News via dsscene

While visiting sander stolk's AmplituDS page earlier i noticed he had a news post up about the RTS project which was shown in a preview video here last year. LDAsh (designer of the 3D space ship model in AmplitudDS) has put a section up on 'Violation Entertainment' with details on the upcoming game, now titled Ulterior Warzone. Theres a large desktop image at the bottom of the post with some scaled down screenshots on it. It certainly looks like the type of homebrew that could pass as a commercial game, but as i know little about the project since it was announced last year, and rather than me quoting a wall of text, i'll ask you all to check Violation Entertainment for more details.

http://www.violationentertainment.com/g_uw.html

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We are told that the video game business is bucking the trend of other industries suffering through the global financial woes, and many companies are finding a way to avoid the cur of piracy with an easy solution.

Check through the current top sales of video games, taking Australia as an example. At November 30 the five top selling games were.

1. Wii Play with Remote - Nintendo Wii
2. Wii Fit – Nintendo Wii
3. Mario Kart with Wheel – Nintendo Wii
4. Resistance 2 – PS3
5. Singstar ABBA – PS2

See a trend? Sure the top three are games for the Wii, but more importantly, four of the top 5 have some sort of peripheral hardware associated with the game. This trend continues when you break it down across platforms – at least at the console level.

Guitar Hero: World Tour and its associated microphone, guitar and drum peripherals hold down two of the top ten Nintendo Wii sales chart positions, features in both PS2 and PS3 top ten and along with the Karaoke game, Lips (and its microphones) also appears in the Xbox 360 top ten.

Nintendo have released a bundled pack with Animal Crossing for the Wii, with the Wii Speak peripheral. I think they have cottoned on to it, avoid game piracy by packaging your software with a new piece of hardware, whether the game actually needs it or not.

Actually, there doesn’t need to be an actual gaming peripheral as part of the offering, even ‘normal’ games can be more attractive at the sales counters given the right trimmings. Sure there are special editions (usually limited, or costing another 50 percent) for most blockbuster releases today, but what about good old in box goodies, like we used to get?

I believe there is still a place for the odd cloth map in an RPG, or stickers, key rings, extra content discs or similar items that make opening the retail box more attractive.

Digital distribution will ultimately take over, as it almost has for music, but until then game publishers will need to look to other, more tangible ways to elicit the honest dollar from an otherwise tempted wallet.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22159/1092/1/3/ ...

We are told that the video game business is bucking the trend of other industries suffering through the global financial woes, and many companies are finding a way to avoid the cur of piracy with an easy solution.

Check through the current top sales of video games, taking Australia as an example. At November 30 the five top selling games were.

1. Wii Play with Remote - Nintendo Wii
2. Wii Fit – Nintendo Wii
3. Mario Kart with Wheel – Nintendo Wii
4. Resistance 2 – PS3
5. Singstar ABBA – PS2

See a trend? Sure the top three are games for the Wii, but more importantly, four of the top 5 have some sort of peripheral hardware associated with the game. This trend continues when you break it down across platforms – at least at the console level.

Guitar Hero: World Tour and its associated microphone, guitar and drum peripherals hold down two of the top ten Nintendo Wii sales chart positions, features in both PS2 and PS3 top ten and along with the Karaoke game, Lips (and its microphones) also appears in the Xbox 360 top ten.

Nintendo have released a bundled pack with Animal Crossing for the Wii, with the Wii Speak peripheral. I think they have cottoned on to it, avoid game piracy by packaging your software with a new piece of hardware, whether the game actually needs it or not.

Actually, there doesn’t need to be an actual gaming peripheral as part of the offering, even ‘normal’ games can be more attractive at the sales counters given the right trimmings. Sure there are special editions (usually limited, or costing another 50 percent) for most blockbuster releases today, but what about good old in box goodies, like we used to get?

I believe there is still a place for the odd cloth map in an RPG, or stickers, key rings, extra content discs or similar items that make opening the retail box more attractive.

Digital distribution will ultimately take over, as it almost has for music, but until then game publishers will need to look to other, more tangible ways to elicit the honest dollar from an otherwise tempted wallet.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22159/1092/1/3/ ...

The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) released a statement on Friday reporting that counterfeit consoles and power adapters are being sold online from Asia-based websites, fooling customers into thinking they are getting the supposed gaming units cheaper than retail outlets. The HMRC has already seized hundreds of the counterfeit devices and discovered that they are supplied with "potentially dangerous power adapters." Most of what they found was fake versions of the Nintendo DS and DS Lite, claiming to be "genuine Nintendo products," selling for almost half the original cost.

And while it’s easy to slip in a "save a few bucks" frame of mind during the holiday season, often when deals are too good to be true, then they probably are. HMRC’s Head of Intellectual Property rights Pamela Rogers says that consumers should be vigilant, to buy from a respected, well-known website and to check all the facts before purchasing a product, especially from sites located overseas.

