tripleevenfall sends in a PCMag story about how Microsoft's problems in driving Windows Phone 7 adoption stem in part from how the phones are represented to customers in carriers' stores. Quoting:
"At AT&T, the salesperson was a recent iPhone to Android convert. She was enthusiastic about WP7 devices, saying that Netflix was on WP7 and not available on her Android, and looked embarrassed when she walked me over to AT&T's unkempt WP7 display shelf. ... At a Verizon reseller kiosk, a salesman clearly tried to deter me from buying a WP7 device altogether. Not only did not he appear to know the fundamental difference between Windows Mobile and WP7, his kiosk didn't even offer WP7 devices and said you'd only find WP7 demo products at a few of Verizon's big retail stores. 'Honestly, only 1 out of 500 customers comes in here asking for a Windows phone,' he said. 'Verizon won't roll them out to kiosks until it performs better on the market.'"

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/...arriers-Stores ...

Forget all those publishers, who won the E3 press conference showdown - Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony?

"Nintendo won, hands down," EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich told Eurogamer. "They had great content and a well-executed presentation. No celebrities, no famous rock bands, just straight gaming."

"Nintendo won with a very cool console innovation and great 3DS software," Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan analyst, told us.

"People are still skeptical about core Kinect," Pachter went on, "and with good reason. I had them in third place from a hardcore perspective, first from a business perspective."

Which leaves Sony "in the middle". "PSN apology was great," said Pachter. "Vita price also great." But otherwise "nothing to get excited about".

Piers Harding-Rolls, analyst at Screen Digest told Eurogamer that "they all had their strengths".

Harding-Rolls elaborated: "Nintendo showed its strong ability to innovate and to take home entertainment into new directions; Sony showed its openness to adopting new business models and online games services and delivered on PS Vita pricing; Microsoft delivered a leading mass market content and non-games media message which positions it strongly for this stage of the Xbox 360 cycle."

"I wouldn't say any of the platform holders won."
Doug Creutz, analyst at Cowen and Company
Doug Creutz, analyst at Cowen and Company, gave Eurogamer a different take: "I wouldn't say any of the platform holders won."

"Nintendo got their new console out there and people are interested. But the response was somewhat muted (and their stock price certainly didn't react enthusiastically)," Creutz expanded.

"Sony addressed the network outage elephant in the room forthrightly and didn't botch the pricing on the PSVita, but I'm not sure they realise that the dedicated handheld platform market is essentially dying due to smartphones."

"Microsoft seems content to rest on their laurels for now, which is probably fine, but didn't generate a lot of incremental excitement."

Creutz said the "big winners" were gamers and shops "with the incredible amount of high quality games coming to retail over the next six to 12 months".

"Also of note is the fact that none of the 'new order' of gaming (Zynga Popcap etc.) bothered to show up at all."

You'll probably say, "Oh they don't know what they're talking about." That's why we want to ask you, Eurogamer reader, which of the Big Three you think 'won E3'. Catch-up with our Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo press conference reports if you're not sure.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-e3-hands-down ...

Nintendo has revealed that the Wii U console won't be "drastically different" - that's why the E3 announcement focused on the tablet controller.

But Nintendo top-dog Satoru Iwata admitted he "should have made more effort to explain how [Wii U] works".

"We haven't made any kind of blunder," Iwata told the Evening Standard, referencing a fallen Nintendo stock price and defending against allegations of a confusion-causing presentation.

"But I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller."

"The console is not drastically different," he added, "and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible."

Exactly what will be inside the console hasn't been specified. We know it's theoretically capable of matching PS3 and 360 output thanks to a show reel aired at the Nintendo E3 conference (albeit of actual PS3 and 360 code rather than Wii U). How far beyond the ageing PS3 and 360 tech Wii U can go, however, remains to be seen.

Iwata went on to echo what he said to Reuters, and told the Evening Standard that people can't properly appreciate Wii U until they play it.

"They cannot see how this can be a game changer," he said of people reading about but not experiencing Wii U.

"What Wii U will offer is very different," Iwata added. "But I believe we have the strong potential to change the entire format of video games and of entertainment."

Eurogamer has played Wii U, and we tallied with Iwata's argument by declaring that "as soon as you pick that controller up, you understand the genius of Nintendo's idea."

But how will Nintendo demo Wii U to every potential customer? That's what analysts are worried about. Wii, a runaway success, had one universally clear message: motion sensing.

