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Ubisoft hopes I Am Alive can be 'another strong franchise'
Well, of course it does. Ubisoft didn't get where it is today by throwing popular franchises like Splinter Cell away after a single use (although our neck-snapping pal Sam seems to have been misplaced recently), and you can be sure that the upcoming disaster survival adventure ... thing, I Am Alive, will be no different. "We hope it can be another strong franchise for our portfolio, alongside Prince Of Persia or Rayman Rabbids," the publisher's executive director, Alain Corre, told MCV. "It's a new baby for us – and we have big hopes."Provided it's raised properly and doesn't turn into a snot-nosed brat who sticks Legos up his nose and puts his Altair action figures in the microwave, this baby could be the best kind of disaster to befall any company. Of course, we should probably wait until we've played the first one before we sign off on "I Am Still Alive," and "Seriously, Stop Trying to Kill Me You Stupid Planet."
Disaster: Day of Crisis gets Australian rating, could it actually release?
Well now, it looks like we might be hearing more on Disaster: Day of Crisis soon. That is, if an Australian certification that recently popped up has anything to say about it. So, what's the deal? Your guess is as good as ours.The title received a Mature rating from the Australian classification board, on August 13th, so could the title be destined for a release this year? We can only hope. But, as it stands, that's all we have to go on right now.[Via digg]
Ubisoft to declare 'I Am Alive' in Spring 2009
Ubisoft has officially announced I Am Alive, a new adventure that forces players to "think, react and take risks that will directly affect themselves and those around them" as they navigate a Chicago "left in ruins." The game is currently targeted for release on "current generation video game consoles" during Spring 2009. Not much else is known about the title, though earlier reports suggested that Assassin's Creed producer, Jade Raymond, would be taking the reins of this disaster game.We'll let you know as soon as we learn more. Update: Teaser trailer after the break.%Gallery-27746%
Nintendo says core gamers will get new titles at E3
According to an article over at Gamepro, core gamers shouldn't fret going into E3 this year. Even though Nintendo just unleashed Wii Fit on us, the focus for their newest console isn't going to be entirely casual. "We recently announced the upcoming release of Mario Super Sluggers," said Marc Franklin, director of public relations at Nintendo, to Gamepro. "Additionally, we will be announcing several new titles that core gamers will be interested in around the time of E3."This is likely to be music to the ears of fanboys who've wondered where stellar-looking titles such as Disaster: Day of Crisis have been for their beloved console. But, this goes against what Reggie said, in a good way. Where the resident ass-kicker, name-taker said we should expect one big title from Nintendo at E3, we're liking the idea of "several new titles" that Franklin said. Let's hope we get a bunch of new games next month when the show goes down![Thanks, Sonic_13!]
Despite devastation, Chinese return to online gaming
After the devastating earthquake that took the lives of over 40,000 people in China two weeks ago, the Chinese government is doing all they can to restore civility to over seven million people who were directly affected by one of the largest natural disasters in recent history. In addition to this, we can all rest assured that the MMO market in China didn't miss a beat and is back in full swing.Yes, you heard me right. CDC Games, the Chinese game distributor responsible for the distribution of such popular titles as Shaiya Online, stated recently that its revenues for its online games have rebounded almost immediately. They say their game service was only suspended for three days during the tragedy, and are now back on track to making the income they made previous to the disaster. Whew!
Earthquake not the only impact on China's online games
In the wake of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, the government mandated an observance of the tragedy. In addition to Monday's three minutes of silence in national mourning, the Chinese government placed a three-day moratorium on all 'public amusements' in the country. This imposed break extended to online gaming and virtual worlds throughout the mainland, which prompted some commentary by Frank Yu, the China Angle columnist at Gamasutra. While residents of Sichuan or those with friends and loved ones in the quake-affected region were not likely to want to play games in the aftermath of the disaster, the three-day imposed blackout on entertainment media was an unusual move for China. The suspension of these activities essentially made the entire country give up something, albeit briefly, in order to share the pain of those whose lives have been affected by the catastrophe. "The earthquake has had another major impact on the China gaming industry as well in what seems like an exercise of government media control... This includes, concerts, television shows, movies and for the first time, even online games," Yu said. The virtual worlds of China's major online game companies remained dark between May 19th and 21st. Although the game companies and operators complied with the suspension of their activities, they clearly assumed substantial profit losses.
