Right off the bat, Namco announces to press members, albeit off the record, that a rework of Splatterhouse is on the cards. Offering nothing other than the title, Namco sets the games world alight. Nothing more is heard of the game…
Sony Europe shows EyeToy Chat, concreting SPOnG’s exclusive news detailing EyeToy: Comms (it’s working title) the communication tool still awaiting final release details across the world, as doubts of the project’s credibility becoming increasingly loud.
The 6th and SPOnG exclusively reveals that Sony Computer Entertainment America had rejected all Sega Ages titles at point of submission by Conspiracy Games, a harsh blow to the perceived credibility of the series and the profitability of Sega's US retro IP push. The lea k obtained by us points to “lack of value offered to consumers, compounded by possible full-price game sales being lost.” Sega follows SNK and bundles its games.
A day later and Nintendo Japan announces that it has shipped NDS development kits to over 100 companies around the world. All the usual suspects are on the list: Activision, Atari, Capcom, EA, Hudson Soft, Konami, Namco, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft, as well as more than 90 others who now figure in Nintendo’s DS plans for the future.
The 9th and Half-Life 2 slips again. Gabe Newell states that the game is confirmed for summer or late summer. Hmm…
By the 10th the industry is abuzz with talk of Nintendo’s Miyamoto resigning. In bars up and down Sunset Strip, SPOnG hears the same rumour time and time again. It’s not true with Nintendo stating ‘absolute nonsense’ as the root of the chatter. Phew.
Then E3 happened. And the quote of the year:
“My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking ass and I’m about taking names. And at Nintendo, we’re about making games.” It was a stunning moment and instantly immortalised. Nintendo had a frontman and, although Reggie is clearly destined for the sack in the not-too distant future, the fans went bananas. The final DS was shown. The next iteration of Zelda brought men to tears. Just a usual Nintendo pre-show briefing then…
Despite widespread - and widely reported - scepticism that had already resulted in one law suit, Infinium Labs presented their Phantom console at E3. The console hardware itself is pretty, but it was the innovative mouse/keyboard peripheral and software delivery model that most impressed us. And while it looks like more than just a scam to rid investors of their money, Phantom has still to launch in any territory.
Little else of note happened at E3. Sony hid it’s PSP from as many people, including journalists, as possible.
Sega announced the Matrix Online. SPOnG thanked god we were spared the final humiliation of trying to appear interested in the title, thanks to the Sega Blacklist.
Eidos buyout speculation flares on the 17th of May with THQ, Vivendi and Ubi Soft all believed to be in negotiations for the UK firm. Eidos has since gone on record to confirm talks took place, though to date, no deal has been reached. The Observer puts other major publishers in the frame too, suggesting that both Electronic Arts and Activision could quite reasonably consider such an acquisition. This is widely thought to have been imagined.
Speaking exclusively to a SPOnG reporter, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says he is “...aware that things needed to be improved...” and that “...Nintendo has so much more to offer to developers right now than in recent times. It is of great importance that this message is passed across properly, so I have taken personal responsibility for managing and building developers that work with us on all platforms.”
SPOnG is told by a Nintendo representative that Mario 128 will miss a GameCube showing. “It’s not like we can announce it though. We might as well take out full page adverts in the press declaring the GameCube as finished.” Ouch.
The 18th, and after months and months of Sega’s PR department disingenuously refuting allegations that foretold a takeover by pachinko giant Sammy, it was revealed that a full and complete buy-out of Sega by Sammy had been finalised. In a deal that Sega executives could do nothing to impact, Sammy will acquire Sega for $1.4 billion, setting up a holding company, Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, of which Sammy will control over 95%. As Reuters explained, “The two companies aim to close the deal on October 1 with Sammy Chief Executive Hajime Satomi heading the new company. The two firms' respective stocks will be withdrawn from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on September 27.”
Metal Slug Advance is announced. Certain SPOnG writers wonder how the headline ‘Shoot in Your Palm!’ made it past sub-editing. [Because we thought it was humorous and harmless - Ed]
The 20th sees Electronic Arts flexing its muscle and kicking the US sporting press square in the nuts. The Sports Business Journal reports that EA is poised to shell out a staggering $250 million to the NFL for player rights for the next four years. "The story published in Sports Business Journal includes some serious errors related to agreements between EA and it's partners. The financials reported in the story are incorrect by an order of magnitude and the NFL Players Association has contacted the publisher to request a correction. No further details will be released." Even we didn’t get that for 'The GoldenEye Incident.'
