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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Halo 2 Redux, EA in the news (and the courts), industry shake ups ...


  1. Sorry for the delay, Adam sucks, move on ...
  2. Halo 2 Redux
  3. Electronic Arts in the news
  4. Xbox Next news
  5. Zombie gets his groove on
  6. Majesco's financials lookin' good
  7. Shake ups in the game industry
  8. Tekken 5 Coming to Xbox
  9. Pulp Fiction writer sues fitness developer
  10. And the secret Mortal Kombat Karacter is ...
  11. Hollywood studios endorse HD DVD
  12. Spherex Xbox 5.1 Surround Sound System finally ships
  13. PlayStation 3 updates
  14. D-Link sets the bar for gaming networking
  15. Game updates
  16. New Releases

--------------------------------------------------
NEWS:
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  1. Sorry for the delay, Adam sucks, move on ...

    • Folks, sorry for the almost 1-month delay in my weekly blog. Halo 2 consumed my life, and the toy job robbed what little time was left. But the job lets me buy things like Halo 2 ... I'm so conflicted ...

    • Anyway, sorry for the delay -- enjoy this sorta Über Monthly Edition. And if you're still grumpy about the delay, bite me.


  2. Halo 2 Redux

    • Halo 2, by the numbers

      • Projected Day-one revenues (Microsoft): $100 million

      • Projected Day-one revenues (Industry): $75 million

      • Actual Day-one revenues: $125 million (more than any entire opening weekend of a holiday film)

      • Copies sold day 1: 2.38 million

      • Copies sold to date (< one month): 5 million

      • Copies sold of original Halo to date (3 years): 6 million

      • # o' nominees for the Dec. 14 Spike TV Video Game Awards: 5 (Game Of The Year, Best First-Person Actiodrn, Best Soundtrack, Designer Of The Year (Jason Jones And Bungie Studios), Best Graphics)



    • Halo 2 auto-updates available

      • The first two Halo 2 auto-updates are available via Live. The first update shortens matchmaking wait times, fixes problems with 480p support, and unlocks a multiplayer map previously only available by playing through the entire single-player mission and performing a "training exercise" (I wish they hadn't made the map available for free -- it was a cool unlockable). The 2nd update implements 2 new matchmaking lists ("TEAM SLAYER" and "RUMBLE TRAINING"), after Bungie's analysis of Halo 2 online stats and habits to date.



    • What's next for Halo?

      • Uhh ... Maybe the rest of the game? In order to meet the November 9 deadline, Bungie dropped online co-op, and (more noticeably) the last third of the game, which is why we get to an experience an unintentional Empire Strikes Back-like cliffhanger. Attentive folks will have noticed the lack of characters from early renders (like orbital shock troops and such, interestingly removed from Bungie.net). No word yet on when we'll get the last third of the game we bought, or whether we'll get rooked on a "Director's" cut additional purchase, or (worse), if the last third becomes the beginning of Halo 3

      • Halo 3 -- C'mon, you think they're gonna let a franchise like this stop at a partial sequel? Rumor has it the Bungie team has ditched all current-gen Xbox development rigs and are exclusively developing on next-gen debug boxes. Great news for Xbox Next, bad news for getting the rest of Halo 2 anytime soon.



    • Miscellaneous stuff

      • The US Army sold out of its 25,000 ordered copies of Halo 2, and 16,000 more were expected over the last couple of weeks. The men and women of our Armed Forces giving us another example of why they totally rock. God bless each and every one of you ...

      • The Official Halo 2 Strategy Guide sold 270,000+ on Nov. 9th, and it's projected sales-based first printing (1.1 million copies) makes it the Random House, Inc. title with the biggest first day sale since Bill Clinton's MY LIFE. And Master Chief keeps it zipped in his adventures ...

      • Halo 2 has joined a watchdog group's list of "most violent video games to avoid". The five-member New York City coalition "representing a number of parent, church, and women's organizations, plus a New York City council member" put's the game in odd company alongside games like GTA: San Andreas. The rest of the list is odd, as it includes Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Mortal Kombat: Deception (which they miss-spelled), Gunslinger Girls 2 (a non-US import of Gunslinger Girl Vol. 3), Hitman: Blood Money (won't be released until spring of 2005), and Shadow Hearts, which was released in 2001. At least one member of the coalition admitted that she had not played or seen any of the titles.





  3. Electronic Arts in the news

    • Electronic Arts is looking to acquire Digital Illusions CE (DICE), developers of Rallisport Challenge and the EA-published Battlefield franchise.

    • EA and Cherry Lane Music Publishing announced the forming a new joint venture, to be called Next Level Music. The unique venture will "sign established as well as emerging new artists, acquire publishing catalogs, produce original music, and further develop EA's rich catalog of music." Cherry Lane is considered one of the largest independent music publishers in North America, and owns almost 100,000 copyrights.

