DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
wraggster
by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:57- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
We'll wait while you click these links -- Xbox720.com and PlayStation4.com -- to see that they do indeed redirect to random technology-news pages. We'll even wait a little longer as you open a new tab, type both of those addresses in and see that we weren't lying, and they really do redirect to unofficial sites. Now we'll take a few seconds to get over the fact that you didn't trust us. Without trust there is no love; remember that.
Yesterday Xbox720.com redirected to the US PlayStation website, but it appears the domain owner has used the attention gained from that to open his own blog, Fusible reports. Xbox720.com now redirects to a tech-news aggregation site and was previously monetized via Google's Adsense program; before that it hosted random sites dating back to 2006 at least. In November 2011, the site was registered to Jeremiah Germany, but that information is now protected through Whois Privacy.
PlayStation4.com redirects to a PlayStation news and cheat site.
It appears the redirections aren't as vindictive as the ModernWarfare3.comdebacle, in which a Battlefield fan used the domain to convert Call of Duty players to his shooter of choice. We don't even know what the next Xbox will be called -- considering the first Xbox wasn't called "180," it's not set in stone that the third iteration will follow in the 360's footsteps. However, Microsoft'sXbox360.com redirects to the main Xbox site, and Sony's PlayStation3.comheads to the US PlayStation page, so it follows that they would want similar sites to do the same.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/de...-by-microsoft/ ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:33- Categories:
- DCEmu
“There's no margin to be made on new releases anymore.” MCV hears this more and more from specialist stores every week.
Once upon a time boxed games would be sold very close to their RRP on release day. But this hasn’t been the trend for years.
Earlier this month we revealed the average cost of a boxed game drops by 23.5 per cent after one month on sale, 30.8 per cent after two, and 39 per cent after three. On day one the average cost to the consumer can be lower than the trade price.
Online retailers and supermarkets are the drivers here. This has put extra pressure on the traditional High Street specialists who can’t compete.
Konami’s UK general manager Pete Stone explains: “Discounting by UK retailers has been ferocious during the past few years. Major retailers justified their discounting by using phrases such as ‘driving volume’ but the reality has been the opposite: it has been a downward spiral.
“In the long-term we are moving towards a new era in gaming, but UK pricing has probably devalued the perception of boxed games and is leading to retailers no longer finding the category profitable.”
Major chains like GAME and HMV had a very difficult trading period last year, as well as indies who are feeling the pinch more than ever. This is due in no small part to the lack of margin on new titles.
“The discounting is serious and suicidal,” says a leading indie, who wishes to remain anonymous. “The £37.49 average launch price for FIFA 12 was already £5.71 below our cost price.
“I wonder what will happen to publishers when the retailers stop funding the discounted prices for them. Surely at some point the goodwill will run out, and would the consumer really pay £54.99 for FIFA 13? Or £24.99 for a new Blu-ray?”
It’s now such a problem, says HMV, that consumers and retailers could miss out in the long-term as price-cutting distorts the market.
“Such a high level of RRP discounting is not likely to be in the best long-term interests of the market or even the consumer, who may find it will ultimately result in reduced choice,” the retailer’s head of communications Gennaro Castaldo tells MCV.
“But when you have supermarkets and internet giants using content to drive traffic and share as part of a wider business agenda, it’s hard to stand back if you want to remain competitive.”
Some online retailers have reacted to maintain profit. ShopTo says it ‘sells closer to the RRP than ever’.
“ShopTo has changed its strategy over the past six months,” says purchasing director James Rowson. “We no longer want to be involved in the price war to chase orders at a loss.”
Gameseek’s MD Stephen Staley adds: “We stock new releases to drum up interest in our site but we’re not bothered if we sell any. There’s no point having a big market share on something that makes you a loss.”
There are ways for specialist retailers to make decent money on new goods.
“I have been encouraging indies to diversify into other lines and products, like mobile phone accessories, and hi-tech toys and gadgets,” says The Game Guide’s Chris Ratcliff. “Of course, it isn’t commercial suicide if you can subsidise the losses on new games sales with a healthy pre-owned business model, but even that has been ‘invaded’ by the nationals.”
Online indie Xbite believes a change at the supplier level would help solve the problem.
MD Nick Whitehead tells MCV: “If the publishers under supplied the market just by five per cent, it would actually ensure a more stable retail price point in the market.”
