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Team Meat considering retail for Super Meat Boy on Wii
Sure, we appreciate the fact that Team Meat's Super Meat Boy was conveniently downloaded onto our Xbox 360, but that doesn't do much to satisfy our unending urge to lovingly squeeze the game box ever so tightly. At the moment, there's nothing we can do about this (and no, not any old game box would do) -- but this may change. Tweeting from the Super Meat Boy account, the game's devs publicly wondered, "If we decided to try to find a publisher and do a boxed version for $20 (with extras) but come out later on the Wii, would you hold out?" It seems that the tweet was at least partially in reaction to the game's WiiWare delay, said to be due to size constraints. One thing the folks at Team Meat certainly won't be doing? Splitting the game into chapters for digital release. "No split. It isn't as easy as 'cut it into parts.' The logistics of that are insane. That would push it out farther than a retail release," the devs also tweeted. "We will figure this WiiWare issue out soon," Team Meat assured. "Should have official updates in a few weeks." Until then, well, we'll be playing ... Super Meat Boy.
GameStop throws its hat into the digital distribution ring
As brick-and-mortar stores are struggling in this day and age, digital distribution has been taking off into the stratosphere. Seeing where the winds of change are blowing, GameStop has announced that it is joining the ranks of Steam, Amazon and Direct2Drive by offering a digital distribution service through its website. If players are comfortable sacrificing a physical box copy in exchange for the speed and convenience of a digital product, GameStop's service will allow them to purchase and download games, trials, expansions and various add-ons in the comfort of their own home. Players will be allowed to install the game on one to three PCs, depending on the product. Unfortunately, because the service is being handled by a third party, GameStop gift cards and certificates are not accepted as payment. GameStop's downloads page features a number of MMOs for purchase, including Need for Speed World, LEGO Universe, Aion and Age of Conan. If you haven't given Final Fantasy XI a whirl, the Ultimate Collection is on sale for $9.99 in both boxed and digital form.
GameStop details digital distribution storefront, XBLA games 'coming soon'
GameStop recently pulled away a bit more of the veil covering its "Store of the Future" initiative, releasing a whole mess of details on how its digital distribution storefront functions. A new page on the retailer's site explains the purchasing process for the site's downloadable PC games (of which there are currently over 2,000), as well as a handful of free trials and, in the near future, add-on content. The page also reveals that XBLA content will soon be sold through the website, which gives the purchaser an unlock code which they can input into the Xbox Live Marketplace to retrieve their content. It's pretty straightforward stuff, but we're still looking for the page that explains how we can trade our downloaded games in for store credit. If anyone comes across it, would you please let us know?
Pardo: Blizzard moving towards day-and-date digital releases
We heard a while back that Blizzard and its parent company have been considering digital distribution for World of Warcraft expansions ever since the first one, but it wasn't until this past weekend at BlizzCon that it was finally announced that the latest expansion, Cataclysm, will be available to buy on Blizzard's website, and playable right as the servers are turned on. Blizzard's Rob Pardo says the company's been moving in that direction for a while, and that "the day's coming" when Blizzard will release all of its PC games day-and-date with their retail versions. "Once we get a little closer to Diablo 3 we'll make a determination," he promised. Meanwhile, the WoW community, as a group of people who already play MMOs online, is ready for the transition, says Pardo. "They are already able to handle very large pieces of data," he says, "so we felt that this is the best thing for the community, the opportunity to download and pre-order the game before we launch." It will be nice to have the game installed and ready to play as the servers go up -- even if they do drop right back down from all the players trying to use them.
The Daily Grind: Want a box with that?
With the proliferation of digital-download gaming going on these days, it's getting progressively harder for those of us that care about box copies, collectors editions, cheesy cloth maps, and cheaply produced pewter figurines to get our fix. It's obvious why developers and publishers love digital delivery, as it saves them a lot of distribution money, but does it really benefit the consumer aside from scratching our instant gratification itch? As I look over at the MMO box museum cluttering the shelves of my game room, I take no small amount of comfort in the fact that I got something tangible for my fifty bucks, even though in most cases the games themselves were incapable of sustaining my interest past the free month. In fact, I've only purchased a digital download twice: Fallen Earth (and I later obtained a box just because) and Darkfall (still hunting for a box). Subscription-based MMOs are inherently more about renting than owning but -- for now at least -- you can still get a physical copy of your favorite virtual world and, if you're lucky, an outdated manual and a map. Today we ask you, dear readers, do you want a box, or are you OK with leaving your games on a remote server? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm available for download at midnight, Dec. 7
When the world is being torn asunder, isn't it best to remain inside? During a presentation at the ongoing BlizzCon 2010 in Anaheim, California, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime confirmed that the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, would be offered in downloadable format right on time and on launch day. When the game's December 7 release date was first announced, it wasn't clear if the digitally distributed version would lag behind retail copies. It doesn't get clearer than this: You'll be able to purchase and download World of Warcraft: Cataclysm from Blizzard's site (which will accomodate pre-orders soon) at midnight, Pacific Standard Time, on December 7th. That means you can safely start questing, never having left the comforting confines of your home and risked contact with those crude human beings.
