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by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:58- Categories:
- DCEmu
The market value leaped 94 per cent week-on-week to £53.8m following FIFA 12's release – the biggest week for games retail so far this year.
Units are up 73 per cent to over 1.5m. FIFA 12 beat FIFA 11's launch week with 18 per cent more games sold. And retail generated 34 per cent more revenue from this year's title.
As a rare treat for UK retail, the High Street took £6.5m more cash than it managed during the corresponding week in 2010. However, slightly fewer units were sold.
The market is likely to dip next week, but it should still be a strong seven days for retail. FIFA will continue to be a big seller, while Namco's Dark Souls and Bethesda's Rage should make an impact.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/softw...d-53-8m/085936
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:54- Categories:
- Retro Consoles/Translation News
[Fernando] sent in a tangential project update that uses an ATtiny45 to play Pong on his television. Last time we looked in on his work he had just finished getting the eight-pin chip to display a big number on the TV via the VGA port. This expands on the idea while he continues to wait for parts.
Right now the chip plays against itself, but he’s got one input pin left and we’d love to see a button added for a simple one-player game. We’re thinking the paddle would always be moving in one direction or the other, with a click of the button to reverse that direction. The part that he’s waiting for is a Bluetooth module, which we’d love to see used for 2-player games via a pair of Wiimotes (we’re just wishing at this point and don’t know if that would even be possible). The end goal for the hardware is a Bluetooth connected scoreboard for Android devices.
The code is written in Assembly, and we found it relatively easy to follow what [Fernando] is doing with the game logic. On the graphics side of things he gets away with a 120×96 resolution because Pong is supposed to look pixelated. We love the result, which you can see for yourself after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2011/10/07/8-pin...ou-widescreen/
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:48- Categories:
- Apple iPhone
It’s no secret that the audio quality of the iPhone’s built-in speakers isn’t exactly what you would consider to be hi-fi. Sound quality aside, there are plenty of times where even the volume doesn’t do the music justice. While you can always go out and buy a fancy dock to amplify your iGadget’s sound, artist [Christopher Locke] has a different take on the subject.
For a while now, he has been constructing what he calls “Analog Tele-Phonographers”, metal sculptures that can be used to amplify a mobile phone’s audio. Built out of steel and old trumpets, his audio sculptures require no electricity, instead utilizing the same amplification technology as the original phonographs.
While the Tele-Phonographers won’t make your iPhone sound like a high quality tube amp, they do undoubtedly increase the phone’s volume and they are nice to look at. We can certainly get behind this sort of recycling/reuse of old items.
Continue reading to see a quick video of his Analog Tele-Phonographer in action.
http://hackaday.com/2011/10/07/analo...cled-trumpets/
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:27- Categories:
- PC News
Xfire, the social site for PC gamers with over 20 million registered users, has secured $4 million in funding from Intel Capital, and added three new executive staff.
Mark Donovan joins as president, while Juston Brommel is now the CMO and Autumn Radtke the director of business development.
"Xfire is already the most advanced social service for gamers with group chat, group voice, and user generated content sharing tools like live game broadcasting," said Donovan, who was previously director of monetisation with the company.
"Think of Xfire as Facebook meets Skype for gamers. This round of capital is allowing us to make many enhancements starting with an entirely new look for the Xfire website and chat application. Intel Capital's funding will help us take what is already the leader in the space to the next level by continuing to build the team and quickly iterating on our product."
As well as this latest round of funding, provided by Intel Capital and Angel Investors, Xfire also has the support of investors like Tomorrow Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners.
In August 2010 the company was acquired by Titan Gaming, a company co-founded by Donovan in 2006, but following this recent investment, Xfire will operate independently.
Xfire is based in California and its service is available in over 100 countries, allowing players to communicate while playing games like League Of Legends and World Of Warcraft.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-new-exec-team
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:16- Categories:
- DCEmu
Sony is reported to be preparing to buy out Ericsson's half of their joint mobile handset business, for an unspecified sum.
A report in the Wall Street Journal estimates that the price would probably be around $1.3 to $1.7 billion. Sony Ericsson was formulated as a joint venture between the two companies ten years ago in 2001.
The company's latest product was the Xperia Play, the manifestation of the long-rumoured 'PlayStation Phone'. Featuring PlayStation branding, controls and a PSone back catalogue, the phone was designed to bridge the gap between handheld gaming devices and smartphones in response to Apple's cornering of the mobile gaming market.
However, sales of the handset have been relatively low so far, despite a recent marketing push. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom in Cologne this year, Sony Ericsson's head of content marketing & strategy Tim Harrison discussed plans for the brand.
