AAG FEATURE: THE WEEK THAT WAS #14

AAG FEATURE: THE WEEK THAT WAS #14

17th October 2009 - Here we are at week 14 of All Age Gaming’s "The Week That Was". A pretty mild week in terms of news this week, but it was an absolutely monster week in game releases! The number one title for the week would have to be the PS3 exclusive, Uncharted 2, which has had stellar reviews so far. Following closely behind is Brütal Legend on the 360 and PS3, another worthy pick-up. For those who haven’t played Fallout 3 yet, the GOTY edition was released on the PS3, 360 and PC, and Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising was also released on these three platforms. As for the Wii, well they only had a little something called Wii Fit Plus... have you heard of Wii Fit before? Apparently it’s pretty popular. The Wii also saw Metroid Prime Trilogy and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games arrive on the system. 

   

Nintendo Wii

After Sony took a stab at Nintendo last week for not taking as many risks as them, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime had a go at Sony this week. Fils-Aime spoke about the new PSPGo, and had this to say, “"I have the utmost respect for all our competitors, but it's interesting to try and answer the consumer question of 'What's in it for me?' in that product." And when asked about the growing popularity of the iPhone as a gaming platform, Reggie said the iPhone can’t offer the same experience that the DS can due to its duel-screen control. Reggie doesn’t think a game like Scribblenauts could be replicated on the iPhone.

 

Just when you thought the Wii accessories couldn’t get any stranger, this comes along. The accessory is a full sized exercise bike called the Cyberbike, which will come with a game that looks to be a biking sim game that includes 18 circuits. BigBen Interactive are responsible for the game/accessory, and have previously offered My Body Coach which came with one-pound weights. Pricing for the game and accessory have yet to be announced.

 

Recently released NPD data has shown that Wii Fit is on the verge of becoming the second highest selling ‘videogame’ of the last decade in North America. It has topped even the likes of the Guitar Hero games, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and even the Halo games. At the time of writing, it only sat behind Grand Theft Auto San Andreas at number 2, and another Wii title Wii Play at number 1. Whether or not Wii Fit takes over the number 2 spot depends on how Wii Fit Plus affects sales of the original.

 

And Shigeru Miyamoto has dropped hints of a Wii HD. When speaking about graphics and HDTV’s, Miyamoto said “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pretty graphics... And I think as we’ve seen the penetration rates for HDTV increase, we’re going to see video games and Nintendo’s games move along in step with the progression of technology.” Then again, this could just mean that newer Wii games will be able to utilise the Wii’s capabilities better? 


 

Xbox 360

In 360 news this week, Epic Games who are responsible for Gears of War and Shadow Complex, are looking to incorporate Natal into as much of their future games as possible. Epic Games VP Mark Rein has told Official Xbox Magazine that, “I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support.... I can totally see myself sitting in front of my TV using Natal to play games like ‘Gears of War’, ‘Call of Duty’, or whatever first-person shooter with my buddies.” Rein goes on to talk about possible control schemes such as waving directions to issue orders, and using a throwing motion to throw grenades.

 

In other Natal news, industry analyst Michael Pachter believes that Natal holds the advantage over the PS3 motion controller. Pachter believes that Natal will hold a broad appeal for gamers as well as non-gamers, and Microsoft may be able to distribute games that work with the technology at a lower price point, e.g. $10 games over XBLA. Pachter also expects Natal to retail for US $50 as it is essentially just a camera that is being sold. He predicts Sony’s motion controllers to retail for $US100.

 

For those that played Scribblenauts on the DS, there is good news this week with the game’s developer 5th Cell working on an Xbox Live title. Co-founder Jeremiah Slaczka has told Gamasutra that Sribblenauts will be their last handheld title for a while, and that the new XBL arcade title will be “pretty big”. No details have emerged regarding the future title as yet, but watch this space. 

 

Playstation 3

In PS3 news this week, rumours of new sequels emerged. First of all, in a somewhat expected move, it appears that a new Resistance game is on the way. Photos from the set of a movie identified as “Battle: Los Angeles” have shown a billboard advertising Resistance 3. The movie also centres around an alien invasion and so would be the perfect movie to advertise in. A new Infamous game also looks set as the voice actor for the main character Cole has tweeted “First voiceover/motion capture audition today for a video game..... Re-casting of Cole in the sequel of Infamous.” Good times ahead for PS3 gamers.

 

In PlayStation Home news, Audi are set to promote their new high performance electric sports car, the e-tron, via a new branded virtual world and game on Home. The Audi Space is set to hit Home later this year, and the game will be a multi-player virtual driving game. Will this result in even more companies advertising their products via Home?

 

And the Cross-Game voice chat feature rumoured to hit the PS3’s next firmware update has accidentally been confirmed by a Naughty Dog developer.  In answering a question regarding enemy spectators in Uncharted 2, the developer said "I think [Naughty Dog] wanted people to have fun and enjoy the show since all dead players can talk to each other no matter what team you are on. But I will suggest it anyway... Not to mention that the next PS3 firmware update is going to allow cross game chat." This post was deleted after posting, so I would expect this will feature in the next update. 

 

And now for the week's other news in brief:

 

 

See you again next week readers.

 

Article written by Phong Nguyen

 

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