[Brien]

Nintendo's been losing 3rd party interest since the PS1 was birthed. The GCN and Wii have just killed it further, and while down the road it may **** them, honestly, they've probably run the numbers and realized that there are enough Nintendo fanboys that they can still make billions selling an endless pool of Mario and Zelda games.

[The Final Dakar]

You can say all you want about 3rd party titles not being good enough, but with waning participation of those developers, if Nintendo was really interested in gaining their support, they'd start creating incentives for them, and they have not done that. Why should they? They're making money hand over fist.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Though Lord knows they're probably the ones who need it most.

This got a nose-breath laugh from me.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

This got a nose-breath laugh from me.

Isn't that what teh fatties do?

[The Final Dakar]

Thursday news


Sony PlayStation 3 sales 'exceed 3.8 million' worldwide over the holidays

Sony released a chest-pounding press release declaring worldwide sales "exceeding 3.8 million" of the PlayStation 3 during the 2009 holiday season. According to the company, "during the five weeks following the last week of November 2009" (ending on January 3, 2010), the console sold more than during any previous holiday season -- a 76 percent increase over last year's numbers.

Alas, the PSP and the PSP Go were neglected a mention in the presser, though Sony did reiterate the 38 million PSN user number we'd heard a bit earlier.

Amazing what a price drop can do.



Xbox by the numbers: 20m Xbox Live users, 10m nongaming, 39m Xbox 360 consoles worldwide

More numbers: "Between Christmas and New Years Day, Xbox Live experienced its busiest week ever, adding a new member every second and a record of more than 2.2 million concurrent members online." And not a network failure in sight! Congrats, Microsoft! Lastly, "there are now over 39 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world,"

If you ever wonder why they don't list the actual unique user numbers on the XBOX Live Top Ten this is why. Even at peak, only about 10% of all gold accounts are logged on simultaneously.



Microsoft says Project Natal coming 'holiday season 2010'

The release explicitly states that the still-codenamed Natal project is "scheduled to be available in holiday season 2010,"

Didn't we call this back in June?



Xbox Game Room bringing arcades back to Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live users [update 3]

Microsoft reveals that the Game Room itself will be free, while games will range in price from 400 ($5) for a dual-license purchase of arcade classics, 240 ($3) for a single-platform license or 40 ($0.50) for "two quarters" worth of play. Users can try arcade titles for free within a friend's room.

Sounds like a massive rip-off.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Isn't that what teh fatties do?

I'm getting closer every year.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Thursday news

Sony PlayStation 3 sales 'exceed 3.8 million' worldwide over the holidays

Amazing what a price drop can do.

There was an even higher percentage of n00bs on Uncharted 2 than on MW2. It was horrible trying to play Plunder (Capture the Flag, sort of).

Microsoft says Project Natal coming 'holiday season 2010'

Didn't we call this back in June?

I still smell disaster in the air surrounding Natal.

Xbox Game Room bringing arcades back to Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live users [update 3]

Sounds like a massive rip-off.

Yeah, but I still might buy one or two (or five) games, depending on what's available (yes, I realize I'm part of the problem).

[EDIT] I don't know why I even check Kotaku anymore. I should just bookmark this thread instead. At least on here you don't link to articles like this.

[The Final Dakar]

I missed this gem:
Capcom's France Boss: "The Future is on PS3 and 360" - Capcom - Kotaku

Capcom's director general for France sounds very pessimistic about development for the Wii, feeling that its user base has "radically changed" into something that is no longer interested in core games such as the poor-selling Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

"The customer of [the Wii] has turned into something [of a] much broader audience. It is a disappointment," says Seux (pictured) in an interview translated from French via Google Translate. Seux, speaking to the blog Gamekult, also calls developing for the Wii "difficult" and goes on to say "for us, Capcom, the future is the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360."

It's likely we're hearing Seux's offhand opinion of the future, not official Capcom messaging here. Still, the words, coming from such a stalwart brand on Nintendo's platforms, are eyebrow raising.

It's clear Seux is frustrated. He points out sales of just 16,000 for Darkside Chronicles in the first three weeks of its release, compared to 140,000 for Resident Evil 4 on the Wii at release in in 2007. Seux's explanation for the disparity: the market has moved on.

