Derrik J. Lang, Associated Press Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES: The video game racing genre is gearing up for a traffic jam.
Nearly a dozen racing games are expected to drive onto store shelves before the end of the year, competing for the attention of gamers at a time when sales have tapped the brakes. Forza MotorSport 3, 'Dirt 2, 'Blur, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Gran Turismo for the PlayStation Portable are among the titles plotting a course for release this year.
Electronic Arts has revved up new Need for Speed titles as part of its strategy to diversify the 15-year-old racing franchise for different platforms. EA Black Box, the Canadian developer that created the previous Need for Speed games, has taken a backseat while other developers have crafted three games aimed at three different audiences.
The first, developer Slightly Mad Studios' hardcore racing simulator Need for Speed Shift, was released this week for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch. Shift abandons the series' slick street style in favor of photorealistic action similar to the Forza MotorSport franchise. The focus is on recreating the sensation of being pulled by G-forces during high-speed cornering inside the game's 72 realer-than-real racing cars.
"It's something we euphemistically refer to as first-person driving," said "Shift" producer Jesse Abney. "First-person shooter games have done a great job over the last few years of creating an environment where players are really immersed in the action. What we've done with 'Need for Speed Shift' is create that true driver's experience of being in the cockpit."
EA will venture down a different path with "Need for Speed Nitro," the arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for the Wii and Nintendo DS set for release Nov. 17. Unlike "Shift," this "Need for Speed" edition will feature speedy police pursuits and the ability for racers to trick out their rides and tracks with customizable decals and colors.
"When I first came to EA, I thought it was a really interesting challenge to make a Need for Speed game on the Wii that can attract gamers and a general mass audience because the Wii is not a platform that's about graphics," said "Nitro" producer Gadi Pollack, who worked on Prince of Persia at Ubisoft. "It's about the gameplay and the handling."
The third Need for Speed title, Need for Speed World Online, is a massively multiplayer online game being developed by EA Singapore. The free-to-play action-driving game, which will be released in Asia before coming to the U.S., will feature fully customizable cars and a matchmaking system that pits players against each other in multiple game modes.
By Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press Technology Writer
NEW YORK: Video games sales declined in August for the sixth straight month, following what analysts called a disappointing showing from the latest Madden game.
Nonetheless, game makers are eyeing a stronger September, boosted by the much-hyped launch of The Beatles: Rock Band as well as Guitar Hero 5.
Although the video game industry held out longer than many other sectors in the recession, it began recording double-digit declines in March when compared with the same period in 2008. Besides the economic turmoil that has led consumers to sharply cut back spending, 2009 so far has also suffered from a lack of blockbuster games.
On Thursday, market researcher NPD Group reported a 16 percent August decline, to $908.7 million‚ in overall U.S. retail sales of hardware, software and accessories.
Sales of game software fell 15 percent to $470.3 million. Hardware sales dropped by a quarter to $297.6 million. Accessories‚ such as extra controllers and musical instruments to play Rock Band and Guitar Hero‚ increased 2 percent to $140.8 million.
Electronic Arts Inc.'s Madden NFL 10, as anticipated, was the month's top-selling game, with nearly 1.9 million units sold across five gaming systems.
But analysts had expected even stronger sales. In a research note to investors, Ben Schachter of Broadpoint AmTech said EA likely anticipated "a down year for Madden, but … this is likely worse than the company's internal expectations."
EA did not immediately respond to an e-mail message Friday.
Price cuts in mid-August lifted sales of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 by 72 percent over July. The console sold 210,000 units in August, trailing Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, which also saw a price cut late in the month, by only about 5,400 units.
The handheld DS from Nintendo Co. was the month's best-selling gaming system with 552,900 units sold, and the company's Wii console came in second with 277,400.
"Sony's price cut should help that platform for the remainder of the year, but Nintendo still needs to cut if the industry is to recover," Schachter said.
Looking to this month, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said he's "got a feeling that sales won't let us down." Besides the new Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, Pachter also cited Need for Speed: Shift and Halo ODST as games likely to boost this month's sales.
While Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 doesn't exactly break the mold as far as game play goes, it doesn't have to.
The latest action RPG from Marvel and Activision relives the Civil War storyline from the comic books a couple years ago. In it, the government forces masked heroes to register their secret identity with the government.
Those who don't — including Captain America — become fugitives on the run from the law fighting for what they think is right.
In the game, you have the chance to choose a side, the pro-registration side lead by Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic or the anti-registration side, fronted by Cap and his ragtag group of heroes.
The premise is a great one. Who wouldn't want to run around beating up goons before getting your hands on Marvel's most venerable characters? However, it took about an hour's worth of gaming (without deaths) to get to the actual meat of the storyline. The beginning, essentially, was a giant tutorial providing some back story.
Once you finally get going with the game, it's pretty simplistic. Fight armies of similar-looking and acting thugs before fighting a villain or hero, depending on which storyline you chose.
