Is Microsoft Controlling the Pricing on Xbox Live Marketplace?

According to an article in the April Game Informer, Microsoft is pricing publisher’s content. Content and pricing are submitted to Microsoft for approval. From there, Microsoft makes the final decision on what price to charge based on items of perceived similar value that are already on the Live Marketplace. However, Microsoft said that the publishers themselves are the ones making the final decision on pricing.

According to Game Informer’s sources, not only do the publishers not control the pricing, but Microsoft is refusing to let them release free content. Apparently, Microsoft wants their customers to get used to the idea of paying money for Marketplace content. Microsoft denies refusing to let publishers release content for free.

Who are we to believe? I’m betting on the publishers on this one. There isn’t much incentive to lie about such a matter. Again, check out Game Informer’s full article in the April 2007 issue.

Dreamcast Developer Interview: Shuichi Ishikawa from Caramelpot

In a previous post ( Lost Golem Review) I reviewed the Lost Golem for the Sega Dreamcast. And since then, I had the pleasure to conduct an email interview with the game's creator, Shuichi Ishikawa. Ishikawa san was gracious enough to answer all of my questions despite our language differences. So I would like to thank him again for taking out time from his busy schedule to help me out. The following interview is word-for-word from our emails.

Begin interview:

Q) Can you tell me a little bit about Caramelpot?

A) Caramelpot was established in 1997, when I was college student of Kyushu University, formerly Kyushu Institute of Design. All our staff was student of the college. So we have different specialty each, such as designing, modeling, programming and composing. But we have no experiences of making game.

Please reference http://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/DB/English/index.html

Q) Is Caramelpot still actively making video games?

A) No. We broke up after the release of Golem no Maigo.
Now we are working at different company and refine each skill.

Q) What other games has Caramelpot created? And for what systems?
A) Nothing.

Q) How long have you been in the video game industry?
A) It's my first work. I was just a student.
Now I'm in Neuromagic it's a web company, and work as executive director.

Q) What other games have you worked on?
A) I developed a text-based baseball game for mobile phone. It's running with real score of professional baseball in Japan.

Q) What is your current project?
A) I'm developing a few small games for mobile phone. It's plan to ship for asia.

Q) I noticed your name is listed quite a bit in the credits. Besides Director, what all did you work on for Golem no Maigo?
A) I was scenario writer, programmer, stage designer, publicity writer, sales rep, chef, office cleaner and so on.

Q) Who did the music and sound effects?
A) Most music composed by Yasunori Murakita. He was in master's course, department of acoustic design. He work in KORG now. (http://www.korg.com/)
Some music composed by Masakazu Shin-ya. He was also working as stage designer.
All sound effects by Manabu Kawamura.

See http://golem.dricas.ne.jp/staff/staff.html
[From above; Shuichi Ishikawa : Direction, Game design, Scenario writing, Programming, Stage design, Sales, Chef
Daisuke Nakamura : Main programming
Kyoko Murakami : Character design in chief
Kayo Arita : Character design
Yasunori Murakita : Music
Masakazu Shin-ya : Music, Stage design
Manabu Kawamura : Sound effects
Kentaro Tsutsumi : Design(Web page, face of GD-ROM, Manual, Leaflet)
Mika Kurahashi : Scenario, Script, Subtitle
Ryotaro Itoh : Graphics of picture-story, Stage design
Fukiko Kodaka : Illustration of manual ]

Q) Who is responsible for the art style of the game?
A) Ryotaro Itoh. He have nice sensibility.

Q) Was Golem no Maigo based on any previous game or work or was it a completely new idea?
A) It's completely my new idea.

Q) Could you give us a brief synopsis of the story in Golem no Maigo?
A) Sorry, I can't describe a synopsis in my english ability.
The Golem devotes his life to helping the citizens.

Q) What is the connection of the poem at the end of the manual with the actual game?
A) It's a spirit of Wabi-sabi.(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi)

Q) Are you satisfied with how Golem no Maigo's turned out?
A) No. We were so crude. It was very amateurish product.

