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Microsoft
might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer
Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even
abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says
he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days,
Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway,
here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai: Aftonbladet: If you
had to choose ONE exclusive Xbox 360 title and launch it for the PS3 instead, which game would it
be? Hirai: I don't think I have to choose any..... Aftonbladet: You have to pick one. Hirai: Again, I don't think I have to pick one because we have such a fantastic
lineup of games. Aftonbladet: But if someone is holding a gun to your head and you have to choose
one. Which game would it be? Hirai: Okay.. then they have to shoot me, because I really don't think we need
any.
Kaz, you're making Giant Kaz Face sad. Kaz Hirai Interview [Aftonbladet]
Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy
XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3
press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's
how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC
version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC
game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.
In case you missed it, here's our
liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser.
thats mine. took it with photobooth and my room has bad lighting so its a bad picture. but its an
xbox 360 elite, wii, 23" samsung lcd tv, and a dvd player
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox
360, Business It's a case of "he said, he said" in the latest chapter of Bungiegate. This time around, the news centers on a comment made by Xbox senior VP Don
Mattrick regarding Bungie president Harold Ryan's reaction to being told his company's new Halo game announcement was being struck from Microsoft's pre-E3 media briefing.
According to
Eurogamer, the site was told by Mattrick during the show that Ryan had "just laughed" and said
"We agree" upon receiving the news. Ryan recalls the conversation quite differently.
""Keeping things clean, I certainly didn't agree with the decision to delay our news until sometime
after E3," he told Eurogamer today, adding, "Bungie is always concerned first and foremost with our
fans. Whenever we are prevented from exceeding their positive expectations it is not a laughing
matter." Oh snap. Begun, these Halo Wars have.
Peggle fans can now cement their addiction, since PopCap's now bringing the popular
casual game to DS with a little help from Q Entertainment, developers of Rez, Lumines and
Meteos. Peggle DS will be hitting shelves in North America in Winter 2008 for $29.95, and Q
Entertainment will be adding new features that aren't in the PC, Mac or iPod versions of the game.
No details yet on what those features will be, but the announcement promises more levels than in
any other version of the game, remastered input controls and "surprise additions."
Full announcement follows the jump: PopCap’s Mega-Hit Peggle™
Coming to Nintendo DS® This Winter
Q Entertainment Tapped to Adapt Top Casual Game of 2007for Nintendo’s Market-Leading
Handheld
SEATTLE, Washington – July 25, 2008 —
PopCap Games Inc., the leading developer and publisher of casual video games, today announced that
later this year the company’s mega-hit game Peggle™ will be
available for Nintendo DS®. During his keynote presentation at CGA
Seattle yesterday, PopCap CEO David Roberts provided an early glimpse of the DS version of Peggle,
which is expected to hit North American retail shelves in Winter 2008 and carry an MSRP of
US$29.95. In bringing Peggle to the world’s most popular handheld gaming device, PopCap has
partnered with Q Entertainment, the acclaimed Japanese development studio. Q Entertainment is
already underway with the adaptation of Peggle, and will be adding features unique to the DS
version that are not available in the existing PC, Mac or iPod versions of the game.
”I have a great deal of respect for Q Entertainment as one of the industry’s preeminent
game developers, with a proven reputation for creativity and
innovation,” stated Greg Canessa, PopCap’s vice president of
video game platforms. ”Q is a great choice to partner with us –
they share many of PopCap’s design and creative philosophies and are equally big believers in
quality and attention to detail. These factors, combined with Q’s impressive track record of
success on DS and PSP, make this a natural fit. I’m confident that Q will create an
experience with Peggle for DS that will both satisfy existing fans of the game and attract a new
audience of on-the-go gamers who appreciate the DS for its one-of-a-kind display format and other
unique capabilities.”
