Pokemon no 1 in Japan, but sales dropped. What's with the Japanese

Pokemon Black & White reign as king in Japanese sales chart, moving 168.541 copies. Despite this, the overall sales in Japan dropped by whopping 34% from the week before.
We probably heard it before that Japanese game market is slowing down. Many people blame Japanese developer as lack of creativity when compared to the Westerner. Even some publishers like Inafune branded Japan games market as doomed. Japanese developers keep making more or less the same game as a decade ago. So where is those creativity gone?

Before we put the blame to those games developer, let's try to see from other perspective. Japanese economy has been slump lately. There is no sign that it will pick up soon. The yen is keep getting stronger and stronger, thus making Japanese product less attractive to the global market.
The population is dwindling, means that nobody support the old generation. Job market shrunk. Japanese people are afraid to open business and rather work to a company.

With the economy gloom, people are afraid to spend and brings the whole thing down. It might be a reason to be pessimistic. It probably not because lacks of creativity of Japanese people that drives the gaming market down, but maybe the whole market in such a bad shape that makes the gaming industry as it is right now.
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Nintendo announces $300 3DS price point for Japan market

Today Nintendo drop the price point as well as release date for the new 3DS. The successor of NDS will cost 25.000 yen ($299) for Japanese, although the price for US and Europe market still hasn't been confirmed.
3DS will release on 26th February 2011 in Japan bundled with 2GB SD card, charging cradle, stylus, and "paper cards" to play augmented reality games.

3DS apparently will have its own virtual library from Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games and two new games announced for 3DS itself, Resident Evil: Mercenaries and Mega Man Legend 3.

It is hardly a surprising news about that $300 price point. All Nintendo's system has always been around $250 - $300 dollars. I think it is a good numbers for a handheld game device.
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What's up with the thrashing ads, Sony?

You all probably know Sony's marketing campaign that involves thrash talking Kevin Butler and that kid Marcus. Kevin Butler is a funny man who take aim againts Kinect, and recently Sony via yaybuttons.com slams Kinect for not having buttons - "Not like save the whale important, more like not play games that suck important."

And not only that, Sony too takes aim with iPhone with ads featured that Marcus kid (I forgot his full name and couldn't be bothered to google it) that more or less says," yes, iPhone can have so many games, but quality games are in PSP."

I admit, at first it was funny to watch Kevin Butler thrash Xbox 360's Kinect project, but after a while it get stale and was it really necessary.

First of all, Sony might have a point, yeah iPhone games are more or less casual compared to PSP games, and buttons can sometime be important in playing games, but Sony should take a look at themselves and admit that their products have a lot of flaws too.

Admit it or not, it doesn't change the fact that iPhone is chasing PSP and might overtake Sony's PSP as a platform for games. Other thing to be consider, is that Apple's installed base is much bigger than PSP, and it might more appealing to game developer.

With PSPgo a major failure, I think Sony should not thrashing other people, and concentrate to its product because deep inside I'm pretty sure Sony scared shit of Apple and Microsoft.
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Golden generation era for facebook games is approaching the end

It took my attention when reading an article from Joytiq about facebook games by creator of the widely popular Plant vs Zombie.

The golden generationof facebook casual gaming might soon end. It is not that those casual games will dissapear, however too many developers overcrowded the market already. For last couple of years, it was easier to make money from facebook games, and suddenly everybody just jump into the bandwagon, thinking there's alot of untapped market.

Today, its harder to justified an investment to make facebook games profitable. The competition is harder, and the growth of facebook isn't as fast as it used to be.

There are too many games nowadays in Facebook, the competition is fierce especially for new players. Developer has to be smart to engage its players to keep playing otherwise once they gone, they gone forever. One of those tricks is giving a free extra if user login for 5 consecutive days, and even penalize players for not logging in often! Not to mention the status pages is overcrowded with friend asking help for their games as a quick reminder or asking other friends to join to get another bonuses.

For all those annoyance, its a sign that developers are trying hard to get as much as customer possible and try to monetize them, because face the fact, a facebook games' lifespan is not that long. Maybe a month or two and people will either get bored or found another new game and couldn't be bothered to come back.

Facebook might be one of the destination for casual gaming, but beware, it is definitely not a safe haven for developers!!
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Microsoft going to increase Xbox LIVE subscription starting 1st November

Some bad news for Xbox 360 users, Microsoft will raise current Xbox 360 subscription by 1st November 2010. The new price for 1 year subscription is $60, $10 more than previous $50. Monthly rates raises from $8 to $10 and Quarterly rates will be $25 from previous $20.

Like it or not, this bound to happen. Microsoft is a smart company and they probably has researched and realized that current core customer won't be abandoning ship for just $10. Yes, $10 might not be much for some people, but given current economic and competition, it hardly the right time for a price increase. PS3 offers free online play as well as PC. Sure, PSN might not be as robust as Xbox LIVE, but again.. its free.

 
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Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep won't be available on PSPgo

PSPgo owners is officially become PSP"gownerz" with the news that Kingdom Hearts :Birth by Sleep won't be coming at all to Playstation network, or at least Sony said that there is no plan currently. In other words, PSPgo won't be getting their Kingdom Hearts at all.

Its just the way of saying that Sony and developers are giving up on their "experimental" download only PSPgo. Such a big title like Kingdom Hearts should definitely be available across all PSP platform.

I don't understand whats the fuss for Square Enix not going to make the game available through PSN? The game is finished, and all they got to do is to upload into PSN. Even though PSPgo population is relatively small, it should sell at least couple of thousands downloads for sure.
Well.. Maybe we will never know the reasons, but for time being, just forget your PSPgo will be an ultimate gaming machine, more like ultimate piece of overprice junk.
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Kane & Lynch 2's story mode is 4 hours long? Is that laziness?

What is your reaction when you learned that Kane & Lynch 2's story mode is only 4 hours long? The word lazy, ridiculous, bad value for money may come across your mind.

Games used to offer much more hours especially JRPG which guarantee you 40+ hours of gameplay. But today's games are much much shorter. I remember when I played Call of Duty 4 single player for the first time. I was surprised that the story only lasted around 10 - 12 hours, but I can accept that CoD 4 multiplayer kept me for a long time. Soon all other games seems to follow through, and it seems its getting shorter and shorter. Splinter Cell: Conviction is only 6 hours long by the way and that is kind of ridiculous.

Shorter gameplay might give a better story telling, good pacing, climax, anti climax and everything. But 4 hours is pushing too hard. I can understand that developer might want to have a better return. Development cost nowadays is much more expensive than it used to be because a game might have a single player part and multiplayer part. Getting a AAA rating games might take couple years. But in the end, customer too should feel the value of money cause game is not cheap also.  If developer cannot meet the customer expectation, they won't buy it. developer didn't have a good return, no sequel, and in the end everybody going to lose. 
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Google in quest to beef up its gaming department to compete with Apple

Recently, Google is buying quite a few casual game developers such as Zynga, Playdom, Slide and the latest Ngmoco. It is a no brainer that Google want to push its gaming department like a boy on steroid.

Comparing to Apple, Android is the closest OS that can beat Apple's OS at the moment. With open platform, Android is gaining market share through other phone brands like Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc. I think Android is so good that phone maker shouldn't be bothered to develop its own OS anymore. 

Then Apple App store is great, no doubt about it, but in gaming department, quantity usually exceed quality. Apple itself doesn't develop games internally and rely on third party. With Google buying the top casual games developers, Apple should at least take a look to its gaming department, because gaming can make a difference. You can also see from recent Sony PSP ad that mocks Apple's iPhone gaming. The message is clear, "Sure.. iPhone is a gaming device, but when it comes to game, PSP is still on top of Apple."

