Wii fishing rod released, Plus, 2.1 speakers styled like Nunchucks with Official Nintendo Seal.
4Gamers has announced the officially licensed 2.1 Speaker System for Wii, styled in the shape of a Wii Nunchuck controller, with the Wii console sat bang in the middle of the two speakers.
Posted @ Wii.iBlogGames.com
The U.S. midnight release of the fourth “Grand Theft Auto” video game Monday, comes with a new wave of concern about its violent content, critics say.
The game features mobster-like characters who have the ability to fire grenades, shoot police helicopters and punch cab drivers in the face, among other acts, as they follow game’s unique story lines.
Controversy regarding the game’s release prompted the Chicago Transit Authority to take down ads promoting it in the city, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Critics of the game reportedly argue it influences children with violent themes and ideas.
“People think video games equal kids, and that if it’s just a game, it should be fine. But the idea that a game is made for a mature audience, we (as a society) don’t have our arms around that yet,” said Robin Burke, a game-development professor at DePaul University.
The game is projected to pull in at least $400 million in its first week, said Wes Sand, Game Crazy senior vice president.
Gamedaily writes: “Xbox 360 and PS3 players don’t get it. Here’s why Rockstar’s crime opus belongs on Nintendo’s console:
1) Because we don’t care about online play
Online gaming is a cesspool for racists, pedophiles and other scumbags that don’t deserve our company. Not to mention, Microsoft can’t even get Xbox Live to work for more than a month, so there’s no reason to play GTA IV online. Enough with the lag and the morons. We’re all about the single player campaign.
2) Because Mario will somehow work his way into Liberty City
Rockstar is a powerful force in the video game business, but Nintendo could crush it with a single digital pinky. Not even the GTA peeps could withstand the repeated demands to include Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach as unlockable characters, and the thought of cruising the streets as everyone’s favorite plumber has us absolutely tickled.”
Read the full article @ http://www.gamedaily.com
MMOCrunch reports:
”Before I begin, let me clarify that I do not know anybody who works in the higher ups at either Realtime Worlds, or Microsoft Game Studios. This entire post in generally just pure speculation given by the recent courses of action by the two companies in the last few months.
Anyways, now that’s out of the way, lets carry on. Is there a possibility that All Points Bulletin, Realtime Worlds newest crime MMORPG, could be getting the publishing treatment from mega-corporation Microsoft? Absolutely and it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody after what we have witnessed over the last few months.”
Read the full article @ http://www.mmocrunch.com/
It’s called gravity. Everything that goes up must come down. And finally that ol’ sales gravity seems to have caught up with the DS. But it’s not Pocket Gamer’s prognosticators who are making it up. No, this revelation comes direct from Nintendo’s own beancounters.
Hacking through the pages of Nintendo’s financial report for its FY07-08 (April 1st 2007 – March 31st 2008), the situation is clear: DS has been an incredible success for Nintendo and will continue to make the company a lot of cash in future but just not as much as it has in the past. This is mainly due to the astounding commercial performance of DS – after a certain period of time, everyone who even wants one a little bit has got one.
In FY06-07, Nintendo sold 23.6 million DSs. In FY07-08, it sold 30.3 million DSs. It’s a massive amount – probably the largest number of games console ever sold in a 12 month period. But, it’s also a stat that disguises the fact that sales in Japan have already peaked, dropping from 9.1 million to 6.4 million, which is a significant change.
This year, the fall was filled by the continuing sales growth in the US and Europe, where 9.5 million more DSs were sold in FY07-08 compared to FY06-07. But those sort of numbers are not sustainable. Indeed, Nintendo’s own predictions say that ‘only’ 28 million DSs will be sold in FY08-09 – still a huge number, of course – but a fall of 7.5 per cent year-on-year.
What’s much more interesting, however, is the news when it comes to game sales. This year, they are up massively – 50 per cent, in fact, from 124 million games sold worldwide to 186 million. Despite the fact Nintendo expects another 28 million DSs consoles to be sold next year, though, game sales are only predicted to rise by 0.7 per cent to 187 million – i.e. game sales per DS will fall sharply.
