Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Top 50 Mobile Games of 2006

Top 50 Mobile Games of 2006

After Gaming Consoles, Mobiles are the next biggest gaming platform. Each year hundreds of games are released for Smartphones, some of them have to be good. PocketGamers benchmarked all these games and compiled a long list of top 50 games for 2006. Here’s a list of top 10 games:

  1. Tornado Mania
  2. Stranded
  3. Turbo Camels: Circus Extreme
  4. Tower Bloxx
  5. Project Gotham Racing
  6. Splinter Cell Double Agent
  7. Need For Speed Carbon
  8. Super KO Boxing
  9. Rollercoaster Rush
  10. FIFA 07 Mobile
(c) www.tech-buzz.net

Blizzard Looking To Change WoW Maintenance

Blizzard Looking To Change WoW Maintenance

Since the game’s release, one of our most important service goals has been to reduce the amount of time realms are down for weekly realm maintenance. The various hardware upgrades and retrofits we’ve done over the past year have put us in a position to begin testing the ability to go longer than a week between maintenance periods.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be testing the effect of a live maintenance, where regular maintenance tasks are run during off-peak with realms live. On Tuesday, December 26 there will be no scheduled downtime for weekly maintenance. We will perform all necessary maintenance tasks while the realms are live. We are anticipating the possibility that we may need to perform rolling restarts off-peak if we find that a realm restart is necessary; however the downtime for each realm would be less than 10 minutes if it was required.

(c) www.driverheaven.net

A Reason Why Video Games Are Hard to Give Up

Kids and adults will stay glued to video games this holiday season because the fun of playing actually is rooted in fulfilling their basic psychological needs.

Psychologists at the University of Rochester, in collaboration with Immersyve, Inc., a virtual environment think tank, asked 1,000 gamers what motivates them to keep playing. The results published in the journal Motivation and Emotion this month suggest that people enjoy video games because they find them intrinsically satisfying.

"We think there's a deeper theory than the fun of playing," says Richard M. Ryan, a motivational psychologist at the University and lead investigator in the four new studies about gaming. Players reported feeling best when the games produced positive experiences and challenges that connected to what they know in the real world.

The research found that games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom, and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn't keep players as interested.

"It's our contention that the psychological 'pull' of games is largely due to their capacity to engender feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness," says Ryan. The researchers believe that some video games not only motivate further play but "also can be experienced as enhancing psychological wellness, at least short-term," he says.

Ryan and coauthors Andrew Przybylski, a graduate student at the University of Rochester, and Scott Rigby, the president of Immersyve who earned a doctorate in psychology at Rochester, aimed to evaluate players' motivation in virtual environments. Study volunteers answered pre- and post-game questionnaires that were applied from a psychological measure based on Self-Determination Theory, a widely researched theory of motivation developed at the University of Rochester.

Rather than dissect the actual games, which other researchers have done, the Rochester team looked at the underlying motives and satisfactions that can spark players' interests and sustain them during play.

Revenues from video games - even before the latest Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox systems emerged - surpass the money made from Hollywood films annually. A range of demographic groups plays video games, and key to understanding their enjoyment is the motivational pull of the games.

Four groups of people were asked to play different games, including one group tackling "massively multiplayer online" games - MMO for short, which are considered the fastest growing segment of the computer gaming industry. MMOs are capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of players simultaneously. For those playing MMOs, the need for relatedness emerged "as an important satisfaction that promotes a sense of presence, game enjoyment, and an intention for future play," the researchers found.

Though different types of games and game environments were studied, Ryan points out that "not all video games are created equal" in their ability to satisfy basic psychological needs. "But those that do may be the best at keeping players coming back."

(c) www.emaxhealth.com

Rumor: Mario Party 8 box art?

It looks nice, but there's still no official confirmation that this is the real deal, so we're tagging this one as a rumor for now. Behold, the supposed box art for Mario Party 8:

 Mario Party 8 box

Just where did we find this image? Well, the image has been floating around on GoNintendo, Nintendopedia, and Gamefly.com. Stay tuned folks, we'll update you when more info is available.

Well, what do you guys think? Real or fake?

(c) www.qj.net

Warner Bros. Buys Into SCi

by Jason McMaster

Warner Bros. Buys Into SCiSCi Entertainment Group has received an investment to the tune of 87 million dollars (estimated) from Warner Bros. Entertainment. This investment would gain Warner Bros. a 10.3% share in SCi, who is the owner of the publisher Eidos. Eidos is the publisher for the successful Hitman and Tomb Raider franchises. Included in the deal is the rights to several Warner Bros. properties including the comic book version of Batman, the Looney Tunes, and certain Hanna-Barbera titles and T.V. properties.

In related news, along with the buy in, Warner Bros. and Eidos have recently entered into a distribution agreement. Under this contract, Warner Bros. would handle warehousing, purchasing and logistics in the United States. Eidos would still handle all marketing, sales and PR out of their U.S. office. Finally, we can look forward to a game based on the O.C.! Not only that, though, it’s going to have some serious purchasing and marketing power behind it!