Games for Windows Marketplace gets competitive, relaunching Nov. 15
In November, Microsoft will reboot its Games for Windows Marketplace. In doing so, the company aims to beef up its online portal with more games -- and not just those few that align themselves with the Games for Windows Live branding -- and provide a more competitive and comprehensive retail experience. Peter Orullian, who helped develop digital distribution strategies for Xbox Live, has been tapped to effectively manage the relaunch. %Gallery-105596%
Steam passes 30 million accounts, maintains strong growth
When Valve first unleashed its Steam digital distribution service nearly eight years ago, we can't imagine the company anticipated the kind of growth it's seen. Valve announced this morning that Steam account holders top 30 million in number, and the service has seen its sixth straight year of over 100 percent growth in unit sales versus the previous year. This year's account numbers have seen near 200 percent in growth as well, swelled at least in part by the addition of Mac OS X to Steam's list of supported operating systems. Steam's virtual infrastructure has been bolstered as well, with Valve claiming it now has "enough bandwidth to ship a digitized version of the Oxford English Dictionary 92.6 times per second." In case it wasn't clear, that translates to butter smooth Team Fortress 2 matchmaking.
Foundation 9 CEO: 30% of 360 owners buy XBLA games
Estimating the global Xbox 360 install base to be somewhere between 40 and 50 million units, Foundation 9 CEO James North-Hearn has suggested that around 30 percent of owners are "not only online and using Xbox Live, but all those and buying games." In a recent interview with Eurogamer, he claimed, "Certainly XBLA is past tipping point now." He also stuck up for XBLA's competition, the PlayStation Network. "Even though it's a smaller user base, and even though it's generally accepted as currently not being as successful or popular, it's definitely growing," he said. "There's less competition on PSN, but currently a smaller user base." As for the future, North-Hearn believes "the market will move to both online and to digital distribution at some point, almost exclusively." And Foundation 9 likely hope that's the case -- its six studios developed roughly 15 percent of the games on XBLA, including Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. North-Hearn even seems to believe "cloud solutions" could come to XBLA and PSN at some point in the future, saying that's "where the market's going to go" and that both channels are "in a great position."
MicroBot preview: Inner conflict
MicroBot is the first and only game I've played where your character is introduced to the world through the needle point of a syringe. The "world," as it turns out, is actually a living human body, pumping with plasma and microscopic ... enemies? Your character's intent is ambiguous in MicroBot, but it's clear upon picking up the controller that, like so many other games, your goal is to destroy everything that might pose a threat to you. What those things are and what you're doing inside the body, however, remains a bit of a mystery. (Surely those evil nanites don't deserve to be in here.) The first thing that struck me about MicroBot -- a top-down Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network shooter from EA and Naked Sky Entertainment -- was the impressive graphics engine, a proprietary solution from the dev team. Sure, you're controlling a MicroBot on a 2D plane, but depth of field trickery shows off various happenings in the body in the forefront and background, giving the environment a grander scale despite its 2D perspective. And the game's procedurally created world assures that no two playthroughs of any environment will be identical. The second thing that struck me was the game's sense of momentum. As a robot floating around inside a human body, careening in any particular direction too fast could result in an accidental death. It also gives the environment a more dangerous presence. Our worry? Who knows what happens to a human when robot parts are left to scatter throughout the internal organs.%Gallery-105174%
Verizon PC games portal adds option to buy
Last year, Verizon started up a subscription-based gaming service for PC, and today the company has announced a new payment option, allowing users to purchase individual games to own. A free trial period is offered for most games, so potential purchasers are able to get a taste before deciding whether they want to own a particular title from Verizon's stable of over 1,800 titles. Of course, the new option to buy doesn't affect the service's (now optional) monthly subscription plans, which will continue to allow users to play games for either $15, for access to all games, or $5, for access to 450 select titles.
Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare trailer blames Washington
Just like we blame Washington for our lack of national health care and the crack epidemic of the 1980s, Red Dead Redemption's denizens struck with a bad case of the zombies in the "Undead Nightmare" DLC do the same. And who can blame them, really?
GameTap closing Atlanta office, focusing on newer PC titles
The slow transition of GameTap since "partnering" with Metaboli back in 2008 continues, with the company shutting down its Atlanta "technical and support team" and sharing some details about the future of the service. Speaking with Joystiq, a GameTap representative explained that by bringing operations to France, the company will "simplify the technical architecture" and can create a "global support center based in Europe." The Atlanta office will be closed down at the end of October, while the company's San Francisco office will recruit ten people over the next year to "strengthen [GameTap's] presence with major U.S. partners, distributors or publishers." As for the immediate future of GameTap, the next update to the service will also occur at the end of this month, when all the games will use a new download technology and be 64-bit compatible. The company is trying to move away from being associated with retro games -- with the possibility of dropping its brand name altogether in the future. For now, the update will create three major tabs on the GameTap site: "PC games Unlimited Play," "PC games Download to Own" and "Retro games Unlimited Play." "We need to show that we have moved forward and that we now offer a wide range of recent PC games," the GameTap representative said. The company will add 15 more games to its catalog of 550 PC games. "Some old PC games will be replaced by more recent PC games or by some casual games. Our decisions were taken based on our gameplay statistics, which is much better than our own opinion about the games or the opinion expressed by some of our users on the forum. We offer what people play." We've listed the games being added to the service following the October update after the break. Additionally, you can check out Metaboli.com's PC game catalog for a sense of the kind of games GameTap hopes to offer going forward.
