DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
Shrygue
by Published on March 14th, 2008 19:20
via Computer and Video Games
Microsoft is confident that having a huge library of games on its console will attract the mainstream masses, as it says Xbox 360 will be the first current-gen console to reach a games library of 1000 games this summer (that's Xbox Live Arcade included).
That's according to European Xbox VP Chris Lewis, who told trade mag MCV that, coupled with Xbox Live, the milestone will help attract more mainstream consumers to Microsoft's console.
"We'll have north of 1,000 games on 360 by the summer, across Live and boxed product," Lewis said. "Titles such as our sports games, Scene It! and Guitar Hero - which has become a preferential experience on Xbox 360 - has already proved that, and we have lot more coming in that space this year.
"The number of people that have signed up to the Live service so far is testament to the fact that there are a broad spectrum of consumers enjoying the service," he added.
"That can only grow as we expand the likes of Live Arcade and Live Video Store. We're listening hard to what casual consumers want as you see us release more and more content that appeals to a broad audience."
They're being a bit cheeky with the numbers (of course they haven't got 1000 boxed games yet) but of course 360's massive games library isn't something to be snuffed at. After all, isn't the unmatched variety of games the reasons so many people bought PS2s? ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 19:10
via Computer and Video Games
Just when we were getting really bored of Street Fighter IV screenshots, Capcom's gone and released the best batch yet (there's different stages and everything!).
We popped down to Capcom's offices earlier this week for a bash, and it is indeed a bloody brilliant re-imagining of the classic Street Fighter gameplay. As you've probably gathered it looks terrific as well.
Ahem, now that we've taken care of Capcom's PR duties for the day, head on over to the earlier Street Fighter IV impressions, which will soon be updated with our own, gushing words.
Screenshots ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 19:04
via Games Industry
In the wake of Microsoft's announcement at the beginning of this week that it was cutting the price of the Xbox 360 across Europe, The simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich believes a similar move in the US is the company's "only feasible and economic option" to combat Sony's PlayStation 3 momentum.
"Whether there is an Xbox 360 shortage or not, it is clear that the PS3 has gained considerable ground on its rival," he said, as the impact of last year's PS3 price cut and Sony's Blu-ray victory become clear.
"Given these past two months and the momentum that the PS3 has gained, Microsoft must react quickly as the PS3's momentum will only get stronger until Microsoft reacts."
The Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is now cheaper in Europe than the Nintendo Wii, and half the price of the PS3, and Divnich believes that a similar move in the US is needed.
"In the short-term, Microsoft's only feasible and economical option is to look at reducing its hardware price in North America to at least slow down the PS3's momentum until it can implement more long-term solutions to winning the next-generation console war," he said.
Chris Lewis, Microsoft's newly-promoted VP of Interactive and Entertainment in Europe, yesterday told GamesIndustry.biz that the price cut would "open up the mass-market floodgates."
"We enjoy 42 per cent of that revenue share right now in this generation," he detailed. "That's a key milestone for us to have met and surpassed. We're also attaching just a little bit over seven games for every console – considerably ahead of where we stand with our competition." ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 19:01
via Eurogamer
BioWare has confirmed some old friends will be making a comeback in DS RPG Sonic Chronicles - whether you like it or not.
"I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," studio manager Greg Zeschuk told MTV.
"They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalise the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat."
According to co-founder Ray Muzyka, it's all about choice - as with all BioWare games. "The choice is moment to moment; it's in the story, it's within your exploration. It's also within your choice of companion characters and sidekicks. You're going to have a different experience in BioWare games depending on who you bring with you."
So what about the fact many people hate all of Sonic's stupid friends, especially that moronic mutant fox? "One of the things we're trying to do is make people feel something, an emotional attachment. And it could be dislike. Dislike is an emotion," Muzyka said.
"If you provoke that kind of emotion and you're trying to provoke that, it's a good thing. Provided you allow players to enjoy the experience throughout. Hopefully they like some characters. Hopefully they dislike some characters. And if we can bring that and maximise that, it'll be really fun."
Great. Sonic Chronicles is out later this year. ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 19:01
via Eurogamer
BioWare has confirmed some old friends will be making a comeback in DS RPG Sonic Chronicles - whether you like it or not.
"I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," studio manager Greg Zeschuk told MTV.
"They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalise the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat."
According to co-founder Ray Muzyka, it's all about choice - as with all BioWare games. "The choice is moment to moment; it's in the story, it's within your exploration. It's also within your choice of companion characters and sidekicks. You're going to have a different experience in BioWare games depending on who you bring with you."
So what about the fact many people hate all of Sonic's stupid friends, especially that moronic mutant fox? "One of the things we're trying to do is make people feel something, an emotional attachment. And it could be dislike. Dislike is an emotion," Muzyka said.
"If you provoke that kind of emotion and you're trying to provoke that, it's a good thing. Provided you allow players to enjoy the experience throughout. Hopefully they like some characters. Hopefully they dislike some characters. And if we can bring that and maximise that, it'll be really fun."
Great. Sonic Chronicles is out later this year. ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 18:58
via IGN
Nintendo's Virtual Console is this week singing to the tune of gunfire, with two classic shooters available for download in the UK.
First up is Super R-Type, the SNES entry in Irem's long-running series of glacially-paced side-scrolling shooters. It joins the TurboGrafx version already available on the Virtual Console, and is best remembered for its crippling slowdown. As such it's not the series most gracious moment – that accolade arguably going to R-Type Final – but it's still a wholesome blast at 800 Wii points.
Also on offer is the NES's take on the arcade light-gun game Operation Wolf which, on Virtual Console, bizarrely neglects to take advantage of the Wiimote, forcing players to wrestle with the standard controller mode. All of which earnt it a spectacular IGN score of '2.0' when it was reviewed stateside earlier this year, suggesting there're better ways to spend 500 Wii points.
