Majed Athab

Gaming By Majed Athab

64K signature petition delays German govt's game-banning bill

There has been a string of unrest in Germany over violence in video games as of late, which is why the government there is working on a bill to ban violent games from the country. While the man in the Bundestag has plans of censorship, German gamers are fighting back with a petition. And not just any old petition, mind you; the one already submitted contains 64,824 signatures, which means there's enough cause (by German law) for the government to open a public hearing. In specifics, the government is looking to ban any software "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or un-human acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." Basically, kiss all those lovely shooters goodbye -- that is, if the delay spurred by the petition won't change the government's mind. Considering Germany is a place that enjoys the sound of the banhammer falling (examples: coked up Red Bull, genetically modified corn products and even 26 years of its own history have all been outlawed), there's no guarantee the bill will be deterred. In fact, the source Gamezine notes Germany passed the internet censorship bill (which was a similar case that had double the petitioners) earlier this year. [Via Game Politics]

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Buying Guides

Buying Guides By Majed Athab

Steam deals: Up to 50% off family-friendly titles

Dude, we're telling you, this is the perfect time to start collecting the Nancy Drew titles. Steam has tons of family-friendly games on sale with up to 50% slashed off the regular price. It doesn't take a young, amateur detective to see the deal in this one.Seriously though, if you've got a kid who loves PC games or just have a hankering for some simple time-wasters, then you might want to have a look. Jump right in here for the sale.

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Gaming By Majed Athab

ECA president encourages action against negative gaming stereotypes

Let's take a step back from all the hard hitting news for just a moment and listen to some conventional wisdom from Hal Halpin -- ECA president and certified defender of gamers everywhere. Over at IndustryGamers, Halpin wrote a touching (and personal) editorial piece about the perception of gamers, the perpetual stigmas we (all of us gamers) allow to be placed on us and what we should do about it.Essentially, the article tells gamers not to just sit idly when being slapped with negative stereotypes. Our cherished culture is just a bit misunderstood, but it's up to you to make others understand it -- define it for them. So ... get off your fat lazy asses, read Halpin's editorial, and keep in mind the next time someone slurs you because you're a gamer.[Thanks, Jack!]

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Xbox

Xbox By Majed Athab

PaRappa creator raps about Natal's musical possibilities

Masaya Matsuura (creator of PaRappa the Rapper and Major Minor's Majestic March) says he and his posse over at NanaOn-Sha are interested in making a music game for Microsoft's Project Natal. "We are thinking about ideas," said Matsuura to Videogamer.com at the UK Develop Conference. " I think any kind of interaction with a camera will be good for music games, but the important thing will be how we can find the new breed of gameplay."Matsuura thinks he can create something fresh -- something other than the rock genre, which he points out Guitar Hero and Rock Band cover quite well. Instead, he thinks there's room to grow for other sounds: "There is other attractive music, so please try to find another style, another interaction, another gameplay with another type of music." Activision is breaking out with DJ Hero. So, what could Matsuura work on? Wait a minute... breaking. How about a pure break dance title? Baraver the Breakdancing Beaver? No?

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Games are making more money than all other electronics in Japan

It's a bit surprising to hear positive news regarding Japan's game industry -- in light of the general negative atmosphere that surrounds it. While some reports focus on the perpetual shrinking of the Japanese market, other reports, such as the latest from analysts Eurotechnology Japan KK, point out that the industry is doing much better than other electronic goods in this current economic climate.Pitting the combined net annual income of the top nine gaming companies against the top 19 electronics companies, Eurotech Japan has found out that games have provided a more stable stream of revenue. Looking at the chart above, it would appear the global recession hasn't affected gaming as it has other electronics industries (giving more credence to the recession proof theory). Although, the chart also seems to indicate, in contrary to previous reports, that Japan's game industry isn't in decline but is rather in stagnation. Does that then mean if there was no recession, we'd be seeing healthier growth? Or does being "recession proof" also work in reverse? [Via Cnet]

