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‘Halo’ Television Series: Microsoft Announces Steven Spielberg-Produced Project

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Halo Television Series: Microsoft Announces Steven Spielberg Produced Project

The entire gaming community was anticipating today’s big announcement from Microsoft, which unveiled its new Xbox One gaming console, but the project that has everyone talking was one that no one saw coming.

As a part of their big presentation, Microsoft announced a “Halo” television series that will be produced by Steven Spielberg. The sci-fi action franchise has seemed poised for live-action adaptation since it first hit shelves in 2001, but this is the first time fans will get to see the Spartans outside of a few well-produced ads.

Learn more after the jump!

There’s no word on how this series will be brought to your screen. One of the biggest aspects of the Xbox One that Microsoft touted during its hour-long press conference today was the easy of switching between gaming and live television with the use of your voice and Kinnect.

It’s possible that Xbox One will offer original video content similar to Netflix, meaning that you would have to be an Xbox Live subscriber in order to watch the “Halo” television series.

The series is being described a “premium” programming, which essentially means that they’re going to spend some money making. This isn’t exactly surprising to anyone familiar with the games, since the action takes place on other worlds and includes battle against alien species.

This is the second highest profile “Halo” project to date. The first, Peter Jackson‘s feature film that would have been directed by future “District 9″ helmer Neill Blomkamp, failed to get off the ground due to studio turmoil.

Are excited for a “Halo” television series? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

Will Moderation Render Wii U’s Miiverse Ineffectual?

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af1fc 947 Will Moderation Render Wii Us Miiverse Ineffectual?

Nintendo has largely avoided discussing the subject of online when it comes to Wii U; we’re still in the dark on details regarding the presence of friend codes and other things that have hampered the online experience for owners of Nintendo’s previous consoles. The one exception to this has been Miiverse, which has the potential to connect Wii U owners with each other in a new, interesting way. There is, however, at least one issue that stands in the way of it being a major success (aside from Wii U itself selling well), and that is Nintendo’s desire to provide a safe environment for younger gamers.

Miiverse allows Wii U owners to share messages with others both inside and outside of games; New Super Mario Bros. U demonstrated this week how players’ messages can be shown on the level select screen or following Mario’s death. Messages can be either typed out or hand-drawn. Either way, the potential for spoilers or inappropriate messages to be shared through these channels is great, and Nintendo has several ways of ensuring those undesirable messages are seen by as few people as possible.

As explained to Hero Complex by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, there are three ways of dealing with these messages. The first is an automated filter which will search out words Nintendo doesn’t want being used. This is only so effective, though, because it can’t recognize hand-drawn notes, and because for as many words that are added to the filter list, there are a dozen more ways to spell out what sort of terrible things some anonymous gamer would allegedly (read: not) do to you and your mother if you were to meet in real life.

Another method will be to allow users to flag content they feel should not be on Miiverse, a solution which would require the questionable content to make it into the wild in the first place.

That’s where the third, and most dubious comes into play: human moderation. Iwata said Nintendo will hire a team to monitor the content being published to Miiverse, and only after it’s approved by one of these individuals will it make it onto the screen of other Wii U users (Wii Users?).

It’s undoubtedly the most effective way of preventing children from seeing phallic drawings and adult language, but the downside is it dramatically slows the process of getting Miiverse posts distributed. Nintendo is creating a bottleneck that ensures you’ll never be able to get a message posted as quickly as you’d like.

Iwata admitted, “The attraction of a social network is the immediacy of the feedback,” while also making it clear that parents need to be able to rest assured Miiverse won’t turn into Second Life, the (at times) notoriously raunchy free-to-play MMO. He went on to say the matter of how long it will take for messages to make their way through moderation will depend on feedback once Miiverse has launched, adding, “But personally, I think 30 minutes should be acceptable.”

30 minutes to post feedback on a level in New Super Mario Bros. U seems plenty fair, but will Nintendo have the capacity to reach that goal without letting some undesirable messages making their way through the cracks? Even if they do, I suspect the moderation process will negatively impact the aspects of Miiverse which lend themselves to more immediate conversations. Will anyone really want to carry out a message board-style discussion if it requires a 30-minute wait for each message to go through?

Nintendo has always been about providing a safe online experience, so none of this comes as a surprise. However, if it wants to be able to better compete with Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, at some point it will need to rely on optional parental controls dictating whom players can connect and socialize with online rather than resorting to blanket policies like this which will drag down the experience for adults who are willing to be exposed to the occasional swear word or naughty illustration.

Poor E3 Showing or Not, Wii U Remains Full of Potential

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Poor E3 Showing or Not, Wii U Remains Full of Potential

The perfect time for Nintendo to convince us all to buy a Wii U at launch, its E3 press briefing, has come and gone, and the consensus seems to be the company failed to sell core gamers on it. There was a lot missing from today’s showing, and much of what was there did not do the greatest job of demonstrating how the Wii U will provide markedly different gaming experiences over the consoles on the market today. And while I was certainly down on today’s briefing, I think it’s too soon to condemn the platform itself.

Today’s briefing did bring with it demonstrations of a new game from Shigeru Miyamoto (Pikmin 3), a new side-scrolling Mario game (New Super Mario Bros. U), and what Nintendo sees as Wii U’s Wii Sports (Nintendo Land). Third parties had games to show that will sell well no matter what innovation they provide (Just Dance 4) and ports of quality games that may not have a compelling reason to play them on Wii U (Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, Mass Effect 3, Trine 2).

