Xbox 360 | Shadow Complex sets XBLA single-player sales records

Epic and Chair Entertainment's Xbox 360-exclusive action platformer shifts 200,000 units during opening week, securing spot in Xbox Live top-seller books.

Technical issues aside, EA Dice's multiplayer-only downloadable shooter Battlefield 1943 proved to be quite the success on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network when it launched in early July. Two weeks after release, EA touted the game as "the fastest selling day one and week one download-only game" worldwide on Xbox Live and in North America for the PSN, accruing some 600,000 purchases.

Shadow Complex isn't likely to develop a neurosis over sales.

Today, Microsoft announced that Battlefield 1943 has a new single-player-only complement on Xbox Live. According to the publisher, Epic Games and Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex now officially holds the record for "the most downloaded single-player title" for Xbox Live Arcade. Having launched as an Xbox 360-exclusive on August 19, the action platformer sold 200,000 copies during its first-week of release, Microsoft noted.

Developed by Chair, which is owned by Epic, Shadow Complex was first shown during Microsoft's 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference. Often likened to the Super Metroid line of 2D side-scrolling action adventures, Shadow Complex melds high-intensity shooting with intricate exploration and puzzle-solving elements.

For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Shadow Complex.

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Ashlee Simpson - Shadow

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/shadowcomplex/news.html?sid=6216549

DS | Jade Raymond heading up Ubisoft Toronto

Assassin's Creed II executive producer to be in charge of French publisher's new Canadian studio--and its $226 million government grant.

In July, Ubisoft announced it was opening a new studio in Toronto, Canada's largest city. At the time, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat was named as the head of the new shop, its fourth studio in Canada. Today, though, the French publisher announced Jade Raymond, executive producer of the forthcoming Assassin's Creed II, will be in charge.

Executive producer Raymond is about to get even more executive.

In a statement, both Mallat and Raymond expressed enthusiasm for the arrangement, with the latter even dropping some clues about the studio's mission. "I'm looking forward to building a strong and talented team to work on AAA games and new intellectual properties," said Raymond.

Ubisoft Toronto certainly has the resources to create new top-tier franchises, as it is getting C$263 million ($226 million) in financial backing from the Canadian government. Over the next 10 years, the studio plans on hiring around 800 employees, and will open its doors later this year. In accordance with Ubisoft's post-Tom Clancy-buyout pan-entertainment strategy, Ubisoft Toronto will also work on comics, films, and books related to its game projects.

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Jade - Don't Walk Away (TOTP)

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/assassinscreed/news.html?sid=6216552

Xbox 360 | Bayonetta demo spearing 360, PS3 in Japan - Report

Platinum Games producer Yusuke Hashimoto says sampler for sexy action adventure will offer content that complements full retail release.

Bayonetta - E3 2009 trailer - HD version

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/27021069/bayonetta-demo-spearing-360-ps3-in-japan-report.html

Wii | Beatles: Rock Band could pay out $40 million in royalties - Report

Viacom has guaranteed song, likeness rights-holders $10 million minimum; payments could dramatically increase if rhythm game sells well.

Media multinational Viacom is publishing The Beatles: Rock Band through its MTV Games label, with Electronic Arts distributing and Harmonix developing the project. However, it's the rights-holders for the Beatles' songs and likenesses who may really cash in if the game, set for release on September 9, is a massive hit.

The Beatles: Rock Band's royalty scheme is pretty far out.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Viacom entered into an extremely generous royalties arrangement which guarantees the rights-holders at least $10 million. However, if the heavily hyped title sells well, those payments could increase to a whopping $40 million, three anonymous sources told the newspaper.

One reason for the massive payday may be the number of songs featured in The Beatles: Rock Band--45 in total. Another is the number of parties who need to be paid. The majority of song rights are owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and the recently deceased singer Michael Jackson's estate. Two other record labels control the remainder of the music and likeness rights for the Beatles, who are digitally recreated in the game: Apple Corps (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) and EMI Music (the estates of the late John Lennon and George Harrison).

To counter the high cost, MTV Games was initially only releasing two versions of the Beatles: Rock Band: a $60 a la carte version, and a pricey $250 limited edition with replicas of the guitar, bass, and drum set used by the band. However, last week, online retailers began listing a "value edition" of the game with standard Rock Band instruments for $140-$160. According to the Times, the value edition was created in part because MTV Games has an overstock of Rock Band instruments it is having problems selling due to the music genre's waning popularity.

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Help! Beatles

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/beatlesharmonixproject/news.html?sid=6216559

Xbox 360 | Take-Two 'grossly underestimated' by gamers, retailers - Analyst

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich touts maturation of publisher, saying 2K Games plays unheralded Scottie Pippen to Rockstar's Michael Jordan.

Hits like BioShock and Carnival Games are helping Take-Two Interactive grow beyond perceptions that the company is entirely dependent on Rockstar Games' hugely successful Grand Theft Auto series, but Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's Jesse Divnich said industry-watchers are figuratively selling the publisher short.

Divnich thinks Borderlands has all the qualities of a sleeper hit. Like people on fire.

Divnich issued an analyst's note today saying that Take-Two's money-making potential over the next two years "is currently being grossly underestimated by gamers, retailers, and industry professionals."

"With the success of BioShock (over 3 million units sold, worldwide), Carnival Games (over 4 million sold, worldwide), their 2K Sports titles, and the pending release of titles such as Agent, Borderlands, and Red Dead Redemption, BioShock 2, Mafia II, and Max Payne 3, Take-Two will be no more a 'one title publisher' than Activision is with Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises, or Electronic Arts is with Madden," Divnich said.