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Gaming By Majed Athab

UFC president confirms war with EA, blacklisting fighters

UFC President Dana White threw off the gloves at Saturday's UFC 100 event, making heated comments about Electronic Arts and its upcoming title, MMA. White stated that he was literally "at war" with the game company and confirmed the rumored plan to ban/blacklist fighters from UFC if they choose to make appearances in EA's new game.White's anger toward EA stems from accusations that the gaming giant was originally "disgusted" with the thought of making a mixed martial arts title. Said White to MMAJunkie.com: "EA Sports told us, you're not a real sport. We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this." According to White, EA's reversal and attempt at an MMA game is a huge slap in his face and to the fans. "You know what the difference is?" White rhetorically asked. "I'm in the mixed martial arts business. EA isn't. EA doesn't give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear." It sounds to us like UFC 101 will get an extra match on the card. EA's John Riccitiello versus UFC's Dana White. We'd pay top dollar for that.[Via Kotaku]

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Games accounted for one fourth of HMV's sales last year

British-based retailer HMV is happy to report it has made over £1.95 billion ($3.21 billion) in sales last year (ending April 25, 2009), making an easy profit of £63 million ($103 million). HMV saw profits rise 4.4%, up from £56.6 million ($93.1 million) in the previous year. Gaming, GamesIndustry.biz notes, played a big part in boosting the retailer's overall figures, thanks to the introduction of used games sales -- which is a tactic that has become quite popular as of late.24% of all HMV's sales in the UK & Ireland were accounted to video games. This number is an increase of 4% over the previous year and also raises HMV's market share for gaming by 0.4%. HMV International also saw 12% of its total sales go to gaming and related technologies. Overall, it seems HMV is pleased with how its new strategy with gaming is panning out. If this keeps up, the HMV logo change we've discussed before just might happen for real.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

Pachter: PlayStation software sales will account for 31% of all games sold worldwide in 2009

Although Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter, predicts PS2 will become somewhat irrelevant in 2009, he doesn't discount the combined strength of the PlayStation brand. He remains optimistic for the entire PlayStation family as he expects "software sales for Sony consoles to account for 31% of all game software sold worldwide."Pachter indicated in Wedbush's annual Interactive Industry Report that, while the numbers have been dwindling for PS2, overall worldwide software sales for PS3 titles have more than doubled within the last year. In 2008, 62.4 million units of PS3 software titles have been sold -- a huge step up from the 29.6 million units sold in 2007. The momentum of this growth will carry into 2009, according to Pachter, who believes PS3 and PSP titles (the latter of which only saw a 15% increase in worldwide sales last year) will pick up PS2's slack. PS3 titles will be the top sellers, despite the fact that Pachter predicts Sony won't "secure significant third party exclusivity" as it continues "to focus its internal development efforts on blockbuster games." It's interesting to note, in light of another report, this strategy hasn't really worked out for Sony.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

Analysis: GameSetWatch looks at the strength of SCEA IP

It's no surprise that the PS3 is seeing a great amount of support with a strong lineup of original first-party titles, but some see this strategy as a problem that might actually be hurting the PS3, not helping it. According to an in-depth piece over at GameSetWatch, Sony's strategy for the PS3 over-emphasizes new properties and its first-party titles as system sellers, but is ultimately not doing enough to pull in consumers when compared to the other consoles. Look at the chart above and compare SCEA-published titles to the exclusives for other consoles like Halo 3 (which sold more than 4.8 million copies in its first year) and Mario Kart Wii (which has sold over 6 million units). Cleary, SCEA isn't anywhere near Nintendo's or Microsoft's numbers (all figures excluding bundle sales), but why can't SCEA games achieve that sort of level of sales? GSW points out it's mainly because of Sony's focus on risky new IP instead of safe bets (like sequels), noting third-party franchises like Call of Duty: World at War (1.1 million), Grand Theft Auto IV (1.7 million) and Metal Gear Solid 4 (1.1 million) have all sold better. It's all a rather interesting interpretation of the NPD sales data, and there's even further analysis to be read over at GameSetWatch. Head over there for the full read.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