ShopTo says the answer is not so simple.
“If all games prices go up then the publishers will see a drop in units and may struggle to cover their ever-growing development costs, so the whole strategy needs a review,” Rowson adds.
But with such a competitive UK retail market, there’ll always be those who go low on new releases. The outlets willing to diversify could be the ones which really prosper.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/featu...-prices/091771 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:26- Categories:
- DCEmu
One of the most successful Japanese console game developers has predicted that the console market will continue to shrink and in its place will rise a stronger, dominant portable games market.
“Consoles – PS3, PS4, Xbox 360-2 – the market for those will get smaller, and the main market will become portable games,” Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi told PSM3, as reported by CVG.
“I don’t think consoles will disappear, but more and more people will use home PCs for gaming, and a long time in the future it will just be PCs and mobile phones, and eventually mobiles will become just as powerful as games consoles.”
And of course, as a games developer Nagoshi is keen to stress that from his perspective the biggest change this represents is one of interaction and control.
“Right now, that means either buttons or touchscreens – those are the only two interfaces we have,” he argued. “So I think the next big evolution will be the introduction of a new type of interface.
“Sure, we have voice input, but voice will never become the main input. So I think that whoever can figure out that new type will be victorious.
“It’s strange the number of buttons has increased and never decreased. So that means we need to reset things, somehow. I think your hands will always be directly involved. That will never change. It’ll be something you can touch.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/index.php/news/...smaller/091773 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:23- Categories:
- DCEmu
THQ’s UFC Undisputed 3 helped the UK games retail market rise 10.2 per cent to generate £14m last week. There was also retail price activity on many boxed games.
This caused a 14.8 per cent increase in overall unit sales which reached 615,298 during the week ending February 18th. EA’s FIFA 12 was the second best-selling title of the week ahead of Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Several recent releases tumbled down the charts, with Final Fantasy XIII-2 falling to No.6, The Darkness II sliding to No.8, Kingdoms of Amalur dropping to No.12 and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection dipping to No.13. Grand Slam Tennis 2 fell to No.38 after its second week on sale.
With PlayStation Vita on sale now, retailers can expect the market value to jump next week. Furthermore, a range of other titles hit shelves today (Friday, February 24th), including EA shooter Syndicate and Zumba Fitness Rush from 505 Games and Majesco.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/softw...-to-14m/091776 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:21- Categories:
- Playstation Vita News
Sony has removed the Vita Facebook application from both US and Europe PSN Stores following reports from owners of error codes when trying to access the social network on the device.
Vita owners have been unable to log in to Facebook for much of the day, with error code NP-13144-3 appearing after apparent successful log-ins that subsequently forces the application to close.
The app was originally pulled from the Europe store only, but later was removed from the US store when reports turned out to be more widespread.
Sony claimed the problem was on Facebook's end, and that they're working with the service to try to resolve it.
"We are currently looking into this to restore [the app] to normal operational status," a Sony rep explained while speaking with Joystiq. "We will announce further details when ready."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/vita-...rom-psn/091777 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:20- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
A small percentage of Xbox 360 owners have reported running into freezing issues during co-op matches of Starbreeze's just released Syndicate reboot.
The EA Forums started receiving complaints soon after the title's launch, with nearly all players reporting problems while active in co-op play.
The troubles are apparently stemming from the use of XBL Party Chat and how that affects the game's default chat.
"If you're experiencing freezing during a multiplayer match this may be due to a conflict between XBL Party Chat and the default in-game chat," an EA rep stated to Shacknews. "We've sent this issue on to the team and they will look further into it, but in the meantime try jumping out of your Party Chat and using the in-game channel to see if this fixes the issue."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xbox-...reezing/091823 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:19- Categories:
- PC News
SOE has announced the free-to-play launch of their long-standing MMO EverQuest will kick off on March 15th.
As our own Ben Parfitt reported earlier this month, the launch coincides with the 13th anniversary of the game's original launch, and plans are to introduce a number of new payment options.
"Anyone who wishes to start, return or continue to play one of the 'Best Games of All-Time' can simply download and play EverQuest on their terms," Producer Thom Terrazaz discusses in a letter to players on the EverQuest site. "Think of it as Free to Play, Your Way."
Terrazaz also touches on player engagement, and bringing in fresh numbers to energize and expand the game's community.
