Click here to go to the archives main page.
Other popular tags: Xbox 360, Sony, PS3, Activision, EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Wii, fail, Xbox Live, PC, Modern Warfare 2, DLC, Xbox, Girls, journalism, Review, video, gaming, Xbox Live Indie Games, Valve, DS, Kotaku, UK, Disregarded Demographics, XNA, PAX, E3, Ubisoft, games
Taking a leaf out of Labour’s book it seems the Tories, tipped by many to win the next UK general election, have also got no interest in helping the UK gaming industry. Talking at a Westminster eForum meeting this week MP Ed Vaizey, the Shadow Culture Minister, said that he had no plans for tax breaks for gaming companies in the next few years as the gaming industry simply wasn’t a top priority for the Conservatives.
Quite how reversing a trend of economic decline in on of Britain’s largest industries is not a top priority I don’t understand. As the Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA) keep pointing out, giving the gaming industry tax breaks will earn Britain money and help curb the loss of any more jobs in an industry we used to be world leaders in.
Then again, these are UK politicians we’re dealing with. As Labour doesn’t care about the gaming industry, why should their biggest competitor?
Via: GamePolitics
One of the things that I have noticed while listening to a wide range of gaming podcasts is a lot of the shows fluctuate in quality from week to week. This may just be a byproduct of podcasting being a relatively new medium of entertainment, but it’s also a wide open format with no standards or restrictions. This roller coaster of quality can be applied to almost any show out there with few exceptions.
Many shows adopt strict formats to their show with regular features, discussion topics and musical breaks. While this tends to keep them more consistent, sometimes it can really drag down the energy of a show when parts of the cast tune out for sections where they don’t contribute. The rest of the shows go with a more wide open approach which can get help things get on a roll when the cast starts to go off onto a hilarious tangent. These shows also frequently fall completely apart on weeks when no one provides the random catalytic anecdote that leads to audio magic.
[Updates: It was the French PSM that rated Uncharted 2 an 11 out of 10. Also, they pointed out theirs is a monthly show. Thanks @OPM_UK for the corrections!]
The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA) has renewed its call for the Government to offer a Games Tax Relief for developers in the UK. TIGA’s research shows the UK game industry will shrink by five percent a year for the next five years without a tax break, but would eventually grow by four percent a year if it were introduced.
With other countries such as Canada and France already offering tax breaks game makers in the UK are at a severe economic disadvantage and are feeling the pain of recession. Between July 2008 and July 2009 15% of UK development studios went out of business. Unless the Government intervenes, TIGA says nearly 2,000 more UK development jobs could be lost by 2014. Read more →
Tron meets RTS
Virus killed my little dude
Could get addictive
HMV’s gaming industry event ‘GameOn! London’ has been officially cancelled, offering refunds to all who have purchased tickets already (all seven of them). The show was originally intended to take place in June at Earl’s Court, but was pushed back to make it “bigger and better”. Interestingly enough, it was pushed back to November, which is only a large stone’s throw away from the impending Eurogamer Expo. An excellent decision I think you’ll agree.
It saddens me to see a UK event cancelled. We need all the gaming press we can get over here to have videogames pushed further into the mainstream (by which I mean videogames that aren’t Wii Sports or Brain Training). This was one of very few UK-based events that would serve to get Britons talking about our chosen passion/hobby.
I am disappointed, but not surprised. Things like this just go to further cement my pessimism surrounding the state of gaming in the United Kingdom. I can’t imagine who thought planning the event on the dates that it was planned for was a good idea. They’re obviously not due to their proximity to better, larger events.
Via: Joystiq
You thought it was a price “cut”? Me too after reading the hundreds of articles saying the price was down. It turns out what everybody seems to be doing is reading and re-writing the Microsoft Press release.
The Arcade is a simple enough one to explain. They came out and went “blah blah we want your money and we’re going to blame the economy because you’re too thick to look it up yourself” then hiked up the price by £30. That was fairly simple, but things get complicated when you deal with their newly announce Elite price cut.
