EEG News

Game Developers See No 'Evil'

Nominees for the 2006 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced.

God of War leads with six nominations, followed by Shadow of the Colossus with five, Guitar Hero, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Psychonauts with three nods each.

Noticably absent from honors is Resident Evil 4, which received only one nom in the Visual Arts category. RE4 has lead many game of the year lists for 2005 including Game Informer, GamePro, Gamespot, Chicago Tribune, Game Revolution, GameZone.com, UGO.com, G4TV’s X-Play, GameSpot Readers’ Choice, IGN Readers’ Choice and the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2005.

Game Developer Choice Awards is a peer-based industry kudofest with nominees chosen by members of the International Game Developers Association. The ceremony will take place March 22 at the San Jose Civic Auditorium and is hosted by the Game Developers Conference.

For those keeping score, the IGDA chooses the GDCA for the GDC.

Sayonara Atari

Variety’s Ben Fritz says his goodbyes to Atari. It’s dying again, you know.

Though it has existed since the ‘90s as a mere shadow of the company that brought us the 2600 – passed around by congloms like a bong at a String Cheese Incident concert – it’s sad to see the old girl go. Every time.

However, backrupty hits this company like a zombie bite. Atari will rise again – perhaps as a bloodthirsty mockary of what it used to be...but still existing.

Midway Loves In-Game Ads

Midway announced a multiyear agreement with in-game advertisers Double Fusion for – you guessed it – in-game advertising. Although the deal will span several games, thus far only third-person, action/adventure Stranglehold is confirmed to have the ads.

From Gamespot:

"We believe that the technology to allow for dynamic, in-game advertising will add a sense of cultural relevance and context for the mass-market audience," Midway's chief marketing officer Steve Allison said in a statement. "Our relationship with Double Fusion will not only add potential incremental revenue on top of our existing static ad placements, but allow us to work with a partner sensitive to game development and committed to making ad placements organic and credible."

'Wheelman' Signs Movie Deal

Vin Diesel

MTV Films and Paramount are teaming with Midway games to bring action title “The Wheelman,” as a simultaneous feature film and vidgame release. The studios bought the rights to the title which is already well into development for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

“Wheelman,” which will star Vin Diesel as “an expert driver who comes out of retirement to protect a woman from his past” is targeted for a late 2007 release.

The deal is a part of the cross-marketing pact between the companies that already have a holiday release of "L.A. Rush." underway. "Wheelman" was tapped to be developed into a film after Diesel came aboard.

The vidgame version is believed to have a comfy budget of over $15 million.

Sony Stock Falls After $900 Forcast

Stock-brokerage firm Merrill Lynch published a report Friday that made stock holders react like Chris Rock's Cheap Pete in an In Living Color sketch:

How much for that Playstation 3?  Nine hundred dollars? Good lord, that’s a lot of money!

The result of a $900 per-console manufacturing cost forcast along with scepticism about the company's next generation plans by the firm sent Sony’s stock for a 3.6 percent sink Monday. More predicted delays also continue to haunt the PS3 hype, despite Sony's contradictory statements.

Sony better release some figures if it wants to do damage control.

Lego-fied Vidgame Scenes

Some visionary has recreated several video games using Lego blocks; scenes from Duck Hunt, Excite Bike, Bionic Commando, Metal Gear and Katamari Damacy. Check out his (presumably) growing collection here.

Oh, Lego. Is there anything you can’t do?

(Link from Digg.com)

UMDidn't

Small disk, small sales

Playstation Portable’s UMD movie format isn’t the hot new medium Sony was hoping for.

Variety reports low sales have resulted in Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video are cutting back on movie releases for the portable. It turns out – and this may shock you – movies targeted towards the male gamer demographic are the only movies that are selling well. Studio execs hoping grandma will buy a $250 portable game console to watch “The Last Time I Saw Paris” are shocked.

In the meantime, Sony is cutting back on new releases and adding to its comedy slate for PSP with Monty Python content and "Not Another Teen Movie." Feingold said comedy has turned out to be the sweet spot on the format -- the top-selling PSP release is Fox's "Napoleon Dynamite."

Paramount's biggest PSP successes have been TV comedies such as "Chappelle's Show -- Vol. 1" and "Beavis & Butthead -- The Mike Judge Collection: Vol. 1."

