Our Christmas 2011 issue, which is on sale November 22, will include an examination of how Ubisoft manages to maintain its schedule of yearly updates to the series, and at what cost.
Richard Garriott, creator of Ultima and Ultima Online, has spoken of his desire to rebuild his virtual world after being disappointed at the direction in which EA has taken Old Britannia since he left Origin Systems in 2000.
Ultimate arrives just nine months after Marvel Vs Capcom 3, a fast turnaround of a fighting game revision even by Capcom's standards. We'd like to think the publisher felt compelled to action by the overwhelming dominance in the original of character Dark Phoenix, a glitch missed by QA that players could exploit to deliver overpowered combos, and some distinctly fuzzy netcode. Sadly there's the niggling sense that the speedy revision was the plan all along.
Microsoft and UK trade association TIGA are hosting an event at the House Of Commons tomorrow which will see indie developers and MPs discuss ways for devs to start up and grow their operations.
The event, dubbed "dynamic entrepreneurs: supporting start-ups in the UK game industry" will feature 30 people from studios across the nation, including Neon Play, Icon Games and Trevor Williams.
Unity Technologies has confirmed that it hopes to be able add Windows Phone 8 support to its development platform, after declining to enable creators to develop for the current version of Microsoft's mobile OS because of it being a "relatively closed system."
The number of regular social gamers in the US and UK has risen 71 per cent in the past year to 118.5 million.
The research comes from a study carried out by Information Solutions Group for PopCap, and finds that social gaming is currently the industry's fastest-growing sector. Seventeen per cent of the total - some 20 million people - had never played a videogame before their first social game.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Anniversary is something of a PR stunt. A full recreation of the game that launched the Xbox brand – glitches and all – given some current-gen cosmetic surgery, it’s impossible to imagine a release that could tell us less about 343 Industries' understanding of the series with which it has been entrusted, beyond the fact it has to preserve it.
Our Christmas 2011 issue, which is on sale November 22, also includes full reviews of some of this season's biggest games, including Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Assassin's Creed Revelations.
Microsoft has confirmed that it is working on "really exciting" cloud features for Xbox 360.
Speaking at GDC China over the weekend, reported by Gamasutra, Microsoft's "cloud evangelist" Brian Prince, said: "You will be seeing things in the Xbox platform that are cloud-specific. I'm already doing it, it's really exciting, but I can't tell you about it or else I'll get fired."
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the new number one in the UK all-formats software chart.
The decline of newspapers, some say, can be attributed to the Internet’s power as the great disaggregator. Newspapers aggregate, bundling disparate stuff (news, recipes, fashionista fluff, crosswords and so forth), but the Internet disaggregates. Online, everything can be provided separately, and better, by specialists. You go to Craigslist to look at classified ads; you get your celebrity news from Gawker, your sports coverage from the BBC website, and your sarcastic deconstructions of political phraseology from Unspeak.
Despite its lukewarm performance since launch, Nintendo expects the 3DS to beat the first-year sales of its DS predecessor in the United States.
According to Gamasutra, NPD data reveals that 3DS has sold 1.65 million units in the US since its launch in March. The DS sold 2.37 million units in its first 12 months on sale, with roughly half of that figure sold in the holiday season alone. Last month, over 250,000 units were sold in the United States, according to Nintendo.
Despite its lukewarm performance since launch, Nintendo expects the 3DS to beat the first-year sales of its DS predecessor in the United States.
According to Gamasutra, NPD data reveals that 3DS has sold 1.65 million units in the US since its launch in March. The DS sold 2.37 million units in its first 12 months on sale, with roughly half of that figure sold in the holiday season alone. Last month, over 250,000 units were sold in the United States, according to Nintendo.
Sony has revealed the UMD Passport scheme, which will enable users to register their PSP games and download them to their new PlayStation Vita.
Atlus and Marvelous AQL have announced that Persona 4 is being adapted for the stage.
The adaptation, dubbed Persona 4 Visualive, will star Toru Baba, according to Andriasang. The name of his character will change in each performance, with fans invited to submit suggestions for names. The event will run from March 15 to 20 at Ikebukuro's Sunshine Theatre.
Bethesda says it is working on a patch to address texture scaling issues found in the Xbox 360 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Bethesda says it is working on a patch to address texture scaling issues found in the Xbox 360 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Total physical videogame sales in the United States rose one per cent in October to $1.08 billion (£677.9 million) according to figures released by the NPD Group.
The market research firm attributes that modest rise to hardware sales, which rose six per cent year on year thanks to Xbox 360, of which sales climbed over 20 per cent. Nintendo's 3DS was the second-best selling hardware of the month, with combined sales of it and its DS predecessor up by more than 25 per cent year on year.
Total physical videogame sales in the United States rose one per cent in October to $1.08 billion (£677.9 million) according to figures released by the NPD Group.
The market research firm attributes that modest rise to hardware sales, which rose six per cent year on year thanks to Xbox 360, of which sales climbed over 20 per cent. Nintendo's 3DS was the second-best selling hardware of the month, with combined sales of it and its DS predecessor up by more than 25 per cent year on year.
LA Noire's original response tree was markedly different to the one in the final game, former Team Bondi head Brendan McNamara has revealed, with the "doubt" option originally labelled "force".
Aperture Science’s rambling facilities were built by a man going mad. That man and his madness, however, are creations of one of the sanest videogame companies on the Earth. This makes for an intriguing contradiction, and one that lies at the centre of Portal 2. The environment suggests a world of chaotic experimentation, while the lineage promises a sharp tragicomic narrative, defined by clever reversals and feints. Freedom or lies, then: which is Aperture Science’s true legacy?
Activision has declared Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the most successful entertainment launch of all time.
The Infinity Ward-developed shooter, released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on Tuesday, shipped 6.5 million units and grossed $400 million in the US and UK alone in its first 24 hours on shelves, the publisher said.
One-to-one Kinect control may offer gratifying feedback, but it isn’t sufficient to make players feel truly connected to onscreen characters, according to Blitz Games’ Nick Adams.
Delivering a talk titled ‘Designing for a Radical Control Method’ at Bradford Animation Festival 2011 this week, the design manager drew on challenges faced by the studio during development of the Xbox 360 version of Puss In Boots, a game based on the upcoming Dreamworks film.
One-to-one Kinect control may offer gratifying feedback, but it isn’t sufficient to make players feel truly connected to onscreen characters, according to Blitz Games’ Nick Adams.
Delivering a talk titled ‘Designing for a Radical Control Method’ at Bradford Animation Festival 2011 this week, the design manager drew on challenges faced by the studio during development of the Xbox 360 version of Puss In Boots, a game based on the upcoming Dreamworks film.