VGN for July 1st, 2005

Friday, 01 July 2005

VGN for July 1st, 2005

VGN

FBI and Piracy

FBI announces piracy crackdown

Operation Site Down scrambles agents worldwide; warez operators in San Francisco, Charlotte, and Chicago are busted in US.
On Thursday, the FBI announced that authorities in 11 countries struck back at purveyors of illegally obtained copyrighted software, movies, music, and games. In the US, agents in California, North Carolina, and Illinois made a total of four arrests, which they called "the culmination" of an ongoing undercover operation code-named "Site Down."

Investigators said they concentrated on individuals that were the "first providers" of copyrighted works to the "warez" underground. According to a search warrant unsealed in San Francisco on Wednesday, the FBI agents posed as "warez hardware geeks" to gain entry to piracy groups. The warrant's details were outlined in an affidavit obtained by the San Jose Mercury News.

Revolution to follow PS3?

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that the Revolution's release might fall behind its competitors.
TOKYO--During Nintendo's shareholders meeting on Wednesday, company president Satoru Iwata disclosed that the Revolution's launch might fall behind that of its rivals.

During a question-and-answer session, stockholders asked Iwata if there was any danger that Nintendo would lag behind Microsoft and Sony in entering the next-generation console war. He gave the following cryptic response: "There is no possibility that the Revolution's launch will fall behind by too much, but there might be some small changes [in its release schedule]."

Until today, Nintendo has said only that the Revolution will be released in 2006 in North America, without specifying any date. Iwata's comments indicate that the console could appear after the launch of Sony's PlayStation 3, which is currently slated for a spring 2006 launch in the US. Microsoft's Xbox 360 will arrive on store shelves during the 2005 holiday season worldwide.

Major Xbox 360 uber-surprizes soon?

Posted: 12:45 on 30 Jun 2005
By: Chris Leyton

Famitsu spreads word that Microsoft will shortly announce a slew of Japanese third-party surprises...

A recent article in Famitsu has suggested that Microsoft will be unveiling some “major surprises” for the Xbox 360 from Japanese third-parties at an event scheduled in July. Having already confirmed strong support in the region from the likes of Myst Walker and Q Entertainment, Microsoft will want to keep momentum as it gears up to make amends for the “no-show” debacle surrounding the current generation Xbox in the territory

Madden shown in New York

NFL stars on hand as sports publisher shows off near-final version of its flagship title; says development is complete.

NEW YORK--The ESPNZone in New York is usually known as being a hub of real-world sports, where fans from all over the Big Apple converge, watch their favorite teams, and down a few cold beverages. Tonight, however, the bar and restaurant was strictly devoted to sports of the virtual kind, as EA Sports unveiled the highly anticipated Madden NFL 06. Along for the ride were a bevy of current NFL greats, such as Daunte Culpepper, Tony Gonzalez, Byron Leftwich, Michael Strahan, and Madden 06 cover star Donovan McNabb, on hand to see the public unveiling of a game in which they all appear.

Sony Set to Absorb Losses

Posted: 15:13 on 29 Jun 2005
By: Chris Leyton
Financial report suggests the sheer manufacturing costs of the Playstation3...

The costs associated with the production of the Playstation3 were today dramatically revealed by way of a report in the Toyo Keizai magazine, citing research undertaken by leading financial management and consultant firm, Merrill Lynch.

The report suggests that the manufacturing costs of the PS3 could be as high as 54,000 yen (£271) at the time of launch, which would result in an 11,000 yen (£55) loss per unit sold if SCEI intends to release the next-gen format for the alleged launch price of 44,800 yen (£225). The article goes on to suggest that the core components of the PS3 (CELL, RSX, Blu-ray) could cost close to 11,000 yen (£55) each.

Of more concern for Sony is Merrill Lynch’s belief that the Japanese giant will find it hard to absorb the losses during the first year of sale, suggesting that these could rise to 130 billion yen (£652 million) with a further 80 billion yen (£402 million) loss following a year later. Approximate calculations from a loss of £1 billion across the first two years of sale, suggests that SCEI will be looking to shift 20 million PS3 units during this period.

What I've been playing:

Morrowind GotY--thanks Cybertron!

Super Monkey Ball Deluxe

Anime:

Howl's Moving Castle cleans house

Anime Festival Orlando!!!

Dragon*Con