A week of Steam

Last week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Valve and the Steam service got a boatload of announcements set to shake up the PC gaming industry and the Console gaming industry.  Their goal is set: To compete against Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Apple.

The first announcement was a new OS called SteamOS.  This Operating system is based off the Linux Operating System.  While this version of Linux will let you play games and view videos, you are only limited to the games compatible with Linux

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When it comes to gaming, SteamOS will work particularly well for audio performances and reducing input latency. Yet, only Linux games will work on SteamOS. While many games are now available on Linux, it still has a long way to go compared to Mac OS and especially Windows. That’s why you will be able to run Steam on your Windows or Mac computers in another room and then stream your games to your living room using SteamOS. Latency shouldn’t be an issue, as everything happens on your local network.

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That's right.  The ability to run your favorite games from your computer to the Steam OS.  Similar to what Sony will be doing with an alternative version of its Playstation Vita system called Vita TV, in which you can stream PS4 titles from the system to the Vita TV.  Complicated, isn't it?  Sure you could hook your PC to the TV, but some people don't want to.

As a matter fact, on Wednesday, the second announcement was the SteamBox itself.  But it wasn't just one console, it was many.

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Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.

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That's right.  A variety of machines.  Steam Consoles will be a variety for everyone to choose from.  You can pick your favorite and lock it in.  But that's not all, Valve is also doing a contest where 300 lucky Steam Customers will win a beta console(With some strings attached: They are property of them and you're not allowed to sell them).  Here's what you need to do

1) Get at least 10 Steam friends
2) Join the Steam Universe community group
3) Accept the Beta Terms of Service
4) Make your Steam profile Public
5) Play one Steam game on the Big Picture Mode with a controller(The Logitech F310 is recommended)

If you complete these by late October, you will get a badge and will qualify for a chance to win one of 300 beta consoles.

And finally, to top things off, Valve decided to announce a Steam Controller.  I bet it's gonna be like those 360/PS3 knock-offs



Oh my goodness.  IT'S GOT NO THUMBSTICKS!   AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Wait, wait.  Calm down.  I bet people aren't gonna buy this controller because it has no thumbsticks or d-pad

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Dan Tabar is an indie game developer at Planetoid Pioneers studio Data Realms, and he was one of several indie developers who had hands-on demos with the controller at Valve's Bellevue, WA headquarters on Labor Day this year.

What he described was an extremely flexible, mappable controller -- perhaps the most flexible control option this side of a keyboard and mouse setup -- that offers generous tactile feedback.

"[Valve is] really trying to think things through," said Tabar. "They're asking, 'Do we really need thumbsticks? Why are the fingers on the back [of the traditional controller] not doing anything? Why not have paddles there?' The thing I find most exciting is that Valve is just rethinking it. We're totally going to be making Planetoid Pioneers with this controller in mind," he said.

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Chris Remo, designer and writer at The Cave developer Double Fine had a hands-on of the Steam Controller at the San Francisco studio.
Remo played a couple different games: Double Fine's upcoming point-and-click adventure game Broken Age and the already-released platform-adventure game The Cave.
"We just plugged it in, and it worked," he said. "We didn't have special support for it or anything. It worked really, really well. I was really impressed with the mouse imitation. It doesn't feel like a trackpad."

Remo said the controller has a tiny speaker in it that offers audio feedback – a subtle "tick" sound that increases and decreases in speed (he compared it to the Wheel of Fortune wheel's sound), depending on how you use the track pad. If you "fling" your thumb across the trackpad – if it's mapped to the mouse – the ticking increases in speed, and slows down as the virtual momentum of your action slows.

"It sounds like there's actually a mechanical device in there, which really makes it feel mechanical, but not in a clunky way," Remo said. "It just feels really high-tech and precise. … I can't stand trackpads on laptops, and this felt really good to me. There was almost no learning curve as far as accuracy goes."

On Twitter, Ichiro Lambe with AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! developer Dejobaan Games also said the haptic feedback of Valve's new controller was a highlight of the device.

"It feels like you're moving your thumbs over a rough surface, though it's all virtual," Lambe said. "From a tech standpoint, think about something that can click whenever you tell it to... Simple example: you move your finger 1 inch up, and it ticks 10 times...You flick it up, and it starts ticking, like you've spun a wheel."

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O.O

Excuse me, one moment.  I'm gonna go yell out the window proclaiming the death of thumbsticks and damning Valve for this.


