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by Published on October 27th, 2011 23:10- Categories:
- DCEmu
The French publisher Gameloft is working on its own mobile gaming network.
In an interview with Gamasutra, publishing senior vice president Gonzague de Vallois admitted that it was "dangerous" to use partners like DeNA and GREE rather than building direct relationships with its customers.
"Those guys have been pretty successful in Asia," he said, "and we have a strong presence in Japan, so we've been working with them in Japan. On the feature phone business, not yet on the smartphone business. DeNA, mainly."
However, de Vallois claimed it is, "dangerous that we have somebody in the middle, that will dictate whether the consumer will take." Discussions about building a more agreeable working relationship are ongoing, but Gameloft is also developing its own mobile social network.
"Yes, that's also something that we are working on, and investigating to see if it makes sense to. We always value the consumer experience, so if it makes sense to add this component to our games, then we will do it -- and that's something we are studying now."
"We are still looking to find the right way to get there. There are some very strong leaders in the space that are hard to catch up with, so we are still investigating on finding what we can bring to the platform that the others don't bring."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gaming-network
...by Published on October 27th, 2011 23:08- Categories:
- DCEmu
Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, has called for Microsoft and Sony to facilitate price elasticity and new business models if they want their next consoles to be relevant.
In an interview with Develop, Capps explained that services and micro-transactions now dominate game revenue.
"Consoles need to start being comfortable with that," he said. "They need to be able to do something where small virtual items can be sold and bought for 20 cents without a long certification process and a price approval process."
"Right now we're not even allowed to change the prices of virtual content. We're not even allowed to set the prices. I just don't think this protectionist approach is going to be successful in a world where the price of virtual items changes on a day-today basis."
Capps suggested that rigid policies on the pricing of virtual items is "the best way of driving developers to PC," and that Valve's Steam distribution platform would be a good model for the level of freedom required of the next generation of consoles.
"Double-A games will never come back unless we get rid of this notion of a game being $60 or not released. The console manufacturers need to let this happen."
Capps also discussed the need for console technology to produce results that the consumer can immediately see, "is not possible on current consoles."
"And that's a very tall order. I mean, PlayStation 3 is still very bad-ass - Heavy Rain looks great. To blow that away we need the hardware to do it."
This echoes comments Capps made at GDC Europe, where he explained the significance Epic's next generation tech demo, The Samaritan.
"It was just a way of showing what consoles could do and putting it in front of console manufacturers and saying - please, we love you, please make it do this."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-gen-consoles
...by Published on October 27th, 2011 23:01- Categories:
- DCEmu
We all saw it coming and, sure enough, it's finally happened. After all the rumors and opaque comments, Sony has just bought out Ericsson's share of Sony Ericsson, effectively assuming ownership of the entire venture. Ericsson confirmed the buyout this morning, adding that it will receive a cash consideration of €1.05 billion in exchange for its 50 percent stake. Sony, meanwhile, will now have the chance to integrate smartphones more tightly within its arsenal of tablets, laptops and gaming devices. The agreement also gives Sony an IP cross-licensing agreement and ownership of "five essential patent families" pertaining to wireless tech, though the breadth of this coverage remains unclear. The separation won't be finalized, however, until January 2012, pending regulatory approval. Find more details in the full PR, after the break.
Update: Sony president and CEO Sir Howard Stringer has just addressed the media on the proposed buyout and confirmed that the company will indeed move away from feature phones, as previously stated. This effectively heralds the death of the Walkman line and the dawn of Sony's exclusively Android era, though Stringer's not ruling out the possibility of bringing another OS on board. When asked whether his firm would consider buying webOS, the exec said simply, "Never say never."
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/27/s...sumes-ownersh/ ...by Published on October 27th, 2011 22:49- Categories:
- DCEmu
You've undoubtedly been told countless times by cheerleading elders that anything's possible if you put your mind to it. Turns out, those sagacious folks were spot on, although we're pretty sure this pioneering research isn't what they'd intended. A trio of biomedical engineers at the University of Minnesota have taken the realm of brain-computer interfaces a huge leap forward with a non-invasive control system -- so, no messy drills boring into skulls here. The group's innovative BCI meshes man's mental might with silicon whizzery to read and interpret sensorimotor rhythms (brain waves associated with motor control) via an electroencephalography measuring cap. By mapping these SMRs to a virtual helicopter's forward-backward and left to right movements, subjects were able to achieve "fast, accurate and continuous" three-dimensional control of the CG aircraft. The so scifi-it-borders-on-psychic tech could one day help amputees control synthetic limbs, or less nobly, helps us mentally manipulate 3D avatars. So, the future of gaming and locomotion looks to be secure, but we all know where this should really be headed -- defense tactics for the Robot Apocalypse.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/27/u...s-muscle-stee/ ...by Published on October 27th, 2011 00:24- Categories:
- DCEmu
Sainsbury’s new £1m acquisition will let it develop a digital games service for 2012, it has told MCV.
