Kaz Hirai just needs to stop talking. Everything he says is like an arrogant slap in the face to his customers. His current statement is a CYA on the potential price of PS3 games. The verdict? $60 may be a minimum.
I don’t like the $60 price point of Xbox 360 games, which is why I buy everything off live. Remeber those handful of SNES games that were around $80? I’m pretty sure there’s a reason the price point stays where it is.
[url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/28/how-much-would-you-spend-on-a-ps3-game/]How much would you spend on a PS3 game?[/url]
Gamasutra has an interview with Clint Manny, vice-president of sales and marketing at Gameworks, on how SEGA/Sammy intends to revive the flagging fortunes of the arcade industry in the US. For those of you who don’t know it, Gameworks is basically SEGA’s version of Dave & Busters, a sort of combo sports bar and arcade.
Most of Manny’s points revolve around a lot of the common sense things I noticed about D&B’s the first time I went: The advantage of an “adult Chuck E. Cheese atmosphere,” the benefit of shooting and racing game rigs that cannot be easily reproduced at home, and the glorious prizes. Still, it’s nice to see his take on it, and he has some interesting points on merchandising.
[url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060627/andersen_01.shtml]The Rebirth Of The U.S. Arcade?[/url] (Gamasutra)
1up has an interview with 2142 senior producer Marcus Nilsson (alhtough they are calling it an interview) talking about the game and the new “Titan” mode. Apparently this will revolve around taking control of the battlefield and then bringing it to your opponents on giant floating battleships. Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3151821]Battlefield 2142 preview[/url] (1up)
Games Workshop has apparently licensed the PC games rights for their fantasy (American) football franchise to Cyanide. (Just to be clear, “fantasy” in this case denotes orcs, elves, and losts of over the top violence.) That would be the UK developer for the indie fantasy football game Chaos League, which is similar to Blood Bowl in a lot of ways. My understanding is that Chaos League was a pretty solid game, so hopefully they can do the franchise some justice. I know some guys who are serious Blood Bowl fanatics, keeping the game alive long after its publishing death, so I think they’ll be pretty pleased.
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151768]Prepare for a Blood Bowl[/url]
Two online military shooters are getting content updates this week. Day of Defeat: Source, which I am a huge fan of, is getting two new maps and a new gametype. SOCOM III is also getting a map pack which is free for the next two weeks. After that it will be available from a built-in SOCOM online store, along with future content. The maps will be based on SOCOM II favorites.
[url=http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/6/27/4455]Day of Defeat Source to be updated this Wednesday[/url] (Arstechnica)
[url=http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/socom/maps-online-store-comes-to-socom-3-183685.php]Maps, Online Store Comes to SOCOM 3[/url] (Kotaku)
Call of Duty 2 is getting a mappack on Xbox Live Marketplace on Thursday, too.
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151766]Call of Duty 2 Map Pack Details[/url] (1up)
