From Xbox.com :

To enter, just register your gamertag by downloading the NXE Download & Win Gamer Picture, and then download any of the premium Marketplace content listed below. The NXE Download & Win entry period begins at 6:01 A.M. Pacific Time (PT) on November 19, 2008, and ends at 11:59 pm PT on November 23, 2008. The more you download the more entries you receive, up to a maximum of ten entries per person.

1. Sign in to Xbox LIVE Marketplace
2. Select Themes & Gamer Pictures
3. Select All Themes & Gamer Pictures
4. Select All
5. Select New Xbox Experience
6. Select NXE Download and Win Gamer Picture from the list of available content and select Confirm Download
7. Upon the successful completion of the Gamer Picture download, you will see a Thank You for Registering message.

You may also access the free NXE Download and Win Registration Gamer Picture via the banner ads running on the Xbox LIVE dashboard.

You will automatically receive one entry into the sweepstakes when you download the New Xbox Experience (automatic) and redeem Microsoft Points for downloadable Xbox LIVE Marketplace content in any one of the following categories: Movie, TV Show, Full Arcade Game, Xbox Originals, Game Add-On, Music Video

A total of 46 prizes in the form of varying amounts of Microsoft Points will be given away with this sweepstakes, 5,000 being the smallest amount and 500,000 being the grand prize. This sweepstakes requires you to purchase downloadable content so if you were already planning on buying something, just download the required gamer picture beforehand. If not, you can join me in waiting for the next sweepstakes!

*A special thank you to Mayesyboy (who is really Austin Powers in disguise) for the tip. ONE MILLION MICROSOFT POINTS!

VideoGamer.com: A lot of people seem to feel that while the Wii has been very successful, the system hasn’t really seen enough decent third party games. Do you think there are too many “waggle-a-thons”?

Jordan Itkowitz: Yeah, there’s a lot of that and there’s a lot of party stuff too. Some of it is really good and some of it is not so good, but it’s one of the things for which we’ve got to give credit to THQ. They said, “We want to do more original IP, and we already have a lot of licenses to fill out our portfolio.” The last title I worked on was Cars for Pixar, which is about as different from Deadly Creatures as you can get. But THQ were already making De Blob, and then when we brought this to them they bit as well, because they wanted original content in general, and then it felt like a good opportunity to do something on the Wii. And it was really different, we knew we would stand out. You know, I hope that a game like this… it’s received a really positive response from the press, and the fans on messageboards seem to be excited by it, so hopefully it’ll do the right numbers and get the right scores so they want to make more of them. Because the flipside is, and we all know this… you have an original game, it looks good, it plays well and people seem excited about it - but if it doesn’t perform, you’re going to see a lot more party games.

_________________________

I have a feeling that Deadly Creatures is going to be another fantastic third party game from THQ. Perhaps not as good as de Blob, but still an excellent title. To read the full Deadly Creatures-focused interview, click here

One of Nintendo’s major reasons for not supporting HD and keeping the Wii’s specifications conservative was to make it a viable platform for original IPs. The argument was that developing games on machines with multi-core processors and complex architectures was increasing development costs to such a degree, that the appetite for risk was rapidly diminishing within the industry resulting in endless sequels and me-too titles. Two years have passed since the Wii was released and it has since gained many original IPs that allow us to see if Nintendo’s decision has borne fruit, or whether it was just an excuse to limit R&D expenses.

Red Steel

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:1,006,000

As of April ‘07, Ubisoft reported that Red Steel had sold 950,000 copies, and VGChartz has current sales of the game at just over a million; likely well short of the true number. The success of Red Steel cannot be in doubt - a game that was hyped to be sure, but one that also ended as being a pretty mediocre shooter made enjoyable because of the Wii Remote. The question of why Ubisoft has not tried to replicate its success with other Wii FPS games can be explained with other successful Ubisoft games from the Petz/Imagine series. The latter required smaller teams and shorter development cycles, so that even minor sales resulted in strong profits. Nintendo’s own strategy seems to have backfired in this case, as Ubisoft has since become reluctant to release anything other than mini-game compilations, albeit quality ones in the form of Rayman Raving Rabbids, and expanded audience games on the Wii. Motion Plus seems to have provided Ubisoft the impetus to make the sequel that so many expected this year: Red Steel 2 should see a release in the ‘09 holiday season.

