Amazonys – Wii Games

Once was a time Sonic games were just as good as Mario games. Some may even say better. That time, however, was back in the 1990’s. And it’s been a while since the 1990’s.

Yet the blue hedgehog is still Sega’s most prominent mascot, and Sega keep on churning out Sonic games, even though they suck. Which begs the question: when can we expect Sonic games to not suck? Sega America’s VP of marketing Sean Ratcliffe got stuck with the excuse-making:

The quality is something that will be fixed over time. It’s not something where you wake up one morning and say, ‘You know what, we’re going to improve our quality on this franchise,’ and it magically happens. A lot of hard work goes into striving for quality.

Normally, we’d stop things there, but we like Ratcliffe’s continued response so much we’re going to run it:

Interestingly, I think Sonic Unleashed was very well received by the kids. There was some talk about the werehog aspect, the slower pacing and more combat-oriented gameplay, but when we go out and test this stuff and sit down with the consumers, kids actually like that. I think older, die-hard Sega fans who grew up with the franchise and the first Sonic the Hedgehog associate Sonic more with 2-D side-scrolling super fast, and they liked the daytime gameplay, but when it came to the slower paced gameplay they were fairly critical of that, and that’s fine – they have their opinions.

“But the kids like it.” Bet other publishers wish they could peddle that one out!

Sega: Sonic Quality to Be ‘Fixed Over Time’ [IndustryGamers]

Third party Wii titles like MadWorld and The Conduit are aimed towards core gamers. And…they’re not selling so hot. Why the heck not? Tons of people own Nintendo Wii consoles.

According to Nintendo’s Denise Kaigler, “You know, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It could be titles have the same type of sales curve that a lot of Nintendo titles have. A lot of Nintendo titles don’t follow that traditional sales curve where they launch big and then that’s it. Our titles have a long tail. They build in popularity, and this could be the case with MadWorld and The Conduit. I’ve played both. I’m not a core gamer, and I found that they were challenging and fun.”

In its first month on sale, action title MadWorld sold around 66,000 copies. Meanwhile, first-person-shooter The Conduit sold 72,000 copies from its June 23 launch to the end of the June sales period.

Thoughts?

Q&A: Nintendo’s Kaigler on Slowing Wii Sales, Hardcore Games [GameLife via CVG via VG247]

The tables, they have been turned. Rather than having other characters appear in his game, Sackboy is making the leap into somebody else’s.

The game in question is Rag Doll Kung-Fu, and he’ll be made available as a playable character as part of tomorrow’s PlayStation Store update, where he’ll join the game’s unlockable characters in a “time savers” pack (as in, pay money for the pack, save you the time unlocking them).

If only LittleBigPlanet could repay the favour, and add a pack that lets you unleash some adorable little roundhouse kicks.

The DS has been a juggernaut in Japan, racking up amazing sales. But nothing lasts forever, not even strong platform sales. PaRappa The Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura is looking for a new option for platform development.

“I think many developers and publishers are just focusing on DS but everybody understands [DS' significance in the market] will not go for a long time from now, so everybody trying to find another solution,” Matsuura told Edge Online. “But it’s very hard to be successful on another platform.”

Matsuura went on to say the platform he’d like to explore the most is the PS3, but worries that Sony might not be aggressive enough in the marketplace.

Later this year, Matsuura will be speaking at GameCity and DICE Asia. Maybe he’ll be talking about this, maybe he won’t. Who knows. Matsuura does, that’s who.

Interview: Masaya Matsuura [Edge Online]

Happy Birthday ESRB! Fifteen years ago to the day, SEGA and Nintendo proposed the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the wake of the Mortal Kombat gore game controversy.

As Wired points out, the original ratings were:

• Early Childhood (eC): Suitable for ages 3 and over, usually educational in nature.
• Kids to Adults (K-A): May be unsuitable for players under 6.
• Teen (T): May be unsuitable for players under 13.
• Mature (M): May be unsuitable for players under 17.
• Adults Only (AO): Content considered unsuitable for minors.

The proposal satisfied US politicians, and the ESRB began rating games later that year.

July 29, 1994: Videogame Makers Propose Ratings Board to Congress [This Day In Tech]

I’ve played the demo for Yakuza 3. It’s pretty good! I loved the way it revels in the minutiae of Japanese culture, right down to the fully-stocked convenience stores. Sadly, the demo is as close as I’m going to get.

