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Nintendo sure has a lot of people scratching their heads, with news of the Revolution's hook still a ways off and Zelda moving ever further into the distance. Gamemethod thinks they know what's up, and have an editorial talking through Nintendo's strategy. From the article: "The most problematic system for Nintendo appears to be the GameCube. Clearly, support for the indigo box has declined rapidly over the past couple years, with third-party publishers cutting off support and many of its exclusives (especially those from Capcom) spreading to other consoles after experiencing little success with the GameCube's limited user base. GameCube has seen a couple terrific first-party exclusives recently; such as Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door; but in order for the system to hold up at all against the technologically superior Xbox 360 (not to mention the original Xbox and PlayStation 2), Nintendo needs a new killer app for their console.". Gamemethod aren't the only ones thinking about the big N. IGN has a rundown on the new GBA Micro, and Press The Buttons unearthed some gems: legally viewable Super Mario Bros. Super Show episodes. That's more Italian plumber than you can shake a stick at.

The Microsoft Keynote address today was a ra-ra session, trying to get people excited about the future of games (the Microsoft way). Which, of course, is not to say that it wasn't interesting. For the word straight from the mount, the sound and video is available on the Xbox site. Many sites have their impressions of the keynote, including Joystiq, GamesIndustry.biz, and Gamemethod. Read on if you'd like my thoughts on Microsoft's vision of the future. The thrust of Allard's talk was the future of gaming as seen through Microsoft's eyes, a vision he referred to as "The HD Living Room". In this future living room, High Def video and audio would combine with immersive connectivity and individualization to produce a new experience for gamers. This experience, he argued, would drawn in new gamers to the fold as the marketplace ages. Someday we would be looking at the first game to sell 20 million units.

Microsoft, of course, is going to usher in this new age. Take what you will from that part of the message, but his overall vision was compelling. Micropayments in the 2.0 version of Xbox live will allow for content sellable to end-users for very small amounts, seamlessly executed from the users end and not even a consideration on the designer's end. Essentially, all the designer would have to do is decide what assets were available for sale and what price as the the Live 2.0 system handles the rest.

Microsoft's role as a developer's aid behind the scenes seemed to be his secondary talking point. XNA Studio was mentioned again, and Allard discussed a future point where design teams are much larger and completely integrated across the globe. The most barbed commentary came when he was discussing the Xbox Next system, and how the system's design was intended to be as easy to develop on as possible while still being powerful and balanced. He referred to a "Science Fair Approach" to console design where these were not the objectives, probably referring to Nintendo's Revolution system.

The crunchy parts of the talk included details about the next Live system, where players will have online "gamer cards", personalized baseball cards showing their stats and accomplishments while playing Live games. The ability to customize the music experience for every Xbox game was mentioned (ala Burnout 3 and some other titles), as was a ubiquitous and standardized user interface for all games that use the Live service. In many ways it sounds as if Live 2.0 will be taking many cues from Bungie's work on Halo 2. The extendable XML and RSS technology used in the game was mentioned during a video presentation in the talk.

The thinly veiled slam against Nintendo was the low point of the talk, which overall kept to an upbeat and high minded ideal. Ignoring the part where Microsoft is the backbone of game development for a moment, their ideas have definite merit. As a MMOG player in particular, the discussion of a need for commonality in UI choices seemed on target. His pithy statement "Bruce Lee, not Brute Force" seems a laudable goal for design choices, and a future where gaming is as ubiquitous and as popular as movies or television is certainly not one I would be sad to see.

While selling us on his vision, Allard managed to do a little bit of pure selling as well. But really, who can blame him? Microsoft Game Studios is in an excellent position right now, the next Xbox console is due out this year, and they have announced an intention as a company to specifically support game development from a developer's perspective. If there's anything that the folks in Redmond are talented at it's combining high minded ideas with marketing, and the Wednesday Keynote was very effective in combined both.

Update: 03/10 17:29 GMT by Z :Added back in the paragraph I managed to delete.

Gamemethod writes "We've highlighted ten of our most anticipated games for 2005 spanning each major platform from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo DS to PC. While our feature by no means intends to be comprehensive or to denote that we're not looking forward to other games, these ten titles stand out as the most impressive of what 2005 has to offer. There are exclusive galleries of Gran Turismo 4 and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth as well as a lengthy developer interview with the Call of Cthulu producer."

Gamemethod writes "We've highlighted ten of our most anticipated games for 2005 spanning each major platform from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo DS to PC. While our feature by no means intends to be comprehensive or to denote that we're not looking forward to other games, these ten titles stand out as the most impressive of what 2005 has to offer. There are exclusive galleries of Gran Turismo 4 and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth as well as a lengthy developer interview with the Call of Cthulu producer."

Gamemethod writes "We've highlighted ten of our most anticipated games for 2005 spanning each major platform from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo DS to PC. While our feature by no means intends to be comprehensive or to denote that we're not looking forward to other games, these ten titles stand out as the most impressive of what 2005 has to offer. There are exclusive galleries of Gran Turismo 4 and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth as well as a lengthy developer interview with the Call of Cthulu producer."

Gamemethod writes "We've highlighted ten of our most anticipated games for 2005 spanning each major platform from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo DS to PC. While our feature by no means intends to be comprehensive or to denote that we're not looking forward to other games, these ten titles stand out as the most impressive of what 2005 has to offer. There are exclusive galleries of Gran Turismo 4 and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth as well as a lengthy developer interview with the Call of Cthulu producer."

