World of Warcraft may be the biggest MMO around, but you don't have to take it on to succeed. Cryptic, the folks behind Star Trek Online, certainly feel that way. Said Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich:

"We think we've made something that Star Trek fans and gamers alike will enjoy. Maybe some of those fans will come from WoW and maybe some will be totally new to the MMOG genre.

We're not trying to directly compete with WoW and if our game grows to that success then that would be awesome but for now we're just worried about getting a good game out there that people will enjoy."

And he's perfectly right. Every time a new MMO comes out everyone goes "it'll never beat WoW," and dismiss it out of hand, judging it a "failure" should it not hit 12 million subscribers. What really matters is that the game is great enough to make everyone the money that it needs to keep it that way.

Speaking as a player, Star Trek Online is very different from WoW, not least because it's full of Star Trek goodness. Now, if you'll excuse me, my Borg character has some star clusters to explore.

STO Don't Need No WoW Players [The Escapist]

We haven't had much corporate showboating for a while, so here's Sony's Peter Dille to set things right. The VP of marketing believes that his company is breathing down Microsoft's neck, and it's only a matter of time before the PS3 beats the Xbox 360 in terms of sales. 

"I'm confident we'll be around in ten years and I can say that because we've done it twice. PS3 will be around in ten years and probably much longer than that," boasts Dille. "We can be passionate fans, but I don't think they'll be around in ten years so I'm very confident we'll pass them within that time frame. We've got 31 million worldwide right now -- they've got 39 million [units sold]. I don't even need to go out ten years.

 "I'm not going to make any predictions for your interview today other than we'll pass them, but you look at where we are today and where they are today, and they had an opportunity to sprint as far ahead of us as possible when they had the head start. Well, we're breathing down their necks and they can see us in the rear-view mirror and it's not going to take too long to pass them."

Confident words indeed. Do you think Sony's tortoise-and-hare approach will see it through in the long run, or has its slow start has been too costly? Also, how many more times can Peter Dille cram "ten years" into a single statement?

End Bosses: Sony's Peter Dille [IGN]

2K Sports has retained its place atop the basketball simulation throne, and it looks like they’ll stay there for a while. The publisher proclaimed in a press release today that it has sold more than two million copies of NBA 2K10 worldwide, a 60% year-over-year improvement for the same October-through-January time frame (2K10’s sales increase was likely helped by its Wii and PSP versions, which did not exist for NBA 2K9). These sales numbers are all the more impressive for having come amid what was, by most accounts, a strong effort from EA in NBA Live 10 (albeit one that sold even fewer units than NBA Live 09).

But perhaps the more startling story is the news that Mike Wang, who defected from NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts to become the lead gameplay designer on NBA Live, is returning to the Visual Concepts team after an 18-month stint at EA Canada. Wang was instrumental in the critical success of Live 10 from a gameplay standpoint, but now that he’s been welcomed back with open arms by 2K, he has some damning words for his former employer, according to ESPN:

But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it’s just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the best games. [...] With some of the creative decisions over at EA, it just made it difficult to stay there. They just want to make a different game than I had a vision for. [...] For me, it was interesting to be at EA, but it was just hard to get stuff done.

2K’s Senior Vice President of Sports Development, Greg Thomas, even goes so far as to speculate that EA may move away from trying to compete with NBA 2K in the basketball sim market:

... [N]ow they want to change things in a great way because they can’t afford to sell this many units through a three-year plan or a five-year plan. [...] I think EA is going through an identity crisis with their basketball sim.

For its part, EA announced Wang’s departure first, perhaps hoping to soften its impact. NBA Live lead producer Sean O’Brien, in a post on the series’ In the Paint blog, left Wang with thanks and well-wishes. But this is a serious blow to EA’s basketball street cred, and it raises questions about the future of the NBA Live games. It’s hard to imagine a world without NBA Live, especially since (unlike baseball or football) there’s no NBA license exclusivity, but perhaps EA is going in an arcade direction with its basketball games -- and maybe the NBA Jam revival is the start.

