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Netflix to pay Comcast for better connection and speed [Update]
Pretty much every contemporary gaming machine - be it a tablet, smartphone, console, handheld or PC - has the ability to connect to the internet for streaming media content. If you're using such a device to watch Netflix on a Comcast network, your speed and stability should see a bump in the near future. Netflix and Comcast have announced a new joint partnership in which Netflix will pay the internet and cable service provider for direct access to its broadband systems. Netflix previously worked with a middleman company called Cogent through which they bought their bandwidth, but now that company has been cut out of future proceedings. The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal was originally struck in January, but it wasn't until today that the companies released a joint statement confirming the new relationship. January was also when a Washington, DC appeals court voided the anti-blocking and anti-discrimination rules that the FCC used to enforce net neutrality, which you can read more about thanks to our friends at Engadget. Update: To clarify, although the net neutrality ruling and Netflix/Comcast deal both occurred in January, the two are separate affairs. The Netflix/Comcast deal is a paid peering agreement securing Netflix's access to Comcast's network, but the deal does not grant them preferential access. The story's text has been changed to reflect this. [Image: Netflix]
Now Playing: February 17-23, 2014
Use lightning-fast moves to mow down enemies this week with Strider... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list: [Image: Capcom]
Disney Infinity's lightsaber is an elegant weapon for a civilized age
Disney Interactive may have passed up the opportunity to produce Star Wars-licensed games in favor of developing Disney Infinity, but that doesn't mean The Force is completely absent from the studio's toy-collection game. The Disney Infinity Fans community has uncovered a green lightsaber weapon hidden in the game. The lightsaber, according to a video posted by "Sheriff Woody," is given as a reward to players who collect every character in the game. Sheriff Woody got his hands on Phineas and Agent P - the two figures yet to be released in stores - and was able to complete his collection early, hence the reveal. The Force is strong with this one. [Image: Disney]
Now Playing: February 10-16, 2014
Find out the beginning of Ellie's story this week with The Last of Us - Left Behind... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Skylanders series sells $2 billion worldwide
Activision announced today as part of its quarterly financial report that the Skylanders series has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide across all available platforms, as of December 31 last year. To date, Activision has sold approximately 175 million Skylanders toys, which players can collect and summon in-game as playable characters. The latest series entry, Skylanders Swap Force, debuted in October. Activision revealed in August last year that the Skylanders series passed $1.5 billion in retail sales since the franchise's launch in 2011. Over 100 million toys were sold by the end of 2012. [Image: Activision]
New Nintendo eShop releases: Bravely Default, Retro City Rampage DX
New games! Yes, it would be nice to have a few more exciting eShop-only types, but at least we can start sending that tumbleweed on its way. Bravely Default headlines the also-at-retail games, and we'd recommend checking it out. In our four star review, we lauded the 3DS JRPG for mixing Final Fantasy sensibilities with modern design. Whether a new promo trailer really conveys that ... well, it doesn't, but it made us chuckle so we're throwing it in here. On the downloadable-only front, felonious indie Retro City Rampage comes to 3DS with lots of major tweaks, and it's another we had plenty nice to say about. Also, bike-former/plat-biker Urban Trial Freestyle is down to $3.50, starting later today and ending February 20. Oh, and don't forget the Super Indie Connection sale runs until February 13.
