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Australia puts sales of WoW, other MMOs on ice
It would seem that the Australian government has been reading Joystiq, as WoW Insider reports that the land down under has banned sales of unrated MMOs -- the same ones we told you about last week. As it stands, selling any MMO without an Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) rating (which includes all but Vanguard and EVE Online) will result in a fine of AU$27,220.80 ($17,452.61) or two years in ye olde slammer.Blizzard made a brief comment on its own forums, stating that the company "will always respect the laws of the countries in which we operate." Of course, Blizzard and other MMO makers may be able to remedy the situation by submitting their games for classification, something they generally haven't done in the past. As long as the games receive a MA15+ rating or lower (suitable for ages 15 years and up), they're good to peacefully reclaim their retail space.
Australian MMOs: Without classification, but still on store shelves
We've talked about it in the past ad nauseum, but for those who are just now joining us: the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) doesn't have a rating for video games above MA15+. Thus, if your title is deemed too inappropriate for someone 15 years or older, it's Refused Classification (RC), essentially barring it from sale in the country. Except, it seems, if your game is an MMO.Our friends at Massively took a look at MMOs in Australia, which -- with few exceptions -- are sold at retail without any rating whatsoever. Developers and publishers claim they've never submitted their titles to the OFLC because they didn't believe it was necessary to do so. That misconception may have come from the board itself, who is said to have given such counsel before it was merged with the Federal Attorney-General's Office. However, the now-assimilated group is saying that MMOs require classification, and selling an unclassified game is a crime. Hit up Massively for more information. This is gonna be a very interesting story to follow.
Comcast building a 500TB TV Warehouse to keep viewer data
As a part of its Canoe advertising collabo with other large cable operators, Comcast is apparently working out how to keep track of viewing statistics from 16 million households nationwide. Charter is already tracking several hundred thousand boxes in its Los Angeles, while the Canoe venture is looking to eventually track viewing metrics for 32 million households so it can deliver Interactive TV and targeted ads. Privacy groups are already up in arms about the plans, however if this kind of system could have persuaded someone to keep Pushing Daisies on the air, we'd be willing to consider it.
Nielsen: People prefer playing original Xbox over PS3 in '08
It's not too hard to believe that people are spending more time playing on Xbox 360 or Wii than they are with the PS3. It's also not too difficult to hear that the PS2 is the most played console in 2008 -- everyone and their pet lizard owns one. However, there is one thing which stuns not only us but our comrades as well, and that is hearing that the original Xbox is roping in more gamers than the PS3 for a share of TV time. It's a bit tough to stomach, we know, but that feeling of queasiness should subside within the hour. Media research group Nielsen reports the PS3 ranks 5th in 2008's "Video Game Console Usage" from data collected during the months of January through October. In that period, PS2 took the top spot with a 31.7 percent share followed by the 360 and Wii with 17.2 and 13.4 percent, respectively. The PS3 is right under the original Xbox's 9.7 percent share by a meager difference of 2.4 percent. But hey, it's not all doom and gloom. Our choice console did beat out the GameCube by a whopping 3.3 percent. The full statistics can be found after the break.[via Joystiq]
Nielsen says WoW still tops the list
GameCyte has gone over the Nielsen ratings for 2008, and they're basically saying exactly what we've heard with other sites like GamerDNA: that WoW commanded PC playtime this year. On a list with such oldies on it as The Sims, CounterStrike, and even Blizzard's own Diablo II, World of Warcraft sits at the top of the charts with an average of 671 minutes (about 11 hours) played per week. This tells us two things: one, lots of people are playing World of Warcraft a lot. And two, PCs need some better games.There is an interesting trend in these numbers, especially when you compare them with last year. Last year, Nielsen claimed about 17 hours a week of playtime for WoW players, so playtime this year is actually down overall (and while we don't see month to month numbers, GameCyte says it was before the Wrath release, which makes sense). Sure, you could say that with dailies and the easier instances, players just don't have to play the game as much, but really, this seems to reflect the bigger trend: that WoW is leveling out.There are probably years left in this game -- as we said on the podcast last week, the only real way people will stop playing WoW is when Blizzard finally turns the servers off. But all the numbers we've seen definitely point to a slowing down point among the game's subscribers. Lots of people (11.5 milion) are still playing World of Warcraft a lot. But not as much as they used to.[via WorldofWar]
Terminal Tip: Enable half-star ratings in iTunes
Do you like giving ratings to songs in iTunes? If so, then you've probably noticed that you are only able to rate songs on a full-star basis, not enough granularity for some music fans... there's a longstanding AppleScript hack to enable half-stars, but now there's an easier way around this issue. Macworld's Rob Griffiths found a work around, involving a simple Terminal tip to enable half-star ratings. To enable half-star ratings, close iTunes, and open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities). Once you have Terminal opened, type the following command and press enter: defaults write com.apple.iTunes allow-half-stars -bool TRUE When you reopen iTunes and rate a song, you will be able to give half-stars. That simple. If you wish to make things normal again, open Terminal and type the same command, replacing "TRUE" with "FALSE."
