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THQ CEO: Move & Natal games shouldn't be ports
During an earnings conference call today, THQ CEO Brian Farrell told investors and press not to expect the publisher to release ports of its existing games for Project Natal or PlayStation Move. "What you will not see is porting of games to Natal, or I don't think you should see that," he said. "I think they should be specific, standalone game experiences that exploit that very new and significant technology. And the Move is the same way: You've got to do something unique and not just an add-on with respect to that platform." Later in the call, however, Farrell did not entirely rule out ports of Wii games for PlayStation Move. When asked about the possibility of "Moving" games like De Blob (future iterations of which have been confirmed as multiplatform), Farrell said that THQ would "take advantage where we can in terms of development environments [and] take advantage of technology we already have," though he noted that because of the HD capabilities of the Xbox 360 and PS3, "just porting over those assets doesn't work." We'll see what THQ is developing with the new technologies next month, as Farrell said, "you'll like what we show at E3." Even without porting, Farrell said that development costs for Natal and Move games were lower than on traditional games, "because, again, it's not about the technology, but it's about the gameplay." The big draw for Natal titles, he said, is the "interaction with digital objects." Farrell even alluded to passing the savings on to the consumer, rather than defaulting to a $60 retail price for future HD motion games published by THQ. He said that the company is "still deliberating internally on that" and "may not even announce those launch prices until much closer to the launch" of the games.
Pioneer VSX-1020-K AV receiver with iPhone app up for pre-order
In the market for AV gear that "Works with iPhone?" Looks like Pioneer's trusty old VSX-1019AH (with its built-in iPod dock) just got a formidable ally in the form of the VSX-1020-K. This bad boy not only packs in the features you expect from an AV receiver (including connections for HD video, HD audio, wireless and analog components, 1080p video conversion and upscaling, support for 3D video and more) but the company throws in a free custom iPhone / iPod touch app for exploring your inner audiophile -- and getting your room to sound just so in the process. Up for pre-order now at Amazon for $549. Screenshots and further details after the break.
Phoenix Wright, Hexen II coming to the iPhone
Good news for fans of good games: the terrific DS courtroom simulator (which, trust me, sounds much less fun than it actually is) Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney is coming to the iPhone, and Slide to Play has posted some hands-on video. The game takes the two DS screens and stacks them on top of each other rather than converting the game into a landscape version, so it's basically a straight port of the DS game. It'd be interesting to see a more iPhone-specific version of the game (maybe something that uses the camera or the accelerometer to show off evidence in the courtroom), but we'll take just the port, too -- if you haven't played any of the Phoenix Wright games but enjoy a good adventure yarn, you're in for a treat. The game should be out "soon." Hexen II is on its way to the iPhone as well, and Touch Arcade has a few screens and video of that one. I was much more of a Quake fan, but Hexen, with its medieval setting and RPG elements placed in the same game engine, had its share of followers back in the day, too. Unfortunately, Vimov doesn't yet have the rights to Hexen II -- they're just working with an open-sourced version of the engine. To actually release the data on the App Store, they'll need to make a deal with Activision, so we'll have to wait and see if that can happen before you can start hacking and slashing through the world of the Serpent Riders again.
Apple's Mini DisplayPort gets VESA stamp of approval
We already knew that Apple's homegrown Mini DisplayPort connector was being baked into the DisplayPort 1.2 specifications, but now said socket has even more validity in the marketplace thanks to a ringing endorsement from the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). As of now, the diminutive connector has managed to comply with all of the signaling and protocol capabilities defined in the DisplayPort Standard Version 1, Revision 1a, and we're told that DisplayPort 1.2 -- which incorporates mDP and doubles available bandwidth to 21.6Gb/second -- is nearing finalization. Looks like we can finally look forward to seeing products take advantage of this socket aside from those Designed In California (and copied shamelessly in the outskirts of Shenzhen).
iPhone plays Doom, but what about Doom 3?
id Software's John Carmack estimates that the iPhone version of iconic first-person shooter Doom took "maybe six weeks of serious work" to come together. Borrowing time -- and an artist -- the prolific programmer managed to assemble a port that, according to a recent VentureBeat interview, "plays great on every iPod Touch and iPhone ever made." But what if he focused effort on the iPhone 3GS, the latest and more powerful variant of Apple's killer app-platform? "I think we could do the real Xbox Doom 3 game on a 3GS if we targeted it exclusively," Carmack notes. "That is pushing it a bit. You could probably get that kind of visual fidelity." And here we thought portable devices were only good for recording spooky audio logs and unlocking doors within exploding barrel research laboratories.