Nintendo buys $1.1 billion of its own shares, Yamauchi family contributes
Nintendo has bought back 9.5 million shares of its own stock, valued at 114.2 billion yen ($1.1 billion), in its first step to stabilize the company's changing financial situation. The family of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's late (and great) CEO, sold back a portion of its shares during this buyback, according to the acquisition document. We got wind of the Yamauchi family's involvement yesterday. Nintendo's year-on net profit fell by 30 percent in the final nine months of 2013, pulled down mainly by poor Wii U sales, the company reported. Net profit during this time was 10.2 billion yen ($99 million). Nintendo expects to post a net loss of 25 billion yen ($242 million) for its fiscal year ending in March. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and his board members are taking temporary pay cuts, French news outlet AFP reported. Iwata will take half of his salary for five months, and board members will see cuts of 20 percent to 30 percent. Iwata took a similar pay cut in 2011, that time to offset poor 3DS sales. [Image: Nintendo]
Report: 'Several hundred' Disney Interactive employees face layoffs
Though Disney Infinity is an undeniable hit, the Wall Street Journal reports "several hundred" employees at developer Disney Interactive are to be laid off later this week. Citing unnamed sources "close to the company," the report claims that these layoffs are "expected to begin after the media giant releases its quarterly financial results Wednesday." The Wall Street Journal offers no concrete motivation for the mass dismissal, though it references a recently announced effort to reorganize Disney Interactive by president Jimmy Pitaro. Intriguingly, the report also mentions Disney Infinity expansions based on Star Wars and Marvel Comics. "New versions of 'Infinity' featuring characters from Disney's Marvel superhero unit and the Star Wars universe it acquired along with Lucasfilm in 2012 are being developed," the Wall Street Journal claims, again citing an unnamed source. While this would be the first confirmation we've seen of such additions to Disney Infinity, it comes as no surprise that Disney Interactive might want to tap those two, wildly profitable licenses for its game. [Image: Disney Interactive]
Now Playing: February 3-9, 2014
Get in touch with your inner wolf this week with The Wolf Among Us - Episode 2: Smoke and Mirrors... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Nintendo working on non-wearable health monitoring tech
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed the company is looking into non-wearable health monitors during a financial briefing in Japan today. New details on this venture, Iwata said, would be revealed this year, with a planned launch for Nintendo's fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. Iwata said, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, that Nintendo's main theme for the next 10 years will be enhancing the quality of life through entertainment. Health is a large part of that, and Iwata even called out the cadre of wearable health devices already available on the market as evidence of the sector's importance to consumers. Still, this is an especially odd direction granted Nintendo's inability to launch its first foray into health tech, the Wii Vitality Sensor. The Vitality Sensor was announced in 2009 and was designed to monitor the users' heart rate while playing games. Nintendo cited a problem with Wii Vitality Sensor prototypes reading a small percentage of users as the reason for canceling it.
Nintendo's strategy to save its gaming kingdom: DS virtual console on Wii U, GamePad focus, on-demand services
It's been tough times for Nintendo. Its Wii U console has sold, in a year, 5 million units. Sounds decent enough, until you realize that's roughly the same number as both the PS4 and the Xbox One -- both on sale for mere months. Nintendo kicked off a business strategy briefing today in Tokyo, but it won't involve playing Nintendo titles elsewhere. The CEO announced at the start of the presentation that he wasn't pessimistic about the future of the company, reiterating that Nintendo would not be giving up the hardware side of the business. So what's stopped the Wii U from succeeding so far? Nintendo's CEO announced at the start of the presentation that he wasn't pessimistic about the future of the company, and that they would not be giving up on hardware The Nintendo boss admits that recognition of exactly what the GamePad does is low, and that many people view it as an accessory for the console -- it's not, by the way. Most interestingly, however, was the mention of an on-demand gaming service across games consoles, with the service based on your Nintendo ID rather than a device you owned. Bigger news still, is that you will see Nintendo DS games appear on the Wii U, via virtual console. Iwata added that the team will seek a partner to increase exposure for games and hardware. It will even, gasp, license character rights to other companies. He added in today's Q&A session that the company is already sharing its philosophy with another company and "aligning" with them. (Pretty mysterious, huh?) When it comes to gaming on the Wii U, the CEO said they will focus on games that make the most of the tablet-esque GamePad, especially titles with NFC -- expect to see announcements on this at E3 2014. Mario Kart 8 will also launch in May, and will apparently make strong use of the GamePad. At the same time, Nintendo is working on ensuring a faster start time when its used without a TV. We've got a video outlining the quick-boot function and even more details after the break.
