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by Published on April 1st, 2011 22:21- Categories:
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PlatinumGames president and CEO Tatsuya Minami has outlined a new vision for the company, as he lamented the decline of Japanese influence on the industry and proclaimed his studio as "The Japanese Standard Bearer in Global Competition".
Writing on the company's website, Minami recalls how the developer of critically acclaimed titles such as Baynoetta and Vanquish was established with the credo "deliver smiles and surprises around the world".
Following the company's five year anniversary Minami wrote: "I believe that games exist to offer fresh surprises to those who play them. As members of the games business, we have always pursued the creation of the new, and we take pride in doing our part to support our industry.
We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale.
Tatsuya Minami, PlatinumGames
"However, the current games business is struggling. The 'fresh surprises' I mention are becoming few and far between, especially in our home of Japan. Not so long ago, Japan lead the world's games business, and it was not a stretch to call games a uniquely Japanese specialty; however, now it appears that Japanese games companies have lost their vigour."
Characterising PlatinumGames as "one of the very few healthy Japanese games companies", Minami complained that: "Series grow ever-longer; original titles are on the decline. Games with new at their core are disappearing. Japanese games that garner worldwide acclaim are slipping away."
"We want our contributions to not only be towards the games industry as a whole, but also be contributions towards our homeland of Japan. That is the principle that will guide our company into the future," added Minami.
"We aim to bring happiness to gamers worldwide. We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale," he concluded. "We're in this fight for the long haul."
PlatinumGames was founded in 2006, following the closure of internal Capcom team Clover Studio - previously responsible for the Viewtiful Joe and Okami franchises. PlatinumGames has so far released four titles via publisher Sega: MadWorld, Infinite Space, Bayonetta and Vanquish.
A fifth title named Anarchy Reigns has also recently been announced for this year.
Although prominent producers Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya continue at the company the level of involvement from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami is currently unclear, following the acquisition of his studio Tango Gameworks by Bethesda owner ZeniMax.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-their-vigour
...by Published on March 31st, 2011 22:09- Categories:
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PlayStation 3's European installed base just pips the Xbox 360, so says a new sales report, but Nintendo hardware remains on top of the pile....
According to Gamasutra, data compiled by research outfit IDG and cited by US retailer GameStop in their annual report shows that, as of December 2010, the DS is way out in front with 49 million units shifted. The Wii follows in second place with 24.9 million units.
Next comes PSP at 14.8 million, with PlayStation 3 at 14.7 million. Xbox 360 comes in last at 13.7 million.
To compare that to the US scene, also as of December 2010, the DS has sold 47.3 million, the Wii 34.2 million, the Xbox 360 25.4 million, the PSP 19 million and the PlayStation 3 15.4 million.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-europe-reportby Published on March 31st, 2011 21:57- Categories:
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A UK sales study by the Entertainment Retailers Association has revealed the extent of the growth in digital sales, and how much that growth counteracts shrinkage in traditional retail.
This year, the report features digital sales information, gathered by Screen Digest, for the first time. That data shows a 23.1 per cent growth in the digital download market over the calendar year of 2010.
Screen Digest estimates that UK digital sales in 2010 were worth £411 million. Compare that to the £414 value of disc-based PlayStation 3 sales for an indication of the market's relative value.
That growth is in stark contrast to a 9 per cent overall shrinkage in the traditional games retail market, ameliorating that figure to a 3.7 per cent shrink overall when digital sales are accounted for. Traditional retail game sales brought in £1.529 billion in the UK last year, the report states, compared to £1.681 billion in 2009.
Handhelds showed the largest market loss in software, taking a massive 36.3 per cent (47.8 per cent PSP, 34.4 per cent DS) hit in 2010. No figures are provided for smartphones.
Home console software stayed largely stable with a 1.5 per cent loss, almost entirely in Wii sales. Both PS3 (up 16.9 per cent to £414m) and Xbox 360 (up 13 per cent to £538m) made gains whilst Wii retail dropped 29.1 per cent in value to £290 million. Boxed PC sales fell by 17 per cent in value to £78 million.
Hardware retail also continued its declining trend, with handheld sales down 39 per cent by volume and 33.8 in value. Static consoles dipped by 21 per cent in terms of units and 23.7 by unit value.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tail-shortfall
...by Published on March 29th, 2011 22:58- Categories:
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Call of Duty and Saints Row talent director Keith Arem believes that short-form games, for console downloadable platforms, mobile and tablets, could help Hollywood succeed in video games after years of releasing disappointing movie tie-ins on consoles.
The well-documented movie-to-game problems of low budgets and incompatible development periods have been magnified this generation, as the market for middle tier products has collapsed.
Movies such as Avatar and Iron Man have been huge hits at the cinema, but their game counterparts have had little impact in the interactive space, while some publishers have steered clear of film licenses entirely.
