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Kinect Gearing Up for Japanese Launch
Nov 18th
It is well known that Microsoft has not had the most successful sales figures when it comes to the Xbox 360 in Japan. Though popular titles such as Ace Combat have been instrumental in moving consoles, the PS3 and Wii are well ahead of the Xbox in the Land of the Rising Sun. The Kinect though, could change that, says Xbox Japan boss Takashi Sensui.
“It’s been two or three years since I first became aware of the Kinect project, but it seems a lot quicker than that,” he told Famitsu magazine in this week’s issue [via 1UP]. “Back when it was still Project Natal, I remember being taken to a corner of the U.S. headquarters without being told what it was — just ‘Here, come try this for a bit.’ I’ll never forget what a shock it was — I couldn’t believe it at first. I said ‘This kind of thing actually exists?!’ I figured it’d be a very, very long time before it could be a consumer product, so looking at it that way; we’ve gone really far in the space of a few years. That first prototype cost about $30,000 by itself, so it’s definitely a better value now!”
“To be honest, the Kinect response from Japanese creators was a lot bigger than I expected,” he said. “I think they, in particular, quickly got a grasp on how controller-free gaming could be taken advantage of; it really fueled their imaginations, and that’s made us happy as well. They really feel like they can create a whole new type of play with the games they’re developing. The games we announced at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, like Grasshopper’s Codename D and Capcom’s Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, serve to prove that.”
“We’re thinking first and foremost about games that provide a whole new style of play to gamers,” he said, “and having developers make those sorts of games might take a little time. To be honest, the lineup may not be as expansive as the rest of our retail library. However, something I’ve felt as I played the launch titles is that Kinect games tend to be enjoyed by users for relatively longer than other titles. The experience itself is fresh, but the games themselves tend to get played for relatively longer, too. I think that because of that, Kinect owners won’t feel that there is a lack of games to choose from.”
The main question remains though… can the Kinect succeed? “I’d like all Xbox 360 users to play with it,” Sensui commented, “because the Kinect experience isn’t something you can bring back to previous games. Still, I think we’ll see how quickly the Kinect is being adopted by around a year after launch. The launch will have its impact on the industry, but I think the Kinect is going to take longer to reach a wider base of people. It’s a new game system, so I think word-of-mouth among players will be what drives more purchases here.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops Shatters 5-Day Sales Record with $650 Million, Sets Xbox Live Record Too
Nov 18th
Following the initial announcement about Black Ops selling 5.6 million units and generating $360 million on day one, today Activision Blizzard provided an update on the record breaking entertainment launch. The game managed to generate $650 million worldwide in just five days, breaking the previous five-day record held by Modern Warfare 2 ($550 million). Analysts have said it would hit $1 billion this holiday season, so it looks like the game is certainly headed there.
“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. “The title’s success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment as millions of consumers are choosing to play Call of Duty: Black Ops at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media. The number of people playing online and the number of hours they are playing demonstrates how online gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment and certainly validates Activision Blizzard’s leadership role in online entertainment.”
“There are many reasons for the success of Black Ops, but first and foremost is the fact that our team at Treyarch delivered a truly awesome game, and in the process have established themselves as one of the most talented developers in the world,” added Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing. ”There are millions of people all over the world engaging in this community. It’s our job to keep them coming back for more.”
Activision also confirmed what the real number of Xbox Live players online was, although it wasn’t as high as we had observed. With more than 2.6 million unique gamers playing Black Ops in one day on November 9 and over 5.9 million multiplayer hours logged by the end of launch day, the game established itself as the new king of Xbox Live.
“With a record breaking performance on Xbox LIVE, home to the world’s largest Call of Duty gaming community, Call of Duty: Black Ops has already carved out its legacy as one of the biggest video games in history,” said Don Mattrick, president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. “We congratulate our partners at Activision and Treyarch and are proud to continue offering the best Call of Duty experience to our 25 million global Xbox LIVE members by launching all Call of Duty map packs first on Xbox 360.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops Driving ‘Unprecedented Traffic’ to PSN, says Sony
Nov 18th
The shooter category is largely associated with the Xbox 360 console, and previous games likeModern Warfare 2 and Halo: Reach have posted some incredible numbers on Xbox Live. And while today Activision noted that Black Ops set a new record with over 2.6 million players on Xbox Live for day one, Sony has noted that the game also pushed a huge spike in traffic for the PlayStation Network.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops has been an incredible success on PlayStation 3,” said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA). “Treyarch’s latest efforts are driving unprecedented traffic to the PlayStation Network with the flagship online experience this holiday season.”
