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How's Vivendi planning to follow their blockbuster WoW act?
Quick: guess the second-best selling game in the Vivendi game portfolio, after World of Warcraft. If you guessed Ice Age 2, you're a freak (or you peeked). You're also clearly in touch with the ideas expressed by Vivendi's chief Jean-Bernard Lévy, who told investors last week that the company's working on a portfolio of games that are "capable of being played online or on a mobile phone on a train for 15 minutes," according to the International Herald Tribune. It's refreshing to hear the head of a major games publisher talk about diversifying his product portfolio along the lines of game session length. For too long, companies have focused diversification efforts along genre lines, a rigid segmentation strategy that lacks relevance in this age of on-the-go entertainment via DAPs, mobile phones, DSs and PSPs. [Image source]
Scarface will give you balls
The Vivendi booth in South Hall didn't have anything hands-on for Scarface (or at least, not that I saw) -- just two flat panels playing clips from the movie, and a big, sweeping staircase that led to an upstairs "screening" room, where we got to watch a demo of the ugly game. Oops, did I say "ugly?" I meant fugly. The graphics thing aside though, I can see how someone who liked the movie would like to "say hello to my little friend" in a game. The game picks up where the movie left off, with you, Tony Montana, up at the top of the staircase. Instead of getting shot and killed like in the movie, the first thing you have to do is turn around and kill the guy behind you before he kills you (otherwise, I guess you have to start over). After that, the game is all about building up your cocaine-trafficking empire, basically by using your cajones. You earn Balls points by intimidating others with the use of voice, or by doing balls-y things. Higher speed driving, more destructive shooting, and of course, being more of an a**hole as you cut deals with local shopkeepers to join your cocaine empire.
