Has there ever been a Ninja Turtle comic storyline as beautifully illustrated as "City Fall?" There's a lot to be said for the classic series and its Frank Miller-inspired aesthetic, but it's tough to beat Mateus Santolouco in terms of sheer energy, detail, and style. Santolouco has bumped this series into the stratosphere thanks to his lively pencils. That alone makes "City Fall" worth all the hype surrounding it.
Aside from the dynamic fight scenes and emotionally rich facial work, it's impressive to note just how much Santolouco is able to differentiate each Turtle. It's not merely a matter of color, but now anatomy and even body language. Coupled with the effective use of past TMNT artists during the various mindscape sequences, and the visual highlights just keep coming.
The story doesn't disappoint in this third chapter either. Issue #23 wrapped with Leonardo's emergence as a newly brainwashed minion of Shredder. So what other logical next step is there but pitting him against his brothers for the first time. Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz exploit that emotional showdown to full effect. Less flashy but still gripping are the scenes featuring Casey Jones fighting his way back to consciousness and dealing with the aftermath of his near-fatal stabbing. Meanwhile, Old Hob and his partner Slash emerge as X-factors in the conflict, adding a bit of fun, levity, and moral ambiguity to what is otherwise a deathly serious tale as far as TMNT goes.
My only real complaint with the execution of "City Fall" thus far is the lack of focus on the gang war element. Hob alludes to it, and we even see images of ninja battling gang members on one page, but the whole thing feels very divorced from the rest of the conflict. This is still very much a battle between the Turtles and the Foot Clan right now, and I'd like to see the scope open up and the gang war show more of a tangible impact on the rest of the book.
Psylocke has been a real point of frustration with the new volume of Uncanny X-Force. The decision to focus the second story arc entirely on Betsy and her relationship with the Fantomex triplets had the opportunity to either salvage her role within the series or drag the book down even further. Unfortunately, the second outcome proved to be the case. This book really isn't doing any favors for a character who had enjoyed so few quality stories in the years before Rick Remender salvaged her.
Psylocke has spent the majority of this book being bitter, temperamental, foul-mouthed, and not particularly likable. And as we learned in the previous issue, this stems from nothing more than her being the jilted lover in a threesome with Fantomex and Cluster. This new take on the Psylocke/Fantomex romance is pointlessly sordid, like a bad soap opera. The X-Men comics have always carried a strong soap opera quality dating back to the original Cyclops/Marvel Girl/Angel love triangle. But those romances and intrigues always served a purpose, whereas this merely dilutes years of stellar work on both characters.
This issue fails to redeem the conflict between Betsy and the Fantomexes in any way. Nor does the conflict even manage a clear resolution. The final pages are annoyingly unclear as to the ongoing fate of the Fantomexes. The fact that the lack of distinction in the coloring makes it difficult to distinguish between flashbacks and present day scenes towards the end doesn't help.
About the only thing this arc has going for it (beside the snazzy cover) is the continued contribution of Adrian Alphona. However, even that area suffers, as Alphona is given much less to work with in terms of depicting the breakup of Psylocke's love triangle. The imagery just isn't as engaging or memorable as it was when Alphona was exploring the astral plane and the battle with the Demon Bear. Dalibor Talajic's art is fine, but overly plain when held against Alphona's lush, flowing pencils.
The best that can be said for Uncanny X-Force now is that Sam Humphries shows a clear intention to move forward and embrace the full team roster again. Hopefully we've seen the series at its worst, and things can only improve from here.
Nowadays, it's tempting to think that comics are getting increasingly darker. Even evergreen optimistic heroes like Superman are being put through a filter of grittiness to give them an edge (paging Zack Snyder). The Flash Annual #2, written by Brian Buccellato with art by Sami Basri, reminds us why we fell in love with superhero comics to begin with. It's fun, funny, and determined to give you an unabashedly good time from start to finish.
This second annual issue stars one of our favorite comic book odd couples: The Flash and Green Lantern. Buccellato shows a keen understanding of what makes these characters tick as individuals and how their friendship works despite -- or perhaps because of -- their differences. After swinging by the Flash's neck of the woods to say goodbye before he heads off to Oa, Hal Jordan's notoriously impulsive behavior comes back to bite them both in the derrière when they find themselves whisked away to the Arena World to engage in a gladiator-style fight to the death.
Sami Basri's art is every bit as energetic as it needs to be to bring Buccellato's script to life. Basri has a keen eye for expression that adds a visual authenticity to Barry and Hal's interactions, and he delivers just as well on the book's more explosive action scenes. Stellar Lab's colors are both bright and lively, lending an optimistic air to the issue.
The book is slowed down early on by an extended flashback sequence to explain the characters' current predicament, but it proves to be so joyously fun that it's hard to complain about the structural choice. Overall, The Flash Annual #2 is a solid standalone story that bucks the growing trend toward gritty realism by keeping it light and bringing the laughs.
Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.
Captain Marvel #14 brings The Enemy Within story arc to an explosive, emotionally resonant close, as writer Kelly Sue DeConnick pushes Carol Danvers to her breaking point. As Yon-Rogg's villainous plan gets dangerously close to fruition, Captain Marvel is forced to confront her demons. Her struggle to overcome her weaknesses has been the beating heart of this story since its beginning, and here, DeConnick brings the narrative to a startlingly powerful close.
This issue is packed to the gills with action, but it's Carol's internal battle that propels the story forward. It's a testament to DeConnick's ability as a writer that she can create a narrative eye of the storm amidst the wholesale destruction of New York City (must be Wednesday in the Marvel universe). There's an uneasy sort of symmetry to Yon-Rogg's confrontation with Carol -- they're both neither here nor there, out of place and lonely as ever. Their destinies have been intertwined since Captain Marvel gained her powers, and DeConnick capitalizes on the character's rich history to bring her story to a truly epic crescendo.