Gamer: Mike Wang returns to 2K Sports [ESPN via Pastapadre]
NBA LIVE Update [In the Paint]

Despite Nintendo's endless denials, talk about a Wii HD refuses to settle down. Now Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has enterd the fray, claiming that even if a Wii 2 did release with hi-definition compatibility, that would not be enough to on its own. 

"If asked if making the Wii compatible with high definition -- just making it compatible with high resolution -- will get players throughout the world to buy it," declares the Nintendo bigwig, "I would of course say, 'Do you think it would sell with just that? It needs something new.'"

So, the basic messages seems to be that when the Wii 2 ships, it won't just be a waggle box with prettier graphics. We have no way of knowing what hair brained nonsense Nintendo will cook up next, but we reckon it might be one of those toy ovens with slightly warm lights that you're supposed to make really terrible cakes with. 

Iwata Discusses Wii and DS Successor Confusion [Andria Sang]

If you were a fan of the spooky Cursed Mountain, we have some bad news for you. Developer Deep Silver Vienna has closed its doors after only one game, due to financial issues. Probably because they developed an interesting Wii game, meaning nobody bought it. 

Parent company Koch Media stated that the decision to axe Deep Silver Vienna was not an easy one to make, and has promised to pay the studio's twenty staff until March. It's rumored that co-founder Hannes Seifert has managed to land a gig with Square Enix. 

Another new studio bites the dust. This is what happens when people refuse to buy videogames.

Cursed Mountain developer goes under [Aussie Nintendo]

With over 25 years in the game industry, when Firaxis Games' Sid Meier talks people listen. And he'll be talking at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this March. 

Sure, a lot of people will be speaking at GDC this year, but only Meier will lead the conference's keynote address. In a presentation entitled "The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)," Meier will discuss how the driving force of game design should be the psychology of the player, rather than "laws of logic, physics, and algebra."

My mind is blown already. That's why Meier's speaking, and I'll just be there listening (sitting on the edge of my seat) in March.

A full press release detailing Meier's talk can be found after the jump.

In news that has caused a flurry of shaking heads and angry Tweets from members of the gaming media, it has been revealed that Crispy Gamer's entire editorial staff has been laid off, a month after the company acquired the GamerDNA social network.

It seems the decision was made partly thanks to the GamerDNA acquisition, as the evil magistrates in charge wish to build a social network for gamers and have no interest in providing editorial content. Wonderful news for them, but not so good news for a staff that included Kyle Orland, Scott Jones, James Fudge and many others.

In protest, Crispy Gamer's CEO Chris Heldman has resigned. The fired staff are being paid for the month but their termination is immediate. GamerDNA's CEO apparently didn't even know about the layoffs until the story went public.

Crispy Gamer's staff were hard workers and responsible for some very interesting analysis. It's a shame to see a talented group of writers fired through no fault of their own, just because the corporation in charge got bored of something they bought. Just makes me very grateful to work for an independently run company. We might have to tighten our purse strings now and then, but at least we won't wake up to find we've all be fired because some suit doesn't like us anymore.

Crispy Gamer editorial staff laid off, CEO resigns in protest [Joystiq]

In the same online chat in which Tatsunoko vs. Capcom producer Ryota Niitsuma spilled the beans about the potential for another Versus game being announced later this year, he spoke out about some of the franchises that didn't quite make it into the game.

We know that Phoenix Wright was unfortunately scrapped from the game, citing localization and balance problems. But Niitsuma told SiliconEra today that Samurai Pizza Cats and Speed Racer were also on the docket at one point.

"We at Capcom, too, wanted to see the Samurai Pizza Cats in the game. We were in discussion with Tatsunoko Productions to try to get them in the game. It went right up the last minute, but it didn’t go through,” explained Niitsuma. Loosely translated from Catto Ninden Teyandee, Samurai Pizza Cats was picked up by Saban when it was brought to North America in the early 1990s. A quick Google search shows that Disney now owns the rights to the property.

