It was reported on FoxNews today that many retirement homes are experimenting with providing entertainment for their guests in he form of Wiis. In initial market testing, they were a huge success, especially with the Wii Sports games (particularly tennis and bowling). What's more? Kids may be a little more motivated to visit Grandma and Grandpa if they know they can challenge them in a video game.
Caught wind of some news about an obese 26-year old man in Beijing, China who aparently died after a marathon online gaming session. This guy was 330 pounds, and the full report seems to indicate the "problem" being the gaming itself... granted he spent the majority of seven days straight during break from school, but come on. My man was 330 pounds! It couldn't possible be how FAT he was that killed him. Nope. Prayers and best wishes none the less.
Three more classic titles, all from Nintendo's own NES console, are now available in the growing list of games on the Wii's Virtual Console. All three titles are 500 Wii points apiece. Here's what was released today:
Kirby's Adventure
Ice Climber
Kid Icarus
Though I can't imagine Kirby's Adventure and Ice Climber (well maybe the latter) might enthrall gamers into a frenzy, Kid Icarus is a game I've personally looked forward to seeing in the Virtual Console for some time. It's always good to revisit a classic.
A few days ago it was reported that Lost Planet cost 40 million dollars to produce. Not a big deal because a lot of "next-gen" games have been costing upwards of 20+ million lately, and also beacause Lost Planet is a high profile game featuring a famous asian actor as the main protagonist.
Forbes has reported today that this amount actually breaks out to 20 million in game development and another 20 million in advertising. Wow, I am blown away by these numbers, spending 20 million on advertising will get you a lot of ad space and I've only seen a few commercials for the game. [Albeit I don't really watch that much television]. So, how has the spending worked out for Capcom? As of Mid-January, Capcom has shipped 1 million units of the game. At $60 a pop, they've raked in 60 million, I'd say it was a success. Will this usher in a new era of gaming advertising? How much will be spent advertising games like Halo 3 or MGS4? I say, way to go Capcom for realizing that in this era of over saturation, new franchises need to be exposed in order to gain success.
Though I'm technically a day late in posting what many of you Wii owners probably already know, Nintendo has released four more titles into the backlog canon of classic gaming titles. After much speculation and debate over which game would follow Super Mario 64, the only Nintendo 64 title made available for purchase, the big N has made available Mario Kart 64 as the second N64 title in the Virtual Console, along with three other classics.
Here's a breakdown of what was released yesterday:
Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo - 1000 Points
Bonanza Bros. - Sega - 800 Points
Contra III - SNES - 800 Points
Comix Zone - Sega - 800 Points
Nintendo at least seems to be trying to appease gamers still pining for more N64 titles. Let's hope the release process speeds up for future games.
I found a very entertaining article over at Digg.com about the worse game endings ever and thought everyone should read it. The author clearly knows his shit and explains in detail and gives a great case for each of his picks. Some are uninspired, some are obvious and others are disappointing [see pic]. I agree with every one of them except the pick for Diablo. I thought that game ended great and was a surprising twist. Please comment on your thoughts.
Read it Here
Today, Nintendo launched the News Channel for the Wii a day earlier then promised. The channel is free and takes about 5 minutes to download. I've taken it for a spin and have found to be pretty useless to tell you the truth. When you go into the channel it will give you a menu of news broken down by category [Local, World, Sports, Tech, etc.] After you choose one it will take you to a message board style page with all of the news articles. If a picture is provided with the news article there will be a thumbnail of it next to the headline. You can also browse the news via "slideshow" which is kind of odd. the news and pics will appear on screen, and then a couple of seconds later a new story will appear. All of the news is taken from the AP wire and is actually pretty up to date unlike the weather channel.
A globe is to the right of the articles showing you the location of the news that you are reading. You can click on the globe and browse the news by location as well. This channel is a novelty that will wear off very quickly. I wish Nintendo would spend more time on the Virtual Console first party games and actual ONLINE play instead of releasing things like this. But, since it IS free I can't really complain too much. Happy Reading!
In a somewhat surprising newsletter sent to gamers who've subscribed to it, GameStop/EB Games announced that all of their retail outlets have been restocked with PS3's. These consoles aren't being held for pre-orders (I believe the last shipment of pre-ordered consoles arrive next week). A quick availability check around the city of Chicago revealed only one out of eighteen stores had sold out their stock, with most stores reporting a stock of at least four consoles.