...by Published on March 29th, 2011 13:55- Categories:
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Kikizo’s network editor discusses how independent games developers can combat or even capitalise on file-sharing
With mass lay-offs, studios dropping like flies and mega-franchises imploding under our feet, it’s tempting to declare that there’s never been a worse time to get into video game development.
The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) fuelled further negativity back in January by estimating that software piracy – that old scourge of the computing biz – may have cost the industry as much as $1.5 billion in 2010, based on a sold-to-pirated ratio of 1:1.
While major publishers shout loudest over their hypothetical losses, common sense suggests that smaller independent studios suffer most from the explosion of piracy. These companies have no cash cushions to fall back on, no assets to sell off, no enormous legal teams to deploy in their defence.
What’s more, they’re often dependent on the internet to publicise and distribute their products, neck-deep in the very medium that gives copyright infringers their power.
But those vexing truths cut two ways: the indies are able to adapt swiftly to changing market conditions, and adopt strategies Activision or Ubisoft would deem unthinkable.
They have little to lose, but lots to gain. And their close relationship with the net may give them valuable insight into how to discourage, work around or even – whisper it – actually benefit from software piracy.
THE DANGERS OF DRM
Digital Rights Management software is the most common, and perhaps the most controversial, of anti-piracy measures. While most developers acknowledge the usefulness of such systems, few regard them as a credible long-term response to copyright theft.
DRM can be cracked like any piece of code, and are often too intrusive for many legitimate users, who resent the implication that they are guilty till proven innocent.
“I’ve never felt that it’s pragmatic to say ‘we’re going to stop pirates by having this awesome DRM system’, or by going after them specifically,” comments Joel DeYoung, director of game technology at Canadian studio Hothead Games. “And that’s not just about video games but music piracy and so forth. To me, any efforts along those lines seem to be futile.”
DeYoung’s says DRM practitioners are simply putting off the inevitable: “We’re speaking in generalities, but I don’t think that we’ll ever stamp out piracy. Any time you’re dealing with digital data, there’s going to be a way for people to get access to it without paying.
“To me it’s just about accepting the reality of that fact, and adjusting your business to deal with it.”
DeYoung seeks less to wall out the pirates and more to rethink the nature of the problem. He says: “What I’m interested in is creative ways to reduce the harm caused by it, or in some cases even turn it into a benefit for your games.”
He suggests, for example, the appearance of indie darling Minecraft on file-sharing sites may have helped expose the game to wider markets – something no developer would object to “because of the value of the publicity you’re getting”.
Swedish developer Frictional Interactive has had its run-ins with file-sharers. The firm’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent was on torrent sites 24 hours before release in October 2010.
The studio’s Jens Nilsson argues that piracy deserves analysis, rather than knee-jerk condemnation.
“We think it is important to talk about piracy – not to complain, but more to discuss it,” he said. “The option otherwise is to not say a thing and invest in DRM. Which so far always punishes the people buying the game.”
He suggests the old defence – that the industry provides a better service to the consumer than pirates may be wearing thin: “It was the exact same thing with C64 games. Game cassettes bought in the store would take forever to load but pirated “turbo games” gave you 20 games on a cassette, and loaded five times as fast.”
THE RETAILER’S TAKE
Many digital retailers insist that DRM is the best option available. But Paul Sulyok, managing director of Green Man Gaming, is open to DeYoung’s suggestion that piracy can be to an IP owner’s advantage:
“You could allow a game to be torrented so long as you have some way of doing micro-transactions or in-game ads on the back of it.
“In order to be able to properly leverage or harness piracy, you have to make sure that your business model caters to that. This is a day one decision.”
MEETING THE PIRATES HALFWAY
Nilsson points out that creating a friendly buying environment may persuade pirates to cough up.
“It is important that we get as many of those that pirated our game as possible to buy it,” he says. “They obviously liked the game, so then we feel that they are likely to pay for it under the right circumstances.
“To achieve this, you need to plan long term, so that there are lot of different ways to buy the game: during sales, in bundles, pay-what-you-want, credit cards, mobile phones, real money, bank transfers, and so on.
“We think the game is worth a certain sum but perhaps not everyone ...by Published on March 28th, 2011 19:21- Categories:
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The NPD Group has warned analysts that they are not to supply any confidential sales data to the media, as it continues to tighten access to publicly available information.
The company recently removed sales figures from its monthly reports and now only releases a top ten of best-selling games in the US without solid numbers. It has also stopped reporting hardware figures, although individual manufacturers are free to release the data.
Going further, NPD has asked that analysts remove members of the media from their mailing lists and not discuss stats with reporters or outlets.
Companies such as Wedbush Morgan and Cowen & Company include select NPD sales figures in their regular notes, informing investors of the performance of publicly traded games companies such as Activision, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft.
NPD has most recently been criticised for not providing a realistic picture of the digital sales landscape in the US, but it told GamesIndustry.biz recently that it is putting plans in place to closely monitor the market and report with monthly information.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-sales-data
...by Published on March 28th, 2011 19:19- Categories:
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Minister for culture, media and sport Jeremy Hunt has told press that he believes that the UK games industry needs to be offered government-backed financial stimulus along the lines of Canada's.