Works Cited:
TechCrunch
Steam(Valve)
Gamasutra 

Atlus the Hedgehog

It was only a couple of days ago that Atlus was its own company.  But just recently, Atlus and its parent company: Index Corporation, was bought out.  The buyer in question?  SEGA Sammy


Sega Sammy Holdings will acquire Index Corporation, the parent company of Japanese publisher and developer Atlus, for ¥14 billion ($140 million) in November, according to the company.

According to Sega's business transfer agreement notice, Sega expects to "achieve steady flows of revenue" through the acquisition of Index's video game IPs. Further revenue growth is expected by exploiting the IPs across online PC gaming and smartphone content. The company also aims to "maximize the value of acquired IPs" by releasing them across pachislot, pachinko and amusement machine segments.

Sept. 18 marked the conclusion of business transfer agreement, according to the notice, and Nov. 1 is the tentative due date for the transfer of Index, pending approval from the court under by Civil Rehabilitation Act.. Sega Dream Corporation was established on Sept. 5 as a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings to oversee the transfer of Index operations. Sega Dream Corporation's name is slated to change in the future.



 What does that mean?  That means expect the next Persona game to feature Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd, Ulala, Alys, Vyse the blue Rogue, and Segata Sanshiro

Special congratulations goes to SEGA for at least getting them before Electronic Arts.

But while one buyout has gone as expected, another one is being held back.  What I'm talking about is ActivisionBlizzard separating itself from Vivendi.  Back in July, it was confirmed that ActivisionBlizzard would split from Vivendi and operate as an independent company.  But one shareholder is protesting this and has halted the sale from going through.


Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision-Blizzard's previously announced deal to buy back its majority stake from parent company Vivendi hit a new snag today, as the company announced the transaction had been temporarily halted pending the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit.

Last week, Activision-Blizzard shareholder Douglas M. Hayes filed suit against the publisher through the Delaware Chancery Court. The suit alleges that the company's CEO, chairman and an elite investor group will disproportionately benefit from the buyback, and should instead leave the buyback deal to a vote by non-Vivendi stockholders, such as the plaintiff. As a result of the filing, Activision-Blizzard has come under a preliminary enjoiner from the court, forcing the company to temporarily halt its buyback proceedings until either the injunction is successfully appealed or the purchase is approved by vote.

In the midst of this, Activision-Blizzard released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the stock buyback from Vivendi, as it outlined in July. The company added that it is "exploring the steps it will take to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible." This may mean acquiescing to a vote from non-Vivendi stockholders or continuing to campaign for an appeal to modify the injunction.




In other words, expect a delay in the next expansion to World of Warcraft and a slightly watered down version of Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Unfortunately, we must conclude this with some sad news.  Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, has passed away recently.  Here's the news of his recent passing

Today marks a sad day indeed as Nintendo’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi has passed away aged 85, Nikkei reports.

After his grandfather suffered a stroke Yamauchi-san stepped in as Nintendo’s president back in 1949, a role he held until 31st May 2002 when he passed the role to Satoru Iwata.

It was still a traditional card company when he had taken over, although his decision to diversify soon lead it into the electronics industry and to stride into the increasingly popular arcade market across North America. When his son-in-law couldn’t find success with games such as Radar Scope, Space Fever and Sheriff, he turned to the young Shigeru Miyamoto who dutifully delivered Donkey Kong in 1981. The rest, as they say, became history.

Hardware development teams created the portable Game & Watch and later produced the Famicom, which we obviously know as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). His leadership grew the console’s success through predicting what consumers would want in terms of the software that was being produced, with the company subsequently releasing the Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and GameCube under his watchful guidance.

Whilst he has been readily attributed as being one of the richest men in Japan due to being Nintendo’s largest shareholder, he donated much of the 7.5 billion yen that he earned through Nintendo’s success with the Wii and Nintendo DS to build a new cancer treatment center in Kyoto.

His efforts contributed to the sheer influence that Nintendo’s output have had on countless people across the world. Rest in peace, Yamauchi-san.

Hiroshi Yamauchi: November 7, 1927 – September 19, 2013

Works Cited:
Polygon
Gamasutra
Nintendo Insider

NPD July 2013: The new village arrives

Well once again, we have a late NPD report to talk about.  But before we get to that, a quick story about a UK Game Tester who was finally paid for testing a game out for Sony.



