Tigerprince Radio

Earlier this year, the producer of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead filed suit against Capcom, claiming the zombies-in-a-mall action game Dead Rising ripped off the classic 1979 horror film. However, once the complaint got before a judge, the producer’s case fell apart like the rotting, fleshy husks at the still-beating heart of the dispute.

Last month, United States Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg granted Capcom’s motion to dismiss the suit, saying that The MKR Group (the producer’s company) “has not identified any similarity between Dead Rising and any protected element of Dawn of the Dead. Rather, the few similarities MKR has alleged are driven by the wholly unprotectable concept of humans battling zombies in a mall during a zombie outbreak.”

Those who have played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts must have been surprised when The Lord of the Games (aka LOG) said the following line:

They’re all in the pipeline, you know. New Killer Instinct, Battleloads and Jet Force Gemini Games. Even Ghoulies 2. Oh, you’ll never believe that. I’ve ruined my own humorous jape.

Does that actually mean those anticipated Rare games will finally launch on Xbox 360? Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Rare teases us with unannounced games and this might be just a new cruel prank from the Microsoft-owned studio.

Street Fighter IV will launch for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 17. European gamers will get their hands on the game three days later on February 20. The game has been available in Japanese arcades since July, with a few cabinets popping up in various US coin-ops since August.

Street Fighter IV is both a departure from and a return to the series’ roots. The game eschews the franchise’s classic 2D fighting formula in favor of stylized 3D visuals, but the roster of characters includes the entire original cast of Capcom’s Street Fighter II, as well as a number of new additions.

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - OCTOBER 2008
Software: $697M (+35%)
Hardware: $495M (+5%)
Accessories: $120M (-8%)
Total Games: $1.31B (18%)

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - OCTOBER 2008
Wii–803,000
Nintendo DS–491,000
Xbox 360–371,000
PlayStation Portable–193,000
PlayStation 3–190,000
PlayStation 2–136,000

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - OCTOBER 2008
Title / Publisher / Units*
1 ) Fable II (Xbox 360) / Microsoft / 790,000
2 ) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 487,000
3 ) Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) / Bethesda Softworks / 375,000
4 ) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 290,000
5 ) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 282,000
6 ) Saints Row 2 (Xbox 360) / THQ / 270,000
7 ) SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation (PS3) / Sony / 231,000
8 ) Little Big Planet (PS3) / Sony / 215,000
9 ) NBA 2K9 (360) / Take-Two Interactive / 202,000
10 ) Dead Space (360) / Electronic Arts / 193,000

The issues, listed on the official Gears of War forums, include the biggest headache of all; slow multiplayer matchmaking.

“This is an issue that’s affecting some folks, and Epic and Microsoft are both looking into it,” said Epic’s community manager. “I’ll let you know more details as I have them.”

Other bugs include difficulty accessing the freebie downloadable content such as the 48-hour LIVE trial, Flashback Map Pack, and the Golden Lancer, most of which that are fixed or properly explained on the above forum page.

Gears of War 2 designer Cliff Bleszinski alluded to existing bugs, when he told us in the November issue of GamePro, “We may need to tweak a few things in multiplayer after release through an update. People are going to find exploits we didn’t anticipate. That’s the reality of making a game.”

In an interview with UK publication GamesIndustry.biz, Epic Games president Mike Capps said, “I’ve talked to some developers who are saying, ‘If you want to fight the final boss, go online and pay $20. But if you buy the retail version of the game, you get it for free.’”

The statement comes as some publishers and developers frown upon used-game sales, even though the practice is legal and standard with other retail products. Capps even says his company has a policy that no employees buy used games. “We have a rule at Epic that we don’t buy any used games, because this is how we make our money and how all our friends in the industry make money.”

In an effort to keep retailers like GameStop from turning a profit on second-hand sales, publishers like Epic, EA, and Harmonix have begun offering downloadable incentives and exclusives to factory sealed purchasers in an effort to encourage players to buy new. Digital distribution, already used by smaller downloadable games, is increasingly becoming a viable solution to cut the middle-man and retain a larger portion of the profits.

From July through September, the following five games sold the most, according to integrated data from the NPD, Chart-Track, and Enterbrain released today (ordered by worldwide units sold):

1. Madden NFL 09, EA - 3 million
2. Wii Fit, Nintendo - 2.1 million
3. The Force Unleashed, LucasArts - 1.7 million
4. Pokemon Platinum, Nintendo - 1.5 million
5. Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo - 1.4 million

No surprises made the list, but it’s interesting to note that both Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii made the top 5 for the second straight quarter — games the NPD calls “evergreen titles.”

And it seems gamers aren’t that concerned as Wall Street scrambles to get its house in order. “In the U.S., third quarter total industry unit sales grew 8 percent versus 2007, even as the economy showed accelerating signs of recession,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “As would be expected at this point in the console lifecycle, games sales are starting to take the spotlight even as the average retail prices of games increased slightly. Heading into the critical fourth quarter, the U.S. games industry is on solid ground.”

The “Top Global Markets Report” is based on software point of sale data from the three biggest video game markets in the world; USA, Japan, and UK.

A new study out of Gamasutra, corroborated by research firm the NPD Group, has confirmed at least one fact about the so-called console war: If you own an Xbox 360, you probably have a lot of games. The Xbox 360 leads all systems when it comes to selling software.

The study focused on the “attach rate” of the three major consoles, which is an important data point for software developers when they decide where to allocate resources for future games.

It might not be a surprise given Bleszinski’s previous praise for Resident Evil 4, but EGM’s rumor persona, the Q-man, is fueling wild imagination without naming sources that Bleszinski’s next is a survival horror game.
 
“Though we don’t have a name or any solid details yet, Quartermann reports that the new title will mix the bloody visceral elements of Gears of War with psychological terror,” the article maintains. “And even more interesting, this one may be multi-platform.”

EA has axed its casual games division today following the departure of Kathy Vrabeck, president of the Casual Entertainment label, and has repositioned resources in a way that casts doubt on the existence of the “casual gamer.”

The news, now confirmed by EA in an email correspondence with GameDaily, appears to signal that the video games publisher, once the world’s largest, has accepted the fact that “casual gamers” simply do not exist.

“We’ve learned a lot about casual entertainment in the past two years, and found that casual gaming defies a single genre and demographic.” read a statement obtained by GameDaily. “With Kathy’s departure, EA is reorganizing to integrate casual games — development and marketing — into other divisions of our business. We are merging our Casual Studios, Hasbro partnership, and Casual marketing organization with The Sims Label to be a new Sims and Casual Label, where there is a deep compatibility in the product design, marketing and demographics.”

The casual games EA label also included the mini-game web site Pogo.com, which will no doubt be redistributed elsewhere within EA following today’s news. Other unnamed properties will be folded into the The Sims label, said a note from EA chief John Riccitiello.

The admonition appears to be an indirect endorsement of Nintendo’s current all-inclusive software strategy, which has made the Kyoto-based hardware and software provider the largest, most successful company of its kind. Nintendo executives like Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime, and Shigeru Miyamoto have long held the belief that there is no such thing as a “casual gamer.” There are only gamers and non-gamers, they’ve said, on numerous occasions. EA, apparently, agrees.