I've criticized Captain Marvel before for its inconsistent art, and issue #14 is still plagued with a few visual issues. Even though the series has lacked a steady, visual language for some time now, individual issues have for the most part maintained an internal consistency. In this issue, art duties were split between Scott Hepburn and Gerardo Sandoval. While their differences aren't as glaring as they could be, there are some quirks that make the intermittent switches between artists noticeable enough for it to be mildly distracting.
But not even the inconsistent visuals could dampen DeConnick's narrative. The strength of the story lies in its mission statement, which is as consistent as it is brilliant. Sometimes, we're our own worst enemies, but even then, we can be our own heroes.
Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.
FF #10 does something really weird. Not FF weird, although there is plenty of the wonderfully weird things that normally populate this book. No, FF #10 attempts something else entirely and the results are somewhat mixed. This issue introduces Matt Fraction, Michael Allred and Tom Brevoort as characters into the series. They play themselves, visiting the FF in order to research a soon-to-be Marvel comic book. It's weird, guys. A good weird at times and a bad weird at others.
Introducing a book's creative team into the story of the comic isn't exactly a new trick. It seems to be less commentary/meta here and more humor based. Fraction and Allred want to make you laugh and at times you will. The problem comes when the characters do things like a reference to Bevoort's Formspring account. It's strange -- and not always in a good way -- just a bizarre winking nod to the audience. The best moments of the issue are the ones that don't involve the creative team (as characters), but instead focus on the kids and a dangerous game of twenty questions.
Weird creative choices aside, the issue at least looks fantastic. The bright pop sensibilities of Michael and Laura Allred are on full display, giving a vivid energy to a brief battle with a micro-tiger. The characters look great, as usual. FF #10 is big, bold, and beautiful. It's easy to get lost in this artwork, even when the story falls flat. Hopefully, Fraction and Allred won't be characters in upcoming issues so FF can get back to being the book we have loved so much in the past.
Travel Foreman rejoins the Animal Man man Jeff Lemire for a disturbingly creepy yet emotionally powerful tale that shows all the other guys how an Annual ought to be done. While this story does tie into recent events, it’s virtually a standalone as we get a complete arc with humor and heart, twists and turns. Yes, this costs $4.99, but believe me when I say it’s worth every penny.
Animal Man as a series has been great because it constantly diverts from your standard superhero experience, which most of the time it owes to its horror elements. The horror is huge here the second the Spider Queen is revealed. Foreman delivers page after page of imagery that just gets under your skin, and the design for the Spider Queen herself with her freaky face and swollen pregnant belly is just haunting.
Reading this story reminded me of Daredevil #17 by Mark Waid and Mike Allred, and when you get to the end you’ll know just why. Just like that tale, Lemire and Foreman take their time telling a certain kind of story before turning around and gut-punching you in the feels. The loss of Cliff has been hanging heavy on Animal Man, and Lemire explores the depth of grief a parent can experience at the loss of a child.
And while this issue is heavy in a lot of ways, you still have to hand it to Lemire for coming up with the best super villain name I have heard in years: Biowulf.
Joshua writes for IGN. If Pokemon, Game of Thrones, or Green Lantern are frequently used words in your vocabulary, then you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN.
Social games giant Zynga has sued the makers of a 'casual sex app' called Bang with Friends, claiming the title infringes on its popular "with friends" trademark.
According to Bloomberg, Zynga filed the complaint yesterday against the makers of the app, which seeks to connect anonymous Facebook users who are "down to bang." The complaint seeks a court order which would bar the company from using the name in relation to any social media apps within the United States.
“Zynga filed a lawsuit to stop blatant infringement of its valuable ‘With Friends’ brand,” said Zynga's deputy general counsel Renee Lawson in a statement. “Zynga is compelled to file suit to prevent further consumer confusion and protect its intellectual property rights against infringement.”
Sad you missed out on that important adolescent rite-of-passage, delivering papers around your neighbourhood for chump change? Well you're in luck, because creative tech company Globalcore has created a virtual reality version of the classic arcade title Paperboy. Feel the rush!
'Paperdude VR' combines a Kinect sensor, the Oculus Rift, a KickR sensor (Globalcore's own creation), an iPad and a physical bike to give you the ultimate Paper-hurling experience. The KickR sensor works in conjunction with an iPad to determine how fast the bike is travelling - reflected in the Oculus Rift's virtual world - while the Kinect is used to track the player's arm movements as they throw virtual papers.
As Geek.com notes, this is one expensive version of Paperboy, with the KickR sensor alone costing $1,100.
Check out the game in action below.
Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN at Luce_IGN_AU,or @Luceobrien on Twitter.
"Producers Sean Daniels, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will begin searching for a new director immediately," according to TheWrap.
The script, by Prometheus' Jon Spaihts, is allegedly "darker" and "scarier" than the lightweight franchise that preceded it, with the more science-based works of Michael Crichton said to be an inspiration.
"Though The Mummy character is a monster, the reboot is expected to provide him with a human personality,"claims TheWrap.
The first trailer, poster, and images for Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg as a Navy SEAL and directed by Peter Berg, have just hit the web. Here's the trailer:
Blizzard is teasing a “special announcement” at Gamescom. In an invitation sent to press today, Blizzard teased, “We’re making a special announcement that’s sure to capture the attention of the Heavens, Burning Hells and all the shadowed places that lie between.”
The description seems to be hinting at Diablo-related news, and could mean we’ll finally see the reveal of the Diablo III expansion that Blizzard confirmed last year.
Gamescom will run from August 21-25 in Cologne, Germany, with Blizzard’s press conference set for August 21st. Be sure to check back to IGN in August for all the news from the show as it’s announced.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
Eager to join the ranks of publishers getting a cut of the lucrative mobile gaming business, Facebook has announced a new pilot program that will help mobile game developers' titles to better stand out from the pack.
