Budget HD-DVD player sells 90k over week-end

According to sources close to retailers, the budget Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player sold around 90,000 units on the week-end alone which will be sure to boost the installed base of HD DVD players. The player was cut to $99 across a number of retailers a short while ago.

Dementium: The Ward Review

Is it possible to be legitimately spooked by a handheld game? Console games have been designed to make use of the home field advantages of having a large screen and complete control over lighting to enhance the experience for years, but when you’re playing on a tiny screen on the bus, can the experience compare? The answer, as proven by FPS-with-a-dash-of-survival horror Dementium: The Ward, is a resounding yes, though its inherent flaws prevent it from truly becoming that which it aspires to be.

Dementium tells the twisted tale of a man who wakes up in the bed of a monster-infested hospital after taking a wheelchair trip from hell. You will navigate him through the worn halls of the massive building and try to piece together who he is and why he’s there as you battle zombies, parasitic worms that wail like babies, and the occasional cleaver-wielding demon. The game is divided into a series of chapters that for the most part correlate to the various floors of the hospital. Chapters vary greatly in length–some are as short as a minute or two and others last as long as half an hour–and are often punctuated by short, tightly directed cutscenes that introduce new enemies or shed new light on the protagonist’s identity and past. At several points in your journey you will encounter a powerful boss, such as the aforementioned cleaver-wielding demon, that will tax your skill and supply of ammo in a climactic battle.

Apparently, creepy little girls are still a staple of modern horror.

The gameplay itself is very much a mixture of Doom and Silent Hill that combines some of the best elements of each for a fairly straightforward horror experience. Early on, you will find a flashlight to light your way through the pitch-black corridors, and as you navigate through the twisted hospital two melee weapons and five guns will become available. Dementium is essentially a traditional FPS in terms of action and control, but thanks to the sparse placement of ammo, combat becomes more of a fight-or-flight scenario than a matter of deciding which of your weapons are going to splatter your enemy. Unfortunately, while you apparently have the physical dexterity to use larger weapons with both hands, you lack the rudimentary skill to use the flashlight simultaneously with a weapon, leading to situations in which you must quickly toggle back and forth between your guns and your flashlight to see what you’re shooting at.

In addition to running and gunning, a number of puzzles are thrown in that range from a simple substitution cipher to a complex treasure hunt for three pieces of a photograph to learn a door code. You have access to a notepad to scrawl clues or hints in, but the various maps you find inexplicably don’t allow this. While the map system borrows a page from Silent Hill’s playbook and keeps track of doors that are locked or broken (which is nearly all of them, also like Silent Hill), it does not keep track of the many blocked-off corridors you will encounter, and the ability to self-notate these would have been welcome.

Dementium shines the most in terms of presentation, most notably in the area of sound design. It is imperative that you play it with headphones, because listening to the audio clues provided by the 3D sound system is essential in determining what is around the corner. Each enemy makes a unique sound, and often, as is the case with the flying Medusa heads, a brief audio warning is all you’ll get before you’re attacked. In addition to enemy sound effects, certain rooms are filled with intensely creepy noises such as children’s singing and phrases spoken backward. An appropriately moody and ambient soundtrack composed of mostly piano pieces rounds out the audio front and contributes greatly to the sense of isolation and desperation that wandering around in a darkened hospital will produce.

Graphically speaking, Dementium runs at a crisp frame rate that never dips despite the number of enemies or atmospheric effects that may show up simultaneously. Textures are incredibly high-quality given the DS hardware, and the flashlight produces a realistic effect, even flickering occasionally, and is appropriately useless in fog to help heighten the mood.

It’s close to midnight, and something evil’s lurking in the dark…

Unfortunately, for every step that Dementium takes in the right direction toward producing an excellent horror experience on a handheld system, it is held back by a series of flaws that undermine its achievements. Level design is incredibly repetitive, and it’s not uncommon to find several completely identical storerooms down the same hallway; enemies respawn the moment you exit a room, and so that zombie on the other side of the door that scared you the first time will be there every time, minimizing the fear factor in subsequent visits; and the poorly implemented save system, which forces you to restart at the beginning of the chapter upon death despite saving each time you open a door, is counterproductive given that forced replays through lengthy chapters all but eliminates the horror and replaces it with frustration.

