Blast From the Past: EA Says PCs Matter, Consoles are Underpowered
My last “Blast From the Past” retro looks back have focused on E3, with a glimpse at N64′s presence at E3 1996 and 1997. Today, in light of the recent EA comments, I’ve decided to look back at another era in the company’s history where parallel thinking was involved.
You see, back in 1985, EA was hard at work promoting PCs as superior to dedicated game consoles.
Wii U is a ‘Crap’ Product, But That’s Not Why It’s Struggling
One of EA Sports’ senior engineers, Bob Summerwill, issued a series of Tweets recently (now removed) that called Wii U “crap,” and went on to say that “Nintendo are walking dead at this point.” It’s a pretty angry rant:
The WiiU is crap. Less powerful than an XBOX360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point. Nintendo are still operating like it’s 1990. They should have “done a Sega” and offered Mario/Zelda as PS4/Durango exclusives. Instead they make this awful console, and this [Wii Street U]. Just stop it! Just make great games!
It is an utterly intentional decision to focus our resources on markets which actually matter … like mobile, and Gen4. Nintendo platforms have always been very poor revenue-wise for third parties. Only Mario and Zelda make money.
All right, so I’m a little amused at the “Gen 4″ comment – didn’t this guy just acknowledge that there was a games market in 1990, more than five console generations ago? – and I’m a little insulted that he basically just said that the market to which I belong doesn’t “actually matter,” but… let’s humor his “Wii U is crap” comment for a moment, shall we?
This List of the Top 20 Best-Selling Franchises of This Generation Has a Glaring Hole
Ubisoft released a list of the top 20 best-selling console franchises of this generation, and you’ll never guess who scored #1. That’s right: Call of Duty, closely followed by Mario and the FIFA series. Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance franchises made #5 and #12, respectively.
However, in classic Industry style, the list leaves out one very significant player in the land of Generation 7. See if you can spot it by clicking below.
Assassin’s Creed Movie Due May 2015
It’s been over half a year since Ubisoft announced they’d struck a deal to create an Assassin’s Creed movie. Now, 20th Century Fox has set a release date for the film: May 22, 2015 – otherwise known as Memorial Day. That’s around the time of the release of The Avengers 2.
As previously reported, the film will star Michael Fassbender, who is also taking on the producer role. The film had once been set for release sometime this year, but apparently those plans fell through.
Source: Box Office Mojo via IGN
See the Technical Magic That Drives Killzone: Shadow Fall
There’s a lot of work that has to go into creating each individual segment of a game, and the Killzone: Shadow Fall demo was particularly intensive in a lot of areas, such as environments and environmental effects. A new technical demo released by Guerrilla Games explores some of the aspects of the demo’s creation, including wind speeds, force field effects, and environment mapping.
Click below to take a look.
Ubisoft: ‘Core Gamers’ are ‘Starving’ for New Consoles
Ubisoft declared that “core gamers are starving” due to the long wait between this-gen and next-gen, saying they’ve gone “8 years without a new console.” It’s actually been only seven years since holiday 2006, but I guess they’re referring to the start of the console generation with Xbox 360 in 2005.
Of course, there are a couple assumptions involved in this statement. First, that “core gamers” only exist on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, not on Wii or Wii U. By “core gamers,” I guess Ubisoft means “people who buy our AAA products,” not people who avidly play games generally. Otherwise, you know, there already is a new console. You know, that one we talk about most of the time? Second, that “core gamers” are actually “starving” for new consoles.
GenGAME Says: Nextbox Edition
The reveal for the next Xbox is exactly three days away, and in anticipation of the big event, we’ve decided to round up our final predictions for Microsoft’s up-and-coming next-gen game box. We’ll be discussing some of the bigger topics, like pricing, mandatory installs and used games policies, as well as some other details like the controller design, user interface, and possibilities for social sharing functions.
Check out our last-minute guesses by clicking below – and feel free to share your own predictions in the comments!
The Elder Scrolls Online Lets You Gather Almost Anything for Crafting
The Elder Scrolls games are always known for bursting at the seams with content to explore, and the new online entry looks like it’s taking that to an extreme. You’ll notice lots of crates and food barrels around the world, and virtually all of them can be harvested and used to craft items – even ones that look like pier decorations.
You’ll also peruse tons of books at the guilds, harvest herbs in the field, encounter magical shards in certain arcane locations, and of course discover hidden treasure chests. Improve your lock-picking skill to nab better gear from those bad boys.
See just how extensive the gathering and crafting system is in the latest trailer.
Gran Turismo 6 Concept Footage Takes to the Track
Gran Turismo 6, like most serious driving sims, is an insanely pretty game. And, like most driving sims, most of what you’ll see out of the game’s footage and screenshots is not so much “game content” per se – though you will see a lot of cars, which I suppose count as content – but a look at just how freaking gorgeous everything is.
The latest trailer is, as you might expect, a visual concept trailer, showing off just how obsessively concerned with detail the development team at Polyphony Digital has been as they’ve worked on the game. Click below to see the game in motion.
Xbox Announcement Event Will ‘Lay the Foundation’ for ‘Tons of Exclusives’ at E3
Lately, there’s been a trend toward making E3 all about games, and saving other announcements – like hardware reveals – for outside events like February’s PlayStation 2013 meeting. Xbox is following suit, with Microsoft’s reveal of their next-gen gaming console set for just three days away, on May 21 at 10am Pacific / 12pm Central. Don’t expect a ton of new games to show up at the announcement – there’ll be a few, to be sure, to showcase the capabilities of the console, but the real showcase will be at E3 a couple weeks later.
Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business head Aaron Greenberg talked about how the company plans to leverage the two events in the latest Major Nelson podcast. Check out his relevant comments by clicking below.
GenGAME Says: May 17 Nintendo Direct Reactions
Another Nintendo Direct has come and gone. This one didn’t bring a whole lot of completely unexpected announcements, but there was a bombshell or two.
I’m sure you all have your own reactions – and we do, too. We’ve gathered to share what we took away from today’s announcements and information in a roundtable discussion. Feel free to comment with your own thoughts as well!
Three Kirby Games Due for Wii U Virtual Console Next Week
Wii U’s set to get a triple-serving of Kirby next week, with the release of three Kirby titles from NES and SNES for Wii U Virtual Console: Kirby’s Dream Land 3, Kirby’s Dream Course and Kirby Super Star. All three games will arrive on Wii U Virtual Console starting May 23.
I think Mr. Iwata’s being a bit self-serving here. I mean, he was in charge of HAL Laboratory, the studio responsible for the Kirby games. Try releasing more of other people’s games, sir!