Sega America’s Ray Almeda has told The Examiner that the game won’t be released in the US. Why? Because nobody bought Yakuza 2, that’s why. Sega looked at the sales of the second game – which stand at around 40,000 – and decided it wasn’t worth the expense of bringing the third one over.

This does not please us, Sega. This does not please us one little bit.

Yakuza 3 US release date announced: Never [The Examiner]

Sure, they don’t work, but these cardboard consoles definitely start more conversations. Best part, you don’t even need tape or glue. Thicker paper is recommended, as is a nice printer that can handle 150dpi printouts.

You don’t technically even need color, like these old-school pals. (There is a little bit of red, in the logos; and some color elsewhere.)

Unfortunately, no papercraft game pads are included with these two designs, put up by Cubeecraft.

Papercraft NES and Dreamcast Cost Less, Play Just as Many Cutting Edge Games [Endgadget]

Unsurprisingly, the developer of the critically acclaimed Wii re-imagining of Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! would like to make a sequel. Yes, Next Level Games enjoys steady work and continued paychecks apparently. But the proposed ideas for a sequel are what’s interesting.

Next Level Games’ gameplay lead Bryce Holliday tells the Official Nitnendo Magazine UK that the developer would “love to make a sequel.” And here’s where they’d start.

“Cooperative, competitive multiplayer support or create-a-boss mode would be places to start,” says Holliday, “but we’d need to come up with a new ‘hook’ like the motion controllers gave us in this iteration.”

Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe recently told Kotaku that the company is “not planning a sequel where simply the fighters are replaced.” If fans demand a Super Punch-Out!! for the Wii it would be approached in a “totally new, different way.”

As long as it’s not a prequel starring a young Doc Louis and his early infatuation with chocolate bars, we’re all for it. No prequels. No Baby Mac to fight. Please.

Punch-Out!! Dev: “I Would Love To Make A Sequel” [ONM]

If you ponied up for a 3D-enabled TV because you want to take advantage of 3D-enabled games, you need to make sure you have an HDMI-enabled console to go with that.

Ubisoft reminds us that James Cameron’s Avatar: The Video Game will need 1080p resolution from an HDMI cable if you’re grabbing up that game with the expectation of having your mind blown. So if you’re an early adopter of technology, and that early adopted technology includes the Xbox 360, you’re SOL. You’ll be experiencing normal video game graphics like the rest of us.

I realize, of the potential population to be disappointed by this realization, I’ve described maybe 12 people. But it is a useful caution to keep checking the console requirements as technology gets more sophisticated.

3D TV Doesn’t Guarantee a 3D Avatar, Says Ubisoft [UGO Games Blog]

A report from the USC Annenberg School for Communication finds that the video game racial landscape has a long way to go to match that of American society, fairing about as well or worse than that of television.

The study surveyed the “top 150 games in a year across nine platforms and all rating levels” with each title weighted by popularity, finding that less than 3% of game characters were “recognizably Hispanic.” Of those Hispanics, the study claims that all were “non-playable, background characters.” Dom from Gears excepted of course. (And I always thought Tyson Rios from Army of Two was Hispanic, but maybe not recognizably enough.)

The study claims that more Hispanic children play games than white children.

“For identity formation, that’s a problem. And for generating interest in technology, it may place underrepresented groups behind the curve,” points out study leader Dmitri Williams, a social psychologist and assistant professor at USC. “Ironically, they may even be less likely to become game makers themselves, helping to perpetuate the cycle.”

The USC report also states that women, Native Americans and the elderly weren’t accurately represented by the virtual video game populace. Blacks, however, were well represented in numbers, but mostly in sports games and “titles that reinforce stereotypes” like 50 Cent Bulletproof.

Williams calls the lack of inclusion of minorities in games “a missed sales opportunity.”

Clearly, we can all pick and choose examples where minorities are better represented in video games released over the years—the study “visible characters that were clearly human,” excluding first-person shooters—but even a cursory scan of 2008’s biggest hits is pretty heavy on the white dude. Speaking, as a white dude, that does get pretty boring. Let’s mix it up, mkay?

Video Game Minority Report: Lots Of Players, Few Characters [Science Daily via Gamasutra]