EA’s Tiger Woods’ Sim Adultery 2011

With Tiger Woods’ endorsement deals in a precarious state of flux — Gatorade has already dropped a Tiger-branded beverage, while Pepsi, Gillette, Tag Heuer, and others are considering dropping the star golfer — I think EA Sports ought to be proactive and flat-out humiliate him. It would be the ultimate cash grab that would satisfy analysts and shareholders that are only interested in the company’s short-term future. Since EA has been getting dinged for taking risks and launching new IPs for the last two years, it might as well try cashing in on one of its star’s woes, right?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

I can see it now…Tiger Woods’ Sim Adultery 2011!!! The game would obviously star Tiger, but the tone would be similar to a Leisure Suit Larry game. To keep development costs down, it would use The Sims engine and existing art assets (mostly female character models). The goal of the game would be to sleep with as many women as possible (the 18 holes) while avoiding the media, car crashes, and hot Swedish wives. Bold players would be careless with their trysts, texting sweet little nothings to their loved ones without bothering to delete the messages. Advanced players would pay an army of minions to cover their tracks (paying for hotel rooms for afternoon delight, sending text messages on your behalf, whisking you away when your wife attacks you with a nine-iron, etc.)

EA could make this game in months and cash in on all this “Tigergate” nonsense. Maybe then it could get shortsighted analysts and shareholders off its back, allowing its developers to work on original and high-quality games.

Three Ways Microsoft Will Compete with Sony in 2010

Microsoft and Sony will be more competitive than ever in 2010 with their Xbox 360 and PlayStation consoles, respectively. With the price gap closed and exclusive games more competitive than ever, next year’s console wars will be terribly interesting to watch. Microsoft director of product management Aaron Greenberg told Gamasutra three reasons he believes his console will do better than Sony’s:

We will do three things well. One, we will continue to offer a better value on hardware pricing. We will continue to remain $100 cheaper than PS3. Two, we will have more games, more blockbuster exclusives, no matter the genre. Three, you add all of the entertainment and social network. That’s our focus, to keep adding more and more value. Consumers vote with their dollars, and so far it’s been paying off, and we feel confident about next year as well.

Xbox 360

I agree on his first point; Microsoft will continue to sell Xbox 360 Arcade systems, simply because people are attracted to the price point and don’t realize that you need to buy a bunch of other accessories to make it fully functional. For games, I haven’t seen anything that indicates that the Xbox 360 will have better exclusives. That could change at E3, of course. As for value-added features, I’m sure there are some people that will buy an Xbox 360 over a PlayStation 3 because the former’s social-networking features are marketed better, but is it really a significant number? *shrug*

I’m not going to pretend to be a highly paid analyst from Wedbush Morgan, but I will ask you to channel your inner Michael Pachter. Do you think the race between the PS3 and Xbox 360 will be close? Who will win when the dust settles?!?

Source

Microsoft Confident Halo Reach Will be the Biggest Game of 2010

Halo Reach

Microsoft director of product management Aaron Greenberg is certain that Halo Reach will be the biggest game of 2010. He recently told Gamasutra, “I feel confident that there’s nothing that will compare in size. Halo: Reach will be the biggest game of 2010.”

While I have no doubt that Halo: Reach will be one of the biggest titles of 2010, I’m not sure if it will be the biggest. Globally, I’d guess that Final Fantasy XIII will sell more, especially considering that it will be available for a longer period of time and on multiple platforms. Greenberg completely dismissed Gran Turismo 5 beating out his game, saying, “Is it launching next year? I’ve seen years and years of minigames, but I haven’t seen that the game is done.”

What do you think or Greenberg’s proclamation? Is he on the money? Or do you think another game will beat out Halo:Reach?

Source

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

A lot of gaming’s best and brightest will be in Los Angeles this weekend for the Spike TV Videogame Awards (VGAs). If my leg can hack it, I’m going to be hopping around town, pestering some of my favorite developers. Even if I’m not, I’ve designated a bunch of time for Scribblenauts. I’m totally fascinated by this game. It’s as fun and imaginative as the player lets it be. Having said that, there were a bunch of times when I was wondering how much fun Scribblenauts would be to stupid people with limited vocabularies.

Scribblenauts slider

Of course I’m going to have to get some more Dragon Age: Origins time in too. It’s my fifth go round with the game and I’m still enjoying it. Off the top of my head, BioWare, Game Freak, and Square Enix are the only companies that make games that I enjoy several times over. That’s pretty remarkable.

As always, I want to know what you’re playing this weekend. Shout it out! Or maybe don’t shout…the neighbors might complain.

Sample Ten Tracks of the Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack Now!

FFXIII soundtrack

Square Enix Japan has updated the official Final Fantasy XIII web site to include samples of the first ten tracks of the FFXIII soundtrack. The soundtrack is on sale in Japan now, with game coming on December 17th. To listen to the music, hit the “track list” tab on the soundtrack page.

Check out the tracks and let me know what you think (please)! I’m loving the music so far!