The “Elite” now costs £200 which is “down” from the original price of £230. The £170 Xbox Pro has been discontinued. But wait, if the economy is causing the Arcade bundle to go up £30, how are they able to cut the cost of the Elite? Well, my friend, let me tell you. Read more →
Since the announcement of the PSPGo at E3 earlier this year, there has been controversy surrounding the platform’s UK RRP of £224.99 (approx. $370). A few days ago, to try and counter the high price of the system, Sony announced that early adopters would receive a free copy of Gran Turismo PSP.
There are a few problems with those though. The game itself was first announced at 2004’s E3. It’s more than likely that anyone interested in the game already owns a PSP and will have a fair number of other UMD based games. (Sony have still yet to clarify how UMD libraries will be transferred to the UMD-free PSPGo.) Secondly, Sony are not offering this as a long-running bundle. In order to get a free copy of GT you must register your console between 1st and 10th October. After that, the offer expires and the console will be sold as a standalone platform.
To me, this offer doesn’t seem to be all that amazing. If there is anyone excited for Gran Turismo PSP, without a console to play it on, it’s still going to be released in UMD form. Currently, a PSP 3000 and a copy of the game will cost you roughly £155. My advice would be to save £70 and buy the older hardware.
Via: GamesIndustry.biz
Set to be released on 27th October in North America, followed by a UK release on 30th October, Tekken 6 will be the first game of the series to hit the current generation of home consoles. Naturally, alongside the standard edition there is a collector’s edition, containing a 100-page art book and a wireless Hori fighting stick. Also, not surprisingly, the UK release of the arcade stick bundle is massively overpriced compared to the rest of the world.
The RRP for the American version is listed at $149.99, which seems fairly reasonable considering what is included in the bundle. The Japanese release also stays fairly near to the US price with an RRP of ¥17,829 ($188). However, the UK release is set at £149.99 ($250), 60% higher than the US price! Having already seen a massive increase in the price of Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition, Namco Bandai seem to be following Activistion’s example, believing they can charge whatever they like to British customers.
Image source
Is Nintendo’s runaway success starting to slow down? Sales figures released at the Annual General Meeting of The GAME Group suggest this could be the case.
The statistics show that from the start of February to June 27 this year, the Wii sold 300,000 units whilst the Xbox 360 sold 600,000. The data was released by GfK ChartTrack which cover all retailers, not just GAME, so this represents the full UK market.
Whilst the Wii is still well ahead on total sales (5.4 million versus 3.9 million) these latest figures indicate that consumers may be turning away from Nintendo. In these tough economic times, perhaps the Wii simply does not represent value for money. Read more →
Eagerly waiting for Activision’s latest money grabbing scheme? Can’t contain yourself over the “Wow! I’m a DJ, look at me spin these dex!!” extravaganza? Just want some friends? Thought so. Well, if you were thinking about buying the upcoming “game” DJ Hero, I’ve got some bad news for you, it seems the goliath publisher hates you. Lots.
The game, which is due for release this November, looks to be more expensive in the UK than it will be in America. The UK version will ship with the game, plus the crappy turntable for around £107.99, yet the US version will have a retail of $120 that’s around £70 in GBP, quite a chunk. Read more →
The Internet Advertising Bureau have announced plans to form a Game Advertising Council and release a list of In-Game Advertising Measurement Guidelines that are available for public comment here (.pdf).
These guidelines will make it easier for companies to buy and sell in-game advertising through standardisation that will help define the value of in-game advertising space.
Now, I think that in-game advertising is an inevitable part of gaming in the future. Already we see adverts popping up now and then. I have yet to see an in-game advert that isn’t horrendously jarring and fourth wall-shattering. I’m not even saying that adverts don’t have a place in videogames. Clearly they do. Look at GTA4’s plethora of humorous parody adverts! They go to show that advertisements can lend to the realism of a virtual space. But, it largely depends on the nature of the advert itself. Read more →
Sky Broadband has been mistakenly been blocking their UK customers from accessing the PlayStation Network in peak periods (between 5pm and midnight). The problem is apparently due to a misclassification of the PSN as a traffic-heavy application, such as peer-to-peer applications.
“Traffic management” as it is so called (read connection rape) has always bugged me. I understand that some people download far more than others but I cant help but be annoyed at application blocking / traffic shaping when it happens on such a regular basis to almost everyone I know.
