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DS gets some love from BAFTA
It's the first time the U.K.'s gaming awards have been in their own spotlight (instead of relaxing in the shadow of the film and television awards), and the Nintendo DS has snared some of the attention. We would expect nothing less. Electroplankton and Brain Age both picked up nominations in multiple categories, and they'll be butting heads (brains?) when it comes to which game is Britain's choice for the most innovative of the year. Trauma Center got a nod as well in the simulation category. We're not sure the other nominees are even worth mentioning next to that one. Too bad there isn't a category for games that make you sweat, 'cause they're just that damned hard at times. Trauma Center has always made us idly wish for a third hand, but we love it like ice cream. Can't say we agree with everything they're doing across the pond, though -- they've got New Super Mario Bros. tagged as a children's game. Oh well. I guess we should all put it down and step away slowly. The winners will be announced on October 5. Check back for confetti and poppers when the DS snags some awards.
Video game BAFTA nominees announced
Part of the London Games Festival, the BAFTA awards for video games will help provide some recognition to gaming that's on a par with film and TV -- at least, in the UK. The nominees, announced today, cover a wide range of games -- from popular favourites such as Tomb Raider: Legend and Oblivion to the more off-beat in Guitar Hero and Katamari.Given the way the UK charts have been looking this summer, the mainstream games may well come out top in most categories, though we'd like to see more recognition for other titles. Fingers crossed; the awards are on October 5th.
Sony keynote at London Games Summit, Games Festival hotting up
This October, the London Games Festival will be hitting the UK's capital with a whole bevy of gaming events. (If you're in the industry, or you want to be, that is.) First up, we have the European answer to GDC, GDC London, for the development types -- sessions range from the excitingly-titled-yet-probably-dull "Combat: The Ninja Way" through to a Molyneux special on design inspiration.More a business sort? The Games Summit is up your street, with buzzword-compliant "hard-hitting business content" for all tastes, from ARGs to -- surprise! -- another Molyneux special, this one on Lionhead. The newly-announced Games Summit keynote will be given by Michael Denny of SCEE, focusing on the networked age and digital distribution, which should provoke some interesting thought.Other events in the Games Festival lineup include the London Game Career Fair and the BAFTA Video Games awards (a British Academy Awards, for games, with more swearing). For those of us interested in playing games, celeb-spotting and the slightly offbeat, events throughout the week of the Festival -- 2-7 October -- will hopefully deliver, with a showcase at HMV's Oxford Street branch and a 'fringe' show which both look to be worth attending.
London theatergoers: "Jam our phones"
Losing reception can be a downright nerve-wracking experience for some of us, but if there's one place no one wants to hear a ring -- much less take a call -- we have to believe it's in live theater. It really comes as no surprise then that a recent poll conducted among theatergoers in London suggests that a full 72 percent would like to see jamming equipment installed to prevent calls from interrupting performances (if anything, we're surprised it's not higher). For the record, said equipment is currently illegal in the UK, but support is growing to legalize it for these kinds of environments. If it can all go down without jeopardizing legit signals, we suspect they'd find support for similar measures virtually everywhere in the world.[Via Techdirt]
UK Dead Rising fans chop til they drop
Capcom is luring UK gamers to the chopping mall with a Dead Rising web-game called "Chop Til You Drop." Mince 100 zombies for the chance to win one of 5 t-shirts or, better yet, 200 for a shot at a Sony HDTV. Unfortunately, the rest of the world isn't eligible to win, although you can still waste an hour of office time mindlessly hurling tiny meat cleavers at the living dead. Capcom should throw a quick promo title on XBLA and take this mini-madness global.
