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Acclaim boss David Perry has stated that Sony has no chance of making a worthwhile profit from the PlayStation 3 after selling the consoles at a loss. Putting the cost of the PS3 into perspective, Perry claims that Sony has lost more money on the system so far than it made during the PlayStation 2's entire five year sales peak. "Because of the cost of making the PlayStation 3 and because they sold it at a loss, Sony basically has pretty much no chance of making money on the PS3, because it's lost more money than they made during the entire peak of the PlayStation 2 - it's not going to happen again for Sony," stated Perry. "If they release the PlayStation 4 and have an even more expensive console and raise the cost of games by ten dollars, that would not be good." Perry also suggested that Sony's famous "ten-year plan" was merely a way for Sony to claw back development costs -- that the company has been forced to make the PlayStation 3 last ten years rather than do so out of pure choice. David Perry, of course, is a fool. Everybody knows that once Home is released, the PS3 will sell eighteen thousand million billion PlayStation 3 consoles in America alone. The reason for the ten-year plan is because it'll take a decade for Home to be released.
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If you're a British game pirate, take note -- the industry is out on the prowl, and its prey is your hairy, quivering arse. Several videogame companies in the UK are mounting an offensive against people obtaining their games illegally via the Internet with an eye to netting some nice, fat, out-of-court payments. [British developers] will serve notice on 25,000 people across the UK, requiring each one to pay £300 immediately to settle out of court. Those who refuse risk being taken to court. The companies will target their initial legal actions on 500 people who ignore the letters. The companies behind this assault are Atari, Codemasters, Topware Interactive, Techland and Reality Pump. Just yesterday, we posted a story about Topware and its lawyers netting over £16,000 from one woman who was illegally sharing a pinball game. If all these companies can continue reaping such rewards, then videogame piracy may be the best thing to happen to the UK games industry in years. How ironic.
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Looks like Microsoft PR is weighing in on Too Human now, which is shocking since Silicon Knights was doing such a fine job on their own. Showing its support for the "trilogy" by comparing it to other famous trilogies (which actually are trilogies because they actually have three installments, actually actually) such as the original Star Wars movies and the Lord of the Rings. Microsoft Game Studios and Silicon Knights are committed to finishing the first instalment, but Too Human is an overarching epic with a rich and vast game universe that cannot be told in one instalment. This game will begin the saga of the god Baldur in the narrative tradition of classic trilogies, such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. We will talk about the full trilogy and we are very excited about its potential.
I am getting really sick of this arrogant, presumptuous attitude not just from SK and Microsoft, but from all sorts of developers and publishers. Just SAYING a game is an epic trilogy doesn't make it so -- you have to make the game worth something before you can claim it's comparable to "classic trilogies." You can't bottle the magic of a famous trilogy. It's something that just happens, and if you decide before you've even started that you will create that magic from scratch, you will fail. The first Too Human took ten years to make, and they couldn't even make it look good in demo form. To say that is the foundation of a classic trilogy is a twisted joke. It's never wise to make definitive predictions in this business, but if there is one thing I can say with the fullest confidence, it's this -- Too Human will never, never ever ever, never be to videogames what Star Wars is to movies. Also, Too Human isn't a trilogy until three games exist. End of story.
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A few days back we posted a story about an Xbox Live user who found himself charged a year's Gold service for the two months that he hadn't paid for, effectively being forced to hand $50 over simply to use the Silver service. The overcharged gamer, known by his gamertag of ForceTrainer, has updated The Consumerist with news that Microsoft has fixed the issue. ForceTrainer spoke with a man called James who wasn't the stereotypical smug support staff that was portrayed in his last story. James explained that because his situation was unique, ForceTrainer fell victim to an honest mistake: I absolutely believe that James was sincere in his evaluation of the situation, and his point that decline states don't occur often with annual accounts means that the CSR I talked to may have never had that exact situation before. While that doesn't mean that what the CSR did was right, mistakes happen and MS worked quickly to fix the mistake. James said that they will make sure to address this in training with their CSRs. Whether that happens or not I don't know, but the fact that they called me directly speaks volumes.
Certainly a huge turnaround from the last time we met ForceTrainer, but from my experience, I wouldn't find it indicative of Microsoft's notorious Xbox support staff. Was it a sincere gesture, or more the power of publicity?
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Wow. I thought news of the Xbox 360 actually outselling a Japanese console in Japan was crazy enough, but now there’s word from Microsoft Japan (viewable in full after the jump) that the sudden upsurge in sales caused by Tales of Vesperia has actually drained the region of all its dust-covered Xbawkes. Currently, the Xbox 360 is sold out, and retailers are unable to restock their supply. This is a result of our own sales targets being exceeded by the actual customer sales. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers, retailers and business partners.