Ultimately, Dementium: The Ward is an entertaining shooter that makes great strides in creating a portable horror experience but holds itself back from really accomplishing what it set out to do. Easily beatable in four to five hours by an accomplished player, its static puzzles and enemy placement leave no reason to run through it again, but its memorable sound design and creepy ambience make it well worth a play.

CSI: Dark Motives Hands-On

The number of crime scene investigators in Las Vegas has grown by one in the upcoming CSI: Dark Motives, a crime-solving puzzle game for the Nintendo DS that looks to re-create the themes and techniques used on the hugely popular CBS television show. The game is based on the PC version of the same name and recently, we stepped into the shoes of a CSI expert for a quick look at the game to see if we could bring the bad guys to justice.

A CSI agent’s most useful tool? The touchscreen and stylus.

In Dark Motives, you’ll play as a new CSI hired by Dr. Gil Grissom to help tackle the night shift at Las Vegas’ CSI lab, one of the busiest such facilities in the entire nation. After a quick pep talk from Dr. G, you’ll receive an introduction to your partner for the game’s first case, Catherine Willows. At any point, you’ll be able to go to your partner for hints as you progress through a case; however, the more you ask for her assistance, the lower your final grade will be once Grissom reviews your case performance.

Your first assignment in Dark Motives will be to uncover the mystery of a televised motorcycle stunt gone wrong…almost fatally so. Though the stuntman who performed the jump for a reality show lived through the crash that followed, he’s still more than a little perturbed about what went wrong. As you investigate the circumstances, you’ll go through the same procedures from the CSI show: questioning suspects, collecting evidence, and analyzing the data. These steps will take you across multiple locations in Vegas–from the site of the accident and the promotional offices connected to the reality show that aired the stunt to a motorcycle shop in town that may or may not have had something to do with the tampering of the bike.

Your interface for all of these tasks is, naturally, the combination of the DS’s touch screen and your stylus. When investigating a location for evidence, you can move the stylus over the screen and areas of interest will turn the normally blue arrow icon green. From there, you can use any of the collection or detection tools in your CSI goody bag to do such things as dust for fingerprints or, in the case of the motorcycle stunt case, lift tire tread markings off of asphalt. In the case of the motorcycle accident, you’ll also investigate the bike itself, as a few pieces of the wrecked bike might be useful in putting together your case.

While evidence collecting has its moments of tedium, there’s more to Dark Motives than pixel hunting. With your evidence collected, you can head back to the crime lab and put your fancy gadgets to work for you. For example, you can confirm fingerprint matches, analyze data disks for encrypted e-mail, identify liquid samples, and more. As you build up evidence, you build a case file on the multiple players in each case, which you can access at any time by scrolling through with the left and right triggers.

Technology can only take you so far; sooner or later you’ll need your own brainpower to solve the crime.

As your case improves, you’ll eventually be able to request a warrant from your friends at the police station, which you can then use to search areas that were previously off limits. With a warrant, the sequence of events continues: ask more questions, gather more evidence, wash, rinse, and repeat. With all of your high-tech tools and a little deductive reasoning on your part, you’ll soon have enough evidence to nail the person responsible for tampering with the motorcycle. With that case closed, it will be time to move on to the four cases that make up Dark Motives’ gameplay. And presumably, each will be successively more difficult than the last.

There’s little doubt that Dark Motives is going to have rather limited appeal. Fans of the show and those who prefer methodical games that test your powers of observation are the most obvious candidates. For the CSI faithful, the game’s presentation hark back to the television show, including video crime scene re-creations played on the DS’s upper screen that are definitely reminiscent of the show. Budding investigators should clean their eyepiece and monitor their objective lens for the game’s release later this month.

-If Its Games

Geometry Wars: Galaxies gold, dated

Two years ago, one of the Xbox 360’s standout launch titles was Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, a $5 downloadable game that helped establish digital distribution as a viable delivery service in the console space. Having done that, the franchise is now turning its attention to brick-and-mortar retailers with a full-priced follow-up in Geometry Wars: Galaxies for the DS and Wii.

Helping launch that attack on retail will be Vivendi Games division Sierra Entertainment, which today announced that both versions of the game have finished development and have been sent off for duplication. Geometry Wars: Galaxies is set for release on the Wii November 20, with the DS edition to follow on November 27.

In addition to the Retro Evolved game, each version of Galaxies also includes a campaign mode with more than 60 planets, power-ups, new enemies, and multiplayer action. Those who own only the Wii version will be able to download a version of Retro Evolved to their DS systems, while each version will unlock bonus levels in its counterpart.

