The Game Druid

I’ve said this a million times, Wii IS next gen! Recently a Reuters report came out saying that the Wii out sould the PS3 despite its 700% increase in sales, in Japan though. In a piece headlined “Sony PS3 catching up to Wii in Japanese sales,” Reuters’ Tokyo branch covers the horse race, writing that the Wii “once again outsold Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 in Japan in June, but its lead is fading.” While technically accurate if referring to monthly sales – the Wii only outsold the PS3 by a margin of 1.7 to 1 last month, a dip from the 6 to 1 margin of the previous month – the bigger picture isn’t so clear.

so this is totally turning out to be 2 console race (sorry 360 ), anyway, i wonder whats gonna happen next, cuz I don’t see any game on the PS3 coming soon which will create a boom like MGS 4.. and no GT5 doesn’t count.

Deal means Havok Physics will be used to bring realistic motion to several Wii™ titles from 2K

Havok, has agreed to a licensing agreement with California based game developer 2K Games. Under the terms of the deal, 2K Games will use Havok’s pioneering physics engines to develop several upcoming titles which will be available on the Wii home video game system from Nintendo.

2K will initially use the industry leading Havok Physics engine to support its standards of realism and interactivity in Carnival Games: Mini-Golf™, the sequel to the popular Wii title Carnival Games™, which has sold over 1.5 million units worldwide since its release last year. Havok technology will also be used in other yet-to-be-named titles for the Wii from 2K. David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok, explains how Havok’s physic engines will improve interactivity in the hotly anticipated Carnival Games: Mini-Golf title. “Havok physics engines allow game developers to realistically depict motion and the effects the game character has on their environment. Havok technology communicates with physical elements in the game and loads them with intelligence, allowing them to react to the players’ actions in a realistic way. Of course, anyone who has used the Wii will recognise how important accurate movement is for the players’ enjoyment of the game. Fans of Carnival Games: Mini-Golf won’t be disappointed with the final results!”

Havok’s physics software is featured in over 200 triple A games available on store shelves today. With well over 90 games currently in development for release this year, use of Havok’s ubiquitous software is up 100% for the same period last year. Best-selling titles featuring Havok physics include Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, Guitar Hero III, BioShock, World in Conflict, Half Life 2: The Orange Box and Heavenly Sword.

Blockbuster movies which have employed Havok technology to drive special effects include Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 10000 BC, X-Men: The Last Stand, Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

At a glittering ceremony in Las Vegas earlier this year, Havok was honored with an award from the National Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences for their work on their pioneering physics engines which makes games more realistic than ever before. The company uses a combination of next generation physics, animation and tools to reach new standards of realism and interactivity in gaming technology and essentially turn their customers’ creative aspirations into technical realities.

In April, the eagle-eyed editors at Trademork noticed that Capcom had trademarked the video game title “Spyborgs.” At the time–and later, when the Japanese publisher registered the domain Spyborgs.com–nothing was known about the game, including whether or not it was a game at all.

Today, Capcom officially blew Spyborgs cover. Billed as an interactive version of “your favorite Saturday morning cartoon,” the game is a Wii-exclusive action-adventure with a highly stylized, animation-like graphical style. That isn’t as surprising, given the game’s provenance. It’s the first project from Bionic Games, a new Los Angeles-based studio founded by former staffers of Insomniac Games, developers of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and High Impact games, the shop behind Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters.

Though there is not actually a Spyborgs cartoon–yet–the game attempts to emulate a television series by incorporating outlandish humor, courtesy of fake TV commercials. It will also offer “quick episodic-themed gameplay” in either single-player or two-person co-op flavors. Players will be able to assume the role of one of five bionically enhanced spies, each of whom has their own special ability. Said powers–which will be tested by tailor-made opponents–include “heavy firepower,” “bladed weapons,” “acrobatic skateboarding,” and “robotic destruction.”

GameSpot will have more information on Spyborgs when it becomes available. For more previews from Capcom’s recent press event, check out GameSpot’s full coverage of Captivate 2008.

Bad news, bargain hunters; Nintendo has gone on record saying there are no imminent price cuts for the Nintendo Wii or DS. Satoru Iwata, the company’s president, said he did not believe in the “model” of price slashing, as it tends to leave early adopters feeling a little disheartened. Though we do agree, surely early adopters are well out of their honeymoon phase by now? With Nintendo’s profits soaring to new heights, they’re not exactly looking for a quick dollar, so perhaps the move makes a little sense. Still, Nintendo is not expecting to make as much cash on DS hardware sales in the coming year, which means there are a few more eggs in a Wii basket somewhere. The exact DS stats breakdown like this:

The big N anticipates it will shift 28.0 million DS units from now till March 2009, which is a reduction in the numbers sold in the previous year, where 30.3 millions units made their way to sweaty palms everywhere.

Like anything else, the price of game hardware is affected by the law of supply and demand. If everyone wants something but there isn’t enough of it to go around, prices aren’t likely to come down.

Nintendo has no doubt realized that demand for its hardware is high and supply is not, as it reportedly doesn’t expect to bring down the cost of admission for either piece of hardware anytime this year. According to Reuters, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the possibility of price cuts in an analysts’ meeting earlier today.

“Our earnings projection for the year is not based on hardware price cuts, and I don’t think we are going to need them,” Iwata was quoted as saying.

Despite that confidence, there is reason to think that the laws of supply and demand won’t work as much in Nintendo’s favor this year. In a note to investors this morning, Lazard Capital Markets Colin Sebastian pointed to Nintendo’s plan to increase Wii production and supply by more than 34 percent this year. He also noted the company’s forecast that it expects to ship 28 million DS systems for the new fiscal year, down from 30 million last year, suggesting that it expects slightly tempered demand for the handheld.

Sebastian said Nintendo is planning to spark DS sales in the future by pushing further into the mainstream consumer market with new features and games designed for non-traditional gamers. But if that doesn’t work out, Sebastian suggested that the DS would be in for another redesign.

“[W]e believe Nintendo could launch a refresh of its handheld platform if sales momentum does not continue,” Sebastian said.

This isn’t the first time an analyst has suggested a new version of the DS. Last November, Pacific Crest Securities’ Evan Wilson cited contacts in the industry as telling him the redesign is already complete, and Nintendo was just waiting to unveil it until DS sales tapered off in the US, Europe, and Japan.

The DS was launched in November of 2004, and its first redesign, the DS Lite, debuted in Japan in March of 2006.