June 2013 - Xbox One and PS4 Preorders and a Flash Cart for the 3DS
Hi everyone its now June 2013 and the news is coming thick and fast here at DCEmu HQ, for those who dont know DCEmu has a portal site ie this one and a ton of Subdomains which have a hell of a lot more news for each and every console and OS we cover. The biggest news of the moment is that Preorders for the Xbox One and PS4 are now open, get yours preordered now or risk waiting in the queues when you do want to buy each of the next gen consoles. If you are a company wanting us to do reviews or wish to advertise in any way at DCEmu then use our Contact Page. Finally news of a Flash Cart for 3DS has come through, can it be true ?
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has likened pessimistic Wii U responses to concerns expressed about the console's predecessor in 2006.
"For the Wii, before its launch and right after its announcement, the feedback was similar to that of the Wii U," he told shareholders. "In other words, when something unique comes up, it's difficult for people to understand it at the beginning. A lot of misunderstandings and pessimistic observations, like, 'Will a product like this really spread in the market?' prevail and then after some time, after being able to experience it, the atmosphere changes."In fact, when the Wii was showcased at E3 in 2006, there were a lot of news stories which reported the strong receptions of the Wii by the visitors to the show; however, the questions I was asked then and there were all tough questions. Almost every one of the reporters asked, 'How in the world are you going to compete with Sony or Microsoft with a product like this?' Everyone has forgotten what the real situation was." Following Wii U's E3 showing last month, Nintendo shares declined for three days running. Iwata responded to questions about the decline by telling investors to trust in the company based on its past success with DS and Wii. "I would like you to look back on what we have done so far. We said, 'We are going to sell the Nintendo DS in this way and expand the gaming population.' We did as we said we would. Did the share price rise at the time of our making this statement? No, it did not. It only rose once the Nintendo DS started to sell well. "We also said, 'With the Wii, we are going to get people who have never played games to play games.' We achieved what we said we would. But the share price did not rise (at the time of announcing this vision) but it only did so after (the Wii started to sell well). In the end, it's all about results. Therefore, we believe what we need to do now is show results."
Pokemon Black and White 2 held the software chart top spot in Japan last week, shifting 417,000 copies to clear two million sales in a fortnight. JRPG Atelier Ayesha and visual novel game Robotics;Notes, both for PS3, debuted at No.2 and No.3 respectively, according to Famitsu(via Gematsu).On the hardware front, the release of Metal Gear Solid HD Edition on Vita, as well as a new Crystal White version of the handheld, helped the system jump ahead of PS3, but it sold only a third as many units as first placed 3DS. Weekly software sales (life to date)
Pokemon Black 2 / White 2 (DS, Nintendo) - 416,850 (2,035,471)
Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of the Ground of Dusk (PS3, Gust) - 75,874 (New)
Digital Foundry on why the Gaikai acquisition goes beyond simply streaming PlayStation games
Despite some bizarre denials, the news that Sony was going to move into the cloud gaming space ranks as one of the worst-kept secrets in the games business, leaked to the press over a month before the official announcement. Perhaps what is more surprising in the light of Monday's confirmation of the Gaikai acquisition is that we still have very little idea of what it all actuallymeans for the gamer. "Gaikai is more than just a delivery platform for existing content - in the hands of Sony's game devs, the possibilities for new gaming experiences built for the system from the ground-up are mouth-watering."
The only additional piece of detail that tells us much of interest is that it's Sony Computer Entertainment that is the buyer, meaning that this is a PlayStation deal, not just a shot of gaming adrenaline into the arm of the company's ailing HDTV business. Sony's statements on its plans for the cloud sound suitably grand, but don't really tell us anything we didn't already know anyway:
"By combining Gaikai's resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE's extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences," explained SCE overlord Andrew House.
"SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices."
