"Media hysteria is once again blaming a real life massacre on violent video games. But looking at every single gaming reference in the Oslo killer's manifesto shows that such accusations are ridiculous. He played games to unwind from plotting and used them to mask his activities."

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...ames-the-Facts ...

Trade body UKIE has praised the news that eBay could be accountable for its users selling counterfeit goods.

The European Court of Justice ruled that trade sites may be liable as part of a ruling on a case filed by cosmetic firm L’Oreal.

The court said that owners of online marketplaces are not exempt from liability if they have control over the items sold on their sites.

“UKIE welcomes this news as another important step forward in recognising the collective approach that needs to be taken by rights holders, ISPs and intermediaries to work together to ensure consumers have access to legitimate, safe products in the marketplace,” UKIE’s public affairs manager Dan Wood told MCV.

The ruling was in response to a UK High Court request for classification over whether online marketplaces may be liable for what’s sold on its sites.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ukie-...-ruling/082468 ...

Retailer GAME has announced that it has rolled out its in-store digital games offering to 1,200 stores across the world.

The move follows a successful trial of the scheme in the chain’s UK stores. The new territories now in on scheme are Ireland, France, Spain, Scandinavia and Australia.

The range offers a total of 26 PC games including the likes of Runescape, Moshi Monsters, Farmville and Club Penguin. GAME will be adding more titles to in the range in the coming months, as well as rolling out the promotion to new territories.

All come in the form of redeemable card codes.

“In the last six months we’ve introduced thousands of new customers to digital gaming,” GAME Group commercial strategy director Tricia Brennan said.


“Our stores offer payment methods that aren’t available online, and which offer complete financial control and security. For example, customers can now use reward card points and traded-in games to pay for a digital title.

“We’ve learned that traditional retail disciplines work well with digital games. High profile in-store promotions, attractive trade-in deals, and sound advice from store teams have all raised the profile of digital titles and encouraged new customers to buy them.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/game-...-stores/082471 ...

A Chinese couple sold their three children for cash to play video games, according to a local report.

Sanxiang City News newspaper (translated by ABC News, via VideoGamer.com) said the parents, both under 21, sold their children for money to fund playing online games at internet cafes.

In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan sold their second child, a baby girl, for less than $500. They reportedly spent the money shortly after.

They then sold their first child, a boy, for about $4600. They sold their third child, also a boy, for the same amount.

They were reported to the police when the man's mother found out what they had done. "We don't want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money," they said. They claim they didn't know they were breaking the law.

The games played by the couple were not disclosed, or the type of games they were.

China has a troubled history with online gaming.

A year ago China's Ministry of Culture issued new regulations banning children from using virtual currency to buy items in games.

The new rules also included restrictions on "unwholesome and corrupting content" and kids' gaming time.

The controls are made possible by a requirement that online game players register with their real names.

Minors will be banned from buying or selling items with virtual currencies, although the purchase of "products or services" will be allowed.

Game companies will be required to develop "techniques" limiting children's gaming time in order to prevent addiction, an issue which has been in the headlines in China since a series of deaths among "internet-addicted youths" in 2009. But the techniques, or the amount of gaming time, aren't specified.

The Ministry also requires companies to develop means to keep children from playing "inappropriate games", forbidding online games from including content that involves pornography, cults, superstition, gambling and violence.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-to-play-games ...

Shadows of the Damned director Massimo Guarini reckons there's still a place for single-player-only games in the current market that places much heavier focus on multiplayer elements than ever before.

In an era when games are expected to have vast multiplayer modes as standard, a single-player-only game can find itself the victim of criticism and disappointing sales - even if the single-player offering is essentially high-quality. Shadows of the Damned and Epic's Bulletstorm (which apparently made no money at all for Epic) are to recent cases in point.

But Guarini, who has left Grasshopper since Shadows of the Damned's release to form his own studio 'Ovosonico', says there's still a place for single-player games. "In my opinion, single-player-only games are nowhere close to being doomed," he told GameSpot.

