Wii Burger

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Sega has THQ in its sights, not Activision and EA

In a recent conversation with Forbes, Sega of America said through its president Simon Jeffrey that it’s now competing with the “next tier” of publishers, but it isn’t quite ready to take on the giants just yet.

Jeffrey said that his company has been able to compete with such names as Capcom, Midway, and Eidos over the past few years and now he says the company feels ready to challenge bigger competitors. From a business standpoint, he said Sega is most comparable to THQ.

“THQ is a good company for us to model ourselves on and go after in terms of market share,” said Jeffrey. He added that their firm has doubled its shares on the market annually and this puts them in a good position for more success.

“We don’t intend to be an Activision or an Electronic Arts – one of those juggernauts. We’re actually really happy where we are. We can be small and agile and yet extremely profitable and successful,” he concludes.

• Sega, Creative Assembly announce new sci-fi RTS for Xbox 360, PS3, PC
• Sega announces “real” Yakuza 3, clears up title fiasco

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Hold your homebrew horses: semi-bricking Wii Region Changer wrings drama

The recently released Wii Region Changer from Waninkoko has a risk of semi-bricking your Wii, but that’s old news. Those who’ve taken the time to absorb the basics of region-lock circumvention already know that changing the region settings of your console will also change the console’s system configuration.

And a configuration mismatch is a stall waiting to happen. Of course, there are already ways of reverting from semi-bricks. Heck, I had a couple of those in three months, and that’s no biggie.

But Marcan of Elotrolado.net believes the lack of warning or safety was a huge irresponsibility on Waninkoko’s part, because the homebrew was publicly released, and was rendered usable for even first-time region-free users.

This is where everything breaks apart. Marcan says on record that region-lock circumvention was allegedly discussed with Bushing of Team Twiizer, and to some degree, it had some ties to the issue of encouraging piracy.

I guess this feeling of resentment towards Waninkoko’s pro-piracy image pretty much bottled up since the release of WAD Manager, then the custom IOS installer, the IOS uninstaller, and the Downgrader for the Wii.

After all, we all know that Bushing has been against pro-Wii piracy all this time. He sternly said that an ISO loader will never spew from the Wii homebrew community. It appears to be the code of honor for the Wii homebrew community.

To that end, news has come ’round that Marcan, together with Bushing, have decided to call a full information blackout on Waninkoko, and will no longer share new information the closely-knit Wii homebrew community may encounter in the future.

This has sparked some serious friction in the community, as Waninkoko’s allies rallied to his end. Another division stayed neutral, but managed to put out these points of sense before the tomato-throwing started.

As with all unsigned code, there’s always a risk of malfunction, error, or damage to devices and peripherals. Something a 20-year period of getting intimate with all things technical in computers would teach you, believe me. Homebrew is no exception. As many have pointed out, there are always risks, even if the risk isn’t obvious, advised, or hinted. Waninkoko’s Region Changer is one such given.

Are the higher-ups listening? I can’t tell much from where I’m standing, but it does appear they want to keep their relations with Nintendo amenable – if it’s even at a good stage right this moment.

The status quo is divided: some believe that relations might not even be existent with Nintendo, if the opinions from shadowz of Wiinewz are anything to ponder over. On the other hand, some might agree that even the most impressive of the Wii homebrew community is getting a bit too hypocritical with their stance. Shadowz’ take, we quote (a bit long):

Are they forgetting why homebrew exists in the first place? Nintendo disagrees with openness because of some apps that homebrewers could possibly make so they do not give them the information to make apps. Now Marcan is wants to do the same thing in homebrew community. Yes, Waninkoko’s apps may be unstable but they are making new, useful functionality available to more people. Bushing et al. may have done 90 of the work to make it possible, but in the same way Nintendo has done 90 of the work to make the wii platform work. The situation seems somewhat hypocritical to me, they are working on making the platform more open and accessible for everything but at the same time limiting information when they disagree how its used. Of course, there are always shades of gray in situations like this, which is why I didn’t have a huge problem with all the negativity towards this in the past, but it seems like its getting the point where its too much.

Need more be said? If so, jot down your thoughts below. Pro-piracy or anti-piracy – so not the drama. A translation of Marcan’s two-cents can be had from in-the-scene correspondent Brakken, who’s all over it like a bear on honey (follow external link).

• Homebrew – Wii Region Changer v1.0
• Wiibrew Custom Firmware: Custom IOS Installer rev03, Uninstaller v1.1, Downgrader v1.0
• Twilight Hack’s Team Twiizer: No ISOloader in the future

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Square Enix revenues down but profits kick up

Square Enix’s overall sales are down in Q1 of this fiscal year, but that doesn’t mean the company is losing money. As a matter of fact, it’s gaining more profits compared to the same period last year.

Overall revenues fell 9.3 percent to US 275.3 million. Profits, however, jumped up to US 26.7 from the previous fiscal cycle’s US 25.3, but the Japanese publisher did not explain why.

Regional sales were down in Europe and Asia, but the North American market is still responding well, posting a slight increase from US$23.8 million last year to US 24.4 million this year.

From a sectoral standpoint, Square Enix’s sales are down in both online and offline portfolios. Similar slight falls were also noted for the company’s mobile and amusement businesses.

• Square Enix stock shares rise after FF13 Xbox 360 reveal
• Wada: Square Enix is platform-neutral

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THQ posts big earnings, bigger losses

While most publishers in the video game industry are reporting decent to good earnings in Q1 of 2008, the story is a bit different for THQ as it dipped well into the red zone with triple the losses it incurred in the same period last year.