One feels that there is a problem very clear on this style of game on the Wii, where gamers have obviously moved on. Resident Evil 4 on Wii worked well, but [it was released] when the market had nothing!

While Seux says the Wii is "still an important part of sales," he calls it "very much a family [console] with low attachment rates."

"This is the year of the emergence of so-called 'new console generation'," Seux concludes. "So for us, Capcom, the future is the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360."

Bold emphasis mine.

[sek929]

Concerning Natal and motion controls in general I like Yahtzee's (Zero Punctuation) take on it.

He says that motion-based controls with no tactile feedback are a complete dead-end and actually serve to destroy the feeling of immersion more than with tradition controls. This is exactly my sentiment and exactly the reason I've had such difficulty getting into Wii games. When I'm sitting there flailing my wrists attempting to make my character do something I am paying attention to my movements more than the movements of my character. Using a keyboard/mouse or controller makes my movements limited and barely noticeable while I can focus on losing myself in the actions of screen.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I still smell disaster in the air surrounding Natal.

Define 'disaster.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

[EDIT] I don't know why I even check Kotaku anymore. I should just bookmark this thread instead. At least on here you don't link to articles like this.

They're purposely off-topic. Anyway, the guy in Japan's wife is ****ing scathingly hot.

[The Final Dakar]

****ing two months of near nothing and its a deluge today.

Report: Microsoft Drops Natal Chip - Natal - Kotaku

Microsoft has dropped a chip from its upcoming Natal motion control hardware, reports website Games Industry. The chip processed data for Natal's "bone system". In its place, Microsoft will use a software solution.

This decision, sources tell Games Industry, does not affect the existing 100ms system lag. However, the decision to go with a software solution will enable Microsoft to update in a regular and consistent fashion.

"Patching up older games to run with the new hardware now looks rather unlikely unless they have the CPU time to spare, but hopefully this will serve to focus developers on Natal-specific concepts as opposed to revisiting old classics."

Obviously this about price, but with that kind of sacrifice, I expect this thing to become part of the xbox bundle, and quite cheap (a game's worth of price?) standalone. (COnsumer expect, not prediction expect)



Natal to use 10-15 percent of Xbox 360 CPU power
Completely dumb. The thing about eol systems is they need every ounce of power they can get. And hey, aren't we trying to go longer than ever before. Hamstrung.



Xbox 360 getting Mediaroom IPTV 'later this year' via AT&T U-verse ... just three years late
I have no idea what this is, but I have a feeling this benefits a miniscule percentage of us.




Iwata: Nintendo already working on a newer, more powerful DS

Nintendo just can't seem to stop releasing new-and-improved versions of the DS. This past year, we got the DSi, which was an awesome improvement on the already excellent DS Lite. This year, we have the DSi XL to look forward to, but it turns out Nintendo already has another version of the console in the works. This one will have motion control and hi-def graphics.

A quarter million have already been sold.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Define 'disaster.

Katrina


Hiroshima


Ongoing Modern Disaster...

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Define 'disaster.


They're purposely off-topic. Anyway, the guy in Japan's wife is ****ing scathingly hot.

This needs a link.

[The Final Dakar]

Haha, I forgot you had a thing for asians. It was a couple months back, unfortunately.

Edit: Scathingly hot may have been inaccurate, and need to replaced with irrepressibly cute.

[The Final Dakar]

Don't say I never did anything for you, chuckit.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Don't say I never did anything for you, chuckit.

Airbrushed to the max. It could be Abe Vigoda under there for all we know.

[The Final Dakar]

Admittedly, I think her friend is way hotter.

[KCrosbie]

Nintendo announces next Zelda Wii title to be released in 2010

I'm always down for another Zelda game. Twilight Princess was a great game!

[KCrosbie]

Treyarch to release Call of Duty: Vietnam (tentative title) in Winter 2010

About time they moved from the WWII era games.

Can't wait to see more about how the game is developing.

Bogues, perhaps we'll be able to kill some Viet-Cong zombies? That'd be sweet!

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by KCrosbie 

Treyarch to release Call of Duty: Vietnam (tentative title) in Winter 2010

About time they moved from the WWII era games.

Can't wait to see more about how the game is developing.

Bogues, perhaps we'll be able to kill some Viet-Cong zombies? That'd be sweet!