"The problem rather lies in how they're produced, through which channels are sold, and at which price points. I can't see in any way a single-player experience being less engaging or interesting because of the absence of multiplayer. Instead, I can definitely see how players who pay 60 or 70 bucks for a game can be quite sensitive to the lack of additional features that can justify their investment."

Guarini believes the survival of these games depends on massive changes in the way the modern games business works. "Once again, the business model must evolve. We're still selling at incredibly high price points because we're still operating like we were five years ago, with just higher production costs. Instead of changing our perspectives, we're still struggling to pack games with features, extras, bonuses, achievements, in order to barely justify that price tag, which is given by excessively high development and licensing costs. We must learn our lesson from the huge, epic failure the music industry is still suffering nowadays for not being able to adapt to the digital Revolution," he said.

Can we get an amen?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...om-doomed-dev/ ...

While many question the true graphical benefit a new console generation would bring, Square Enix worldwide technology director Julien Merceron is confident the new hardware will offer significantly more realistic games that will compare more closely to CGI movies.

"I think that we're still going to see a big leap in graphics," he said. "In terms of technology I think we'll see developers taking advantage of physically-based rendering, physically-based lighting. I think people will take advantage of global illumination, or at least some form approximation of global illumination, so that could have a significant impact on graphics quality."

These are techniques currently used by CGI movies, which Merceron says will offer studios the opportunity to take assets directly from CGI flicks and reuse them in next-gen games. "It's going to enable new forms of art direction, but it's also going to enable deeper convergence between multiple media - being able to share more assets horizontally between movies, TV series and games," he said.

He goes on to say realistic-looking games will benefit most from the new advances rather than cartoony style games. "If you take most of the Pixar movies from the last five to six years... do you see a big difference between one that was released five years ago, and one that was released last year? I'm actually not sure we see a huge difference," he explained.

"But if you take a film like Avatar, there's a huge leap in the graphics techniques that are being used and the level of realism. The conclusion I would draw from that is we might end up seeing the difference way more in realistic-looking games, rather than those trying to achieve a cartoony look."

Nintendo's Wii U console compares in processing power to the current-gen HD consoles, but a much bigger generational leap is expected from Microsoft and Sony's next efforts.

But who will jump first? M2 Research analyst Billy Pidgeon has speculated that the release of a new Xbox may leave the hardcore market wide open for a PS3 clean sweep.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...aphics-square/ ...

EA will smash its $1bn digital target this year, analysts have predicted.It follows the publisher’s $750m to $1.3bn acquisition of PopCap. The move means EA is now back as the No.2 publisher on Facebook (behind Zynga) and its mobile revenues should top $300m this year.

EA made $833m in digital revenue in its last financial year.

“There’s no one like us. There isn’t a competitor that’s a leader in console, PC, DLC, microtransaction, iOS and social networks,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “Today about a quarter of industry revenue comes from mobile, social, tablet and casual PC. We expect that 25 per cent to rise to 50 per cent or more in the coming five years.

“We’ve been stepping down investment against our core packaged goods business, and stepping up investment against digital opportunity. This year we’re getting close to 50/50. Three years ago, we were closer to 90/10.

“Virtually everything we’re doing now is against the digital opportunity. It’s where we see our growth. It’s where we see our margin expansion. It gets us that less seasonable, more ratable, and more profitable business.”

IHS Screen Digest analysts said in a report shown to MCV: “EA should realise its ambition of creating a $1bn digital business this fiscal year with aplomb.”

EA is the West’s leading iOS publisher, success which has offset a decline in traditional mobile gaming.Last year EA generated $242m from mobile games alone, and this year IHS Screen Digest predicts that number will exceed $300m thanks to the PopCap Games buyout.

