EL33TONLINE: News archive for October, 2006

From this morning Xboxen owners would have been able to download a free system update. The update will provide 360 gamers with more than 85 new features and enhancements. These include support for 1080p games and movies, faster Arcade game list display times and more choices for video playback options. Distributed via Xbox Live, this free update will be available to all members (Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live Gold) and will require no disc or hard drive.

Don’t have an Xbox Live account?

Simply sign up by connecting your Xbox 360 to a broadband Internet connection. Once you are online, the update will download, enabling you free access to the new features. A full list of the new features are available at the official Xbox site.

Xbox Live Gold members

If you are an Xbox Live Gold subscriber you can look forward to enjoying exclusive early access to Xbox Live marketplace content, including game demos, free game ad-ons, free gamer pictures and themes and free community videos.

Online retailer Play-Asia.com have cancelled their customers’ import PS3 preorders. Their website simply lists the PS3 with the words ‘preorders closed.’ Citing licensing and distribution limitations as the reason for the cancellations, one wonders if the closure of Lik-Sang has influenced them in this decision.

Sony warned that it would “utilise the full scope of the law” to prevent retailers from importing any of its consoles. And it did, as evidenced by online retailer Lik-Sang being forced to close its doors after Sony won lawsuits against it over the issue of import PSPs.

It looks as if this issue is far from being solved. What is certain is that consumers and gamers stand to lose in the raging battles begun by Sony.

Eidos has confirmed that the next Lara Croft is in the pipeline and is set to be released in 2007 on the PlayStation 2, PSP and PC.

Combining old and new

Entitled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, it is said to be inspired by the first Tomb Raider videogame which was released ten years ago in 1996. This adventure, although preserving the original Tomb Raider elements which made it popular and sold over seven million copies globally, is also set to offer players a new gameplay experience.

The game will make use of the enhanced Tomb Raider: Legend game engine but will incorporate current technology standards into the game as far as graphics, physics and engine are concerned. So far, all we know is that Lara will set off on an adventure in pursuit of an artefact known as the Scion.

Comments from Eidos

Kathryn Clements, Senior Brand Manager for Eidos says, “over the years we have had literally thousands of requests to re-make the original Tomb Raider for today’s gamer, we have gone a step further and made a completely new version for Tomb Raider: Anniversary. We are retelling an incredible story using today’s technology, we’ve taken all of the key moments from the original game and put them into the context of a brand new Tomb Raider adventure which will make fans of the franchise extremely happy but also attract a completely new audience.”

Ian Livingstone of Eidos had this to say, “we’ve captured the essence of what made the original game so special and with today’s technology, created a game that pushes the boundaries of the current gaming consoles. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a special celebration of Lara’s reign as videogaming’s leading lady.”

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is currently in development by Crystal Dynamics. Look out for it in 2007 on the PS2, PSP and PC.

Capcom has been working on a new title for the DS called Stock Trader Shun. It looks as if this is a stock market version of Capcom’s own Phoenix Wright because this economic adventure game sees you buying and selling stocks in much the same style as Phoenix Wright investigated and fought legal cases.

Stock trading has never been this fun before!

The screenshots reveal that Capcom had been influenced by Phoenix Wright, not only in the gameplay but also in the characters. Stock Trader Shun is split into two modes, ‘stock trading’ and ‘movement.’ In the movement mode you talk to people and move between different locations, resembling the investigation areas of Phoenix Wright. As you play, you learn more about the stock market and ultimately use this acquired knowledge during the stock trading mode. The stock trading mode sees a player partaking in missions set around the stock market, in much the same vein as players perform operations in Trauma Centre.

More details are sketchy at this point, but if my enjoyment of Phoenix Wright is anything to go by, this one is going to be a winner!

RedOctane has confirmed that they will be releasing a wireless controller for their PlayStation 2 music games. The wireless controller will take the form of a glossy white guitar and will have the same features as the wired controller. Both controllers will be compatible with both Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II.

The wireless controller will be available from November but will be sold separately from the game. It will retail at $59.99. Check out RedOctane’s site if you are interested because they will be including a limited edition Guitar Hero II T-shirt with preorders for Guitar Hero II from the official site.

The highly anticipated Guitar Hero II is set to be released on the 7th of November.

Lik-Sang has released a statement in response to Sony’s accusation of the online retailer having a case of ‘sour grapes.’ Sony denied Lik-Sang’s accusations that its numerous lawsuits, launched against Lik-Sang in defense of Sony trademarks, copyrights and design rights, had sunk the company.

