Welcome to week three of JOE’s videogame round-up. We’re looking to be provide you with up-to-the-minute news, download reviews, weekly charts and forthcoming release dates on a weekly basis. So if there’s anything you think we’re leaving out, or would like us to shine a spotlight on, feel free to leave a comment below.
News
FIFA Manager developer hopes to usurp Football Manager’s dominance in “two years”
Lampard’s mid-game self-promotion was becoming a distraction to his team-mates
EA’s FIFA Manager developers Bright Future have revealed that they hope to overtake Football Manger for the crown of best-loved and best-selling PC football management sim in the next “two years or so”. Speaking to the games website Eurogamer.net, Bright Future’s Gerald Koehler stated that the goal of outsting the long-held king of the management sim is not such a daunting task, explaining that “Football Manager is the main game in the UK, but FIFA Manager has around 95% market share in Germany”.
Reflecting on the niche market, Koehler admitted that there aren’t “really a lot of games left” in the football management genre.
“Some weeks ago I saw a top 20 chart from the UK 15 years ago and nine game were football management sims! It’s completely different today. Now only two are left.” Clearly Bright Future’s man doesn’t see much competition from the on-going Championship Management series. FIFA Manager 11 will be released on 29 October.
Activision vs Infinity Ward lawsuit heats up, ex-employees seeking $216m
Activision probably would’ve hired this guy to kick out West and Zampella
After last year’s surprise sackings of Call of Duty creators and Infinity Ward co-founders Simon West and Jason Zampella from publishers Activision, little detail was known of the surprise decision, though many suspected that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare supremos had been speaking to rival publishers behind Activisions back. After their departure, dozens of Infinity Ward employees left Activision, joining the duo’s recently formed Respawn Entertainment under publishers EA. The employees amended group lawsuit was filed in California over and true or not, contains some juicy details on the controversial incident and fallout.
According to the suit, Activision paid 40% of the Modern Warfare 2’s promised bonus money on the release of the title,but withheld the rest, “demanding” Infinity Ward “develop, produce, complete and publish” Modern Warfare 3 by November 2011 to recieve the rest of their bonuses. The publishers also allegedly brought in security personnel to man the office exits during West and Zampella’s sacking, afterwards promising and then withholding bonuses to keep the remaining Infinity Ward employees from staying in their positions. A seperate lawsuit has also been filed by the ex-Infinity Ward Founders for wrongful dismissal.
Purchase/Download of the Week
Xbox 360 250GB Slimline (July 16, €249.99)
Even if you already own an Xbox, this one’s prettier
A month after lucky US gamers got their grubby mitts on it, Microsoft will finally release their sleek, “Slimline†Xbox360. Featuring a 250GB hard drive, on-board Wi-Fi connectivity for enhanced online performance, and hopefully RROD-free (‘red ring of death’ system failures) gaming sessions. The console hits the shelves this Friday for €249.99 and if you still haven’t picked up Microsoft’s wonder console, there’s no excuse now – it’s even got an ‘edgy’ design, for god’s sake.
Friday Releases 16/07/2010
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A weekly release highlight sounded like a good idea at the time… sigh
The summer drought trundles along and in the words of Homer Simpsons, “Default? The two sweetest words in the English language. Dee fault, dee fault!”, Toy Story 3 is our default pick of the week’s releases, with absolutely no physical releases to challenge it. If you’re interested, the video game tie-in to this Summer’s biggest release is actually getting some very favourable reviews, so perhaps we shouldn’t judge it too harshly. If you’re not looking for Woody and Buzz for playthings, you’ll have to wait it out another week and hope for the best.
Deadliest Warrior The Game (XBLA)
DeathSpank (XBLA)
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
None
