The Consumerist reports today that while Blu-Ray sales are indeed up this year by seventy-two percent over sales from this time last year, they haven’t caught on so much so that they’d be considered hot trade-in items at Gamestop. The articles talks about how several Gamestops when asked about trading in Blu-Ray Movies for money or in-store credit, simply stated that they won’t do it right now.

Gamestop’s reluctance might have something to do with all the UMD Movies most stores across the country are still stuck with years after the last UMD Movie made a profit for anybody involved. Next time you go to a Gamestop, particularly during any advertised sales period, look around and most likely you’ll find a small section where they have UMD Movies still shrink wrapped on sale for a few dollars each, a far cry from the twenty to thirty dollars they were going for back in 2005 during UMD’s glory days.

I know there’s an article from back then somewhere on the net…lemme see if I can find…AHA! Found it! A vintage N’Gai Croal Sony article from 2005 on how the UMD Format would give the movie industry a helping hand. And here, here’s a quote that helps what I’ve been talking about for two paragraphs come together. N’Gai states in that vintage article that, “Studio heads love the fact that the PSP reaches a younger, mostly male audience that spends more on games than it does on movies; since even specialty retailers like GameStop carry UMD movies, their titles are on an equal footing.”

Look what happened in just over two years or so. Gamestop can’t even give their stock of UMD Movies away. The only UMD movie I can recall never dropping in price was Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and the reason that one kept getting purchased is right there in the title of the damn thing! It’s easy to see why Gamestop would be hesitant to keep offering movies along with games if the vast, vast majority of their patrons only see the store as a place to get one specific kind of product. Not only that, but a good number of Gamestop customers probably have some form of Netflix in their home entertainment ensemble somewhere. They don’t want to have to deal with yet another movie format when they can legally view “good-enough” quality movies without ever having to leave the house. – The Ben

By Brian Perry

What do you get when you mix a Nintendo DS card, an adventure game, and dictionary? Apparently Scribblenaughts, This inventive new game by 5th cell was the buzz of e3 this year and for good reason. The premise of the game is fairly simple, you need to you’re your character Maxwell collect starite in each of the 220 levels. But to get each piece of starite you must summon tools to help you grab or cajole from where ever it is in the challenge. Sometimes it can be as simple as summoning a ladder and climbing up to claim your starite. In others it may involve achieving a separate goal to unlock the starite, as demonstrated in a demo level requiring you to “refresh” a man lost in the desert. But each challenge offers endless opportunities to claim your prize.

This is where the game shines. Scribblenaughts charm is in the inventiveness and breadth of choices you have in obtaining the stars. That simple ladder challenge could be solved with a ladder, or with a jet pack, or a helicopter, or a giraffe wearing a top hat. Where the man can be refreshed with a drink, or a rainstorm, or any number of other items.

All of this summoning is achieved by typing common, non trademarked nouns of a pg nature with your stylus into the digital keyboard. To make things even easier 5th cell predicted that many of you like myself are spelling impaired and also included a built in spell checker to boot, a godsend to say the least.

Overall the demonstration has me looking forward to Scribblenaughts release later this year so I can fulfill my dreams of a zombie Darwin vs. God death match set in 12,000 BC.

I believe this is my first “Pachter No” article yes?

Well, Industry Gamers reports that Wedbush Morgan Securities has recently released a gargantuan 210-page report on the video game industry headlined by none other than Wedbush Morgan’s own Michael Pachter. The major talking points that most of the news outlets are reporting on center around Pachter still holding onto that dream that the PS3 will become the HIGH-DEFINITION console of choice due to the fact that Blu-Ray (and Sony by being the driving force behind Blu-Ray) won the High Definition War that seems so long ago now. Honestly it would seem that people would care more about trying to find the best deals on watching movies rather than finding the HIGHEST QUALITY OF DEFINITION for their movie of choice.

Even after faced with the fact that while it’s not a dead format like the VHS or the UMD are in today’s market Blu-Ray and High-Definition Disk Formats in general just weren’t the REVOLUTION that analysts were making them out to be, Pachter still believes that because of Sony “Winning” the high-def war, that it’s reward are the hypothetical spoils of people’s living rooms.

But even Pachter himself admits that the biggest underrated announcements at E3 were the Facebook/Twitter Apps that Microsoft announced for the 360. And look at the PSP, where the biggest advantage it had was software applications, rather than what most analysts believed to be the main selling point of the PSP, high definition movies on UMD.

