Gearbox says ‘Aliens’ lawsuit claiming false advertising is “beyond meritless”
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Wii U | 0 comments
– Gearbox Statement
They’re sort of obligated to say this because they’re being sued and they don’t want to lose the case, but I wonder if they have a point. They should definitely be allowed to share a work in progress… but if the work in progress looks so much better than the final product? I don’t know! Maybe, maybe not. I’m not much for legalese.
Katie Couric asks for “the positive side” of violent video games via Twitter
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments
So apparently Katie Couric ran an hour-long piece about video games and how they ruin lives and make some people kill people last Monday, which upset some gamers. So Katie decided to rectify the situation by asking gamers what they think the positive aspects of violent games are… via Twitter!
Passionate gamers upset w convo whether violent video games can contribute to v behavior. Tweet the positive side of violent v games? Thanx!
— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) May 3, 2013
She says she’s going to use the replies in an upcoming show, but we don’t know what the show was about. I think we all know by this point that this argument is useless to have. People who run specials about video games being a catalyst for violence but neglect to do the same for some significantly larger contributing factors aren’t people I care much to debate with!
NPD survey finds an increase in gaming overall, over half of gamers prefer buying physical media to digital
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
NPD’s yearly “Online Gaming Report” has come out today, detailing for us the many habits of those gamers who play games online, what they’re playing, how much they’re playing, and how they like to play. Here’s the breakdown:
– 72% of gamers in the U.S. play online, up 5% over last year
– Hours-played-per-week is up 9% overall, 6% for online gaming
– People are playing games more often, for longer across “virtually every type of device”
– PC is the top platform for online gaming
– Online gaming through PC is shrinking, while online gaming through mobile devices is growing
– 62% of gamers prefer buying physical games to digital
– Survey questioned 8,867 people ages 2 and older
Famicom designer talks about the effect of limited specs on player imaginations
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
It is something often ignored by game designers today: “Bad” graphics can actually be a good thing for a game world, allowing players to stretch their imaginations and feel more involved with the world than they would with every last detailed rendered out for them. In an interview with Shunpure news, Famicom “creator” Masayuki Uemura touched on that sentiment himself:
– Famicom designer Masayuki Uemura
It’s a sentiment I could not agree with more, and something I’m very sad to see leaving the gaming industry as we move forward. Indie games are, thankfully, bringing the concept back perhaps without even knowing it, but to no longer see a game that feels as atmospheric and imaginative as The Legend of Zelda from a big-name developer will be a sad event indeed.
The Guardian (UK newspaper) criticizes violent videos games such as Animal Crossing, Wii Sports, and Mario Party
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Alas, the headline you read is not a joke. The popular UK newspaper ‘The Guardian’ published an article recently highlighting the games that were the top sellers of 2012 in the UK, and among the likes of Halo 4 and Black Ops 2 (which were brought up to illustrate a point about the content in best-selling games), they also allegedly mentioned some more family-friendly titles from the Big N. Here’s what the article tagged:
Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Mario Kart Wii were tagged as violent for “Comic Mischief”, Just Dance 3, Zumba Fitness, and Gran Turismo 5 were picked on for their “Lyrics”, Mario Party 9 and Kinect Sports were tagged as having “Cartoon Violence”, and Wii Sports was simply tagged with “Violence”. Note that I can’t access the actually article due to it being down for some reason, so all of this information comes from a third party.
I don’t think it’s news to anyone that certain newspapers or online outlets or TV stations don’t know the most about video games, and a lot of them have pretty bad preconceptions about the effects they have on people. No use lambasting them for the millionth time.
Iwata talks about the struggle of budgeting HD games, selling full priced titles
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
This is something that has becoming a huge worry for me regarding Nintendo lately. In recent months it has become increasingly apparent that the Big N vastly underestimated how much more work has to go into HD games compared to what they did on Wii, and as a result we’ve seen their game budgets going up, their games getting delayed, and consequently their Wii U console not selling. It’s somewhat troublesome, but what does Nintendo’s CEO and President have to say about the situation?
“Among such packaged software, however, the sales of popular games are much larger than in the past. Therefore, if we create more hit games, the software development business can still be very profitable. All games break even if they sell millions of copies worldwide, so we will continue to do our best to develop games which have high sales potential.”
– Nintendo President Satoru Iwata
Sometimes I wish Nintendo would just go back to make games with N64-level tech scaled up to HD instead of worrying about all of this modern mumbo jumbo. The concept that all games have to sell millions and millions of copies to break even is quite troubling, but hopefully Nintendo will continue to develop low-budget games like Sin and Punishment and Punch Out!! alongside the big titles.
Square Enix Europe lays off workers due to financial woes
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments
A rough patch in Square Enix’s life as a game developer and publisher doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. Today, the Final Fantasy studio has announced their plans to lay off more workers from their European branch, citing a desire to “ensure we have the right structure, content and skills for the changing entertainment landscape”.
No word on exactly how many people will be getting laid off or when it’ll happen, but the statement reads that they’ll keep us updated “when the time is right”.
2K Games won’t be at E3, Take-Two will have meeting rooms
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments
2K Games won’t have a booth or any sort of presence at this year’s E3. However, parent company Take-Two Interactive is planning to have meeting rooms at the expo.
E3 organizer Entertainment Software Association clarified to Joystiq: “We can confirm that Take-Two Interactive Software is participating in E3 2013.”
A Take-Two representative added:
“We are going to have a meeting room in the upper concourse level and we’ll be doing some business meetings as we usually do. 2K is not participating.”
Take-Two Interactive is also the parent company of Rockstar Games. The company typically hasn’t attended E3, so you can probably count them out for the show as well.
Capcom cancels several unannounced titles, some of which were planned for this fiscal year
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments
– Capcom Financial Q&A Response
Of course they can’t talk about what those titles were, but the speculation about what games we may have seen in future years is probably already rampant across the internet. Capcom says they’ll still be developing console games as a core part of their business, but there will be a bigger focus on DLC going forward compared to years past.
Tetris found to help treat ‘lazy eye’ due to forcing both eyes to work together
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments
Video games do have health benefits upon occasion, and the latest scientific study surrounding our favorite hobby took people with lazy eyes and pit them against Tetris, the beloved puzzle game that is constantly being pinpointed for mental and physical health benefits. It turns out that simply playing the game for a set amount of time each day actually improved the condition in 18 adult patients more effectively than what had been used prior as treatment for the issue.
Next up, researchers want to see if the game-based treatment would help in children as well, preventing the onset of a condition that would last their entire lives. Let’s hope the results are positive!
