Capcom Reports Major Losses

More economic bad news in the gaming industry - Capcom has reported that their net income has dropped a whopping 95 percent since last year.

Personally, I don't really understand how their net income dropped so far since their net sales are only down 13.4 percent.

All of these gaming companies posting such losses recently could be bad news for gamers. With profits down, companies tend to be less willing to try new IPs which means more sequels and more franchise games.

EA Delays February Game Releases

Electronic Arts announced that they are delaying the release of Godfather II and The Sims 3, both of which were supposed to be released this month.

No official word was given as to the reason for the delay, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the massive quarterly loss EA also just announced.

These games, along with Dragon Age: Origins (a game previously delayed by EA), are now expected to be released in the fourth quarter. The Sims 3 now has a June 3rd release date with the other two not having confirmed release dates.

EA Loses Money

Electronic Arts has posted a significant loss for their third Quarter - $641 million! Last year, EA posted a $33 million loss in their third quarter.

With the loss, EA plans to lay off 1,100 workers(11% of its employees) and close 12 of its facilities.

Analysts say that EA actually made more money this year than last, but they had predicted a much bigger gain and had increased their spending as well - leading to the loss.

February Game Releases

Not a lot of game releases so far in 2009, but maybe this month developers will show gamers some love. After all, it is the month of Valentine's Day!
 

DS Titles
February 3
• Math Blaster in the Prime Adventure
• My World, My Way

February 10
• Retro Game Challenge
• Rollin' Rascals
• USA Today Puzzle Craze

February 15
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

February 17
• Brave: Shaman's Challenge
• Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride
• Dragon Quest V
• Roogoo

February 24
• Avalon Code
• Blue Dragon Plus
• C.O.R.E.
• Legacy of Ys: Books I & II
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

February 28
• Gauntlet

PC Titles
February 2
• Prisontale 2: The Second Enigma

February 5
• Burnout Paradise

February 10
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Perimeter II: New Earth
• Warfare
• X-Blades

February 13
• Celetania

February 18
• Drakensang: The Dark Eye

February 19
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2

February 20
• The Sims 3

February 24
• The Godfather II
• Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

February 25
• Age of Booty
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

February 27
• East India Company

PS2 Titles
• Nothing. Seriously.

PS3 Titles
February 5
• 3 on 3 NHL Arcade

February 10
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge
• Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
• X-Blades

February 12
• Flower

February 17
• Street Fighter IV

February 19
• Noby Noby Boy

February 24
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• The Godfather II
• Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

February 26
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

February 27
• Killzone 2

PSP Titles
February 10
• LocoRoco 2

February 17
• Mana Khemia: Student Alliance
• Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?

Wii Titles
February 3
• Battle Rage: The Robot Wars
• Tenchu: Shadow Assassin

February 9
• Deadly Creatures

February 10
• The House of the Dead: Overkill
• NASCAR Kart Racing
• Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers

February 17
• Roogoo
• RoogooTwisted Towers

February 24
• Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

Xbox 360 Titles
February 4
• 3 on 3 NHL Arcade

February 10
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
• Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
• X-Blades

February 17
• Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
• RACE Pro
• Street Fighter IV

February 24
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• The Godfather II
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
• Shellshock 2: Blood Trails
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope
• Stoked

Neversoft Quits Tony Hawk

After running the Tony Hawk series into the ground, Neversoft has said they will not make any more Tony Hawk games. Instead, they will be focusing their efforts into running the Guitar Hero series into the ground. The Tony Hawk series is not dead, however. Another developer will be taking over the series.

Neversoft created the first Tony Hawk game in 1999 and has gone on to release at least nine games in the series. (It gets a little confusing since there's lots of remakes for various systems.)

A new Tony Hawk game, Tony Hawk Adrenaline, is scheduled to be released in Fall 2009. Rumor has it that the new developer Robomodo will be making the series now.