'American Idol' is most timeshifted show of 2008
Well, would you let your brain simmer on this a bit. American Idol, the famed singing competition that airs live numerous times per week when it's in full swing, was found to be the most timeshifted program in the USA in 2008. Granted, it's also the most watched show in the nation, but we digress. The significance here is that this tidbit, which was dug up by The Nielsen Company, goes to show that live competitions and so-called "topical" programming aren't as immune to DVRs as networks would love to believe. The data found that "an extra four million viewers watched Fox's American Idol in the seven days following the initial episodes." To us, the only true DVR-resistant programming is live sports -- the genuineness of the event just seems to fade when you're not watching in real time, but we can't say we've ever felt the same when watching Simon & Co. a few days after the fact.
High-def found to increase ratings in sports programming
Go ahead, pick your jaw up off of the floor. We'll wait. On the real, you can't possibly be surprised to hear that high-def makes sports entirely more palatable, and a recent Nielsen study on the matter has found that HD broadcasting of sporting events has increased ratings on those very events by quite a margin. The numbers show that at least 22% of US households receive HDTV programming (up from 10% in September 2007), and its ratings for TV sports are 20% higher than the US overall. Even though we know the answer (or, so we think), we'll pose the question to you -- are you more inclined to tune to sports if an event is in HD?[Via SED-HDTV]
A look at Election Night ratings: ABC gains, others lose
We already gave you a shot to voice your opinion on which Election Night broadcast was supreme, but now it's time to dig into the cold, hard facts. With all four of the broadcast networks holding nothing back in order to offer a whiz-bang high-def presentation, it looks as if ABC can be most proud. According to data from Nielsen Media Research, ABC's viewership increased by 9% in total viewers compared to four years prior, and it drew an average of 13.1 million on the eve of November 4th. NBC remained competitive with 12.02 million viewers, but that still represented a loss of 18% from the last election; as for CBS, it notched just 7.83 million watchers and saw its election-over-election results slip 14%. For the full list of numbers and percentages, check the read link.
Rumor roundup: iPhone 2.2 firmware details
Apple has given developers a taste of the new iPhone firmware, version 2.2 beta 2, and it includes a host of spiffy new features that are making the rounds online. A tipster shared with us some screenshots of the new firmware, including what appears to be the ability to download podcasts directly to your iPhone (and presumably your iPod touch). This could tidily explain why Apple rejected the Podcaster app last month. The option to "get more episodes" doesn't appear to work in this firmware build, however. MacRumors' Arnold Kim links to an iPhoneHellas.gr screenshot showing the iPhone software asking for a rating before you delete an application. Kim speculates Apple is looking to increase participation in the App Store rating process. Om Malik's Apple Blog is showing off screenshots from the iPhoneYap.com message boards, including new Maps functionality. Google Street View will apparently be available by rotating the device into landscape mode. Public transportation support and directions for walking also seem to be included. In the same report, the Apple Blog's David Appleyard also mentions location sharing via email and SDK support for manipulating line-in audio as part of the seed.