The program, known simply as Mobile Games Publishing, won't see Facebook turning into a traditional games publisher that has a hand in the development process. Rather than providing funding and oversight, Facebook will instead focus on the marketing aspect of the publishing business. It will offer targeted advertisements to its mobile users (which number upwards of 800 million per month) and offer analytics tools to developers in return for a portion of participating games' revenues.
Ten developers are already enrolled in the program, and applications are being taken for additional games. Those already in the program vary in size and include well-known developers such as Certain Affinity (Crimson Alliance, Age of Booty) and Gameloft (Modern Combat, Order & Chaos Online, Gangstar).
For smaller developers, in particular, the benefit of such an arrangement is the lack of any upfront cost. With the number of game releases on mobile platforms continuing to soar, it's exceedingly easy for games not attached to an established brand or developer to go unnoticed. Securing advertising space with a portion of Facebook's user base, which Facebook says will consist of people who play similar sorts of games on its website, could help developers to avoid such a fate.
However, developers run the risk of losing a great deal of money if the game turns out to be a big success. And should sales underwhelm, the developer could be left with very little money for itself after Facebook and either Apple or Google -- each of which takes 30 percent -- get their respective cuts.
Stay tuned to IGN for the latest on Facebook's journey into the mobile games business.
Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN.
EA has revealed that Star Wars Battlefront is “likely” to be released in summer 2015.
During EA’s annual meeting of stockholders today, CFO Blake Jorgensen said Battlefront will “most likely come out around the same time that the Star Wars movies start to come out, probably in the summer of ’15.”
Fortunately, it will not be an abrupt departure, as Lowe and Jones will be back this fall and aren't expected to leave until the 13th episode of Season 6, likely airing in February. While details have not been given about what will cause Chris Traeger and Ann Perkins to leave, it's not difficult to imagine some possibilities, given their recent storyline in which they're trying to have a baby together - while rekindling their old romance.
It's also possible both will be too intimidated by the newly-buff Andy and feel they just need to get away from all of that Bert Macklin manliness.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown fans may soon find themselves with new content to play according to an online listing for something called XCOM: Enemy Within.
Three listings for the new title have appeared on South Korea's Game Rating Board website, each for a different platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Entries for encrypted Enemy Unknown files containing the phrase "XCOM EW" can also be found on SteamDB, a website that tracks content found on the Steam network.
Unfortunately, these listings lack any details and therefore provide no indication of what Enemy Within is -- it could be a sequel to Enemy Unknown or, more likely, it could be an expansion for it.
That more XCOM is on the way comes as no real surprise. Alongside the announcement of iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch versions of Enemy Unknown at PAX East in March, Firaxis teased that something new was in the works. A short video clip was shown of The Council, which you report to in Enemy Unknown, informing you of a "new threat." No further details have been provided since that time.
Between the listings on SteamDB's Enemy Unknown page and the fact that it was less than a year ago that Enemy Unknown was released, an expansion would make sense. Such a release would fall in line with publisher 2K Games' approach with many of its other recent games, including BioShock Infinite, Civilization V, and Borderlands 2, all of which have or are continuing to see a great deal of post-launch support in the form of expansion packs and DLC releases.
Would you prefer to see Enemy Within released as an expansion or a sequel? What would you like to see in such a release? Let us know in the comments.
Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN.
Actor David Conrad is about to begin spending time with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TVLine's Michael Ausiello broke the news that Conrad, best known for his role as Jennifer Love Hewitt's husband on Ghost Whisperer, will be playing a recurring role on the new ABC series, which ties into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
David Conrad in Ghost Whisperer
There is no info on who Conrad is playing, which isn't surprising, given the secrecy around S.H.I.E.L.D., like all Marvel projects. However, Ausiello notes that there was recently a casting call for "the role of a brilliant and quirky scientist that matches Conrad’s description (i.e., male in his 40s)." The main characters on S.H.I.E.L.D., including Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) are all original ones not from the comic books, so it's just as possible Conrad is playing someone newly created as someone from Marvel.
When I spoke to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. co-creators/executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen at Comic-Con (see the video below), they talked about how they are finding opportunities when they come up with a new character to ask Marvel "Does someone in your universe have that skill?" and be able to use a pre-existing character. Which is to say... anything is possible!
If real estate management and world domination weren't hard enough on their own, try adding zombies to the mix. Hasbro has announced Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition and Risk: The Walking Dead Survival Edition, both of which which are scheduled for a late September 2013 release.
For the Monopoly game, players can pick one of six Walking Dead-style tokens -- Rick's sheriff hat or Dale's RV, for example -- and acquire property corresponding with landmarks from the series such as the prison cells, the Greene Family farmhouse, and Woodbury. Instead of using money, players must trade in essential supplies like food, ammo and fuel to gain more territory on the board or to place a guard tower or wall instead of the standard houses and hotels.
As for the Risk set, the game designers have created a brand new map set in the Southeastern region of the United States, where gamers battle and scavenge within 32 territories. Adding a new twist to the gameplay, players will not only fend off attacks from their opponents, but they must also maintain their self-preservation from hordes of zombies that randomly spawn at the start of each players turn. A new deck of "Supply Cards" will also be added, as well as "Event Cards" referencing story events from The Walking Dead.
To pre-order Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition and Risk: The Walking Dead Survival Edition, find a comic shop near you at www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook.
Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.
This episode goes out to anyone named Phil. This week, the Locksmiths look back on their college years, and then dive into the Xbox news by discussing Phil Spencer and Phil Harrison's Xbox Showcase event at Gamescom next month, Phil Fish's meltdown and Fez 2 cancellation, Xbox One accessory pricing, Kinect Sports Rivals' delay to 2014, and Bobby "Not Phil" Kotick buying Activision back from, well...itself for $8 billion.
