Konami’s TGS 08 lineup revealed

More and more exhibitors for the TGS event are revealing their lineup of titles to showcase next week. Just a few moments ago, we heard from Sony’s list of PS3 and PSP games that’ll end up on the show floor - one of which is an unannounced PS3 game from Konami.

Do we get that answer now? Unfortunately, no. Though Konami has revealed their lineup for TGS, all of the games that are listed have already been announced before.

• World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 (PS3, Xbox 360) - demo, trailer
• Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) - trailer, stage event
• Metal Gear Online (PS3) - demo, trailer, stage event
• Genso Suikoden Tierkreis (DS) - demo, trailer, stage event
• Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 nichi (DS) - demo, trailer
• Castlevania Judgement (Wii) - demo, trailer, stage event
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) - demo, trailer, stage event
• Silent Hill: Homecoming (PS3, Xbox 360) - demo, trailer
• Chaotic Eden (PC) - demo, trailer

It’s also strange to find MGS4 and Metal Gear Online making a return trip to TGS - what’s up with that, you ask? Quite possibly, that’d refer to the MGO World Championship 2008 finals which were already scheduled for TGS 08 back in July - but maybe they’ll have more announcements (new DLC and patches?) for the game… And let’s hope they finally reveal more about that “Metal Gear Solid Existence” trademark they filed for recently.

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Related articles:

• Sony reveals full TGS lineup, 14 new games to be revealed
• Konami files ‘Metal Gear Solid Existence’ trademark… but for what?
• Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008 announced

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Team Twiizers relates plans for the future of SaveMii

Here’s some behind-the-scenes news from the Wiibrew community concerning SaveMii, the anti-brick dongle for the Wii from Team Twiizers.

bushing explains in the hackmii blog that they are exploring a way to increase their production of the dongle to meet demand.

They received so many orders, in fact, that they are exploring a way to increase production with a small-scale Chinese factory production run.

However, they also explained that how the presence of mass-produced clones of the dongle would affect their plans, saying:

SaveMii took a lot of reverse-engineering work to make, but compared to modern FPGA-based drivechip designs, it will be pretty easy to clone and we know this. When you buy an Authentic SaveMii, you re not just paying for some parts you re supporting Team Twiizers past and future hacks!

Listen up, would-be cloners: the market for this device is probably not big enough for two or more teams to be selling competing devices. We will all end up with a bunch of unsold devices, which will probably hurt us more than it will hurt you but it s still a lose-lose situation.

That s the carrot now here s the stick:

We can t compete with a mass-produced clone of SaveMii. If someone makes a serious effort to sell one, we will probably release all documentation, sources, schematics, and everything needed to make one. marcan will even release sources for his earlier PIC-based version, which is a lot less optimal but tinkerers are more likely to have the parts at home. We d rather give this to the world at large and let companies fight for the profits than worry about it.

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Related Articles:

• SaveMii website now live
• Team Twiizers’ Marcan: Wii Recovery Dongle is not Pandora Battery

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DC Universe Online Developer Troubled by Cross-Platform Play

According an MTV Multiplayer report, the implementation of cross-platform online play in DC Universe Online is giving the developers at Sony Online Entertainment some serious headaches. Though the team remains cautiously optimistic, this feature may not make the final cut at all — rendering the PC and PS3 two entirely separate, parallel DC Universes.

The surprising part is — while console MMORPGs are still relatively uncharted territory — the problems that are arising here seem all-too-familiar. Sony Online Entertainment Austin’s creative director Chris Cao confessed to MTV Multiplayer:

“We actually think that ‘DCUO’ being an action game translates very easily across [platforms], and there’s not really that many differences in the gameplay. But one of things with MMOs is that we update them; we add new stuff. When we add stuff to the PC side it’s a different route; going through the PlayStation Network and getting it to our console person is a lot different than getting it to our PC person.”

“We don’t want the console guys to get [updates] earlier or later or either way. And since they’re two such different systems, we really need to work on our side to make sure that [simultaneous updates] happen. But I think if anybody is going to do it and make it simultaneously seamless for people, it’s going to be us. It’s just that we haven’t done it yet, so we don’t like to promise what we haven’t delivered yet.”

Restrictions on the size of downloads and an extensive certification process are just two potential stumbling blocks typical of console development. These concerns were echoed by SOE-Seattle’s Matt Wilson, who’s working on Sony’s other cross-platform MMO, The Agency. “The console requires a certification process for every one of its releases, and that can take a short period of time or that can take a long period of time depending on the schedule,” he criticized, continuing, “And if you’ve ever been part of an MMO release right after you launch the product, there’s quite a few updates you do to solve issues.” Read more

Rule, Britannia: Wii taking names in the UK

Filed under: News, Sales

What ho, chaps! This morning yielded jolly splendid (if totally expected) news for Nintendo from the UK: according to GfK Chart Track figures, the Wii is (to use a British colloquialism) kicking arse in the land of tea and crumpets.

Over the last 12 months, 2.5 million Wii consoles have been sold in Britain, swelling the total installed base to 3.6 million units. That means one in every 16.93 Brits is waggling a Wiimote — not a bad figure, considering the console launched only twenty-two months ago. Furthermore, high street retailer The Game Group estimates that the Wii will have hit 4.9 million units in Blighty by Christmas. Gosh!/Blimey!/Etc.

To see how the competition fared (spoiler: not very well), hit the break!

