Video Games Live is supposedly a concert of epic proportions bringing together video game music and symphony orchestras. This concert was started by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, who are both composers in the world of game design. Since this show was stopping in New York City at the Beacon Theater, I just had to go out and see this, seeing as everyone is talking about it. This seemed to be the perfect Saturday evening activity, seeing as how much I enjoy listening to classic video game soundtracks. However, all was not well, as I was soon set up for disappointment. If you’re ready for my review and rant, hit the jump. (more…)

First a little back story. The glory years of the N64 were short, but sweet thanks to many titles by respected developer, Rare. Acquired by Nintendo in the early 90’s, Rare acted as one of Nintendo’s top second party developers which produced many high quality games for the N64 during 1997-2001. Known best for developing Ninty-like, polished titles which took full advantage of the current hardware to improve both gameplay and graphics.

You know the games…Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Blast Corps, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and the famed GoldenEye 007. Rare’s line of excellent game developing was stopped abruptly during the end of 2001 when Microsoft began making offers for the dev. By 2002 Microsoft had bought Rare from Nintendo for $377 million and immediately put them to work on their new Xbox system. IPs were split: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Star Fox stayed with Nintendo, while Banjo, Conker and others went to Rare and Microsoft. Though Rare continued to develop new titles for the Xbox, Xbox360, and even the GBA and DS they never did quite get their stride back.

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The game industry is, undeniably, already well on its way into a new era. It is, like a certain presidential candidate, change we can believe in. It is both an exciting time (as a player) and an uncertain time (as a developer). But it is also a highly lucrative time, as is usually the case when truly disruptive trends begin to come to a head (see also, iPod).

Hardware and software sales continue to trend well into the billions of dollars; industry figureheads like former Sony exec Phil Harrison have allegedly stepped down because of blowback against some of the newer game ideas that are making money where there wasn’t any to be made in the past; and, since I would be remiss to not include it in a post on a fansite devoted to passionate discussion about its very being, there is, without question, Nintendo. (more…)

Thanks to the one-two punch of titles like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the quirky Wii Fit balance board, Nintendo has widened its lead in Japan over Sony’s PlayStation 3.

According to an article from Reuters today, Nintendo’s Wii game console outsold the PlayStation 3 nearly 4-to-1 in Japan in February despite Sony’s console beginning to narrow the gap last autumn. In addition to strong hardware sales, Wii software titles also dominated the best seller list. Super Smash Bros. Brawl led the software sales with 1.33 million units, followed by Wii Fit which sold 309,311 units in the four weeks.

According to Reuters, Enterbrain and the Japanese gaming mag Famistsu, the Wii’s lead on the PS3 appears to be widening. In February it was 4:1; in January, the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost 3-to-1. Nintendo sold 331,627 units of the Wii in the four weeks to Feb. 24, compared with 89,131 units of the PS3, market research firm Enterbrain said.

Microsoft, content to sell to that lucrative “niche collector’s market” in Japan, sold 14,079 Xbox 360 units in the February reporting period.

All signs are pointing to 2007 being the best year ever for video games, but how did the industry stack up against some of the Old Guard like movies and music?

If the Entertainment Software Association (via Ars Technica) is to be believed, it was a banner year that left tired old things like “CDs” and DVDs” in the dust. (more…)

Word on the digital street is that Nintendo is playing the no soup for you card on Microsoft as it pertains to that golden goodie, Goldeneye.

Allegedly, in what is quickly becoming a pissing match of almost biblical proportions, Nintendo blocked the title’s move over to Xbox Live Arcade, regardless of the fact that accepting the deal would have also allowed Rare to publish Goldeneye and other Rare developed titles to be named later on the Virtual Console. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata himself was rumored to be in on the negotiations (or lack thereof, for that matter). Also keep in mind this is all heresay from Microsoft sources.

If this story is true, you can whine all you want about how Nintendo is being a stubborn ass, because bottom line is this is all a business, and these companies are competitors. Nintendo saw a way to keep its edge this generation, and it took it. Besides, when Brawl hits next month this will all be a distant memory.

Analyst Michael Pachter, Mr. Video Game guru himself, has cast down the tea leaves into his voodoo pot of stray animal bones and sees incredible October sales numbers not only for Nintendo, but for video games in general.

GameIndustry.biz:

Most of the sales growth was driven by Activision’s Guitar Hero III, which accounted for USD 100 million in sales. Pachter’s estimate reflects USD 425 in sales from new platforms and USD 130 million in sales from current generation software sales.

Once again, in his estimate, the Wii will lead the market in hardware sales. He estimates sell-through of 450,000 Wii consoles, 325,000 Xbox 360 consoles, and 125,000 PlayStation 3 consoles.

And worry not about a weakening U.S. economy, dear readers, for Master Pachter predicts that solid software sales will continue well into 2008. No kidding, Pach, I could have told you that.

I’m going to add to what my new colleague Jake said in his post from earlier this morning. I’m not going to bash Microsoft in this post. I don’t have to. Taking a page from resident Infendo columnist-at-large Malstrom, I’m going to let the industry players speak for themselves.Xbox Marketing VP Jeff Bell in an interview published on Wednesday:

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Malstrom is at it again. Today he’s delivered us a series of new (and lengthy!) articles about gaming, Nintendo and the future of the industry as a whole. I think with the outrageous success currently being enjoyed by the Wii and its software (you know, the software that ignoramuses say doesn’t exist yet) this is an especially timely delivery.