I've been wondering if the Call of Duty games would ever move into the Vietnam era. A friend and I talked about this before, and we can't quite figure out how the scale of the battles will be handled. Will the entire game take place in the jungle? What will the tone of the game be (because you know it has to feel even more pessimistic)?

And...zombie Vietcong?

Thanks for putting this story into the mix.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Don't say I never did anything for you, chuckit.

Nothing chuckit? I don't need any thanks, but a "you're right" or "you're retarded" would be nice.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I've been wondering if the Call of Duty games would ever move into the Vietnam era. A friend and I talked about this before, and we can't quite figure out how the scale of the battles will be handled. Will the entire game take place in the jungle? What will the tone of the game be (because you know it has to feel even more pessimistic)?

And...zombie Vietcong?

Thanks for putting this story into the mix.

Also, you don't technically "win" the war at the end of campaign. Almond shaped-eye zombies should be an interesting twist. I mean, if you have time to notice before you blow their head off. Hope they're also wearing those hats.

[SpaceMonkey]

And how will they simulate the smell of napalm in the morning?

[The Final Dakar]

Wii Olfactory Attachment.

[SpaceMonkey]

I was thinking scratch n' sniff.

[Jawbone54]

I just hope they don't try to one-up Infinity Ward's controversy and have children come up to you begging you for candy...

[Stogieman]

Well, it looks like my 360 is about to RROD. It froze up on me 3 times tonight when I was playing L4D2. Now it can't get past the xbox start up logo without freezing. It was only a matter of time. I bought this 360 on the day Halo 3 was released (9/25/07). Lord know how many hours of gameplay I put into this system with just Halo 3, Burnout Paradise & Gears of War 2. I'm surprise it lasted this long. It's a good thing I bought the 2 year warranty extension at Game Crazy. Stopping by there tomorrow to replace it with a new one.

[The Final Dakar]

Capcom: Wii is 'a tough market to crack'

Capcom spoke to Gamasutra recently about the difficulty in taking advantage of the Wii's huge user base -- it and other third-party developers have struggled for a long time to sell games to the casual folks who bought Nintendo's console, and Capcom's senior director of communications Chris Kramer says it hasn't gotten any easier. "If you're not Nintendo," he says frankly, "it does seem harder to make money on the Wii today compared to the PS3 and the Xbox 360."

For MacUser001
The Average PC Gamer's Rig, As Of December 2009 - Steam - Kotaku



Where Have All The 120GB Xbox HDD Gone? - Elite - Kotaku

ikely scenario: Microsoft is selling through the holiday Elite bundles before unveiling a 250GB Super Elite stand alone console, hence the scarcity of 120GB HDD and stand alone Elites. Though unconfirmed, the 250GB Xbox 360 stand alone could be sold at same price as the 120GB Elite.

...and if after that's done they still refuse to add something as basic as a 20 GB HD to their arcade model these suckers should burn in hell.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by KCrosbie 

Treyarch to release Call of Duty: Vietnam (tentative title) in Winter 2010

There's already a Vietnam mod for CoD4 on the PC. Apparently its really well done.

[Mac User #001]

On the topic of CoD: Vietnam, I'm glad. So few games have gone to Vietnam. One of the biggest was Battlefield, which had zero story, just maps.

To Dakar, about the PC rigs. I'm still slightly ahead of that curve, but as I consider myself more of a power user than a typical PC gamer, I should have a better rig. Ah well. Money is tight. I usually keep up on those surveys as well, so its nothing too surprising.

New Zelda for Wii is a win too, especially being built for the Wii. Hoping for something special.

This is what I do when I don't feel like quoting everyone.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

...and if after that's done they still refuse to add something as basic as a 20 GB HD to their arcade model these suckers should burn in hell.

Don't forget their strict adherence to no built-in wireless, and the equally ridiculous price to buy the 360 wireless unit.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Don't forget their strict adherence to no built-in wireless, and the equally ridiculous price to buy the 360 wireless unit.

This is the reason I want the PS3 to do well. Microsoft are such friggin' cheapskates.