So as we previously commented with respect to hardware saturation, so it is with games. There are only so many versions of Brain Training and Nintendogs that the old and the young are prepared to buy (despite all the good work being done by the likes of Nintendo and Ubisoft).
But if you want to see the most telling example that the DS market is saturated, just consider the number of new games released last year. In FY06-07, 591 new DS games were released (the majority in Japan). Yet over the past 12 months, 1,095 new games were shipped with almost every territory, doubling the number of new titles released; a completely ridiculous and unsustainable situation that’s seen far too many cat, dog, pony, dronkey, horse, fish, vet, fashion, lifestyle, language and crossword games released.
Frankly, the new Game Boy just can’t come soon enough for us Nintendo fanboys.
We already know that Call of Duty 5 is in the works, and should be released later this year. We also have been informed that Treyarch will be going back to WWII instead of staying put in the Modern Warfare setting Infinity Ward created for the fourth game in the series. At the time of that revelation many were upset, seeing it as a step back from the great reaction COD4 got from critics and gamers alike.
However, recent info suggests that Treyarch will not be stepping straight back into familiar territory with their upcoming game, and will not be yet again placing the player in a European or American setting. They will instead be taking the battle over to Japan, and will likely put players in the shoes of soldiers who took part in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The exact details of where the battles will take place still remain a mystery, but the focus of the CoD5 story will be on their side of the world rather than in Western Europe this time round.
Hopefully recreating the Battle of Iwo Jima along with other memorable battles that formed part of that campaign in virtual form is a possibility. In addition, the change in setting may be just what Treyarch needs to get people interested in their vision of CoD instead of having to continually listen to people complaining IW are not involved.
by Donald Melanson
The folks at Epic Games certainly haven’t been shy to make their feelings about the Wii known in the past, but company president Michael Capps took things up a few more notches in a recent interview with IGN, with him not only once again bemoaning the Wii’s underpowered hardware, but even going so far as to compare the console to a “virus.” You can find Capps’ complete musings on the matter at the link below, but the short of it is that he thinks the Wii maintains its success by building on a chain reaction of sorts, with one person buying the console only to get tired of it two months later, but not before they showed it to someone else, who also though it was cool and went out and bought one, and also got bored with it a couple of months later, and so on and so on. Capps does add, however, that there’s obviously “a class of people who really love it and enjoy it and are getting into the games,” but that he’s waiting for “that one game that makes me play it,” and that “maybe Wii Fit will be it.” That apparently still doesn’t mean you can expect to see any games from Epic on the Wii, however, with Capps flatly saying that “we go forward, not back.”
[Via Wii Fanboy]
Wow - this one is a mind trip. GamesRadar UK has managed to secure the first reveal of the new Mortal Kombat game. But your favorite spine-ripping warriors are no longer alone.
In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, releasing this fall on 360 and PS3, they’ll be joined - and challenged to battle - by your favorite justice-serving superheroes as well.
At-Home Stripper-Pole Maker Is Working on Wii Game
Posted @ Wii.iBlogGames.com
The U.S. gaming giant Electronic Arts said Wednesday it is celebrating the sale of its 100 millionth unit of “The Sims” games.
Electronic Arts said that since it debuted in 2000, “The Sims” games have gone on to become the best-selling PC game franchise of all time.
The company said it is sold in 22 languages and 60 countries around the world.
“At this milestone, we want to thank players of ‘The Sims’ everywhere for making ‘The Sims’ such a worldwide phenomenon,” Rod Humble, studio head for games label, said in a statement posted on the company’s Web site. “‘The Sims’ has been an interactive experience for people around the globe to explore their passion for creativity and we’re thrilled to be a part of that.”
Label President Nancy Smith said the line of games “truly unique in the world of interactive entertainment because it attracts creative people around the world of all ages and both genders.”