UNICO Claims Victory Over Mafia II NYC-Based Marketing Event

UNICO National, a service organization for Italian-Americans, is claiming a victory due to what was perceived as a poor showing at a launch party at the 92nd St. Y's Tribeca Center in New York City for the Mafia II game. The party was sponsored by Take-Two and was run by Gamertag Radio. Chief media executive Andre' DiMino stated that the group's efforts caused the event - a lavish party, all said - was a "dismal failure". This is after Mr. DiMino demanded that Take-Two halt all Mafia II sales due to discrimination against Italians and Italian-Americans:

"I believe the combined result of our activities was that, without acknowledging our efforts, both Take-Two and the 92nd Street Y became very hesitant to heavily promote ethnic bashing in this very public way. The lack of media coverage for the launch party is another indicator that they pulled back on promoting this event."

Mr. DiMino is being intellectually dishonest with everything he has said about this game, and the event in question. I wasn't able to attend the event due to previous commitments, but I know a lot of people - including journalists - who went, and they all confirmed that the event was definitely NOT a failure. It was everything they figured it would be: virtually no steak, but a lot of sizzle, not to mention alcohol. I wasn't about to change my plans to go to an event where there wasn't going to be much to legitimately report on ("Everyone's shitfaced and trying to get laid, here's Tom with the weather" doesn't make editors happy), but everything they wanted to do, I'm hearing, was done.

The party was a success on all fronts that it was intended to be a success on, and Mr. DiMino celebrating the event "failing" is like Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf - commonly known as "Baghdad Bob" - proclaiming that the American Army were committing suicide outside of Baghdad's gates while American tanks were literally outside his front door.

After his "victory" over Mafia II, maybe Mr. DiMino's next step is to demand that the estate of Mario Puzo remove all novels and movies referencing The Godfather.

Ubisoft: "Only AAA Titles Are Profitable On Consoles"

Ubisoft's Alain Corre has revealed his opinion of how to sell games on consoles: kill innovation, catch sequelitis, and market hard.

In addressing whether or not a company should try to push the envelope or remain safe with a narrow, Activision-like view on proceedings, Mr. Corre is clear:

"The games that are not triple-A are not profitable anymore, and that’s changed in the last 18 months."

"When you have a triple-A blockbuster it costs more money to develop, but at the end of the day there’s also the chance of a good return on it because there’s a concentration at the top of the charts. To a certain extent it becomes less risky to invest more in a single game or franchise than spreading your investment between three or four games. Because if those three or four games are not at the right quality level, you are sure to lose money. So the business model has changed and we’re changing our way of making hardcore games. With hardcore games that we’re not sure are reaching the right level, we stop work on them. And that’s why we concentrate more on key franchises, because that’s what the market wants - something new with huge quality production behind it. The market is not supporting the full range of product that it used to anymore."

Mr. Corre has shown us what I like to call a "self-fulfilling prophecy". By Mr. Corre's logic, the only way to make money is to pour all of your resources - really, all of your marketing muscle - into a guaranteed seller. Unfortunately, this is dangerous logic because the gaming public is fickle; they get bored quickly.

I do agree with Mr. Corre that it can be painful - even fatal for a company - to try to heavily market a new IP, only to see it fail because gamers would rather buy another damned Madden game (and I LIKE Madden). But where do AAA franchises come from? Wasn't Assassin's Creed a risk? Wasn't H.A.W.X. a risk? Isn't this the company that just put out the brilliant Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game? The results don't seem to match up with the words.

Furthermore, consider Limbo, which had a team of about five people, but soared to high sales based on word of mouth; no one can argue that Limbo wasn't profitable. Even games with mixed results are becoming "franchises" now, if EA's Dead Space and Mirror's Edge are indicative. There is a degree of truth to what Mr. Corre is saying - just check the box office numbers for that Scott Pilgrim movie, as a cross-referenced example - but I think there's definitely room for smaller-developed titles on consoles, both via downloadable media like Xbox Live and PSN and via retail. If Ubisoft or Activision won't fill that demand, someone else surely will.

Will Mafia II Turn A Profit?

Outspoken videogames analyst Michael Pachter has got a bee in his bonnet about Take Two, as he has been commenting on the publisher’s recent and future releases.

Top of his hit-list were expectations that Mafia II is unlikely to make a profit, given the game’s lengthy six-year gestation and lower than expected review scores. The game went into the UK’s all-formats chart at #1 today. He commented:

“The continued strength from Red Dead Redemption is offsetting weakness from weak Mafia II sales. Mafia II’s average Metacritic score of 74 is well below expectations, and consumer interest appears to be waning, as the game’s position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week. With six years in development, we believe the game is unlikely to achieve profitability.”