(c) www.gigagamez.com

PS3 or Wii: A Developer’s Conundrum

PS3 or Wii: A Developer’s Conundrum

by Jason McMaster

Ernest Adams, Freelance Writer, Game Designer and contributor, has written another entry for his series, “The Designer’s Notebook,” about the PS3 and Wii. The question he poses in this column is “which will developers want to work on?” I believe that’s something we’d all like to know. Adams, in his column, says:


“For a long time, I’ve had a theory that there’s always room for two-and-a-half game consoles in the market – that is, two main contenders battling for first place and an also-ran that survives but never stands a chance of doing better than third. Being either first or second is normally good enough to guarantee healthy sales and long-term survival. The more critical question is, who will be the also-ran?”

He then goes on to discuss the merits of the Wii and PS3 from a developer’s standpoint. The PS3, he says, has computing power, and there’s no doubt that it’s the most powerful console ever made, whereas the Wii has interactivity on its side, with the Wii remote. He then puts forth a theory on the final outcome:


“So who, at the end of the day, will be the also-ran in this generation of consoles? On the global scale, I’d say it could well be neither the PS3 or the Wii, but the Xbox 360. The PS3 will win over the hardcore gamers who have to have the fastest, most amazing machine available. The Wii will skim off the younger players and those who don’t have as much money to spend.
Both have the advantage of being made in Japan, so they’ll crowd the Xbox right out of that market. In the US and Europe, it’s harder to say, but I see the Xbox’s early start as more of a liability than a benefit. They’ve racked up several million sales, but they can no longer claim to be the latest, greatest thing – especially as the PS3 plays Blu-Ray disks out of the box, but HD-DVD is only available for the Xbox as an add-on. The Dreamcast got an early start too, and look how that ended.”

It definitely could turn out that way, but who can really say at this point? What about the hardcore gamers who don’t want to spend $600 dollars to play Madden or FIFA? Surely that demographic isn’t completely covered by the Wii. Who knows if the Wii will even still be going strong this time next year? Maybe the “wow” factor will have worn off in regard to the controller. Each system has individual strengths.

The biggest advantage Microsoft has isn’t claiming to be “the latest and greatest”, but having a second generation of games that look great and play even better. One reason being that they’ve had their dev-kits (early versions of consoles for use by development houses for testing games) out longer, and another is their development tools are of higher quality. That’s what coming out first gets for you.

Sony has its name and the fact that it really has developed a powerful machine. I was skeptical of the PS3 at first, especially after spending so much time following it up to release and listening to the Sony Corporation say one bizarre thing after another, but they’ve really produced a high quality console. The fact that you can display movies and games at 1080p is pretty great as well as being able to swap out the hard drive. The weak launch titles may not do much for initial sales, but when the PS3 starts seeing some quality titles, it’s going to be something else.

Finally, Nintendo. What else can you say about them? Zelda, Mario Brothers, Metroid and Pokemon are all ridiculously popular and will always sell a system. They are currently making a profit on every Wii sold and have been in the black for years. Nintendo may not razzle-dazzle, but they’re not going anywhere.

“Who’s going to win this generation?”, seems to be the question that everyone is asking. The real answer, as of right now at least, is “who cares?” What we need to do, as consumers and enthusiasts, is buy your favorite console, get the games you want to play and enjoy it. We’re in the golden age right now, people, and we should be savoring every moment of it.

(c) www.gigagamez.com

Board game tests PC graphics to limit

Unable to display Scrabble

Just how difficult can it be to write a version of the board game, Scrabble, that could be viewed on a regular, XP based PC? Too difficult for Ubisoft, it seems.

It seems fairly reasonable to assume that if you're a keen games player, you do a bit of research and get yourself a decent graphics card allied to a pretty reasonable display.

That surely applies to a contemporary shoot-em-up game but to Scrabble for Heaven's sake? All it needs to do is display a board and a few tiles (chips).

Yet this INQ hack wasted a couple of hours trying to get Ubisoft's Scrabble 2005 to work and to no avail.

The irony is that the game was bought purely because an ancient version – also by Ubisoft – refused to load under XP, having run happily under Windows 95 and 98.

Does everybody have to possess the graphics industry knowledge of a Fudo to get a PC game to work, the INQ wonders?

Another irony is that a close friend of the INQ, Dr Peter Turcan, made his name by creating a version of Scrabble that could run on a Sinclair ZX80!

Just for the record this is what the PC has: a SiS Mirage 3000+ display adaptor, married to a Video Seven (V7) L17GM LCD display.

The game requires DirectX – for which the drivers have very definitely been loaded.

At this rate, going back to playing the game with a physical board and tiles seems to be the most sensible option.

(c) www.theinquirer.net

Sunday, December 24, 2006

EA to publish new id Software title in Europe

RPG from Doom creators due February for mobile

EA to publish new id Software title in EuropeElectronic Arts will be bringing the award-winning mobile game Orcs and Elves to Europe in February next year.

Created by developers id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment, the game is an original title built using the acclaimed Doom RPG graphics engine.

"The pace of development in mobile gaming allows us to evolve by leaps and bounds each year, rather than stretched out over four years like a high end PC or console game," said John Carmack, technical director of id Software.

