Bungie has ruled out the possibility of it ever working on a Call Of Duty game - or any other Activision-owned IP - despite its new 'alliance' with the publisher.

As we reported last week, the developer has entered into a ten-year exclusive publishing deal with Activision for a single IP; the studio's first since Halo.

Both parties have recognised the special relationship, dubbing it an "alliance". However, Bungie has retained the rights to the IP - and full creative control.

When CVG asked if Bungie would answer the call should Activision ever ask them to get involved with its biggest owned franchise, the studio's community boss Brian Jarrard said:

"No. We have no interest at all in working on anybody else's intellectual property. Realistically, the scale and ambition of what we hope to achieve with our own IP for the next ten years can only really happen if we have the full might of the entire studio working on it."

He added: "After spending the last ten years working on somebody else's IP, when the studio became independent back in 2007, one of our core charters in our constitution was that from now on, we would own what we create. Working on somebody else's intellectual property is just not interesting or compelling to us at all."

The likelihood of Activision asking another studio to give some assistance to the development of Modern Warfare 3 is growing by the week.

MW developer Infinity Ward has lost over a third of its staff this year - with many defectingto Respawn Entertainment, the EA-backed studio set up by sacked ex-IW bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella.

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2K Games has announced that Sid Meier’s Pirates! will be released for Wii this Autumn.
The game is being developed by 2K China and is seemingly based on the 2005 PC and Xbox title developed by Firaxis – itself a remake of the 1987 Sid Meier title.
For the Wii edition, 2K has added motion controls, new character and ship customisation options and two exclusive mini-games: Lock Picking and Bombardment.
“We are big fans of the Wii and think Pirates! is the perfect game to bring to that platform,” said Sid Meier.
“We’re sure Wii fans will enjoy the timeless adventure of being a pirate captain on the high seas as much as all of our other fans have.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38815/Sid-...ounced-for-Wii ...

Nintendo's confirmed that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will come with a bonus DVD, which is meant to help players master the mini-plumbers skill set.

In a masterstroke of impracticality, however, the disc won't work on the Wii itself. How's that for a massive slice of inconvenient cake?

If you do happen to have something else that the disc will play on though, you'll gain valuable information about the plumber's planet jumpy approach to life, how to use the Wii Remote and nunchuck together, starbits, navigating between worlds and everything else you need to be a master of the galaxy.

We brought you the news that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will feature a two player mode back in April.

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The media are often a bit last-generation when it comes to next-generation technology.
The first TV shows were often a bloke reading things off bits of paper (i.e. radio) or a single camera pointed at a stage (i.e. theatre), while people got to grips with the medium's potential.
Likewise, the early days of the web saw many sites that looked like (or indeed were) scanned-in print leaflets.
iPad media apps feel a bit similar: some newspapers are going the literal route of making apps that look like... print newspapers. When in fact, a news app is likely to evolve into something far more interactive and, well, next-generation.
That's a long-winded intro to an event called Hacks/Hackers Unite, which takes place in San Francisco on May 21-23. The idea: pair journalists with coders to create "the killer media app for the iPad".

It's a great idea, and one that will hopefully throw up some imaginative prototypes. Judges include representatives from Y Combinator and Current TV.

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EA's official tie-in to the 2010 World Cup has entered straight in at number one in the UK sales charts, beating out competition from Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV.

First week sales of 2010 FIFA World Cup stand at 14.6 per cent that of FIFA 10 - the original game from which the tie-in is derived. This is slightly down from the figure of 15 per cent for the 2006 World Cup game based on FIFA 06, although 2010 FIFA World Cup was released on four formats rather than seven.

The PlayStation 3 version of the game sold the most, accounted for 48 per cent of sales, the Xbox 360 version 47 per cent and the PSP and Wii versions the remaining 5 per cent.

The second highest entry of the week was semi-budget title Super Street Fighter IV, a standalone expansion based on 2009 hit Street Fighter IV. Again the PS3 version was the best-selling, entering the individual format chart at number six with 52 per cent of sales. The 360 version debuted at number nine with 48 per cent of sales.