I admit that I don't know much about the show, but I blame Disney for the fact that I don't have the chance to beat Morrigan up with a anthropomorphic cat who simultaneously catches bad dudes and runs a pizzeria. Read that sentence again and tell me that wouldn't have been awesome.

The Speed Racer loss is equally disappointing, but only because I'm more familiar with the show. "They thought about Speed Racer but he’s just a race car driver. It would be hard to incorporate his race car into the game,” Niitsuma continued.

Cop out. Frank West is just a photographer (He's covered wars, you know), but they squeezed him in there just fine.

But seriously. Samurai Pizza Cats.

Capcom Tried To Get Samurai Pizza Cats for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom [SiliconEra]

If there's one thing fighting fans love to do, it's telling Capcom how to run their business. Personally, I think R. Mika should make a Super Street Fighter IV comeback, but that's neither here nor there.

What is both here and there, though, is this quotation from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars producer Ryota Niitsuma: "If sales are really good, then you can see an announcement [for another game] within this year," he told Kotaku this morning.

But an announcement for what?

"I would love to do more Versus series, more types of games like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2," Niitsuma continued. "There are all of these possibilities working with other companies, seeing what we could do with them. There are so many game companies I'd love to work with."

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which will be released in North America next week, is the seventh game in the Vs. series. Niitsuma calls it a "revival" of the series; besides the recently re-made Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for Xbox Live Arcade, the last Vs. game was Capcom vs. SNK 2, which appeared in arcades in 2001. While this doesn't count as an official announcement, I doubt Capcom would be too happy with Niitsuma running his mouth off if another Vs. title weren't plausible.

Cross-over games tend to be heavy on the fanservice, and it's no surprise that Capcom would take fan requests into account. "We get requests from fans to mix our characters with other video game characters all of the time," Niitsuma said. "Based on those requests we might be able to do something with our characters and another company's characters for a future game," Niitsuma said.

So! Since I know all of you with Wiis are going to buy Tatsunoko vs. Capcom next week, it wouldn't be out of the question to hear about a Vs. game later this year, right? Right. Capcom seems to be listening, so let's hear which company Capcom should work with next.

My vote is for Studio Ghibli: a Jill and Nausicaa team would be awfully cool.

Capcom May Announce New Versus Game This Year [Kotaku via The Tanooki]

My eyes hurt from rolling. I'm dizzy and they're bloodshot from rolling. Why all the rolling? It comes from the statement from Polyphony Digital's Kazunori Yamauchi saying that the ultra-delayed Gran Turismo 5 is 90 percent complete now. Bullsh*t. I feel like even if it's 99 percent complete, we still won't see it for forever.

"We are just working on the last ten percent and polishing up everything," he told USA Today.

You say that, and then we see that the Japanese release date was pushed back. And look at this GameStop release/ship date for the game: November 1, 2010. What?! Early last year, you said the same thing!

It's just some arbitrary number you picked out of your head, just like you said that your game is using 80 percent of the PS3's power. Quit talking, quit making sh*t up and get back to working on your game so that you might release it before people stop caring about it.

Gran Turismo 5 Is 90 Per Cent Complete [Next Gen]

A few days ago, former EA executive Mitch Lasky wrote a scathing blog about Electronic Arts' business practices and what he called a "bankrupt strategy." While EA declined to issue an official response, communications head Jeff Brown has responded in an interview, claiming that Lasky is just bitter because he never became EA's CEO.

"Mitch needs to try de-caf," mocks Brown. "It’s never easy being turned down for a job, but most people don’t spend three years obsessing about it. Since Mitch left EA, Apple invented the iPhone, Facebook evolved to include a gaming platform and EAMobile became the world leader."

