Peter Molyneux has moved to dampen fears over Project Natal lag, insisting there have been "countless revisions of cameras and countless revisions of software" since the demo units shown to press and celebrities in recent weeks were produced.

Following a recent London showcase, British TV personality Jonathan Ross commented via his Twitter account that Natal was "not quite there yet", which prompted Microsoft PR to confirm the hardware and game demo Ross played dated back to summer 2009.

Molyneux, who hosted an event with non-specialist media early last week at the same venue in London's Fitzroy Square, expressed his frustration at not being able to show the latest iteration of the Xbox motion-control technology.

"It's always a huge frustration as a designer when you see somebody play a version when you know it's been exceeded many times over," he said, speaking in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz at Lionhead Studios earlier this week.

"It so often happens, because you do a version for a show and then you don't do another version because you're too busy developing the game."

He added: "So very often you get a position that what a person's looking at is two, three, four months, a year old and you kind of want to go, 'no, no, it's 10 times better than that!' So it is very, very frustrating; it always is - there's just countless revisions of cameras since the one at X10 and countless revisions of software."

A Microsoft source went as far as to claim the Natal camera used in the London demos was only "one-tenth as responsive" as the latest iteration. The company is expected to reveal the final version of the hardware and the launch line-up of compatible software at E3 in July, with a release expected in the autumn.

Meanwhile, Molyneux revealed his excitement ahead of speaking at next week's GDC, stating: "I'll be showing off Fable III and we'll be making some announcements about [the game] and I've got a talk which is going through some of the big features. I'm really excited to show all the stuff."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-are-countless ...

Microsoft has amended its Xbox Live terms of use, allowing users to express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation, if they choose, in their Gamertags and profiles.

Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten said the move had been made in response to feedback from customers who had felt excluded from the community, adding that the company's original stance had a arisen from a desire to protect its users from abuse.

"The Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct are designed to create a place where people can safely enjoy all of the ways to interact on our service, be it online multiplayer gaming, photo sharing, Netflix parties, or social games such as 1 vs 100, without fear of discrimination or harassment," said Whitten, in an open letter published on Xbox.com.

"As the service evolves and our customers provide us with feedback, these rules evolve to incorporate new features or changes in how people wish to interact.

"With that in mind, I'd like to announce an update to the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct which will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles.

"Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox Live community."

Microsoft said that the update will happen alongside increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of its terms.

"I truly believe that our diversity is what makes us strong: diversity in gaming and entertainment options, and diversity in the people that make up this amazing community," Whitten added.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...al-orientation ...

More details of the lawsuit bought against Activision by former Infinity Ward employees have emerged, in which the Call of Duty publisher is accused of "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed".

Filed by Jason West and Vince Zampella – who were sacked from the wholly-owned studio Infinity Ward this week – the pair detailed alleged working conditions and the process that led to the developers being ejected from the studio they helped found back in 2003.

"West and Zampella were not as eager as Activision to jump into the development of Modern Warfare 2," stated the 16-page document, reprinted on IGN. "Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward's ability to create quality games.

"For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward's employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasising quantity over quality.

"Given Activision's insistence that Infinity Ward continue to focus on sequels to Call of Duty games instead of new intellectual property, West and Zampella were also concerned that Activision's demands risked 'burning out' the Infinity Ward employees' creativity. Nurturing a creative environment had been one of the cornerstones of Infinity Ward's success.

"West and Zampella were not eager to extend their employment; especially as they watched their games receive countless awards and make Activision billions of dollars, while many Infinity Ward employees were not being provided a fair share."

The pair are suing Activision for upwards of $36 million, the creative control of the Modern Warfare brand and the right to approve any Call of Duty games set after the Vietnam war.

The lawsuit asserts that after the release of Modern Warfare 2, Activision set up an investigation to "manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella". An SEC filing from earlier in the week accuses the pair of breach of contract and insubordination.

When they enquired about the investigation, the lawsuit states that the were told in "Orwellian fashion that West and Zampella 'already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done'"

The document also claims West and Zampella were "interrogated for over six hours" in a windowless room and that other Infinity Ward employees were bought to tears by questioning.

Yesterday, English lawyer and litigation expert Jas Purewal suggested that future Modern Warfare releases could be vetoed by the pair if the court rules in their favour.