"We're not able to share any official sales figures as yet, but just to say where we are in terms of the journey - obviously the device has been out for a number of months but it's still very early in its lifespan.
"We're still very much building the overall content story - we obviously released with a bunch of games and we've announced a great new catalogue of games here at Gamescom. We've got a really broad cross-section of content for it."
Asked about the distinction between the Play and the forthcoming Vita, and whether the overlap caused any company tensions, Harrison was keen to stress the delineation between the two halves of the corporation.
"I don't know whether it's formal or not," he replied when asked about the prevention of feature creep. "This is primarily a smartphone, we're not trying to pretend otherwise. It's always been positioned and marketed as a smartphone that does great gaming. It's not a handheld portable gaming console - we believe that they are different markets and that there's room for both in the market.
"A mad keen crazy gamer will buy every device under the sun, but this is very firmly positioned as a smartphone with a gaming optimised control pad. Smartphone gaming has seen a massive surge of growth in the last two or three years, especially on Android in the past year.
"What we're trying to do is position ourselves as part of that, but because we have a Sony heritage, because we have a PlayStation certified device, because we have the access to PlayStation classic games, and by the end of the year full access to the PlayStation store, this is very much a smartphone that has access to the gaming audience as well. So we see them very much as distinctive devices."
Sony has been contacted for comment on the potential merger.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...et-partnership
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:13- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
Rudolf Kremers, the designer of the independent game Eufloria, claims it is "impossible" for people in his position to self-publish through Xbox Live Arcade.
Speaking to PSN Stores, Kremers discussed the importance of Sony's "Pub Fund" - a $20 million reserve of cash to help indies publish their games - in launching games like Eufloria on the PlayStation Network.
"We would never give up our IP. [Sony] did actually want it, they were making us an offer to publish it for us. But it meant that we would have to sell the IP to them in exchange," he said.
"We had to stand fast. We had to look at other ways, and that turned in to the self publishing route. We made that possible because Sony were happy to include us in the pub fund. One of the qualities of the pub fund is that it's a viable avenue for micro teams like ourselves - Microsoft don't have that any more."
Omni-Labs, Kremer's studio, was approached by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony about publishing Eufloria, but the PlayStation Network was the only service offer an affordable way to self-publish without relinquishing IP ownership and creative control.
"For Microsoft the cost would be prohibitive, as they had all sorts of mandatory features - multiplayer and the like. And of course you have to use their QA... The cost picture would be so prohibitive that self publishing would be impossible."
Earlier this week, 2D Boy's Ron Carmel questioned Microsoft's content policies for Xbox Live Arcade, and offered data to prove that the service is losing "star talent" to competing services like the PlayStation Network.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...for-small-devs
...by Published on October 7th, 2011 23:03- Categories:
- DCEmu
The Nintendo 3DS held the number one spot in the Japanese chart despite declining sales.
According to data from Media Crate, reported by Andriasang, the 3DS sold 58,504 units in the week ending October 2 - falling from 70,159 units the week before.
However, it was a slow week for hardware in general, with all of the top 10 platforms dropping sales from the prior week's totals.
In the software chart, Legend of Heroes Ao no Kiseki entered at number one with 127,938 units sold. The next highest entry was Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends, which took second place with 82,901
However, sales of Dark Souls collapsed. From Software's latest held the top spot last week with an impressive 314,718 units sold, but dropped to third this week with only 34,718.
The full hardware chart for the week ending October 2 is listed below. Previous week's sales are in parentheses.