The analyst paid particular kudos to 2K Games, which was formed in January of 2005 and has since published more than 250 games for Take-Two. Divnich likened the 2K Games label's impact on Take-Two to Scottie Pippen's contribution to the Chicago Bulls championship teams of the 1990s. While Rockstar plays the superstar role of Michael Jordan, Divnich said 2K is "often ignored and underrated, but crucial to the team's success."

Divnich wasn't entirely positive about the publisher. He did note the ongoing difficulties of 2K Sports in the face of rising licensing fees and development costs, but he said it would be possible for it to achieve profitability for the first time "by the end of 2010 or 2011." He also acknowledged a rare misstep by Rockstar with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS. But even there, he at least found evidence of the publisher's relevance.

"The release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars took permission away from any developer ever hoping to create a successful big-budget mature action title on the Nintendo DS," Divnich wrote. "The failure of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars...to deliver significant sales immediately caused a ripple effect throughout the industry causing many other mature DS titles to halt development. That is power and influence in its rawest."

In the near term, Divnich pointed to Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City--a stand-alone retail collection of GTAIV's two add-ons for the Xbox 360--as a pair of titles that could exceed expectations this year.

"Currently, most market surveys put Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City just outside the top 10 for purchase intent, with Borderlands not even breaking the top 20," Divnich said. "For these reasons, Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City are strong contenders to be sleeper hits for the year. ... Borderlands could very well surprise the market and consumers as did BioShock did in 2007."

[ Watch Video ]

Will It Blend? - Take Two: The full Olympus Multimedia Blend

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/borderlands/news.html?sid=6216340

PlayStation 2 | Kurt Cobain's likeness in Guitar Hero 5

Late Nirvana frontman to appear alongside "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lithium" in Activision's upcoming rhythm game.

With Guitar Hero 5 arriving in stores Tuesday, Activision is making its last big publicity push for the launch. The publisher has been announcing a steady stream of stars who will appear in-game, from Johnny Cash and Carlos Santanna to Garbage's Shirley Manson and Maroon 5's Adam Levine.

Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5.

Today Activision capped off that list with the announcement that Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain will be playable in Guitar Hero 5, performing the band's breakthrough hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and a live version of another single from the album Nevermind, "Lithium."

Guitar Hero 5 will feature 85 songs pulled from a number of genres, including Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets," and Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." Activision is also running a promotion for the game where players who purchase specially marked copies of Guitar Hero 5 will get the upcoming Guitar Hero: Van Halen for free.

[ Watch Video ]

Kurt Cobain interview

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/guitarhero5/news.html?sid=6216453

Xbox 360 | UK developers back up tax-break case

NESTA-backed research highlights widespread support for a cultural tax break for UK games development.

Tax breaks for video games development in the UK have been under discussion in the industry for several years now, with some progress seeming to be made of late with the formation of an all-party parliamentary group for video games and various positive notes in the Digital Britain report earlier this summer.

As part of the ongoing consultation, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) today revealed the results of its own investigation into the state of the industry and how the implementation of a similar tax break to the UK film industry might improve things. The current picture, according to NESTA, is a grim one. Since 2006, investment in privately held games companies in the UK has dropped 60 percent, and three-quarters of the executives questioned in the course of NESTA's research said they felt that development of original intellectual property had declined in the past five years. This is coupled with the UK's decline in global standing for game development, from a recent third place to a likely sixth place in 2010, in part due to a brain drain to countries, such as Canada, who offer significant corporate and personal tax breaks to developers.

According to NESTA, two-thirds of studios who took part in the survey expressed a view that tax credits would help original IP development, and three-quarters of independent developers said it would help in retaining original IP. All of these independent studios also said that a tax break would ease the shift to new business models that address the increasing trend of online and mobile gaming.

It's not just UK-based studios who were singing the praises of a potential tax credit; investors questioned by NESTA were unanimous in their belief that tax breaks would increase overseas investment in British development houses, while some local and international publishers said that "a tax credit could well make the difference between investing in or passing over UK games development opportunities." Ian Livingstone, Eidos' life president, added weight to NESTA's findings saying, "In the past we were able to develop a world class video games sector in the UK even as development costs increased and without any form of government support ... [but] it is time for the government to invest in the digital future of video games." Livingstone has previously been critical of any potential tax break that was tied to a cultural test but did not respond to requests for comment as to whether this statement indicated a change of position or simply acceptance that some support is better than nothing.

Support for these findings came from TIGA, the trade association for UK game developers, which played a key part in setting up the all-party parliamentary group and has led the lobbying for tax breaks. TIGA CEO Richard Wilson said, "NESTA's research confirms that while the UK video game sector remains a world leader it has been under enormous pressure for the last five years. This is because our key overseas competitors have benefited from generous tax breaks for games production. The unfavourable tax environment has also led to a decline in the development of original intellectual property on the part of the UK games industry."

Wilson also said that TIGA is also preparing to submit evidence to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport later this week, which "will provide [the] government with a clear framework and rationale with which to introduce a cultural tax break in the UK."

London Gangs - UK

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216365.html

Xbox 360 | Harmonix's LoPiccolo talks Rock Band Network

Rock Band studio's VP explains how garage bands meet garage-game development in the user-made song-upload service; beta set for September start.

Last month, Harmonix and MTV Games announced Rock Band Network, a new way for established and aspiring musicians to get their own songs into the rhythm game franchise. Amidst the promise of a new business model that cultivates unknown talent, lowers barriers to entry, gives musicians a new way to earn money, and reshapes the way people view rhythm games, some of the details might have been glossed over.

The Rock Band Network Store will let gamers browse by a number of categories.

Harmonix vice president of product development Greg LoPiccolo recently took some time to talk to GameSpot about a number of the more technical details of the Rock Band Network. Along the way, he provided insight into the peer-editing process, the need to have separate Rock Band and Rock Band Network stores, and how not even Harmonix itself is sure how this initiative will play out once it goes live.

