Kinect is just around the corner, but Nintendo isn't worried. In fact, they're partying — in the world of Dragon Quest 9, that is.
News Blips:
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime claims Apple is a more serious threat to Nintendo than Microsoft. “Do I think that in the near term they can hurt us more than Microsoft?” Fils-Aime told Forbes. “Absolutely.” The president believes his company has the upper hand despite the iPhone's popularity, however, because Nintendo's games offer more content than Apple's. Fils-Aime backed his point by admitting he has played over 150 hours of Dragon Quest 9 for the DS. You know you have it made when admitting to Forbes the ridiculous amount of time you spend on games is considered bragging.
Blizzard designer Rob Pardo thinks Valve's motion to trademark Defense of the Ancients acronym "DotA" goes against the Half-Life creator's community-friendly image. Valve has employed former community modders to work on DotA 2, a sequel to the fan-created Warcraft 3 mod. Pardo described Valve's actions as confusing. "It just seems a really strange move to us that Valve would go off and try to exclusively trademark the term considering it's something that's been freely available to us and everyone in the Warcraft 3 community up to this point," Pardo said. "Valve is usually so pro mod community…that it just seems like a really strange move to us." What would happen if Blizzard eventually tried to trademark a DotA 2 mod? Would they shorten the title even more and call it "D2-3"? [Eurogamer]
Treyarch announces it will be toning down the effectiveness of "Quickscoping" in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Josh Olin, Treyarch's community manager, said Quickscoping, the act of using the Sleight of Hand perk and auto-aim to quickly pick out targets, is a cheap way to play. "We're specifically going to gimp Quickscoping, sorry," he said on Twitter. "Play straight-up!" Translation: Stop abusing one of the many exploits Infinity Ward somehow managed to allow in its final product. [CVG]
Sony reveals it will reduce the price of PSP Go in various markets later this month. The price is dropping from $249 to $199 in the United States, ¥26,800 to ¥16,800 in Japan, and £225 to £159.99 in the United Kingdom. Sony can reduce the price all the want, but it's going to take more than just a discount to make their PSP problems go. [1UP and Eurogamer]
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