PS3 Serious Sam HD could happen if consumers want it

Speaking to G4, Croteam CEO Roman Ribaric said the company originally also wanted to do a PSN version of Serious Sam HD alongside the PC and XBLA releases, but cited time constraints as the major factor holding it back. "[We] couldn't get additional financing to support [the] extra development time needed," said Ribaric. "It was either to do PSN by the same date or forget about it." Luckily, Croteam hasn't gone with the latter and hasn't completely ruled out releasing a PSN port sometime after the PC and XBLA versions. The Croteam CEO says he's heard from different offices in the industry that consumers are disenchanted with late ports; however, he's still interested in listening to what PS3 owners think. Is it worthwhile for Croteam to pursue? Would you wait for the PSN version? Send Croteam an e-mail or maybe start a petition online -- this might be one of the few times developers will actually listen.%Poll-31422%

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Half-Minute Hero was based off a side project Flash game

Half-Minute Hero wasn't always meant to be a commercial title; it was originally just an ordinary flash game until producer Kenichiro Takaki saw its potential. Takaki, along with the game's director Kotaro Yoshida, explained in the latest issue of Famitsu PSP+PS3 (via PSP Hyper) that Half-Minute Hero was inspired by some of Yoshida's work he had done during his spare time, specifically a Flash game that only took him a day to make. Takaki was amused with the concept and pitched the idea of making a retro game for PSP, liking the fast-paced gameplay and old-school art style most of all. From there, the rest was history. If you've yet to see Half-Minute Hero, be sure to check out our gameplay clips. We instantly fell in love with it and we think you just might, too.

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News

News By Majed Athab

Iranian government blocking all online activity except gaming

The internet has played a big part in the drama of Iran's recent presidential elections, disseminating information about the re-election of controversial leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faster than most major news outlets. Fearful of this powerful resource fueling further unrest, the Iranian government has cut off all online activity -- all but gaming.Apparently, Ahmadinejad's government is not afraid of protesters communicating via World of Warcraft to plan the next protest rally, as noted by Security to the Core and GamePolitics. Also, Ahmadinejad has not yet downloaded Prince of Persia's Epilogue and is just dying to know how it all ends.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

Sony: Downloadable PSP titles will average around 700MB

As PlayStation Portable morphs into the all-digital PSP Go system, many consumers might be wondering just how much space they will need to set aside for each future downloadable title. Sony representative Al de Leon spoke to Joystiq recently at an event in NYC about the storage issue, saying most titles will average around "600-800MB in size." This means, de Leon further added, that the PSP Go's 16GB capacity -- without any additional memory unit -- could hold up to an "average of 17-18 games." Considering the Go can handle an extra 16GB of M2 storage, the number of games could easily be doubled.Although 700MB is the point we should be expecting most games to gravitate towards, there will still be other titles that will be far below this mark or even way above it. Smaller scale titles like Patapon 2 (which is less than 400MB) for example, could take as little as half the average footprint. Others, like the recently released PSOne classic Final Fantasy VII (takes up 1.3GB), could be nearly double this number.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

Bethesda says first Fallout 3 PS3 DLC almost done

Bethesda has already released several DLC packages on other platforms hosting its post-apocalyptic RPG, Fallout 3, but not yet on PS3. Bethesda's Peter Hines, speaking to Eurogamer, says this will all change very soon as the company is nearly done coding Operation: Anchorage for PS3 usage. Unfortunately, Hines did not reveal a specific release date for the DLC.It's interesting to note that, while Xbox 360 and PC owners have already enjoyed Operation: Anchorage and other such DLC, these DLC packs have encountered numerous problems in the past. Hopefully, these issues will not arise again in the PS3 versions, given the extra amount of time put into them.%Gallery-39191%

