Konami has announced that the Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta will be open to Australians. Look for the free beta on the Australian PlayStation Store this Thursday (April 17) - play commences on April 21 and ceases May 6.
Atari has also confirmed the Australian release date for Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the same as the rest of the world - June 12, 2008.
via PALGN
Oh Atari, what are you doing? Is Alone in the Dark 5 an urban exploration game? Okay - maybe that’s a bit harsh - there are a few monsters near the end of this visually stunning video, but the part where the protagonist hacks up a table out of sheer boredom is very worrying. On the upside, the look down at your belt inventory system is a brilliant idea that should have been used years ago. Let’s just hope Atari rushed this video out, and the final game won’t be quite so sparse.
A report in the New York Times has pointed to a looming overlap of gaming and slot machine design. Rob Bone, marketing director for WMS Gaming had this to say about the future of slot machine gambling:
“We can’t just make a slot thinking about the 55-year-old lady who comes to the casino a few times a month. We need to appeal to new buckets of players, or we’ll die.”
Slot manufacturer Bally Technologies has signed a deal with Atari to produce Pong and Breakout style slot games to further pull in the masses. Many of the games will be mulitplayer to emulate the sense of community that people feel while playing games like poker. If you think you are going to go out there and clean up with your leet gamer skills think again, as skill will only get you so far - the machines are still designed to take more than they give.
I hope it is the 55-year-old ladies that embrace these machines. Maybe a move to a more interactive form of gambling could stave off at least some of the problems chronic slot junkies face. Even this level of mental stimulation might ward off Alzheimer’s in some cases.
via Joystiq
Thing at Atari seem to be going from bad to worse, this time with the resigning of the companies CEO, David Piece. Chief Restructuring Officer, Curtis G. Solsvig III will be taking his place till a replacement is found. It seems there were no hard feeling on the Board, with Chairman Gene Davis having this to say about the resignation:
“We appreciate David’s support and commitment through a difficult period in the company’s history and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Was this resignation the actions of a man abandoning a sinking ship or is it an attempt to bring in new leadership to save the failing company?
via 1Up
Atari has been on a slippery slope for a while now but it looks like it could be nearing the end. In a shareholders meeting yesterday, Atari’s top executives said they feel “substantial doubt about [their] ability to continue as a going concern” after 1st quarter figures showed an $11.9 million loss.
Atari’s losses have increased more than 50% compared to last year, and the company is now hemorrhaging license rights. They have sold off both the Driver and Stuntman series and were served papers to discontinue Dragonball Z related products. About the only franchises they still have left are Alone in the Dark and Dungeons and Dragons.
Call it bad management or crappy game development but I’m pretty sure it’s the name that is cursed.
via 1Up
There are some levels of style unobtainable by mere mortals, and pimping out a ‘79 Buick Riviera with an Atari 2600 may be one of them. Kevin, the maker of mod, kept it old school by installing an old knobbly 13” CTR set sporting a fabricated Riviera logo to play the 2600 on. Kevin rightfully says that his car is his “absolute pride and joy.” Check out all the pics after the jump.
via Engadget
