Nightly News Roundup: 2010.08.13

n-Space Lays off 25 percent of Workforce

n-Space, developers of GameCube’s Geist as well as many DS iterations of first person shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops and Goldeneye 007, had to lay off 25 percent of its 100 person-strong workforce due to “wrapping up a bunch of titles simultaneously” and having upcoming titles being delayed. As the CEO spun it, this is all a consequence of “momentary reduced demand.” Losing a job in this economy is extremely tough and we hope that all the displaced employees land well on their feet, and we certainly look forward to some more excellent first person action on our DSs this holiday.

Source: Kotaku

Also known as the 3D system that Nintendo would rather you forgot, Metroid and Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi’s Virtual Boy was a colossal flop. That doesn’t mean we’re not still counting the years that have passed since Nintendo’s first, tentative steps into 3D gaming and fires-of-hell colored visuals. The pricey experimental “portable’ system turns 15 years old tomorrow, Saturday August 14. If only it was today, as Friday the 13th would also make an appropriate birthday. In case you’re wondering, 3DS is nothing– and this is meant in the best way– nothing at all like Virtual Boy.

Source: Wikipedia and The Internet

Wedbush Morgan Securities Analyst and all around most-ubiquitous video game business analyst Michael Pachter has once again pointed his finger at Wii for disappointing software sales in July. He pointed out that, compared to Xbox 360 and PS3 , Wii is reaching console saturation and market fatigue. Wii owners are buying fewer titles, while third party publishers like EA are finding much stronger success with the “HD” software they’re putting out on the competition’s home machines. This is leading to third parties further abandoning production of Wii software, or, as Pachter put it, “the weakness in Wii software is likely to spook all but the most fearless.” Pachter has long been an advocate for Nintendo to release an “HD” version of Wii, and his latest report was not remiss to leave an implicit note on this topic, too: “Nintendo appears to us to be the odd man out, chugging along with the same hardware model it introduced in 2006… while Microsoft and Sony have substantially upgraded their core console models.” Regardless Pachter’s take, Nintendo definitely has a performance issue on its hands, and how it will address these challenges in 2011 will be very interesting.

Source: Industry Gamers

In case you don’t like your favorite hobbies mashed into a psychedelic, hyper kinetic blender of ADHD action comedy madness, you may not care for the film adaptation of graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim Versus the World. But if you’re not so stodgy, you’re highly encouraged to check this film out. It has scores of Mario and Zelda references– primarily Zelda on the audio front– as well as a number of other classic video game elements, rapid-fire camera cuts for comedy and action, and glowing special effects. Yeah, I’m shamelessly plugging this movie because it may be the best, and your favorite, video game movie ever. No, we didn’t get free tickets or paid to see it. I just love it. And that’s the news.

Source: Noah