Crispy Gamer News

Frontier Developments is teaming up with Square Enix to publish its WiiWare title LostWinds in Japan and Asia. LostWinds was one of the better WiiWare launch titles, topping the WiiWare charts in both the US and Europe in May 2008. The game also garnered critical acclaim for its unique gameplay and art style.

No word on when Square Enix will release the game in those regions, but the partnership marks an interesting trend for Frontier, a company better known for its work on such games as Thrillville, Dog’s Life, and the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

According to Bungie Audio Director, Marty O’Donnell, the pre-owned games market had “big” effect on sales of Halo. Speaking to to GameInustry.biz, O’Donnell said that smaller studios face a difficult future if they can’t get a return on their investment due to the sale of a pre-owned copy of a game. But in the very same breath he admits that he doesn’t actually know what that impact is - he just assumes it’s “big.”

O’Donnell is certainly not alone in his assertion that pre-owned games sales hurt overall sales of games: In an interview with GI.biz, David Braben, chairman of Frontier Developments, said that it is his “belief” that the pre-owned games market is “damaging” to single-player titles. In that interview he suggested an alternative rental system, involving the supply of rental discs to retailers at no cost in exchange for a percentage of a store’s rental profits.

 Jens Uwe Intat, EA’s European Publishing General Manager, in yet another interview with GI.biz, said that the company is trying to find ways to discourage pre-owned game sales by engaging the consumer beyond the initial purchase of a game.

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