Thanks to Kikizo for its transcript of an interview with Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata, also available in video form on the site. When asked, Iwata "apologise[s] to the fans of Nintendo products in Europe" over repeated delays, presumably including games such as Animal Crossing, finally out this September in Europe, mentioning "we are now putting our energies so that the European version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes will be launched in Europe by the end of this year, at the sacrifice of the Japanese launch by the end of this year." He also discusses the origin of the Nintendo DS, "Talking specifically about the DS, [legendary 76-year old Nintendo president Hiroshi] Yamauchi specifically hit upon the idea, and proposed, 'Why not have the two screens?'"

Thanks to Game Tunnel for its 2004 mid-term report card on the independent PC gaming scene, rating what "is turning out to be one of the most impressive years yet in the Indie world." Among the approved-of titles include action games such as Hamsterball ("a wonderful surprise that plays a lot like Marble Madness would play [if updated]"), platform adventures such as Gish ("[starring] a ball of tar [whose] goal is to find his girlfriend who was taken down... the sewer"), before looking forward to interesting hopefuls that include Oasis ("takes all the strategy of a game like Civilization and then turns it into a 3 minute experience.")

koniosis writes "XboxLink has just launched their new site for XLink Kai7 - this nifty little soon-to-be-available tool lets you play LAN-enabled games over the internet with some funky packet sniffing. You can play PS2/Xbox and Gamecube games online, connecting through your PC, and it's completely free - there's even 'integrated Speex.org codec based group chatting'! The XLink Kai download client itself 'will debut... on Saturday 22nd May, at midnight BST', according to the site, but you can register as part of the community now." We've previously covered the WarpPipe tunneling software for GameCube, but this multi-platform solution looks even more enticing.

securitas writes "The Seattle Times' Kim Peterson interviews Microsoft Xbox chief Robbie Bach about cross-platform gaming, recent Microsoft game developer layoffs, the lack of profitability of the Xbox division, the threat that Sony PSP poses to Windows Portable Media Center devices, the lack of a portable Xbox gaming device, competition from Sony, mass market games, and Halo 2. It's a long interview but worth taking time to read." S!: Also, GameSpot's two-part interview with Yoshihiro Maruyama and Mike Fischer of Microsoft Japan discusses "how they plan on leveraging the hardcore gamer and cultural nuances to increase [Xbox] awareness, loyalty, and sales."

Linker writes "CNN/Money has interviewed Satoru Iwata, where the president of Nintendo Ltd. says the gaming industry is in the midst of a crisis of innovation, which could lead to its demise. The idea, of course, is to justify the existence of the upcoming Nintendo DS, but Iwata does point out that the gaming market in Japan has been shrinking in the past few years - and the U.S. and Europe may do so soon."

Thanks to GameSpot for its short piece noting Namco is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a company, after it "started out small, building two wooden-horse rides on the rooftop of a department store in Yokohama", before it "released the arcade title Pac-Man [in 1980], which established a dominant position for the company in the gaming industry." IGN PS2 also has Namco's 2003 financial results, which were "higher than those of previous years", with a 8,500,000,000 yen (USD$75 million) profit, after "Soul Calibur 2 performed well worldwide, with the Taiko no Tatsujin drumming game crossing the two million mark across its four PS2 titles." The company's official E3 site has been showcasing its recently announced titles, including the newly unveiled Tekken 5, as well as the quietly shown U.S.-localized Taiko Drum Master, which 1UP notes "may be a hard sell to American gamers whose definition of 'rhythm action' begins and ends with the frenetic aerobics of Dance Dance Revolution", even notwithstanding increased American interest [free reg. req.] in taiko drumming.