THQ finished the quarter with US 137.6 million, US 33.1 million better than last year’s total. A lot of this can be credited to multiplatform hit WALL-E which was developed in cooperation with Pixar. The IP sold over a million copies despite lukewarm critical reactions.

As good as the WALL-E efforts went, development costs sapped up the earnings and gave THQ a staggering US 27.2 million in deficits. This is triple of last year’s losses, but THQ isn’t fazed just yet.

CEO Brian Farrell said in a statement that THQ is still well on track to post earnings this year with a good number of their products still to come. Flagship franchises such as WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 and Saints Row 2 are waiting on the wings, and games like Red Faction Guerrilla, Darksiders: Wrath of War, and Legends of Wrestlemania are expected to do well.

THQ stands firm on its projection of  US$1.15 billion to US$1.175 billion in revenues by the end of the fiscal year. We’ll see if that statement can vindicate the game maker when the dust settles.

• Triple H, Shawn Michaels to grace WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 cover
• THQ explains differences between Saints Row 2 and GTA4

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WiiNintendo Review – ?Wii-ID?

Basically, this is a new way to “skin” your Wii Remote.  Wii-ID, comes with a battery cover with a clear window in it.  Within the Wii-ID package you’ll also find 18 pre-made “inserts”, you’ll also find a template that will allow you to print out and cut your own imagery/graphics to put into the Wii [...]

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OpenTyrianWii: Tyrian Wiibrew port

Tyrian, a classic and well loved shooter game that has already been ported to a number of other platforms, has now been introduced to the Wii thanks to the efforts of Wiibrew developer nuvalo. OpenTyrianWii is still in its test version, so there is no support for the nunchuk or classic controller as of yet, but the dev said support will be added in future versions.

The game does, however,support the GameCube controller, USB mice and keyboards, and of course, the Wiimote. Here are the developer’s notes and known issues on the game. Please read the documentation included in the download for more information.

Note:

• Pay attention when the program asks you to press 1 2 buttons, to connect it to the wiimote. You only have 5 seconds
• Use the wiimote in horizontal position
• In 576i mode (pal 50Hz) the screen is draw in 640×480, so you will see it enlarged.
• Couldn t test how it works in cable component mode, but spect to have weird colours.

Known Issues:

• Network play is not yet implemented.
• 2 player mode buttons are not mapped (might work, i diddnt tried it)
• The default SaveGame works, but the “Select new savegame” option doesn t work,
• as you cant type the name of the new gamesave. It works if you use a keyboard
• The analog gamecube pad joystick does not work properly, use the Digital joy instead.
• Problems using TV in 480p or rgb components

Download: OpenTyrianWii (310708)

• Touhou Fangame Beta 2 – bullet hell Wiibrew game
• Wii Homebrew – Space Shooter v0.2
• Return to Tyrian DS first release
• OpenTyrian PSP v0.5

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The Wiicast #97

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Around The Net – endo #2

This is going to be a new feature on WiiNintendo, I plan on updating the “Around The Net – endo” daily or even 2+ times a day.
A lot of random news/videos/screens/etc.. slip through the crack.  Here, in this section, you’ll find a comprehensive “dump” of Nintendo news from all over the internet on a regular [...]

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AnyTitle Deleter: space-freeing program for the Wii

AnyTitle Deleter is a new Wiibrew program from developer tona. Similar to Redbird’s Title_Uninstaller, this program will allow you to delete almost any title from your Wii, including previously un-deletable ones, such as IOS, MIOS, and some system channels.

Of course, having that much control over your Wii could be dangerous as you could delete some highly sensitive stuff. Tona took that into consideration and has included extensive anti-brick measures, so you can’t delete any of the more sensitive titles. Here are the program’s listed features from tona:

• Deletes previously “Non-Removable” titles, such as IOS, MIOS, some system channels, etc.
• Contains extensive brick protection–You cannot delete your System Menu, it’s IOS, or some other necessary titles.
• Lists all titles installed on the system in both hex and ASCII format in a series of nice (but console-based) menus.
• Attempts un-installation of titles the “safe” way, and if it fails, will do a more manual “delete” upon request.

Download: AnyTitle Deleter

• Title_Uninstaller v0.1: WAD uninstaller, doesn’t require original WAD
• Wiibrew Custom Firmware: Custom IOS Installer rev03, Uninstaller v1.1, Downgrader v1.0
• WAD Manager v1.1 – now with USB mass drive support

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Homebrew – Wii Region Changer v1.0

Fresh from releasing his Custom Firmware Wiibrew programs, developer waninkoko has released another useful new program, Wii Region Changer, which does exactly what it says. Now you can play games and download from the Wii Shop Channel without concerning yourself with regional restrictions.

Note that you will need waninkoko’s Custom IOS37 rev 03 installed for this. If you are having problems with the region switch, you may also find his firmware downgrader useful. You can find both programs in the related articles section below.

It seems that this program also drove a wedge between waninkoko and Team Twiizers. Marcan and the rest of Team Twiizers have deemed waninkoko’s programs dangerous (including this one), and have decided not to share any more information with him.

Nevertheless, numerous reports have come in that the Wii Region Changer is effective. Please keep in mind though, that there may still be a danger of it bricking the Wii. Here’s a video of the Wii Region Changer, courtesy of linkinworm (a hearty thanks to you!).

Thanks to linkinworm for giving the heads up in the forums!

Download: Wii Region Changer v1.0
Visit: QJ.NET Wii Forums, Wii Region Changer Thread

• Wiibrew CFW: Custom IOS Installer rev03, Uninstaller v1.1, Downgrader v1.0
• Title_Uninstaller v0.1: WAD uninstaller, doesn’t require original WAD
• WAD Manager v1.1 – now with USB mass drive support