MS Sets New Achievement Guidelines
Not too long ago, Microsoft announced that developers could add an additional 250 gamerscore points on top of the standard 1000 through downloadable content. In a recent Major Nelson podcast, MS added some more guidelines to the ever changing achievement and downloadable content system. First, any piece of downloadable content that gives a player a competitive advantage in multiplayer must be unlockable in the game for free. Also, MS updated their Best Practices documentation for publishers and developers. The new info pertains to the negative feedback over multiplayer achievements. While it is good that MS is addressing some community concerns, it is up to the developer in the end on how they want to incorporate achievements in their game. I personally would not mind seeing fewer achievements that involved ranked matches in online games. It usually resorts to boosting and an overall unpleasant experience, especially since the most popular Live games (Gears and RB6 Vegas) do not allow you to invite friends in ranked matches. This should be a step in the right direction though, and hopefully developers will take the initiative on improving the achievement system
Ikaruga Coming to Xbox Live Arcade?
Various sites are now reporting that the amazing shooter from Treasure is heading to Xbox Live Arcade. The game surfaced on PartnerNet, a service that allows developers to beta test games. While there is no confirmation, or word from either Microsoft or Treasure, this could be a possible good sign of things to come. It has also been known for quite some time that Treasure is working on a 360 game too, so it looks like they are about to test the waters with Ikaruga. And for those that never played Ikaruga on Dreamcast or the re-release on Gamecube, prepare to get owned.
Best Selling Games of 2006
2006 was an impressive year for games. Many anticipated sequels made their debut along with some original IP’s that broke new ground. Next-Gen.biz has an interesting article which breaks down the top 100 selling games of 2006. It’s no surprise that publishing giant Electronic Arts lead the way with their popular sports titles that make up the most successful genre in terms of units sold. Right behind sports titles are games based off an existing license, such as a movie or TV show. I found it disappointing that the average customer is more inclined to spend their money on licensed garbage, rather than original and interesting content. Another interesting fact drawn from the data gathered is that more and more top games are now being released in March. The month of March accounts for a great deal of the top games sold during the year, right behind November and December.
The actual list of the top 100 games sold in 2006 had quite a few surprises. Nintendo DS had an extremely strong year with numerous titles selling over 200K units. And it was no surprise that Madden 2007 turned out to be the top selling game of the year, with 6.5Million units sold raking in $300Million. What’s most surprising is the difference between the #1 and #2 spots. Cars hit the second spot with 2.6 Million units sold, so that’s almost a 4Million unit difference. I guess that proves that the juggernaut that is Madden cannot be stopped. The real disappointment is that most major publication’s game of the year, Okami, came in at #100 with only 200k units sold.
So the top 10 games are as follows- 10. Need For Speed:Carbon, 9. Fight Night Round 3, 8. Call of Duty 3, 7. Kingdom Hearts 2, 6. Gears of War, 5. New Super Mario Bros., 4. NCAA Football 2007, 3. Lego Star Wars II, 2. Cars, 1. Madden. The full list can be found at next-gen.biz, and is definitely worth a read.
Fun With My PSP
With so many great games coming out for PSP this year (Castlevania), I decided to pick up a system and a few extras. I was lucky enough to find a used PSP in great condition and best of all; it was not a TA-082 version. This means it is super easy to downgrade to 1.5 firmware and then upgrade to one of the later custom firmwares. While newer version PSP’s can be downgraded, it requires an unpatched version of GTA:
The point of this is being able to run homebrew applications like emulators, unlocking the processor to 333 MHz, and running PlayStation 1 games from the memory stick. With all of these games and applications, I knew that I would need a good amount of space. So, I decided to go with a 4GB memory stick, that way I could fit some of my favorite PS1 games as well as some of the UMD games I own. I am really happy with how things turned out so far, and games like Castlevania Symphony of the Night run really well. I was surprised how easy it was to accomplish this, but it did involve quite a bit of reading since I did not want to "brick" my system.
Castlevania:The Dracula X Chronicles
With the recent announcement of Castlevania:The Dracula X Chronicles, I quickly realized something. I need to buy a PSP for this game. Konami is really going all out with this game. For the first time,
Halo 3 Beta Invite Received!
A while back, I posted about the Halo 3 beta sign-up beginning. Well, I registered the first night after countless tries because their servers were getting hammered. Fast forward to today and to my surprise I received my beta confirmation. For those that did not get a confirmation, there will still be 2 ways to get in. Those include buying a specially marked version of Crackdown which will be in stores on Feb. 20; or you can enter the "Rule of Three" contest which starts at a later date.
Lost Planet
So it has been a while since my last post here, mainly due to work and getting back into the swing of things since CES ended. Also, over the past couple of days I was able to finish up a few games in my backlog. I also picked up the latest 360 release Lost Planet, which kicks ass. Lost Planet plays like an old school shooter, with amazing graphics and enemy designs. The game is broken up into missions with a cut scene in-between. I did not expect the game to be broken into segments like this, but it does lend itself to a great deal of replayability-which this game seems to encourage. I’m only about half way through the game, and I already encountered some of the most epic boss battles I’ve seen in an action game. Throw in some heavy weapons and mechs, and you have possibly one of the best action games so far in 2007. I know the reviews for Lost Planet have not been stellar (stupid EGM), but it is a fun and beautiful action game well worth your $60.
Back in the Burgh
After spending a week in Vegas, it feels good to be back in the comforts of my own home. CES was great, and I got to meet a lot of interesting people on my trip that I hope to see again in the future. Another great thing about CES is all the free junk companies give you. This year, members of press were given a free backpack that unzips into 2 separate bags. Other things I received were flash drives, pens, shirts, bags, and toolkit among other things. The only thing bad about that is you end up with more luggage then when you arrived. Looking back, the week I spent in Vegas was so much fun, but I missed out on some of the great sites the city has to offer. I would love to go back though, especially when I am not required to be there for business.
Dinner at Roy’s-Hawiian Fusion Cuisine
On Wednesday, I ate at
Las Vegas-Day 5
Day 5 was spent on the show floor checking out the Sony and Microsoft booths. We started with Sony since they were showing an exclusive Spider-Man 3 clip throughout the day. I had to put my phone and camera in a plastic bag at the door before entering the mini theater they had set up. The clip was long, and it showed off the fight between Peter and Harry. After that, we spent the rest of the time at the Sony booth looking at their new TV’s. The new OLED TV’s Sony has in development are absolutely amazing. They have a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and the image quality and colors are practically a perfect recreation of the image it is displaying. Sony also had a 70” LCD set to debut soon; it also has a price tag of around $33,000. I was very disappointed in Sony’s game presence at CES, especially compared to Microsoft. Sony only had a few game stations set up. I had a chance to play LAIR and the new Ratchet and Clank game for PSP. Next, it was off to the Microsoft booth. MS had an amazing booth at the show. The gaming presence was huge, and I got to play quite a few games that are not released yet. The best part was getting to play Guitar Hero 2 for 360, and getting to meet Marcus Henderson who is one of the main guys who worked on the game. I also got to play Shadowrun, and chatted with one of the devs for while on all the features of the game. Time on the show floor flew by very fast, and before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at
( OLED TV’s at the Sony booth )
( Xbox 360 section at the MS booth )
( some new 360 games )
( me and Marcus)