DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
wraggster
by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:40
The current generation of games consoles could struggle to deliver the types of game experiences the majority of gamers want and end up as niche products within a couple of years, according to Playfish chief executive Kristian Segerstrale.
As the demand for social games distributed via Facebook and other social networking sites grows, he predicts that incompatible, prohibitively expensive games consoles could fail to compete with the more accessible and connected experiences online services can deliver.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Segerstrale said: "I think that games consoles - while they might be an important part of the industry now - might become niche in the next couple of years. It's not at all clear if it even makes sense to deliver this type of gaming on a home console."
While Microsoft's move to market the Xbox 360 as a social entertainment experience is a step in the right direction, ultimately the platform cannot compete with PC and other internet connected portable devices, he predicts.
"The challenge is, no matter how social you try to make a console not everybody has one. Not all your real world friends will have the same console as you do. No matter how social you make it you will only reach, if you like, vertically. You will only reach your friends who have an Xbox 360."
Going on to discuss EA's entry into the social gaming market, Segerstrale was positive about the publisher's involvement, saying a big presence in the market by them will lead to higher quality experiences for users.
"They clearly believe, much as we believe, that games are becoming services and that retail distribution for games will decline quite rapidly from here onwards. And I think that the most important thing for social games is to ensure the quality of the end user experience."
"The only threat that I see to the industry is that in the search for early profit and maximising early results for companies, companies will act overly aggressively in how they try to monetise users, which is not good for anybody," he added.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ducts-playfish ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:29
3D video games won’t be mass market for at least another five years, Data Design Interactive has told MCV.
The casual games specialist is to launch one of the first 3D video games, Battle Rage: The Robot Wars – which comes with 3D glasses – ahead of Ubisoft’s highly anticipated Avatar movie tie-in.
However, the firm’s CEO Stewart Green has said that although 3D is a key development for games, it won’t be a mainstream phenomenon until 3D TVs become better established.
“3D is a big enhancement to the player’s environment, and as now it is part of our development system we will support it in future titles,” commented Green.
“But it will not be common practice until the mass market has 3D TV, which is not going to happen until perhaps five years from now.
“With a huge output of casual games, we are probably not thought of as innovators, but casual games are what the public wanted, and we have continued to provide the public with what something they want to buy. 3D is a huge seller this year with 12 3D films being released.”
DDI has also been experimenting with other new technology, including Wii MotionPlus and Wii Speak.
“Our development system is rapid and reliable; we managed to publish 20 games in just ten months. No other developer or publisher could achieve this,” added Green. “With such a quick and easy development process, it is not a lot of work for us to implement new hardware and release innovative titles.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34915/DDI-...ream-for-years ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:28
In 1994, Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum patented a technology that allowed users to communicate live while playing the same game in separate locations.
Specifically, the patent in question is for an "apparatus and method for electrically connecting remotely located videogames," reports Patent Arcade.
Eight years later Microsoft released Xbox Live, while Sony launched an online gaming service for PS2.
In the suit - originally filed against the hardware makers in August 2004 - the plaintiffs alleged that both systems' voice and data communications technology infringed on their patent. They sought a permanent injunction and damages.
Sony settled its suit in April 2009, leaving Microsoft as the sole remaining defendant.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=218745 ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:27
Picture the scene: you've been working at Nintendo in Japan for 10 years. You've worked both as a programmer and as a designer on titles as ubiquitous as Wii Play and Wii Fit. So what do you do?
You quit the company in order to start a website dedicated to user-generated pictures of action figures, of course.
According to an article on ITmedia, Motoi Okayama, 33, is a self-confessed internet addict - "to the point where people wondered when I was able to sleep", he said - and was growing disillusioned with the fact that his job at Nintendo didn't give him the opportunity to work with the internet.
"Thinking about my 10 years at Nintendo, I started to get impatient, that there were these things I wanted to do. The fact that I didn't get to have an influence on the internet disappointed me. Nintendo has a very strong family-orientated brand, and I felt certain resistance to being able to start up any new online services.
"Nintendo doesn't have any projects relating to the internet, and it'll never pull out completely from packaged goods. It just seemed the next step."
The website, FG, was launched nine months ago, and now features 18,000 members. And it's not the last he plans to create, either: "Because I've come late to the net business scene, I want to try all sorts of weird things, and keep on creating new services."
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...eaves-Nintendo ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:25
Actual real life DJ hero, Grandmaster Flash, has told Rolling Stone that DJ Hero will be the "most popular thing to do in gaming on the planet."
