DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
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by Published on May 24th, 2012 19:08- Categories:
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Namco Bandai's My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute Portable Can't Possibly Continue debuted at number one in this week's Japanese charts.
My Little Sister knocks last weeks chart topper, Mario Party 9, to number two, while Atlus' Persona 2 Eternal Punishment enters at number three.
Brothers Conflict Passion Pink was the only other new entry in the top ten, setting up stall at number five.
01. My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute Portable Can't Possibly Continue (Namco Bandai)
02. Mario Party 9 (Nintendo)
03. Persona 2 Eternal Punishment (Atlus)
04. Fire Emblem Awakening (Nintendo)
05. Brothers Conflict Passion Pink (Idea Factory)
06. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo)
07. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo)
08. Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom)
09. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City (Capcom)
10. Kid Icarus Uprising (Nintendo)
http://www.edge-online.com/news/my-l...s-japan-charts ...by Published on May 24th, 2012 18:55- Categories:
- DCEmu
A hardcore 11 per cent play for more than two hours a day.
New stats from Lightspeed Research confirm the ongoing rise of the mobile as a games platform.
It reports that 36 per cent of 25-34 year olds, 29 per cent of 35-44 year olds, 18 per cent of 45-54 year olds and 14 per cent of 55-64 year olds say their smartphone is the device they game on most often.
Mind you, for all the mainstream popularity of mobile gaming, it's still the fixed console that's the most popular way to play, with 60 per cent playing these in the past six months.
The figure for smartphones is 47 per cent.
Meanwhile the data showed 52 per cent of respondents have tried social gaming and Facebook remains the dominant platform, particularly for women (49 per cent compared to men at 37 per cent ).
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...playing/018125 ...by Published on May 23rd, 2012 22:21- Categories:
- DCEmu
Retailer GAME has officially confirmed the cancellation of GAMEfest 2012.
However, it has also hinted at a return to the consumer expo in 2013.
The event had previously been confirmed last year upon the closure of the first ever GAMEfest. However, after a hugely traumatic start to 2012 that saw GAME first enter and subsequently exitadministration – albeit with the loss of 2,300 jobs.
“I'm afraid GAMEfest won't be happening this year but we do have some cool things in the works,” the company said via Twitter, before adding. “By the way - this doesn't mean it won't happen next year. *wink*”
GameStop has just moment ago announced its own consumer retail show in the US.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamef...-return/096519 ...by Published on May 23rd, 2012 01:08- Categories:
- DCEmu
Boys are among rising users, presumably texting girls that aren't replying.
Data from Pew Research shows the figure is up from 50 texts per day in 2009, while 75 per cent of all teens – between 12 and 17 – now text.
This spikes for 14-17 year olds that now sent around 100 messages per day in 2011, up from 60 in 2009, while boys send an average of 50 texts, up from 30, and African Americans increased from 60 to 80.
63 per cent of teens send text messages daily, compared to 39 per cent making calls, 35 per cent that meet face-to-face, 29 per cent messaging on social networks and 22 per cent using IMs. Email is the least popular means of communication with just six per cent.
The number of users making calls is declining, but 69 per cent of the heaviest texters – over 100 sent a day – also make calls everyday, compared to 43 per cent of light texters – those sending 0-20 texts per day.
Meanwhile, 23 per cent of 12-17 year-olds now own a smartphone, rising to 31 per cent for 14-17 year-olds.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...s-a-day/018103 ...by Published on May 23rd, 2012 01:06- Categories:
- DCEmu
Carphone Warehouse claims 'thousands' of customers reserved a device within 24 hours of its unveiling.
Last week, Samsung claimed nine million Galaxy S III pre-orders ahead of the release next week. It took the Galaxy S II five months to reach ten million sales.
Now, Europe's largest phone retailer Carphone Warehouse reckons demand for the S III has been off the charts, with thousands of customers handing their requests in to over 800 stores.
