A lot of us are taking for granted the arrival of Sony and Microsoft’s new system, which are both presumedly coming out of the end of the year. And while Nintendo already released their next-generation system last year — with the Wii U — they haven’t lived up to their own sales expectations. But most of us figure that the PlayStation 4, along with the next Xbox, will sell a higher quantity of systems.

But if you were the CEO of the biggest game publisher on Earth, you would have your reservations about these new systems selling like hotcakes in the upcoming years. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that you been seeing a steady decline in sales, and that Nintendo couldn’t convince the number of customers they wish to see purchased their console and handhelds these last few years.

There’s definitely been a blow back in the video game industry, and Activision boss Bobby Kotick is worried that trend will continue in this upcoming generation.

Just recently, Kotick talked about the uncertainties of these new consoles, and concerns that the mobile market has taken a bite out of the console sales.

“There are still many unknown factors, such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other, but also with new platforms, such as smartphones and tablets.“

Let’s be clear on something, Bobby Kotick is not suggesting nor guaranteeing that the PlayStation 4 and the new Xbox will have the same fate as the Wii U. But at the same time, he is concerned that sales of these systems won’t reflect what we’ve seen in the past, especially in the last 15 years or so.

PS4 Controller 

It’s justifiable to reiterate the economy being a factor of the slow growth of the gaming industry. However, people are still buying smart phones and tablets at record rates, and I think most can agree these devices don’t come cheap. So that’s a perfect example of people willing to pay a premium price for product they want. Although, a bigger question would be: are people willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for tablets, phones and a next generation system? Probably, but the keyword I’m using there is “probably,” so Kotnick concerns are valid.

Going back to the Wii U’s sluggish sales: I don’t believe that system is selling poor because of tablets and smartphones, I think it’s acceptable to correlate that with handheld video game devices sales; not home consoles.

Nintendo’s biggest hurdle in marketing for the Wii U was — and still is — the fact that the power of the system is close to 2005 technology. Asking people to shell out money for old hardware is a hard sell, especially when superior ones are coming out a year later.

Via: Tom’s Guide

By now you’ve heard the streets of Steelport are somehow going to be more insane then the previous Saints Row games.

The developer, Volition, built a demo for PAX East attendees which featured aliens, superpowers, a Dubstep gun and more. Up top is that very demo that was shown at the convention.

While the action looks chaotic, and at times ridiculously fun, I’m not entirely sure this fourth installment will hold my attention for very long. Volition clearly wanted to step up the pandemonium atmosphere that they built on from the third version of the series, but it also looks like they neglected creating a lot of fresh things, including the map.

Saints Row IV will be out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 20.

Curious about how Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will look on the next-generation of systems? Well Ubisoft and Sony has given us a glimpse of just that, in the video above.

Sony has released a video called ‘Conversations with Creators,’ which has a bunch of developers and programmers from Ubisoft, spewing why Assassin’s Creed 4 on the PlayStation 4 will be a step above the PS3 version, and I think most of us already understand why. So I’m not sure who they’re are trying to convince.

During these talking segments, we get a glimpse of what to expect from the graphics when we play it on the PS4.

And while I’m sure most of you are just gonna press play, but I want to warn you: I’m not impressed. If the developers or Sony said this was footage from the PlayStation 3, I would believe them.

During the video a bunch of developers are talking about how they’re making the game more immersive because of the power of the PlayStation 4, which is something I would expect. But the footage that they’re showing — from the best possible angles — I just don’t see what they’re doing differently.

Don’t get me wrong, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has always had beautiful visuals. But one thing is relatively clear to me, this game is probably being developed in this current generation of consoles, and being ported over to the PlayStation 4, with some added effects.

Undoubtably Will Wright is a pioneer in gaming. He is the definition of interactive entertainment innovation. Being the creator of SimCity, the Sims and Spore, Wright’s stature in video games is only held by a few people in the industry. When he develops something, people play it, and it usually change the future of video games.

Will Wright ended his long-term relationship with EA a few years backed, and embarked on starting up new companies. One of these studios is Stntertainment, and he’s been working closely with them in developing a brand new gaming experience, which he elaborated to attendees at the Game Horizon Conference in the UK.

Wright’s goal is to bring gaming back to “normal, everyday life.” And to produce something that is “extremely relevant to the player, and extremely unique to each individual,” who chooses to interact with it.

“Well, I am very interested in basically how we build a game about the player, around the player’s life, around the things that they know, the places they go, the people they hang out with,” said Wright.

When asked if DRM would play a role in his new title, he responded by saying his game would be mobile-based.

“Well, what I’m working on now is going to be much more of a mobile-based experience, and it’s in a totally different ballpark economically and business-wise from the old shrink-wrap model.”

It’s interesting to see Wright move away from the PC market, and focus his attention in the ever growing mobile market. But it seems like his idea is at heart, our everyday activities, rather than the one or two hours we sit in front of our computers.

To be honest, it sounds like Will Wright is mixing social networking and gaming and somehow creating some type of virtual universe. And if that’s the case, social networking solely relies on its members doing something in the real world, and posting about their experience on their mobile device. So makes sense to see him working on a possible mobile app.

If you can somehow make that into a popular game, it might not just change the video game industry, but it might force other companies like Facebook and Twitter to take notice.

Again, Will Wright is no stranger to creating new genres in gaming, and if he can successfully merge to industries into one, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.

Source: Joystiq

This is certainly not the first time this is ever happened; someone taking a tune from today and remixing it into an 8-bit song. YouTube user Floating Point did just that with Daft Punk’s newest single “Get Lucky,” and boy does it just work.