Astronomical legal costs

Lik-Sang marketing manager, Pascal Clarysse, had this to say. “While they ‘strongly denied that their actions have had anything to do with [Lik-Sang’s] closing’ in their statement, they still had the time to send a 15 page fax less than 24 hours later, outlining the terms of the order made by the English court last week and asking Lik-Sang to pay the sum of £100 000 ($190 000) just for their legal costs before 4pm on November 1.” Clarysse also pointed out that Lik-Sang had in fact also spent well over a year contesting Sony’s actions in courts and disputed Sony’s earlier representations that they had made no appearances in the courtroom.

The bottom line

Lik-Sang disputed that members of Sony would have purchased Japanese PSPs from Lik-Sang for investigatory purposes alone and remained amazed that such orders were not revealed to the court. Lik-Sang have been forced to close their doors and many people have “lost their basis for existence because of corporate lawsuits for something that is not only regarded as lawful in Hong Kong, it is considered to be beneficial for consumers (free trade).” Clarysse ended his statement by saying that “Sony should be proud of having such a die-hard import gamers’ community rushing to buy their products and supporting them with a passion. Instead, they march all over us.”

The latest news from Konami is that the release date for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has been delayed in Europe. Konami stated that the game has been delayed in order “to implement a wider range of new gameplay features.”

The latest Castlevania offering for the DS will now only be released in February 2007. Konami assured Castlevania fans that they would benefit from the delay in the long run as wireless connectivity for two players is in the process of being added, along with a new shop system which will allow players to purchase and sell items discovered in the game.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin features two playable characters in single player mode - a first for the series. If the first Castlevania DS game, Dawn of Sorrow, is anything to go by, Konami are right, it will be worth the wait.

The Xbox 360 has made the record books in Australia as being the fastest selling home game console in Oz. Since it was launched on the 23rd of March earlier this year, it has sold more than 100 000 units. Along with this impressive figure, Microsoft can also boast that it has sold over 400 000 Xbox 360 games.

For purposes of comparison, in the first seven months following the launch of the PS2 in Australia Sony sold 78 000 consoles and 190 000 games. Although the Xbox 360 owns the title of being the fastest selling home console, the Nintendo GameBoy Advance is by and large the winner in the handheld gaming race – it sold more than 128 000 in its first seven months.

Microsoft should not rest on its laurels for too long though. The Nintendo Wii is being released in December in Australia and is bound to introduce serious competition to Microsoft. Sony has also set its sights high by predicting that it will sell more than 200 000 PS2s in the land of Oz between now and the end of the year. Sony managing director, Michael Ephraim, claims that the PS2 will sell more units than either the Xbox 360 and the Wii between now and December. Time will tell if this confidence is warranted.

As most of you will no doubt know, Universal and Fox jumped on board with a Halo movie deal, but recently when they tried to renegotiate the deal, Microsoft and its partners as well as Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh refused.

Microsoft’s official statement on the matter read: “We are disappointed that Universal and Fox wanted to significantly renegotiate the financial points of the deal. But the Halo franchise is hugely popular and our goal remains the same - to find a partner that shares our passion and will creatively collaborate with us to best represent the story and spirit of the Halo franchise. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the rest of the creative team are dedicated to ensuring the Halo movie becomes a reality. We are already in discussions with potential partners who recognize the value of the Halo brand and its appeal to consumers worldwide.”

Yesterday Lik-Sang.com, a popular Hong Kong gaming retailer, announced that it was forced to close its doors. The reason? Lik-Sang claimed this closure was brought about by multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. As reported earlier on EL33TONLINE, Sony claimed that Lik-Sang had infringed its trademarks, copyrights and design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles to European customers from Asia. Sony took the matter to the High Court of London and won the case, obtaining a judgment against Lik-Sang which rendered the sales of PSP consoles by Lik-Sang unlawful.

Yesterday Lik-Sang announced it would not accepting new orders and that it would cancel and refund existing orders. They went on to state that “Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.”

Sony claims to be protecting it’s consumers

Although declining to comment directly on the Lik-Sang lawsuit, a Sony spokesperson said “ultimately, we’re trying to protect our consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences.” Lik-Sang has contended this statement by pointing out that PSP consoles supplied by Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters, which are compatible worldwide and carry CE safety marks, thereby being in conformity with EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Lik-Sang went on to say that Sony did not disclose to the court that the world wide gaming community, in well over 100 countries, relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs. In addition they claimed that Sony Europe’s top directors had obtained their PSP hard- or software imports from Lik-Sang just days after the release in Japan.

Lik-Sang has it’s say

Former Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang, Pascal Clarysse, stated “today is Sony Europe’s victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end…of the world as we know it.” He went on to say, “blame it on Sony. That’s the latest dark spot on their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally ‘won,’ few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.” Before Lik-Sang announced it’s closure, Clarysse had alleged that “launching separate court actions with separate claims and different judges is completely unnecessary, except for the fact that it helps reaching one single target: outspend Lik-Sang to death.”