On a personal note, the reason I enjoy these columns is two-fold. First, the style is unique. There are no other writers out there today in the gaming industry that can hold a candle to the style that Malstrom brings in his articles. They tell a story, create characters and include real life quotes from industry movers and shakers, and advance the conversation instead of miring it in stagnation. Kind of like the Wii and DS.

Secondly, they use words from the analysts and industry players themselves. Oftentimes Malstrom simply sits back and lets some of these clowns set the stage for him. In this light, the columns cannot be dismissed as fanboyism or marketing because they employ something rarely seen in the putrid, vitriolic message boards and forums of today: facts. For those reasons alone, these are a welcome addition to Infendo. I haven’t seen these columns outside of Infendo (aside from at the now-retired Wiikly.com), so for that I thank Mal for the pro bono contribution. I think I speak for Blake, David and the rest of Infendo when I say thanks a million for these articles. But I digress, as usual.

On that note, here’s one of Malstrom’s latest, A Rising Continent.

– Jack (more…)

The more I watch the recaps of Microsoft’s E3 presentation and the GameTrailers Killzone 2 footage, the more I find myself agreeing with Infendo contributor Malstrom.

I usually agreed with ol’ Mal when he wrote over at The Wiikly, but more recently he said something in a column here at Nintendo that managed to coalesce all the thoughts in my head into one easy to swallow morsel. That morsel? That the Xbox 360 and the PS3 were not the beginning of the “next generation,” but were instead shiny bookends to the last generation.

It’s in this that I find the most hilarious of ironies: That people would discredit the Wii as a “GameCube 2.0,” when all the while it is the “next generation” systems in the PS3 and Xbox 360 that are actually the swan song of the previous generation of consoles; that they are the Last Generation, 2.0. (more…)

The recent comic at Penny Arcade is spot-on, but for once I’m linking to the commentary that’s provided alongside it by Tycho. He discusses how uncomfortable everyone’s become now that Nintendo has rewritten the rule book on gaming (tore it to shreds with its bare hands, then manifested a new one out of thin air is more like it, I suppose).

No one, aside from Nintendo, really knows what to do right now. Rumors persist that Sony is crafting itself a PS2 waggle wand and a $99 price point for the PS2. Microsoft execs look absolutely ridiculous as they try and market “kid-friendly” fare for the Xbox 360. Honestly, if you had told me 18 months ago that one day Microsoft’s Xbox division was going to start looking like that 35-year-old guy who tries to blend in and be cool at a college party, I would have laughed in your face.

PA:

With the compact E3 about to begin, the tactical nature of the conflict (Note: marketing, competing — j.l.) will become more brutal. People get even nastier when they’re vying for second place than when they’re fighting for first. When you’re playing for scraps - and rest assured, dear readers, that you and I are the scraps - you have to get all of them to make it work. Nintendo has simply skipped the first phase - building the brand with us - and jumped straight to the mainstream play. It’s worked flawlessly. And it’s made their competitors increasingly uncomfortable.

Things will start to get ugly, dear readers, as those people who feel threatened by the Wii’s success — for whatever their reason is — begin to lash out. Just ask Gandhi. It will be ugly, but it’ll be fun to watch. That is, when we’re not having a blast with Smash Bros. or Metroid Prime 3.

On an unrelated note, I had a dream last night in which I wielded a 5-foot broadsword and dodged cannonballs.

Did Matt Casamassina’s torrid love affair with Perrin Kaplan finally pay off? When he revealed that, once upon a time, there was a working build of Halo DS in development, had he descended from the Ivory IGN Tower to bestow some legitimate truth upon we the gaming plebeians? Has his crazy hair finally, once and for all, taken over the rest of his gray matter real estate? Sadly, we may never know. But hey, just for poopsky’s and giggles, let’s let Cas out of the cage one last time so he can dish once again about Halo DS.

In IGN’s Wii-k in Review podcast for 6/15/2007 Mr. Casamassina brought it up again, and had this to say: “It’s a real game… we’re going to lay down some ownage next week or soon afterward by showing you guys that it is a real game.”

Fun fact: When someone says they’re going to “lay down some ownage” you have little choice but to believe them. You just have to. It’s in your DNA. Such is the power of Matt C., News Crop. and corporate sponsorship. So what do you think… Halo DS? I think Microsoft and the whole “we own Bungie now, you idiot” thing might come into play on this one.

Nintendo has sold over 8 million Wii systems worldwide in less than seven months. This outpaces both the Xbox 360 and PS3 for the same period of time since their respective launches.  Check out VGChartz for the full graph.

If it was easier to buy a Wii, would this number be even higher?

Is Microsoft taking the whole Halo 3 thing a bit too far? I’d like to think other publishers wouldn’t exploit popular franchises to this extent (Note: I said think). Talk about chutzpah. I feel like I’m getting marketed to like I did when I was a kid. I’m 27 now. 27, people!

Bloomberg reports that Nintendo is outselling Sony in Japan. They say Wii is outselling PS3 by 5 to 1. Having a hard time visualizing numbers, and being inspired by Blake’s chart obsession, I created the above pie graph to illustrate just what those numbers mean. [The totals are for video game hardware only, so Sony’s plethora of other products do not figure into the equation.]

Infendo Nation, I ask you, how does Sony get back on top? Can they?