Case in point; my parents supposedly have a 20 megabit connection, so I would expect around 8mbps download and at 750 kbps upload yet the download speed never breaches the 3 Mbps mark. This is apparently due to them being “power users”, because of course a 50 year old couple really do download hundreds of gigabytes of data a day.
Anyway, the folks at Sky have said that fixing this is a priority, so you should hopefully be back on Home dancing in front of posters asap.
Via: Gamesindustry.biz
Earlier this week, the UK government announced that PEGI would replace the BBFC later this year, giving the European organisation control of videogame ratings in Britain. Whilst this decision has been widely supported throughout the gaming industry, I do not think it was something that needed changing.
Amongst the gaming community, the BBFC is best known for the decision to ban Manhunt 2 in 2007. The controversy that followed this has meant that for many gamers it is impossible to disassociate the BBFC’s ban from any other news involving them. You need only look through GamePolitics.com’s BBFC section to realise how often the Manhunt 2 debacle is referenced in relation to other topics involving the ratings board.
Given that the animosity directed at the BBFC stemmed from their audacity to use the powers given to them is somewhat ludicrous. Admittedly, I do have my own issues with Rockstar, but the gaming community’s outcry in defence of a game that is mindlessly violent for the sake of mindless violence is objectionable. This reaction has led many to accuse the BBFC of treating videogames differently to films or DVDs, arguing that they were not qualified to rate games and were unfairly discriminating against them. Unfortunately, it is this viewpoint that was also adopted by the gaming industry and has been reflected through their support of the PEGI system used across Europe and the recent decision to implement it within the UK. Read more →
As the UK Government chooses the PEGI system as the universal rating scheme for games (as oppose to choosing the BBFC), the group behind PEGI has introduced a new colour labelling system. The current system shows the age ratings of the games, (3, 7, 12, 16, 18) in black and white. The new system now contains a ‘traffic light’ system, where green means the game is safe for children, while red being labelled for adult games. The PEGI system has been in widespread use for several years, however this ruling, (part of the Governments ‘Digital Britain’ report) makes the ratings scheme legally enforceable.
Mike Rawlinson, Europe’s Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association’s general director stated:
The Government has made absolutely the right decision for child safety. By choosing PEGI as the single classification system in the U.K., British children will now get the best possible protection when playing video games either on a console or on the Internet.
Who didn’t see that coming? Once again Europe is getting royally screwed over by the electronics industry. I’m no marketing specialist but surely shipping and what minor localisation has to be done cannot possibly justify the £239.99 price tag that UK retailers are asking for pre-orders.
It is very likely that these are not the final prices. And of course those who have felt the need to purchase such a device and have pre-ordered already will be charged accordingly.
To illustrate the price differences (of June 2009) calculated by the world’s favourite omni-tool, please peruse the following table at your leisure;
| Value | RRP | RRP in US Dollars |
| $249.99 | $249.99 | $249.99 |
| €176.20 | €249.99 | $354.69 |
| £154.25 | £229.99 | $372.74 |
As you can see, us Brits are literally paying well over double the value of the device. That’s rather a lot.
Sony have yet to announce the UK pricing so hopefully the prices being touted by the retailers are inaccurate. That said, it’s not like the actual prices announced will be fair. Why would they be? If I were a businessman and I had a product that people would pay over the odds for I would certainly charge them an arm and a leg.
As the source so subtly suggests, importing is looking very attractive right now.
Via: CVG
Hey Nintendo, not wanting to question your judgement on this, but it’s usually the case that after two years, a console costs less than it did at launch. According to all sources the street’s the place to go Nintendo are set to raise the cost of the Wii by around 10% (an extra £18 to £20).
I would like to say that I predict a riot this will slow sales, but to be quite honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this actually spurs more. People will be wanting to go shopping and buy them now whilst they’re still “cheap”. People are stupid girls.
Nintendo blame the economy going to crap as being the reason for the raising prices. Myself, I blame the Arctic Monkey’s cover of Love Machine as performed on Radio One’s Live Lounge. Also, Lily Allen isn’t that bad. Sure her latest songs aren’t as good, but she’s got a few catchy tracks. Mind you, I also enjoyed that one Fall Out Boy track… what was I talking about? Oh, Nintendo something-something.