Although the rest of the top ten was composed of the usual suspects there was considerable variation in sales, with Ubisoft's Just Dance at number three falling by only 5 per cent, but Splinter Cell: Conviction at number four down by 37 per cent.

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City saw sales fall by 32 per cent at number five, but Wii Fit Plus at number six enjoyed an increase in sales of 20 per cent. Wii Sports Resort received an even bigger boost of 27 per cent at number seven, with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 rising by 7 per cent at number eight.

Modern Warfare 2 was up by 42 per cent at number nine, thanks to price promotions for the 360 version of the game.

There was one other new entry in the top ten this week though, with Sony's God of War Collection for the PS3 new at number 10. Released in 2009 in North America, the compilation contains new HD ports of the original two PlayStation 2 games in the series.

The only other new entry in the top 40 was Sega's Iron Man 2 film tie-in at number 20.

The full Chart-Track UK chart for the week ending May 1 is as follows:

01 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
02 Super Street Fighter IV
03 Just Dance
04 Splinter Cell: Conviction
05 Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
06 Wii Fit Plus
07 Wii Sports Resort
08 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
09 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
10 God of War Collection

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...a-in-uk-charts ...

Firemint's Alexandra Peters has said that the days of betting small and expecting to win big on iPhone games are gone, and expressed her view that commercial successes now require significant investment.

"I think the days where you can do something quite simple, and do it on a small budget, are probably gone," Peters told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview published today.

"These days with the amount of apps that are out there, and the increasing number of games coming out every day - and some of the really high-end developers who are now getting into it - I think if you're going to make an iPhone game and you want it to be commercially successful, you have to invest in it.

"That's certainly something that we're doing - we're spending a lot of time getting our next titles right. I wouldn't encourage people to bet small and expect to win big."

Firemint is now best known for two iPhone titles - Flight Control, which Peters describes as "ultra casual" with a modest budget, and Real Racing, which was developed on a budget of over $1 million.

Prior to the introduction of the iPhone and developing those two titles, Firemint worked mostly making mobile games for other companies, said Peters. However she said it was the App Store, not the iPhone, that revolutionised business for the studio and for small developers overall.

"People talk about the iPhone as being really revolutionary, but the massive change has really come about because of the App Store - and the fact that Apple was able to push that through has been a massive achievement when you consider how fragmented the mobile phone ecosystem was before that," she explained.

"We're really proud to say we're an iPhone developer, and it's a brilliant platform to develop for - it's really enabled this change in our business where we've been able to do less work-for-hire and more of our own games.

"You have this distribution platform that takes the game all over the world, handles all of the financial side for you, and essentially you just get some money in your account at the end of the day. It's unprecedented.

"As a studio, changing from work-for-hire to self-publishing and taking on a lot of those publisher functions - if we'd had to do all of the distribution and financial aspects as well, it might have been an insurmountable obstacle. It's empowered us to do original IP."

Peters said that Flight Control had sold in quantities of over 2 million to date - "some developers announce numbers and say "downloads" and that's a mix of free and paid - but this one's had 2 million sales" - while a free version of Real Racing has been downloaded over 5 million times and led to an increase in sales of the full game.

You can read the full interview with Peters in which she also discusses original IPs, the issue of visibility in the App Store and the effect of word-of-mouth marketing for iPhone games, here.

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It was the PS3 version of EA’s 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa that shone at retail over the weekend, with official figures from ELSPA GfK Chart-Track showing that the Sony release accounted for 48 per cent of sales.
It was only just ahead of Xbox 360, though, which claimed 47 per cent. The remaining was shared between PSP and Wii.
In contrast, the Xbox 360 was the lead platform in FIFA 10’s opening weekend, accounting for 48 per cent of sales.
Total sales of the themed tie-in represented just 14.6 per cent of the week one sales enjoyed by FIFA 10 last year. This is slightly down on the performance of FIFA World Cup Germany 2006, which that year managed to shift numbers equating to 15 per cent of FIFA 06.
However, when you factor in the impressive sales of FIFA 10 this still amounts to a significant sales gain.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38811/FIFA...-shines-on-PS3 ...

