A survey of US consumers conducted by Lazard Capital Markets has revealed that interest in PlayStation Move and Kinect is high.

According to the results of the survey, demand is healthy despite the relatively high price points of both products and the lack of supporting games.



The survey "suggests healthy demand for Kinect and Sony Move", said Lazard analyst Colin Sebastian. "We are somewhat surprised by the positive reaction given the relatively high price points ($149 for Kinect and $99+ for Move) and the lack of many compatible games for the devices.

"We believe that Sony's Move is off to a good start at retail, with limited supplies, and our survey also bodes well for the launch of Kinect."

However, the survey also suggested that the motion control devices might not have a significant impact on console game sales in the short-term.

"While motion controllers are unlikely to materially impact console game sales in Q4, we do think they could act as a catalyst for stocks, as indicators of future demand for software."

This contradicts Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who thinks Move had only "a modest launch".

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

As publishers continue to dabble with new ways of offering ‘added value’ to gamers through digital content, THQ has revealed a new model to accompany the release of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011.
Those who buy the game will be offered the chance to buy a ‘Fan Axxess’ pass. Doing so will allow them to download all future DLC for the title at no additional cost. Content will include playable characters, alternate costumes, new arenas, a character customiser and an in-game badge to “recognise the game's biggest supporters”.
Fan Axxess will cost 800 Microsoft Points, or $9.99 on PSN.
“The Fan Axxess program for WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2011 offers consumers a very attractive value proposition to significantly enhance the virtual WWE experience,” THQ’s executive VP of core games Danny Bilson stated.
“We have some of the most passionate fans in the industry, and we are pleased to offer them an opportunity to access premium gameplay content, customization features and recognition for their loyalty for one price point.”

THQ has already announced that the game will ship with a single-use DLC code that is required to access the online mode. Pre-owned buyers will have to pay extra to take the game online.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41291/THQ-...s-WWE-DLC-deal ...

iOS social games and social networking apps are competing with the biggest US prime-time TV shows for audiences and advertisers, says analytics firm Flurry.
The company has produced data claiming that social games on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad have a daily audience of more than 19 million people, who spend more than 22 minutes a day using these apps.
Flurry points out that this is a bigger audience than prime-time US shows like NBC's Sunday Night Football and CBS' Undercover Boss. What's more, it's only four million behind the biggest US show of all, American Idol.
"Since this analysis focuses on only two categories of applications, social games and social networking apps, it’s clear that iOS devices are already ahead of prime time television’s hottest shows," blogs Flurry's Peter Farago.
"Also noteworthy is that the enormous audience these applications reach takes place every day, 365 days a year. Compared to a top television series, which airs 22 episodes a season, advertisers can reach a larger consumer audience through applications 15 times more frequently."


That said, the iOS social gaming audience is more fragmented: brands can still place an ad within American Idol and hope to hit as much as 23 million viewers.
Targeting a similarly-sized audience on iOS is more complicated and fragmented at present, with Apple's iAd network still gathering steam.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/39014...-prime-time-TV ...

Electronics giant IBM has confirmed that it intends to remain at the heart of future console development – while at the same time confirming that the Cell processor remains at the forefront of its planning.
IBM currently provides the processors powering consoles such as the Xbox 360 and Wii. It’s also now the sole driving force behind the infamous Cell processor that it co-developed with Sony and lies at the heart of the PS3.
“We want to stay in the [console] business, we intend to stay in the business,” IBM’s systems and technology group CTO Jai Menon stated, according to PCWorld.
“I think you'll see [Cell] integrated into our future Power road map. That's the way to think about it as opposed to a separate line – it'll just get integrated into the next line of things that we do. We’re working with all of the game folks to provide our capabilities into those next-generation machines.”
However, Menon also reaffirmed his commitment to its Power series of processors, which the exec asserts will in future be able to do “the kinds of things you used to be able to do with the Cell”.

In reality, it would not make a fundamental difference what chips lay at the heart of Nintendo’s next machine, but certainly use of the Cell would be a fascinating development.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41286/Cell...to-power-Wii-2 ...