Day of Crisis not a disaster
Although the Disaster: Day of Crisis delay was recently confirmed, it's not time to panic just yet. While the words "indefinite delay" caused a stir among Wii owners, it seems that Nintendo isn't shelving the title. It's true that there's no new targeted release date, but according to Nintendo, Monolith Soft just needs more time to work on the game.The timing of the delay has also caused a few folks to speculate that it has something to do with the terrible tragedies that occurred recently in China and Burma. This would make sense, seeing as a game of this nature might hit a little too close to home in Asian markets for the time being. The wake of such events also helps to put things into perspective for a moment, as being upset over game news is trifling in comparison -- but we digress.So, is the delay indefinite? Technically, yes. But is Disaster: Day of Crisis canceled? Not likely. [Via Siliconera]
Wii Warm Up: Disaster: Delay of Crisis
Monolith Soft's Disaster: Day of Crisis has been delayed indefinitely from its original July date, though we aren't 100% certain of the veracity of the rumor. It certainly seems to have had a rocky history since its debut at E3 2006, so we wouldn't be too surprised if Nintendo pulled it for retooling -- or cancelled the thing altogether.Do you believe that Disaster is still coming? Do you believe that an "indefinite" delay at this point would mean the end of the game? It's a question of faith, we suppose, put to those who care.Alternately, and more enjoyably, let's talk potential edits that could be made to make it more of a stereotypical Wii game. Balance Board minigames? Mii integration? Charles Martinet?
Is Disaster: Day of Crisis gone forever?
Sad news, if you're willing to buy into this rumor. According to QJ, a supposed Japanese press release was fired off by Nintendo where they explain that Disaster: Day of Crisis has been put on indefinite hold. We're taking this with a big grain of salt, to be honest, because we don't want the rumor to be true and because QJ doesn't even source anything on the rumor.Without a credible source (or any source, for that matter), we're hard-pressed to buy into all of this. However, it's a good discussion topic, as many are still waiting for Reggie to deliver on his promise of delivering a big Wii title at E3 and hoped this would be it. Until we hear more word on this, we're just going to sit in the corner, with our hands over our ears, singing to ourself as we refuse to buy into this.
Zu Online community mourns earthquake victims
As most people have heard by now, a massive earthquake struck the Sichuan province of China four days ago, killing 12,000 people and leaving as many as 18,000 more missing. The colossal tragedy shocked not only the Chinese, but all the people of the world.Players of the Chinese MMO Zu Online were no exception. Without any prior planning, they collected together in the game's wuxia fantasy setting -- the mythic past of the the very region struck by this week's terrible disaster -- to mourn those lost in the earthquake, and to pray for their families.A Zu player put together a tribute video, cross-cutting between footage from the in-game memorial service and photographs from the media coverage of the disaster, and posted it on the game's official forums. It's a noble tribute to the deceased. Watch it if you feel compelled.[Via MMORPG]
New scans feature Disaster, Super Mario Stadium
Click for larger image We were a bit shocked to receive any kind of update at all about Disaster: Day of Crisis, much less a release date. Monolith's survival adventure is one of those games that disappears for months at a time, then pops up with just a few screens. For some reason, we think of it as perpetually on the brink of cancellation. But Nintendo's serious enough about releasing it to, uh, print a page in a retail pamphlet about it! Interesting factoid: Bears are now natural disasters.Another page (after the break) tinily reveals new screens of Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball, which was just announced for the U.S. as Super Mario Sluggers. From the title, we know that the new game will be developed by Namco Bandai and will share gameplay aspects (though certainly not controls!) with their Family Stadium games. Miis will also be playable!