Whether gaming is on top of Apple's priority list, it remains to be seen. But the stride of Google is no joke. Zynga, Playdom especially, has been successful in developing games for facebook which attracts a lot of casual players and able to generate some cash from their games. They are quite reputable and doing a good business. By acquiring them, Google is in good position to dive into the gaming market and compete with Apple through its Android market. 

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Sony Ericsson rumored to make Playstation phone based on Android

According to article via Engadget, Sony is planning to bring Playstation phone based on Google's Android system.  

PlayStation branded phone will be based on the Android 3.0 platform, sport a 3.7 to 4.1 inch WVGA or better resolution screen, (possibly) a 5MP camera and a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.For controls, the device is said to feature the PlayStation standard d-pad and face buttons, plus a “long touch pad” for analogue controls. Hardware-wise, Engadget describes it as “a cross between the Samsung Captivate and the PSP Go” 

No doubt that current PSP is near the end of its lifetime, and it seems that it is a no brainer to introduce the next PSP. By combining gaming and phone much like the highly successful iPhone, I feel that this is the right move for Sony, because one of the biggest success of gaming in iPhone is the fact that it is always stays within reach of the users to provide instant gaming.

Now the Google's Android platform. I saw Samsung Galaxy S with Android the other day, and I was pretty impressed by it. I think the closest competitor to iPhone's OS is Google's Android. Major phone manufacturer has tried to build their own OS such as Nokia's Symbian or even Blackberry, doesn't even come close when compared to iPhone's software robustness and its successful app store. 
Choosing Android as its platform may give Sony a shortcut for their phone OS technology and because Android is an open platform, I might actually see that it will have speedy growth in the near future.

I was let down by PSP go, maybe this time Sony can actually make amendments.
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Casual gamers and games by Gezegond

I decide to post up comment from Gezegond because what he said has some truth. 


"Casual Games" like all other things has its ups and downs. Ups, as you mentioned above is that less skilled players can easily play them, and it opens a way for independent developers to sell their games.

However the downs of it, is what scares me. You see, in these times, when casual game's sales are high, they become an illusion.
why? because people start to think: "casual games are cheaper to develop, and sell more. so why even bother a developing a hardcore game?"

That's obviously bad, because casual gamers can learn to play more satisfying, more complex games in time. However, hardcore gamers, who have tasted the joy of hardcore games, can't go back and play casual games. At least not as their main games. To me, casual games are just a relaxing break after a tense hardcore gaming experience.

So right now, casual games are a designer's best bet. We hardcore gamers take one or two of the best games out there (World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, etc.) and practice on those, therefore we won't care about less valuable games. These games are bought by people who have less experience and skills, and therefore won't care about the game's different aspects that much. These people won't really care about the amount of time and money spent when the game is being developed, as long as the game can entertain them for some time.
These people are called casual gamers, and games designed specifically for these people are called casual games. So casual games, are games that are easy and cheap to develop, yet they can entertain people for quite a time.

So what's bad about these "casual games"? Since they're cheap to develop, yet sell a lot, they become a designer's first priority. NDS becomes full of simple games, Wii is built specifically for casual gamers, apple believes that iphone is the best handheld console, since it has so many casual games, simple facebook games are played more than million dollar budget games, PSP creates a section dedicated to casual games called "Minis", and most recently we have Natal and Move, both aimed at casual gamers. (Move is less casual oriented though)


Now let's fast forward some years later, your 10 year old niece have been playing facebook games for a couple of years, now he has become a "skilled player" at these games, he knows everything about them, and he's itching to play a game that's a little more complex. He has now become a "hardcore gamer". However all developer's care about is simple casual games, because in these times, they have proven to be more profitable. What is happening is that these casual gamers are becoming less and less, because no hardcore gamer will ever become a casual gamer. suddenly people will get tired of these "casual games". they want something more complex to do, suddenly casual games stop to sell, so will the casual hardware, and all that money and attention that is put into the casual games will go to waste, and guess what? the video game industry will crash.

Why am I so sure that this will happen? because it has happened before, in the only other generation besides this generation that lasted more that five year, the second generation of video games. Just replace "Atari 2600 cartridges" with "casual games", and you'll find out that this situation has been happened before. And what do they say? History repeats itself.
More Info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983

So what is the answer here? I believe it's simple, yet for some reason forgotten.
The answer is: quality level design, plus balanced difficulty levels.

In a game like "Half-Life", player can choose the difficulty in the beginning, so casual gamers can easily choose "beginner skill levels", while skilled players can choose harder difficulties.
Now if the level design is done well, even a player with no previous experience can learn to play the game, and in time, become skilled at it.
As an example, in Half-Life 2, when you first receive your first handgun, the very first opponent you'll see is at an obvious disadvantage, he won't shoot you a lot, and won't move a lot. so the player gets to learn "how to aim". that's an easy task. next opponents are much farther and they move a lot. so the player now needs to learn to "aim better". In time, the non-experienced player will become experienced, just like how you become more skilled the more you play a specific sport.

If a game excels at these, it can be played by both the "hardcore gamers", AND the "casual gamers". These games sell really well (Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are 5th and 6th top selling games on PC), and push the video game industry farther (instead of holding it, like casual games do).
Developers should focus on creating quality games that are easily played by everyone, instead of focusing on a specific group of gamers.
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Smart EA lets you play a semi NBA Jam with purchase of NBA Live 11

Good news, NBA Jam, a resurrection of a classic will be coming to PS3 and Xbox 360. The bad news is, it won't be a complete retail game or a downloadable one.  To play NBA Jam, you can simply buy NBA Live 11 where you can obtain a code to redeem the game. So this is actually a good thing right? Hold on a moment, the NBA Jam that is offered in PS3 and Xbox 360 is not the complete version. The complete version is still the Wii's.

When asked to EA why they did such thing, they responded that they feel by doing this, people will be forced tempted to try NBA Live 11 and see what kind of change do they made with the new series. Not bad EA, actually it is quite a smart move. NBA Jam cost nothing on PS3 and Xbox 360 because the development cost is covered while doing the Wii's version. By limiting the game from its full version, Wii's can maintain superiority over the PS3's and Xbox 360's. Not to mention forcing NBA Jam lovers to try NBA Live 11.

Bravo EA, not bad. Though I still think its a cheap move, but again.. bravo!!
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MGS & MW2 in one funny short film

This is a fan made comedy short film featuring Metal Gear Solid and Modern Warfare. It's funny and I think you should watch it and enjoy!!


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Casual gamers, digital distribution and the rise of indie developers

I have to admit that my 10 year old nephew play facebook games more than his PS3, Xbox 360 combined. Why? It's not that facebook game is better than PS3 or Xbox 360, heck I play my PS3 all the time. It's because that facebook games are easier to understand, less learning curve, and quite enjoyable. My 10 year old nephew isn't exactly a casual gamer at all, in fact he was playing games since age six with DS, PSP and so forth. PS3 and Xbox 360 games sometimes felt a bit too intimidating for him. It's hard to jump into the game and enjoy it. You'll need some skill learning in order to perform better, until then it easily become frustrating than fun.

My generation, which I consider golden generation of gaming, we starts from simple game like dig dug, pac man. We then learn to tackle more complicated game like Mario Bros, Contra, Mega Man. Until today, we play Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5, etc which we can jump into without any problem. But for the rest, especially people who just start gaming, they rather find another alternative.

Facebook games provides exactly the kind of alternative they need. Free, easy access game from internet browser. They don't need to buy a gaming device and most of the household nowadays already has a PC and internet connection. They don't even have to go to the shop and get the hard copy.  With digital distribution everything is easier.

Taking from above point of view, that is why digital distribution plays a big part in changing the face of gaming industry. It didn't really boom until Apple introduced its Apple App store and Valve also introduced Steam where casual gamers and small developers can go to without significant cost of entry barrier. After that, it seems that digital distribution is the new era. Music, movie, games began rolling through internet. Microsoft and Sony didn't want to miss the boat and start doing digital distribution via their Xbox marketplace and Playstation Store.