Q Entertainment’s best-selling franchises include Lumines (for PSP, PS2, XBLA, PC, mobile),
Meteos (Nintendo DS), and Rez HD (XBLA). ”We at Q Entertainment are honored to be working
with PopCap and view this as a fun, exciting challenge – taking a very
popular casual game and bringing it to a more hardcore audience on the
DS,” stated Shuji Utsumi, Q’s co-founder and chief executive
officer. ”PopCap’s games are simple but addictive, and Peggle demonstrates that even a
simple game can be extremely deep. We’ve always incorporated casual game elements into our
console and handheld games, and now we have an opportunity to bring our gaming sensibilities and
expertise to the DS version of Peggle, and make a very novel
‘cross-over’ game for all ages.”
Precise details of the forthcoming DS version of Peggle are not yet available, but the game is
expected to feature more levels than any existing version of the game –
including DS-exclusive levels – and will also offer re-mastered input
controls and a wealth of surprise additions sure to please die-hard fans and novice players
alike.
About Q Entertainment, Inc.
Formed in 2003, Tokyo-based Q Entertainment, Inc. creates, produces, and consults in
digital entertainment content across multiple game consoles, PC broadband and mobile units. The
company is best known for its critically acclaimed music and luminary action puzzle game series
Lumines, which was released worldwide for PSP in 2004/2005 and has since become a hit on mobile,
Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation 2. Q Entertainment’s impressive line-up also includes the
action puzzle title Meteos and the fantasy action title Ninety-Nine Nights. Founded by principal
game creator and Chief Creative Officer Tetsuya Mizuguchi and industry veteran and Chief Executive
Officer Shuji Utsumi (Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sega, Disney), Q Entertainment is
composed of experienced designers, programmers, and producers. Q Entertainment collaborates with
other creators, artists and development studios in Japan and overseas. More information can be
found on the Internet at www.qentertainment.com.
About PopCap
PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading
multi-platform provider of ”casual games”
— fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to
everyone from age 6 to 106. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a
worldwide staff of over 200 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C., Dublin and
Shanghai. Its games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its
flagship title, Bejeweled®, has sold more than 10 million units across
all platforms. Constantly acclaimed by consumers and critics, PopCap’s games are played on
the Web, desktop computers, myriad mobile devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, iPod
and more), popular game consoles (including Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS), and in-flight
entertainment systems. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across
all major sales channels, including Web portals, retail stores, mobile operators and developers,
and game device manufacturers. </img> </img></img></img></img>
Saul
Hansell, over at the New York Times Bits blog, takes Microsoft's recent announcement about Xbox LIVE Community Games as a jumping
off point to
some speculation about Apple TV (and who doesn't like speculation?). Hansell wonders what would
happen if Apple were to open up an App Store for the Apple TV, and I have to admit that I think
that's a brilliant idea.
I've always thought that the Apple TV would greatly benefit from third party plugins (official
ones, I mean, not hacks), if not full blown apps. Take,
for example, the YouTube functionality. Wouldn't it be cool
if you could watch videos from Viddler, Vimeo, or any of the other countless video sharing sites, in addition
to those on YouTube? And let's not forget Netflix. Microsoft and Netflix have
teamed up to offer the 'Watch it now' library of videos to XBox Live Gold members. Being able
to watch those videos from Netflix on my Apple TV would make me one happy panda.
Hansell notes that to make apps on the Apple TV viable something has to be done about that horrible
onscreen keyboard. He thinks that Apple might tie the iPhone into the Apple TV as a way to control
it. Luckily, Apple has already done this. As John Gruber points out, when you have Apple's Remote
app on your iPhone you are able to use the iPhone to enter text into your Apple TV.
Let's hope Apple stops thinking about Apple TV as a hobby and starts making an aggressive push for
the living room. I like my Apple TV, but my XBox 360 offers up more functionality (and more
heat!).Read | Permalink | Email
this | Comments
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3,
Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, RPGs
Imagine if Marvel's super heroes were to form a sort of ... alliance. An ultimate
one, at that. Then, they somehow gained the ability to fuse their powers together. You'd
have yourself a Marvel Ultimate Alliance of Fusion, or "MUAF," but we don't think we like how that
acronym crawls off the tongue. Tweak it a bit and you have Marvel Ultimate
Alliance 2: Fusion, Activision's next action-RPG team up set in the Marvel Comics
universe, where players will, in fact, be able to combine the powers of various heroes to make
more powerful powers.
