Industry
Microsoft is officially rudderless
I’m going to add to what my new colleague Jake said in his post from earlier this morning. I’m not going to bash Microsoft in this post. I don’t have to. Taking a page from resident Infendo columnist-at-large Malstrom, I’m going to let the industry players speak for themselves.Xbox Marketing VP Jeff Bell in an interview published on Wednesday:
Nintendo and the rising continent
Malstrom is at it again. Today he’s delivered us a series of new (and lengthy!) articles about gaming, Nintendo and the future of the industry as a whole. I think with the outrageous success currently being enjoyed by the Wii and its software (you know, the software that ignoramuses say doesn’t exist yet) this is an especially timely delivery. On a personal note, the reason I enjoy the...
No Wii development = obvious hole in your business strategy
Valve’s Gabe Newell takes a question from Game Informer about the PS3 and just blatantly starts talking about the Wii instead. Lovely. GI: Do you think from now on you’ll keep outsourcing PS3 projects [ed: Orange Box for PS3 is being done by EA], or will you start bringing those projects in house? Newell: I think we’ll bring them in house more for licensees issues than our own. J...
2007 Leipzig Games Convention – Nintendo booth review
German Infendo fan, Maximilian Hepach, shared his recent experience at Nintendo’s booth during the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention: I’ve been going to the Leipzig Games Convention ever since it started and I went again this year. After praising Nintendo last year for their small but efficient booth, I had high hopes this year which were quickly dashed. Nintendo had a booth 3 to 4 times t...
Why console sales numbers matter
The blokes at GamePro interviewed the NPD Groups’ David Riley to see why all those console sales numbers that get bandied about on Digg.com and other knee-jerk reaction sites really are important (hint: it’s not because without them, NPD wouldn’t get free press every month — strange, I know!). A sample: Given prior generation sales data, what predictions can be made about c...
Nintendo’s holiday season (and future) just got brighter
Here’s a wild question: What if Grand Theft Auto IV never came out? Don’t get me wrong, it will. But I think it’s a fair question given that Take Two/Rockstar are having, shall we say, issues, and as of last night the publisher’s financial future was grim. Manhunt 2, as we all know, if shelved indefinitely (2008 release tentative) due to its AO rating. An expose in Wired ma...
Rich people buy the cheaper video game console
If I were to tell you that the richer a person is, the more likely they are to have purchased a Wii over the obsidian superbox PS3, would you believe me? After all, Ken Kuturagi informed us all in the early goings on of the 2006 calendar year that people would work second jobs to get their greasy paws on the fingerprint adverse PS3, so it would only make sense that the more money you had, the more...
GamePro’s Jack Tretton ‘interview’ is a lollipop
Before you head over the GamePro interview between Vicious Sid and Sony Computer Entertainment of America President Jack Tretton, you have to close you eyes and do a little imagining for me. First, picture Jack Tretton shirtless and lying down on a massage table. Yeah, I know, it’s frickin’ weird, but bear with me on this one, please. Next. imagine Vicious Sid standing over him, massag...
EA: “We’re Boring People To Death”
The video games industry is now changing broadly at a breakneck pace, and no where are the effects of this phenomenon demonstrated more perfectly that with the executives at EA. Ever since EA had its hat handed to it following the successful launch of the Wii back in November (and the subsequent holiday season) by the likes of Ubisoft and others, its executives have come out in full force to show ...
Uruguayan pirate fined $2.5M – Nintendo goes shopping
A Uruguayan Civil Court Judge recently ordered a major counterfeiter of Nintendo video game products to pay Nintendo 2.5 million U.S. dollars in damages and legal expenses. The original criminal trial ended in a mysterious executive pardon. Nintendo filed a civil action suit and won a nice settlement. $2.5M is a nice hunk of cash. What should Nintendo buy with the money?
Wii is profitable – analysts begin to realize it
As I preach to the choir here at Infendo, I often forget that a lot of people don’t like Wii or Nintendo. I even forget that publishers and developers were until recently still operating under the assumption that Nintendo was failing in the console category. Apparently developers and publishers are now realizing that Nintendo is back and that their non-portable game system is a big deal. Fro...
Drowning In The Blue Ocean
From time to time, the Infendo mail slot will flop open and a reader submitted article will drift into our offices. Today we share with you an essay entitled “Drowning In The Blue Ocean” by Sean Malstrom. I wish someone would offer a prize, of piles of money, ribbons, and a piece of chocolate cake for a good, simple definition of the word: “Generation”. What an immense service it woul...