The obvious conclusion to take from this would be the migration of existing and planned PlayStation content to Gaikai infrastructure, representing an enticing opportunity: state-of-the-art titles in combination with an enormous back catalogue running on an ever-expanding range of streaming devices. Kotaku ran with a great headline on this story yesterday: You May Already Own PlayStation 4.
To a certain extent, we've already had a preview of just how cool cloud streaming the latest games can be: on Digital Foundry at Eurogamer, we've already suggested that OnLive running on an Xperia Play smartphone offers something approaching a true next-gen handheld experience: latency is still an issue but downscaling an HD image onto a smaller, mobile mobile screen solves many of the image quality issues that have blighted cloud gameplay thus far, and the overall effect can be very impressive. It's a taste of the future, and improvements to infrastructure in combination with server-side technological advances are almost certain to turn what is currently a great tech demo into a viable cross-device gaming platform.
Sony's Xperia Play smartphone runs OnLive very well indeed, the smaller screen resolving many of the image quality issues. Latency is still an issue but it is a tantalising glimpse of the future of streaming gameplay.
Looking at things from a more short-term perspective, there's already been some talk that we could see Gaikai tech implemented to supply playable demos. While this is a possibility (running PC versions on the existing Gaikai network), there's a strong chance that developers and publishers wouldn't want to see their console games represented on the PlayStation Network in this way - perhaps it would be better to use streaming tech to get demos seen by a new audience, one perhaps not so concerned with matters like input lag or video quality - things that are noticed by the core audience.
I would hope that Sony would take a more measured approach in how Gaikai is deployed, especially as there are major technological issues to overcome in integrating the technology into the PlayStation Network. Gaikai's chosen infrastructure uses a completely different hardware architecture to any PlayStation platform, past or present. Sony has traditionally created its own gaming hardware, while David Perry's outfit uses server farms based on Intel processors and NVIDIA graphics cores. "Streaming existing PlayStation content over Gaikai can't happen overnight - the cloud infrastructure runs on fundamentally different architecture - Sony will need time to adapt."
The obvious solution would be to roll-out a mass of back-compat PlayStation 3s to the Gaikai datacentres, perhaps utilising a variation of Sony's Remote Play technology to get everything integrated fairly easily. Unfortunately, this wouldn't produce very good results: even when using a local network, Remote Play is very laggy, and factoring in the internet would reduce a sub-optimal experience to a borderline unplayable one on any fast-action game. This approach would fly in the face of all the hard work Gaikai has done in making cloud gaming work, and to be frank, Sony could do it themselves without forking out $380m for the privilege. It's the know-how, tech and infrastructure that Sony has paid for.
The basics of "how cloud works" in providing a playable experience are fairly straightforward: the idea is to get close to current
...
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has claimed that more than 50 per cent of Japanese hardware sales are taken by 3DS.
The platform holder's CEO defended the handheld's sales performance during a recent meeting with shareholders, according to VG247.
"While the Nintendo 3DS has a certain degree of sales momentum in Japan, the momentum in the US and Europe is currently weak," said Iwata.
"Sales are constant in Japan and in face we could say the sales volume is exceeding our forecast at the start of this fiscal year. After the beginning of this calendar year, the average unit sales have been 83,000 units on a weekly basis.
"This means that about 55 per cent of all gaming hardware sales in Japan consist of the Nintendo 3DS. Now, with the level of sales momentum for the Nintendo 3DS created since the year end, we would say the center of the Japanese video game market has been the 3DS."
The Nintendo president estimated that the 3DS accounts for roughly 20 per cent in other major territories like the US.
However, while this is not as impressive as its Japanese market share, Iwata attributed this to cultural differences between the territories.
"One of the difficulties Nintendo is facing in terms of spreading the Nintendo 3DS is the difference of the mainstream products between Japan, where the handheld video games are the main products, and the US, where the home console video games are the main ones.
"In the US, video games means home console video games. However, in Japan, those who say that video games mean home console games are only about half of all respondents, and handheld-type games have more significant appeal."
