Archive for March 15th, 2008
March 15, 2008
FlOw didn’t start out as a PlayStation 3 game, but Sony’s console is definitely where it garnered the most attention after being made available as a download early last year. The game’s simplistic, stylized visuals made it an unlikely showpiece for the PS3, but its inventive and undemanding gameplay coupled with effective use of the Sixaxis’ motion controls made it a good option for early PS3 adopters looking to show off their new toy. The downloadable PSP version of flOw doesn’t add anything new over the PS3 version, but it’s a great fit for the handheld and certainly worth a look if you haven’t played the game already.
Feeding requires practically no skill until you encounter food that fights back.
Your goal in flOw is simple: You play as a small aquatic lifeform that must swim around and eat other aquatic lifeforms in order to both survive and evolve. The world that your creature inhabits is viewed from a top-down perspective, and you progress through each of the five environments by swimming deeper. Initially you’ll be gorging yourself on the flOw equivalent of plankton, but as you dive deeper you have to contend with creatures that will defend themselves and, in some cases, even attempt to eat you. The other creatures’ behaviors are every bit as varied as their appearances, so don’t be surprised if you come up against a large predator that can disappear and then attack you from nowhere or a shoal of seemingly harmless small fish that are quick to turn aggressive as soon as one of their number is threatened.
Some of the food you eat causes you to evolve, some of it simply replenishes your health. Needless to say, you’ll want plenty of both before tackling some of the game’s larger predators. Some of the situations you find yourself in feel a lot like boss battles, but there’s no way to die in flOw. Rather, when your health is depleted you automatically swim back up to a safe depth where you’re at the top of the food chain.
The end of each level is marked by the appearance of an egg, which can only be eaten when you’ve fully realized your creature’s potential. Eating said egg unlocks a new playable creature and then transports you back to the game’s first screen where you can select it. There are five different creatures to play as in flOw, plus a sixth that you get to explore the end credits with. The creatures, which vaguely resemble eels, rays, jellyfish and the like, each have their own special ability, ranging from a simple burst of speed through to predatory strikes that home in on weak points and even a move that temporarily paralyzes prey.
Even when you’re embroiled in a relatively lengthy battle with a large creature, flOw never feels frantic or frustrating. This is because the game’s difficulty masterfully scales to match your skill level, and because the music borders on meditative. FlOw is a game that you’ll inevitably “beat” if you spend enough time with it, and that’s unlikely to take more than two or three hours. The PSP game can be played through even more quickly than its PS3 counterpart because the expanses of water that you’re swimming in are much smaller. If the PS3 levels were large ponds, the PSP’s are goldfish bowls. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since you no longer waste time swimming around empty expanses looking for the special red and blue creatures that you eat to swim deeper or back toward the surface, respectively.
The PSP levels are much smaller than those on the PS3.
In addition to the single-player game, flOw features ad-hoc support for up to four players. We’re not certain if it’s designed to be competitive, cooperative, or neither of the above, but whatever it is it’s not good. Everyone has to play as the same creature, everyone gets moved to a different depth when one player chooses to, and the creature you’re playing as rarely looks the same to you as it does on everyone else’s screens. The multiplayer game suffers from just enough lag to make the controls unresponsive, as well, so really your best bet is just to keep the WLAN switch in the off position.
If you’ve already experienced one of the previous iterations of flOw there’s really nothing in the PSP version to justify paying for the privilege of doing so again. If you missed flOw on the PS3, though, the handheld version is every bit as good and will only take up 90MB on your memory stick.
March 15, 2008
Yesterday, the NPD Group issued its monthly report on the gaming industry’s cumulative performance in the US. Shocking to those who followed analysts’ predictions of 20 to 34 percent software growth from the day before, publishers raked in software sales of nearly $669 million in February, amounting to a 47 percent spike compared to the same period last year. On the whole, the industry grew by 34 percent to $1.33 billion in hardware, software, and accessory sales, with the top five products for the month being Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360, 296,000 units), Devil May Cry 4 (360, 295,000), Wii Play with Remote (Wii, 289,000), Devil May Cry 4 (PlayStation 3, 234,000), and Guitar Hero III (Wii, 223,000).
