Game Code Blog

An anonymous reader writes “Today, more than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console. Recognizing that all that gaming could add up to serious demand for electricity, NRDC and Ecos Consulting performed the first ever comprehensive study on the energy use of video game consoles and found that they consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year — roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation’s electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year. In this November 2008 issue paper, NRDC provides recommendations for users, video game console manufacturers, component suppliers and the software companies that design games for improving the efficiency of video game consoles already in homes as well as future generations of machines yet to hit the shelves.” The full report is freely downloadable as a PDF.

Snow Tails Coming from Asmodee

The Lamont brothers released their fifth game, Snow Tails, at Spiel 08, and while that edition was limited to a thousand copies, Asmodee has now picked up the game and will publish and distribute it in Q2 2009. If you’re not familiar with the game, perhaps this description by Age of Gods designer Croc will help: “…a sort of Car Wars but with more dogs and less flamethrowers!” No? Then turn to my Snow Tails preview, published in September 2008.

This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

Commercialism and art clashed to form the Pop Art movement of the 1950s. They’ve also produced a pair of trailers for Red Eye’s Mushroom Men series. One TV spot and one art trailer combine forces to sell Rise of the Fungi (Wii) and The Spore Wars (DS).

Gamecock is publishing both games, which will land on their respective systems on December 2.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

var s1 = new SWFObject(’/extras/flow4/player.swf’,'player’,'480′,’272′,’9′); s1.addParam(’allowfullscreen’,'true’); s1.addParam(’flashvars’,'config=/extras/flow4/config.x?id=13298′); s1.write(’13298′); Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

For the art-centric trailer, check below:

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

var s1 = new SWFObject(’/extras/flow4/player.swf’,'player’,'480′,’272′,’9′); s1.addParam(’allowfullscreen’,'true’); s1.addParam(’flashvars’,'config=/extras/flow4/config.x?id=13297′); s1.write(’13297′); Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Nintendo, whose online presence is subdued compared to those of rivals Sony and Microsoft, will unveil community software for the Wii in the future.

“Nintendo has always had a vision on community,” said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime to Forbes’ Chris Morris for his weekly column.

“The issue is that we define community differently than our competitors. … Our consumers do want a sense of community, and we’re going to deliver that–but in a way that is unique to Nintendo,” he added.

Fils-Aime offered no further details on the community features, including a release date, but Morris projected that more will be known at E3 2009.

The executive also commented on the state of the Wii, which was previously expected to have a third straight sold-out holiday season. “With Wii hardware, I think we’ve got a good shot at meeting demand during the holidays,” he commented.

The Wii had its production ramped up following the 2007 holiday. This year, a 50% increase in Wii supply is anticipated, and Nintendo already met its promise of a 33% bump earlier this year.

Wii Fit, on the other hand, may be the sellout phenomenon this year. “With Wii Fit, I know we’ll fall short. That’s a product we have consumers lining up for each morning outside of our Nintendo World store [in New York City].”

In fact, the Balance Board-bearing fitness game is one of the year’s best-sellers, in the same league as Wii Play and Grand Theft Auto 4 by sales figures.

Fils-Aime concluded by once again laying plain that the Wii–the cheapest of the three major home consoles–won’t receive a price cut. “At some point, it will be time to adjust the [price]… but we’re nowhere near that point now.”

Valve has announced that the PC version of Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War is now available on the Steam digital distribution service.

The World War II shooter, which is selling like hotcakes, can now be purchased online and downloaded through Steam for the price of $49.95, the same as buying the disc-based game from a brick-and-mortar retailer.

World at War released last week for a whole bevy of platforms. Treyarch handled the PC, 360 and PS3 editions, while the PS2 version came from Rebellion and n-Space handled the Nintendo DS port.

Crysis Warhead (PC) developer Crytek is now open for business in Seoul, South Korea, as the European developer is making a move into the lucrative Asian gaming market.

Industry veteran Young Mok Park will lead the office and will focus on Crytek’s engine licensing business for Korean clients, reports Gamasutra.

“Establishing an office in Seoul was the logical step to expand our business in Korea as well as giving our engine licensees in this region the best possible support, through direct access to a dedicated local team,” said Crytek CEO Faruk Yerli.

“Crytek’s Korean office will take a key role in increasing the quality of service to CryENGINE clients. By establishing the Korean office, Crytek has shown its commitment and strong interest in Korean game companies as well as the Korean gaming industry,” Park added.

Asian markets including Korea, China and Taiwan are known for abundant online games–many of them free-to-play–as a counter to abundant piracy. But Crytek’s move into Asia symbolizes the moneymaking potential in the region.

PC Gaming Alliance head Randy Stude recently commented that Asian markets, despite their high piracy rates, “are also the top markets for revenue.”

