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How to promote Battlefield 3 at Gamescom: bring a jet
As an interesting set piece for the Battlefield 3 booth at Gamescom, EA had a jet brought from Berlin to Cologne. Transportation of the MiG-21 cost in the low five-figure range in Euros. Probably still cheaper than the jet fuel cost of flying it the 400 kilometers.
Netherlands' SBS seeking nominal yearly fees to pay for HD broadcasts
No one ever said the spoils of high-definition came free, and no one knows that better than Dutch commercial broadcaster SBS. The outfit is reportedly holding its hand out and covering its face while asking for payments between €2 to €3 per year, per subscriber, from cable operators in order to pay for HD broadcasts. That's according to Eric Eljon, MD of SBS Productions, who hopes to begin high-def simulcasts within a few months should a deal be reached. In The Netherlands today, there is no license fee at all, with the public broadcasting system paid for out of the general budget; additionally, there's currently no way to recoup the massive increase in cost when switching to HD via advertising alone. C'mon, cable carriers / consumers -- just think of the HD starved children.[Thanks, Wouter]
World of Goo-d news for Europe
We love you, 2D Boy. Yes, you, Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler. As if the brilliant, brilliant World of Goo wasn't already enough to make us swoon, the hunky dreamy dynamic duo have done something that bigger companies should do more: they've actually listened to the people who buy their games.Before today, World of Goo was all set to be a retail title in Europe, a decision that brought about a backlash, due to the added expense. Carmel heard the outcry, because he recently told Gamasutra: "We've caught some flak for [the decision]. Gamers were kind of annoyed. Apparently, we had no idea about this, but European gamers often feel like they're getting screwed, because games arrive late and cost more." Too true!So now, World of Goo is coming to WiiWare in Europe also! A post on the 2D Boy blog reveals that it should be coming in December, and for probably the same price (1500 points, and worth every one). And what of the extra sixth chapter that Europe is getting as a consolation prize? We're going to totally speculate that it will be made available as DLC, in which case North America could get the missing section after all. Everybody wins!%Gallery-16000%
World of Goo boxed up in Europe
Europeans can't handle the whole "download" thing. No, they have to have their game all wrapped up in a neat little pack-age! Despite the fact that World Of Goo is to be a WiiWare title in North America, a release list for Nintendo Europe showed the game coming as a full retail version! Speaking to WiiWare World, 2D Boy's Ron Carmel said "Our European publisher, RTL Playtainment, is planning to release both the Wii and PC versions as retail titles." Well, this means 2D Boy has opted to include extra content in the retail version, unavailable in North America and Japan -- though the amount of bonus stuff is still undecided. Find out for sure when the game hits Europe in Q3 2008.%Gallery-16000%
X3F TV -- X3F Impressions: Crash Time demo
Some people might get to play Ninja Gaiden II and talk about it, but then others (I call them the lucky ones) get to put some quality time in with the new arcade racer, Crash Time. Is it just us or did this game just get announced about five seconds after the demo hit Xbox Live Markeplace? We know it wasn't but all we're saying is the demo caught us off guard! So here are our impressions wrapped into yet another new episode of X3F TV. [iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon). [RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [MP4] Download the M4V directly.
Crash Time demo races onto Xbox Live
We'll admit it, upon seeing that there was a demo for Crash Time on Xbox Live Marketplace this morning, it was actually the first time we had even heard of the game. It was made by Synetic, a company we've never heard of. It's based on a German TV series that we've also never heard of. Those things in and of themselves don't really mean much though. What we know is that it has cars and, presumably, said cars will crash. That's two points in the game's favor right there. Three points actually, considering the cars can explode. Wait, it also has a cheesy hard rawk soundtrack. That makes for a potential fourth point. Whether or not it's actually any fun is a quandary we'll leave up to you. Go grab it and tell us what you think.