With the rise of digital distribution, it doesn't just helping casual gamers, but small/ indie developers that have almost no chance against big ones have alternatives to promote their game. They couldn't do retail copy because their team and budget is so small that almost make no sense to distribute it via disc. When people buy 40 - 60 bucks of games, they expect more content and experience. Small games like Joe Danger and Flower are not so feasible to do it via retail.

The best thing being indie developers is that they can use any kind of creativity and imagination without the need to be controlled by other people. They can start slow and small, and take a risk with new things which triple A title could not afford. There will be more and more indie developer in the future no doubt, and it definitely helps the growth of our game industry.
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Call of Duty 7 details slammed by Military fans

I can't help but to share some fun article from PSM August. Those guys from Treyach seems to get it wrong. A website called Off Duty Gamers slammed recent release picture of operative that show his tattoo on his left arm, and said:

"Would you really want a tattoo that shows your unit patch or country affiliation if you're behind enemy lines taking part in a so called 'black' operation? It's pure hollywood."

 A member of the U.S. 82nd Airborne also told ODG:

"Tattoos identifying you as American disqualified you for operations in denied areas where you and your kit were to be 'sterile'. This meant you wouldn't be identifiable as a U.S. soldier; exactly the kind of operations SOG took part in."

It seems that a lot people care about consistency. especially fans who have military information or background. Now remove that tattoo please!!
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Sony patents for screen sharing using 3D glasses

A patents from Sony suggested that Sony has plan to use 3D glasses to allow "screen sharing". 3D graphics works with double rendering by allowing an eye to see half frame and the other eye seeing other half. Instead, you can also shut off the entire half frame so that the other frame is missing and you completely see a different image while the other glasses is set to see the missing frame.

This design will enable people to do a screen sharing gaming without the need to split the screen, although it will be only in 2D.
There is another patent that called 3D Shutter Glasses with Mode Switching Based on Orientation to Display Device. It means that you getting a different image based on where you stand. 


I think these patents will allow more creativity to the developers and it does make 3D technology a little more appealing.
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Official: Kinect set to launch at $150

Microsoft. Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb, posted the pricing details Kinect on his Major Nelson blog. The retail price of Kinect will be $150. Including this will be Kinect Adventures which carries retail price at $49. 


In addition to that, there will be a new bundle of Arcade model of new Xbox 360 slim at $199. It will feature 4GB of built-in flash memory and wireless N. Should you want all three of them, you can get the arcade model, Kinect, and Kinect Adventures at $299. 

So if you do the math, the nett Kinect price will be $100, which is an improvement in terms of pricing point. But for casual gamers, it might still become a hurdle for them to pick one.  
The bundle price of Kinect "might" work, only it won't sell like Wii during its first launch when motion control console is still fresh. And the success of Kinect will all depends to the software. I don't think releasing Kinect games that have more or less the same concept of Nintendo's games will cut it. Microsoft will have to be more creative than that. 
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Japanese publishers reduce cost by cutting number of release games

Expect fewer titles by Japanese publishers the next fiscal year. With Japan games industry declining, company such as Sega, Konami, and Tecmo Koei will cut down their cost especially R&D department.

Sega will release 56 new titles this year, 10 titles fewer than previous year.While Tecmo Koei will cut down 11 titles and Konami also reduce 10% titles by 2010 fiscal year.

But it's not all that gloomy and grim outlook. The decision of releasing fewer title may result in better quality overall. By reducing the cost of games that didn't work, publishers can focus more resources in making fewer but better games that did work. And in the long run, may boost its operating profits.

However, the bad news is, publishers may be more cautious in trying to innovate and develop something new. They will take a safe approach and focus more into sequels after sequels.
When thinking of it, it is really sad because I really like what Quantic Dreams did with Heavy Rain. They got the balls to take the risk, innovate and create something different, which I'm hoping the others will follow. 
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Ubisoft: No New Assassin's Creed in 2011

Recent rumor suggest that Ubisoft is following Activision's path to make its highly successful Assassin Creed an annual franchise and they did it with the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood that will release on November 16 a year after Assassin's Creed 2.

However, Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin might have a different perspective. He said that Assassin's Creed might skip year 2011 as he thinks the franchise need a breather.

"Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody -- and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games -- I believe that this license needs a breather," Boivin explained. "You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years -- or once every something -- you have to let it breathe. You have to let the minerals back in. I think it's the same thing with any license, really."

"We can see a lot of the music games that are releasing year after year -- the interest is a lot less than it used to be," Boivin said. "The excitement is a lot less than it used to be. You want to keep people excited. You gotta make people miss it a bit."

I think this is the right way a franchise should be. Just as the economics law of diminishing return, you'll feel less and less satisfaction the more you experienced it. Sure, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood might be a very good game after just a year of development, but it will be even better game if it gets more time.
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Onlive's lag tested by Digital Foundry

Onlive, the streaming service which lets gamers play games without the need of console claim that the lag will be at 30- 50 ms. So, guys at Digital Foundry tested it using a PC.

Using Unreal Tournament III, the time needed between button pressed and on screen action is about 150 ms. Other games such as Dirt, and Assassin Creed 2 register lag between 150 ms - 216 ms which is a bit high.

It is unclear how network lag account on this test. If network lag say about another 50 ms, then the game will be too sluggish and unresponsive.

Lag is the biggest problem that can make Onlive fail (other than cost of subscription, of course) because Onlive targeted Hardcore gamers, and hardcore gamers have certain standard acceptable lag range. With those kind of lag, it will definitely scare most gamers. But I do fond of the technology though, I think it's remarkable and groundbreaking. Too bad it's too ahead of its time and boy.. I do wish to have 5 Mbps internet connection here. 
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Sony will replace current 120GB PS3 with new models

Sony will introduce a new PS3 Slim model in Japan. This new white 160 GB PS3 slim is set to replace the current 120 GB black (according to 1up.com). In addition to this, there is also a 320 GB model. The price? It will retail for 29,980 yen (around $342), white the 320GB model will run 34,980 yen (around $400). 

Sony hasn't confirmed whether these new models will be available in Europe and North America, but I got the feeling it will. The question is, why Sony decided to ditch the 120 GB model? Its nice to have some alternative, but 120 GB model still offer a cheaper alternatives to customers. By ditching it, means that they have to shell out more money even though they get bigger hard drive. 
 
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News & Update, 2 July

- Official Xbox 360 magazine says that Kinect can track 6 people but only 2 active players at the same time. 

- Xbox 360 sales see a huge jump in Japan thanks to Monster Hunter: Frontier. Japan and Monster hunter equals perfect combination!!

- SCE Worldwide Studios CEO Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that the company finally make profit with every PlayStation 3 console sold. There won't be another price cut anytime soon because a lot of great software are coming out and the innovations with Move and 3DTVs. After 4 years of losing money, they finally can make a profit, wow..

- June Takeuchi, producer of Resident Evil 5 said that he has no role in the development of Resident Evil 6. Takeuchi announced that he is working on an unnamed title with Keiji Inafune since last year.
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Playstation Plus, in depth

Sony announced Playstation Plus, a premium service  for PSN subscriber at E3. Sony wanted to monetized from its PSN like Microsoft did with Xbox LIVE. But since PSN has been free after all these time and like any free product, it still lagging behind Xbox LIVE. Therefore Sony introduced this Playstation Plus. So what does it offer?

First thing first. The price of Playstation Plus is $50 a year or $18 for three months. Should you decided to subsribe, you will get a free PSN games, PS One game and minis and the title will change each month.
You need to keep you subscription active in order to play the PSN games, so it is more or less like rent games.

Selected dynamic themes and avatars will be given to you and you can keep it even after the subscription expired. And there is also steep discount of 20 - 50% of selected item.

Full game trials will be available only to the subscriber. You can download the game that usually last for an hour and if you decided to purchase it, there is no need to redownload, you can start where you left off and throphies will be unlocked.

