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MTV to Invest $500 Million in Games Division
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Music,
Look no further for proof that the video game business is big business indeed. Media giant MTV has announced that it is sinking over a half billion dollars into the video game industry over the next two years.
“As we take our brands narrow and deep to serve our targeted, niche audiences, we’re putting well over $500 million behind building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio,” explained MTV chairman and chief executive Judy McGrath.
MTV is set to make a big splash this fall when Rock Band is released. MTV/Viacom recently purchased Rock Band and Guitar Hero developer Harmonix, so the success of the game will greatly impact any of the network’s future gaming endeavors. In addition to the Harmonix acquisition, MTV/Viacom has snapped up Xfire and GameTrailers, quietly making itself a major player in the gaming scene.
Read More 
| GameDaily
Gallery: MTV to Invest $500 Million in Games Division
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It’s hardly a secret that Nintendo has fixed its sights squarely on a more casual gamer this generation than they have in the past. They’ve said as much, and the strategy has proven to be highly successful. While this has been great for Nintendo, its shareholders and investors and to a certain extent the Nintendo fanboys who have been more like apologists for the last several years, some hardcore gamers are expressing concern over Nintendo’s new family-friendly approach.
Often times it seems this new approach means simplifying games, making them easier to pick up, understand and potentially succeed with. For a hardcore community that was already questioning the wisdom of making games less difficult or at least less punishing, it has set off the klaxons in a big way.
Click to continue reading Miyamoto Says it’s All About the Fun
Read More | Next Generation
Gallery: Miyamoto Says it’s All About the Fun
California Extreme Channels a Simpler Time
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Culture, Editorial, Retro,
Gamers of a certain age, if given half a chance, will gladly recount grand tales of smoky rooms, dimly lit by a few dozen cathode rays where the only sounds are the white noise of competing digitized soundtracks, crude speech sythesizers, blips and bells, pings and whistles and artificial arpeggios rolling down an electronic scale.
The misty sincerity of those gamers who cut their teeth on the quarter-munching cabinets of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Missile Command and Sinistar is almost enough to make one forget what a mess the modern arcade equivalent has become. The gargantuan interface machines with their elaborate weapon approximations and physical demands juxtapose over a likewise spectacular price per play resulting in a hollow shell of what the old guard knew so well. These are not arcades as exist in those guarded memories, they are interactive entertainment experiences: The kind of branded, marginalized speciality device that has been focus tested and trade-show marketed to get the premium floor space right out front in view of the mall concourse is showpiece here.
Even those arcade machines which can still accurately be described as video games compete for the higher-yield ticket-generating skill games (which ironically involve very little skill). Most of those who recall the days when 3D graphics referred to the vector lines of Tempest pass by these modern emporiums. Perhaps they shake their heads a little or make a disparaging comment. Kids these days. Get off my lawn. They don’t enter; inside is only heartbreak.
Perhaps what hurts the most is that it is a heartbreak we chose. We have no one to blame but ourselves, for while the arcade as it was may be dead, ultimately it is us who killed it.
We wanted the more valuable entertainment experience. We asked for and then demanded a perfect replica of our arcade favorites that we could play at home from the comfort of our couches. We pressed for more arcade-quality graphics on our home consoles until our set top boxes had visuals that outpaced anything showcased on a standalone machine. We asked for, and received, greater narrative depth in our games and as a casualty for our insistence we killed the arcade—the very entity we now mourn.
Click to continue reading California Extreme Channels a Simpler Time
Gallery: California Extreme Channels a Simpler Time
Halo 3 Pre-orders Top One Million, Merchandising Blitz Begins
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Bungie, Corporate News, Culture, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox 360,
Halo 3 won’t be out until September 25th, but the hype machine is already well in gear. Microsoft has just announced that pre-sale numbers for Bungie‘s upcoming behemoth have already exceeded one million copies. Chris Di Cesare, Microsoft’s director of creative marketing, says, “This September, Halo 3 will push video game entertainment into the forefront of mainstream culture.”
And he’s not kidding. Microsoft is backing up its big gun by way of some big merchandising deals with major brands. For starters, Pepsi is releasing a Halo-branded version of Mountain Dew, called Mountain Dew Game Fuel. 7-11 is getting in on the action with Halo-themed Slurpee cups, as well as a Doritos promotion. Not wanting to be left out in the cold, Burger King will be doing its own in-store promotions, Pontiac is launching a Halo 3- themed contest, and Comcast will offer its subscribers all kinds of downloadable Halo goodies. Phew! A marketing campaign of this depth and scope is truly unprecedented in the gaming industry.
