Could last-gen game pricing return?

I'm sure all of you have been gaming for a while. You might be a little annoyed about the current price of games of about £50 brand new in a shop when in 2004 you could get a brand new game for £30 online.

The good news is, this may start to stop. I managed to snag Fallout 3 for £19.50 delivered from Gamestation a few weeks back (yes, I will review it but I need to finish the damned thing, it's a monster,) and I was impressed. I've been looking around the shops and even Gears 2 is going for £35 in store these days. What the hell is happening?

That's where the bad news comes in. The world economy is dying on its arse. Whilst this means we can now get a litre of petrol for less than a quid again (yay!) it means millions are losing their jobs. The high street chain Woolworths closed it's doors recently and others such as The Officers Club (clothing chain) and Zavvi (they sold games too, so that's a shame) have gone under. Whilst it sucks that people are losing their jobs we have to focus on the bright side, and that is the chance that these new game prices will stick. Who will pay £50 for Gears 2 a few months after it was £35? Very few people. We do have to be aware that all these low prices could just be post christmas bargains and revert to the insane prices of last year, but I doubt that.

Let's hope we can take one of the few good things about this depression and keep it going. £50 for a 360 game (espeically if it was an Xbox port like Far-Cry instincts) was bleeding outrageous.

You can read more about the American side of this issue at Kotaku. If you want to learn more about this event in the UK, I suggest you step outside and go shopping. It's hard to miss.

Article By: Edwin Jones

Wii'itis?

According to The Sun, ten people a WEEK are hospitalised with wii injuries, normally shoulder or knee pains.

“It’s possible that Wii-itus may lead to rheumatism and arthritis in later life. Patients often have inflammation of the shoulder or wrist.”

Doctors even recommend stretching before playing Wii games. If you said that to someone in america, they would literally have no clue what you were on about, stretching? sounds like a way of cooking something for them.

Article by: William Stephen

End of Time for the Timesplitters Team?

According to CVG, Free Radical, the team behind games such as the timesplitter series (decent) and haze (not so decent) are another british company to undergo administration.

Though the company has been filed for administration, they are still saying its business as usual.

"We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it's business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home."

So despite being on a skeleton crew its business as normal? Hardly. Less gaming companies though mean the industry isnt "recession proof".

Article by: William Stephen

Danger Danger! Youtube gets shakened!

Just found this now but has been around a while. Wario land shake it!, known as shake dimension here has a special youtube video. Look for yourself here!

Article by: William Stephen

Gamestation, bah humbug!

While you may have seen adverts for loads of cheap prices from gamestation and other places, that doesnt mean they are not scrooges. If you remember a while back I posted that Gamestation gave me a broken Lancer Rifle. Well the idiots forgot to keep extra stock incase such an event happen, so when I sent an email asking where my replacement is, they said they refunded me instead, without telling me beforehand!

Now this wouldnt bother me if this was just another game, but this isnt a game, it is a rare piece of memorabilila, with only 5000 made. On ebay the prices are already 3 times what the RRP was and it was only out last month!!

After complaining harshly to them through emails they have sent the bog standard "looking into your situation" email which will probably lead to nothing. It annoys me that a gaming company can just ignore something like this, and I really hope they do something for a change. If not, then I may just start a campaign!

Article by: William Stephen

Want to get a new 'Jasper' Xbox 360? Here is how to recognise one.

Got an Xbox 360? Tired of it dying on you all the time? We might possibly have the solution. As you may know, a new model of the 360 has launched codenamed: Jasper. It has it's own internal flash memory as MS seem to have admitted an optional memory storage device was a bit dense. It's also got a 45nm chipset which is a lot smaller than older 360 models and should also be a lot cooler. As 360's mostly die due to overheating problems or problems related to overheating, (that's why wrapping it in a towel and cooking it for a few minutes brings it back for an hour or two,) this should mean a 'Jasper' unit will be more RROD resistant.

This is only a logical estimate, but it makes sense. Generally new tech is more reliable than the old, but this IS the 360 we are talking about, it could still die on you for no reason.

Anyway, if you want to know if you have a shiny new Jasper set, here is the trick. To quote Kotaku:

"It's all in the amps. If the back of a 360 says 12.1 amps, it's a Jasper, and you're free to enjoy the cooler, safer experience that brings with it. If it's any higher than 12.1, it's an older unit, you lucked out."

You can read more about this story here.

Article by: Edwin Jones

Nintendo sell 800k Wiis in a week in the US alone.

Holy...

800,000 Wii consoles, in a week? Even a week this close to Christmas? To put this in perspective I shall quote Kotaku:

"That matches the Wii's sales in the U.S. for the entire month of October and more than doubles the number of Wiis sold during the same week the year prior, according to Reuters."

And Microsoft were saying they did well this month? Who the heck keeps buying these things - Wii Fit and Wii sports are not that good, surely even the elderly have figured that out? Why do Nintendo still allow shortages every Christmas even years after the Wii launched?

We will never know.

You can read more about this story here.

Article by: Edwin Jones