Subscriber will also get automatic updates for patches, download demos and betas while your PS3 is in standby mode.

So is it worth it?

Well, I can say that this is not bad. It is better than paying for online gaming, and it is an added incentive. I think this is the right way that Microsoft should follow. I can only hope the free game selection will be better, not just some old games that no one's buying anymore.
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Kinect is too lag for competitive gaming

Lag has been the main issue around Microsoft's no controller Kinect, and it is doubtful if Kinect capable in playing FPS. Turns out it is not. 
Microsoft 's director of platform marketing, Chris Penello more or less confirms it, and said that

Well, I don't want Halo on Kinect. I want Halo on a controller. Now would it be interesting to see what kind of game they could make using Kinect? Yeah, I would love to see what those guys could do, or what the Call of Duty guys could do. But I don't want to play Call of Duty 4, I want Call of Duty: Black Ops on the controller. 

In addition to that, Rare confirms that Kincent lag will be around 150 ms. That means from the time you do your body gesture, Kinect will roughly take 150 ms to process the data and translate it into the game. If you do online play, the number probably should be add 100 ms to communicate with online server. Hence the total amount of time required is 250 ms which is unacceptable.

I think it's wise to separate games that can be Kinected from games that don't. Not all games can be enjoyable with no controller. The success of Kinect will depend on how developer innovate with this thing. As a matter of fact, doing dancing, fitness, and party game won't cut it, they need to integrate it into hardcore gaming and that is a tough task for all developers. The unconfirmed but likely price of $150 a piece doesn't help either.
I begin to see why Nintendo and Sony ditch this technology. Probably it is too ahead its time for competitive gaming. But in the mean time, since it is already here, let's just wait and see. 
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Assassin Creed: Brotherhood, another useless spin off or true sequel?

When Ubisoft decided to follow Activision's path of annual CoD series, I was thinking that Assassin Creed: Brotherhood will be more like AC2.5 with few upgrade and worse story spin off. Apparently that is what happenned with MW2.

I then read June issue of PSM UK about the newest title of this Assassin Creed and in fact there are new exciting things. First of all this new AC is developed by collaboration of three internal studios: Montreal, Annecy, and Singapore). Ubisoft Annecy who developed multiplayer for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorow (remember the spy vs mercenary thing?) worked on it for more than five years.

The multiplayer component has its own story and cast of characters. The only confirmed multiplayer mode is called 'wanted'. There are six visually distinct characters which you will randomly assigned to one of them. After that, you all put into a small city where there are 140 non playable character that is identical to the players.

You will be given a picture and assigned to kill a target. You will also have a mini map to roughly tells you where the target is. Another player whose in the same level will in turns hunting you and it's not the one that you are hunting. So its more like free for all, A hunts B, B hunts C, C hunts A. The clever part is when someone is at the highest rank might get targeted by more than one people. So you must really careful and keep watch your back often.

For the single player is said to be as big as AC 2, all the things except combat will more or less the same. You now can recruit and manage a assassin guild. Assassins that you trained will be able to help you during the mission.

It sounds that Assassin Creed: Brotherhood is definitely worth a try, but I still doesn't like the idea of annual franchise milking.
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Nintendo 3DS: Early impression. Potential blockbuster

Nintendo 3DS is officially announced during E3. It is a successor for current NDS system capable in displaying 3D graphics without the need of glasses. A lot of people actually skeptical when it was first announced. So what is the early impression?

Firstly the design and shape is basically the same with previous NDS, but bigger screen at the top. A analog pad is present above the directional button. I feel that the design could have been improve, but Nintendo said that final design is not yet confirmed. I hope it can be more stylish like the PSP.

Official processor hasn't been detailed yet, but the graphics is better than PSP and it is a powerful system that could be on par with Gamecube or Wii.

Now for the 3D graphics, Nintendo really pulled it off. The 3D looks gorgeous and playing it without glasses is really a plus point. There is a slider to manually tone down the 3D if you feel dizzy and don't want to play the game in 3D and this is important because Nintendo is well aware of the health issue that may occur.

Nintendo again sticking to cartridge and I can see that Nintendo has no other choice. Download only device is not an option for Nintendo, so is UMD which is Sony's. Plus to make 3DS compatible to all previous NDS library, it is a clear decision that 3DS should stick to cartridge. Only this time 3DS uses bigger 2GB capacity cartridge. In addition to that there is a rumor that 3DS allow user to install games into the cartridge which would be very cool to have multiple games inside a single cartridge much like the pirated R4 cartridge.

For the lack of hard drive, Nintendo well aware that their console had to maintain low price somewhere below $300, therefore it opt for SD card slot instead. SD may serve as a decent storage media, but it still nice if it has a internal hard disk to store DLC contents and games.

There is still a lot that can be change until it actually launch as Nintendo said that this is not a final version of 3DS. But from this early impression, I think most probably I will buy a 3DS.
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Kinect: early impression. Good not great..

So we have seen Kinect in action plus all those dancing, fitness games, and others. What are the initial impression?

First of all, Kinect's tag line is to make yourself a controller, means that you can manipulate the games only with your movement. Couple games that are really works with Kinect is Dancing theme games, where the you can do dancing movement and Kinect's camera actually tracks your movements and tells you whats wrong.

Other games are racing games where you control the car with only hand movements, but in the demo you can't actually control the acceleration and brakes which is a big question mark on how you going to do that. But anyway it is the demo, we might see different version later.

The other thing that we need to pay attention is all the Kinect's demo requires people to stand up because Kinect's camera can't distinguish between people sitting down and people bending the knees. As a matter of fact, one Kotaku staff asked whether he can sit down while doing the demo, the answer is no. Kinect works best if people standing up, and they haven't calibrate it yet for sitting down people. I hope that this won't be the case in the final product, because it is really funny if you have to play Xbox 360 standing up all the time. Don't we just love our chair?

And from that point, it is really curious to find out if Kinect camera requires us to see our whole body to be able to detect. Let's say three of your friends comes over and want to play multiplayer, do they need to be in line to each other to play with Kinect? What if the living room is small? Guess we just have to wait until release date and see user experience with Kinect. 

Other thing that is missing is Kinect enable fps based games. I was really interested in finding out what is the response/ lagging time for Kinect to translate the body movement into the game and whether it is capable of playing fps. Other thing is how the person trigger the shoot and move around. I guess I just assume that at the moment, developers hasn't seen Kinect as a capable sole input for fps games.

Now then, retail giants like Amazon, Target put $149 for Kinect. And that is a question mark for casual gamers. Do they really want to spend up to $450 (Xbox 360 slim and Kinect) just to play some dancing, fitness games? Only time will tell. Meanwhile let's just wait and see if there is any changes regarding this Kinect thing.
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E3 sum up of what's hot and not

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony had done their E3 conference and all those 3DS, Kinect, and Move thing. Let's take a look what's hot and what's not.

Hot: 

- Xbox 360 Slim.
A sleeker redesigned Xbox 360 is always welcome and hopefully with this new SKU, RRoD is a thing in the past.

- Nintendo 3DS's 3D graphics
A more powerful 3D graphics capable 3DS is set to energize handheld market. Viewing 3D without glasses is actually awesome and from the looks of game demo, it really is promising.

- Premium paid subscription PSN
I can say that this is a good thing. Rather forcing gamers to pay for its online multiplayer, Sony decided to reward more to those who pays.

Not so hot: 

- $299 Xbox 360 slim
Quite a disappointing price point. Although it contains build in Wifi, it should have been cheaper than PS3.

- 3DS design decision
Rather than maintaining the same shape with previous DS, Nintendo should have design a sleeker model. Secondly, it still using cartridge, SD card and no hard disk! Its a thing in the past.

- $149 Kinect
Although it hasn't been confirmed yet, Kinect will most probably be priced at $149 (according to Target) which I think its a bit high especially to attract casual gamers.

