Microsoft buys Wii-like Studio for Xbox 360
Microsoft recently announced the acquisition of a new game studio for the Xbox 360. Microsoft is buying up a studio during what is said to be one of the biggest depressions in the history of the U.S. economy. However, the move could be an effort to increase Microsoft’s competitive advantage over the Nintendo Wii.
It seems like I am on a roll here as I broke news regarding the Ghostbusters exclusivity for the PS3 last year. I also talked about Microsoft’s huge shift towards the casual market last year from comments made by the company reps. The announcement made by Microsoft today regarding the acquisition of a new studio, BigPark further supports the shift the company is making.
Some may question Microsoft’s motivation to purchasing a new studio amidst a layoff in the thousands and the closure of one of the longest standing game studios, Ensemble. However, the reason is more obvious than one may think. Microsoft has hinted many times in the past that the company wants to make a huge shift towards the casual market to directly compete with the Wii.
It is speculated that this is one of the main reasons for bringing out the Arcade model as well as working on a covert Wii-like motion controller. One of the main reasons given by Microsoft for shutting down Ensemble Studios was to align resources to target games that would be more scalable, or profitable with lower production costs.
The fairly new Vancouver based studio, BigPark is made up of individuals from all walks of life. The team is comprised of folks who have worked on games such as Need for Speed and SSX. However, the studio has its sights set on the casual market.
The company’s mission statement is, “To expand gaming audiences around the world and bring them together through accessible and highly entertaining interactive experiences.” The company is said to be working on an Xbox 360 title which will be announced during E3. It seems like Microsoft may have something up its sleeve this year.
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33 Responses to “Microsoft buys Wii-like Studio for Xbox 360”
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May 8th, 2009
Crap
May 8th, 2009
Did you just crap yourself Ivan?
May 8th, 2009
he’d need to be human to do that, me_
May 8th, 2009
So basically your saying that the Mission Statement is the only thing that is linking this new studio as a Wii-Like Studio. Good one Mike! Lets see if this prediction come true.
May 8th, 2009
That guy in the pic is really belting one out!
May 8th, 2009
It’s good to see that M$ has acquired another studio. If they were smart, they would abandon the exclusive DLC & timed exclusive nonsense, and invest in a few more studios. Having more first party exclusives can only help the 360 brand in the long run.
May 8th, 2009
No I like the Exclusive stuff. It’s a great snubb to Sony because it makes you guys realize that you backed the wrong horse. No GTA 4 DLC, No Tomb Raider, No Fallout 3 DLC, etc etc…….
May 8th, 2009
CAD:
I rather buy full games then add-on.
And Sony is making the right moves you just saying that outer of anger don’t worry i don’t blame you. DLC sucks if that’s the only thing you getting where are the new IPs?
May 8th, 2009
“it makes you guys realize that you backed the wrong horse.”
Heh. I love this expression. How egocentric does someone have to be to use it? I can’t even wrap my mind around it.
-Arvis
May 8th, 2009
Me To Ivan. I like buying the full game then I get the add-on when it comes out.
May 8th, 2009
CAD:
You only get Add-on no full games so stop lying to yourself. All Xbox 360 is ADD-ON and multi-platform games nothing else. Sony has and releases full games exclusive with add-on at awesome low price.
You backed the wrong shit. Even Steven Ballmer jokes around about Xbox and he’s the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
May 8th, 2009
Ivan the delusional. Yeahh you try playing a add-on wihtout the full game and tell me how far you get.
May 8th, 2009
CAD:
You are the definite delusional one here. Microsoft has nothing for this yeah that says everything.
May 8th, 2009
“It’s a great snubb to Sony because it makes you guys realize that you backed the wrong horse.”
Ugh, you’re such an idiot sometimes.
May 8th, 2009
I remember when all games were “casual games”.
Castle crashers is great though.
DLC of the day: Broken Steel
Demo of the day: X-Men Origins Wolverine, Uncaged Edition
Deal of the day: Blue Dragon or Crackdown $9.99 @ newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2083230516%204024&name=%240%20-%20%2410
May 9th, 2009
“Microsoft has nothing for this yeah that says everything.”
Says everything that they are still destroying ps3rd in sales. If this is what they are like with nothing……….not looking good for sony
May 10th, 2009
“Says everything that they are still destroying ps3rd in sales. If this is what they are like with nothing……….not looking good for sony”
So, you admit then that M$ has nothing? And you are happy with that? That says everything about a majority of the 360 fanbase.