Pachter also makes note of how he believes Japan is still a major territory in the “Console War” and how he still expects a Wii HD to be released by 2010. This hasn’t been the first time he’s talked about an HD Wii and it won’t be the last, but he’ll keep talking. – The Ben

By Brian Perry

Information Weekly (via 1up) is reporting on the Chinese Government’s most recent crack down on the digital world. This time Virtual Currency exchanges.

“The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services,”

Many media outlets are calling this the end of Gold Farming, if this is the case it paints an interesting new landscape for MMO’s as the article quotes and estimated 80-85% of gold farmers are located in China.

However the wording of the the release doesn’t necessarily ban the trade of virtual currency into real money, only Real Goods and Services an example of which would be EVE online’s game time cards program.

While a sign for the better a wait and see approach is in order for this new announcement. Not just for what China means, but also how strict they will really be for a multi-billion Yuan a year industry.

Gearlog reports that Nielsen, the one true source for gauging popularity in television and more recently video gaming, has released a fluff piece detailing their results from finding out what what games customers were interested in buying over the past few months. Unsurprisingly many of the games named in the results were ones based on just-released movie licenses. Games like X-Men Origins and Transformers II are to be expected, but what was surprising for those reporting on the story was the popularity of licensed games that didn’t have a big summer blockbuster release to back it.

Of those without a movie to give them a boost are Ghostbusters and Godfather II, banking more on the nostalgia of the fans and their love for the movies that came out decades ago by now instead of banking on the hype only available when a movie release is still fresh in the public’s mindset.

However for some franchises it’s not enough just to have a cult following of fans or have a new movie released at the same time as the game. For a franchise like…oh let’s say Harry Potter, that franchise gets to have the best of both sides, hardcore fans and people buying the game because it’s come out alongside the hot new movie of the same name. Whether or not the games are good is another thing, but for some franchises, that doesn’t even matter at this point, more so if it’s a long running movie franchise. Even the crappy James Bond games sell as well as the good ones most of the time. – The Ben

This week Kevin, Brian, and Stephen get together and break down the show with the usual segments. Starting off with what you been playing, and moving into the news including id’s acquistion by Zenimax media. Biowares merger with Mythic, and Best Buy’s forey into used games. This week’s game pitch is Scribblenaughts with 5th Cell Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka.

Backwards Compatible Volume 5 is delayed again but will return for real next week when all the hosts can get together everyone should play through level 7 “Deadly Cargo” for the show next week, so if you’re keeping up, make sure to check Google Checkout or Amazon for your copy, and get right in to the action.

 

 Life Inside the Box - 048 - Merge-Tastic! [58:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This entire week has seemingly been a giant bedside vigil for the 1990’s, including the ever changing gaming-side as the 16-bit era was exploding and 3D-Polygons were comforting dreams for hotshot developers instead of them being reason many of them eventually drifted from gaming stardom into consulting obscurity.

It all started in a way looking forward to Sonic’s 18th Birthday. While the news was nothing more than fluff PR for SEGA, it was an interesting milestone none the less. Along with another entertainment icon I’ll get to in a bit, Sonic personified the 90’s in a big way. While the games started out with just being thrilled by the title the game’s biggest factor, eventually “Story” and “Features” became the selling points for future Sonic titles. Sonic seemingly never grew out of the 90’s, as the era changed and gamers began wanting things like FMV-sequences and free roaming environments. Sonic was caught between two different identities as we entered the 21st century and the next generations of gaming. He was best known for his 90’s attitude and devil may care game style. Now the later games were suddenly stress-inducers where one wrong move would send Sonic into an enemy that while prevalent in his early titles, gained notoriety as he got older. The bottomless pits.

The other icon of the early 90’s of course is Michael Jackson, who’s passing seems to have hit gamers harder than any other hobby aficionados. Sure there’s music sites posting remembrance articles by the hour, but that’s to be expected. What I hadn’t expected was the similar outlook of articles by gaming enthusiasts. At first glance Michael Jackson may not have seemed to have been a major player in the video game industry. Sure he had his own Genesis game Moonwalker and appeared in various titles over the years but at some point he seemed to have joined the cavalcade of entertainment industry icons who wanted to get involved with gaming just to boost their own image with a new generation.

What strikes me most about all these developer memory and rememberance articles is that while there was a part of his involvement that was for publicity purposes, Jackson was just as much a gamer as any of his fans at the time. It was because of his love for gaming that helped him become an icon of the 90’s. Moonwalker may have been a cash-in for some, but for Michael it was that and the ability to make his own fantasy into a game. Look how many entertainment personalities star in games but are really only there for monetary or obligatory reasons. The latest Ghostbusters title may be an awesome game but Murray didn’t have any real emotion attached to his contribution at that point.