Gamemethod writes "We've highlighted ten of our most anticipated games for 2005 spanning each major platform from PlayStation 2 to Nintendo DS to PC. While our feature by no means intends to be comprehensive or to denote that we're not looking forward to other games, these ten titles stand out as the most impressive of what 2005 has to offer. There are exclusive galleries of Gran Turismo 4 and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth as well as a lengthy developer interview with the Call of Cthulu producer."

Thanks to Gamemethod, who writes "We took a few days last week to go to the Nintendo Enthusiast Summit , to check out the hot newness. In the lineup were some DS final impressions along with a host of game previews and galleries."

Thanks to Gamemethod, who writes "We took a few days last week to go to the Nintendo Enthusiast Summit , to check out the hot newness. In the lineup were some DS final impressions along with a host of game previews and galleries."

Thanks to Gamemethod, who writes "We took a few days last week to go to the Nintendo Enthusiast Summit , to check out the hot newness. In the lineup were some DS final impressions along with a host of game previews and galleries."

Thanks to Gamemethod, who writes "We took a few days last week to go to the Nintendo Enthusiast Summit , to check out the hot newness. In the lineup were some DS final impressions along with a host of game previews and galleries."

Late last month, Artifact Entertainment was purchased by Tulga Games, a move ending the downward spiral of the company. Artifact was the maker of the Massively Multiplayer Game Horizons, and was the victim of a cynical financial takeover at the hands of its COO James Jones. The seminal work on this sordid tale is A Story of Artifact Entertainment, on the GameMethod site. Anyuzer.com has some interesting commentary on the purchase, relating it to the recent purchase of Asheron's Call 1 & 2 by Turbine from Microsoft. "With MMOGs that have smaller subscription numbers than was projected by the publisher, they offer the perfect opportunity for a development company to become independent."

Gamemethod writes "Earlier this week the crew from Gamemethod went up to Canada to check out what's going on with the Nokia N-Gage. They also have a review of Bomberman, One and Rifts: Promise of Power".

Gamemethod writes "Earlier this week the crew from Gamemethod went up to Canada to check out what's going on with the Nokia N-Gage. They also have a review of Bomberman, One and Rifts: Promise of Power".

Gamemethod writes "Earlier this week the crew from Gamemethod went up to Canada to check out what's going on with the Nokia N-Gage. They also have a review of Bomberman, One and Rifts: Promise of Power".

Gamemethod writes "Earlier this week the crew from Gamemethod went up to Canada to check out what's going on with the Nokia N-Gage. They also have a review of Bomberman, One and Rifts: Promise of Power".

Gamemethod writes "Earlier this week the crew from Gamemethod went up to Canada to check out what's going on with the Nokia N-Gage. They also have a review of Bomberman, One and Rifts: Promise of Power".

An anonymous reader writes "GameMethod reports that for the fiscal 2004 first quarter, Atari announced that net revenues and income were down from last fiscal year, but still positive. Strong sales of [the somewhat controversial] Driv3r for both PlayStation 2 and Xbox are being cited as the main success, but the dip in comparative figures is being attributed to last year's release of Enter the Matrix, Atari's commercially successful (over 5 million units sold), yet critically jeered game. [Atari's Bruno Bonnell commented on the loss of the Unreal license that Epic's proposed deal was 'not acceptable from a profit point of view for our strategy.'] On the flip side, despite a net loss of $3.9 million for the fiscal first quarter of 2005, THQ announced a positive outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. Full Spectrum Warrior for Xbox drove sales for the quarter, ranking as the top selling Xbox game and the second best selling title for the month of June."

An anonymous reader writes "GameMethod reports that for the fiscal 2004 first quarter, Atari announced that net revenues and income were down from last fiscal year, but still positive. Strong sales of [the somewhat controversial] Driv3r for both PlayStation 2 and Xbox are being cited as the main success, but the dip in comparative figures is being attributed to last year's release of Enter the Matrix, Atari's commercially successful (over 5 million units sold), yet critically jeered game. [Atari's Bruno Bonnell commented on the loss of the Unreal license that Epic's proposed deal was 'not acceptable from a profit point of view for our strategy.'] On the flip side, despite a net loss of $3.9 million for the fiscal first quarter of 2005, THQ announced a positive outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. Full Spectrum Warrior for Xbox drove sales for the quarter, ranking as the top selling Xbox game and the second best selling title for the month of June."

An anonymous reader writes "GameMethod reports that for the fiscal 2004 first quarter, Atari announced that net revenues and income were down from last fiscal year, but still positive. Strong sales of [the somewhat controversial] Driv3r for both PlayStation 2 and Xbox are being cited as the main success, but the dip in comparative figures is being attributed to last year's release of Enter the Matrix, Atari's commercially successful (over 5 million units sold), yet critically jeered game. [Atari's Bruno Bonnell commented on the loss of the Unreal license that Epic's proposed deal was 'not acceptable from a profit point of view for our strategy.'] On the flip side, despite a net loss of $3.9 million for the fiscal first quarter of 2005, THQ announced a positive outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. Full Spectrum Warrior for Xbox drove sales for the quarter, ranking as the top selling Xbox game and the second best selling title for the month of June."

Will writes "A recent article at Gamemethod makes claims about how big companies can squash the little guy, and good gaming along with it: 'With almost 600 million dollars in sales in 2003(not including December), and 20% of the entire market, Electronic Arts is a developing and publishing powerhouse... Why should you be worried that EA rules the American gaming market and dominates sales? Well, if EA becomes too large of a force in the industry, it has some potentially damaging side effects that will hurt us, the consumers.'" It goes on to specify that "competition breeds creativity", suggesting "there's a problem when EA has enough money to buy out any studios that bring out a hit game", and concluding that "the progress of games as a medium will continue, but at a snail's pace in comparison to the previous years of fierce competition."