If you haven’t already pledged your allegiance to the ESA or the ECA, you might be interested in hearing that the Entertainment Media Council — a group of game industry professionals whose mission is to “transform the way the game is played and advance the industry to the next level” — has just announced its Charter Membership Program. The EMC is apparently looking for “businesses whose leaders believe in our mission” and promises “lifetime recognition and lifetime memberships for key personnel.” The real question: Does said “key personnel” also receive a private bathroom? Also, any chance to sign a massive charter document? Please say yes!
Unfortunately, the call for charter members doesn’t go into that kind of detail. It does, however, feature a laundry list of expectations of its potential members, including the reduction of “unnecessary and wasteful layoffs” and an intention to “increase the success rate of new firms” — two things we can certainly get behind. There’s a heap more information for, um, you businesses out there interested in joining. Just check out the EMC website for details.
Entertainment Media Council now seeking charter members originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GameSpot cornered Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway in a dimly lit back room at yesterday’s Nintendo Media Summit and pried loose some information about the Wii’s eventual successor. It would seem Nintendo is aiming for PlayStation 2 levels of success with the Wii, which means it’ll be around for quite some time before being ousted by a follow-up system.
“I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon,” she said. “Even though our install base is, at this point, five million households larger than the PS2 install base was at the same point in its life cycle, it still has a lot of room to grow. If you think PS2, there’s been about 50 million sold — Wii close to 28 million sold — so it says to me there’s still a big audience out there that we can access with Wii.” In a less oblique fashion, she added: “We’ll have it ready when we think the time is right.”
The rest of the video is mainly fluff, with Dunaway talking up the large global install bases for the Wii and DS, and Wii Sports Resort’s six million-strong success. The full video is embedded after the break.
Continue reading Dunaway: Wii successor isn’t coming ‘anytime soon’
Dunaway: Wii successor isn’t coming ‘anytime soon’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve been hearing about Steve Harris’s digital version of the soon-to-be relaunched EGM for quite some time now, and we’re just one month away from the magazine’s return to newsstands. However, if you’re trying to get an early peek at what Harris has in store for EGMi: The Digital Magazine (that he’s said will be released supplementally between print issues), now’s your chance. But what’s this? The mysterious unreleased “last issue”of EGM? It is!
As Harris puts it, “The links on this cover page aren’t live yet – but they will be long before Summer arrives.” Okay, okay, it might’ve taken a year for the issue to become available — and yes, it might be full of content on games that have been out for quite some time now — but hey, it’s a chance to explore “layers and depth that you control.” Doesn’t that seem enticing? Well, we’re not really sure quite yet, as the Screen Paper-based issue has yet to incorporate the promises we’ve been hearing since last September. With grand plans for the release of a digital magazine every week once the print mag relaunches, we’ll certainly see how this shakes out soon enough.
EGM Now launches with … digitized final issue of old EGM? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The odd swapping of games between Ignition Entertainment and XSEED continues. First, Ignition obtained the rights to Marvelous’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Arc Rise Fantasia, both initially to be published by XSEED. Now, XSEED has announced that it will publish Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny on Xbox 360 — a game that we played at Ignition’s E3 booth.
XSEED is publishing the fighter under the name Samurai Shodown Sen, with a release planned for sometime this spring. Along with Atlus’s announcement that it’s publishing Metal Slug XX, this move provides evidence that Ignition’s co-publishing deal with SNK has ended.
XSEED now publishing Samurai Shodown Sen originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Game Crazy can’t catch a break as parent-company Movie Gallery has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. When the dust settles, only 250 Game Crazy locations will remain. The company already closed over 200 locations late last year. In total, Movie Gallery plans to immediately liquidate and close 760 stores in its financially fallible trinity of brands: Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video and Game Crazy.
The company hopes to emerge from the “restructuring” with a “new and sustainable business model centered on a smaller base of profitable stores.” The only division of the business unaffected by the bankruptcy is the company’s Canadian operations. At least that’s one good thing, eh?
[Via Industry Gamers]
Game Crazy parent files for bankruptcy, 250 stores to remain originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A job listing for an “Experienced/Senior Designer” lets on a few details of what the studio might be working on next.
A new job listing for the Activision studio says that this designer will be working on a project based on a “unannounced, extremely high-profile major movie license.” It also looks like the title will be a shooter, as the job description asks for someone who has experience in working on first and third-person shooters.
The folks at VG247 are guessing that this is a new Bond game. I’m thinking that’s a pretty good guess.
This is nothing like the Bang Bus, so don’t go expecting to meet up with a real life Vanille to get a different kind of hands-on. No, this is a tour bus that is going to go around the country and show off new bits of Final Fantasy XIII to gamers. The sparkly new North American version will be shown off in some form, and those that track down the bus will be able to get their hands on a demo.
The tour kicks off tomorrow. You’ll want to follow Twitter feed @PlayFFXIII if you’d like to track the location of the bus to hop aboard. It seems that San Francisco is coming up.
Of course, Square Enix is still planning on pushing out their latest epic in March. Look for our impressions of the Japanese version very soon.
The Final Fantasy XIII Bus Tour, Twitter Campaign [Crispy Gamer]
Fable games are often surrounded by whirlwinds of hype and more information than our tiny minds can posibly process, but it seems that Lionhead has taken to the opposite extreme with Fable III. We know nothing and these tiny, one-at-a-time concept images only serve to illustrate how little we know.
Once again, only a single piece of concept art has been released for the upcoming Xbox 360 game. As you might expect, it doesn’t show off very much. Just a lot of lake and hills. There’s really nothing else one can say, but we’re duty bound to show it to you, so here it is.
Don’t worry though, I’m sure this is the calm before the storm. The hype is coming. I can feel the tremors.
Fable III Wallpapers [IGN]
Instead of focusing on the past, wondering what may have happened to yesterday’s Kotaku Off Topic open thread, in which anything can be discussed video game related or not, let’s focus on the future!
I mean, really, who’s all that interested in placing blame about the lack of Kotaku Off Topic yesterday? Certainly not me! Who forgot to do what after a busy day at the Consumer Electronics Show isn’t important right now. What is important is having a chance to discuss whatever it is you want to discuss.
Let’s trade links, news stories, opinions and witty comments in this on-time, not forgotten Kotaku Off Topic. I’ll start!
Not content with simply being able to access Xbox LIVE from your Xbox 360 and your PC? A recent job listing is hinting that Microsoft may be looking to fill the gap between Xbox LIVE and Windows Mobile devices.
Microsoft is currently looking for a Principal Program Manager to bring “Xbox LIVE enabled games to Windows Mobile.” This would also included “avatar integration, social interaction, and multi-screen experiences.”
There are already plenty of ways to view your Xbox LIVE friends list on your mobile phones, with various programs already available for iPhone and even Android-based mobile devices. But this sounds like it’s taking it a step further, particularly with the mention of “multi-screen experiences.”
Linking your Xbox 360 to your mobile device could allow for some interesting experiences, but let’s not forget, it’s been done before. Nintendo did a similar thing with the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube via a link cable, giving birth to some pretty killer games like the excellent Pac-Man Vs.
We’ll just have to wait and see if Microsoft has something a bit more ambitious up its sleeve… and how many people who own 360s also own Windows Mobile devices in 2010.
Windows Mobile and Xbox Live coming together, according to Microsoft job ad [Endadget]