Both games have been rated E for Everyone. The Wii version will retail for $39.99, with the DS edition fetching $29.99. For more on the games, check out If Its Games’s latest impressions.

New PS2, PSP models revealed

Today in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment confirmed rumors by officially unveiling a new version the PlayStation 2. The latest iteration of the hardware–which has sold over 120 million units internationally in its seven-plus years on the market–will be available in three colors (black, white, and silver) and have a built-in AC adaptor. Officially announced for Japan, the PS2, model #SCPH-90000, has also been confirmed for release in the EU by Sony Europe. In Japan, it will retail for ¥16,000 (approx. $139), the same price as the old model, which is also the same size. No European pricing is yet available for the SCPH-90000 PS2.

Sony also announced today a new “Deep Red” edition of its PlayStation Portable will go on sale in Japan. As the name implies, the new PSP will be red in color, a hue Sony said was chosen for its appeal to holiday shoppers. In Japan, it will arrive on December 13 in two versions. The ¥22,800 (about $199) “PSP Deep Red Value Pack” includes a pouch, handstrap, cleaning cloth, and 32MB Memory Stick Duo for game data. The ¥29,800 (around $260) “PSP Deep Red 1 Seg Pack” includes the handheld’s 1 Seg TV tuner, a 1GB Memory Stick Duo, and a viewing stand, as well as the aforementioned pouch, handstrap, and cloth.

Though the Deep Red PSP isn’t yet officially headed for Europe, unconfirmed reports have the continent getting its own cherry-hued version of the console. The PlayStation.com forums briefly displayed packaging for a bundle containing a new bright red PSP and UMD movie discs of the Spider-Man 2, which was packed in with the PSP at launch, and Spider-Man 3, which is currently bundled with the $399 40GB PlayStation 3 in Blu-ray disc form. (The post displaying the packaging has since been deleted by PlayStation.com administrators.)

Sony Computer Entertainment America would not confirm nor deny the Spider-Man PSP bundle’s existence, let alone whether or not it would be available outside Europe. SCEA reps also would not confirm whether or not the Deep Red PSP or the new PS2 would ever land on North American shores.

“We haven’t announced anything, the only new PS2 we’ve announced is the new limited edition SingStar bundle that started shipping this week,” a rep said, referencing the white PS2 package deal, which went on sale today in the US and Canada.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike Review

If you played any of the Full Spectrum Warrior titles, you probably have a good idea of what to expect from the awkwardly titled SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike. That is to say, this isn’t a typical shooter in the vein of most SOCOM titles. Rather, it’s a strategy game in which you stealthily maneuver a team of four Navy SEALs through sprawling, labyrinthine levels. You don’t control any of the squadmates directly; rather, you issue abstract commands to shoot, throw grenades, snipe, move, and more–and the artificial intelligence handles the rest with surprising efficiency. It’s a tight, satisfying gameplay model that’s fundamentally enjoyable. You will have to overcome some obstacles to fully enjoy it, though, in the form of a cumbersome camera, lengthy loading times, and often unbearably laggy online play. These aren’t ruinous factors by any stretch, but they do impact the overall experience.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.

The finely paced campaign is the game’s best facet, though the political narrative that holds it together is far from intriguing. In its defense, the simple setup concerning a kidnapped ambassador does get a bit more involved in the later missions, but it’s really just an excuse to throw your team into expansive, cluttered environments littered with evildoing gunmen. Fortunately, there are a lot of opportunities to hide and sneak, since Tactical Strike requires as much stealth as it does strategy. You’ll spend a good deal of the game moving your team behind various objects and taking potshots at enemies from behind them.

You can move your team as a whole, or separate it into two squads of two SEALs each. Either way, you hold down the circle button to bring up a movement reticle, move it to the desired location with the analog button, and your squad sneakily makes its way to its destination. This works pretty well, but in corridors and tighter areas, it takes some maneuvering. Sometimes, aiming your main view at a relatively distant location and pressing the move button will cause the movement indicator to appear more or less where you wanted it to. When it doesn’t, you need to position it manually. Since the targeting reticle is glued to the ground, you’ll sometimes need to push it around corners or down a flight of steps. That’s not a big deal in theory, but since the game camera is always pointed at any given squadmate, it takes a bit of micromanagement to move around twisty, confined spaces. It’s a particular nuisance when turning corners, since you may not know if there is an enemy hiding there, nor can you tell if there’s any cover to hide behind. In the end, you’ll often be commanding your squad around corners blindly, which is a shame, since the rest of the stealth mechanics are quite good.