Missing from the showcase was a mixture of obvious and not-so-obvious games from Nintendo and third parties.

Outside of Ubisoft, which made its support for Wii U abundantly clear, original titles from western publishers were not much more common than new EarthBound games. Sports games lend themselves to all sorts of applications for the touchscreen — where was EA or 2K Games to show Madden 13 or NBA 2K14 with the ability to draw up plays, see stats, and make substitutions on the GamePad? In Madden’s case, that exact functionality was seen not here, but at Microsoft’s press briefing, working on SmartGlass. If Nintendo wants to ensure it lures in core gamers, which are likely to be the early adopters, word on Grand Theft Auto V coming to the system with some exclusive Wii U features could have been a big deal.

Looking at Japanese studios, it would have been nice to hear about the Wii U version of Dragon Quest X coming to the U.S. or a Final Fantasy game being made for Wii U. Phantasy Star Online 2 would have been a welcome RPG, too.

An idea surfaced on Reddit today for a Dungeons Dragons game where one player on the GamePad serves as the Dungeon Master and four Wiimote users play the game set up by the DM. We didn’t have to see this specific idea, but something with this sort of setup could have driven home what kind of game is only possible on Wii U. Instead, we got the ability to choose what dance move comes up next in Just Dance 4.

Even Nintendo was conservative with what it had to show. The Nintendo-published Project P-100 from Platinum Games looks like it could be fun, and Wii Fit U will be a big seller. Beyond that and the games mentioned above, where was the Zelda HD demo that blew us all away last year? Where was a project — Metroid Prime or not — from Retro Studios? Where was the surprising announcement of a classic franchise being revived or the introduction of a brand new IP? Why couldn’t we have heard a peep about the new Super Smash Bros., even a reveal of a character or two making it into the game’s roster? Couldn’t Nintendo have announced a Xenoblade sequel? Or something about a new Advance Wars or Battalion Wars, which seems like another perfect fit for the GamePad?

That’s a lot Nintendo could have decided to show us and didn’t. Some of it, like GTA V, might have been impossible because Rockstar isn’t planning to bring the game to the platform (although it did plan to support the system according to a report from last April). Other omissions, like Zelda, are more curious. Last year’s showing was more of a tech demo than a game, sure. Had Nintendo decided to show that it’s made some progress on crafting an actual game, though, it would have alleviated any lingering concerns prospective Wii U buyers may have about the company’s capability of developing a full-fledged, high-definition game of that quality — something we’ve still yet to see out of Nintendo’s internal studios.

Also going without much of a mention so far this week has been the online network for Wii U. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime alluded to unique features for the online entertainment apps (Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc.) that we’d be learning about in the future; it was a very brief portion of the briefing, and yet it was still present, unlike anything regarding the Nintendo Network. Nintendo did outline Miiverse, and that does open the door for a lot of interesting possibilities (and raises any number of questions about how it will work). What we’re all waiting to hear about, oddly enough, are the basics. Nintendo has yet to release a console with an online system that works as well as we would like; Sony has shown us with PSN that an Xbox Live-style experience is possible without charging a subscription. Will Wii U rely on friend codes yet again? Will Network accounts allow for games to be transferred from system to system? The sort of things that have been taken granted for years on other systems are still not a given on Wii U.

Nintendo not being forthcoming about any of this is not encouraging. However, until we hear otherwise, it’s still possible things will work out as we hope. Wii U may abandon friend codes, offer the ability to share Virtual Console games with 3DS, and have original games that make great usage of the GamePad and were simply not ready to be shown today. A price still needs to be announced; its absence today might very well be due to Nintendo itself being unsure of the specifics rather than it planning to charge an obscene amount it didn’t want to reveal until the last possible moment. $250 or $300 can’t be ruled out yet.

Because of the possibility for all of this to come true, I remain cautiously optimistic. What was shown today did not convince me I need to pre-order a Wii U ahead of its launch, which is what I had hoped to get out of today’s briefing. But it also didn’t do anything to make me think I don’t want one, and it was heartening to hear Nintendo has found a way to make two GamePads work with a single Wii U. I still need to see a lot more to be sure I want to risk being an early adopter — Nintendo hasn’t demonstrated to me it has learned its lesson from the 3DS about having a poor launch lineup — but the important thing is the potential for Wii U to be as special Nintendo would have us believe it is still exists.

E3 2012: The Challenges Ahead

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n just a few days, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will be taking the stage at E3 to articulate their individual visions with an eye to the future. The agendas will be different, but each platform holder has a particular point of emphasis that they will likely be highlighting this year, the goal being to transitition smoothly into the next generation. Here’s what to expect.

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Nintendo: The Social Machine

Despite posting massive losses, it’s secretly been a pretty good year for Nintendo. After pulling out all the stops to stabilize the Nintendo 3DS, the handheld has not only survive in Japan, but thrived over in Japan. Meanwhile, strong sales for both Mario and Zelda suggests that the appetite for both franchises remains undiminished. Even the Wii has seen some interesting new releases of late, including the long-awaited Xenoblade Chronicles.

Big changes await though. After years of scuffling along with friend codes and highly restrictive online publishing agreements, Nintendo finally seems ready to embrace the online model long ago adopted by the competition, and not a moment too soon. Online multiplayer is pervasive and digital distribution is nearing critical mass; and like it or not, both will have a substantial impact on the long-term prospects of the Wii U.