[The Final Dakar]

The Top 20 LIVE Games of 2009

After a few days of number crunching, here are the most popular games on the LIVE Service for 2009 based on connectivity.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 Modern Warfare 2
4 Call of Duty: WaW
5 Gears of War 2
6 GTA IV (Purchase and download the full game)
7 Left 4 Dead
8 Halo 3: ODST
9 FABLE II Episode 1 (of 5)
10 バイオハザード５」デモ (BioHazard 5 - Resident Evil 5)
11 Halo Wars - Demo
12 RESIDENT EVIL 5
13 Fallout 3
14 UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
15 Left 4 Dead 2 - Demo
16 Gears of War
17 1 vs 100
18 Guitar Hero World Tour
19 Guitar Hero III
20 FIFA 09

[Chuckit]

Wow. Halo 3 is unbeatable, isn't it? Incidentally, that "Resident Evil 5" at No. 10 is the demo.

[The Final Dakar]

I find it amusing that COD4 - over a year old from 2007, and MW2 - from the end of 2009, beat out WaW which had the entire calendar year as it was released in late '08.

Also, looks like a lot of people tried L4D2, but not so many bought it.

[Chuckit]

Or the people who bought L4D2 did so quite late in the year. Even if they bought it the day it came out (Nov. 17) rather than, say, getting it for Christmas, they had less than a month and a half to play it in 2009. Granted, that didn't badly cripple MW2, but I'm sure it still reduced its ranking considerably.

[The Final Dakar]

Either way, the demo must not have done much swaying for immediacy.

[Stogieman]

Gears of War 2 is still in the top 5? WTF?

[The Final Dakar]

Reread, stogie.

[The Final Dakar]

Speaking of misreading, I misread that. Those "demo"s are links in Major Nelson's blog.

You may now flay me.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Where Have All The 120GB Xbox HDD Gone? - Elite - Kotaku

...and if after that's done they still refuse to add something as basic as a 20 GB HD to their arcade model these suckers should burn in hell.

Figures. I just bought an elite system this past Saturday to replace my 20GB Pro that had died (the 2 year extended warranty was actually 1.)

[The Final Dakar]

Wednesday news

Gran Turismo 5 delayed in Japan, new date unknown

Sony announced that the Japanese release of Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed from its unspecified March date to an undecided future date, to be announced later.

HAHAHAHAHA hahahahahaaaaaaaa




Netflix streaming available on Wii this spring

The AP notes (via Engadget) that, like the PS3's implementation of the service, Netflix on Wii will require an "instant streaming disc."

MS dug up the corpse of the person who wrote their Netflix contract, reanimated him, rehired him, then had him fired and killed again.



Bach: 70-80% of publishers working on Natal-based games
mehhhhhhhhhh

[sek929]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Gran Turismo 5 delayed in Japan, new date unknown

At this point Forza IV is going to release before GT5.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Netflix streaming available on Wii this spring

Hmm, cool. Good news for my Wii owning friends, who have no cable TV, but they have internet, they just might want to sign up for Netflix now.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Bach: 70-80% of publishers working on Natal-based games

Excuse me while I vomit in horror. I'd rather have those devs work on games that don't use dead-end motion control technology and focus on making good games instead.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Excuse me while I vomit in horror. I'd rather have those devs work on games that don't use dead-end motion control technology and focus on making good games instead.

Clearly you haven't seen the multitudes of incredible games on the Wii. Thousands of them.

[The Final Dakar]

GT5 is quickly becoming Duke Nukem Forever.

[sek929]

Motion Controls are fine and dandy when you are with a group, or Grandma wants to play Raving Rabbids. The last thing I want to do when gaming out alone at night is wave my arms around.

God dammit.

[Jawbone54]

I'm completely boycotting Natal. Even my gaming ADD won't go that far.

[The Final Dakar]

That's like boycotting Miller Lite after we know you've bought cases of Bud Light before.

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I'm completely boycotting Natal. Even my gaming ADD won't go that far.

I'm willing to give it a chance. If these companies are actually serious about not making it a gimmick and using it for something worthwhile, I'll at least give it a look.

But I have a sneaking suspicion it will be Wii 2.0, and I don't want that.

[Chuckit]

Natal = Wii - the few worthwhile games

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

I'm willing to give it a chance. If these companies are actually serious about not making it a gimmick and using it for something worthwhile, I'll at least give it a look.

Most people thought Red Steel looked worthwhile until they played it. I'm going to let everyone else give it a chance. If it turns out to be beyond amazing, I might consider it.