Wow, quite the catty response from EA. Not exactly a shot above the belt, but you have to give a golf clap for the merciless burn. Still, no amount of mockery can detract from the fact that EA is not the moneyspinner it once was, and while the publisher focuses on critics and blaming the Wii, things aren't getting fixed.

Game venture capitalist and Electronic Arts trade barbs [GamesBeat]

Electronic Arts isn't doing very well at the moment, and Electronic Arts would have you believe that's all the economy's fault. However, former EVP Mitch Lasky has a more damning reason for EA's failings -- it's the fact that Electronic Arts has totally dropped the ball. 

"While Activision was setting sales records with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, EA had no major hits," writes Lasky, "although, in fairness the COD:MW2 revenue was probably just filling in a sinkhole at Activision created by a music game business that has fallen off a cliff. EA is in the wrong business, with the wrong cost structure and the wrong team, but somehow they seem to think that it is going to be a smooth, two-year transition from packaged goods to digital. Think again.

"The old EA model was a basically a three-legged stool: 1) a profitable, recurring sports business (Madden, FIFA); 2) franchise games that produced big hits on a less frequent basis (The Sims,Need for Speed, Command & Conquer); and 3) a collection of digital assets (e.g.: Pogo & JAMDAT, and now Playfish) and distribution/partnership titles (e.g.: Rock Band & Left 4 Dead). Of those, the only stool leg left intact is the third one. Without the digital assets and the EA Distribution titles, they'd be in even more serious hot water."

Lasky says that EA executives weren't bold enough to scale back certain games to cut long-term costs, and that its sports licenses have been "hamstrung" due to the increased money involved. However, it's the EA Games division that is the company's biggest failure, according to the former EVP.

"From Spore, to Dead Space, to Mirror's Edge, to Need for Speed: Undercover, it's been one expensive commercial disappointment for EA Games after another. Not to mention the shut-down of Pandemic, half of the justification for EA's $850MM acquisition of Bioware-Pandemic. And don't think that Dante's Inferno, or Knights of the Old Republic, is going to make it all better. It's a bankrupt strategy."

Incredibly scathing stuff. Make sure to check it all out on Lasky's blog.

If you think Ubisoft had abandoned two of its more unique IPs so that it could dedicate an entire team to delaying Splinter Cell: Conviction, then think again. Ubisoft has confirmed that the long-awaited Beyond Good & Evil 2 and the game known only in concept form, I Am Alive, are both still in production. 

Geoffroy Sardin, CEO of Ubisoft France could not give any details on the two games, he merely stated that "they are still in production" when asked. Considering both games seemed highly unlikely to ever see the light of day, it's still a step up from previous circumstances. 

The last time we heard about Beyond Good & Evil 2, it was allegedly "on hold" until further notice. Before that, an Ubisoft executive tried to deny all knowledge of the title. As far as I Am Alive goes ... well ... who the f*ck cares about that game? Until Ubisoft give us more than a few shreds of ideas, at any rate. 

Ubisoft's allergy to BG&E is concerning. No idea why the publisher just doesn't sell the IP to somebody else if it's so distraught by the idea of publishing another one.

Interview record 2009: Ubisoft [Gamekult via VG247]

Besides having an unusual yet attention-grabbing subtitle, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom has something else going for it: a beta! Well, it's about to, anyway. There is a catch, however -- you need to be a FilePlanet subscriber. I know, I know. It's a real kick in the pants, isn't it?

Beta keys aren't going out until the 19th, so you do have some time to figure this whole situation out. Should you choose to take part, you can expect to find single-player tutorial missions mixed in with skirmish maps for use in multiplayer and competitive play against the game's AI.

The Settlers series as a whole -- not just the new hotness that is The Settlers 7 -- has always interested me just enough to get me thinking about how much I would probably enjoy playing the games, but not enough to get me to follow through with such crazy notions.

Maybe I should hire a group of caring folks to harass me on Twitter until I cave in. That'd surely do it.