Jonah is in LA, TJ is at EVO, and who knows where Scott is.
No Podcast This Week
Categories:
Related Post
Mega Man 9, WiiWare, Retro Gamers Rejoyce!Mega Man 9, WiiWare, Retro Gamers Rejoyce!
It’s been confirmed, in Nintendo Power at least, that Mega Man 9 is officially going to be something you can download on the Wii console. The game is being developed by Ini Creates, a company of ex-capcom folks who are also responsible for Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series.
Of course, this is a Capcom published game and is said to also be ‘multi-platform’ with an appearance being made on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
At first, there was a fear the game would go “new school” and take advantage of all the Wii has to offer, but with the Virtual Console and all of its retro appeal they’ve decided to stick with an old school feel to the game. This is by far the best move we’ve heard, as a retro gamer at the target demographic age, I’m thrilled.
Mega Man 9 is going to reflect the older games, without an 8-bit graphical look of course, using the Wii remote sideways (presumably also using the retro classic controller) and is not said to use any of the motion sensing abilities of the Wii.
This will be the first title in the Mega Man series to offer a female robot opponent. Mega Man 9 will provide a new host of baddies, including:
- Magma Man
- Galaxy Man
- Jewel Man
- Concrete Man
- Hornet Man
- Plug Man
- Tornado Man
- Splash Woman
The inclusion of a female robot may be playing to the casual game demographic which is popular with the Wii and casual games in general. Or, they’re just looking for variety. End result is still retro awesomeness.
(Thanks, 1up)
Episode 340: Pennsylvania PolkaEpisode 340: Pennsylvania Polka
Paul is back for this episode, as this week actually has a Gaming Flashback and a Game History, the former being Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and the latter being Black Isle Studios.
The news this week includes:
- Followup: PS Vita Slim to launch in UK
- Reports: Microsoft plans cheaper, disc-free, white Xbox Ones in 2014
- Nintendo cuts overheard on executive salaries
- Square Enix responds to Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III launch rumor
- Razer to give Xbox One gamers more peripheral options
The Question of the Week, “What was the best game you played that you felt was unfinished?”
Activision Blizzard Trying To Scare Off Competition?Activision Blizzard Trying To Scare Off Competition?
A few months ago, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said investing $500 million to a billion still wouldn’t be enough to compete with an MMORPG like World of Warcraft. The MMORPG space is a costly investment and you’d need to really burn a lot of money to start competing against the mega-giant, but Mythic VP and Warhammer Online lead designer Mark Jacobs disagrees with that quote.
Jacobs says $100-million dollars would be needed to start competing against the giant subscription generator that is World of Warcraft. Although few developers are sitting on $100-million USD, it’s a bit more realistic an investment for a studio to scrape up compared to a billion bucks! A billion dollars is a scary number when you consider that’s the start of an investment that may, or may not, pay off in the end.
Kotick may not be using complete scare tactics, he may be working off experience when dealing with MMORPG’s. A startup MMO isn’t a cookie cutter system, there is a lot of development efforts, $100-million dollars worth, but MMO developers slip dates many times. When you start slipping your dates you’ll start burning more money and, before you know it, you’re a billion in the hole. Jacobs thinks $100-million will cover development costs and messing up, so a billion is still way over budget.
Perhaps this is a bit of a scare tactic, assuming a developer will fail and slip their dates isn’t really a great way to start quoting prices. However, shooting too low isn’t always the best method of building your development assessments. The end result, scream ONE BILLION and you may scare off any potential startup MMO developers.
Warhammer Online lead designer did mention one big barrier to entry: the need for “at least half a million subscribers to be successful.”
(Thanks, 1up)