Those mechanics will have you sniping distant foes, throwing grenades, firing weapons, breaching doors, and more. Regardless of which choice you make, you select your action from a menu and the artificial intelligence takes care of the rest. The friendly AI does a bang-up job for the most part, and the game nicely walks that tightrope between player involvement and automated actions. You can command your squadmates, but they’ll also follow your lead, and intelligently respond to enemy attacks. They’ll duck when fired upon, run away from grenades, wait for enemies to emerge from cover before firing, and, when breaching, will take appropriate cover whenever possible.

Enemy AI does a semidecent job of keeping up. Adversaries will reposition themselves for better shots, duck behind cover, and take other actions to avoid slaughter. It does some dumb things here and there, however. Foes will sometimes run out into the open for no obvious reason, get stuck in one spot and jitter around, or pay no attention when a teammate falls over dead right in front of them. There are also some annoying escort operations in which civilians will accompany you. The game apparently classifies them as squadmates when they join you, so the weaponless friendlies will often move ahead of your team and right into harm’s way. Luckily, you can order them to stay put.

Yet in spite of all these nitpicks, Tactical Strike is an enjoyable game that rewards your patience with a good bit of tense, tricky gameplay. Levels are strikingly vast, so most mission objectives can be reached in a variety of ways. You can fight your way through, one enemy at a time, using standard weapons. Or, you can get to a balcony for a good vantage point for sniping. You can also sneak past completely unnoticed (a particular joy in the nighttime missions). Other times, you’ll need to separate your two squads for maximum effectiveness. You’ll fight in a number of great environments, from urban warehouses to rural fields, and all of them provide plenty of opportunities to find cover, scout for enemies, and generally be a nuisance to your foes. Don’t assume this means the game is easy, though. You need to take care with every move and every positioning, lest you leave yourself open to enemy gunfire, and some objectives will require a little trial and error until you find the best way to accomplish them.

The missions are long, sometimes taking over an hour to complete, yet the maps are so open-ended that the campaign never wears out its welcome. Once you’re done, you can try out the multiplayer options, which allows up to four players to battle it out either locally or online. It’s an excellent suite of multiplayer features, featuring five total modes and a host of personalization options. Free for all and suppression are your standard deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, respectively. In extract, the special forces team attempts to escort a VIP to safety, while the mercs try to eliminate him. The two best modes, however, are collateral damage and demolition. Demolition is an attack-and-defend mode, in which one team defends an object (such as a helicopter) while the other team tries to destroy it. The result is often an intense standoff that hinges on smart use of grenades and teammate revival. Even better is collateral damage, which is like demolition on steroids. Here, one team tries to destroy a number of vehicles, and the defending team must protect them. It requires more movement and more teamwork than the other modes, and adds a degree of urgency sometimes missing from the single-player game.

You can further tailor matches by disallowing certain weapons, or prohibiting players from reviving downed squadmates. Tactical Strike even supports voice chat, and it seems to work pretty well. What wasn’t so grand is how laggy most of our online matches were, both when hosting and joining other players’ games. At times, it took several seconds for our squad to respond to our command. Other times, the game would completely freeze for three or four seconds at a time. Even in ad hoc play, there were annoying moments of instability where squads took two or three seconds before responding to orders while the UMD spun madly. Without these issues, Tactical Strike could have been as good as any other online game for the PSP.

The environments are simply gorgeous.

Tactical Strike looks and sounds fantastic. The levels are enormous and detailed, filled with lush foliage and decrepit vehicles. Buildings like mansions and churches are rendered beautifully, with clean textures and nice lighting effects. The splendor comes at a price, though, in the form of frustratingly long load times. They’re most annoying when you fail a mission and have to restart from the last checkpoint, which requires you to go back to a mission select menu (which takes a while to load) and then return to the level (which takes even longer to load). The impressive visuals are accompanied by solid sound effects and great voice acting, both in English and in other languages. It’s sincerely a treat to use a Korean or Spanish team in multiplayer matches, simply to hear the enthusiastic cries of squadmates in their respective languages.

