| Set On Stun |

So word has it that not only is Sony looking to push their motion control peripheral into the fray before Natal even has a chance to start running ads, but they’re doing it on a franchise that well — they doing it for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

You know, they guy who is not only one of the world’s most well known athletes but now he’s also one of the world’s most well known players. I guess EA is sticking by Tiger and his game hoping by the summer that other people will want to play with Tiger besides waitresses and escorts. Even weirder is that the cover will be shared by Irish golfer Rory Mcllroy.  In the 11 years they have made this game, Tiger has never shared a cover. What? Have a looksie.

Please play with me?

But that’s not the head scratcher? The game will be embedded with motion controls  in advance of the allegedly-named “Playstation Arc” peripheral which by the way has no official drop date

WTF??????

Questions
Why announce this at all? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to tell people after Arc drops that “Hey everybody, here are the games we’ve already coded. No waiting.”  This method is like buying Wii Sports without owning a Wii.

Two words — Tiger Woods? Really? The game is slated to launch in June for all three systems but who will be brave enough pick this up as a family game while explaining to their kids that just because the actual Tiger Woods is a douchebag cheater, the videogame version is way cooler. Is this the game you want to pin your first test of new technology on Sony?

Where’s Natal? EA did not mention Natal at all in the release. So that means one of two things.

1. It hasn’t been developed yet so they figured why be a boob and announce something preemptively like Sony
2. Or Natal was not a factor for the 360 version because maybe they want a game without a Scarlett Letter on it as something people won’t feel embarrassed about playing

So with every advertiser this side of Doritos dropping Tiger like an anvil on Wile E Coyote’s head it’s amazing that EA decided to launch this game before Mr. Woods officially returned to golf.  This dude’s actions were and continue to be big news. No one is going to forget this by June! In any case kudos to Sony for greenlighing the Arc game announcement for no reason other than to get press. Nice work.

New on the Wii -- The failure game

First of all this is not something I came up with. The buzz on the intertubes is out there. There is a growing belief that the Wii will meet it’s demise this year. Even Nintendo is saying that they expect sales to drop this year — they still think they’ll beat the PS2 as the most successful console ever? Ay but there’s the question — most successful according to what?

If we’re looking a raw sales data then sure (how much of those sales are the console and not the games) — and beating the PS2 is no easy feat. This behemoth was still selling years into the release of the PS3, it’s still out there and there are people, believe it or not, still playing PS2 games. Need I remind you God of War 2 came out for PS2 …  and that was after the Ps3 was released. But I digress. Back to the Wii completely sucking this year.

It’s no secret that many refer to the Wii as the kiddie console. Some may call it the great equalizer bringing young, old, families, casual and hardcore gamers all into the fold of gaming. Marketing wise it’s one of the easiest consoles to market because if you’re running campaigns for something like Wii Resort or Smash Bros. you’re dealing with innocuous spots and trailers and something that resonates with a large audience.  That then translates into parents buying games not just for their kids but for themselves or for “the family.” In fact that was one of the big things you heard this last holiday season  — “We go a Wii” or “We got Rock Band for the Wii.” Yeah that’s great but here’s the thing Wii isn’t delivering beyond that point.

Think of it this way — We currently have three consoles.

• Two of them are high-end multifunctional CPUs with advanced graphic cards that also play games. One of them — plays games. A majority of those games are gimmicky in the sense that they have some feature that panders to the Wiimote.
• Two of them have evolved to a level of performance that allows us to see videogaming like we’ve never seen it before with unprecedented graphics and gameplay the likes of Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and Gears of War 2. Developers relish in pushing these systems to their extreme in terms of what they can produce. One of the consoles is not a big fan of third party software, doesn’t have the capability of running the aforementioned games on its platform and  developers of these big budget games don’t even factor the Wii  in their plans for a typical multiplatform release.
• Back in the Gamecube days, the playing field was much more level because you had essentially three gaming consoles. Microsoft and Sony upped the anti in the next round (as did Nintendo with motion control) and having gone past the benchmark of the 5-year gap between consoles both Sony and Microsoft say, “We don’t need new consoles just yet,” knowing they can get a couple more years out of their machines. The Wii typically becomes a novelty shortly after it’s bought

All you Wii lovers and Wii-loving parents can raise your fists and yell about the last bullet point but that’s the truth. Anyone who owns a PS3 or 360 and a Wii will tell you — we play the Wii when friends come over or the kids use it. The rest of the time these gamers default to their primary console.

