When you were a kid did your parents ever do anything mean to you for their own amusement? Whatever it was, something tells us it wasn't as evil as what Jonathan's (above) family did on Christmas morning, having him unwrap an empty Xbox box with some shirts inside -- while on video, mind you -- and then everyone laughing at him when he got upset and cried over being hoodwinked. For the love of all that is holy in the gadget-loving world, that is so wrong. Despite the fact his family told Jonathan multiple times in the video, "C'mon, you know we can't afford an Xbox!", the kid's shining example of an older brother (who uploaded the video) claims that they actually did get him the console, and that he'd eventually upload the video of the "real" unwrapping. He never did. Right.
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Platform: Sony PlayStation 3 and X-Box 360
Pages: 176
Co-op strategy: Whether human or AI, you'll always have a partner. Prima details how to take advantage of the integral cooperative play.
Maps: The world's hot spots are confusing places. Prima's guide has the recon to keep you on task and safe.
Equipment Customization: Shotgun or sub-machine gun? Laser sight or rifle stock? You want the right tool for the job and Prima can give you the intel on what gear will serve you best.
Battle-tested tactics
Tips to make the most of Aggro and the full range of tactics at your disposal
Stats on all weapons and upgrades
Preview of the Army of Two: Dirty Money graphic novel
description
Prima has the intel you need to fight hard, stay strong, and cash in.
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Platform: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, WII, X-Box and X-Box 360
Pages: 656
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This strategy guide features a comprehensive walkthrough of the entire single player campaign.
In-depth area maps.
Detailed information on vehicles, weapons and additional equipment.
Expert multiplayer strategies.
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Pages: 144
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Famitsu Wave Magazine
Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine
Check out all the latest game news every month
Includes a DVD disc featuring latest game footage
description
The Famitsu Wave is Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine. It features all the latest video game news and pictures from Japan's upcoming video games.
Each magazine includes a DVD disc with video game footage. The DVD disc is NTSC Region 2 encoded.
Brave One (HD DVD + DVD Combo Format) (~Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard) US US$ 35.99
No Reservations (~Catherine Zeta-jones, Aaron Eckhart, ...) JPN US$ 47.90
Railway Story - Shin Sekai Tetsudo Roman Kiko - Canada Part-1 [HD DVD Twin Format] JPN US$ 35.90
Railway Story - Shin Sekai Tetsudo Roman Kiko - Canada Part.2 [HD DVD Twin Format] JPN US$ 35.90
Rain In The Mountains (~Dan Brunell, Nick Erb) US US$ 29.95
The Brother From Another Planet (~Joe Morton, Darryl Edwards, ...) JPN US$ 39.90
Petroglyph's Creative Director Adam Isgreen is an RTS veteran, having worked on loads of Command & Conquers and, more recently, Universe at War. But he isn't worried that RTS titles making their way to consoles will in some way dilute the experience. In fact, he believes just the opposite:
...you could look at the transition of RTS from PC to console as "dumbing down" of the genre, but really that's completely inaccurate. The evolution of RTS from PC to console is all about re-discovering the core fun of the genre while stripping away the redundancy, over-complication, and bloat that has been attaching itself to RTS games over the years.
He continues:
If anything, I'm glad that console is becoming dominant for gaming because it's going to force some evolution on a genre that has been fairly static for quite some time. We need to grow the RTS market and bring in new players, not isolate it further into eventual niche obscurity.
The only problem is that while all of that sounds great in theory, the practice of running an RTS without a mouse a keyboard hasn't worked out so great yet.
Which is exactly why we all need Halo Wars to be really, really good.
The Consumerist is reporting that one unlucky individual had to send his Xbox 360 in for repairs. The catch is he had spent a great deal of time getting signatures and artwork on the outside of the console from notable members of the gaming industry. He specifically asked and even sent a letter along with his console requesting that the outside of the case be returned intact. When he got it back it was once again, plain white. Assuming that this is a genuine claim, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the missing/cleaned case Microsoft should at least apologize to the guy.
Spotted this over at gp32x.com and thought it would interest many of our coders from many homebrew scenes, heres the post from Mr Lou
Hello fellow game-developers
I'm writing you because I'm creating a site at www.indiegamemusic.com which I plan to become a link between indie game developers and musicians. This letter is an invitation to you as an indie game-developer, to participate in the design phase with your suggestions and ideas so that the site will end up being something you would like to use.
The idea
In short, I want to make it easy for the indie game-developers (you) to find good music for your games, free for freeware games and cheap for resale. A few steps I have in mind so far, is that you
* go to indiegamemusic.com
* click "Search", and input your search criteria
* listen to results and find contact information to the artist
Your search criterias may be
* a specific format (mmf, midi, mod, xm, s3m, mp3, ogg etc)
* a specific license (free for freeware? available for non-exclusive resale? available for exclusive resale?)
* max file size
* style
* category (music, sound-scape, sound-effect, loop part)
* max channels or polyphony
* max price
* maybe preferred bpm
So... That's the idea. What do you think? If this sounds like an interesting project to you, feel free to participate with ideas and feedback at mr_lou@vip.cybercity.dk
Some of the things I'd like some feedback about is
* how should payment happen? Paypal? Bank-transfer? Game-developer contacting artist and agreeing their own method of payment?
* what stuff would you like to be able to search for? are there some of the above mentioned search criterias you don't need? why?
* what formats are you mostly interested in, and why?a
* and of course: do you think you'd use such a tool like IndieGameMusic.com?
On the Friday of GDC, Gamasutra got a chance to talk to Microsoft's Jeremy Wacksman, global marketing manager of Xbox Live marketing.
* People are starting to bump up against the size limit again. It was raised once, and that was really beneficial, but I've been hearing more reports from developers as they try to get a little more ambitious as the service gets more mature that they are sort of banging against that size limit wall. What do you think about that?
* JW: We haven't heard that too much. We raised it when we did because of the ecosystem and the development community, but we have no plans to change that right now.
