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by Published on February 2nd, 2012 18:36- Categories:
- PC News
Bossa head and co-founder Henrique Olifiers has shared his frustrations at the iterative nature of social game design, and warned of the consequences.
"Social games for me were always on the cutting-edge until they became copycat, and after they became copycat I said, 'Well, this is not going anywhere,'" he told GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview.
"This will be like the Atari Eighties crash. Everybody and their grandmother had a version of Space Invaders, and these guys are going to do the same thing."
He fears that these tactics will mean more innovative games and ideas will get lost amid Facebook's casual noise.
"What I used to do at both Jagex and Playfish, they both felt like they were doing something different," he continued.
"Jagex was one of the first companies in browser MMOs. Playfish was one of the first companies to go into social games. They were leading the charge. What got me so disenchanted over time was that they stopped doing that. "That's when I said, 'This is not what I'm about.' "
Bossa Studios was founded in 2010 and created its first title, the RTS Monstermind, with more hardcore gamers in mind and in a concerted attempted to avoid the copying and churning culture of standard Facebook development.
"[Our games] should look and feel like nothing else on Facebook," explained lead designer Mike Bithell.
"We're working really hard top use these amazing tools, because there are so many things in Facebook that, if used right, make it better than Xbox Live."
To read more about the Bossa team's refreshing stance on social gaming, its recent hires and how it hopes to attract the hardcore gamers to Facebook, check out the full feature.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...eighties-crash ...by Published on February 2nd, 2012 18:29- Categories:
- PC News
Kinect for Windows and its commercial SDK and runtime has now launched in 12 countries, giving companies the chance to put the technology to use.
"Kinect has had an amazing first year, selling over 18m sensors," said Steve Clayton on Microsoft's official Technet blog.
"Now it's game on for businesses to show us what they can do with this technology - once they have Kinect for Windows hardware and have installed the SDK, they're free to innovate away. Just how we like it."
The recommended retail price for the unit itself is $249, with a discounted $149 price available to education bodies later in the year. The SDK is available free of charge.
"Companies such as United Health Group, American Express, Mattel, Telefonica, and Toyota that already are developing applications with Kinect for Windows - and more than 300 companies from over 25 countries are busy dreaming, inventing and building."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...cense-launches ...by Published on February 2nd, 2012 18:09- Categories:
- PC News
Merely six weeks after release, Bioware game Star Wars: The Old Republic has sold over two million copies, with a user-base of 1.7 million active subscribers.
EA is said to have spent more money on SW:TOR than any other game in its history, so many have been waiting to see if it's headed to failure or success. While these numbers are a step in the right direction, EA will be hoping to seriously build on those subscribers to make their money back.Selling the game in the first place isn't even half of the battle. The key to any MMO's success is that its players keep coming back for more - harder to achieve than it sounds, especially now that so many games are free-to-play.
In the meantime, EA and Bioware are both shouting about its current success, claiming it as the fastest growing subscription MMO ever.
"We're truly honored and humbled by the incredibly strong support from our players who are enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and general manager of EA's BioWare label. "Our entire team worked very hard over the holidays to deliver a smooth experience at launch, and the resulting response to the game from our fans and critics has been exceptionally gratifying."
Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of BioWare and general manager of the BioWare MMO Business Unit, commented: "But we're not resting. We're actively listening to our community for ongoing feedback to help us ensure the game and service continue to improve, and we're working to deliver spectacular new high quality content on a regular cadence going forward."
The Force is strong in this one. For now, at least...
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ts-sold/027886 ...by Published on February 1st, 2012 22:04- Categories:
- PC News
Electronic Arts has revealed that its digital games service Origin generated $100 million in the 2011 calendar year, from more than 9.3 million consumers.
Releasing its third quarter financial results, the company also said that MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic has more than 1.7 million active subscribers since launching in December, with 2 million units sold.
The company managed to trim its losses for the quarter down from $322 million in 2010 to $205 million. Net sales were $1.061 billion, compared to $1.053 billion the previous year.
Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 have both sold more than 10 million units, while Madden NFL 12 has sold almost 5 million units life-to-date. The publisher claims it is number one in the Western markets with a 20 per cent share of Europe and 17 per cent share of North America.
"We are pleased to report a strong holiday quarter driven by Battlefield 3, FIFA 12 and a strong showing by our digital games and services," offered CEO John Riccitiello. "Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing."
PopCap, which joined the company in August, has grown sales by 30 per cent on a twelve-month basis and the EA Nucleus registration system has more than 168 million consumers on its database.