Graham Stapleton, chief commercial officer, Carphone Warehouse, said: "Pre-order demand for the new Galaxy S III has surpassed expectations since the handset was first unveiled two weeks ago. The first 24 hours alone saw thousands placing their pre-order at Carphone Warehouse.
"The Galaxy S III is without a doubt the fastest selling pre-order of 2012 so far. We're gearing up for an exceptionally busy launch day at the end of the month as the handset lands on shelves at our stores across the UK."
Pre-order customers can receive the device on May 29th, with general release taking place on the 30th.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...of-2012/018105 ...by Published on May 21st, 2012 23:23- Categories:
- DCEmu
In a no-holds barred interview amidst Diablo III’s ‘always-on DRM’ storm, the developer of The Witcher 2 has blasted the use of digital rights management.
“Let me dispel the myth about DRM protecting anything. The truth is it does not work. It’s as simple as that,” CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwinski told Forbes. “The technology which is supposed to protect games against illegal copying is cracked within hours of the release of every single game. So, that’s wasted money and development just to implement it.
“But that’s not the worst part. DRM, in most cases, requires users to enter serial numbers, validate his or her machine, and be connected to the internet while they authenticate – and possibly even when they play the game they bought.
“Quite often the DRM slows the game down, as the wrapper around the executable file is constantly checking if the game is being legally used or not. That is a lot the legal users have to put up with, while the illegal users who downloaded the pirated version have a clean – and way more functional – game.
“It seems crazy, but that’s how it really works. So if you are asking me how do I see the future of DRM in games, well, I do not see any future for DRM at all.”
Iwinski has evidence, too. He expected the DRM-free version of The Witcher 2 available on GOG.com – a retailer whose business is built on the principal of DRM-free gaming – to suffer a crippling piracy rate.
It didn’t. In fact, the game was left largely untouched.
“We were expecting to see the GOG.com version pirated right after it was released, as it was a real no-brainer,” he confessed. “Practically anyone could have downloaded it from GOG.com and released it on the illegal sites right away, but this did not happen.
“My guess is, that releasing an unprotected game is not the real deal, you have to crack it to gain respect and be able to write, “cracked by XYZ.” How would “not cracked by XYZ, as there was nothing to crack” sound? A bit silly, wouldn’t it? The illegal scene is pretty much about the game and the glory: who will be the first to deliver the game, who is the best and smartest cracker.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/cd-pr...ot-work/096361 ...by Published on May 21st, 2012 23:04- Categories:
- DCEmu
Rockstar Games' Max Payne 3 is the new number one in the UK all-formats chart, beating sales of 2003 predecessor Max Payne 2 by almost ten copies to one.
At number two is another new entry in Diablo III. Blizzard's long-awaited action-RPG was the 12th-fastest selling PC game of all time in the UK, according to chart compiler UKIE.
With FIFA Street falling one place to third, Sniper Elite V2, thenumber one for the previous two weeks, slips to fourth.
01. Max Payne 3 (Take-Two)
02. Diablo III (Blizzard)
03. FIFA Street (EA)
04. Sniper Elite V2 (505 Games)
05. FIFA 12 (EA)
06. Prototype 2 (Activision)
07. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
08. Battlefield 3 (EA)
09. Assassin's Creed Revelations (Ubisoft)
10. Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games (Sega)
http://www.edge-online.com/news/max-...es-uk-top-spot ...by Published on May 21st, 2012 21:55- Categories:
- DCEmu
Crayola and a colouring pad, Henry? No thanks, I wanna play Draw Something.
The days of children playing in the streets are fading away, as youngsters opt for digital alternatives across consoles, PCs, laptops – and now tablets, according to an infographic from Schools.com.
Almost a quarter of parents have given their child a smartphone, iPad or iPod to keep them busy during errand runs.
Gameplay is the most common child tablet use with 77 per cent and 57 per complete educational tasks, while communicating to friends and family is the least common activity on just 15 per cent.