Wii U details are gradually seeping out, however - and Eurogamer cobbled together a list of seven things you don't already know about Nintendo's new console (unless you've read the article already you cheat).

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ally-different ...

Spanish police are reporting the arrest of three members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective after an extensive operation in the country. The investigations were in retaliation to the hacking of government websites last year.

The report, carried by Meristation, and translated by VG247, says that members were arrested in Barcelona, Valencia and Almeria. One of those members operated a server from her home in Gijon, Northern Spain, which was used to perpetrate denial of service attacks against websites and agencies all over the world, apparently including Sony's.

The report quotes the domains compromised in attacks involving the server as "Sony Playstation Store, BBVA, Bankia, ENEL and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand."

Spain's Technological Investigation Brigade of the National Police reportedly tracked through 200,000 lines of chatlogs to narrow down potential suspects and locations before making the arrests after almost nine months of investigation. Police claim to have found software at the site of the arrests "specifically designed for the creation of malware."

The suspects will be charged with criminal damage, discovery and disclosure of secrets and conspiracy in Spanish courts. It has not yet been revealed whether any of the detainees could face extradition charges.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nymous-members ...

THQ's kids, family and casual division boss Martin Good has claimed that he is not perturbed by the Nintendo Wii U's similarities to THQ's own uDraw controller.

"None of this is a surprise," he told CVG in regard to the Wii U's tablet controller and drawing capabilities. " As you know, we thought of it 18 months ago and released it last season."

THQ claims to have shipped 1.7 million units of its drawing-centric, tablet-like peripheral for Wii, and now plans to release Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

He felt the similarities between uDraw and Wii U could even be to THQ's benefit. "We think we're really on the front for it and well poised to exploit this because we've already been playing with the drawing mechanic and we've got a lot of game designs in the pipe. It's only going to get better with that experience."

Good also claimed that "THQ never really went about being a peripheral manufacturer - that wasn't our intent", but had done so due to perceived market opportunities for drawing-based console games. "The fact is we had to create our own peripherals including for 360 and PS3 to be able to play with that audience."


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-18-months-ago ...

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has maintained that the firm will resist a full move into mobile gaming.

In an interview with the New York Times, Hirshberg claimed that Activision would remain focused on core games, despite major competitors such as EA increasingly moving to iOS. "There are 400,000 apps in the iTunes app store," he argued. "I don't want to be number 400,001."

Instead, Activision planned to use services such as Call of Duty Elite, which will see iOS and Android apps, to support its console brands. "What we're trying to do is use new technologies and new devices in gaming to strengthen our core business. We don't just want to go and spread our roulette chips around the table."

To this end, he did not feel a mobile version of Call of Duty was impending, although he admitted the new platforms held some appeal. Mobile was, he claimed, "a double-edged sword - on one hand you have a huge install base, but what we are not doing is just shotgunning all of our games onto mobile."

However, Activision is more determinedly exploring mobile with its impending cross-media Spyro project.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...le-edged-sword ...

Gears of War man says industry should embrace the hacking community
Epic Games’ design director Cliff Bleszinski has encouraged the games industry to embrace the hacking community.
The Gears of War man was talking about the chances of seeing more user generated content options appearing in Gears of War 3. His comments come following the security breaches of Sony's PSN and the Square Enix and Codemasters websites.
“I was on a panel with Kudo [Tsunoda, Kinect creative director], and we were talking about Kinect Fun Labs, and he was saying they’re embracing a lot of the homebrew and hacker stuff that’s going on with Kinect,” he said.
“Generally speaking when it comes to hackers, you want to embrace a lot of what they are doing instead of fighting it. I think the industry is slowly learning that.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44835/Clif...k-with-hackers ...

Sony's said it has nothing to announce regarding cross-game chat for PlayStation 3, despite the feature being confirmed for its new portable, PlayStation Vita this weekend.

At its E3 press conference this week Sony showed off the PSP successor's online features, which include the ability to talk to friends no matter which game they're playing.

However, when the CVG E3 team caught up with SCE Europe boss Andrew House at the show, he said there's still no update on when or if the long-requested feature will be coming to its home console.

"No, [there are] really not any new announcements to put on that," he said. "We know that it's a huge thing out there. We have continued to do much R&D in the area, but we don't have anything to announce right now."


