Recession or Transition?Did the games business shrink in 2009 or did consumers just abandon the high street? eurogamer.net editorial Iga_Bobovic
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Sonic Racing trailerPerma Ban for anyone that buys thisgamersyde.com media gamingeek
NWR Review SkycrawlersIf you enjoy flight combat games then you should be headed out the door to buy this game right nownintendoworldreport.com impressions gamingeek
BBC iPlayer use up 74% from consoles “One in eight of all TV requests are now coming from either a Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 console, which is an increase of 74% since November 2009.”edge-online.com gamingeek
I had an email exchange with one of the (few) guys at XSeed about their marketing and it basically comes down to money. They don't have any. They are trying to build a reputation on the quality of their titles. They are open for suggestions as to how to improve their marketing though.
I actually emailed someone there about their Skycrawlers cover. I couldn't understand why they didn't have or couldn't use any of the movie resources. She/he actually responded - was very pleasant, and mentioned trouble getting artwork to use but also mistook me for someone that just wanted the anime cover. I could understand them not wanting to use the anime cover (even though I do like it) but what they went with instead was terrible considering the great artwork that should be at their disposal. Hell, get someone in Japan to take some closeups of the plane that they built for promo purposes. They need help promoting their quality product for sure.
We probably talked to the same guy. Did you get the impression that they did their marketing/ graphic design in-house?
Unfortunately I didn't get a response to my follow up email. I went back to look at it again. To be more precise he/she said that they have to work with the artwork provided by Japan and Japan also has to approve it. And the anime cover was panned by retail buyers so they weren't going that route.
I do some design and I totally understand how your grand ideas may get downsized or hampered from things you can't control but it makes me shake my head. The cover isn't even a question of design, its just in using a terrible piece of artwork. It's either a case of someone going - use this artwork and get it done now or someone that didn't have the time or energy to come up with something else.
It blows my mind. It's not like you would have to commission artwork - there's tons of stuff out already out there
like I said - they even made a plane for the movie
Hmmm....not this time. It's 2D traditional Sonic, right?
I think it'll be good on nostalgia alone.
I wonder if they'll pull off a NSMBWii though.
I wonder if sega is adjusting any of their plans because of NSMB sales. Or if they are going to wait to see how it does before deciding on a disc release.
Yeah, those are the ones they're using. I can understand them not using the anime cover (from a marketing viewpoint) but why not something more like the movie covers they are using here?
Bungie's shown Halo: Reach and revealed an impressive new engine that is far and away the best the series has seen.
According to an article in Game Informer magazine, scans of which have popped up on the internet, motion capture is being used for the first time. Image Metrics - the company behind the mesmerising Emily demo - is in charge of facial animation. State changes from walking to running to sprinting should also now look believable, as should pivoting on the ground.
There's a new weather system, and Bungie has made the sky into a real object that ships can descend out of and onto the planet from.
Whereas Halo 3 could handle three or four dynamic light sources on-screen at one time, Halo: Reach can handle 20 to 40. And there are double the amount of enemies on-screen in Halo: Reach, not to mention a greater visual quality both at range and up close.
There are gameplay changes, too. Bungie has brought mechanics in-line with Halo 1, the game Reach is a prequel to. Health bars again appear when shields are drained, and soldiers must find health packs to keep themselves standing. And flame grenades and spike grenades have been removed.
Halo 1 weapons like the sniper rifle, assault rifle and magnum pistol return. But there are also new weapons, such as the Designated Marksman Rifle: a deadly one-shot weapon that's lethal both at range and up close, should you be twitchy enough to make use of it.
On the Covenant side there's a Needle Rifle, described as a mid-range headshot weapon, that blows enemies up after three successful hits. The Covenant's Plasma Pistols, Swords and Needlers return.
Bungie's introducing stealth kills to Halo: Reach, which are context sensitive and performed by holding down a button when reaching an enemy undetected.
Halo 3's equipment power-ups been scrapped and swapped with new armour abilities, and these can be altered for the task at hand. The player swapped from a sprint ability to an active camouflage ability in the preview.
Halo: Reach follows Noble Team, a six-man group of Spartans - mostly Spartan IIIs. These are Carter-259 (the leader), Kat-320 (second in command), Jorge-052 (the only Spartan II), Emile-239 (the skull-painted silent type) and Jun-266 (sniper).
You'll be Noble 6, a fiery yet commended soldier recruited when one of Noble Team falls.
Bungie promises a darker and more emotional tale this time around, and wants to re-establish the Covenant as a threatening, scary foe. A new enemy type, the Skirmishers - cousins of the Jackals - should help, as they'll quickly form groups and attempt to out-manoeuvre you.
Halo: Reach is due out exclusively on Xbox 360 this autumn.
Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter told Yahoo that EA “did not have the products that people wanted” and should be acknowledging that rather than “blaming everything on the environment.”
Retro Game Challenge - Heard its good but obscure DS game - It's good, but you would not dig it given your opinion of pre 16-bit era.
Half Minute Hero - Is this downloadable only or something, PSP? No! It's UMD and usually on sale for $19. The Zelda fan in you would dig it.
Little King's Story - yeah yeah I know I should get it, but it was never going to sell
Rune Factory: Frontier - What
Avalon Code - who?
The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces - WTF
Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon - Is this that woman weirdo game Kinda.
Ragnarok Online DS - An online DS game...
They make niche games, they are never going to sell as good as people want them too.
^That's the bottom line. If your differentiator is quirk, you ain't going to be Activision.
