Rock Band

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - MTV's "Rock Band" video game took the stage on Tuesday, a new entrant in the fast-growing genre of musical games that could boost the fortunes of the flagging music industry.
More a rock band simulator than a game, the title takes on the hit "Guitar Hero" series that has sold millions and become a cash cow for publisher Activision Inc.
Many retailers opened their doors at midnight so gamers could plunk down $170 for a "Rock Band" bundle that includes the game software and controllers shaped like a guitar, drum set and microphone.
"Rock Band" is the headline act in Viacom unit MTV's plan to spend more than $500 million on games over the next two years as it expands beyond its traditional TV base.
"Rock Band" is the crowning achievement of Harmonix, a Boston-based game studio started by MIT students seeking to make the experience of playing music accessible to the masses.
A partnership with accessory maker Red Octane resulted in the hit formula of "Guitar Hero", but the teams parted ways as Activision bought Red Octane while MTV picked up Harmonix.
"For the first time ever we had the resources to really go for it," Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos told Reuters. "For us it's a dream game. It's really sort of everything we've ever dreamed of doing."
It's a dream many gamers apparently share. The "band in a box" won an average rating of 95 on Metacritic.com, which compiles reviews from different gaming sites and publications.
In "Rock Band," four people can play together on guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Players hit buttons on the guitar or tap drums in sync with notes on-screen. Players can also sing along, karaoke-style. If notes are hit accurately, the song plays properly and the band earns points.
TRANSFORMER
Much as MTV's music videos transformed the industry in the early 1980s, industry executives and analysts said, "Rock Band" may change the way people enjoy music. New songs will be available for download every week, with players able to tailor their game to their favorite genres or bands.
Just as musicians tested the novelty of downloads a few years ago by releasing songs online at the same time as on CD, MTV is working with labels to release playable versions of new tunes alongside their debuts in established formats.
"In 10 years people are going to look at idly listening to music the same way as we look at watching a TV show in black and white," said Geoff Keighley, co-chair of the Game Critics Awards that named "Rock Band" the best game of the industry's annual trade show in July.
Game downloads are attractive to game makers and the music business because they are priced at about $2 -- double the cost of a song from an online store.
"I don't really expect it to be a huge source of income for the industry but it is a positive story when they need one," said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with market research firm IDC.
Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said new songs for "Guitar Hero" will boost profit margins. Activision has sold more than half a million "Guitar Hero" song packs. That's only $3 million in revenue, but it's a highly profitable drop at a time when the overall music bucket is shrinking.
MTV, for its part, aspires to build an iTunes for games.
"We've moved from initial rounds of discussions with the labels to talking about how we can harness this platform to break new artists and to introduce new music from established artists," Paul DeGooyer, vice president of MTV Games, said in an interview.
DRIVERS NEEDED
The music business badly needs growth drivers. Downloads are expected to more than double over the next five years to $3.4 billion -- more than a third of all music revenue -- but that's partly because the industry is contracting, according to a report released Tuesday by JupiterResearch.
For all its grand plans, "Rock Band" is still playing the role of an upstart new act that must meet several challenges.
This year, the game is only available in $170 bundles that are nearly twice as expensive as "Guitar Hero." Individual instruments won't be offered until next year.
There is also the issue of availability. MTV said it would ship more than a million units this year, but "Guitar Hero 3" sold 1.4 million units in its first six days on the market and is enjoying wider brand recognition.
Moreover, "Rock Band" is only available now for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles but there is no release date yet for Nintendo's Wii, which has been the best-selling game console in 2007.
Other game makers aren't expected to sit still, either.
Electronic Arts Inc, which is distributing "Rock Band" under a three-year deal, may jump in with its own music game at some point. While EA books the revenue from each "Rock Band" sale, its share of profits is much lower than if it was publishing its own game.
Asked whether EA was working on its own game, EA Partners general manager David DeMartini praised Harmonix before telling Reuters: "That's not to say that we wouldn't at some point be involved in the genre, as this is a huge genre that hasn't reached full potential. We wouldn't rule anything out."

Fuente: Reuters

Halo 3 al Guitar Hero III

Some Guitar Hero fans have been unhappy with the cost of downloadable songs for the series since its debut on the Xbox 360 earlier this year. Microsoft and Activision are set to silence those complaints for at least one day, as the pair announced that in appreciation to their fans, they will offer the "Mjolnir Mix" of the Halo theme song as a free downloadable track for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on Thanksgiving.
Written and partly performed by Martin O'Donell and Michael Salvatori, the track also features some guitar shredding courtesy of real-life guitar hero Steve Vai. Vai got his start playing with Frank Zappa, has since played with Whitesnake, participated in the guitar-centric G3 tour, and showcased his skills in the 1986 film Crossroads, where he was the devil's surrogate axe-man in a guitar duel for the soul of Ralph Macchio's character.
This is the second time Activision has produced free Guitar Hero III track downloads. The first such offering allowed players to play the game's three boss battles all the way through as standard songs apart from the game's career mode.