The supermarket giant purchased Global Media Vault (GMV) from Music Box Leisure last week. The online entertainment specialist has a unique entertainment ecommerce and digital media platform, with a digital database of over 3m music, film and game assets for the UK market, which can be searched through, bought and distributed via the web, mobile platforms, TV and even kiosks.
The platform will allow customers to buy, stream or rent from the firm’s Entertainment website, which it launched last year. The company said the acquisition is a real time saver as it means it doesn’t need to build a platform from scratch.
“This acquisition will enable us to develop our Sainsbury’s Entertainment online and games proposition significantly and quickly,” said Sainsbury’s head of entertainment Richard Crampton.
“The digital vault will allow us to develop a media and digital games service delivered to our customers through a variety of channels in 2012.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sains...in-2012/087001
...by Published on October 27th, 2011 00:10- Categories:
- DCEmu
Unreal Engine powerhouse Epic Games plans to actively influence how Microsoft and Sony build their new home console systems, according to company president Mike Capps....
Speaking in an interview with Develop, Capps explained that Epic intends to engage with platform holders as production on new systems ramps up.
"That's absolutely our plan. I can't say much more than that," he said, before cryptically adding, "Okay, let's say, a year ago that was our plan, and I can't tell you whether we've done it or not yet."
Capps went on to explain that the Samaritan demo shown off at GDC last year was the first part of that plan.
"Our Samaritan concept, if you look at PC hardware in two or four years' time, is something that the next consoles can achieve. It was just that no one knew what a next-generation game would look like - so that was our idea, to show people what we can achieve.
"I mean, The Samaritan is a real-time demo that looks like an animated movie from about five years ago - the tech is getting that sophisticated. So our goal was to show off some of the technologies we would like to see on the next-gen platforms, and also to have The Samaritan as the benchmark.
"We believe what we've demonstrated is achievable at a reasonable development cost, so it's what gamers should be demanding for next generation."
Elsewhere in the interview, Capps detailed exactly what he wants to see from next-gen consoles. First up: more power.
"I think it's very important that a gamer sees an Xbox Next or PlayStation Next and can clearly see the tech is not possible on current consoles. Otherwise they won't be a success. And that's a very tall order.
"I mean, PS3 is still very bad-ass - Heavy Rain looks great. To blow that away we need the hardware to do it."
His other key demand was that platform holders grant publishers and developers a more open content delivery system.
"I think another thing that's changed is the way people are willing to spend their money. Consoles need to adapt to this," he explained.
"Game revenue has moved to the service model and the microtransactions model. Consoles need to start being comfortable with that. They need to be able to do something where small virtual items can be sold and bought for 20¢ without a long certification process and a price approval process.
"Right now we're not even allowed to change the prices of virtual content. We're not even allowed to set the prices. I just don't think this protectionist approach is going to be successful in a world where the price of virtual items changes on a day-today basis."
Capps argued that allowing developers to set game prices - as is the case in the digital PC market - is vital in maintaining a healthy market for console games.
"Double-A games will never come back unless we get rid of this notion of a game being $60 or not released. The console manufacturers need to let this happen.
"The best way of driving developers to PC is telling them they have no freedom in what prices they can set for virtual items. It would be great to have the level of freedom that, say, Steam gives you."
If Epic's input is taken on-board by console manufacturers it wouldn't be for the first time. The company reportedly convinced Microsoft to double the amount of RAM on the Xbox 360 from 256MB to 512MB, arguing that the original Gears of War needed the extra power to run in HD.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...t-gen-consoles
by Published on October 27th, 2011 00:07- Categories:
- DCEmu
The PlayStation 3 version of zombie FPS Dead Island debuts at number five on this week's Japanese sales chart....
As reported by Andriasang, it shifted 39,945 copies on PS3, while the Xbox 360 version shuffled in at 10, with 13,147 sales.
