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FileShack: Unity of Command, Skyjacker
Daily Filter: Planetside 2, Deadlight
Weekend PC digital deals: strategy-o-rama
38 Studios, Harry Potter Kinect - Shacknews Daily: May 25, 2012
Late Night Consoling
by Chris Remo, Dec 02, 2005 8:10pm PSTI'm really pleased about this Xbox Live Arcade stuff. It's easily worth $5 a pop for me to be able to play these sorts of games over the internet. I'm spending more time with that then with the retail Xbox 360 games. It's a blast!
- The curiosity of the internet was piqued when The Movie Reporter claimed that Peter Jackson, recently announced as the executive producer for the Halo film adaptation, has contacted Guillermo del Toro as a possible director for the project. The Movie Reporter's post, filed by Chupacabra, claims that the information was somehow leaked at a New York press junket for Peter Jackson's soon to be released King Kong remake. Del Toro is best known for his directorial roles on Hellboy and Blade II, and is currently working on a sequel to Hellboy. Halo's script was written by Alex Garland, who wrote the screenplay to 28 Days Later and the novel on which The Beach was based, but fans have been waiting some time for news of a director.
Del Toro on Halo?
[xbox] - Microsoft has officially launched its Xbox 360 console in European territories, and as expected, the machine is in high demand. Its European allocation was revealed to be about 300,000 units, and Microsoft execs across the pond have been saying pretty much the same thing as North American suits: more stock is on the way. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, tegional director Neil Thompson said, "I'll still be saying tomorrow what I've been saying for most of the day really, which is that every week we're going to be shipping units in. We're doing all we can to get as many planes and ships through as fast as we can - so that's my guarantee to people, that that's the effort we're putting into it." The UK version of eBay shows that auction prices are wacky over there too.
Xbox 360 Goes Live in Europe
[xbox360] - It was recently revealed that former HAL Laboratories designer Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby, Smash Bros., and Meteos, is heading up development on the Revolution version of Super Smash Bros. Now, it appears that his involvement is only the beginning. Nintendo is opening a new studio for the purposes of developing the game, of which Sakurai will be in charge. Considering Sakurai founded his own development studio, Sora, in 2003, this is assumedly a temporary situation lasting until the release of the game. The foundation of the studio's staff will be made up of a "particular company" just finishing up a major title. Nintendo also bought new offices in Tokyo rather than house the studio in the main Kyoto headquarters like most of the company's in-house groups. Sakurai expects at least 50 or so developers to eventually be handling the game. This news confirms that HAL Laboratories, which developed the prior Smash Bros. games, will not be working on the game directly, though all of HAL's development materials and tools from Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN) will be available to Sakurai's team, and some series veterans from HAL have joined the new team. Development seems to have started only in May, when Nintendo president Satoru Iwata invited Sakurai to design the upcoming game. Given Nintendo's traditional reluctance to rush development, this suggests that even with so many resources poured into the game, it may not hit the Revolution's launch day as previously expected.
Nintendo Opens New Studio for Smash Bros.
[nintendo] - So far, Nintendo's method of information dispersal regarding the company's upcoming Revolution console has essentially been a rather aggravating carrot-on-a-stick type of thing. As soon as gamers think we know what's going on with the company or its console, some high-level executive pops up to say there are more secrets--but we can't know what they are. Well, here we go again. Kotaku reports from the Digital Interactive Entertainment Conference in Kyoto, Japan that during Nintendo design head Shigeru Miyamoto's address, he alluded to additional surprising functionality in the Revolution. After outlining some possibilities with the remote-like freehand controller and its "nunchaku" analog stick add-on, he went on to say, "There's another secret. But I'm not going to go into that here. That'll be for a later date." And after a picture of Mario apparently flashed on the screen behind him, he got off the stage and that was it. Wacky guesses may commence now.
More Revolution Secrets?
[nintendo] - Despite Microsoft's much-trumpeted simultaneous worldwide launch for its Xbox 360 console, Australian gamers won't actually be getting the machine until March 2, 2006. In what seems to be an attempt to keep hype in that region high and encourage preorders, Microsoft has launched the Xbox 360 VIP Premiere Club, open to residents of Australia and New Zealand. To become a member, purchase an Xbox 360 VIP Premiere Pack from a local retailer when it goes on sale December 8 (though some gamers have reported already getting their hands on them). The pack sells for AUD$149.95 and includes Rare's Perfect Dark Zero, a wireless controller, a faceplate, a DVD of preview and interview content, and a membership card needed to access the club website. Once obtaining the pack and card, gamers can...look wistfully at it for three months.
Be an Xbox 360 VIPer
[xbox360] - Nintendo's Nate Bihldorff speaks about his job as a localization writer and the process behind doing the English script for Alphadream's Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS). Game Informer speaks with Criterion's creative director Alex Ward about Black (PS2, Xbox).
Misc. Q&As/Features
Comments
Thisi s the problem. I have a short story that I would like to post, but need it in an HTML textfield that doesent allow anyone to highlight the text (So they can't steal it) Is this possible?
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6909696159399073915&q=shined+blind
I don't know anything about smash brothers, TBH, but the skill is evident. No real point to this other than to remind everyone that the internet is capable of indulging even the most obscure obsession. I guess you already knew that though.
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In Iceland (where I live) the Xbox 360 "tard pack" is $620 while the "real" version is $780.
But wait! There's more!
The 360 games range from $78 (NFS) to $109 (PDZ).
Yeah. Don't think I'll be buying it...ever.
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How about something worth while in there MS? Anything else would be better than items we can't USE for months! How about an xbox magazine subscription?! Or exclusive access to downloadable videos, etc.. you know, a REAL VIP club!
Right now I totally agree with #6.. we are being treated like second class citizens! Ok so we don't have the BIGGEST market out there, but we certainly are one of the most technology-adopting nations in the world.
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*sigh*
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I hit about eighteen stores tonight, and still nothing. I did hear some really interesting stuff though.
I think I hit every Target, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Sears, CompUSA, and Circuit City between SF and Redwood City tonight. The general consensus is that they're expecting more between the 14th and 16th of December, and no one claims to have received any restocks yet, except for Best Buy and Toys R Us. The SF store said they received a "couple of dozen" earlier this week, mostly Premiums and Toys R Us said they've had "a few more" since launch.
I also went to a couple of EBs to see if I could get on the pre-order list for early next year. When I pressed a bit, at two of the three stores, I was told that the clerk knew someone ("a friend" or "the guy next door") with consoles + games for higher than eBay prices. The 2 game guy said $1400, the 4 game guy said $1700. Seems a bit suspicious. Also, they aren't taking any more in-store pre-orders at the EB stores.
At several of the other stores, Targets and CompUSAs mostly, they
claimed they hadn't received any restocks, but I should check on eBay if
they really want one. Interesting, eh?
Anyone want to bet that the retail guys aren't giving themselves holiday
bonuses courtesy of the 360 shortage?
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As for that pack, it seems completely lame (what the hell are you going to do with a controller and a game for four months?): a way to extract money and get people hooked in to purchasing the machine based on the overseas hype (which was helpfully reported here via Channel 9 which has links to MS through the NineMSN business).
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