Some of the only other personalities I can recall off the top of my head who wanted to get involved in gaming because they loved games were 50 Cent and Vin Diesel. And hell, both of their first attempts were either not well received critically (Fiddy) or commercially (Riddick) but they liked the concepts so much they had next-gen installments made. Just as you’d ask why 50 would be interested in a title where he goes to the Middle East to find a Crystal Skull you’d ask why Michael why his fantasy movie/game involves him turning into a giant robot. You don’t see ideas like that in the gorge of “Celebrity Pet Projects” come to fruition that often.

While Sonic may not be able to “Pass Away” anytime soon, the era of “Sonic Mania” is all but silent now, and it took Jackson’s untimely death to bring back one last “Michael Mania” explosion. The early 90’s didn’t leave us it seems, everyone left it, but interestingly enough it didn’t just automatically stop living, it keeps going for as long as it can, as long as there are still a few fans left to want it to stick around. – The Ben

By Brian Perry

The weekend has come around and it’s time to play, so here’s your weekly guide to what’s on sale at your favorite downloadable services.

Impulse - This week’s Impulse buys:
[blippr]AI War: Fleet Command[/blippr] $14.99
[blippr]Heroes of Might and Magic V – Tribes of the East[/blippr] $4.99
[blippr]Aztaka[/blippr] $18.49
[blippr]Space Rangers 2[/blippr] Complete $29.95
[blippr]Restaurant Empire[/blippr] $9.95
[blippr]Nemesis of the Roman Empire[/blippr] $9.99
[blippr]Galciv II – Ultimate Edition[/blippr] $39.95
[blippr]Warlords Battlecry III[/blippr] $9.99
[blippr]Capitalism II[/blippr] $9.99

Steam - Weekend Deals:
[blippr]Football Manager™ Live[/blippr] $21.99
[blippr]Dark Sector[/blippr] $9.99
[blippr]Zeno Clash[/blippr] $9.99

Good Old Games –
[blippr]Spellforce[/blippr] Platinum + [blippr]The Guild[/blippr] Gold bundle $13.98
Including:
[blippr]Spellforce[/blippr]
[blippr]The Guild[/blippr]

Gamers Gate
15% off Epic Unreal Titles
Including:
[blippr]Unreal[/blippr] Gold $8.45
[blippr]Unreal II: The Awakening[/blippr] $12.70
[blippr]Unreal Tournament 3 [/blippr] $16.95
Also
[blippr]Sid Meier’s Railroads![/blippr] $9.95

Direct2Drive
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures $9.95

XBLA
[blippr]Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix[/blippr] 800 msp

This isn’t so much game news (though it does concern the gaming industry) as it is business news concerning Sony as a whole. In a new article by Fortune they talk with the Big Cheese of Sony, Welshman at Heart Howard Stringer. The article makes note of how even though Stringer became CEO of Sony in 2005, it wasn’t until the global recession hit hard that the old guard of Elderly Japanese Men finally started to let him make the changes he’s been wanting to make for years now.

You know how conspiracy theories always have this cabal of old men trying to keep their traditional ways the ones that rule the world? That’s how Sony’s been run for a long time. It was their kind of mindset didn’t even want Kutaragi to go ahead with developing the Playstation more than fifteen years ago because that wasn’t what Sony was about. Sony wasn’t about games.

Among the reforms Stringer’s been trying to get going is the whole conglomeration thing going on. The Fortune Article asks the usual questions concerning this topic. Ones such as “Why hasn’t Sony made a PSP that’s a games machine and a phone?” and “Why didn’t Sony lead the music game genre revolution with Sony Music Entertainment?”. These questions have been asked for years and the answers given have always been “Yeah they’re all part of the Sony family, but each of them is like an adult sibling who doesn’t care about how well the other is doing.” So it looks like it’s going to take the parent company to get sick before the siblings all come together and work with one another. That’s the type of change Stringer’s been trying to put into place for years, and it may just come together soon.

I only wonder how things would have gone in a parallel universe where Ken Kutaragi was given the CEO seat and full reign over the Sony Empire. – The Ben

As a follow up to Red Steel, the sequel Red Steel 2 didn’t have to do much to be an improvement. But to say just that would be a disservice to the hard work the people at Ubisoft have done to the franchise. Red Steel 2 has stepped away from the modern setting and taken a dive into the surreal with a cowboy punk setting including new stylized graphics and saloons to match.

