Video of Zeebo in action--could the Zeebo Exec look less interested?

He just looks like he doesn't care that much... not enough sleep? I also notice that there's no option in Quake for multiplayer--not a good sign

Zeebo launches in Brazil--China next? (no)

Looks like the Zeebo has launched, I think in Brazil first. I can't really tell from the report I read whether it has actually appeared on the market though.

Designed for developing markets and regions where latest-gen game systems are too expensive and piracy is rampant, the Zeebo takes a different approach to game distribution--3G networks. Seeing as China has recently launched 3G, it has the potential to be a big thing there.

And why might it succeed? Good marketing research!

[Zeebo CEO John] Rizzo says a consumer’s key requirements are affordability, local language, culturally relevant content, and ease of purchase and play.

“Our focus is frankly not at the top of the pyramid,” says Rizzo. “The richest people in those regions frankly can afford to buy the biggest consoles. We’re aimed solidly at that middle class.”

Publishers’ key requirements, according to Rizzo, are piracy prevention, less expensive title development, low cost, efficient marketing, and access to new markets.

So, how does Zeebo connect the needs of publishers and consumers? Rizzo says it’s by way of the console having zero marketing waste, minimal development cost, nearly no cost of goods due to the download format, and no piracy.

As far as Zeebo's wish to enter the China market, my concerns would be price--$199 is still no small sum of money--how hackable the systems are, and whether China would even allow it in the first place, since consoles are still banned.

As far as piracy concerns, Zeebo says on their website "content providers have a secure channel to market and sell their products. Titles are authorized to work with a unique ID, assigned to each individual console. They are not portable, and cannot be moved between consoles via removable media cards. With no way to copy titles, the Zeebo system is effectively piracy-proof." I'll leave that link they give to read more about it, but they still don't address the issue of potential console modding and people finding ways to access the data off the internal storage device (nor does it say how large that device is, how many games could fit on it before you start having to pick and choose). Of course, it could just be too much trouble to be pirated, as seems to have been the case for the PS3.

Let's say it did get in, though. Could it compete? Online PC gaming in Internet bars is the major form of video game entertainment in China, where gaming is also a more social experience. MMO games are very popular, including WOW, and like in other Asian countries Chinese like doing microtransactions to accessorize their avatars. Zeebo's website, however, doesn't even mention online gaming, which would suck, frankly, if it's not an option--who plays Quake (one of the games available) in single player? Nobody, that's who.

Still, the game list, though extremely short, looks good with big developers like Activision, Capcom, EA, and id giving support, and while most of the games are oldies like Quake/2 Duke Nukem 3D, they are good oldies. Some newer games available are FIFA 09 and RE4. It's really a very short list though, comprising five free titles and twelve more you can buy for $5-15.

Oh that price made realize another problem--you can get a gray market Xbox 360 w/o hard drive for about $200, the PS2 is $99, the Wii is $250 or so, and pirated games are less than a buck a pop--Zeebo will definitely have its work cut out for itself coming to China. If it offers free online gaming, however, it could beat Xbox, which for the most part can't be used in China since it's a fee-based service and Chinese people are stingy, no just kidding, they're just more practical. I can't speak, I bought a PS3 partly so I wouldn't have to pay to play online because I'm a stingy scrooge (The fact that the PS3 is the most expensive console on the market indicates only that I am also a man of great complexity and mystery.)

Plus and minuses aside, I think Zeebo has the right idea, even if the plan for execution leaves some questions unanswered. Prices do need to be lowered for consoles to get into China and other developing markets, but game quality can't suffer. I feel like Zeebo might be wrong about these markets enjoying games that are so many years old when they can easily see what latest-gen systems are capable of any time they're browsing the web. If you're not offering the realism of a PS3 or Xbox360, then at least the find a way to deliver the innovation of a Wii.

(Thanks Karlstadunix and Zeebo!)