Nintendo sold fewer Wii Us in a year than Xbox Ones or PS4s sold in two months
Nintendo's had a pretty tough year trying to push its Wii U into homes, as evidenced by the latest sales figures released today. Since this time last year, the gaming giant has just about doubled the number of Wii Us sold cumulatively, going from 3.06 million units to 5.86 million units as of December 31st. That's right, only 2.8 million Wii Us -- along with 17.68 million software titles -- were sold during 2013, which is pretty worrying when compared to the 3 million Xbox Ones and the 4.2 million PS4s sold in just the first couple of months after they launched. It's also nowhere near the 100-million-unit milestone achieved by the original Wii, which easily beat the more expensive consoles from Microsoft and Sony in the same generation. On a brighter note, Nintendo managed to sell 12.9 million 3DSs in 2013, making it a total of 42.74 million units plus 152.29 million titles since its debut in February 2011. Alas, net income is still down by 29.9 percent year-over-year to 10.2 billion yen ($98.7 million). With no plans to offer its games on other platforms, we sure hope Nintendo's increased R&D spending will guarantee a solid comeback this year. More details in the PDF document linked below. Update: Nintendo's bosses are taking a pay cut to make up for the latest loss.
Now Playing: January 27 - February 2, 2014
Let the kill streaks pile up this week in Call of Duty: Ghosts - Onslaught... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Angry Birds series pecks up 2 billion downloads
Rovio has let loose 2 billion copies of Angry Birds games since the series' launch in 2009 – that equals 28 percent of the world's population, for comparison's sake. Rovio CMO Peter Vesterbacka announced the number during London's Pocket Gamer Connects: "If you look at Rovio and what we've done over four years, there are now 2 billion copies of Angry Birds out there. I thought I was super-ambitious in 2010 when I said we'll make $100 million and everyone else thought I was crazy, but it's very important people thought I was insane for saying $100 million back then." Two hundred million people play Angry Birds each month, "the size of the Twitter audience," Vesterbacka said. Rovio reported 1.7 billion downloads in April 2013, and revenue of $195.6 million for the year. Vesterbacka noted that Rovio created 51 games before making Angry Birds, and now nine out of 10 people in both the US and China know the brand. An Angry Birds movie is due out in July 2016, produced and funded by Rovio alone. "We're not building Angry Birds for a hundred days but for a hundred years," he said. "Mario is a great role model for anyone in games, it's been built for almost 30 years now. Hello Kitty is 40 this year and Mickey Mouse was launched in 1928 as a black-and-white cartoon, and that company is now building theme parks based on the character on every continent. We launched an iPhone game in 2009 and now 45 percent of our business comes from physical products, including drinks." As for the competition: "Candy Crush's half a billion installs is a good start," Vesterbacka said.
La-Mulana 2 ventures onto Kickstarter, $200K funding goal
La-Mulana 2 is seeking $200,000 in Kickstarter funding to be made for Windows PC, a turn of events as unexpected as one of the spelunking plaformer's traps. Publisher Playism and developer Nigoro first announced the sequel to the WiiWare and PC game at last year's Tokyo Game Show, and now the two studios have a month to raise $200,000 and greenlight the game. Going by the this morning's rapid funding, they won't need the time. As for what we know about La-Mulana 2, it stars a new hero in Lumisa Kosugi, the possibly illegitimate daughter of the first game's protagonist. If her legitimacy is in question, the sequel's gameplay doesn't look to be. As we saw at TGS, players will once again scavenge for clues in the 2D caves and tombs of La-Mulana 2, and carefully dissect the riddles they find there to avoid falling victim to the many lurking deathtraps. For those willing to stump up the cash for La-Mulana 2, a $15 pledge earns you a Steam and DRM-free copy of the game upon release. With funding accumulating quickly, Playism and Nigoro will already be looking to the stretch goals they've outlined: Highlights include Mac and Linux versions at $500K, a 3DS or Vita version at $1.15 million, Wii U, PS4, or Xbox One versions at $1.65 million, and Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360 versions all the way up at $2.35 million. The stretch goal platforms are "subject to negotiation," indicating Playism and Nigoro can't guarantee more than one for each stretch goal. In the campaign video, Nigoro Director Takumi Namamura said his studio wants to take original game's system and evolve it into something that can push "2D games further than they have ever been before."
