Games Industry Wire

For the past 3-4 hours I’ve been researching, standing in line, and eventually purchasing a Nintendo Wii at my local Wal-Mart. I originally intended to go to Toys’R’Us after I read of their Wii shipment on Joystiq but I decided to do a little digging and found out Wal-Mart was going to have them as well meaning I could save some gas money and get my system a little earlier.
Here’s the stats I have from my Wal-Mart:

Every store was to receive a minimum of 7 Wii Consoles

Our store in rural Pennsylvania had 16 in their shipment
The 4 people in line …read more

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Norwegian Cruise Lines have announced that they have the added the Wii on their American cruise ships and plan on rolling out the console on all their ships by the end of April offering another form of entertainment for kids, parents, and grandparents alike. Here’s an excerpt from the press release:
“With its active, engaging and inviting game experiences appealing to every age from kids to parents to grandparents, the Wii from Nintendo is a natural fit for Freestyle Cruising,” said Colin Veitch, NCL’s president and CEO. “With the addition of Wii to our on-board activities, we can now offer …read more

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If you are planning on upgrading your current Xbox 360 drive(s) this is a must read from Wired:

You can only move data from the 20GB Hard Disk to the 120 GB Hard Disk. Transferring data in the other direction, or any other combination, is not possible.
Any data stored on the 120 GB hard disk will be automatically deleted.
Any data stored on the 20 GB hard disk will be automatically deleted after it is moved over.
You cannot put the data from two or more 20 GB hard disks onto one 120 GB hard disk. If you attempt to move multiple drives, …read more

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This week Sony released a new PSP firmware update, the first in 2 months, that adds some new functionality to the portable console. Here’s the features the update includes:

Thumbnail image support for items and videos
MPEG-4 support for 720X480, 352X480, and 480X272 video sizes
“Use Wireless Hotspot” feature added

Not too many major changes but the added video formats are very much welcome. The wireless hotspot feature was added to coincide with a partnership between  T-Mobile and Sony where PSP users will have free access to T-Mobile hotspots for 6 months.  Some notable places  with T-Mobile hotspots include Starbucks, Borders, and airports.

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Sonic and Mario will both be hitting the gaming market before the end of the year and it will be on the same game. The perennial favorite of gamers from 1 to 100 will join forces for a game based on the Beijing Olympics which should be on store shelves this fall.
But it doesn’t stop there. Other charecters are to include Luigi, Yoshi, Tails, and Knuckles.
The game marks the first time the two characters and series will meet. The game will be on both the Wii and the DS.
(source)

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Microsoft has signed a new deal with A&E Network, ADV Films, National Geographic and TotalVid.com to bring even more content to their Xbox LIVE service for the Xbox 360. Here is some of the content that will now be available according to a press release from Microsoft:

A&E Network. “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” “King of Cars,” “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” “Driving Force” and “Criss Angel Mindfreak”
ADV Films. Top offerings from the No. 1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation (“anime”) outside Japan
National Geographic. The television series “Is It Real?” and “Taboo” as well as programs such as “21 Days to Baghdad” and “Air …read more

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This week gaming retailer GameStop released its fiscal year numbers and they were impressive. The retailers revenue was up 72 percent over 2005 with total sales last year of $5.3 billion.
If you thought their overall numbers were impressive consider that they sold $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter alone showing signs that 2007 will likely be another impressive year for the chain as further releases hit next generation consoles and Wii sales continue to be strong.
Here’s a quote from Gamestop Chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine:
“While we are in the very early stages of another strong …read more

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GoNintendo has a picture from the GameStop website indicating that Resident Evil 4 on the Wii will ship June: 25th and will reportedly only cost $30. Here’s the picture before it was taken down (link) from the GameStop website:

 
Capcom’s response also via GoNintendo:

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Today the official first Trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV hit the internet slowing some sites and bringing down others. I had about 10 posts I wanted to do tonight but for one reason or another my internet is at a crawl and is freezing left and right so it looks like I will just be doing a links post tomorrow to catch up on all the news and then I can post full stories later in the day. Here’s the video which is one of the first game trailers to be offered in HD:

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Just hours after I posted the potential for an 80gb PS3 model, Sony has released a statement on the filing which I found via Kotaku:
“As mentioned when we made the product announcement for PS3, the system will have different configurations (thus, 60GB HDD with memory card slots and Wi-Fi and 20GB HDD without memory card slots or Wi-Fi both exists). Application to the FCC has been made with various possibilities in mind, however, it does not lead to a new product announcement at this time.”
In my eyes no outright denial is almost always a sign of things to come.

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