Welcome to China where we steal your idea

And try to make a quick profit, or whatever. I don't have anything to say about this except I really wish at least in the video game industry China would stop doing this. It's not like film or book industries that are hampered by heavy regulation and a constant need to appease the powers that be, is it? Actually it probably is. Until the Chinese government wants to give up some control and let creative minds work without fear, I don't foresee a bright future for locally created video games, or any other creative media, for that matter.

(Thanks Kotaku!)

The gaming industry and its rising penetration

According to the NPD Group, anyway--

...nearly two out of three Americans (63 percent) have played a video game in the past six months. While that level of penetration does not begin to compete with music listening, which is nearly universal (94 percent), it exceeds the percentage of U.S. consumers who report going out to the movies (53 percent), during that same time period.

The best part? It's beating out film. I don't know why that's the best part, actually, but it should be, because film is terrible.

That's probably enough blanket statements for one day... anyway, read the rest of NPD's report here.

Is the PS3 going bulimic?

And spewing all its fatty baggage all over the curbside like a supermodel after dinner?

One Chinese source tried to say so: http://bbs.levelup.cn/showtopic-803951.aspx
But the post has been deleted, as you can see.

Before said pics and details went down, several English languages sites caught them and reposted the pics, which are as follows:





Sony of course says it's all lies, beautiful lies. Who do you believe?


(Thanks Playstation Universe!)

WCG 2009 Rules and Regulations Announced

Announced, and they aim to "Increase Gameplay and Spectator Excitement Worldwide."

Find all the juicy details here


And did I mention that it's taking place in Chengdu, China?

(Thanks SK Gaming!)

Xbox sales screech shrilly past 30 mil

As you can see on my handly little chart on the right there.

Playing with inFamous (I wish I was)

Lucky me sitting in an Asian timezone was able to enter pretty quick and quickly enough Game Hunter's contest for inFamous demo codes. With only 20 available on a first-come, first-serve basis, I, in my mid afternoon daze that always sets in after eating too much Chinese food, lumbered into action to register with USA Today and got myself a code! I know it was just a marketing ploy to increase viewership, and I probably would have cancelled my account the moment I found out I was too late, but I won and as a result happy enough to go on living.

Infamous, sorry inFamous (for some reason), is a 3rd person action game. I hesitate to call it a shooter, because you're not exactly shooting. I guess you shoot bolts of electricity and throw electricity bombs, so it's sort of shooting. But this is not a TPS by any stretch of the imagination.

Actually the attacks, which look beautiful and are made better by a largely destructible environment, are pretty conventional. You shoot stuff, it dies. It dies in cool ways, but it still dies, or is at least disabled. Disabled enemies or bystanders can be sucked dry of their life force, healed, or restrained with arc binders, which I don't understand really because they must shock the hell out of you.

The electrical powers are fun, but what really puts this game in a room of one's own is the controls. The controls, the controls! They work so, so amazingly well.

I feel like all the promos were telling me about this game was how you could manipulate the environment with your Force-like electrical powers or be Famous or inFamous, but failed to mention that you're actually a Parkour superstar as well. You run, jump, roll, sure, but did you know you can grab on to just about anything that appears grab-onable? Railings, building ledges, window sills, the sides of a train. You can crawl up lampposts and girders, or launch yourself up the wrong side of an emergency fire escape. Rail slide stair railings, even building-to-building electrical cables and electrified train rails. All the while setting limits--no scaling smooth walls. (I noticed one bug in the game though--I was unable to climb over a chain-link fence! How ironic! Maybe it's a kind of subtle commentary on the emptiness of the protagonist's soul).

The best thing about all this is how simple it is. You don't have to do special button presses, you character just does what is appropriate in the given situation. If you jump on the electrified wire, he'll slide--if you jump to it but let's say you miss judge and fall short, he can grab it as well. And to get on such narrow objects is not the painfully bone-crushing task it could be at times in Mirror's Edge, but rather your protagonist (I really should look up his name) is smart enough to jump exactly where you were intending for him to go, so if you were to have missed by a couple inches, you'll actually be fine.