Already, Nintendo has announced that the ‘majority of Nintendo-published 3DS and Wii U titles’ will be available through online distribution starting this summer. A renewed emphasis on smaller games like Dillon’s Rolling Western and Pushmo have strengthened the 3DS eShop offerings. And when the Wii U is released later this year, purchases will no longer be tied to a single system but to a single account, addressing one of the major complaints about the Wii.

The challenge is for Nintendo to prove that they can do more than ape Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo has traditionally been very good at taking an established concept and giving it their own particular spin; and in this case, their biggest advantage is their unique understanding of social networking, which is a concept that has eluded even Microsoft to some extent (how often do you actually use Xbox Live‘s Twitter functionality?)

On the 3DS, the Streetpass function, has proven to be a great success in the way that it emphasises ‘collecting’ friends–much as Twitter emphasises collecting followers. It obviously won’t be possible to take the Wii U on the road, but Nintendo can still apply that understanding in ways that are interesting, whether by introducing new minigames or simply finding unique ways for people to ‘pass through’ (think of the Mii Parade on a much bigger scale). It will be interesting to see whether Nintendo can cast the Wii U is a social machine as well as a gaming machine–an online platform with as much in common with Facebook as Xbox Live.

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Sony: Remember the Vita

The PlayStation 3 continues to hold steady with a strong selection of first and third-party games, but there are times when it seems as if the Vita might have fallen between the cracks over at Sony. Their marketing has been strangely non-chalant, even going back to TGS 2011, when it should have shined. The software selection has been solid–Mutant Blobs Attack and Gravity Rush are two highlights–but it doesn’t feel like there’s much on the horizon beyond a lot of ports. Making matters worse for Sony is that the Nintendo 3DS seems to have found its feet, and publishers typically like to go where the customers can be found.

But lest you think the Vita’s outlook is all gloom and doom, the Nintendo 3DS was in arguably even worse straits a year ago. There’s still plenty of time to make this thing work, starting with E3. The best thing Sony can do at that point is to give their machine a strong show of support at their E3 press conference. And that means at least one sizzle reel loaded with Vita exclusives (like Jet Set Radio and the new Sly Cooper, for instance), followed by a pep talk from someone like BioShock Infinites‘s Ken Levine or Metal Gear Solid‘s Hideo Kojima touting all the exciting opportunities for third-party developers.

One big point of interest that Sony may wish to highlight is the Vita’s potential for strong independent development. Mutant Blobs Attacks showed that an independently published puzzle platformer released at a reasonable price ($19.99) can work extremely well on the Vita. Twenty bucks is still pretty expensive by current mobile standards, but it’s a bargain compared to current going rate of, say, current 3DS games.

Mostly, Sony would do well to give us a sense that their platform is actually going somewhere. They can do that by highlighting the mid-range indie development unique to the Vita, a broad selection of third-party titles, and some must-have first-party selections (more games like Gravity Rush are certainly welcome). That should put the Vita into a much stronger position going into what will be an important holiday season.

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Microsoft: One More Year

Back in 2005, Microsoft couldn’t wait to ditch the Xbox and starting playing for keeps against in Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft seems much more reluctant to move on this year. For all speculation that a new console would be announced at E3, it looks like Microsoft is going all-in on one more successful year. But it won’t necessarily be Halo 4 or Gears of War that end up defining that success.

No, it’ll be the Kinect–which has been everything that Microsoft could have ever wanted out of a stopgap peripheral–that ends up driving the Xbox 360 this year. Not because it’ll have Dance Central or Steel Battallion, but because it finally allows Microsoft to push the Xbox as being more than a video game machine for caffeine addled twenty-somethings. It’s the logical successor to the Wii as a family machine.

As such, while Halo 4, Gears of War, and Call of Duty will certainly have their time to shine, the Kinect will be the real star of the show for Microsoft. The recently-announced Harry Potter title will almost certainly be getting its own stage demo, and there will be a slew of major third-party titles. And who can forget the superflous Kinect tie-ins with major third-party titles.

In many ways, E3 2012 figures to be a victory lap for Microsoft. With the help of the Kinect, the Xbox 360 has finally become the all-purpose living room fixture that Steve Jobs envisioned way back in 2000. They may tease their new console at the end of their press conference; but it’ll be just that–a tease. With so much momentum, Microsoft won’t be interested in hitting the reset button anytime soon.

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6ea70 694 E3 2012: The Challenges Ahead

Kat Bailey

Kat Bailey is a 1UP contributor who spent real human money on a PlayStation Vita, and would love to see it reach the same heights as an RPG machine that the PSP ultimately did. At the moment, she’s playing Super Robot Taisen Z2 and FIFA 12; but with Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and two Shin Megami Tensei titles just around the corner, she will likely be switching back to her 3DS soon. Fickle is the heart of an RPG fan.

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E3 Thoughts and Predictions Vol. 2: Microsoft

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ooray for E3 2012! Each year, Microsoft, Sony, and NIntendo kick off the biggest trade show in the games industry by holding individual press conferences. This annual routine of presentations, stage demos, and unveilings brings us some of the most exciting news of the show — especially when a new gaming platform is involved. Here at 1UP, we’re just as excited for E3 as you, so we decided to throw together our thoughts and predictions in anticipation. A few days ago, we mulled over what Nintendo will do at E3 and now it’s time to turn our attention to Microsoft, a company that tries to focus their E3 presentation on everyone by combining stage demos for popular core games alongside casual fare. For more on speculation on what Microsoft will show at E3, check out the May 25th episode of the Games, Dammit! podcast.