    • An Internet post from "ea_spouse", about her fiance's eighth consecutive 72-hour week, shed the white-hot light of public scrutiny on Electronic Arts, after a bevy of articles ran in publications like the Los Angeles Times, New York Times (requires registration), and the Washington Post (requires registration), among others. EA is laudibly taking steps to change things. sVP of HR Rust Rueff said in an internal memo, "As much as I don’t like what’s been said about our company and our industry. I recognize that at the heart of the matter is a core truth: the work is getting harder, the tasks are more complex and the hours needed to accomplish them have become a burden. We haven’t yet cracked the code on how to fully minimize the crunches in the development and production process. Net, there are things we just need to fix." Heaven forbid focus should be turned on the rest of the tech industry, since the gaming vertical certainly isn't special on this front ...



  4. Xbox Next news

    • Digital Illusions CE (DICE) announced that Battlefield: Modern Combat will be coming to Xbox Next.

    • Actor Vin Diesel is shaking it up again. Diesel revealed in an interview with Commingsoon.net that a sequel to the XBox sleeper hit, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is in the works. Little else was revealed, and it's not known if Starbreeze Studios will also develop the sequel or if it's part of the recent Starbreeze/Majesco Games cryptic press release about next gen partnerships. Diesel's game development studio, Tigun Studios, also recently announced a deal with X-Men/Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer to develop Ususal Suspects, "a character-driven, tactical action adventure based on the life of a Secret Service agent who has been assigned to the president's detail."

    • Take some time to surf over to www.wardevil.com/. The good folks at Digi-Guys Studios are putting together a "Next-Gen game" for "late 2005 release" that would only make sense as an Xbox 2 release. This may not actually confirm that we'll see the next version of the Xbox at the end of next year; it may just confirm that more and more developers are taking this as a given. The renders look stunningly gorgeous though, and may give the Xbox next version of Morrowind a run for its money.

    • Three versions of the next Xbox?

      • Online game periodical The Inquirer sez there'll be an Xbox 2 with no hard drive, an "Xbox Next HD" that has a hard drive (duh) and additional specific functionality to take advantage (including rumored High-Definition TV recording), and an "Xbox Next PC", a Sony PSX-like hybrid Xbox/PC Media Center PC workhorse.

      • Interestingly, the article also says the first two versions will ship at the end of 2005, but the "Xbox Next PC" won't ship until 2006, coinciding with the purported launch of the PlayStation 3. Brilliant branching channel marketing, but will this bite Microsoft since it flies in the face of the last three years' public evangelism?



    • Robbie Bach, Chief Xbox Officer (and now a member of Microsoft’s "Consumer Leadership Team"), recently had an interview with Newsweek where he spelled out more ambitious "integrated innovation" scenarios, including sharing "digital memories" (whether photo or video), broadcast video, music (pointing to Apple's model, and messaging (which he expanded on to include chat, messaging, blogging, telephony. One additional interesting part of the interview was Bach's comment that Microsoft "may be an infrastructure player, rather than a direct consumer player," leading me to think there may be some very big things on the horizon for Xbox Live, while everyone's been focusing on the Xbox Next red herring.

    • Microsoft has applied for long-running pen-n-paper RPG trademark Shadowrun. Given the late filing (November of this year), it seems likely the title could be for the next version of XBox.



  5. Zombie gets his groove on

    • Marathon/Halo/Oni creator and Wideload Studio founder Alex Seropian's upcoming Stubbs the Zombie is going to have a full-featured soundtrack, leveraged by Austin publisher Aspyr Media, Inc.:

      • Ben Kweller – "Lollipop"

      • The Raveonettes – "My Boyfriend's Back"

      • Death Cab for Cutie – "Earth Angel"

      • Rogue Wave – Everyday

      • Cake – Strangers in the Night

      • The Walkmen – "There Goes My Baby"

      • The Dandy Warhols – "All I Have to Do Is Dream"

      • Oranger – "Mr. Sandman"

      • The Flaming Lips – "If I Only Had a Brain"

      • Clem Snide – "Tears on My Pillow"

      • Rose Hill Drive – "Shakin' All Over"

      • Milton Mapes – "Lonesome Town"

      • Phantom Planet – "The Living Dead"





  6. Majesco's financials lookin' good

    • Just a month after shipping the high-profile BloodRayne 2, publisher Majesco, has sought to float an additional 100K shares of common stock and move from an Over-the-Counter (OTC) Bulletin Board to a NASDAQ listing.

    • Far from a one-trick pony, Majesco has been ripping up the publishing world with titles from BloodRayne to Bust-a-Move, and partnering in big deals like a next-gen project with Starbreeze Studios, and licensing IP from Las Vegas hotel and casino Golden Nugget. One of their hottest upcoming titles (and original IPs) is Advent Rising, penned and voice-directed by sci-fi author Orson Scott Card.



  7. Shake ups in the game industry

    • Midway Games announced Former EA Arts and Microsoft vet Scot Bayless will head Midway's Chicago studio, joined by Stephan Martiniere, award-winning artist and visual designer now in the role of the visual design director. Bigger news for me was the announcement that former Eidos and Electronic Arts mainstay Denise Fulton will head the new Midway Studios-Austin.

    • I am stoked that Midway Austin has picked up Harvey Smith as Creative Director for the new studio. I don't know Harvey personally, but I'm a huge outside fan of his, and some of you may remember my making a big deal about the open letter he wrote the industry when he walked away from Ion Storm in April (arguably at the peak of his career) to reshift life priorities. Midway's done good with getting Harvey on board ...