It ensures small, pick-up-and-play games, and I think people are finding... look at Undertow that just came out. Unreal Engine 3, single and multiplayer, with cutscenes in audio, under 50 [megs]. Not even under 150 megabytes. Developers are finding incredible ways to fit into our platform, and that's part of why I say that.
* Do you think it matters that the PlayStation 3 does not have a size limit? Some developers, if they're going to do a multiplatform download game, the way they're planning, or the issue of what they have to work with becomes more complex for them.
* JW: It's always case-by-case. I think we granted a one-time exception for Street Fighter [HD Remix], because it's such a good game with so much put into it, but in general, Live Arcade is all about pick-up-and-play games and accessible games.
That's part of that guideline. And like I said, look at the games that we have coming. Look at Castle Crashers. 20 levels, 4-player co-op, hand-drawn HD art... that's a game that fits well with the model.
We speak to the developers behind Microsoft's first batch of freely available community-developed Xbox 360 games. It's the revenge of bedroom coding!
Meet 'Walaber', developer of JellyCar, Brian Cable, responsible for Proximity HD, James Silva of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai fame and Jeff Pobst and Michael Austin of Hidden Path Entertainment, creators of Culture.
What sort of technical restrictions are placed on XNA developers? Are there things you'd like to have done that the dev platform won't allow?
* Walaber: Well, the choice to go with C# brings with it some performance issues (particularly on the Xbox 360), which required me to do more optimization of my code than I would have initially expected, considering that the Xbox 360 is so powerful. Hopefully future versions of XNA will improve some of these performance issues.
* Brian: From what I hear, XNA is not quite as powerful as a graphics engine developed internally, but I'm just one person, not a company, and even if I spent several years perfecting a graphics engine the industry and XNA itself will likely have leaped ahead of me anyway, and I'd constantly be playing catch-up with my engine and not focusing on actually making games, which is much more fun and interesting to me anyway.
Also there's no achievements, leaderboard support, or the camera support, and I don't think you have full access to Xbox LIVE multiplayer either, but I haven't looked too much into that yet. Achievements are understandable, though, or else you'd have everyone spamming five second non-games and releasing them to the service giving whoever played them max achievements instantly anyway. But of course, I would like access to all of these features, which is why I would love to someday release the game through XBLA.
* James: C# does slightly underperform versus native code. Personally, I'd rather be coding in C#, because I'm a rotten C++ coder. If I were in charge of things, I would market XNA with the tagline "XNA: Giving Hope to Rotten Coders."
* Michael: There are some features (pointers, etc) turned off for security reasons, and while managed code can be convenient to use, it does run more slowly. For instance, every time you access a variable in an array, C# has to validate the index. In C++ there are no handrails, so you can shoot yourself in the foot, but it's generally faster. The nice thing is that more and more heavy lifting is done by the GPU, and so the impact of using a managed language is less than it has been in the past.
Seven years after the introduction of its first console, Microsoft is waging a new war with Xbox 360 - against itself. Phil Spencer, the general manager of Microsoft Game Studios Europe, believes the war can still be won.
Wondering just how big or small a part of Microsoft the division is? That total revenue of $5.53 billion was part of a $30.3 billion (£15.2 billion) total revenue in the same period, so some rough-as-they-come beer mat sums would tell you it's about 18.25 per cent - a proportion that, even allowing for the varied products contained in the division, puts to rest the sneery idea that Microsoft can simply afford to throw money at the brand. And sure enough, the 360 has hit Microsoft's business targets: in particular, Bill Gates' E3 2006 prediction that the console would sell 10,000,000 units by the end of 2006 was surpassed by nearly half a million.
But think about the figures for a moment. If 1.5 million 360s were sold by the end of 2005, 10.4 million by the end of 2006, and 17.7 million by the end of 2007, then the Xbox 360 sold significantly fewer units in 2007 than it did in 2006. The bad news doesn't stop there: 2007 saw its head start battered aside by the unstoppable Wii, with little chance of redress, and the PlayStation 3 reaching the 9.5 million unit mark worldwide. The only territory in which it outsold the PS3 was North America, and without the sales spike around Halo 3 things would have looked considerably worse.
It seems strange that this is the case. After all, with its obvious attributes and its late-2007 software lineup, why didn't the Xbox 360 dominate the year, and the Christmas period in particular? Microsoft began 2007 with a huge unit lead, its biggest game properties due to arrive on the shelves, plus a significant marketing spend, and in the event managed to sell less hardware than the previous year.
By:Nikole
I'm going to do my best to leave me opinions out of this and make it as unbiased as I can, because I mostly want your opinions on the matter.
I was reading an article on bingegamer.net. The author Allison Boyer was discussing her experiences while playing XBL. She complains that she doesn't like using her mic due to the fact that she has a woman's voice, as most women do. The problem with having a woman's voice you ask? You get comments like these:
"Ooo, your voice sounds sexy, Ooo, I'll protect you baby, Ooo, you up for some fun?
She says that while playing she will either get killed non-stop by guys thinking its funny to kill a girl or be protected by players who think its chivalrous to keep her from harms way. The bottom line being: "I'm a girl. I like to play video games. STOP RUINING IT FOR ME."
There, a simple painless little article stating how this girl felt she was being harassed and treated differently on live. Hardly breaking news or any kind of oddity. But the part that strikes me is the comments she received. The article went up today and there are already 50+ comments, the majority of which being negative and involving the world kitchen and/or sammiches. [Guys get some new jokes!!!]
* "-Get back to the kitchen" x9000!!!!
* -"grow some balls "
* "Get over it. You know the nature of how online play is on xbox live and PSN. You know what to expect. All that one can do in your position is endure it. You can't change anything by writing a piece crying about how annoying people are towards you when you play online. I get irritated at the idiots who only know how to swear all day and talk over the mic just to hear themselves say something in the game. But I don't care that much to write a cry me a river style article. If I want to play online then that is what I have to expect. It is the "nature" of playing a game online."
* -"The irony in this article is amazing. The jerks pick on you because you act like a little girl, in fact you ARE a little girl (no i don't care about your real age, someone who cries about the ean people on the internet is as naive as a 8 years old). Instead of whining you should understand that xboxlive is full of morons and the fact that you're a girl is just one more reason to add to a countless list for acting like a complete idiot. I hope you're just a troll playing the old "EHI AIMMA GRRRL GAMER!!!" card for some easy baiting. In that case it was a pleasure to feed you. tl;dr Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it."