Boom Blox

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:560,000

Initially deemed a failure at retail, Boom Blox sold a paltry 60,000 copies in its first week. Many worried that gamers would simply see a glorified version of Jenga and balk at the $50 price tag. Though, like many Wii games, despite not having the front loaded sales so typical of games on the 360, it’s shown real legs due to a solid advertising campaign and strong word-of-mouth buzz. EA stated that the game had sold 450,000 copies in their first fiscal quarter, so VGChartz current estimate of 560,000 copies sold is likely well short of the actual number. It’s tough to determine just how much cash EA plowed into Boom Blox; Steven Spielberg’s influence and the superb level design can’t have come cheap, but ultimately it didn’t feature the lavish visuals and presentation that are known to really elevate development costs. If its sales approach 750,000 worldwide, it will surely represent a very good return for EA who are also strongly rumored to be preparing a sequel.

Zack & Wiki

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:450,000

Capcom clearly lavished a lot of time and money on Zack & Wiki - the game’s art direction, level design and sheer length show that the company also invested a lot of its top talent on the project. In February ‘08, 4 months after its release, Capcom announced that it had sold 300,000 copies of the game in the U.S and Japan. A surprising figure as it had sold a mere 35,000 in its first week on sale in the U.S. VGChartz has current sales for the game at 450,000, but once again this seems a conservative estimate, and shows the site’s general inability to properly track sales figures for games that fall out of the top 20 yet still maintain consistent sales. Despite this, Capcom has not seemed eager to announce a sequel. The success of both Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles seems to be at the heart of this. Both games have sold over a million copies each despite one being a direct port and the other reusing art assets from earlier games. This is further proven by Capcom’s decision to port the 360 title Dead Rising to the console. Compared to Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition’s sales and development cost/time, Zack & Wiki appears to be an apparent failure. Judged on its own however; with its niche point and click adventure gameplay, high difficulty and kid friendly sound and visuals, its sales begin to look a lot more impressive.

And a few that didn’t make it

Perhaps the best game to have completely flopped on the Wii is We Love Golf. Capcom acknowledged in a press release that its performance was ’sluggish’ and VGChartz has its current sales at 40,000, though this does not include Europe. Quite why it sold so badly is a bit of a mystery - Camelot, the game’s developer, has been responsible for numerous golf games that have been successful for both Nintendo and Sony in the past. Konami’s overly cute Dewy’s Adventure and Leftfield’s poorly designed Nitrobike are other notable failures of original IPs.

In part 2 of TVGB’s look at how original IPs perform on the Wii; De Blob and Okami will be covered, as well as a look at whether the high sales of ports and spin-offs could be shaping developers’ release lists a little too strongly.

Child’s Play and gamerDNA are teaming up to raise money for charity this holiday season. Beginning December 2nd, leading game community websites will be prompting members to complete the gamerDNA Decades of Influence Quiz throughout December. The multiple choice quiz helps gamers discover which gaming trends over the last 4 decades have the most influence on their personal gaming style.

Here’s how it works according to the press release.

After completing the quiz, participants will receive a unique virtual badge featuring their quiz results and the name of the community they represent. Using the embeddable codes provided, participants will race to share their badge in as many online locations as possible. The community that shares the most badges will select which Children’s Hospital is to receive a donation of 6 bundles of Nintendo DS systems and games from gamerDNA.”

Child’s Play is a charity begun in 2003 by Penny Arcade creators, Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and Jerry “Tycho” Holkins. All donations go to Children’s Hospitals across the country. Thanks to gamers, Child’s Play has been very successful endeavor.

“Child’s Play has done so much for kids in need, helping to make their lives a little easier and more fun,” said Gene Mauro, VP of Marketing and Business Development at gamerDNA. “We commend all that the organization has accomplished and are happy to contribute to their charity this holiday season with this new contest.”

“Last year was a successful one for Child’s Play, with over 1.3 million dollars in donations from gamers around the globe,” said Kristin Lindsay, Project Coordinator for Child’s Play. “We are excited to have gamerDNA help us raise donations and provide a fun contest and quiz for gamers to participate in along the way.”