Q) Has there ever been any thought to a Golem no Maigo sequel?
A) I want to make Golem no Maigo again. Etherealized one.

Q) How well did the game sell?
A) Too bad. I had to employ a efficient sales staff.

Q) What are your thoughts on the 3 current consoles and 2 handheld systems?
A) Nintendo Wii)
It's visceral console. It make playing possible with a light heart.

Play Station 3)
I think it's not how the machine provide better performance, but how the idea have original expressions.

Xbox 360)
It's too large for Japanese generic house.

Nintendo DS Lite)
I really like this handheld system. It have easy-to-connect Wi-Fi connection system.
It's groundbreaking because we can make a game with a light heart and estimated cost.
I believe that we can make a better game in restricted envionment, not in newfangled envionment.

PSP)
It's too large and too heavy for japanese.

Q) I noticed on the internet a game called Trip Trap by Caramelpot for Dreamcast. Was it released?
A) No. It was no more than a concept.

Q) Finally, what are your personal favorite game systems and games?
A) Animal Crossing, I'm playing every day with my friends.
ICO, I am really impressed it's ending.
L.O.L., There is no display of level or life. Also there is no script.
Pikmin, It avoid the need to read the manual. It have wonderful introductory part.

Additional Information:
Please try to insert the Disc of Golem no Maigo to your CD-ROM drive of PC.
You can see the secret graphics.

End Interview.

I hope you enjoyed this brief interview. As a Lost Golem fan, it was definitely a thrill to hear from the game's creator. I would like to do more interviews with Japanese developers, especially those that are unknown to most people outside of Japan. If you have any ideas on who I should interview next, please leave a comment and let me know.

Wii Internet Channel Update

Nintendo updated their Internet Channel for the Wii tonight. Using the subtitle, "Now even more convenient to use!", Nintendo listed several new features:

- Faster start-up time!
- Search button added!
- Text is clear, even when enlarged
- You can now hide the tool bar to see even more of the screen

You will need to perform a system update first, and then go to the Wii Shop Channel and download the update. The system update also added a new splash page for the Shop Channel. When you get to the upload page, it says the Internet Channel is for 1 - 4 players. I wonder what that means?

Also noted was that the Internet Channel will remain free until the end of June 2007.

After some brief usage, the new zoom feature (not even mentioned that it was added) is much improved. Instead of zooming just once, you can now zoom several times. More times than you would most likely ever need. You can even zoom out and make a website even smaller than it originally loads. Not sure when you would need it, but it is there if you do.

With the ability to hide the toolbar, you can now view YouTube videos at full screen on your TV. That alone should be enough for people to want to upgrade.

Other noticeable features include the ability to view 12 of your favorites on 1 screen and the addition of an arrow that appears when scrolling. The arrow points in the direction in which you are trying to scroll. In the settings area, you can choose between Google and Yahoo for your search engines.

All of these features make the Internet channel even more useful than before.

Video Games: Murder Simulators, Racist Cop Outs or Just Plain Fun?

A recent article in the winter 2007 edition of Contexts magazine, brings up some fascinating points regarding video games. The article, written by Karen Sternheimer is subtitled, "When white, middle-class teens kill, the media and politicians are quick to blame video games. Are they right?".

Some points from the article:

* Do video games cause people to become more violent and even kill? The author notes that since the release of Doom, homicide rates are down 77% among juveniles.

* Since 1997, 199 newspaper articles have been written about video games role in school shootings. Yet, only seven articles used sociologists as experts.

*It's likely that aggressive people seek out violent entertainment.

*A study found that some adults use their disdain for video games as a way to separate themselves and make them feel superior to those who enjoy them.

*The video game excuse makes white children who kill seem influenced by video games, while African-American children are made to look dangerous.

The Contexts magazine article makes some compelling points and is a must read for everyone. The racial aspect is especially interesting and deserves to be looked into more deeply. It's a shame how people jump at a solution with little or no research just because they don't fully understand what is going on.

Click here for the Contexts article.

