You’d think that being $50 cheaper than a Wii now would boost Microsoft’s expectations and hopes for its system’s success sky high. Apparently not, as Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Interactive Enterainment Business, Don Mattrick, told BusinessWeek:
“I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” Mattrick said, followed closely by a big BUT “We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony.”
Settling for second place? Might it just be a clever rouse to lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised if the system takes over Nintendo’s current lead? While it seems unlikely…who knows what kind of damage the $199 Xbox 360 Arcade unit will do when holiday shoppers this year can’t find themselves a Wii of their own.
People have been suspicious of this for years now. Accusations are always made, but nothing has ever been done about it. Does GameStop sell used games as new? I am 100% convinced that they do in fact sell used games as new games. I was suspicious of this practice several years ago when I bought a few new games that seemed to have “used level” scratches on them. When I took them back to the store, the manager apologized and replaced the discs. I got what I wanted, so I was satisfied for the time being.
Over the years, I have questioned GameStop’s reasoning for new games coming in cases that were already open. Most of the time, you will hear that they like to keep empty cases on the shelves to prevent theft. While this makes sense, it also makes it real easy for them to pull off the shady business practice they are accused of. With the numerous complaints all over the internet concerning this activity, I am sure the corporation is aware of the complaints, yet they do nothing about it. Would it be too hard for them to just put cardboard inserts on the shelves and give you a new unopened game when you get to the counter?
Gaming has been on the rise in Korea for a few years now, but it looks like their market is even stronger than initially expected. Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in South Korea will even exceed $1.7 billion by 2009. They believe this is driven by new releases and a “fervent” gaming culture.
GameDaily recently assembled some of the better game journalists in the business including my old blogging partner Daniel Perez of FileFront. If the last name sounds familiar, that’s because his brother Juan just happens to be the senior editor of Kezins.com. The discussions from the journalists are interesting, but I was wondering where I was when the invites were being handed out. Just kidding… The panel discussion was interesting as the journalists talked about what games they were currently playing. Check out the link below to find out what the writers are playing!
Thought gaming on the iPhone was a joke? Check out the following video of ‘GTS World Racing’ and it may change your mind. While I don’t think the iPhone will take much business away from the Sony PSP or Nintendo DS, it’s certainly going to take some. The quality of gameplay and graphics really surprised me with this title. I am so accustomed to crappy mobile games over the years, but it looks like the iPhone has really set a new standard…
Numerous people have sent me messages today asking why there’s a big “Not Legal For Trade” stamp on the bottom of every Wii Fit device. It’s pretty simple really. ”Not Legal For Trade” will be found on the bottom of any scale that’s not legal for trade. The Wii Fit is basically a scale, so it fits into legal requirements for general scales. By “trade” they are talking about business. A “Legal For Trade” scale means that it’s balanced and calibrated with a certification.
For those of you that think this means you can’t trade it back to GameStop or wherever you shop, that’s not the case. Check any bathroom scale in your house. I’m sure it has the same stamp unless you own a really expensive one. In that case, you’d probably already know the meaning. So basically, don’t use the Wii Fit to professionally weigh gold or whatever else you might be selling or weighing that requires an official scale.
The above video features Daniel Perez getting in on some MGO action at NY Comic Con this past weekend. For those of you just joining the Kezins.com community, Daniel Perez is my old video game partner in crime. He brought me into the business a couple years ago and we both moved on from smaller projects to work with Ziff Davis Media Game Group on Gaming Today (news.filefront.com). I have since left ZD and returned to the world of freelance blogging. Daniel is currently the marketing and PR director for FileFront.com. It’s unfortunate that I no longer with with Daniel. He’s one of the few stand up characters in this business, but I do get to work with his brother Juan aka ‘mrjuandrful’. Juan is basically the Padawan version of Daniel, but I certainly believe the force is strong with him, so we’ll just have to wait and find out who becomes the most powerful Jedi journalist of the two.
My favorite Gaming Today editor posted the above video on Saturday. I was completely over Mortal Kombat many years ago, but this game may actually have what it takes to suck me back in.
It looks like Destructoid, GoNintendo, Gamersyde and Modojo have signed a deal with Hammersuit, LLC. Hammersuit will provide advertising sales, consulting, sponsorships opportunities and other services for all four game sites. I’m a big fan of each site, so this is certainly great news. Independent gaming blogs are where the really good news is at, so I’m definitely happy this deal went down. Full press release follows the break…
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