Jeremy Parish: Of all the console makers, Microsoft seems the most adrift and aimless. I guess they’re doing pretty well, but that success almost seems to come in spite of themselves. Each year we see a smaller number of exclusive 360 titles than the last, and Kinect seems to be slowly fading from the collective conscious with fewer releases as time goes by. This year, Microsoft needs to step up and be assertive. Yeah, OK, you have Halo 4 and another Forza game. You have a handful of Kinect games. What else? Show us your cards, and cut the B.S.; we don’t want marketing speak or tiresome demos of tech that will never become a game, we just want to know why we should care. New hardware? New games? If you want to go all-in on selling 360 as a Kinect machine for casual gamers, that’s fine, too. Just give us the impression that you have a solid plan, OK? Gamers love waffles, but not wafflers.

aca55 515 E3 Thoughts and Predictions Vol. 2: Microsoft

Scott Weber: I’m sorry Microsoft, but I’m not getting a Kinect. I know it’s a huge deal for you guys and you’ll probably devote the majority of your press conference to it, but please find a moment to confirm that there is more to your future (immediate or otherwise) than just having me convulse around my living room in front of a camera. A Halo 2 circa E3 2003-esque jaw-dropping demo of Halo 4 might do the trick. Something new from Rare, possibly Piñata or Banjo-related, would be wonderful. But also, please don’t take an hour to tell us how dope Netflix on 360 is — I’m already too well-aware of that fact any time I take a gander at my friends list.

Jose Otero: All I want for Christmas is Halo 4, so I’ll probably be the easiest person for Microsoft to please at E3 this year. But what happened to their stable of exclusive games? Granted, you likely wanted to forget Tao Feng: Fist of Lotus and Whacked!, but what about Viva Piñata, Crimson Skies, and MechAssault? Can you even remember the last time you were genuinely excited for an Xbox-only title not named Halo or Forza? Where Sony tries a little too hard to create a worthy list of exclusive games, Microsoft seems content to barely try at all. Getting DLC timed-exclusives for Xbox Live subscribers might count as a win for a Microsoft executive, but I doubt Joe Casual actually cares. A lot of resources went into making Kinect a success, but now that its established, Microsoft needs to shift priorities and show people why the Xbox is more than a Halo or Call-of-Duty-DLC box.

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Marty Sliva: I’d love nothing more than to see Microsoft step on stage at E3, pull out a Phoenix Down, and use it to revive the ostensibly stagnant Rare. For the past few years, the once great development house has been relegated to helming the Avatar program for Xbox LIVE and working on various installments of Kinect Sports. I understand that these are both crucial facets of Microsoft’s goal to capture all types of gamers, but to waste such a talented studio on these silly projects is a shame. If Microsoft stepped on stage at E3 and announced Banjo-Threeie, Nu Jet Force Gemini, and 2 Blast 2 Corps, I would sleep a lot easier at night. Better yet, instead of seeing Rare reboot a classic franchise, imagine if they were to create a wholly original one that finally proved Microsoft’s risky move to snatch them from Nintendo was well-worth the price.

Chris Pereira: It may be a pipe dream at this point, but I would still love to see Kinect used — and used well — in a hardcore game outside of Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor. And I’m not talking about voice support or something of the sort; I want to see something more legitimate than that. Maybe it’s not possible, but Heavy Armor making use of a controller in addition to motion controls makes me hopeful my Kinect purchase will have been for more than the occasional Dance Central session. Failing that, as I’m sure what we’ll instead get are more casual-focused Kinect games of little interest to me, I want to see improvements to the dashboard and guide. And by that I don’t mean new features, necessarily, but improvements like quicker load times and a more responsive UI. I’m sick of waiting ages for my game library to load each time I visit it. It’s much more of a hassle to jump between demos or Xbox Live Arcade games than it should be, and I don’t feel like I’m asking too much to be able to go from game to game without a significant wait each and every time.

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Nick Todd: Microsoft’s Xbox was always meant to be a Trojan horse.  With the PC market conquered, the pursuit of the original Xbox was to get the company into people’s livings room.  That idea has finally matured into its current form on the Xbox 360, and it’s a welcome evolution that’s pushed the industry forward in a lot of ways.  There have been rumors swirling around that there may be an Internet Explorer browser announced for the 360 this year, but the system has already made its way in front of consumers’ couches with its integration of Netflix and YouTube.  Kinect, much like years prior, will have a large time slot in Microsoft’s schedule, with properties like Call of Duty and Halo (and other IPs peppered throughout) acting as bookends for the show to encourage enthusiasts to stay interested.  If anything, Kinect won’t be going away anytime soon with its presence growing with each year’s E3.  The threshold for how many consoles an IP like Halo sells probably hit its peak back in 2007 with Halo 3, hence why new hardware like the Kinect has such a large presence at trade shows like E3.

Bob Mackey: I had to look up what happened at last year’s Microsoft conference, since I could only recall memories of child actors desperately pretending to enjoy Fake Disneyland in front of thousands of jaded adults. Microsoft seemed to place an emphasis on showing off titles for the Kinect during their 2011 event, and I expect this year to leave attendees (at least those within our ranks) equally bewildered. Halo 4 will definitely be the centerpiece for traditional gamers, and I’m sure that particular game will get the most attention from the press this year. But Microsoft needs more than Halo to survive, so, like with Nintendo, I’m hoping for some announcements of exclusive and original IP.