Today, several industry analysts issued their mea culpa for dramatically understating software growth, and offered some insight on how the rest of the year will play out with respect to the gaming industry’s extremely positive performance in February. According to UBS Investment Research analyst Benjamin Schachter, the industry is still basking in the holiday 2007 lineup.
“While new releases during the month, such as Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom, 529,000 units across two platforms) and Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Odyssey (Microsoft, 204,000 units) sold well,” noted Schacter, continuing, “overall software dollar growth continues to driven primarily by the big hits from the 2007 holiday, including Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3, and a nice showing from Rock Band (in terms of dollars, Rock Band on the Xbox 360 was the number one title, a milestone for this franchise). In fact, 7 of the top 10 selling games in terms of dollars were released in calendar year 2007.”
With Microsoft touting the fact that it captured 39 percent of “this generation’s ecosystem,” despite selling the lowest number of consoles for the month, analyst Jesse Divnich of prediction market the simExchange pointed out that the publisher’s lead in tie-ratio is correlated to a game’s online component.
“We originally projected that the software ratio between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 version of Devil May Cry 4 (DMC4) would be 1.61-to-1 in favor of the Xbox 360,” observed Divnich. “We considered that ratio to be proof of a closing gap between the sales ratio of Xbox 360 to PS3 games sold for multi-platform titles. Actual results were much better than expected with a sales ratio of only 1.26-to-1 in favor of the Xbox 360. These results reiterate our original interpretation of the prediction market that DMC4 was likely a hardware driver for the PS3 in February.”
The prediction market also believes Mario will score a headshot on Call of Duty 4 in March, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl expected to bump Infinity Ward’s shooter out of the top slot after four straight months of dominance.
Both Divnich and Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter noted that February’s tally further reiterated the point that the gaming industry is poised to continue to thrive, despite a flagging US economy. “Many economists warned that the United States economy is currently in a recession or on the verge of one,” noted Divnich. Irrespective to that, the video game industry continues to post record growth and although no leisure/entertainment sector can be considered ‘recession proof,’ the video game industry continues to prove to be one of the very few industries to have the least elasticity to the current economic environment.”
Agreeing, Pachter noted, “The sales figures reflected dramatic growth in unit volumes year-over-year, suggesting that sales are widespread and that the video game industry is resisting the onslaught of a recession.” Pachter attributed the industry’s 47 percent spike to average sale price, which stood at $39.46 for the month, a 20 percent year over year rise. The prolific analyst also noted that 19 games sold more than 100,000 units in February, up from 10 last year.
Looking ahead, Pachter believes February serves as a good indication for what is in store for the industry in the coming months. “We expect industry sales to be strong for the next several months, with a strong release schedule early in the year allowing sustainable double-digit sales growth,” he said. “We currently forecast full year growth of 19 percent, but think our estimate may be conservative.”
March 15, 2008
AP - U.S. video game sales
March 15, 2008
PC World - Microsoft says a shortage in console availability is the reason its Xbox 360 console trailed substantially behind competitors in recent U.S. sales.
March 15, 2008
Investor’s Business Daily - “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is to China what “Morte d’Arthur” or “Antony and Cleopatra” is to the West: a centuries-old telling of an even more ancient history of kings, slaves, battles, betrayals, marriages and intrigue. The tale has adapted readily to the modern media age, spawning movies, TV shows, comic books and — inevitably — video games.
March 15, 2008
Today, in the end of one of the longest legal dramas that the video game world has ever seen, Manhunt 2 has finally been granted a classification certificate in the UK.
The game was originally slated for launch in the country on July 13, 2007, but was refused a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification–the UK’s ratings body–because of “unremitting bleakness” and “sustained and cumulative casual sadism.” The move made it illegal to sell the game in the UK, which effectively banned the title.
Developers Rockstar responded by resubmitting an edited version of the game, which was granted release in the US and many European countries, but was refused classification again in the UK. The Grand Theft Auto-maker then decided to appeal the decision by taking it the BBFC’s Video Appeals Committee, a panel of seven independent judges, who reversed the decision and recommended the game be granted an 18 certificate.