Read More | Next Generation
Gallery: Halo 3 Pre-orders Top One Million, Merchandising Blitz Begins
GamerAndy Live! Episode 86: Chocolate Rain
Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Activision, Announcements, Corporate News, Culture, E3, Electronic Arts, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, MMORPG, Music, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Politics, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Reviews, Role Playing Games, Rumors, Sony, Sports, Third Person Shooters, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, GamerAndy,
Finally, now that the dust has settled from E3, we have finally found the time to get our thoughts in order and give you an extra-long episode of GamerAndy Live!
This week, Edie and Hawkes chat up all that happened before E3, during E3, and after E3, including:
OUR E3 COVERAGE
- How Edie spotted Slash, missed Ron Jeremy and got groped by China Doll;
- Edie defends why she thinks Nintendo “won” E3 this year;
- Why Hawkes wasn’t as impressed at Killzone 2 as many others;
- Burnout Paradise;
- John Woo’s Stranglehold;
- Fallout 3;
- Hellgate: London;
- Katamari Damarcy;
- PGR4;
- Assassin’s Creed;
- Why Activision will get sued over Guitar Hero III;
- The big scoop we
had;
- Rumor that E for All may not happen
NEWS
- Peter Moore chucks MS job for EA Sports;
- EA Sports: Hockey-less in ‘08;
- Chocolate Rain;
- Bully revamped for release on 360 and Wii;
- Wii Fit
- MGS4 coming to 360?
- Shoutouts and Shoutats;
- Problems for Unreal Engine?
- X07 gone;
- Xbox extended warantees;
- PS3 price drop…er, clearance sale;
- The Jaime Kennedy Embarassment;
- South Park’s WoW episode nominated for Emmy
Enjoy!
Gallery: GamerAndy Live! Episode 86: Chocolate Rain
Don’t get me wrong, the Wii Fit looks like a fun idea. I think it’ll be great for workouts, and may have some really cool applications in games like snowboarding or skateboarding. Still, you may look like a tool using it, as Sarcastic Gamer makes clear. See above, their parody video for the Wii Fit, which had me laughing out loud at quite a few moments.
Read More | Sarcastic Gamer
Gallery: The Sarcastic Gamer on Wii Fit
CNN Claims Wiimote Features “Audio Translator”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Music, Rumors, Wii,
To go along with Fortune magazine’s recent article on the Wii (see here), CNN.com has posted an online look at the components that make-up the Wii Remote. While it’s meant to give business-type folks a feel for just how much it costs to make the little gadget, it features an interesting bit of information. According to their disassembly, the Wii Remote features an “Audio Translator” which “converts analog data such as human speech into a digital data stream”.
Whu?! Admittedly, mainstream news sources often don’t get their videogame information exactly right, so this could all just be a misprint or misunderstanding on the part of CNN/Fortune Magazine. Still, rumors of the Wii remote featuring or using a microphone of some sort have been floating around for a long time, so we’d be somewhat unsurprised if this tidbit just happened to be true. But given Nintendo’s tight hold on new information, we may not learn anything more about this new feature for quite some time…
Click the jump to see a screencap of the new info…
Click to continue reading CNN Claims Wiimote Features “Audio Translator”
Read More | Money.CNN.com
Gallery: CNN Claims Wiimote Features “Audio Translator”
Gaming at the Maker Faire: Huge NES, Doom3 Mods, and More
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Nintendo, PC, Puzzle,
The Maker Faire was held this past weekend at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in sunny California. For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s basically a huge collection of engineering- and creativity-inclined nerds having fun with robots, fire, accelerometers, and anything else they can get their hands on.
Well of course, any time you get that many nerds together in one place, there’s going to be some gaming involved. Here’s a quick summary of the gaming-related wackiness that could be seen at the Maker Faire, with more pictures and videos after the jump. Exhibits included:
- A huge, working 2-person-sized NES controller
- The Doom 3 Case Mod From Hell (nyuk nyuk!) with working air-locks and remote control integrated display
- Push-button LED Tetris
- A life-sized crocheted Atari 2600, complete with 2 joysticks and TV displaying Adventure **
- Microsoft reps using Wii remotes to control RC Cars (I kid you not… I asked them if this was a conflict of interests and they laughed) **
- Build-your own accelerometer-based game interface using gloves, a flyswatter, or a frying pan **
** = Not pictured. The Faire was totally overwhelming, which affected my photo-taking abilities. Sorry!
Oh, and there was a huge Tesla Coil that shot 14.7 million volts. That was OK too I guess 😉
Click the jump for more pix and movies!