For more information on the contest visit the gamerDNA Non-Profit Child’s Play Charity Event website.

---
Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Nintendo Donates A Mountain of DSs To Child's Play
• Halo 3 Tournament: "Fight Like a Girl" for Charity!
• NBA Live 09's Dynamic DNA Looks Extremely Interesting
• Psi-Ops Available for Free on Filefront
• Kids Play Video Games for Charity

One of the world’s most popular MMOs of all time is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Despite server queues, seizuring children and sleepless players beating the game, Wrath of the Lich King is enjoying an extremely successful launch. Boasting 11 million players worldwide going into launch day, Wrath of the Lich King has out sold its predecessor The Burning Crusade by 400,000 copies in its first 24 hours. Meaning Blizzard has beaten their own record of the fastest selling PC game of all time set by their previous expansion in 2007.

Past World of Warcraft launch numbers:

• World of Warcraft (Nov. 23 2004) - 240,000 sold in 24 hours
• The Burning Crusade (Jan. 16 2007) - 2.4 million sold in 24 hours
• Wrath of the Lich King (Nov. 13 2008) - 2.8 million sold in 24 hours

Well that was pretty short lived wasn’t it? The search giant launched its answer to the hugely successful Second Life not six months ago but today announced via its corporate blog that it will be shutting down Lively.

The blog reads: “Despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we’ve decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.”

The plug will officially be pulled at the end of December. Lively, which is still being beta-tested, received an underwhelming response upon its launch in July and has since not been the runaway success Google may have hoped for, despite all its monetary and marketing muscle.

Google is encouraging current users to capture videos and screenshots of all their hard work before it is sucked up into the black singularity of the Internet.

Continue reading World of Warcraft's birth and development chronicled by video retrospective

World of Warcraft's birth and development chronicled by video retrospective originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday was also saw NewPSARDumper for 5.x that will decrypt the 3g files and works perfect with 5.02

Also in the f0 dump is found a 01-12-3G.bmp which can be changed to 01-12.Bmp and enjoyed by everyone.

Since there are PSN updates, I started looking at the NP files and I flashed a decrypted 5.02 version.txt and npinstaller_plugin.prx and woowoo im on the PSN using 5.00m33 :P

quick look at some other files... Paf.prx has 1 change.. the magic bit that says what file version it is: 0x00167c80

5.00 10000005

5.01 10010005

5.02 10020005

npadmin_plugin.prx the same at offset 0x00039EB5

npsignin_plugin.prx the same at offset 0x0000B0E1

npsignup_plugin.prx the same at offset 0x00047585

npinstaller_plugin.prx has LOTS of changes

vshmain has lots of changes And they are stupid...at the end of a string of hex data that is different the last 2 digits go from say 94 to 96....and that small jump in numbers is found ALOT like that :-/

• PSP firmware 5.02 released... in Japan; carries minor changes Update
• Dark AleX: Psardumper with PSP-3000 modules decryption
  

The XNA Creators' Club is being touted as a way for semi-pro and amateur developers to bring their designs to the masses via XNA Community Games, which launch alongside the New Xbox Experience today.

At its recent San Francisco XNA Community Games event, however, it became clear that a lot of the developers who have created the most polished and ready-for-market games on the service actually do have professional backgrounds.

At the event, we had a chance to speak with Nathan Fouts, founder and president of Mommy's Best Games (as well as its only full-time employee.) His game, Weapon of Choice, is a neo-retro throwback that brings to mind classics like Contra while embracing contemporary design choices.

Despite its hardest-of-hardcore looks and (nearly) one-man creation, it sprang not from the mind of an enthusiastic amateur, but a seasoned professional.

Though Fouts left Insomniac Games to found his own company, Insomniac CEO Ted Price, when recently asked, called him "an instrumental part of Resistance: Fall of Man... one of the most creative programmers I've ever met."

What is it that drove Fouts to leave his job at one of the most successful independent developers in the country and strike out on his own, and why through XNA Community Games? The answers may surprise you.

Did you have any sort of professional background in development before you started this project?

