Am I mad in believing that preowned game sales dictate a genuine barometer for a game's popularity? Oh, that's right — according to publishers, sniveling cheapskates conduct the majority of preowned purchases. Silly me.
News Blips:
Activision pumps up its downloadable-content incentives in a move against the preowned game market. In a conference call with investors, Activision Chief Operating Officer Thomas Tippl stated that "we are still evaluating various possibilities for greater participation in the used-games business." He also added that "a proven strategy is providing additional content and therefore limiting the supply to used games." As if today's prelaunch DLC packs aren't bloated enough to be standalone games in their own right. [CVG]
Jury acquits Kentucky teacher whose comment about killing people in video games was taken out of context. Jason Davis was already having a bad day when a student — a fellow online gamer who Davis played with — hid some of his markers. The vexed instructor commented on how killing people in video games would reduce his stress, a statement taken out of context by other students, which lead to his arrest in 2009. A jury needed only 10 minutes to ascertain Davis' innocence. The bad news? He's now unemployed. The good news? He has all day to game! [Kentucky.com]
Epic Mickey designer Warren Spector explores the possibility of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports for the upcoming Wii platformer. In an interview with Atomic Gamer, Spector remarked on the advent of Kinect and Move as worthy systems for the game's motion-control-centric mechanics. "Before Move and Kinect, I probably would have said no, because the game is built around gesturing," he said. "Now, however, there's no reason technologically why we couldn't." Fret not, Wii gamers — Spector's devotion to Nintendo will keep the Disney mascot squarely on the Wii.
Crystal Dynamics confirms that the upcoming Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (releasing on August 18 on Xbox Live Arcade) will initially support offline co-op only. Global Brand Director Karl Stewart told Joystiq that "we made a decision recently because we were focusing on how we can deliver the best possible experience to the players. If we had launched with online co-op, we wouldn't feel comfortable that it was the best possible experience for the player." Crystal Dynamics will enable online co-op in a free update on September 28 when the game becomes available on Steam and the PlayStation Network.
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