Posted by Sid982 in Breaking, Companies | 0 comments

Mark Beaumont, Campcom COO, Dies Suddenly

Mark Beaumont, the chief operating officer for Capcom in North America and Europe suddenly died this morning of a heart attack. Mark Beaumont was in his late 50s and was officially Capcom’s executive vice president, officer and Head of North America, South America, and Europe consumer software publishing.

Capcom released the following statement

“Our COO and dear friend, Mark Beaumont, passed away this morning. This sudden loss has left us with deep sadness. Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will remember him for his humor, passion and commitment to Capcom and our industry. He was a great leader and visionary and his spirit will carry on in everything that we do. Please join us in memory of Mark.”
Link

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Wii | 0 comments

WiiWare makes a big jump of over 30% to Nearly $60 Million in 2009

Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment has announced their 2009 report for the WiiWare and Virtual Console services on the Wii. Combined the services did very well bringing in over $125 million in revenue, with WiiWare having a mere $7 million edge over that of Virtual Console.

WiiWare grew a good bunch in 2009, by over 30%, while the Virtual Console took a disappointing slide of roughly 25% (not surprising with weak VC releases during 2009). Also, it looks like the WiiWare is the market to be at for 3rd parties with Nintendo only taking in 16% of the revenue off the platform, while with Virtual Console it is a remarkable 76%.

They have also released their top 10 downloadable titles on the Wii, and the not-so-surprising fact that Nintendo dominated the area with tons of Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon. World of Goo did manage to snag the #2 spot though, and definitely a good thing to see after hearing about the piracy rate of the game.

Estimated Top Western Downloadable Wii Titles by Revenue, 2009:

Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo, NES) – $5,000,000 ($5.00)
World of Goo (2D Boy, WiiWare) – $4,800,000 ($15.00)
Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, NES) – $3,300,000 ($5.00)
Super Mario World (Nintendo, SNES) – $2,900,000 ($8.00)
Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, N64) – $2,700,000 ($10.00)
Tetris Party (Hudson, WiiWare) – $2,600,000 ($12.00)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the (Nintendo, N64) – $2,300,000 ($10.00)
Pokémon Rumble (Nintendo, WiiWare) – $2,200,000 ($15.00)
Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the (Nintendo, N64) – $2,100,000 ($10.00)
My Pokémon Ranch (Nintendo, WiiWare) – $2,000,000 ($10.00)

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Nintendo DS, Wii | 0 comments

PS3 and 360 get Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Wii and DS owners get Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Yup, it looks like the Wii and DS are going to be getting it’s own Batman game. Warner has announced today that the consoles will be getting Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which will be based off of the animated series. I mean just look at the art above, doesn’t it look like it could easily match up with Arkham Asylum?

The game will be featured in the world that the cartoon takes place in, with single player and co-op, and dozens of popular villains as well as many heroes that you can also play as. We don’t know if it’s an open worldish game, or level based, or whatever. No screens or anything else yet but we’ll be sure to keep you guys updated because I know you’re on the edge of your seats.

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Nintendo | 1 comment

Mario is Quiet the Entrepreneur with his Pizza Shop

First it was the pawn shop that Mario was running, and now it looks like he’s on top of the business world! A Kombo reader snapped this picture in New York City, not the Mushroom kingdom. I do really like the implementation of the Paper Mario character though, it really jives with the pizza scene don’t ya think?

Well let’s just hope that Mario’s Pizza is better than Pizza Hut’s. Scratch that. Anything is.

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Gaming in General | 0 comments

UK Charts for Week Ending 2/20/10

It looks like no single game can hold the UK charts #1 spot after Modern Warfare 2 had it’s run. Now BioShock 2 got knocked down to number 3, Just Dance is still at the freaking number 2 position and we don’t know why!, and Aliens vs. Predator moved up to the first spot unsurprisingly. And to summarize the rest of the charts, there’s a lot of Wii games and some soccer.

POS.		TITLE	PUBLISHER	LAST WEEK
1		ALIENS VS PREDATOR	SEGA	-
2	-	JUST DANCE	UBISOFT	2
3		BIOSHOCK 2	2K GAMES	1
4		NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII	NINTENDO	6
5		FIFA 10	EA SPORTS	3
6		CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2	ACTIVISION	4
7		WII SPORTS RESORT	NINTENDO	5
8		MARIO & SONIC AT OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES	SEGA	11
9		WII FIT PLUS	NINTENDO	7
10		ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY	EA GAMES	13
11		VANCOUVER 2010	SEGA	-
12		FORZA MOTORSPORT 3	MICROSOFT	16
13		JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR: THE GAME	UBISOFT	12
14		LEGO BATMAN: THE VIDEOGAME	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	17
15		MASS EFFECT 2	EA GAMES	8
16		BAYONETTA	SEGA	10
17		MARIO KART WII	NINTENDO	15
18	-	PEPPA PIG: THE GAME	P2 GAMES	18
19		DARKSIDERS	THQ	-
20		NEW SUPER MARIO BROS.	NINTENDO	-

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Gaming in General | 0 comments

Half-Minute Hero gets some snazzy and classy shirts

Yeah, that’s a pretty good combination right there: snazzy and classy. Well online clothing retailer BAG of BEES is selling limited edition Half-Minute Hero t-shirts that are gonna cost you £18 a pop.

The t-shirts, as shown above, have the phrase ‘Me>Evil’ written on them, and if you’ve played the game you’ll know where that phrase has it’s place in the game.

