Wii owners who have tried to play online with their friends will no doubt have slapped their forehead at the sheer unfriendliness of the task. Wii Friend Number is a Facebook application that aims to simplify the task of swapping codes - allowing you to enter your friend code, define your game library, and see the friend codes of all your Facebook friends. Game on.
Free online first-person shooters are typically lackluster affairs - built on ancient engines by enthusiastic, but ultimately talentless teams. Combat Arms looks to change all that - sporting production values equal to that of many recent full-price titles.
A new study has forecast that online console revenue will hit $583 million this year. The reason for the jump is that gamers are becoming increasingly more comfortable with purchasing add-ons and episodic or small games online. IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon had this to say about the growth of the market:
“By the end of 2007, over 31 percent of online capable videogame consoles in North America will be in active online use by 14 million online console gamers,”
Pidgeon also states that the most revenue is generated by subscription services like Xbox Live, downloadable content and advertising. The increase in revenue represents the largest growth in the console software sector.
“In North America alone, online console revenue will triple from $133 million in 2006 to $583 million in 2007,”
He suggests that traditional retailers will have to be quick to adapt to the trend with other methods of sale.
“In 2007, game-related downloadable content derived from manufacturers’ proprietary online console networks will reach $296 million, while subscription revenue will increase from $107 million in 2006 to $277 million. While software sales are still significant — increasing from $8 billion in 2006 to $9.5 billion this year — content sold, accessed or downloaded online to videogame consoles over manufacturers’ proprietary networks will remain the industry’s most exciting growth opportunity in this hardware cycle.”
via Next Generation
Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360 has gone gold and is due out on October 30. What sets the 360 version apart from the PlayStation 3 version is the inclusion of online play and rumble feedback. That’s a definite sting for those that bought the PS3 version - but hey, at least they’ve been playing it for months already.
via Xbox 360 Fanboy
After seducing a whopping 15 million Korean gamers with their online answer to Mario Kart, Nexon have opened the English KartRider beta to players in North America.
The game is free but new characters, carts and in-game items can be purchased for a small fee. With cute graphics and simple gameplay this is sure to be a casual gamer hit in the west.
N-Europe have posted some interesting news found in the latest Official Nintendo Magazine. While the addition of mid-air stunts, and the reappearance of tracks from Mario Kart DS might be thrilling for some, the big announcement is the fact that the popular Battle Mode will be going online, and will support 16 players.
Given Nintendo are clearly having no issues implementing this stuff themselves, they’d best let third-party developers in on the online action before more people officially call shenanigans on this whole situation.
BBPS recently got in contact with Brian Lam, senior PR specialist from Red Octane, after becoming concerned about Nintendo’s continued reluctance to allow online functionality in third-party games.
Lam’s response doesn’t fill us with confidence:
…we’re working closely with Nintendo for an online solution, though at the moment we’re unable to confirm the status of the online multi-player.
This also puts the downloadable content functionality in jeopardy.
Whatever the reasons behind Nintendo’s bizarre online strategy are, they might want to consider getting a move on - 720/1080P graphics and online play might not be a priority for some, but Wii owners who constantly receive crippled versions of multi-platform titles might end up migrating to bigger and better console experiences.
After all, if Activision/Red Octane can’t convince Nintendo to do the business, who on earth will?
…theoretically, at least.
TVG sat down with AM2 producer Tohru Murayama at the Leipzig Games Convention to chat about the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5. Of course, the omission of an online mode from the PlayStation 3 version of the game came up - and Murayama had the following to say:
In the case of PlayStation 3, our first priority was to convert Virtua Fighter 5 from the arcade onto [the system] as soon as possible. To achieve that purpose we had to give up the development of the online mode - we’d love to try if there was time and the budget but unfortunately, we had to give up on that idea. AM2 are sorry to PS3 users - a lot of people say that it’is [sic] one of the missing things from the version.
While I wouldn’t be seen dead playing a fighting game online, due to the inherent latency of even the fastest Internet connections, there’s no question that a fair portion of those who own the PlayStation 3 version have a burning desire to take it to the tubes - I just hope they like being teased.
When asked if online modes could be added to Virtua Fighter 3 for the PS3 with a patch, Murayama replied simply:
No doubt.
I think the appropriate question to ask at that stage would have been if it was something that will be solved with a patch, but the interviewer was content to leave it at that.