A game tester who worked for a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe studio in the United Kingdom has been paid £4,600 for helping to test Killzone: Mercenary for three months in 2012. The payout is the result of a settlement between SCEE and tester Chris Jarvis, who claimed that he had to work nine-hour-days at Guerrilla Cambridge as an intern.

Jarvis claims that he was initially supposed to "shadow" a developer at the studio so he could get "first-hand experience," but that never happened. Instead he claims that the company put him to work as a tester for the game's 3D artwork.

"I was basically clicking buttons to make sure the pictures that had come in from China were working," he said. "It's normally part of the Environment Artist's job. It's time-consuming and boring work. I was at the end of my overdraft and I didn't know what to do, so I looked into my rights and found that I was legally doing the work of an employee."

After this happened, Jarvis claims that he politely informed the company that the change in why he was at the studio meant that he was entitled to some compensation (the national minimum wage). Jarvis claims that Sony did not respond very well to that demand:

"They were very dismissive and told me I was a volunteer and that's how I could work for free," he said. "I thought they would say they had made an honest mistake. If they got someone in to do the job it would have cost £100 a day. But they said that I was a volunteer so not entitled to any pay."

Finding no recourse within the company, Jarvis went to HM Revenue and Customs and sued Guerrilla Cambridge for unpaid wages. Jarvis sought about £3,600, but before the matter went before a scheduled tribunal, Sony paid him the full amount plus an additional £1,000. The company also asked him to sign a "gag order," which he declined to do.



 Makes us wonder what's really going on behind the scenes at our favorite video game companies(eyes at Nintendo)

Anyway, let's get down to the Top 10 games of July

At number 10: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, Wii, DS, PS3, 3DS, Wii U, PSVita and PC.  Interesting fact: LEGO is the only company that has both the DC Comic AND Marvel Comic license

At number 09: NBA 2K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP and PC.  NBA Jam this ain't

At number 08: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U.  Scorpion DLC now available on all 3 platforms

At number 07: Battlefield 3 by EA for the 360, PS3 and PC.  Call of Duty they ain't.

At number 06: Far Cry 3 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and PC.  Don't forget to check out Far Cry: Blood Dragon

At number 05: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS.   It's your town, your rules.

At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC.  Still going strong

At number 03: The Last of Us by Sony for the PS3.  I still think there should be more playable female protagonists

At number 02: Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft for the 360.  The PC version still rules

And finally at number 01: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3.  And we're not even into Madden season yet.

Overall, Retail sales are down 19% year over year.  Though the 3DS is number one with the 360 right behind, the handheld only made a measly 137K while the 360 is at 107K, which is barely above the competition.  Is this slowdown expected?  Or is things gonna get worse next year?

Only 2 months left till Pokemon X and Y hit the market.  And Nintendo's 2DS is also on its way.  Will that be the kick in the pants Nintendo needs to dominate?  Stay tuned.

Works Cited:

Game PoliticsNeoGAF

The Wii U and the 2DS

Some things are happening with Nintendo lately involving the Wii U and the 3DS.  Though Nintendo has been having a hard time selling the Wii U, they seem to have the games this holiday season to help combat against the X-Box One and Playstation 4.

Still, it seems Nintendo ain't taking any chances.

Nintendo's home console can be yours for just $299.99 starting September 20, the house of Mario announced today. That's a $50 price cut for a console that's about to get a steady flow of Nintendo-made games but that's been struggling to sell at even half the pace of its predecessor.

The Wii U will sell in two models: the existing black deluxe model bundled with the pretty-good game compilation Nintendo Land or in a new Zelda model. An image of the latter leaked last week.

That Zelda console is black, but its GamePad controller is etched with Zelda-style script The bundle will also include vouchers to download a digital (duh) copy of the Hyrule Historia Zelda lore book and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.

Both consoles include 32GB of on-board flash memory. The system can be connected to self-powered hard-drives for more storage capacity.

"Obviously we want to drive Wii U momentum," Fils-Aime said of the reasoning behind the price drop. "We've been very clear that software is what drives hardware. And we feel very good about the line-up of software for Wii U. Taking the added step to improve the value just reinforces our commitment to make sure that Wii U has a strong holiday this year and is set up to be a strong platform into the future."1

The Wii U has been struggling to catch on in its first year, a fact Nintendo, to their credit, isn't trying to hide.

"All you need to do is look at the numbers," Fils-Aime said. "At this point in time the Wii install base was beginning to approach three million—this is U.S. numbers—and as we sit here today, the Wii U installed base is at about 1.5 million. So clearly the sales pace is different. But I will also tell you that the focus on making sure that this holiday—its second holiday—is really strong is actually quite consistent with the way we've always thought about our hardware launches."
 