The game was announced at Activision's E3 non-E3 event, where only a brief teaser was shown. This slightly longer snippet was unveiled at San Diego
Comic-Con 2008, which got underway today in Southern California. It indeed shows off various Marvel
characters fusing their powers, but looks far from actual gameplay. It's still pretty slick to see
Wolverine and The Hulk team up for a variation of the Fastball Special, though.
Après une sortie sur PC, Mac et Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Penny Arcade Adventures va
débouler sur PS3. Titre complètement déjanté, axé RPG / Action,
il est une aventure sympathique à l'univers original. Un vent de fraîcheur !
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3,
Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Video
We know what you're thinking, and we're right there with you. The absolute best way to capture the
intense horror and gore of EA's upcoming Dead Space for a direct-to-DVD (and Blu-ray) movie is with a
cartoon. Oh, that wasn't what you were thinking? C'mon - as if the age gate on
this trailer for the flick wasn't enough indication, it's not exactly a kid-friendly affair. No
sir. It's nice and gory (as gory as cel animation can get, at least).
Set for release on October 28 (hey, that's right around when the game's hitting ...
coincidence?) the film follows the events that occurred on the mining ship Ishimura (the
game's setting, in case you're just joining us) and the planet it's lifelessly orbiting (and why
it's orbiting said planet lifelessly) before the outset of the game. Think of it kind of like
Enter the Matrix in reverse. On second thought, don't think
about Enter the Matrix.
It's a
case of "he said, he said" in the latest chapter of Bungiegate.
This time around, the news centers on a comment made by Xbox senior VP Don Mattrick regarding
Bungie president Harold Ryan's reaction to being told his company's new
Halo game announcement was being
struck from Microsoft's pre-E3 media briefing.
According to Eurogamer, the
site was told by Mattrick during the show that Ryan had "just laughed" and said "We agree" upon
receiving the news. Ryan recalls the conversation quite differently. ""Keeping things
clean, I certainly didn't agree with the decision to delay our news until sometime after E3," he
told Eurogamer today, adding, "Bungie is always concerned first and foremost with our fans.
Whenever we are prevented from exceeding their positive expectations it is not a laughing matter."
Oh snap. Begun, these Halo Wars have.Read | Permalink | Email
this | Comments
Have you ever had that dream where you're running down a hallway but are unable to reach the exit
because the doorway is constantly stretching out of reach? For fans of Burnout Paradise for the
Xbox 360, this has become a waking nightmare, as Criterion has again pushed back the title's
forthcoming "Cagney" update until early August.
Criterion is currently "aiming" to release the free update on August 4, nearly a month after the
patch arrived on the PS3. However, according to a post on the dev's website, this merely represents
the "earliest" that we can expect it to show up. Interestingly, while the previous hold-up was laid
at the feet of Xbox Live's burdensome certification process, this latest information indicates that
the update, much like the patience of street carnage virtuosos, is now in the "final stages of
testing."
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox
360, Action, Adventure
No, no, no, don't cry, Sam! Oh, now look, you've ruined your mascara. It appears emo Sam Fisher is
going to be sitting on the sidelines a little longer as Ubisoft announced today that Splinter Cell:
Conviction is being delayed until the company's next fiscal year. For those who don't tell
time through corporate fiscal calendars, that means Conviction won't be released until
after April of 2009.
Rumors of Conviction's delay have been floating around for months, kicked into overdrive by the game's no-show at Ubidays and E3. Back in May, the development team said it would be showing the game in "forthcoming months." Well, there's still Tokyo and Leipzig ...