- Natal change name to Kinect
Feels like its a weird name. Maybe I used to hear Natal all the time and it is friendly to my ears.
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3DS current confirmed specs

Here is the current confirmed specs for 3DS.

Size (when closed)

• Approximately 5.3 inches wide, 2.9 inches long, 0.8 inches tall.

Weight

• Approximately 8 ounces.

Look

• Final design is TBA.

Top Screen

• 3.53-inch widescreen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses; with 800×240 pixel resolution (400 pixels are allocated for each eye to enable 3D viewing).

Touch Screen

• 3.02-inch LCD with 320×240 pixel resolution with a touch screen.

Cameras

• One inner camera and two outer cameras with 640×480 (0.3 Mega) pixel resolution.

Pre-Installed Software

• TBA

Nintendo 3DS Game Card

• 2 GB Max. at launch.

Wireless Communication

• Can communicate in the 2.4 GHz band. Multiple Nintendo 3DS systems can connect via a local wireless connection to let users communicate or enjoy competitive game play. Systems also can connect to LAN access points to access the Internet and allow people to enjoy games with others. Will support IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security (WPA/WPA2). Nintendo 3DS hardware is designed so that even when not in use, it can automatically exchange data with other Nintendo 3DS systems or receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode.

Game Controls

• Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, “Slide Pad” that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor and a gyro sensor.

Input Controls

• 3D Depth Slider to adjust level of 3D effect (can be scaled back or turned off completely depending on the preference of the user), Home button to call system function, Wireless switch to turn off wireless communications (even during game play), Power button. The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully extended.

Input/Output

• A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.

Sound

• Stereo speakers positioned to the left and right of the top screen.

Battery

• Lithium ion battery details TBA.

Languages

• TBA (To Be Announced)

Parental Controls

• Parental controls similar to the Nintendo DSi system will be included

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News & Update from E3 part 2

- Nintendo announced 3DS as its next portable handheld. It capable in producing 3D graphics without using glasses. Other feature includes accelerometer, gyro sensor, analogue stick,  3D capable camera. Price and date is set to TBA. I'll hold my thoughts on this one until I actually see a full specs.

- The 3DS will have some games such as StarFox, Kid Icarus, Pilotwings, Mario Kart and lots other from third party as well. Looks like Nintendo is bringing all the classic to 3DS.

- Playstation Move set to launch on September 19th. Official price will be $49.99 and optional navigation controller for $29.99.

- Sony introduces premium "Playstation Plus" subscription. Current online play will still be free, it give gamers an enhance experience to PSN such as earlier demo, exclusive in game DLC, free games, auto patching feature and much more. The subscription will cost $49.99 for a year or $17.99 for 3 months period.

- Gran Turismo is finally dated coming on November 2nd 2010 with 3D and Move support. Finally after more than 5 long years.
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News & Update from E3 - part 1

- Microsoft's Project Natal name changed to Kinect and it will launch on November and some games including Star Warz Lightsaber game, Kinect sports, Kinect adventure, Dance central and many more.

- Assassin Creed: Brotherhood will ship to retail on November 16th. Ubisoft is following Activision by releasing their biggest franchise on yearly basis, although I don't like the sound of it.

- Microsoft new Xbox 360 slim bundle will be price at $299, and will be available in a week time. In addition to that Old Xbox 360 (Arcade, Pro, Elite) will be given price cut of $50 to make way this new slim model.

- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 expansion pack will be going back to Vietnam. It will also include four new map playable in Rush and Conquest mode.

- Xbox LIVE sign exclusivity with ESPN to bring streaming sport channel in HD.

- Crysis 2 goes 3D accross all platform (PC, Xbox 360, PS3). It is surprising given that Microsoft hasn't talked about Xbox 360 3D capabilities at all.
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New Xbox 360 redesign is good for Indonesian market

The new Xbox 360 redesign is good for business and even better for Indonesian market. Why?

First thing, the new design will give cheaper and more efficient machine, and it will certainly squeeze down broken Xbox 360 rate of failure. 
According to recent survey, the failure rate is around 46%, which I think it should decrease a bit by now but nevertheless it is still an unacceptable number. With this new design, hopefully it can bring down the rate on par with Sony and Nintendo system.

So why is it good for Indonesian market?

Ever wonder what do they do with the broken returned Xbox 360? Yes, they repaired it and shipped it to countries like Indonesia where they sell it as a new console. You didn't think they put those in rubbish bin, were you?. And this sad fact actually came as a confession from a retail shop in Indonesia. He said,

"Mostly the Xbox 360 that you all buy in here is actually broken Xbox 360 which came from other countries like USA, Japan. They then refurbish it and shipped it to here. That's why I bought my Xbox 360 straight from Japan."

With this new redesign and low failure rate, at least as a Indonesian customer, we can pick the new Xbox 360 instead of the older design to make sure that what we get is 100% new.
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New Xbox 360 design and name for Project Natal

The image above was briefly appear on certain website before its taken off. Though its not confirmed (for new design), it can safely assumed that Xbox 360 undergo design change. Whereas for Project Natal, Microsoft officially changed the a slightly weird name to Kinect.

 The rumor for Xbox 360 redesign is already circulating around for quite some times, some even correctly predicted that it will be announced during E3 together with Project Natal considering it is the right moment. From the looks of it, it certainly will come true.

The redesign will feature a 250 GB hard drive and built in Wifi. Like PS3 slim announcement, price cut should follow. I'd predict that the new Xbox 360 cost should be $199.
If it is true, then together with Kinect, Xbox 360 should gained enough momentum to break away from PS3 assault and bring its price closer to Nintendo Wii.
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Sony: We've learnt a lot from PSPgo.. really?

PSPgo was a failure, no doubt about that and Sony is finally speaking of it. When asked about success of PSPgo, SCEE president and CEO Andrew House replied: “It was introduced in a mature lifecycle to learn more about what the consumer wanted and we’ve definitely learnt a lot.

“Is that measured by success in sales? I don’t think it is.

“One of the reasons we launched PSPgo was to understand where that consumer behaviour was going. We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognise that consumers like their packaged media library.”

From my personal opinion the segment "consumers like their packaged media library" is where Sony got it wrong. Its not that consumer prefer UMD vs digital download that contribute to PSPgo doom. Digital download actually seen success elsewhere such as Steam, and iTunes, and Sony cannot simply blame digital download. In fact I believe digital download is the future of gaming industry, as more and more people conveniently buy digital products than ever before.

So what really went wrong? 

PSPgo is overprice, and still no reduction of price is seen although Sony make an effort giving free games for new buyer.
The library for digital PSP games are disappointing. Try finding back couple years back games, and not only that, sometimes new games need couple more weeks before it appears into PS store. And the funny thing is, sometimes the new games don't even appear at all.
The the cost of the game? Same as UMD, not cheaper. So what's the benefit in buying PSPgo? Sure, it is slicker, smaller, but for more money it doesn't give any added value for people to invest in it.

Those things are what Sony has to identify and not blaming consumers for loving their "packaged media library".  
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News & Update, 9 June

- iPhone 4 is announced, and it will support full 3D motion control to enable 6 axis motion sensing gaming. It will release on June 24 in US. Oh boy portable gaming is getting interesting this year!!

- Rumor told that Nintendo's 3DS is significantly more powerful than gamecube and closer to Xbox 360 and PS3. It might not be the processing power but only the visual.

- According to his twitter, Hideo Kojima join up with Square Enix to do a new game collaboration. Kojima probably tired of being ordered to milk Metal Gear franchise by Konami.

- Rumor has it that Tekken vs Street Fighter is in development and may be announced in E3. Two of the biggest fighting franchise finally going head to head. I wish it is not only a rumor.