HD-DVD bundles, pricing rumored
Big buzz from "retail sources" concerning the Xbox 360 External HD-DVD Drive in Europe. From GamesIndustry.biz:Retail sources have indicated to GamesIndustry.biz that Microsoft is currently planning to price the standalone HD-DVD drive at GBP 199 (293 Euro) [$370] and to package it with two HD-DVD movies. The sources also suggested that Microsoft will bundle the Premium console and next-generation movie player together for under GBP 400 (589 Euro) [$746] – and that the price could even be as low as GBP 375 (552 Euros) [$700].For some reason these unofficial numbers have desperate Sony fanboys in a bold mood. I'm not sure why. The bundle prices mentioned both undercut the premium PS3 in Europe (Subtracting the usual 25% price hike paid by our cousins across the pond, this would indicate the stand-alone drive will sell for less than $300 in the US, including two movies. Personally I predict $200-$250). And of course, the millions of people who either don't have a TV capable of taking advantage of HD-DVD or don't feel like shelling out for an "unproven" format still have a choice with MS. So even if these "high" prices hold, the 360 is still in good position to do battle with the PS3 in Europe this Christmas. Oh yeah, I forgot -- the PS3 is skipping Christmas in Europe. Guess it won't be much of a battle after all.If you need a refresher course on why HD-DVD is better than Blu-Ray anyway (cough...VC1 codec...cough), see here.
"Confirmed" launch date and price for Europe
According to gaming site CVG, trade mag MCV states that a launch date of November 24th and price of £149 ($278 in American money) are fact. Lisa Foster, Managing Editor of MCV, is without fear in backing up this reported date and price, stating that they "are very confident about the story, especially the price and that Nintendo Wii will launch in the week ending November 24." In doing the responsible journalism thing, CVG contacted several industry insiders who commented that while the price did seem right, the launch date was way off. Right about now, it'd be great if we said that these insiders were commenting that the launch date was a lot later than they would have thought, instead they said that it was an early figure. Most stated that a December release seemed more realistic. CVG contacted Nintendo as well, but had yet to hear back from them before the deadline for publishing the story.
UK charity wants hearing loss warnings on DAPs
Even though it may seem rather obvious that listening to loud music (whether through headphones or speakers) has the potential to cause hearing damage, apparently 58% of 16 to 30-year-old Brits are blissfully unaware of this fact, so a UK-based charitable organization is now calling on DAP manufacturers to affix more prominent warning labels to their products. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) has apparently contacted all of the leading makers of MP3 players with a plea to include cigarette-type notification on all of their packaging, citing music lovers like 27-year-old "Cath" who claimed, "I was shocked when I found out that by listening to my MP3 player too loudly I could do serious damage to my hearing. If I saw a warning on the box I'd definitely take it more seriously." RNID has even set up a website called Don't Lose the Music where folks like the gentleman who sued Apple can find supposedly unbiased statistics and facts about hearing loss, along with tips -- such as turning the volume down -- that will reduce your chances of going partially or fully deaf. We're most interested in finding out how our readers feel about this issue; i.e. how far do companies need to go in order to convey the dangers of their products -- for instance, do knife manufacturers need to tell us in big bold letters that we risk cutting ourselves, or should the makers of sunglasses warn us not to stare directly into the sun?[Via ArsTechnica]
Hell's Highway demo available in UK?
Reader Ciaran reports that the demo for Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is available in the UK. Can anyone else confirm? And if so, how is it? By the way, UK gamers can also download something called the "The Cuban Brothers Game With Fame Trailer." That's cool, but I'm not sure about the "fame" part. The only Cuban brothers I know are Fidel and Raul.