Fuente: GameSpot

Ventas de juegos de Square Enix

Les dejo las ventas de Square a nivel global.

Square Enix released the console software sales for the first half of 2007 finacial year (4/1/2007 - 9/30/2007):

Japan

Final Fantasy (PSP) - 140,000
Final Fantasy II (PSP) - 90,000
Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings (NDS) - 530,000
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP) - 520,000
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (NDS) - 360,000
Final Fantasy XII Internation Zodiac Job System (PS2) - 160,000
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) - 710,000
Dragon Quest Sword: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Wii) - 490,000
Itadaki Street DS (NDS) - 410,000
It's a Wonderful World (NDS) - 180,000
DS Style series (NDS) - 70,000

North America

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (NDS) - 70,000
Dawn of Mana (PS2) - 70,000
Final Fantasy (PSP) - 130,000
Final Fantasy II (PSP) - 70,000
Heroes of Mana (NDS) - 30,000

Europe

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSP) - 60,000
Final Fantasy III (NDS) - 450,000
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (NDS) - 100,000
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2) - 170,000
Heroes of Mana (NDS) - 50,000

Fuente: The Magic Box.

El polémico Manhunt 2 llega al senado de los Estados Unidos

Ya había pasado en Europa. Ahora le toca al Senado de los Estados Unidos, quien recomienda incluso, generar nuevos tipos de ratings para los juegos de video.

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers including a Democratic presidential hopeful is calling on the makers of video games to review the industry's ratings system.
In letter to the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the lawmakers complained about its decision to give an "mature" rating Rockstar's "Manhunt 2" game.
Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the game's violent content, which includes "many graphic torture scenes and murders," should have garnered an "adults only" rating.
Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, has long pressed for tougher ratings and has called for a unified ratings system for movies, games and TV shows.
"We ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of 'ultraviolent' video games and the advances in game controllers," the senators wrote. "We have consistently urged parents to pay attention to the ESRB rating system. We must ensure that parents can rely on the consistency and accuracy of those ratings."
Rockstar also makes the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" series of games.

Fuente: Reuters.

Los resultados de GameStop no son los esperados

Fuente: Reuters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - GameStop Corp (GME.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the largest U.S. video game retailer, gave a disappointing profit outlook for the holiday season that overshadowed its strong third-quarter results, sending its stock down sharply on Tuesday.
GameStop said its profit in the fourth quarter would be 95 cents to 97 cents a share. That's higher than the 81 cents it earned in the same period a year ago, but short of analysts' expectation of $1.01, according to Reuters Estimates.
Shares of the company fell to as low as $47.61 before recovering to trade at $50.63, still down 4.45 percent. The stock is still up about 90 percent so far this year as the company secured its position as the last remaining major specialty chain in the $30 billion video game industry.
Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said GameStop could just be setting a low target, rather than seeing any serious weakness in holiday sales. Its per-share profit had beat Wall Street views by a wide margin of 8 cents in the third quarter, and by 5 cents and 3 cents in the two previous periods.
"Given the recent history of beating guidance handily, we would have to believe the company is being conservative," he said in a client note, in which he reiterated his buy rating.
For the third quarter, GameStop said net income more than tripled to $52 million, or 31 cents a share, from $13.6 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street was looking for profit of 23 cents a share, powered by sales of games such as Halo 3 and Madden NFL '08, and Guitar Hero II,
Revenue in the period rose to $1.61 billion from $1.01 billion. New video game software sales rose 59 percent in the quarter, while new hardware sales jumped 149 percent.
Gross margin was 26 percent, short of Bhatia's estimate of 30.5 percent and the year-ago period's 31.2 percent. He attributed the shortfall to higher sales of hardware and new video game consoles -- such as Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) popular Wii and the Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 -- which usually lead to strong software sales.

GameStop, whose rivals include mainstream retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said it opened 181 new stores in the quarter and closed just 12, and now operates over 5,000 globally.
In addition, it expected to reach the upper end of its goal of opening 500 to 550 stores this year.
The Grapevine, Texas-based retailer sees comparable store sales in the fourth quarter up about 7 percent to 9 percent.

Fuente: Reuters.

