Daily News Spin — March 28, 2001 (Wednesday)

Conquest: Frontier Wars finds publisher

This disowned Digital Anvil title apparently has a publisher now, though the publisher isn't named. StrategyPlanet has an interview with Eric Peterson, the producer of the game. In the course of the interview he mentions that they have a publisher now.

Black & White spyware?

We're not sure what to make of this. PlanetBlackandWhite is reporting that Lionhead is logging IPs of players with warez copies of the game and plans on contacting the ISPs and asking that the players have their accounts banned.

Looks like Lionhead may well get the last laugh with regards to people who are playing illegal copies of the game, as Infolder have just discovered.

"We have a large list of IP's that are playing the illegal copy of the game, so we have them all logged. We will be contacting the ISP's for details on the accounts, and also the IPs that are logged as playing the illegal version will be banned from playing the full multiplayer game. :)" [That quote attributed to Jamie Durrant, whom we assume is a Lionhead employee.]

If the warez version of Black & White is spyware and contacts Lionhead, does the retail version do the same? It gets more interesting with dynamic IPs. If an assigned IP is first used with a warez version and later gets used by a legit copy, what's logged at Lionhead?

It also looks like Lionhead may be blocking online access to Black & White games, as witnessed by this amusing screenshot.

We've emailed EA. We hope to have a more definitive answer soon.

Quake 3: Team Arena is da bomb

We still get love letters about our review of Team Arena. Apparently, according to this article at 3DActionPlanet, the game was a marketplace bomb.

Even though Team Arena got almost universally good reviews, people simply didn't buy it. After all, you COULD spend $25+ for a copy, but why bother? Nobody plays it, and you can get BETTER addons in the form of mods completely free of charge.

It's the chicken and the egg thing, but no one wants the chicken or the egg in this case.

Why we don't want to play Majestic

The Herald has an article about Majestic with this quote from producer Neil Young:

"Players are just pawns in the game. Once you are in it you are bombarded with phone calls to your home, faxes and e-mail messages to your office and text messages to your mobile phone. It is up to you to make sense of it."

We don't mind being pawns -- after all, we have to deal with editors all the time. But signing up to be "bombarded" with calls, faxes, and email? This is fun?

At least it's a game you can play at work without having to hotkey to a spreadsheet.

Xbox offline for year 1

Bloomberg.com is reporting that Microsoft plans not supporting online gaming via the Xbox until it's established somewhat.

Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox console won't allow Japanese users to play games over the Internet until its second year on sale, according to a company document. The decision will leave Microsoft almost two years behind Sony Corp.

The largest software maker said it needed to build a following among the most avid gamers, males aged 18 to 30, before investing in online versions, according to a document stamped ``confidential'' that Microsoft distributed to game developers attending a briefing at Tokyo's Shintakanawa Prince Hotel.

Hmmm....

Crazy investors?

Yahoo has a story about Electronic Arts stock trading at 60 times its earnings value, which is kind of whacky given the current high tech market.

The stock is trading at more than 60 times its projected 2002 earnings, more than double its closest competitors. And analysts are slapping buy recommendations all over the stock, despite the bubble-era valuation.

Since the beginning of the year, a time when the Nasdaq Composite Index has lost 22%, EA's shares have gained nearly 20%. Why, you ask, is a software company trading at this high after the carnage dealt most tech stocks?

Investors' puppy love with the Redwood City Calif.-based software publisher is based on more than good looks. Market leader Electronic Arts, with titles such as Madden NFL 2001 , is well-positioned to dominate the handful of new turbo-charged game consoles that will hit the market later this year. The company is also poised to be the top online gaming company with its subscription-based site EA.com.

The story goes on to say that EA is poised to be a market leader with the next gen consoles, which we suppose is true. However, we're not convinced that the market will expand significantly, especially if the economy does falter. EA may be poised for growth, but the market itself may not be.

Activision looking Hawkish

Someone's making a little money, it seems. Activision is saying that they'll meet or beat fourth quarter estimates and buy back $15 million of their debt, according to a story on Yahoo. The story further says that Activision's success is due in large part to the Tony Hawk games.

There are a few concerns however, admits Iribarren. Activision is "pretty dependent on its Tony Hawk brand," he said. About a quarter of the company's overall 2000 revenue came from Tony Hawk games. If gamers lose their love for the title, revenue could get walloped.

Kesmai and EA.com from the inside

Lum the Mad has posted an anonymous letter from a Kesmai employee discussing the history of the EA buyout and what went wrong, from this employee's perspective. There's no verification available, so treat it as a rumor, although the depiction of a large corporation blundering about with a vague goal of dominating online gaming but having no real sense of how to do it rings true.

Clive Barker, interview junkie

There are more Clive Barker interviews on the web than pornographic photos. We noticed today that Gamespot UK has another interview with the author cum game designer. We just wanted to point out that the best interview with Mr. Barker was written by Quarter to Three's Tom Chick for the late Gamecenter.

Clive Barker looks much younger than you'd expect. He has a close-cropped goatee and mustache. He's wearing a pair of small hoop earrings, leather pants, and yellow tinted sunglasses. He looks like a game designer. When he opens his mouth, it is obvious he is well-read, articulate, and passionate. He speaks with something halfway between an imperious English slur and a growl. He doesn't so much answer a question as launch into a desultory speech that eventually lands in the vicinity of your question. Interviewing Barker is calling in verbal artillery on yourself: ideas rain down around you and you have no way of knowing where they're going to hit or when they're going to stop.

See? Told ya.

3am

The floodgates have opened. With Fallout Tactics, Kohan, Fate of the Dragon, Serious Sam, Tribes 2, Summoner, and Black & White we have tons of games to waste time with. We're also right in that golden sports zone, where major league baseball is ready to start, the NCAA Final Four weekend is upon us, NBA and NHL playoffs aren't too far off, and the NFL draft is a few weeks away. What could spoil all this?

Oh yeah. April 15th.

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