Others blame low sales on more nepharious reasons - demographics be damned:

Some have reasoned that sales may have slowed recently because of a shortage of new titles in the last month and because users may be illegally copying films from DVDs onto a memory chip the PSPs can read.

Or maybe it’s all the new disk formats battling for the hearts of consumers?

"With standard definition, HD DVD, Blu-ray and PSP, all these formats take up space," said one retail source. "Consumers aren't going to buy three or four configurations of the same movie. Something has to give."

On a vaugely related note, 1962’s “Something’s Got to Give” and 2003's "Something's Gotta Give" are not available on UMD.

Activision Sees EA’s 5%, Raises Them 2

The holiday sales slump continues to wreak havoc on vidgame companies. Activision announced they will be cutting 7 percent of their workforce, or around 150 people.

Do you see what happens when we don’t buy the Tony Hawk? DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!? What have I done?

The announcement comes just a month after Electronic Arts announced they were laying off 5% of its workers.

4GB HDD for Nintendo DS

MAX Media Player for DS

The Nintendo DS joins the push to make portable electronic devices media players – although through third-party intervention.

Datel has announced a hard drive peripherial for the Nintendo DS that will allow the portable to run movies, play music and view photos.

The Max Media Player is a 4GB hard drive for the DS which connects the portable to a PC (no word on Mac support) for media playback and storage. The unit is attached to the DS through the GBA port and runs on the DS's battery.

But before anyone gets excited - the site advertises the product will be released in March for "a mere £129." That's about $225  – almost twice the amount of the DS itself.

(Link from Digg.com)

January Top 10 Game Titles

These are the top ten game titles for January 2006.

01: 360 Call of Duty 2 - Activision
02: PS2 Madden NFL 06 - Electronic Arts
03: PS2 MVP 06 NCAA Baseball -  Electronic Arts
04: PSP Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories  - Take 2 Interactive
05: NDS Mario Kart - Nintendo
06: NDS Animal Crossing: Wild World - Nintendo
07: PS2 Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Electronic Arts
08: 360 Dead or Alive 4 - Temco
09: PS2 Star Wars: Battlefront II - LucasArts
10: PS2 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Special Edition - Take 2 Interactive

Source: The NPD Group / Point-of-Sale Information

360 Taken Off Endangered Species List

Peter Moore

Xbox Executive Peter Moore announced that the Xbox 360 shortage will soon be over. This revelation comes as a part of Moore’s keynote speech at the D.I.C.E. summit in Las Vegas.

"Within the next four to six weeks, anybody will be able to walk into a store and buy an Xbox 360."

Moore went on to blame the stock supply problems to component shortages and the simultaneous launch of the console in North America, Europe and Japan.

On Xbox Live, he noted that 54 percent of owners have connectd to the service. Moore also called the Live Arcade service "The Sundance of independent games," which probably means Moore has never been to the nightmarishly crowded, chaotic and disobliging festival.

Game Maker Sez Industry Too Hollywood

God of War director David Jaffe criticized the gaming industry at the Los Vegas D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) conference for trying too hard to emulate Hollywood films.

From Gamespot:

"Why is it that every game pitch I hear these days wants to be like a movie," he said. "Why don't video games embrace game language? Why film language? ... I understand film is glamorous, I understand the making of films is glamorous. But the reality is I think that thinking is hurting the industry."

In particular, the designer called out Ubisoft's Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of a Movie as an example of how games can be too cinematic. "A lot of reviews praised King Kong's lack of a HUD [heads-up display]," said Jaffe. "But what's wrong with a HUD? What's wrong with having a health bar like in Onimusha which glows and blinks when you collect enough orbs?"

Jaffe also compared gaming to the pornography industry. Not because the audience is dominated by lonely, lonely men – but for a lack of creativity in the writing process.

"It's like the porn industry ... sort of," he told a crowd still digesting the sumptuous complimentary lunch provided by the organizers of the exclusive event. "I read about this guy who has this topless review that he is trying to add art to, and it's bombing," said Jaffe. "Maybe games fall into that slot ...We have an industry filled with craftspeople that make compelling content ... but we don't have a lot of writers and directors who bring creativity to the process."

This isn't Jaffe's first criticism of vidgame narratives. Recently, he attacked the use of cut scenes for taking players out of the game.

 

Halo 2 Coming to PC...But There's A Catch

Halo for Vista

Microsoft has announced that the upcoming port of Halo 2 for PC will only run on the yet-to-be-released Windows Vista.