It didn’t seem to hurt Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s performance at retail, so talk of a £54.99 RRP for the upcoming COD: Black Ops shouldn’t come as a huge shock.
There was much furore in July last year when Activision took the bold move of pricing Modern Warfare 2 at just shy of £55 – far ahead of the standard RRP of next-gen games of between £45-£50.
The reality was, however, that the high level of interest in the game made it a direct target for some quite savage High Street discounting, with Sainsbury’s eventually offering it on day one for just £26.
Now a host of retailers including GAME, Play.com and ShopTo are all citing a £54.99 RRP for CoD: Black Ops. Note, though, that none of them are offering it at that price, with each dipping just below the £45 for their pre-order prices.
MCV has been lead to believe that an official RRP has yet to be confirmed by publisher Activision.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38808/Reta...k-Ops-5499-RRP ...

Konami has formally announced Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 - and revealed a slew of new in-game features.

The title will be released on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, PS2 and PSP in Autumn - and Konami reckons it's undergone 'the most radical revamp in its history'.

New features will include a power bar for each player that allows them to determine the exact strength and placement of every pass and shot.

Meanwhile, Konami has done away with assisted AI during matches - meaning passes will not automatically reach the nearest player.

"It was time for PES to transform, and PES 2011 represents the most ambitious redesign in the series' history," commented Jon Murphy, European PES Team Leader for Konami.


"We've continued to work closely with the fans to pinpoint what it is about football that PES didn't do. Total freedom was the priority and all-new animation a must.

"PES 2011 does both - indeed, they are directly linked to each other - and while the new game is recognisably PES at its heart, it is also the most radically improved version ever."

In addition, a specially-designed control system has been introduced that Konami reckons will 'allow total control over every element of play'.

The full list of new features is:

*Total Control: PES Productions has enhanced the 360-degree passing ratio, offering reworked control over every pass, shot, throw-in, through ball and lofted through balls. Konami claims that this 'allows users to pass the ball into space, and move their play with total freedom'. Players must precisely weight their passes and second-guess the runs of their team-mates and exploit their movement. Players even can apply pressure on opponents to force them off the ball.

*Shot & Stamina Gauge: In addition to the generic power gauge, the Shot & Stamina meter details the player's exact level of fitness. Constantly sprinting will affect the player's movements and will have an adverse affect on his stats, with passes going awry and a loss of pace.

*New Defender AI: Defenders now hold their positions, no longer chasing any ball that enters their area; preferring to close down the attacker and force them into a mistake.

*Animation and Player Physics: PES Productions has 'totally reworked every element of in-game animation'. The physicality between players has been improved - which Konami says was a priority requested in PES forums. Jostling and blocking now looks stunning, while there is a larger variety of convincing tackling styles. Ambient animation also adds to the in-game atmosphere, as players behave realistically when off the ball, and walk and run with a variety of individual styles.


*Speed of Play: The new controls means that PES 2011 enjoys a 'more considered pace of play', according to Konami, which varies dependent on situations. Players can dictate the pace via slow build-up or exploiting available space to surge forward. It is harder to make long runs from midfield, and successful play will depend on making quick passes to make room.

*Aesthetics: Facial animation has been enhanced, while over 1,000 all-new animations which have been recreated from the ground up using over 100 hours of motion captured footage.

*Tactical and Strategy: The PES Productions team has implemented an all new 'Drag and Drop' mechanism that can be used in every aspect of team management, not just substitutions or formation changes.

*Feint settings: PES has always offered a wide range of subtle skills, feints and turns, but PES 2011 allows users to map their favourite move sequences to the right stick, making them more accessible than ever before.

Master League Online: PES 2011 will mark the online debut for its Master League element.

Elsewhere, both referees and goalkeepers have been improved in both aesthetic and AI terms, while an all-new commentary process has been implemented.

The game will also see the return of Lionel Messi as its cover star, and the expansion of its UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League elements, and the addition of the Copa Liberadores from South America.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg for PES 2011," concluded Murphy.

"We have some significant announcements still to come regarding game modes and gameplay functions. The first footage of the new game perfectly showcases the new animation and freedom elements that beat at the heart of the new game. We are confident that PES 2011 will both surprise and delight football fans. They are going to have to relearn how they play, as this is a very different game, but I am confident it will blow them all away."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...