Clearly this sales spike surprised Microsoft Japan just as much as it did everyone else, as they didn’t have any extra consoles ready to send out to retailers besides the small stack in the downstairs janitorial closet. While they’ve promised to crank up production the next shipment of Pro units won’t be ready until September, although small shipments of Elites and Arcade models will be sent out regularly to try and satiate the crowds of Japanese gamers that just have to get their hands on the latest RPG.
Hopefully Microsoft Japan has learned their lesson and will have a few more units ready for when Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and The Last Remnant release, as I’m sure there will be a similar situation.
view full story + comments
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Greatest "Meet the" video yet. We preview the first 15 minutes of Castle Crashers, the Godfather sequel has made Rev sad, Dyson reviewed Bionic Commando: Rearmed, BioShock is coming this October for the PS3, Dead Rising for the Wii looks like crap, and plenty more happened on Tuesday. Tuesday Regulars: Games time forgot: The Ship RetRose Tinted: Blaster Master Game Debate to the Death! Excitebike VS Punch-Out!! Original Features: Exclusive: The first 15 minutes of The Behemoth's Castle Crashers BREAKING: Jon Blow wearing maroon colored T-shirt right now! The Hulk Hogan clan vs. R3Y the gamer The Great Retro Olympics!: 200 meter freestyle Dear Godfather sequel: you broke my heart FaceBreaker developer Q&A with Lead Designer Todd Batty Destructoid Reviews: Bionic Commando: Rearmed Previews: EA Showcase 08: Hands-on with Monopoly for the Wii EA Showcase 08: MySims Kingdom impressions EA Showcase 08: SimCity Creator impressions. CURVY ROADS CONFIRMED! A week of Dead Space: Signs from the Ishimura News: Xbox 360 beats PlayStation 3 in Japan: Microsoft thanks its flying pig division Dirty Japanese erotica for your Xbox 360: Bad boy, filthy boy, in your bed! Crytek quits whining about piracy, talks Xbox '720' Too Human haters 'don't get it' according to Dyack LEGO serious about MMO, WoW players line up to cancel accounts I Am Alive is now a franchise, apparently Xbox 360 Blu-ray support could still happen Game sharer charged over 16,000 pounds for a pinball game DragonForce Track Pack coming for Legends of Rock Nintendo 'disappointed' by E3 showing ... they weren't the only ones Ubisoft is kicking ass, possibly splitting stock NPD: 174 million gamers in the US Home to get an 'adults only' section? 32% of industry growth in 2008 is from music games Game store burglars ask cops for a ride home BioShock PS3 confirmed for release October 21st ESA picks up a former RIAA executive Mega Man III now available on mobile phones Warhammer Online: Get your former employees out of my credits Galleries: New Afrika details, pictures, and Japanese release date BatGirl revealed in LEGO Batman Trailers & Videos: Dead Rising Wii looks stunningly gorgeous ... to Stevie Wonder More House of the Dead lurching onto the Wii with brilliant trailer Pre-order Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, get Banjo-Kazooie on XBLA for free The African savanna never looked so good: Latest Far Cry 2 trailer Team Fortress 2: Meet the Sandvich Cutey McCutersons presents: a new Elebits DS trailer New Resident Evil 5 Leipzig trailer now online Offbeat: Wii Sqweeze is designed to pump you up
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Last week's PS2 platformer debate brought out various different opinions from readers, with a healthy amount of fan support from all sides. While there was one clear winner, there was a vicious fight for second place, with a single deciding vote preventing it from finishing as a tie. Here are the close results: - 1st: Ratchet & Clank series (42 votes) -- Winner!
- 2nd: Sly Cooper series (22 votes)
- 3rd: Jak & Daxter series (21 votes)
This week, not only do I feel like starting some retro debates, but I'd also like to rekindle an element of these debates we haven't visited in a while. I used to enjoy debates between two games that aren't very similar. Discussions that force you to think outside the box, consider all the pros and cons of each game, and compare and contrast them in a way that really makes you think about why you did or didn't enjoy a certain game. With debates like these, it's not good enough to just vote with your gut -- it forces you to be more analytical and think like a game designer. It's my opinion that you should be able to compare any two games to each other no matter how drastically different they are in their nature. For tonight we'll start off simple though, with Excitebike and Punch-Out!! -- two sports games with completely different gameplay styles. Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some NES friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner and an even odder Retro debate matchup. Bonus Question: What other NES retro games would you like to see fight to the death in a debate?
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