Tag Archives | Gaming

Why Mandatory Wii MotionPlus is a Good Thing

Posted by Jared Newman on May 12, 2009 at 2:54 pm

When Nintendo releases the accuracy-boosting Wii MotionPlus peripheral next month, it’s possible that game developers won’t force players to use it, and those that do may consider it a gamble.

I get that impression from recent comments by Jason Vandenberghe, creative director for Red Steel 2. Speaking to Nintendo Power magazine (via Nintendo Dpad) , Vandenberghe said making MotionPlus mandatory for the hack-and-shoot game is “a huge risk,” but there’s no way around it.

“We have no idea what the penetration rate for Wii MotionPlus will be,” he said. “We assume high. We would like it to be high. I would love to say to you that it’ll be compatible with just a regular controller, but the gameplay simply isn’t there without MotionPlus.”

Given the Wii’s 45 million lifetime unit sales, I understand not every game maker wants to limit their product to a subgroup of players, but I always assumed the concept of MotionPlus would reboot the Wii and terminate the era of gimmicky gesture controls. Now, I’m not so sure.

Some game makers will try to have it both ways. Producers for EA’s Grand Slam Tennis, one of the first games to showcase MotionPlus, will also let players use a standard Wii Remote at no disadvantage against players with the peripheral. The intent is good — Wii owners won’t have to spend $20 more on each controller — but it reminds me of the way Mario Kart Wii allows you to use a thumbstick instead of steering the remote. If more accurate motion control isn’t a crucial part of the game, is it really an improvement?

Red Steel 2, meanwhile, will reportedly feature “more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion,” CVG reports. That sounds a lot more interesting than merely replacing static crosshairs with a moving pointer, as previous shooters have done, or relying on a limited set of pre-determined gestures to simulate swordplay.

I’m glad the producers of Red Steel are taking the leap. I hope it works out, and that other game developers follow suit, wholeheartedly.

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Book of Nintendo: Thou Shalt Not Emulate

Posted by Jared Newman on May 8, 2009 at 5:32 pm

intellivisionIf we can all agree that an Intellivision compilation for the Nintendo DSi would have been pretty neat, than we can all mourn together, because it’s not happening.

The reasoning is most peculiar. Nintendo says games from two of its virtual storefronts, WiiWare and DSiWare, must not run under emulation — that is, software that pretends to be hardware, such as an old game console. So while Nintendo will happily let you buy old video games through the Wii’s Virtual Console, it’s not cool for third parties to do the same on their own, at least according to Intellivision rights holder Keith Robinson.

IGN, which broke the story, has already performed the necessary speculation, wondering if this news foreshadows a store for classic games on the DS. With no comment so far from Nintendo, you can’t read into the story any further than that.

Still, this is disappointing given DSiWare’s track record so far. The most recent update to the store consisted of an Animal Crossing-themed clock and calculator, and most of the actual games are derivatives of existing Nintendo DS or Game Boy Advance releases. It’s certainly not the hub of unique indie games that WiiWare has been since launch.

It’s worth noting, as IGN does, that Apple has already approved the compilation, officially dubbed Intellivision Lives!, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I hope Nintendo shifts DSiWare into gear and starts competing.

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Duke Nukem Forever No More?

Posted by Jared Newman on May 6, 2009 at 8:39 pm

duke-nukem-forever-3Shacknews reeled in a monster scoop this evening, reporting that 3D Realms, the development team that has worked on Duke Nukem Forever for 12 years, will shut down. If this is the truth, it could put to rest a legendary example of computer game vaporware.

The story quotes “a very reliable source close to Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms,” but has since confirmed the story with a named 3D Realms employee, publisher Take Two Interactive and spinoff labels Deep Silver and Apogee Software, which will continue to work on the separate Duke Nukem Trilogy for the PSP and Nintendo DS.