Virtual Console European Releases, March 14
NES – 500 Wii Points
Operation Wolf (1987)
SNES – 800 Wii Points
Super R-Type (1991) ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 18:53
via Computer and Video Games
Excellent news; Namco Bandai has confirmed that Mr. Driller Online will be tunnelling his way to Xbox Live Arcade. And yeah, there are online modes planned as well. Get in!
The oddly camp tradesman first appeared in arcades in 1999, then in puzzle iterations on Dreamcast, PS2 and DS. And we love it.
There's no official blurb on the XBLA version as yet (not in English, anyway), but from these Japanese-released screenshots below, we can work out that there's a single-player mode, Xbox Live play and all that leaderboard gubbins we've already come to expect.
Oh, and it's been rated "E for Everyone" by the ESRB, in case you were worried about violent gut drilling.
Screenshots ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 18:49
via Computer and Video Games
Wii Software (aka WiiWare) developers have revealed Nintendo's "secret war" with Xbox Live Arcade, in a series of chats with game dev website Develop.
The developers, who are conveniently speaking under conditions of anonymity, have revealed Nintendo's plans to capitalise on developer's frustrations with Xbox Live Arcade, which recently had its developer royalties slashed in half.
According to Develop, Nintendo has been pitching to studios what it says is a "more flexible" game download service. Allegedly, it's also been plugging the fact that unlike XBLA, Wii Software won't be clogged with retro releases - something goat man Jeff Minter famously threw a wobbly over.
"Nintendo has made it very clear to us that we'll not only be making a better royalty rate from WiiWare games, but we'll also have a better chance of selling games - the service won't be clogged up with the retro titles that have blighted the chances of many independent studios on Xbox Live Arcade," said one studio boss, who didn't want to be named.
Another Wii Software developer added: "Frankly, we're not looking at making games for Xbox Live Arcade because the service is full of shit," pointing at its abundance of retro titles. Big words for an anonymous man.
Wii Software is set to launch in Japan at the end of the month with launch games including Pokemon Ranch, Dr. Mario and Star Soldier R. Yep, no retro remakes there at all. ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 18:49
via Computer and Video Games
Wii Software (aka WiiWare) developers have revealed Nintendo's "secret war" with Xbox Live Arcade, in a series of chats with game dev website Develop.
The developers, who are conveniently speaking under conditions of anonymity, have revealed Nintendo's plans to capitalise on developer's frustrations with Xbox Live Arcade, which recently had its developer royalties slashed in half.
According to Develop, Nintendo has been pitching to studios what it says is a "more flexible" game download service. Allegedly, it's also been plugging the fact that unlike XBLA, Wii Software won't be clogged with retro releases - something goat man Jeff Minter famously threw a wobbly over.
"Nintendo has made it very clear to us that we'll not only be making a better royalty rate from WiiWare games, but we'll also have a better chance of selling games - the service won't be clogged up with the retro titles that have blighted the chances of many independent studios on Xbox Live Arcade," said one studio boss, who didn't want to be named.
Another Wii Software developer added: "Frankly, we're not looking at making games for Xbox Live Arcade because the service is full of shit," pointing at its abundance of retro titles. Big words for an anonymous man.
Wii Software is set to launch in Japan at the end of the month with launch games including Pokemon Ranch, Dr. Mario and Star Soldier R. Yep, no retro remakes there at all. ...by Published on March 14th, 2008 18:46
via Eurogamer
NPD's US hardware sales figures for the month of February have revealed Nintendo is winning, you will be shocked and stunned to hear.
More than 587,000 DS units were shifted during the month - that's more than twice the number of PSPs sold (243,000).
The Wii was in second place with 432,000 units shifted. The PlayStation 2 outsold its big brother with more than 351,000 units snapped up compared to the PS3's 280,000. Xbox 360 was in fifth place, racking up sales of 254,000 consoles.
But Microsoft will have been cheered up by news that the two best-selling games of the month, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Devil May Cry 4, were both on Xbox 360. Wii Play came in at No. 3 followed by the PS3 version of DMC4.
In fifth place was Guitar Hero III for Wii, while the PS2 version made it to No. 9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics DS was at six, followed by more Xbox 360 games - Lost Odyssey and Turok - at seven and eight. The Xbox 360 version of Rock Band rounded off the chart at No. 10.
See, said Microsoft, everyone likes us really, pointing out that USD 332 million was spent on Xbox 360 games and consoles during February - compared to USD 283 million on Wii and USD 235 million on PS3. And besides, the company claimed, again, stock shortages meant it didn't have enough machines to sell.
The number of Americans who own an Xbox 360 has now reached 9.6 million. The figure for Wii stands at 8.1 million while for PS3 it's 3.8 million - though it's worth remembering that Microsoft's console had a head start.
People are buying more games for 360, all the same; the attach rate is now 7.2 games per console, nearly double the rate for Nintendo and Sony's machines.
Who cares, said Sony, we sold 10 per cent more consoles than you, and year-on-year sales growth is up 120 per cent. According to bossman Jack Tretton, "Consumers are recognising the tremendous value of PS3 and we believe that Blu-ray becoming the high-def format of choice was the tipping point for many consumers."
He reckons the release of titles like Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV will make this "the year for PS3".
Hahaha whatever said Nintendo, having kicked both Sony and Microsoft's faces off in no uncertain terms. "Our momentum has not let up since the holidays and we expect it to continue throughout the year," observed Nintendo of America exec Cammie Dunaway.
"We have the industry's strongest line-up of games for everyone from core to casual gamers." And the strongest lineup of gold bars, diamond rings and luxury yachts, of course. ...- Search DCEmu
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