Interestingly, 77 per cent of parents believe tablets are beneficial to kids, and the same figure reckon they help with creativity.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...tphones/018093 ...by Published on May 21st, 2012 00:42- Categories:
- DCEmu
Coincidence or not, it was a warning to console makers of things to come. While the old games industry gathered in LA for its annual E3 pissing contest, a loud message was sounding 350 miles to the north.Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, which just happened to overlap with the biggest week in the games industry's calendar, also just happened to feature a games-heavy keynote.Nine months earlier, Steve Jobs had unleashed both barrels against handheld rivals, declaring iPod Touch, with a sneaky fudge, "the number one portable games player in the world", boasting that it "outsells Nintendo and Sony handhelds combined".Last June, Apple had a different target in its sights. "iOS5 is the most popular games platform on the planet," the company bragged, jubilantly noting that Game Center sign-ups had shot past 50 million in nine months - an impressive figure when put against the 31 million that Microsoft had managed to coax onto Xbox Live in eight years.This was executive willy-waving of the type Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo had been doing in each others' faces for years through the pantomime medium of E3 conference season. But the new kid had its own stage.And it foreshadowed, if the ceaseless rumours are to be believed, the next big scrap between Apple and the console makers: the battle for the living room.Suggestions of a smart TV from Apple have been rife since Steve Jobs' biographer, Walter Isaacson, reported the late leader's revelation: "I finally cracked it".This "integrated television set" would be "completely easy to use", Jobs said, "seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud", and have "the simplest user interface you could imagine".There's not been a single peep out of the company officially since, obviously, on whether an Apple-made TV exists or not, but that hasn't stopped the tech press reporting on it almost daily. The latest twist came with the gossip that Apple was set to acquire Loewe, a posh TV maker in Germany. Loewe moved to rubbish the report, but the rumours rolled on regardless.'I finally cracked it,' the late Steve Jobs reportedly said of an Apple produced Smart TV. We may be able to see that solution for ourselves soon....
For the purposes of this article I'm going to ignore the boring debate over whether Apple definitely is or definitely isn't making a TV - mostly because no-one outside of those directly involved (or not) seems to have a clue - and assume there is no smoke without fire. Because I want to consider what an "iTV" would mean for gaming and how it might threaten the businesses of the companies that make those beloved boxes beneath our current sets.When it comes to user-friendliness, existing smart TVs are a bewildering mess in dire need of an iRevolution. I have no complaints about the picture quality of my Sonia Bravia 3DTV. Similarly, while the 'smart' interface on it for connected services is about as well-designed as a restaurant website, I can - and do - live without it quite happily, with five separate boxes plugged into it that do that stuff much better anyway.Nevertheless, the impenetrably over-complicated remote is like a '60s vision of the future made by Blue Peter. And I don't need to see it for real to know how incredible it would be to control a TV with an iPhone and an iPad. And games, too? You betcha. We can of course already glimpse how this would work today by streaming an iPad via Airplay onto a flatscreen using Apple TV.The pressing concern for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, though, is not that an iTV would be able to offer - or even seek to offer - comparable experiences to those possible on dedicated gaming systems. It's that, in the fight for eyeballs and digits, Apple will wade in and take over another established market, fatally limiting the growth potential of the next generation of games boxes at the very moment they are casting out their entertainment nets ever-wider."An iPad plus iTV combination is not exactly a million miles away from what Nintendo is pitching with its tablet-based WiiU."