Fallout 3 Level Cap Increase Coming

Bethesda released some new screenshots from the upcoming DLC, Operation Anchorage, for Fallout 3(winner of the XYBA RPG of the Year award). But with the screenshots came information about another DLC coming in March and bringing with it a level cap increase from 20 to 30.

The game currently limits players to a maximum level of 20 so 150% increase is pretty substantial.

The increase will come with a DLC pack called Broken Steel.

I'm excited about both of these DLCs. Anything to add to Fallout 3 is good in my book.

Fable 2 DLC Next Week

Official word has come down today that Fable 2's first downloadable content, Knot's Island, will be available on January 13th for 800 Microsoft points($10). The DLC had been delayed by Microsoft certification.

Lionhead Studios will also be releasing a patch for Fable 2 on the same day.

I guess I should get around to beating Fable 2 before I play the DLC.

Tabula Rasa Code Request

After Andy posted that Tabula Rasa was free for everyone, I decided I would check the game out. I've never played a MMO game and figured this looked like a cool game to cut my teeth on. Well setting up accounts and downloading the game were the easy part. Getting the code for the game is a different story.

For several days I did as the instructions asked me to. Start an account on PlayNC: checked, download the game: checked, acquire code from support: where do I do that at.

Each time I clicked the link on their instructions page I was taken to the PlayNC sites sign in page. I would then sign in and a new page would say something about the information requested has been removed. So I did some searching around their site and couldn't find a way to acquire the code needed to actually play the game. So yesterday I decided to email their support staff and this is what they replied back:

Thank you for your interest in Tabula Rasa.

I am escalating this request to the appropriate team for further assistance. They will reply to you again as soon as possible. Because of the high volume of Tabula Rasa code requests we are receiving at this time, please be aware that it may take up to 7 business days for your request to be proceeded.

Thank you for your continued patience as we work to resolve this issue for you.

Well that stinks. I guess there are a bunch of cheap bastards out there, like me, who wanted to play this game after it was free and that tied up their system. Hopefully the game will be really good and generate a lot of buzz and cause the game to stay available. We shall see.

January Game Releases

The new year has begun. After seeing what 2008 brought to the gaming table, will 2009 measure up?
 

DS Titles
January 6
• Jumble Madness
• Moon

January 13
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

January 20
• Big Bang Mini

January 27
• The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity
• Coraline

January 30
• Peggle: Dual Shot

PC Titles
January 5
• Saints Row 2

January 12
• Fusion Fall

January 13
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Mirror's Edge

January 20
• Commander in Chief

January 22
• Darkfall

January 26
• MLB Front Office Manager

PS2 Titles
January 6
• CID the Dummy

January 15
• Tomb Raider: Underworld

January 20
• Ar Tonelico II
• AR Tonelico 2: Melody of MetaFalicia
• PDC World Championship Darts 2008

January 27
• Coraline
• The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
• Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle

PS3 Titles
January 13
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

January 19
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

January 20
• Skate 2

January 26
• MLB Front Office Manager

January 27
• Afro Samurai

PSP Titles
January 6
• CID the Dummy

January 20
• Mana Khemia: Student Alliance
• PDC World Championship Darts 2008
• Star Ocean: Second Evolution

January 27
• DJ Max Fever

Wii Titles
January 5
• Rock Band 2

January 6
• Fishing Master World Tour

January 12
• Neighborhood Games

January 13
• Deal or No Deal
• Deer Drive
• MotoGP 08

January 20
• Dead Rising: Chop
• Ultimate Shooting Collection

January 27
• Coraline

Xbox 360 Titles
January 13
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

January 19
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

January 20
• PDC World Championship Darts 2008
• Skate 2
• Stoked

January 26
• MLB Front Office Manager

January 27
• Afro Samurai

Happy New Year!

Parts of the world are already in 2009 and I hear things are going well so far there in the future. Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year before I head out for the night. I'll see you all next year!

That's it. Nothing else. Last post of 2008.