Going to the stylized approach has done wonders for the visual appeal of the game, allowing the lower polygons to be cleverly hidden in artistic strokes the game instantly feels less visually dated than some of it’s competitors, however despite their efforts the limitations still manage to shine through in the settings and repetitive character types shown in the playable floor demo.

When speaking with Jason Vanderbourghe on the show floor he indicated that he felt the game was more of a brawler than a FPS, and it shows simple actions such as opening doors are shifted into sword swiping actions, and regular armored opponents requiring sword combat over gun combat show the emphasis to the developers dream of “remembering what it was like hitting things in the back yard with sticks”.

While a great dream it is, the Ubisoft team still hasn’t mastered the Wii controls well enough to make the swords feel right during the hands on demo. I often felt like I was flailing ineffectually as my broad strokes were ignored even with the Wii Motion Plus enabled controllers.

While not a bad game, without a lot of work on the controls Red Steel 2 will probably not excel to the great game they want it to be when released in the holiday season 2009.

By Brian Perry

If I told you one of the most anticipated titles of 2009 was a virtual dollhouse, you would give me some strange looks, however if I told you it was The Sims 3 you would instantly understand. The Sims franchise to the love and hate of many has captured the hearts and minds of hardcore, and casual gamers alike. The Sims simplicity, building a home and populating it with virtual people then guiding them through their lives hides the depths the game holds.
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In a Press Release just sent out, it’s been announced that ZeniMax Media will acquire iD Software.

The PR quotes Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software as saying that, “This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

Is this the start of another “Merger Mania” the games industry finds itself doing every few years? – The Ben

By Brian Perry

First Person Shooters on the Wii are like the Philosophers Stone to alchemy. Everyone wants one but no one seems to have gotten it right, possibly, until now. High Voltage software’s “The Conduit” has been a back burner game in our mind space here at Life Inside the Box, but that is going to have to change. After hands on time with the game in both single and multiplayer modes, High Voltage Software has built a solid Wii FPS that manages to control well and look impressive on the Wii’s limited hardware.

The first attempt at a Wii FPS Red Steel’s downfall was it’s lack of responsiveness and the horrible turning via scrolling along the screen edges, the folks at High Voltage appear to have taken this to heart amplifying the turn speeds and more importantly allowing the players to adjust the sensitivity themselves.

While the game shows it’s excellence in spades, the limitations of the Wii’s hardware in graphics and the perceived casual domination of the Wii market are working against it being the mass market hit it could potentially be otherwise.

If you are looking to put your Wii through a whole new set of paces and possibly have a lot of fun along the way, The Conduit is releasing today in North America.

Computer and Video Games.Com reports that Rockstar has announced a version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the PSP, after seeing that all the work they put into a mature, story-driven DS title didn’t exactly pan out well for them concerning sales numbers of the game. It’ll be available in both UMD and Digital Download form so you don’t need to worry about the game being a Go! exclusive.

Most interestingly is that the game is supposedly “Specifically built for the PSP platform with upscaled widescreen graphics, enhanced lighting and animation; and including all-new story missions; this version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will take full advantage of the power of the PSP system.” according to CVG.Com. So does this entail that this version of Chinatown Wars was being worked on before Chinatown’s “Meh” retail performance? Or are Rockstar just that fast when it comes to developing titles? I mean they got Vice City Stories out in just under a year after Liberty City Stories came out.

Now if Chinatown Wars takes place in Liberty City, but there already was a Liberty Stories. So this is the second of the portable trips to LC, with no venture to San Andreas planned yet. Why haven’t they announced a San Andreas Stories yet anyway? – The Ben

This week Brian, Kevin, and Stephen get together to discuss the regular weekly news, including Nintendo’s new game help systems, and Activision pressing sony on the PS3’s price plans. This episodes game pitches comes from Josh Olsen from High Voltage Software telling us about their new Wii FPS “The Conduit” out this week.

Also this week as a special treat we interviewed Matthew Badalucco from Pixel Equity, a new charity to help underprivileged children play games.

Backwards Compatible Volume 5 will be delayed this week so the hosts will be playing through level 7 “Deadly Cargo” still for the show next week, so if you’re keeping up, make sure to check Google Checkout or Amazon for your copy, and get right in to the action.

 

 Life Inside the Box - 047 - Where do Babby game come from? [58:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By Brian Perry

The weekend has come around and it’s time to play, so here’s your weekly guide to what’s on sale at your favorite downloadable services.

