UBS Investment Research analyst Michael Wallace assessed the PlayStation 3 and Wii launch plans of a number of US publishers in a note to investors today, and not all of the news was positive. While Wallace noted that software sales were already up about 3 percent for the year so far (matching his original prediction for the full year), he warned that the delay of the European release of Sony's system may have a negative impact on some companies' bottom lines this year.

Wallace had expected Sony to ship about 500,000 PS3 systems to Europe by the end of the year, but with the system not expected to release there until March of 2007, he worries about the impact it will have on US publishers. Aside from having 500,000 less consumers to sell their games to, publishers may decide to delay games that had been expected this year into 2007 to take advantage of what will be a larger user base. However, Wallace doesn't specify any particular titles that would be in danger of this and notes that if Sony can ship 1.5 million PS3s to the US by year's end, it would make up for the shortfall of systems caused by the European delay.

As for which publishers face the biggest downside as a result of the delay, Wallace said that Activision has built its quarter around the PS3 launch more than other publishers and could suffer the largest downside as a result. While he expects Electronic Arts to have four or five PS3 games at launch compared to Activision's three, Wallace also said that EA has a more balanced portfolio for the quarter.

Even the caution about Activision is tempered with a note that the publisher could make up any losses in other areas of its business. Wallace said that Nintendo's expected 2 million Wii units available for the US by the end of the year is more than he expected. As a result, Activision and THQ are best positioned to take advantage of that, with five games and four games expected for the Wii launch, respectively. (Wallace does not issue reports on foreign publishers like France-based Ubisoft, which has announced a lineup of eight Wii titles and is expected to offer PS3 launch titles as well, including Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII.)

Wallace's list of expected Wii and PS3 launch titles from the publishers he covers is included below.

Activision
Call of Duty 3 (PS3, Wii)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (PS3, Wii)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3)
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Wii)
World Series of Poker (Wii)
Rapala Tournament Fishing (Wii)

Atari
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii)

Electronic Arts
Madden NFL 07 (PS3, Wii)
Need for Speed Carbon (PS3, Wii)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PS3)
Fight Night Round 3 (PS3)
NBA Live 07 (PS3)

Midway
Ant Bully (Wii)
Happy Feet (Wii)
Rampage: Total Destruction (Wii)
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Wii)

Take-Two
NBA 2K7 (PS3)
NHL 2K7 (PS3)
College Hoops 2K7 (PS3)

THQ
Cars (Wii)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature From the Krusty Krab (Wii)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Wii)
Barnyard (Wii) ...

In today's busy world not everyone has enough time to clean the house, walk the dogs, pick up the dry cleaning, or become a Master Thief in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's Thieves Guild. While several of the above chores can be completed with just a phone call and some cash, the latter was up to gamers themselves...until now.

Like the phenomenon of power-levelling other people's characters in massively multiplayer online role-playing games for a real-world price, gamers can now see their Xbox 360 GamerScore increase while they do other things.

Levelmy360.com and its team of "powerleveling veterans" are offering to increase Xbox 360 GamerScores for money. Low-end rates include 500 points for $39.99 and 750 points for $59.99, with higher-end packages of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, and 3,000 points going for $1 for every 10 points.

Gamers who use the service are required to hand over the password that is linked to their gamertag (which also happens to be their Hotmail password) and send funds through PayPal.

The site claims to have more than four years of experience in "similar Internet based online gaming businesses" (likely power-leveling for EverQuest or other PC games) and says Levelmy360 was started "due to popular demand." ...

New commercial DS Game released:



Game Boy Advance's Kawaii Koinu popular game title is now available on Nintendo DS. You can choose from 18 different kind of 2D animated cute puppies that act just like real life dogs. Several modes of play are available, such as contests or missions. Of course, the puppies will recognize your own voice and the game also include touch pen compatibility.

More Info/ buy here --> http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...4&lsaid=219793 ...

New commercial DS game released



The no holds barred, sci-fi fighting franchise is reborn on the Nintendo DS. Guilty Gear Dust Strikers features all 21 Guilty Gear characters from previous versions, but now the battle takes place on multiple levels across both DS screens with up to 4 players at once. Players have to navigate different types of floors and traps as they battle versus CPU characters or via wireless connections in "battle royal" rules where the last person standing is the winner. The game features six modes of play including Arcade, Story and VS Battle plus seven unique touch screen mini games and a Robo Ky Factory where you can customize your fighting moves.

More info/ buy here --> http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...9&lsaid=219793 ...

