November 2007
E FOR SOME: The videogame industry deserves some credit for reaching out to fans with the E For All Expo, held last weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. And the inaugural event drew 18,000 gamers - not bad for the first time, but less than half the attendance of the fan-created Penny Arcade Expo, which attracted 37,000 people to Seattle in August.
“We are thrilled with the attendance, and we are pleased that we delivered the event we aimed for, which was a celebration that truly was for the entire game community,” said Mary Dolaher, the CEO of IDG World Expo, which mounted the event. And for gamers who got their first chance to play Konami’s “Metal Gear Solid 4″ and Nintendo’s “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” the trip seemed to be worth it.
Still, IDG needs to get Sony and Microsoft on board if it expects more players to show up. And it needs to rethink its schedule: Next year’s E For All is slated for the last weekend of August, the traditional dates for Penny Arcade Expo.
DRAW PLAY: I thought the PlayStation 2 epic “Okami” was the best game of 2006 - but most of you were too busy chain-sawing aliens in “Gears of War” to take a look at this masterpiece from Capcom’s now-disbanded Clover Studio. Well, here’s your second chance: Capcom is digging up this buried treasure and will be republishing it for the Wii.
“Okami” always felt like a Wii game anyway. Throughout the game you’re required to use a “Celestial Brush” to draw spells or solve puzzles. On the PS2, you had to hold an awkward combination of buttons to use the brush; the Wii, presumably, will let you draw by simply pointing the remote at the screen.
Since the Clover team has separated, the Wii translation is being handled by Ready at Dawn, the studio behind the PSP game “Daxter.” I almost wish I hadn’t played “Okami” already, because it’s sure to be one of the best Wii games of 2008. SPY GAME: Do you have what it takes to be the next 007? Of course, you do; all those hours spent playing “GoldenEye” have to be worth something. And the surveillance arm of British intelligence seems to agree.
GCHQ, which stands for Government Communications Headquarters, is reaching out to potential recruits by advertising in video games. British players of “Splinter Cell: Double Agent,” ”Need for Speed Carbon” and “Enemy Territory: Quake Wars” will discover in-game billboards promoting “Careers in British Intelligence.”
GCHQ said it hoped the campaign would “capture the imagination of people with a particular interest in (information technology).” No guarantees that you’ll be issued a license to kill.
NEW IN STORES: Besides “Ratchet & Clank,” Sony is also bringing collectible card games to the PS3 with “The Eye of Judgment.” … The week’s big Wii title is Capcom’s “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure.” … The Xbox 360 and PS3 share THQ’s “Conan” (the barbarian, not the talk-show host) and Codemasters’ “Clive Barker’s Jericho.” … Capcom’s wacky lawyer returns to the DS in “Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.” … Namco’s popular flight sim finally arrives on the 360 in “Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.” … And the hills are alive with the sounds of “High School Musical: Sing It!” (Disney, PlayStation 2), “Dancing With the Stars” (Activision, Wii, PS2) and “Rhythm ‘n Notes” (Agetec, DS).
September 2007
FALL PREVIEW: The video-game industry’s holiday season traditionally begins in mid-August, when EA Sports welcomes kids back from their summer vacations with the latest edition of “Madden NFL.” And in the last few weeks, we’ve already seen two contenders for Game of the Year: 2K Games’ “BioShock” (for the Xbox 360) and Nintendo’s “Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.” There’s much more to come, with hundreds of titles being released between now and the end of the year. For each console, I’ve picked out the one game I’m most looking forward to, along with an assortment of runners-up that just about any player would be happy to find under the Christmas tree.
XBOX 360: Microsoft’s killer app is the longawaited “Halo 3,” but I’m more psyched about “Mass Effect,” the galaxy-spanning role-playing game from “Knights of the Old Republic” developer BioWare. Runners-up: Namco Bandai’s “Eternal Sonata,” a musical RPG starring Frederic Chopin (!); “Project Gotham Racing 4″; and the trivia game “Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action.” WII: The one game every Nintendo fan is waiting for is “Super Mario Galaxy.” Runners-up: “Rayman Raving Rabbids 2,” the sequel to last year’s loopy party game; “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” starring the entire Nintendo roster; and Capcom’s original adventure “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure.”
PLAYSTATION 3: Our favorite interstellar explorers make their PS3 debut with “Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.” Runners-up: “The Eye of Judgment,” a trading-card game, of all things; “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune,” an adventure from “Jak & Daxter” developer Naughty Dog; and Ubisoft’s futuristic shoot-em-up “Haze.”
RETURN OF THE KONG: Seth Gordon’s documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” is the perfect epilogue to a summer in which geeks ruled the box office. (See “Knocked Up,” “Spider-Man 3.”) As an unrepentant geek myself, I’ll try to say this in the nicest possible way: The misfits and weirdoes in this film make the “Superbad” boys look like George Clooney and Brad Pitt. “Kong” tells the story of two men who are battling to claim the world’s highest score in a game of “Donkey Kong.” Billy Mitchell, a cocky, mullet-wearing hot-sauce magnate, had held the record for more than two decades; selfeffacing challenger Steve Wiebe just started playing in earnest after he got fired from his job at Boeing a few years ago. As he follows Wiebe to retro-gaming tournaments, the filmmaker reveals chinks in Mitchell’s armor and discovers an apparent conspiracy to prevent the challenger from receiving the credit he is due. It’s an oddly absorbing, suspenseful and funny movie, but what makes “Kong” poignant is that these men are stressing themselves out over a completely insignificant accomplishment. But even if you have zero interest in “Donkey Kong” and other old-school games, you’re bound to get caught up in the war between Mitchell and Wiebe. “King of Kong” is slowly rolling across the country, so catch it when it comes to your town.
