News written by Matti Robinson (April, 2006)

Nintendo decided to surprise us with an announcement which revealed the name of its upcoming console formerly known as Revolution. The new name is "Wii" and is said to be the answer to the direction represented by the code name Revolution.

"Wii as in we", said official statement, the name should be easy to remember no matter what language they'll speak. It should also be mentioned that the "ii" in the name means "good" in Japanese. The company's "slogan" for the console paints more the aspect of we, "So that's Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it's really not about you or me. It's about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything."

The name has already divided people in two, the people either see the short, sharp and memorable name or the flat and meaningless "weeee". Nintendo has also used code names in previous products, for example GameCube used to be Dolphin, but this time many question whether the console was Revolution for too long, people simply got used to it as the name of upcoming Nintendo console. Nintendo however believes that the shock wears off and people will accept the name without any pain. That remains to be seen.

The software engineers at Electronic Arts have won $14.9 million in a settlement for unpaid overtime work. The world's largest video game publisher denied overtime pay from newly joined employees, which was settled in California class-action lawsuit in favor of the employees. The settlement covers work during a five year period between Feb. 14, 2001 and Feb. 14, 2006.

EA assures that it is changing practices and almost 200 employees that were denied the overtime pay, will be reclassified as hour workers which makes them eligible for the benefit. "We took progressive steps to address those issues. Our priority is to fairly compensate people for their work. We're going to continue to do things to make people successful and be an attractive employer and a strong competitor," EA spokeswoman Trudy Muller addressed past years' work management.

Having a reputation of overworking employees, this isn't the first time to see lawsuits of this kind. Since the summer of 2004 there have been at least six lawsuits concerning the unpaid overtime including EA, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Vivendi Universal Games, nowadays Vivendi Games.

Source:
SiliconValley.com

Vivendi Universal and its gaming division VU Games has changed their names. The company held an annual meeting where shareholders approved the name change from Vivendi Universal to plain Vivendi. The gaming division formerly known as VU Games followed the mother and now calls itself Vivendi Games. The company also presented a new logo for the new company name, "Vivendi's new logo and visual identity reflect the company's strength and ambition. A strength founded on its ability to be creative, innovative, and dynamic and the ambition to offer customers the best products and services."

The company also revealed its first quarter profit. The gaming division was the leader with revenue gone up 18.6 percent from the first quarter in 2005. The obvious reason for this is the huge, continuing success of World of Warcraft, but other games were also cited as making contributions including Ice Age 2, 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Crash Tag Team Racing.

The other divisions didn't compare to what Vivendi Games managed, the Vivendi Universal Music Group had a 8.4 percent "bump" and Canal+ Group film division went up 7.7 percent making it overall rise of 5.7 percent for Vivendi, a total revenue of 4.77 billion euros ($5.87 billion).

Despite the requirement made by Ken Kutagari at the PlayStation Business Briefing in Tokyo in March, that his beloved console, PlayStation 2, should not have any forthcoming price drops, Sony has announced to cut the price of PlayStation 2 by $20 making it $129. This price cut is only for the US and the company denies any plans to redo it in Europe.

After the Business Briefing in Tokyo, analysts predicted a price drops from $149 to $129 shortly. This time they were pinpoint accurate. After less than a month Sony announced the exact cut in PS2 price. "Now even more consumers, as well as casual gamers, can experience what the PlayStation 2 platform has to offer at a new value price," said the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Kaz Hirai.

This might give a small boost for the console, although the PS2's success doesn't really even need a boost, as reported by GameSpot, "By Sony's estimates, the PS2 is currently the top console in the US, holding a 55.6 percent market share."

Source:
GameSpot

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Microsoft has made a collaboration deal with Paramouth Pictures to deliver movie content for Xbox Live. This downloadable content will include high-definition trailers, movie themes, picture packs and more. The program will launch on Wednesday with free, high-definition content from Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible III and Nacho Libre.