Click to continue reading Gaming at the Maker Faire: Huge NES, Doom3 Mods, and More
Read More | MakerFaire 2007
Gallery: Gaming at the Maker Faire: Huge NES, Doom3 Mods, and More
Gamefly Adds Fast East Coast Shipping, More Availability Info
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Hot Deals, Internet,
Living in SF, I’ve never had a problem with the turn-around times for getting new games from Gamefly. Since it only takes about 3 days between sending in my played games and getting my next game, I’ve found the 3-game plan to be more than worth its cost. Still, Gamefly was hampered by the fact that it only had one shipping facility, in Los Angeles, CA. That all changed this past week when Gamefly opened up their second shipping facility in Pittsburgh, PA. This warehouse will serve the east coast and some inland states, including “CT, DC, DE, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA, and VW (sic)”. I can only assume that VW stands for Vest Wirginia.
In addition, Gamefly has been adding several other tweaks to their website, including an improved “availability” ranking in your GameQ. Items in your Q will now show whether the availability is “Now” (will ship immediately), or “High”, “Medium” or “Low”, or “Very Low”. High means there’s a 75% chance that your game will be available to ship, Medium 50%-75%, and Low 25%-50%, and Very Low 0%-25%.
Finally, Gamefly appears to be doing some work on improving their web interface. Games in your Q will now display a blue “In Q” button (instead of the standard “Rent it!” button) if a game is already in your Q. Unfortunately, the “In Q” button only shows up when you navigate to the specific game page, and does not appear on any list pages (a la NetFlix). Clicking on the “Rent it!” button for a game already in your Q still results in the annoying “This game is already in your Q!” pop-up box, but hopefully they’ll be fixing that soon.
Overall, some much welcomed improvements! Now, just find a way to ship me Guitar Hero 2 for rental, and I’ll be a happy camper 😉
Read More | GameFly.com
Gallery: Gamefly Adds Fast East Coast Shipping, More Availability Info
GamerAndy Live! Episode 79: Sony Happy Goat Time
Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Corporate News, Culture, E3, Editorial, First Person Shooters, Nintendo, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Role Playing Games, Rumors, Square Enix, Take2, Third Person Shooters, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, GamerAndy,
We are back with another episode of GamerAndy Live! This week GamerAndy, GamerEdie, and Gear Live‘s Andru Edwards are behind the mic, bringing you a fresh dose of this week’s gaming news. Be sure to hit us up on the forums and let us know what you think.
SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 79:
- A recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board threatens Internet radio and independent musicians by increasing costs to webcasters by 1,200 percent retroactively…and even for non-RIAA music. Please send a letter to your representatives to help reevaluate this Draconian and dangerous decision!
- Sony throws party to celebrate God of War II. Great. The centerpiece of this event? A partially decapitated goat—and guests are invited to reach into the still-warm body, grab handfuls of offal and eat it. Good lord, what were they thinking?!? (Warning: Photo slightly NSFW in the United States for slight nippleage.)
- Edie discusses the relative difference of “titties,” “boobies,” “boobs,” and “tits.” Andy defines “gazongas.”
- The Xbox 360 Elite: Does Andru care? Does Edie?
- Hironobu Sakaguchi (Red Racer, Final Fantasy) + Ken Kutaragi = BFF? Apparently not.
- Speaking of Krazy Ken: He’s gone. Sony doesn’t want him, and neither does Nintendo, apparently. Sayonara, Sony! Konnichiwa, Mickey-Dees!
- Andy goes into more detail about his recent PS3 purchase… and it’s not pretty. Andru and Edie also discuss the possibilities for Playstation Home, both pros and cons.
- Edie still hearts her PS2, and Bully.
- Andy rails about Kotaku’s recent habit of using countless internal search links in their stories—frustrating as hell, he says.
Gallery: GamerAndy Live! Episode 79: Sony Happy Goat Time
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