Daft punk is known to take sounds like they were from an decade or two ago, but somehow makes it into a fresh beat. So combine that music philosophy with 8-bit chip-tunes, and you get something that you’ll actually blast in your headphones.

Source: Complex

Nintendo’s future is getting bleaker and bleaker by the minute. DICE’s technical director Johan Andersson has tweeted that next-generation games running the studio’s Frostbite 3 engine, will not be making an appearance on the Wii U console.

“[Frostbite 3] has never been running on WiiU,” EA DICE’s technical director Johan Andersson posted on Twitter. “We did some tests with not too promising results with [Frostbite 2] & chose not to go down that path.”

As of right now, Electronic Arts — owns the studio DICE — has only confirmed one video game in 2013 using the Frostbite 3 engine. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it’s the publishers most anticipated game, which is Battlefield 4.

Some video game franchises like Medal of Honor and Need for Speed, have also used the Frostbite engine in the past. So it is a high possibility that many of EA’s top I.P.’s will never see the light of day on Nintendo’s Wii U.

Bioware, has also confirmed that a new Mass Effect project is well underway in development, and they are indeed using the Frostbite 3 engine. So it is completely feasible — and chances are — that Nintendo will be missing out on other huge future projects from EA.

EA has also confirmed that their highly popular (and only football game on the market) Madden 25 will skip the Wii U this year.

Let’s also not forget that EA now has the rights to develop Star Wars games, and if EA elects to use the Frostbite engine in their newly acquired franchise, Nintendo might have an enormous problem on their hands.

Via: Yahoo Games

The last few months, EA has had some problems. And I’m assuming they would just like to forget about, them but they can’t. Now the company has confirmed additional layoffs for an “organizational update.” On the company’s official website, they posted the following statement:

“In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends.”

“These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.”

A few weeks ago, the company reduced the workforce, and also released a small number of employees back in February.

Like I said above, the company has had some issues: from PR nightmares, all the way to games not actually working when they launched. Changes needed to be made. But I’m not sure if these firings are a knee-jerk reaction to the fiascoes that have been happening lately, but clearly the company is walking into a new direction and for whatever reason, they can’t keep the entire workforce.

EA has enough money to recover from this past year, but they can’t afford similar one, and still expect the video game community can trust them.

Obviously their goal should be to develop great triple-a titles. But they also need to convince you that they stand with the gamer. At the very least they should create an illusion that they truly care about the progression of this industry; and less time trying to pinch every dollar from you.

Source: IGN

If anybody really cares, EA has announced the cover athlete for Madden NFL 25. And for the first time it’s not going to be a current player, but a Hall of Famer, who Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders.

EA had an online poll tournament which consisted of retired players versus current roster player. Barry Sanders edged out current Minnesota Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson, who just last year almost beat the single season NFL rushing record.

According to ESPN, Sanders won with 58% of the votes, which totaled up to be about 700,000.

Just like every year, the cover athlete will no way affect the actual gameplay of Madden. Which means, if you bought Madden last year, don’t expect a whole lot different except a few small changes. But you’ll be suckered in to still buying it… I probably will too.

Madden 25 will be in stores on August 27 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. No word if EA plans on releasing it for the next-generation of system, but I suspect they will.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is undoubtedly the biggest annual event for video games. It’s where all the game publishers and hardware manufacturers unveil their new products of the future. So this next piece of news is a little bit of a shocker, and while it makes sense, the report came out of left field.

Nintendo, who’s been at the convention since the beginning, has decided to change it up a little bit when it comes to their E3 strategy. The Japanese-based company has determined that the press conference that happens before the show floor opens, isn’t the best way to market their products. So instead, they’re going to replace that with other smaller events throughout the year, along with their Nintendo Direct feeds.

Saturo Iwata, the head boss at Nintendo, believes that Nintendo Direct, which are online 40-minute videos that debut their software, and talk about what their customers should expect in the upcoming year, are just as effective as having an E3 press conference, for creating much needed buzz.

Another thing that they’re not talking about, which this is pure speculation on my part, it is probably a lot cheaper to broadcast online, when compared to building an entire presentation stage and renting out the space for members of the press.

I’m sure that’s not the only decision but more of a perk of the bigger reasoning.

I’m not comparing Nintendo to Apple Inc., but Apple does not rely on big giant tech conventions like CES. They do their own conferences, their own videos — they don’t rely on events that they have no control over. And clearly that’s a strategy that works for Apple.

With Nintendo, they have to compete with other companies. During E3, information that they’re giving to the press members, along with the community of Nintendo, can get lost. Microsoft, Sony, along with all the gaming publishers, are trying to cram all their products down the presses’ throat, hoping to get headlines. It can be overwhelming for everybody. So, Nintendo not focusing on that, and relying on their own events after the convention, is not a terrible idea.

Nintendo isn’t completely ditching E3. They understand the importance of the convention. But their focus won’t be about grabbing headlines, instead it will be about members of the press — along with people in the industry — to get an hands-on demo of each game. Which is why most of us attend the convention anyways, so it’s no big deal for them to cancel the press conferences. And the strategy might actually payoff for the big N.

Activision has released a trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, to the Interwebs.

The trailer specifically shows off Michelangelo and some of the moves he is capable when gamers get their digital hands on the game. The game is clearly is a classic beat him, but combined into a 3-D world and well it does look hectic, the combat looks slow. And if the game is more than a few hours long, it might feel redundant. Of course this is all speculation from me watching the video. What the hell do I know?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be available as a downloadble game for the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Network.

And a side note, when I was a kid I thought it would be awesome to be friends with the Turtles. But I’m older, and when I think about it, I think they would smell…Yeah! I’m pretty sure they would.