- 1. 3DS: 58,504 (70,159)
- 2. 2. PS3: 30,362 (39,452)
- 3. 3. PSP: 25,401 (28,533)
- 4. 4. Wii: 10,301 (14,034)
- 5. 5. X360: 2,411 (3,897)
- 6. 6. DSi LL: 2,382 (2,991)
- 7. 7. DSi: 1,679 (2,351)
- 8. 8. PS2: 1,351 (1,517)
- 9. 9. DS Lite: 52 (86)
- 10. 10. PSP go: 14 (15)
- 01. [PSP] Legend of Heroes Ao no Kiseki (Falcom, 9/29): 127,938 - New Entry
- 02. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends (Tecmo Koei, 9/29): 82,901
- 03. [PS3] Dark Souls (From Software, 9/22): 34,718 (314,286)
- 04. [PSP] Evangelion Sound Impact (Namco Bandai, 9/29): 16,477 - New Entry
- 05. [WII] Dragon Quest Collection (Square Enix, 9/15): 16,298 (334,472)
- 06. [PSP] Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's Tag Force 6 (Konami, 9/22): 12,452 (76,801)
- 07. [WII] Minna no Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo, 7/21): 11,468 (481,382)
- 08. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP the Best (Capcom, 9/22): 10,917 (25,841)
- 09. [WII] Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, 10/11): 10,625 (577,618)
- 10. [PS3] ICO/Last Guardian Limited Box (Sony, 9/22): 10,306 (102,207)
- 11. [3DS] Senran Kagura (Marvelous Entertainment, 9/22): 9,914 (62,121)
- 12. [3DS] Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo, 6/16): 8,830 (400,564)
- 13. [PSP] Wand of Fortune 2 (Idea Factory, 9/29): 8,800 - New Entry
- 14. [PS3] Tales of Xillia (Namco Bandai, 9/8): 8,618 (604,003)
- 15. [NDS] Atsumete! Kirby (Nintendo, 8/4): 8,219 (240,034)
- 16. [PSP] Busou Shinki Battle Masters Mk.2 (Konami, 9/22): 7,714 (40,032)
- 17. [360] Monster Hunter Froniter Online Forward .2 Premium Package (Capcom, 9/28): 6,816 - New Entry
- 18. [3DS] Super Pokemon Scramble (Pokemon, 8/11): 6,370 (176,737)
- 19. [WII] Family Fishing (Namco Bandai, 8/4): 6,218 (50,622)
- 20. [3DS] Hana to Ikimono no Rittaizukan (Nintendo, 9/29): 6,034 - New Entry
- http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-spot-in-japan
by Published on October 7th, 2011 22:57- Categories:
- Apple iPhone
Rearing to make the most of the iPhone 4S' new AirPlay compatibility? How about streaming not just one device to your big screen, but four? That's the setup Firemint is teasing for its next big update toReal Racing 2: four-player streaming over AirPlay. The apps' upcoming "Party Play" feature lets an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S play host to up to three additional iOS devices running the game, piping the stream for all four to your boob tube via Apple TV. The update also promises to make the most of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S' A5 processor, kicking the graphics up a notch. Now you can relive those lazy summer days playing Mario Kart in your friends garage, albeit with faster cars and minus those infuriating blue shells.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/07/r...-brings-split/ ...by Published on October 7th, 2011 22:48- Categories:
- Nintendo 3DS News
With gaming on tablets, the visual experience is often top-notch, but the controls are unfamiliar at best -- even inadequate at times. But adding a traditional joystick is impractical, especially when aesthetics is a key selling point for manufacturers. Chicago-based Knowles Electronics has a fairly practical solution, however, and hopes that some manufacturers will adopt its Mems Joystick. At just 1.6mm tall, the joystick is slim enough for a device to maintain a svelte profile, and the 400 microamps it consumes during normal operation is relatively negligible, according to company reps. Tablets are just the start -- Knowles built a series of prototypes to demonstrate a variety of potential applications.
We took the joystick for a spin on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Atrix, Nintendo 3DS and a pair of laptops. All of the joystick prototypes connected using Bluetooth or USB, and were designed specifically for this CEATEC demonstration -- sadly they won't be available for purchase, though manufacturers could implement the controller into similar products. It took only a few seconds to get accustomed to the pair of joysticks mounted to the back of the Tab. Controlling gameplay felt natural, and we definitely preferred playing with a clear view of the display. We also navigated through Google Maps, and scrolled a web page -- both experiences felt superior to moving around the touchscreen. The 3DS joystick functioned similarly to the native controller included with that device, though Knowles reps noted that it's significantly smaller, and uses less power -- and without compromise, it seems.
Jump past the break for a walkthrough of the devices we saw today, but try not to fall in love -- you won't be able to use the Joystick anytime soon, if manufacturers decide to implement them at all.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/07/k...xy-tab-ninten/ ...by Published on October 7th, 2011 22:44- Categories:
- Android News
A funny thing happened to the folks at Android Police, the same group responsible for leaking some of the first screenshots of Ice Cream Sandwich. They've since come across a few apps from Google's upcoming release -- purportedly straight from a Nexus Prime. The first is Google Music 4.0.1 -- a marked upgrade from the current 3.0.1 found in the Market today -- which sports refined tabs, a contextual dialog and new player controls. For reference, the latest version is shown on the right, which is most likely installed onto a Gingerbread device. Best yet, the APK is currently up for download (which you're able to grab for yourself from the source). There's also a sneak peek of the upcoming Google+ 2.0, which suggests Messenger (formerly Huddle) and Conversations will be renamed to... get this... Chords. Feel free to take a peek after the break, or check out the full gallery at the second source link below.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/07/i...load-previews/ ...
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