"We recorded our highest operating cash flow in 31 quarters and grew segment share in both Europe and North America," said Eric Brown, CFO.
"Third quarter non-GAAP digital revenue grew 79 per cent year-over year, and we achieved our goal of generating over $1 billion in non-GAAP digital revenue on a trailing-twelve-month basis."
EA said that revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to be between $925 million and $975 million.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-subs-hit-1-7m ...by Published on February 1st, 2012 20:45- Categories:
- PC News
Microsoft has released Kinect for Windows, featuring a new "near mode" that lets the gesture control tech be used as close as 40cm. The Kinect for Windows hardware will retail at $249 — well above the price of the version for Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft defended the price difference, saying sales of games and Xbox Live subscriptions help subsidize the console version. The new version will support Windows 7 and the Windows 8 developer preview, as well as Windows Embedded 7 devices
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...ct-for-windows ...by Published on February 1st, 2012 16:31- Categories:
- PC News
Apple has 'stormed past' former PC number one HP to become the world's largest producer of PCs. Assuming that tablet devices are counted as PCs.
Market analysis outfit Canalys has decided that tablets, or 'pads' as they call them, are actually PCs and that means they counted Apple's 15 million iPads to come up with the claim.
Canalys pointed out that HP was "pursuing a Windows strategy" for tablets, focusing on the enterprise market until the arrival of Windows 8. Alluding to the importance of the consumer market to HP and Windows 8 tablets in general, Canalys said that "questions remain" over the consumer prospects for Windows 8 tablets.
"Microsoft must focus its efforts on creating an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive," said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling.
Canalys was also not of the opinion that ultrabooks would be the great white knight for the PC market, at least not in the first half of the year.
We expect ultrabook volumes to see limited adoption through the first half of 2012, before finally gaining momentum later in the year as price points decline and Intel launches a new line of processors and embarks on an aggressive marketing campaign," said Canalys Research Analyst Michael Kauh.
Canalys reckons that PC vendors in the netbook and notebook space (are there any netbooks left?) will feel the pinch, particularly as Apple moves to launch the next generation of iPad.
For what it's worth, we reckon it's a PC if you have complete control over the software on it. Not like an iPad but then... that's quite like an Android tablet isn't it? Oh dear.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...c-maker/027874 ...by Published on February 1st, 2012 15:59- Categories:
- PC News
Channel 4 has harnessed the Sims 3 engine to power its new online drama played out by virtual actors.
The new show, called SuperMe, is set within a fictional English town, and tells the story of four lead characters living in a shared house and follows them through their “triumphs and tragedies”.
Each virtual actor has been given a set of character notes, traits, ambitions and motivations, and will now improvise the drama, taking direction from the production team.
The show has been created by creative agency Somethin’ Else in collaboration with Electronic Arts, and was commissioned by now UKIE CEO Jo Twist for Channel 4 education.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...annel-4/027877 ...by Published on January 31st, 2012 19:47- Categories:
- PC News
A fan campaign designed to encourage more Half-Life information from developer Valve plans a mass gameplay session this Saturday.Steam group A Call for Communication (Half-Life), which boasts more than than 29,500 members, has organised a huge Half-Life 2 play session this weekend, designed to raise awareness of its campaign by boosting the game up Steam's most-played list.The fan collective aims to encourage information from Valve on when the Half-Life series might return, be that in the form of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or a fully-fledged Half-Life 3.Group numbers have swelled from 10,000 members since the campaign first hit the headlines two weeks ago.A Call for Communication's Half-Life 2 play session begins at 7pm UK time this Saturday night."Instead of focusing efforts in a negative and disrespectful way, we have decided to gain Valve's attention by delivering a basic message: 'Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication,'" the Steam group's description reads."Hopefully such attention will be recognized by Valve, and the community's voice will be heard."...
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...meplay-sessionby Published on January 31st, 2012 19:45- Categories:
- PC News
Weekly Star Wars: The Old Republic maintenance has been completed and game servers have returned - patch 1.1.1 is now live....
It doesn't give white Lightsaber crystals to everyone. That was a joke - a forced choke. Sorry.
All the SWTOR patch 1.1.1 changes are noted below.
Our favourite is that "Kintan Behemoths no longer occasionally walk on top of trees when in combat".
Classes and Combat
General
- Fixed a bug that could cause the Global Cooldown to appear as if it has been cancelled when it is actually still in effect, resulting in a feeling of unresponsiveness to input.