Did I mention that the game also manages to include a cover system that works as well as GOW2 if not better? I guess because the button layout is kept sparse (a big plus for a button retard such as myself), they had the space for it.

So as great as blowing up vehicles, launching people a hundred feet, watching wooden objects shred to pieces (a pretty amazing touch) and sucking the life out of innocent bystanders is, I had just as much fun exploring the city in all directions. Sadly the demo forces you to take the next mission if you delay too long, but it has done its work--I want more.

p.s. There is one thing I wish (hopelessly I assume, since the game has already gone gold) that they would change--the sound your character makes when he runs. I'm not sure how to describe it other than utter crap. It doesn't even sound like a CD-quality sound, rather just some garbled computer pc speaker tonal grunts. It's a bit disturbing and actually takes you out of the game a bit. A normal swishing sound of jeans would probably suffice. 

(thanks Game Hunters!)

China gaming is growing, and growing, and growing

According to market intelligence firm Niko Partners China gaming could reach $3.8 billion in 2009. Keep in mind this is PC only, no consoles allowed! Full report here.

(thanks Joystiq!)

That last post was ugly, but this...

I admit, looking at my last post in a browser window, that it's damn ugly. The AO2 photo on the right and the embedded video below with some weird gap between them. Horrific. Don't ever hire me to be a web designer, I have no eye for aesthetics unless they're blonde.

But there's something uglier out there, it's called piracy! No actually piracy's kinda cool, but what's not cool is something I like to call 山寨*. I invented this term all by myself, honest! I DID. Shut it. 

Okay, so no I didn't. But I'm jealous that someone else did and is probably making millions off of it. So I'm going to create my own, phonetically similar term, 删窄. I'm sure it means something similar and not "delete narrow" or other such nonsense. 

Why do I feel I can get away with this? Probably for whatever the reason The Nine, a Chinese gaming company thinks it can. Until recently The Nine was responsible for bringing WOW to China, but then for reasons never given out loud Blizzard decided to change partners and go with Netease. This was bad news for The Nine, since most of their revenue depended on the cash cow that WOW is. So like any good Chinese business that lacks any idea about what innovation means other than "COPY THE THING THAT MAKES THE MONEY", The Nine, moving with surprising agility, already has a page up for their own game, presumably an MMORPG, called "World of Fight". No I didn't mistype that. 

Actually it's an awesome name for a game. Sounds like the best boxing/wrestling/mma game ever right? WoF!

http://www.wofchina.com/

Did you just click on that and think what I think? Yeah, that font looks similar, color scheme kinda familiar... nope, doesn't ring a bell. Well good luck to ya, The Nine. The game's not out yet, so there's a sliver of a chance that you're taking your game in a very different direction, but personally I hope you can 删窄 your way to success.

*山寨, shan zhai, a term made recently popular in China, literally translates as "fortified mountain village", but refers to locally-made knock-off goods that rip off famous product designs in an attempt to make them their own. For several great examples, check out this slide show from Auto Shanghai: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/5208546/Chinas-copycars-familiar-looking-vehicles-at-Shanghai-Auto-2009.html

(thanks Bad Power via Wall Street Journal,  VG247 via Gamasutra!)

just a little UPDATE: according to Kotaku's post on the same subject, The 9's website could be referring to an upcoming MMO from EA, who has some shares in the distributor. But World of Fight? Really?

New Army of Two video shows Shanghai looking pretty

Messed up! Man this game is going to be beautiful. I never played the first one, hearing only mixed reactions, but as terrible as this game might or might not be, it's worth the--what do games cost these days, $15?--price to see Shanghai's inevitable future self. If they release this on PC, my only question is, would China allow it? Or does it still hurt too many Chinese people's feelings, the way Fallout 3 hurt a lot (and I mean A LOT, like 6) of people's feelings in the US?

Burn motherheehaw burn

(thanks Joystiq!)