Nathan Fouts: I've been in the industry for over a decade now -- I guess I'm getting old! I've worked at Running with Scissors, I've worked at N-Space, I've worked at Insomniac Games.

I actually designed and programmed the weapons on Resistance: Fall of Man, the launch title. And I did the bosses on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

So you actually have extensive experience on high-budget, next-gen projects. You decided to give that up and make your own project?

NF: Yeah. It's kind of crazy. We were making good coin at Insomniac Games.

They still are, without you. (laughs)

NF: Oh, yeah. Everybody there. That place... it's a great place to work. Basically, though, we had a child -- I don't know if you guys are interested in this from a developer standpoint, but because we're getting older, a lot of people, a lot of the professionals I'm friends with have had kids.

We had a baby and we decided to move back to the Midwest to be closer to my parents, so they could be with their grandson. This wasn't going to work, working at a big place. So a couple of years ago I started to think about forming my own place. And we didn't know how, and we knew that we couldn't pull it off until the whole downloadable thing started, with the new systems, basically.

Once Live Arcade started moving, I thought, "Wow, if we can get our money together, this might be possible." When XNA came through, and when Community Games announced that you could make money through it, that's when I knew we could do it.

How many people did you have working on the title?

NF: Me.

Really?

NF: Okay, that's extreme. But basically, I did original concept, design, art, programming, animation, sound effects, and then I had a really talented musician out of Tucson who did the music. I wrote the skeleton for the story, and then I had a science fiction writer friend write the story and the dialogue. So, basically, 95% of the game.

Wow. How long have you been in development?

NF: Like I said, we saved our money for a couple of years, and then I quit my job at Insomniac, and then I started full time in November last year. So it's almost been a year now.

I can imagine that's been like perpetual crunch.

NF: You know what's funny? Just, again, for the other developers' standpoint, working at home, it's been perpetual crunch that has been doable because I get these, like, mini-breaks.

You have dinner, there's your wife, your kid, and then you keep working. It's not as bad as a real place. I've done plenty of crunch before, and it drains your soul. But this hasn't been as bad. Anyway -- it's just different, working at home.

It's something, as you said, that people are facing. People want to start families. Everyone comes coastal to work in development. You don't really have a lot of choice in the matter.

NF: We didn't love Los Angeles, honestly. We lived there a couple of years. The only reason we were there was to work on games. There are a ton of places there. It's easy to move around. It isn't nice, but...

The interesting thing is, with the internet, it was possible to do our game in the boonies. We live out in the country, in Indiana, actually. And so it was actually possible to keep in touch with people, share files, and actually share the game itself, so that actually made it possible.

And your wife worked on it, too, right?

NF: Well, I did the development side, and she's like business, and producer -- well, quasi-producer. She does marketing, and helps with the press and that kind of stuff.

She's actually a fundraiser grant writer by trade, so she's really good at talking with people and working with them and everything. It's kind of like the Frank Zappa scenario. His wife managed him and did the marketing, and he did the music.

We actually have a couple of guys, very freelance, who helped me with the art, off and on. So I wouldn't mind expanding, but it's a really touchy kind of thing -- you have to be really careful about it.

I heard this story from Kathleen from Microsoft -- she said it's based on a concept that you had when you were 17, and then your wife found the designs, and it kind of grew from there. Can you tell me about that?

NF: Sure. I don't want this to turn into a... what's that Silicon Knights game?

Too Human.

NF: It's not a Too Human.

(laughter)

NF: I've always been playing games, and as a kid, as a middle-schooler, I'd do game design. And then I would send in game designs to, like, Electronic Arts, and get refused. And then I'd send them to Tecmo, and Sega, and places like that.

Now, with my wife, we're actually living with my parents, and she was digging through these old boxes, and found my old drawings.

And the funny thing is, they look similar to the new stuff that I've been working on -- but the game design is totally different in this. It's just the fact that I was doing this old style...

Well, the game is very reminiscent of a 16-bit aesthetic. It was a semi-credible story.

NF: No, it's true. It's fine that they say that, but it's a conscious thing -- I wanted to make a new 16-bit kind of game, that looks better, that plays better, that's more fluid, but it plays like that.