I'm not expecting any of these games to be million sellers. I realize that's never going to happen, but just because it's a niche game doesn't mean its doomed to sell 8,000 copies and never be heard from again. Plenty of niche titles go on to do very well. Harvest Moon routinely does 100K+ copies, the original Rune Factory did around that as well. Katamari Damacy blew up to be a million seller. And just recently Scribblenauts has shown that it's probably at a half million copies and will probably hit a million this year.
All I'm saying is that these games could do better. It's just a matter of creating good press and doing something with it and not just waiting for good reviews to come in and hope that's enough to make the game sell.
We probably talked to the same guy. Did you get the impression that they did their marketing/ graphic design in-house?
I think it means FAIL. But we'll wait and see.
Hmmm....not this time. It's 2D traditional Sonic, right?
I think it'll be good on nostalgia alone.
I wonder if they'll pull off a NSMBWii though.
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
I wonder if sega is adjusting any of their plans because of NSMB sales. Or if they are going to wait to see how it does before deciding on a disc release.
Already sick of Darksiders?
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
As opposed to this one?
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
Yeah but it would be very SEGA to go with Amy over Sonic. I'm only half kidding.
^That is SO bad.
Angry Monkey, where have you been?
It's been ages.
These are the games in MSs Gameroom.
Anything good here?
Adventure
- Armor Battle
- Asteroids Deluxe
- Astrosmash
- Battlantis
- Centipede
- Combat
- Crystal Castles
- Finalizer
- Football
- Jungler
- Lunar Lander
- Millipede
- Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing
- Outlaw
- RealSports Tennis
- Red Baron
- Road Fighter
- Scramble
- Sea Battle
- Shao-Lin's Road
- Space Armada
- Space Hawk
- Star Raiders
- Sub Hunt
- Super Cobra
- Tempest
- Tutankham
- Yars' Revenge
CLICK (Gamespot: "Microsoft details Game Room titles, pricing")
Halo Reach
Bungie's shown Halo: Reach and revealed an impressive new engine that is far and away the best the series has seen.
According to an article in Game Informer magazine, scans of which have popped up on the internet, motion capture is being used for the first time. Image Metrics - the company behind the mesmerising Emily demo - is in charge of facial animation. State changes from walking to running to sprinting should also now look believable, as should pivoting on the ground.
There's a new weather system, and Bungie has made the sky into a real object that ships can descend out of and onto the planet from.
Whereas Halo 3 could handle three or four dynamic light sources on-screen at one time, Halo: Reach can handle 20 to 40. And there are double the amount of enemies on-screen in Halo: Reach, not to mention a greater visual quality both at range and up close.
There are gameplay changes, too. Bungie has brought mechanics in-line with Halo 1, the game Reach is a prequel to. Health bars again appear when shields are drained, and soldiers must find health packs to keep themselves standing. And flame grenades and spike grenades have been removed.
Halo 1 weapons like the sniper rifle, assault rifle and magnum pistol return. But there are also new weapons, such as the Designated Marksman Rifle: a deadly one-shot weapon that's lethal both at range and up close, should you be twitchy enough to make use of it.
On the Covenant side there's a Needle Rifle, described as a mid-range headshot weapon, that blows enemies up after three successful hits. The Covenant's Plasma Pistols, Swords and Needlers return.
Bungie's introducing stealth kills to Halo: Reach, which are context sensitive and performed by holding down a button when reaching an enemy undetected.
Halo 3's equipment power-ups been scrapped and swapped with new armour abilities, and these can be altered for the task at hand. The player swapped from a sprint ability to an active camouflage ability in the preview.
Halo: Reach follows Noble Team, a six-man group of Spartans - mostly Spartan IIIs. These are Carter-259 (the leader), Kat-320 (second in command), Jorge-052 (the only Spartan II), Emile-239 (the skull-painted silent type) and Jun-266 (sniper).
You'll be Noble 6, a fiery yet commended soldier recruited when one of Noble Team falls.
Bungie promises a darker and more emotional tale this time around, and wants to re-establish the Covenant as a threatening, scary foe. A new enemy type, the Skirmishers - cousins of the Jackals - should help, as they'll quickly form groups and attempt to out-manoeuvre you.
Halo: Reach is due out exclusively on Xbox 360 this autumn.
Below is the hardware sales projections for December 2009:
Wedbush Morgan Securities
Wii- 3,200,000
PS3 - 1,400,000
Xbox 360 - 1,350,000
PS2 - 350,000
PSP - 650,000
DS - 2,450,000
Below is Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's hardware estimates for comparison:
EEDAR
Wii - 3,000,000
PS3 - 1,450,000
Xbox 360 - 1,490,000
PS2 - 350,000
PSP - 350,000
DS - 2,800,000
LOL at Pachter.
Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter told Yahoo that EA “did not have the products that people wanted” and should be acknowledging that rather than “blaming everything on the environment.”
Yes.
Angry Monkey is back, hell yeah.
Monkeys are awesome and angry ones even more so.
I'm not expecting any of these games to be million sellers. I realize that's never going to happen, but just because it's a niche game doesn't mean its doomed to sell 8,000 copies and never be heard from again. Plenty of niche titles go on to do very well. Harvest Moon routinely does 100K+ copies, the original Rune Factory did around that as well. Katamari Damacy blew up to be a million seller. And just recently Scribblenauts has shown that it's probably at a half million copies and will probably hit a million this year.
All I'm saying is that these games could do better. It's just a matter of creating good press and doing something with it and not just waiting for good reviews to come in and hope that's enough to make the game sell.
Does anyone really want a Sonic game with all these characters?
And while we're on the topic of Sonic
No More Heroes Paradise trailer
If they had polished it like that in the first place, it might have sold. If this ever comes out in the west I will get it at a lower price for sure.
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