- Yakuza 4 will be coming to western market. After some success with Yakuza 3, SEGA gained confidence to release the sequel. 
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Red Dead Redemption review

Red Dead Redemption is the latest sand box game by Rockstar which sets in western early twentieth century.
Being the creator of Gran Theft Auto series, Rockstar really excel in making old western open world. It can be seen almost immediately the attention to detail of everything. From the environment, the town, the people to horses. I wish it already in 3D mode, so that the experience can truly be mesmerized.

Like GTA series, riding horses is one of the things that Rockstar spent a lot of time of. It included studying the horse's movement using motion capture technology and the horse riding feels really real and natural.

The story itself is interesting and well paced. The dialog is significantly more than in any of GTA series. There are also a lot of side missions to keep you busy for a while and some mini games such as poker, liar dice, horse shoe throwing.

For the battle system, RDR borrows auto aiming system from CoD series, when you reaim your gun, it can immediately pin point to your nearest target. In addition to that, there is Dead Eye system that slow the movement of your enemy and let you direct your cursor and mark multiple target, and once you've marked it, you shot the targets after you press fire.
With auto target and dead eye, it almost makes the combat sometimes too easy. However, I can also understand the design decision.
When manual gunning a moving target during horse riding can really hard, which if not for those two systems, it can be frustrating that can nullify all the good things that are already present. In the end, it was a wise decision.

RDR however didn't introduce anything new in terms of gameplay mechanics. It is basically a GTA with different setting. But then, why fix something that isn't broken, right?
Verdict: 4.5/5
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What if Natal really cost $149 to end customer?

According to trusted source, Microsoft's motion sensing camera coded Project Natal's price is set at $149 at retail and $300 bundled with Xbox 360 Arcade. It is still a rumor, but what if it is true? What can this pricing impact?

It is really depends on Microsoft how they view Natal. If it is targeting the casual gamer, then $149 price tag is going to be a tough sell. Casual gamers won't spend that much just for experiencing Natal. At $300 bundled price, casual gamers have a lot of options. Wii is the established casual gamers platform is only $200 with a game, and NDS is a even better option for less money.

If Natal is targeted more to hardcore gamer, it will have to be really impressive for people to shell out another $150. The experience with Natal has to be somehow more than Nintendo Wii and Playstation Move offer.

Some say that $80 is more a right price for Natal, but Natal Motion sensing camera is not exactly cheap. Microsoft did declare that Natal won't be an impluse buying, in fact it is more like an upgrade for current Xbox 360. Unless Microsoft prepared to take a loss, $150 is more or less the right cost Microsoft want to charge, but it won't be an easy sell.
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Blizzard is right DRM is a losing battle

The wise Blizzard has spoken, and according to Blizzard co founder Frank Pearce, DRM is not the way to stop piracy. 

If you start talking about DRM and different technologies to try to manage it, it's really a losing battle for us, because the community is always so much larger, and the number of people out there that want to try to counteract that technology, whether it's because they want to pirate the game or just because it's a curiosity for them, is much larger than our development teams.

The best approach for him is to do the job right in implementing Battle net so that people encourage to try and buy original. The job includes focusing on "the content and cool features, not anti piracy technology".

As we have seen, EA succeeded with their project ten dollars which rewarding users who buy first hand copy with DLC and cool features. Developers should give more incentive rather than trying to come out some useless piracy technology. 
And I really pleased the way Sony handles paid subscription to PSN. Instead forcing people to pay for online service, Sony gives added a lot of incentives should people pay for it.

Hear that Ubisoft?
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News & Update, 27 May

- Microsoft's Robbie Bach and J Allard are leaving Microsoft. Allard, the father of Xbox will serve as an advisor to Steve Ballmer, where as Robbie Bach is retiring. Microsoft is set to shake up organizational change. Current replacement hasn't been named.

- Although unconfirmed, Sony will introduce PSN+ as a paid subscription for PSN. However Sony will not follow Xbox Live charging user for online multiplayer, instead it will offer incentives such as free Playstation games, exclusive in-game DLC, discounts to Playstation Store, 'first hour' demo access to full retail titles and many more. 

- Legendary Pictures acquire movie rights for Mass Effect. Today games often employ professional script writer, it is just a matter of time before great game like Mass Effect turned into a movie.

- According to some trusted source, Natal will cost $150 and $300 bundled with Xbox 360 Arcade. Microsoft however refuse to comment regarding this news. Guess we have to wait until E3.

- Insomniac, the maker of Resistance and Ratchet & Clank signed with EA and will develop new IP for both Xbox 360 and PS3.  The two titles above will remain exclusive to Sony though.

- The reason Gran Turismo 5 development halted at 90% is because of 3D and Playstation Move features. Does it mean that the game is finally finished?
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Rumor: PSP 2 is in horizon

Rumor, rumor, rumor. The news was taken from www.qj.net. Very exciting rumor indeed. I will hold my thoughts for the moment until it is more confirmation on it.

• MCV rumoured last week that Sony “could” announce PSP2 at E3.
• VG247 goes digging. According to a source familiar with the matter, it’s “99 percent” it isn’t an E3 reveal.
• Multiple British sources have confirmed that PSP2 NDAs have been in place at publishers and developers for many months.
• PSP2 has two cameras, one forward and one backward facing.
• It has a touch-screen, but apparently it has retained the trademark physical PlayStation buttons.
• UK sources were previously working towards a “2010″ release. This is now “2011″.
• One source would be “amazed” if there was any kind of physical media involved. We’ve been told it “could” be 3G-enabled, as opposed to the WiFi-only PSP go. This bit was sketchy.
• Multiple PSP2 games are being made in Britain right now. Some have even already been canned.
• There have been “finished units” in the UK, but we haven’t spoken to anyone that’s seen a final case.
• When asked directly about reveal timing, one source said, “If the games were aiming for end 2010, beginning 2011, and now it’s a 2011 release, I’d say a gamescom or TGS announce for launch early next year”.
• One source told us the machine is “f*cking powerful,” being based on a four-core Cell CPU. PS3 runs on an eight-core version.

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Why 3DS is a smart move for Nintendo

3DS is a smart move for Nintendo

Why? Apparently 3D is the next step in entertainment. 3D TVs are commercially rolling out and will continue to do so. Looking at the handheld market right now, Apple iPhone is the biggest threat for Nintendo, having better graphics and power, from technical point of view iPhone is more superior to NDS right now. Not mentioning the games are cheaper for iPhone compared to NDS. Sure, Nintendo has its first party library and quality games than Apple, but that is not stopping iPhone as a threat in the near future. 
However, with 3DS, Nintendo can again separates itself from Apple simply because iPhone unlikely will implement 3D screen into it anytime soon and Sony confirmed that the next PSP will not go down the 3D path.


But is it enough?

The million dollar question is, can 3D feature really be a reason for people to buy 3DS instead of other handheld? Is 3D such an important factor for fun? Or it will just be a gimmick later on? In fact Nintendo will provide an option to switch off 3D feature in the device, that allow you to play back to old 2D graphics.This most probably because of health reason and many people doesn't even like watching movie in 3D as it gives them headache after certain period.
But according to recent survey posted in Joystiq, the top reason for people to buy a new 3D TV is for none other than gaming. The jury is still out there whether 3D portable gaming can be successful. 


What should 3DS include? 

Other than features that current NDSi has (touch screen, wifi, cameras), what 3DS should also pack?
- More processing power. 3DS should pack more punch in terms of machine raw power.
- Hard disk. It is the one thing NDS lacking, and with today's digital age, hard disk is a necessary thing to have in a handheld.
- More open and robust system. True that Nintendo should stick to gaming because its what they do best, but Nintendo can try to open up the system so that developers can do non gaming application to the new handheld. 
- Flash enable. Apple is not permitting Flash application in their handheld. Casual and facebook games are getting more and more popular. If somehow Nintendo willing to let people play flash games in their device, it can be a massive plus point.
- Phone feature. One of the thing why iPhone gaming is successful because people carry it everywhere and the game is ready every time you want to play it. However I really doubt this will included in the system because it will increase a lot of the cost and Nintendo should keep the price as low as possible.
- Motion sensors. Recent rumor suggest that the new 3DS will be equipped with motion sensors for adding playing experience.
- 3G connection. In addition for Wifi, 3G connection will provided constant connectivity needed. 
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The next challenge for Nintendo

How Nintendo separates itself from the rest of competition.