Now Playing: January 20-26, 2014
Join the Special Ops against the undead this week in Dead Rising 3 - Operation Broken Eagle... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
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Disney Infinity moves 3 million starter packs
Disney Infinity may have been named as a reference to its own potential revenue - The New York Times reports that Disney Interactive has sold three million Disney Infinity Starter Packs, which include figurines of three Disney characters and the game itself. Infinity was also the tenth best-selling game of 2013, according to data from the NPD Group. Activision's Skylanders Swap Force, Infinity's main competition, was not one of the top 10 best-selling games of 2013, but the Skylanders series' revenue from retail sales surpassed $1.5 billion earlier this year. Consoles have received annual installments of the Skylanders franchise since its introduction with Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. Plans to expand Infinity's cast have resulted in new figurines for Disney's Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled films, with references to classic moments from past films being recreated in Infinity's Toy Box mode. With Infinity's introduction doubling Disney Interactive's fourth-quarter earnings, Infinity's play set is likely to keep expanding. Future additions might not be determined by developers though - only The Claw knows who will go and who will stay.
Nintendo slashes 2014 sales forecast for Wii U from 9 million to 2.8 million
It's not even financials season yet, but Nintendo is trying to lower expectations in advance. In a statement today, it's announced that it's reassessed unit sales for its flagship Wii U console, shaving hacking it down from 9 million for April 2013 - March 2014 to just 2.8 million -- less than a third of the original estimate. It's also less than the number of Wii Us that Nintendo sold in its launch year. That was 3.45 million, if you're counting. The revised predictions are due to disappointing hardware sales during the holiday season and that's having an understandable knock-on effect on software sales too. Nintendo now predicts that instead of selling 3.8 million titles, the numbers will be around half of that: 1.9 million, which is at least an uptick from 2013. Alas, it's still an across-the-board bad news sort of announcement, however, with forecast console sales for the original Wii and the 3DS also bumped down in the process. (Nintendo now expects to sell 13.5 million 3D handhelds, down from 18 million.) This will all hit the company's financial results, with the games maker now expecting to announce a 35 billion yen ($336 million) loss, with part of this being put down to marked down Wii U consoles, something that Nintendo didn't predict would happen back in March 2013.
Final two Skylanders: Swap Force series 3 figures released
Rubble Rouser and Stink Bomb, the final two Skylanders Swap Force figurines in the third series, have been released and can be found at your local Toys R Us store in the US, Kotaku reports. You may already have a shoebox full of Swap Force characters, but these two characters are of particular interest, as they allow access to the final content in Skylanders: Swap Force. Rubble Rouser, the first earth elemental Skylanders: Swap Force character, is necessary for bypassing certain gates requiring a rocky touch. If a masked gunman is forcing you to choose between Rubble Rouser and Stink Bomb, it's worth knowing that Rubble Rouser's extra content can be accessed during co-op games – those dual-element gates can also be opened by two separate Skylanders playing together. Stink Bomb, on the other hand, is the first character able to unlock Swap Force's sneaking mini-games. If players want to fully experience absolutely everything Skylanders: Swap Force has to offer, Stink Bomb is a must-have character. Skylanders: Swap Force is the latest entry in Activision's toy-driven action platformer series, which converts real-life toys into in-game characters by use of a special portal. Swap Force is the first entry to have figurines with a top piece and bottom piece that can be combined with other Swap Force characters to create new combinations.
Now Playing: January 13-19, 2013
Cut your way through the Louisiana bayou this week with the fully remastered Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