“With a ‘break-the-mould’ title like Half-Minute Hero, we are really pleased to have an innovative team of designers on board to help celebrate its brilliance,” says Martin Defries, managing director, Rising Star Games. “Half-Minute Hero is the type of game that will have a real hardcore following of gamers, so we wanted to offer something for fans who want to celebrate the game in style.”

“We love Half-Minute Hero,” says David Woods, designer and partner, Bag of Bees. “It’s a game that breaks the rules, has a nod to the retro formats we still enjoy playing and pushes the boundaries of the genre. Our goal was to create a set of designs that differentiated themselves from most promotional apparel by actually being attractive to the eye. The sort of designs you will want to wear again and again, rather than just 30 seconds.”

The t-shirts are very cool, and I suggest if you have the cash to pick one up for yourself, you should do so NOW!

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii | 0 comments

Nintendo Downloads for the Week of 2/22/10

This week in Nintendo downloads across all consoles have some interesting items. For the WiiWare you have some GhostSlayer that lets you whoop some ghost with a sword. There’s some Family Go-Kart Racing that is…well…go-kart racing for the family. There’s also Aura-Aura Climber on the DSi, which sounds like an interesting game in which you help a thing called an Aura-Aura grapple his way to his home, collecting items along the way. And THEN…

Flight Control, Flipper, and Mouse House.

WiiWare

GhostSlayer
Publisher: Gevo Entertainment
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Blood, Violence
Price: 600 Wii Points™
Description: Embark on a thrilling ghost-fighting experience. Play as a Ghost Slayer as you battle evil spirits that plague the mortal world. Your sword is your only weapon against them. Eliminate all hostiles in your path and defeat the Ghost Queen in the final stage in order to save the world. Unlock new swords and acquire special techniques that you can use to your advantage. Test your skills by playing all three levels of difficulty. Enjoy the thrill of slashing ghosts and vaporizing them by swinging your Wii Remote™ controller and experience sword-fighting game play at a new level of realism by using Wii MotionPlus accessory (this game can be played with or without Wii MotionPlus). Brace yourself for the onslaught of blood-thirsty spirits.

Hit the “read more” link to see the rest of the downloads

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | 0 comments

2K Games announces BioShock 2 DLC that expands the single and multiplayer world

Yup, the worldwide phenomena that is BioShock 2 will be getting some DLC that will be expanding upon the single and multiplayer features of the game, and will open up even more of the world of Rapture up to the players. The pack that will be kicking this off will be the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack.

This will be the first of only SEVERAL DLC packs planned for the game, and contains a number of customization features that will allow players to further their character’s development in the game’s multiplayer experience. Some of these features include:

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials*
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
• Five additional masks*
*Some items are only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher.

“The fans who waited in the snow, rain and cold for the midnight launch of BioShock 2 have spoken and their message is that Rapture still has many fascinating stories to tell,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Downloadable content is a key part of our efforts to continue to entice the fans that have made 2K a household name – we intend to deliver single and multiplayer content that respects and expands upon one of the greatest fictional worlds ever created.”

This DLC pack for will be available this March from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 and Windows Live for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation Network for $4.99.

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Microsoft, Xbox 360 | 2 comments

And with that, we get a response from Microsoft about the “Corrupt” Xbox Live moderator video

Not too long after the video of the “corrupt” moderator on Xbox Live surfaced has Microsoft already has given us a response about the moderator and it’s pretty much what we expected.

Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox LIVE, Steven Toulouse was the one to respond to the video, and it looks like The Pro was provoked into saying what he said, and that the video was edited to put him in a bad light.

“Yes I’ve seen the heavily edited video of The Pro. He was policing 10th prestige MW2 modding which results in gold account and console ban. I did enjoy the the explanation about the audio being totally off/1 sided cause his “capture card went crazy” when its clear it was edited.”

He then ended his statement with the lovely comment:

“Case closed, thanks for bringing it to my attention!”

So it looks like it wasn’t a big deal after all. Just editing a video when The Pro was watching for hackers on Modern Warfare 2. The only thing is that in Microsoft’s terms of use for Xbox Live, it states that:

5. How You May Not Use the Service.

Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten, or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others;

Code of Conduct

You do not do any of the following while connected to the service:

Don’t scream, yell, threaten, or stalk other players, or encourage other players to do so.

Wouldn’t that constitute The Pro being out of line and being up for ban? Even though he was doing his job, he was still yelling and the comments that he made could have been taken offensively.

What do you guys think?

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Nintendo, WTF | 1 comment

I know you want yourself some 22 year-old Nintendo cereal for $200

There are lots of rare, unopened things that are floating around eBay. Games, consoles, toys, whatever. Well what about an unopened box of 22 year-old Nintendo cereal?

We know what you’re thinking, “who the hell would want to buy that!?”. Well we have an answer for you! More than 22 people who bid on the box, with the selling price reaching $207.50. I mean, wouldn’t you rather buy yourself a beta key to StarCraft II with that money!?

I guess I could see it being bought, I mean you get two different types of cereal in it, the Super Mario Bros. Action Series, and the Legend of Zelda Adventure Series. It’s a two-in-one deal!

Of course the seller of said box of delciums had a winning marketing description written up.

“IT IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION FOR BEING A 22 YEAR OLD THIN CARDBOARD BOX. ONLY ONE DISCLAIMER IT WOULD NOT BE WISE TO EAT THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOX EVEN THOUGH I NO YOU WILL WANT TO. I THOUGHT ABOUT IT MENY TIMES MY SELF.”

All in caps, no punctuation except for periods, and the word “meny” instead of many. No wonder it sold for so much.