News about Wii and PS3 Preorders at SuccessHK

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It’s another PS3 bad news double-whammy today, as it's revealed that both models of Sony’s ‘super computer’ will come bundled only with the standard red, white, and yellow composite cables in Japan.

Of course, you’ll also get a power cord, USB cable and ethernet cable.

The disappointing news that you won’t be able to connect your PS3 to a High Definition TV out of the box comes from the latest issue of Japanese gaming bible, 'Famitsu'.

Playstation 2 users who have already kitted themselves out with a component cable will be able to use that on their Playstation 3.

News is also emerging that the PS3 lacks an IR port. This, in effect, means that home cinema buffs looking forward to using the PS3 as their Blu-ray movie player won’t be able to use a universal remote with the machine. They will, therefore, have no choice but to shell out for Sony’s own PS3-compatible remote.

So, what do you think? Are these minor gripes? Would you be happy to go out and shell out £10/£15 ($30) on a component cable when you buy your PS3? Or should you have one already? ...

Nintendo and AiLive have unveiled the development kit behind Wiimote motion capture for gameplay. While the news is a bit inside baseball it is pretty fascinating how easy Nintendo is making it to program games for that use their Wiimote's special functions.

AiLive LiveMove essentially lets you capture Wiimote motions in real-time and instantly attatch them to a function in your game.

"In early 2006, I challenged Dr. Wei Yen and his AI scientists to develop AIware for the Wii Remote. When Nintendo's development teams saw LiveMove, we instantly recognized how it would greatly increase our ability to explore and experiment with new concepts and make our lives easier," says Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director/General Manager of Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. "This revolutionary tool liberates the imaginations of game creators. We are more than happy to share this collaborative LiveMove tool with independent Wii software developers all over the world. From a cowboy's lasso to a samurai's sword or a chef's cooking utensils, we just can't wait to play the developers' new, 'unexpected' applications."
One of the examples the website offers is for a team making a zombie cowboy game. Instead of forcing a programmer to waste all of their time programming and testing out different motions on the Wiimote for gameplay, some non-programming creative lump can sit in his or her office swinging the controller about until he finds the moves he likes. Then it's just a matter of ringing up programmers and saying "All done," apparently the kit does the capture and most of the heavy lifting.

It's genius that Nintendo recognized the importance of streamlining development for the more unusual aspects of the Wii. It will get that many more developers to think about creating games for their console using the special features. And, according to the release, the kit costs only $2,500 per seat. Cheap! ...

The Xbox 360 nabbed a Good Design 2006 award (yeah, it was released in 2005, so what?). The console was designed by Astro Studio and hot Japanese designer Chiaki Murata and is a tremendous step up from that awful black doormat Microsoft released a few years back. The award was given by Japan's "Good Design Council," started back in 1957 and has the sole purpose to find "excellent design products, which encourage the contribution to the quality of life and industrial field via power of design." Okay.

The criteria for winners were three basic questions:

1. Is it a good design?
2. Is it a superior design?
3. Is it a design that breaks new ground for the future?
So Japan may hate the Xbox 360, but that doesn't mean it hates the Xbox 360. It obviously likes the way the machine looks. On store shelves, for example. ...

It's the most infamous DS game we've never played. And we know surprisingly little about Doki Doki Majo Saiban. Intertube reaction has run the gamut of amused (us) to critical (others) and in denial (others). Some are claiming the title is flat out porn, while some state that there's no way Nintendo would let that happen. We doubt that the game is at either end of the pole and still giggle at the newly minted touch-a-girl-to-see-if-she's-a-witch sub-genre.

Earlier today, I contacted SNK Playmore Japan to see if we could find out more regarding the title, such as whether or not it was an adult title and what it's CERO (Japan's ESRB) rating would be. The response? Some of the screenshots on the internet are not official, which common sense tells us is easy to separate. And regarding the rating, it hasn't been announced. As an official statement, we were sent a short description of the game's story that has been circulating since TGS. Here's a quick and dirty translation:

Story: Previously, there were a few witches in the world. Current day. People don't know it, but the number of witches have grown. So God has chosen two mischievous middle school students, Akuji and Tenshi ("Angel") Ruru, to search for witches. Using the touch pen, players engage in a witch hunt adventure.
SNK didn't provide any more information beyond that. This description along with some screens shots of girls in short skirts and cleavage. So, is it porn? Doubt it, and always have. A quick look at the actual SNK images show that the game probably isn't intended for children. Still, we are delighted about this touch-a-girl-to-see-if-she's-a-witch sub-genre. Sounds wicked!

Screenshot Via Comments
Via Kotaku ...

Well, we don't know much about it, but my job, o faithful reader, is to suck hard when I taste the flimsiest stream of liquid trickling from the game industry's PR tit.

