-time physics and Xbox Live cooperative play, while the Wii version will of course feature “gesture controls” using the Wii Remote.
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Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy sells 5.4 million; more million sellers from SCi
Games publisher SCi announced their revenues have risen 40% for the first six months of the fiscal year, to £70 million (that’s nearly $138 million). They expect to do even better in the second six month until end March 2007 with games like Battlestations: Midway and Tomb Raider Anniversary.
The majority of the increase in revenue is from the continued success of Traveller’s Tales Games’ title Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy which so far has sold 5.4 million copies, as well as the recently released Justice League Heroes that’s expected to reach one million copies sold in the next three months.
But it’s not just existing franchises that did well for them in 2006. The same goes for Just Cause, which is also expected to sell up to one million by March, and while hints of Just Cause 2 were dropped last year, the publisher confirms via GI a sequel is indeed underway.
The Pope is upset games glorify violence
Pope Benedict said on Wednesday “If you play violent games you will die and burn in hell!” Ok so we made that up, he didn’t really say that, but he did mention how the media upset him by harming children when they glorify violence in the name for entertainment.
He might not have gotten the note that even in games people can see the difference between what’s real and what’s not. Still, let’s hear what his holiness has to say: “Any trend to produce programs and products, including animated films and video games, which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality is a perversion. It is all the more repulsive when directed at children and adolescents.” Don’t we have Teen and Mature ratings to prohibit kids or teens from getting their hands on games like that? Yes we do!
He continued: “How could one explain Article continues »
Nintendo to ship 6 million Wii by March. 35 million DS sold. 1.5 million Virtual Console games sold
Nintendo just announced its quarterly sales for the end of 2006. Sales for the 9 months were up 72%, while net income was up 43%. They have a war chest of $7.1 billion in cash, down from $10.86 billion a year ago due to the weak Dollar ($1 is a mere 115 Yen after conversion). Thanks to extremely strong Nintendo DS sales and the successful launch of Wii, operating income went up 102.5% and Nintendo expects record financial results through its fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2007. Nintendo announced these numbers:
* Worldwide shipments of 6 million Wii systems by the end of March 2007.
* Nintendo manufactured 4 million Wii systems by the end of 2006 and during that time sold and delivered 3.19 million to its distributors and retail customers around the world, the other 810,000 are slowly arriving at stores now. So they expect another 2.81 million to be sold in the first three months of 2007.
* Nearly 1.4 million Wii systems have connected to the Internet worldwide, as of yesterday.
* About 1.5 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded and sold to customers worldwide, as of yesterday.
On the dual side of financials the numbers show:
* Nintendo has sold 35 million DS and DS Lite to date, meaning so far 18.88 million have been sold this fiscal year and they expect another 4.12 million to be sold in the first three months of 2007. As for the next fiscal year, Nintendo expect to sell around 23 million DS Lites, bringing the estimated total of DS units to 58 million by March 31, 2008.
* Sales have been led by New Super Mario Bros. with 8.64 million copies sold worldwide, and the continued strong sales of Brain Age and Nintendogs.
* More than 3.5 million unique users have enjoyed online play on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for Nintendo DS, with far more than 100 million connections to date.
* During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, consolidated worldwide shipments of 19 software titles for Nintendo platforms reached or surpassed 1 million units. These include 13 Nintendo DS titles, three Game Boy Advance titles, and three Wii titles. — Press release via Mercurynews and official numbers via Nintendo Japan.
