Nintendo have issued a statement in response to the score of zero it received from Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics.” Nintendo believe the low score is completely unwarranted, citing its “Green Procurement Standards” and compliance with worldwide regulations. Surprisingly they do not mention their Recycling program or the Wii’s low power consumption in their rebuttal. Check after the jump for Nintendo’s statement.
The European Commission has awarded the same tax breaks the film industry receives to game developers. The move came after the French governments lobbied for the changes. Developers whose games meet the criteria of “quality, originality and contribution to cultural diversity” are eligible to receive a 20% tax break. Current estimates of this year’s games predict that about half of them would be eligible to receive the break.
It goes without saying that this move represents another gradual step towards games being recognized as an artistic medium.
In the time you spend reading this post, one Nintendo DS will be sold, according to a press release from Nintendo America. Selling 6 million units in November alone, the DS is poised to be crowned the most popular system of 2007. According to George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communication:
There’s no letup in sight…Nintendo DS appeals strongly to both core and casual gamers, and its momentum is set to propel us into 2008
via ShackNews
A recent ad for a Call of Duty level designer has pointed to what many believe to be a return of the game to the World War II genre for the fifth installment of the franchise. The ad in question asks for applicants who are “a fan of World War II shooters.” No doubt we will hear from developer, Treyarch very soon regarding this info.
via Voodoo Extreme
BioShock cleaned up at Spike TV’s annual Video Game Awards by taking home by taking the award for the year’s best game. The game beat out other notables such as Mass Effect, The Orange Box, and Halo 3 for the award. BioShock also managed to nab the best Xbox 360 game, and best original score awards.
For a full list of the award winners, check after the jump.
The writers strike has taken it’s first game movie casualty - the movie adaptation of Castlevania. Given that Castlevania is being directed by the same person that did Stomp the Yard, maybe this whole writers strike thing isn’t so bad after all.
via Variety
Wii shortages in the UK have led Nintendo to consider pulling the advertising for the console. Nintendo have said that they may “act responsibly” and pull advertising until 2008, when the buying frenzy has calmed down. The current ads are said not to be particularly festive in nature, and hence should be able to be played after the holiday season.
via 1Up
The Age recently spoke to head of Nintendo Australia, Rose Lappin who had some great news for Nintendo fans in Australia - eventually, games will be released no more than two weeks after launching in Japan. And it looks good for Europeans, too:
“Our fans are very passionate and want games straight away. We are working on that as a priority and trying to get [the release schedule] to be more global.”
Smashing! I’ll put the kettle on, Rose.
Director Michael Bay, the man behind Transformers, The Rock and Bad Boys, has accused Microsoft of some well planned sabotage of the video format market. On his official website he claims:
Microsoft wants both [HD DVD and Blu-ray] formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about
They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth. That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just [to] embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu Ray [sic]
A conspiracy theory regarding Microsoft’s plan for world domination? Bay may need to be reminded that this has been done many times before.
via ShackNews
CNET, parent company of GameSpot have released a statement regarding the firing of Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann. For those in the dark on the issue, the story flying round at the moment is that Gerstmann was fired for giving Kane & Lynch a 6/10 score after Eidos (who advertised the game heavily on the site) put pressure on CNET. Here is the statement CNET released:
“Due to legal constraints and the company policy of GameSpot parent CNET Networks, details of Gerstmann’s departure cannot be disclosed publicly. However, contrary to widespread and unproven reports, his exit was not a result of pressure from an advertiser.
“Neither CNET Networks nor GameSpot has ever allowed its advertising business to affect its editorial content,” said Greg Brannan, CNET Networks Entertainment’s vice president of programming. “The accusations in the media that it has done so are unsubstantiated and untrue. Jeff’s departure stemmed from internal reasons unrelated to any buyer of advertising on GameSpot.”
via 1Up