* -"Don't wear your mic or turn on mute. Seriously, why so many words for a non-issue? And I'm really sure the fellas are waiting in lines to tap your sh--, sister"
* -"Cute arguement, but one article on the next isn't anything more then a gossip. I appologize but no ones going to look at this and change their ways for it, ethier way it was clevar and I got a few laughs out of it."
* -"WAHHH. Like any woman, all you can f------ do is bitch. Grow some f------ ovaries, and either kill the m----------- trying to kill/protect you, or, hey, tell them to f--- off. Jesus christ, do you honestly expect the internet to feel sorry for you? Why? Because you have a f------ hole between your legs? GTFO, you stupid, worthless, hypocritical c----. Seriously. Just get the f--- off the internet right now. You belong in the kitchen anyways."
I'm gonna avoid bitching about the obvious idiots she has to deal with. I don't see how this will ever change for xbl or anywhere on the internet as long as people can hide behind the anonymity of the internet.
Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?
And guys, is this how you really are and how you really view girls?
Does talking about these issues actually bring about change for the better?
Is there really anything that can be done to stop stupidity on the internet?
In a little over two weeks Armored Core For Answer will be released in Japan on both PS3 and 360. The publicity campaign the game has received has been pretty thorough, as From Software utilised the whole Web 2.0 approach by having Japanese bloggers espouse the game's virtues (something Famitsu has got in the act on with their crazy 360 blogger, Jamzy). Even the redoubtable Toshifumi Nabeshima, essentially regarded as the father of Armored Core by the Japanese fanbase, has done the rounds online pimping the game as best he can.
Features-wise, it's all a bit over the top still as For Answer comes across as being like Shadow of the Colossus but with guns and robots (traveling at 2000 km/h, obviously). A few things have fallen by the wayside though, namely the transformable AC's but other things like Dolby 5.1 in-game and full online co-op have partly made up for that (though there's always the possibility that Famitsu initially misquoted the whole transformation aspect, as a lot of the Arms Forts do transform into different modes rather than the AC's themselves).
One of the more interesting aspects of the game's production though is the use of Isaku Okabe as a military adviser (he recently did something similar for the truly excellent Gundam 00). Again, From Software didn't miss a trick and they had him put in front of a camera and explain the nitty gritty military aspects of the game.
For those that want to catch up with the deluge of materials that have been unleashed online, then the official site is a good port of call as is the Armored Core Wiki (the Next Reports are especially worth a gander). GameTrailers has also leeched the movies from the official site if you have trouble streaming them. All we need to do now is wait for the Western release and the subsequent reviews undertaken by gamers that have had their hands replaced with flippers.
LucasArts isn't the only developer with a proclivity to "hit the bricks", it seems -- according to the latest issue of EGM, Bungie is currently working on a heretofore unannounced project in conjunction with Lego. The brainchild of this unholy union is -- as you've probably already guessed -- Lego Halo. Set to follow the entire storyline of the Halo trilogy, and featuring gameplay similar to the other games in the Lego crossover genre (with just a dash of traditional FPS fare mixed in), this chimera is sure to sell like hotcakes to fans of Master Chief and construction toys both -- if it actually existed, that is.
As many of our loyal tipsters (as well as one of our sister sites) didn't realize, this exclusive preview ran in the April edition of EGM -- the same edition which is infamous for its history of April Fools' skullduggery. Sorry to break your naïve heart, if you didn't see this coming -- but the only way you're going to get your hot little hands on Lego Halo is if you order it from a parallel universe. Would you mind picking up a copy of Mushroom Kingdom Hearts for us while you're over there?
Capcom has confirmed to Eurogamer that Rocketmen: Axis of Evil will be on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday.
It was responding to the official US blog that said both 360 and PS3 versions would be out this week.
However, those in the Sony camp may have to wait a little longer, as a European date is still to be set in stone. Not normally a problem since US accounts are easy to set up, but since Rocketmen will cost money you'd also need a US credit card to pay for it.
Rocketmen: Axis of Evil looks rather exciting: a top-down two-stick shooter for you and up to three friends. Similar to Monster Madness, or Gauntlet but with guns.
Anyway, the idea was adapted from a collectible card-construction game by WizKids - pointed out by one of our helpful readers - but will have less strategy and much more action.
It all looks really rather promising, and you can expect our review this week.
38 percent of gamers are female, according to a report by the Entertainment Software Association, sourced by CNN technology.
According to the ESA, girl gamers spend 7.4 hours a week playing games, in-between hiding every television remote and moaning that we've left the toilet seat up.
Studies and sales data have shown that women are more likely to play casual handheld games such as the DS, along with "social games" like The Sims, where women apparently make up more than 55 percent of players (and not just because you can cook and clean!! Sorry, we had to).
"Women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters," said Sony Online Entertainment marketing lady Torrie Dorrell. "What is lacking in the equation are women behind these games."
Despite the fancy new figures pointing to the amount of women playing games, they represent just under 12 percent of the industry, according to the International Game Developers Association.
Courtney Simmons, another PR women at SOE, said she wants to see "more women making games," and, "making more games that women want to play."
The MMO developer isn't sitting idly on its dream either; to help balance the sex equation it's setup G.I.R.L., Gamers In Real Life, a scholarship program to attract more young women to careers in game development.
"There is a lack of understanding about how women play," said Simmons, adding that she believes that women are being "gamed down to."
What about Jade Raymond? She makes games for girls, right? Stabbing Knights with throwing knives is wicked.
Videogames allow the simulation of rape, and are the cause of real-life murders, according to one MP in a parliamentary debate on Friday.
Members of Parliament attended the debate to discuss the merits of a Private Member's Bill on violence in films and videogames, and decide if it would receive a Second Reading.
The Bill seeks to reform the BBFC in order to make it "accountable to Parliament and the public in a way that should encourage a return to more responsible decisions," in the words of its sponsor, Julian Brazier, Conservative member for Canterbury.