When I first heard the news, I imagined three possible scenarios:

1. 3D Realms reveals the news to be a hoax, and announces a ship date for Duke Nukem Forever. And it’s tomorrow.

2. The entire existence of Duke Nukem Forever was a myth created by 3D Realms — or at least a concept that departed from reality many years ago — and the closure will ultimately lead to the truth. (I’ve had my doubts ever since the release date of “when it’s done” emerged)

3. Duke Nukem Forever’s tale of development hell is the honest gospel, and we may finally see some closure, even if it’s not the ideal outcome.

But in the latest update at Shacknews, webmaster Joe Siegler ruled out option number one. “It’s not a marketing thing,” he said. “It’s true. I have nothing further to say at this time.” Take Two said it retains the publishing rights to the game, but does not fund its development, so there’s a path to market if the game somehow gets completed.

Really, though, this is just me blabbering over a bit of gaming news that’s hard to swallow. For all the games and technology layoffs and cutbacks we’ve seen over the last year, Duke Nukem Forever didn’t seem like a target simply because of its persistence. I always thought the perpetual generator of punch lines would be around, forever.

If you want to see what might have been, here’s an old video and a new video. And here’s a great chronology from Shacknews.

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5 Reasons Apple Should Not Get Into Gaming

Posted by Jared Newman on May 6, 2009 at 2:33 pm

800px-pippinfront2When rumors of an Apple takeover of Electronic Arts arose, I steered clear of reporting on it, but it’s hard to ignore Apple’s recent hiring of an Xbox executive and its previous investment in a UK-based chip maker. I can’t help but ponder what the computer and gadget trendsetter might gain from gaming in the first place.

Today, there’s an article from ChannelWeb’s Brian Kraemer on why Apple should get into gaming, arguing that Apple should develop its own game console. After reading Kraemer’s bullet points, I’m not convinced this is a good idea, and here are five reasons why:

1. The Best Ideas Are Already Taken: The notion that Apple can do to video games what it did to music only works if there’s a void in gaming that needs to be filled. While MP3 players were certainly lacking until the iPod came along, most gamers can find what they’re looking for these days. Before the Wii, it might have been a different story.

2. A Console Wouldn’t Play to Apple’s Strengths: Apple is known for creating easy-to-use technology, and while some people need books like Wii for Dummies, the average consumer can figure out how to put a disc in a tray. Beyond that, Apple is renowned for its products’ sleekness and quality materials, but those features don’t have the same cachet in gaming. Fancy-looking set-top boxes won’t impress the ladies.

3. It’s Expensive: Microsoft’s Xbox division endured an entire console cycle, and then some, of financial losses before turning a profit, and I need more than two hands to count the number of companies that have failed at making consoles entirely. With Apple already profiting on the strength of the iPhone, why make such a risky investment?

4. The Field is Too Crowded: When Sega’s hardware division bit the dust and discontinued the Dreamcast in 2001, Microsoft’s Xbox filled the gap, but is a four console market necessary? I don’t think so. If anything, gaming needs fewer consoles so developers won’t have as many headaches trying to port between them all.

5. The iPhone and iPod Touch: This is the biggest reason of all. Apple already has two capable game consoles that are also multimedia and communications devices. Even the most gaming-averse users can try an App or two, and that crossover appeal is exactly why games are already so successful on these gadgets. If Apple indeed plans to advance in gaming, it will be through existing devices that do other things.

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Holding Out Hope for Motion Control

Posted by Jared Newman on May 5, 2009 at 4:36 pm

wiimotionplusWe’re just over a month away from the release of Wii MotionPlus, an attachment to the Wii Remote that adds much-needed precision. Two EA Sports games, Tiger Woods 10 and Grand Slam Tennis, will be the first to show off the new technology, and hopefully they’ll be the antidote to Wii Sports’ heartless wrist flicking.

