The guys discuss Eric Barone still working on Stardew Valley, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 being confirmed for Xbox Game Pass, blackjack roguelike Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, Kerbal Space Program developer layoffs, The Sims 4 launching a battle pass-like, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.
The news includes:
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Sony’s been talking about how they’ve overtaken the Xbox 360 here in the States, perhaps this is because Microsoft shifted their attention to pwning them in Japan? Xbox 360 sold 25,000 units to PlayStation 3‘s minor 9,673 units according to Edge Online, that’s 2.5 times more if you’re into that math thing.
Seriously though, Microsoft didn’t really shift any effort, they just got a Japanese style game called Tales of Vesperia from Namco Bandai. Go figure, when a Japanese focused game arrives for a console Japanese gamer will go out and buy it.
The big barrier to the 360 in Japan is the games and their contents. Microsoft is in tune with the needs and demands of the United States gamers, it usually involves FPS titles and excessive killing. Japanese gamers are not exactly huge FPS fans, we’ve seen the Asian community dominate in RTS style games (Starcraft is a great example) and they’ve always had interest in MMO’s, especially micro-transaction based games and we all know that’s the land of Final Fantasy. Is it so surprising the Xbox 360 moves off Japanese shelves when they have a game or two the gamers actually want to play?
This is only partly Microsoft’s fault, Microsoft doesn’t specialize in Japanese games anymore than Square Enix excels at western style games. The big difference? Square Enix doesn’t manufacturer its own console hardware. It is Microsoft’s console and they should have an interest in making games the Japanese people will like, thankfully Namco Bandai came through for them this time!
Microsoft has come out and validated some earlier rumors about Xbox 360 Avatar’s and their 3D dashboard design. Apparently, this is to build more of a community and bring a bit of the Mii-like influence from the Nintendo Wii to the 360 hardware.
It seems Microsoft is taking some of the concepts from the Nintendo Wii which were poorly implemented due to the lack of any real network community and bring them to live with a more integrated useful system. This proves Nintendo was on the right track but shows off their lack of integration and fear of bringing people together.
“Create, share, and have fun with all of your friends… but avatars are just the beginning. The new Xbox is tailored for the living room. Here we are at the community channel — instead of a list of friends, you actually see them.” (joystiq)
Nintendo’s cute little idea of Mii’s and sharing them with friends was fantastic, a great bullet list feature, but rather useless. Typing in friends codes gets old way too fast and there really isn’t anyway to vocally chat with people on your friends list anyway, so who cares?
Microsoft has proven to know a bit about the community space, has parental controls and a fairly reliable LIVE system for making it all happen. Although Nintendo should look at this with a bit of pride, given duplication is the best form of flattery, they could learn a few things about how to work a community into your console too!
Since the release of Peggle on February 2007, gamers around the world have caught on to the addictive casual game. Now those that didn’t download Peggle on Steam, Popcap.com or other electronic download site can buy at packed boxed version in retail outlets!
Peggle hits retail stores and the world will never be the same! You can download it for your ipod, on your PC and on your Macintosh but never before could you purchase it in a local store. Although, it seems, boxed casual games are the rarity, not the norm, the more outlets a developer like PopCap gets the better.
MSNBC listed Peggle in the top five most addicting games of all times, PC gamers couldn’t get enough and, eventually, Xbox Live gamers will have that same experience. If you’ve never played Peggle I suggest you run out and buy it when it arrives in retail stores… or just buy it online the way you could do for the last year and some change…