Show Overview
[00:00] Get to Know Your Locksmiths: College Years Edition
[18:04] News Unlocked, starting with the Phil Fish/Fez 2 discussion
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, on IGN, catch him on Podcast Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Though his seven year Batman epic is coming to a conclusion today, Grant Morrison still has plenty of comics in the works. Not only is Wonder Woman: Earth One and the (eventual) Multiversity gestating at DC Comics, but he's planning to release a new comic series at Legendary Comics called Annihilator.
Written by Morrison with art by frequent collaborator Frazer Irving, Annihilator tells the tale of a struggling screenwriter trying to write the next big summer blockbuster only to find that the subject of his latest script, a sci-fi hero called Max Nomax, has come to life. Or maybe he's just bat**** crazy?
That's the gist of Annihilator, but Legendary has yet to confirm a release date. They have, however, revealed Irving's neat-o cover for the book:
We'll update you as soon as we've got a release date for Annihilator #1.
From their secluded home-theater compound, film critics Wade Major and Mark Keizer mix insightful commentary with irreverent banter, covering the latest DVD and Blu-ray news and new releases of the week, including studio, independent, television and special-interest titles.
Confusion is currently reigning after the press release, which was sent out originally claiming "the online mode will be available for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC" and thus omitting the Wii U, was reissued without the offending paragraph.
Warner Bros. has yet to respond to our request for comment, so it isn't clear whether the fact Nintendo's console isn't mentioned means the game definitely won't be getting the multiplayer component, or if its fate is still to be decided.
If true, the revelation that the Wii U version of Arkham Origins will be missing a key feature compared to the ones available on other platforms will be a further blow to Nintendo, following this morning's announcement of dire Wii U sales.
As soon as Warner Bros. respond to us clarifying the situation, we'll update the story.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Microsoft has confirmed that it's making an adapter to allow current-gen and third-party headsets to work with the Xbox One, though this won't be included with the console.
Xbox One lead planner Alberto Penello made the announcement on Twitter, along with the revelation that the adapter would be sold as a separate accessory.
@TheMVPlaya Yes. We will have an adapter that allows current gaming headsets to work.
While we'd heard the company was investigating ways to make current headsets works with the Xbox One, this is the first time an adapter has been confirmed; it's also the first time the company has confirmed the solution won't be included in the box.
The reason current headsets will no longer work with the Xbox One is down to the redesigned controller, which means the expansion port has changed from the one currently used.
While the adapter won't be included with the Xbox One at retail, some confusion exists over whether the new Xbox One headsetwill be in the box. The last we heard, headsets would be sold separately, though Microsoft hasn't responded to rumours that this has since changed. Seeing as an adapter has now been confirmed as being sold separately, it would be a little odd for the company to include a working headset in the box, but you never know.
We're still waiting to hear back from Microsoft and, as soon as we do, will update the story.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Take-Two has listed Red Dead Redemption among franchises it considers "permanent", heavily implying a sequel to the game will one day materialise.
Speaking at last night's investor call (via Videogamer), CEO Strauss Zelnick explained that the company didn't see any of its franchises as one-shots, and that new instalments of a high quality were always encouraged.
"Our goal is to try to create permanent franchises," he said. "That's the unique goal in the industry.
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Franchises that we think can be permanent, whether that's the Red Dead franchise or the Borderlands franchise or the BioShock franchise or others.
"Our competitors do not see it that way. Our competitors' view is that our franchise will have a certain life, and at the end of that life, you move onto the next thing, so you better make hay while the sun shines. Our view is to the contrary. The best franchises are permanent franchises.
"Outside of our business you can look at James Bond, for example. And it's been our goal not just to preserve and grow the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but also to build other franchises that we think can be permanent, whether that's the Red Dead franchise or the Borderlands franchise or the BioShock franchise or others, Civilization, for example."
We last heard mention of a Red Dead Redemption sequel over a year ago, when Rockstar explained it was keen to revisit the series, though no timeline for further announcements was given. Seeing as the game has sold 13 million copies in two years, it'd be astonishing if another entry didn't materialise at some point.
What would you like to see from Rockstar after Grand Theft Auto V? Would a next-gen Red Dead Redemption be your first choice, or would you rather see GTA V ported to Xbox One and PlayStation 4? How about the rumours surrounding a sequel to Bully? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Nintendo’s first-quarter financial resultsreveal that 160,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the entire world between the start of April and the end of June this year. I don’t think anyone was expecting a sudden resurgence after the grimace-worthy figures of the final three months of last financial year, but that is below even the most pessimistic expectations. It’s more shocking when you break it down by territory; of that paltry number, 90,000 were sold in Japan, 60,000 in the Americas, and just 10,000 in Europe, Australia and the rest of the world.
Less than 10,000 consoles in the whole of Europe in 3 months. That’s almost unbelievable. The older-gen consoles sell far more than that weekly. Software sales of just a touch over 1 million hardly ameliorate the situation. The Wii U launch was strong - 3 million in its first few months - but although it was widely known that sales had fallen right off a cliff since then, nobody knew it was this dire.
This is bad news. But how bad is it, exactly? Do we need to be seriously worried about Nintendo’s future?
The short answer, for now, is no. Nintendo isn’t about to go bust. It still posted a profit, thanks to its assets and investments and favourable changes in the currency market. The Wii U is costing money, which means that Nintendo is making an operating loss when it comes to actually selling games and consoles, but it’s a very, very long way from bankrupting the firm. The 3DS, meanwhile, is a big success - it’s not matching the insane sales that the original DS was generating, but then the original DS didn’t have smartphones to compete with.
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The Wii U is costing money, but it's a long, long way from bankrupting Nintendo.