11 bit studios formed by CD Projekt, Metropolis Software vets
Former CD Projekt and Metropolis Software developers have announced the formation of 11 bit studios, a development house that will focus on "high-value, high-quality, digitally-distributed games." The team has previously worked on projects for major publishers such as Ubisoft, Monolith and Atari, and "aims to deliver unique and pioneering gameplay experiences for a wide range of platforms, including PC, iPhone, iPad and more." Managing director Grzegorz Miechowski believes its games will appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers with "unique gameplay mechanics" and "high production values." The studio's first project will be revealed next week. For now, learn more about the team and see some tiny screens of its first game at the 11 bit studios website.
Mass Effect 2 DLC discounted next week on XBLM
On a quest to spend at least 2400 Microsoft Points before the month is out? BioWare, it seems, wants to help out -- both Kasumi's Stolen Memory and Overlord DLC packs for Mass Effect 2 are dropping to $5 a pop (down form $7), as part of next week's XBLM deal. It may be called the "Deal of the Week," but in this case, we prefer calling it "The Obvious Purchase."
Warner Bros. appoints Greg Ballard senior VP of 'Digital Games'
Warner Bros. has tapped former Glu Mobile president and CEO Greg Ballard to serve as its senior vice president of Digital Games. He will serve under Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, reporting to both division presidents. Ballard will be in charge of the company's broad digital distribution business as it pertains to PC, console, handheld and mobile games; online titles, including social games, owned and operated MMOs and "light persistent worlds"; and TV-delivered and on-demand streaming games. That leaves a lot to consider, but we'd be satisfied just to get a lot more Batman DLC for the next one. Make it happen, Ballard. Additionally, the new vee-pee will oversee Turbine, creator of The Lord of the Rings Online, and has been tasked with recruiting a new GM for the studio. Most recently, Ballard could be found in the cushy CEO chair of Transpera, a mobile video ad network. He's also held executive positions at Capcom and the now defunct Digital Pictures, developer of the famously "controversial" early '90s FMV classic, Night Trap. You know, the genre is making a comeback with iPhone ports ... Make it happen, Ballard.
GOG offers community favorites for half off this weekend
Assuming you're still buying games from GOG.com after last week's shutdown stunt, there are some excellent deals to be had this week on the site's "Community Favorites" list. All of the games on the list are half off, which means you can pick up Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition or Myst: Masterpiece Edition for just three bucks, and Psychonauts or Syberia for just five. Sure, the site may have played a little too hard on your heartstrings with its fake story of shutting down for good just to promote a site revamp, but everybody appreciates cheap, classic PC games, right? And even if not, you can always go grab one of those iPhone games instead -- that's a great sale, too.
Red Dead Redemption DLC screens show off gambling and explosions
We've got a gallery featuring Red Dead Redemption's upcoming DLC, "Liars and Cheats," wherein you'll find images of the new multiplayer-enabled Poker and Liar's Dice games, as well as the new explosive rifle. It's actually not the rifle that explodes, but you get the idea. %Gallery-102935%
Get Champions Online at a discount for a week
Champions Online put itself on the line during its anniversary by letting players have a full week of access to the game completely for free. The idea, beyond a doubt, was that once players had a taste of the metaphorical milk, they would simply have to purchase the equally metaphorical cow. But if you've been stymied by the fact that this month's cow budget is a bit on the tight side, there's good news on the horizon: for the next week, you can buy the game for only $6. The sale isn't being run at any brick-and-mortar stores, but is being run through two of the most popular digital distribution services, Steam and Direct2Drive. Both retailers will be offering the game at the discounted price for a week, with Steam getting a slight edge simply because it also has a free demo available for the game. Players interested in purchasing Champions Online at a steep discount can head to either service before September 22nd, perhaps encouraging the creation of a cow-themed superhero.
Team17 wriggles free from third-party publishers
Having released only two boxed retail games in the past three years, Worms developer Team17 has been working toward total independence from third-party publishers. That moment has arrived for the studio, which has repositioned itself as an independent digital publisher, reports MCV. "We have no ambitions to return to retail publishing," co-founder Martyn Brown told the site. Team17 has completed a restructuring initiative, which has both promoted existing staff and brought in new hires to fill the roles of a publishing entity. In addition to continuing to self-publish its own titles through digital distribution channels -- having celebrated its 20th anniversary last December, Team17 is one of the oldest independent developers in the industry -- the company will be working with other independent developers to bring their games to digital platforms, including XBLA, PSN and the App Store. "We are actively involved in working with other independent studios to publish their IP. This is a key aspect of our strategy going forward," Brown said. "We now have the right structure and team in place to accomplish this."