Coffee Talk #45: Sanbox Games vs. Carrot-and-Stick Games

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Tiger Woods’ 18 holes (i.e. his mistresses), the return of Paulie “Little Mac” Malignaggi on Saturday, or Jerishow dropping the tag straps on Sunday, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The Grand Theft Auto series took sandbox games to new heights. It inspired dozens of copycat games and made “open world” a requirement for several years. While I appreciate the liberating feeling gamers get from sandbox games, they don’t really do much for me. It’s awesome that you get to experiment and play freely, but that’s not what I’m used to and that’s not what I want.

Grand Theft Auto Gay Tony

2D platform games and Japanese role-playing games dazzled me in my formative gaming years. I developed an attachment to that old carrot-and-stick formula. I enjoyed linearity. I enjoyed being led around by a level or narrative, getting a reward every so often. NES, SNES, and Genesis games conditioned me to love this simple formula. Even though I enjoy making choices in games like Dragon Age: Origins, ultimately I want to stick with the same carrot-and-stick formula.

I know a lot of you love open-world titles, but I also know that some of you enjoy RPGs. Do you have a preference? Do you like playing in your virtual sandbox? Or do you prefer being lead around by a carrot and stick?

Housekeeping: Coffee Talk and Your Top 5 Games of 2009

Top 5For next week’s Coffee Talk columns, I’m going to be counting down my top five games of 2009. I’ll be starting of Monday with #5 and closing out the week with #1. In the spirit of the column, I’d love all of you to do the same. It’ll be fun!

Now when I say your top five games, I mean your top five games. It has nothing to do with quality, objectivity, etc. I want to know which five games you had the most fun with in 2009.

So get your thinking caps on and get ready to bust out your favorite games of 2009 starting on Monday!

NPD Console Sales Figures Top 10 Games of November 2009

NPD Group has released its console software sales information for Novemer 2009. Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 put up some ridiculous numbers. While nobody should be surprised that MW2 topped the charts, some analysts were surprised by its complete ownage of November (it’s a financial term). All in all, the big titles did what they were expected to do, but there was one oddity in the top 10. Check it out!

New Super Mario Bros

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360): 4,200,000
  2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3): 1,870,000
  3. New Super Mario Bros (Wii): 1,390,000
  4. Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360): 794,700
  5. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360): 744,000
  6. Wii Sports Resort (Wii): 720,200
  7. Wii Fit Plus (Wii): 679,000
  8. Assassin’s Creed II (PS3): 448,400
  9. Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360): 362,100
  10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii): 315,000

As a BioWare mark, I’m disappointed that Dragon Age didn’t do better. Sure, RPGs aren’t as popular as action titles and it’s a new IP, but I expect people to have better taste. Hmph. Nintendo has to be thrilled with its November. It sold a ton of new and old games. With so many new and excellent games released in November, I was surprised to see something as old as Mario Kart hit the top 10. To steal a line from Keanu Reeves or Joey from Blossom, “Whoa.”

Any thoughts on the November software top 10?

NPD Hardware Sales Figures for November 2009

NPD Group has issued its console hardware sales data for November 2009. As you know, November is a huge month for gaming, with several retailers running “Black Friday” specials and lots of people shopping for holiday gifts. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

PS3 vs Xbox 360

  • Nintendo DS: 1,700,000
  • Wii: 1,260,000
  • Xbox 360: 819,500
  • PlayStation 3: 710,400
  • PlayStation Portable: 293,900
  • PlayStation 2: 203,100

As expected, Nintendo trounced the competition with its Wii home console and DS handheld system. Nintendo topping the charts is nothing new. What’s more interesting is the battle between Microsoft and Sony. While both companies did well, Sony has to be slightly disappointed that its PS3 lost out to the Xbox 360 after outselling it in September and October. That’s just a short-term concern for Sony; things are still looking up for the PS3, which had its third-best month ever. Overall, hardware sales were down 13.4 percent from November 2008, but keep in mind that all three consoles were more expensive last year.

What do you make of November’s numbers? Anything surprise you? Any predictions for December?

Sony Unveils MAG Beta Stats and Official Box Art

MAG boxZipper Interactive senior community manager and jiu-jitsu master Jeremy Dunham has revealed some interesting stats on the MAG beta and unveiled the official box art. First up are the beta stats:

  • More than 42,000 matches were played over the course of the full public beta (August 17 – December 5).
  • During October’s beta period alone nearly 534,000+ miles were traveled in-game by MAG players each week.
  • During the final month of the Beta 4 and 4.5 periods (November 9 – December 5):
  • Of the more than 65,000 players that logged on, 17,000 of them qualified for Squad Leader, 3500 people qualified for Platoon Leader, 1100 folks made it all the way to OIC, and 206 dedicated warriors made it all the way to the level 60 experience cap.
  • Nearly 18 million kills were made and an excess of 700 million shots were fired.
  • The Top 3 most played maps all belonged to the Sabotage mode. They were, in order, Syr Darya Uplink, Darien Network, and Copper Hills Relay.

Hit the break for the box art. Considering my bias for Japanese box art, I’m surprised that I like MAG’s cover so much.

Continue reading “Sony Unveils MAG Beta Stats and Official Box Art”