As interesting as Adult Swim’ Fullmetal Alchemist anime is, games based on the property have been sort of a tough sell, what with their empty gameplay and bankrupt mechanics. That hasn’t stopped the games from coming out, however, as following the recent release of Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy for the Nintendo DS, Destineer announced that it will publish the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game for Nintendo’s touchable handheld as well.
As you might expect, the game will be based on the card game from Press Pass, and will include nearly 500 cards, a variety of play modes, and “extensive touch screen support.” Set for release this summer, the upcoming handheld title will feature both single and multiplayer modes, complete with every card from the Premier Edition trading card set and the complete Blood & Water expansion.
As you might recall, recently fashion mogul Marc Ecko recently expanded upon his interest within the video game space with the launch of a dedicated game studio, Marc Ecko Entertainment, “an organization focused on originating, funding, and developing interactive properties.” It seems, [url=http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15293]according to GameDaily[/url], that the first company to jump on board with Ecko’s vision is none other than Prey dev Human Head.
[quote]Human Head is a premiere developer that is up to the challenge of crafting a title that is conceptually different than any game ever made,” said Mike Lynch, President of Marc Ecko Entertainment. “Our entire team is focused on working side by side with Human Head’s core group to develop an action title that is truly ambitious in scope. Our job is to change perceptions of what a game can be.[/quote]
I don’t know. I mean, sure, Prey was okay. But should we be so quick to forget the game’s long and rocky road to retail? Not to discount the talent at Human Head, but listing Prey as your chief accomplishment is not, to me at least, a calling card for greatness.
So apparently the Wii is still a difficult find at retail, or so says the line of forty individuals that were lined outside of Target on Sunday morning last weekend. It seems as though as fast as Nintendo can manufacture the little white boxes, they are bought up by customers eager to get their Wii on, a statement supported by [url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aeP6KYaQ4o_k&refer=technology]recent news[/url] from financial site Bloomberg, which noted that the Wii outsold both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in January with 436,000 units sold in the U.S.
According to the report, which based its finding on NPD data gathered by Credit Suisse analyst Heath Terry, The Wii outsold its competition by nearly a 2:1 margin, with Microsoft’s console sold 294,000 units while the PS3 followed close behind with 244,000 units sold. While the Wii’s sales figures have fallen a touch since the December craze, during which 604,000 units were reported sold, the same can be said of both the Xbox 360 and PS3 as well.
Sony’s console fell slightly, having registered 491,000 units sold in December, while demand for the Xbox 360 fell sharply from December’s 1.13 million units, though admittedly that number was a bit artificially inflated due the scarcity of the competition at retail.
I have to admit that I do like the Xbox Live Vision cam. It’s a snap to setup, and for certain applications it really does add a neat – if superfluous – nuance to the play. However, MTV’s Stephen Totilo has apparently [url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1545619/index.jhtml?source=TLD_multiplayer.mtv.com]been brainstorming[/url] additional uses for the device, and I have to admit, at least in theory, his idea is fairly enticing. In a nutshell, Totilo has proposed the concept of ‘Achievement Photos ‘, basically the ability for the Vision camera to snap a pic of you each time you record an achievement in a game.
As said, in theory, this is, if nothing else, a cute idea that would create a kind of photo blog of a your Xbox Live track record – Totilo proposes that the pictures would then be used as the icons for the Achievement in your Gamertag profile.
[quote]We’d wind up with a visual chronicle of the time I’d spent at any given game. There’d be shots of me bright-eyed and thrilled, winning an Achievement for completing the first section of Halo 3, followed by a photo of me slouched lower in my seat, winning the Achievement for advancing to another section of the game. There would be a picture of me bleary-eyed next to an Achievement for finishing the game. There’d be ones for me winning various multiplayer Achievements, the photos snapped across several months and showcasing subtle changes in my hairstyle and the dA
As you no doubt recall, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and its practices have come under fire from legislators, most recently from Senator Sam Brownback and his ‘Truth in Video Game Rating Act’, which if passed would call for the ESRB to have full access to a game before rating it rather than just video excerpts prepared by the publisher.
In addition, this and earlier bills have also called for the ratings body to play through a game in its entirety prior to rating it, obviously a cause of concern for particularly difficult or lengthy titles.
Now, however, it seems as if the ESRB is not waiting for these or similar bills to pass. According to a job posting on [url=http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=3581]GamerDad[/url], the ESRB is looking for full-time reviewers to join its staff in order to spend their days playing through these games.
According to the posting, “parents and those with video game playing abilities are preferred, though these are not requirements.” I suspect we’ll be hearing more about this in the weeks and months ahead.
