Hellgate: London Reborn as Free- to- Play

Hellgate: London's failed reception and sales gave a lethal blow to Flagship Studio, causing them to dissolve due to financial troubles. The game's servers however, remain up until 31st of January 2009, after which the servers will be shut down (planned by Namco Bandai).

However, Hellgate: London will been reborn as a free- to- play multiplayer online game, according to the comment from the Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft. HanbitSoft plans on updating the game and strengthening the community features.

The re-birth of Hellgate: London will be clearly aimed at the English-speaking market according to HanbitSoft's official weblog statement. However, it is unclear whether the company is formally allowed to operate the game in the U.S. or Europe.

Myself, I am unsure if this means the whole game is free or whether the multiplayer servers are just free and you still have to buy the game.

Also, HanbitSoft is also working to reborn another Flagship Studio failure- Mythos.

Ubisoft Sales report.

Ubisoft's Q3 Sales REport came out yesterday and included some surprise announcments for the next year.

Ubisoft reprted that sales went up 13% to AUD$1 billion. They say this is because:

• "The diversity and quality of Ubisoft‘s games line-up for the holiday period, with a targeted offering for each type of consumer.
• A solid showing from franchise titles launched during the quarter, particularly Far Cry® 2 and Rayman Raving Rabbids® TV Party which generated sell-in sales of 2.9 millionand 1.5 million units respectively and offset the impact of a slower take-off for Prince of Persia® (2.2 million units).
• The creation of a new multi-million units selling franchise œ Shaun White Snowboarding œ which was the quarter‘s number two sports game in the United States and recorded2.3 million units sell-in worldwide.
• The ongoing success of the Group‘s casual games, notably the very robust performance turned in by the Imagine® range fueled by the success of Imagine Teacher and Imagine Wedding Designer. For 2008, Ubisoft‘s market share for Nintendo DS games is 13.5% in Europe and 12,0% in the United States."

They also reported that games to be released before March 31 include Tom Clancy's Hawx, Tom Clancy's End War (PC) and Grey's Anatomy: The Video Game.

Finally, they revealed titles expected to be released between April 2009 and March 2010. These titles include:

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
• A new Ghost Recon game
• 4 New movie based games
• More casual games for the Wii and DS

Here is UbiSofts game release schedule for January - March 2009:

Games Release Schedule

Fourth quarter (January œ March 2009)

BROKEN SWORD
Wii™, Nintendo DS™

CHRONO TRIGGER (AUSTRALIA œ DENMARK)
Nintendo DS™

CSI: NEW YORK (EUROPE)
PC

DISGAEA 3 ABSENCE OF JUSTICE
(AUSTRALIA œNORDICS - FRANCE)
PLAYSTATION®3

DRAGONQUEST® HAND OF THE HEAVENLY BRIDE
(AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS - BENELUX - FRANCE)
Nintendo DS™

FASHION STUDIO: PARIS COLLECTION
Nintendo DS™

GREY‘S ANATOMY: THE VIDEO GAME
Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PC

IMAGINE® BALLET DANCER (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® CHEERLEADER (US)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® FAMILY DOCTOR
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® FASHION PARTY
Wii™

IMAGINE® ICE CHAMPIONS
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® MOVIE STAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® POP SUPERSTAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: SOCCER STAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: FIREMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: HANDYMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: POLICEMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JOJO‘S FASHION SHOW ™
Nintendo DS™

LAST REMNANT (AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS)
PC

MONKEY MADNESS (EUROPE)
Wii™

MY ENGLISH COACH™ LEVEL 1
Nintendo DS™

MY FITNESS COACH (AUSTRALIA œ UK)
Wii™

PETZ ® MY BABY PANDA (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® HORSESHOE RANCH
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® MY KITTY FAMILY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® MY MONKEY FAMILY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETSHOP STORY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

RHAPSODY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE (AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS)
Nintendo DS™

SCRABBLE® 2009 (UK œ FRANCE - AUSTRALIA)
Nintendo DS™

STAR OCEAN: SECOND EVOLUTION (EUROPE)
PSP™

TENCHU: SHADOW ASSASSINS
Wii™

TENCHU: SHADOW ASSASSINS (US)
PSP™

TOM CLANCY‘S ENDWAR™
PC

PLAYSTATION®3,
TOM CLANCY‘S H.A.W.X™
Xbox 360™, PC

TOTALLY SPIES AGENDA (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

VACATION SPORTS
Wii™

WORD ACADEMY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

WORLD IN CONFLICT®: SOVIET ASSAULT
PC

Super Mega Post of Doom Part 1

Hi
I'm back in the great land of Oz(Australia not Oz as in the wizard of of or where Wicked the musical or book is set which by the way was AWESOME)and i have news. First this is the super mega post of doom part 1 cause it was going to take to long to write so i'm doing it in to parts so i can squeeze some WoW in between.

So as some of you no i have been in the US which means I had access to the worlds greatest TV channel G4. For those who don't no it is a tech/gaming channel in the US(some of you may have seen attack of the show or X Play on Fuel TV here). And what just so happened to be of G4 but LIVE CES!!!!So now here(if i can remember anything--it was like 2 weeks ago)are my favorite releases and unavailing from the Consumer Electronics Show.

Firstly, i think Sony(cant remember) has released a flexible screen. That's right. It is like material. Maybe in the future we will all be like the Telle Tubbies with TVs on our shirts.

Secondly, the big thing at CES this year was OLED(organic light emitting diode). It is like HDTVs, except on crack. Nearly every brand you can think of brought out one of them. Also i think the flexible screen might even be OLED.

3rd, someone( cant remember but i think it is either Sony(they did tonnes this year) or Panasonic) brought out a TV that does 3D. You still need the weird glasses but can you imagine playing your favorite game( i was going to say whatever the game of the year was but doesn't look like there is one) in 3D. I think it can make everything 3D so it is not like you need special games/movies to use the 3D but i am not sure( if someone could verify that it would be great).

Another awesome thing at CES was a TV Toshiba(or Fujitsu, cant remember but i am 80% sure Toshiba) brought out a TV with motion controls so no need for a remote:)

Now on the Phones. There were TONNES of phones brought out this year, all aiming to kill the iPhone but the one most likely to achieve its goal was the new phone bu Palm. Now I don't no much about it except it looks like the iPhone except more rounded and it seems to have a similar app system but i am not sure. The thing I am sure of though is that everybody went CRAZY over it. I am not sure what is go great about it but who it seems that this could be a major contender for the iPhone.

Now the oddest thing I saw phonewise was a Watch Phone by LG. It is surrounded by secrecy and G4 couldn't actually show what it could do but they say its pretty awesome. Lets hope it is not like the one Dr Ashens reviewed



Sorry i just like the review. Hope you do aswell. Well what else was there........I no i am missing something big but i cant remember what:(
Oh well thats about it. It was awesome. For more go to here.

In other news i signed up for the Windows 7 Beta test( also announced at CES) and will be reviewing that in Super Mega Post of Doom Part 2.

Thanks for reading

AndrewCow

P.S -- McFar 54 can you spell check please

Microsoft's Next Operating System

Microsoft's next operating system, Windows 7, will use Microsoft's new Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP), making any CPU 800MHz or faster will be fully compatible with DirectX 10.1. The platform is designed to take advantage of multiple cores.

Apple First Quarter Results and Sony revises loss figures

Apple today released their First Fiscal Quarter 2009. They reported a "record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion" and also said that they "sold 2,524,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. "

This just shows apples growing market sare in the home Computer and Laptop market as well as a continued strong growth in the mobile phone and mp3 player market. It also shows that despite the economic downturn people are still willing to purchase electronic goods.

Apple also said that they "may provide unspecified features and additional software products to iPhone and Apple TV customers in the future free of charge, in accordance with GAAP the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for these products on a straight-line basis over their economic lives, with any loss recognized at the time of sale".
This just means that they may provide free software for the iPhone and Apple TV without increasing prices. This may be because of the already high prices for these products and would show that they are aware that they may lose sales if prices are increased.

Sony today released a revision to their $152 billion predicted loss and now predict they will have a loss of only $130 billion or 14% less than originally predicted. Most of the loss is blamed on the economic downturn. Final results won't be available until April 2009.

Ubisoft have released there 2008-2009 results with sales up 32% and a net income of $47 million. This appears to be good news for the relatively quiet developer/publisher who have not made many big splashes over the years.

In other news...

EA has announced Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3: Ultimate Edition which will bring Red Alert 3 to the PlayStation 3. This should help to boost sales of both the game and to a lesser degree the console as it will add:

• Five exciting new multiplayer maps
• Behind the scenes videos and trailers, including Raising the Iron Curtain Documentary, From Pens to Pixels, the Girls of Red Alert 3, Bloopers & Outtakes, the Red Alert 3 Remix and many more!
• PS3 exclusive Command & Conquer TV programming, including PS3-dedicated BattleCast™ PrimeTime and a special episode of Command School focused on tips, tricks and strategies from the development team
• In-depth profiles on all the Red Alert 3 Units
• The official Red Alert 3 soundtrack

On February 11 ausgametech will be delighted to post Activision Blizzard's December Quarter earnings and 2008 earnings results and the EA results on February 3.

Steve Jobs Steps Down!

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple until July due to health reasons. This is a concern for all as Steve Jobs has been at the helm at Apple for so long and has become a figurehead for the company. This announcement should not see any changes in anything Apple will do until July.

I'm Back

After an absense, I have returned with some news about this blog:

• Youtube 5 will now be the best 4 and5 starred videos of the week and will be moved to Tuesdays!
  
• A new Youtube Fail will be postedevery Thursday featuring the best 1 and 2 starred videos of the week!
• Better News Coverage in 2009 with some posts about events later in the year!
• We welcome Philip who has been doig the Month of DOS posts as an official member of the Ausgametech Team!
  

I hope that this will improve your experience here at Ausgametech and HAPPY NEW YEAR (even if we are 12 Days Late)

Here's the debut, 1 day early, of the new Youtube 5 but only 3 vids will be posted today and teh remaining 2 tomorrow:



Jordan - River Deep Mountain High by Tina Turner


20 Good Reasons


Rove is a bit tongue tied - ROVE LIVE 2004

Byw........For now

Hello

Just letting you no i will be away till the 22nd so i will not be posting...probably. I might if i get a chance but probably won't. So i leave you with a video. Now normally i do not do direct links to the reviewers i watch but this one was just so funny i had to. It might not be to you but it reminded me alot of my mum so it was to me.:)



bye.....for now

AndrewCow