This was a rather neat article. Thought it was worth passing on.

The graph you want to see.

• There are at least two key price-drop events. The first is from about the last week in January to the first week in February (25-35 days after the beginning of the year). The second is during the last two weeks of March (75-90 days after the beginning of the year). These are observed across all three platforms: Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube (GC).
• The size of the price drop depends on the platform: the PS2 and GC show a similar level of discounts over time while the Xbox games are discounted more deeply.
• Those price drop events are visible in games in two price ranges: $40.00-$49.99 and $30.00-$39.99. These price drops are not observed in the limited data for games in the $20.00-$29.99 and $0.00-$19.99 ranges, although each of those two other groups has its own key price-drop events.
• Unsurprisingly, games which start at discount prices ($0.00-$29.99) are rarely discounted further. Any discounts made are small relative to the maximum price for which the game is sold during its shelf life.

An article on gamesindustry
Has broken the news that there will be no backwards compatibility on the Xbox 2 “Xenon”.
I don’t know about you, but thats just not cool with me.
The PS2’s ability to play PS1 classics like Einhander and my all time fav game Final Fantasy Tactics was a great Idea that I hope will continue.
Although there are not many “classics” on the xbox, its a shame that gamers will need to hold on to an old console just to play with old friends……

Seven years in the making, the initial critique is - avoid it. (6/10)

It’s not official by any means, but this screenshot seems to be of Command and Conquer 3.

The old Westwood Studios is all but completely shut down. The game will probably be developed by the upstart Westwood LA studio; those fine folks who brought us Red Alert 2, Generals, and the upcoming Battle For Middle Earth. If true, the game is sure to rock.

IMHO, that screen looks legit, but I won’t eat my hat if wrong.

Enigma is a very cool game. It is a WWII naval sim, and a pretty one at that. Gameplay revolves around being the “captain” of one of a slew of Axis or Allied craft, and obchieving objectives.

From the flying bridge you can watch all the action, with binoculars or not, and when that isnt sexy looking enough, you can get into a spectator mode to veiw the action cinematically. This looks really hot when your in the midst of an attack, or when your cruising underwater in a sub.

Additionally, besides just being on the bridge, at any time, you can jump into the seat of any of a ships weapon systems on deck. This could be firing quad 20mm shells at incoming aircraft, or shooting the big 75mm deck guns. KABOOM! There are even browning machine guns on the decks of American ships that you can control and go nuts with.

Now, all this sounds like a nifty naval sim. And truth be told, I think it would be an ok game as is. But what makes the game REALLY frikin awesome is summed up in two words: Voice Commands.

Yes chairside commanders, you can play this whole game with no arms. It is absolutely great to sit in the bridge, be looking around with the binoculars, and say “Hard to Port”. Then see the text message scroll by saying “Aye sir Hard to Port” followed by the ship immediately turning left.

You can control just about everything on the ships from gunnery, navigation, and even the camera views all from a microphone. And while you may look like a total moron, it makes you feel so cool.

On the downside, I would say that it would be a hell fo a lot nicer to hear the crew respond with command affirmations instead of text only. It would also be nice to see an actual crew. Unfortunately, there are no crew members on board to see, even though they can command weapon systems, navigation, radar, etc.

Also on the down side, I cannot seem to figure out the deal with Multiplayer. It seems that they are indending to create a massively multiplayer online naval sim that this game builds in to. But I havent seen hide nor hair of it. Also there was no direct TCP-IP or lan play that I could find to even get a 1 on 1 game going. Hopefully this will be rectified, and clarified.

All in all I’d say if your into WWII sims, this is a must have. It is a very cool game, and nothing beats making vocal commands to your crew.

Final Rating:

Intersting article on the NYTimes about how cell phones (now they are talking NGage here, but im sure more arent too far away) are gonig 3D. Nifty.

The axe has struck Artifact Entertainment’ offices. Those people responsible for breathing life into each shard, the World Masters, have been laid off. Um.. my major beef with Horizons was that each server didn’t have enough personality. Now it’s going to have even less.

From the president of Artifact Entertainment, the insidious David Bowman:

June 16, 2004

Over the past 48 hours Artifact Entertainment has made a tough decision to restructure its workforce and streamline operations, therefore improving the company’s overall financial health. While there were layoffs involved, staff responsible for supporting the company’s principal product, Horizons, are very much on board and at work. Artifact Entertainment will continue to provide quality support to Horizons players.

We are actively helping those impacted by the reductions in staff in acquiring new employment. They have done excellent work and we wish for them to swiftly find other opportunities.

This restructuring has already significantly improved the company’s situation. We’re committed to the Horizons community and value the relationships we have with our loyal fans.

David Bowman
President - Artifact Entertainment

The layoff includes numerous administrators and even the Community Manager “Gale” who was the only active community communicator.

Imagine Wario Mini-games being played at the speed of though.

“CNN.com - Mind over video game: “Using thought alone and with some electrodes placed on the surface of the brain, four volunteers were able to control a video game, U.S. researchers reported Monday.”

This morning on /. there is a post about an article on XBN, who asked a psychic to predict the review scores of Halo 2, Doom3 and others.
What I find funny is that Half Life 2 did not show up in the crystal ball. I suppose there is no way to have clairvoyance when it comes to vaporware!

I must say, at first I was kind of blah about EQII. I figured it would be some giant company making crap and trying to capitalize on it. But it is sounding more and more like this game will be worth it, and dare i say.. even rock!

Check out this bit about crafting.

“During our hands-on demonstration, we also got a very early glimpse of how crafting itself will work. The design team described it almost in combat terms — if you want to make a sword, for instance, you “engage” the forge and go through a process that’s not unlike fighting. When a character interacts with the forge it begins to animate (sparks fly, bellows pump, etc.) Raw materials and a desired result are selected. Then, almost like hit points of a monster, the durability and quality of the item being crafted appear as status bars above the forge. Over time the quality gets better but the durability may drop. During this process, special events might happen: the forge might get too hot, an impurity might be found, or an opportunity to improve the item might come up, forcing the crafter to respond with appropriate skills. If the “encounter” is handled well, the crafter will be able to create a very powerful item.”

Find out more about EQII at the hands on at Gamespy.