Mech anime crossover Macross F Sayonara no Tsubasa topped the chart, with FIFA also seeing a top 10 debut down at seven. It seems PES, which entered at number one a few weeks back, retains its vice-like grip on Japanese footie fans, despite FIFA's recent domination of the Western market.
Elsewhere, Deus Ex: Human Revolution failed to make much of a mark, entering the chart at 13.
Here's the full top 20:- Macross F Sayonara no Tsubasa (Namco Bandai, PS3): 142,607 - NEW
- Naruto Narutimate Impact (Namco Bandai, PSP): 53,148 - NEW
- Go Vacation (Namco Bandai, Wii): 47,209 - NEW
- Just Dance (Nintendo, Wii): 45,580 (Life to date: 135,619)
- Dead Island (Spike, PS3): 39,945 - NEW
- FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts, PS3): 25,640 - NEW
- PES 2012 (Konami, PS3): 22,902 (356,724)
- Ace Combat Assault Horizon (Namco Bandai, PS3): 18,120 (167,591)
- AKB1/48 If I Loved an Idol in Guam (Namco Bandai, PSP): 17,562 (288,263)
- Dead Island (Spike, Xbox 360): 13,147 - NEW
- Rhythm Heaven Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 12,377 (517,691)
- Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 12,334 (613,144)
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Square Enix, PS3): 8707 - NEW
- NBA2K12 (Take-2 Japan, PS3): 8701 - NEW
- Dragon Quest Collection (Square Enix, Wii): 8354 (371,151)
- Nintendogs + Cats (Nintendo, 3DS): 7980 (332,292)
- Kirby Mass Attack (Nintendo, DS): 7309 (265,670)
- Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo, 3DS): 7133 (422,495)
- Tetris: Axis (Namco Bandai, 3DS): 6787 - NEW
- Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP the Best (Capcom, PSP): 6685 (49,209)
The cause for the bump? As you can tell from the games chart, it certainly wasn't an influx of compelling new software. Looks like the new pink hardware model did the business.
Further down the hardware chart, it was business as usual, with PSP, PlayStation 3 and Wii sales all continuing their recent slump.
Here are the numbers:- 3DS: 73,933 (Last week: 55,025)
- PlayStation 3: 23,897 (28,596)
- PSP: 22,095 (25,271)
- Wii: 11,235 (12,161)
- DSi XL: 2005 (2721)
- Xbox 360: 1620 (1887)
- PlayStation 2: 1296 (1280)
- DSi: 1293 (1999)
- DS Lite: 36 (71)
by Published on October 26th, 2011 23:34- Categories:
- DCEmu
The arrival of Battlefield 3 next week doesn’t just mark the culmination of EA’s campaign to unseat Activision’s yearly Call of Duty colossus. It’s a calculated attack on the most lucrative modern games franchise of all time. Grudges between the publishers run deep, and this fight has dragged in not just two banner franchises, but also warring developers, rival distribution systems and opposing console formats. MCV reviews the story so far...
THE FRANCHISES: CALL OF DUTY vs BATTLEFIELD
This year’s Call of Duty-Battlefield face off is the culmination of a tussle between two decade-old franchises that have long tried to assert dominance over the shooter genre.
Battlefield came first with September 2002’s Battlefield 1942. It was followed by three expansion packs. Battlefield 2 didn’t arrive until 2005, but it took the franchise into the present day, and was extensively supported with add-on packs – Special Forces, Armored Fury, Euro Forces and the familiar-sounding Modern Combat. Think of it as a military take on The Sims model, with regular updates.
Certainly, like The Sims, Battlefield has been keen to diversify. There have been two download-only versions: Battlefield 1943 on consoles and free-to-play PC game Battlefield Heroes. There was also a futuristic sequel, Battlefield 2142, and it’s also got a spin-off action-oriented console brand, Bad Company, which has had two retail releases. Across 18 instalments the franchise has sold well over 20m units – but analysts say hype is so strong for Battlefield 3 it could sell at least half that in 12 months.
Call of Duty came a year later and has been a bit less promiscuous than Battlefield. Modern Warfare 3 is only the eighth main game released since the original Call of Duty in late 2003, although three console-only spin-offs were released in the franchise’s more PC-focused beginnings. Most famously, development has regularly switched between two US studios, creator Infinity Ward (formed by a squad of Medal of Honor developers who defected from EA) and Treyarch. Whereas Battlefield has been almost-entirely under the remit of Swedish team DICE.
