Gamernode: Latest Industry News

Ninja Gaiden II leader quits and sues Tecmo

Tomonobu Itagaki, the brains behind the Dead or Alive fighting games and team leader of Ninja Gaiden II has called it quits with Tecmo, citing his reasons as having to do with "unpaid completion bonuses."

Itagaki says that Yoshimi Yasuda, president of Tecmo told him, "...if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it...."

Itagaki posted his statement of resignation and from the looks of it; he is quite dissatisfied with Tecmo and its president, Yoshimi Yasuda.

I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statem...

• (9)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Ubisoft moving to develop 3D video games

With the present gen game consoles emphasizing better graphics and unique game interfaces, we have to wonder what's next in the evolution of gaming. Some industry voices have given the opinion that 3D gaming will be the next frontier.

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, not only believes this; he is heading the company into producing 3D content for movies, books, a television series, and video games. But there is a catch to seeing these wonderful pieces of media on your television--you'll need a special TV to view the content.

Guillemot explained, "The deal is to build a 3D experience on top of the normal experience. Avatar (the movie tie-in game) will have both. It's with glasses on a specific TV. I've seen it--it's amazing. No. It doesn't work on normal TVs. It means we will see an evolution ...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Beyond Good and Evil 2 will be more 'accessible'

The gaming community has cried out for a sequel to the sleeper hit Beyond Good and Evil ever since its release way back in 2003. Finally, that muted yet persistent plea is going to pay off, because Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot has announced that a follow-up is indeed on its way. Judging from what he has said, however, Beyond Good & Evil 2 may not be the game everyone has been hoping for.

Speaking at the Ubidays 2008 media event in Paris, Guillemot had this to say:

"We saw with Beyond Good & Evil that so many customers were extremely happy with the game. We had a different audience at that time. We had more core gamers than casual gamers than we have today."

"We think the game was probably a little too difficult for the general gamers at that time. We're going to make [Beyond Good & Ev...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Exclusive: Gamestop responds to Wii price gouging

A GameStop store in Florida allegedly sold a used Wii game console for full retail price to a customer desperate for a Wii.

According to the story found on gamingconsolenetwork.com, the store employee who supposedly sold the unit told the customer that used Wiis had to be sold at the full retail price because it was in such high demand.

The "eyewitness" who overheard the conversation between the store clerk and customer said:

"The employees main excuse for it being the same price as a new system was 'The Wii is extremely hard to find, thats why its $250 used.' The customer stated that he had been looking everywhere for a Wii system, but could not find one. So after the Gamestop employee was done spewing his BS, he talked the guy into buying the "used" system for $249.99. So basically this ma...

• (8)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The fall of single-player games: Is it coming?

Can you believe we are coming to a point where people are starting to foresee the downfall of single-player gaming? Oh yeah, the vision of the future--a multi-player, multi-user world for games, at least that's what Atari head man Phil Harrison thinks.

"A relatively linear single-player game without online connectivity is going to be a challenge to green-light going forward," Harrison said. For him, a typical single-player game needs to be packaged with multiplayer features and multi-user functionality."Now, that doesn't mean that those games aren't relevant going forwards, but they will be enhanced by community features being embedded in them, or downloadable content becoming an inherent part of the experience, or some kind of user-generated content will be part of the experience. All of ...

• (14)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Namco-Bandai reviving Splatterhouse from the dead

The original Splatterhouse was released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16. While critically praised back in its era, most agree that time has not been kind to Splatterhouse.

Despite that however, Namco-Bandai decided to bring the Splatterhouse franchise into the 21st century as they announced today that a brand-new entry in the franchise will find its home on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime next year.

Unlike its predecessors, this new game will not be just another beat-'em-up. Namco has promised an exciting combat system that will give players a variety of different ways to destroy the opposition. Weapons include items you may find lying on the floor and you also have the ability to tear off the limbs of your enemies and use them as tools of destruction. Players can also resurrect defeated monste...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

President of Square Enix worried

No company can be perfect.  Even when some of us fanboys think the highest of Square Enix, the company has problems of its own, internal problems.

I'm not talking about bleeding, but more along the lines of money and recent financial statements. Square-Enix boss Yoichi Wada was, to say the least, displeased by his company's performance, especially when he took a gander at this chart.