New commercial DS game released:



Originally released as an arcade game by Taito in 1986, Bubble Bobble starred two dinosaurs - Bub and Bob who co-operate to make their way through a hundred levels to rescue their girlfriends. This addictive two player game went on to be released on most console formats. Now the game is reborn on the Nintendo DS with all new graphics, split screen action and the classic gameplay. 100 new exciting levels to explore. All new power bubbles and bubble attacks. Microphone activated challenges and Bubble mini-games. Includes a perfect re-creation of the original Bubble Bobble arcade machine game.

More info / buy here --> http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...1&lsaid=219793 ...

Need For Speed Carbon has joined the list of downloadable game demos on Xbox Live Marketplace, although it's 1GB so you'll probably want to put the tea on before you start downloading it.

Should be useful for gauging whether you can be bothered with this year's update to EA's increasingly successful racing game series, due out on 360, Xbox, PS2, Cube, PSP, DS and GBA on 3rd November.

As you'll know if you've been following it, NFS Carbon sees you racing around a city trying to take over neighbourhoods one at a time, with the action eventually heading to Carbon Canyon where there's, you know, more racing. ...

LucasArts' Chris Williams has declared that next-gen gaming is about more than "pretty graphics" - conceding that games have yet to reach the level of movies when it comes to visuals.

Williams, who is project lead on LucasArts' new Indiana Jones game, made his comments in a speech at GDC London this morning. He talked extensively about the studio's relationships with sister company Industrial Light & Magic, observing, "Film and game technology really compliment each other."

However, he went on, game developers still have "a lot to learn from film". As an example, he cited the CGI character Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean 2. According to Williams, it's highly unlikely that such a high level of character detail could be recreated in a game "for next-gen, or even the generation after that".

For LucasArts, he continued, "Next-gen is not just about pretty graphics, and we're okay with that." Instead, the studio is looking for ways to change the gameplay experience - for example, by simulating instead of scripting characters.

To demonstrate this, Williams showed a level from the Xbox 360 version of the Indiana Jones game. He highlighted the many different and unpredictable ways enemies will fall when hit, or grab out for something to hold onto when falling.

"There are different payoffs for every action in the game," Williams explained, adding, "When you are creating these moments that are truly your own, you are telling your own story."

Williams then demonstrated some impressive physics effects in a new, as yet unnamed Star Wars game from LucasArts. R2-D2 was shown being repeatedly thrown into planks of wood, which broke in realistic and different ways depending on their thickness, and a similar demo followed featuring the character of Jar Jar Binks encased in carbonite ("arguably where he belongs"). To conclude, Williams played a short video highlighting 'force power', which allows gamers to release bursts of power, pick up enemies and objects and slam them into walls.

According to Williams, LucasArts' "core underlying simulation technology, we think, is really going to change the way people play games". However, he continued, "We think this is just the tip of the iceberg." ...

There's so much pre-rendered content in Dead Or Alive X2 that it's filled up an entire DVD, according to Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki.

Speaking in Famitsu Xbox 360, in an article partially translated by IGN, Itagaki also said that the game was now 80 percent complete, with start and end sequences finalised.

The preview also revealed for the first time that the game will feature multiple hotels, with your choice of character sending you to a particular location based on their personality. Elena, for example, prefers the five-star Gemstone Suite, but there's also the Seabreeze Cottage hotel near the beach and Moonlight Reef, which appeared in Kasumi's Dead Or Alive 4 end sequence.

DOAX2, which features jet-ski sections as well as volleyball and a host of mini-games, is very much about the characters and their interaction with you and one another, and Itagaki revealed that if they really get to like you, they may even get changed into new bikinis in front of you. Calm down though, because you're unlikely to see anything.

With the game nearing completion, ahead of its US and Japanese launch dates of 15th and 22nd November respectively, Itagaki confirms that they're down to bug-testing, with approximately half the work done there, along with translation of the huge volumes of text that make up item descriptions, which need to be rewritten in nine languages.

Expect more on the game around the time of its US launch. ...

Sony chose not to include force feedback in its PlayStation 3 controller because it was worried how much it would have to charge for the resultant product.

That's according to SCEA boss Kaz Hirai, who told UK games website Kikizo that the decision not to include rumble features in addition to motion-sensing was a strategic, not a technical one.

"The issue is trying to isolate the vibration feature from the motion sensors," he said. "Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price."

Despite facing a backlash at E3, Hirai reckons that the extra cost involved in putting both in the same pad would have been "doing the consumer a huge disservice". You can make your own jokes about PlayStation 3 pricing here if you like.

Individual PS3 controllers, named "Sixaxis", will be sold for 5,000 yen in Japan, which is about 22 Hermajestycoins or 33 Euran-out-of-funny-ones-yesterdays. ...