A bold move on Nintendo's part.  But what about our sacred basic set?



Nintendo has all but phased out the white 8GB version of the Wii U, a system that retailers seemed to begin dumping this past spring. That "basic" version of Nintendo's console had originally sold for $299, sans pack-in game. "That has largely sold through in the marketplace," Fils-Aime said. "There is not much of that particular configuration out and we don't expect there to be much at all come September 20."



 Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me that you're phasing out the White 8GB version of Wii U?  Well how am I suppose to waste money on the cheapest system possible when you only have the 32GB version available? If there was only some sort of price cut....oh wait.  N/M.  Let's move onto the next topic: The 3DS.

For the past few months, the 3DS, despite its small sales, has finally dominated the X-Box 360.  But it looks like Nintendo is releasing an even cheaper version of their handheld that is aimed at a younger crowd with: Nintendo 2DS



The system will go on sale in October for $129, far cheaper than the current 3DS.  It will be compatible with all your 3DS and DS titles, and it lacks 3D and a Clamshell design.  Suitable for all your little kids needs.

But what's that you say?  You think the 2DS looks ugly.  You think it looks alot like an Axe.



Hah.  Ridiculous.  If it were anything like an Axe, it would do something like this.



I now officially feel sorry for the Playstation Vita.  It didn't even deserve that.

I now leave you with a small set of paragraphs of a heart touching story about a blind girl and her Nintendo Wii U.




Back when the Wii U was launched, I had hoped for things like Netflix allowing us to stream a movie to the TV as well as display it on the GamePad simultaneously so Jen could have her own display and sit on the couch with the rest of us to enjoy a movie.  This ended up not being the case, but the seed was planted for the GamePad being a display that could move with her.  

I looked through the library of Wii U games as they were released to find something we could play together in this way but could not find anything that would work.  New Super Mario Bros U had the feature, but she would die pretty quick and became frustrated.  It wasn't what we wanted.  But when I got home last Sunday with my new boxed copy of New Super Luigi U in hand, I had an epiphany about the new character that Nintendo decided to replace its signature plumber Mario with...Nabbit.  
Nabbit is different because this character is basically invulnerable.  I'm talking you can run about the screen and you will just pass around enemies without being "bumped" or "tossed" anywhere so you are free to move about.  This lead to a character Jennifer could play and run with, but without the frustrations that plagued her before.  She still can fall into a hole, but then Nabbit is tossed into a bubble and she gets to "shake" the remote to let us pop it which she thought was hilarious.  I was amazed at how quickly she picked up the mechanics and started jumping gaps and running about.  I would smile as she got her face so close to the screen that a platform would pop up when her nose tapped it from time to time before she figured out it was a touch screen too. 

 People complain and argue that the GamePad is an unnecessary accessory on a system that is failing to launch fast enough.  They complained that the Wii Remote was too simple and could not allow for "proper" gaming.  Yet here I sit able to say that the Nintendo Wii U...with it's GamePad and ability to use the Wii's Remotes has led to me playing a game with my daughter directly for the first time. Where at night when my wife goes to work at the hospital me and the boys could join into a 3 player game while my daughter would watch a movie finally have a 4th player.  We are together and my daughter has broken another "she can't".




Works Cited:
Kotaku
Zenspath

I hate being bored....but something did pop up

Man.  I hate boredom.  Next to waiting for new consoles to poke fun at to Disney Infinity now out on consoles, there isn't much to look at.  I wonder what will pop up in front of me.



It’s been revealed that the Call of Duty: Ghosts unveiling was actually done on PC, with Xbox One controllers plugged in. With only three months before the launch of both the console and the game, some may be worried by this, although it’s not really as bad as it sounds.



Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me that the unveiling of Call of Duty: Ghost was done on the PC?  Well that's gonna mess up those who wanted to buy it on the consoles.

Anyway, various news sources pointed out that the Call of Duty unveiling wasn't done on the X-Box One, but on a PC with similar specs to an X-Box One.  As a matter of fact, IGN's Scott Lowe has this to say.



This week’s Call of Duty: Ghosts event wasn’t just the first opportunity to see the game’s much-anticipated multiplayer content, it was also my first chance to see how the new Xbox One controller performs when playing a competitive first-person shooter. While the controller wasn’t paired with the Xbox One console — rather, PCs configured to next-gen specs — the demos highlighted the new changes to the ergonomics, thumbsticks, d-pad, and trigger design.