"At best, these consoles would have led to disappointment on Christmas morning; at worst, they could have caused serious harm or injury," she said in a press release. "Counterfeit goods also cause considerable damage the UK economy by undermining genuine UK retailers and small businesses who are honest and abide by the rules."

Mike Rawlinson, managing director for the trade body of the UK game’s industry ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association), agrees, saying that more needs to be done to end the damaging counterfeit games market, as fake goods not only defrauds tax payers, but puts the children at risk. "This is an issue that affects all retail businesses, particularly at Christmas, and more needs to be done to work together to mitigate the risks posed by fake goods. We are also continuing to work very closely with Trading Standards Officers on this important safety issue and we also want to thank them for their diligence."

While Rawlinson thanked the HMRC for alerting all ports for incoming counterfeit goods, Nintendo verified that the consoles in question were in fact fake DS and DS Lite consoles. Nintendo also said that the power adapters supplied with the fake units were potentially dangerous since they were not electronically tested to meet strict UK safety standards.

Recently consumers slammed Nintendo for the company’s strict policy regarding the Wii Speak microphone. Originally, Nintendo announced that only one activation was allowed for the device, leaving it utterly useless in the used-games market or if consumers lost the activation code after buying a new console. But even though the company caved in and said it would provide additional activation codes if needed, game piracy, the used-games market and counterfeit hardware fueled the company’s original decision.

This holiday season, it would be wise to steer away from "killer deals" online or schemes that offer free consoles after completing numerous surveys. While many respectable websites my be legit on their holiday discounts, the internet is also littered with scam artists intent on persuading un-educated consumers into shelling out money for products that may eventually cost more than the original product, perhaps even cost lives.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Fake-Con...news-3094.html ...

The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) released a statement on Friday reporting that counterfeit consoles and power adapters are being sold online from Asia-based websites, fooling customers into thinking they are getting the supposed gaming units cheaper than retail outlets. The HMRC has already seized hundreds of the counterfeit devices and discovered that they are supplied with "potentially dangerous power adapters." Most of what they found was fake versions of the Nintendo DS and DS Lite, claiming to be "genuine Nintendo products," selling for almost half the original cost.

And while it’s easy to slip in a "save a few bucks" frame of mind during the holiday season, often when deals are too good to be true, then they probably are. HMRC’s Head of Intellectual Property rights Pamela Rogers says that consumers should be vigilant, to buy from a respected, well-known website and to check all the facts before purchasing a product, especially from sites located overseas.

"At best, these consoles would have led to disappointment on Christmas morning; at worst, they could have caused serious harm or injury," she said in a press release. "Counterfeit goods also cause considerable damage the UK economy by undermining genuine UK retailers and small businesses who are honest and abide by the rules."

Mike Rawlinson, managing director for the trade body of the UK game’s industry ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association), agrees, saying that more needs to be done to end the damaging counterfeit games market, as fake goods not only defrauds tax payers, but puts the children at risk. "This is an issue that affects all retail businesses, particularly at Christmas, and more needs to be done to work together to mitigate the risks posed by fake goods. We are also continuing to work very closely with Trading Standards Officers on this important safety issue and we also want to thank them for their diligence."

While Rawlinson thanked the HMRC for alerting all ports for incoming counterfeit goods, Nintendo verified that the consoles in question were in fact fake DS and DS Lite consoles. Nintendo also said that the power adapters supplied with the fake units were potentially dangerous since they were not electronically tested to meet strict UK safety standards.

Recently consumers slammed Nintendo for the company’s strict policy regarding the Wii Speak microphone. Originally, Nintendo announced that only one activation was allowed for the device, leaving it utterly useless in the used-games market or if consumers lost the activation code after buying a new console. But even though the company caved in and said it would provide additional activation codes if needed, game piracy, the used-games market and counterfeit hardware fueled the company’s original decision.

This holiday season, it would be wise to steer away from "killer deals" online or schemes that offer free consoles after completing numerous surveys. While many respectable websites my be legit on their holiday discounts, the internet is also littered with scam artists intent on persuading un-educated consumers into shelling out money for products that may eventually cost more than the original product, perhaps even cost lives.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Fake-Con...news-3094.html ...

Nintendo has rejected news reports that there could soon be an upgrade to the Wii Remote’s accelerometer technology.

Speaking to Edge, a Nintendo spokesperson denied reports that the controller would see an internal upgrade of this kind, and has denied reports that the company is looking for one, labelling the matter as “purely rumour and speculation.”

Over the weekend, Nikkei business publication TechOn! published claims from its undisclosed sources that Nintendo “has been evaluating samples obtained from a number of acceleration sensor manufacturers other than ST and ADI.”

http://www.edge-online.com/news/nint...D-news-reports ...