Treyarch has sometimes unfairly (and sometimes fairly) been branded the ‘B team’ to Infinity Ward. IW has developed the defining instalments CoD and CoD 2 (2005), plus Modern Warfare (2007) and Modern Warfare 2 (2009). But Treyarch’s have been franchise-growing crowdpleasers in their own right – Call of Duty 3 (2006), World at War (2008) and Black Ops (2010). There have been mobile and handheld remakes, but these are footnotes in the franchise, which hasn’t been as milked quite like Battlefield.
While the last ten years have also seen Halo, Half-Life and Medal of Honor grab attention, the tension between CoD and Battlefield as rival shooters has slowly mounted, but never been truly realised. Oddly, major releases in each series have never coincided until this year. So when the first shots are fired, any gains – and any weakness – might just define their futures.
THE PUBLISHER SLURS: ACTIVISION vs EA
Choice quotes from the key execs that have stirred up trouble
“I have only seen Battlefield 3 shown on a PC. I’ve not seen it on a console, which is where the bulk of our business is. If it is just a PC title as it looks like today, that is a very small audience to participate.”
Bobby Kotick, Activision
“Our game is more authentic. It’s definitely going to do a lot of things better. A lot of people bought Modern Warfare more for the coffee table and didn’t play it for two months. There’s sort of that mass audience... they’re going to win there. The question is, ‘So, if the gamer buys our game and the mass audience buys their game, where do the two meet?’ And all I want to do, if you will, is to have them rot from the core,”
John Riccitiello. EA
Recently, a competitor of ours was quoted as saying that he wants to see one of our games to “rot from the core.” Can you imagine the head of Dreamworks coming out with a new animated movie and saying that he wants to see Toy Story “rot from the core”? Or the author of Twilight saying she wants Harry Potter to “rot from the core”? We should all support great content, even if we didn’t create it.
Eric Hirshberg, Activision
“Welcome to the big leagues Eric. I know you’re new in the job but someone should have told you this is an competitive industry. You’ve got every reason to be nervous. Last year Activision had a 90 per cent share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70. At that rate, you’ll be out of the category in two to three years. If you don’t believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk.”
Jeff Brown, EA
“We [the developers] have a lot of respect for each other. We know how hard each team works, I know the sacrifices they are putting in and their families are putting in, so there is a lot of respect there. I think it’s fought at a different level of ours. So although they may be our competition, I actually view Modern Warfare 2 as the benchmark that I need to aim for.”
Glen Schofield, Sledgehammer Games
“We’ve been making Battlefield for 12 years now and we wouldn’t have been able to do it and continuouslygrow if we didn’t focus on our thing. So I’d use the comparison of runners. ...by Published on October 26th, 2011 23:27- Categories:
- DCEmu
Tonight is the biggest night of the year for the UK's games media as the industry joins for The Games Media Awards 2011, in association with Grainger Games.
Whether you’re going to be there or are observing from afar, MCVuk.com is the only place you need to be to get all the news, gossip and nonsense as it happens.
On this very page (bookmark it!) you can read the exclusive Liveblog that pulls together all the talk about the event from Twitter. You can find it at the bottom of the page.
If you want your thoughts included, simply use the official hashtag – #gma11.
The Games Media Awards 2011, in association with Grainger Games, take place on Wednesday October 26th at the super chic Vinopolis venue near Borough Market. Greg Davies, top stand-up and star of The Inbetweeners, will be the host for the evening.
Grainger Games has signed up as headline sponsor of the event, with other sponsors already signed up including Microsoft, Codemasters, EA, Sony, Ubisoft, Nintendo, OnLive, Namco Bandai, Trion Worlds, Gamescom, Nordic Games, Konami, Sega, NC Soft, Rising Star Games, Green Man Gaming, Games Tribe, 2K Games and Venatus Media.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/games...twitter/087007
...by Published on October 26th, 2011 23:08- Categories:
- DCEmu
Amazon's Kindle Fire, a new tablet capable of handling games, has seen massive interest from customers, leading the online retailer to up production of the device.
"In the three weeks since launch, orders for electronic ink Kindles are double the previous launch," said CEO Jeff Bezos.
"And based on what we're seeing with Kindle Fire pre-orders, we're increasing capacity and building millions more than we'd already planned."
The Kindle Fire will retail at $199 along with three other versions of the e-reader.
Amazon's financial results showed a decline in free cash flow, dropping from $1.83 for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, last year, to $1.53.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ire-production
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