Brash Entertainment, the licensed game publisher which shut down last week, has been sued by two of its contracted studios for work that has gone unpaid.

According to a report by Variety, 7 Studios, based in Los Angeles, has filed suit against Brash claiming $468,000 in owed compensation for work on 9, a tie-in for an upcoming Tim Burton animated film, and an additional $113,000 for Six Flags Fun Park (Wii, DS), a mini-game collection featuring the amusement park giant’s brand.

Zootfly, a Slovenian studio, has demanded $748,000 for a game tie-in for the Fox television show Prison Break.

Brash reportedly stopped paying its developers roughly two months ago after the publisher’s funding dried up amidst the current credit crisis. Co-founders Thomas Tull and Nicholas Longano left the company a month ago, citing quality concerns with the company’s products.

Its debut games, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Jumper, tanked both in ratings and at retail. When it was founded, co-founder Bert Ellis famously described licensed games as “the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game.”

Variety points out that Brash had “around a dozen projects” in the works at the time of its collapse, signaling that more lawsuits may be on the horizon.

Crytek has released a patch for Crysis Wars, the multiplayer component of its latest shooter Crysis Warhead (PC). Included are a number of bug fixes and even more balance tweaks to make the game more competitive.

The patch, the second since release, weighs 104 MB and is available now on FileShack.

For a full list of changes, look below:

Fixes

* Fixed:Several client and server crashes.
* Fixed: Several memory leaks.
* Fixed: “” in level names in levelrotation.xml will now work.
* Fixed: Incorrect weapon recoil after zooming.
* Fixed: Claymore mines sometimes did not detect enemy players.
* Fixed: Potential exploits using client cvars.
* Fixed: Players not able to skip intro movies.
* Fixed: Reloading and shooting with the AY-69 will not cause a second reload animation anymore.
* Fixed: Saving of Favourite Servers and Last Played Server list.

Improvements

* Balance: Reduced prices of AY and SMG.
* Balance: Increased price of Shotgun.
* Balance: Reduced price of the PS-Radar Kit.
* Balance: Adjusted weapon recoil by any SMG and Assault Rifle type weapons.
* Balance: Reduced Kill radius of any Explosive Weapons.
* Balance: Adjusted splash radius of any Explosive Weapons.
* Balance: Reduced rate of fire of the Grenade Launcher.
* Balance: Adjusted C4 vehicle damage.
* Balance: Increased LAW rocket Speed.
* Balance: Increased AAA Rocket speed.
* Balance: Increased AAA Rocket turn speed.
* Balance: Adjusted AAA Gun damage.
* Balance: Reduced splash damage of VTOL rockets against infantry.
* Balance: Increased damage of Helicopter rockets.
* Balance: Increased SOCOM damage.
* Balance: Increased AY69 damage.
* Balance: Adjusted Stand to Prone modifier for weapons.
* Balance: Adjusted Stand to crouch modifier for weapons

Updates

* Added shortcut keys for Nanosuit modes

Media Watch: Do you have what it takes to invent the next Monopoly?

From the Deseret News:

Have you ever played a board game and thought, “I wonder who made this up”? Have you ever played a board game and thought, “I could make a game better than this”?

Where do all those new games that show up on the shelves each year actually come from?

Many come from the minds and imaginations of people who simply like to play games, says Greg Jones, a founder of the Board Game Designer’s Guild of Utah, a group that encourages the creation of new board games.

Read the article to find out which design from the Board Game Designer’s Guild Rio Grande will publish at some point in the future. For even more on the group, read Jonathan Degann’s 2007 article ”Board Game Designers Are Alive and Well and Living In Utah.”

Tecmo, publisher of the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, has successfully negotiated a merger with fellow Japanese publisher Koei, and the two will join forces to form Tecmo Koei Holdings, which goes into effect on April 1, 2009.

Koei, the larger company, will hold three quarters of the newly combined publisher, according to Reuters. 20 billion yen ($207 million) in stock will be infused into the holding company at its launch.

Tecmo Koei has put forth a business plan aiming for a profit of 16 billion yen ($164 million) in its fiscal year 2011. Last year, the two added up to a combined profit of 8.5 billion yen ($87 million) each company’s fiscal year 2007.

The move was actually started by Japanese publishing giant Square Enix, which made a “friendly” buyout offer to Tecmo in August after the publisher hit a rough patch between employee lawsuits and the departures of president Yoshimi Yasudami and famed designer Tomonobu Itagaki.

Tecmo, to the surprise of many, rejected Square’s offer and instead entered talks with the Dynasty Warriors publisher. Koei also found itself in difficult times as the company struggled to transition out of developing PlayStation 2 games.