A little change in the hardware sales this past month as the Xbox 360 was able to outsell a supply-limited Nintendo Wii. Microsoft has to be pretty happy about that one. Here’s the hardware.
Nintendo DS – 613,200
Xbox 360 – 422,000
Nintendo Wii – 397,900
PlayStation 3 – 360,100
Sony PSP – 133,400
PlayStation 2 – 101,900
Heavy Rain didn’t have a lot of time to chart, but I’m guessing that Sony would have liked to have seen some better numbers than they go. March could be a better month for the game, but honestly it’s going to be overshadowed by Final Fantasy XIII and God of War 3 in a big way.
Miguel makes a return to the show along with Brad and Jeff. For some reason it sounds like we recorded this outside, but we didn’t. We give our (late) opinions on the Infinity Ward drama, GDC so far, and talk a bit about hot tamales, both the candy and the meat-filled corn food thingy. Enjoy!
Statements released by Activision today should be quite alarming to Call of Duty fans. In a nutshell, Activision has announced that they plan to dilute the brand as quickly and thoroughly as possible by ensuring yearly releases, multi-genre releases, and a continued push into the MMO realm. Activision today announced that in 2011 a game in the Call of Duty franchise would be coming from a newly formed studio, known as Sledgehammer Games.
It’s all speculation at this point, but it looks like Infinity Ward was getting a little tired of the Call of Duty franchise being their only product, so Activision formed another studio to help carry the load (as they have been doing with Treyarch). Inifinity Ward is currently developing the two map packs for Modern Warfare 2 that are due out this year, but after that it would be hard to imagine that they are doing much with Treyarch responsible for the 2010 game and Sledgehammer being responsible for the 2011 release.
In a statement regarding the future of the franchise, Activision had this to say:
“2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise,” stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. “In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players.”
Typical PR blabber, for sure. As the details come out more fully we’ll all know more, but for now it really feels like the best days of the Call of Duty franchise are behind us. Just like Activision ran Guitar Hero into the ground, I see the same happening to Call of Duty.
Modern Warfare 2 has sold enough copies to line the coffers of Activision for quite some time, so how does Activision show their appreciation to Infinity Ward, the developer of the game? They do it by firing Jason West, head of the studio. Not only that, security guards were sent over to the Infinity Ward studio without explanation of what was going on. It’s unclear if other people were sent packing, but it’s obvious that Activision’s top executives are drunk on pride and power. If this sort of thing eventually leads to a split between the studio and the publisher, I think it would be for the best. More than likely, however, it’s going to just be a rough few weeks for Infinity Ward before everybody starts falling back in line. With the economy as it is, it’s not the best time to rock the boat.
There’s a lot of speculation going around about Nintendo’s follow up to the Nintendo DS. While I’m kind of thinking we won’t see anything this year in regards to a hardware release, it’s about time that Nintendo starts getting people filled in on what we can expect from their next handheld. Below are some of the rumors surrounding the handheld:
Will have dual screens again (obviously)
Will carry over compatibility with current DS lineup
Will have a capacitive touchscreen
Touch screen will support multi touch
Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip or a custom variant of it is rumored to be part of the hardware
Will have a built in tilt sensor
Analog control present in some form
Now, all of these are rumors, some of them more solid than others, but let’s think about what sort of device these rumors would add up to. From a power standpoint, the DS would be a huge leap forward. The graphical prowess of the machine would put it noticeably ahead of the PSP, but it would still run efficiently in regards to power consumption, so this seems like something Nintendo would be open to. Here’s a demo of what the Tegra 2 chip is capable of.
The multi touch and tilt support would allow the game library to just explode, because iPhone/iPad developers could port their projects up to the DS 2 platform. All of a sudden the emergence of the iPhone gaming market benefits Nintendo in a roundabout way. Developers like PopCap and ngmoco would jump at the chance to dramatically increase the sales of their games with minimal effort assuming Nintendo opens up the DSi Ware release scheduling. The dual screens mean that many of the simple games would still remain DS exclusive, however.
The analog control input is one of the more loose rumors at this point, but if Nintendo can pull it off (especially if they integrate dual analog), this handheld will have the potential to lock in pretty much every type of gamer to the platform. FPS games are almost always the weakest genre on handhelds in comparison to how they perform on consoles. Getting true analog controls would go a very long way toward closing that gap and would eliminate the need to have one screen continually obscured for making use of the touch screen for aiming.
To me, none of these rumors seem too wild to believe, although Nintendo has a knack for surprising people who had prior expectations. We’ll most likely get the answers we want at GDC, but until then speculation is all we have. I for one am quite excited to see if this all pans out, especially the Tegra 2 rumor.
This week we talk about glitches and bugs in games and share some of our personal experiences with them. Also we talk about the rumor of Nintendo’s possible new hardware announcement coming soon. Enjoy!
After (another) long hiatus the podcast is back. This time we’re talking a little bit of news, a lot of Mass Effect, and where Western RPGs have taken over where JRPGs have failed. My voice is a little hashed from bronchitis, but it’s not too bad (in case anybody actually noticed or cared). One thing you might notice is that we make the show more conversational and far less structured than it has ever been. If you do or don’t like the change, please let me know. As always, feedback is appreciated either in the comments section or by emailing me at jar155 [at] gmail dot com.
January gave us a chance to play through all the goodies we picked up during the holiday rush or to catch up on backlog titles that have been waiting a long time to get some play in our rotation. Here are the games I completed in January, most of which were for the first time, others just for nostalgic reasons.
