Articles by tiny dancer
American developer and publisher THQ (which stands for Toy Headquarters, who knew?) reports fiscal year losses of $35.3 million compared to a profit of $68 million this time last year. While grosses were about even across the two-year period at $1.030 billion compared to $1.026 billion - but deferred revenue and costs from Frontlines: Fuel of War bring this years numbers down considerably:
"In fiscal 2008, we did not achieve our revenue and profit targets and we are taking aggressive steps to ensure that we significantly improve execution in fiscal 2009 and beyond," said Brian Farrell, THQ president and CEO. "Going forward, we are focused on three key initiatives. We are rolling out a stronger slate of products. We have put in place and are executing against initiatives to improve our product quality and competitiveness. We are also realigning our cost structure to generate significant operating leverage in fiscal 2009. We believe these initiatives will restore profitable growth and improve value for shareholders."
While the company says that while WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 sold better than expected and that Frontlines: Fuel of War met but did not exceed expectations, other titles had weak enough sales to bring down the bottom line. I'll be interested to see if Frontline's deferred sales outstrip its costs in a quarter or two, or if this is corporate bluster to squelch economic fears amidst THQ's stockholders.
This week's XBLA offering is a trivia game that lets you bet on the answers of your smarter - or dumber - friends: Wits & Wagers asks you to use both your knowledge and your intuition to steal the thunder from those pushy, nogoodnik braniacs. Plus freaky dancing characters!
700 questions with 25 hours of gameplay for 500 MP. More on that after the jump.
As reported, Rock Band enjoys the week of the scene, pushing more Pete Wentz on me than I can hardly bear. (Shame.)
Everybody's favorite former Gotham City District Attorney, Harvey Dent - AKA Two Face - reveals himself today as a villainous character in Warner Bros. forthcoming LEGO gem, LEGO Batman: the Videogame.
Here we see bipolar baddie Two Face tossing his trademark coin, LEGOized and appropriately clunky, while a surprisingly sexy LEGO Catwoman looks on with a wry grin that says, "I'd totally sleep with half of you."
Harv's appearance isn't surprising, considering the game is predicated upon a massive breakout of criminals from Gotham's famed Arkham Asylum, but it's one more reason to be excited about this game - especially considering you'll be able to play through missions as villains.
PC game registration has its advantages and its drawbacks, but what happens when game publishers go the route of Microsoft and demand that you activate their product in order to play (or continue playing, or install an add-on, etc)?
It sounds a mite better than spyware, but methinks it's kind of like airport security: more for show than for effect. Considering that BioWare is having those who legitimately bought the game activate the product every ten days and that those who pirate the game will figure out a crack in time, the process essentially forces legit players to bear a security burden that won't even deter the actual criminals.
To clarify:
If you buy MEPC, install and run the game the game will register automatically and you are good to play.
After 5 days the next time you start the game the system will automatically try to register. If you are connected to the internet, it will occur without you even knowing it and reset the 10 days.
If you are not connected to the internet, you can keep playing for the next 5 days. As you start each day, the system will keep trying to validate. If it connects and validates, the "clock" is reset.
If the system cannot connect to the internet after the 10 days, you will not be able to play MEPC until you are connected to the internet. Once you reconnect to the internet and try to play, it will re-validate and you can play as normal for another period of 10 days as before.
So it is not "at 10 days and if the servers aren't working you're screwed". There is a large window (5days) where the system automatically tries to re-validate to prevent last minute problems.
Now, I'm not saying that this is no good, but it does seem more likely to cause problems for legit customers than pirates. A one-time activation would be less worrisome, but an ongoing ten-day-lease period that requires continual activation appears... clumsy, and bound to cause more problems than it solves: doesn't this activation business make it more appealing for legit gamers to go out and find an anti-activation crack? Or make PC gaming less appealing when you can play the same game hassle-free on a console? Talk to me, gaymers.
PC Mass Effect Will Require Online Activation [VE3D]
PS2 and Wii rockers, never fear - MTV and Harmonix have announced Rock Band Track Pack Volume 1, a retail-distributed compilation of 20 additional tracks for the PS2 and Wii, including NIN, Stone Temple Pilots, and Boston.
Priced at a not-too-shabby $29.99 (cheaper than buying the songs a-la carte for 160 MP or $1.99), Track Pack Volume 1 will drop on July 15, just a few scant days after the June 22 release of Rock Band for Wii - Wii owners intending to pick up Rock Band might wait until July 15 and maybe even scout around for a bundle somewhere.
The track list:
- 30 Seconds to Mars - The Kill
- All American Rejects - Move Along
- Blink 182 - All the Small Things
- Boston - More Than a Feeling
- David Bowie - Moonage Daydream
- Faith No More - We Care A Lot
- Grateful Dead - Truckin'
- The Hives - Die, All Right!