Despite that, the 3DS is generally confounding the widespread expectation that smartphones and tablets have killed the handheld market stone dead. 11.4 million 3DS games were sold in three months this quarter alongside over a million 3DS consoles - the hardware number’s solid, but the software number there is amazing, especially when you compare it to the Vita. Sony has been clumping Vita sales together with PSP sales in its financial reports, ostensibly to mask its performance, so we don’t know exactly how much it’s sold - but you can bet it’s a fraction of that.
The 3DS is keeping Nintendo afloat, then, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Wii U is still tanking right now. At this point it’s 200k units behind where the Gamecube was at this point in its lifespan, when the overall games market was much smaller - and the Gamecube hadn’t even launched in Europe by that point. It also wasn’t being sold at a loss, as far as I know.
Even the Nintendo consoles that aren’t regarded as particularly successful - the Gamecube and the N64 - have always made Nintendo money. This is, let’s remember, a company that has only posted one year-end loss in its entire history, in 2012. This is one of the reasons that Nintendo’s future isn’t in jeopardy: the company is extraordinarily solvent. It’s got warehouses full of cash. Seriously, take a look at Nintendo’s assets: it has 492,334,000,000 yen in cash. That’s $5,038,214,927.30. More than 5 billion dollars. In cash. And almost that much in “short-term investment securities”, which are essentially bonds.
It’s too early to write the Wii U off as a failure already, but even if things don’t pick up and the console does end up a flop, Nintendo could weather it. It could weather several such failures. Other companies - Microsoft’s Xbox division and Sony Computer Entertainment among them - have operated at huge losses for years on end, but Nintendo has never done business that way.
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Even if the Wii U doesn't pick up, Nintendo could weather a failure. It could weather several.
This is why, if you ask me, there is no chance that Nintendo will exit the hardware market. Certainly not in the medium-term future, and possibly not ever. Why would Nintendo release its games, its major selling point, on other people’s platforms when it can continue to have total control over its own? Of those 11 million 3DS games sold in the last 3 months, most of them were Nintendo-published, and Nintendo didn’t have to pay a penny to any other platform holder.
Nintendo can afford to own its own platforms for a long time yet. The Wii U is really, really struggling, but in the grand scheme of Nintendo’s operations it actually doesn’t matter as much as you might expect. That’s reflected in Nintendo’s share price, which took a 6% hit in the past week but is actually 37% up on this time last year.
All of this ultimately leaves Nintendo in profit, ticking over and not in immediate danger, but faced with the increasingly real possibility of its first proper home-console flop - and with an operating loss of around $50m to try to correct. It certainly does not leave Nintendo on its knees. The Wii U in isolation, however, is a different story: the console is in huge trouble, and it’s going to take something special in the next six months to turn the situation around.
Nintendo might in a dominant position when it comes to handhelds, but when the Wii U can’t even come close to keeping up with the current-gen consoles, including its 7-year-old predecessor (which sold 210k this quarter), you’ve really got to ask yourself whether it has any chance at all of holding its own against the PS4 and Xbox One later this year.
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You've really got to ask yourself whether the Wii U has a chance of holding its own.
There are good games on the way for Wii U, but two of the most important - Smash Bros and Mario Kart - aren’t coming until 2014, which might be too little, too late. With two more new consoles on the market by the end of the year, there’s still nothing that makes the Wii U look essential. I just don’t think Nintendo is in that fight - but then, Nintendo’s E3 showing suggested that Nintendo doesn’t think it’s in that fight, either.
There are two stories told in this morning’s results. The first is of an impressively solvent company that’s making a profit and shows no signs of ill health or imminent collapse, with one very successful product and one that’s struggling to take off. The second story is of a console whose post-launch period has been nothing short of a total disaster, and which now faces an extremely tough battle to claw back some ground before its competitors launch later this year. They’re not contradictory. Nintendo should be extremely worried about the Wii U, but we don’t need to worry about Nintendo.
Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games coverage in the UK. You can follow her on IGN and Twitter.
Nintendo’s first-quarter financial resultsreveal that 160,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the entire world between the start of April and the end of June this year. I don’t think anyone was expecting a sudden resurgence after the grimace-worthy figures of the final three months of last financial year, but that is below even the most pessimistic expectations. It’s more shocking when you break it down by territory; of that paltry number, 90,000 were sold in Japan, 60,000 in the Americas, and just 10,000 in Europe, Australia and the rest of the world.
Less than 10,000 consoles in the whole of Europe in 3 months. That’s almost unbelievable. The older-gen consoles sell far more than that weekly. Software sales of just a touch over 1 million hardly ameliorate the situation. The Wii U launch was strong - 3 million in its first few months - but although it was widely known that sales had fallen right off a cliff since then, nobody knew it was this dire.
This is bad news. But how bad is it, exactly? Do we need to be seriously worried about Nintendo’s future?
The short answer, for now, is no. Nintendo isn’t about to go bust. It still posted a profit, thanks to its assets and investments and favourable changes in the currency market. The Wii U is costing money, which means that Nintendo is making an operating loss when it comes to actually selling games and consoles, but it’s a very, very long way from bankrupting the firm. The 3DS, meanwhile, is a big success - it’s not matching the insane sales that the original DS was generating, but then the original DS didn’t have smartphones to compete with.
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The Wii U is costing money, but it's a long, long way from bankrupting Nintendo.
Despite that, the 3DS is generally confounding the widespread expectation that smartphones and tablets have killed the handheld market stone dead. 11.4 million 3DS games were sold in three months this quarter alongside over a million 3DS consoles - the hardware number’s solid, but the software number there is amazing, especially when you compare it to the Vita. Sony has been clumping Vita sales together with PSP sales in its financial reports, ostensibly to mask its performance, so we don’t know exactly how much it’s sold - but you can bet it’s a fraction of that.
