Wow a whole lot has happened this past week. Really great news for Nintendo and Microsoft, and potentially a great decision made by Sony.

First, the surprising news on Sony’s front.

SONY CEASES PARTNERSHIP ON FUTURE CELL PROCESSOR DEVELOPMENT

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182641.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6182641

According to market analysts, Sony has made some pretty bad mistakes this year. Developers complain that the PS3 development kit is hard to use, so much so that Kojima attributed the delay of MGS4 to that issue.

Also, the high price of the PS3 turns a lot of people off. But should Sony then do a price cut? It’s a double-edged sword, because even at its current price, Sony suffers a loss instead of a profit for every console sold. Same goes for Microsoft on their 360. As of now, only Nintendo has reported profit for every Wii sold. Read the report here.

Sony’s focus on greater graphics might stop soon. Due to the recent awful events, Sony is opting out of the partnership with IBM and Toshiba on any future iterations of the Cell processor, which powers the PS3. They want to instead invest that money into image sensing research, which made the Eyetoy a success.

Of course, this does not mean that Sony won’t purchase future Cell iterations, but it’s a big indication of Sony looking at games into a bigger foray than graphics alone.

SUPER MARIO GALAXY (WII): IN FIRST 4 DAYS, 250,000 UNITS SOLD IN JAPAN

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182586.html?part=rss&tag=gs_ds&subj=6182586

As expected. Of course, we’re just talking about Japan alone, not even in other parts of the world yet. And that’s a whole lot. Just for your info, the following is the weekly game sales in Japan for the week of Oct 9 - Nov 4:

1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) - 250,585
2. Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco) - 76,708
3. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (NDS, Square Enix) - 50,514 [193,000]
4. Super Robot Taisen Scramble Commander the 2nd (PS2, Banpresto) - 20,525
5. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (NDS, Nintendo) - 18,254 [72,000]
6. Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (NDS, Tecmo) - 17,624 [115,000]
7. Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo) - 16,371 [2,182,000]
8. Miru Chikara o Jissen de Kitaeru: DS Ganryoku Training (NDS, Nintendo) - 15,277 [676,000]
9. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal (NDS, Konami) - 14,998 [44,000]
10. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai (NDS, Nintendo) - 14,479 [552,000]

Yes, Nintendo Japan is swimming in money right now. The numbers in the [ square brackets ] indicate the total sales up until November 4 from its release date. Statistics taken from The Magic Box.

Did you see that Xbox 360 game in the number two spot? That has contributed to our next news.

XBOX 360 BEATS PS3 IN JAPAN WEEKLY SALES FOR THE FIRST TIME

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/421391

We all know that the 360 is not very famous in Japan. Notably, 360 sales in Japan is almost exclusively driven by Idolm@ster, a game where you manage some idol singers making their debut to the world. You can go online and ask your idols to fight other idols in concerts etc., making the ratio of 360 Live Users to 360 purchasers in Japan the highest in the world.

Yup, the Japanese prefer to ogle at cute young girls dancing and singing instead of shooting the guts out of enemies in an FPS.

And now, the 360 is in the Japanese spotlight again. Due to its price and also Ace Combat 6 being exclusively for the 360, it has now beaten the PS3 weekly sales for the first time in Japan. Here’s the lowdown on Japan’s hardware sales on the same week (again, from The Magic Box):

1. NDS Lite - 78,552 [5,879,243]
2. PSP - 59,714 [2,185,974]
3. Wii - 37,617 [2,825,784]
4. Xbox 360 - 17,673 [182,899]
5. PlayStation 3 - 17,434 [788,644]

Of course, the PS3 still rules the 360 in terms of total sales. But wow, despite it not being a handheld device, the Wii has beaten the PSP in terms of total sales. Really nuts.

Also, recently, the Wii has beaten the worldwide sales of the 360, although it came out one year later than the 360. Check out VGCHARTS.

All in all, a great year for Nintendo and Microsoft, a not-so-good year for Sony. Maybe Sony will triumph again next year? They better, coz I’m getting a PS3 next year! I shall stick around to find out.

Although we’ve seen Nintendo growing like crazy these past months, it is now official: Nintendo has displaced Sony as the leader of game sales this past quarter.

The combined sales of the games per company are as follows:

• Nintendo (Wii + DS) - $1.2 billion
• Sony (PS3 + PSP + PS2) - $1 billion
• Microsoft (Xbox 360 + Xbox) - $318 million

Read all about it in PC World.

What does this mean for the video game industry? It might be old news, but it shows that the focus has shifted: Using technology to improve gameplay rather than visuals and sound. Sure, different people love games for different reasons, but in the end, Nintendo’s strategy pays off really well.

Nintendo reigns now, but will Sony take back the crown next year? With some third-party developers leaving Sony for Nintendo and Microsoft, yet-to-be-released Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit, and MGS4 being delayed, I’m betting that Nintendo is gonna stay on top for quite a while.

Ballistic Wars is featured in our local newspaper News Straits Times today!

Here’s the article. Click it to enlarge.

EOG took the Ballistic Wars team to a little celebration dinner in Friday’s last night. Here’s the group photo:

On the right is my cool cousin, Daim, who’s the character designer and animator for the game. Interface design was done by that cute girl on the left, Leenyin. Without them, there won’t be any “Way to go Ballistic Wars!!!”.