- KISS - Calling Dr. Love
- Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gimme' Three Steps
- Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs
- Oasis - Live Forever
- Paramore - Crushcrushcrush
- The Police - Synchronicity II
- Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister
- Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy
- Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
- Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song
- Weezer - Buddy Holly
- Wolfmother - Joker & the Thief
MTV, Harmonix Announce Rock Band Track Pack For PS2, Wii [Gamasutra]
In a rare non-GTA IV post over at GTAPolitics GamePolitics, it appears that the always-cuddly Indonesian government is once again cracking down on gamers - this time by enforcing a ban on gaming during a two-hour period that the local municipality calls "homework time."
The municipality of Bekasi... [is] ordering all students within its jurisdiction to study and do their homework or face legal consequences... The new regulations require students, from elementary school to high school, to study between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. either at home alone or with classmates from the same neighborhood. During study time, no TV or video game will be alowed and students will be banned from going to the mall or entertainment centers.
Notice it's not just gaming that's forbidden during study time - the ban includes TV as well as malls and entertainment centers. But what about kids who get their work done early?
Report: Indonesian Authorities Enforce Video Game Ban During Homework Hours [Gamepolitics]
This particular species of rumor just won't die - and will probably be with us until it either comes true or Microsoft puts out the Xbox 720 - but yet another plausible-sounding rumor concerning the possible integration of Blu-ray technology with the Xbox 360.
The rumor goes like this: Asus, or rather its subsidiary Pegatron Technology, is said to be making a "premium Blu-ray-equipped version of the Xbox 360 that will arrive in time for the holidays." Adding some credence to the rumblings is the rumor that Lite-On will be manufacturing built-in BD ROM drives for the system.
I put this one down under the "Maybe, but don't hold your breath" column. A built-in Blu-ray drive will certainly tick off many current Xbox 360 owners, but might be a better choice for image: as a general hardware upgrade rather than an external hard drive which might smell a little too strongly of HD-DVD's failure.
More rumors that XBox 360 will add Blu-ray drive [Crave]
It seems that the folks at Valve have tapped this weekend for a Team Fortress 2 giveaway - timed perfectly for the Team Fortress 2: Gold Rush update, which introduces the Gold Rush map and Payload gameplay style, the first set of unlockable weapons, and a bunch of achievements for Medics.
Beginning today at noon PST, Valve will be giving away free downloads of TF2, including Gold Rush - all you need is a Steam account. Check it out!
Team Fortress 2: Gold Rush Update Available Now [Steampowered]
[Thanks, HappyWulf!]
I've never been a fan of the Final Fantasy MMORPG, and I know there are plenty of bilious feelings toward the game to go around - but it does have a scrappy following that seems at least occasionally devoted, and as a fan of the franchise in general, I think that's sweet.
What isn't sweet, I believe, are the prospects of luring many new players into the world of Vana'diel - especially on the 360, where the install process is longer than the average duration of childbirth.
So what's especially chilling about the announce of Final Fantasy XI: 2008 Edition, slated for PC and Xbox 360 in PAL territories, is not that it includes all four expansion packs or attempts to entice new blood to the long-running MMO, but its title: I'm deathly afraid of seeing, one day, FFXI: 2021 Edition!
Read on for the official word.
Infogrames, which bought up a majority share of Atari some time ago and has been rehabbing the struggling US publisher ever since, has decided to take the plunge and merge completely with Atari.
Not an equal merger, of course, but nevertheless total: Infogrames has announced its intentions to buy up the outstanding shares of Atari stock for about $11 million (at $1.68 per share, which is on par with Atari's current stock price), hoping that full ownership will play an important step to healing, strengthening, and of course expanding the company's US presence.
Getting Atari back in the black will help Europe-based Infogrames leverage a solid base on US shores with one of the longest-established brand names in the New World.
It's an easy week to overlook the PSN store, what with hard-copy games like Let's Yoga GTA IV and Let's Pilates Mario Kart Wii rocking the roadways. But scarcely one week after the release of its demo, Echochrome will be available for purchase for the PS3, says the PlayStation Blog.
For $10 you'll get 56 levels of PS3 action plus 56 "completely different" levels for your PSP - essentially doubling the fun and accounting for what is probably the first simultaneous PS3/PSP combo/download/all-in-one-dealie. Bonus: "Canvas mode" lets you create and share your own Echochrome levels. It's like LittleBigPlanet on a much simpler, monochromatic and symphonic sedative.
In addition to games, I really enjoy food. Which is why I'm still seriously uncertain about the WiiWare title Major League Eating: The Game. Maybe it's the focus on excess that reminds one of the latter days of the Roman Empire (you know, the part when they got what they had coming?), or maybe it's just plain old desecration of something natural and healthy - or maybe it's the creepy parallels with anorexia/bulimia and our increasingly bizarre cultural attitudes toward food.
Or maybe it's the concept of a game about overeating?
At any rate, in honor of this spurious lil game, international man of gastronomic distress, Tim "Eater X" Janus, broke the world record of sushi-eating by downing 141 delicious, slimy fish parts at a recent San Francisco press event for the game.
The trashy, sleazy Clift Hotel - one of Ian Schraeger's franchise of, pardon my language, 'Eurotrash' boutique hotels - held the event, which is a hoot because nobody who goes to the Clift has eaten a decent meal in years. Picture Kate Moss holding hands with a turducken.
Read on for details on Major League Eating: The Game.
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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