From BBC News:

Deciding to make the best-selling Halo 2 Xbox game a Vista-only title is likely driven by Microsoft's desire to get people upgrading to the new version of the Windows.

Minimum specifications for Vista (formerly called Longhorn) will be released in the summer but information gathered from reviews of pre-release versions have given clues about its hunger for computer power.

As much as I like Halo, forcing people to upgrade their OS in order to play the sequel to what was one of the clunkiest PC ports in history sounds like a losing proposition.

Oh well, I give it one week after the game's release before hackers "fix" that particular limitation.

Closer Look at the DS Lite

Engadget got their (apparently very grubby) hands on the upcoming Nintendo DS Lite. Check it out.

In the future, all electronics will be white plastic.

Power-ups Violate Geneva Convention: Who Knew?

Geneva new symbol

The Canadian Red Cross (AKA Croix-Rouge Canadienne) recently contacted GameLaw about the “unauthorized and indeed illegal use of the Red Cross emblem by the [game] industry.”

It turns out that little red plus sign on first aid items and Red Cross facilities in combat games are a violation of chapter VII articles 38-44 of the Geneva Convention.

Apparently this infringement has been stuck in the Red Cross’ craw for a long time – and the fact that the symbol is used in video games where bloody sessions of rocket launcher hijinks is rewarded doesn’t make the humanitarian org any happier about it.

GamesIndustry.biz contacted Michael Meyer, head of international law for the British Red Cross (AKA The British Red Cross) who elaborated on the issue. While Red Cross won’t pursue action against past violations, they would like to establish a dialogue with game makers about future use.

From the article:

"We would be willing to work with a videogame manufacturer to produce a game which shows the emblem in its correct use, as a symbol of protection during armed conflict, and where the player is rewarded for using the emblem correctly. Such a game could reward the player for respecting the rules of war and thereby, help the Red Cross Movement with its work to promote such respect," Meyer continued.

Needless to say, that game sounds horrible. Nobody quit their day job guys.

EA Cuts 5% of Workforce

Electronic Arts has dropped 5 percent of its global workforce Wednesday. A company rep said the cuts are due to shifting operations to the new generation of consoles. Reports indicate the 325 employees were laid off from EA’s Vancouver, Redwood, and Tiburon offices. Game studios in Los Angeles and London were not affected.

The layoffs may also be a result of slow game sales during the holiday season. EA points the finger to lower-than-expected shipments of the Xbox 360 during the all-important sales quarter that ended in December for the sales slump.

Video Game Movie Award Season

Video game movie adaptations have made their presence known this award season fetching three nominations in 26th annual Golden Rasberry Awards.

Lion’s Gate’s horror game adaptation of “Alone in the Dark” leads the vidgame charge with two Razzie bids. “Dark” helmer Uwe Boll snagged a Worst Director nod while Tara Reid scored a nom for Worst Actress.

The Rock also  picked up a Worst Actor nod for his work in Universal Pictures’ “Doom.”

Competition will be stiff for Boll this year, with heavy hitters such as John Asher (Dirty Love), Jay Chandrasekhar (The Dukes of Hazzard), Nora Ephron (Bewitched) and Lawrence Gutterman (Son of the Mask) in the Worst Directer running.

Tara Reid will face off with Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four and Into the Blue), Hillary Duff (Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and The Perfect Man), Jennifer Lopez (Monster in Law) and Jenny McCarthy (Dirty Love).

The Rock joins Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds), Will Ferrell (Bewitched and Kicking and Screaming) and Rob Schneider (Duece Bigalow: European Gigolo).

Nominees were determined by mailing ballots to more than 725 film professionals, film journalists and film fans from 41 U.S. states and 15 foreign countries. Winners will be announced on March 4, just before the Oscars at the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood.

Steeler Win Fake Super Bowl

Fake passing action

EA Sports’ annual Super Bowl simulation resulted in a 24-19 victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Seattle Seahawks. The game was e-fabricated using Madden NFL 06 for the Xbox 360.

If indeed Madden 06 an accurate portrayal of what is to come during the actual Super Bowl XL on Feb. 6, expect an early lead by the Steelers using the pass and taking advantage of a timely turnover. If personal expirence with Madden is accurate, expect to see the Seahawks throw their controller at the Steelers’ head during the third quarter and shout a steady stream of profanities throughout the game, only pausing to take a swig of Pabst Blue Ribbon and reheat some pizza.