"With Orcs and Elves we were able to take what was great about Doom RPG, and bring tons of new features to the experience in a brand new world," he added.

Orcs and Elves won best Wireless RPG at E3 2006 and Best Mobile Game at the 2006 Leipzig Games Convention.

"We are committed to evolving the mobile platform by working with the industry's finest developers and introducing fun and immersive game experiences to mobile gamers," commented Javier Ferreira, VP of Euro publishing at EA Mobile.

"Our collaboration with id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment to bring Orcs and Elves exclusively to mobiles is a testament to this and we're excited to share the experience with our European customers in February 2007."

(c) www.gamesindustry.biz

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007

Video games have been everywhere this year, especially in the last couple months. You haven't been able to pick up a newspaper or news magazine without reading something about video games—whether it's long lines camping out for the PlaySVideo Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007tation 3 or Wii, violence over these scarce systems, or sensational stories about anti-game-violence crusaders like Jack Thompson. Gaming is everywhere, it's more mainstream than ever, and 2006 was a huge year for everyone involved.

Three major corporations are fighting for your home console video game dollars. Two of them launched their big next-generation systems just last month, while the third's new system has enjoyed a year on the market. "Next-generation" is now the "current generation" and we can stop looking forward to that amazing system on the horizon, at least for a couple of years until we read Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007about the impressive leaked specs of the PlayStation 4, Xbox 720, or whatever.

Of course, gaming on the PC rolled on as it always has, with respectable sales and a few critical successes. It's never as popular as console gaming, but that's comparing a single platform against multiple others; compared with any other single platform, the PC game sales stack up very well. Let's take a look at the gaming market trends over the past year, and predict what will happen in 2007.

A Good Year for Microsoft and Nintendo

Nintendo had a great year in 2006. Though it endured the snickering of a million hardcore gamers when it announced its next system would be named the "Wii," Nintendo looks like it's getting the last laugh. A system only somewhat more poVideo Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007werful than the previous generation GameCube, the Wii instead focuses on an impressive new way to control games—with motion. The mainstream press just ate it up, with talk-show hosts and celebrities flailing their arms about playing casual games and laughing like little kids. The Wii became a "must have" item, and they're flying off shelves as fast as Nintendo can make them. It doesn't hurt that the price is significantly lower than competing consoles, either. Hardcore gamers are snapping up Wii's for the latest Zelda game, one of the best in a series known for outstanding quality.

The real star of 2006 for Nintendo is the DS handheld, though. The system was released two years ago, but the new, slimmer, sleeker DS Lite flooded the market this Spring/Summer and took off like a rocket. Combined with a stellar game library full of titles for both hardcore gamers and non-Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007gamers (like your parents), sales of the Nintendo DS are absolutely crushing its major competition, the PlayStation Portable, especially in its home country of Japan. So successful is the DS that Square/Enix just announced that the ninth in their long-running and ridiculously popular Dragon Quest series would debut on the handheld system. This is big news: The main Dragon Quest games (there are spin-offs, too) have always been made for major home consoles rather than handhelds, and they're responsible for tons of system sales, especially in Japan.

Microsoft had a pretty good year as well. The Xbox 360 suffered some pretty dire shortages when it launched worldwide last holiday season, but at least the company managed to stick to its plan to launch in all three major territories (North America, Europe, Japan) nearly simultaneously. Since then, production has gone up, Microsoft's costs have gone down, and plenty of great games have been released. The system's first major blockbuster, Gears of War, seems to live up to the hype: Review scores are excellent, and the game has sold over 2 million units in its first month. Microsoft is a little behind on its very bullish prediction from early in the year that it would sell 10 million Xbox 360 consoles before Sony launched the PlayStation 3, but it's close, and it looks on track to reach that goal by year's end. Recently, the release of Blue Dragon has actually picked up sales in Japan, where the Xbox 360 has thus far failed miserably.

Xbox Live is the real star for Microsoft. The service has seen several upgrades and improvements over the year, from UI changes and digital media enhancements to a flood of games on the Xbox Live Arcade. Gamers flocked to hot downloadable game demos like Fight Night Round 3 and Dead Rising, and publishers noticed a measurable boost in sales. So, while Microsoft didn't quite do as well as their aggressive plans from a year ago, it still managed to close out 2006 with some very impressive numbers, plenty of buzz, and very positive critical reception.

A Tough Year for Sony

In stark contrast to Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony has had a very rough year. The PSP, such a hot product when it was released, has still been selling pretty well. The software lineup is decent and improving. Yet it can't seem to come anywhere close to the salesVideo Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007 of Nintendo's DS Lite, and it doesn't have a blockbuster, gotta-have-it game that everyone is talking about. The quirky Loco Roco wasn't the breakout hit Sony hoped it would be, despite being a thoroughly charming and excellent game.

