God this place is getting sucked down a hole!

Were are all them good threads we used to have!

Quote:The president of Nintendo Co. Ltd, Satoru Iwata, has come out again to say that the direction of the company is not to join the other console manufacturers in making gamers pay extra for online games. Then he also went on to say that Nintendo is investing some of their $6 billion dollars on the successors to the next GameCube and Game Boy. Unfortunately he doesn’t say how much, we only know that it’s "some." Iwata made a bold statement that Nintendo’s developers are hard at work on the next-generation stars to replace Mario and Pokémon.

Yes, you heard right, it looks like Iwata may be trying to take the company into an entirely new direction. He himself has been focused on the creative side of gaming, so he could direct Nintendo in creating such titles. He seems to indicate that the current franchises may be too outdated now for most gamers, so that is why he is saying the next lineup of big-name titles are being developed to “replace” Mario and Pokémon.

In other news today, Sony has announced plans to release a system called the PSX for early next year, it will be a beefed up PS2 hardware with TV tuner, hard disk drive and DVD recorder. Go figure, I though the PSX was already released… confusing name. Sony also says that they are going to work more on their gaming division to increase profits for the entertainment company. Microsoft's Xbox chief today fires off a comment about Nintendo saying "I don't think Nintendo is here for the digital-entertainment revolution. They are a toy company."

Quote:"I don't think Nintendo is here for the digital-entertainment revolution"

Quote:"They are a toy company."

Quote:Nintendophiles is able to independently confirm that 3DO has in fact filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. 3DO is widely known for its failed CD-i console system, and its series or Army Man games. Started by Trip Hawkins of EA fame, 3DO was created originally as a console company. However with the failure of the CD-i, 3DO became a third party software company.

While the bankruptcy of the company is no longer in question, the future of several key titles is. Large titles including Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and Street Racing Syndicate are both in question. A PR representative for the company said "We don't know what is going to happen with any of these products…We do hope these games come to completion, and we think they will."

While many are quick to smirk at the bankruptcy, it is rather sad. It seemed that at this year's E3, 3DO was turning a new page. This reporter even joked with company representatives about the shock of seeing no Army Man games in their booth. The company decided to focus on high quality product, instead of quantity, and it showed. Perhaps it was too little, too late. Nintendophiles wishes the best to all the 3DO employees who will be affected by this bankruptcy, and that both Street Racing Syndicate and Four Horseman of the Apocalypse somehow make it out stores--they both look pretty impressive.

From Gaming-Age:

Quote:Accoring to an interesting study held by University of Rochester, videogames, and more specificially First Person Shooters, may actually be good for children and videogame players. In a New York Times article, "Researchers are reporting today that first-person-shooter video games the kind that require players to kill or maim enemies or monsters that pop out of nowhere sharply improve visual attention skills."
Read on for the rest of the NY Times article.

Experienced players of these games are 30 percent to 50 percent better than nonplayers at taking in everything that happens around them, according to the research, which appears today in the journal Nature. They identify objects in their peripheral vision, perceiving numerous objects without having to count them, switch attention rapidly and track many items at once.

Nor are players simply faster at these tasks, said Dr. Daphne Bavelier, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Rochester, who led the study. First-person action games increase the brain's capacity to spread attention over a wide range of events. Other types of action games, including those that focus on strategy or role playing, do not produce the same effect.

While some researchers have suggested possible links between video games and other abilities, this study is thought to be the first to explore their effects on visual skills. Though the number of subjects was small, Dr. Bavelier said, the effects were too large to be a result of chance.

"We were really surprised," Dr. Bavelier said, adding that as little as 10 hours of play substantially increased visual skills among novice players. "You get better at a lot of things, not just the game," she said.

But Dr. Bavelier emphasized that the improved visual attention skills did not translate to reading, writing and mathematics. Nor is it clear that they lead to higher I.Q. scores, although visual attention and reaction time are important components of many standardized tests.

"Please, keep doing your homework," said Dr. Bavelier, the mother of 6-year-old twins and a 2-year-old.

Dr. Jeremy Wolfe, the director of the Visual Attention Laboratory at Harvard Medical School (news - web sites), who was not involved in the study, said he was intrigued at the idea that "socially dubious games might improve something like general intelligence."

"It might give every 14-year-old something to tell his parents," Dr. Wolfe said. " `Hey, don't make me study. Give me another grenade.' "

Still, he noted that an increased capacity for visual attention was helpful in tasks as diverse as flying, driving, radiology and airport screening.

Dr. Bavelier is an expert on how experience changes the brain, particularly the effects of congenital deafness on visual skills and attention. A few years ago, a Rochester student, Shawn Green, asked to work on a senior project in her laboratory. They agreed that he would help design visual attention tasks for the deaf.

But when Mr. Green tried out the tests, he found they were ridiculously easy, Dr. Bavelier said. So did his friends, who were all devoted to video games.