The game is exactly the same as the last one, but adds "Fusion Powers." They allow you to team up with another hero on your four-person team to pull off moves that attack multiple foes and really dish out the damage. (For instance, with the Thing and Wolvering, the Thing swings Wolverine around launching him into enemies)
If you played the first game, or either of the two X-Men incarnations and didn't think highly of them, avoid this game. If you're really into comics, though, this game is about as good as you can get. It's packed with characters and a comic book-true story.
The graphics are pretty decent. It's nothing to blow you away, but they're smooth and true to the comics. The voice work is average, at best. Use the same character throughout the game and you get pretty sick of hearing the same lines over and over.
Overall, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 might just be worth a rental, unless you're a hardcore comic book fan. Fortunately for me, I am.
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, one of two cover men on Madden 10, will miss at least three weeks due to a sprained knee ligament.
The "Madden Curse" has at this point far surpassed the Sports Illustrated cover jinx as far as mythical sports maladies go.
Here's a look at some past victims:
Madden 2000: Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions. Sanders kicked the curse off in amazing fashion. At the pinnacle of his greatness and popularity, he retired.
Madden 2001: Eddie George, Tennessee Titans. While his team still made the playoffs after he was on cover, George bobbles a pass that is picked off and returned for a touchdown in the playoffs.
Madden 2002: Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota Vikings. The mammoth quarterback took the Vikings to the NFC championship game the previous season. After he was the cover boy, a knee injury knocks Culpepper out of the first five games of the season. Minnesota goes 5-11.
Madden 2003: Marshall Faulk, St. Louis Rams. Faulk was having an amazing run of four seasons with at least 1,300 yards rushing and two Super Bowl appearances. Following his appearance on Madden, Faulk goes through an injury-plagued season and the Rams go 7-9.
Madden 2004: Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons. A day after Madden is released, Vick broke his leg in a preseason game. He palyed in five games that season and Atlanta had a 5-11 record.
Madden 2005: Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens. Following a magical Super Bowl 2004 season, Lewis has a down year and the Ravens don't make the playoffs.
Madden 2006: Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles. After taking the Eagles to the Super Bowl in the previous season, McNabb suffers a sports hernia and misses the last seven games of the season.
Madden 2007: Shaun Alexander, Seattle Seahawks. After winning the league MVP, he broke his foot in the third game of the season. Hasn't been in the NFL since.
Madden 2008: Vince Young, Tennessee Titans. Immediately became a bust of a draft pick. Looks to have no future in the NFL, even though he's convinced he'll be in the hall of fame.
Madden 2009: Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers New York Jets. Became a joke and ruined his legacy with diva-ish behavior. Retired as a Packer, got the game contract, came back as a Jet. John Madden still has a strange love-affair with him, however.
The other cover person this year was Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. If you run an office death pool, you might as well pick up Fitzgerald. Time is ticking.
NEW YORK: With a little help from the Beatles, Super Mario and price cuts from Sony and Microsoft, the slumping video game industry is hoping for a sales resurrection this fall.
The season gets a late-summer start Tuesday, with the release of "Guitar Hero 5," a game featuring music from the Rolling Stones, Nirvana and other popular bands. Then on Sept. 9 comes the launch of "The Beatles: Rock Band," which marks the rock icons' debut in a video game.
Plagued by the recession and a lackluster game release schedule for much of this year, the video game industry — which is bigger than the music business by some estimates — has fallen into a slump. It has been the first once since the latest game consoles — the Xbox 360, the Wii and the PlayStation 3 — were launched in 2005 and 2006.
The music genre — the second-most popular category behind action games — has suffered in particular, though that's partly because it's been so popular in the past couple of years that it needs exceptional sales just to stay even. According to the NPD Group, U.S. retail sales in the music and dance game genre were nearly $390 million less at the end of July than at the same time last year. [click to continue…]
Thus far, Batman: Arkham Asylum is reportedly living up to the hype. The previews for the game, and the long-standing tradition of average comic book games, led me to believe it would be terrible.
But then you start combining the intangible elements together. It's written by Emmy Award-winning writer Paul Dini, who co-wrote Batman: The Animated Series. The game features several of the same voice actors from that animated series. The character designs are reminiscent of artist Jim Lee.
So when the game play comes across as good enough and you toss in Batman and his well-known rogues gallery, you've got a darn good game.
Currently out now for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Batman: Arkham Asylum is tracking at ov1er 90 for both systems on Metacritic.
I intended to write about Shadow Complex this afternoon, but it took quite a while to download. Thus, I only played it for about 25 minutes this morning.
So far, it's pretty good. Design and game play are great. Aiming is a little too touchy. Hard to say about the story at this point.
Last check, the reviews for Shadow Complex were tracking really well. Already, for only $15, this seems like a steal.
Update: This game is so good I haven't had the chance to even update this post. If you like 2-D side scrollers, this is a must buy.