GameSpot: OK, suppose I'm a struggling indie band with an album I want to release on Rock Band Network. Take me through the process in a nutshell.

Greg LoPiccolo: OK, I get myself an Xbox 360, a Gold [Xbox Live] account, and I sign up for a Microsoft XNA account, which costs me $99 a year. Then me, or somebody in the band, downloads the specs from the Rock Band Network Web site and reads up on what to do. First, you have to have the multitrack recordings of your songs. You need to call the multitracks back up and mix them out into multitrack stems according to the Rock Band specs. Then, some enterprising soul has to open up an MIDI sequencer [like Reaper] and chart all the note information.

We have a PC tool called Magma that you download from the site, and once all of your multitrack stems and MIDI files are complete, you load them into the Magma tool, which does error checking and tells you if you've got viable stuff. Then you use Magma to transfer it into your Xbox 360, where you can audition it. So you basically play-test your own song until you're happy with it.

Once it's fully polished, you log on and upload it to creators.rockband.com, where all the other Creators Club folks can download it and evaluate it. It's a play test and review process where people in the closed forums can give you feedback about your song, whether it was fun, too difficult, or so forth. Then you submit it for formal peer review, which is the second phase of play test. It's more technically oriented, where people are checking for copyright infringement and profanity and technical completeness. Once it passes that, which is sort of an automated process, it gets automatically dropped into the Rock Band Network Store and people can go buy it.

GS: Is there a way for bands that aren't technically inclined to have other people do the heavy lifting for them?

GL: There is. There's a whole cottage industry of independent authoring people cropping up. If you go onto the Rock Band Network, there's already a fair amount of networking taking place in the forums. These people are actively soliciting work, and various kinds of contractual arrangements are evolving. Some people are interested in doing this as a fee for service, where you just pay them money and they author your stuff and give it back to you. Other companies are exploring ideas whereby they submit it and get the revenue, then share the revenue with you.

GS: So you're basically serving as a Craigslist almost; just connecting people and not making any kind of testament to the quality of work that you'll receive or guaranteeing anything?

GL: That's exactly right. The arrangement we're making with people is whoever submits to us is representing that they have the rights to the material they're submitting, and those are the people we pay royalties to. Whatever happens outside those walls is up to individuals to decide between them.

Wish there was a Jazz Band game? Well this is probably as close as you'll get.

GS: Is any of this automated? Will the tools you release suggest note charts for songs? Can they take an expert note track and then use an algorithm to break it down for hard, medium, and easy tracks?

GL: Generally speaking, we don't do automatic track generation. The easy, medium, and hard tracks are definitely less work than expert, since they are usually a subset of expert. But creating good tracks for the other difficulties is something of an art and one of the areas that we are focusing a lot of attention on with our documentation and assistance to our beta community.

The one exception to this is drums, where we have a tool built into Reaper that will auto-track expert drums for you on a first pass. However, you'll probably still want to mess around with it a bit. Certainly for animation and lighting scripting, lip synch...it'll auto-generate a track for you, and then you can override a lot of that information if you want to get into that.

Our sense is that the authoring community itself is probably going to be writing their own plug-ins and sharing them and so forth. We expect the tools to evolve in the user community pretty quickly.

GS: Will established labels or bands use Rock Band Network? What advantage would it have for them?

GL: Yes, we're in close touch with a number of labels. We've seen a huge amount of interest. A lot of labels have been presenting stuff to us for inclusion as regular downloadable content, but we simply don't have the bandwidth here to author up a huge flood of stuff that people are interested in getting into the game. In many cases, labels will just take matters into their own hands and either farm out the authoring or hire people in-house to do it themselves, so we expect quite a bit of mainstream material to end up on the network, as well as unknown stuff that people do in their garages.

GS: Do you expect this to change the way you go through your normal week-to-week Rock Band Store releases?

GL: Not really. That's actually planned pretty far in advance. We have a long list of stuff. Quite frankly, this is new territory for us as well, and part of what we're interested in doing is sitting back and watching it unfold. It may well have some impact that we can't predict, but right now our DLC plans pretty much remain as they are.

GS: How are you going to keep the overall quality of offerings on Rock Band Network good enough to attract people? Could I upload 1,000 tracks of atonal nonsense or handclap solos, so long as they didn't cause the machine to crash?

GL: It won't make it through the peer-review process. Everything has to be reviewed and approved in detail by a finite number of Creators Club peers.

GS: So those peers are filtering based on the quality of the song, how fun it is to play...

GL: Well, the primary filtration is on technical issues, making sure it's playable on every instrument in every difficulty, it doesn't contain copyrighted material, it doesn't contain profanity, and so forth. We're not interested at the outset in placing a lot of constraints on what people want to do. We're going to monitor it as it goes. Things that are unplayable, we don't expect to make it through review. Beyond that, there may be things that don't match our personal taste, but that stuff we're happy to let the market decide for themselves.

GS: Will it be possible to release cover versions of songs through Rock Band Network?

GL: It will not. The basic distinction is you have to have publishing permission to submit to us. If you own the publishing and recording rights to the songs you submit, then you're good, but generally that won't be the case for covers.

GS: But you'll have some function in place so a band that does have permission to release a cover version like that can be able to get around it?

GL: Yeah. A lot of it's automated, but in any kind of special case situation, we do have humans available here to talk to. If you can represent the information to do it, we'll evaluate it in good faith, and if it adds up, we'll go forward.

The Magma tool will let users set the vital data of their Rock Band Network tracks, including the price.

GS: Will users be able to preview songs and post user-feedback reviews of them to let others know what's good and what's not?