Tactical Strike is a departure from the standard SOCOM gunplay, but it’s still worthy of consideration, both from those who enjoy the series and those who like measured tactical gameplay. A few frustrations get in the way of the fun from time to time, but this is still a good strategy/action hybrid that delivers on multiple fronts.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga Review

LucasArts and Traveller’s Tales happened upon an alchemical combination of nostalgia with the 2005 release of Lego Star Wars, a jovial action adventure game that mined a pan-generational affection for both George Lucas’ space opera and those colorful Danish building blocks. Its 2006 sequel was better, largely because it was based on the original trilogy rather than the prequels. Now Traveller’s Tales has wrapped the contents of both games into a single package with Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. That’s a great deal of content, and if you haven’t played either Lego Star Wars games, this is a solid package made even better by improved graphics, new levels, and online cooperative play. If you have played either Lego Star Wars games, though, you’ll be getting a lot of recycled content here, which makes The Complete Saga harder to recommend.

The Lego re-creation of the famous scene where Darth Vader says ‘Sit on it, Potsie!’

The basic appeal of Lego Star Wars is that it lets you act out some of the more memorable Star Wars moments with cute little Lego people, a concept that hits so many different nostalgia triggers with such precision that it almost seems sinister. The game itself is an action adventure with a heavy focus on puzzle-solving and cooperative play, often at the same time. You’ll make your way through the Naboo palace, the cloning facility on Kamino, the streets of Mos Eisley, the corridors of the Death Star, and other distinct locales, with a small party of various characters in tow. While there are literally dozens of characters that you can unlock and play as, they all fit neatly into a few different character classes, each with unique and appropriate abilities.

Though you can control only one character at a time, you can switch between which character you’re controlling on the fly, and much of the game is deliberately designed to force you to switch back and forth between characters often, making full use of their various abilities. Of course, all the characters and vehicles, and large portions of the environments, are made out of Legos, which creates a surreal, playful kind of aesthetic. It also figures into the gameplay pretty often, as you often have to build objects to progress. The game breaks away from the action adventure format on occasion for a vehicle sequence, such as the pod race from The Phantom Menace or the attacks on the Death Star. They’re rarely as polished or intuitive as the action when you’re on foot, but they work well enough and break up the action nicely.

The group-based format has always made Lego Star Wars ideal for playing with another person, and in The Complete Saga for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, you can finally play the game cooperatively over the Internet. This is far and away the most significant addition to this package, and it’s been nicely integrated, making it easy for another player to jump into the game at almost any point. In addition to online play, The Complete Saga features a number of other upgrades, mostly pretty minor. A few new gameplay sequences, such as the pursuit of bounty hunter Zam Wessell through Coruscant from the beginning of Attack of the Clones, have been added. Other sequences have been changed, such as the gunship cavalry chapter near the end of Attack of the Clones, which now has less of a gun-blazing shooter feel and features some puzzle elements.

If you’ve played a Lego Star Wars game before, be prepared for some d

EA Chicago closing

Last week, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello announced in a quarterly earnings conference call that the publisher would be weathering a round of layoffs and studio closures. At the time, the only operation confirmed for closure was the EA Chertsey studio in the UK. Today, If Its Games has obtained an internal EA memo stating that EA Chicago is also being closed.

EA Chicago is best known for its work on the Def Jam and Fight Night franchises. It had been working on a new licensed Marvel fighting game, as well as a second fighting game based on a new intellectual property. The Fight Night series has already been moved to an EA Sports studio, and an EA representative said that announcements would be made regarding EA Chicago’s other projects in the future.

The memo, sent by EA Games president Frank Gibeau, states that EA will announce the closure today, and calls it “the toughest decision I’ve made in my career–one that in no way reflects on the talent and dedication of the people who work there.” Gibeau singled out studio general manager Kudo Tsunoda as one of the best creative minds in the industry, and said that many of the affected employees will be offered jobs at other EA locations, with those leaving the company receiving severance and outplacement assistance.

“We’re willing to take risks, make long-term investments, and to support teams and individuals between launches,” Gibeau said. “But each team is responsible for staying on a reasonable path to profitability. Sticking to that strategy is what gives us the financial resources and flexibility to take risks on new projects.

“Unfortunately, EA Chicago hasn’t been able to meet that standard. The location has grown dramatically in the past three years while revenue from the games developed there has not. The number of employees has grown from 49 in 2004 to 146 people currently in the new facility in downtown Chicago. As it stands, EA Chicago has no expectation of hitting our profitability targets until FY2011 or later.”