So why are Microsoft and Sony making motion controllers then? Good question. The biggest reason is to tap into that casual gamer/family market. Notice though that these are peripherals and not entirely new consoles. They know full well exactly how these device will be treated from the developer side. Sure there will be a whole slew of folks looking to make cool motion-control, fun games and figuring out how to retrofit old games to mod with the new device. But  you’re not going to see a developer like Bioware spend time making Mass Effect 3 compatible with Natal or the Arc. You just won’t. That’s why the Wii gets left out so often for the A-list titles. And since they can’t match up to the caliber of games we have seen in the last year and are bound to see this year what’s left for Wii to do? Make more of the same, which ultimately spells — S  U C  K.

Nintendo’s sinking feeling that this year sales will slump is not far off.  As the system consistently keeps getting left behind by developers or the last console you pick for your team, we end up with games that people want to play except not on the system that everyone can use.

Stop by the virtual 7-11 for a cyber slushee first

The block party is on the way. Okay look, maybe I’ve been a bit harsh on Microsoft recently so here’s something nice. As we head into March the folks over at Xbox Live have a big launch plan they are putting into action related to the what they talked about last year — the Xbox Live Gameroom.

Starting March 3, gamers can download a new arcade game every week and the end of the month they can download the app that goes with it. As a bonus you get 400 MS points at the end of it all and well you have three new games. The first two games (Toy Soldiers and Scrap Metal) are 1200 points and the last one, the cherry on top game is the old Perfect Dark (not the one that was part of the early 360 launch– Perfect Dark Zero). This was the multiplayer masterpiece that was originally released to the Nintendo 64.

After all this is said and done Xbox live will be as they call it in their press release, “kickin it old school” in this virtual arcade (replete with old school cabinets) with dowloadable arcade classics that will run anywhere from  240 to 400 Microsoft Points for game downloads  and 40 Microsoft Points for single gameplay. That’s .50 cents for a single play. The games on the roster will be revealed.

Okay so yes you have to spend like $40 bucks to get $5 back but this whole new virtual arcade may just be a good way to get a lot of casual gamers on board using Xbox live  and change up the game a little bit from the usual frag fest that’s online now. It’s a clever move create a central locale for all these games and your avatars. With a solid library of old games the this type of setup creates the instant gratification of the quick play or the re-playability of owning the game both on your console and your PC. This is the kind of move that targets the gamers who grew up with these games who can relive the glory of shooting asteroids and floating polygons. For the new gang of gamers it’s a chance for them to say — “This was a game?”

Updates will be continuously posted and uber promoted on XBL throughout the month.

First of all let m get this out of the way …

JP you ignorant slut!

Now moving on. Natal may sound like all that and a bag of DLC the way JP spins it, but who’s to say we’re not looking at the 21st century “power glove?” Yeah, yeah the big show off  of WinMo7 in Barcelona was all the shizzle for the new revolution in social media and gaming last week but guess what folks, behind the curtain is just a wimpy old Henry Gale trying to trick us all.

Developer Debacle — Natal Ain’t Got Nothing To Do With This

That alleged “gap” JP speaks of that Natal will create will only be filled if Natal has the ability to become the YouTube/game creator of gaming. And honestly we’re soooo far from this with a peripheral that doesn’t even have a firm drop date much less a price point . Addressing the bigger issue is if Natal (version 1) does not come built in with user friendly GUI then all of this is moot. It’s nice to think I can wave my arms around, make some cubist masterpiece and then disseminate it across all my social media but if the device I’m using is chock full of glitches then–

a. It won’t work

and b. Who care if it does? Who cares about my stupid picture in the first  place?

