Napalm Riot

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"LucasArts hasn't made a good PC game in a long time," according to Randy Stude, president of the PC Gaming Alliance, who criticised the decision not to release Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the PC.

Stude slammed LucasArts for the "uneducated" comments made by its producer Cameron Suey, who said there wouldn't be a PC port of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed due to the difficulty in developing for the range of PC models and capabilities in the market.

"That's not an educated answer," Stu . . . Read more

Quote:

Activision is expected to ship a skateboard peripheral alongside the next Tony Hawk titles, due for release in 2009.

That's according to analyst Doug Creutz of Cowan and Company, who believes the addition of new products will help the series improve sales after a year away from the market.

"We believe that the extra year of development time and the opportunity for consumers to shake off franchise fatigue could contribute to better unit sales than the franchise has enjoyed in recent

. . . Read more

Feast your greedy eyes on these reports on the big game houses showing at this year's Tokyo Game Show.

Microsoft: At Tokyo Game Show Thursday morning, Microsoft and Bungie pulled back the veil on a new Halo 3 entry. (This is one of those stories we won't get enough about until our eyes and ears are bleeding from the onslaught. You know you want it.)

Konami: A . . . Read more

I must admit, I've always been a bit confused by the Tokyo Game Show. It has seemed, to me, that they were simply trying to take what we've been doing in America and Europe...and doing it a day late and a dollar short. A game conference in OCTOBER?! What are those kooky Japanese poeple thinking?! Still, one cannot deny that the Japanese game houses and hardware companies (Sony and Nintendo are STILL two of the big three, people) are doing SOMETHING right. Sales numbers alone tell us that . . . Read more

Ubisoft Shanghai's creative director Michael de Plater has said that piracy is killing the PC gaming market.

The reason the studio's latest title, Tom Clancy's EndWar, isn't being released for the PC on the same day as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions is because users will steal the pirated PC copy, rather than pay for a console version, according to de Plater.

Read the rest on GamesIndustry.biz: http://www.gamesindustry.…nnibalising-console-sales

YouTube is set to start selling videogames and experiment with new advertising formats to grow revenue, according to Reuters.

The Google-owned video streaming website already allows viewers to buy songs from music videos they watch with links to either Amazon's MP3 store or the Apple iTunes store. However, now YouTube users will also be able to buy videogames, such as EA's Spore through the Amazon link.

This is part of an ongoing effort to monetise the site, which Google paid USD 1.65 bill . . . Read more

The epic half-assery on display in the Tokyo Game Show slogan ("Saa, ikou! GAME no jikan desu," or "Let's go! It's GAME time") is tangential evidence of a certain half-heartedness in the Japanese games industry as of late.

With Nintendo's stock price dropping and the biggest title announced so far this year being Wii Music, with Metal Gear Solid 4 failing to sell a trillion copies -- and winding up in bargain bins all around Tokyo -- the game developers of Japan are torn between several quest . . . Read more

NCsoft has promoted Tim Cain to Design Director for the unannounced MMO under development at Carbine Studios.

Cain has 25 years of experience in the games industry. He’s probably best known for his work as a producer and designer of Fallout and Fallout 2 before leaving Interplay to become a co-founder of Troika. The industry vet has several classic PC RPGs his credit including Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines which is still patched regularly by its fa . . . Read more

Shares in Nintendo fell by a further 8.7 per cent today (Friday, October 3rd, 2008) following the news that the company was to release a new iteration of the DS handheld hardware, the DSi.

The new model, which will feature slightly larger screens, a camera and a built-in web browser will retail in Japan for JPY 18,900 (USD 179) from November 1, but the move has left investors cold.

"Nintendo's announcement on the DS didn't exceed investors' expectations,'' said Yoku Ihara, head of equity r . . . Read more

When EA canned its offer to buy Take-Two for $2 billion in September, Take-Two said that it was still in discussions with other parties about "strategic alternatives."

But on Thursday, Take-Two said that has officially ended all discussions with "various interested parties," opting to remain an independent publisher.

The news comes after EA withdrew its $2 billion bid for the Grand Theft Auto publisher in September.

Take-Two chair Strauss Zelnick stated that his company is "strongly pos . . . Read more

LATimes.com states the following concerning the "protections" on the game Spore and others:

"Despite Electronic Arts' good-faith effort last week to relax copyright restrictions in Spore, gamers aren't buying it — the digital constraint tactic, that is. The game, on the other hand, is selling faster than you can evolve a virtual amoeba."

"Spore has already sold a million copies since hitting stores earlier this month, but critics of the game's digital rights management have been vehement . . . Read more

Video game publisher, Codemasters, Inc., has named Liquid Advertising their agency of record for online, broadcast and print media buying assignments in North America. The agreement begins with the fall and winter releases of ‘Damnation’ and ‘Bella Sara.’ Billings were not disclosed.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with Liquid for our media planning and buying,” said Dave Miller, Vice President of Global Brand Management. “Liquid’s unmatched experience and expert . . . Read more

NCsoft is preparing to trim its European office in Brighton by around 50 people, GamesIndustry.biz has learned.

According to a number of sources close to the company the move is set to be made following the decision to stop work on the untitled MMO that was being developed there, a game that was announced this time last year when the office underwent significant expansion.

That expansion, which was to be funded in part by a GBP 950,000 grant from the South East England Development Agency ( . . . Read more

Another "all over the wires" story, today, Ensemble Studios will be shut down after the completion of Halo Wars. Microsoft cites money issues, but assures us that the core people from Ensemble will be formed into a new company.

For more on this, look to G4tv.com -- http://www.g4tv.com/xplay…sing_After_Halo_Wars.html

G4TV.com has posted a thought from Forbes that Google might be looking into making some video games. There has been NO announcement from Goodle, and not even a hint that this might be the case. So where is this coming from? Read more on G4TV.com: http://www.g4tv.com/xplay…e_Making_Video_games.html

Taken from Gamasutra.com:

Tecmo released a formal statement explaining its decision to reject Square Enix's takeover offer and pursue a merger with Dynasty Warriors-publisher Koei instead, explaining that the change in plans is is "concretely beneficial" to Tecmo shareholders.

Square Enix announced its bid to acquire Tecmo with a buyout valued at $206 million dollars in August. Tecmo later revealed that it was working on a detailed merger plan with Koei, claiming that this alternative will . . . Read more

From G4TV.com, another floor report from this year's PAX; this time: Nintendo! Features previews of upcoming titles Skate It, Wii Music and Wario Land: Shake It.

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay…intendo_Floor_Report.html

From G4TV.com, the floor report from EA at this year's PAX covering Need for Speed Undercover and Battlefield Heroes.

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay…rts_Floor_Report_PAX.html

From Edge Online:

GameStop chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine will be assuming a new role as executive chairman, with COO Dan DeMatteo taking his place, the retailer announced Friday.

Sixty-six-year-old Fontaine, who has led the Grapevine, Tex.-based firm as chief exec since 1996, will now oversee international operations, acquisition opportunities and strategic development.

Read the rest of the story: http://www.edge-online.com/news/new-ceo-gamestop

Our last floor report from GCDC in Germany, G4tv.com covers "the house that Sonic built," Sega. We get commentary and looks at their upcoming titles Bayonetta, Empire: Total War, MadWorld and StormRise.

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay…88/Sega_Floor_Report.html

Coming next...PAX from Seattle!

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