Eidos issues a lie to the city. It reads, “In the light of continuing media speculation concerning a possible approach to the company, the board can confirm that it has received no such approach and is not in discussions with any party concerning a possible offer.” Its shareprice plunges on the news, which months later CEO Mike McGarvey admits was not true.
By the 24th, Square Enix decides to comment on Microsoft’s recently unveiled XNA development platform. Company presiden Yoichi Wada says, “...the thinking behind the recently announced XNA is extremely similar to what we have in mind. With that meaning, we'll have to from now on discuss XNA, rather than Xbox 2 and such.” Though on the Xbox Live system he was less positive. “Xbox Live is a closed system, so at this point we have no plans on supporting it,” he said.
SCEI chief Ken Kutaragi stuns the press, speaking of the PSP he claims, “The place I'm imagining for use of the system is the home. People don't play games while walking around.” Which is true, though they do play them when they get to where they are walking to, or if they are travelling in passive transport for instance. Very odd indeed.
Our favourite credible sensible games industry website blunderously reports that Rare is likely to be working on several DS games. Although Nintendo, no doubt loving the publicity says, “DS is a big hit with developers and many are either already developing games or looking at developing games. However, we are unable to confirm the details, including whether each specific company has entered into an agreement with Nintendo or not,” the firm off the record laughs along with everyone else. This above all else is perhaps the most hilarious and miss-informed journalistic gaffe on the year.
Nintendo sees its profits halved in the latest financial projection released by the firm. Regular readers of SPOnG will know that Nintendo had seen fit to adjust its expected financials on a near constant basis as global currency markets fluctuated. This situation, compounded by slower than expected GameCube sales, resulted in a revised bottom line operating profit figure of 33.2 billion yen a figure the firm would miss to some tune in the months to follow.
Miyamoto pours petrol on the embers of the Mario 128 GameCube no-show story. "[Mario 128] is moving along secretly like a submarine under the water," said Miyamoto-san somewhat cryptically. "When developing, we often look at the different hardware and run different experiments on it and try out different ideas. There have been a number of different experiment ideas that we have been running on the GameCube. There are some that we have run on DS, and there are other ideas, too."
Nintendo ended the month bullishly, by predicting that their next generation Revolution console would be on show at E3 2005 - now only months away.
Sony Europe shows EyeToy Chat, concreting SPOnG’s exclusive news detailing EyeToy: Comms (it’s working title) the communication tool still awaiting final release details across the world, as doubts of the project’s credibility becoming increasingly loud.
The 6th and SPOnG exclusively reveals that Sony Computer Entertainment America had rejected all Sega Ages titles at point of submission by Conspiracy Games, a harsh blow to the perceived credibility of the series and the profitability of Sega's US retro IP push. The lea k obtained by us points to “lack of value offered to consumers, compounded by possible full-price game sales being lost.” Sega follows SNK and bundles its games.
A day later and Nintendo Japan announces that it has shipped NDS development kits to over 100 companies around the world. All the usual suspects are on the list: Activision, Atari, Capcom, EA, Hudson Soft, Konami, Namco, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft, as well as more than 90 others who now figure in Nintendo’s DS plans for the future.
The 9th and Half-Life 2 slips again. Gabe Newell states that the game is confirmed for summer or late summer. Hmm…
By the 10th the industry is abuzz with talk of Nintendo’s Miyamoto resigning. In bars up and down Sunset Strip, SPOnG hears the same rumour time and time again. It’s not true with Nintendo stating ‘absolute nonsense’ as the root of the chatter. Phew.
Then E3 happened. And the quote of the year:
“My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking ass and I’m about taking names. And at Nintendo, we’re about making games.” It was a stunning moment and instantly immortalised. Nintendo had a frontman and, although Reggie is clearly destined for the sack in the not-too distant future, the fans went bananas. The final DS was shown. The next iteration of Zelda brought men to tears. Just a usual Nintendo pre-show briefing then…
Despite widespread - and widely reported - scepticism that had already resulted in one law suit, Infinium Labs presented their Phantom console at E3. The console hardware itself is pretty, but it was the innovative mouse/keyboard peripheral and software delivery model that most impressed us. And while it looks like more than just a scam to rid investors of their money, Phantom has still to launch in any territory.
Little else of note happened at E3. Sony hid it’s PSP from as many people, including journalists, as possible.