Hmmm. Besides providing viewers with an interesting
walkthrough of the new Netflix streaming capabilities integrated in to Xbox Experience, Major
Nelson drops the bomb that the partnership with Microsoft is an exclusive one (actually, the
official PR said as much). In other words, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 owners will never have
the capability to [...]
Filed under: News Chatting with Gamasutra during Seattle's recent GameFest, Epic Games' Mike Capps confirmed
progress on Unreal Engine 4 mentioning that it should be ready for debut "...in the next console
generation - our rough guess is 2012 - 2018." Interesting too was confirmation from Capps that the
UE4 will have "console focus" where "version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation,
Microsoft's successor for the Xbox 360, Sony's successor for the Playstation 3 - and if Nintendo
ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also. PCs will follow after that."
One can only try to imagine what the next console generation will bring in terms of graphics and
physics, especially seeing how amazing some games look using the Unreal
Engine 3. One can only dream. But we're welcoming the next, next generation with open arms as we
say; bring on the pretty!
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Imagine if Marvel's super heroes were to form a sort of ... alliance. An ultimate one, at
that. Then, they somehow gained the ability to fuse their powers together. You'd have yourself a
Marvel Ultimate Alliance of Fusion, or "MUAF," but we don't think we like how that acronym crawls
off the tongue. Tweak it a bit and you have Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2:
Fusion, Activision's next action-RPG team up set in the Marvel Comics universe, where players
will, in fact, be able to combine the powers of various heroes to make more powerful powers.
The game was
announced at Activision's E3 non-E3 event, where only a brief
teaser was shown. This slightly longer snippet was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con 2008, which
got underway today in Southern California. It indeed shows off various Marvel characters fusing
their powers, but looks far from actual gameplay. It's still pretty slick to see Wolverine and The
Hulk team up for a variation of the Fastball Special, though.Read | Permalink | Email
this | Comments
It's been a good year for Ubisoft,
who enjoyed good sales numbers for the first quarter of 2008. Jacked up with previous multiplatform
releases such as Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3, PC),
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3, PC), and Rayman Raving
Rabbids, Ubisoft managed to garner a healthy 26 growth to 169 million Euros (around US 265
million).
Ubisoft's Games for Everyone brand has also played a major role in its success. The brand includes
titles such as Petz, Imagine, and the My Coach series of games. My Weight Loss Coach, for one, got
off to a promising start according to its latest press wire.
For the second quarter of fiscal year 2008-2009, gamers can expect the following releases:
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
More casual games for the Nintendo platforms Wii and DS
How about Splinter Cell: Conviction (Windows, Xbox 360), you
ask? It's confirmed to be pushed back to a fiscal 2009-2010 release, quite a few paces behind the
previously announced fourth quarter of 2008-2009. Ubisoft's Yves
Guillemot explained the reason for the setback:
Splinter Cell is a very important franchise for Ubisoft and we have high anticipation for this
game. It is a major product and we want it to be able to catch all the gameplay opportunities it
is offering to us today. There are lots of opportunities that we want to take and so that is why
we can give [them] a little bit more time to make sure it can become a huge product
As long as it means that the game will turn out to be good, then it's better to just grin and bear
with the delay. More updates to come.
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
Microsoft
might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer
Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even
abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says
he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days,
Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway,
here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai: Aftonbladet: If you
had to choose ONE exclusive Xbox 360 title and launch it for the PS3 instead, which game would it
be?
Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy
XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3
press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's
how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC
version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC
game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.
Peggle fans can now cement their addiction, since PopCap's now bringing the popular
casual game to DS with a little help from Q Entertainment, developers of Rez, Lumines and
Meteos.
Saul
Hansell, over at the New York Times Bits blog, takes Microsoft's recent announcement about 
Hmmm. Besides providing viewers with an interesting
walkthrough of the new Netflix streaming capabilities integrated in to Xbox Experience, Major
Nelson drops the bomb that the partnership with Microsoft is an exclusive one (actually, the
official PR said as much). In other words, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 owners will never have
the capability to [...]
It's been a good year for