The company have released their FY2007 financial results, which not only show them losing money (with a 20% drop in profits), but losing a ton of Western market share in the process. The company's performance in the US should be of particular concern, as it dropped from 6.1 million games sold in FY2006 (when FFXII was released) compared to only 3.7 million last year, while sales were up from 7.2 million sold to...

• (9)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

New Oddworld spotted sneaking in another game

Don't you just hate when news leaks, but doesn't leak enough to tell you that much of anything. I sure do.

On the one hand, as you might have guessed, someone muffed and accidentally told Wilfrid Lauier University that they "can confirm that we're working with Jeff on Oddworld stuff, but that's all I can say at this time." That someone is none other than one of the founders of Maxis. Not Will Wright. The other guy, Jeff Braun.

But that's all he said. I wasn't even sure I should be excited or not. "Oddworld stuff," isn't necessarily a game although it probably is. And we didn't know if this stuff-that-may-be-a-game is just Citizen Seige, a game + movie combo that was announced in late 2006, or something else. Something new.

Well we do know... kinda. President of Oddworld Inhabitants, ...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Update: Capcom confirms SFIV for home consoles

Earlier today, GN's Tim Mellish reported on a rumor that Capcom will be bringing the highly anticipated sequel to one of the greatest fighting franchises of all time to home consoles sometime in the very near future.

Well you can move that one from "rumor" column to the "official" column, because Capcom has sent out an email announcement confirming that the game will indeed arrive on home consoles, although no specific date was mentioned. Here are the exact words from the email, coincidentally from Tim of the Capcom PR team:

Big news from Capcom today! We've announced the console versions of Street Fighter IV. The next generation Street Fighter game finally finds a home on Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 system and Windows-based PC. Now you can join in on the non-stop breathtaking fighting game wi...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Could Street Fighter 4 hit consoles this winter?

Flag this as a rumor, first and foremost; but a juicy one we here at GamerNode would love to see come true. Street Fighter 4 is going to be a big launch for arcades.

It has been too long since we last had a true sequel to the amazing Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and so far SF4 looks like it will deliver. The comic like 3D yet stunning graphics, the tweaked fighting mechanics, and the expanded character roster are going to make SF4, hopefully, a mainstay at arcades across the globe and hardcore competitions like Evo2k.

Despite this there is still an elephant in the room when the topic of SF4 is mentioned. The arcade appeal has dropped dramatically in the states, and many Street Fighter fans who don't have access to a local arcade are wondering how they will get to experience the next SF. I...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Study says guys are drawn to video games. Duh.

Sometimes, I really have to wonder what the world of academia really does with its time. We have tons of studies that seem to point to the obvious. Here's another one for you.

According to Stanford Professor Allan Reiss, in a paper published by the Journal of Psychiatric Research, he found out that guys are naturally drawn to video games. The study was conducted on males who played video games while their brain activity was monitored.

Excuse us for giving a collective "yawn."

Reiss says, "The males were just a lot more motivated to succeed. I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species."

And we might add, it doesn't take a genius, or a study for that matter, t...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Teenager gets highest score for Guitar Hero III

Last week a 13 year-old boy was inducted into the Guinness World Record book by trouncing the all time high score in Guitar Hero III by over 10,000 points. His final score was 890,971.

Not impressed? He did it while playing "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce on the expert level. Still not impressed? He did it on his first try.

Daniel Johnson of Dallas, Texas said, "I'm glad that I had the opportunity to break the record and help people learn about Education is Freedom."

He broke the record in a Guitar Hero 24-hour marathon sponsored by Blockbuster Video. The event was held to benefit the non-profit organization; Education is Freedom, which is dedicated to increasing the educational quality for children in Dallas.

The old record, held by Chris Chike, was 880,920 points in March 2008...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Tim Schafer releases a sequel...to himself!

The biggest sequel of this console generation was released yesterday, May 21st. Titled Mary Schafer and weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 10 oz, this one is sure to have a monumental impact on the gaming world.

Industry veteran and Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer has created this brand new, original IP with the help of but a single other dev team member, Rachael Schafer, and they describe the product of their efforts as being both "Excellent" and "CUTE."

Details are scant, but this journalist thinks that we may be seeing the beginnings of a franchise here. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled here at GN and will report any new developments in this groundbreaking story.

[via Double Fine]

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

EA bashes Activision/Vivendi for ESA departure

EA, the righteous company that it is, had a few choice words for Activision/Vivendi, who left the Entertainment Software Association. Let the offensive attack begin!