Sony’s Rumored Cloud Gaming Deal Intrigues

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37541 474 Sonys Rumored Cloud Gaming Deal Intrigues

At this year’s E3 Nintendo will be talking Wii U, Microsoft may be focused on things of little interest to core gamers, and Sony will reportedly be talking cloud gaming. VG247 reports Sony will announce the details of a could gaming deal it has secured during its E3 press conference next month. There were no details made available, including whom the deal is with — it’s said to be either Gaikai or OnLive.

That detail makes a significant difference. While they are both streaming game companies, there is a fundamental difference in how each operates. Gaikai mainly brings game trials/demos to browsers, making them playable directly on retailer websites, Facebook, and so on. OnLive allows gamers to sample titles, but it is mainly focused on selling them through apps on computers and other devices, like tablets, in addition to its OnLive Game System (designed to bring the service to TVs). OnLive games can be purchased and played in their entirety, which is the major distinction between them and the more try-before-you-buy nature of Gaikai.

There are a number of ways either service could be integrated into the PlayStation Network, both on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The most basic idea would be to release an app on either platform for whichever of the two services the deal is with. OnLive makes more sense for this approach. Gamers could sample or purchase games through the app, or access games the PlayPack Bundle allows to be played for a flat monthly fee of $9.99. This would be beneficial to OnLive because it would expose more gamers to its offerings; there is likely a demographic interested in using it on their TV but not in buying another box to make doing so possible. And Sony gets another feature to tout its free service has that Xbox Live does not.

What Sony could also do is make access to OnLive — perhaps the PlayPack games — part of PlayStation Plus. The optional subscription service does offer a lot of value at times (this month subscribers get free copies of Awesomenauts, Trine 2, and Rock of Ages for as long as their subscription is active, among other things). Adding in access to streaming games, even if they are older titles like Borderlands and Batman: Arkham Asylum, would be another compelling bullet point for Plus.

Sony likes to promote cross-platform play and games which can be played on both PS3 and Vita. Streaming games, being platform-independent, would be playable on both platforms and seem to fit right in with that line of Sony’s thinking. Even ignoring this point, it makes sense that Sony would be the first of the game platform manufacturers to support streaming games; Nintendo has been slow to move into the online space, Microsoft likes to keep things closed and under its control on Xbox Live, and Sony, meanwhile, has allowed Steam onto PSN, so why not OnLive or Gaikai?

Whichever of those two the deal is with, a central component will presumably be the availability of streaming demos. Rather than downloading a demo from the notoriously slow PlayStation Store, imagine browsing to a page on the Store for a game you’re interested in and being able to immediately play a demo without having to download anything. This seems to be a better fit for Gaikai than OnLive, although the latter does allow users to sample the first 30 minutes of a game without paying, so it could work either way. Such immediate availablility of demos could improve sales of games on PSN, the appeal of which for Sony and third parties is obvious.

Vita in particular could benefit from streaming games and game demos. With the system lacking any internal storage and its proprietary memory cards being pricey, the ability to play a game or demo without needing to clear out space or buy a new card would be appreciated.

The benefits of either service will be limited to some extent; only those with stable Internet connections would be able to take advantage of Gaikai or OnLive. The latter requires a 2 Mbps connection, with 5 Mbps being the recommended speed. For many people that’s not asking too much in 2012, although there are sure to be those who have slower connections or unstable wireless ones, either of which would render this functionality moot. So long as the deal is relatively limited and optional in scope — and it will be; it’s not as if the PlayStation 4 or PS3/Vita demos are going to be announced on June 4 as streaming-only — this should still be a nice perk for those with an Internet connection capable of taking advantage of it.

Valve and GameStop Sensibly Team Up to Offer Steam Codes In-Store

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Valve and GameStop Sensibly Team Up to Offer Steam Codes In Store

Starting today you can purchase Steam Wallet codes at GameStop stores. These codes, which are available in $20 and $50 denominations, can be added to a Steam account and used to purchase content through Valve’s immensely popular digital distribution service. This move may come as a surprise to some as GameStop last year purchased Steam competitor Impulse, yet it actually is a very sensible move for both sides.

For GameStop, this is another way for it to insert itself into the sale of digital content. It already offers things like downloadable content and points for the console manufacturers’ respective platforms, as well as (more recently) digital PC games through Impulse. Getting a cut of money spent on Steam is an obvious benefit, but there is more to it than that.

The ability to take old games and trade them in for Steam credit may have the same effect that the availability of Impulse games could have: Gamers who ordinarily don’t visit GameStop or sell their games may now be inclined to do so. The used games business is incredibly lucrative for GameStop, and while it would probably be more beneficial to its bottom line for people to spend their store credit on used games, this may still generate business that it did not see before. And who knows, some of those people wandering in to get Steam credit in exchange for their old games might end up buying something in-store they would not have otherwise. Speaking for myself, I rarely visit GameStop anymore, but knowing some of my old games I never play anymore can be turned into money that can be spent on Steam gives me a reason to change that.

And it’s not as if offering Steam Wallet codes prevents GameStop from still putting Impulse front and center. These are essentially gift cards for Steam being sold, not games; GameStop sells individual digital games from Impulse in-store, which might be more appealing to consumers who want a digital game and don’t have any preference for where the game is downloaded. GameStop is also still free to bundle different versions of a PC game together for an added cost (like a physical and digital version, or a physical and streaming version) as I originally theorized it might when it acquired Impulse and streaming tech company Spawn Labs last year.