PopCap is just the latest in a long line of acquisitions that have boosted EA’s mobile aspirations. In 2006 the company bought JamDat for $680m to essentially launch EA Mobile, last year Angry Birds-publisher Chillingo was purchased for $17m, while this year the firm has acquired iOS developer Firemint and port specialists Mobile Post Production.

“The fastest growing part of the mobile industry is the smartphone, all of which are game-ready devices,” said EA chief John Riccitiello.“We estimate that 64 per cent of the owners of smartphones use them to play games.”

EA is making aggressive moves in the full game PC download space by creating EA Origin. The new service is currently a rebranded version of its EA Store, but the publisher is recruiting technical and regional staff to turn this into something more in-line with rivals such as Steam.EA’s ambition to grow this part of its digital business suffered a set-back after a disagreement with Steam that means some of its titles – such as the upcoming Battlefield 3 – will not be sold through the platform.

EA’s biggest digital market comes from DLC and free-to-play (including Facebook), which combined generated $295m during its last financial year.

On Facebook EA acquired developer Playfish for $400m in 2009. Playfish has seen its revenue grow in that time, but its market share fell 4.2 per cent in 2010 (according to IHS Screen Digest), meanwhile Farmville developer Zynga increased its dominance of the market by growing its share 7.6 per cent.

As a result EA temporarily lost its position as the second biggest Facebook publisher to German firm Wooga. EA is now back at No.2 after the acquisition of PopCap as the developer is successful on the social network with games like Bejeweled Blitz. PopCap has also enjoyed success on Chinese social network RenRen thanks to a version of Plants vs Zombies re-made by its Shanghai studio.

EA will likely grow its Facebook business with the release of The Simpsons and The Sims social games later this year.EA’s Riccitiello believes free games with revenue generated from microtransactions will become more significant to EA in the future: “It would not surprise me to see microtransactions become our largest potential revenue stream in the course of the fullness of time,” he said.In terms of DLC, EA will grow this segment primarily through its Battlefield and FIFA games. FIFA 11 is on-course to generate $64m in digital revenue by the end of its lifespan, double what FIFA 10 achieved. This is expected to grow for FIFA 12.

“We’re starting to see significant digital leverage per packaged goods franchise,” said EA’s CFO Eric Brown. “What we’re looking to do is to get more titles into $50m+ digital extension level like we’ve done with FIFA and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.”

The success of EA’s subscription business this year will rest heavily on when Star Wars: The Old Republic is released. If the BioWare-developed MMO manages to arrive during this financial year, EA can expect to comfortably beat last year’s total, which was driven by EA’s legacy MMOs and casual games network Pogo. In-game advertising is continuing to have a difficult time.

“Subscriptions will grow substantially once Star Wars: The Old Republic launches,” said Game Investor Consulting analyst Nick Gibson. “I do think there will be a lot of people who buy the boxed product, but how many of those will become paying subscribers is still to be answered.” ...

Though such a radical transition is still some way off, the senior VP of worldwide development at Electronic Arts has hinted that the FIFA series will at some stage have to move away from the annual disc release model.

“I think there are two things at play,” Andrew Wilson told Games Industry. “The first is the business model. There will come a time where the consumer is simply not prepared to pay $60 up-front for a game anymore, the same way they have said that for movies and music and television.

“That's one thing. And then I think it's the global infrastructure that facilitates the shift. As soon as technology provides a viable alternative to a disc, then that process will change.”

When will this change occur? That depends on two things – internet speeds and consumer behaviour.

“I think the most convenient way for the consumer to get 7GB worth of FIFA these days is still to buy it on a disc,” Wilson stated. “That will change.


“I think that Football Club this year is turning the FIFA you buy on a disc into a live service that changes every day and every week that you play. Over time, based on consumer feedback, those chunks that we deliver on that day-to-day, week-to-week basis are going to get bigger, and the releases that we do on an annual basis are going to get smaller, and ultimately you end up in a place where we are delivering a true, consumer-driven live digital service.

