Video game industry thread: no, Shiggy's still not dead. Damn April Fool's.

Brainiac 8 · April 2011

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Rehab wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Angry Birds
Unpleasant Horse

How about Peeved Ursine next?

Irate Cocks, Mischievous Beavers.

Tweaked Ass

Melodramatic Boobs

UncleSporky · April 2011

Nonplussed Amphibians

darleysam · April 2011

themightypuck wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Unpleasant Horse

Brilliant and awesomely funny. I cheer you sir.

I cheer you.

That's.. the actual name of the game, son.

Couscous · April 2011

DAII has sold one million copies. If you purchase and register a copy before April 30th, you also get a free PC version of ME2.

Santa Claustrophobia · April 2011

I'd love to take credit for it, but it really is just a naked attempt to get some of that 'lucrative' AB market.

Rehab · April 2011

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Rehab wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Angry Birds
Unpleasant Horse

How about Peeved Ursine next?

Irate Cocks, Mischievous Beavers.

Tweaked Ass

Melodramatic Boobs

Overconfident Sperm Whale?

Sheep · April 2011

Wall E was a marvel simply on the premise that it goes a significant amount of time with absolutely no dialog. Rare and amazing for today's OCD ADD crowd.

Brainiac 8 · April 2011

Sheep wrote: »

Wall E was a marvel simply on the premise that it goes a significant amount of time with absolutely no dialog. Rare and amazing for today's OCD ADD crowd.

Yea, one reason I loved it was because it was a fantastic throw back to long gone silent films. The story and emotions are all told through body movement and facial animations. It was brilliant in every way.

darleysam · April 2011

Couscous wrote: »

DAII has sold one million copies. If you purchase and register a copy before April 30th, you also get a free PC version of ME2.

This is clearly just a shill move corporate stunt by BioWare employees to artificially boost ratings and numbers for their games and I think we should report them to OFCOM, the PCC and maybe the UN. I'm calling Obama.

Santa Claustrophobia · April 2011

darleysam wrote: »

Couscous wrote: »

DAII has sold one million copies. If you purchase and register a copy before April 30th, you also get a free PC version of ME2.

This is clearly just a shill move corporate stunt by BioWare employees to artificially boost ratings and numbers for their games and I think we should report them to OFCOM, the PCC and maybe the UN. I'm calling Obama.

If BioWare works at it, with minimal effort they'd get Obama to cave anyway.

themightypuck · April 2011

darleysam wrote: »

themightypuck wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

Unpleasant Horse

Brilliant and awesomely funny. I cheer you sir.

I cheer you.

That's.. the actual name of the game, son.

Just goes to show the free market is never wrong.

UncleSporky · April 2011

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sheep wrote: »

Wall E was a marvel simply on the premise that it goes a significant amount of time with absolutely no dialog. Rare and amazing for today's OCD ADD crowd.

Yea, one reason I loved it was because it was a fantastic throw back to long gone silent films. The story and emotions are all told through body movement and facial animations. It was brilliant in every way.

I was really sad when dialog came into it, I wondered how far they would go.

Brainiac 8 · April 2011

UncleSporky wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sheep wrote: »

Wall E was a marvel simply on the premise that it goes a significant amount of time with absolutely no dialog. Rare and amazing for today's OCD ADD crowd.

Yea, one reason I loved it was because it was a fantastic throw back to long gone silent films. The story and emotions are all told through body movement and facial animations. It was brilliant in every way.

I was really sad when dialog came into it, I wondered how far they would go.

They had to get John Ratzenberger in the movie somehow.

Elvenshae · April 2011

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

I haven't seen Cars

But there's no way in hell it's worse than Wall-E

<3

UV, never change.

Hedgethorn · April 2011

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Sheep wrote: »

Wall E was a marvel simply on the premise that it goes a significant amount of time with absolutely no dialog. Rare and amazing for today's OCD ADD crowd.

Yea, one reason I loved it was because it was a fantastic throw back to long gone silent films. The story and emotions are all told through body movement and facial animations. It was brilliant in every way.

I was really sad when dialog came into it, I wondered how far they would go.

They had to get John Ratzenberger in the movie somehow.

Instead of Hello Dolly, they should have just had Wall-E watch a video of an old episode of Cheers on mute.

Kevin Crist · April 2011

I doubt the relationship between Frasier and Lilith would spur Wall-E into dreams of romance.

Santa Claustrophobia · April 2011

Kevin Crist wrote: »

I doubt the relationship between Woody and KellyKellyKelly would spur Wall-E into dreams of romance.

Couscous · April 2011

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43818/3DS-dizziness-claims-hit-The-Sun?

UK newspaper runs front page story telling tales of customer refunds and feelings of sickness

This morning's copy of UK newspaper The Sun carries a hard-hitting headline for Nintendo – "3DS SOS".

It claims that "record return levels were reported" after "thousands" suffered headaches and dizziness after playing with the device.

It also claims that some retailers have been offering refunds to those affected. One customer, Sundeep Tailor, was offered a £176.99 refund from GAME for his 3DS, leaving him out of pocket to the tune of £30.

HMV apparently if offering full refunds on any 3DS purchased, though only until Thursday. Other retailers are said to be offering refunds anything up to £50 below the price paid at launch.

"When I returned mine to my local GAME in Bexleyheath I had an argument at first but I am someone who knows how to argue and stuck with my guns," one forum user is quoted as saying.