Industry vets sound off on sex, violence, ratings and design
Peter Molyneux, Greg Zeschuk, Cliff Bleszinski and David Jaffe are four of the industries most respected, creative developers working today and also have the distinction of creating some of the industry's most controversial titles. From the over-the-top violence in Gears of War to the sexual content found in Mass Effect, this quintet of creators know their way around industry hot-buttons.Over the past few months the team at the content knowledge site What They Play have interviewed each of the creators for their distinctive views on the sex, violence, ratings and design in videogames."If the blood is graphic, exploding out and all over the screen, you instantly know you're successful. I'd use flowers and confetti but I don't think it would be nearly as effective," Bleszinski said of the violence level found in the upcoming Gears of War 2. "You know, there's a huge M on the freaking box. If your eight year-old kids can acquire $60 and you're not aware what they're doing with it, you've got bigger problems than your kid playing God of War. You're a sh*tty parent," adds Jaffe.BioWare president Greg Zeschuk, whose 2007 role-playing title Mass Effect was lambasted by the mainstream media for its sexual content, pointed out how our society is dictating content. "It's all obviously a reflection on society," says Zeschuk. "The bottom line is that violence is just more acceptable than sexual content in the U.S., which makes an interesting situation for game developers. You have to really balance these tolerances."Check out the entire feature at What They Play and let us know what you think about sex, violence, ratings and design of videogames in the comments.
Rumor: Broken Sword to get resurrected on Wii? [update]
Update: Looks like someone managed to find the listing on USK's site and take a screen grab (head past the break to see it).Gamefront noticed a listing on the Germany's rating classification website, USK, that showed a new Broken Sword game for the Wii and DS. Our own search of USK's website only turned up a rating from 2002 for Broken Sword on the GBA, however. Even when searching under the Wii and DS system, we found no classification for an Ubisoft-published game. Personally, we hope the game is in the works. We love the genre and playing a new Broken Sword doesn't sound like too bad a time. What about you all?
SK Gaming's Arena Ranking system revamped
SK Gaming sends word that they've updated their Arena Ranking system -- if you want to find out who the best players or teams are on your Region, Battleground or Realm, this is the place to go. You can see the top player or team rankings separately, or even check out the most popular setups by spec and class (and surprisingly, Hunters are on top! No, I'm just kidding, of course it's Warrior/Druid. What did you expect?).Very nice tool, and it's just been updated recently, so it's faster and more accurate than ever. Talents are new to the system as well, but they're integrated very well, so its easy to quickly pull up whatever group of players or teams you want to look at, and then pull all kinds of statistics out of there, including ratings, setups, and builds for everybody. And as someone who's done some web programming in the past, I'll say that whoever coded it knows their stuff -- those URLs are awesome.Plus, we hear that some of the Chinese team names are pretty funny, but considering we're not actually fluent in the language, we'd never know it. Anyone want to translate the better ones?
AAPL down sharply after two ratings cuts
Bad day for Big Rainbow: RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky and Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty cut their ratings and price targets on Apple stock, both citing weakness in consumer spending on PCs. AAPL was down 17.38 at 110.86 (-13.58%) as of this writing: a 20-minute-delayed chart is above. Abramsky's price target on AAPL shares is now $140 (down from $200), while Huberty's is lower at $115 (down from $178). Huberty also notes Apple will struggle because the company "does not play" in the sub-$1,000 laptop market. In a slim bit of good news, Abramsky raised his estimate of the number of iPhone units sold during the fourth quarter to six million, up from five. AAPL's price during the trading day has been its lowest in over a year.
Olympics viewership through the roof, HDTV / internet to thank?
