Lost-Planet
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Dead Rising and Lost Planet to remain Xbox 360 exclusives
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/Dead_Rising_and_Lost_Planet_to_remain_Xbox_360_exclusives'; At least "as far as current plans go." So says Capcom's senior director of strategic planning and research, Christian Svensson, posting on the official Capcom forums in the midst of a Devil May Cry outcry. When asked by fans whether the company's new mulitplatform strategy would extend to their pair of successful Xbox 360 titles, Svensson explains that "Dead Rising and Lost Planet are not slated to appear on Wii or PS3," noting that the reasons for the continued exclusivity "are quite convoluted" and are bound by a slew of suspicious non-disclosure agreements. He goes on to say that Capcom's current approach -- which sees Resident Evil 5 and Devil May Cry 4 coming to both PS3 and Xbox 360 -- is for future titles and isn't meant to be applied in a "retroactive" manner. Of course, this comes just days after Svensson used the forum to respond to sulking petitioners and their disdain for Devil May Cry gracing multiple platforms. "We are certainly moved that people are so passionate about our products that they would go to such extremes," he said in a seperate thread. "At the same time we feel that allowing more people access to our content pleases far more people than it displeases (after all, we're not denying DMC4 to anyone that was already going to get it). It really is the best decision for the company and for consumers." Apparently, Dead Rising and Lost Planet simply missed the multiplatform boat. [Thanks, mocoworm]
New Lost Planet multiplayer maps released
Fresh from the developer oven arrives two new Lost Planet multiplayer maps for download off of the XBLM. The multiplayer map pack #1 will include the two new maps "Radar Field" and "Island 902" and will set you back 400 Microsoft Points. So, according to our sixth grade math skills, that works out to be around $2.50 per multiplayer map. Are you willing to pay over $2 for a multiplayer map or does that just seem a tad ridiculous? It's kind of a hard pill to swallow since we received two free maps for Gears a few months ago ... although it was sponsored by the Discovery Channel. No matter, anyone feeling the squeeze of the corporate machine on this purchase?
Lost Planet Auto-Update Details
Yesterday, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition got a multiplayer auto update. The first thing it did was add some features, such as seeing a player's national flag in the lobby, pre-game and post-game results. It also shows who's talking in-game and in the lobby with a ")))" to the left of their gamertag in team-based games. Finally, in the lobby, your connection strength to a player is signified by a "!", and the brighter it is, the better your connection. The other set of fixes were to bugs found in the game, due to lag, as well as a few exploits. For full details on what to expect next time you log on, click the "Read" link. So do the fixes to the gameplay make you want to put some more time into Lost Planet's multiplayer?Oh, and one more thing...Brian Dunn says that the downloadable maps should be available March 9th or in close to that date.[Thanks, AoE]
NPD: Lost Planet leads strong January game sales
January's not usually a month for big numbers in the game industry, but the first month of 2007 was a whopper any way you slice it. NPD recently announced $549 million in non-PC software sales for the month, up an impressive 22 percent when compared week-on-week to last January. Add in $505 million in hardware sales and almost $200 million in accessories and the industry as a whole recorded a huge $1.25 billion in overall sales for the five weeks ending Feb. 3. The Wii dominated hardware sales, as previously reported, but software was spread out among all the major systems. The Xbox 360's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition led the pack, with system-compatriots Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas close behind at No 3 and No. 9, respectively. But it was a PS2 game, Guitar Hero II, that maintained the second-place showing from December and took the No. 2 spot. Both versions of Twilight Princess joined Wario Ware in representing Nintendo consoles in the top 10, while Resistance: Fall of Man was the only PS3 title on the list, coming in at No. 8. When combined with the healthy January reported by British retailers, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the traditional January lull. While it's hard to match the holiday season in terms of sheer sales volume, these January numbers show that good games can still sell just after the Christmas rush. Complete sales rankings, as reported by Gamespot after the jump.
Capcom on Lost Planet, marketing, community
Charles Bellfield, Vice President of Marketing at Capcom, USA recently sat down with Gamasutra to discuss Capcom's recent changes in marketing strategy, and its overall direction for the future. Speaking specifically about Lost Planet, Bellfield notes that Capcom's marketing strategy was to involve the community from the beginning. In particular, several changes were made to Lost Planet after Capcom received feedback about the two Lost Planet demos that were available on Marketplace. Further adding to the Lost Planet community, Capcom made fansite kits available, even naming the three best Lost Planet fansites and including them in the manual of the game. Bellfield notes the important distinction between fostering community and falsely creating one (in reference to the "All I want for Christmas is a PSP" fiasco). We have to hand it to Capcom, they did a good job marketing Lost Planet and keeping the online community informed. Overall, the interview is a good read, especially for those interested in the business side of the game industry. Hit the "read" link for more.
Lost Planet for $39.99 at Best Buy
Best Buy is currently offering copies of Lost Planet for the reasonable price of $49.99. However, if you're a stickler for a good bargain, and we imagine you are, you can knock off an additional $10 with a special coupon in the latest issue of GamePro. The coupon specifies that copies will not be accepted, but we've heard tales of folks printing off high resolution copies and redeeming them with no trouble -- not that we condone that kind of behavior. In fact, a little sleuthing after the "read" link might just point you to the aforementioned high resolution coupons. You might even find out a few strategies for getting your coupon accepted.Lost Planet for $39.99? Not a bad deal if you ask us.
RUMOR: pack of games that may or may not be in the works
This one's definitely a rumor, since it's coming from Rumor Reporter -- the same guys who spread all that awful Warhawk stuff. Whether that is true or not is irrelevant. We're here to focus on the latest rumors. There are a couple of games being tossed around and, for the most part, aren't surprising but worth talking about.