Rumor: Capcom adapting next-gen MT Framework for Wii
We're marking this as a rumor due to the third-hand nature of it: Andriasang summarized an article on Inside-Games about a Nikkei Industrial article (phew), which states that Capcom is working on bringing an engine designed for PS3 and Xbox 360 to Wii, to save time and money. This is likely the MT Framework that drives the majority of Capcom's works including the Lost Planet series and Resident Evil 5. Nikkei reports that simultaneous development of games across the platforms could cut 1/5 off of Capcom's development costs, and 1/3 off development time. The inclusion of those stats makes it seem like Capcom is eyeing simultaneous development of 360, PS3, and Wii games rather than Wii ports. That approach should end in better results than the "hand the game to TOSE and forget about it" approach.
Piracy discourages future PixelJunk PSP port plans
Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert has suggested that rampant piracy of his studio's optimized PSP port, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (PJMD), has deterred its plans for further PSP development. "I don't think we'll port anything else to the PSP, we have to see how PJMD does as there's a *lot* of piracy," Cuthbert tweeted over the weekend. Perhaps constrained by character limitations or simply caught up in another Uncharted 2 sesh, Cuthbert did not cite piracy estimates -- nor sales figures, for that matter. He did, however, confirm a demo is in the works; "but I don't think it makes any difference to piracy," Cuthbert lamented.Cuthbert added in a follow-up tweet, "because Monsters is such a good fit it is being pirated I think," and then he responded to a suggestion to incorporate anti-piracy measures into the game code with: "unfortunately the pirates could just hack those kinds of things out." While the PSP Go has yet to be fully unlocked by would-be pirates and download-only PSN titles seem to be well protected from piracy, PJMD is available on UMD (in Japan and the greater Asia region), which has no doubt lead to the distribution of pirated versions of the game.While it's somewhat naive of Q-Games to not have anticipated a piracy issue, it's no less disheartening. The PSP has long suffered from a lack of consistent third-party support because of a history of sales losses due to piracy. Q-Games is just the latest developer hesitant to commit further resources to supporting the PSP platform, and without the release of an impossibility firm firmware, it won't be the last.Update: Cuthbert reemphasizes that PJMD sales will be the key determining factor that drives Q-Games' future in PSP development. Cuthbert's studio has not definitely dropped PSP development, but ostensibly low sales over the first three weeks of PJMD availability have Q-Games in some doubt about pursuing further PSP projects. Of course, a sales spike could certainly change that attitude.[Via Examiner; thanks, Marcus N.]
US free-to-play MMO market oversaturated?
With new free-to-play titles, like Earth Eternal, in development while other titles are being ported over from Asia to the US at a rapid-fire rate, the question of oversaturation is being spread amongst the lips of the industry. Are we looking at a market too filled with low-budget free to play titles?The answer is yes, if you're speaking with Reality Gap's J. Mark Hood, co-founder of the company specializing in free-to-play MMOs. Thanks to a AAA game market mostly locked down by the immense budgets of Blizzard and EA, the small developers turn to the F2P market as a place to compete. However, the market is now crowded with all sorts of titles not only developed here, but also many titles ported from Asia.The Asian titles, however, don't seem to strike the same chords here as they do in Asia. Our market is more focused on gameplay, while theirs can be focused on a number of other different options."Things that are more important here are actually how the game plays, getting yourself more advancement and skill," Hood said to Gamasutra. "So, it is really different."For Hood's full comments, check out both his thoughts on free-to-play MMOs and the entire Gamasutra interview.
Call of Duty for the iPhone will track your World at War kills
Activision has released Call of Duty for the iPhone... but don't get too excited, it's not exactly what you think. The first-person shooter hasn't quite been ported yet. Instead, they've released a "Call of Duty: World at War companion," which instead lets you track the activity on the popular World War II shooter game. You can track all of your ingame stats, and even follow your friends in the game and what they've done with their characters as well. And the app also comes with a news browser, to keep you up to date on the latest map releases and updates with the game. It's completely free, though you of course need a Call of Duty: World of War game for Xbox 360 or Playstation to actually get anything out of it.In that sense, this app isn't quite so notable for what it is (World at War wasn't nearly as popular as Call of Duty 4, and this app is specifically about Treyarch's game), as what it portends: with Blizzard releasing their Armory app and a few other game companies releasing "companion" apps like this, we could be in for a very interesting holiday videogame season this year. Ports or translations of games don't do much to sell copies of the real games (as they tend to be either too similar or too different to the parent games), but "companions" like this can represent added functionality, and thus can do a lot to help and promote games on other platforms (imagine a Halo ODST app that sent you a push notification when your friend was playing or got a higher XP score than you did). This is far from the last we'll see of "companion" apps like this.
