According to Farrell, THQ’s experimental packaged goods pricing model will help bring new people into the market, which reiterates his stance on the $59.99 game price point.  Thus, allowing third-parties to control their own micro-transactions on consoles, something Xbox 360 does not allow, it would become much easier to offer games at lower cost with more content available for purchase online.

“What we really need, and we’ve been talking to them about it, is for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo – if they really want to stay at the cutting edge of the games industry – they need to adjust their business models to allow for these new consumer experiences.  Consumers are going to demand it, in our view.  Again, we’re platform agnostic: if someone else comes with some kind of a Cloud system or one of the other platforms takes off competitively [in a way] that allows consumers to consume the way they want.  That’s going to be the winner at the end of the day, and that’s where we’re going to migrate our content. We’ll make great franchises. If new platforms emerge, or the current winners adjust their business models – which we’re pushing for really hard – we have to keep our flexibility.  Our main focus is to deliver these big entertainment franchises, and then leverage them across the screens to do one of two things: obviously the primary objective is making money, but the second one is that we can use Facebook, iPhone, iPad, some of these other devices, as ways to keep our customer engaged with our product and also to market to that consumer.  For example, we have several Facebook games up now leveraging one of our bigger brands; they do two things: they generate some revenue and cash flow although for a company of our size it’s not that meaningful yet, but if someone enjoys the UFC or the Saints Row experience; they can stay engaged with it.  What we’re thinking about those new markets is if we create great entertainment – and we’ve been doing this for 20 years – we need to be platform agnostic and figure out where’s the business opportunity for a particular consumer on a particular platform.”

Farrell has indicated that a Wii 2 announcement from Nintendo this year wouldn’t be a great surprise to the publisher.  However, Farrell made a point of differentiating Nintendo from his forecast. He added: “We don’t expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony. It’s difficult on Nintendo – we’ll let them announce their new hardware.  What we like about now is we’ve put most of our capital behind the 360 and PS3 for the next couple of years and that’s where we think the action’s going to be. So between those two platforms on the core side and the uDraw for us on the causal side, that’s how we think we’re going to make money.”

Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has suggested that the next Nintendo home console will be a lot more than “just an HD upgrade” to Wii.

MX vs ATV: Alive will be released in the US for $39.99, and will have both free and paid DLC released for it. It is expected to be released this spring on both PS3 and Xbox 360.

The “game” is endorsed by Michelle Bridges (left), who is one of the trainers on Australia’s Biggest Loser shows (when they can’t borrow the American folks). The game has over 500 exercises. It uses the little specially-made 2D camera included to show you working out on the screen and it will correct you if your form is off as well as judging your body shape so it can create exercises to help you work on your problem areas! It will also keep track of your progress, and will let you know when you’ve been slacking off!

While I’m not sure it’s the best idea to give your Mum for Mother’s Day (unless your mother has expressed interest in it or is a fitness junkie), it certainly looks like another interesting and innovative fitness game for the Wii. However, Mother’s Day until May 9th this year so you’ve got some time to think it over.

Your Shape is rated “G” for General Audiences, and is available from your local retailer for $99.95AUD. For more info, you can visit the Aussie website for the game here.

On weekends from Jan. 16-31, select Target stores will have the “Wii Fit Plus Experience” set up in the parking lot or entrance of the store. The “Experience” will feature eight Wii Fit Plus kiosks, where people can try out the game in a environment that will supposedly be like a yoga studio. (I’m kind of curious as to how they accomplish that feat, because I have never been to Target and thought, “Yeah, I’m gonna do yoga here!” And I love yoga.)

Not only that, but ambassadors representing Target and Nintendo will be handing out healthy snacks from Target’s Archer Farms brand.

The biggest thing, however, is that visitors who complete the Wii Fit Plus demo will receive a $15 Target GiftCard (while supplies last, of course — what, do you expect Target to hand out free cash all day?). That, coupled with the $19.99 MSRP for the Wii Fit Plus disc will make it easy for people who own the original disc to upgrade (the balance board and disc bundle is $99.99).

The following Target stores are scheduled to participate in the Wii Fit Plus Experience:

Jan. 16-17
2705 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320

3201 Preston Rd
Frisco, TX 75034

1525 Market Place Blvd.
Cumming, GA 30041

Jan. 23-24
1800 W. Empire Ave.
Burbank, CA 91504

2200 Dallas Parkway
Plano, TX 75093

15005 SW 88^th St.
Miami, FL 33196

Jan. 30-31
24425 Magic Mountain Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

25901 Highway 290
Cypress, TX 77429

100 Perimeter Center Place
Atlanta, GA 30346

Want to go, but there’s no Experience near you? Check out our Wii Fit Plus giveaway!

As a company who’s main focus is PC games, it’s interesting to see that they would be interested in making a console game, but they also bring up some good points as to why they haven’t done so yet. The thing that would be interesting to see is what they would develop for the console. Hopefully not Starcraft as RTS games really just belong on the PC since in my opinion the controls just don’t work for console controllers. The Diablo franchise might be able to be made for consoles, and WoW would be iffy. But maybe their console game could be this secret project that they’re working on that is still unnanounced.

Via Gamasutra

We’re starting to hear more and more companies talking about digital distribution. Not only talking about it, but planing for it. In a recent interview with Mcvuk, Square Enix chief, Yoichi Wada said he was preparing for the death of physical media.