UK hardware sales (since September 2007)

• Nintendo DS Lite — 3,300,000
• Nintendo Wii — 2,500,000
• PlayStation 3 — 1,000,000
• Xbox 360 — 1,000,000
• PlayStation Portable — 700,000

UK hardware sales (total installed base)

• Nintendo DS Lite — 7,100,000
• Nintendo Wii — 3,600,000
• PlayStation Portable — 2,900,000
• Xbox 360 — 2,300,000
• PlayStation 3 — 1,400,000

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Yuke’s announces BPM Racing for WiiWare

Filed under: News, WiiWare

Yuke’s Company of America has announced a cool new racing game for WiiWare with a twist. If you are familiar with Yuke’s, you may think that “twist” is wrasslin’, but thankfully it isn’t (though that has been tried). Instead, BPM Racing is a rhythm-racing game.

We aren’t exactly sure how this works, but you’ll synchronize your driving (in some way) to the rhythm of the soundtrack to increase your speed, handling, and score. Players will also be able to add “their own samples and effects to various soundtracks.”

Yuke’s Company’s Ken Koyama said in the press release that “The racing genre is ripe for a new, innovative direction and increasing the aural experience seemed like an obvious choice.” To be honest, even if it doesn’t work, we already appreciate this. The best thing about downloadable games is that it allows developers to create extremely risky games based on outrageous ideas without having to worry too much about their businesses dying if the games don’t sell.

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Born for Wii: Lemmings

Filed under: Born for Wii

If you’re a gamer, chances are you’ve heard of it, played it, loved it. While not quite as ubiquitous as Pac-Man or Tetris, which have spread like wildfire across practically every platform known to gamingkind, Lemmings is one of the most recognizable franchises of gaming history, thanks to the endearing titular characters, inventive design, and brain-straining puzzles.

Before the proliferation of real-time strategy games in the mid 1990s, DMA Designs (who would later assume the name Rockstar North and go on to develop a little-known game named Grand Theft Auto) unleashed the irresistibly cutesy lemmings onto the unprepared gaming scene. Their target? The Amiga. And from there the tide surged forth onto a dizzying number of platforms. Nintendo’s systems have played host to the lemmings many times, but never before has a console offered the series a perfect control setup. Lemmings is this week’s pick for the series that deserves a restorative breath of life courtesy of the Nintendo Wii.

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AC/DC Live Rock Band Track Pack out November 16, is not dirt cheap [update]

Filed under: News

For those about to rock … EA would like to sell you a disc! The company has announced a collection of live recordings from AC/DC to be released on November 16 for Wii in the US for $40, and in other regions “starting in December.” Pricing for other regions can be found at the link.

The AC/DC Live Rock Band Track Pack will contain 18 songs pulled from years of AC/DC live recordings, in a new mix created specifically for Rock Band. The press release for the disc promises “more than 99 minutes of game play for each instrument.” Check out the list of songs after the break! It’s … pretty much exactly what you’d expect from an AC/DC collection!

The press release says that all tracks from this collection will be playable in both Rock Band and Rock Band 2 on the PS3 and 360 via an authentication code. But it’s also a standalone game (and, in the Wii’s case, apparently just a standalone game), so you don’t actually have to have either Rock Band game to play it. Just instruments.

[Update: Like the new AC/DC album, this game is Wal-Mart exclusive.]

• “Thunderstruck”
• “Shoot to Thrill”
• “Back in Black”
• “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”
• “Heatseeker”
• “Fire Your Guns”
• “Jailbreak”
• “The Jack”
• “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
• “Moneytalks”
• “Hells Bells”
• “High Voltage”
• “Whole Lotta Rosie”
• “You Shook Me All Night Long”
• “T.N.T.”
• “Let There Be Rock”
• “Highway To Hell”
• “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”

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DC Universe Online Developer Troubled by Cross-Platform Play

According an MTV Multiplayer report, the implementation of cross-platform online play in DC Universe Online is giving the developers at Sony Online Entertainment some serious headaches. Though the team remains cautiously optimistic, this feature may not make the final cut at all — rendering the PC and PS3 two entirely separate, parallel DC Universes.

The surprising part is — while console MMORPGs are still relatively uncharted territory — the problems that are arising here seem all-too-familiar. Sony Online Entertainment Austin’s creative director Chris Cao confessed to MTV Multiplayer:

“We actually think that ‘DCUO’ being an action game translates very easily across [platforms], and there’s not really that many differences in the gameplay. But one of things with MMOs is that we update them; we add new stuff. When we add stuff to the PC side it’s a different route; going through the PlayStation Network and getting it to our console person is a lot different than getting it to our PC person.”

“We don’t want the console guys to get [updates] earlier or later or either way. And since they’re two such different systems, we really need to work on our side to make sure that [simultaneous updates] happen. But I think if anybody is going to do it and make it simultaneously seamless for people, it’s going to be us. It’s just that we haven’t done it yet, so we don’t like to promise what we haven’t delivered yet.”

Restrictions on the size of downloads and an extensive certification process are just two potential stumbling blocks typical of console development. These concerns were echoed by SOE-Seattle’s Matt Wilson, who’s working on Sony’s other cross-platform MMO, The Agency. “The console requires a certification process for every one of its releases, and that can take a short period of time or that can take a long period of time depending on the schedule,” he criticized, continuing, “And if you’ve ever been part of an MMO release right after you launch the product, there’s quite a few updates you do to solve issues.” Read more

Fanswag: Mega Man 9 goes to …

Filed under: Contests / Giveaways

We’ve come to the conclusion of our latest giveaway, perhaps our greatest giveaway. Why our greatest? Well, even though we’ve hooked up people with plenty of copies of No More Heroes, Mega Man 9 is a shining beacon of hope that the future could be filled with more of these kinds of games. More retro revivals plz, amirite?

Well, enough of that. On to choosing our winner! It is:

• oddfellow, who likes the first game’s boxart

Congratulations, oddfellow. We’d like to thank you all for stopping by our little corner of the internet and we wish the rest of you better luck in the future!

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id’s Growing Pains