This week we recognize a new leader in our rankings while discussing Kinect, sequel spam, and DLC.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +270

Graham Russell: +184

Eric Schabel: +100

Shawn Vermette: +275

 

Results

NBA Jam remake coming to Xbox 360 and PS3

EA has announced that a truncated version of NBA Jam will be given away for free to purchasers of NBA Elite 11 on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Unfortunately for those who only want NBA Jam, EA says that as of right now, there is no other way to get it on the 360 and PS3.

Andrew 50% = +0

Eric 80% = +30

Graham 60% = +10

Shawn 80% = +30

 

Kinect to recognize American Sign Language

So far we’ve been told that Kinect can track your body and joint movements and recognize your voice and face. Now, there’s a possibility that Kinect will even be able to detect American Sign Language. According to a patent filing, Microsoft plans on making Kinect recognize ASL motions and then verbalize them to those you are playing a with or against online. Will gamers be able to taunt each other with their hands this fall? Or will this be yet another patent filing that never sees the light of day?

Andrew: I really see no reason why it wouldn’t be able to, but at the same time it doesn’t seem like something that will ever really a feature that most (if any) people who bought the device would actually take advantage of.  50%

Graham: It’s capable of it. It seems like it’d have to be implemented individually in each instance, but whether it’s widely used isn’t the issue. I don’t usually stick my neck out, but I’m confident. Yep, it’ll be there.   90%

Eric: This is certainly a neat idea, though obviously American Sign Language would not be utilized by the vast majority of users. The Kinect technology certainly seems capable enough to pull off signing recognition, though, and it could be an interesting teaching tool. That said, I don’t think most gamers would bother to learn the language to sign to their friends when they can just use a headset. 60%

Shawn: I’m sure it’s possible for Kinect to recognize ASL, the question is whether Microsoft thinks there are enough deaf gamers who would use it to bother programming it to do so. On the other hand, Microsoft might go ahead and program it to recognize sign language just to be able to say that it can. 65%

EA prepping another Dead Space title in Dead Space: Sabotage

EA has introduced a great many new franchises in the last couple years, with the most popular being Dead Space. Since its introduction, EA has gone into overdrive expanding the Dead Space universe, having created Dead Space: Extraction, Dead Space: Ignition, and Dead Space 2 in the interactive realm, while releasing Dead Space: Martyr and Dead Space: Salvage as books, and Dead Space: Aftermath and Dead Space: Downfall showing up on DVD. EA recently secured the rights to deadspacesabotage.com, so we’re sure to see it in one form or another, but will it be a game or some other form of entertainment?

Andrew: I really don’t think EA would be giving us yet another game with the downloadable Dead Space 2 “prequel” and Dead Space 2 itself both arriving by the end January. I could see it being another book or film based on the series, or even something different altogether, but I really don’t think it will be another game. 30%

Graham: Consider my neck safely back in. Sabotage could very well be some other property, since they’re not exactly shy about those. Add in the fact that we aren’t even seeing Dead Space 2 until next year, and starting work on another one would be premature. 50%

Eric: I think we will be seeing Dead Space Sabotage show up sooner or later, but I really don’t know if it will be in the form of a video game. However, since games are the most successful medium for the Dead Space franchise, I would guess Sabotage is likely to be a new game title.  75%

Shawn: Dead Space: Sabotage will definitely exist, along with who knows how many other titles…my only question is whether it will be as a game or not. At this point, I am completely unsure because of the large number of tie-in media being produced by EA. So…I think I’ll go with my first throwaway vote yet. 50%

 

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair to add two new playable characters

Even though Castlevania: Harmony of Despair just came out this week, rumors are swirling about possibilities for DLC for it. Among the more interesting is a rumor stating that Maria Renard and Julius Belmont will soon be added via DLC to the already robust stable of playable characters in Harmony of Despair.

Andrew: Considering there are many different playable characters in the Castlevania series, I really don’t see why Konami wouldn’t take advantage of this. I definitely see these two coming out soon and starting a trend that will lead to many more CV favorites ending up in the multiplayer adventure. 95%

Graham:  The return of the neck! Yeah, this’ll happen. We’re a DLC-crazed world now, and playable characters are the kind that even I approve of. With all the hype the game is getting as part of the Summer of Arcade, it would be strange if they weren’t working on something. 90% 

Eric: Sure, why not? Most games are being designed with DLC in mind these days, and I can’t imagine it would be too difficult to prep some new playable characters for Harmony of Despair. I haven’t played the game myself, but I do know that adding new characters is a good way to get players to come back for more (and to spend a little more, too). 80%

Shawn: Konami will definitely add more characters. Launching Harmony of Despair with just 5 characters and a 6 player co-op mode literally begs for more playable characters. Will they be Maria Renard and Julius Belmont? Well…given that I’ve never played a Castlevania game yet I recognize both those characters tell me that they are very likely candidates to be added. 85% 

This week we’re taking the pulse of the game industry with Nintendo’s Vitality Sensor, Respawn’s first title, and another revision of the PS3.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +270

Graham Russell: +174

Eric Schabel: +70

Shawn Vermette: +245

 

Respawn’s first title to be a sci-fi shooter

Little, if anything, is known regarding the project that Respawn pitched to EA when they signed up with the EA Partner program; however, at least one analyst believes that rather than directly take on their own creation, Call of Duty, Respawn will take on the other 800 lb gorilla- Halo.