Microsoft's newly launched Windows Phone 7 will be unlikely to catch the leading rivals Android and iOS, Taiwanese smartphone makers have said.
Microsoft has gained widespread agreement to launch Windows Phone 7 handsets on mobile telecoms carriers worldwide, including the big four in the UK, which Digitimes claims would result in an increase of global smartphone market share rising from five per cent for the current Windows Mobile to ten per cent in 2011.
Citing sources within Taiwanese smartphone manufacturers (most likely HTC, the largest Taiwanese player), Digitimes said that because Windows had been so late in offering new versions it was unlikely to catch up with iOS and Android.
Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has been a long term Microsoft partner for Windows Mobile smartphones since long before Apple burst onto the scene with the iPhone. The company is the strongest supporter of Microsoft's mobile OS reboot, offering three handsets in the UK - the 7 Mozart, 7 Trophy and HD7.
Digitimes' sources added that many smartphone vendors had shifted R&D resources from Windows Mobile to Android for over 2 years and that it was "quite impossible" to shift to Windows Phone 7 given "growing marketing potential for Android."


Despite the array of models all of the HTC phones, and indeed all of the others such as from Korean manufacturer's LG and Samsung, are based on 1GHz Qualcomm 'Snapdragon' CPUs with all devices offering 800 x 480 resolution screens. Such little variance in specification is likely an artifact of Microsoft tighly laying a minimum specification for the devices.
Digitimes sources said that these high hardware requirements would further limit the OS to high end products and that more mainstream smartphones are where the sales volume lies. One of the reasons for the success of the Android operating system is smartphone manufacturers introducing lower end models at price points normally associated with 'dumb phones'.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/34879...OS-and-Android ...

Super Mario games have, for 25 years, been some of the best in the business. But creating them was no sweat for Shigeru Miyamoto.

It would seem that the Mario creator's typical Japanese humbleness has escaped him, but Miyamoto says it's all thanks to advances in technology, not his mad skills.

Speaking in the latest 'Iwata Speaks' interview (which was conducted instead by Japanese copywriter, author and game designer Shigesato Itoi), Miyamoto said: "Looking back, what's been easy about making the Mario games is that they could naturally change along with the progress of technology.

"In the same way, as technology advances, the Mario games change, too. On the contrary, books have basically always been made the same way. If it had been necessary to keep making Mario games in the same way like that, we couldn't have done it. In that way, making the Mario games has been easy."

Itoi suggests it's been easy because of Miyamoto's "work method", but Miyamoto reaffirms that it was simply a case of following technology. "If it weren't for that, I don't think I could have stuck with it this far," he said.

He goes on to reveal he's always wanted to invent something like the Rubik's Cube or become a Manga artist, but has never really tried, and so he concludes: "I must be taking it easy".

Yeah. Inventing and evolving the world's biggest game character for 25 years - real lazy, that.

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

And you thought third party Wii accessories were ridiculous? Pfft! One of Microsoft's highlight games for Kinect's debut demonstrations was Kinect Adventures! -- which includes a white water rafting "experience" -- so quite naturally someone somewhere came up with a fitting peripheral to the peripheral in the shape of... a boat. Atomic Accessories thinks that in order for you to be fully immersed in Microsoft's river slalom game, you need your feet firmly planted in an inflatable raft. For added value, we're told the Game Boat will accommodate two players and it'll also be compatible with your local pool or sea.


Source: Atomic Accessories ...

Stppwii v0.3 released by madmanguruman.

This is my port of ledow's GP2X SDL port of Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection.

ledow was not involved in this endeavor, so please direct any questions to the discussion page and not to him.

What's new
Version 0.3:

Compiled against libogc SVN r4414 / SDL-Wii r95 / STPPC2X r185
New game added

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Stppwii ...

The PlayStation Move is out, and gamers everywhere are throwing away their DualShock controllers, spirits carried aloft by the liberating breeze of motion gaming. Okay not really, but if more traditional games had Move support baked-in that might be the case. 256-player MAG has recently been given a taste, and level designer Ben Jones is taking a moment to show off how motion gaming looks in this uber shooter. As you can see, the baton acts for aiming, turning, and shanking, while a nunchuck (or second controller) handles the moving duties. We're not entirely convinced of the accuracy playing in this mode, especially given how the video focuses almost entirely on close-range, full-auto carnage, but Mr. Jones says he believes this to be a "lateral transition from keyboard and mouse?" So, PC gamers, you buying it?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/11/m...int-and-spray/ ...