I'm suffering through an abusive cold at the moment, so forgive me if today's quips are a little uninspired. Er, more uninspired than they generally are, that is.
News Blips:
PlayStation 2 worldwide sales hit the 150 million mark as of January 31. The 10-year-old console met significant success via its extensive library of nearly 11,000 games, including major first-party titles such as God of War and Gran Turismo. Software sales reached a whopping 1.52 billion sold worldwide as of last December. I guess I should look into grabbing a PS2 from the "value priced" pile at the local GameStop that has been staring me in the face this entire time.
Major developers share their thoughts on social and independent gaming. "I see a lot of little teams trying to make simple games, and I'm a little worried…that's not sustainable," said David Perry, head of cloud-based gaming service Gaikai. "People who make 'Kleenex games' — ones that you can blow your nose on and throw away — that's not necessarily a safe place to be betting your money. If your game design is two pages, unless you've found the next Tetris, I would start to worry." Epic Games President Mike Capps had this to say about the risky venture of indie gaming: "[Gas Powered Games CEO] Chris Taylor and I have had successful independent game companies running for a decade or more. But neither of us would start one now — it's just so hard to get moving and really do something you're excited about. I don't know how to do it anymore." Capps went on to credit advertising revenue as the main contributor to social gaming's advances in the industry. Does that mean we have to look to rehashed AAA titles for innovative design? God, I hope not. [GamesIndustry.biz]
Sony is throwing its first PlayStation Network Gamers' Choice Awards. Taking place between February 22 and March 1, the awards are a way to highlight the top-rated PSN games as voted by the players. By downloading a XrossMediaBar theme for their favorite game, users simultaneously cast their vote for their favorite game while adding a bit of decor to that drab interface. Check out the four categories and their corresponding nominees below:
- Best PS3 Downloadable Game: Castle Crashers, Costume Quest, Death Spank, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
- Best PSP Downloadable Game: God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable, Valkyria Chronicles 2
- Best PS3/PSP MINI: A Space Shooter for Two Bucks, Age of Zombies, Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, Vector TD, Young Thor
- Best PlayStation Network Exclusive Game: Dead Nation, Hustle Kings, Joe Danger, Sam & Max Ep. 1, Soldner-X2
You want to help fund an awesome video-game museum. No, I know you do. The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) is looking to raise $25,000 to pay for a space in the Bay Area that will showcase artifacts of gaming lore and exhibit numerous demonstrations of historical works in the industry that preserves the gaming culture. I was fooled when they said artifacts — I thought they unearthed a fossilized Yoshi skeleton or something — but even without that, this is a project worth helping out. Head over to the museum's official blog for more info, and check out its Kickstarter page if you want to donate!
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