Everybody Votes Channel

Yesterday (Feb. 14th), Nintendo released the Everybody Votes Channel. Their description of the channel didn't make it sound very compelling; vote on random topics. Yippee. However, once you get into the channel and see what exactly Nintendo is doing, it becomes more interesting.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Nintendo sends out regional questions to vote on. Twice a month, global questions are added. The fun part is that up to 6 people can participate. Each person uses their Mii to cast their votes. Once you vote, you are then asked to guess what most people voted for. As time goes by, all your answers are tracked and you can see how your voting compares to others in your region or around the world. There is also a competition between each family member. You get to see who guessed correctly on what most people guessed for each question in your particular region and even worldwide.

While this new channel isn't going to wow many people, Nintendo's purpose is clear. They are trying to get the entire family together while using the Wii. And I think they have succeeded with this channel.

Terrific BBC Tetris Documentary

In 2004, BBC Four released a documentary about the grand-daddy of all puzzle games, Tetris. It is an hour long show directed by Magnus Temple. The show focuses on how Tetris was licensed. Without a doubt, it is one of the most fascinating stories in video game history. All the major players are included in this special. The following list is taken directly from BBC Four's website:

Alexey Pajitnov
Invents Tetris in 1985 while working at the Moscow Academy of Science's Computer Centre. Alexey moved to the USA to work for Microsoft after the success of Tetris.
Evgeni Nikolaevich Belikov
Head of Elorg, the Russian ministry for import and export of software and hardware. Belikov is the man with whom all negotiations about Tetris had to be done.
Robert Stein
President of British software house Andromeda. Sells Tetris rights to Robert Maxwell’s Mirrorsoft UK and US affiliate Spectrum Holobyte before he’s negotiated anything concrete with the Russians.
Kevin Maxwell
Son of Robert Maxwell and head of Mirrorsoft UK. Buys all Tetris rights (except arcade and hand-held) from Stein not knowing that Stein has no formal contract with the Russians.
Henk Rogers
American entrepreneur and video games enthusiast. Nintendo employs Rogers to get the hand-held Tetris rights to support the launch of Game Boy.

The candor of eveyone interviewed is what makes this film so special. No video game fan should miss it.

BBC Tetris Video

2007 Dreamcast Lineup

While it has been almost 6 years since Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast, games are STILL being released for it. So far in 2007, at least 3 games have been announced: Karous, Trigger Heart Exelica and Last Hope.

To no one's surprise, all 3 are top-down shooters. Last Hope is out now, Trigger Heart Exelica comes out in February and Karous is due in March. Here's hoping the Dreamcast can survive yet another year!

Dreamcast's Best and Rarest Puzzler

The Lost Golem
(released Feb. 2000)

Looking for another Tetris clone? Well, look elsewhere. This game is anything but a clone of the granddaddy of all puzzlers. The Lost Golem (Golem No Maigo) is an obscure (the last count I saw was under 500 sold) Japanese-only game for the Dreamcast.

There are 2 main characters in this game: A Golem (a huge stone creature) and a King. The object of the game, like all good puzzle games, is very simple. Playing as the Golem, you must guide the king to safety.

The game is broken down into dozens of stages. In each stage, you are in the room of a castle. The object is to get the king to walk out of the door in each room. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

But the king isn’t the brightest torch in the castle. He can only walk in a straight path. When he hits a wall he turns left. If he can’t go left he will turn right. If both left and right paths are blocked, he will turn around and go back in the direction he just came.

As the Golem, your only way to guide the king to safety is to move walls in front of the King to change his path. Walls are connected to 1 of 2 different types of pillars. The type of pillar determines how the walls will turn/move when it is pushed. When you push a wall on a turning pillar, the wall will swivel 90 degrees. If the pillar is an ordinary pillar, the wall will just move forward in the direction it was pushed.

Besides getting the king out the door, there is one other requirement per stage. On each stage you must connect the required number of walls before the king can go out the door. This adds an extra element of fun to each puzzle. Not only do you have to figure out the correct path for the king, but at the same time you are trying to move and connect as many walls as needed.

