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VGN for December 9th, 2005
Video Game News for December 9th, 2005:
REGGIE ATTACKS!!
Bleak outlook highlights the need for a Revolution...
Posted: 01:04 on 09 Dec 2005
By: Chris Leyton
Drawing parallels between the videogame industry and Hollywood, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime Vice President Sales and Marketing continued to illustrate the Japanese giant's forward thinking direction and the reasons behind it at the 33rd Annual UBS Global Media Conference.
Describing the popularisation of special effects amongst Hollywood during the 1980's and the subsequent bread-and-butter nature of the big-budget blockbusters, Reggie attributed the recent struggles of Hollywood to the single-minded approach and highlighted recent comments from Jim Gianopulos, Co-Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, "It makes no sense to continue aiming all your films at the same demographic quadrant, eventually they all become stale." Nintendo believes the same.
The downward spiral of the Japanese videogame market has been well documented, with software sales showing year-on-year declines for the last eight years. Despite this the general consensus is that videogames are thriving within the United States and Europe, however Reggie's sobering figures painted an industry that may have grown, but whose penetration has remained largely the same for the United States at least.
Four years' sales data split across half year increments depicted a downward trend in each first-half, turned around this year only by the launch of the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. Typically the first half of the year is a weak and barren time propped up by the Christmas blockbusters; however a look at the critical second-half highlighted Nintendo's projections of a decline in 2005, despite the Xbox 360 being accounted for.
Xbox 360 launches in Japan.
By Yukari Iwatani Kane and Lisa Baertlein
8 minutes ago
TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. begins selling its new Xbox 360 video game console in Japan on Saturday, launching its attack on the industry's third-biggest market and the home turf of market leader Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).
Xbox 360 will the first next-generation game machine to enter the market, putting the world's biggest software maker at an advantage versus competitors Sony and Nintendo Co. Ltd, which plan to launch their latest consoles next year.
But some have tempered expectations for Microsoft's Japan launch even though the console quickly sold out in North America and Europe. It remains in short supply in those markets.
"Pre-orders on the Internet look solid, but I don't think the retail stores will sell out of Xbox 360s in the first day," said Takeshi Tajima, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.
"Serious game fans will likely rush to buy them, but I think most people are going to wait and see," said Tajima, who added that "Dead or Alive 4," a 3-D fighting game that was supposed to be the hot new game for Xbox 360 in Japan, has been delayed until after the launch -- removing a key reason for fans to rush to buy the console.
PS3 Still set to ship in Spring...in Japan.
By Sue Zeidler
Thu Dec 8, 9:22 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp. (6758.T) on Thursday said it remained on track to roll out its PlayStation 3 game console by spring 2006 despite industry speculation that the scheduled launch could face delays.
The timing of the release of Sony's updated PlayStation console has become a matter of speculation in the $25 billion video game industry and among the studios, hardware makers and other companies looking to handicap the battle over next-generation DVD technology.
A spokesman for Sony, the No. 1 provider of game consoles, said it was still targeting a spring 2006 launch for the PS3, which is key to maintaining its lead in the game console market against Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), which recently launched its competing Xbox 360 console.
Redux
The Family Entertainment Protection Act aims to prohibit the sale of mature titles to minors in the US...
Posted: 11:09 on 30 Nov 2005
By: Jon Wilcox
US Senators Hilary Clinton and Joe Lieberman are to introduce their Family Entertainment Protection Act to the Senate when the body reconvenes in a fortnights time. If passed, the Act, a response by the two Democrats to the Hot Coffee scandal earlier in the year, will prohibit the sale of Mature and Adult Only ESRB games to under 17 year olds.
The Act will also ensure that the ESRB system undergoes an annual independent analysis so that content is accurately rated, as well as allowing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to execute random retailer audits – so-called mystery shoppers – to discover how easy it is for minors to purchase mature titles. A recent survey announced that 42% of boys under the age of 17 had been able to purchase M for Mature rated games. The Act would extend the powers of the FTC to investigate misleading ratings on titles to discover how inherent the problem actually is.
What I've benn Playing:
Gun--almost finsihed!
Far Cry Instincts.
Anime News:
AZN network?
Jeff Yang reports in SF Gate that that Comcast has laid off AZN's Channel Chief, and will lay off the bilk of AZN's 43 employees. Most of the senior programming, acquisition and promotional staff are to be laid off with only a "handful of mostly junior staffers" to remain.
Regarding the changes being made at AZN, Comcast released this statement, "We are restructuring AZN to leverage consolidated network functions in Comcast's programming operations. As we complete this restructuring, we will continue to deliver high-quality programming for Asian Americans, and the programming and viewing experience will remain essentially unchanged."
Yang reports that this means that the station will remain largely unchanged from what it is now, and that a large number of new projects planned for the station will not go through. Furthermore, with senior acquisition and development staff being laid off, Yang wonders what will happen to the station once the content that it has already licensed is used up.
Tasha! 
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:02 |
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