An anonymous reader writes "The text-based MUD Achaea, one of Iron Realms Entertainment's games, has introduced an addictive drug called gleam into its world, during a plot involving a wide-ranging crime ring. On discovery, a number of players, eager for a new experience, took enough gleam to become immediate addicts, leading to head-twitching, speed-talking druggies polluting the land here and there. Several player cities have already outlawed the drug, and there are some very sorry addicts going through a painful withdrawal that can last up to 25 hours of playing time. It'll be interesting to see if anyone considers the tangible benefit (increased dexterity) that one gets worth the heavy cost of the drug on both the character's bank account and on the player's psyche. At least one real-life recovering addict has used the in-game forums to loudly object to the introduction of gleam."

Thanks to Firaxis for its press release announcing that Eagle Games are making a board game version of forthcoming PC remake Sid Meier's Pirates!, following Eagle's earlier release of a Sid Meier's Civilization board game, as well a previously mentioned Age Of Mythology tabletop title. The official Eagle Games site hints at "Other [Boardgame] Projects in the Works", including "A Railroad Game" - possibly Railroad Tycoon, another Sid Meier-created videogame classic? Elsewhere, there was GameSpy coverage and a GameSpot preview of the Pirates! videogame itself at E3, with GameSpy noting: "It's an easy game to jump right into: heavy on action and big on pirate", and the Firaxis site also mentions another Meier-related story, the announcement of Civilization for the Nokia N-Gage.

h0tblack writes "While many have heard about the XNA 'game software development platform' from Microsoft's announcements at GDC earlier this year, the full scope of their plans are only just becoming clear. Eurogamer has a surprisingly candid interview with J Allard covering the latest plans from Redmond. XNA isn't a rehash of DirectX tools for the Xbox2, PC and WinCE devices after all, it's a full-on assault on the gaming world, with the prize being complete dominance of the market. The site also has a BitTorrent of the interview, since it was originally recorded in video form."

Thanks to Yahoo/AFP for its story noting global shipments of Sony's original PlayStation console have exceeded 100 million, explaining that "overseas sales of PlayStations jumped after the company launched its lightweight 'PSOne' model in 2000." Although sales are slowing (though not by as much as GamePro is claiming), since: "In the year to March 2004, the company produced and shipped 3.31 million PSOne units", the PlayStation 2 may be on course to beat its predecessor, as it "has shipped 70 million units... since March 2000."

mpk writes "It seems Sony Online Entertainment has finally officially admitted (albeit only by an mail response to a user query which got posted into a web forum) that the Macintosh EverQuest server is to receive no further bug-fixing or development support, although the game is still available and playable online. The kicker is that this has actually been the case for eight months, following the Mac version's release in June 2003, yet SOE chose not to tell their customers about it. Inside Mac Games also has the story, and I've posted my thoughts as well. There's no mention of this policy on the EQ Mac home page and the game still appears to be being sold in the shops."

Hangin10 writes "Simmunity Corporation and newAbilities Systems Inc. is going to introduce a specially modified tongue-controlled Gameboy Advance SP for young people with quadriplegia. They say 'We retrofit the Gameboy Advance SP with an internal PIC microcontroller to decode the wireless tongue transmitter signals and activate the GBA buttons. Games which do not require multiple simultaneous button presses can be played. We also offer custom games and special programs for augmented communication.'"

Thanks to GameSpot for its news story reporting that EA may be on the verge of an exclusive contract for NFL football player likenesses. According to the piece, which quotes a Sports Business Journal article: "Electronic Arts is in final negotiations with Players Inc., the NFL Players' Association marketing arm, to exclusively license all NFL player rights for the next four years. The Journal set the price tag of the deal at $250 million each year, which EA would pay Players Inc.; in other words, a literal billion-dollar contract." The story goes on to note: "If that turns out to be the case, no non-EA Sports game could license NFL player likenesses--an almost certainly fatal blow to the Madden series' rivals." Update: 05/19 21:07 GMT by S : It seems the linked article has been retracted: "When contacted by GameSpot, NFLPA executives said that not only was the story false, but The Sports Business Journal has since run a retraction."