Besides the 1-player mode, there is an exciting 2-player mode. The game play is the same as the 1-player mode except now it’s a race to see who can rescue the king first.

The last mode of play is the design-a-stage mode. It has an extensive list of commands. Everything you could possibly want to do is here.

The Lost Golem is a highly-recommended puzzler.

And even though it is an extremely rare game, this gem can be had on ebay for under $30. So, there is no reason not to pick this baby up.

Nintendo Ice Hockey

Medium guy, skinny guy, fat guy. That's usually how I describe Ice Hockey from Nintendo when I try to talk to someone about this classic 8-bit game. That's all it takes to jog people's memories. While the game is light on graphics and strategy, it is downright heavy with action and some of the finest twitch-gaming around.

And now, even more people can enjoy this game since it has been released on the Wii's Virtual Console. This game is definitely best played by 2 people. The 1-player mode is lacking depth, but still fun. The 2-player mode is actually more like an evolved version of Pong rather than ice hockey. The speed (at its fastest level) is slippery fast. Pass and shoot. That is all you have time to think about. Add in having to control the goalie when you switch to defense and you have a recipe for mayhem.

It's fast, fun and best of all, anyone can pick it up and play. One button passes, the other shoots. Nothing complicated. Ice Hockey is simple non-stop fun.

The only thing that could be better than Ice Hockey on the Wii would be online Ice Hockey on the Wii. Nintendo has already stated that previously released Virtual Console games can be updated, so how about it Nintendo? How about updating this classic game to include online play? So far, the only game that has been updated has been Military Madness. And that was to fix a bug in the emulation. Let's hope we start to get some real game updates soon.

Check out gogamego Games for some cool Ice Hockey stuff!

Mii Channel: A Surprise Hit!

During Thanksgiving, we had the Wii going the entire day. Everyone was playing: gamers and non-gamers. People loved bowling and tennis. And had a lot of fun with boxing. But what captured people's imagination as much as anything was the Mii Channel. When the rest of the family saw the Miis we had already created, they were eager to do their own. Boxing is cool, but when you are pummeling a cartoon version of a family member, it becomes so much more fun!

Nintendo definitely has a hit on it's hands with the Mii Channel. Let's hope Nintendo is already preparing an update to the Mii Channel that will provide much more variation. To date, my wife has logged in more Mii time than Wii time. And I'm guessing a lot other have as well.

Where is Our Saturn Bomberman 2?

Yeah yeah. I know the Saturn is long gone, but why can't Hudson release a sequel to this masterpiece? Bomberman on the Dreamcast and Gamecube were ok, but they just weren't as good as the Saturn version. Why can't we get a new Bomberman game with the Hudson characters (instead of nothing but different colored Bombermen), the dinosaurs (Tyras), 8-player mode (10 for widescreen), and all the original Saturn level plus additional ones?

If Hudson did all of this and included online play, for 8 players, not the standard 4 they have been doing, this would be a killer game.

Think about this...the PS3 has 7 wireless connections. Perfect for Saturn Bomberman. The Wii has 4 Wii remotes and 4 Gamecube ports. Also perfect for Bomberman.

Add all of this together with online leagues and tournaments and you have one of the best games out there. Let's hope someone is already thinking about this.

New Wii Revelation Coming Soon?

According to GoNintendo.com, Reggie Fils-Aime (President of Nintendo America) has said there is yet another secret to be revealed around launch time. Now what in the world could this be?

New hardware specs? Doubtful at this late date.

Additional pack-in? Possible, since this wouldn't effect anyone to this point.

Lower price? Possible, since Nintendo did the exact same thing with the N64.

Only 19 more days until we know for sure.

No Wii Price in Toys R Us Big Toy Book?

Anyone else find it odd that every console and handheld system in the TRU Big Toy Book had a price next to it, except for the Wii? Even the PS3 had prices for both of it's versions listed. My first thought was back to the N64 launch. Nintendo originally stated it would sell for $250 but then at the last minute swithed the price to $199 even though they had pre-sales for several thousand already in the books.

It might be wishful thinking, but I would love to see Nintendo pull the same switch-a-roo.