Sony's real problems are PlayStation 3 related, though. The PSP's second-fiddle sales are downright inspiring by comparison. As late as February, Sony assured the public and investors that "There is no change in our original plan to release the console in Spring 2006," the date it has promised since the E3 Expo in May of 2005. Then, three weeks later when Spring had sprung, Sony finally officially admitted that the system wouldn't release until November. At the E3 Expo this year, Sony unveiled pricing that was far higher than anyone anticipated, but promised that the worldwide launch was Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007on track. In fact, the company said production was going to be so good that it would have 2 million systems for launch, ship 4 million by the end of 2006, and 6 million by the end of Sony's fiscal year in March 2007. There was a PowerPoint slide and everything. But Sony's E3 press conference was a disaster. Sony fans and gaming press were bored stiff, and genuinely unimpressed by the quality of most of the games on display. The price was higher than expected. Blu-ray supporters worried that the delayed launch would help HD-DVD secure a foothold in the market and create stiffer competition in high-def movie formats.

The bad news didn't stop there. Sony hit Europe with another delay, pushing their launch out a second time to Spring 2007. Launch quantities dropped, and Sony's promise changed from 2 million at launch to maybe 500,000 at launch, with 2 million shipped by the end of the year instead of 4 million. Analysts now say the company managed even less than that, and consider the company lucky to get 1 million units in stores by the end of the year.

Customers lined up to buy PlayStation 3 consoles for days before it went on sale, and it looked like demand for the system would keep Sony on top. It then appeared that much of that demand was from customers who only wished to quickly "flip" the console on eBay or other online auction sites for a huge profit, taking advantage of the very small shipment numbers Sony had been able to muster. Critical reception to the PS3 games has been lukewarm at best, with only one or two standout titles like Resistance: Fall of Man. Titles available on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 don't look or play any better on the PS3, and in fact many gaming press outlets have been running side-by-side comparisons that favor Microsoft's less expensive console. Customers wishing to actually play the PS3 instead of sell it were frustrated to find that the system doesn't come with the necessary cables for high definition—neither component nor HDMI.

Despite the half-year delay, Sony's hot new console is plagued with technical problems. There are issues with scaling on TVs that don't support 720p, issues with the backward compatibility making PS2 games look worse than they do on an actual PS2, problems with some of the system software functions, problems with the wireless controllers losing their synchronization with the console, and so on. The PS3 has already had several firmware updates in the few weeks since its release, to fix minor problems and add features, but it still feels as though, despite considerable delays, the PS3's software is only half-finished.

Consoles in 2007

2007 is going to be a very interesting year for the console wars. Nintendo is off to a fantastic start with the Wii, and it appears the system built specifically to appeal to non-gamers and broaden the market has done just that—everyone who plays one says it's fun and wants one. That initial enthusiasm doesn't always translate into sales, though, much less extended sales. Once the talk shows Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007and morning shows and news updates about the "hot holiday items" wear off, will those non-gaming masses still care? Will the idea of possibly purchasing or trying out this thing even cross their minds? Will Nintendo be able to keep the hot titles flowing fast enough to keep the core gaming demographic interested? After all, Zelda was a huge hit at launch, but nothing else has done very well, and the critical reception for other Wii titles is fairly poor. Nintendo's job throughout 2007 will be to keep the Wii fresh, keep it in the mainstream press as much as possible, and target it toward an expanding market that reaches beyond core gamers. It also has to prove that the sad reputation of the GameCube—only 2 or 3 Nintendo franchise games a year really worth getting for it—won't hold true. Nintendo needs to crank out the Wii hits, and bring forth plenty of great exclusive games from third-party publishers. That's not an easy task.

Sony has its work cut out for it. Despite the company's protests, everybody knows (and sales records have confirmed) that shipments have been below expectation and Sony has to make desperate improvements to increase supply. With a major region launch coming in the Spring (that usually requires stockpiling hundreds of thousands of units), that's going to be tough. The PS3 is at a price disadvantage, and Sony is already taking a big loss on each unit sold. It will be hard for them to reduce the price, but that needs to happen quickly. Many of the hot PS3 exclusives, like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, are only maybe going to be done in time for a 2007 release. In short, Sony has precious little time to lower the PS3's price, fix all the little software flaws and glitches, add competitive online features to better stack up against Xbox Live, and release totally awesome exclusive games. Sony will be very busy in 2007.

Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007Oddly enough, Microsoft seems to be in the best position moving into 2007. Its approach is less risky than Nintendo's and less reliant on shaking up the buying habits of millions of non-gamers. Thanks in part to some software delays (like Forza Motorsport 2, the lineup of exclusive titles for 2007 looks very good. Even the first six months of the year has several potential blockbusters in store. Thanks in part to Blue Dragon and some other imminent releases, Japan is starting to take notice of the Xbox 360. Sales are still not stellar and it is doubtful that we'll see a huge explosion in Japanese Xbox 360 sales in 2007, but the numbers should climb from "insignificant" to "a meaningful part of the business." And then there's Halo 3, part of a franchise so big that it will probably be responsible for millions of 360 purchases alone. Grand Theft Auto 4 will ship simultaneously on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, taking a very important feather out of Sony's cap. What was once an exclusive to Sony's platform and a big system-seller will now be available on both platforms, and the 360 will be the less expensive of the two ways to jump into the game.