The professor and her student decided to study the connection between video game playing and visual attention. They carried out four experiments on undergraduates, all of them male because no female shooter game fans could be found on campus.

The first tested the ability to localize targets in a cluttered environment and spread visual attention over a wide area a skill that many elderly drivers lose. Gamers performed at least 50 percent better than nongamers, Dr. Bavelier said.

The second involved the ability to say, instantly, how many objects were flashed on a screen. Most people can do this with up to four objects, Dr. Bavelier said. Above that, they start counting. Gamers could identify up to 10 items on a screen without counting.

The other two experiments tested the players' ability to process fast-occurring visual information and to switch attention. Again, players were far superior to nonplayers.

A fifth experiment trained nonplayers, including some women, for 10 consecutive days on one of two video games either Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, a first-person-shooter game that simulates World War II combat situations, or the slower-moving puzzle game Tetris. Only the shooter game improved visual attention, Dr. Bavelier said, and it did so in both sexes. Among novices, the effects waned within a couple of months, but superior visual attention skills seemed firmly rooted in game addicts.

Dr. Bavelier said the next step would be to tease the games apart to find out what aspects promoted brain changes. Are violence and danger necessary? Does this sort of brain plasticity change with age? Will it affect certain measures of intelligence?

Meanwhile, she said, the military is already exploiting action games to train special forces.

"To enter territory you've never seen and detect where your enemies are," she went on, "you need an accurate understanding of the visual scene."




-- Paul Bryant

I love Blizzard.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030529/295191_1.html

All you console only people will be missing out on one of the best games ever.

From Gamesarefun:

Quote:Sony has recently faced some financial woes, as its shares fell to the lowest point in nearly eight years this month. But Sony always seems to have a trick up its sleeve to win the trust of investors, and this time around the trick is a rather interesting one: the PSX.

The PSX? No, it's not the Playstation or PS One, which was often referred to as the PSX. No, this PSX is a version of the PS2 hardware that comes fully equipped with a built-in tv tuner, hard drive, and a dvd recorder. Obviously, some of these new features will allow users to download content from the internet.

This new system will hit Japan this winter, and is said to be coming stateside next year. The details are still a tad sketchy at this point, but the fact remains that this is an exciting bit of news. We will definitely have more on this news shortly. Check back with us in a bit!

Source: Reuters

Posted by pizzicato on 5.28.2003

From GAF:

Quote:In an interview with Canada.com, Robbie Bach (the man responsible for the Microsoft Xbox video game system, including the hardware, Microsoft and third party games development, Xbox operations, marketing, research, sales and support) answered some questions about the Xbox and its future. Here's some comments that stand out:

- Says Canada and Australia are currently the best markets for Xbox, saleswise.

- Says that Microsoft could turn a profit immediately on Xbox, but will remain in the red for now, as the Xbox is a 10-20 year investment.

- Claims that most Xbox owners have also owned competitor's consoles, but MS is looking to expand the gaming market to lure in more people.

- States that MS hasn't successfully marketed to certain demographics, but items like the Music Mixer and other non-gaming features might attract new users.

- Thinks that games can be combined with music and movies to "lead to new things."

- States that updates to the online service will disallow cheaters and hackers from accessing the Live network.

- Says that the Xbox followup console will ship around the same time as the PS3, because "Sony will not have the benefit of a 12 to 24 month head start" like they did with the PS2.

- In reference to a possible Xbox portable, says that the focus is on the Xbox console for the time being.

- Believes that MS will be positioned to be number one in the next generation of console sales.

- Says that Gates and Ballmer are happy with where the Xbox is currently, as they knew it was a long-term investment going in.

- Admits that Xbox is not as successful in Japan as they would like it to be, because Japan is a crucial market, but is pleased to be equal or surpassing Nintendo at this point.

- Could not comment on whether N.U.D.E. is coming stateside.

This is a rather lengthy piece, but if you're interested in checking out the full interview, click here. Happy reading!

Source: Canada.com

Posted by pizzicato on 5.26.2003

Good stuff

From Games Are Fun:

Quote:In an interview with Eiji Aonuma, director of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Mr. Aonuma hinted at possible details of the next installment in the series.

The graphics engine used in Wind Waker will be utilized for this next title as well, much in the same way that Majora's Mask used the same engine as Ocarina of Time. So fans looking for an adult Link will have to stick to Soul Calibur II or Super Smash Bros. Melee for now, sorry.

The boat may or may not return as a mode of transportation in the next title, as the playfield has not been determined yet. The water in Wind Waker made the boat a natural choice, but for the new title, perhaps the boat will return, perhaps not.

Aonuma hopes to have a playable version of this new title ready for next year's E3. Not much else is known as of yet, but as details surface, we will bring them to you. Stay tuned.

Source: Computer and Videogames

Posted by pizzicato on 5.24.2003

Yet another interview. If you have any questions about Acclaim's next Extreme G game post them here.