The 3DS is keeping Nintendo afloat, then, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Wii U is still tanking right now. At this point it’s 200k units behind where the Gamecube was at this point in its lifespan, when the overall games market was much smaller - and the Gamecube hadn’t even launched in Europe by that point. It also wasn’t being sold at a loss, as far as I know.
Even the Nintendo consoles that aren’t regarded as particularly successful - the Gamecube and the N64 - have always made Nintendo money. This is, let’s remember, a company that has only posted one year-end loss in its entire history, in 2012. This is one of the reasons that Nintendo’s future isn’t in jeopardy: the company is extraordinarily solvent. It’s got warehouses full of cash. Seriously, take a look at Nintendo’s assets: it has 492,334,000,000 yen in cash. That’s $5,038,214,927.30. More than 5 billion dollars. In cash. And almost that much in “short-term investment securities”, which are essentially bonds.
It’s too early to write the Wii U off as a failure already, but even if things don’t pick up and the console does end up a flop, Nintendo could weather it. It could weather several such failures. Other companies - Microsoft’s Xbox division and Sony Computer Entertainment among them - have operated at huge losses for years on end, but Nintendo has never done business that way.
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Even if the Wii U doesn't pick up, Nintendo could weather a failure. It could weather several.
This is why, if you ask me, there is no chance that Nintendo will exit the hardware market. Certainly not in the medium-term future, and possibly not ever. Why would Nintendo release its games, its major selling point, on other people’s platforms when it can continue to have total control over its own? Of those 11 million 3DS games sold in the last 3 months, most of them were Nintendo-published, and Nintendo didn’t have to pay a penny to any other platform holder.
Nintendo can afford to own its own platforms for a long time yet. The Wii U is really, really struggling, but in the grand scheme of Nintendo’s operations it actually doesn’t matter as much as you might expect. That’s reflected in Nintendo’s share price, which took a 6% hit in the past week but is actually 37% up on this time last year.
All of this ultimately leaves Nintendo in profit, ticking over and not in immediate danger, but faced with the increasingly real possibility of its first proper home-console flop - and with an operating loss of around $50m to try to correct. It certainly does not leave Nintendo on its knees. The Wii U in isolation, however, is a different story: the console is in huge trouble, and it’s going to take something special in the next six months to turn the situation around.
Nintendo might in a dominant position when it comes to handhelds, but when the Wii U can’t even come close to keeping up with the current-gen consoles, including its 7-year-old predecessor (which sold 210k this quarter), you’ve really got to ask yourself whether it has any chance at all of holding its own against the PS4 and Xbox One later this year.
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You've really got to ask yourself whether the Wii U has a chance of holding its own.
There are good games on the way for Wii U, but two of the most important - Smash Bros and Mario Kart - aren’t coming until 2014, which might be too little, too late. With two more new consoles on the market by the end of the year, there’s still nothing that makes the Wii U look essential. I just don’t think Nintendo is in that fight - but then, Nintendo’s E3 showing suggested that Nintendo doesn’t think it’s in that fight, either.
There are two stories told in this morning’s results. The first is of an impressively solvent company that’s making a profit and shows no signs of ill health or imminent collapse, with one very successful product and one that’s struggling to take off. The second story is of a console whose post-launch period has been nothing short of a total disaster, and which now faces an extremely tough battle to claw back some ground before its competitors launch later this year. They’re not contradictory. Nintendo should be extremely worried about the Wii U, but we don’t need to worry about Nintendo.
Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games coverage in the UK. You can follow her on IGN and Twitter.
After a releasing a load of new character posters for 300: Rise of an Empire over Comic-Con, Warner Bros. has unveiled this awesome new 'Living Poster' showcasing Sullivan Stapleton as Themistokles and a tidal wave of blood.
It doesn't tell us much more about the forthcoming prequel, due out in March next year, other than fans of the original's OTT violence and gore are probably not going to be disappointed!
The film's official synopsis reads:
Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel Xerxes, and told in the breathtaking visual style of the blockbuster “300,” this new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield—on the sea—as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war.
“300: Rise of an Empire” pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemesia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.
300: Rise of an Empire is out in cinemas March 7th, 2014.
Tom is IGN's UK Social Media Editor and resident Whovian. You can stay abreast of his current pet peeves by following him on IGN and Twitter.
Nintendo has announced UK Pokemon trainers will be able to get their hands on shiny versions of the legendary Pokemon Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina for a limited time only.
Starting at the end of August, anyone who owns the original Pokemon Black & White, or Pokemon Black & White 2 will be able to get the exceedingly rare versions of the Pokemon at participating Game stores.
If you want to net a shiny Dialga, the Steel and Dragon type will be available at participating stores between August 30 and September 12. Once it departs, the Water and Dragon type Palkia will be available between September 13 and 26, before it's replaced by the Ghost and Dragon type Giratina from September 27 until October 12.
Be sure to let us know which one you're keenest to get your hands on in the comments.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
We’re a bit late to the party on this one, but as it’s such an intriguing story, we thought we’d post…
Following the climax of Comic-Con last week, writer-director Kevin Smith took to Facebook to explain that his next film – Tusk – is set to shoot in Los Angeles and on location in Canada in September, in the hope that it will be finished in time for the Sundance Film Festival.
The crazy comes from the fact that the film’s premise comes from a by-now infamous Gumtree advert in which a Brighton resident sought a lodger to dress up as a walrus.
In the original advert, the man explains that he spent three years alone on St. Lawrence Island, where he befriended a Walrus named Gregory. He explains “I have, over the last few months, been constructing a realistic walrus costume, which should fit most people of average proportions, and allow for full and easy movement in character. The take on the position as my lodger, you must be prepared to wear the walrus for approximately two hours each day.”
He continues “Whilst in the walrus costume you must be a walrus – there must be no speaking in a human voice, and any communication must entail making utterances in the voice of a walrus.”
Smith was alerted to the advert, discussed it on one of his many podcasts, and soon enough a plot was taking shape.