Microsoft is entering the second year of production for the Xbox 360. Costs are already under control, with analysts claiming that Microsoft is already breaking even (or better) on each unit sold. With a move to smaller, cooler, more energy efficient 65 nanometer processors assumed to happen in the first half of 2007, the time is ripe for an Xbox 360 price cut. This is going to be hard for Sony to match with the PlayStation 3. Exciting things are afoot with Xbox Live. Microsoft added a video marketplace this year: Will that expand to music in 2007? Will there be a subscription model? The XNA Game Studio Express program that lets common programmers make Xbox 360 games without buying expensive development kits was just released. In 2007, we should see some sort of method for all Xbox 360 users to sample these homebrew projects. If this takes off, it could be a major point of differentiation between platforms.

Microsoft's main challenge is going to be making sure that launching early doesn't turn around to bite them. It has to remind consumers that the Xbox 360 is every bit as "next-generation" as the PlayStation 3 and convince them that the lower price does not mean inferior graphics or gameplay. The Xbox 360 has to continue to be seen as the "hot new thing" or risk being increasingly pushed aside along with the previous generation PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. It also has to make good on many of its release dates, and avoid pushing big franchises back to 2008.

The big unknowns? What will Microsoft do with the hardware? Will the next iteration of the Xbox 360 be more than just less expensive? Will it be quieter? Will it include built-in Wi-Fi, a bigger hard drive, or an HDMI port?

PC Gaming in 2007

Consoles aren't going to get all the love in 2007. You could definitely state that PC Gaming was in a lull in 2006. There was the usual hardware upgrade cycle and some very good games, sure, but nothing that really shook the earth. 2007 is shaping up to be a little different.

First, there's Microsoft's Games for Windows program. Already a few titles have the GFW branding, but we'll see a lot more in 2007. Games with GFW branding will have unified packaging and more Video Games: Looking Back at 2006 and Ahead to 2007prominent placement in stores, sort of like console games do. It also guarantees a certain level of compatibility and support: GFW games have to work in widescreen modes, have to work with Vista's Games Explorer—stuff like that. Technical issues aside, GFW is a big push from Microsoft to get PC games off the back shelf at your local games store and put them up front and center with the console games. The program is off to a slow start, mostly because Vista hasn't shipped yet, and it'll be a bigger priority in 2007.

Vista brings more than just a focus on Games for Windows branding for PC games. It brings some much-needed parental controls and easier, more logical access to games with the Games Explorer. Most importantly, Vista is the only place you'll find DirectX 10. Nvidia's DX10 graphics cards have already shipped, and ATI's are due out early in 2007. DX10 adds nifty new capabilities and performance to PC graphics, and the first DX10 games should be pretty stunning.

Then there's Live Anywhere, Microsoft's promise to bring the Live platform off the Xbox and connect both Vista PCs and cell phones. We have no idea how well the cell phone thing is going (we should see some sort of release in 2007), but Live will launch on the PC early in 2007 with the releases of Shadowrun and Halo 2. We hope to learn a lot more about this at the CES show in January, but don't expect every feature of Xbox Live in the very first release. Some stuff will be in there, the rest will come in future updates. By the end of 2007, PCs with Windows Vista should be fully Live-ified. And if you don't think that's a big deal for PC gaming, you clearly don't own an Xbox 360.

If Vista does anything for PC games, it raises the bar on system requirements. Vista will simply require more RAM and CPU power than old-and-busted Windows XP, and the Aero interface demands a certain level of DirectX 9–capable graphics that the average el-cheapo computer of today simply doesn't have. It is forcing PC manufacturers to ship low-end systems with a bit more power, especially in the areas currently holding back game developers the most (graphics and RAM). With Microsoft selling 80 million or more copies of Vista next year, game developers will be given a new platform, and a new (better!) set of minimum requirements to hit. Game development is a lengthy process, and it takes time for new platforms to gain market share, so the real effects of this transition might not be felt until 2008. In two years, we will hopefully look back at the launch of Vista as the time when PC games took a significant leap forward.

(c) www.extremetech.com

Friday, December 22, 2006

Crazy 3D Avatars From Gizmoz

by Michael Arrington

Crazy 3D Avatars From GizmozI first met Eyal Gever, the founder of Gizmoz, at the Israeli Web Tour conference in Palo Alto a couple of months ago. Later that day I saw Eyal again, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. This time he was giving a demo (in the middle of a hallway) to a group of Fox Interactive folks, including their M&A team. I sat in on the demo, which went on for half an hour or more as the Fox people asked question after question.

Here’s why they were intrigued. Gizmoz has a Flash-based 3D avatar product that is made from a single picture of a person plus their recorded voice. See Eyal’s MySpace page which has an embedded Gizmoz and you’ll understand why this blows away what SitePal and others are doing in this space.

Crazy 3D Avatars From GizmozUsers start by uploading a picture of themselves or their pet. Gizmoz turns the picture into a 3D model (see image to right), and the avatar can then be customized with a body, clothes, effects (scars, tattoos, etc.) and backgrounds. You then record a message and sound effects, and your avatar is created. The end result has a moving mouth and facial expressions while you talk, and the effect is quite stunning. Eyal calls it “bringing Pixar to the people.”

