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Nice post on VentureBeat today about the once quite succesful MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies and the recently announced termination.

Star Wars Galaxies was successful because it was unlike other MMO games at the time. Players could master several classes at once and create characters who suited themselves. You could create a doctor who was a deadly sniper, or a fighting monk who could also build starships. It was also extremely difficult to unlock the Jedi class, but very rewarding.

Full article here

VentureBeat has written an interesting article about the press conferences on the first day of the E3:

Microsoft had some great announcements, but most of them leaked out. The highlight of the day was that Microsoft announced that it will launch Halo 4 in 2012 and will launch a remake of the classic Halo Combat Evolved game from 2001 later this year. The Halo 4 game picks up where Halo 3 left off and includes Master Chief and Cortana. It will be part of a new trilogy. Microsoft also leaked a Disney Adventures Kinect game and Star Wars Kinect the night before. With so many leaks, it was hard to say we learned anything new at the Microsoft event.

Read the full article here.

Last week I mentioned the Wii Sales going down, now, in an interview with the Financial Times, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is saying he expects a new Nintendo console in 2011. This console will be more like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 in terms of functionality and might just have a new controller as well. The new Sony and Microsoft controllers will only have a relatively small impact on sales figures due to them being an extension to the gaming functionality of the consoles. (more…)

While the Xbox 360 with a lower price and the Playstation 3 Slim are driving sales for both Microsoft and Sony, the Nintedo Wii’s sales are down for the sixth month in a row in the United States. The core PS3 and Xbox360 models are only $50,- more expensive than Nintendo’s Wii so the decline is expected to hold until Nintendo changes the package or lowers the price.

(more…)