- Corrected an issue that could cause an ability icon to appear usable but be unresponsive to clicks or keypresses for several seconds.
- Players revived by other players, including by in-combat revival abilities, now revive with 25% of maximum health.
Guardian
- Freezing Force: Now correctly lasts 9 seconds (up from 6 seconds).
Sage
- Mental Alacrity: Now correctly costs no Force to activate.
- Salvation: No longer heals targets twice on application. It now correctly heals all affected targets once when applied.
Scoundrel
- Flechette Round: Now provides 30% armor penetration while active.
- K.O.: This ability now knocks the target down for 1.5 seconds.
- Shoot First: The damage output of this ability has been decreased by approximately 20% to control burst damage and because it was enabling significantly faster than intended kills in PvP.
Operative
- Acid Blade: Now provides 30% armor penetration while active.
- Jarring Strike: This ability now knocks the target down for 1.5 seconds.
- Hidden Strike: The damage output of this ability has been decreased by approximately 20% to control burst damage and because it was enabling significantly faster than intended kills in PvP.
Mercenary
- Sweeping Blasters can now be made free with Thermal Sensor Override.
- Oil Slick now correctly costs no heat to activate.
Flashpoints and Operations
Flashpoints
Directive 7
- Bulwark's Area of Effect cone abilities now properly fire in the direction Bulwark is facing.
- Some of Bulwark's abilities were incorrectly susceptible to interruption. Bulwark is now immune to interrupts.
- Fixed a conversation that could cause the cinematic with Arkis Wode to function incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent the final fight in this Flashpoint from beginning after the cinematic.
- The final boss can no longer become stuck in an invulnerable state; there was still a small window where this could occur.
- Lord Kherus now grants less experience.
- Some of Lord Kherus's abilities have had their damage values adjusted to be more in line with the level of the Flashpoint.
- Players now enter into melee range with Lord Kherus in order to stop him from throwing crates.
Eternity Vault
- Players no longer randomly die in this Operation after being in Gharj's lava.
- Foreman Crusher's enrage now includes a movement speed increase, allowing him to catch players who attempt to run.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the Materials Disposal Unit's main control station from becoming useable again after the Operation Group is defeated by the G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator on 16-man Hard Mode.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator from deploying the correct number of Proximity Pulse Mines and Security Stun Drones during combat.
- The damage from G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator's sticky pulse grenade will scales appropriately for the selected Operation difficulty level.
- Karagga no longer fires his Unstable Energy twice in a row.
- Taking the shuttle after defeating Karagga no longer transports players to the incorrect hangar.
- Walls that were missing in Karagga's Palace are now in place.
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed an issue that prevented some players in Operations Groups from receiving credit for the missions "[WEEKLY] Deadly Operations," "[WEEKLY] Galactic Operations," and "Journey to the Belsavis Depths." The entire Operations Group now receives credit when the objective is completed.
Bug Fixes
- Comparative tooltips for researched items no longer have their stats reversed.
Missions and NPCs
Missions
Imperial
- Declaration of War: The mission will now progress as intended when players interact with their ship's holoterminal.
- Debriefing: The ship Holoterminal conversation related to this mission is no longer repeatable.
- The Eagle's Nest: The Assassin's Fortress mission is now correctly a prerequisite for this mission.
- Number One with a Bullet: Corrected an issue that prevented Bounty Hunters from leaving The Founder.
- The Mandalorian Killer: Thendys Noori no longer continues to heal Kellian Jarro after she has surrendered.
- Reallocation: The final mission conversation will now begin as intended when players interact with their ship's holoterminal.
- The Voice of Darkness: Fixed an issue that could cause Class Story mission progression to enter an incorrect state.
- Death Spiral: Fixed an issue that prevented
by Published on January 31st, 2012 18:47- Categories:
- PC News
And here you thought Microsoft bringing Windows 8 to ARM was big news. Turns out, a member of thexda-developers forum has managed to make an APK that puts a variety of Redmond's x86 operating systems on the HTC EVO 3D and its 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon -- Windows 95, 98, XP and even your favorite flavor of Linux are all available for the three dee-equipped handset. All you need to do is install the Bochs Pentium emulator APK and the OS disk image of your choice, modify a couple files, and you'll be doing yesteryear's desktop computing on a handheld in no time. Feeling nostalgic? Detailed instructions how to do it yourself and the necessary files can be found at the source link below, but all we want to know is: does it do the blue screen of death or the force close dance when things go awry?
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/30/a...on-the-evo-3d/ ...- Search DCEmu
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