Bayonetta (Xbox 360) – This was a game I reviewed for Kombo and one I was beyond excited to get my hands on after getting a few short minutes with it back at E3 last year. The game turned out to be what I was hoping to be and I had an absolute blast with it from start to finish. With fluid controls, an excellent combat/combo system, and a wacky presentation, Bayonetta will more than likely be in my top games of 2010.
Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) – Yeah, it took me until early 2010 to finally finish Assassin’s Creed. Like many I became a bit fatigued by the repetitive nature of the missions, so when other releases started coming out that interested me I set the game aside. With the release of Assassin’s Creed 2, I needed to go back and wrap this one up for storyline continuity sake. In the end I enjoyed the game, but I’ll always be quick to point out that it has its fair share of issues.
Duck Tales (NES) – One of my favorite games ever made (look for an upcoming Best Game Ever feature on this), I will come back to this one for a few speed runs or high score challenges. Never do I put this game into my NES and feel like I’m only enjoying it for the nostalgia effect. This game is a timeless winner from Capcom and Disney.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) – Simply a fantastic game that deserved the many awards it picked up in all the game of the year voting for 2009. The action, story, presentation, and overall experience all combine to make Uncharted 2 a must play for all PS3 owners. The behind the scenes content on the disc is pretty fun to watch as well (you can also find the videos on YouTube).
Castlevania (NES) – Another game I commonly go back to for a quick play, Castlevania is a challenging title that tests my ability to stay sharp when it comes to retro gaming. Much like Ninja Gaiden on the NES, these old action games really keep the enemies coming nonstop and have very basic but solid level designs. This is definitely not the last time I’ll be playing through Castlevania.
King’s Quest VI (PC) – Ah, the Sierra On-Line classic. I was a big fan of the King’s Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, and Police Quest games and I tend to play through one or two of them every couple of months. They’re great to have on your laptop to play on the go or to casually experience while watching TV. King’s Quest VI was probably my favorite in the KQ series, though they’re all pretty fantastic if you don’t recognize King’s Quest VIII (it NEVER happened).
So here’s what I’m working on in February so far, and I’m hoping to get to Dragon Age: Origins, BioShock 2, and Mass Effect (yeah, the first one) by the end of the month.
Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox 360) – Wow, what an improvement over the first iteration in the series. I put this disc in almost immediately after finishing the first game and right away I could tell they had upgraded the graphical engine. The first game looked nice, this one looks fantastic. The free running feels more accurate and the mission variety is way better. More importantly, the game really does a great job at urging you to explore the landscape, but there are also plenty of helps to make it an easy going experience rather than a frustrating one.
Retro Game Challenge (DS) – A funky little game that came out a few months ago, this is one I’m glad I didn’t pass on. It’s hard to explain this one in a few words, but basically you’re playing retro style games to meet specific challenges laid out for you such as a high score to beat or to achieve a number of kills in a certain manner or time period. The game has tons of nods to classic games, magazines, and industry professionals. It’s just a great package overall.
Star Control II (PC) – I come back to this game a lot. A lot.
Thanks to Gamasutra we have the top ten selling games of 2009 for the United States. As expected, Modern Warfare 2 took the top spot. Here is the full list.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), Xbox 360
2. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), Wii
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo), Wii
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), Wii
5. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo), Wii
6. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), Wii
7. Wii Play (Nintendo), Wii
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), PlayStation 3
9. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Microsoft), Xbox 360
10. Pokemon Platinum Version (Nintendo), NDS
Nintendo took seven of the top 10 positions, which is amazing considering that some of the titles didn’t even come out in 2009 that made that list. With two different versions of Modern Warfare outselling Halo 3: ODST, I think it’s safe to say that Modern Warfare has taken the crown from Halo as king of FPS franchises for the time being. We’ll have to see what sort of numbers Halo Reach can put up, but it’s doubtful that it’s going to do the same sort of quantity of sales as Modern Warfare 2, though still entirely possible. One thing is certain, however, the Wii games developed by Nintendo are sales juggernauts and software sales for the system are quite healthy.
I hate that term, paradigm shift. It was so overused by PR folk and fanboys at the beginning of this generation, but luckily it has died down quite a bit. Wikipedia gives this definition for the term:
representing the notion of a major change in a certain thought-pattern — a radical change in personal beliefs, complex systems or organizations, replacing the former way of thinking or organizing with a radically different way of thinking or organizing
With that definition, I think it’s wholly possible that 2009 gave us a game that will actually be far more significant than we realize. The game I’m speaking about is Borderlands. For those that played it, they found out that RPG elements could be successfully infused into more genres that we originally realized, and it could be done without majorly interfering a game’s flow or design. You couldn’t safely call Borderlands and RPG, but you also couldn’t label it an FPS game, it was something new. It wasn’t just a game with some RPG characteristics, it was two genres so intricately intertwined that it was both, but neither. This is starting to sound crazy, but what I’m trying to say is that Borderlands is a game that will be looked upon years from now as a title that had as much influence and weight as games like Mario 64, Grand Theft Auto, or Halo.
Maybe it won’t happen in 2010, at least not in the first half of the year, but in the near future you’re going to see more genres, especially shooters successfully integrate RPG elements into the mix just as Borderlands did. Characters in gaming are going to become more dynamic, even in the most one dimensional genres. Much like Modern Warfare’s perk system (which is being copied or adapted like crazy these days), Borderlands will be the starter’s pistol for a major new trend in gaming.
Moving forward, RPG elements will no longer be the hook into a good game, they’ll be the backbone. And years from now, when we trace back the jumping point, Borderlands will be identified as the first game to make that leap.
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