Here are a couple of videos they made with my picture - see here and here. I’d embed these but they auto-play and people would not be happy. Also, sorry for the lame audio, this was done in the hallway at Web 2.0 while I was surrounded by the Fox team. But I want to show what Gizmoz can do based on a couple of minutes of setup.

The personalized avatar product is still in private beta. The existing product on the site requires the use of a library face, but can be customized and a personal voice can be added. These avatars can be embedded in websites, and Gizmoz also has a downloadable application that adds these avatars to all major instant messaging services.

MySpacers are going to go absolutely nuts over this. See Screenshot below. Crazy 3D Avatars From Gizmoz

(c) www.techcrunch.com

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Dead or Alive 5 announced at the series 10-year anniversary

Dead or Alive 5

Tomonobu Itagaki of team Ninja officially announced Dead or Alive 5 today. The developer at Team Ninja (of Tecmo) said this at a press meeting in Tokyo (Japan) that celebrated the 10th birthday of the series.

Mr. Itagaki already has the first play concepts in mind, one of which is that the fifth game in the fighting series will probably no longer feature Tag Team Battles. While no platform was mentioned, the Xbox 360 will surely see its (exclusive?) release, because Mr. Itagaki has in the past often expressed his fondness of Microsoft’s console. No release date was mentioned

(c) www.videogamesblogger.com

Monday, December 18, 2006

Costa Living: Why Blu-ray Will Win

Blu-ray Will Win

This column is about actually testing and living with cutting-edge technology, which is what makes it different from the artificial rhetoric, deliberate provocation, and blatant bloviating that is increasingly common in technology journalism. Still, there comes a time when you just have to make a straight argument in favor of or against a new technology. That's why I have to say, in the HD-DVD versus Blu-ray battle, Blu-ray is going to hand HD-DVD its ass on a sliding platter.

HD-DVD had a head start, to be sure. And some industry luminaries jumped on board with two feet. First mover advantage and the blessing of Microsoft? How could it fail? Keep watching, it will. To be fair, there is nothing inherently wrong with HD-DVD, and it isn't vastly inferior or anti-consumer in any particular way. It just doesn't quite match Blu-ray in a number of key areas. Therefore, it will lose.

Capacity

HD-DVDs are easier and cheaper to make, but Blu-ray discs store more data. You can get 25GB on a single-layer Blu-ray disc, compared to 15GB on an HD-DVD. And the first double layer 50GB Blu-ray discs just hit the market. The first movie to get this honor: Adam Sandler's Click. (Because fart jokes are way funnier in PCM uncompressed audio.). Think of it this way: Has any format war ever been won by the technology with less capacity? If you can think of one, e-mail me.

Hardware support

HD-DVD has two main backers: Toshiba and Microsoft. Toshiba has used its clout to push HD-DVD into a few laptops, but Blu-ray has a much broader base of support. Panasonic, Sony, Philips, and Samsung will all have players shipping by the end of December. Yes, Blu-ray players have been plagued by delays. Still, it isn't like HD-DVD players have been flying off store shelves in the meantime.

Studio Support

There are about 100 Blu-ray titles available for sale right now, but that number isn't so significant. Right now, there aren't too many players out there, so studios are proceeding cautiously. That said, Blu-ray has the support of seven of the eight largest movie studios. And five of those have pledged to support Blu-ray exclusively. That means if you want to watch a Sony, Disney, or 20th Century Fox film in high def, it has to be on Blu-ray.

The argument has been made by people I trust and respect that the whole packaged media business is doomed anyway. Soon we will all be ordering our movies on demand either from our cable provider, through iTunes, or via Bittorrent. There is some truth to this. I already watch a ton of downloaded TV and movies on my PC. The thing to remember here is that this isn't a high-definition experience. Broadband is great, but sending high-definition video, to say nothing of lossless audio, bonus tracks, and interactive features, all out over the Internet just isn't practical over existing technologies, or anything we are likely to see soon. Anyway, that trend would kill HD-DVD just as fast as Blu-ray.

Of course, I wouldn't buy a Blu-ray player now. They are too damn expensive, and I still need to make the switch to HD at home. Then again, if it was part of a PS3 if might be worth it. Sony sold 195,000 PS3s in the U.S. in November alone. And every one of them is a fully functioning Blu-ray player. I dare say that number alone blows away HD-DVD sales for the last year. Nuff said.

[Thanks goes to www.gearlog.com for this article]

Nintendo World Championships 1990 GOLD Edition worth $5,100

Nintendo World Championships 1990 GOLD Edition

Own a piece of gaming history!!! The Nintendo World Championships 1990 GOLD Edition just got sold on eBay for a gigantic sum of $5100! It is for the original NES System. It’s one of the rarest Nintendo games ever created, with only 26 of them in existence. One had to actually win to receive one of these exclusive cartridges. These are difficult to get to and are a great item for anyone who is a NES lover! This game cartridge is hailed by most collectors to be one of the rarest and sought after cartridges from Nintendo. Gold carts are plain with a NWC decal for a label and comprises of the dipswitch box cutout in the upper left.

[Thanks goes to www.luxurylaunches.com for this article]

Pink PS2 will be a hit this Christmas, says GAME

 by Ellie Gibson

Pink PS2More stocks arriving as demand ramps up

The Nintendo Wii may be the most sought after console of the moment, but according to GAME there's another system in demand - the pink version of the PlayStation 2.

