Gaming News Archive
April 2005

CommVEx 2005, the Commodore Vegas EXPO to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 30 and 31, 2005, will have activities at the Nevada Power Company building at 6226 W. Sahara Avenue in the room that is used by Las Vegas's own Clark County Commodore Computer Club (The 5C'S) for their regular meetings.

We are very pleased to have the Golden Palm Casino Hotel as our Official Hotel for guests coming to Las Vegas to attend CommVEx. The Golden Palm Casino Hotel is located at 3111 W. Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas.
They offer Free Parking for guests, shuttle service from McCarran International Airport if you are flying in, an outdoor pool and jacuzzi in which to relax at the end of the day, 24 hour restaurant, lounge and casino if you are so inclined and plenty of other features to make your stay in Las Vegas an enjoyable one.

If you want to check out the Golden Palm Casino Hotel please visit their website at:

In order to get these rates (and you can stay for every night or only one night if you want - it is up to you) you must phone the toll free number, 800-300-7389, and ask for Helene in the Sales Office at Extension 703.
She will be out of the office from April 25 til May 10. After May 10 she will return your call if you leave a message. When you call to reserve your room (you need a Credit Card to guarantee your room) use the 4-letter reservation code "comm" to get in on the group rate.

Rooms must be booked by July 15 to get in on this rate. The sooner you book your room the sooner you can feel safe knowing you have a good, affordable place to stay in Las Vegas with a bunch of other Commodore enthusiasts.
The availability of rooms after July 15 at these rates can't be guaranteed so figure out who your rooming buddy (or buddies) will be and book early.

We hope that having this information at this point in time will make it easier for each of you to plan to come to Las Vegas to attend CommVEx and get in on all of the great Commodore related activities and so cializing that will occur at this event. Never mind all of the great demos and prize draws that will be held.

enGEOy!

The discussions are at an early stage and there is no agreement yet, an industry source has revealed but it would make good commercial sense for both of them. Should they manage to agree on a single format, and gain the acceptance of other companies backing the respective formats, it would benefit both consumers and the electronics and entertainment industries.

A single format would mean consumers won't have to gamble when they buy a high-definition video player on whether the format will still be around in the future. It would also mean all high-definition movies are available on the same format and they might be cheaper because the market wouldn't be split.

The industry stands to immediately gain from a single format because the confusion or worry over duelling formats would be removed.

Video players for HD-DVD are expected on the market near the end of this year along with several dozen movies, according to the most recent plans. The rival Blu-ray Disc format isn't expected until 2006 when players and movies will become available. The system will also be used in Sony's next-generation PlayStation console, which is also expected to be able to play movies and be launched next year.

The two companies wouldn't confirm or deny that talks are taking place. Sony said in a statement that it remains open to discussions with supporters of other formats. "The door isn't shutting, it's the opposite," said a Sony spokesman.

Toshiba repeated its belief that a single format would be most beneficial for consumers and said it will work towards that goal. "We will also engage in necessary discussions," said a Toshiba spokesman.


Source: http://www.techworld.com/storage/news/index.cfm?NewsID=3533&Page=1&pagePos=7



Obviously, if all goes ahead and they can agree on one format (that being Blu-Ray DVD-ROM) then Playstation 3 owners will no doubt benefit from being able to play more high-definition movies on it. I don't know whether you can view high definition movies on ordinary TV's or whether you would have to get a special TV to view them, but I think Sony wants the deal to go their way so they have one mre weapon in their arsenal against the Xbox 360 (previously called Xenon (the development codename)) and Revolution.
Its also worthy of note that this deal is coming before E3, so we can perhaps expect an announcement regarding this at the show in a months time.

During the broadcast, Microsoft also plans to show off new enhancements planned for its Xbox Live online video game service.

The half-hour program comes days ahead of a major games conference, E3, during which Microsoft said it will provide industry insiders more details of the game system.

But Peter Moore (who was head of Sega of America a few years ago), a corporate vice president in charge of Xbox marketing, said Microsoft felt it was important that fans got to see the system "at atleast the same time, if not before, folks who work in the trades see it."

Moore refused to provide financial details of the agreement with MTV, a unit of New York-based Viacom Inc.

But he said MTV and Microsoft had been working on the marketing deal for about a year. For the program to appeal to its young audience, he added, it "can't feel like an infomercial or simply an ad buy."

The deal will extend far beyond just the half-hour program. In addition to MTV promoting Xbox, he said Xbox may promote MTV in game play and elsewhere.

Microsoft has not yet said when it plans to release the new Xbox.