May 10th, 2009
While I don’t believe PS3 has been “destroyed”, I am glad to be in that “minority” who happen to enjoy having about 100 more favorably reviewed titles across all genres, DLC like Broken Steel, quality multiplats, plenty of RPG’s to play through, etc. (not to say the PS3 doesn’t have an equivalent, I just enjoy these little “somethings” and they should keep me busy having fun for quite a while).
May 10th, 2009
Why are people continually saying that 360 has nothing this year?
So far we’ve had;
- Halo Ward
- The Lost and Damned (approx 10 hours gameplay, which is more than most games these days)
- Ninja Blade (not fantastic, but not terrible either)
- The Pitt
-Broken Steel (Both are DLC, but both enhance the Fallout 3 story)
- Star Ocean
And there’s probably a few others that I have forgotten.
May 10th, 2009
In contrast, the only game I can think of that has been released this year so far for PS3 is Killzone 2.
And that should be ‘Halo Wars’. Halo Ward is going to be released next year, it’s based on a wing of a hospital that deals with people who have been teabagged one time too many in multiplayer.
May 11th, 2009
Star Ocean is rockin’.
I couldn’t give a toss about the rest of those titles (including kz2).
May 11th, 2009
I wouldn’t know about Star Ocean, they haven’t released it down here yet. Apparently the plane carrying the games flew over an island in the pacific which had some magnetic properties which brought the plane down. Then some dude turned some sort of wheel and sent the island back in time. God Lost is getting stupid now, am I the only person who watches it still?
May 11th, 2009
Harry, speaking of which, did you catch the Simpsons where Homer is showing Marge how to teabag in Halo?
The quality isn’t too good here, but sufficient to get the gist: youtube.com/watch?v=L6YS_hbZfBQ&feature=related
May 11th, 2009
Better clip here:
1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174051
Just watched the episode… meh:
hulu.com/watch/71096/the-simpsons-waverly-hills-9021-doh
May 11th, 2009
hahahaahahahahhahaha that’s hilarious! i’ve been teabagged plenty of times in halo, every time i can’t stop laughing.
May 11th, 2009
Harry,
I am hopelessly addicted to Lost. Best television ever created. But I admit it (heh heh) isn’t for the “casual” viewer…
Also, I get the feeling that, were the shoe on the other foot, you would laugh at any PS3 owner who tried to pass that list off as some kind of “killer” game line-up. Halo Wars, downloaded half-games, and two mediocre/bad games…
-Arvis
May 11th, 2009
Fortunately good multiplats outnumber good exclusives ten to one on either console.
May 11th, 2009
Too true, Carl.
-Arvis
May 11th, 2009
@ Chris,
It’s just getting a little silly, with the whole time travel crap.
My little list wasn’t meant to be about great games, it was just pointing out that 360 has not had ‘nothing’ all year. Also, I wouldn’t put Star Ocean down as mediocre/bad, a metacritic score of 78 isn’t bad.
May 12th, 2009
“a metacritic score of 78 isn’t bad.”
It is if it’s a PS3 exclusive, though, right?
You’re right, though, that’s not a bad score at all. About where all the other Star Oceans landed.
-Arvis
May 13th, 2009
“It is if it’s a PS3 exclusive, though, right?”
You would be thinking about the 53-55 category with Haze and Lair. The same goes for Microsoft, but this is just “mixed reviews” (I really did enjoy playing Dash of Destruction free for the 15 minutes the game lasted), the real stinkers are 49 and below (but yes, I even enjoyed Yaris for a couple of minutes free as well).
Speaking of free games (not demos), the best free game I played on 360 would have to be a toss up between Hexic HD and Undertow.
So… Big Park is likely working on a free game pack (similar to Wii Play but hopefully better) to go with the new controller which will probably come bundled with the Arcade; and also available separately with 7 or more games. This plus marketing galore starting after the E3 announcement is the only way this thing could possibly take off this late in the game, and even that’s a stretch.
Anyway, anybody care to name their favorite free games (not demos) on PSN?
May 13th, 2009
Er… any number of internet games?? *laughs*
Because the PS3 has a web browser, you see… *chortle chortle*
-Arvis
May 14th, 2009
Sorry, I thought PSN itself may have offered free games for the PS3 specifically.