Game Boy Micro lands in UK bargain bin
Joystiq tipster, Jay, spotted a new price tag for Game Boy Micro at GAME, a UK retailer. The palm-sized portable is down from £69 to just £39 (about $75).Despite being $25 cheaper than the MSRP in the US, the new UK price still doesn't push our 'impulse buy' button. Get it down to the £25/$50 range and we'll gladly toss a couple into the shopping cart while we're waiting in the checkout line.[Thanks, Jay]
MS drops price of Core System in UK
Microsoft has repeatedly said that they won't be cutting the price of the 360, but then, reader Lorul2 never thought he'd have "three kids and dead end job." Things change, and they obviously have in the UK where GamesIndustry.biz confirms the Xbox 360 Core System is now selling for the official price of £199 off of £209. That's converts to a drop of about $19. No word on a similar price cut for other SKUs or markets. Will this invigorate interest in the lowly core system?[Thanks Lorul2]
Core Xbox 360 loses ten pounds
And before our juvenile brains manage to construct a poor joke regarding the Xbox 360's power brick, we'll quickly blurt out that the lost pounds are strictly in monetary terms. According to Gamesindusty.biz, several retailers in the UK have confirmed that the Core Xbox 360's price has been slashed by 10 quid, bringing its total price to GBP 199.99. A lower price says little of value, however, as walking out of the store with a Core console, a hard drive (GBP 69.99) and a component cable (GBP 19.99) will still cost you more than the standard pack (GBP 279.99). Though this move is unlikely to cause a similar Core price drop in the US, it does seem to reinforce the idea that the cheaper deal is the less popular one. Of course, that doesn't stop retailers from advertising it in deceiving ways -- the above advertisement is straight from the front page of online retailer, Game, and proudly proclaims that "HD gaming starts" at 199.99 pounds. "HD gaming" here having the definition of "a sequence of fuzzy images conveyed by the included and technically inept composite cable."
Brain Age bestowed Edge award, beats out Guitar Hero, others
Nintendo's Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! has received Edge magazine's 'Edge Award,' which recognizes games that show "the willingness to aim higher and try something new." Brain Age beat out cult hits like Guitar Hero (PS2) & Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (DS), along with Amped 3 (Xbox 360), Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Electroplankton (DS), Indigo Prophecy (PC/PS2/Xbox), and Killer 7 (GameCube). "Only Nintendo could make arithmetic fun," remarked Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton upon accepting the award.Edge also presented an award to InfoSpace's Dirty Sanchez for best mobile game.
Disney Mobile postpones UK launch indefinitely
As MVNOs seemingly struggle to gain traction stateside, some are looking outside their home borders for an additional revenue stream -- while others are starting to reevaluate the wisdom in taking their business model abroad. Case in point: Disney, which has been having a rough go of it with its first MVNO (ESPN Mobile) and recently launched a second with Disney Mobile, has shelved plans to take Disney Mobile to the UK via O2's network, citing "the rapidly changing competitive environment" (when we run that bit through Babelfish's corporate lip service-to-English translator, we get "we're getting our rears handed to us at home, and we need to figure out what the heck we're doing wrong before we launch elsewhere"). Of course, this is technically an indefinite delay, not a cancellation -- meaning that there may yet be hope for Brits looking forward to tracking the little ones via Disney's Family Locator service -- just not any time soon.[Via Techdirt]
Make a scarf-book to read on UK-departing flights
As we all know by now, getting a flight out of the UK has been a tad difficult the past few days, but new security measures have enforced a dreadful new restriction that bans books and magazines from accompanying you on your voyage. Unless you're a well-regarded dignitary or just plain lucky when passing through those checkpoints, chances are you won't have any good 'ole fashioned entertainment to keep your brain busy while cruising in the clouds -- but the oh-so-clever minds over at Boing Boing have found a perfectly legal and boldly fashionable (or not) way to circumvent the system. Dubbed the scarf-book, the book / article of clothing is crafted by printing text (your own masterpiece or other works released under a creative commons license, of course) onto iron-on transfer paper and then afixing it to a lengthy piece of cloth. Your new text-covered wardrobe accessory can then be safely worn as a scarf, headwrap, belt, or whatever else you can imagine, leaving little doubt that you mean no harm while boarding your flight. Although these heightened security precautions are likely to relax as time goes on, there are those of you with impending reservations that may go stir crazy without reading material to pass the time, and hey, there's nothing wrong with getting all wrapped up in a good book, eh?