The retailer said that one of every two consumers buying a PS2 during the launch week of the new model picked pink, leading to initial stock shortages.

"The popularity of the pink PlayStation 2 has been overwhelming," said marketing director Anna Macario.

"In the autumn, a range of pink consoles were released - however we�re seeing a real demand for the Pink PlayStation 2. We�re now back in stock of the pink console in stores, so we�re hoping to fully satisfy the demand in time for Christmas."

GAME is currently offering a pink PS2 bundle with two matching controllers, a memory card, Singstar Popworld and microphones for GBP 129.99.

[Thanks goes to www.gamesindustry.biz for this article]

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Gears of War becomes fastest-selling next-gen console game

More than 2 million copies of Xbox 360 title shifted

Gears of WarMicrosoft has announced that more than 2 million copies of Xbox 360 title Gears of War have now been sold around the globe, making it the fastest-selling next-gen console game so far.

It's also the most played game on Xbox Live, with more than 1 million GOW players taking part in 10 million online gaming sessions.

According to Microsoft, GOW has also boosted sign-ups for the service - the number of new paid registrations per day has risen by more than 50 per cent since the game launched.

"We've always held high hopes for Gears of War, but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world," said Michael Capps, president of GOW developer Epic Games.

"I can't describe how stoked our team is right now. Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live."

As reported by our sister site, Eurogamer.net, Epic has pledged to deliver free downloadable content for the game in the future.

[original post: http://gamesindustry.biz]

Friday, December 15, 2006

When Sony's Viral Marketing Became a Virus

by Mark Whiting

Well, the ugly little saga of AllIWantForChristmasIsAPSP.com has finally come to a close -- the website in question is now completely offline. No doubt the whole affair will be remembered for some time as a textbook example of how NOT do do marketing in the digital age.

For the few of you who may have missed the original hijinks, the short story is this: Sony -- mistakenly believing it was more savvy than its target audience -- decided to hire marketing firm Zipatoni to produce a fictitious blog on which two completely random 'friends' (actually Zipatoni employees) staged a weird little Punch and Judy show.

Overtly, the blog in question purported to showcase the trials and tribulations of a couple of adult-age gamers as they labored to convince their friend's mom to buy him a PSP for Christmas. The blog itself was written in wince-worthy hipster jargon and at one point sported the crowning jewel of a tremendously embarrassing hip-hop routine which presided in ghoulish majesty over the whole affair like some kind of ghastly Christmas star. Sony has endeavored to suppress the spread of the video, but its existence persists (at least for the moment), thanks to YouTube.

The tide began to turn against Sony's initiative after popular webcomic Penny-Arcade publicly outed the chicanery in a deliberate move to force a little transparency up ins. The Internet was quick to kick the horrid thing to death after that point in a classic example of pile-on. For a brief moment, the blog existed in a state of apology with the following classic phrase resplendent:

"Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn't a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony."

You don't say. Currently, the blog sits in a 'coming-soon' whitewash of funky freshness. The finger pointing over who is to ultimately to blame for all the guffaws and negative PR is already in full swing.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is this : big companies must recognize and accept that you cannot fake the funk of a viral campaign through a heavy-handed attempt at subterfuge. The Internet -- and particularly gaming culture -- is as already as suspicious of The Man as it is possible to be. Rather than making them appear hip and edgeworthy, Sony's current 'egg on face' position is a textbook example of how to come off looking like an out-of-touch laughingstock.

Compare and contrast this current public relations train wreck against Burger King's recent tactic of Full Disclosure. Authenticity -- even the over-the-top self-referential kind -- is generally respected on these here Internets. Image-challenged corporations attempting to pull a fast one over their target audience? Not so much.

[original post: www.gametab.com]

Friday, December 8, 2006

Ubisoft Unveils Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

SAN FRANCISCO --(Business Wire)-- Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced that Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, the next installment in the popular squad-based action franchise, is currently in development for the Xbox 360video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system, the PSP (PlayStationPortable) system and Windows PC. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is being developed by the award-winning teams that created the original Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter in Ubisoft's Paris and Red Storm Studios. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is scheduled for worldwide release in Spring 2007.

"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter set the standard for what we know as the next-generation gaming experience," said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "With Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Ubisoft is taking all the successful elements in the original to an unparalleled level of quality -- the sophisticated technology, weaponry, graphics, story and online gameplay will heighten the intensity and bring gamers an even more amazing experience."

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter received critical acclaim and quickly became one of the best-selling games on Xbox 360 and one of the most played games on the Xbox Live online gaming service. Recently, the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awarded Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter with "Best Game of the Year" and "Technical Achievement" honors.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 builds off of the events in the first game and places gamers in control of the U.S. military's elite fighting unit, the Ghosts. In the year 2014, the rising conflict between Mexican loyalists and insurgent rebel forces has thrown Mexico into full-scale civil war. Under the command of Captain Scott Mitchell, the Ghosts are called upon to face an imminent threat to the United States. The fate of two countries now lies in the hands of the Ghosts as they fend off an attack on U.S. soil. Equipped with the most cutting-edge weaponry and technology, the Ghosts must battle on both sides of the border to neutralize the escalating rebel threat.

