American McGee
Beautiful Pixels
Hideo Kojima
Hitachi Wasabe's Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Marketplace Updates: (MajorNelson.com)
Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Holiday XBox bundle, the Mjolnir Mix, More WWII FPSing
- New Halo 2 musical theme available
- The Covenant hacking Halo 2 website?
- Holiday XBox bundle
- A classic returns for more WWII FPS gaming
- Game updates
- Blackley to co-Keynote Digital Entertainment Conference
- Riddick Developers' Cut coming to PC
- Commentary: How to increase XBox Live adoption
- New Releases
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NEWS:
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- New Halo 2 musical theme available
- Obviously, the Halo theme has been revamped for the upcoming Halo 2 sequel. Over at TeamXbox.com, you can hear the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" -- the original theme revamped by original composers Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, with guitars by none other than Steve Vai.
- Obviously, the Halo theme has been revamped for the upcoming Halo 2 sequel. Over at TeamXbox.com, you can hear the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" -- the original theme revamped by original composers Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, with guitars by none other than Steve Vai.
- The Covenant hacking Halo 2 website?
- Similar to the "ilovebees" viral marketing of a few months ago, the Halo 2 official website has had strange, ostensibly Covenant symbols gracing the website. A motivated halo.bungie.org forum user has deciphered the alphabet, so current and future messages can be deciphered.
- The first message? "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US AND WE LOVE BEES".
- Similar to the "ilovebees" viral marketing of a few months ago, the Halo 2 official website has had strange, ostensibly Covenant symbols gracing the website. A motivated halo.bungie.org forum user has deciphered the alphabet, so current and future messages can be deciphered.
- Holiday XBox bundle
- Starting October 31, for the same $149.99 MSRP, folks well be able to get Electronic Arts' NCAA Football 2005 and Top Spin tennis game, and two months of XBox Live service, along with a giant black game box.
- Starting October 31, for the same $149.99 MSRP, folks well be able to get Electronic Arts' NCAA Football 2005 and Top Spin tennis game, and two months of XBox Live service, along with a giant black game box.
- A classic returns for more WWII FPS gaming
- Publisher Eidos and developer Pyro Studios announced the return of the Commandos RTS franchise in an all-new form -- First-Person (semi) tactical shooter, available "spring of 2005".
- Publisher Eidos and developer Pyro Studios announced the return of the Commandos RTS franchise in an all-new form -- First-Person (semi) tactical shooter, available "spring of 2005".
- Game updates
- Dead or Alive Ultimate (Tecmo) -- After being delayed at least 4 times, Tecmo's online rendition of the DOA franchise has gone gold, and is scheduled to ship later this month (no official date, but EB Games lists October 26).
- Dead or Alive Ultimate (Tecmo) -- After being delayed at least 4 times, Tecmo's online rendition of the DOA franchise has gone gold, and is scheduled to ship later this month (no official date, but EB Games lists October 26).
- Blackley to co-Keynote Digital Entertainment Conference
- Billboard's first Digital Entertainment Conference & Awards on Nov. 4-5 will be co-keynoted by XBox creator Seamus Blackley. Blackley has since gone on to form production and financing house Capital Entertainment Group (CEG) and is now an agent with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an agency geared toward representing video game developers. Billboard's addition of digital entertainment to its music and movies portfolio is big news in itself, but the real draw is any keynoter with the first name Seamus. Really. People named Seamus simply rock.
- Billboard's first Digital Entertainment Conference & Awards on Nov. 4-5 will be co-keynoted by XBox creator Seamus Blackley. Blackley has since gone on to form production and financing house Capital Entertainment Group (CEG) and is now an agent with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an agency geared toward representing video game developers. Billboard's addition of digital entertainment to its music and movies portfolio is big news in itself, but the real draw is any keynoter with the first name Seamus. Really. People named Seamus simply rock.
- Riddick Developers' Cut coming to PC
- XBox sleeper hit The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is on its way to the PC. The XBox-exclusive was one of the best-selling titles across all platforms for June, according the NPD Group, and the PC version will add a playable mech, a survival-style arena and game mode for players to test their skills, more enemies/action/locations, upgrade graphics, and a hint of additional unlockable content -- all at a bargain $29.99 price point, and available in December.