Sega announced the Matrix Online. SPOnG thanked god we were spared the final humiliation of trying to appear interested in the title, thanks to the Sega Blacklist.
Eidos buyout speculation flares on the 17th of May with THQ, Vivendi and Ubi Soft all believed to be in negotiations for the UK firm. Eidos has since gone on record to confirm talks took place, though to date, no deal has been reached. The Observer puts other major publishers in the frame too, suggesting that both Electronic Arts and Activision could quite reasonably consider such an acquisition. This is widely thought to have been imagined.
Speaking exclusively to a SPOnG reporter, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says he is “...aware that things needed to be improved...” and that “...Nintendo has so much more to offer to developers right now than in recent times. It is of great importance that this message is passed across properly, so I have taken personal responsibility for managing and building developers that work with us on all platforms.”
SPOnG is told by a Nintendo representative that Mario 128 will miss a GameCube showing. “It’s not like we can announce it though. We might as well take out full page adverts in the press declaring the GameCube as finished.” Ouch.
The 18th, and after months and months of Sega’s PR department disingenuously refuting allegations that foretold a takeover by pachinko giant Sammy, it was revealed that a full and complete buy-out of Sega by Sammy had been finalised. In a deal that Sega executives could do nothing to impact, Sammy will acquire Sega for $1.4 billion, setting up a holding company, Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, of which Sammy will control over 95%. As Reuters explained, “The two companies aim to close the deal on October 1 with Sammy Chief Executive Hajime Satomi heading the new company. The two firms' respective stocks will be withdrawn from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on September 27.”
Metal Slug Advance is announced. Certain SPOnG writers wonder how the headline ‘Shoot in Your Palm!’ made it past sub-editing. [Because we thought it was humorous and harmless - Ed]
The 20th sees Electronic Arts flexing its muscle and kicking the US sporting press square in the nuts. The Sports Business Journal reports that EA is poised to shell out a staggering $250 million to the NFL for player rights for the next four years. "The story published in Sports Business Journal includes some serious errors related to agreements between EA and it's partners. The financials reported in the story are incorrect by an order of magnitude and the NFL Players Association has contacted the publisher to request a correction. No further details will be released." Even we didn’t get that for 'The GoldenEye Incident.'
Eidos issues a lie to the city. It reads, “In the light of continuing media speculation concerning a possible approach to the company, the board can confirm that it has received no such approach and is not in discussions with any party concerning a possible offer.” Its shareprice plunges on the news, which months later CEO Mike McGarvey admits was not true.
By the 24th, Square Enix decides to comment on Microsoft’s recently unveiled XNA development platform. Company presiden Yoichi Wada says, “...the thinking behind the recently announced XNA is extremely similar to what we have in mind. With that meaning, we'll have to from now on discuss XNA, rather than Xbox 2 and such.” Though on the Xbox Live system he was less positive. “Xbox Live is a closed system, so at this point we have no plans on supporting it,” he said.
SCEI chief Ken Kutaragi stuns the press, speaking of the PSP he claims, “The place I'm imagining for use of the system is the home. People don't play games while walking around.” Which is true, though they do play them when they get to where they are walking to, or if they are travelling in passive transport for instance. Very odd indeed.
Our favourite credible sensible games industry website blunderously reports that Rare is likely to be working on several DS games. Although Nintendo, no doubt loving the publicity says, “DS is a big hit with developers and many are either already developing games or looking at developing games. However, we are unable to confirm the details, including whether each specific company has entered into an agreement with Nintendo or not,” the firm off the record laughs along with everyone else. This above all else is perhaps the most hilarious and miss-informed journalistic gaffe on the year.
Nintendo sees its profits halved in the latest financial projection released by the firm. Regular readers of SPOnG will know that Nintendo had seen fit to adjust its expected financials on a near constant basis as global currency markets fluctuated. This situation, compounded by slower than expected GameCube sales, resulted in a revised bottom line operating profit figure of 33.2 billion yen a figure the firm would miss to some tune in the months to follow.
Miyamoto pours petrol on the embers of the Mario 128 GameCube no-show story. "[Mario 128] is moving along secretly like a submarine under the water," said Miyamoto-san somewhat cryptically. "When developing, we often look at the different hardware and run different experiments on it and try out different ideas. There have been a number of different experiment ideas that we have been running on the GameCube. There are some that we have run on DS, and there are other ideas, too."
Nintendo ended the month bullishly, by predicting that their next generation Revolution console would be on show at E3 2005 - now only months away.