GL: Anytime a song is approved for release, it'll get an auto-generated page on the Web site with all the salient information. You can do a streaming preview on the Web site, and any song on the Rock Band Network Store on the console, you can play the first minute of it for free.

GS: How are you going to help bands promote their songs? Do you have any specifics yet?

GL: Not really. We're still working all that out. We'll have a certain amount of editorial oversight, song of the week, label of the week. We'll call out new releases in the store itself, and what we expect to do is evolve the Web site over time. There are good sorting tools, so you can sort by genre, by band, or who did the note charting. In the store built into the game, it's very easy to zero in on the content you're looking for.

Longer term, we want to have a sophisticated recommendation engine built into the Web site itself and turn that more into a community. The first cut will not have those features.

GS: These songs will go up on the Rock Band Network Store instead of the standard Rock Band Store. What is the need for the division?

GL: It's really a different set of songs. The regular Rock Band store is pretty well tuned. It's a well-established format we don't want to mess with. And just mechanically, to build a user interface for a store that could hold potentially 1,000 songs but is easily navigable with a console controller is a bigger challenge than we'd anticipated for in the original Rock Band Store. So we had to completely rethink the user interface.

GS: What potential problems are you mindful of with such an arrangement? Do you expect problems to arise where bands have some songs on the standard Rock Band Store and others on the Rock Band Network store?

GL: That could happen for certain acts. I don't think we see that necessarily as a big deal. But we're willing to say up front that we don't understand every aspect of how this is going to play out. We're very excited about the creative opportunity this creates for the bands participating, but it's a work in progress. But we think we thought through all the basics in terms of the experience you'll have on day one when we throw the doors open.

GS: Will bands be able to pull their tracks from the Rock Band Network if they want?

GL: They will. Any they've already sold will remain sold, but you can sort of cancel your offer at any time.

Players will be able to try out their works-in-progress in the Network's Audition mode.

GS: Will bands retain all other rights to the songs and commercialize them however they want?

GL: Yes, the license we're looking for is a non-exclusive license.

GS: So if they wanted to turn around and sell it to a Guitar Hero game?

GL: We don't place any restrictions [on that]. We're just looking for a license to market it through the Rock Band Network.

GS: Will users need to keep up an active membership in the XNA Creators Club in order to claim their royalties on these tracks?

GL: No, they can let their membership lapse and still collect royalties.

GS: What are the international plans for Rock Band Network? Will these songs be available simultaneously worldwide? Can the artists control which territories can download their music?

GL: There's nothing in place that would allow someone to determine region. If it's in the Rock Band Network Store, it's in the Rock Band Network Store.

GS: What can you tell me about the launch schedule? A late August beta start was the last you said about it.

GL: The beta has been moved to late September. We haven't said yet when the full launch is going to be.

GS: And will it launch in just North America to start with?

GL: Our first phase is creators in the US only, with songs released in US, Canada, and Europe (except Germany). We are limited for now to regions that XNA supports (hence the lack of Germany) but plan to expand our territories as soon as it's reasonable or us to do so.

[ Watch Video ]

Hammer Head - the offspring Harmonix's chart vs. BigHomieJet's chart

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/rockband/news.html?sid=6216301

PSP | Take-Two 'grossly underestimated' by gamers, retailers - Analyst

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich touts maturation of publisher, saying 2K Games plays unheralded Scottie Pippen to Rockstar's Michael Jordan.

Hits like BioShock and Carnival Games are helping Take-Two Interactive grow beyond perceptions that the company is entirely dependent on Rockstar Games' hugely successful Grand Theft Auto series, but Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's Jesse Divnich said industry-watchers are figuratively selling the publisher short.

Divnich thinks Borderlands has all the qualities of a sleeper hit. Like people on fire.

Divnich issued an analyst's note today saying that Take-Two's money-making potential over the next two years "is currently being grossly underestimated by gamers, retailers, and industry professionals."

"With the success of BioShock (over 3 million units sold, worldwide), Carnival Games (over 4 million sold, worldwide), their 2K Sports titles, and the pending release of titles such as Agent, Borderlands, and Red Dead Redemption, BioShock 2, Mafia II, and Max Payne 3, Take-Two will be no more a 'one title publisher' than Activision is with Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises, or Electronic Arts is with Madden," Divnich said.

The analyst paid particular kudos to 2K Games, which was formed in January of 2005 and has since published more than 250 games for Take-Two. Divnich likened the 2K Games label's impact on Take-Two to Scottie Pippen's contribution to the Chicago Bulls championship teams of the 1990s. While Rockstar plays the superstar role of Michael Jordan, Divnich said Take-Two is "often ignored and underrated, but crucial to the team's success."

Divnich wasn't entirely positive about the publisher. He did note the ongoing difficulties of 2K Sports in the face of rising licensing fees and development costs, but he said it would be possible for it to achieve profitability for the first time "by the end of 2010 or 2011." He also acknowledged a rare misstep by Rockstar with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS. But even there, he at least found evidence of the publisher's relevance.

"The release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars took permission away from any developer ever hoping to create a successful big-budget mature action title on the Nintendo DS," Divnich wrote. "The failure of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars...to deliver significant sales immediately caused a ripple effect throughout the industry causing many other mature DS titles to halt development. That is power and influence in its rawest."

In the near term, Divnich pointed to Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City--a stand-alone retail collection of GTAIV's two add-ons for the Xbox 360--as a pair of titles that could exceed expectations this year.

"Currently, most market surveys put Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City just outside the top 10 for purchase intent, with Borderlands not even breaking the top 20," Divnich said. "For these reasons, Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City are strong contenders to be sleeper hits for the year. ... Borderlands could very well surprise the market and consumers as did BioShock did in 2007."