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Gaming By Majed Athab

More Monster Hunter bundles hit Japan

Perhaps there's no real point to releasing these new bundled sets, considering just about every person in Japan already has a copy of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (aka Freedom Unite). If, by some off chance, they don't have one (or even a PSP), then, sure, this looks like a pretty good way of getting into the addicting craze. The new bundles, which include either a radiant red or vibrant blue PSP Brite (both with a copy of Freedom Unite packaged inside), will hit Japanese retailers on July 23 for ¥21,000 ($220).These carnival color PSPs seen in the bundles are not all-new; they've been available in Asia for some time now. Technically, a customer could pick up both a copy of the game and either PSP color (or another) right now, get the same value as next month's bundle and only spend a trivial sum more. Also, it's not as intricate and wonderful as the one that appeared at launch. Why'd SCEI even bother?

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Sonic turns 18 tomorrow, Sega giving you all his presents

It's Sonic's birthday tomorrow. He's turning 18 and leaving the awkwardness of puberty behind to become an adult hedgehog. To celebrate this special time in every blue speed-demon's life, Sega is going to hold a bash and give away many Sonic-related gifts to all of his fans. On Tuesday, June 23 (that's tomorrow), keep your eyes glued to both @sonicgames on Twitter and Sonic on Facebook for a chance to win any one of the 15 prize packs up for grabs (see after the break for deets). All prizes are available to win worldwide -- there's no silly regional restrictions it would seem (except for Quebec because you're too good for foreign goods*). The Sega Blognik has the full rules on how (and when) to enter the contests, so make sure you hit that up.*Not an actual restriction

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Gamestop: Digital distribution not a threat for another five years

According to Gamestop's Sterne Agee analyst, Arvind Bhatia, retailers have nothing to fear from digital distribution -- not for the next five years, anyhow. Speaking to Industrygamers, Bhatia disclosed that Gamestop management has been conducting thorough studies on the capabilities of digital downloads and its potential adoption for several years now and that the findings are still in favor of brick-and-mortar establishments. Bhatia predicts that a market for downloadable titles won't put serious pressure on retailers until 2014, which he proclaims will be a time when "25% of the population" will have easy access to download technology and when price and storage capacity won't be such a concern. Although Gamestop's study might sound like it's trying to combat digital distribution, Bhatia states it's not about competition but more on adaptation and learning how to profit from the changing distribution channels. We can already see retailers taking a slice, stocking network prepaid cards in stores and offering DLC and full game codes stuffed inside retail boxes. If this is how digital distribution is already affecting retailers, how much moreso in 2014?

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Castle Crashers reached one million players today

The developers of Castle Crashers must have been ecstatic when its XBLA baby grew to house over 900,000 users last month, but this probably doesn't compare to the excitement felt today. At 12:57pm, The Behemoth diligently verified via its Leaderboard numbers that its behemoth of a game has broken the seven-digit barrier, becoming host to exactly 1 million players.Castle Crashers has reached this momentous milestone rather quickly, having been out on the market for only 10 months (hey, that's an average of 100,000 new players a month) and to celebrate, The Behemoth gave away a set of uber-fantastic stuff. If you signed up previously, you could've won a bag of prizes which included a custom Castle Crashers Xbox 360 Elite. Congrats to whoever won, and to The Behemoth!

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Majed Athab

Here's an early look at StarCraft II's battle report 3

Another StarCraft II battle report just hit the interwebs. This one is out a little early, as you won't find it anywhere on the official site just yet. Blizzard's third battle report (as obtained by Gamez.nl) shows off some new units, a new map called Scrap Yard and also features over 17 minutes of Zerg vs. Protoss action. While 17 minutes may not be enough to completely satiate a decade-long deficit of StarCraft goodness, it sure does leave us smiling and gets us excited about playing it later this year. Get briefed on the full battle report right after the break.[Via Incgamers]

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Xbox

Xbox By Majed Athab

Metal Slug 7 ain't shooting up XBLA until 2010

Metal Slug 7 on XBLA was originally slated as a 2009 title; however, the latest reports say it'll be pushed back to 2010. Speaking to Siliconera, Ignition Entertainment's acquisitions manager, Robert Macchiaverna, says the side-scrolling shmup won't make it out this year."It is still happening," said Macchiaverna. "But, I believe that's scheduled to be a 2010 title." Instead, Ignition will be working on The King of Fighters Ultimate Match '98. On the bright side, you can play Metal Slug 7 right now ... just, unfortunately, not on your 360.