It spells potential trouble for Nintendo because an iPad plus iTV combination is not exactly a million miles away from what the Japanese company is pitching with its tablet-based WiiU. And of all the console manufacturers, Nintendo has struggled most in expanding its entertainment offering online and beyond gaming.As the reinvigorated, post-Super Mario and Mario Kart 3DS shows, great games can still go a long way, but it's hard to overstate the importance of the firm's E3 conference after last year's botched WiiU reveal. And the sudden emergence of Apple - already going for the throat in handheld - as a living room rival piles on the pressure.With the mainstream seemingly slowly shifting away from gaming-only devices, Nintendo seems least well-prepared for a skirmish on those terms. But at the same time - and until we know more about WiiU - it seems the least exposed to it of the three console makers.Sony, like Nintendo, has been hit hard by smartphones in the handheld space, withby Published on May 18th, 2012 23:42- Categories:
- DCEmu
Price promotions are an industry staple, but few have got the trade talking like Microsoft’s latest offer.
The platform holder’s US stores are selling a 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect for just $99. The catch? It comes with a two-year subscription to Xbox Live, priced at $15 per month, and an early termination fee.
This model is commonplace in other sectors: smartphone handsets are discounted or free with contracts, and media packages like Sky+ come with a free set-top box.
But it’s rarely been tried in gaming before.
As sales fall, format holders need new ways to make consoles more appealing. And the benefits of subscription packages make it difficult to fathom why this hasn’t been tried earlier.
“Lower upfront costs could make the console appear more affordable, despite the fact that it’s actually more expensive when you add the two-year subscription,” said Jia Wu, connected home devices director at research firm Strategy Analytics.
“In essence, it is a financing deal just like a car loan.”
Tesco entertainment director Rob Salter added: “A fixed term contract guarantees an ongoing direct relationship with the customer, which will hopefully secure greater retention and the ability to market directly to the customer. This alone has significant value to the platform owner.”
THE SMALL PRINT
However, the games industry can’t just assume that the subscription model can be lifted wholesale from the mobile and media markets.
One mobile operator exec told MCV that such offers would introduce credit risk: “You only want to let someone walk out with an Xbox if you are confident they will pay their bills. I’d add that given the failure rate of some consoles there might need to be a service element, like a premium repair service in the life of the contract.”
It’s also important to remember that a network contract is mandatory when using a mobile phone but Xbox Live is not entirely essential for 360 owners. Time will tell if the significant two-year commitment to an optional service proves to be a selling point or a deterrent.
The subscription itself may put off consumers already snowed under by monthly fees: rent, bills, insurance, phone contracts.
And let’s not forget phones and TV are viewed as must-have utilities. Video games are still very much a luxury.
A NEW ERA?
But if Microsoft – or whoever else tries this practice – irons out the kinks, it could have huge implications for the way consoles are sold.
The next generation is on its way. And while we won’t know anything about the new consoles until E3 at the earliest, you can guarantee they won’t be cheap.
360 launched at £280, PS3 at £425. Both 3DS and Vita have suffered slow sales after launch – thanks in part to £200+ price tags branded “expensive”. So imagine how a £500 NextBox or PS4 would struggle in today’s market. Subscriptions could be the answer.
Even the current consoles could benefit. Streaming services are becoming more prominent in today’s market, and enable this generation to run more powerful content.
Analyst Nick Parker says: “Streamed content does not require high-end hardware – just a connected device so that cheaper dumber local clients can be deployed and sold through subscriptions.
“If streaming and browser games take off, as I expect them to, then any connected device will be competition to consoles: smart TVs, set-top boxes, mobiles and tablets.
“Microsoft is testing the water, both in terms of consumer acceptance of the financials and prioritisation of a service-led platform. It may also indicate a future direction for the next gen – with less emphasis on the box’s specifications and more on services.”
That was OnLive’s vision – selling a console through retail and games packages via subscription. Now that a big brand like Xbox is trying its hand, perhaps consumers and the trade will take notice of what could become more commonplace in future.
“It will be interesting to see what level of interest exists for this model,” said Salter. “In the end, it is about the value it represents and the trade-off between a lower entry point and a two-year commitment. Customers will decide whether it is a good deal overall to them.
“We will be watching this with interest.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/analy...-future/096280 ...- Search DCEmu
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