The old skool DJ has been involved with the game for over a year now and has contributed in all areas from mixes, voiceovers to type of language to use. We hope it's in English.
The confirmed track list has also grown:
David Bowie - "Lets Dance" vs. KRS-1 - "Jack Of Spades"
Nirvana - "All Apologies" vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Zombies - "Time Of The Season" vs. Chuck Brown - "Bustin Loose"
Grandmaster Flash - "Here Comes My DJ" vs. Gary Numan - "Cars"
Herbie Hancock - "Rockit" vs. N.E.R.D. - "Lapdance"
Jay Z - "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" vs. Eminem - "My Name Is"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs. Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc"
Dizzee Rascal - "Fix Up, Look Sharp' vs. Justice - "Genesis"
Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl' vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Jurassic 5 - "Jayou" vs. Herbie Hancock - "Rockit"
Tears for Fears - "Shout' vs. Eric Prydz - "Pjanoo (Radio Edit)"
Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow' vs. Benni Benassi - "Satisfaction"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage" vs. Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
If you're mad about Grandmaster Flash, then you might like to throw OXM a few questions as they'll be interviewing him soon.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=218737 ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:24
The current-gen UK console install base has hit 24.2 million units, according to data released by Chart-Track.
Wii comfortably leads the way in the UK with 5.4 million units sold as of June 27, 2009. Xbox 360 sales are currently at 3.9 million while PS3 sales sit at 2.2 million, says Chart-Track.
On the handheld front DS sales are approaching ten million units and in comparison PSP has shipped 3.3 million units so far.
Nintendo's still winning then. Full data follows:
DS - 9.4 million (including 300,000 DSi sales)
Wii - 5.4 million
Xbox 360 - 3.9 million
PSP - 3.3 million
PS3 - 2.2 million
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=218724 ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:24
Platform holder was simply waiting for digital market to mature, says head of product planning
Sony had planned to release a 'network centric' model of the PSP ever since the beginning, according to an interview on website GameBusiness.jp.
In an interview with the head of SCE's product planning division, Naoya Matsui, it has been revealed that the company was simply waiting for the digital pipeline to reach a mature-enough state to sustain such a device.
"We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," says Matsui. "But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy. We needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferral of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as 'Media Go'.
"We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. Thats what we've been working on these past two years. We'll be selling the PSPgo alongside the existing PSP models, because it's a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content."
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-the-beginning ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:23
Universal Music has pledged its back catalogue to a new karaoke game set to challenge SingStar. CasualGaming.biz's sister site MCV has revealed that French label Mindscape will publish U-Sing in time for Christmas across the UK and Europe.
The firm has previously signed distribution deals with UK publishers for releases in the territory – such as its deal with Koch for Deal Or No Deal and Golden Balls games, plus the upcoming Coronation Street title.
However, MCV reveals that U-Sing will be independently published by Mindscape following the deal with Universal.
A Mindscape spokesperson told MCV: “U-Sing will offer the whole family the chance to sing the hits of Universal Music – from the biggest known classics through to the latest trendy tunes.
“Each country will have its own list of most popular local and international artists.”
The U-Sing brand will become a full series in future, with each game offering different game modes and Voxler voice recognition technology.
They will be marketed in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux and Australia and will eventually become available on all platforms.
Artists such as Amy Winehouse, Black Eyed Peas, Girls Aloud, Paul Weller and Lady GaGa are on Universal’s books – but U-Sing’s song line-up is yet to be confirmed.
The title appears to fit with Universal’s ‘U’ re-branding. Its UK website was last year renamed to Umusic.co.uk.
http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/288...Sonys-SingStar ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:21
Telltale Games has released a clip from Tales of Monkey Island, coming to Wii and PC later this year. See it here.
"It's a peek at the first few moments of Tales of Monkey Island Chapter One, 'Launch of the Screaming Narwhal'. You might notice that it includes an sample of some of the inventory-item-combining action you'll face while playing," says the dev.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=218694 ...by Published on July 2nd, 2009 16:10
Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft's mysterious "Pink" smartphone project? Good, cause we've got a few -- and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of "Pink" is now that it's a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what's left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded -- as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What's more, Redmond wouldn't be letting third parties use this new UI -- Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who've made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back -- companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it's another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft's selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild -- we haven't even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it's based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or... you get the idea. Hey Microsoft -- you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/m...osoft-branded/ ...- Search DCEmu
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