Have a look at the latest trailer. Mac users should download the Flip4Mac WMV components for QuickTime.
Wow. That’s a bit impressive, no? When its hardware requirements mean that PC sales don’t deliver an acceptable return on its development costs to Electronic Arts, I look forward to playing the (unconfirmed) Xbox 360 port.
A hearty pat on the back should go to Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo America, for maintaining a dignified stance and not stepping into the childish war of words that is going on between Microsoft and Sony.
Graduates of the Steve Ballmer School of Marketing should recall an old proverb:
“You can’t make your candle burn brighter by blowing out the other fellow’s.”
Miyamoto is Nintendo’s Senior Marketing Director and General Manager, Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development. He’s the creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Wave Race and Pikmin for Nintendo’s consoles.
Put simply, the guy is a genius. He’s been described from time to time as the “Spielberg of videogames”. This is unfair - Spielberg has made some rubbish. Joe Versus the Volcano was two hours of my life that noone can give me back.
Miyamoto will deliver a speech at GDC 2007 where he will “reveal how a singular creative vision drives his work, not only in terms of his world-renowned software, but also in generating key technologies, including the current global phenomena, Nintendo DS and Wii. And he will challenge the audience to apply his approach in their own distinctive styles”.
One for the diary…
Rumours are circulating that an updated version of the Xbox 360 is in the works. Personally, I’ll believe it when I see it - the supposedly leaked photo on Engadget looks like it could easily be the fantasy of a fanboy with a copy of Photoshop and too much spare time.
That said, pack in a HDMI port, large hard disk and a integrated HD DVD player for the current RRP of £280 or less and I’m interested.
£360!
*does a little dance*
I got me a Wii for free! I got me a Wii for free!
[UPDATE] Bloody time waster! Re-listed…
[UPDATE 2] Well, the second auction closed at £320 with a buyer who actually paid! Woohoo!
Nintendo replaces Wii wrist straps.
It seems Wii have a problem - just not the one that these cretins are claiming. Like the girl who fell over while, presumably, flailing around like a lunatic while wearing high heels.
I have no sympathy for people who are so stupid.
I hope they do put together a class action, just so Nintendo can slap them down with words to the effect of “the Wii remote is an inanimate object. You were making unnecessarily vigourous gestures and threw it / hit someone with it. Perhaps they should be suing you instead.”
Call it shrewd or call it shameless profiteering, but there was no way I could ignore the frenzy that’s happening on eBay over the newly released Wii. I watched nearly thirty auctions today - the least one went for was £310, and the most was £480.
£480! For a console with an RRP of £180! Bonkers!
So when Game called me up to tell me that they had one reserved for me, I brought it home and put up an auction.
If it sells for an obscene profit then brilliant. If not, then it’s time to set off again to rescue Princess Zelda 
With a new generation of consoles out, it’s time for the routine bunch of is the PC doomed? articles…
Of course, the PC isn’t dead - quite the opposite. Games like The Sims and World of Warcraft are enjoying huge sales. It is clear however that there is a general decline in sales. A degree of blame is aimed at the spiralling costs of developing a title, but this isn’t a unique concern to the PC. Some dissatisfaction is also expressed with current integrated graphics and their relatively weak performance compared to more expensive GPUs.
Now, there will always be a need for somebody to be pushing the platform forward and making incredible looking games like Crysis for the hardcore PC gamer. I watch ads for PC World on telly though and see Mr Consumer walking out the door, apparently very pleased with his £400 Compaq notebook.
Mr Consumer will not be playing Crysis, whether he wants to or not.
It does beg the question though “why can’t I have a little fun on my brand new machine that cost me more than an Xbox 360?”
When I started learning multimedia design, one of the first things we were told was “design for the lowest common denominator”. Instead of building games for next year’s hardware, why not build them for what is commonplace now? A small development studio could make use of middleware such as the Quake 3 engine, online distribution and episodic releases to create worthwhile games that would run perfectly well on today’s computers and who knows, perhaps sell a lot of copies?
Kutaragi steps aside for new Sony boss
A Sony statement explained, “Kutaragi will continue to oversee the entire SCE group as chief executive officer, and will fully exercise his power to reinforce and further accelerate the development of the PlayStation business.”
Why am I reminded of the part in ‘Rising Sun’, where Sean Connery refers to a guy as having been given a “window seat”…? A pity, after doing such a good job establishing PS1 and steering PS2 to sell over 100 million units, the guy has totally lost the plot.
Some of my favourite Kutaragi quotes:
“The PS3 is not a game machine.”
“PS3 is for consumers to think to themselves ‘I will work more hours to buy one’. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.”
So long Ken, thanks for all the piffle. By the way, you may want to exercise your power to sort out the PS3’s rough-as-a-bear’s-arse interface, pitiful online service and lack of anything worth playing.
There is no competion from Xbox 360 or Wii! We will crush them! There is no Halo 3 or Mario Galaxy!
… prizes?
It’s funny how a feature of one product might be horribly maligned, while the exact same principle applied to another product (which enjoys rather more goodwill) doesn’t cause the batting of even a single eyelid.
Andy Ihnatko, in an article for the Chicago Sun Times entitled Avoid the loony Zune says:
…the Zune Marketplace doesn’t even take real money, proving that on the Zune Planet there’s no operation so simple that it can’t be turned into a confusing ordeal. The Marketplace only accepts Zune Points, with an individual track typically costing the equivalent of the iTunes-standard 99 cents.
Personally, I don’t like points systems. I think they create a layer of obfuscation between the user and the purchase, making it a little less clear just how much money is being spent. Perhaps this is to make the user feel like they aren’t spending real money. Nintendo is just as guilty of this though.
I’m mulling over a points system in my own project, but as a reward scheme. Direct purchases are made with “goode olde-fashioned” pounds.
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