Over the past few days, quite a stink has been rising over the UK Government’s use of video games to advertise their Change4Life campaign. As I couldn’t for the life of me find a decent, large image of the offending advert I decided to go do some journalism. I went and bought Reveal (Only 99p!).
As well as learning that “WAGs are living in fear” and that apparent-Celebrity, once-get-her-tits-out-a-lot, Jordan cried on TV some time, I also found the advert (p39 for those interested). Incidentally, the full page advert is placed opposite “Domestic abuse left me suicidal”, but I’m sure that’s a total coincidence.
The text under the headline reads:
9 out of 10 kids risk growing up to have unhealthy amounts of fat in their bodies. Even though you think they look healthy today adulthood could bring an early death from heart disease, Type 2 diabetes or cancer.
So make sure your kids are active for an hour a day. Reduce how much fat they eat. For help and advice visit 4yourkids.org.uk
From what I can tell the controller isn’t a PS2 controller, but does resemble one of the cheaper wireless models you can get.
The full picture is available for your perusing pleasure right here (lower resolution photobucket mirror). If you do go on to re-post it anywhere, I’ve not watermarked it (because that would be a dick thing to do) but would appreciate a link back. Just so I know you still love me.
Just when I think we’re making progress. In a grotesque misjudgement the UK Government has spent tax payer’s money to serve adverts in some UK publications (such as Star, Reveal and Heat) saying that video games will shorten your life.
The advert which says “risk an early death, do nothing” with a picture of a kid playing a video game (left) is supported by The British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research.
MCV’s Tim Ingham has an excellent article which puts into words the feelings I have right now. How are politicians still pulling this kind of crap? The ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) has called an “urgent meeting” with the government over the adverts.
From Ingham’s article;
Change4Life’s heart-in-mouth scapegoating of the video games industry is a troubling indictment of a hypocritical Government which flashes us grins when we generate £4 billion a year for its depleted coffers; but which then turns its back and explicitly tells parents that we’re KILLING THEIR CHILDREN.
Tiga have released the results of their nationwide survey with various developing companies in the UK. The survey was used as a measure to determine what factors may have been affecting development. Dr. Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga had this to say:
The UK games development industry is competing with one hand tied behind its back. Competitor countries from Canada and the USA to France and South Korea are benefiting from government support, most notably tax breaks. This puts the UK at an immediate disadvantage.
I’m certainly not an expert in this type of ordeal, but certain states in America have offered some nice incentive for game development in their area. Having the UK follow suit would not only help benefit themselves, but allow more opportunity to succeed worldwide.
The UK would become a much more inviting place if it followed the pattern of Canada and gave tax breaks and encourage growth within the video game industry. Tiga go on to say;
When asked what Government policies could help their business, 85% backed tax breaks for production, 77% recommended more liberal R&D tax credits, 51% called for lower corporation tax and 50% advocated lower rates of national insurance contributions.
Developers are obviously in need for some help and with just a little cooperation the government could benefit massivly. It would be unfortunate to see even more companies go down, especially if it were during these times, because the government was being stubborn.
A recent advert for the Xbox 360 has been banned in the UK after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint. The British public are very good at complaining and are usually rightly ignored. However, in this case the ASA found Microsoft were indeed in breach of Advertising Standards.
Microsoft were very happy to tell viewers that they needed to buy an Xbox 360, but neglected to mention that when you “download movies” you can’t keep them for more than 14 days (or 24 hours from when you start watching). The ASA ruled that because this was used as a rather large selling point, and is clearly going to mislead a lot of people, the advert should be banned.
So what was Microsoft’s excuse for basically lying in their adverts? According to the ASA, Microsoft said that “in the context of a relatively short TV ad, it was not viable to express all of the features of the Xbox movie download service.”
Yes, “all” of the features are what’s important here. Maybe you should also mention that you can play PS3 games if you buy an Xbox 360. Remember; if there isn’t enough room to write “additional purchase of a PS3 required” then there is nothing wrong.
Via: Dtoid
