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RedOctane Denies Faulty 360 Guitar Rumors, Gives Suggestions
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Electronic Arts, Music, Rumors, Xbox 360,
A few sites out there were reporting yesterday about supposed problems with the whammy bar on the Xbox 360 Guitar Hero “Xplorer” controller. Today, a rep from RedOctane responded to these rumors, stating that they were categorically untrue and had not heard of any systematic problems with the controller… they offered the following up for users who are having problems with the guitar.
“We’re currently in the process of having our internal QA and production teams look into this possible issue, and are working to quickly isolate this if there is one,” he stated. “In the meantime, we suggest our fans try to replug in their guitars without holding down any buttons or the whammy bar, and that may help immediately resolve the issue.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if this “fixed” a lot of the problems folks have been seeing - I’m sure there are more than a few gamers out there that may have accidentally mis-zeroed the controls. Now just remember to put the disc in shiny-side down too, OK?
Read More 
| Next Generation.biz
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Chart-Track Claims PS3 Sales Drop “Means Nothing”
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Chart-Track, publisher of video game hardware and software sales numbers in the UK commented on the recent sales figure leak that indicated the PS3 suffered an 82% sales drop in its second week of release. Commenting to Next Generation, Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch claimed that without context, the drop “alone means nothing.” With previous launches of the Wii and the Xbox 360 supply constrained, Bloch asserts that the PS3 launch can not be compared. And Bloch is correct; the number right now is meaningless, without the context of a trend. While the drop appears calamitous, gamers may get a better idea of the true state of PS3 sales as the weeks continue. The danger of such a drop, though, can cement the idea in the minds of the consumers that the console may be a “flop,” despite reality.
Read More | Next Generation
Wii Resident Evil 4 Remake Confirmed
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Adventure, CAPCOM, Nintendo, Wii,
IGN reports on the latest issue of Famitsu, which has a new spread on Biohazard 4: Wii Edition. The US version was previously hinted at via an accidental leak on the Gamestop website for June; these new details assure gamers that the title is real. The Famitsu article details the new Wiimote functionality in the game. Gamers will use the Wiimote for cursor aiming, the B trigger and a shake of the Wiimote allows the user to reload, and motion-sensitive actions are used for close up attacking. Other features in the Wii version include new beginner-friendly difficulty settings and the additional content from the PS2 release. Finally, for those looking for insight into the upcoming Umbrella Chronicles Wii release, there will be a game trailer included on the disc.
Read More | IGN
Sega Europe Offers NiGHTS Details
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, SEGA, Wii,
Sega of Europe offered some tantalizing new details about the upcoming NiGHTS: Journey Of Dreams earlier; the updates seem to have gone missing from Sega’s site, but Sega Nerds has a summary of the new features, including “Persona” masks that allow NiGHTS to morph into a dragon, dolphin or rocket, seven dream worlds, and utilization of the Wii Connect 24 service to exchange items and adjust the environment based on the Forecast channel. It definitely sounds like Sega is focusing on using the Wii featureset to the fullest; hopefully the game can live up to the nostalgic memories gamers have of the original.
Read More | Sega Nerds
“Exciting Witch Trial” DS Japanese Website Up
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Corporate News, Nintendo DS, Party Games, Politics,
Add some more fuel to the ethics in video games fire… Remember those somewhat subversive DS advertisers in your local mall? The ones that consisted of cute girls wearing shirts proclaiming that “Touching is Good”? Well, the DS has just taken the pervyness to the next level, courtesy of SNK. In a new Japan-only game Doji Doji Majo Saiban (roughly translated as Exciting Witch Trial) you’re encouraged to find out whether or well-endowed nubile girls are witches or not. We’ll let you guess how you find out… or you could click this link(somewhat NSFW) and skip some of the guesswork.
We can only guess that this game is NEVER going to make it stateside… I think several public interest groups’ collective heads would explode. So all you folks interested in the “artistic style” and “dialog” in this game are going to be stuck importing and learning Japanese for now.