He was supported by Keith Vaz, Labour member for Leicester East, who has a long-standing connection with the violence issue following his stance on the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 in which he cited Rockstar's Manhunt as an inspiration - and he brought that particular example to light once again.
"As the House knows, my concerns about these issues arise from the brutal killing of Stefan Pakeerah, a 14-year-old Leicester schoolboy who was murdered in a savage attack in which he received 50 blows with a claw hammer - an attack that mirrored exactly a scene in the videogame Manhunt," he told the debate.
"I was not the first to say that; Giselle Pakeerah, his parent, has from the very beginning maintained and strongly believed that the fact that Warren Leblanc had a copy of Manhunt and that other children were looking at those scenes of violence led to the attack on Stefan."
The Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Margaret Hodge, later pointed out that there had been no evidence to support Mr Vaz's ongoing claims.
"They may have made that statement, but the rationale for the statement is less clear," she said. "The game was discovered not in Warren Leblanc's possession but in the victim's possession.
"It does not feature the use of a hammer, and it was not considered by the police to be a contributory factor. No such connection was ever suggested in court.
"Indeed, the prosecution and defence barristers insisted in court that the video game had played no part in the killing. It was reported that Leblanc was motivated by fear of a gang to which he owed money."
Mr Vaz, who complained in part of his speech that proponents of his argument have been "pilloried in the press that is sponsored by the videogames industry," went on to discuss the differences between films and videogames.
"That is quite simple: videogames are different because they are interactive," he said. "People who are watching a film at the cinema cannot participate in what is happening on the screen, or if they do they are removed from the cinema.
"However, someone sitting at a computer playing a videogame, or someone with one of those small devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget…PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind…Well, whatever they are called, when people play these things, they can interact.
"They can shoot people; they can kill people," he said, before adding: "As the honourable gentleman said, they can rape women," referring to Mr Brazier's earlier comments on films - not videogames - which appear to glorify the act.
Ed Vaizey, Conservative member for Wantage, questioned that last point later on - addressing Mr Brazier as Mr Vaz had left already -"I checked the point with the BBFC and found it to be completely unaware of any such videogame," he said.
"Is the honourable gentleman aware of any videogame that has as its intention the carrying out of rape or that allows the game player to carry out such an act? The BBFC and I are unaware of any such game."
Mr Brazier replied that he was unable to comment on "the rape in games issue".
Following the session, which lasted almost five hours and ended before proceedings had been completed, the vote on whether or not the Bill will proceed to a Second Reading will now take place when the debate resumes on Friday, when Ms Hodge will complete her response to the various remarks made during the first session, including those belonging to Mr Vaz.
As well as a CMS Select Committee investigation into the effects of violence on the internet and in videogames, the Byron Report set up by the Prime Minister is due to report before the end of this month.
With a game as stupidly popular and successful as Counter-Strike, the question is never 'Will there be a sequel?' But, 'When?'.
Valve Software, the developer housed in a red building entirely comprised of $50 bills (may be a lie), knows this too: "We will never abandon Counter-Strike," marketing man Doug Lombardi told Shack News, explaining why the online shooter hasn't received a major update since the release of Counter-Strike Source.
"It's a little bit unfair to compare Counter-Strike, I think, to your classic game that's gonna have these sequels. It looks a little bit more like an MMO where it's constantly [being updated]."
But Lombardi did reveal that the developer is at least thinking about how they'd approach a sequel:
"With Counter-Strike 2," he said, "there's a big question between, do we go start over from scratch and build this whole new game, do we do something that looks more like Team Fortress 2 that is rooted in the old game but has a ton of new stuff, or do we just sort of take everything that's new that we've released and put that out in a new box." We'd go for the middle one.
"I think we're leaning more towards the two more radical places than just sort of rolling up the new box and reskinning the box and putting out all the new stuff."
The Valve team also recently confirmed (by accident) that a second Portal game is in the works (and Lombardi has since officially stated to CVG that "more Portal is coming"), so combined with the Counter-Strike sequel and Half-Life 2: Episode Three, could we be looking at the early stages of what might be an Orange Box Two?
"I just don't think that [Counter-Strike 2] would be a good fit [with a second Orange Box]," piped in Valve overlord Gabe Newell, noting that CS2 would be a stand-alone game to him.
"But if I get 15,000 emails from customers in response to this interview telling me 'Of course it should be in [the next Orange Box],' then of course we'll pay attention to that." We think he'll regret saying that...
description
In 1931, Winston Churchill was hit by a taxi in New York. In the real world, he survived, and went on to rally the British people to fight the Nazi threat. But what if he hadn’t?
It’s from this premise that Fall Of Liberty takes it’s theme - without Churchill’s leadership, Europe and the United Kingdom have fallen to Hitler’s forces. By 1951, using crushing technical superiority, the United States is invaded and defeated by the Third Reich.
With this setting, Fall Of Liberty will be an FPS experience like no other; a game that’s both a World War 2 FPS and something different. Fighting not as a soldier, but a resistance fighter in a United States of America that’s under the rule of a foreign power.
Exclusive to next-generation platforms and PC, Fall Of Liberty breathes new life into the FPS genre.
The decision not to include a hard drive as standard with every 360 was a "mistake" by Microsoft, Bourne Conspiracy's lead game designer has told us.
The Core and Arcade versions of the Xbox 360 come without hard drives, meaning developers have to make sure their games can work without a HDD to cater for those users. But this restricts their freedoms with hard drive use, Rory McGuire explained.
"In retrospect I wish Microsoft had made the choice to have [mandatory] hard drives like Sony did with the PS3," he said.
"They did it with the original Xbox. I'm not sure why they decided to not require a hard drive on the 360. From what I understand they don't move many [Core/Arcade] units," added McGuire.
"Developers certainly benefit [from a hard drive]," he went on to explain, adding: "if you have a hard drive, the whole game loads faster. Obviously you'll be facing a short install time, but the developer benefits from it and you definitely benefit from it as a player.
"So I think that was one of the mistakes that Microsoft made with the 360," addd McGuire.