Gibeau stressed again that the company was willing to take risks and make long-term investments, but added every game must “be committed to delivering a reasonable expectation of profitability” if the company’s corporate philosophy is going to work.

“It’s a performance commitment that binds us together and ensures we have the resources we need to invest back into our people and creative output,” Gibeau said.

Guitar Hero III, Rock Band battle handicapped

This holiday season’s rhythm game rumble will see original Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane competing against original Guitar Hero developer Harmonix at the behest of their new parent companies, as Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and MTV Games’ Rock Band vie for headliner status.

With Guitar Hero III released in North American stores late last month and Rock Band not set to arrive until November 20, simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich today summarized the prediction market’s expectations for each title’s performance.

The simExchange allows users to invest fake money in games and consoles based upon their sales expectations compared to a market expectation that is based on other users’ investments. Talented prognosticators are rewarded with more money to put back into the market, which means their analysis is given more weight in determining what the market expectation for each game will be.

According to the simExchange’s numbers and Divnich’s analysis, the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III will trounce Rock Band for Microsoft’s console, which has seen its stock drop in recent weeks. Divnich noted that the simExchange had been projecting Rock Band for the Xbox 360 to sell as many as 250,000 copies in the US during the month of November, nearly on par with the 287,000 sales first-month sales figure expected of Guitar Hero III for the 360.

However, when news broke that individual Rock Band instruments would not be available at launch, forcing consumers to either buy the game on its own or with every instrument in a $169.99 bundle, simExchange users began lowballing their estimates. Since then, the market expectation of first-month sales for the Xbox 360 edition of Rock Band has fallen to 150,000. Lifetime sales of Guitar Hero III are also expected to beat those of Rock Band, with the Xbox 360 versions of each pegged to move and 2.23 million and 880,000, respectively.

As for other platforms, the simExchange lists a cross-section of titles based on demand from its userbase, and as a result had no data for Rock Band on the PlayStation 3 or the PlayStation 2. On the other hand, the market is currently expecting Guitar Hero III to sell lifetime totals of 1.76 million copies on the Wii, 2.11 million on the PS2, and 799,000 on the PS3. Divnich said the performance expected of the Wii edition is particularly impressive, noting that Wii editions of multiplatform titles–especially those from American publishers–have met with little success.

Yesterday, Activision released its quarterly financial figures and discussed the early success of Guitar Hero III. While it didn’t talk about the number of copies each version sold, it did say that the title accounted for more than $115 million in first-week sales on all platforms.

God of War III officially PS3-bound

In March, Sony Computer Entertainment America held a lavish launch party in San Francisco for God of War II. In the course of the celebrations, Cory Barlog, the game’s outspoken director, dropped
some none-too-subtle hints that the series would be coming to the PlayStation 3 along with force feedback.

“If we were to do a God of War III on the PS3,” Barlog told the enthusiastic crowd. “We’re excited about the potential–maybe, no commitment, no announcement or anything like that–to maybe have [God of War hero] Kratos in 1080p with the Sixaxis and vibration. Vibration is coming back to the PS3, that’s pretty cool, huh?”

At the time of Barlog’s outburst, SCEA reps would comment on neither a rumble-enabled Sixaxis nor God of War III coming to the PS3. Now, less than two months after the Dual Shock 3 was unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, Sony has officially confirmed that God of War III is indeed in development exclusively for the PS3 at SCEA’s Santa Monica studio. It provided no further details on the game.

Unfortunately, the God of War III announcement was tempered by some bittersweet news. SCEA has confirmed Barlog himself no longer works at the company’s Santa Monica studio. “We are grateful for his work and creative vision for the critically acclaimed God of War franchise,” the company said in a brief statement in which it expressed faith in the remaining members of the GOWIII and God of War: Chains of Olympus teams.

Barlog’s departure remains shrouded in mystery. So far, he has shared no information about his future plans on his personal blog, where he last posted in mid-October. His exit comes just under four months after God of War series creative director,
David Jaffe announced he was leaving SCEA’s employ after 14 years. Jaffe maintains close ties with Sony, and his indie studio Eat Sleep Play’s first project is a PS2 port of the PSP game Twisted Metal: Head On.