    • Also, Midway has purchased Paradox Development, the studio behind the next generation of the Mortal Kombat franchise, MK: Shaolin Monks. This year, Midway acquired The Suffering developer Surreal Software, and Area 51 Austin-based Inevitable Entertainment.

    • James Caparro as is stepping in as CEO for Atari Inc., with Infogrames cofounder Bruno Bonnell stepping down from the role to focus on the company's game library, its creative talent, and technology as Atari's chairman and chief creative officer.



  8. Tekken 5 Coming to Xbox

    • Actually, it's coming to all current-gen consoles, but this marks the franchise debut on XBox and Gamecube. No date yet, so check back later.



  9. Pulp Fiction writer sues fitness developer

    • Roger Avary, the scribe behind Pulp Fiction, is suing developer responDESIGN for allegedly stealing his idea for a "yoga video game. CEO Ted Spooner has vehemently denied that his team took any of Avary's ideas (purportedly shared with Microsoft folks a couple of years ago). I bought this interactive fitness program, and I must say it's really good, yoga is only a fractional part of it, The entire Chicago Fire Department is now using it, and Mr. Avary should perhaps look for less controversial means of increasing revenue ...



  10. And the secret Mortal Kombat Karacter is ...

    • Since Midway Games bought the Unreal franchise and owns the Mortal Kombat franchise, the announcement that Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict will include an MK character was a shockingly pleasant surprise. Midway's now announced that that character will be none other than Raiden, the MK Thunder God.



  11. Hollywood studios endorse HD DVD

    • The competing standard for Sony's Blu-Ray technology got a boost from Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, and Warner Bros. Studios. The endorsements are a huge nod, though execs have said the endorsement may not end up being exclusive.



  12. Spherex Xbox 5.1 Surround Sound System finally ships

    • The Xbox-branded, Omnipolar auditory offering is finally a reality, and at $499.99 it may have folks sputtering, but check the TeamXbox review to get a sense what an incredible deal this setup is (really). The Omnipolar technology allows for more flexible placement of the components (without sacrificing surround sound quality), and are ideal for anything from a media room setup to placement on a large desk (where the 2 rear speakers can be placed on the outermost corners of the desk, reflecting sound off of walls or ceiling to the user). The system is endorsed by the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), which is no small deal. The only concern/caveat I have is that there is not a discreet physical amplifier for each of the 6 channels. However, at 300 watts (50 to each front stage pod, 25 to each rear pod and the remaining 100 to the 8" sub, amplified by Wave’s MaxxBass technology to compensate for the lack of air movement), along with 3 digital inputs, this system is more than powered for most small to intermediate media expereinces.



  13. PlayStation 3 updates

    • Sony and nVIDIA are jointly developing a custom graphics processing unit (GPU) for the PlayStation 3. The joint development will create GPUs for a broad range of computer/entertainment/broadband products, but the press release specifically mentions the applicability to the PlayStation 3, when tied to the next-gen system's Cell processors.

    • IBM, Sony and Toshiba finally spilled some concrete details on the Cell microprocessor for the PlayStation 3.

      • Multi-thread, multicore architecture.

      • 64-bit Power processor core.

      • Multiple synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing.

      • Supports multiple operating systems at the same time.

      • Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion chips.

      • Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.

      • Real-time resource management system for real-time applications.

      • On-chip hardware in support of security system for intellectual property protection.

      • Implemented in 90 nanometer (nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.


      Further details will be revealed in technical papers scheduled for the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), Feb. 6th to 10th, 2005, in San Francisco.



  14. D-Link sets the bar for gaming networking

    • D-Link has just announced the D-Link GamerLounge wireless router (also available in wired-only version) that sports 108 mbps wireless, four 1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports, and -- most importantly -- GameFuel priority technologies, allowing the D-Link GamerLounge to give precedence to gaming traffic over other network interactions (Email, FTP, etc.). The router was explicitly designed for XBox, PS2, and PC gaming, and its launch was accompanied by D-Link's GamerLounge website launch. The router will MSRP for $179.99, with the wired only at $149.99. Attentive folks will notice a drop in D-Link's other gaming bridges and adapters.



  15. Game updates

    • In Stores now: Blinx 2, Call of Duty, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events , Hot Wheels Stunt Track Challenge,Backyard Wrestling 2, The Urbz: Sims in the City, Karaoke Revolution, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, ESPN College Hoops 2K5, Ghost Recon 2, Atari Anthology, Godzilla: Save the Earth, Tom Clancy Triple Pack for Xbox, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix, Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Pinball Hall of Fame, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Pinball Hall of Fame.



  16. New Releases

    • Week of 11/28/2004

      • Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

      • World Championship Poker

      • American Chopper



    • Week of 12/05/2004

      • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II

      • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation



    • Week of 12/12/2004

      • GunGriffon: Allied Strike

      • Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics

      • Chicago Enforcer



    • Week of 12/19/2004

      • NFL Street 2

      • MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf

posted by Adam @ 4:36 PM

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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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