But an opinion piece by Crave’s Jeff Bakalar, titled “Is MotionPlus too little, too late for Nintendo?” got me thinking. The article brings up a familiar criticism of some Wii games’ tacked-on waggle controls when simple button presses would do and wonders, without a definitive conclusion, whether motion control’s ship has sailed.

For me, at least, accurate swordplay and sports simulation — both ideas that currently exist in half-baked form — still sound like a blast. To answer the core question, though, Nintendo may have missed its opportunity to dominate that experience.

It depends on whether Microsoft and Sony unveil their own motion control devices in the near future. Rumors of motion-tracking camera technology coming to the Xbox 360, which we reported on in February, have surfaced again, and Sony reportedly has its own motion controller in store. Now that everyone’s expected to cough up extra money for a cool gaming peripheral, the playing field is level.

As year after year of dominant Wii sales suggests, the average buyer of Nintendo’s console either didn’t know or didn’t care about the Wii Remote’s lack of accuracy when making the purchase. In more dedicated gaming circles, however, you still hear talk of “1:1” control — that elusive idea of seeing one’s gestures mimicked precisely on screen, no matter how complex. Nintendo may be working with a bigger install base, but I don’t think its customers will be more inclined to pick up a new peripheral than owners of the other two consoles.

Come E3, if motion control comes to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, it’s anybody’s game. Best of all, the competition could inspire some great video games for everyone.

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Pachter: New Consoles in 2013, “If At All”

Posted by Jared Newman on May 1, 2009 at 2:57 pm

wii-360-ps3Remember when Technologizer wildly guessed that the next generation of game consoles would arrive in 2010 and 2011? Michael Pachter, the Wedbush Morgan analyst who routinely makes headlines with his predictions, begs to differ.

His latest newsletter, via Edge, states that the next console cycle won’t begin “before 2013, if at all.” That’s right, Morgan even leaves room for the possibility of an indefinite current-generation.

“We remain convinced that the publishers will resist the introduction of any video game hardware technology that requires a refresh of software, as the publishers have as yet to capitalize on the immense investments made in being competitive in the current cycle,” Pachter writes.

The flaw in this logic is that it’s not a new concept. As a rule, console makers love to cash in on their investments, letting software revenues roll in while hardware costs decline, and yet new consoles have been popping up on a five-year cycle ever since the 8-bit era.

There is, however, a wild card this time, and I’m surprised Pachter doesn’t mention it: Motion control. Nintendo tapped into previously uninterested markets with the Wii, and there’s no shortage of speculation that Sony and Microsoft are looking to get in on that. Rumors regarding a Playstation 3 motion controller have popped up as recently as today, and we’ve previously covered one possibility for the Xbox 360.

It all boils down to whether Sony and Microsoft get into motion control (or some other game-changing concept) in this generation or save it for the next cycle. I won’t predict whether that’s going to happen, but if it does — and if it’s successful — then yes, the next generation is a long way off. Otherwise, I’m sticking with my earlier predictions.

Am I waffling? Sure, but that’s why Pachter gets the big bucks.

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Apple is Headhunting Gaming Executives

Posted by David Worthington on April 30, 2009 at 9:31 pm

The evidence keeps coming that Apple is getting serious about gaming. In just the past week, the company has hired a senior Xbox executive from Microsoft, and earlier this week, a graphics expert from ATI. Apple’s headhunting follows its investment in a graphics chip maker in December.

Today, Gizmodo reported that Apple now employs Richard Teversham, the former senior European director of business, insights and strategy for the Xbox. Bob Drebin, CTO of AMD’s graphics group, and creator of Nintendo GameCube’s graphic chip, joined Apple earlier this week.

In December, Apple took a 3.6% ownership stake in UK-based chip maker Imagination, and licensed its PowerVR graphics technology. PowerVR provides advanced graphics capabilities including OpenGL ES 2.0 support, and shader-based 3D graphics.

iPhone games are becoming more clever, and the platform’s library of titles is increasing day by day. While most next generation iPhone rumors are vague, Apple’s gaming-related investments are transparent. It’ll be fascinating to see what the results are.