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting the press release noting Majesco are getting into the 'TV game' business by signing a deal with Konami to "publish five plug-and-play video game systems. The first two systems will contain classic versions of Konami's popular Frogger and Konami Arcade Classics video games and be available at retail this fall." Majesco was recently featured on Slashdot Games for its GBA video/messaging/link products, but also holds an intriguing game portfolio for a smaller publisher, from Bookworm for the Game Boy Advance ("immensely popular [PopCap-developed] web-game [converted to GBA]") to Guilty Gear X2 #Reload for the Xbox ("popular fighting franchise makes its debut on Xbox with head-to-head Xbox Live support.")

Thanks to 1UP for its news story reporting that the owner of popular Japanese videogame website Gameonline has been arrested for copyright violation regarding unauthorized screenshot scans, since "several hundred [screenshots available on the site] were allegedly found to have been taken from magazines and overseas game sites without the permission of the game publisher, a violation of Japanese copyright law." The story continues by explaining: "Gameonline, one of the most popular game sites in Japan until its sudden closure last month, was a for-profit site that made its money exclusively via advertising. The site's owner had received permission from several Japanese publishers to post screenshots from their games, but other companies, including SNK Playmore, Capcom, Square Enix, and Namco, allegedly found media from their games posted on the site without their permission, leading to today's arrest."

roadies writes "USAToday/Reuters has a story indicating that Japanese videogame/slot machine company Sammy is finally going to acquire Sega, following 'an unsuccessful attempt last year'." Gamesindustry.biz notes regarding the stock deal, worth $1.4 billion: "[Sammy president] Satomi-san, who will be president of the new merged company, has previously expressed his desire to see Sega focusing increasingly on the arcade market, and hopes to use the company's development talent and wealth of intellectual property to build on the success of Sammy's low-cost Atomiswave arcade system", and it's also argued: "The Sega acquisition will also give Sammy a strong base from which to build its overseas operations."

beatleadam writes "In a trend that we all seem to already be hyper-aware of... 'The video game industry was once an afterthought in Hollywood, at most an ancillary source of revenue like action figures. The people passionately developing the computer-based form of entertainment were seen as dorks compared with the celebrities. Not anymore. Now that games have matured into a $11 billion business, topping movie box-office sales and siphoning television viewers, the lucrative and increasingly influential genre has attracted more star power than ever.'" We did another story about this a month ago.

Mr. Fluffyhead writes "This hardcore RTS gamer's rather thoughtful wish list asks the question, if somebody made a 'real' war sim, would anyone want to play it?" From the fake Newsweek cover story about the "Ultralisk Rape Scandal" to Mr. Wong's yearning to break the Geneva Convention in pixel form, this one's a humourous yet realistic look at real time war games.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an official Asheron's Call forum post mentioning that "Turbine has notified eBay to remove auction listings for the sale of Asheron's Call accounts/characters and in-game housing." This move, similar to Sony's ban on EverQuest item selling on eBay which debuted back in 2001, comes after Turbine's purchasing of Asheron's Call back from Microsoft, and it's explained: "Many housing auctions are run by brokers who deprive players from being able to acquire housing through legitimate in-game means; many account sales end up being recalled by the original player, causing grief to the buyer and creating a difficult situation for customer service."

PGillingwater writes "The Walrus has a nice article up about the economics of on-line gaming communities. Starting with the original 2001 paper which shows that Everquest has a GNP greater than India, Bulgaria and China, and going on to the billionaires of Ultima Online and the Mafia takeover of The Sims. "He began calculating frantically. He gathered data on 616 auctions, observing how much each item sold for in U.S. dollars. When he averaged the results, he was stunned to discover that the EverQuest platinum piece was worth about one cent U.S. -- higher than the Japanese yen or the Italian lira. With that information, he could figure out how fast the EverQuest economy was growing. Since players were killing monsters or skinning bunnies every day, they were, in effect, creating wealth. Crunching more numbers, Castronova found that the average player was generating 319 platinum pieces each hour he or she was in the game -- the equivalent of $3.42 (U.S.) per hour. "That's higher than the minimum wage in most countries," he marvelled.""