El PS3 gana al Wii en ventas esta semana

Al parecer, la estrategia de Sony está dando frutos:

The new model PlayStation 3 landed in Japan on November 11, coming with fewer USB ports, a 40GB hard drive, no backward compatibility, a cheaper price tag of 39,980 yen (approx $341), and a new colour--ceramic white.
The move seems to have paid off for Sony as hardware sales figures from Media Create for the week of November 5-11 show the PS3 outselling the Wii for the first time, with sales of Sony's console having tripled week on week.
The PS3 sold 55,924 units last week, compared to the Wii's 34,546. The handhelds remained on top of the charts, with the DS Lite selling 78,854 and the PlayStation Portable 58,964 respectively. Bringing up the rear were the PlayStation 2, with 9,043 units, and the Xbox 360 with 5,817 units.
Last week's figures showed the Xbox 360 experiencing a surge in sales due to the release of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which helped move 17,673 systems. The DS Lite reigned with 78,552, followed by the PSP with 59,714, and the Wii with 37,617. The PS3 sold 17,434, and the PS2 10,209.

Fuente: GameSpot.

México, una gran mercado para el consumo de los videojuegos

Excelente artículo de GameSpot.

Gaming in major territories like the US, Japan, and Europe has been growing rapidly with the latest generation of consoles, and a new report from Americas News Intelligence says that Mexico is expanding right alongside its international counterparts.
According to the report, the Mexican game industry's rapid expansion could see it reach $1 billion in annual revenues by the end of the decade. Last year, the country's gaming market totaled almost $515 million, with 2007's haul projected at almost $670 million, and 2008's total estimated at more than $818 million.
"The results of our research flies in the face of the image of Mexico as an insignificant consumer market plagued with piracy," the report's lead analyst, Phung Pham, said in a statement. "There is a booming gamer population and despite problems with piracy, a substantial level of legitimate business. And video game publishers are finally starting to take note."
One of the reasons given for the growth is that it is partly due to a cultural phenomenon. Pham and his coauthors point to the rising average age of marriage in the country as one significant factor. According to the report, since 1995 the average age of marriage has risen from 20 to 25 for women, and from 23 to 28 for men. They note that in Mexico, it's common for young adults to live with their parents until they get married, which means money that would have been spent on housing can instead go toward discretionary purchases. As the average age of marriage increases, the number of years during which each customer can spend more on games and less on starting a family increases.

Fuente: Gamespot.

Hackers descubren escenas de extrema violencia en Manhunt 2

Fuente: Diario TI

El juego Manhunt 2 fue retrasado debido a sus escenas de gran violencia, que el fabricante se vio obligado a eliminar en la versión definitiva. Sin embargo, las escenas borradas continúan presentes en el juego. Diario Ti: La polémica empresa de videojuegos Rockstar Studios ha concentrado gran atención con su nuevo juego Manhunt 2.
El juego se retrasó debido a que el fabricante fue obligado a eliminar escenas de violencia que implicarían que el juego sería clasificado como apropiado únicamente para adultos, de forma que empresas como Sony y Nintendo optarían por no distribuirlo. Sin embargo, el retraso parece haber sido en vano.La compañía responsable de Rockstar Studios, Take-Two Interactive, confirmó que existe un hack que puede activar las escenas censuradas. De hecho, las escenas no fueron eliminadas por el fabricante, sino ocultadas mediante un bloqueo de software.Esta situación podría llevar nuevamente el caso a las autoridades estadounidenses de clasificación de material audiovisual, que anteriormente han debido llamar la atención al fabricante de juegos. Esto ocurrió cuando el éxito de ventas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, incluyó una escena pornográfica, “Hot Coffee", que también podía ser activada con un hack.La versión revisada de Manhunt 2 ha obtenido la clasificación M (Mature), que la prohíbe para niños menores de 17 años. Sin embargo, las escenas desbloqueadas podrían implicar que el juego reciba definitivamente la clasificación AO (Adults Only), que implicaría que muchos distribuidores sencillamente optarían por no venderlo. Manhunt 2 ya ha sido prohibido en Gran Bretaña e Irlanda.

Fuente: Diario TI

Listos los primeros packs de GH III

Ya están disponibles dos paquetes de rolas para descargarse en GH3, los dos packs son:
Pack Foo Fighters: contiene The Pretender, All My Life y This is a Call.
Pack de Velvet Revolver: con She Builds Quick Machines, Slither y Messages
Así que si eres fan de cualquiera de estos grupos, ve y compra por 500 MP cada uno, también estan disponibles para la versión de PS3.

Fuente: Atomix.

¡Gracias a tí!