It was the company’s ownership of Spawn Labs which caused a controversy last year that might make this Steam deal come as somewhat of a shock. PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution were packaged with a code for a free OnLive version of the game. GameStop was unaware of this when it began stocking the game, and when it was discovered it instructed employees to open the game, remove the code, and then sell the game as new without informing customers. As customers cried foul, GameStop pulled copies of the game until they could be replaced with ones that did not contain the codes, claiming it does not promote competing services “without a formal partnership.” (An internal memo noted Spawn Labs is developing a streaming service, which is what makes OnLive a competitor.) GameStop ultimately apologized to customers and offered a $50 gift card to those who were affected.

Valve and GameStop Sensibly Team Up to Offer Steam Codes In Store

From Valve’s perspective, this deal opens up Steam to a new demographic. Those who are averse to buying things online now have a way of becoming Steam customers without their credit card numbers ever having to be entered into a computer. By extension, this allows for those without credit cards or PayPal to spend money on Steam. Offering the codes at GameStop also opens the door for gamers to make purchases on Steam without having any money to spend, only physical games they’re willing to part ways with.

But more important is the impact this has on the relationship between retail and publishers. The reality of digital distribution is it has the potential to cut out retail altogether. At some point in the future that may not worry publishers, but at this point in time retail is still of critical importance to them, and they are therefore hesitant to put more strain on that relationship than they have to.

The important role retail plays is precisely what Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore preached recently. “We love what retail does for us. We love its ability to create massive launches and create excitement,” he said last week, Gamasutra reports. “GameStop probably sees three million hardcore gamers walk through their doors every day, and that’s a marketing opportunity for us.” He also pointed out how many consumers don’t have credit cards, and that some of those who do are scared to use them following the PlayStation Network hack last year (not to mention the rarely-mentioned Steam breach).

“A lot of our consumers prefer to go into retail buy those Xbox Live or PlayStation Network cards, and retail gets a very strong margin on that,” Moore continued. “For retail, if they can evolve to be not just a physical media purveyor, but a digital media purveyor, it’ll play a very strong role in our business going forward.”

Publishers don’t want to risk angering retail with their forays into digital distribution while they remain key partners capable of bringing in a significant amount of revenue and helping to market new games. It’s an understandable position, albeit one Valve is helping to mitigate with this partnership.

Valve teaming up with GameStop should help to downplay concerns about retail being left behind. Doing so also establishes a presence at retail that did not exist previously. In other words, Valve is helping publishers to alleviate retail partners’ worries and expanding the market for their products to be sold to while also increasing the size of Steam’s userbase. And with gamers only getting more options for how they can buy games on Steam — and increasing pressure on its competitors to do something to compete — there really is no downside for anyone involved.

Battlefield 3 Relying on its Community to Pay for Servers, Much to Players’ Chagrin

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Battlefield 3 Relying on its Community to Pay for Servers, Much to Players Chagrin

The ability to rent dedicated Battlefield 3 servers for use in the console versions of the game was a welcome addition back in March. Unfortunately, playing on these servers appears to have become the only option for playing online multiplayer, a development which understandably has fans of the game frustrated with Electronic Arts and DICE.

As outlined in this thread on the official Battlefield forums, many players are upset that EA- and DICE-operated servers have almost entirely disappeared. These servers were the only ones available prior to the rent-a-server option becoming available on consoles, while the new custom servers allow players to establish their own communities of sorts with rules, options, and admins decided by whomever rented them.

This is a great option to have, although the word ‘option’ is key. With very few exceptions, these servers are now the only ones available to be played on as EA and DICE have taken their own official servers offline. This is problematic because there are no consistent rules on these rented servers, and it can be needlessly difficult to find an acceptable game. It’s more than the map and game mode these servers are dictating; some might have rounds that last an incredibly long time (which is no fun if one team is pushed back to its final base and its players die shortly after spawning) or admins that kick players for no legitimate reason. Whatever the particular case may be, it’s not always easy to find a player-run server that operates in the same way as one of the old official servers, which is how many players would like to play.

“The game was a lot of fun when you could play on DICE servers by their official rules,” TTUVAPOR wrote on the Battlefield forums. “I shouldn’t have to search and search just to enjoy a game or two. Not everyone has huge amounts of time to sit through a server list and browse to find the perfect rented server. …Rented servers are fun for those who want something more than just standard, but to entire eliminate standard play is just bad business.”

Some people have noted how suspicious it is that EA and DICE servers are largely gone (VentureBeat could find only 17 EA servers on PS3) now that there is a way for players to foot the bill. And doing so is not cheap, even with the discounted rates offered for longer leases: A one-day rental costs $1.49, while 90 days costs $59.99 — the same price as the game. This setup may not require your average player to pay for a server of his or her own, yet it does not mesh well with the built-in expectation that when buying the game you’ll be able to play online for free on servers which are not controlled by ill-tempered gamers with a propensity for booting anyone who kills them.

Battlefield 3 Relying on its Community to Pay for Servers, Much to Players Chagrin

Electronic Arts has yet to respond to 1UP’s request for comment. The official Battlefield Twitter account has offered little information on the situation, merely telling those who inquire that their concerns have been passed along to the developers.

