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Penny Arcade Turns Big Bucks on XBLA

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:22:00 GMT

Never ones to mince words, on hearing the Xbox Live Arcade version of their new game delivered impressive launch numbers, Penny Arcade artist Mike "Gabe" Krahulik wrote in the PA blog that he was "pretty f---ing happy" with the numbers.

The company's first game ever, the episodic Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, sold and impressive 16,500 units in its first three days on the download service.

Only two games sold more in their first three days: Ikaruga and RezHD, selling 22,500 and 25,000 units, respectively.

"Given that our price point was double the other games on that list I'm pretty f---ing happy," Krahulik wrote. "We fully expected some people to complain about the $20 price tag but we honestly felt like our game was worth it."

On the Rain-Slick Precipice was released last week to generally good reviews. Today, the Metacritic score of the Xbox 360 version of the game stood at 79. The game is also available for the PC and Mac.

Guitar Hero World Tour Priced

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:18:00 GMT

Last week, Activision peeled back the curtain on its upcoming update to Guitar Hero, due later this year. The fourth iteration of the franchise, to be called Guitar Hero World Tour, will come to market with a Rock Band-like array of peripherals that will include a microphone, guitar, and drum kit (cymbals, too).

One thing missing from the data dump from publisher Activision, however, was the price for the new, built-out Guitar Hero game.

No worries, concerned gamers. GameStop to the rescue.

The specialty game retailer is taking pre-orders for the title at a record setting $189.99.

Rock Band, from MTV Games and Harmonix (the original developers of Guitar Hero) was priced $20 less at $169. But after selling millions of games, it's obvious price was no impediment for devoted gamers. That may have influenced Activision to price World Tour higher (though it should be noted the GameStop price has yet to be confirmed by Activision).

To be clear: The PS3, Wii, and 360 game-peripherals bundle will cost $189.99, says GameStop. The PS2 bundle goes out the door for $179.99. The game alone is going for $59.99/$49.99 with a guitar-game bundle selling for $99.99.

Lest anyone think the price could be a deterrent to sales, MTV parent Viacom earlier this month quantified its success with the similarly priced Rock Band. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said more than three million copies of Rock Band had been shipped to retailers and 10 million songs downloaded since its November release.

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NewsSource: Rockstar: Gaming Threatens Hollywood

Tue, 27 May 2008 19:43:00 GMT

Rockstar: Gaming Threatens Hollywood
Rockstar chief Dan Houser says that the film industry doesn’t support gaming because they see it as a competitor.

"We take market share and audience from other media--video game makers are challenging the Hollywood hegemony--so they’re going to fight us," Houser said in an interview with Playboy.

Houser reckons that video games are offering essentially the same experience as a movie, and this is making the Hollywood studios nervous.

"Playing a game that features violence is no different from choosing to see a violent movie," he continued. "We’re not trying to create a 'here’s real life' sensation in a video game; it’s 'you’re the star of a movie. We want to re-create the sensations you have watching movies.' We’re putting those in a video game."

NewsSource: Everyone Loves Conan

Tue, 27 May 2008 18:54:00 GMT

400,000 Playing Age of Conan
Funcom says that its Age of Conan MMO is going from strength to strength, with over 400,000 games online during the launch period.

"The initial sales and reviews are very encouraging, and it’s great to see that so many are enjoying Age of Conan," Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas said in a statement. "This is just the beginning, and we already look forward to massive updates and cool new features.... Players can expect continued quality and innovation as we enter a new era for the game."

Funcom recently revealed that the game had sold out at retail and is now describing Age of Conan as "one of the busiest MMOs in the western hemisphere."

Sega Rally 3 Unveiled
Sega has revealed its first European-produced arcade title, based on state-of-the-art Intel/Nvidia hardware.

Sega Rally 3 is essentially a retooled version of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, Sega Rally Revo. However, it has a superior 60 fps refresh rate, refined handling, bespoke steering wheel control, and gameplay mechanics more suited to an arcade environment. The tracks are also different, with the stages bearing a closer relation to the original Sega Rally arcade game as opposed to the home version.

The game was produced by the now-disbanded Sega Racing Studio in the U.K., with the arcade board using an Intel dual core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and an Nvidia 8800GTX to power its superior visuals.

Sega Rally 3 is due in European arcades any day now, with an international roll-out promised by the producer.

Opting Out is the New Black

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:47:00 GMT

On the surface, the two news items seem unrelated. John Carmack's Id Software development studio today confirmed rumors that it was opting out of renewing its membership with the Electronic Software Association. Across the ocean, Nintendo's European arm said it was taking a pass on this year's Leipzig Games Convention.

Id is the fourth major ESA member to end its relationship with the group. Previously, Activision, Vivendi, and LucasArts have let their memberships lapse. The latest move by Id strikes a real blow to the ESA mandate and may be an early signal that the departures could mount. Neither Id nor the ESA had issued any sort of statement.

Nintendo, on the other hand, is so far alone in its move not to attend the Leipzig show. The company says it will instead focus its efforts on more direct contact with the media and smaller but more numerous events across the continent.