The Daily Grind: Teleportation/flights versus other travel
The trend with online games has been to loosen up on some of the more hardcore traditions of previous generations. The endless grinding of older MMOs is nowhere near as prevalent as before, with full quest progression offered in many current titles. Another area that's seen a change is the way we travel around our online worlds. In the early days of EverQuest if you didn't have a friend to port you, you might have walked through countless massive and often highly dangerous zones to get to a boat, then actually sit through a whole boat ride (don't go AFK and forget to disembark, or you'll do the trip twice!), simply to travel to another continent. These days you've probably set up a bind point in a central location, with easy access to flights or ports. EverQuest itself later introduced a hub zone that offered free ports. A game like Free Realms even allows players to just click on any major area on the map to instantly teleport. This ease of access has its benefits -- it undoubtedly saves time and boring repeat journeys. But is there something to be said for the lost immersion that was once had when traveling the world on foot, learning the geographical features and absorbing the environments? Does it take away from the scale of the world for you? Give us your thoughts on travel in MMOs in the comments section.
Why do publishers import so many older MMOs?
Richard Aihoshi posed this question over at MMORPG.com in his most-recent article entitled "Richard Aihoshi's Free Zone: Why Publishers Import Older MMOs". The curiosity stems from the fact that we're beginning to see many more MMOs that are simply imported and localized for a western audience, rather than publishers taking that risk to create an entirely new IP. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, we can't help but wonder if it is in fact easier, and if easier is better.In Richard's article, he interviews Gamepot's Thomas Lee about their recent launch of the western version of The Legend of Mir 2. Thomas has some interesting insight into the typical business model of these imports that caught our attention, "I don't think people will play something just because it's free. It has to be fun; otherwise it's eventually going to fall on its face." Thomas goes on to discuss that common point that clearly defines the MMO mania happening with eastern MMOs and how they're perceived in the western world, "Sure, four million registered players would be nice. However, I'll take a few hundred thousand loyal, happy players any day."Check out the complete article for more from Thomas Lee and Richard Aihoshi on the wave of older eastern imports to hit western shores.
Konami pitches Power Pro franchise to iPhone
Click image to dust off more screens Konami's long-running Power Pro series (known as Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū in Japan) has hit the iPhone. Known for its implementation of light RPG elements and memorable character style, it's one of Japan's longest-running gaming series, and for $3.99, you can now have that experience on your iPhone or iPod Touch.This version features six different teams to choose from and offers a variety of ways to customize the baseball experience. Players can alter variables such as the number of innings played in each game, as well as how many games will comprise the season. Slide into our gallery below to check out some screens.Download Power Pros Touch for the iPhone/iPod Touch ($3.99) %Gallery-68112%
Android x86 LiveCD now available, lets you run Android on your desktop
Sure, the whole world and Steve Ballmer might be buzzing about Chrome OS, but a dedicated duo of hackers has been hard at work porting Google's other operating system to x86, and they've just released an .02 version of their Android LiveCD build. That means you're now free to boot and run the 'droid from your optical drive, install it in a virtual machine, install it for real on your old laptop, whatever -- just don't get upset if it bugs out on you. Anyone gonna do some 'sploring?[Via DownloadSquad]
HDMI 1.4 officially detailed: Ethernet / Audio Return channels, 3D, 4K x 2K support
We already heard that HDMI 1.4 was just around the bend, and now HDMI Licensing has come forward with all of the official details surrounding the specification. Unfortunately for AV enthusiasts, it seems as if we're taking two steps forward and three back, and we get this sinking feeling that HDMI 1.5 will be here before we know it. At any rate, the main additions to the format are an Ethernet channel, audio return channel, 3D over HDMI, 4K x 2K resolution support, a micro HDMI connector (around half the size of the existing HDMI Mini plug) and an automotive connection system. All fine and good, right? Sure, until you get to the part about having to choose between five different HDMI 1.4 cables, something that the suits at Monster just had to have a hand in. For a detailed look at what you'll need to study up on before buying your next HDMI cable, clinch your fists and hit the read link.
