Gaming is heading towards a free-to-play future, with leading industry lights predicting the business model will take hold within the next few years.

Speaking at Develop, ex-Sony executive Phil Harrison, and Chris Lee, co-founder of DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games, discussed gaming's free-to-play future.

"I think by and large we're moving towards a free-to-play business model where the entry point is going to be free and you're monetizing the engagement," said Harrison, formerly head of Sony's Worldwide Studios and currently acting on Gaikai's board of directors. "70-90 per cent will be playing for free, but that other per cent will make the game far more profitable than you could ever get selling it in the shop."

Harrison himself is evidently a champion of the free-to-play model - earlier this week it was revealed that he pushed for Media Molecule's PlayStation 3 hit LittleBigPlanet to launch as a free-to-play downloadable game.

There are, however, challenges to an immediate switch, one of them being the expectations surrounding console games - though Lee offered that it'll just take a courageous leap to prove the model's worth. "The console audience expects a certain amount of visual fidelity," added Lee, "the challenge is are you willing to put £5-10 million up front to create a compelling console experience and then flip it to free-to-play - I think people should and I think people will."

Phil Harrison was happy to offer one tangible example. "I think in some short period of time, if a Call of Duty game on the next PlayStation or the next Xbox starts life as free-to-play" he said, "you've got hundreds of millions worth of product development open to the world to play. Then the industry will change overnight, instantly and forever."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...future-article ...

GE Global Research announced earlier today that it has managed to cram up to 500GB worth of data on a standard DVD-size disc, an increase in storage density of roughly 100x. What's more, the tech arm of conglomerate General Electric Company says that the storage solution will record data at the same speed as Blu-ray discs while increasing storage capacity by 25 times. The Blu-ray Disk Association says that the commonly available 12x speed Blu-ray writers have a maximum writing speed of up to 400Mbps (or 50MBps) which means that in theory, it would take just over three hours to fill that new holographic hard disk. GE has confirmed that its R&D and licensing team will be sampling the media to qualified partners that may be interested in licensing the technology.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...ize-Discs-Soon ...

Two factors are dovetailing to create growth in the pre-teen gaming market.Firstly, there is the traditional migration down the demographic that comes about as a generation of hardware enters its second, third and fourth years.

Secondly, the popularity of the Wii plus the Move and Kinect peripherals mean that games can now be simpler – and more instinctive than ever – to control. Simplicity, in fact, is a virtue like never before.

A third background factor, of course, is the long-term and ongoing mainstream adoption of gaming as all-pervasive popular culture. The audience is broader than ever – younger as well as older. This isn’t just a window opening up in this generation’s cycle – it’s a permanent shift and a major opportunity.

Rachael Grant, brand manager at Ubisoft, says: “I think the market for younger consumers has been consistently growing for a couple of years now, and this has very much been a focus for Ubisoft.

“The Imagine range led the trend for a variety of games designed specifically with the younger consumer in mind. Now, more than ever, this audience is a very important part of our business and the industry in general – and this will continue for us into 2012.”

She acknowledges the influence of Kinect and Move, saying that “they are making gaming more accessible to wider groups of consumers” and adding that “they are expanding on the experience that Nintendo has created with Wii”.

One of Activision’s senior brand managers also pays tribute to Nintendo, saying that the motion controllers from Microsoft and Sony both “provide greater opportunities on top of the revolution that Nintendo Wii started”.

Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment’s UK sales and marketing director Spencer Crossley agrees, arguing that the Wii taught a family audience to expect motion control ahead of fiddly buttons.Warner, as a group, is packed with properties that are perfect for pre-teens, but the publisher also thinks creatively and forges external alliances to boost its presence in the sector. Crossley says: “Games for younger players have always been a staple part of WBIE’s portfolio and none more so than our hugely popular range of LEGO video games, developed by the legendary TT Games. These are the gold standard in the kids games sector.

“We also launched the critically acclaimed Scribblenauts series for DS, Game Party: In Motion as our first Kinect title and The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest as our first Move title. “We’ll also be publishing Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster for Kinect late in the year, which our retail partners are tremendously excited about already.“Our release schedule shows that whilst quality games linked to quality entertainment franchises will always do well, there is still room for the launch of new IP in this sector.”

HAPPY MEAL

Interestingly, at Disney, UK country director Matt Carroll believes that whilst the audience of younger gamers is growing, it is not being driven by traditional consoles: “My sense is that today the number of games for young consumers has reduced on traditional gaming platforms as we know them, but there is an increase in the number and variety of games on different and emerging platforms such as apps on mobile or sites like Facebook.

“Parents by and large are now much more comfortable providing controlled access to gaming via the web for a broad arrangement of interactive entertainment and games such as Club Penguin, whilst mobile phones and social media networks are increasingly providing access to games for the younger teenage audiences. This has resulted in increased popularity and prevalence of both types of games.”

He adds that whilst Disney was delighted with the success of Toy Story 3 last year, and has high hopes for Cars 2 and the recently announced Disney Universe, “gaming on next-gen consoles still appeals mainly to the hardcore”. Carroll continues: “For younger demographics, I feel that both the pricing and the poor economy has had a major impact in delaying the adoption of these platforms to a more mass market audience, an audience that was seen earlier in previous cycles.

“Functionality improvements such as Kinect and Move are welcome innovations, but they do not replace lower prices to drive penetration. The danger for the ‘traditional games industry’ is that younger consumers turn to new formats, above all mobile, as they feel these next-gen consoles remain out of reach.”

So, is that Disney calling for price cuts? Do we have our headline? Maybe not.

“The first parties have a very tricky balancing act to maximise the business from their consoles – so to that end they need to do what is right for the long term sustainability of the industry – and third-party publishers benefit hugely from the long term view.

