A couple of days ago everyone was calling it "Revolution", now Nintendo has officially named its next-gen gaming console the somewhat more prosaic Wii. Pronounced "we", the name is supposed to emphasise that the console is for everyone and, according to Nintendo, is a word that crosses all language barriers. Righto.

More: Nintendo website

Posted by at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's not that long since Pro Evolution Soccer 5 was released (October, actually), but Konami has just announced that PES6 will debut in Los Angeles during May's E3 gaming expo. Details are still of the "many new additions will be announced at the show" variety, though presumably they'll be showing the first iteration of PES for Xbox 360. This will be interesting, because EA's rushed FIFA 06 for 360 was a crushing disappointment, especially following the PS2 version of the game; we reckon FIFA 06 - at least on PS2 - was the first time in some years that EA released a soccer game better than Konami's (cue dozens of emails from rabid PES fans. Yes, yes, yes, we usually like PES more as well, but sorry folks, FIFA 06 was better than PES5). Don't be surprised if the extra few months Konami has taken to get its 360 title right results in a stunner of a game.

Posted by at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

EA has announced that the forces of the GDI and their arch rival NOD will return in 2007 in Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars. The latest game in the C&C series returns to the storyline of the original game, in which the forces of good and niceness (the GDI) battled the evil NOD lead by the bald and bad to the bone Kane. In the new game it is 2047 and the toxic substance Tiberium is spreading across the globe. For more details, check EA's release here.

Posted by Bruce Buckman at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you've ever struggled with the complications the Starforce copy protection system often brings to PCs then the news that games publisher Ubisoft has decided to cease using the system will come as good news. Ubisoft was recently targeted in the US with a $US5 million lawsuit from users claiming Starforce created potential security holes on end-users PCs. There is no word yet on what copy protection Ubisoft will adopt instead.

While we're fully supportive of a publisher's right to protect their property, at PC World Towers we firmly believe that such protection doesn't have the right to interfere with a user's PC, which it is alleged, Starforce does. And just as important, for both publisher and gamers, it shouldn't degrade the user's gaming experience.

The Boycott Starforce website notes that among other problems, "It has been reported by many users that the slowdown caused by StarForce on some recent multiformat DVD writers can cause irreversible hardware failures on those drives (they aren't recognized anymore), as they aren't supposed to write at slow speeds."

Now it may be a co-incidence, but my 16x, double-layer DVD writer failed last week, just three weeks or so after I started playing a Starforce-protected game.

Having sat through lengthy game install procedures, including several that refused to complete, on games using Starforce, we're happy to see that Ubisoft is taking its users' complaints seriously.

Posted by Bruce Buckman at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Americans are yet to be convinced, but it seems Australians are loving the Xbox 360.

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Microsoft's machine set a new record for gaming console sales in their week of release, having shifted 30,421 units in its first four days of availability, compared with the Sony PSP's opening number of 27,055.

SMH also notes that retailers have enjoyed a boom-time when it comes to 360 software: more than 60,000 games found new homes in the same time period, while each of the top 10 console games sold last week was a 360 title.

Read the full Sydney Morning Herald story here (registration required).

Posted by at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It might have more processing power that its predecessor, but Microsoft's Xbox 360 is taking longer to boot up, both in terms of consoles shipped and games sold. The figures below, from industry tracker NPD, show games sold in the US for the original Xbox in Q4 2001, and the Xbox 360 in Q5 2005 (each console's respective first Christmas).

XBOX
(Game: units sold)
Halo: 783,200
Project Gotham: 454,400
Dead or Alive 3: 402,700
NFL Fever 2002: 388,000
Madden NFL 2002: 307,000
TOTAL: 2,335, 300

XBOX: 360
Call of Duty 2: 509,400
Madden NFL '06: 298,300
Perfect Dark Zero: 290,500
Need for Speed: MW: 211,900
Project Gotham 3: 165,200
TOTAL: 1,475,300

On a related note, sales of the Xbox 360 itself have been slower than the original Xbox console. Manufacturing delays are most often cited as the culprit, but some point to the fact that there are few TVs out there - even in the US - that can handle a high definition (HD picture). On the opposite tack, some punters may be waiting for Sony's PlayStation3, which will ship with a high definition Blu-Ray DVD player (Xbox 360 has no HD player, though there are plans to possibly add an HD-DVD drive in future models).

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)