Many predicted Nintendo was finished during Gamecube era. Its market share was largely taken by Sony Playstation. After SEGA's Dreamcast raised a white flag to the console market and focused in developing games instead, many of us expects that Nintendo will soon follow.
The console market back then was really identical in terms of technology. It has the same set up, processing and graphics power are the only thing that truly separates them.

With Sony following old formula which worked wonder from them, PS3 is just an upgrade of power and graphics.  Nintendo then realized that they can no longer compete in terms of those stated above, move on and took innovation road with NDS and Wii.

The introduction of touch screen and motion controllers are truly innovative and set Nintendo separates itself from the rest of the competition. It was a risky strategy because Nintendo somehow abandon hardcore market and opt for bigger casual market, but in the end it was worth it.  


What's next for Nintendo?

Right now, Sony and Microsoft has realized that motion controllers does sell to the market and they are rushing their own version of motion controller with Playstation Move and Natal. And with Apple rapidly closing to the competition, Nintendo Console and Handheld market is once again threatened.

Wii and NDS sales has been going down months after months, and it might be a time that they have to introduce a successor for both of their console, in which they already announced 3DS for the next handheld platform.

Nintendo will have to continue to innovate because the others are catching up with the innovation that Wii and NDS had and they need it to do it quickly.
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Is it the time for new PSP?

PSP sales has been slow, in USA at least, but it didn't hide the fact that this device is aging. According to Sony, pirates has been the biggest problem for this handheld. Numerous things tried by Sony to stop pirating, some of those include the introduction of download only PSPgo which failed miserably.
Another effort is that Sony will provide developers a protective code which give them a 60 days protection before the software eventually hacked. This is just an idea today, we still don't know whether it will be working against piracy.

Anyway let's forget about piracy for a moment. If there is no piracy for, does Sony need a new and better PSP? 

From close competitor and technological point of view, Nintendo announced 3DS which will be available by next year, a device with I convince is a lot better graphic, processing power and new features. And let's not forget that PSP technology is somewhat behind Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. Apple who is a new player in the market has its momentum because iPhone is just so popular in United States and it is becoming a major competitor to be considered by Sony.

With competition growing fierce, Sony will have to launch a new PSP sooner rather than later.
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News & Update, 20 May

- Ubisoft is looking carefully to EA's Project 10 dollars after announcing operating loss. Project 10 dollars is considered a success for EA, Ubisoft should implement this than their current broken DRM.

- Infinity Ward's Stimulus package breaks PSN record selling 1 millions. I bet if they reduced the price it will be even bigger.

-Rumor said that PSN subscription package will be unveiled during E3. Let's see what Sony can offer for our beloved money. One thing to be sure is Sony won't charge for online multiplayer. 

- Unique Feature studio is closing in to secure film rights of Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain. Given the game itself is more to interactive movie, combined with the success, a movie is a very reasonable decision. 

- Google plans to include games in their web based application store. Current title that will be available are Plant Vs Zombie, and Star Warz: Lego.
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EA's further punish pre owned game buyers with Online Passes

After saw the success of Project ten dollars, EA introduces Online Passes to its game. Basically this is the next after Project ten dollars that EA implemented in Battlefield Bad Company 2, which require you to input the redeemable code that available when you buy the new copy.

So what is Online Passes? According to Joystiq, "Online Pass" will be title specific that enables access to "online services, features, and bonus content." If the code has already been redeemed (i.e. if you bought the game used) additional Online Passes will be available for (you guessed it!) ten dollars. Each game will include a seven-day free trial.

So what does it mean really? It means that for people who buy used game, they will be forced to spend 10 dollars for online play. Not just bonus content like in BC 2, but the entire Online play mode!

I can understand that development cost this generation cost a lot, with servers for online play and everything, publisher really trying hard to get maximal return for their games. But games are also expensive hobby. Many gamers out there don't have resources available to buy new games all the time. Pre owned games will help brand recognition as more and more people will play that game.

This Online Passes thing is a bit harsh to punish people with relatively lower income in my opinion. I think EA should consider this through and find the right balance. 
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News and update, May 12

- Upcoming Nintendo 3DS's 3D feature can be switched off. It means that the game can be enjoyed in 2D or 3D mode. It seems a logical thing because 3D can cause health concern.

- Final Fantasy IX will be available on PSN May 20th. I'm still however waiting for Sabin and Edgar of Final Fantasy XI.

- Nintendo will be implementing stronger piracy protection in their 3DS. Given 99% piracy rate in Jakarta, no wonder Nintendo should do it. But then again it will be hard to beat pirates.

- Game Informer reveals that Dante of Devil May Cry will feature in Marvel vs Capcom 3.

- Nintendo 3DS is not an official name. The name of Nintendo's upcoming handheld will be formally announced soon. 

- Project Natal will be coming in October, according to Microsoft representative in Saudi Arabia. Most probable since October is a good time to launch a product since holiday season is near.
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LittleBigPlanet 2 awesomeness will blow you away

So I was a bit skeptical regarding the improvement that will be made in LittleBigPlanet 2. My thought it will be more tools or several enhancement. Though Sony hasn't confirmed anything yet, leaks from Game Informer suggest massive improvement in LBP 2.

First of all, LBP 2 is no longer just about platforming. In fact LBP 2 has the creation tools necessary to design racing games, puzzle games, space invaders clones, role playing games, even real time strategy games. Actually Media Molecule designers have successfully recreate fully functioning Command and Conquer clone in LBP 2.

LBP 2 will also let you to record and edit short films and sounds. Not to mention programmable Sackbot and all of those are just maybe a portion of what LBP 2 can do.

Though I am not a creator myself, I prefer to play other people's design, I can say that this is a revolutionary and true sequel of LBP series. I have to take my hats off again for Media Molecule.
Boy, isn't E3 going to be exciting? Can't wait.

*Updated features*
- LBP 2 lets you to link one creation to another and it is not neccessarily to be same type. For example: you can link the platformer level to racing level.

- LBP 2 also lets you to create cut scene. In fact you can create the whole level of cut scene.

- Previous 2 millions and more levels that has been created in LBP will also compatible in LBP 2.

- LBP 2 will get enhanced graphics.

- Your sackboy will feature more things such as gadgets, and you can also create other character other than sackboy.
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Massive "confirmed" list games of E3

This massive upcoming E3 list are compiled and taken from IGN. Please keep in mind that these list are games that are "announced and confirmed". So final list might be different, especially since there still no Activision on the list.