Read More | DokiMajo.com
Metroid Prime Wii Pushed Back Again, Fils-Aime Wants “Perfect”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Wii,
Bad news for all you Nintendo fans out there - it looks like we may still be waiting a while longer for the Metroid Prime trilogy to be complete. Newsweek talked to company figurehead Reggie Fils-Aime, who had this to say:
Where is Metroid? Metroid is not going to ship by June. We’ve announced all of our games through the end of June. And the fact with Metroid is we want to make sure that that game is perfect. Unfortunately, Metroid Prime 2 didn’t live up to our expectations, it didn’t live up to Retro’s expectations
Evidently, Nintendo’s looking to put out a lot of marketing for this product, and they want it to be the best that it can be when it releases. (And if it sells more copies than Echoes, they’d prefer that too. Given that this is one of the first FPS titles to have a chance of not sucking on Nintendo’s new console (i.e. not Red Steel or Medal of Honor, I think it’s safe to say that this game will sell pretty well. Here’s hoping that the game’s as close to “perfect” as they can make it too.
Read More | Newsweek
Microsoft Announces Improved Xbox 360 Warranty Process
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360,
Reports of people having issues with the Xbox 360 have been widespread, with some Xbox 360 users requiring multiple replacements of their hardware. It is hard to gauge the actual level of defective units in the wild, but from a purely anecdotal perspective, it appears that the Xbox 360 is much less reliable than its competition. Microsoft, though, is standing behind the console, having recently extended the default warranty to one year and now enhancing the warranty process.
First, Microsoft is now paying for return shipping for all consoles returned for repair. In addition, consoles repaired under warranty will have the work guaranteed for a minimum of 90 days, longer if the original warranty is still in effect, those out of warranty will have a one year repair guarantee. Microsoft also is apparently moving away from sending refurbished consoles to users, instead returning the original console to the user when possible. This also has the added benefit of not invalidating any of the user’s downloaded content, a problem in the past. Other benefits promised include faster service, and better support staff.
One could certainly frame these improvements in a number of ways. On the one hand, it is great that Microsoft is stepping up to the plate to ensure that the end user has as good an experience as possible when their console breaks. On the other hand, a lot of these fixes should have been built into the process from day one, particularly turn around times, console repair, and support. Nintendo has been lauded online for a couple of particularly good examples of support; perhaps Microsoft is now realizing that a good warranty experience will help reduce online complaints.
Read More | Xbox.com
Mario Strikers Wii To Feature Online Play
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Nintendo, Sports, Wii,
With the European release of Mario Strikers for the Wii a little under two months away, Nintendo of Europe has dropped a press release documenting a few of the new features games will find when the game ships May 25th in that territory. The gameplay will still feature 5-on-5 teams as in the Gamecube release, but with added support for the motion controls of the Wii remote. One of the more interesting new features, though, has to be the addition of a multiplayer online mode; Nintendo claims the game will support up to four players online, split across two teams. It is unclear what the division between local and online players will have to be, but one can probably assume that friend codes will be involved for online play. Nintendo also promises ranked leaderboards and unranked matches for the title. Mario Strikers joins Pokemon Battle Revolution as online-enabled titles for the Wii.
Read More | Nintendo Europe
PS3 Sales Drop 82% in Great Britain
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Rumors,
After Sony broke records with their 165,000 unit launch in the UK, things were looking up a bit for the Playstation 3. The Playstation has traditionally sold very well in the UK, but this week’s news is not looking so good. From GamesIndustry.biz:
Sales of the PlayStation 3 have dropped dramatically on the second week of release in the UK, with official Chart Track figures revealing a fall of 82 per cent.
Chart Track data is gathered from 7000 UK retail outlets representing 90 per cent of the software market, including GAME, Gamestation, Play.com, Asda and HMV.
...
This week’s software charts revealed that sales of the top two PlayStation 3 titles, Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm, had dropped by over 60 per cent.
Does this mean that just about everyone in the UK who wanted a PS3 picked one up on launch day? Or is this due to a lack of supply available after the frenzied launch? Either way, hopefully Sony can somehow reverse this precipitous drop in sales… they could certainly use a bright spot to point to these days.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Hideo Kojima Talks Metal Gear
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Culture, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Third Person Shooters,
Hideo Kojima talked about the Metal Gear franchise through the years at the GO3 Expo in Australia. Gamasutra covered his speech, an interesting walk through game development starting from the 80s through to his work on Metal Gear Solid 4. From the MSX to the PlayStation 2, it seems Kojima has been bumping against the technological limitations of each platform while trying to refine and evolve his “hide and seek” gameplay concept from the original game. While he offered no real new footage from Metal Gear Solid 4, he did discuss where he wanted to take the conflict in the next iteration of the franchise.
Read More | Gamasutra
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