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Gaming consoles lead in web-to-TV streaming

In-Stat, a market analysis group, published a report this week which takes a look at how online video-to-television streaming is putting pressure on traditional cable providers and will eventually restructure "today's video distribution ecosystem." As noted by In-Stat, gaming consoles are at the forefront of this new direction, leading in web-based video streaming and beating other devices like digital media adapters, set top boxes (Apple TV), Blu-ray players, web-connected HDTVs and even PC media-centers. Indeed, current gen consoles hold many advantages over the competition, seeing as they're relatively inexpensive and serve multiple purposes. The Xbox 360 has supported Netflix streaming since late last year, and both PS3 and Wii feature internet browsers (additionally, the PS3 allows for YouTube uploads on some software). In-Stat claims 29% of US console owners between the ages of 25 and 34 currently use their consoles to stream video to their televisions. In-Stat expects consoles to stay as the top device for at least the next five years. As long as people know they can still stream pr0n on their consoles, we're sure it will.[Via Gamespot]

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Gaming By Majed Athab

MAG dev diary takes a look into the Shadow War

By now, you must have heard about MAG -- an ambitious 256-player online shooter. We've seen it in action and have even tried it out for ourselves, but what's it all about, and what's this Shadow War we keep hearing of? Luckily, this developer video diary (posted after the break) gives us a look into the storyline of MAG and its fictional Shadow War backdrop and answers all those questions.We get a closer look at the maps, weapons and characters seen in the game, while Zipper details the various PMC groups vying for power in the Shadow War. The clip also shows off some all-new gameplay footage, so make sure you don't miss it.

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Gaming By Majed Athab

Majesco revenues up 60% for second quarter (Thanks, Jillian Michaels, Cooking Mama ... again)

Majesco announced gloated yesterday about its earnings for the second quarter of 2009 (ending April 30, 2009). The company reported net revenues increased 60.8% to $20.5 million over the $12.8 million earned in the same period last year. Majesco attributes the massive increase of revenue to strong software sales for Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009, Cooking Mama titles and Gardening Mama, which hit retailers in March.Last quarter, Majesco's revenues kicked up 75% with its good fortunes also attributed to the same games with Jillian Michaels' Ultimatum selling more than half a million copies. It's then not surprising that Majesco is expanding the brand, bringing out Ultimatum 2010 for Wii and Jillian Michaels Pocket Trainer 2010 on DS next year.

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PlayStation By Majed Athab

SCEE renews UEFA sponsorship to last until 2012

According to MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has renewed its contract to continue sponsoring the UEFA Champions League until 2012. SCEE has been with the European football league for over nine years, bringing PlayStation products to footy fans.For all the Americans reading this, wondering: wait, they play football in Europe?, here's a little clip to get you up to speed. Oh, that football.[Via VG247]

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Majed Athab

Dark Sector half-priced on Steam, console versions also going for cheap

Having only been on the market for three months, the PC version of Dark Sector will already be going on sale for half price on Steam. The third-person shooter will stay at the slashed price of $9.99 throughout the week and up until next Monday, June 22.If you're strictly a PC gamer and looking to dive into Dark Sector, then this appears to be a good time to pick it up. Those with consoles should hit Amazon. The site lists the PS3 version at only $6, and the Xbox 360 version is going for an acceptable $1.49. The PC software of Dark Sector is a direct port of the original console game released last year, so the only difference you'll notice between versions is the price.

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