“We're building architecture and infrastructure to facilitate a time when the pipes into consumer homes are big enough to move that kind of data around.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/consu...anymore/082424 ...

"There has never been a causal link established between real-life violence and video game violence in any verifiable scientific study."

True facts. But not good enough for 'expert on teen killers' Phil Chalmers.

Big Phil refutes such evidence. Big Phil's not for turning. Big Phil's got his own research.

Sure, it's anonymous and he chooses not to directly quote from it. But "basically, y'know", it exists.

How can we be so certain?

Because Big Phil says so. And now, thanks to Fox News 8, he says so to millions upon millions of viewers - over sinister synth tones and black'n'white images on PS3s drenched in dread.

Here he goes: "The medical community has released a joint statement that basically says, you know, if children are exposed to violent media, they're going to become violent."

"Basically, y'know." That little clarification is vital. Because even Phil admits they don't really say that.

Off-camera, according to Fox's supplemental write-up, he adds that "they [the medical community] make it politically correct by saying 'some' or 'maybe'".

Big Phil does not explain where 'they' put those words. Or quite what political correctness has to do with anything. (Bloody Guardian-reading, bicycle-riding, veggie-munching medical community. They'll be renaming antibiotics next, just because they're 'anti' something.)

Why is Big Phil on Fox News 8 in the first place? Good question. We're still not really sure.

For some reason, he's discussing a tragic, unique case that took place almost five years ago. (Find our detailed account of those events below. Probably best you refresh your memory before you watch Fox 8's video. They miss out a few details...)

Other than that, we really don't have a scooby.

He does have a book to sell: "Inside the mind of a Teen Killer". Looks great. Edge-of-the-seat stuff.

According to Amazon, Big Phil released it on the tenth anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. Classy.
In the publishing world, they call that a 'tentpole release'. Like when they do Harry Potter books when Harry Potter's out.

Big Phil's obviously no marketing slouch. And he certainly believes that video games can inspire teenagers to kill. "They become desensitised to murder," he says. "All of the lines to reality fade away and they just act on impulse."

And to think they could also grow up to be a weirdo in a basement too.

Phil signs off on his Fox 8 appearance with a stark message to parents: "Learn from this case. This could be you."

Don't have nightmares.

A severely depressed 16-year-old shot both his parents in Ohio, US, in 2007 - killing his mother and severely wounding his father. Daniel Petric was subsequently sentenced to at least 23 years in prison for aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.

It was discovered during the boy's trial that his mental instability stemmed from an injury - and subsequent staph infection - that left the previously active Petric house-bound for months.

During this time, he reportedly purchased Halo 3 during this time, and began to play it for over 12-hours a day.

His parents, concerned by the game's violent content, confiscated it and placed it in a locked safe, alongside a 9mm pistol - the same gun their son used to shoot them.

Once Petric had shot his mother in the head, arms and chest, he opened fire on his father, Mark Petric. According to his testimony, Daniel then placed the gun in his dad's hands - to deliberately shift suspicion onto Mark and make the events look like an attempted "murder suicide".

Daniel tried to flee in the family's van. However, Daniel's sister discovered the scene, called 911 and testified that her brother killed his mother and tried to kill his father.

In the boy's trial, Petric's defence attorney James Kersey made the unprecedented argument that Halo 3 was to blame for the shooting. "We have a.. normal young man," he said. "Until he starts viewing video games."

Kersey claimed that Petric did not comprehend the fact that death was real or permanent due to his time playing the game. The US national media began to dub him the 'Halo Killer'.

However, the prosecuting attorney sensibly disagreed, and said that Daniel showed no remorse for his actions.

He pointed out that Petric tried to fool the police, framing his father for murder by placing the gun in his hand - not a tactic he could have adopted from the video game, nor the actions of a frenzied killer copying what he had seen on screen.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...t-halo-killer/ ...