The Bourne Conspiracy is coming along nicely, and you can check out our hands-on feature here.
SEGA Superstars Tennis is a game that brings together some of the most treasured and well known characters from the SEGA universe, in some of the most unusual courts and outrageous settings ever imagined.
SEGA Superstars Tennis has over 15 playable SEGA idols including Sonic the Hedgehog, AiAi from Super Monkeyball fame, Ulala of Space Channel 5 and Amigo from Samba De Amigo. In addition to their own unique attributes, each character will also come equipped with their own superstar tennis skills, putting a whole new spin on each match played!
Exhibition mode offers the chance to challenge Sonic, or the character or your choice, to a match on one of many courts, including Sonic’s home court of Green Hill Zone, or Amigo’s Carnival Park court. Wherever you play there will be a host of SEGA celebrities cheering you on from courtside and by partaking in crazy doubles matches with your choice of partner, you could end up playing against some pretty unusual couples! Prove your SEGA hero is the shining star of SEGA Superstars Tennis by collecting silverware in the Tournament Mode. There will also be the opportunity to unlock a host of exciting extras which will be announced in the near future!
Complementing the Exhibition and Tournament modes, there will also be new and innovative ways of enjoying some of SEGA’s classic titles, plus platform exclusive ways to play the game, including online modes for X360 and PS3 versions!
“SEGA Superstars Tennis has the potential to be one of the most fun and accessible sports games ever.” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director. “The fantastic Sumo Digital team has had access to a wealth of SEGA IP and you’ll be surprised at the gaming icons that will be making an appearance!”
Available on the PS3, PS2, X360, NDS, and Wii, SEGA Superstars Tennis will release in early 2008.
We had an inkling that the format war was soon to be over when Warner announced it was going Blu-ray just before CES and HD DVD canceled its press conference, but we didn't realize how quickly things would come to an abrupt end. It looks like Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida was decisive in ending the battle, telling the Wall Street Journal that HD DVD didn't stand a chance after Warner left, and that if HD DVD wasn't "going to win then we had to pull out, especially since consumers were already asking for a single standard." That's interesting, especially since Toshiba issued all those jilted-lover press releases as former partners defected and continued to waffle for another month or so and even air a Super Bowl ad, but we suppose PR people can't go running around saying things like "One has to take calculated risks in business, but it's also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong," like the CEO can. Of course, the CEO probably shouldn't say things that Toshiba's upconverting DVD players are so good "consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images" either, but give the man a break -- he's still in mourning.
The time-honored tradition of stodgy men arguing over things they know nothing about continued in England during last Friday's game censorship debate in the House of Commons, with MP Keith Vaz showing us how it's done while speaking in defense of Julian Brazier's bill to add a censorship level above the British Board of Film Classification. In comparing the interactivity of video games to movies, Vaz unleashed this little gem:
However, someone sitting at a computer playing a video game, or someone with one of those small devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget-- [Interruption.] PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind.
"Well, whatever they are called, when people play these things, they can interact. They can shoot people; they can kill people. As the honourable Gentleman said, they can rape women."
The gentleman he is referring to is the bill's author Julian Brazier, though being completely off-base when quoting someone else doesn't excuse you from being off-base in the first place. The man can barely remember what these horribly offensive rape-machines are. When you have to struggle to remember what you were talking about in the first place it's probably a good indicator that you should sit down and shut up.
Luckily for British gamers, the House isn't completely full of uninformed idiots. Conservative MP Edward Vaizey actually took the time to check this claim out with the BBFC.
"Is the honourable Gentleman aware of any video game that has as its intention the carrying out of rape or that allows the game player to carry out such an act? The BBFC and I are unaware of any such game."
Look? Sense! What could the bill's author counter sense with, but more nonsense?
"I cannot comment on the rape in games issue, but I can tell the House what Stefan Pakeerah's father said after Warren Leblanc had murdered his son. He said that "Manhunt" is a game using weapons like hammers and knives...The object of Manhunt is not just to go out and kill people. It's a point-scoring game where you increase your score depending on how violent the killing is. That explains why Stefan's murder was as horrific as it was."
Aha! While I cannot comment on games that allow you to rape women as I know of none, look at this puppet on my other hand! It is a murderous puppet, with a hammer in hand! A video game puppet! Take that!
Taken, and rebutted by Minister of State Margaret Hodge, who explained that not only was the game found to have played no part in the murder, it was the victim who owned the game and not the attacker.
Perhaps the real story here isn't that Mr. Vaz decided to claim erroneously that video games let you rape women, but rather the fact the the House of Commons debates had people present with enough sense to challenge the claim. Good show!
Woe be the PC game developer these days, as various reports put piracy rates in the U.S. at approximately 70-85%.
Pirates?! I'm supposed to be fighting a hydra!
It's no wonder that Epic Games is dumping PC games for the greener pastures of console gaming: piracy rates for the U.S. market alone are hovering around 80%!
And beyond the U.S., the piracy picture becomes even larger and more menacing -- especially if you're an independent developer without "Madden-sized advertising budget," said THQ Director of Creative Management Michael Fitch, who laid out his case against piracy and hardware manufactures in an epic rant at the Quarter to Three forums.
In the post, Fitch attacked pirates, the PC software security model and everything in between. In Europe, he said, piracy rates approach 90%. In Asia, those figures are "off the charts."
"I didn't believe [the data] at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can't believe that there's that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them," Fitch said.
These are hard numbers for any PC developer to ignore, and from the tone of Fitch's message board rant the other day, things are likely to get much worse before they get better. Or should that be "if" they get better?
Halo house Bungie tells Next-Gen that it is working on something super-secret to rectify a situation that saw the Xbox 360 repair service wipe the nostalgia from one fan's console. You can't say that Bungie doesn't look out for its fans.
The Next-Gen blog posted a story recently about an Xbox fan whose Xbox 360 had been signed by key Halo and Xbox figures over the course of about two years. That Xbox 360 encountered the dreaded Red Ring of Death, and the Xbox fan, "Nathaniel," had to send it in for service.