He also went on to say in the report to investors that Rockstar’s crime thriller LA Noire is not expected to be released this year, saying:

“Game delays have become the norm at Take-Two, and we expect the company to announce a shift in release dates for LA Noire out of 2010 and into 2011. This follows last quarter’s announcement of a similar delay for Max Payne 3. It is important to note that both games have been in development for longer than five years, making their break even hurdles significantly higher than a typical game.”

Lastly, Pachter commented that a GTAV announcement is likely to happen any time soon:

“We do not expect any news about the next GTA game, though we still believe it could be released by holiday 2011. Despite a multitude of recent game announcements, Take-Two’s share price has taken a battering recently, reflecting investor disappointment that there has been no update on the next Grand Theft Auto, which appears to have potentially slipped to 2012.”

Whether his predictions will ring true remains to be seen - we think it’s a little early to be making predictions about Mafia II’s lifetime sales, and given the lack of news to date, LA Noire probably won’t be out this year - but he should make sure no horses’ heads turn up in his bed or he might end up sleeping with the fishes. Ba da bing.

Final Fantasy XIV 'Answers' Trailer

Mindcraft Developers Meeting Up With Valve

More rumours of Valve being interested in Indie Mindcraft as the studio's Markus Persson Tweeted where he was off to over the weekend:

"Yes, it's Valve ;)"

Simple but effective. Minecraft is a sandbox title revolving around placing blocks while running from skeletons. Or something like that..

Fifa 11 Stamina And Fatigue Explained Feature

Team 17 To Release Via Digital Only From Now On

Time 17 has announced it will go digital only for all future releases with plans to serve as a digital distribution publisher for other developers too. Team 17 co-founder Martyn Brown commented:

"Team 17 has recently restructured its management team to handle the new shift in focus. Thanks to a series of new recruits and internal promotions, the former development studio feels it has the experience required to operate as an independent digital publisher."

Not a bad idea for the studio in my humble opinion. Their range of titles certainly suits the model.

Joe Danger - People's Patch Trailer

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero Delay Only In Japan

Capcom has confirmed Dead Rising 2: Case Zero has only been delayed in Japan following earlier news of a delay because of demo limitations:

“You may have read this morning that Dead Rising 2: Case Zero has been delayed in Japan, and I can confirm that this is true. However, Case Zero will be releasing tomorrow as planned here in the West."

“Once again, the Japanese delay does not affect the release date for NA and European territories.”

That means it's out today. Go get it.

Crysis 2 - Special Edition Multiplayer Features Trailer

Ubisoft To Reveal Outland At PAX

Ubisoft has confirmed it will be revealing its Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network title, Outland at this week's PAX Event in Seattle this week. Other titles included in the lineup include Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, MotionSports, Child of Eden, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, H.A.W.X. 2 and Just Dance 2.

PlayStation Move Tech Demo

Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition On The Way

Gearbox has confirmed a Game of the Year Edition for Borderlands will arrive in October. With it, you'll get the game and DLC packs, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx and Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, along with a bonus map.

Company Of Heroes Online - Allies Trailer

Acclaim Officially Dead And Gone

Looks like Acclaim is more or less dead now. Following trouble and then acquisition by Playdom, news is the publisher has pulled the plug on all the developer's catalogue. A message on what was the official Acclaim site reads:

"We regret to inform you that all Acclaim games will no longer be in service effective August 26, 2010."

So best start forgetting about that brand.

Acclaim was founded back in 1987 and had a mix of great and mediocre titles with hits including Turok and Burnout 1 and 2 but also included titles such as BMX XXX which was more or less a BMX game with topless female riders and found itself pulled from many store shelves.

Bulletstorm - Gamescom Trailer

Microsoft Raises Prices For Xbox Live Gold

Microsoft has decided to raise the price of access to Xbox Live Gold. Starting on November 1st, access to the Gold service - which is the only way to play games online, and comes with other perks such as access to Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, discounted weekly titles and other benefits - will have the following prices:

* Yearly access will cost $59.99/yr for Americans, up from $49.99.
* Three month access will cost $24.99 for Americans, up from $19.99.
* One month access will cost $9.99/mo. for Americans and Canadians, up from $7.99 and $8.99, respectively. The UK will pay £5.99/mo instead of £4.99, and Mexico will pay 599 Pesos instead of 499 Pesos.
* All other pricing models will be unaffected.

In addition, Microsoft is running a promotion that allows people to "lock in" their price before October 31st for $40. After this, however, the price would revert back to $60 while auto-billed.

Jesse Divinch of EEDAR stated that he doesn't believe the price hike will have much impact until late 2011, due to the promotions that Microsoft will run in the meantime. He also pointed out that with ESPN, Netflix, Last.FM and other products integrated, even with a $10 price increased, it "still represents an incredible value to consumers", while noting that the cost of the service in 2010 is consistent with the cost of the service in 2002 once inflation is taken into account.