“The listing got my creative juices flowing” he explains on Facebook. “And I began reconstructing the whole thing as an old British Hammer horror film, in which a mad scientist intends to sew some hapless lodger into counterfeit blubber, creating a chimera in an effort to answer the ultimate riddle, ‘Is man, indeed, a walrus at heart?!,’”
Re-locating the story to the backwoods of Canada, Smith has already cast Red State star Michael Parks as the man with the blubber fetish, while he’s also written a part for Quentin Tarantino – Guy Lapointe, “the French gumshoe on the trail of the human-walrus.”
Blumhouse Productions – the company behind the likes of Insidious, Sinister and the Paranormal Activity movies – will oversee production, while Smith is hoping that effects maestro Greg Nictoero will craft the walrus suit.
From Gumtree-to-podcast-to-film makes the Tusk journey somewhat unique – let us know what you think of the concept in the comments, and check out the below video in which Smith talks Tusk and also discusses Clerks 3.
Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN in the UK and wonders if anyone out there fancies being my lodger-penguin. He can be found talking nonsense on both Twitter and MyIGN.
Nintendo released its financial results for the last quarter today, revealing strong 3DS sales alongside Wii U sales that are below even pessimistic expectations.
Nintendo remains in profit overall thanks to the strong performance of its assets and the recovery of the currency market against the yen, but it made a slight operating loss of just under 5 billion yen, around $50m, meaning that the business of actually selling games and consoles was not profitable. Nintendo attributes this loss to "total selling, general and administrative expenses [which] exceeded gross profit due to enhancement of advertising and promotion of Nintendo 3DS overseas to increase sales, and research and development for the Wii U software."
This is an improvement on last year's 10 billion yen operating loss over the same April-June period. Nintendo's overall net profit for the period was 8.624 bn yen, or $88.1m.
As ever, the sales figures tell the most interesting story. The Wii U sold just 160,000 units globally between the beginning of April and the end of June, an astonishingly low number. That's less than half the 390,000 units that it managed to sell in the final three months of its last financial year. Software figures were not much better: 1.03 million total for the quarter. Total Wii U sales now stand at 3.61 million.
The Wii, meanwhile, sold 210,000 in the same period, with 3.67 million games sold. It's just nudged over 100 million lifetime sales.
The 3DS, with 1.4 million units sold and an impressive 11.4 million games sold, has kept Nintendo afloat this quarter.
A number of 3DS games were very successful, chalking up huge sales. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, having already sold over 3 million units in Japan, sold another 1.59 million in the West up to June 30th. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon sold 1.43 million worldwide, and the report states that Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D was "well received", though it doesn't give figures.
Nintendo is not adjusting its full-year financial forecasts, and there is no official comment on these figures as of yet.
Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games coverage in the UK. You can follow her on IGN and Twitter.
It’s easy to be cynical about what looks like just another layer of classification bureaucracy but publishers have successfully had RC ratings overturned in the past.
It’s easy to be cynical about what looks like just another layer of classification bureaucracy but publishers have successfully had RC ratings overturned in the past. In December 2009 the Classification Review Board quashed a Refused Classification decision for Aliens vs. Predator, opting for an MA15+ rating instead. The Classification Review Board agreed with SEGA’s Australian branch that the violence in the game, while extreme, was acceptable within the context of the Alien franchise.
In the case of Saints Row IV, however, Koch Media’s appeal was unsuccessful. In the end, the Classification Review Board unanimously agreed with the original RC decision; Saints Row IV cannot be accommodated within the R18+ classification guidelines as proscribed drug use related to incentives and rewards is not permitted. The sexual violence Saints Row IV was also pinged for first time out of the gate was not mentioned on this occasion; perhaps the Review Board disagreed it crossed the line or perhaps the fact that the offending alien anal probe gun is apparently Season Pass content rather than in-game content has seen it factored out of the equation.
The big question is, why spring AUD$10,000 for an appeal for the original version of Saints Row IV in the first place? State of Decay developer Undead Labs recently demonstrated just how easy is it to sidestep the strict guidelines against proscribed drug use related to in-game rewards and incentives. You simply change the names of the real-world drugs and/or avoid using terms like stimulants and narcotics, terms that are most regularly used to refer to real-world illegal drugs. State of Decay is out now, rated R18+. Saints Row IV is still in a classification no-man’s-land.
Why fork out the cash, particularly considering the “Australian Edition” of Saints Row IV – which was available for the public to play at PAX Aus – appears to be waiting in the wings? If a single weapon and a solitary drug reference are really the only thing standing between Saints Row IV and an Australian release I can’t see a version sans those not making it through.
However, is AUD$10,000 a small price to pay for another salvo of PR that’ll only serve to make Saints Row IV even more infamous? Perhaps. Especially when, as State of Decay has already proven, eventually squeezing it through classification is likely just a matter of semantics.
We’ve reached out via Saints Row IV Australian representation for comment, but I can already see the one-sheets; “Saints Row IV: So boss they banned it twice.”
Meanwhile, based on some of the hyperbole Saints Row IV’s unsuccessful RC appeal has dredged up, now seems like the perfect time to clear up some of the debates and confusion around the classification problems that Saints Row IV and State of Decay faced in Australia over the past several weeks.
Drug use is permitted under the R18+ guidelines
I really can’t stress this enough. Drug use is permitted in R18+ games in Australia. I actually can’t make this any more plain. Under the R18+ guidelines for DRUG USE it very literally confirms “Drug use is permitted.” The mere presence of drugs in a video game, the sale of them, or even the use of them is not sufficient reason to believe a game should have been (or will be) refused classification. Any claims to the contrary are unhelpful. The guidelines don’t say you can’t see drugs. They don’t say you can’t sell drugs. They don’t even say you can’t use drugs. They just say you can’t get in-game benefits from using identifiably illegal ones.