And even though a service rep assured him on the phone that the signatures would be intact upon return of the console (and the fact that he included a letter clearly stating the console's importance), the Xbox 360 came back wiped virtually clean, with just a few black smudges left from the ink that adorned the console.
But now Bungie is ready to take action.
"Something is already 'afoot' within Bungie to help our community member in need," Bungie community director Brian Jarrard told Next-Gen on Monday. "Our team and the community as a whole is rallying to help fix this unfortunate situation. It's been awesome to see such an outpouring of sympathy and support from our community. We can't replace the exact item that was lost but, but we should come very close."
Jarrard is still keeping Bungie's plans under wraps but one can imagine what kind of consolation prize a studio of Bungie's influence and financial stature could provide.
"I think when it's all said and done, justice will prevail," said Jarrard.
In a fit of unbridled generosity, UK retailer GAME is offering 500 Microsoft Points to anyone pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360.
It's a similar offer to the one that recently accompanied Lost Odyssey's release in the UK – only this time the title in question is an undeniable must-buy. There're a number of different purchase options for those wanting to get their hands on Rockstar's latest – and perhaps greatest – instalment in the series come April 29. These range from the vanilla boxed affair to a more elaborate bundle comprising of a branded duffel bag, CD soundtrack and Rockstar keychain.
Of course, those 500 Microsoft points might be handy come the arrival of that Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content, rumoured to land some time in the autumn.
Valve has patched The Orange Box on Xbox 360 to fix and tweak a few bits and bobs in Team Fortress 2.
Probably the most noticeable change is that weapons now have rumble support, but it also fixes a number of exploits, and allows for ten- and fourteen-player games.
This is the full list of changes as posted on Xbox.com:
Fixed a medic invulnerability exploit.
Fixed grenades going through players or buildings.
Fixed exploit with rockets causing damage through thin walls.
Fixed exploit allowing snipers to fire faster than intended.
Fixed exploit allowing players to teleport with the intelligence.
Fixed exploit attaching sappers to buildings through walls.
Fixed spy backstab exploit.
Fixed spy being able to attack without dropping his disguise.
Medics no longer heal enemy spies when they're not disguised.
Tweaked autobalance calculations.
When an engineer dies in sudden death, his buildings explode.
Fixed stats sometimes not reporting correctly.
Added a dialog to indicate when the host shuts down the server.
Added rumble to TF weapons.
Fixed ping column sometimes getting hidden in some resolutions.
Added 10 and 14 player game sizes.
Prevent hosts selecting game sizes above their bandwidth limits.
Improved handling of large network packets to eliminate bandwidth spikes.
Reduced respawn times for smaller games.
Next time you load the game, you should be prompted to install the update.
Chair Entertainment has announced the first expansion to Undertow, an underwater shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade. Titled "Path of the Elect," the download costs 400 Microsoft Points (US $5) and introduces a new playable race to the game. With the download, players get access to The Elect, a high-tech alien race, a five level campaign that continues the story laid out in Undertow, and four new multiplayer maps.
There will be separate match-making for those who download the expansion, so those who choose not to won't find themselves up against a new opponent. To see The Elect, you'll have to download the expansion.
Strong debuts from four new releases have failed to shift Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from the top of the Chart Track All Formats top ten.
Ubisoft's Lost: The Videogame enters the top ten at three, just ahead of THQ's first-person shooter Frontlines: Fuel of War at four.
Microsoft's long-awaited Xbox 360 RPG Lost Odyssey breaks into the charts at six, while Electronic Arts' mega-franchise The Sims hits the number ten spot with the latest expansion pack, The Sims 2: Freetime.
DS Lite hardware sales were also up this week by 24 per cent, thanks to a boost from the white DS bundled with Nintendo's Brain Training software, with the original Dr Kawashima's Brain Training sitting at the top of the DS charts for the 41st time since release.
The full top ten follows:
1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
2. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
3. Lost: The Videogame
4. Frontlines: Fuel of War
5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
6. Lost Odyssey
7. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima
8. FIFA Street 3
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
10. The Sims 2: Freetime
Stories about thieves stealing games and systems are a dime a dozen, but those thefts usually don't involve a culprit that was praised as a hero by President Bush. They do occasionally, though, as is proven by a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article about Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School student Lewis Bennett III.
Bennett earned fame and a meeting with the president for thwarting a planned Columbine-style attack by classmate Dillon Cossey back in October. But even heroes have their flaws, and last week, Bennett confessed to authorities that he and two friends had repeatedly broken in to Cossey's house last month to steal a variety of items, including an Xbox 360 that Bennett later sold to a classmate for $20.
Bennett's attorney said the media attention may have driven his client to the criminal act."How does a child, a young adult, deal with that situation, where all these cameras are put in his face and he's required to respond and he meets the president?" The answer to that rhetorical question, apparently, is 'by stealing an Xbox 360.'
A number of industry sources have indicated that Microsoft is due to cut the price of all Xbox 360 skus in Europe.
According to videogaming247.com, non-disclosure agreements are in place with leading retailers to prevent them from revealing the price drop, which will come into effect just ahead of the busy Easter sales period.
Around EUR 50 is expected to be slashed off the price of the Elite, Premium and Arcade units, according to techradar.com, on March 14.
This means the Arcade Xbox 360 will retail for around GBP 150 in the UK – cheaper than Nintendo's Wii console – the Elite will sell below GBP 240 and the Premium at just under GBP 200.
Retailers contacted by GamesIndustry.biz have declined to comment on the record.
Microsoft has been targeting the Arcade unit at the casual end of the market, packaging it with five free Live Arcade games but without a hard-drive as standard.
Reducing its price to around GBP 30 less than the Wii would be a more aggressive attempt to win over the casual consumer, a market currently dominated by Nintendo's home console.
Chair Entertainment has popped Undertow expansion Path of the Elect onto Xbox Live Marketplace.
It costs 400 Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80) and adds the Elect race with a five-level campaign of its own, doable in co-op or single-player.
The Elect will be the fourth race, and be playable in multiplayer along with four new maps. You can get a glimpse of this in our Path of the Elect gallery or trailer.