Andrew: We’ve been hearing rumors about Infinity Ward tackling some kind of sci-fi shooter for a couple of years now. There were rumors about the next Call of Duty game being a futuristic shooter, among other things. But those rumors were all forgotten about as soon as Modern Warfare 2 was announced early last year. Since then, Respawn Entertainment has formed and it is safe to assume that whatever their next project is, it will be something they’ve wanted to work on for a while now.  85%

Graham: I’m punting on this one. Would a sci-fi shooter be a good idea? Sure. EA has a few similar titles in its lineup, though, so they may be wary. Then again, it’s Respawn, and EA would probably take whatever they offered. It certainly won’t be a Call of Duty-like game, since Medal of Honor is on EA’s plate, but if they wanted to make a similar game, that would have made the defection less likely. Could they be going away from the FPS genre completely? But…then why would they name the company Respawn? See, I’m really wishy-washy on this one.   50%

Eric: I think this rumor has a fairly high probability of being true, given the people involved. Sure, there is already a glut of sci-fi shooters on the market, but that certainly hasn’t stopped the genre from continuing to be a best seller. Respawn is a new studio but the talents behind it are proven hit-makers and they are undoubtedly willing to dive into sci-fi if they so choose. 75%

Shawn: As amazing as the talent is at Respawn, I think that, given the current market’s penchant for ignoring new titles in favor of familiar ones, Respawn would be smart to stay away from Call of Duty style games for the time being, until they make themselves a household name yet again. However, with the distinct lack of a really good sci-fi shooter series on the PS3 (No, I don’t consider Killzone to be a great sci-fi series), I think the time is ripe for a company with Respawn’s talents to fill the void with their own sci-fi shooter.  80%

Sony prepping a 500GB PlayStation 3 next

Sony has already gone through 7 hardware revisions in 4 years with the PlayStation 3, but rumor has it that with the release of the Xbox 360 Slim, Sony started work on yet another revision. This time, they plan on releasing a 500GB PlayStation 3 Slim in order to once again claim the title of largest hard drive in a console.

Andrew: We do know about the bundle that is happening with the PS3 console and the Move, but another bundle in the same timeframe? I suppose I see it happening, but I think consumers have been plenty confused by the many, many bundles Sony has put out over the years for the PS3. It’s just difficult to say putting out a new system with a bigger hard drive will really be that advantageous for Sony, but it could still happen. 50%

Graham: That’s a big hard drive for a console. Only the most hardcore power users would need that much space…is there even 500GB worth of downloadable content on PSN? (And is the movie service really that popular?) The kicker here: next. If they announce some other console variation first, this one’s dead. Knowing how schizophrenic their SKU strategy has been, I’ll take my chances.  20%

Eric: As this rumor states, the PS3 has already gone through numerous hardware revisions since its release, so we know Sony is anything but shy about doing it again. I question the necessity of having a 500GB drive at this point in the game, but I suppose if Sony and Microsoft are truly planning to extend the lifetimes of their systems for another four or five years as they say, this upgrade is probably inevitable—it just might take some time. 80%

Shawn: This one is a little tough, just because of the specifics of the size involved. Will Sony release more revisions of the PS3? Absolutely, they’ve averaged 2 changed per year since releasing it! Will the very next change introduce a 500GB hard drive? That, I’m not as sure about. It is the next logical amount to put in a system (other than 320GB, which doesn’t seem worth the change), but when has Sony ever been logical? 55%

 

Nintendo to reveal fate of Vitality Sensor by end of 2010

Nintendo announced the Vitality Sensor to much surprise and confusion at E3 2009, yet it was absent from Nintendo’s E3 2010 conference and booth. Nintendo said at the time that it wasn’t the right time or place to discuss the Vitality Sensor, so now rumor has it they will announce just what the heck they plan to do with it sometime before the end of 2010.

Andrew: I would definitely expect to see something official about it from Nintendo later this year. I believe they do hold another press event sometime around TGS, so then (or at a similar time) would be a good way to confirm or deny whether or not the Vitality Sensor is actually dead or not. But at the same time, I do think Nintendo wouldn’t actually reveal anything about it again until they know they have some software to back it up with.  65%

Graham:  If it’s dead, we won’t hear about it for a while. That’s how Nintendo does things. But Cammie said it’s still in the works at E3, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold some silly normal-person event like they’ve done with Wii Fit in Central Park and such. It needs a killer app, though, and if they don’t have one, they need to keep it under wraps. 55% 

Eric: This is a tough one to gauge. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no one represents unpredictability better in this industry than Nintendo does. If E3 was not the right time to unveil what the Vitality Sensor will actually be used for, I can’t imagine when they do plan to discuss it. In other words, it’s a crap shoot. 55%

Shawn: Didn’t Nintendo sell this to Ubisoft? I could swear I saw it at Ubisoft’s press conference…truthfully, I think Nintendo realizes this hardware is a little far off the beaten path, even for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they buried it and never spoke of it again, unless Ubisoft’s version somehow takes off. 35%