Sony stopped short of providing actual player data, and we’d guess that the numbers are a good deal lower than what’s been seen on Xbox Live so far. In terms of sales for the game, an actual SKU breakdown hasn’t been provided, but we’d also guess that the Xbox 360 version of Black Opsis outselling the PS3 version.
Fallout MMO Rights Were Turned Down By Bethesda
Oct 26th
According to Interplay president Eric Caen, Bethesda Softworks had the chance to own the rights to a Fallout MMO, but declined. In an interview with Edge Magazine, Caen accused Bethesda of trying to obtain the rights without playing.
“Hervé [Caen] started negotiations with Bethesda to sell Fallout to them,” explained Eric Caen. “My brother said: ‘If you want the full IP, the value of it is $50 million.’ They said: ‘No way. Why $50 million?’ We said: ‘Because the MMOG strength of this universe is huge.’ Bethesda said: ‘We don’t want that. Let’s buy everything else but the MMOG. Do the MMOG.’ They said that Interplay had to start development and by a certain time we had to have a full game in development.”
In September of 2009, Bethesda sued Interplay for breach of contract, alleging that the developer had breached their contract by not starting on development of the MMO and attempting to sell the original Fallout titles. A Maryland court denied Bethesda’s injunction in December of 2009, and the publisher appealed the decision a month later. Interplay fired back with its own counter-suit in February of 2010. Bethesda dropped their appeal in April, but Interplay still continues to pursue their counter-claim.
Caen believes Bethesda wanted to use legal strong-arming to get the rights once they realized how profitable it could be.
“They bought everything, but left Interplay with the license to do the MMOG – under certain conditions, thinking that Interplay would never fulfil these conditions. But Interplay did. Spring 2009 – this is public information – Bethesda sends a termination letter to Interplay, saying: ‘You did not fulfil your obligation.’ So all the litigation is about that. I think Bethesda, off the back of Fallout 3’s success, realised that Hervé was probably right about the value. They said: ‘OK, how can we get that without paying?’”
Call of Duty: Black Ops Coming to Steam
Oct 26th
Valve will be bringing Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops to Steam subscribers through Steamworks at launch, it has been announced. Valve plans to bring Black Ops to all of its 30 million subscribers for the PC and Mac platforms.
“We are delighted to be delivering the year’s most anticipated title with Black Ops to PC gamers around the world,” said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. “We’ve collaborated with the development team to leverage the Steamworks suite of services to deliver the highest level of service to Call of Duty: Black Ops PC customers.”
“Steam has been a great partner throughout development of Black Ops,” said Mark Lamia, president of Treyarch. “We’re working closely together to take full advantage of Steamworks to ensure we deliver the most polished and secure PC experience that our community deserves.”
Black Ops is currently available for pre-purchase via Steam.
Platinum Games Open to Continuing Sega Partnership
Oct 26th
The release of Vanquish marks the end of a four-game publishing deal between Platinum Games and Sega, but Platinum has no problem extending the partnership. Platinum executive producer Atasushi Inaba says that talks with Sega are ongoing, but he made it clear that Platinum is open to a continued partnership.
“Yes you’re correct, we have made the four titles in our contract,” Inaba said in response to a question about the future of their deal (the other three games in the deal were MadWorld, Infinite Space, and Bayonetta). “The partnership has been great, and we are in talks with Sega now, but there’s nothing concrete we can say about it at the moment.”
“When we created Platinum Games, we of course talked to a lot of publishers, and Sega offered us the most freedom to develop games. I think the partnership has been great, and I’m really grateful for their support,” he explained. “For the future of our partnership, of course, it’s not something that we alone can decide. Sega has its stance, and we have ours, but if Sega asks us to make something we might take the offer.”