[ Watch Video ]

Will It Blend? - Take Two: The full Olympus Multimedia Blend

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/grandtheftautochinatownwars/news.html?sid=6216340

Xbox 360 | Tim Curry seasoning Dragon Age

Rocky Horror and Brutal Legend actor to voice villain in BioWare's fantasy RPG; Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew to voice immortal witch.

Tim McGraw

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/27015692/tim-curry-seasoning-dragon-age.html

Xbox 360 | ESA touts 43-0 record in game legislation fights

Trade group's annual report recaps a busy year for politicians, publishers; number of ESRB ratings doled out climbs to more than 1,600.

It's no secret that the Entertainment Software Association has been experiencing success in its legislative battles, with high-profile bills in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Utah among the failed attempts to regulate the sale of games. However, the gaming industry trade group today released its annual report for the year ended March 31, 2009, showing it has been no less successful in lower-profile skirmishes.

The ESA's home away from home?

According to the ESA, it fought 43 bills intended "to regulate content and/or access to video games," with none of them becoming law. The trade group didn't stop with bills looking to keep violent games out of children's hands; among the fruits of its legislative efforts for the year was convincing the mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, to veto a city council ordinance that prohibited playing games while operating a motor vehicle.

Despite the glut of legal activity, the ESA's dealings with the government weren't exclusively antagonistic. Over its fiscal year, the trade group also saw Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas enact new tax incentives for game developers, with 17 more states considering similar measures. The ESA also noted recent changes in Washington, DC, and how they could shape its efforts in the months to come.

"While greater oversight and increased regulation is widely expected under a Democratic Administration and Democrat-controlled Congress, large reforms such as climate change and health care will likely consume both Congress and the Administration well into the first half of the 111th Session (or through the end of 2009)," the ESA said. "That said, it will be more important than ever for the industry to highlight issues like rampant piracy in a stagnant economy and growth in the online marketplace to remain above the fold."

On the piracy note, the ESA said it sent takedown notices to Internet service providers "covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide." It also named names as to the ISPs it found particularly unhelpful in its efforts. An ESA study estimating illegal peer-to-peer downloads of 13 specific titles found that Telecom Italia, Spain's Telefonica, and France Telecom were the top three ISPs whose resources were used to pirate games. Those ISPs also helped Italy, Spain, and France rank first, second, and third in the ESA's study when it came to the top peer-to-peer piracy countries.

The ESA report also contained an update on the Entertainment Software Rating Board. As the game industry grows, it's not surprising that the ESRB's workload has grown as well. For calendar year 2008, the ESA reported 1,677 ratings doled out by the ESRB. That's up 7 percent from 2007's 1,563 ratings, and 30 percent over 2006's ratings tally of 1,281. Of the ratings assigned in 2008, 59 percent received an E for Everyone, with E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older assigned 16 percent of the time. The T for Teen rating accounted for 19 percent of the games released, while just 6 percent of games received the M for Mature designation.

a esa

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216408.html

Xbox 360 | New PS3 ads send up Sony leaks

Electronics maker uses humor to poke fun at games press, its own non-denial denials in lead-up to $299 PS3 Slim unveiling.

Linkin Park - "New Divide"

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/27015774/new-ps3-ads-send-up-sony-leaks.html

Xbox 360 | Analysts react to 360 price cut, predict $50 trim in '10

Pachter, Divnich, Sebastian, and Schachter weigh in on Microsoft's move, projecting additional discount within next year, Nintendo response.

In the wee hours of the morning, Microsoft broke its silence on its long-speculated Xbox 360 price drop. Beginning Friday, the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite will cost only $299.99. As for its current $300 model, the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro, Microsoft will be cutting $50 from its price to clear inventory as the SKU is phased out. Microsoft's low-end Xbox 360 Arcade, which has 512MB of built-in memory and no external hard drive, will retain its $199.99 price point.

The Xbox 360 Elite package's new guts.

While the move simplifies the Xbox 360's SKU lineup, it remains to be seen how Microsoft's console will match up against Sony's 120GB PlayStation 3 Slim, which has just begun selling at the $299 price tag, or Nintendo's market-leading $250 Wii. And depending on which industry-watcher is asked, the move could have a decidedly positive impact or just one that maintains the status quo.

According to Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter, the Xbox 360 Elite's new price tag is less of a price cut and more of a replacement. "They replaced the old $299 model with a new (black) improved (120Gb) $299 model," he said, going on to note that if the Xbox 360's sales decline, it wouldn't be at all out of the question for Microsoft to trim another $50 off its price tag. As it stands, he believes that 360 sales will remain at their current levels in the near future.

The Xbox 360 Arcade remains the same.

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's Jesse Divnich agrees that Xbox 360 sales won't see much fluctuation as a result of Microsoft's move. However, Divnich notes that the $299 price point is a monumentally good thing for both Microsoft and Sony.

"Historical sales, accounting for inflation, suggest the $249 to $299 price point is the sweet spot where the industry can expand at a comfortable rate while still delivering profitability for the console manufacturers," he said. "A $249 to $299 price point over the next two years would give Microsoft, and Sony, the breathing room needed to improve manufacturing efficiencies while expanding upon the margins on each system sold. Any improvement on the bottom-line will allow Microsoft and Sony to each to properly fund new and innovative features that will drive our industry forward."

Divnich also thinks that Microsoft will likely cut another $50 off the Xbox 360 Elite's price tag within the next year, on account of being outmatched by the PS3 on a technical level and the Wii on an economic level.

Analysts are keen on the PS3 Slim's sales potential.

"This puts the Xbox 360 into a tough position where it is outmatched in terms of hardware capabilities at $299 and the Nintendo Wii remains alluring to casual and price sensitive consumers at $249," he said. "Over the next year Microsoft will most likely reposition the Xbox 360 Elite model closer to the $249 price point to both pressure Sony and attract potential Nintendo Wii consumers."