UFC Undisputed 2010 PSP Trailer

AMD Eliminating The ATI Brand of Graphics Cards

AMD has decided, four years after buying ATI, to retire the brand altogether, merging the ATI Radeon line under the AMD moniker. Though this is little more than a branding decision for high-end graphics cards such as the next line of Radeon HD line, the move will see fruit when the first line of combined CPU/GPU chips come out later this year.

The move comes after some focus testing by AMD, which show that customers are savvy to the "differences" between ATI and AMD, indicating that a rebranding would not affect sales.

Wii Party Bundled With Free Wiimote

Nintendo has announced that every copy of Wii Party will include a free white Wiimote controller when it launches in Europe on October 8th. Get a full list of the mini/party games on offer here.

KORG M01 Slated For December Release In Japan

DETUNE, the company behind the KORG DS synthesizer games, has announced that they are releasing KORG M01 in Japan in December, at the price of ¥5,980. It is DETUNE's take on the KORG M1 synthesizer, which was originally released in 1988 and has been used by bands from Aerosmith to Depeche Mode.

Over on Diehard GameFAN, Thosquanta guitarist and VOX keyboardist Adam Powell wrote a review of the software:

"I can't really call it a game as it's not a game - when it came out for both the DS and DSi."

As a professional, Mr. Powell knows what he's talking about, and if he approves, that should be indicative of the power that this little DS cart holds.

Battlefield Academy Gets A New Patch

Siltherine has announced the release of a new patch for Battlefield Academy which brings a load of new features to the game. Iain McNeil, development director of Slitherine commented:

"We are committed to supporting BattlefieldAcademy over the long term as we definitely feel the game deserves a lot of attention. We are willing to make this game an evolving project, with the contribution of the community. That is why we already started including suggestions from the players in this patch and we will keep doing this in the future”.

Get the full patch notes here.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Dated for North America

The newest title in the critically acclaimed Golden Sun series, subtitled Dark Dawn, has received a November 29th release date in North America. The game takes place 30 years after Golden Sun: The Lost Age and adds modern niceties such as dual screen and touch controls to the classic Golden Sun lineage.

Camelot is a great developer, and I know many of my friends that will be excited about this release; it's sure to sell well among its niche. However, I'm with Nick Chester that this is a terrible day to release the game. Not only is it going up against the standard AAA releases that are sure to swallow it whole, it's going up post-Thanksgiving, which is after a lot of holiday shopping is going to be finished. As I've stated, sales will be high among JRPG and Golden Sun fans, but this isn't going to have much crossover penetration at all, even despite Nintendo's considerable marketing muscle.

Halo Reach Preorders Clock Up 1.5 Million

Microsoft has a right to be confident for the release of Halo: Reach as the title has amassed a whopping 1.5 million preorders ahead of the title's launch exclusively on Xbox 360 on September 14th.

Atlus Being Merged Into Holding Company

Japanese based Index Holdings Co., Ltd. (Kabushiki gaisha Indekkusu Horudingkusu) is merging its Atlus and Index subsidiaries. Atlus handles Index's videogame publishing and is 100% owned after a stock purchase in 2006, whereas Index is 95% owned and handles the company's mobile development. The move is due to a need to use resources more effectively, according to the press release (JIS).

Atlus will continue to put out games, the latest of which is the Shin Megami Tensei game Catherine, and according to the press release, will continue to put out other titles. But for all intents and purposes, Atlus the company is dead as of October 1st, and it is nothing more than a brand now. Reaction to the news has been received positively on the stock exchange; the price of Index's stock is up 3.14% on JASDAQ, largely on the strength of a large burst of purchases before noon.

This news has me cautiously pessimistic. The Atlus brand is a huge name, especially in Japan, as their Shin Megami Tensei titles, among others, have garnered universal acclaim in Japan and overseas. Therefore, it's not like the brand is going to die. On the other hand, the Sega brand didn't die when Sammy bought them out, but they might as well have; the rebranded Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. has become a virtual curse word among gamers for their awful handling of their older Mega Drive era titles. Between putting old Mega Drive titles on every system known to man for a price, to the consistently sloppy way the company has handled Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega's brand is indisputably tainted.

There's no indication that Index would force Atlus to treat their games the same way, but considering the fact that their stock has taken a tumble over the past six months (Mar. 4: ¥6,790, with a high of ¥12,400 on 4/28, compared to today's closing figure of ¥4,430) there's no guarantee they won't step in and force some hands. I'm not panicking yet, but my guard is up.

What's more relevant to western interests is how this affects Atlus USA, who is a subsidiary of Atlus but is largely independent, as they pick and choose other Japanese games to localize in America. I am not in a position to hypothesize on how the American subsidiary will be affected by this, but will keep everyone updated.