Hola,

Gracias a tí llegamos a los 100 posts!! Espero sigas apoyando este proyecto.

Atentamente,

El equipo de Game Nuker.

La nueva plataforma de N-Gadge se retrasa...

Fuente: Afterdawn.com

Nokia has announced that their relaunch of the failed N-Gage platform will be delayed until at least December as the company works on finalizing the software for the online-enabled service. Nokia's new OVI brand will incorporate music, gaming, GPS, photography and other online-enabled features including N-Gage functions. "N-gage is coming in December. Software testing is taking a bit more time than what we had expected," said Kari Tuutti, spokesperson for Nokia. The N-Gage service, which allows players to download demos, connect to other players, as well access other gaming features and read reviews will have games created by Gameloft and Electronic Arts when it goes live.

Fuente: Afterdawn.com

Las ventas de Guitar exceden los 115 mmd!!!

Fuente: Planet Xbox.

Activision have announced that consumer sell through for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock exceeded $115 million within seven days of the game’s North American release, making it the largest single product launch in the company’s history. The game was released on October 28, 2007, and will launch in Europe on November 23, 2007.The Guitar Hero franchise has remained the #1 best-selling franchise in the U.S. through September, according to the NPD Group. The franchise has sold more than six million units worldwide to date, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk.Guitar Hero has expanded well beyond video games and is one of the biggest entertainment franchises in the marketplace today. The release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock marks the franchise’s debut on Playstation 3 and Wii from Nintendo, making it the only music based game on all console platforms.Competitively, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is set to significantly widen its lead in the market with strong early consumer response well in advance of the holiday season, an unprecedented global supply of product, record retail support with more than 30,000 in-store kiosks, an unparalleled number of music tracks, a highly competitive price point and the only game in its genre available worldwide.“Guitar Hero III is the game that everyone is talking about. It is the only video game to make the Toys "R" Us Hot Toy list for 2007 and Toy Wishes’ Hot Dozen 2007, which forecast the most popular holiday gifts of the season. Despite having significantly increased our production capabilities for the holiday, there is still a high likelihood that we will not be able to meet demand for this game on every platform,” stated Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO, Activision, Inc.Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will offer a robust slate of new downloadable online content. The title’s first video game song pack, The Interscope Soundtrack Pack, was released at launch exclusively for the Xbox 360 and includes songs from Marilyn Manson, AFI and Flyleaf. In November, Activision will release three new downloadable video game song packs for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Each downloadable pack contains three individual songs.Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock includes explosive new content and features including a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a host of exclusive unlockable content and visually stunning rock venues. Expanded online multiplayer game modes allow consumers worldwide to compete head-to-head for true legendary rock status. For the first time ever, Guitar Hero fans are also able to thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform. The game features a star-studded soundtrack including master tracks by such legendary artists as Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones, Beastie Boys and Pearl Jam as well as original songs by guitar icons Slash and Tom Morello. The sequel also offers downloadable content from some of the most popular European bands.Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.

Fuente: Planet Xbox.

Guitar Hero III

Hola a todos,
Les informo, el GHIII finalmente se encuentra a la venta en tierras mexicanas, aparentemente existen dos versiones del juego, una con la guitarra inalámbrica, y otra con la guitarra alámbrica; el segundo tiene un precio en tiendas especializadas de 1090 pesotes.
Ahora, recuerdan que se apuntaron a la página de GHIII, pues la actividad ya comenzó, los grupos que se armaron suman puntos llevando a los grupos a obtener groupies levantar status, y competir en cuanto a marcadores y achievements contra todos los jugadores, y me refiero a todos, pues en esta página concentran los marcadores de los jugadores de Wii, PS2, PS3 y 360.
Así que pongan el nombre de México muy en alto que vamos contra el mundo raza!!!

Sony y su nueva estrategia.