Of course, I’m right there in the center.

Let’s not forget the whole Ballistic Wars cast! As you can see, Aida wanted to let loose and got a little too drunk, so I had to give her a piggyback ride all the way back to HQ.

It ain’t over yet. We’re in the midst of making the remake for our US sponsor, so watch out for it!

The results are in! Out of 48 total entries, Ballistic Wars by Easy Only! Games has won third place in the international Jayis Casual Game Design Competition #4! On top of that, it has also won 10% audience votes, making it the second highest voted game in the competition!

Result page: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/10/cgdc4_results.php

This is definitely the pinnacle of Easy Only! Games short history. Looks like we’re off to a good start!

Big thanx to those who played the game, and bigger thanx to those who voted for it! Your feedback and donations would definitely be of great help and support in future game productions.

A very big thank you to Daim and Leenyin for their help on the game. I don’t think the game will get anywhere without these two, definitely.

Of course, Easy Only! Games is not planning to stop here. A US-based company is already interested to sponsor our game, so there’ll be a remake/sequel. Also, three people from Thailand, Singapore and the US have contacted us and expressed their interest to collaborate with us on future projects.

This is definitely an exciting time for Easy Only! Games, and it’s not over yet. Stay tuned for bigger ideas to come!

One word: freaking awesome. Whoops, I lost count, because it’s so awesome.

If you wanna see it in wide visual clarity, check out http://www.streetfighterworld.com.

Yes, it has been shortlisted for audience voting and the final judging.

And now, the audience voting is also open! To ensure that each vote is genuine, you have to pay a minimum of $US 1, in which the money will go to the game creator. This is also a good move as it supports the creator to come up with more creative games!

Although it uses the Paypal engine, you can easily use your credit card without having a paypal account.

Please do check out the other games as well, as you can vote for multiple games at one go. Of course, if you enjoy Ballistic Wars, please vote for it Thanks!

And here are the links:

Jayis Voting announcement page:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/10/audience_award4.php

Ballistic Wars game page, with comments: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/10/cgdc4_ballistic_wars.php

That’s right, Ballistic Wars has been polished from the ground up!

The following are its new features:

+ Bomb countdown is now MUCH faster
+ Interface allows you to skip animations and dialogues
+ Improved mouse scrolling: no longer obstructed by hovering over units
+ Revamped user interface (except the main menu, heh)
+ Clicking on units reveal their portraits and some speech
+ Hovering cursor over units reveal its attributes
+ Mini portraits now reveal the type of bomb (moves left? moves right? heavy?)
+ Visual effects for explosion and some special abilities
+ Added in-game sound effects

And that’s all for the polished update. Of course, there are many more ideas to come for the sequel (yes, there’s a sequel!). But until then, hope you enjoy the brand spanking new Ballistic Wars!

Big thanks to Daim and Leenyin for working till the very end!

I’m very very happy with the many responses for Ballistic Wars. Everyone has been kind enough to provide suggestions and constructive criticisms throughout the play session. So far, there have been 61 comments! I’m also proud to announce that not only is Ballistic Wars the only Malaysian entry, but it is also the only Asian entry! Woohoo!

To those who played the game, thank you!

The general response is that they praised the originality and creativity of the gameplay, its suitability with the “ball physics” theme, the graphics, the characters and even the story and humour used in the game. However, there have been numerous complaints about the sluggish speed and bugs.

I was quite relieved when Jay mentioned that the judging is based on, I quote, “the gameplay, the theme and the production values (bugs notwithstanding)”. However, audience voting is on this coming Tuesday. Jay has given all the developers a chance to polish the games before the audience voting starts.

So I have printed all the comments listed in the site, and highlighted all the issues that need a-fixing!

The target date for the polished version is this Sunday (14th October). Even if you have played it before, I invite you to play the polished version as well. I will announce it here as well as on Jayisgames site itself.

Alright, it’s time to get cracking on those pesky bugs!

Looks like our entry to Jayis Casual Game Design Competition #4 is finally online!

Ballistic Wars is a turn-based strategy game that uses the consideration of ball physics to plan your moves instead of the usual tiles. You are in command of an elite bomb squad, where you direct your “ball units” to strike the bombs physically to defuse them. When it’s the enemy’s turn, the countdown of the bombs get lower.

Hence, the objective of the game is to defuse the bombs before their countdown timers reach zero.

When I was playing pool in Breakers, Desa Sri Hartamas, an idea suddenly struck me. What if certain balls are bigger than others? And what if the pool table had terrain where the smaller balls have a chance to hit the bigger ones?

I originally wanted to make a template terrain that is housed on top of a real pool table, but definitely it’s not quite feasible. When Jay announced that the theme of the competition was ball physics, I was excited and knew that I could make a Flash version instead!

Of course, when I think about turn-based strategy games, one stood out: Advance Wars for the GBA and DS. Its simplicity and depth in game design astounds me till this very day. Naturally, Ballistic Wars draws inspiration from that game.

So whatcha waiting for? Play it already! You can click on the link to play and see viewer’s comments on this page: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/10/cgdc4_ballistic_wars.php

Big thanks to my cousin, Daim for all the character design and animation. And also my sis Leenyin for the interface design. Of course, thanks Jay for the opportunity!

Here’s hoping to good results!