Crispy Gamer News

Steven Kent, who is an occasional contributor to Crispy Gamer, has a confession: He was wrong about the Wii, so he makes a stab at apologizing on his personal blog. But reading through this “confession of a game journalist who has erred” I get the distinct impression that it’s more of a lament about the masses consuming casual swill and pseudo music games with their favorite new video game system than an apology to anyone. Here is how it begins:

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You spin me right round Sony .. or at least you’d like to.

Sony sent out an interesting release about its holiday sales that did not actually address coming in dead last in Dec. , but rather how great the PS3 is as a full-featured Blu-ray enabled entertainment and gaming device. The chart above compares the big three (the lowest entry points from each manufacturer — PS3 80GB - $399, Xbox 360 Arcade - $199, Wii - $249) based on space, Blu-ray, support, Wi-fi support out of the box, the cost of online gaming and HDMI cable support. Here’s some finely craft, grade A spin from Sony to set the mood:

 

The PS3 is the perfect example of a product featuring superior technology and a sophisticated design creating an ideal all-in-one entertainment product. The Xbox 360 requires additional money, multiple upgrades and additional external devices, putting a burden on the wallet and adds clutter to the entertainment center. And the Wii’s lack of enhanced features comes at the expense of a comprehensive entertainment solution. So as PS3 continues to evolve without the need for additional parts or expenses, expect the competition to continue peddling add-ons in an effort to keep up with the Jones’.

Too bad the Jones’ are probably broke, just like the Smiths’, and the Washingtons’. It is hard to deny that much of what Sony says is true, but a lot of the argument is irrelevant. The question the company really needs to address is how do they get consumers to purchase a game system that is $200 more than the Xbox 360 and $150 more than the Wii when the economy will continue to be in the shit for at least the next six months - if not longer. My advice? A price cut.

(Contributors: Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)

We continue our countdown of the Top 21 News Stories of 2008, with #14 - #7, starting now. If you missed the first part of our countdown featuring David Chapman, James Fudge and ECA President Hal Halpin, you can check it out right here.

Next: #14 –>

Nintendo of America announced its first and third-party release schedule for the first quarter of 2009 and I have to say that, after sifting through it all day, there’s not much cause for excitement. The highlights (or spin as we like to call it) from Nintendo include reworked versions of Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis for Wii and new Fire Emblem and Pokémon games for the DS. Personal Trainer: Math will also make it way to the DS, which is sure to get the lines around the corners.

There are some bright spots, thanks to third-parties. On the Wii we can look forward to MADWORLD, The House of The Dead: Overkill, SONIC and the Black Knight from Sega; We Ski and Snowboard from Namco Bandai Games; and Tenchu: Shadow Assassins from Ubisoft.

On the DS we can look forward to Legacy of Ys: Books I & II from Atlus U.S.A., Puzzle Quest: Galactrix from D3 Publisher; Jagged Alliance from Empire Interactive; Suikoden Tierkreis from Konami; Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars from Rockstar Games; and FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Echoes of Time from Square Enix. For all the rest of this rather depressing list, keep on reading.

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NPD sales data numbers for the month of Nov. 2008 are in, and to its competition’s chagrin, Nintendo continues to dominate the hardware sales chart. for the month of November, Nintendo managed to sell through 2.04 million units in North America, outpacing its own sales numbers from the same period a year ago (981K) by twofold. The Nintendo Ds also did pretty well during the month, moving 1.57 million units, up slightly from 1.53 million in Nov. 2007.

While Nintendo’s platforms continue to take the rest of the pack to the woodshed on a regular basis, there’s some good news for Microsoft and some even more bad news for Sony; the Xbox 360 sold 836K units in Nov., up slightly from 770K units a year ago beating out the PS3, PSP and PS2. The PS3 moved 378K units, but was down from 466K a year ago. The PSP moved 421K units, but was down from 567K in the same period a year ago, and the aging PS2 moved 206K units - down substantially from 496K units in Nov. 2007.  (more after the break)

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At a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horil revealed inadvertently that Dragon Quest X is in the works and is headed to the Nintendo Wii. Japanese blog Gemaga captured these moments and translated them to English which is probably a good thing because my Japanese is a little rusty (READ: non-existent).

Horii: “We’re currently developing Dragon Quest X on Wii.” This was followed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata taking the stage and adding “Thanks very much for announcing Dragon Quest X on Wii!”

While that is a pretty weak confirmation, it is a confirmation nonetheless. Will Level 5 be developing the game? Will it support the Wii Remote?  Will it make its way to North Ameerica? Will it suck? We’ll keep you posted.

Ask any parent what the big “must get” item is for this holiday season, and most will have Nintendo’s Wii console somewhere on that list. Of course, since the Wii is the “It” item of the year, it’s getting so that finding one is about as rare as spotting Bigfoot in the wild. That is, unless you decide to hit up Wal-Mart for your holiday shopping.

According to Reuters, Wal-Mart has secured a supply of “tens of thousands” of the Wii game consoles, and will begin offering them for sale on the Wal-Mart website starting today. Walmart.com said it will offer the Nintendo Wii console by itself for $249.24, as well as bundle deals ranging in price from $329 to $458 which include the console and other items like an extra set of controllers, extra games, or even the also elusive Wii Fit, while supplies last.
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