What makes this revelation even sweeter is the fact that for a limited time, gamers can still trade in their PS2 system and receive $100 off a new PS3. In order to qualify, you must also trade in a second Sony brand PS2 controller as well as an 8 MB memory card in addition to everything packaged with the original PS2.
Those interested in partaking in the deal should hurry as this offer surely won't last more than a couple weeks. As always, be sure to call your local store to double check that PS3's are actually in stock.
The NPD Group has just released their results for the best selling games of 2006, some of which suprised the hell out of me. Accompanying that list is a tally of the best selling games of December, no doubt a giant month for software sales during the holiday season. Let's start with the December results:
1. Gears of War - Xbox 360 (Microsoft)
2. Guitar Hero 2 Bundle- PS2 (Activision)
3. Madden NFL 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts)
4. Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess - GCN (Nintendo)
5. Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii (Nintendo)
6. WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 - PS2 (THQ)
7. New Super Mario Bros. - NDS (Nintendo)
8. Call of Duty 3 - Xbox 360 (Activision)
9. Yoshi's Island 2 - NDS (Nintendo)
10. Call of Duty 3 - PS2 (Activision)
Frankly, Gears of War was destined to have one of the top spots, but for me, the real shocker here is the fact that Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess actually managed to move more discs on the GameCube rather than the Wii. Perhaps it's not that big of a stretch considering Wii shortages are still present even today (which probably also explains the lack of any PS3 games). However, it's nice to see Nintendo's DS competing with the big dogs as they land two games in the top ten (versus zero from Sony's PSP).
Now then, here are the top ten sellers for 2006:
1. Madden NFL 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts)
2. New Super Mario Bros. - NDS (Nintendo)
3. Gears of War - Xbox 360 (Microsoft)
4. Kingdom Hearts II - PS2 (Square Enix)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Bundle- PS2 (Activision)
6. Final Fantasy XII - PS2 (Square Enix)
7. Brain Age: Train Your Brain - NDS (Nintendo)
8. Madden NFL 07 - Xbox 360 (Electronic Arts)
9. Tom Clancy's GRAW - Xbox 360 (UbiSoft)
10. NCAA Football 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts)
Again, big props to Nintendo for having the second best selling game of 2006...and for a handheld at that! Proof that Mario hasn't outlived it's usefulness in the gaming community. Also making a big splash this year was the aforementioned Gears of War and Guitar Hero II. Both titles were released on November 7 in the U.S. and barely had two months to generate sales. Yet, both were strong enough to secure the number 3 and 5 spots, respectively. Though I half expected Rainbow Six: Las Vegas up there (especially in place of Tom Clancy's GRAW).
Overall there was a lot less noise from the Xbox 360 which seemed to take a backseat to PS2 games during the year. I expect the Wii and PS3 will begin to take some of the attention away during '07 as Nintendo begins to roll out more first part mascot games and as the PS3 simply begins to roll out more consoles with games people actually want to play.
At the Computer Entertainment Show, Microsoft Founder, Chairman, and Cheif Computernerd Bill Gates had the following to say to TV Tokyo:
"The strength of Nintendo on the portable space has been very impressive and surprised a lot of people... and the strength of the Wii... and we see Nintendo as the toughest competition." (If that quote doesn't read correctly to you either, don't blame me, I'm just the messenger).
While Nintendo has been selling very well in both the handheld and console markets this season, the real meaning behind this quote could be a shot at Sony (though not quite as dramatic as those between Rosie O'Donnel and Donald Trump).
A company called Fenner Investments is taking on the big three in court. The company alleges that each of these broke a patent, infringing on intellectual property. The issue comes down to the analog joystick on the contollers, which returns a digital signal to the system. This company filed for the patent in 1998 and was granted the rights three years later.
Something tells me the combined lawyers of MS, Sony, and Nintendo might be a wee bit more costly than those of "Fenner Investments"...
Most of the general public has never heard of Crackdown, but recently it has been announced that a Halo 3 beta invite will be included with every copy. Since the hype for Halo 3 is so incredibly huge, I can guarantee you that this game will sell well over 1 million copies. I just hope people take the time to enjoy this game because it is getting very positive press from a lot of sites. Xboxyde.com has a great write up for it here. Basically, the game is a GTA clone with a twist [don't they all have a twist?]. You are a "good guy" but you have super powers that allow you to perform great feats such as superhuman strength, leaping from buildings, etc. You can get experience and level your character up through different attributes. The game has a comic book feel to it that some people may not like, and the whole world looks over stylized. Multiplayer will consist of online co-op, but no deathmatch or team based online multiplay has been announced. Official release date is Feb 20th, 2007.