"With the gaming landscape changing every day, we want to ensure we continue to evolve the game to keep players engaged and bring in even more new players to further expand the community. With no up-front costs or required membership, we might see a new player or two along the way, and more people is always a good thing!"
EverQuest II went the F2P method back in 2010, and saw a large spike in player numbers based off that decision.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/free-...evealed/091824 ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:17- Categories:
- Android News
Getjar has launched a new payments system for Android devices, Getjar Gold. The virtual currency is supported by advertising, rather than customers buying it with real world dollars.
"The virtual nature of the currency and its linking to the global advertising spend solve two major problems that the traditional billing platforms have struggled with - low conversions due to the complicated user experience and the lack of access to global markets," said GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs.
"Our early results are showing significant increases in both revenue and conversion, and we expect developers will experience an increase of up to 10X for participating."
It shouldn't be a daunting move for the company, which already has Getjar Gold, which rewards gamers with virtual goods. Getjar Gold will take that to the next level, and allow gamers to earn currency that can then be used across the Getjar portfolio for items and to upgrade to premium versions of apps.
Getjar calls itself the largest independent app store, and boasts 350,000 apps which have netted 2 billion downloads. It works with around 395,000 developers.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...rtual-currency ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:15- Categories:
- Apple News,
- Apple iPad,
- Apple iPhone
Reports are circulating that Apple has acquired the app search and discovery platform Chomp, founded in 2009, adding fuel to the fire of speculation that the company's expertise will be used to fine tune a forthcoming App Store redesign.
The deal was first uncovered by TechCrunch, although no terms of the deal have yet been confirmed.
Chomp operates a search service for both iOS and Android apps and games, and has a deal in place with Verizon to power all of its marketplace searches. That deal, along with all of Chomp's other business not directly related to the Apple App Store, is likely to end once the acquisition and transition are completed.
The company's entire twenty-plus workforce is expected to be at least offered positions with the new owner, with 9-5 Mac reporting that Chomp CEO and co-founder Ben Keighran has become part of the iTunes marketing team, with CTO Kathy Edwards becoming a senior iTunes engineer.
Whether this indicates a focus on that side of Apple's business for the team and its tech remains to be seen, but the obvious application would be a revamp of the App Store itself.
Acquiring such a team could prove invaluable as Apple continues to combat its biggest problem: that of discoverability. With over half a million apps now available via the storefront, Apple has become something of a victim of its own success.
Since it began clamping down on app promotion services and paid-for drone download businesses Apple has been repositioning itself in a familiarly controlling stance over App Store rankings and the all-important front page places, but most believe that the issue cannot simply be ignored.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-startup-chomp ...by Published on February 26th, 2012 21:13- Categories:
- Retro Consoles/Translation News
Sega has unveiled Maimai, a new music game for arcades with a giant touchscreen and built-in camera.Diginfo reports that Sega hopes the game will rekindle interest in arcade music games thanks to its eye-catching design and a lower difficulty level than many of its peers."This game is very simple to play," Ryuichi Taki of Sega's R&D division says in the below video. "You only need two actions: pressing the eight buttons around the main screen; and scrolling across the middle part of the screen, which is a touchscreen."
Sega has unveiled Maimai, a new music game for arcades with a giant touchscreen and built-in camera.
Diginfo reports that Sega hopes the game will rekindle interest in arcade music games thanks to its eye-catching design and a lower difficulty level than many of its peers.
"This game is very simple to play," Ryuichi Taki of Sega's R&D division says in the below video. "You only need two actions: pressing the eight buttons around the main screen; and scrolling across the middle part of the screen, which is a touchscreen."
The front-facing camera captures footage of players, and Sega intends to add the ability to upload the results to Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico. The presence of the camera will, it is hoped, encourage players to move around while playing, which will show other arcade-goers how much fun it is, in contrast to traditional arcade music games.
"Current rhythm games in [arcades] are mostly the kind where you play by yourself and have to concentrate hard, and what you're doing is relatively hidden," Taki explains. "So we think it might be more fun to make playing more conspicuous, and show other people what you're doing.
"By using a vertical monitor, and showing not just players but also a gallery on the upper screen, and by providing a camera as well, we've developed this concept of a game where you can say to everyone, 'Look at me!'"
Maimai will be released in Japanese arcades in July, and Sega intends to release it overseas if it proves successful.
http://m.edge-online.com/news/maimai...ade-music-game
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