Archive for March 6th, 2010

While some retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have been trying with lackluster results to get in on the pre-owned game market, and one exec even claims that used game sales are good for the industry, many game publishers remain skeptical. Take-Two can be counted among them, as the company admitted that they are developing strategies similar to the Cerberus Network that will leverage DLC to deter secondhand buyers.

"We're looking at it," a Take-Two exec admitted in a recent investor call, according to Kotaku. "The key thing is we have to be consumer friendly and we have to be retail friendly."

By "retail friendly," I think it's safe to interpret that Take-Two means friendly to retailers who sell new games and not retailers who only sell pre-owned games. Registration-linked DLC is an attractive tool right now for publishers who can use such methods to block out functionality from used games that are already registered to their first user.

"I think it's much more interesting to focus on things like downloadable content, but that said, anything's possible and we're not ruling anything out," the spokesman indicated.

You read that correctly -- "anything." Stealth helicopters floating outside your window and Navy Seal tactics fall into those parameters -- though I would hope such methods would be save for punishing activities that are actually illegal.

What do you think about the pre-owned games trade? Do you think concepts like the Cerberus Network and other registration-based DLC are the answer? Sound off in the comment section below.

Sorry to inundate with "Portal 2" news, but hey, could be worse. There could be, you know, no "Portal" news at all, and we know how fun that was over the last two years!

Anyway, GameStop has a new product listing for the game, which fills in a few more of the blanks with "Portal 2":

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game.

Also interesting is the price ($60 for 360, $50 for PC), which implies that we're looking at a full release. Compare that with the one- to two-hour long original, which was priced at $20.

It also makes me wonder how much complexity will be layered on to the "Portal" concept. Would "Portal" have worked if it was a 6-hour long game? Clearly some of the value will be bolstered by the co-op campaign, but when you get right down to it "Portal" sorta showed all its cards in a very short amount of time.

We should know a lot more when April's Game Informer hits news shelves, though.

Valve just couldn't wait until GDC 2010 to make "Portal 2" official, and now their other expected announcement for the conference has been confirmed as well. The company wants to port Steam and many of its games over to Mac.

Valve's marketing VP Doug Lombardi told MacNewsNetwork that his company's expansion outside of the the PC market and onto Windows' biggest commercial competitor is underway.

Teaser images spoofing past Apple ad campaigns have been hinting at this revelation for the last week and Mac elements identified in the code for the latest version of Steam all but verified the move. Nevertheless, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell should have a lot of pressure taken off his shoulders now when he gets up to accept his GDC Pioneer Award next week.

Details about how games may or may not be restricted to and distributed outside of the Steam network will likely have to wait until GDC, but Mac enthusiasts should have a good time listening to them when they do, as this is one of the biggest gaming developments to hit their computers in years.

Will you welcome Steam to your Mac? What do you want to know about Valve's plans? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

The Sony Reader looked like the PlayStation-maker's big stab at the tablet and reader market, pitting itself against the Kindle, Nook and Apple iPad. According to a new report, though, Sony wants to unite PSP and Reader functionality in a new line of products 2010. These plans include PSP-esque phones made with Sony Ericsson technology, as well as a netbook/tablet competitor.

Sony wants a better Reader product that can go toe to toe with the iPad, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The new mobile devices will be capable of "downloading and playing videogames," according to the Journal, it sounds like the multifunctional tablets will perform similar tasks.

Sony Online Services, a service intended to be an answer to iTunes, will launch in the near future, and content on the next-gen Reader will reportedly come from that distribution channel, which should feed PS3s, PSPs, PCs, and Internet-ready HDTVs and Blu-Ray players.

As someone who is on the fence about the iPad over its Internet display limitations (i.e., no Flash support), but would love to see an alternative with wider software choices and functionality freedoms, I am quite eager to see what Sony brings to the table. They have an open invitation to change my mind before the iPad or iPad 2.0 do.

Do you think Sony will be able to compete with the iPad? What would you like to see an alternative device be able to do? Sound off in the comment section below.

After months of hints, rumors and sneaky patches, Valve has officially come forth about the sequel to 2007's critical darling, "Portal." Yes, "Portal 2" is coming before the end of the year and it will (if the above Game Informer cover is any indication) involve going outside.

Details are quite scarce, but thanks to a wacky scavenger hunt in the latest update of the original "Portal," we know that your primary antagonist will be a man named Cave Johnson, the former owner of Aperture Labs who, you may recall, was dead in the original "Portal." Thankfully billionaires are always coming up with new and interesting ways to remain eternal, and I'm willing to bet that Johnson's technical savvy resulted in some sort of AI-driven proxy, who will prove a worthy adversary.

April's Game Informer should be in readers' hands in the near future, and you can bet that it'll involve plenty of additional goo to dissect. Stay tuned.

Whether you want to call it an "expansion," a "map pack" or just "DLC," some images and video from purported unreleased "Modern Warfare 2" content showed up on the Internet this week, and they look legit. Depending on how things go in court, these shots could represent the last "Call of Duty" content ever created under the oversight of former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.

The new map pack includes three new areas and two re-purposed ones from "Call of Duty 4," according to The Tech Game and GHETTOMAN1, whose name appears in the Vimeo video capture credits. Given that Activision has already had the YouTube footage taken down, however, it can only be a matter of time before they move to knock down what's left on the site.

The fact that the company moved so quickly suggests that we're probably looking at the real thing -- or at least a preliminary version of the content slated for release this spring on the Xbox 360 and 30 days later on the PS3. Hopefully the release goes smoothly with the legal firestorm ensuing right now around Activision and Infinity Award.

Did you get a glimpse of the "Stimulus Package" footage? Do you think it's real? Sound off in the comment section below.