Speaking as part of an interview with the Guardian, Hunt said that whilst he was firm on the issue of refusing tax breaks, he did agree that financial aid would be a good idea.
"We need to diversify our economy, replicate some of the success of the City," Hunt claimed, with "the right regulatory framework."
Asked about the tax breaks which have so long been a central feature in the industry/government dialogue, Hunt seemed primed to disappoint. "I don't know if that was the right way to go," the minister told the Guardian, before offering some hope by adding that "we need to offer the video game industry a package as financially competitive as Canada."
What that package would consist of if it were not to include tax-breaks is uncertain, although Canada does employ many other methods.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...financial-help
...by Published on March 28th, 2011 14:55- Categories:
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A race against the clock - Play-Asia.com 48 hour Stock Clearance Frenzy starts now!
Everybody gather! It's going to be fast and you have to be quick! It might be gone in the blink of an eye and there are no restocks. Everything we have in stock, i.e. items that show a 24h icon on their pages will be discounted with only a few exceptions.
No matter whether it is a Limited Edition game, a vintage CD or the movie you have always wanted, everything will be discounted at 20% if it is in stock. To distinguish the discounted goodies from the few exceptions, their product pages will carry this 20% off logo.
If there is a game or an artist you'd love to try, now's the best time to take the leap. The clearance sales starts now and will be over on Wednesday 08:00 a.m HKT exactly, so off you go if you already have something in mind and you know that we have it.
Please come to the Sales Category to look around if you have nothing in mind but want to participate in the fun. All kinds of treasure are gathered here waiting for you to take them home, quick.
PS: Clearance Sale ends on Wednesday, 30th of March @ 8:00 AM Hong Kong Time so in reality it is longer than 48hrs.
Source: Play-Asiaby Published on March 27th, 2011 19:13- Categories:
- DCEmu
CVG recently spoke with Christofer Sundberg, co-founder of Avalanche Studios, the company behind Just Cause and its sequel. Sundberg expressed his disdain for both DRM and poor cross-platform ports, and talked about how he sees the hacker community as more of an ally than publishers do. Quoting:"'... 50 percent of the people that work for me come from a hacker background - that's true.' When asked whether approaching leading hackers and asking them to put their programming skills to good use was a wise idea, Sundberg added: 'Oh yeah. I absolutely think that's a fair approach, to think about how these people can fit on the right side of the law. It's one way, at least. Perhaps the truest pirates are too much down the road of anarchy to ever work with you in a proper way; these are the guys who see us as evil! But in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge... As a studio, we've found that there's definitely a lot of talent [in that community].'"http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...-Fighting-Them ...by Published on March 26th, 2011 22:00- Categories:
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On last week's mailbox Billy Hindley got in touch with Games Master to say he thinks shooters like Black Ops should make use of betas a little more.
This week, the voice of Nintendo in his friend circle, asks NGamer if a person can be too old for Nintendo, or gaming in general.
Me and a lot of my friends are avid gamers, and pretty much every lunchtime at school we talk about video games while racing on Mario Kart DS.
Sometimes someone says something to do with Microsoft or Sony being the best, and I'm usually the only one who puts Nintendo into their viewpoint.
When I mention Nintendo, one of my friend's favourite responses is: "Oh, I'm too old for Nintendo now," and when he says that, it gets me thinking - can someone possibly be too old for Nintendo, or even games in general?
Fair enough, there are games that people are obviously going to get too old for quite quickly, such as My Horse And Me, because they're aimed at younger audiences.
But then you have games like Mario Kart that everyone seems to love and no one could ever be too old for. Or then there's things like Brain Training, which is aimed at a more mature, adult audience (no, not in that way), meaning it would be quite hard to grow too old for it.
I usually bring these points up and then my friends discard them as 'exceptions'. And after this, I usually stop, because arguing over the same question gets boring. But do you think it is possible to be too old for video games?
NGamer says: Too old for games? Impossible. Well, unless you're so frail you can't lift a DS. As you say, you can definitely be too old for a certain type of game, but we're happy to see people of all ages have a go at gaming.
Just so long as Nintendo consoles don't get swamped by games aimed specifically at mature gamers, that is - there's only so many crossword compilations or Wii Fit Plus clones we can take, you know.
CVG says: Short answer: no. Long answer: Noooooooooooooo.
We, like many others, like to think of Nintendo as the Pixar of the video game world. Though it may seem like their works are produced and geared towards children they are so thoughtfully produced that anyone, of any age range, can enjoy it.
For most of us Nintendo's game are a permanent part of our 'gamer DNA' (Achievement unlocked: coined a lame new marketing term). So regardless of how old we are we'll play a new Mario, Zelda or Donkey Kong.
To re-use a slightly creepy axiom 'you're only as old as you allow yourself to be'.
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