Soon after, the BBFC took the unprecedented move of taking the case to the High Court, given that it believed that there had been a misinterpretation of the law. The judge agreed, and then sent the decision back to the VAC to reconsider in light of the newly set guidelines.
Today, seven weeks after the last events in the case, and some nine months after the game was first banned, Manhunt 2 has finally been granted a release in the UK.
According to a statement from the BBFC, “In the light of legal advice, the Board does not believe the VAC’s judgement provides a realistic basis for further challenge to its decision and has accordingly issued an 18 certificate.”
BBFC director David Cooke explained, “As I have said previously, we never take rejection decisions lightly, and they always involve a complex balance of considerations. We twice rejected Manhunt 2, and then pursued a judicial review challenge, because we considered, after exceptionally thorough examination, that it posed a real potential harm risk. However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an 18 certificate to the game.”
[UPDATE] Rockstar released an official statement this afternoon declaring that it was “pleased that the VAC has reaffirmed its decision recognizing that Manhunt 2 is well within the bounds established by other 18-rated entertainment. Rockstar Games is committed to making great interactive entertainment, while also marketing our products responsibly and supporting an effective rating system.” The spokesperson added that the company had not yet decided on a release date for the game.
March 15, 2008
The add-on pack for LONPOS, Genki\’s Japanese WiiWare launch puzzler, has been revealed. Famitsu say that the add-on pack for LONPOS will cost 500 Wii points (half the price of the full game).
March 15, 2008
Team Twiizers Wii Zelda Twilight hack has recently been updated. The major change is the ability to boot Wii homebrew using the SD card slot of the Wii. Moreover, SD gecko support has been removed in favor of adding USB gecko support. Full information is available at Wiibrew.org.
March 15, 2008
Primary school children in Scotland will be told to play a 20-minute burst of \’More Brain Training with Dr Kawashima\’ at the start of the day to improve their learning. A Scottish study found that playing brain training games for 20 minutes at the start of the day improves performance in maths tests by as much as 10 per cent. 480 Nintendo DS consoles have been bought at a cost of
March 15, 2008
Renegade Kid is hoping to bring a bit of good old fashioned video game violence to the DS in its upcoming game \’Moon\’. The game is a sci-fi first-person action-adventure based on what happens after an alien hatch is opened during the construction of a new lunar base in the year 2058. \”Moon is dark, twisted, heart pounding, frequently violent and always disturbing. Pretty much what you\’d expect when you take madmen like Renegade Kid, jack their technology up to the next level, and turn them loose,\” commented Bill Swartz, head woof of publisher Mastiff. The game is scheduled to be released sometime this year.
March 15, 2008
Agetec today announced that it will be releasing LOL for Nintendo DS this May, with the motto \”If the game is boring, then you are boring\”. \”LOL is played by one of the players making a challenge in writing to the others. The person who delivered the challenge chooses an appropriate time limit, and everyone has to answer the challenge on their touch screen however they see fit
March 15, 2008
You’ve played the games, now participate in the real thing! Starting Monday, March 17, make bracket predictions and share them with your friends!
March 15, 2008
The following video shows you how you can add Yen to your Japanese Playstation Network account using Network Cards. Seems like lot of hassle, but its great if you want to get your hands on early Japanese Playstation Network releases.
March 15, 2008
The folks over at the GTAforums have been busy translating the Spanish issue of PSM magazine that includes a GTA IV feature. There will be support for up to 16 player multiplayer and 15 online game modes including: Hangmans NOOSE, Car Jack City, Bomb da Base, Bomb da Base II, Mafia Work, Team Mafia Work, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Turf War, Cops N Crooks, Race, GTA Race, Deal Breaker, Free Roam and one more unknown mode. Other details include that you can drive a car or a helicopter with three friends and the host of the game decides rules such as the flow of traffic, the intervention of police and the weapons. The magazine has this story labeled as a PS3 story.
March 15, 2008
Below are some new Playstation Home pictures which show character customization.