2K Games
Mafia II (PC, PS3, X360)
Sid Meier's Civilization V (PC)
Sid Meier's Civilization V (Digital Deluxe Edition) (PC) NEW
Spec Ops: The Line (PC, PS3, X360)
XCOM (PC, X360)
505 Games
Grease (DS, Wii)
Naughty Bear (PS3, X360)
Anaconda
Gray Matter (PC)
BigPoint
Battlestar Galactica Online (Webgame) NEW
D3 Publisher
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction (DS, PSP, X360)
Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (Wi
DTP (Digital Entertainment Pool)
Drakensang: Phileasson's Secret (PC)
DreamCatcher Interactive
Arcania: Gothic IV (PC, PS3, X360)
EA Sports
EA Sports MMA (PS3, X360)
NBA Jam (Wii)
Electronic Arts
Bulletstorm (PC, PS3, X360)
Dead Space 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
EA Sports Active 2.0 (Wii)
FIFA Soccer 11 (DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Madden NFL 11 (PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Medal of Honor (PC, PS3, X360)
NBA Live 11 (PS3, PSP, X360)
NCAA Football 11 (PS2, PS3, PSP, X360)
NHL 11 (PS3, X360)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (PS3, Wii, X360)
En Masse Entertainment
Tera (PC)
Hudson Soft
Deca Sports 3 (Wii)
Konami
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3, X360)
Def Jam Rapstar (PS3, Wii, X360)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights II (X360)
Rocket Knight (PC, PS3, X360)
Rush'N Attack Ex-Patriot (PS3, X360)
Saw II: The Videogame (PS3, X360)
The Cages: Pro Style Batting Practice (Wii)
Little Worlds Studio
Animal Color Cross (DSi, Webgame, iPhone)
Color Cross (Webgame)
Cosmicrew (Webgame)
DJ Mix Bob Sinclar (iPhone)
Sea Pong (iPad)
LucasArts
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge -- Special Edition (PC, PS3, X360)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
MTV Games
Rock Band 3 (PS3, Wii, X360)
Majesco
Crafting Mama (DS)
Greg Hastings Paintball 2 (PS3, Wii, X360)
Swords (Wii)
Zumba Fitness (tba)
Microsoft
Fable III (X360)
Gears of War 3 (X360)
Halo: Reach (X360)
Microsoft Game Studios
Project Natal (X360)
Namco Bandai
Ace Combat: Joint Assault (PSP)
Clash of the Titans (PS3, X360)
Dragon Ball: Origins 2 (DS)
Enslaved (PS3, X360)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (PS3, X360)
Splatterhouse (PS3, X360)

Natsume
Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove (DS)
Nexon
Dragon Nest (PC)
Dungeon Fighter Online (PC)
Vindictus (PC)
No Publisher Announced
Color Cross (DS)
Paradox Interactive
Commander -- Conquest of the Americas (PC)
Lionheart: Kings' Crusade (PC)
Ship Simulator 2010: Extremes (PC)
Victoria 2 (PC)
Perfect World Entertainment
Battle of the Immortals (PC)
Forsaken World (PC)
Heroes of Three Kingdoms (PC)
Slang
Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring (DS, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Sony Computer Entertainment
EyePet: Your Virtual Pet (PS3) NEW
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP) NEW
Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) NEW
Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (PSP) NEW
Invizimals (PSP) NEW
Move Party (PS3) NEW
SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs (PS3) NEW
Slider (PS3) NEW
TV SuperStars (PS3) NEW
The Fight: Lights Out (PS3) NEW
The Shoot (PS3) NEW
Sony Online Entertainment
Free Realms (PC, PS3)
THQ
Homefront (PC, PS3, X360)
The Last Airbender: The Movie (DS, Wii)
UFC Undisputed 2010 (PS3, PSP, X360)
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 (PS3, X360) NEW
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw Online (PC) NEW
Warhammer 40,000 MMO Project [untitled] (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (PS3, X360)
Tecmo KOEI
Quantum Theory (PS3, X360) NEW
Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll (PS3) NEW
Warriors: Legends of Troy (PS3, X360) NEW
Trion Worlds
End of Nations (PC)
Rift: Planes of Telara (PC)
Warner Bros. Interactive
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (DS, Wii)
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (DS)
F.E.A.R. 3 (PC, PS3, X360)
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
Scribblenauts 2 (DS)
The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (DS, PS3, PSP, Wii)
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (PC, PS3, X360)
cdv Software Entertainment
Divinity II: Ego Draconis (PC, X360) NEW
Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance (PC, X360)

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Starcraft 2 has a different alternative pricing model in Mexico and South America

Soon to be launched Starcraft 2 will employ an alternate different pricing model in Mexico and South America region. In addition of full game price which is USD 59.99, Blizzard offer a cheaper time- limited Starcraft 2. For around USD 20- 30, gamers can enjoy Starcraft 2 with 6 months of play time via new Battle.net. After the time expires, players can opt an extension via 30 or 60 days subscription with rates that have not yet been revealed.

From the looks of it, the pricing mechanism is actually not bad, especially for non hardcore players. Casual players tendency is that most probably they won't playing the game after 6 months. And this could be a cheaper alternative for them.
For hardcore players however, full game price is more desirable. If Blizzard can give an option to upgrade the time limited to full game version, not just 30 or 60 days subscription, that would be great because it will make SC2 more appealing to wider market. But then it might anger other country who only have one pricing mechanism. Starcraft 2 is set to launch worldwide on 27th June.


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News & Update, 5th May

- Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauchi reveals that Gran Turismo 5 is 90% complete. Yamauchi, please don't think that this is actually a good news.

- Apple sells 1 million iPads. iPads continue to be the new phenomenal no doubt.

- Starcraft 2 will finally launch worldwide on July 27 2010. This include US, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Phillippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Indonesia? Really? The digital release will hit shortly after the retail launch.

- God of War: Ghost of Sparta revealed and will be coming to PSP this year. It is developed by Ready at dawn studio the maker of first God of War. More to be revealed at E3. Finally after MGS Peace walker, PSP is really getting some love.

- According to LA Times, Sony is approaching Directors for making Uncharted movie. The report describes it as "the meeting stage, and not close to the dealmaking one." Uncharted do worthy to be made a movie. Now who is going to be Nathan Drake? 


- Konami just announced Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 for this year. They promise that this year's PES will undergo fundamental changes, most ambitious redesign, radically improved in the history of the franchise. Since FIFA 10 was marginally better than PES 2010, this kind of change is definitely needed.  




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Annual release ruined Medal of Honor according to EA

Medal of Honor series is set to be given a reboot by EA. Last couple Medal of Honor has been disappointing. MoH once a top shooters has been dwindling, but this time EA determined to correct the wrong. So when asked what went wrong with the series, EA games president Frank Gibeau share his thought.

"I think any franchise that's been around for a long time, they get in a rut, they become over-annualized. They run out of innovation," explained the EA exec. "The team pounds on a game every year, and they get tired, they run out of time and effort to be innovative and try and take some new risks. That was my view on how the franchise has fallen."

Of course that is not the only concern, Frank admitted that previous MoH series lacking in online play department. "I also felt like the online component wasn't getting enough attention," Gibeau confessed. "Any shooter worth its salt is going to be really breakthrough in its online play, and I think Battlefield: Bad Company is a good example of that, I think Modern Warfare 2 is a good example of that, I think Halo clearly is a good example of that. The power of a franchise in the shooter category is in the online component and modes."

What Frank Gibeau said was right, and it is exactly what has been happening with Call of Duty series. true that Activision lets different studio to make the Call of Duty series, but it hasn't change the fact that we still hasn't seen any innovation since Call of Duty 4. The gameplay has been more or less the same.

So the fact that EA is working hard to bring Medal of Honor to be in line with Modern Warfare is really exciting. I really hope we can see a different AAA shooters in the market soon.
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Welcome back EGM!!

Since been bought by UGO, game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly's (EGM) fate was finished because UGO didn't believe in printed magazine anymore, focusing into online news portal instead.

Being a faithful reader since high school, it was really a disappointing news. However not soon after that EGM founder, Steve Harris decided to take over EGM brand and re launch it.

After months of waiting, finally this month April, first true edition of EGM launched. Combined with printed material, the interactive magazine named EGMi not only resurrect, but also revolutionize the old EGM.

The EGMi, let's you read the magazine with additional interactive media, downloads and links. The content contained in a single page is very rich and truly remarkable.

You can go to www.egmnow.com to check out what's EGMi is like without charge. If you like it, you can subscribe the printed magazine with additional premium feature access of EGMi.

I like what Steve Harris done to the new EGM and retain couple old staff such as Dan Shoe. Wish you all success in the future ahead. Oh yeah.. Welcome back EGM!!
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