If you haven’t checked out the R18+ guidelines, you probably should. You may be surprised how broad they are. There are virtually no restrictions on themes and language, and drug use, simulated sex and nudity are all permitted. In terms of violence? If Mortal Kombat is the new yardstick, well, the R18+ rating certainly doesn’t seem to have any trouble accommodating extraordinary gore. All this worry about what game will be next under the axe seems like much ado about nothing, really.
Proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards has always been a problem
The new Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games that commenced on January 1, 2013 are not stricter than the previous ones. The use of proscribed drugs in games has been an issue for several games released in Australia in the past. Don’t confuse proscribed with prescribed. Proscribed means forbidden. When the guidelines talk about proscribed drugs, they’re talking about the ones you wouldn’t want to be caught with a duffle bag full of.
In 2008, Fallout 3 was refused classification for containing “material promoting or encouraging proscribed drug use.” It was simply the morphine; morphine is a controlled substance. Bethesda called it Med-X instead and the game was reclassified and released with no further hurdles. In 2007 Blitz: The League was refused classification for associating gameplay benefits with steroid use. In 2005 Narc was refused classification for featuring power-ups gleaned from drug use; for instance, doing speed gave you bullet-time abilities.
State of Decay featured, among other drugs, several real-world proscribed drugs. They were associated with in-game buffs. Applying the guidelines, the ACB slapped State of Decay with an RC rating. Undead Labs, demonstrating a solid understanding of what was required to navigate the language of the guidelines, responded quickly (“Stimulants out! ‘Supplements’ in!”) and simply changed the names of the in-game drugs. Job done.
In the case of Saints Row IV, the Board’s opinion was that dubbing the in-game drug an “alien narcotic” meant there was “insufficient delineation” between it and real-world proscribed drugs. The Board noted that the label “narcotics” is commonly used to describe real-world, illegal drugs. Slightly anal, sure, but hardly tough to work around, right? Does anybody remember The Warriors? It contained a healing drug you snorted. It was called Flash. Flash, a term commonly associated with what your camera does when you’re sending photographs of your junk to your partner from a poorly-lit room, is not the name of a drug. Sufficient delineation, it would appear, because The Warriors was released in Australia without protest.
Fallout 3, The Warriors, State of Decay, and many more all prove the guidelines are a doddle to work around.
Nope, Max Payne’s painkillers and the anal probe from Destroy All Humans! aren’t the same thing
Yep, painkillers are drugs. However, painkillers are not illegal. Alcohol is also a drug too, and you could swig gallons of it to mend bullet wounds in both Gun and Wet. Beneficial indeed. However, alcohol isn’t illegal either. Any arguments that begin with, “But Max Payne…” don’t take into account the nuances of the guidelines as they deal with drugs.
Incentive or reward is the other element to consider. Yes, the effects of weed were featured in the likes of GTA: San Andreas and Far Cry 3 while torching marijuana plantations, for instance, but in these cases the swaying, blurry effects were hardly helpful. (Strangely enough, weed in Saints Row 2 did actually increase damage resistance, although it also came with several additional gameplay hindrances.)
But there was an anal probe in Destroy All Humans! Sure, but it wasn’t shaped like a cock sword. But there was a dildo in GTA: San Andreas! Sure, but you didn’t stuff it in NPCs' anuses. Saints Row IV just went a bridge too far with this battle, it seems. This kind of stuff exists on a scale. The mere presence of a dildo or similar may raise an eyebrow, but it doesn’t mean the game is in breach. How it’s used is important context.
“Why have an R18+ rating if you’re not going to use it?”
Remember, the Classification Board doesn’t set the guidelines, it applies them. Threatening the board only reinforces violent gamer stereotypes and petitioning the board is simply barking up the wrong tree.
Nobody is required to like the fact Saints Row IV remains rated RC for now, but you can at least be aware of why. The system still has limits. Those limits are sexual violence and rewards related to drug use. There’s no need to spend sleepless nights worrying if your most-anticipated game is going to be refused classification. Is it violent? Well, in Mortal Kombat you can tear a woman in twain, and that’s available in Australia. So relax; it’ll probably be okay. Do you need to inject yourself with something to heal? Is it heroin? No? It’s just a stab-this-in-your-arm-to-get-better syringe, a la Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (rated R18+ and totally not banned in Australia)? Yeah, it’s probably going to be okay too.
Is it GTA V? I haven’t heard of GTA V containing a sexual assault launcher from outer space or drug-induced power-ups, so I’m going to go ahead and not panic for now.
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There are plenty of discussions left to have about Australia’s overhauled game classification system.
There are plenty of discussions left to have about Australia’s overhauled game classification system. Considering Saints Row IV hasn’t had the same problem in other territories, is the board being too heavy-handed by deeming an alien anal-probe unacceptable? Does this decision really represent where the community would place this seemingly slapstick weapon on the sexual violence spectrum? Is the focus on prohibiting developers assigning in-game benefits to drug use largely a waste of time considering developers can sidestep the issue by simply not identifying real-world drugs? And is this hardline stance on drug use somewhat odd considering the many types of other antisocial behaviour the guidelines allow for, up to and including cold-blooded murder?
Is self-regulation the next step? Letting the industry police itself, like the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the US or the Interactive Software Federation of Europe’s PEGI system?
All valid questions we need to keep asking. But we need to do it with maturity.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can find him on IGN here or on Twitter @MrLukeReilly, or chat with him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
Has there ever been a Ninja Turtle comic storyline as beautifully illustrated as "City Fall?" There's a lot to be said for the classic series and its Frank Miller-inspired aesthetic, but it's tough to beat Mateus Santolouco in terms of sheer energy, detail, and style. Santolouco has bumped this series into the stratosphere thanks to his lively pencils. That alone makes "City Fall" worth all the hype surrounding it.