What those “stances” mean isn’t totally clear at this point, but Platinum was happy to have creative freedom as part of the deal with Sega at the cost of the rights to any IP. To Platinum, it “was a fair deal,” but “we would like to eventually be a company that owns its IPs.”
That dream is not a stipulation with the proposed extension at this point, but it could be in Platinum’s future.
[Thanks Develop]
Nintendo Sells Over 65 Million Wii Remotes in U.S., Makes Remote Plus New Standard
Oct 26th
Nintendo of America today announced that more than 65.3 million Wii Remote controllers have been sold in the U.S. so far. Since the Wii console launched in November 2006, Nintendo has sold an average of 46,000 Wii Remote controllers per day. Nintendo commented that “this demonstrates that Wii owners like to play and they like to play together. They’re not the stereotypical gamers playing alone in their parents’ basement.”
Nintendo, according to NPD data, has also sold an additional 52.9 million Nunchuk controllers in the U.S. through the end of September.
For the regular Wii Remote controllers, here’s how the 65.3 million breaks down:
- 30.41 million included with the Wii hardware
- 12.92 million sold with Wii Play
- 18.56 million white versions sold separately
- 2.44 million black versions sold separately
- 467,500 pink versions sold separately
- 465,200 blue versions sold separately
On November 7, Nintendo will also start selling the new Wii Remote Plus controller, which “replaces the iconic Wii Remote controller.” Nintendo said it will becomes the new standard Wii controller, and will be included in all Wii hardware packages and bundles, as well as sold separately at a suggested retail price of $39.99.
Facebook Apps, Banned LOLapps Games Transmitted Private User Data
Oct 19th
The Wall Street Journal reported that its investigation of Facebook apps found that many of the most popular titles have been transmitting identifying user information to dozens of advertising and internet tracking companies.
The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, according to the story that appeared this evening in the lead spot on the Wall Street Journal’s web site. The apps are not only transmitting the names of app users to the advertisers, but also the names of their friends in some cases. The problem affects users who have set their profiles to be completely private, and the practice breaks Facebook’s rules on privacy, the Journal said.
Acknowledging the problem, a Facebook spokesman said Sunday that the company is taking steps to dramatically limit the exposure of users’ personal information. The story indicates this privacy breach may be why all of the apps built by LOLapps, which has 150 million Facebook users, were banned over the weekend. The Journal found that all of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook were transmitting users’ IDs to outside companies.
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Sets Pre-Order Records for Ubisoft
Oct 19th
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is well on the way to becoming a major success for Ubisoft, as the publisher made mention that the game has already set a record for the company. The game has surpassed all other Ubisoft titles to become the top selling pre-order game for Ubisoft, although the exact number of pre-orders was not revealed.
“Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is being heralded by the press as a single and multiplayer experience unlike any other,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft. “As evidenced by the record number of pre-orders and the success of the multiplayer beta, consumers can‘t wait to get their hands on Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and we’re looking forward to delivering them an experience they’ll never forget.”
To compensate for the increased pre-orders, Ubisoft is working with retailers to host an unprecedented amount of midnight releases in locations across the globe.
The franchise has already gone on to sell 19 million units worldwide, and Brotherhood hopes to expand into the multiplayer territory for the first time.
Brotherhood comes out November 16 in the U.S. for the 360, PS3 and early 2011 for the PC.
Microsoft Reportedly Spending Half a Billion Dollars on Kinect Campaign
Oct 19th
As was already revealed by Microsoft as part of its Kinect launch games announcement, the company has managed to secure important Kinect appearances on both Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres as it looks to reach out to a very wide, mainstream demographic (similar to the Wii). That’s just the beginning of the campaign, however, as the New York Post notes that Microsoft is spending around $500 million to ensure that Kinect hits the ground running.
Microsoft has repeatedly likened the launch of Kinect to that of a new console, and indeed, they spent around $500 million back in 2000 marketing the first Xbox. The massive marketing budget will be devoted to a number of interesting initiatives, including a Times Square event and billboards, a Youtube front page takeover, deals with Burger King, Pepsi, Time magazine, and more. Commercials for the Kinect platform are also expected to air during ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and Fox’s “Glee.”
“Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than its launch,” said Robert Matthews, general manager of global marketing communications for Xbox. “We are going to be spending millions to launch this globally.”
