Author Archives: Chris Morris

‘Battlefield 3’ storms sales charts

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Electronic Arts has snatched away bragging rights for the year’s biggest video game launch as the company’s much anticipated ”Battlefield 3” has sold more than 5 million units in its first week, making it the fastest-selling game in the company’s history.

The big bow unseats Microsoft’s ”Gears of War 3,” which boasted first week sales of 3 million copies in September — but it’s likely to be a short-lived victory. The launch of ”Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” is expected to set entertainment industry launch records, as the series has done for the past two years.

Read more at Daily Variety

Ubisoft’s Laurent Detoc On The Fight Against Innovation

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[Ubisoft’s North American executive director Laurent Detoc talks with Gamasutra editor at large Chris Morris about Rocksmith‘s lukewarm reception, and says, “As much as [gamers] claim they want innovation, they don’t.”]

Gamers, as a species, clamor for innovation. While there’s nothing wrong with the existing genres of gameplay, it’s always nice (in theory, at least) to try something new. But all too often, when players get their hands on that something new, they rip it to shreds in forums and lambaste it publicly.

In fairness, that criticism is sometimes warranted. EA’s Majestic, for example, was a fascinating idea that started strong but never entirely found its footing. Sometimes that criticism – and the poor sales that accompany it – sentences something that could have evolved into a welcomed gameplay style to a premature death.

Read more at Gamasutra

Game Review: Monopoly Collection

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There are actually two stories with Monopoly Collection, since the disc contains two complete games. The original Monopoly is a video game version of the classic board game, where players take turns moving pieces around a board and buying property, ultimately trying to be the last player standing. The included “Richest Edition” tosses out the traditional rules and has players exploring various mini-games to earn properties and collect income. The game’s more fun with four human players, but the Wii can fill any empty roles with computer-controlled characters.

Monopoly Streets, the other half of the game, lets you explore the game from a street level view using avatars (including Mr. and Mrs Potato Head). The rules are essentially the same as the classic board game (though you are able to customize your own “house rules”), but rather than watching a shoe hop from space to space from a top-down perspective, you’ll see your avatar explore the 3D streets, houses, and hotels.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App Review: Bike Baron

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The fun with most physics-based sports game is seeing how far you can fling your onscreen persona when you crash. That’s true in Bike Baron, but the game isn’t limited to just that aspect. The courses are entertaining. There’s plenty of diversity. And the difficulty ramps up at a good pace. The level editor is a nice addition to supplement the included 40 levels, but downloading the levels others have created is overly tricky (you have to go to a company blog to find codes for levels, then download them blind). Overall, this is a silly, fun game that proves to be a fun diversion, though not something that will become an obsession for most.

Read more at Common Sense Media

In the Blogosphere: A Thin Ethical Line

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The revelation of a marketing firm that claimed to be paying writers at high-profile online outlets to insert links to its client websites has dredged up old concerns about the ethical nature of some bloggers.

Gawker writer Hamilton Nolan shined the light on the company, which calls itself 43a, last week, posting a series of emails from what appears to be a company principal that offered up to $175 every time he linked to a site from one of their clients. In those notes, the 43a rep claimed to have worked with notable sites such as The Huffington Post and Business Insider, and had a client list that included Dell, Motorola Mobility and T-Mobile.

Read more at CNBC.com

First-time gamers are getting younger

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As television and other entertainment industries battle video games for people’s free time in today’s environment, they might want to keep their eyes on future generations as well.

A study by Common Sense Media finds that 17 percent of five to eight year olds are already gaming on a daily basis – while 81 percent have played games through their lifetime.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

Microsoft Takes Kinect To The Business World

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Microsoft is planning to launch a commercial program for Kinect early next year, giving businesses the tools to develop customized applications. The company talks to Gamasutra’s Chris Morris about Kinect’s move into the business world.

Having established a strong foothold in the home market, Kinect is ready to branch into the corporate world.

Microsoft plans to launch a commercial program for the peripheral early next year, giving businesses the tools to develop customized applications for their companies and industries. The pilot program already includes such familiar names as Toyota, book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and design firm Razorfish.

Read more at Gamasutra

Does Transmedia Work?

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In June, the Syfy Channel and THQ debuted “Red Faction: Origins,” a television movie that not only received decent reviews, but was also the test pilot for a potential series.  Days later, the latest game in the series – “Red Faction: Armageddon” – landed on store shelves.

Just shy of two months after that, though, all talk the TV series had stopped and THQ had put the game franchise on ice. And that death knell called into question the effectiveness of the transmedia movement.

Read more in the December edition of Official Xbox Magazine

Meet the robot that runs a game studio

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Richard Garriott’s a busy guy. He’s a newlywed. He’s a private astronaut. He’s building a mansion while selling his old one. He’s currently living in New York while running a 25-person game development studio based in Austin, Texas.

It’s clearly a lot for one man to handle. That’s why the man many still think of as Lord British has a robot helping him make sure everything is attended to.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Build the ultimate hi-tech Halloween House

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Even if you’re a little old for trick or treating, there’s no reason not to make the most of Halloween. Oct. 31 is one of the biggest party nights of the year — and while costumes are critical, so is getting your pad set up for the shindig.

But dim lighting and store-bought spider webs don’t really create a creepy atmosphere these days. To really spook your guests — and have them talking about your ghost and ghoul gathering for the rest of the year — consider this severed handful of hi-tech gadgets.

Read more at Yahoo! Games