He believes that over the next decade there will be a dramatic change.

“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” he said.

“Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers’ strategy shifted,” he said.

“In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network. A time will come when the hardware isn’t even needed anymore.

“With that, any kind of terminal becomes a potential platform on which games can be played – that’s exponential growth in the potential of gaming. The potential size of the market is enormous.”

He also spoke of how Square Enix is ramping up production of it’s social and browser games.

“Social and browser games are going to grow dramatically – especially in areas like Asia which does not have as big a console market,” he said.

The president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime, presented at a BMO Capital markets event for game companies and investors and showed two slides that displayed how many women are playing their games.

In the US, Nintendo found that over 11.7 million females are playing consoles. Comparing that to the 33.3 million males. Not just playing, but are the “primary players” of that console.

The second slide showed that of those 11.7 million 80% are on the Wii as primary players. Figures for the Xbox 360 are 11% and Playstation 3 are 9%.

Looks like Xbox 360 and PS3 should advertise on GamingAngels more!

[source via Kotaku]

Xbox 360

Happy Birthday to Xbox 360! That’s right the gaming workhorse is four years old today in US and Canada. Only a few weeks ago we celebrated the Xbox Live service, but now it’s time to celebrate the console that we all love and love to hate.

To celebrate let’s talk about what we love about our 360 and what we can’t stand about our 360. Talk about our experiences over the past four years and why it’s the console we just can’t get enough of. I’ll start….

I remember getting my 360 at the launch party in the desert. I had to tell my job that I couldn’t come in because I was going to be in the desert for 24 hours in order to be one of the first people to buy a 360. I remember it being cold, playing all the new first party titles, and they even had musical acts. But at midnight when Best Buy came through and unloaded those first 360s it was love at first sight. I purchased my 360 and a NBA title. That way Matt and I could jump right into co-op. I remember how heavy that thing was and how I struggled to carry that and various swag from the event. Fast forward to a year ago and that 360 red-ringed. Only a matter of time I guess. So I mailed it out and now the fixed 360 is in our den. Probably one day to go in the bedroom. While that 360 was out, Matt bought an Elite which is what we play all the time now.

We own all the consoles, but I have to say I play my 360 more than most. I am excited to see where Microsoft takes their console and what ideas they have for the future (want to get my hands on Project Natal!). Happy Birthday Xbox and to the Xbox team!

The first thing I checked out was the museum. It was filled with all kinds of nostalgic memorabilia from previous Mario games. There were some pretty cool things there like an old Nintendo magazine, some Super Mario Bros. Super Show VHS tapes (still in the shrink wrap!!), bed sheets and comforter, costumes and a cassette tape holder among the collection. There were also two TVs set up at the end of the museum that were playing all of the commercials from the older ones to the one for this game. All in all it was a pretty cool trip down memory lane.

After that I played a bit with the game itself. I had a chance to play it at Big Apple Comic Con so I just played a different level than before. It’s a really fun game, and I have to say that the multiplayer is probably what will make this game so popular. Players one and two play as Mario and Luigi while players three and four play different colored Toads. You see all of the enemies and friendly characters you know from previous games, albeit as jazzed up 3-D versions. The general play style will be nothing new to players of previous games, but in general is pretty easy to pick up. One cool thing is if a team-mate dies they can be resurrected by a player still living as they fly by in a bubble. Once popped, the other player can jump back into the game. This can also lead to some funny and frustrating deaths if this is done in more precarious situations.

Afterwards I decided to go and warm up by going inside and checking out the festivities there. I got to take a picture with Mario, then headed upstairs to where all of the action was. The tournament was in full swing and getting near the end by the time I had arrived to the event but it was fun to watch all of the people who were really into the game. There were definitely some good players there!

For another fun activity to do, there was a photography area set up with a giant backdrop of one of the levels where you could take your picture with various props from the mushroom kingdom. I of course had to go and do this, and I dragged my guest with me to take the photo. Of course I claimed the Mario hat and we had fun posing for a picture!

All in all Nintendo did a great job yet again holding a fun event for the New Super Mario Bros. game. You can get the game now in stores and online! You can also check out all of the images from this event on the Gaming Angels Flickr page here.

Nothing seemed able to knock football out of the top spots of the UK Game Sales Charts, but two Nintendo titles pushed them down. Wii Fit Plus is now at the top spot after being at number 2 pushing Football Manager 2010 to 4th spot. While Wii Sports Resort blasted up from 10 to the third spot. Putting FIFA 10 at the second spot.

Dragon Age: Origins enters at number 5 and Tekken 6 drops two to number 10. Mario Kart Wii enters out of nowhere and Borderlands takes a huge drop from 9 to 15.

Nintendo has six titles in the top 20 for UK Sales. Using the revival of old titles like Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros: Brawl.

FIFA 10 scores another week in the number one spot of the UK Game Sales chart. I believe that’s three weeks in a row! Uncharted 2: Among Thieves wasn’t even enough to knock it down, entering the countdown in the second spot. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising falls one to 3. Wii Sports Resort and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games round out 4 and 5.

Brutal Legend enters the countdown at number 7 and Halo 3: ODST falls from 6 to 9. Gran Turismo has the largest fall from 7 to 16 this week.

Nintendo still holds the top publisher spot with 6 titles in the top 20.