Consumers who buy New Super Mario Bros 2 from GAME or Gamestation will receive a special coin case.
The case is a replica of Mario's iconic coins, and can hold a 'number of small objects' including 3DS game cards.
The upcoming Mario title is part of a fresh push behind 3DS, and it follows the arrival of New Art Academy and 3DS XL later this month.
The game puts a twist on the traditional Mario platforming game, encouraging gamers to collect as many coins as possible.
New Super Mario Bros 2 arrives on August 17th for 3DS. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/new-s...to-game/099014
...
The download numbers of New Super Mario Bros 2 will be made public so that the industry 'can better understand' that market, Nintendo has said.
The platform holder will launch New Super Mario Bros 2 and Onitore (a new Brain Training) via retail and digital at the same time.
It comes in contrast to other digital heavyweights – such as Steam – which has been resistant in sharing digital download figures with the wider market. And it will allow the industry to directly compare physical sales with retail.
The news was announced by Satoru Iwata, who was answering a shareholder question on the prospect of making physical goods - such as books and CDs - available as an incentive to buy download goods from traditional retailers.
"We would like to show the public the number of New Super Mario Bros. 2 or Onitore that have been sold by download so that those
in this industry can make the next move after finding out the consumer behaviour toward download version," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
"When they know the size of the digital distribution market, they might be inclined to accept a certain inventory risk to try the download sales with special features."
It is yet another progressive statement from Nintendo about the digital download market, and backs up recent calls from UKIE and Chart-Track, who want more publishers and retailers to share their download data.
Square Enix has announced a new version of Final Fantasy VIIwhich will be heading to PC soon.
While the game saw a boxed release in 1997, the latest iteration will be digital only and bolstered by a number of tweaks.
Chief among these a new character booster system that will allow you to crank your HP, MP and Gil levels up to their maximum at a click of a button, mitigating any bottlenecks. Whether this will take the form of a free function or microtransaction remains unclear.
Fittingly, the game also introduces cloud saving, allowing you to pick up your game on any PC. There will also be upscaled visuals and 36 achievements to unlock if you need any further encouragement to take up Avalanche's fight one more time.
See the announcement trailer below, or head over to the official site.
"Bill Gates, in an interview with Charlie Rose last night, defended the move to Metro-ize Windows 8 and focus solely on the tablet experience (here's the video — tablet talk starts around 28 minutes in). When asked how traditional PC users will react, he explained that the world is moving into tablets, and a new PC needs to have both experiences integrated together. Also, he defended the move to build the Surface while charging his competitors a bundle for Windows 8. He says users have access to both experiences, whether it is a signature Microsoft one, or from an OEM. Is the a sign the desktop is dead or dying?"Gates stopped short of saying the traditional PC is dead, but dodged direct questions about its future. This is a big change to the stance he has advocated in years pas
The difference in graphical power will not be as wide as it was with the Wii', says Iwata
The difference in graphical power between the Wii U and other next-gen consoles will not be as drastic as with the Wii, Nintendo’s CEO has claimed.
Speaking at a recent shareholder meeting, Satoru Iwata said that whilst some consumers would be concerned by a potential lack of power compared to other consoles, Nintendo would try and make the most out of the performance of the Wii U to keep up with other tech.
He also said that the Wii U would have more multi-platform titles than the Wii, although admitted he could not promise this would last in the long-term
“We can at least assure you that the Wii U will not have such a big difference as the Wii had in comparison to how, on other platforms, developers could expect very different graphic capabilities of generating HD-applicable high-resolution graphics,” said Iwata.
“Other companies might launch a next-generation console with more power, but we don’t necessarily think that the difference between the Wii U and such console will be as drastic as what you felt it was between the Wii and the other consoles because there will be fewer and fewer differentiators in graphics.
June 2013 - Xbox One and PS4 Preorders and a Flash Cart for the 3DS
Forum Stats
DCEmu News Archive
News Categories
DCEmu Tags