Last Thursday Sony released its financial report for the first quarter in their fiscal year, and while losses in their games division totaled ¥96.7 billion ($847.6 million), the profits for the company overall were strong at ¥90.5 billion ($793.4 million). Based on its first quarter, Sony has released guidance for the remainder of the fiscal year. According to Reuters, Sony figures that its games division will double its expected losses, from ¥50 billion to ¥100 billion.
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Considering that Sony has already lost the vast majority of that sum in the first quarter of the year, the game unit needs to be at break even or become profitable in the coming months if Sony hopes to avoid upping the loss estimates again. So how does Sony plan to turn things around so quickly?
Sony has already announced the launch of a lower-priced 40GB PlayStation 3 that has taken backwards compatibility out of the feature list, a move that has allowed Sony to both drop the price and the cost of the unit. As Sony continues to refine the production costs of its hardware with lower-priced components the burden of the hardware being a loss-leader will lessen.
Sony also has recently seen the launch of two high-profile games in Eye of Judgment and Ratchet and Clank Future, titles that have been well received by critics and have the bonus of being published by Sony itself. If those games, along with the future Sony-published titles Gran Turismo 5 and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, are hits, Sony could gain back some needed momentum. Sony will also enjoy the only version of Rock Band to ship with a wireless guitar, along with exclusives in Haze and Metal Gear Solid 4. Add in a strong business in full-sized downloadable titles as well, a key advantage Sony has over Microsoft when it comes to distribution, and the future looks bright.
Sony's more open online service also allows for Unreal Tournament 3 to support user-created modifications, which may cause gamers to make the PlayStation 3 the system of choice for Epic's new shooter. These games and features are all in the future though, so we're dealing with best-case scenarios at this point.
This uncertain future hasn't affected Sony's other businesses however, as the company is now estimating a 5 percent operating profit margin in their electronics division, up from the expected four percent. Sony continues to do brisk business in both high-definition televisions and digital cameras, and the profits from those products easily swallow what Sony hopes to be short-term gaming losses.
Investors don't seem worried about Sony's prospects, as last week's earnings caused stock to jump on the Tokyo Stock Exchange; Sony shares are now trading at ¥5,720, up from the sub-¥5,200 price before last Thursday.

Todo se mueve vertiginosamente!!

Hola a todos, Estas últimas semanas han estado algo pesadas, y espero todavía quede alguien interesado en leer estas líneas. El mundo no para... Y definitivamente yo no soy alguien para permitirlo. ¿Qué voy a hacer al respecto? Simple, me convertiré en un repositorio más de notas... No al estilo de un Google Reader. Pero si omitiré el pequeño detalle de traducir aquellas notas que sean importantes. Espero este cambio les caiga bien y como siempre estoy dispuesto a escuchar sus comentarios y sugerencias.

El PS3 sustituye Súper Computadoras

Según la revista Wired, el Dr. Gaurav Khanna de la Universidad de Massachusetts instaló un cluster de 8 Playstations 3 para poder simular "ondas gravitacionales" que se generan cuando una estrella se colapsa y es absorbida por un hoyo negro.

En investigaciones previas, el Dr. Khanna llegó a pagar hasta $5,000 USD para que una súper computadora le diera el poder de procesamiento. Ahora, Sony le regaló las consolas. Y aunque no se las hubiera regalado, el costo hubiera sido inferior.

fuente: Wired

Street Fighter IV

Se ha publicado en el portal de Capcom un video estilo "Trailer" de lo que será el nuevo Street Fighter IV. les dejo la liga para que le echen un ojo:

Street Fighter IV Official Trailer 1http://www.gamespot.com/video/0/6181186/street-fighter-iv-official-trailer-1

Aún no hay más información. Los mantendré al tanto.

Cheers!!!

Mis primeras impresiones de XNA

Hola a todos,

Finalmente, pude hacerme tiempo para terminar de instalar el XNA. Setrata de un framework en .NET montado sobre Visual C#. Aún no he tenido tiempo de meterme al coding, pero se ve bastante decente.Necesito terminar de seguir revisando la documentación, pero con esto, podemos desarrollar juegos de low a medium level. Lo comento, porque con este esquema de ninguna manera estaremos haciendo un juego como el Bioshock o el Gears of War. Pero si algo decente. Creo que nos debemos centrar más en lo adictivo del juego que en las gráficas.

Square Enix recomienda a Sony cambiar su marketing

El presidente de Square Enix, Yoichi Wada dijo a la agencia de noticias Reuters que recomienda a Sony cambiar la estrategia de marketing del PS3, ya que en un principio se planteó a la consola como un sistema de entretenimiento sofisticado, y aunque tecnologicamente lo és, no cumple en realidad con todo un sistema de medios para lograrlo.

Yoichi considera que esto confundió a los consumidores.

La liga de la nota completa aquí: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2007-09-07T130012Z_01_T370622_RTRUKOC_0_US-SONY-PS3-SQUARE-ENIX.xml&src=nl_ustechnology

El PS3 a prueba de todo!!

Un grupo de personas del sitio PS3 Vault se les ocurrió la brillante idea, y digo brillante porque así lo fue, de poner a prueba el PS3 tanto en temperaturas normales, bajas y altas. El resultado fue que nunca falló el PS3. Les dejo la liga:

http://www.ps3vault.com/how-to-kill-a-ps3-console-1975