UK gets countdown clocks to Wii launch
Originally posted in the Wii Chat forums, there was supposedly a memo sent out where it was revealed that select UK Virgin megastores would be receiving countdown clocks, set to count down to the launch of the Wii. The memo says that Nintendo would be contacting the following stores from today onward about when to expect their clock's arrival: Megastore Piccadilly Liverpool Cribbs Causeway Kings Road Bournemouth Leeds Meadowhall Birmingham Over at Joystiq, Ross brings up a good point. With Nintendo's keynote at this month's Leipzig Games Convention, it's a natural venue for them to announce the date, which would see these stores having their clocks installed and functional on that date of August 23rd. While we'll chalk this one up to rumor at the moment, consider it an unusually interesting one.[Note: The graphic does not convey a believed release date. It is entirely made up on our part.][Via Joystiq]
UK's ATM cards thoroughly trounced by ID thieves
Alright, this is getting out of hand. We were a little wary at the first when we heard about tying RFID so closely to our monies, and that Chase Bank blink card of ours has been collecting dust ever since it showed up in the mail, but the latest failings of RFID "security" have us running for the hills -- tin foil hat in tow. Apparently some UK scoundrels teamed up with a crooked gas station attendant to nab credit card numbers from RFID smart card-enabled credit cards. They then stashed this info on the magnetic strips of phone cards, and flew over to India to make withdrawls. Since Indian ATMs don't require the double identification of RFID smart card and magnetic strip, just the strip, they were able to manage quite a bit of cash before a vigilant security guard spotted them making withdrawls from multiple cards in succession. The gang of four men were caught with $14,000 and 116 credit cards. To make things worse, the UK Cyber Crime Unit wasn't even aware of the existence of RFID chips, (makes sense, since the cards don't use such technology) and we're not sure what's to stop another group of clever hackers making off with another set of credit cards and forever ruining any hope of security we've managed to hold onto so far.UPDATE: Turns out there was some serious misinformation floating around, since UK cards don't even use RFID, but instead operate with smart cards that require physical contact. This makes roughly 95% of our ranting completely irrelevant, but the heist is disconcerting all the same.[Via Boing Boing]
HTC Trilogy christened "Lobster 700" for Virgin Mobile
No, not our Virgin Mobile, folks. The UK's Virgin Mobile will be getting HTC's Trilogy, which we knew; now, the retail model's officially been named the "Lobster 700," a moniker that seems strangely appropriate (though we can't really put our finger on why). As you may recall, the Trilogy is essentially a Faraday with the welcome addition of DAB, though at the expense of a rather prominent hump on the phone's right side. Now that the phone's case has been mercifully recolored, it appears that release is imminent, with some shops reporting availability next month. No word on eventual US availability, though we might be putting the proverbial cart before the horse -- let's get us some live DAB networks first, shall we?
Rumor control: Panasonic might bring Blu-ray to the UK in just two weeks
T3, a UK gadget mag, is indicating that Panasonic has scheduled a Blu-ray press conference for August 8. The mag is expecting a big Blu-ray announcement aimed at Europe too. Somehow, they are thinking that this press conference is going to also start the sale of Panasonic's Blu-ray player. Sure, this press event might be to announce that Panasonic is going to, in fact, bring their Blu-ray players to the UK but don't think that they are going to be available for sale anytime soon. We wish that was the case, but it just isn't the way these manufacturers have been working lately. They will announce the product with all the glitz and glee they can, but it probably won't be available for a few months and definitely not available before Toshiba's HD DVD launch in two weeks. NOTE: We do hope we are wrong though.
Apple Store UK down
We're receiving tips that the Apple Store UK is down, with the infamous 'We'll be back' sticky note at center stage. There hasn't been much buzz about new products lately, and given the time of day (or night, in the UK's case), we're willing to bet this won't be anything major. Still, it's worth noting nonetheless.