Earlier this week, franchise community manager Daniel Matros answered questions on Reddit, including one regarding the lack of official DICE servers. “There is only so much physical space and digital space where you can have servers,” Matros wrote. “The community requested an RSP programme and we delivered.”

This comment resulted in angry responses about it being senseless to do away with official servers by offloading server costs onto the community. He did later say the world of Battlefield is “dynamic” in response to a question about the removal of DICE and EA servers being permanent which, while somewhat positive, is not the answer players are looking for. One would hope the company realizes the error of its ways and official servers are brought back. It has a vested interest in making players happy not only because it wants those players to purchase the next Battlefield game when it is released, but also because it wants them to continue playing BF3 in the meantime and then purchase the upcoming Close Quarters downloadable content.

Battlefield 3 has seen controversy in the past, first with a promised bonus for PS3 players being dropped (and later made good on) and then the release of premium shortcuts.

EA‘s business practices, too, have been bemoaned often including its habit of shutting down the online servers for its games awfully quickly. Among the most recent games to be shut down in this fashion was EA Sports MMA, which was not even a year and a half old when its servers were turned off in April. As I wrote at the time, EA reserves the right to do this in its End User License Agreement, but especially when it comes to games with online passes, there needs to be some guarantee for how long servers will stay online. The Battlefield situation is not an exact repeat of that as it remains possible to play online, yet for a game that is among the four most popular on Xbox Live week after week, it’s unthinkable that the community would be relied on almost completely to prop up its online servers.

Cheap Xbox 360 Contract Deal May Herald a Cell Phone-Like Future for Games

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Cheap Xbox 360 Contract Deal May Herald a Cell Phone Like Future for Games

Every videogame console manufacturer wants its system in the hands of as many people as possible. A larger install base means more people to sell games to, making it more attractive to publishers as a platform to bring games to, and both of those things equate to making more money. And with there now being many new ways of generating revenue — Xbox Live subscriptions, downloadable content sales, dashboard advertisements — it’s easy to see why Microsoft in particular would be keen on making the Xbox 360 as desirable of a purchase as possible.

A price cut is one way to open up the system to a new market, although there are limits to the extent the price can be dropped — not to mention a limit to how low Microsoft wants to take the price, given that it’s selling better than the competition at its current price point. The company seems to have found a way to have its cake and eat it too, so to speak. The Verge reports Microsoft will make a 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle available for only $99, albeit with a catch: It carries a two-year contract with a monthly fee of $15. Included with that fee would be a two-year warranty, a two-year Xbox Live Gold membership, “and possibly some additional streaming content from cable providers or sports package providers.”

The cheapest 4GB Xbox 360 system currently available is $199.99; a 4GB Kinect bundle costs $299.99. An Xbox Live Gold subscription, after the price increase in late 2010, costs $59.99 on an annual basis, though you would pay more if you opted to pay every month or every three months (or less if you took advantage of a sale on a subscription card). Using these costs, you would ordinarily pay about $420 for this model of Xbox, Kinect, and two years of Xbox Live. This new, rumored contract plan would cost $360 in addition to the upfront $99 payment for a total price of $459.

If the idea of paying a fee for a device and then a monthly fee for the two following years didn’t already sound enough like the standard mobile phone model, there will also be an early termination fee should you decide you no longer want to pay that $15 every month.

One key detail is this option will (at least initially) only be offered in Microsoft Stores in the United States. The Verge says it could be available “as early as next week” according to its sources, though it’s unclear if the stores will simply be prepared to do so then and we’ll have to wait for an announcement at E3 in early June for it to begin being sold. This greatly limits the potential effectiveness of this model, as Microsoft Stores are not anywhere near as ubiquitous as Best Buy or Walmart or even Apple Stores.

Cheap Xbox 360 Contract Deal May Herald a Cell Phone Like Future for Games

The initial reaction to this news from many gamers has been a resounding, “Why?” Depending upon whatever steaming content you get access to (and it’s unlikely to be something like HBO Go), the contract option ends up being the more expensive one, and it also restricts your options — there’s no option for a console with a hard drive, you can’t get one without a Kinect sensor, and you’re locked into paying for Xbox Live Gold for two years unless you’re willing to pay the unspecified early termination fee.

For hardcore gamers with disposable income, it obviously is not the way to go. But for those who can’t afford the upfront cost and would rather not wait until they’ve saved enough money to be able to (nor does Microsoft want them waiting that long to hand their money over), it’s a way to get $300 worth of hardware and access to Live while only having $100 in hand right now.

It’s a brilliant business move by Microsoft. Hardcore gamers may view the Xbox 360 as being at the end of its life cycle, but there is a substantial market of consumers who will only buy a system once its price falls to within the neighborhood of $100. This contract may not be as attractive an option as a system that outright costs $100, but it’s also a system that offers more functionality than those in generations past. Regardless, it opens the door for the system to be sold to a market that is not there when the price tag reads $200, $300, or more.

Keep in mind Microsoft is managing to do that without sabotaging its business of continuing to sell the system at its current price. Just as importantly, it isn’t hurting the chances of the Xbox 360′s successor doing well out of the gate. If the new system comes out in late 2013, it won’t matter that a segment of consumers will still have months left on their Xbox 360 contract as people who are picking up an Xbox 360 this long after it was released are unlikely to be early adopters of the new system.