Activision has dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless" and said that it is disappointed that West and Zampella have taken legal action.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nbridled-greed ...

PlayStation Portable has come out on top of the Japanese hardware chart for another week with sales that just pipped the second best-selling console the Wii.

PlayStation 3 sales dropped off from last week when they appeared to get a boost from the releases of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition and Heavy Rain, and the console slipped from second to third in the chart.

Combined sales of the various DS models however - the DSi LL, DSi and DS Lite - put the handheld ahead of all its comeptition overall.

In the software chart, four new games made their debuts. Spike's Kenka Bancho 4: Ichinen Sensou took the number one place with units sales in excess of 71,000, while last week's chart topper, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, was knocked down to number three.

A new game from Namco Bandai, Super Robot Wars OG, took the number two position, and SCE's Hot Shots Tennis Portable entered the chart at number six. The fourth new entry was Shiren the Wanderer 4 at number seven.

Heavy Rain, which reached number six in the Japanese charts in its first week, dropped out of the top 30 altogether in its second week.

The full software chart is as follows:

01 Kenka Bancho 4: Ichinen Sensou (PSP)
02 Super Robot Wars OG: Saga Endless Frontier Exceed (DS)
03 Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PS3)
04 New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
05 God Eater (PSP)
06 Hot Shots Tennis Portable (PSP)
07 Shiren the Wanderer 4: Kami no Hitomi to Akuma no Heso (DS)
08 Friend Collection (DS)
09 Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
10 Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reviere (DS)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...software-chart ...

Sequel to award-winning first person puzzle game due this year
Valve has announced Portal 2 will arrive at Christmas.
No platform details have been revealed, although the use of the word 'shipment' in the press release implies a retail launch.
The original Portal was made available in The Orange Box, and won multiple game of the year awards. A Xbox Live Arcade version, Portal: Still Alive, was released the following year.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/37869/Portal-2-announced ...

NaturalMotion has announced that its Backbreaker Football iPhone game has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times on the App Store. The game is available in both paid and free versions, and the company hasn't split out the 1.5 million figure between them.
Even so, given that the game - developed by UK firm IdeaWorks Game Studio - was originally designed as a teaser for the company's upcoming console game of the same name, the iPhone version has to count as a success.
"Backbreaker Football has been a phenomenal success on iPhone and iPod touch, with sales wildly exceeding our initial forecasts," says NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil.

However, another stat that's even more impressive is the company's claim that BackBreaker Football only has a 1 per cent piracy rate on iPhone.

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/299...hone-downloads ...

Apple has announced that its iPad tablet will go on sale in the US on Saturday 3rd April. That's the Wi-Fi-only model - the Wi-Fi + 3G model will go on sale there in late April.
That's a slight delay - the Wi-Fi version was expected to go on sale in late March. When it was unveiled on 27th January, CEO Steve Jobs said it would go on sale in 60 days.
Still, only six days late isn't bad.
Apple has also announced that all iPad models will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
However, Apple says it won't launch international pricing for the device until April. iPad will be available in other countries later this year.

US pre-orders for both models will kick off on 12th March from Apple's online store, with customers also able to reserve Wi-Fi models to pick up from an Apple retail store on 3rd April.
"iPad is something completely new,” says CEO Steve Jobs in a statement.
"We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before."
Apple has confirmed that only the US will get Apple's new iBookstore e-books store as a downloadable app on 3rd April. Other countries will get it "later this year".

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/36278...slips-to-April ...

Alright, here's another round of console shifts in Japan.


Playstation Portable: 37,338
Nintendo Wii: 36,241
Playstation 3: 27,763
Nintendo DSi LL: 24,605
Nintendo DSi: 15,586
Nintendo DS Lite: 5,029
Xbox 360: 2,510
Playstation 2: 1,912
Playstation Portable Go: 1,296


Figures from Media Create. ...

via Eurogamer


Hello Games has announced that it will release Joe Danger first on PS3.

The downloadable side-scrolling bike game is due out this spring, and the you can check out an Joe Danger hands-on, new screenshots and the latest trailer elsewhere on the site.
Hello Games really is just four guys in a room making their dream games, which we happen to like very much. As did you during the Eurogamer Expo 2009, where Danger was playable to people in the Indie Arcade.
Check out our Joe Danger hands-on to see what's in store for PS3 owners this spring.


Screenshots
Trailer
Eurogamer's hands-on review ...