Of those Wii consumers, Divnich believes that Nintendo is in danger of losing the mainstream audience that it has thus far done so well to court. "Essentially, Nintendo stole potential PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consumers from this hardware lifecycle three years in advance," Divnich said, before calling for a $50 price cut for the Wii.

"In order to maintain this position Nintendo should drop their Wii console down to $199, not because the current Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 pricing structure poses a threat; rather, because they will eventually pose a threat," he said. "Nintendo's strategy should be to capture as many consumer dollars as possible while their competitors are still weak in their offerings to the casual audience and price sensitive consumers."

And then there's the Wii...

As for the optimistic sect, both Broadpoint AmTech's Ben Schachter and Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian believe Microsoft stands to see a healthy uptick in console sales. Noting that price cuts "always" have a positive effect on the gaming industry, Schachter said that Microsoft also stands to gain from simplifying its SKU count. Schachter also believes that the $199 price point for the Xbox 360 Arcade keeps it in close competition with the Wii.

Sebastian believes that Microsoft's and Sony's respective cuts will go a long way in bringing consumers back, after five months of consecutive US retail sales declines. "A hardware price war is good for the industry, particularly given the recent slowdown," he said. Sebastian also noted that Nintendo appears to be devising hardware bundles to remain competitive, but a price cut could be on the horizon for the console if sales don't pick up by October.

Soilwork - The Analyst

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216418.html

Xbox 360 | Venezuelan violent game ban advances

Bill outlawing sale of objectionable games and toys gets first approval from National Assembly.

El presidente no le gustan videojuegos.

Following in the footsteps of China, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Australia, Venezuela is considering a ban on games it deems excessively violent. This week in Caracas, lawmakers voted in favor of a bill banning the sale of violent games or toys, reports Reuters. The bill was drawn up by legislators who believe getting rid of violent games will help reduce crime in the robbery-plagued country.

On Wednesday, the National Assembly announced that the game-ban bill passed its first vote in the legislative body. It must pass a second vote and be signed into law by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before it can take effect. However, no time frame has yet been determined for the second National Assembly vote.

This isn't the first time Venezuelan lawmakers have taken aim at games. In 2006, backers of Chavez decried Electronic Arts and Pandemic's Mercenaries 2, which was set in Venezuela and where players take on "a power-hungry tyrant" in control of the country. At the time, it was decried by one legislator as "a justification for imperial aggression."

Ironically, many lawmakers in that "imperial aggressor" have themselves been trying to restrict access to violent games. Recent years have seen failed attempts to ban their sale to minors in a number of US states, from left-leaning California to conservative Oklahoma.

Brief Venezuelan Story

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/mercenaries2worldinflames/news.html?sid=6216429

Wii | Ubisoft cues up Jam Sessions 2, Monster 4x4: Stunt Racer

French publisher bringing guitar sim to DS, madcap big-wheeler to Wii this fall.

Ubisoft's Jam Sessions took the rhythm-game genre in a different direction when it was released for the DS in 2007. Rather than matching the beat to prerecorded tunes as in Guitar Hero or Rock Band, Jam Sessions emphasized original song creation, giving players the tools to strum chords at their own pace. Today, Ubisoft announced that Jam Sessions 2 will pick up where its predecessor left off when it arrives for the DS and DSi this fall.

Giving the DS that indie rocker vibe.

Plato will return for development duties on Jam Sessions 2. As noted by Ubisoft, the "guitar game" will serve as much as an educational tool as an entertainment product, focusing on enhancing gamers' playing skills and songwriting capabilities. As will be familiar to anyone who has ever attempted to learn an instrument, the game features a songbook with increasingly more complex rifts and techniques. Ubisoft also noted that players will be able to share their tunes.

Along with Jam Sessions 2, Ubisoft today announced that it would be bringing back its Monster 4x4 franchise with Stunt Racer for the Wii. Last seen in the critically panned Monster 4x4: World Circuit, Ubisoft's racing series drops gamers behind the wheel of vehicular behemoths across a breadth of exotic environments.

Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Stunt Racer offers seven different tracks that range from an inner-city construction zone to a remote canyon environment. Because realism isn't Ubisoft's primary focus with Stunt Racer, the publisher notes that players will be able to do backflips, barrel rolls, and more in their big-wheelers, as well as discover alternate routes by ascending walls. The game will include 50 different challenges and 30 side missions.

Ubisoft's driving game will also feature local split-screen play for up to four, with multiplayer modes including Racing, Freestyle Show-Off, and Last Man Standing. The game is expected to arrive for Nintendo's console this fall.

E32008 - Ubisoft I Am Alive Trailer

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/driving/monster4x4stuntracer/news.html?sid=6216430

Xbox 360 | Second GTAIV expansion trailer drops Sept. 1

Rockstar announces first look at the Xbox 360-exclusive Ballad of Gay Tony is coming next Tuesday.

In a second - Aly & Aj

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/27016075/second-gtaiv-expansion-trailer-drops-sept-1.html

Xbox 360 | Xbox 360 failures 'well behind us' - Microsoft

Following a controversial survey, Xbox 360 director of product management Aaron Greenberg claims manufacturing improvements are making the console's hardware issues a thing of the past.

The Red Ring of the Death is becoming increasingly rare, says Microsoft.

In 2007, facing increasing reports of Xbox 360 hardware failures, Microsoft made a dramatic move. Just before that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, it announced that it would extend the console's warranty to three years from its manufacture date for the so-called "Red Ring of Death." Although that move cost the company over $1 billion, it further broadened the 360's warranty this past April to cover another issue known as the "E74 error."