- XBox sleeper hit The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is on its way to the PC. The XBox-exclusive was one of the best-selling titles across all platforms for June, according the NPD Group, and the PC version will add a playable mech, a survival-style arena and game mode for players to test their skills, more enemies/action/locations, upgrade graphics, and a hint of additional unlockable content -- all at a bargain $29.99 price point, and available in December.
- Commentary: How to increase XBox Live adoption
- Honestly, I think one of the real sticking points for XBox Live adoption is the price point. Sure, the $70 starter kit gets you the first year of subscription ($50), a headset ($30), and Crimson Skies ($20), saving you 30 bucks, but it's still a balk-inducing price tag, and the $50 for a year of live isn't that swallowable for folks already shelling out $30 - $55 a month for broadband service.
What should they do? Here are my thoughts:
- Knock the price down to $39.99 or $29.99 for a year subscription. This is simply a more digestible price point.
- If they can't eat the cost by doing a straight-up service price reduction, they should provide more flexibility in the trial subscription model. Rather than "just" offering free 2-3 month trials, they should give people the latitude to apply that $10-$15 service credit toward a full-year, which brings the cost down to at or below the $39.99 price point.
- speaking of flexibility, believe it or not, I think Microsoft should offer even more options for Live Subscriptions. I think they need to offer a one-year subscription (with a free game), without the headset, for the price of just the one-year subscription. Why? Because there's now a host of first- and third-party headsets available, from the Microsoft standard ($29.99), to the cheap ($14.99), to the premium ($49.99 for the Plantronics Halo 2-branded headset, to $79.99 for the Logitech Bluetooth wireless headset). There are also combo wired and wireless controller/headset offerings from Mad Catz, Hip Interactive, and Wideye. Offering a headset-less Live package gives people choice in their headsets, and saves Microsoft from subsidizing the headsets.
- Following that thinking, they should get someone else to subsidize the headsets. Sony has been incredibly successful with SOCOM (I & II) because they bundle a headset with the game. Granted, in this case, it's Sony subsidizing Sony, but the model is sound. Think of a Plantronics/Microsoft co-branding where they bundle the Halo 2 headset with a copy of the game, or Wideye partnering with Time-Warner Roadrunner and Microsoft to practically give away headsets and controllers with combination cable/DSL and XBox Live subscriptions. Wideye did this in Hong with the Live launch, and arguably are owed some credit for the AP's 15% Live rate among XBox users (as opposed to a worldwide 12% rate).
- Knock the price down to $39.99 or $29.99 for a year subscription. This is simply a more digestible price point.
- Honestly, I think one of the real sticking points for XBox Live adoption is the price point. Sure, the $70 starter kit gets you the first year of subscription ($50), a headset ($30), and Crimson Skies ($20), saving you 30 bucks, but it's still a balk-inducing price tag, and the $50 for a year of live isn't that swallowable for folks already shelling out $30 - $55 a month for broadband service.
- New Releases
- Week of 10/17/2004
- Men of Valor (FPS)
- Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors (Action)
- Outlaw Golf 2 (Sports)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (Action)
- Men of Valor (FPS)
- Week of 10/24/2004
- Bicycle Casino (Puzzle)
- Chessmaster (Action)
- Dead or Alive Ultimate (Fighting)
- The Incredibles (Action)
- Monster Garage (Driving)
- OutRun2 (Driving)
- Scaler (Platformer)
- SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie (Platformer)
- Bicycle Casino (Puzzle)
- Week of 10/31/2004
- The Bard's Tale (RPG)
- Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures (Sports)
- Godzilla: Save the Earth (Action)
- High Rollers Casino (Puzzle)
- IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 (Driving)
- The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age (RPG)
- Pinball Hall of Fame (Puzzle)
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus (Platformer)
- Spikeout Battle Street (Brawler)
- Spyro: A Hero's Tail (Platformer)
- XBox Live Arcade (Multiple)
- The Bard's Tale (RPG)
- Week of 10/17/2004
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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.
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