A few months ago, it was announced that Ubisoft would be handling a Heroes game, based on the popular TV show. Well, that deal seems to have dissolved as of now as Ubisoft confirmed that they will no longer be in charge of creating the game.

“The rights to the ‘Heroes’ video game have reverted back to NBC Universal. Ubisoft will no longer produce a video game based on the TV series.” – Ubisoft PR director Jaime Cottini

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Verdict Research: Video game spend surpasses music & video

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

There has been a huge shift in consumer attitude towards the entertainment market says Verdict Research in its latest reports – UK Music & Video 2008and UK Video Games & Consoles Retailing 2008. In the 12 months to the end of 2008 Verdict predicts that the buoyant video games market will have grown by a massive GBP1.37bn – at a time when the combined music & video sectors have stagnated, with growth of just GBP0.03bn between them. This will see the video game retail market overtake music & video, to become the largest entertainment sector in the UK.
Despite the digital revolution, times are torrid for music & video retailers
Though the music and video sector has enjoyed a boost from the rapidly growing digital download market, general trading conditions remain challenging. Music is suffering from piracy, a continual onslaught of price deflation, intensifying competition and the ongoing decline of physical format CD’s. While the DVD market has shown robust volume growth, value growth is impaired by falling prices and heavy discounting. With the high street consolidating and online becoming increasingly fragmented, competition is intensifying at a time when overall growth in the market is grinding to a halt, at just 0.8% over the last 5 years.

Boy found dead, parents blamed Call of Duty and video game addiction

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 65 Comments

Brandon Crisp, a young boy, had been missing up until today when he was found dead. Brandon ran away from his home after his parents took away his Xbox 360. His parents took possession of the console after they decided Brandon had become addicted to Call of Duty 4. Initially, Brandon’s parents believed that the boy’s disappearance was somehow related to his addiction to video games. It was only after investigators analyzed Brandon’s Xbox 360 analyzed that the link between video games and his disappearance were no longer tied together.

“It’s still being analyzed a little further, but at this point we have no reason to believe there is any connection to date between the Xbox and his disappearance,” Sgt. Goodbrand

Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family commented on the situation and strongly states that video game companies do not want to address video game addiction.

“I don’t think want to touch addiction with a 10-foot pole. It raises all sorts of liability issues for them. And my interpretation is that their strategy is to ignore it and hope it will go away. If you talk to front-line counsellors in places like universities they’ll tell you that this is a huge issue. The way people are viewing this is changing quickly.”

Iwata not a price drop believer

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

“This is my personal thinking, but when the model’s price-tag drops over time, manufacturers are telling consumers it’s better to wait, and I’ve always thought that was a mistake.” – Satoru Iwata

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Nintendo: More work still needs to be done

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Since the release of the DS in 2004, Nintendo has attracted new gamers remarkably well with casual games. A ton of people have began to play video games, something which was never thought to be possible. Even with grandmas playing video games, Nintendo’s David Yarnton feels as though the company’s job is still not complete.

“We really have only scratched the surface in terms of the number of potential users still out there. As long as there are still people who do not play video games, then we still have a lot of work to do…We’re doing all we can to ensure we get as much stock to as many stores and into the hands of as many people as possible this Christmas.”

Nintendo engineer teases two hardcore/secret projects

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Gamers know that Punch-Out and Sin and Punishment 2 are on the way. But does Nintendo have anything else up its sleeves? The answer seems to be yes if mysterious words from Nintendo software engineer Peter Watts are to be believed. Watts recently stated, “I am not allowed to specify the game titles we’re working on, as it is still confidential until it is revealed to the general media through the appropriate channels. There are two main titles being developed at the moment, which is all I will say.The projects we are working on at the moment can all be deemed as ‘hardcore’ really.” Kirby for Wii? The new Pikmin Miyamoto was referring to? Who knows, though as long as Nintendo has any say in the development of these two titles, we can be left assured that they will impress.

Some devs finding better support from Apple over Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

“Support has been excellent – more than you might expect from other companies that work in the games sector. Everything they tell us is very useful.” – James Brooksby, head of Kuju’s Doublesix studio

“Apple has been fantastic to work with. We have worked with other manufacturers that that won’t tell you anything.We’ve found that they don’t just like games but also toys and entertainment software – especially as a means to differentiate the product from others. The message I get is that they are quite happy to push for the little small developer as long as the little small developer is pushing out the quality games.” – Mark Ettle, Cobra Mobile’s CEO

I can’t speak for Nintendo, but I assume the situation with the iPhone is much different than it is for the Wii and DS. We’ve heard from developers that Nintendo’s support has been fantastic – notably High Voltage Software and the devs of World of Goo. So I suppose Nintendo isn’t exactly terrible when it comes to supporting other companies/developers.

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Remakes/sequels of Bonk, Adventure Island, Military Madness, and more could occur in the future

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

“Man, I want those games remade as much as everyone else. Also, Bonk. The special thing about Hudson is that we really do listen to what our fans want. We know there are a ton of fans out there demanding remakes or completely new versions of our more popular brands like Military Madness, Adventure Island, Bonk, and more. Like you said, you’ve already seen Star Soldier and Alien Crush brought back, and I’m sure we’ll see other series making the leap to current-gen soon enough.” – Peter Dassenko, Alien Crush Returns producer