Despite Microsoft's attempts to improve manufacturing quality, the Xbox 360 was recently accused of still having an alarmingly high failure rate by a Game Informer survey. Some 54.2 percent of 5,000 subscribers to the magazine said they had at least one Xbox 360 fail, with 41.2 percent saying they had at least two hardware failures. Though avoiding specifics on failure rates, Xbox Live and Xbox 360 director of product management Aaron Greenberg admitted the early production lines of the 360 were beset by problems.

Aaron Greenberg.

"I can tell you the consoles we're making today have lower-heat chips and better cooling, and we're seeing fantastic quality in those consoles today," Greenberg told GameSpot today. "That said, I know people have had issues with systems, which were bought earlier in the life cycle, and that's part of the reason why we implemented our unprecedented three-year warranty for anyone who gets the three red-ring flashing light error or the E74 error."

He continued, "So I think we've made it clear we stand by the quality of our product, and we will make it right by fixing the problem at no extra cost to you. But at the same time, we've been working hard to make improvements in the products we're currently making, so I really feel like most of this is well behind us." Greenberg then repeated that the three-years-from-manufacture-date red-ring/E74 error warranty remains in effect for all 360s already on the market--and will extend into the future to those currently being made.

Project Natal for XBOX 360

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216345.html

Xbox 360 | $299 Xbox 360 Elite official, Pro 'phased out'

Microsoft confirms $100 price cut of 120GB console begins Friday, 60GB model $249 "while supplies last"; 31 million 360s sold; avatar store "exceeding wildest expectations."

Kiss those HD AV and HDMI cables goodbye...

Following months of rumors and weeks of retail leaks, Microsoft has made it official. Starting Friday, August 28, the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite will only cost $299.99, down from its current $399.99 price point.

[UPDATE] The new model will remain largely the same as the previous configuration, other than the fact that, like the PlayStation 3, it will no longer be bundled with either an HDMI or an component HD AV cable. In short, that means it won't be HD-video-ready out of the box. "We have found that many Xbox 360 customers were not using the HD cables included in the Xbox 360 Elite box, so we removed them," said a Microsoft rep of the change. While HDMI cables can be purchased for under $10 online, the 360 component HD AV cable is $39.99 new.

Also, as rumored, the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro is being "phased out" at a $249.99 price point, down from $299.99. "It's being put to bed," Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management Aaron Greenberg told GameSpot. The executive believes stocks of the Pro, which will be the last white 360 with a hard drive packed in, should last until just after the holidays.

Endangered species: The now-$249.99 Pro will be gone by year's end.

With the Pro's demise, the Xbox 360 will have two SKUs: the $299.99 Elite and the $199.99 Arcade, which has 512MB of built-in memory for game saves and Xbox dashboard software installs. The price of the latter console will remain the same, and Greenberg said there were no announcements regarding the prices of the individually sold 360 hard drives, which currently cost $99.99 for the 60GB and $149.99 for the 120GB. Greenberg also had no updates on the cost of the 360's wireless adapter, which sells for $99.99.

The Elite's reduction comes exactly one week after Sony announced the $299.99 PlayStation 3 Slim at GamesCom in Germany. However, despite the fact the Blu-ray and Wi-Fi-equipped PS3 now matches the Elite in terms of memory and price, Greenberg still feels the latter is a better value. He pointed to 360 software exclusives, like Halo 3: ODST and Forza MotorSport 3. and Xbox Live's online features, like Netflix and the forthcoming Last.fm, Facebook, and Twitter integration, still set for "this holiday season." He also said price was a major factor for the 360 selling well.

"You cannot underestimate the fact that we have two consoles. If you have $200 in your pocket today, you can go buy an Xbox 360," he explained. "I think a big part of the reason why--at a time where Nintendo and Sony are seeing double-digit year-over-year declines, and we're actually up 17 percent--is due to that mass-market price point."

At $199.99, the Xbox 360 Arcade is still the cheapest console on the market.

While Greenberg did believe the price drop will increase Xbox 360 sales, he declined to offer a full fiscal-year forecast for the console, which has now sold over 31 million units worldwide to date. (Sony has said it expects to sell 13 million PS3s by the end of its fiscal year.) He also declined to comment on whether or not Microsoft was planning a hardware revision of the 360 similar to the PS3 Slim, which now boasts an improved cooling system and a smaller and more energy efficient 45nm Cell processor. Without getting into specifics, Greenberg did say that Microsoft made internal improvements to the Xbox 360 hardware long before Sony did, declaring, "We're ahead on that."

In terms of recent Xbox Live initiatives, Greenberg said the recent launch of the premium avatar item store "has exceeded even our wildest projections," although he, again, declined to give hard numbers. Although Splosion Man is currently the only title to reward players with avatar items, he said many upcoming 360 games will have such unlockables. "I think it will become fairly common in games going forward," explained Greenberg.

Last but not least, Greenberg said the freshly minted Games on Demand store has been "more in line with expectations. Like digital distribution in other industries, there's a lot of trial and error. But for the most part, it's performing well."

Playstation 3 Slim Debut Announcement | PS3 $299 Price Drop | Gamescom 2009

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/splosionman/news.html?sid=6216343

PlayStation 3 | UK Xbox 360 Elite price cut official, but Arcade price goes up

Xbox 360 Elite receives £30 cheaper as of tomorrow, Arcade model rises £20, 60GB Pro model to be discontinued.

London Gangs - UK

Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/blogs/london-calling/909183773/27015136/xbox-360-elite-price-cut-official-arcade-goes-up-in-price.html

PlayStation 3 | SCEE takes over the wheel on Dirt 2

Codemasters passes "box shifting" over to platform holder to coincide with launch of new PS3 Slim.