With Michael Phelps spending a great deal of time in front of the cameras between 8:00PM and midnight ET each night, it's hardly a shock to hear that USers are tuning into the Olympics like its 1976. According to preliminary numbers, NBC Universal is reporting that an average of 29.1 million viewers are flipping on the Olympics, which is the "most highly rated broadcast of the Summer Games held outside the United States since 1976." When seeing figures like this, the obvious question emerges: why? Contrary to the beliefs of Big Media, the internet is actually somewhat to thank. Many believed that internet broadcasting would whittle down TV ratings, when in fact, it seems that quite the opposite has happened. Interestingly, it appears that all the high-def footage really isn't getting the credit it deserves. Be honest -- would you have stayed up until 1:00AM watching men's gymnastics had it not been in HD?Read - Olympics ratingsRead - The internet influence
Only Arena skirmishes from level 71-79, ratings back in at 80
Just in case you wanted to know what the deal was with Arena ratings as we all headed to level 80, let Bornakk clarify for you -- while level 70 rated fights will still count, levels 71-79 are back to skirmishes, and rated fights can only happen again at level 80. And while Bornakk doesn't mention season timing at all (does Blizzard ever, beforehand?), our guess would be that they'll hold off on announcing any new PvP items until a good number of people have had a chance to level up to 80 and get situated in the brackets -- of course, depending on how fast people level up, that could be pretty quick.But he does say that there will be no more new level 70 rewards, so what's out there right now is what you get. What we still don't know is whether Arena points from level 70 will carry over into the level 80 bracket, or whether there will be a complete reset of all the ratings and totals for the new bracket. There are good arguments for both sides (some players want a fresh start, while others don't want their winnings so far to count for nothing), but so far we haven't heard anything official yet.So there are still a few things for Blizzard to decide with the higher level Arena system, but they've got time -- it's unlikely that they'll make people rush to 80 just to get involved in the Arena. It seems that when these next ten levels of content come out, Blizzard will switch some focus back to PvE and battleground PvP rather than the Arena game.
Mac 101: Stars and Smart Playlists
If you're anything like me -- and I sincerely hope you're not, for your sake -- you have a large iTunes music library, but the music that you like right now is only a small fraction of that total. (Yeah, that embarrassing '96 Dave Matthews Band album is getting pretty dusty.) Since my musical tastes vary from day to day, and songs quickly fall in and out of my fickle favor, I love assigning ratings to the music I like this minute. I have a five-star rating for la crème de la crème, and a four-star rating for stuff that's pretty good. Three-star items are sadly relegated to history. Next, I combine ratings with smart playlists: Now I can add and remove songs from my current rotation just by changing their star rating. I can do this on-the-go, too: Change a rating on my iPod, and the playlists are updated immediately, and eventually synced back to the computer. Follow me across the jump to see how you can dynamically and efficiently manage your music as quickly as your tastes change.
Anglers hooked on Outdoor Channel's HD fishing programming
For those who thought that fishing on TV was dead as soon as ESPN cut it out in large part from its NFL-slanted coverage, Outdoor Channel would like to politely inform you that you're wrong. Dead wrong. According to the numbers, ratings for the network's Friday night fishing block increased 77% over the first half of 2007. Needless to say, the bulk of programming found in this segment is shot and aired in high-def, and just to make sure onlookers stay hooked, the channel will be adding in The Catch: Costa Rica and Fly Fishing the World (both captured in high-definition) in Q3. Anyone here helping to boost those ratings? Don't be shy now.
Journey To The Center Of The Earth gained more revenue from 3D than 2D
We'll admit -- we had serious doubts that 3D cinema would ever take off so long as patrons were forced to wear those gaudy glasses, but the opening weekend numbers for Journey To The Center Of The Earth make a good case that 3D is viable. In a release put out by Real3D, we're told that 55% of the box office revenue generated by the film was handed over by guests watching it in the third-dimension. In short, the Real3D version took in "3.7 times the revenue of the 2D alternative." It should be noted, however, that 3D viewings are generally more expensive than traditional screens, so we can't say with any degree of certainty that more people saw the film in 3D than in 2D. Still, this seems like a pretty big deal in the 3D arena to us, and we're sure it's all the motivation some studios needed to move forward with costly 3D endeavors.
ESRB's leaky faucet finally fixed?
For those of you that stop by our little corner of the internet every day, you know that a great deal of what's coming to the Virtual Console and WiiWare is found out via the ESRB's website. Well, it looks like things are about to change.How? well, the ESRB are instituting a new policy for when publishers submit games for rating. These publishers will be able to designate a specific date when the title is revealed on the website, allowing both the ESRB and publishers to better keep a lid on hot titles. Like, say, Earthbound.There's still hope for ESRB site perusers, however. If publishers leave the reveal date field blank on their submission forms, the ESRB will showcase the title on their site 30 days following the title's rating.