EA's Vice President of Corporate Communication, Jeff Brown, said that it was despicable how Activision/Vivendi left the ESA. "They're a big company and we feel that when you're a big company you've got a responsibility to consumers to work on policy issues which are very, very important to consumers," Brown stated. He added that the best way to do this is trough an industry consensus.

EA also contacted the ESA and implored them to contain current members and assure that they remain a part of the ESA, and stressed that they themselves have no intentions of leaving. With LucasArts leaving, however, other companies may consider...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Square Enix looking into merger

Seems these days more and more game companies are partnering up--the consolidation market is still alive in the game industry. If it isn't the merger of Activision and Blizzard, it is EA's attempt to take over Take-Two. Heck, even Microsoft and Yahoo are trying to partner up these days.

To some it may seem like a squandering of creativity, and others don't like the big company image. But think of the positives. By combining resources, in a merger, both companies now have access to a wealth of resources. The teams behind the games we love now have a whole new bank of tools and talent to dip into.

So it makes sense to hear a certain Japanese company wants to venture into this consolidation market. That company is Square Enix. Not a stranger to consolidation Square Enix used to be Squaresoft a...

• (4)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The Ballad of EA and T2: denouement

When the story of Electronic Arts wanting to buy Take Two Interactive first broke a couple of months ago I made a really sweet graphic of Pac Man eating a blue ghost. Pac Man being EA and the frightened powerless blue ghost being Take Two. It was genius I say, sheer genius.

Unfortunately it seems I won't be using that image, not anytime soon in any case. Friday was the deadline for Take Two shareholders to agree to a buyout from the game publisher everyone loves to hate and Friday passed without any acknowledgment of that offer from Take Two. It seems people want to hold onto stock of companies that just released the fastest selling game of all time, go figure.This doesn't mean EA is going to give up. This morning they announced an extension of the offer until June 16th even though Tak...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Are games getting shorter?

According to Gregg Mayles, head of design at Rare, games are now decreasing in size because, quite frankly, gamers do not want to be bothered with lengthy games.

Rare, the creator of Banjo Kazooie and others, would be expected to at least defend extended games given some of their titles' playing times, but Mayles simply stated that "...people are now less tolerant of really, really long games."  He went on to say that "if you're going to have a really long game it has to be structured in such a way that the majority of the players play the game up to a certain point and are happy with it, but that section is shorter and then make sure the tail-end of the game suits the people that want to carry on." 

According to Mayles, developers should shorten their games in length in order to appease ga...

• (19)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

CBS moves to buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion

CBS has announced that it will buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion. CNET is the parent of the websites GameSpot, TV.com, CNET News, ZDNet, CNET, UrbanBaby, Search.com and BNET.

The deal would move CBS into the top 10 most frequently visited Internet destinations in the US. With the merger of CBS and CNET, Gamespot may possibly reap the rewards of CBS Network's extensive infrastructure of news stations and outlets. 

Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Corporation said, "CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience."

The Board of Directors at CNET Networks approved the deal and have recommended that CNET shareholder...

• (0)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Kojima talks casual games, world panics

It's great when games designers can be objective in viewing the state of the industry, and don't just think it's all about their game or genre. Hideo Kojima, for example, makes games for gamers; you're grandmother isn't going to play Zone of the Enders or Metal Gear Solid. But despite this affinity for making games that suit the hardcore, he acknowledges the casual space and doesn't hate on it.

"Casual games have become mainstream in the industry. It's not just a Japanese phenomenon but also something that's happening worldwide. There are new markets and possibilities opening up thanks to the trend, which is great."

Now, you might be a little afraid at this point. Wondering if Mr. Kojima was thinking of alienating the community by making Metal Gear Island: Party Game Sensation for the Wii...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Activision stealing the Band out of Rock Band

When Harmonix left the Guitar Hero business and got scooped up by MTV games it was kind of a big deal. They sold the rights of their franchise to Activision and decided to pursue other interests. Perhaps you've heard of Rock Band.

Activision had been content with owning the Guitar Hero franchise, even though the brains behind it were gone. Guitar Hero III sold record numbers this holiday season and was one of the best selling titles of last year. It seems, however, Rock Band has been picking up some steam. They have sold over 2 million songs via DLC and keep selling tons of copies of the game at the retail level.

It seems Activision wants in on some of that whole band money. According to the upcoming Game Informer, and a commenter on NeoGaf, Guitar Hero 4 will include vocals and drums...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
•