Paramount has already included two of its upcoming movies to feature graphics and trailers for the Xbox Live. Mission: Impossible III starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt and Nacho Libre starring Jack Black as a cook in an orphanage trying out as a wrestler.

In addition to themes and trailers Microsoft will bring new downloadable contests in which the winner will have the chance to play against a movie star, including Nacho Libre star Jack Black. The Xbox Movie Showcase will also feature downloads that will change the Xbox 360 interface to match the movie.

Since the launch of Xbox 360, Xbox Live has spawned over 10 million downloads and has a daily audience of over 2 million people.

Source:
BBC News

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Soon after the Internet had swollen with reports claiming that the vice president of SCEE, Georges Fornay, had revealed the price spot for PlayStation 3, Sony called a timeout and started to rectify what actually was told.

Sony says that the reported price fork from 499 to 599 euros was simply mistranslated or misunderstood. What Fornay meant, according to Sony, was that the value of Blu-ray drive would be somewhere around 500 euros. "He summarised by saying that PS3 would be expensive when one looked at the current price of a video games machine, at far below 500 Euros, but extremely good value when looking at the BD and HD technology inside," corrected Nick Sharples from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

The quick and rather strict commenting on the price reports still doesn't shed much light to PS3 price speculations, as it could go both ways from here. Now we are looking at a price spread between 200 and 800 euros. Maybe E3 will finally clarify this.

Source:
GamesIndusty.biz

For more gaming news please visit Blasteroids.com.

After numerous estimates the expected price of PlayStation has been addressed. Vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe revels in a French radio program Générations Europe 1 that the price for PS3 will be around 500 euros.

The vide president of SCEE Georges Fornay agrees with the rather expensive console, but reminds that PS3 carries high technology worth much more, referring mostly to the Blu-ray drive. "It will be expensive if we only look at the game aspect of the machine, but it will be very cheap if we account for the set of technologies that it will integrate."

Fornay also said that Sony is sticking with the plan of releasing PS3 simultaneously in Asia, Europe and North America in November.

The calculations of PS3 price in your own currency will be anything but accurate at this time as we know that console prices vary a lot in different regions. However 500 euros would be about $615 or £350. Wait until price tag appears on stores this Autumn to see the exact price.

Source:
Gamespot

For more gaming news please visit Blasteroids.com.

The last year has produced Nintendo the largest profit for Nintendo since 2001. The net income of 95 billion yen or $807 million which is an 8,7% rise from the last year, much more than Nintendo had in their forecasts. In Nintendo's reports there were two main reasons for this huge improvement, weak yen which allowed Europe and US sales to boost more than usual and the comet of portable gaming, Nintendo DS.

As Nintedo DS was to be released in 2004, many were suspicious about this future phenomenon. "The so-called "innovative machine" was unlike anything that had been seen before, and a lot of detractors laughed off its dual screens as a gimmick." After selling over 5 million units in Japan alone, it's easy to say that it was worth the dual screens.

This also meant that the company's per-share payout rose from estimated 270 to 370 yen ($3.15).

Source:
GameSpot

For more gaming news please visit Blasteroids.com.

Internet rumors declare that Microsoft is planning a relaunch in Japan for its console flag bearer, Xbox 360. The launch in Japan was shadowed by hype from Sony's and Nintendo's next-generation consoles, and as expected was rather hard to hit it big. As the German website GameFront reports are stated in ComputerAndVideoGames.com, "MS is planning a major relaunch for the console in the Land of the Rising Sun beginning on June 29."

Microsoft is trying to get the hoped momentum to Xbox 360 before the launch of two its competitors Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution, and by giving a relaunch June 29, it might just get enough attention due to launch of several big game releases close to the date.

Even though it was expected that Microsoft will have hard time selling Xbox 360 in Japan, it could be considered an underachiever as it has sold only just over 27,000 Xbox 360s since Christmas, considering that Nintendo and Sony sell more in a week.

This rumor could actually have some truth in it, as four major "Japanese-friendly" game titles have release dates changed to June 29. These games include Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Idea Factory's Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage.