Late Night Consoling

SCi revealed three titles in the works for Xbox 360, by way of a financial report.

Most relevant to Shackers these days would have to be the announcement of Total Overdose 2, presumably under development by Denmark's Deadline Games, the studio behind the recently released Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico (PS2, Xbox, PC).

The publisher apparently is also overseeing production of a Highlander game for Xbox 360. About a year ago, SCi acquired the video game rights to Highlander, and began development of the game for PS2 and Xbox. Highlander creators Peter Davis and Bill Panzer were enlisted to consult on the project. At the time of that announcement, the game was planned for release in 2006, when the Highlander franchise celebrates its twentieth anniversary. While there is no reason to believe that date has changed for PS2 and Xbox, it would not be surprising to see the Xbox 360 version spill over into 2007.

Finally, Pivotal Games' Conflict franchise of war-themed shooters will be making an appearance on Xbox 360 as well. The series has so far seen Conflict: Desert Storm, Conflict: Desert Storm II - Back to Baghdad, and Conflict: Vietnam. Next week sees the release of Conflict: Global Terror. It was not specified which conflict this new Conflict would depict.

SCi, which earlier this year acquired Eidos Interactive, also mentioned the previously-announced Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2, Xbox, PSP, PC), which is speculated to be released in early 2006. According to the report, the three other Xbox 360 titles announced will most likely arrive no sooner than this time next year.

Speaking of SCi and Eidos, the former recently reported that the latter performed better than expected since SCi Games bought out its floundering rival this May. Eidos, which was not quite generating the revenue it used to, still lost GBP 14M (US$24.6M) for its new owner since the purchase, but that's actually somewhat less than the loss of GBP 15.1M (US$26.5M) that was expected. The company has even better outlooks for the forthcoming year, expecting that the Eidos division will be in the black by the end of next June. The purchase left SCi in the position of being the biggest video game publisher in the UK.

There's more positive financial news from the UK, with British studio Kuju announcing that that its asset turnover is up 58% from last year, to GBP 7.7M (US$13.6M). This still leaves the company with an overall financial loss of GBP 102,000 (US$180,000), but it is a huge improvement over last year's GBP 1.4M (US$2.5M) loss. The studio claims to have been adversely affected by the dissolution of Hip Interactive, which was publishing and funding George Romero's City of the Dead, under development by Kuju. Much of Kuju's development time on that title has gone unpaid.

Most recently, in better game news, the studio completed the well-received Battalion Wars (GCN) through Nintendo, and expects to ship EyeToy: Play 3 (PS2) in November. Both titles are expected to contribute to Kuju's bottom line with strong holiday season sales.

In the current generation, approximately ten percent of Xbox owners make use of Microsoft's paid Xbox Live service. However, Microsoft exec Robbie Bach claims that the manufacturer wants to see that number climb to fifty percent with Xbox 360. In a Famitsu interview, Bach explained that by including a free Silver membership to live with the purchase of an Xbox 360 console, many users who would be otherwise uninterested in signing up will try out the service. However, such users will not actually be able to play most games online wiht a Silver subscription; they'll be making use of Live's other media- and chat-related services, a marked difference between the current- and next-gen Live systems. Full access to Live, as in this generation, will be paid only.

Bach also made a couple comments regarding MMOs on Xbox 360. For one thing, it seems that just about anybody who owns an Xbox 360 and the console's optional hard drive will be able to participate in the massive beta period for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI (PS2, X360, PC). The game does not yet have a confirmed release date, though it is expected in the fairly near future. Bach also touched on the topic of an original MMO for 360, saying that while there will be no such title within the system's launch window, gamers should expect to see a "new MMO" for the platform within three years.

In a move that makes you wonder whether Sony's marketing department actually thought they could pull it off, the company ran a rather religiously suspicious ad in Italian newspapers and magazines. The full-page promo campaign, launched in honor of the PlayStation's tenth anniversary, features a man wearing what appears to be a crown of thorns. On closer inspection, however, the thorns are actually bits of metal fashioned into the triangle, circle, square, and X patterns featured on the PlayStation controller. The caption of "Dieci anni di passione" translates to "Ten years of passion," a reference to the Christian depiction of Jesus suffering through the crucifixion. As one might expect, particularly considering the ad ran in Italy, the compaign drew fire from the Vatican and various Catholic groups. "This time they've gone too far," said Antonio Sciortino, editor of a Catholic family newsletter. "If this had concerned Islam there would have been a really strong reaction."

Sony has retracted the ad and apologized.

Poor retail performance of high-budget titles such as Psychonauts (PS2, Xbox, PC) and Advent Rising (Xbox, PC) have led to spectacular financial ruin for publisher Majesco, which announced massive losses, whose CEO resigned earlier this year, and whose shareholders have begun to file suit against the company. The company's current operating budget is not sufficient to carry it through the next year, and bankruptcy is seeming like a strong possibility.

With this need for supplementary financing, Trinad Advisors, which currently owns a nine percent share of Majesco, is offering $5M in cash to the company, but requesting 3.3 million shares of stock in return, an average price of $1.52 per share. Trinad notes that if Majesco's board of directors does not accept the offer, more aggressive action may be taken. Majesco, which has already been drastically reconsidering its business strategy, may not have many other options available.

Planet Moon Studios producer Aaron Loeb has authored Developer Diary #2 for the upcoming Infected (PSP).