Impulse - This week’s Impulse buys:
[blippr]FarCry 2[/blippr] $17.99
[blippr]Assassin’s Creed[/blippr] $17.99
[blippr]Heroes of Might and Magic V[/blippr] – Tribes of the East $17.99
[blippr]Restaurant Empire[/blippr] $9.95
[blippr]Nemesis of the Roman Empire[/blippr] $9.99
[blippr]Galciv II – Ultimate Edition[/blippr] $39.95
[blippr]Warlords Battlecry III[/blippr] $9.99
[blippr]Capitalism II[/blippr] $9.99

Steam - Weekend Deals:
[blippr]Empire: Total War[/blippr] $24.99
Empire Total War Special Forces Pack $34.99
Including:
[blippr]Empire: Total War[/blippr]
[blippr]Empire: Total War Elite Units[/blippr]

Good Old Games –
Ghosts Promo
Including:
[blippr]Ghost Master[/blippr] $4.49
[blippr]Pain Killer[/blippr] $7.49

Gamers Gate
[blippr]Flock![/blippr] $7.49
[blippr]Dawn of War 40k: Soulstorm[/blippr] $14.99
[blippr]Dark Sector[/blippr] $9.99

XBLA
[blippr]Fallout 3[/blippr] DLC:
Operation Anchorage 560 msp

No, I’m not going to put “Activision CEO” in the title because this is all Bobby here. Just saying that a CEO said they might have to stop supporting Sony platforms according to EDGE Magazine doesn’t cut it. This is clear “Kotick-Douchery” here. Yes the PS3 attach rates are slow like you say, and yes it’s still expensive to develop for. But that doesn’t entitle you to act like a douche to the world.

We saw this type of douchery in a non-harmful form when he was just yanking peoples’ chains about how the next Guitar hero game will be the first to have whatever feature was already clearly in Rock Band or whatever. We saw the Douche Level rise to a harmful degree when Activision didn’t like it that Brutal Legend actually looked like it could be a hit after they dropped the publishing rights to it.

And now because Activision is riding high on the success of the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises, Bobby thinks he can make these statements like he’s giving a king’s decree here. Yes, Activision has managed to become widely successful in the last few years, but don’t let it go to your head Bobby. You know what happens when you do that you know that the inevitable always happens to companies that do that. – The Ben

In an effort to out-SKU every previous gaming generation, the 360 is poised to receive yet another new iteration according to a report from IGN.

The report reveals that Steve Ballmer of Microsoft has announced a new Xbox 360 for release sometime next year that will be “‘really, really, close’ to an actuality” and described as having a “natural interface.” Along with a built in camera, this new 360 seems to be at least one way Microsoft plans on getting Natal out there to market next year. Hopefully it’ll be priced favorably to the consumers. – The Ben

By Brian Perry

When looking at Home Front my first impression was, “Gee this looks like that canceled Jaffe project homeland“. After being assured otherwise and sitting down for the tour, you can tell that Home Front is looking to be a beast unto itself. The game takes place around twenty years in the future in an occupied United States, and is supposed to give the players flashbacks to Red Dawn. That shouldn’t be surprising since the team at Kaos studios have been coordinating with John Milius, of Red Dawn and Apocalypse Now fame, on the story.

The hands-off demo shown on the floor was definitely impressive, the graphics looked clean, the sound was impressive, and the engine features they were touting showed a lot of potential.

One of those features was the “Drama” engine, a background system that would attempt to give the player that edge of the seat feeling the entire time they are playing. The example from the demo involved shooting a missile at a moving Jeep. When the Jeep exploded the drama engine applied a slight magnetism to the player character drawing the Jeep slightly towards him as it flew through the air; as to provide a near miss on screen.

While immediately impressive Home Front will need to overcome some obstacles before its estimated release sometime in 2010. This includes a cartoony characters facial design and the industry’s endemic shooter fatigue. Despite those obstacles, Home Front appears to be a game to keep your eye on.

By Brian Perry

One of the nice things about license games is that if you play enough of them you don’t have very high expectations. The reason that its a good thing is that when every now and then you find a decent one you can really enjoy it. Quantum of Solace for the XBox 360 falls soundly into this category. Developed by Treyarch – the folks behind Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty World at War – Quantum of Solace is a first- and third-person action game that follows the events of the newest James Bond through the plot lines of both films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. This does have the effect of making the game’s title rather disingenuous, as the majority of the game consists of reimagined versions of the events of Casino Royale.
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