If you want to see more about Call of Duty: Ghosts, check out the video below



Works Cited:
GamesReviews

NPD June 2013: After Comic-Con edition.

Folks, I'm running late again reporting for the NPD in August instead of July.  Man, why do I keep getting late over this?

Before I get into details, last week Phil Fish rage quits over a tweet and ends up cancelling Fez II.

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Polytron's Phil Fish has quit the games industry, cancelling the development of Fez II in the process.

Fish announced his decision through various channels on Sunday. He gave no specific reason for the move.

A statement published on the official Polytron website read: "Fez II is cancelled. I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."


Poor Fish.  He's been fried badly.  And now we'll never know the sequel to Fez.  But what was it that caused the Fish to lose it?

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While Fish claims that his departure is the culmination of a, "long, bloody campaign," it is believed that a recent Game Trailers video may have been the final straw.

In an episode of the GT web series Invisible Walls, Marcus Beer called out Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow for refusing to offer comment to Game Informer on rumours about Microsoft's decision to allow self-publishing on Xbox One. Beer called both Fish and Blow "hispter ***holes" and "tosspots" for their lack of communication with the press, saying, "You should be grateful that these guys still consider what you say to be something of use."

Fish subsequently took to Twitter to provide more context for his decision. "To be clear, I'm not cancelling Fez II because some boorish **** said something stupid," he said. "I'm doing it to get out of games.

"And I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse any more."

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In other words, this is what happens when fish and beer meets.  You end up getting a tasty, breaded dinner, or someone named Marcus Beer should have felt bad for what he did.

Anyway, Lemme count down the Top 10 games of June 2013.

At number 10: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS.  Who's up for pranking Luigi with a Ghost costume?

At number 09: Battlefield 3 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC.  It still ain't like Call of Duty

At number 07: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii.  No Kremlings allowed

At number 06: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U.  Meanwhile, Cyborg got in trouble for eating Raven's Nachos.

At number 05: NBA K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U, PSP and PC.  Good thing Dennis Rodman didn't screw up this Top 10

At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U.  I'm surprised this game is still doing well with Ghosts coming around the corner

At number 03: Minecraft by Microsoft for the 360.  Wait a minute, Minecraft?  How did that make it onto the Top 10?

At number 02: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS.  Hey wait a minute.  How did that get up there?

And at Number 01: Last of Us by Sony for the PS3.  Nothing more needs to be said.

But what about hardware sales?  Well, it is official.  The 3DS truly overtook the 360.

Nintendo 3DS: 225K
Xbox 360: 140K

Is it a transition, or is something more sinister on the horizon?  Stay tuned for the NPD July 2013 as we bring you more on the NPD fallout.

Works Cited:
Games Industry
NeoGAF

Good bye Darkstalkers?

Folks, it's been awhile since I posted last.  I was at the San Diego Comic-Con enjoying the time there.  I also test drove 4 Wii U titles and 1 3DS title

Super Mario 3D World
Sonic Lost Worlds
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Bayonetta 2

Zelda: A Link Between Two Worlds.

BTW, for those of you who own a Wii U, download Earthbound to the system and check it out.  You will not regret it.

Speaking of Comic-Con, some sad news.  The Darkstalker's franchise, which suppose to have been resurrected, is recently put back in its grave.  Destructoid has this to report

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Capcom is done with Darkstalkers for the foreseeable future, it seems. Speaking with Siliconera at San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom product manager Matt Dahlgren suggested the beloved fighting game franchise is being put on ice following the tepid release of Darkstalkers Resurrrection.

"Darkstalkers Resurrection did not perform as well as we would have liked to perform," Dahlgren lamented, confirming early reports of disappointing sales. "There is nothing Darkstalkers on the immediate horizon for sure," he added, dashing any hope of seeing the long-awaited fourth installment in the series anytime soon.

Dahlgren's words echo those of former Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson. The recently departed executive indicated the title was selling poorly a few months back. Svennson chalked up the lackluster performance to a lack of promotion and the declining popularity of fighting game re-releases. Perhaps a full-fledged sequel might have fared better at market.

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A darn shame.  Really.  I didn't buy the game because I haven't touched my 360 in awhile.  But it still sucks that the Darkstalkers franchise would once again be thrown into the morgue again.  Who knows when the next time we'll see Darkstalkers again.

Works Cited:

Destructoid