In the game there are a lot of elements that make it more playable, nowadays. It's an instant-kill game, but there's an element called "death brushing." Everything slows down, and you have this brush with death. It can happen as often as it needs to, and it's infinite, and it makes it a lot more possible to not die. It's an old-style game with new influences.

It's such a small thing, but the title screen really looks like a TurboGrafx or Genesis game to me, aesthetically.

NF: Exactly! That was a conscious decision. Another comparison that Steve Wik, of Postal, the game designer there -- he said, "I'd expect it to be on a marquee for an arcade machine from, like, '87." Yes!

I love that kind of art. I just love that you can see the pencil drawing in it, and you can just imagine the guy laboring over it, and I wanted to bring that through -- and I labored over it.

And the other thing is, and this isn't a negative on Resistance: Fall of Man, but when you go from one thing to another, that game is, the color palette is really kind of... low-key.

Brown.

NF: Okay, it's brown. It's Brown World. It just gets to you. Ratchet was very full and colorful, but that did not cure me. From working on Resistance, I was like, "Man, I want insane aliens, and I want crazy colors!" I've been seeing forum posts that have been saying it looks like an acid trip, and I've been like, "Thanks!" You know? Cool!

It reminds me a lot of 16-bit games, but more so. Based on what I've just seen.

NF: That's the idea. A lot of the weapons -- the other design idea behind the weapons is that each character has a weapon. It's his weapon of choice. But each character has a weapon, but when you play him, he's a life.

So when you play him, you're stuck with that guy. And even though you think you may not enjoy that weapon, you get to explore it more, and every weapon has a lot of depth to it. So it's easy to use at first, but then there's a lot more things you can do with it, and hopefully you'll grow to like all of the different weapons.

So it sounds like you've definitely put a lot of thought into how to evolve the design of a 16-bit game and make it compelling for a contemporary audience. I mean, we all have a lot of nostalgia for old games, but Mega Man 9 notwithstanding, it's a bit hard to approach them.

NF: And I'm playing Mega Man 9! And it kicks my butt. And it's a wake up, man. When you start those old games -- I still play a lot of those old games -- but when you start them, they smack you in the face! And in this one I wanted it to be a little bit more of an ease-in.

Again, I studied all of those old games really carefully. This is a game where you restart from the beginning -- which not everybody's psyched about -- but you do restart it from the beginning, I wanted to make it interesting every time you play.

So say you only play 10 minutes, and you fail. Then, you restart from the beginning. But when you restart, there's a lot of different paths to take. And within the levels themselves, you can actually branch and go a whole different way, and the story changes.

So if you keep trying this one path, and it starts to get boring, you can say, "I'm going to try this other path," but as you go, you're also picking up new operatives, so you're picking up new people with new weapons.

So say that one path you didn't get too far in -- it was too tough for you. You manage to save a new guy, you restart the game, and you have four guys -- four extra lives -- and now you are able to get further down the path. And that's how we make it playable for everybody. We've focused a lot on that.

To talk about something a bit different -- you said that your original inspiration was that you thought you could go on a traditional download service -- you made it sound like you were going for Xbox Live Arcade, when you initially had this idea to do it yourself as an independent developer.

NF: Absolutely.

But you ended up moving into the Community Games space. That has the benefit that you don't have to wend your way through getting picked, and everything, but obviously you don't have the same level of support.

NF: Right.

Can you talk about that decision-making process, and your expectations?

NF: It's a hard thing to talk about, but I'll just tell you, we got refused from Live Arcade. The initial game didn't look as good as this one.

Basically what happened -- and this is for everybody else who's thinking about it -- we went in, we pushed the game through to them, and they thought it was really interesting and fun.

But they thought the art style just wasn't enough, so we actually took that and spent a month and a half redoing just about every single thing in the game, and it was just horrible.

What I did, initially, was really static, and since then I've re-animated everything -- all the trees, all the grass, everything moves. I've had Xbox people say it's even stronger now, and because they want to bump up Community Games, they want to keep it on Community Games!

I'm cool with that, because I like Community Games. But it's been tough. I wanted it on Live Arcade -- or I thought I wanted it on there. But this whole thing's been a blessing too, so it's really come out great. And the [Dream Build Play] contest was pretty amazing, so I'm really excited about the whole thing.