Sony denies responsibility

Sony denied responsibility for Lik-Sang’s closure and argued the statement issued by them was a case of ‘sour grapes.’ Their strong response to Lik-Sang’s statement went like this, “Sony Computer Entertainment successfully sued Pacific Game Technology (Holding) Limited (one of who’s company trading names is Lik-Sang.com) for infringing our Intellectutal Property Rights. Lik-Sang did not contest this case (ie. they did not turn up and therefore incurred no legal costs). We have been awarded substantial costs against Lik-Sang which have not been paid. We would therefore strongly deny that our actions have had anything to do with this website closing (we assume the legal entity is still trading) and would suggest that this release is sour grapes on behalf of Lik-Sang which is aimed to belittle Sony Computer Entertainment and the British judicial system that ruled against them.”

Sony said it would investigate Lik-Sang’s allegations about the purchasing of PSP consoles by Sony executives, but expressed surprise “at a company releasing personal information about its consumers, as this is contrary to data protection principles around the world.”

With the battle lines firmly drawn, it remains to be seen who will win in the consumers eyes.

Nintendo had earlier announced that it would sell the GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess exclusively through its online store in Japan. This led to rumours surfacing about whether or not it would be exclusively available online elsewhere around the globe as well. When the rumour mongering was not immediately quelled by Nintendo and the game disappeared from GameStop’s online stores, Zelda fans really began to worry.

However, a glimmer of hope remained as other online shops were still taking pre-orders and the official Nintendo Zelda site still had the GameCube’s Twilight Princess down for a release date of the 11th of December 2006. Now Nintendo has finally come forward to deny the availability rumours, announcing that earlier reports that it would not be coming to retail outlets in the US are incorrect and that the much anticipated Zelda will be available at retail outlets nationwide in the US on the 13th of December.

Castlavania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS is set to be released in the US in December and publishers Konami have added some pre-ordering incentives. To commemorate Castlevania’s 20th anniversary and in anticipation of the release of the game, Konami will be adding a free collectible to every pre-order for the game from GameStop, EB Games and GameCrazy stores.

The pack will include a 48 page artbook which details the entire Castlevania series, a CD featuring the music of the series, a timeline poster highlighting events and characters, a special edition DS Lite Castlevania stylus and a special game case which can hold both Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.

In the latest Castlevania offering, players control vampire hunter Jonathan Morris as well as magician Charlotte Orlean. The game will see players swopping between the two characters to deal with events. Players will be able to use the abilities of both characters, including summon attacks, weapons and abilities. The game should be rather challenging considering more than 100 different bosses and enemies have been promised by Konami.

Portrait of Ruin is set to be released in the US in mid-December and will retail for $34.99.

Despite Wario Ware being named as a launch title in Japan, Nintendo has confirmed that it will only be released on the 15th of January 2007 in the US. They have remained mum on the European release date.

Wario Ware is acclaimed to be one of the most exciting of the Wii’s launch games, so this news is bound to leave loyalists down in the dumps. The Wii is due to be launched on the 19th of November in the US, followed by Europe on the 8th of December.

The eagerly awaited Nintendo DS game Contact will only be released in Europe in February 2007. The game is set to be released in the US this week, but Europeans will have to wait to get their hands on this RPG.

The story revolves around you, playing as yourself, as you receive help from a Professor, displayed on the top screen, and guide Terry to recover lost power cells. The game makes good use of the DS’s qualities, as you use the touch screen to control equipment and characters, and also features a Wi-Fi mode.

Contact is published by Rising Star Games in the UK. COO Martin Defries commented that “Contact is an amazing title for the DS and we’re hopeful that the extra stock we’ll have available will address the demand for such a unique game. My advice to gamers? Save your money and make contact with Contact just after Christmas.”

A preview of Contact will be available on our site later in the week, so be sure to check back then!

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH recently announced a partnership with Reebok for Pro Evolution Soccer 6. According to the Konami Press Release, Reebok will work with Konami over the whole marketing and promotional campaign. Reebok branding will also be displayed within the game, with branded balls, trophy and advertising featuring prominently. Reebok have tied it in with their new European football marketing campaign.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is one of the most anticipated titles for any format. It is due to be released on the 26th of October 2006 on the PS2, Xbox 360 and PC-DVD, with the DS and PSP versions following shortly thereafter.

“Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is an outstanding football simulation and Reebok is delighted to be involved with a game that is so highly regarded in both the gaming community and the youth marketplace as a whole,” says Roy Gardner, Reebok European Marketing Director – Lifestyle. “We are looking forward to working with Konami and being involved with the launch of the game.”

Martin Schneider, European Marketing and PR Director of Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH commented that “Reebok’s efforts at working closely with target age groups akin to those Pro Evolution Soccer 6 appeals to make them a perfect partner for Konami. As such, we are delighted to be working closely with them to extend awareness of both brands in a partnership that fits perfectly with both companies.”