“Any price move would generate huge interest and attract new audiences, but I would say they should choose the timing that matches when consumers will have the intention to buy, such as during the Christmas period.”

At Activision, European marketing manager Ian McClellan talks up the prospects of Skylanders: ...

Ubisoft's detailed UK pricing plans for its newly announced online pass, Uplay Passport, which is set to launch later this year with Driver: San Francisco.

Copies of the publisher's "popular core games" will ship with a one-time code required to access "bonus content, exclusive offers, and online multiplayer play", but second-hand buyers who want to get in on the action will have to pay 800 MS Points (about £6.85) on Xbox 360 and £7.99/$9.99 on PS3.

Ubisoft is the latest publisher to jump on the online pass bandwagon, following similar initiatives introduced by the likes of EA, THQ and most recently Sony.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...cost-pound799/ ...

Andrew Wilson, head of development for EA Sports, spoke at the Develop 2011 conference about an unusual business plan the company is considering for future games:
"[Wilson] raised the subject of Amazon's Whispersync feature, which allows customers to download a digital book for one price and then read it on whichever format they like from PCs to smartphones and Kindle, without having to pay again for each platform. He suggested that eventually EA Sports may well move toward the same model with its own games, even providing all of its titles, from FIFA and Madden to Tiger Woods PGA Tour golf, for one fixed price on multiple platforms – all linked by the same social gaming ecosystem. 'It's about handing over control to the gamer,' he said. 'Ultimately, what we want to get to is this concept where we break down the barriers between the franchises. John Riccitiello, our CEO, says it seems like such a waste – we spend $20-40M making each of these games, but most gamers only ever play one, because the business model is an impediment. So how about we drive toward a model where every gamer can experience everything we make without paying that much more money. You've got to recognize that given the opportunity, the consumer will play and they will bring their friends.'"

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...r-Sports-Games ...

Konami's revealed a new feature for PES 2012 allowing users to move two on-filed players at once.

Konami says the new Teammate Control system - which gives users complete control over secondary players while the runner has the ball - represents "an astonishing advance for the series".

It explained today: "The Teammate Control system works in two ways, with users pressing the right analogue stick in the direction of the player they wish to control. The Assisted mode allows the user to activate a second player by depressing the R3 button, and allows users to get to grips with the greater level of control via effective running movements.

"Greater control is offered by the Manual mode, wherein the user has complete freedom of movement of the second player, and can make shuttle runs, find space, and shake off markers before calling for the pass from the player still with the ball.

"The player will then revert to computer control when the R3 button is released, and can also be used to override any AI runs the player wants to cancel. Both can be affected at any time, so players can make moves without waiting for a pass to be completed."

Konami also outlined a number of other changes to PES 2012. Penalties will revert to a behind the taker view, while shot feints and the Challenge Training mode are set to return.

"The addition of Teammate Control is something we have been working on for a while now, and we are delighted that it will make its debut in PES 2012," said PES European team leader Jon Murphy.

"We have been building to create a control system that truly lets the player do whatever they like on field, and the ability to manually control a second player while simultaneously running with the ball opens all kinds of attacking options.

"This is the start of a major new era for PES," he added. "In the coming weeks we will detail more on how the ever-popular Master League has evolved, and will be unveiling the new face of the series."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ture-revealed/ ...

EA will continue to release full-priced boxed retail games while the business remains viable, but the publisher says consumers aren't flocking to retailers like GAME and GameStop as they once did.

According to Andrew Wilson, EA Sports' senior vice president of worldwide development, 45 percent of revenues made by games in 2010 were digital.

"People are no longer going into GameStop or GAME en masse and paying for content in a quantity," he said during a keynote speech at the Develop conference, MCV reports.

"There is still a business of $60 games sold at GAME and GameStop - that's still legitimate for now. I won't predict when that will die. I won't prophesise when games on discs will go away, because the reality is that as long as gamers continue to line up and buy them we will make them.

"But the amount of people on Facebook, on PSN and Xbox Live is growing," he added. "There is a shift here. If we don't get ahead of it, we will find ourselves in trouble. We have seen the Blockbusters and the HMVs change before our eyes. The corporate graveyard is littered with companies, mediums and entities that resisted where the consumer wanted to go."

In terms of game purchases, digital gamers have shot past the hardcore, according to research firm NPD, which said in June that the two types of consumers bought an average of 5.9 and 5.4 games in the previous three months respectively.

Analyst firm EEDAR has also found that Xbox 360 owners are the most active console digital game buyers.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...imate-for-now/ ...

A game narrative expert has urged studios to stop forcing human drama into established game templates, claiming the approach has consistently proven to be flawed.

Alexis Kennedy, the ‘chief narrative officer’ at the award-winning digital fiction company Failbetter Games, pulled no punches in his analysis of games such as LA Noire and, in particular, Heavy Rain.

“Try to make a film into a game you end up with this bastard half-child thing,” he claimed.

Speaking at a panel session at the 2011 Develop Conference, Kennedy said games that ape Hollywood narratives “end up looking like the inverted baboon that came out of the teleporter in The Fly”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/filmi...hildren/082354 ...

The global games market is getting pretty close to a 50/50 split between digital and physical revenue, according to a senior EA Sports exec.

EA Sports worldwide studio boss Andrew Wilson told attendees at the opening day of the Brighton Develop conference that the firm's research says last year digital content accounted for 45 per cent of games revenue in the industry.

Boxed games were 55% of the market.

The stat came as part of an overall message about the wider disruption the games industry - specifically games retail - faces as consumer habits change towards on-demand content and not games on disc.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ea-bo...-market/082343 ...