Analysts question Activision acceleration

Today, Activision reported that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock enjoyed $115 million in first-week sales in North America. The number was an upward revision from the $100 million seven-day figure Activision announced yesterday, which itself led to the company to revise its holiday quarter earning’s forecast up to $1.05 billion and full-year guidance to $2.07 billion.

With the publisher already counting its chickens, industry watchers today weighed in on whether Activision can carry its stellar Q2 momentum through the last half of the fiscal year and into fiscal 2009. Believing Activision to be playing conservative, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter sees growth of $1.06 million for the October-December months, and a full-year haul of $2.11 billion.

However, with the market more interested in growth than dollars-in-hand, Pachter believes Activision’s current fortunes may spell ill tidings for next year. “We think that the company has the potential to grow publishing revenues above the level we expect in FY:08, but acknowledge that the success of its lineup this holiday creates a formidable hurdle to revenue growth,” he surmised.

Likewise, Nollenberger Capital Partners’ Todd Greenwald also revised estimates on Activision’s fiscal year upward, but raises cautions on how the publisher will continue to grow. Greenwald believes Activision will be able to assuage less dramatic revenue growth with an influx in earnings growth. “We are modeling 12 percent revenue growth coupled with 29 percent earnings growth for next year, driven by a higher mix of next-gen, premium-priced publishing revenue; benefits from outsourcing development to China; and leverage on the G&A line, especially as high legal costs and RedOctane amortization expenses fade away.”

Goldman Sachs’ Mark Wienkes also believes Activision will build on earnings growth into next year in lieu of revenue expansion. In the short term, Wienkes believes this will be done primarily through administrative measures. He put it thusly: “Activision’s management team is in the process of revisiting its TV marketing campaigns, has streamlined its supply chain, and has aligned its studio and developer compensation with margin-focused incentive plans,” he said.

Wienkes also believes Activision is in prime position to capitalize on the upcoming holiday lineup. “Activision’s steadily increasing market share have positioned the company to prosper in the current cycle as its recurring Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and Tony Hawk franchises have the scale and brands to be top tier sellers this holiday season.”

However, Lazard Capital Markets’ Colin Sebastian believes the rhythm genre remains the ace up Activision’s sleeve, and that the Neversoft-developed Guitar Hero franchise will continue to be the key differentiator in revenue growth. “While the new James Bond and Marvel titles will help to offset the gap caused by Spider-Man and Transformers, we believe the more important growth driver is Guitar Hero, given that the market for music simulation games continues to expand rapidly,” he concluded.

Adopting a wait-and-see approach, Pacific Crest’s Evan Wilson has doubts as to whether Activision’s upcoming in-house properties will be able to outperform this year’s lineup at all. Not completely ruling out growth, Wilson believes Activision may make additional acquisitions to bolster sales.

“We believe it will be more difficult for it to grow at or above the market rate than it was this year, and that growth may come in the form of acquisitions rather than organically,” Wilson said in a morning brief. “However, we believe Activision would attempt to complete an acquisition this fiscal year, although that is increasingly unlikely. To that end, we are most concerned with its ability to meaningfully grow margins.”

Mutilation Madness (Team Fortress 2 - PC)

Calling all Team Fortress 2 teams!


Here's your chance to put your demolition skills to good use. Sign up now to compete in the Team Fortress 2 tournament, Mutilation Madness. Every player on your team could win a $200 Best Buy gift card.

Plus, just for participating you'll get a unique Team Fortress 2 emblem in your profile.

Registration for Mutilation Madness begins Nov. 7, 2007, at 3 p.m. PT.

In Mutilation Madness, 32 seven-player teams have the chance to show off their strengths in shooting, flame throwing, grenade launching, and other fun activities.

As always, we'll broadcast the finals live on If Its Games Tournament TV. You'll get to see your favorite If Its Games editors provide analysis and commentary on the competition, as well as interviews with some of the top players. Be sure to tune in!

NEWS

November 6, 2007

In the next week we’ll be hosting a single elimination online tournament for Team Fortress 2. The tournament will consist of 32 teams, each with 7 players. Now is the best time to let your friends know about the tournament! To be prepared when registration opens, it’s best to talk to your friends and plan to register for a team together.

Registration for specific timeslots happens on a first-come, first served basis for all If Its Games registrants (free or paid users), so be sure to decide on your preferred timeslot in advance and signup together. And don’t forget to recruit at least 3-4 waitlist players.

Posted by JodyR, 1:21pm

Vital Stats

Team Fortress 2