Free-to-Play Model Comes to Shooters

Fri, 23 May 2008 21:38:00 GMT

The West is starting notice Nexon Corp. The Korean game operator has made millions supporting online-only games that make their money not on the sale of boxed games but rather on small, in-game purchases of items that are used to enhance the game experience of products the company gives away.

Nexon was among the first to create what is now called free-to-play gaming, and it remains one of the most successful at it, though its success is still primarily an Asian phenomena.

But the company hopes to increase its visibility in the west with a title called Combat Arms. Unlike two of the company's most successful products, Kart Rider and Maple Story, which have more simplistic themes, Combat Arms is a hardcore military shooter along the lines of Call of Duty 4. What sets the shooters apart, however, is that Call of Duty 4 will cost you $55, and Combat Arms is free.

Niko Bellic Buoys Brit Economy

Fri, 23 May 2008 19:30:00 GMT

When is the bad guy the good guy? When the popularity of his criminal exploits puts money into the coffers of the corporate elite. Which, according to the Wall Street Journal, is exactly what Take-Two Interactive's crime caper Grand Theft Auto IV did last month.

According to the Journal, the game's $78.6 million take in its first week on U.K. store shelves "partially propped up" an economy "beset by falling housing prices and surging food and energy costs."

The report was noticeably short on science to back up the reporter's claim that it was GTA which saved the day, but it was a darn good headline nonetheless.

According to the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics, retail sales for April rose 4.2 percent over the same period a year ago, but they were still off by a fraction compared to the prior month. It was that slight decline that seemed to have been positively affected by GTA sales. April sales were .02 percent lower then March sales, but that was less then the .05 percent analysts had anticipated.

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NewsSource: MGS4: 90 Minutes of Cut-Scenes

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Metal Gear Solid 4: 90 Minutes of Cutscenes
Reviews of Hideo Kojima’s forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of the Patriots are starting to filter through, along with news that the game contains a staggering 90 minutes of cutscenes.

The info comes from U.K. print magazine PlayStation World, who reassures gamers that you can skip the storyline if you want and just concentrate on the action.

"MGS4's story is massive. The videogame equivalent of all three Godfather movies on one disc," enthuses the mag. "They can be skipped, but you'll be missing out on some of the finely crafted examples of FMV footage anywhere in gaming."

Resident Evil 5 Has Online Co-Op
The next chapter in the Resident Evil saga is to feature online cooperative gameplay for two players, according to reports.

The news first surfaced in a Games Radar news piece, which has since mysteriously vanished from the Internet. The article stated that Resident Evil veteran Chris Redfield is joined by a female mercenary, and that the game will feature drop-in, drop-out co-op gameplay. When a second player isn’t connected to your game, computer AI takes control of the other character.

The article also revealed that the game will be released sometime in 2009 between January and the end of March.

Oddworld Back in Game Biz

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:52:00 GMT

After Oddworld Inhabitants cofounders Lorner Lanning and Sherry McKenna shuttered their San Luis Obispo game studio in 2205 and relocated north, little was heard from the once chatty industry vets. Their last game, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, propelled the two back to animation. It seemed like the game industry had lost two successful, outspoken, and accomplished professionals.

But a student paper in Ontario, Canada, reporting on a presentation by Will Wright's former business partner, Jeff Braun, has thrust Oddworld back in the limelight.

Braun spoke at Wilfrid Laurier University this week and relayed to the students his involvement with Oddworld--on a new game. The game, Braun says, uses a "a revolutionary new 3-D animation system allowing videogame players to experience a cinematic quality on a 1 to 1 scale to that of computer-generated motion pictures," according to the school's paper.

"They're such a talented group of people and I really trust their ability to create compelling content," Braun reportedly said.

But don't expect to playing an Oddworld game anytime soon. According to the paper, "with a slow and measured production schedule subject to Braun's own entrepreneurial business model, it may be years before the game is actually shipped."

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New Guitar Hero Adds Bass, Drums, Mic

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:02:00 GMT

The battle for aspiring rockers heated up considerably today as Activision confirmed its upcoming version of Guitar Hero will add three additional instruments to the mix.

Answering the challenge of MTV's Rock Band, a game developed by the original creators of Guitar Hero and one which launched last year with a quartet of instruments, is Guitar Hero World Tour.

As Rock Band does, the game will feature a redesigned guitar controller, a drum kit, and microphone. Also included in the game is the Music Studio music creator which will allow users to compose, record, edit, and share their own songs online. A new online feature allows two four-person bands to challenge each other in a battle of the bands mode.

RedOctane exec Dusty Welch said, "Guitar Hero has set the standard for music-based gaming and with Guitar Hero World Tour and the game’s groundbreaking Music Studio, we are once again delivering unprecedented innovation that has the potential to revolutionize consumer generated music, much in the same way that video sharing hubs have driven user generated video."

Before it was bought by Activision, RedOctane manufactured the guitar peripherals for the original Guitar Hero created by Harmonix. It has always owned the name Guitar Hero.

The Guitar Hero franchise has earned more than a billion dollars for Activision; profits from the game have helped Activision shares spike 72 percent over the past year.

No release date is set for the game, but most think the multi-platform game will make it to retailer shelves by the holidays. World Tour is slated for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation 2.

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