Unfortunately there's no word on whether there will be any more Achievements on offer.
Undertow is a side-scrolling shooter that was released on Live Arcade last December. Our only criticism was its length, but otherwise we felt it was a fun and welcome addition to the service.
Microsoft also offered it to everyone for free as a way of apologising for the Christmas performance of Live. So most of you should have it by now.
It joins Rocketmen: Axis of Evil on Live Arcade today, which we'll be offering our thoughts on soon (here's one: don't).
UK retailers are looking forward to continued growth in 2008, with GTA IV leading the way.
"We expect the market to continue to grow based on increase availability of hardware, publishers spreading their release schedule across the year and product innovation," Patrick Kelly, Zavvi's head of games, told GamesIndustry.biz.
"The expectation is that publishers will continue to push the capabilities of next generation hardware and we’ll see some outstanding games during 2008," remarked Play.com's head games buyer, Gian Luzio.
Marc Dean, the home entertainment buyer for Morrisons, agreed.
"We expect developers and publishers to continue broadening the market with more family and mass market products," he said.
Although the retailers think that 2008 will see family/social gaming take a larger slice of the pie - with titles such as Wii Fit and Rock Band - they all agreed that the biggest release of the year will be Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.
Despite some analysts predicting that the PlayStation is poised to have a bright year, the retailers didn't see an end to the "console wars" any time soon.
"The release schedule for 2008 is looking strong for all three formats and pre-orders for cross platform titles such as GTA IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed suggest a very level playing field," Luzio said.
"It's unlikely that the console battle will be won or lost in the space of a year."
"I really hope that PS3 comes through for us - it has not peaked as we expected," admitted tgrav.com's Matt Holland.
"However, with more titles launching on the format and some fabulous peripherals I am hopeful that with Sony's support we can deliver some great numbers for them."
"I'm sure Sony are delighted with recent announcements regarding Blu-ray versus HD DVD, but that is only one aspect of the console battle," said Tim Ellis, head of games for HMV.
"Consumers are lucky to have three strong home console propositions with their own USPs and I'm sure we'll still be debating what's best in a year's time."
The complete interview with representatives from various UK retailers can be read here.
Namco Bandai has made some running repairs to Ace Combat 6.
The title update is available on Live, and should make the online side of the game a little more seamless and balanced. They say.
Chief among the changes are point penalties for doing silly things like crashing, leaving the battlefield or being shot down in Team Battle and Battle Royale modes. Similarly you can now gain points for damaging an aircraft and not necessarily destroying the bogey outright.
Those of you doing the dying will now be invulnerable for a short period of time on respawn, your in-game HUD should display points lost and won, and special weapons have been tweaked to balance things up.
You will also be able to see who is talking in the pre-game lobby thanks to a little microphone icon next to their Gamertag - useful for singling out those who sound strange.
Ace Combat 6 might be a little cringe-worthy, but it is really rather good. Take our highway to the Ace Combat 6 review zone to find out more.
Everyone's favourite military fetishist Tom Clancy has taken time out from typing to release a second Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-op Collection pack on Xbox Live.
It will cost you 400 Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80) and comes with nine new maps and eight fresh Achievements, which could earn you 125 Gamerpoints.
Being the second Collection pack, it carries on the story of the first in five fresh co-op missions. Manuel Suazo Azcona continues to destroy governments in Honduras and El Salvador, you see, so you have to put an end to him.
Of the nine maps, seven are classic scenarios from past Ghost Recon games and two are completely new: Treatment Plant and Mining Camp.
Those returning are Bridges, Stronghold and Island from Ghost Recon: Island Thunder; and Depot, Riverbed, Ghost Town and Roadblock from Ghost Recon: Desert Siege.
We have dug ourself a little hole so you will never find us. But you can look at some screenshots of the Co-op Collection 2 in our Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 gallery.
Nintendo will once again look upon the Spanish and German software sales charts with satisfaction as its platforms accounted for the top four places in both charts, and 15 of the combined top ten lists as well.
Few of the titles will come as any surprise, with Spain dominated by Wii Play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympics and the Brain Training titles, with Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3 marking the only non-Nintendo platform entries in the top ten.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Big Brain Academy and Triiviial - all for the Wii - completed the top ten for the week ending February 24 according to data compiled by Media-Control GfK International.
Meanwhile in Germany, Mario & Sonic took top spot for the DS, with the Brain Training titles in second and third, and Prof Kageyama's Maths Training in fourth.
Call of Duty 4 was fifth, with Wii Play and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings in sixth and seventh. World of Warcraft, along with the Burning Crusade expansion, and Super Mario Galaxy finished the list.
The full charts are as follows:
Spain
1. Wii Play (Wii)
2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS)
3. More Brain Training (DS)
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii)
5. Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
6. Brain Training (DS)
7. Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)
8. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (Wii)
9. Big Brain Academy (Wii)
10. Triiviial (Wii)
Germany
1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS)
2. More Brain Training (DS)
3. Brain Training (DS)
4. Prof Kageyama's Maths Training (DS)
5. Call of Duty 4 (PC)
6. Wii Play (Wii)
7. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)
8. World of Warcraft (PC)
9. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator is now available as a free download on Xbox Live Marketplace when you request a token at http://www.thisishddvd.com/emulator/.
Why is it free now?
This decision was made in light of Toshiba's recent announcement that they are discontinuing their HD DVD business. The reasons for offering the emulator for free are two-fold.
Microsoft is committed to interactivity and giving content authors the ability to create more compelling entertainment experiences. The specification for HDi was developed with significant input from studios like Warner Bros. and Disney based on scenarios they desired in the next generation format. Offering the emulator for free allows a greater audience to experiment with interactivity with little to no cost.
Second, the emulator beta program had approximately 80 participants across the industry who relied on the emulator for testing HDi content. Continued access to the emulator will assist those post houses and developers in completing their outstanding HD DVD projects.
What about the people who already purchased the emulator?
They will be issued gift certificates redeemable at the Microsoft Store. I'm kidding, of course! That would be completely lame - who would do that? Complete refunds will be issued to those who previously paid the full price for the emulator.