Mirror's Edge - SCEE Playstation Day Trailer - HD Test

Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/blogs/london-calling/909183773/27015371/scee-takes-over-the-wheel-on-dirt-2.html

Wii | Darkside Chronicles infect Wii November 17

Resident Evil's on-rails shooter sequel due in North America for $50.

When Leon S. Kennedy isn't gunning down zombies in Raccoon City, he's busy updating his actual Twitter feed with details on his fictional struggle for survival. The PR stunt is part of Capcom's recent push to publicize its forthcoming game Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, which continued today as the publisher announced the game will ship November 17.

Infecting a television near you...

Darkside Chronicles is an on-rails shooter sequel to 2007's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which focused on stories from Resident Evil 0, the original Resident Evil, along with other bits of series lore. This time out, up to two players take control of Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they revisit locales featured in Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica.

The Wii has proven to be a virulent breeding ground for Resident Evil games. In addition to the pair of Chronicles spin-offs, Nintendo's catalog already includes Resident Evil 4 and the original Resident Evil on the Wii. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 0 is expected to lurch onto the system later this year.

For more information on The Darkside Chronicles, be sure to check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

[ Watch Video ]

Gothminister - Darkside (2008)

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/biohazardthedarksidechronicles/news.html?sid=6216236

DS | Nintendo files for football add-on

Wii maker's latest patent application details a foam pigskin peripheral to enhance the realism of sports games on its best-selling system.

Nintendo has been playing around with a lot of different input methods for its best-selling Wii of late, including an inflatable, vibrating, air-filled cushion that would simulate horseback riding. The publisher also seems to be testing the waters with a more practical bicycle peripheral, which would integrate with an unannounced Wii biking game and cost $89.99, should it see the light of day.

Now, yet another peripheral has surfaced for the Wii, this time in the online database of the European Patent Office. As originally spotted by Siliconera, the patent application in question seeks to enhance the realism of sports games by introducing a ball-shaped peripheral. As a representative example, the filing details a way in which a Wii Remote can be affixed to a "foam, sponge, or plastic" football.

"The ball can be an accessory that comprises a model of a football that is provided with a depression which snugly accepts and retains the handheld controller," reads the filing. "The handheld controller may sense motion, position and/or orientation of the ball model and provide inputs wirelessly or via wires to a video game system. The video game system may process such inputs to provide a simulated sports action game play on a video display."

Running with the football example, the filing details a way in which the faux pigskin would be attached via strap to the player's hand, with the Wii Remote being positioned near where a real ball's laces would be. From there, the device would recognize natural movements made by the player, such as sensing the body's up-and-down motion to judge running speed or arm movement to approximate passes.

Nintendo had not responded to requests for comment concerning the peripheral as of press time.

Nintendo Training 1991

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216246.html

DS | GTA: Chinatown Wars hitting PSP Oct. 20

Rockstar dates port of its critically acclaimed handheld Grand Theft Auto game; first screenshots "coming soon."

Two months after it was first announced, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has a release date. The PSP port of the Rockstar Leeds-developed DS game, released on March 17, will ship in the US on October 20, according to Rockstar Games' official Twitter feed. The game has not yet been rated or priced, but the original version is rated M for Mature and sells for $34.99 when it's not on sale. It will be available both as a UMD-based game and a digital download for the UMD-drive-less PSP Go, which goes on sale October 1.

How will this translate to the PSP?

The original Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will go down as one of the great game paradoxes of 2009. Despite being the highest-rated DS game of all time on Metacritic and GameSpot, the Rockstar Leeds-developed title was only a middling performer at retail. Despite the DS handheld's massive US installed base, Chinatown Wars sold less than 90,000 units in its debut month. However, it has cleared over 228,000 copies to date domestically, according to the NPD Group.

More successful were the two GTA games for the PSP, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, which have sold over 1.6 million units and 960,000-plus units in the US. (Both games were later ported to the PlayStation 2.) However, when Chinatown Wars was announced for the PSP, it perplexed many, since it was unclear how the original's touch-screen-intensive gameplay and, by PSP standards, crude graphics would translate onto Sony's handheld. In its tweet, Rockstar promised that the "first screens and more [are] coming soon."

[ Watch Video ]

GTA: Hard (machinima)

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/grandtheftautochinatownwars/news.html?sid=6216254

Wii | UK game ratings no longer enforceable

Government mistake allows retailers to avoid prosecution for selling 18-rated games and DVDs to minors.

London Gangs - UK

Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/blogs/london-calling/909183773/27012534/video-game-age-ratings-no-longer-enforceable.html

Wii | Wii Sports Resort accommodates 3 million

Nintendo's latest minigame compilation hits 1-million-unit milestone in US, Japan, Europe; Wii MotionPlus sales top 2 million.

Wii Sports, it could be argued, sold in excess of 45.7 million units through the end of Nintendo's most recent fiscal year. The figure, of course, is a bit muddled, considering Wii Sports comes packed in with all new systems in nearly all regions where the Wii is available.

Why exercise a real dog when this one is so much cuter!

Still, it appears as if Wii Sports would have done well regardless of its pack-in status, if the success of its successor is any indication. Nintendo said today that Wii Sports Resort has sold more than 1 million units in the United States since launching on July 26. The publisher noted that the game has reached the 1-million-unit marker in Europe and Japan as well, bringing the game's lifetime total to more than 3 million copies worldwide.

Wii Sports Resort features a dozen events, including archery, wakeboarding, basketball, bowling, and golf. The game sells for $49.99 and comes packed in with the Wii MotionPlus Wii Remote add-on. The peripheral, which enhances the precision of the Wii's motion-sensing capabilities, has now sold more than 2 million units in the US, according to Nintendo, as it is sold separately for $19.99 and packed in with EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Wii Sports Resort.

Shii - The Wii for Women

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sports/wiisportsresort/news.html?sid=6216197