"Once the guy agreed we chatted and he told me hay had had a high return of the 3DS, more than any launch product."

This issue first hit the headlines last week, again with The Sun leading.

Nintendo told MCV last week that it has had "zero calls on this issue in both the UK and across Europe since Nintendo 3DS launch".

NINTENDO, GAME AND HMV REFUTE 3DS CLAIMS

Platform holder says reports are "incorrect"; GAME has had "fewer than five complaints"; HMV has not offered refunds

Nintendo has branded claims about 3DS refunds and dizziness made in The Sun this morning as "incorrect".

In addition, both GAME and HMV have denied issuing refunds to customers.

The paper this morning claimed that "thousands" of users have suffered either dizziness or headaches after using the device and that some retailers are offering refunds on the machine.

"Recent reports are incorrect," a Nintendo UK spokesperson told MCV. "The number of calls and emails with queries on Nintendo 3DS is in fact well below the rate experienced during past hardware launches and having spoken with our retail partners there are only a handful of people who have actually gone into stores to request a refund.

"Nintendo 3DS was designed with a 3D depth slider that lets users adjust the 3D effect so that everyone can still enjoy this product. When viewing any kind of 3D images, including movies and on TV, some people might experience minor discomfort.

"The effects are short term and have no lasting effect; most people can continue after taking a break. Customers with any concerns should contact their local Nintendo Customer Support via www.nintendo.co.uk or on 0870 6060247.”

In addition, retailer GAME has confirmed to MCV that it has had "fewer than five complaints" about feelings of dizziness from 3DS users.

MCV understands that as the returned devices are not technically faulty many retailers aren't offering full refunds, though most are able to accept the machine as a trade-in.

HMV has told MCV that it has not issued any refunds on the 3DS. Indeed, The Sun has since amended the story online.

"Contrary to a report in today's media – which has since been corrected – we would like to make clear that we are not aware of any manufacturing fault with the 3DS console – which we have seen huge demand for, and that we have not issued any refunds for it and nor are we doing.

"A relatively small number of customers are, however, choosing to take us up on our pre-played games offer – which is a totally different thing, where they can trade-in previously purchased games products, including the 3DS if they so choose, against any other products that we stock in-store up to a pre-determined set value.

"We are currently offering a trade-in value of up to £200 on the 3DS – but trade-in values are reviewed all the time and this may well change after April 7th. Games trade-ins have become increasingly popular with gamers in recent years, and are a standard feature of the UK games market, with many retailers making them available to their customers."

Now for a bunch of idiot gaming journalists to take everything in the paper at face value and write about how Nintendo is doomed.

Couscous · April 2011

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43835/Rob-Saunders-to-leave-Nintendo

Well known PR and communications boss departs after seven years at the company

Nintendo UK’s popular head of communications, Robert Saunders, is leaving the company – but his next destination has not been announced.

Saunders joined Nintendo seven years ago and has played a key role in the launches of the Wii and DS, as well as fostering the firm’s strong relationship with the mainstream media.

Nintendo UK's marketing director Dawn Paine said: "We would like to thank Rob for all his hard work and huge contribution to Nintendo UK. I have personally enjoyed working with Rob immensely over that period and am I proud to have had him in my team. We all wish him the very best of luck for the future which will undoubtedly be stellar."

Saunders will leave Nintendo at the end of April.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43834/MPs-consider-web-block-plans

Ed Vaizey in discussions with ISPs to implement ‘self-regulatory measures’

MPs have been in negotiations with Internet Service Providers and intellectual rights holders to create a system that would allow access to be blocked to certain websites.

According to the Open Rights Group, a letter from Mr. Vaizey confirmed that he’d been in discussions with stakeholders to create a “working group to be formed to look at industry self-regulatory measures to tackle online copyright infringement through site-blocking.”

The move comes as part of the Digital Economy Act – rushed through Parliament in the final days of the previous Government – which seeks to block access to those websites that are deemed to have been illegally distributing copyright material.

Now that the act has been passed, all that remains is the actual task of implementing the proposed measures.

The Open Rights Group has consistently opposed the idea of blocking website access, and commented: “We believe website blocking is a bad idea, especially on a self-regulatory basis where vital judicial oversight is bypassed.”

Brainiac 8 · April 2011

“The job itself hasn’t changed so much, but when we worked on the first Prime I was focused on the controls, and the visor system was something I thought up with Retro. So I would do a lot of brainstorming, firming up specs with them. Moving onto Donkey Kong, we were doing a lot of the same things. But one thing that really has changed over the years for us is that Retro has gradually come to really think like Nintendo. So there’s been a lot less need for explanation and supervision. I don’t think that Mr Miyamoto went over to Rare and did face-to-face visits really, and without email, communication happened by fax, and I think it made it really difficult for him to relay his vision and experiences the same way.” - Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe

“In Metroid, we would create a large number of assets and send them to Tanabe-san for review and he would add a number of changes. What has changed since then is that before we even start creating assets we have a much better understanding of his expectations and vision. We don’t throw away a lot of work anymore." - Retro president Michael Kelbaugh

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/retro-studios-%E2%80%9Cthinks-like-nintendo%E2%80%9D

I <3 Retro.

Xenogears of Bore · April 2011

I'm lovingly handcrafting the April Video Game Industry thread from one hundred percent organic fanboyonium, made in the USA and done in accordance with all fair trade practices.