What can I do with this?
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator is a development and test tool that allows you to run complete HD DVD projects - video, audio, and advanced interactivity - on your Xbox 360 from an external USB drive or networked PC. If you're interested in learning more about HDi and how to create your first HDi application, start in the April 2007 section of this blog and work your way forward.
If you're interested in a tool for muxing video to test on the emulator, be sure to check out NetBlender's DoStudio MX. They also have a demo project that you can run on the emulator.
Note that you do not need to have video in your project, though. Your playlist may contain titles without PrimaryAudioVideoClip(s).
Once you have your project looking just the way you want, you can burn it to a DVD-9 and share it. More info on burning DVD-9s can be found here: http://dostudio.netblender.com/wikipapers/wiki_dvdr.asp. FYI, I use a Pioneer DVD burner, Gear Pro Professional software, and Verbatim discs. [follow up: the burner and software I have used successfully are not mentioned on NetBlender's wiki, so I mention them so people know what I have used to create discs that work on the Xbox and Toshiba players]
What doesn't it do?
The emulator does not allow you to play ripped retail titles on your Xbox or your PC. The emulator runs on your Xbox 360, it does not run on a PC. It will also not do your laundry.
Do I need an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive to use this?
Yes! Yes you do! The HD DVD playback software required by the Xbox 360 is on the add-on drive, so you will need an add-on drive to use the emulator. But, lucky you, they are now available for $50. Sweet.
A massive haul of around 30,000 counterfeit DVDs, CDs and Wii Playstation discs worth around £500,000 have been seized.
They were destined for car boot sales around Staffordshire and the Black Country.
The raid was carried out at the regular Cocksparrow Lane sale at Huntington near Cannock last Sunday.
The operation involved Trading Standards officers and police.
Three people were arrested and have been questioned and three vehicles impounded by police on suspicion they were involved in the distribution of counterfeit goods.
The £500,000 haul included fake Wii Playstation discs and many DVD films which have yet to be released at the cinema.
Several thousand cigarettes and a quantity of rolling tobacco was also seized.
Councillor Carol Dean, cabinet member for safer and stronger communities said: “We need to get the message out there that it is not acceptable to sell these counterfeit goods and that there is a real risk of being caught.
“It is important for consumers to think about the consequences of buying counterfeit products as this can really affect local businesses who struggle to compete with counterfeiters who sell products that legitimate businesses are unable to - such as unreleased films.”
Similar operations are set to take place in the county in future months.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to meet the mother of Stefan Pakeerah, a 14 year-old whose murder in 2004 sparked a row about Rockstar's videogame Manhunt.
Despite repeated evidence showing that the perpetrator of the crime, 17 year-old Warren Leblanc, was not in possession of the game, and despite prosecution and defence lawyers - as well as the police - pouring scorn on the link, the Prime Minister is going to discuss violent videogames with Giselle Pakeerah today, according to the Leicester Mercury.
The move follows ill-advised comments made last Friday in a Parliamentary debate by Leicester East MP Keith Vaz - a long-time critic of one of the most popular entertainment pastimes for a wide cross-section of the population - as rape-simulators.
This allegation was shot down by Conservative MP Ed Vaizey, who pointed out that neither he, nor the BBFC, had ever encountered such a game.
And Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Margaret Hodge, dismissed links between the Pakeerah murder and Manhunt: "They may have made that statement, but the rationale for the statement is less clear," she said.
"The game was discovered not in Warren Leblanc's possession but in the victim's possession. It does not feature the use of a hammer, and it was not considered by the police to be a contributory factor.
"No such connection was ever suggested in court. Indeed, the prosecution and defence barristers insisted in court that the videogame had played no part in the killing. It was reported that Leblanc was motivated by fear of a gang to which he owed money."
The Byron Report, due later this month, and the CMS Select Committee are both investigating the effects of internet and videogame violence.
Both Keith Vaz and colleague Julian Brazier are set to meet the Prime Minister later today to discuss tougher regulations for videogames.
But Gundam Musou Special for the PS2 is crowned the new number 1
Gundam Musou Special for the PlayStation 2 went straight in at number one in the Japanese software chart for the sales week ending March 2, according to data from Media Create, although Nintendo platforms accounted for seven of the top ten titles.
It sold around 150,000 copies, twice the number that the number one game sold last week - although that title was Super Smash Bros Brawl, which has now been out for some time, and is expected to break the 1.5 million sales mark by the end of March.
Wii Fit took third place, breezing past 1.6 million sales in the process, while the second new entry of the week, Soma Bringer for the Nintendo DS, was in fourth.
Some moderately good news for Microsoft took the form of Xbox 360 music title The Idolmaster: Live for You, which sold 44,000 copies on its first week on the chart, while the previous week's number two, Etrian Odyssey II: The Royal Grail, fell to number six.
Musou Orochi for the PlayStation Portable, Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends for the DS, and Wii Sports and Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 for the Wii finished up the top ten.
The highest PlayStation 3 title was Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, falling from number seven to number 17.
The full top ten is as follows:
1. Gundam Musou Special (PS2)
2. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
3. Wii Fit (Wii)
4. Soma Bringer (DS)
5. The Idolmaster: Live for You (360)
6. Etrian Odyssey II: The Royal Grail (DS)
7. Musou Orochi (PSP)
8. Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends (DS)
9. Wii Sports (Wii)
10. Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 (Wii)
Rockstar boss blames "older 360s", company working hard to rectify problems
Following reports of technical problems being suffered by some owners of Bully for the Xbox 360, Rockstar boss Sam Houser has responded by apologising, and assuring fans that the company is working hard to find and fix the problems.
"We have just become aware of the issues people are having with Bully Scholarship Edition on Xbox 360," Houser told Kotaku. "It appears that some older 360s are experiencing frame rate issues, freezes and other problems.
"You have our word that we never experienced any of this in QA - in any of our offices or at Microsoft. I am horrified, and we are now working around the clock to rectify this situation."
Houser went on to reiterate the developer's commitment to quality, and hint that any problems being experienced had nothing to do with having to release the game before it was complete.