Disaster: Day of Release
After being announced almost two years ago (note: two years in the game industry is roughly equivalent to 853 Earth years, or at least it feels that way) Famitsu finally managed to yank a Japanese release date for Disaster: Day of Crisis from beneath the rubble.July 3rd is the day to note down in your BFF journal, and are we relieved about that. The long stretches of silence in the build-up left us fretting about the fate of the title, but now we know: the natural-disaster-survival-me-do is definitely coming! Yaaay!While we're on the subject of Japan and release dates, we should also mention that Famitsu has Super Mario Stadium Baseball down for a June 19th release. As someone who finds baseball to be a dense, impenetrable mystery (this could have been written for me), I'll leave it at that.Update: Image credited (thanks, Brian)[Via Go Nintendo]
Nintendo says Kirby, Animal Crossing, Super Mario Stadium this year
Nintendo of Japan just released a statement of their financial results (PDF link here) for the period from April to December of last year (spoilers: they did well) which includes a list of projected 2008 releases. Unlike the actual financial results, this bit contains some surprises! Seen above is the list for Japan.Both Animal Crossing and some kind of new Kirby game have general "2008" release dates, as does a thankfully still-planned Disaster: Day of Crisis. Also basically new is Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball, a game about which we've heard absolutely nothing since October, and not really anything then, either. We're also quite happy to see Mario Kart Wii planned for a spring release in the U.S. and Japan, and a Q2 release in Europe. [Via Game|Life]
Is the DS really this fragile?
Over at flickr, user yatta has had a most unfortunate incident occur. His DS lite has been busted all to crap. It was only dropped about two feet, he claims, but since it fell right on its hinge, it pretty much exploded. Talk about your weak points for massive damage, eh? Maybe this gentleman could use a handy guide to help him fix it? Or, maybe just the phone number to Nintendo customer service.Any of you out there have horror stories about broken DSes?
Revolutionary: This Revolution Hasn't Been Televised
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. Thought of by many as the "Disney of video gaming," Nintendo has crafted themselves an image of family-friendly entertainment. But to certain generations and classes of gamers, the term "family-friendly" is synonymous with "kiddy," and immediately sparks disinterest. But ever since publishing Rare's Killer Instinct, they've been working on broadening the public's perspective. Trying to appeal to the bloodlust of the Mortal Kombat crowd didn't give them any headway, and as generations progressed and they've garnered more "mature-themed" titles, they still haven't been able to shake the "kiddy console" stigma. Even after snagging the exclusivity to the Resident Evil series for a generation, Nintendo was largely overlooked by the Playstation-bred gamers that were brought up on the series. How much more will it take for Wii to be regarded as a platform that can satisfy the tastes of mature gamers?
More Disaster: Day of Crisis screens emerge from the rubble
We like having updates for Disaster: Day of Crisis. It's a pleasant change to the norm of not knowing what is going on. And, as we told you yesterday, we're very much glad the game is still alive. These newest screens, especially the one at the top of this very post, get us so excited for the game. We can't wait until we can get our hands on it.Head past the break for some more screens.
Disaster: Day of Crisis's resuscitation combo
If there was ever a game we were waiting on to see some actual substance from, it's Disaster: Day of Crisis. And, much like the character receiving treatment above, we're glad to see the title has been given the 'ole CPR. While we'd like to say these new screens are accompanied by some kind of release window, sadly we can't say anything to that effect. But, that won't keep us from enjoying the knowledge that the game is still alive and breathing.Check past the break for the other new screens courtesy of JeuxFrance and Dengeki.
Disaster: Day of Crisis still a possibility?
According to Zentendo, we haven't heard anything on Disaster: Day of Crisis because they've been hard at work on it. The story involves a terrorist group who use a natural disaster as a window to attack and hold the United States hostage. As the protagonist, it's up to you to throw a wrench in the cog and stop them. Why would they want to attack the United States? Well, they're ex-patriots who feel wronged (and probably want lots of money), apparently. When are we supposed to be receiving this game? Q1 or Q2 of 2008, Zentendo says.
Hope for Disaster: DoC, less for Project H.A.M.M.E.R
First, the good news: after speaking with NoA's PR star Beth Llewelyn, AMN reports that Disaster: Day of Crisis is trucking along. Since this is one of the games we've been most hoping to see (for a long, long time), we're pleased to hear it. Project H.A.M.M.E.R., however, does in fact seem to be either canceled, or at least indefinitely on some back burner in a forgotten room. Well, E3 can't be all about good news, we supposed, but we seriously wanted to smash things with a giant hammer. And who can blame us?
Wii Warm Up: What haven't you heard?
This new-style E3 has had its ups and downs so far, and today, we want to talk about the downs. What had you hoped for that you haven't heard about? Disaster: Day of Crisis is among the first things that come to mind for us, but we want to hear from you. Any announcements or games you were hoping for that just seem to be MIA? Just remember, campers, not to fret ... just because something hasn't been discussed doesn't mean it's not coming. It just probably means it's not priority, at least for right now. You can still keep your fingers crossed. We won't tell.