HDMI 1.4 brings internet sharing, dreadful tiers of quality
Okay, so there's good news and bad news. Given that we just love to tease, we'll start you off with the positives. HDMI 1.4 was just revealed, bringing with it an HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC) that enables data transfers of up to 100 Mbps between supported connected devices. Put simply, this could allow a "broadband-connected television using its HEC-enabled HDMI port to provide internet connection sharing with another HEC-enabled device such as a game console or DVR." Furthermore, the spec's Audio Return Channel (ARC) enables broadcast audio to be easily streamed back to an external amplifier, and the Automatic Content Enhancement (ACE) provides support for "future 3D video standards, increased resolution support (up to 4,096 x 2,160 pixels at up to 30Hz), and content recognition that promises to automatically optimize the TV's picture settings based on content type."The bad news? HEC will only work with new HDMI 1.4 spec cables, and those will be graded into two separate levels of performance: low- and high-data rate. We needn't describe to you what kind of ball Monster Cable is going to have with that one, but even outside of that, we're baffled by the decision to add one more complexity to a cable that should seriously be doing everything in its power to not be overshadowed by DisplayPort. At any rate, we're told that Silicon Image is hoping to ship chip samples to manufacturers in Q2 2009, while HDMI 1.4-enabled products could arrive as early as next year. We aren't holding our breath, but we'll gladly eat crow if need be.
Radical job listings might hint at Wii Prototype port
We're doing our best not to let our imaginations run away with this, so here are the facts: As superannuation recently noticed, Radical Entertainment is looking for a Wii designer with an "affinity for 3rd Person 'Open-World' Camera Design/Functionality" and a Wii programmer to "take game features from concept to execution for a port of a 360/PS3 game to the Wii."Now, we'd like to think that this is an indication that Radical's bringing upcoming open-world action game, Prototype, to the Wii. Considering the company's track record, however, there's every chance that this is for another Crash game. Less depressingly, the listing could also be recruiting for an unconfirmed Spider-Man game. Not as juicy as Prototype, but hey, at least it's not Crash. What are you hoping for?Source -- Senior Wii Programmer (Systems & Rendering)Source -- Wii Gameplay Designer
Netgear's MoCA coax-ethernet adapter kit now available, explained with bizarre cartoon
Netgear's coaxial-hijacking adapter kit MCAB1001 MoCA is now available. The pair of devices, which turns your cable outlets into a home networking solution with transfer speeds up to 270 Mbps, is retailing on the company's online shop for a penny under $190, and if you'd like to watch an infomercial on how it works, chock full of oddly-chosen metaphors and trippy visuals, we've got the perfect read link for you just below.Read - Product pageRead - "MoCA in a Nutshell" video
Atlona teams with Wisair for wireless USB to HDMI adapter
Wait a second -- isn't wireless USB, um, deceased? Regardless of what pundits and the industry at large have said (via words, actions, or otherwise), Wisair is absolutely refusing to give up the dream. To that end, the firm has teamed with peripheral mainstay Atlona in order to develop and produce a wireless USB to HDMI adapter. Much like the wired AT-HDPiX, the May-bound AT-HDAiR enables users to connect any USB-enabled computer to any HDTV or projector via VGA or HDMI. The difference? This one works sans extra cabling. The range here is 30 feet, though you can only expect footage to stream through at up to 720p (or 1,440 x 1,200). At least the price tag is just $199, which sure beats some of the obviously more capable options with WHDI chips within.
Pirates to get more RvR love from Flying Lab Software
Pirates are always the underdogs in MMOs, aren't they? That seems to be the case in Pirates of the Burning Sea, where the Pirate nation has been at a disadvantage with the game's Conquest system. While their ports can't be controlled (permanently) by another nation, they're likewise unable to keep the ports they conquer. The latest devlog from Flying Lab's Lum is titled Pirates and Conquest and addresses this disparity between the Pirate nation and all other nations in the game. One solution they plan to implement is increasing the four points that Pirates gain by capturing a port to five. Lum explains, "Currently, Pirates get four points every time they Raid a port, while Nationals get 10. This means that for a Pirate to keep pace with Nationals, they have to win three port battles in order to get the same amount of points. Since every nation can only attack three ports at a time, this means that Pirates would always have to have their maximum amount of attacking ports at all times, and then they have to win all of those battles." Ouch. However, by increasing their capture points to five, Pirates will only have to win two battles and won't need to maintain constant port attacks to stay on par with other nations.
Atlona's AT-LINE-PRO3 video scaler goes to 11
Bringing things in line with last year's AT-LINE-EX 10-input video scaler, Atlona Technologies has one-upped itself with the 11-input AT-LINE-PRO3. Really more of an update to the measly five inputs on the AT-LINE-PRO2, the new model brings the "PRO" series more in line with the "EX" one. The back of the unit is encrusted with inputs: 2 composite, 2 component, 1 VGA, 1 DVI-I, 4 HDMI and even a lonely S-Video, each of which can be scaled up to 1080p and sent to the pair of mirrored HDMI outputs. Definitely a piece of gear with a more commercial kind of appeal, but it's always better to have more inputs than you need as opposed to fewer, right? Ships this month for $699.