July 2007
LOSING MY RELIGION
A virtual shootout inside a British cathedral led Sony to apologize to the Church of England. The culprit is “Resistance: Fall of Man,” the PlayStation 3 best-seller that finds Earthlings fighting aliens in the U.K. At one point the action spills into a building that resembles Manchester Cathedral in northwest England.
The cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, called the game “highly irresponsible.” Prime Minister Tony Blair said companies like Sony should focus on their wider social responsibilities.
After a weeklong ruckus, Sony finally sent a letter of apology to Govender - even though the company said it disagreed with the notion “that there is any connection between contemporary issues of 21st-century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950s Britain is under attack by aliens.”
SKINS GAME
Nintendo’s bubble doesn’t appear likely to burst anytime soon. According to May sales figures from The NPD Group, the company’s DS and Wii machines continue to lead the hardware race, while “Pokemon Diamond” (for the DS) and “Mario Party 8″ (for the Wii) were the month’s best-selling games.
One of the not-so-secret secrets of Nintendo’s revival has been its effort to appeal to people who don’t normally play video games - like, well, women.
A new title from Konami called “Dream Skincare” is aimed squarely at that audience. The “beauty navigation software” asks questions about such matters as body temperature, exposure to sunlight and hours of sleep, then responds with dietary advice and skin-care tips.
“Dream Skincare” goes on sale in Japan in October, but Konami hasn’t announced any plans to import it to the U.S.
TAKE THAT
Take-Two Interactive, the “Grand Theft Auto” publisher had recently undergone a shareholder coup that ended with the ousters of most of the company’s board of directors, including its chief executive. Two months later, there’s still some upheaval going on, with Take-Two announcing plans to restructure its 2K Games division. The anticipated layoffs at 2K shouldn’t affect the label’s two major 2007 releases, “BioShock” and “The Darkness,” or the 2K Sports line of NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball games.
There were a few more interesting tidbits in the Take-Two report, particular for fans of “GTA” developer Rockstar Games. One was an indication that Rockstar’s forthcoming “L.A. Noire,” a 1940s crime drama, will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The other is a 2008 listing for “Grand Theft Auto IV -Episodic Content” for the Xbox 360. A Take-Two representative confirmed that the bonus material would only be appearing on Xbox Live, which could put a damper on PS3 sales of “GTA IV” when it comes out this October. Reportedly, Microsoft is paying big bucks ($50 million) for the privilege.
May 2007
GONE DADDY GONE
Ken Kutaragi is known as “the father of the PlayStation,” but his youngest offspring, the struggling PlayStation 3, has turned out to be a problem child. The PS3’s woes led Sony to shake up its video-game division in November, and now Kutaragi has announced he’ll be retiring in June.
After June 19, Kutagari will be honorary chairman of the entertainment division and will serve as Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer’s senior technology adviser. Kazuo Hirai, who is now president and chief operating officer of the games division, will take over as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairman and group chief executive. Kutaragi “has been considering this decision for some time,” Sony Computer Entertainment America spokeswoman Kimberly Otzman said, but the PS3’s sluggish sales have undoubtedly accelerated his departure. Sony seems to have dealt with the issues that held up the console’s launch, but now it needs to start delivering compelling, exclusive software that will drive gamers to buy the thing.
WAITING FOR WII
Nintendo still doesn’t have enough hardware to keep everyone happy. Those lines you saw at Best Buy and Target last Sunday were, believe it or not, made up mostly of people who are still trying to buy a Wii nearly six months after its debut.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata apologized and promised that the company was increasing production.
“We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock,” he told reporters in Tokyo. “We have not been able to properly foresee demand.”
The demand has taken just about everyone by surprise. Nintendo has sold 5.84 million Wii consoles worldwide since November, compared with 1.84 million PS3s sold by Sony. Overall, Nintendo’s profits jumped 77 percent in the fiscal year that ended March 31.
ELITE FORCE
Not everyone who was shopping this weekend was looking for a Wii. Some were trying to find the Xbox 360 Elite, which went on sale Sunday. The buzz surrounding the Elite has been fairly low-key; its main features, HDMI output and a bigger hard drive, aren’t so sexy that 360 owners will be compelled to upgrade immediately. Instead, Microsoft has been pitching the sleek black box at gamers who don’t already have a 360. And it remains to be seen how well the $480 Elite will sell. Most of the stores I checked with on launch day told me they were sold out, but it was still easier to find an Elite than a Wii.
TAP DANCING
For a few years now, developers have been talking about the promise of “episodic gaming,” in which serialized adventures would be doled out in short chunks every few months. With the final installment of the six-episode “Sam & Max” online now, Telltale Games and Turner Broadcasting System’s GameTap network have delivered on that promise.
“Sticking to our release dates got people hooked,” said GameTap general manager Stuart Snyder. “The audience kept building every month.” Original titles like “Sam & Max” and “Myst Online: Uru Live” have drawn players to the online service, which now hosts more than 800 classic electronic games.