Beginning in Spring 2007, Nintendo will apparently begin the "Wii Compact Software" line of games which will allow players to download certain Wii titles to their console rather than purchasing a disc. Pricing and storage details, as well as what software will be made available, were not provided.
Well, that's certainly a little cooler than the VirtualConsole. Are we going to see Nintendo's equivalent of XBLA, where smaller developers might get the chance to offer cool, tiny games to home users? Or are these more likely to be little quasi-useful widgets aimed squarely at the house mother set Nintendo's trying to appeal to with the Wii? ...

Just as Microsoft and Sony are squaring off with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, respectively, so too are their preferred next-generation disc formats. Microsoft is backing Toshiba's HD-DVD format with next month's release of an HD-DVD add-on for the 360, while Sony built Blu-ray functionality into the core PS3 hardware.

A truce between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD worlds is still probably a way off, but NEC has come up with a chip that could help companies bridge the gap. The chip, essentially a controller, works in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players. One chip that works with both standards could cut the cost of building a player that accommodates Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs.

The chip will start shipping in April 2007, NEC said. The appearance of a combination player, however, could still take time. Companies such as Pioneer and LG announced plans to come out with combination players, but later backed away.

Cost is the main culprit. Blu-ray players cost about $1,000, and the player/recorders, which won't be coming to the US immediately, run about $3,200. HD-DVD players start at around $500, but the recorders cost about the same. The high price, in part, is due to components. Since mass manufacturing has just begun, the parts still cost a lot, although prices will decline in 2007.

Even with the expected price declines, building a hybrid player would involve redundant components. Other components that can handle both standards would also likely have to be developed to bring the price of a hybrid player down.

But royalties are also a factor. The companies that invented the standards could make millions in licensing fees over the next decade if their standard gets adopted widely. Building a combo player, therefore, would require paying royalties to both camps.

Further complicating the matter are the high emotions generated by the dispute. Last week at the Ceatec trade show in Japan, reporters asked Kazuhiro Tsuga, an executive officer at Matsushita Electric, a firm member of the Blu-ray camp, about the possibility of Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo players hitting the market.

"That is stupid, stupid," he said, noting that the cost would be high. Matsushita sells products under the name Panasonic in the US.

Still, other manufacturers are intrigued by the idea, especially if the format wars hurt sales. Hitachi, which is concocting a camcorder that will record directly to Blu-ray discs, said it will study the issue of a combo recorder after Blu-ray is established in the market. ...

Buena Vista Games today announced an agreement with Emergent Game Technologies to license the firm's Gamebryo Element engine and toolset in multiple upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games.

The Gamebryo engine has been used in a number of games, including Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Civilization IV, Dark Age of Camelot, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While Buena Vista did not specify which games would use the technology, its current lineup of announced next-gen titles consists of Turok and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (working title).

With the new generation of systems inflating development costs, many publishers are turning to middleware solutions. From detail-oriented programs like the 3D foliage-generating SpeedTree and the Havok physics engine to broader technology like GameBryo and the oft-licensed Unreal Engine, middleware is increasingly becoming a key way companies can keep their costs down.

"This toolset is a proven cross-platform technology that will allow our teams to fully leverage our intellectual properties and focus on our core competencies in developing for next-gen consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360," said Buena Vista Games vice president of internal studios Mark Meyers. ...

In September, Take-Two Interactive surprised many when it revealed that its forthcoming high-school-based game Bully would be rated T for Teen. After all, the game had been dubbed a "Columbine simulator" by anti-game activist Jack Thompson, in reference to the 1999 school massacre, and was being published by Take-Two subbrand Rockstar Games, which had historically specialized in M-for-Mature-rated games.

However, just because Bully is getting a T rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Software Board (ESRB) doesn't mean it's out of the woods yet. Today, Thompson announced that he had won a "historic" victory in a Miami-Dade Circuit Court. According to the attorney, who has a history of aggressive self-promotion, "Judge Ronald Friedman entered an historic order directing Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., to provide the Court with a copy of the violent video game Bully 'before close of business tomorrow,' Thursday, October 12."

Thompson, referring to himself in the third person, went on to describe what Judge Friedman's order entailed. "The Judge further ordered that the game will be played in his presence, in chambers, with Miami attorney Jack Thompson present, if he wants to be there (he will be there) so der (sic) that Judge Friedman can ascertain whether the game should be sold to minors," said Thompson. "The Judge indicated that he will take however long it takes to see the game played in its entirety."

Due to the hour, attempts to confirm the judge's order directly with the Miami-Dade County Court were unsuccessful as of press time. However, several other news outlets, including Gamepolitics.com and the fan site Destructoid, which blogged the hearing, confirmed Thompson's report of Judge Friedman's ruling. (NOTE: Destructoid's site was intermittently down as of press time.)

Bully is set to hit PlayStation 2s next Tuesday, October 17. An Xbox version of the game was canceled earlier this year. ...