The software maker and cable TV channel have struck a marketing deal to provide an early look at the highly anticipated video game console on MTV channels in the US, Asia Pacific and Europe during a 24-hour period, Microsoft said in a statement.

The new Xbox, which is widely expected to be in US stores by the end of this year, will be featured in a 30-minute show titled "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed". The show starts May 12 at 9.30 p.m. Eastern Time and will be hosted by actor Elijah Wood and also star Las Vegas rock band The Killers.

The broadcast will show gameplay of future Xbox games, news on the future of the Xbox Live online gaming service, celebrity interviews and footage on the making of the next-generation console.

Microsoft has gradually been giving out more details of the console technology and games for the device. The company is expected to officially unveil the console at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which starts May 17 in Los Angeles. Sony and Nintenod are expected to premiere their new consoles at the same event.

Microsoft introduced the current Xbox game console, the first model, in late 2001. As of December 31, the company had sold 19.9 million consoles worldwide, 13.2 million of which were in North America, 5 million in Europe and 1.7 million in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.



Local times for the program
-----------------------------
These will air on May 13:

Japan/Asia, 11:30 am.
Australia, 7 pm.
France and Germany, 7 pm.
Italy, 11:30 pm.
Netherlands, 7:30 pm.
Portugal, Romania and U.K., 8 pm.
Poland, 9 pm.
Scandinavia, 10 pm.
Spain 9:30 pm.



For more info visit:

Tomb Raider 6 has been delayed slightly due to the Xbox and PSP versions being developed at the same time as the Playstation 2 version.

Tecmo have announced Project Zero (aka Fatal Frame) 3 is in development for the Playstation 2, starring the sisters from the previous games.

Ubi Soft has announced that we can expect a new Prince Of Persia game for Christmas 2005.

Namco is, apprently, making versions of Katamari Damacy, Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos for the Nintendo DS.

The organisers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), due to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on May 18th - 20th, have said that floor space this year has sold out faster than the previous 5 years.

Electronic Arts has confirmed that a Command & Conquer game is in development for the PSP, but no mention of a DS version yet, despite the DS being ideal for RTS (real-time strategy) games.

Fox Interactive are making a game of the TV series 24, for the Playstation 2.

ID Software's John Carmack has revealed that Fountainhead Entertainment are working on a Doom based RPG for mobile phones.

In a statement, Eidos said Elevation's refusal to improve its 50 pence per share cash offer meant it was dropping its support for the US private equity group, which counts U2 frontman Bono among its partners.

"In the light of the recent movement in the SCi share price, and in the absence of an increased cash offer from Elevation, the Board recognises that (SCi's bid) represents a significant premium to Elevation's offer," said Eidos in a statement.

Under the terms of the SCi offer, Eidos investors will receive one new SCi share in exchange for each six shares they they currently hold. Based on last night's closing share price, the SCi's bid values Eidos at 72.8 pence per share, or 103 mln stg -- much higher than 71 mln stg valuation that Elevation ascribed to Eidos.

When SCi made its hostile approach last month, its offer valued Eidos shares at 53.6 pence. Since then, investors' increasing preference for a merger of the two software developers sparked a rally in the SCi share price, all but guaranteeing the success of its bid.

This ends a particularly turbulent period for Eidos, which also owns the popular 'Championship Manager' video-game franchise.

Last Summer, the group put itself up for sale after a strategic review concluded that the group was just too small to survive when greater sums of money were required to develop each new video game.

When talks with French rival Ubi Soft Entertainment, the only tentative bidder to emerge after Eidos hung up the 'For Sale' sign, broke down late last year, Eidos's shares went into freefall.

The stock plunged to a 10-year low early last month after the company blamed the delayed release of a number of key titles for a gargantuan 28.7 mln stg pretax loss for the final six months of 2004.

Elevation's disappointment will be tempered by a 710,000 stg break-fee it will receive from Eidos once SCi's offer goes unconditional. This was part of a controversial 'inducement' that Eidos and Elevation signed last December.

Source:
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5260077&action=article

The Nintendo DS is now available in Graphite Black, Candy Pink, Turquoise Blue and Pure White colours in Japan, aswell as the limited edition Pepsi Blue version.

Capcom have confirmed that Resident Evil 5 is in development and will carry on from where Resident Evil 4 left off.

Activision has confirmed that a sequel to X-Men Legends is in development by Raven Software, and should be out on Playstation 2, XBox and GameCube this year.

Sony has confirmed that the Playstation Portable won't be available in Europe until June 24th 2005, exactly 3 months after its US launch.