via Nintendo Wii Fanboy


On Friday, Mexican police stormed 12 different suspected counterfeiters. They managed to come away with 15,000 counterfeit Nintendo products, including over 4,500 counterfeit Wii discs. Going down in a major "fayuca" (contraband) market in Guadalajara, it's yet another campaign against crime in the territory as customs agents also recently nabbed over 5,000 counterfeit products entering Manzanillo, from China.

"Mexico is Nintendo's largest market in Latin America, where the problem of video game piracy is widespread," said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy. "Since January, Nintendo has worked with law enforcement agencies worldwide to seize 100,000 counterfeit Wii games." ...

via PS3 Fanboy


After months of reports proving that Blu-ray sells more movies than HD-DVD, Paramount's parent company Viacom has announced that they are dropping Blu-ray support and going HD-DVD exclusive. According to Viacom, they made this decision based on researching the benefits of HD-DVD, which "confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD." Some of the benefits of HD-DVD that they mentioned included lower sales, a much smaller user base, and limited storage space (okay okay, they actually said 'market ready technology' and 'lower manufacturing costs').

There are rumors of a 150 million dollar payout by the HD-DVD consortium to nab the Viacom exclusivity, which sure would help explain the move more than the officially given reasons. Regardless, we now can look at the format-war that nobody wanted getting strung out even longer. Yay -- thanks Viacom. ...

via PS3 Fanboy


While at Sony's 3Rooms brand space in London today we had some hands-on time with Folklore and Eye of Judgment (more on those later today). We also saw a couple of things we didn't expect to see, including a PS3 attached to a PlayStation Eye running a game we haven't seen before. Trials of Topoq is a "run the ball through the level" game which reminded us of Kula World on the PS1.

The game requires you to move the ball around the different layers of each castle, breaking open cages as you go. Each level has a different task, including getting to the end within a time limit and breaking a certain amount of cages before reaching the finish line. Crossbows can be found around the levels which, when the ball is rolled into it, will shoot you to a hidden area of the level.

The ball is not moved via the analogue stick, nor the SIXAXIS. Instead, the floor of the castle shows an image of what the PlayStation Eye can see. By moving your arms (or any other part of you, really) you affect the height of the floor temporarily. The idea is to create slopes to guide the ball around and collect the items (or "smash the cages" as the game calls it) whilst making yourself look like a prat in the process.

We snapped a few photos of the game in action, check out the gallery below to see all three. There's no word on whether the game will come bundled with the PlayStation Eye, sold separately or be downloadable. No doubt we'll hear more at Leipzig.


Screenshots here ...

via PS3 Fanboy


This week we get a nice variety of Blu-ray movies hitting the shelves. We have the German post-WWII thriller, The Lives of Others, the Beethoven love story Immortal Beloved, Perfect Stranger a high tech sex thriller with Halle Barry and Bruce Willis, and Van Wilder, a classic a teenager sex comedy with Ryan Reynolds. Here's the official release list:

• The Lives of Others
• Immortal Beloved
• Perfect Stranger
• National Lampoon's Van Wilder (Unrated)

...

via Computer and Video Games


Seeing as we can't read the Korean written word we'll have to take the internet's word for it, but apparently Tecmo is to unveil Ninja Gaiden 2 at this year's Tokyo Game Show - that's according to Korean gaming press.

And so far, the sequel has only been mentioned in relation to Xbox 360, implying - if the info's all accurate of course - an exclusive for Microsoft's console.

Or it could turn out to be one of those timed exclusive things. We can but wait and see...

Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the remake of the fantastic Ninja Gaiden for Xbox, recently released for PS3 and was extremely well received (go read a review).

This year's Tokyo Game Show runs from September 20 to Sept. 23. ...

via Eurogamer


Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has said a demo for 360 exclusive Too Human is in the works and should emerge at some point before the game's release in 2008.

He was talking in the forums of fan site TooHuman.net, where he reassured us the game had suffered no delays as a result of the conflict between SK and Epic Games.

"Too Human will be out in 2008. A firm date with tons of new info is coming soon. This will be followed up with a playable demo. The demo will speak for itself," said Dyack.

In July, Silicon Knights accused Epic Games of misleading it regarding the capabilities of the Unreal Engine 3, as well as not providing it with a final development kit in a timely fashion or offering enough support in favour of completing its own games Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3.

Epic denied the allegations and has since counter-sued, claiming Silicon Knights attempted to "take Epic's licensed technology, pay nothing for it, and use it any way it pleases".

Too Human is a trilogy of role-playing games exclusively for Xbox 360, with each instalment reckoned to be costing a record breaking USD 80 to 100 million each.