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Is Sony's Next PSP a Go!?

Posted by Jared Newman on April 29, 2009 at 10:59 am

pspslimFirst off, that’s not me getting really excited in the headline. It’s just the dilemma you get when a product name comes with its own punctuation. Sigh.

Anyway, 1UP heard from unnamed inside sources that Sony’s next handheld console will ditch the UMD drive and get a spunky new name, likely the PSP Go!, but possibly the PSP Slide or PSP Flip. This story, of course, goes into the rumor pile at least until E3, when Sony will probably show its hand.

But it’s a juicy rumor. We’ve heard rumblings about a new PSP before, most notably from Acclaim COO David Perry, who said with certainty that the next model would lack a physical disc drive. This time, the proximity to E3 and the amount of detail in 1UP’s story lends greater credibility. Besides, the “Go!” name seems to be sticking in other reports around the Web.

The new PSP will reportedly include a choice of 8 GB or 16 GB of flash memory and a sliding screen with the controls hidden underneath. 1UP says the controls will not include a second analog stick as previously speculated, but will instead closely resemble the existing PSP’s combination of D-Pad, analog nub and buttons. If the story pans out, the new model will reach Japan in September and the US a month or two later.

The biggest change, of course, would be the lack of physical media. Recent announcements of download-only games for the PSP were billed as experimental, but perhaps Sony has already made up its mind. If so, its a pretty staggering change when you think about it. Sure, the iPhone’s App Store, et al, are carving out their own downloadable territory, but no major game console has shown the daring to drop hard copy games completely.

There are concerns to be addressed, of course. What would owners of existing PSPs do with their UMDs if they want to upgrade? And how does GameStop feel about this? Would the store carry boxes with download codes, as is planned for the upcoming Patapon 2, or would it somehow sanction Sony for gradually moving customers away from retail?

If only to see how the industry transforms, I hope this story comes to fruition, and that Sony finds success with the new business model. Shelf space only constrains the amount and type of games a console can offer, so perhaps a UMD-free PSP will attract new developers and audiences, and breathe life into the brand.

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Let the E3 Hype Begin!

Posted by Jared Newman on April 28, 2009 at 3:24 pm

e3logoWe’re a little over a month away from the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, and Gamasutra has a nice create-a-story to get everyone excited.

If you ever read video game magazines or Web sites in the late 1990s or the earlier part of this decade, you know how huge E3 was for the industry. What started as a simple trade show for publishers evolved into a spectacle of huge announcements, flashing lights and hardly-dressed “booth babes.” For the last two shows, the Entertainment Software Association cut back considerably, stripping away much of the glamor and allowing press by invitation only. The restructuring didn’t go over well. Some publishers backed out of the second show, and Will Wright said the expo “almost feels like a zombie.”

This year is supposed to be a rebirth, with press registration restored, big announcements saved up and, yes, booth babes. The Entertainment Software Association, in addition to claiming that 150 companies will attend, gathered some hype from the big three console manufacturers for its story at Gamasutra.

The biggest hype comes from Microsoft, whose senior VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business, Don Mattrick, said the company’s presence “will completely transform how people think about home entertainment.”

Nintendo and Sony were slightly less restrained. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said the company promises its “full support” to the show, adding that it’s the place “where creativity is on display, and as a ‘sneak peak’ for our entire industry it helps generate excitement for gamers around the world.”

SCEA president and CEO Jack Tretton simply said that the expo is an “ideal place for us to unveil the latest PlayStation news and products at our press event on June 2.”

Would anyone care to speculate what we’ll see at this year’s show? A streaming video solution for the Playstation 3? A new Mario game? Some new integration between the Xbox 360 and the Zune?

We’ll find out in June. (Shameless plug: I’ll be there to cover the show, so feel free to get your live coverage here.)

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