In the same interview House said £229 retailer listings for Vita are "where I would have predicted" and that Sony feels the price point needs to be "aggressive" in order to build momentum for the impressive portable.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

Opinions of the games industry's top analysts appear to be divided when it comes to Nintendo's latest hardware offering, Wii U.

Piers Harding-Rolls from Screen Digest said the console is a "compelling proposition" and has "strong potential to innovate".

Doug Creutz from Cowen and Company acknowledged Wii U's "promise" but questioned the machine's power. "I'm not sure how revolutionary it will be," he said. According to Creutz, Wii U is "on a par" with PS3 and Xbox 360 rather than "a step up".

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter applauded the "smart" blend of tablet and console, saying it will be "hard" for others to copy the design. "Nintendo will have a head start for a while," he said, "and it will be interesting to see if they can exploit it."

Jesse Divnich from EEDAR lauded Wii U as "a very original and unique system and a perfect transition for consumers from the Wii". Nintendo shares might have fallen "substantially" after the Wii U announcement, said Divnich, but: "I believe investors are going to get this wrong".

All four analysts have concerns, however. Divnich "truly hopes" there aren't too many PS3 and Xbox 360 games ported to Wii U. "The Wii forced developers to be original and unique," he said. "The Wii became successful because it offered so many differentiating features and software that was different and original from its competitors.

"I'll say it flat out: any core-port over to the Wii U will be minimally successful."
Jesse Divnich, EEDAR
"I'll say it flat out: any core-port over to the Wii U will be minimally successful." Conversion costs may be low, but "no port will reach blockbuster status on the Wii U console" Divnich also questioned the "overlap" between the 3DS and Wii U controller when at home.

Piers Harding-Rolls thinks Wii U may confuse people with its "complex vision". "I don't believe that this proposition is as mainstream as the original Wii," he said, because Wii had a "more simple message". Existing Wii owners may even be confused into thinking the Wii U tablet works with Wii, Harding-Rolls added.

To that end, "consumer education is key" for Nintendo, said Harding-Rolls - but also a "significant challenge and expense". A two-screen, two-device vision puts Wii U on "more directly competitive footing" with Apple and its new AirPlay idea, too, pointed out Harding-Rolls.

Mainstream success concerns Doug Creutz as well. He sees Wii U as "Nintendo's attempt to re-enliven their appeal to the core gamer market". But by doing so, Nintendo may sacrifice a larger slice of the pie. "I don't know that this gets people who are not Nintendo fanboys - granted there are a lot of those - to run out and buy the console if they already have Xbox 360s or PS3s," said Creutz. But he expects Wii U to be "somewhat successful" nonetheless.

"At more than $300, it will almost certainly be too expensive."
Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan
And Nintendo has to do something, said Michael Pachter, because it is "falling behind" Xbox 360 with Kinect and PS3 with Move. With Smash Bros. the only Nintendo Wii U game announced, Pachter finds it "hard to know if the launch software will be compelling".

Success also depends on price - currently an unknown. But the analysts are unanimous in their conviction that Nintendo cannot break the $300 barrier.

Creutz said Nintendo "absolutely must price sub-$300 given the Wii U is really a lateral move from current competitor consoles rather than a step up".

At $300, Pachter said Wii U "may" be pricier than future Move or Kinect bundles. "At more than $300," he added, "it will almost certainly be too expensive."

"I don't think the Wii U can go higher than $299," offered Divnich, "it just can't and won't happen. I haven't seen the full specs, but no way it crosses that $299 price point."

Harding-Rolls stated the obvious: "A good price would be one that makes it a mass market proposition while delivering strong profits from launch."

Assuming the price is right, can Wii U not only follow in the footsteps of Wii but also outsell its predecessor?

"I doubt it will be more successful than the Wii... The Wii caught lightning in a bottle."
Doug Creutz, Cowen and Company
Harding-Rolls doesn't think so, but partly because the appetite for consoles themselves will diminish as net-connected tellies, set-top boxes like OnLive and tablets running OnLive take off. "Wii U will inevitably launch into a more competitive market than the Wii," he said, "and therefore at this stage I don't believe it will surpass Wii sales."

Creutz isn't sure anything can beat the early adoption rate of Wii. "The Wii caught lightning in a bottle," he said. "I doubt it will be more successful than the Wii, at least in terms of the initial adoption curve."

"Ask me in three years!" exclaimed Divnich. "The Wii is one of the best selling consoles of all time and it may be too early to make any 'official' prediction on overall sales just quite yet."

Nintendo announced the ...