According to Fox News, a Chicago couple who purchased their 12 year old daughter a Zune for Christmas were in for a little surprise when she opened it.
The mother told Fox News that on the Zune when they first turned it on, there was a little more than demo music on there. "It was a homosexual orgy that they had video taped for an hour and 44 minutes."
The couple said that the Zune packaging was tampered with and did not contain a charger, and after purchasing it from Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart is now investigating the Zune porn and will be giving them a $25 gift card + refund.
"What do you tell a 12-year-old child that you have five men having sex with each other? That's not a conversation that I want to have," Martin said.
You tell them that she's 12 and knows that orgies exist, and so do homosexuals. It happens. Move along. And to think that when thinking about a picture for this article I considered putting a gay couple on the Zune... damn that would have been gay on my part. Ugh.
Technically this was released Wednesday but it deserves its own entry as well. The Forecast Channel, one of two previously unavailable channels from the Wii menu, is now ready to be updated as I'm sure most Wii users have become aware of. A small system update is needed to allow the channel to begin functioning but once completed weather forecasts are readily available from anywhere on the globe. Gamers can now check the UV Index for their hometown or even access a 5-Day forecast, all of which is supported by Weathernews.
Seeing as I'm adding this post from my Wii, you can now download the trial version of the Opera browser from the Wii Shop Channel in the United States. It was previously made available in Europe, Australia, and Japan before being released here. What are you waiting for? Get moving on the download!
IGA Worldwide announced that they have signed a deal with Valve for an undisclosed amount of cash to put advertising in one of the most if not THE most popular online shooter of today, Counterstrike.
Are gaming ads really that bad? If you belong to any message board it is no doubt up in arms about this because most gamers enjoy bitching as their full time job. I love how we can all bitch about ads in games but on 90% of the gaming websites out there, you can barely navigate a site due to the fact that it is plastered with ads. Banners, flash ads, annoying ads with sound, click through's, you name it and the gaming sites have it. Yet the gamers can navigate their way through these sites without a peep. As soon as ads in an actual game are announced it's the 2nd coming of Jesus himself. [Which will probably be sooner than the next coming of Duke Nukem]
If Valve had any self respect, they'd limit the ads to the soda machines, PC's and other items that won't distract from the gameplay. I guess I'd be pretty pissed if a billboard for GMC popped up on one of the walls in Dust, but I'd also be surprised that Valve would let that happen.
This week's update of Nintendo's Virtual Console selection held much promise given the fact that Nintendo has yet to release some of its more favorable classic games. Hopefully, Sega's offering of an old mascot can persuade gamers to make a purchase. Here's the rundown of titles for the week:
Military Madness - TurboGrafx 16 - 600 Points
Space Harrier II - Genesis - 800 Points
Tennis - NES - 500 Points
Sonic The Hedgehog - 800 Points
One more Monday of virtual titles until the new year. One last chance for Nintendo to get it right.
As you've probably heard, there have been problems with the Nintendo Wii wriststrap. People have reported throwing the controller across the room breaking windows, TVs, etc as a result of the faulty wrist strap. This has caused Nintendo to offer a recall on the wrist straps. 3.2 million units will be affected. The new wrist strap will be twice as thick. Gamers can get their strap replaced at a Nintendo service center.
This will be costly for Nintendo, but not acting could be costlier. Perhaps more testing before launch could've avoided this problem. So next time, Nintendo, feel free to hook us up with some new systems, we'll test them out for you and let you know if there's an issue.
What was originally going to be a small update to the ongoing story concerning the PS3 thief who was killed by police during a raid of his house has now revealed yet another surprise twist. Earlier this week Christopher Long was indicted on second degree murder charges when he fatally shot Payton Strickland after it was reported that Peyton beat up another person for his PS3 console.
However, the foreman on the jury that originally indicted Long realized that he had checked the wrong box on the paperwork. The jury originally voted not guilty while accidentally checking the guilty box. Only after hearing about it second hand did the foreman speak up, which resulted in the charges against Long being immediately dropped.
A 12-year veteran of the sheriff's office, Long was fired after the incident, though he claimed that he heard gunshots inside the house. None of the other officers on the scene could back that claim, however.
Speaking on behalf of his client, Long's lawyer seemed to give the foreman the benefit of the doubt, saying it was a common mistake "in the world of forms." Conversely, Payton's parents were plenty outraged and are now seeking out ways to refile the case against Long.