Unless, of course, Microsoft also makes that system available in a similar fashion. Should this prove to be a success, there’s no reason why Microsoft would not provide a similar option for the 360′s successor at some point, though perhaps not at launch. With the company presumably going to take a hit on sales of the system at its launch price, it may want to wait for costs to come down before doing so. Looking further into the future, it’s not inconceivable to imagine Microsoft tying Xbox Live Gold in with the sale of every console in a fashion such as this, and Sony could follow suit with future models of the PlayStation. After all, if the model works for cell phones and a segment of consumers prove to be receptive to this first implementation, there won’t be anything to stop these companies should they believe the inevitable backlash is only temporary.

Nintendo Adopts Retail Game Downloads for 3DS and Wii U

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ea344 295 Nintendo Adopts Retail Game Downloads for 3DS and Wii U

After hinting that the capability was already in place to do so, Nintendo has announced plans to begin selling digital versions of retail games for 3DS starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2 this August. To date, the only games available through the system’s eShop are smaller experiences specifically designed for release through it; larger titles like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are only found on game cards at retail.

The news was made official as part of a financial results briefing conducted by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. With the company officially posting its first annual loss in the three decades it’s been in the videogame business, Iwata was fixated on outlining how things would be turned around in the year ahead. Aside from no longer selling the 3DS at a loss (which is expected to be the case by the end of September), delivering new software, and releasing the Wii U, a digital push is beginning — one that won’t rely only on selling games to those who regularly visit the eShop on their own.

In addition to selling games at retail as it always has, Nintendo will begin offering downloadable versions of its games at retail. Consumers will be able to purchase a 16-digit code than can be redeemed on the eShop for a digital version of the game. Nintendo was seeking a way not to cut retail out of the equation; back in January Iwata said, “There must be a solution other than positioning digital distribution as an enemy to wholesalers and retailers.” During this week’s briefing, he talked about needing to expand the digital business beyond those who are visiting the eShop. Although the connection rate of the 3DS is higher than that of the DSi and consumers are returning to the eShop more regularly, Nintendo thinks it can leverage retail as a way of introducing new consumers to the concept of digital software.

It’s unclear if every Nintendo-published game will be made available in this fashion. Iwata was not specific on the subject, but Joystiq was told by Nintendo that the “majority” of first-party games will be. That also goes for the Wii U, which Iwata announced will have have downloadable versions of its games available at their respective launches.

ea344 328 Nintendo Adopts Retail Game Downloads for 3DS and Wii U

Iwata specifically identified New Super Mario Bros. 2 and the new Brain Age, tentatively called Onitore, as two 3DS titles that are guaranteed to have digital versions. He also spoke about other games which 3DS owners may want to play on a daily basis, like Nintendogs and Animal Crossing, as a sort that would make sense to have easy access to right on the system without having to carry around game cards. This is one area where traditional game handhelds are lacking compared to phones and tablets — whereas every game you own on an iPhone or iPad is with the device wherever it goes, 3DS owners have to lug around their game cards. Vita solves this by having all of its games available digitally, although that is an imperfect solution as these games, sold through the PlayStation Store, rarely if ever go on sale. That means even people like myself with a desire to own digital versions of games still tend to purchase physical ones.

Nintendo believes it has found a way to resolve the pricing problem. While it’s suggested that the physical and digital versions be sold for the same price, thereby allowing consumers to choose which version they would prefer, retailers will be free to discount the downloadable game codes just as they do the physical games. In theory that means you won’t be charged extra simply because you want to have your game collection loaded right on the system, aside the cost of SD cards needed to store the games, of course.

This all sounds like great news. It’s very much a welcome option, and the sort of thing that will encourage 3DS owners to bring the system with them wherever they go. And the possibility for downloadable games to go on sale alongside their physical counterparts is one way the digital setup of the 3DS can trump the Vita.

One of the drawbacks is similar to purchasing digital games on other platforms — you won’t be able to share them with others. Iwata specifically stated downloaded games will only be playable on the hardware it was purchased on. For some that may be a deal-breaker, and it continues to highlight the need for Nintendo to develop an account system similar to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

Nintendo Adopts Retail Game Downloads for 3DS and Wii U

But at least it will be an option to download games when they’re first released. Sony has embraced the practice to some extent on PlayStation 3 and entirely on Vita; Microsoft, on the other hand, remains stubborn on the subject. Speaking with MCV, Xbox Live UK product manager Pav Bhardwaj recently indicated retail games will continue to be made available through the Games on Demand service only once several months have passed since their release at retail.

“It comes down to choice,” he said. “The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live Marketplace.”

He’s right that it is a choice, but it’s hardly an optimal one. It’s a choice in the same way, “Would you like to eat pizza or a pile of garbage?” is a choice. A real choice would be allowing consumers to decide whether they want to buy a retail or digital version of a game at launch — having to wait months hardly makes the digital route an attractive option. Bhardwaj claimed the current model is successful, and there are people willing to pay full price for a downloadable game six months after it’s released at retail, leading him to ask, “So why change something you don’t need to?”

Nintendo, on the other hand, talked about providing consumers with a choice, and based on these early details, its plans appear to do a good job of that. Offering codes at retail gives even those without a credit card (or those hesitant to use one online) the opportunity to buy digital games. Assuming the prices are competitive with retail games and there isn’t much of a concern about being able to redownload games if the need should arise, I could see myself buying many of my 3DS games this way. Wii U downloads will be a more complicated matter with the system not being equipped with a hard drive; downloading games that fill up a DVD onto an SD card may not be particularly ideal. But, once again, more options are certainly better than none.