Key Features:

-- Groundbreaking Visual Experience: The war zone in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter comes to life as you navigate through trash-strewn streets and pick off enemies from behind bomb-scarred structures. The cutting-edge physics and particle systems will show you some of the most intense and realistic explosions, smoke, and environment destruction ever seen in a video game. Dynamic lighting and shadows will morph as real-time day/night cycles and a constantly changing weather system require you to adjust to the changing conditions on the fly.

-- All-New Battlegrounds: For the first time ever, the Ghosts will defend U.S. soil from a cross-border attack, taking the fight to all-new locations. The Ghosts will battle enemies in mountain terrains, barren deserts and even on their home turf in El Paso, Texas. Each environment presents its own benefits and challenges and will call for fresh tactical approaches.

-- Vastly Improved Artificial Intelligence (AI): Watch your back as rebels send their own team members to flank your position or gain vantage points by utilizing vertical gameplay to pick you off from the rooftops above. Improved squad-mate AI will now feed you more of the information you need with descriptive commands like "enemy spotted behind red truck ahead."

-- Improved Cross-Com: The revolutionary new Cross-Com 2.0 will give the player more information than ever before. You will be able to see what your friendly forces see in the top left display and the click of a button will expand that to full-screen view for a clearer and more precise picture. This will give you a more comprehensive view of the entire battlefield. The new Full Command View will allow unprecedented precision in developing and issuing tactical plans on the battlefield.

-- Expanded Support: Command lethal air strikes with jet fighters, gain mobile cover for otherwise impassable situations and replenish armaments on the battlefield using an unmanned artillery MULE. Players can now heal their team on the battlefield, including squad leader Scott Mitchell, with an all-new Medic class of soldier.

About Ubisoft:

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through its strong and diversified lineup of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 21 countries and sales in more than 50 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. Ubisoft generated revenue of 547 million Euros for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

About Tom Clancy:

With more than 80 million books sold, Tom Clancy is arguably the world's most recognized author. His works include fiction such as The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Rainbow Six, Without Remorse and The Teeth of the Tiger. Clancy also writes nonfiction works about weapons and various military units. Four of his books have already been adapted into highly successful feature films.

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(C) 2006 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ghost Recon, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, the Soldier Icon, Ubisoft, Ubi.com and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. PC version developed by GRIN. "PlayStation", "PLAYSTATION", and "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

[original post: www.tmcnet.com]

Nintendo Investigating Wii Strap Problem

Nintendo Wii

The Associated Press
By YURI KAGEYAMA
December 07, 2006

Nintendo's president acknowledged Thursday the just-launched Wii video-game machine may have a problem with a strap that secures its trademark wandlike remote-controller to the player's wrist.

President Satoru Iwata also said Nintendo may raise its sales target for the Wii, which is selling out at retailers since it went on sale in recent weeks in the U.S. and Japan.

The console from the maker of the Pokemon and Super Mario games is locked in a fierce three-way battle with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

'We are investigating,' Iwata said of reports about the Wii's strap coming off as players swung around the controller, at times causing the remote to fly out of their hands.

Players use the Wii remote like a tennis racket, sword and other devices to play games.

'Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected,' Iwata said. 'We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment.'

The company has not decided on any specific measures to change the strap, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said.

Iwata said he first wants to see how Christmas sales go before revising Nintendo's sales target for 6 million Wii consoles by the end of March.

'I'm not ruling that out entirely, but it's premature to say it now,' he said at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo.

Nintendo has delivered more machines so far to consumers than Sony Corp. has, partly because of Sony's production problems.

Nintendo has shipped about 400,000 Wii machines in Japan and more than 600,000 in North America. The machine went on sale Thursday in Australia and is set to go on sale Friday in Europe.

Sony readied just 100,000 PlayStation 3 machines for the Japan launch, and 400,000 consoles for its U.S. debut. Its European launch has been pushed back until March.

Sony has promised 2 million PS3 machines by the end of the year, while Nintendo is targeting 4 million in global shipments of Wii during the same period. Both Sony and Nintendo are projecting selling 6 million by the end of March.

Selling machines in numbers is crucial in the gaming business because hot-selling formats attract software companies to make more games, which in turn boost machine sales.

Iwata denied that Nintendo was competing against Sony. It's more important to attract novice players and to reach out to older people and others usually not associated with games, he said.

Analysts say Wii appeals to inexperienced players and has a price advantage at 25,000 yen or $250 _ about half of the PlayStation 3.

Analysts expect Wii to mount a serious challenge to market-leader Sony, which has sold more than 200 million PlayStation series machines worldwide over the years, although they say the verdict on next-generation machines is still out for a couple of years.

Sony is expecting to rack up 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in red ink in its game unit for the fiscal year ending March 2007, much of it in startup costs for PlayStation 3.

Nintendo is forecasting profit of 100 billion yen ($845 million) for the fiscal year, as Wii buoys earnings in the second half.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[original post: www.topix.net]

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Birthday!

Today is "My Game Universe" birthday!  

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