It's based around Norse mythology but set in a technologically advanced part of ancient history. You'll collect hordes of equipment, battle through waves of enemies, gain up to 50 levels and customise your character's skills and abilities to fit your play style.

It will have four-player co-operative play included, which will be a necessity when replaying the game on much more challenging settings to gather rare equipment for yourself or to trade online to others.

Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing. ...

via Eurogamer


Stormfront Studios' Don Daglow has defended the Wii's right to be called a next-generation console during his GCDC speech in Germany this afternoon.

"I'm sure that somewhere in this little section of this room, there's somebody who does not believe the Wii is next-gen," he said.

"It does not have the processing power the 360 or the PS3 do, and you can make the consistent argument that, without that processing power, it can not revolutionise the entire experience. That's debateable, and we get to decide."

"Nobody gets to tell us what we think is next-gen - we get to decide for ourselves. I can help start arguing, but we get to decide for ourselves."

During a reflective one-hour session towards the end of GCDC's first day, Daglow, president and CEO of Stormfront, also encouraged his fellow developers to look beyond the traditional definition of "next generation".

"Next-gen hardware is any platform that, upon its introduction, dramatically changes players' view of the potential for interactive entertainment," he said, before arguing that it's a definition that fits software as well.

"If it changes the player's view of what interactive entertainment is; if you think differently about it; if you have a new perspective after playing the game that you didn't have before, to me that's next-gen," he told the audience.

To support that point of view, Daglow put forward a range of games that had shifted perspectives and proven influential in hindsight - games like Sim City, Guitar Hero, Geometry Wars and World of Warcraft.

The veteran developer - whose career has also encompassed spells at Intellivision, Broderbund and EA - devoted the early part of his session to examining the cyclical nature of console cycles. He spoke of the way developers' appreciation of the hardware matures each time, how certain types of game and certain types of consumer form noticeable patterns, and how people - developers, press and public - tend to react to consoles in distinct ways at each point.

"We've spent a quarter of a century saying 'the machine is holding me back'," he said to begin. "The only problem is that now the machines are so powerful, we've lost our excuse."

"So we've thought about this for a while as game designers - and decided we're going to blame the finance guys," he joked.

Echoing sentiments expressed in Julian Eggebrecht's keynote at the top of the event, he finished by imploring the developers in the audience, to whom he paid tribute, to continue pressing forward. "That search for next-gen is what inspires us to keep trying to change and create new things, has us seeking to dramatically change people's views of what this medium can do."

"As a game player, the one thing I want to ask you is never to give up," he said. "There is always a next-gen available tomorrow." ...

via Games Industry


2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, has announced that it will be publishing Gearbox Software's Borderlands.

"Borderlands represents an important evolutionary leap in game design and technology," said 2K president Christoph Hartmann. "By utilizing revolutionary new technology to create thousands of unique, randomly generated missions, weapons and situations, Borderlands will raise the bar for next gen action games."

The sci-fi themed first-person shooter, in development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Games for Windows platforms, will feature a unique content generation system and four player co-operative play.

"Borderlands creates a universe of gameplay that goes far beyond anything anyone would expect. We're tapping into every bit of Gearbox Software's experience with the biggest science fiction video game franchises, then taking everything way past the next level," said Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software.

Borderlands is scheduled for a 2008 holiday season release. ...

via Games Industry


PlayStation, PC and multiformat magazines in the UK have once again posted declining circulation figures, although the performance of a handful of Xbox 360 titles have managed to grow for the six months ended June 30, 2007.

Future Publishing's Official Xbox 360 has increased its circulation to almost 65,700, up from 56,000 for the six months ended December 2006. Imagine Publishing's 360 has also seen a marginal increase from 11,369 to 12,017.

Xbox World 360, another title from Future, has seen circulation climb from 23,000 to 30,200 and Uncooked Media's 360 Gamer has risen to 12,500, from 10,600. Imagine's X360 has also benefited from improved circulation from 28,000 to just over 30,100 issues.

Future's PlayStation portfolio is looking grim in contrast, with all titles recording a drop in circulation. Official PlayStation 2 figures are now below 44,200, compared to 76,300 for the period ended in December.

Unofficial titles PlayStation World (17,132) PSM3 (24,121) and cheat magazine Powerstation (15,171) are all down.

Future's PC gaming titles have also suffered over the past six months, with PC Gamer (41,600), PC Zone (24,400) and PC Format (28,300) all taking a knock in circulation.

Edge and Games Master, Future's multiformat titles, continue the downward trend, recording figures of 30,000 (down from 35,000) and 47,800 (down from 53,900).

The Official Nintendo magazine has seen a rise in circulation, with numbers growing from around 43,000 to almost 48,000.

Imagine Publishing does not release six month circulation figures for PS2 magazine Play and multiformat title GamesTM. ...