Taking that one step further  if the developers don’t have the tools to make the games they want to make for this device then all we’ll be stuck with is a bunch of gimmicky BS casual gamer games that will pile up like a stack of old gameboy cartridges at a yard sale next to Buzz and Woody. The same developer issues apply to WinMo 7 software and even more so when you consider the simplicity that developers now have in making iPhone apps versus the headaches they may encounter with the Microsoft version.

New and Improved OS

Allegedly Microsoft’s new OS will mix Xbox Live gaming, Zune multimedia, personal media (photos and videos), social media utilities, productivity tools and third-party apps organized into “Hubs.” So that social platform that my octopus loving counterpart envisions looks like it would all be there right? And somehow, Natal, in it’s infancy will be part of this? No &^%$#&*(* way.  The way this new OS reads is like social media and gaming for cats –

“Oooh shiny thing, Oooh dress my avatar, Oooh play bookworm, O0000h nap”

Sure you can use it -- just not on that phone

Join the club or else!

One word, a word that will kill this entire fantastical notion — EXCLUSIVITY!

I’ve been lucky enough to have a few conversations with some game industry watchers about Project Natal and the reactions to it range from, “it’s a gimmick” to “it will revolutionize gaming”.  However, under the surface lurks the visage of Microsoft’s un-stated strategy.

Project Natal could become the means of content creation on the Xbox 360.

It’s very clear that Microsoft is turning the Xbox 360 into a primary device for consumers. We can update our Twitter & Facebook profiles from the console, we can stream Netflix’s digital library at will, we can listen to our playlists on Last.fm and we can enter a virtual world to play classic arcade games.

The underlying theme is that the Xbox Live platform is a strong social network for gamers to consume media that we want.  However, what’s lacked in the platform has been something that’s inherent in all web and mobile based social networks, content sharing.

One of the core things that changed the web into the social web is the ability for browsers to run native applications through the browser and allow the user to participate, modify and share those applications as they interact with it.  The social participatory network that social media sites have mastered have given us all a platform to share the things we love, hate and do to a wide variety of groups.  Twitter is, for the most part, public.  Facebook is experimenting with different ways of balancing personal privacy with our desire to distribute information.

The second aspect of social media collaboration as it’s evolved has been the advent of real-time updates.  Search giant Google has integrated Twitter streams into its search results page:

Click to embigulate

With the social web combined with the real-time web, there has to be a way to consume media in written, audio or video form, there needs to be a way to share that media with another person in your network and there needs to be a way to modify that media in some form.  Traditionally, the modification of media is comments, ratings or tagging. Lastly, there needs to be a way to create new media, let it reside on a social platform where your network can consume, share and modify it.

Natal fills that gap for Xbox Live. It is a way to modify existing media, it will be able to create new media.

Once that media is created, Microsoft’s Xbox Live has already been looking for ways to spread that media to your network, they’ve been collecting data on how Xbox Live users are actually using Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter and presumably, adding a method that’s more intuitive to share your created content via the Natal update.

Another thing to consider is that Apple has dominated the Zune in usability, user penetration and more importantly, the application distribution and development potential.

With Natal, Microsoft has a unique way for developers to create motion specific applications that can be downloaded from the store, played with and the result of that media consumption and creation will need to be shared with your networks.  If I were to create a really cool picture using “Natal Paint”, I should be able to send that picture to my email, to Twitter, to Facebook.  I should be able to make that creation my background image, the ways for Natal to inspire unique user generated creations is absolutely limitless.

That distribution capability is now being tested.  While some, including my partner Shawn has called Microsoft “drunk” or “stupid” when new features come out that only go half way, I think that this is just the foundation for Xbox Live, in combination with Natal, to explode in the ability to create content and then distribute it.

If I were to be able to link my YouTube account to Xbox Live, I could record my motions in video, apply some paint techniques to add some style, upload it to YouTube and Facebook, promote it with Twitter, then Microsoft would have been successful in creating a fully functional social network out of the browser, away from the computer and in front of all the media we belong to.

The integration of Xbox Live into the Zune is just one more way to spread that content. If I’m right, I think that all of the seemingly random and strange things Microsoft has been doing with Xbox Live lately has been a carefully coordinated test-bed to truly launch Natal as a content creation mechanism supported by a network that will share it with the browser based web.