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November 11, 2011

LGC 2011: PopCap eyes cross-platform saves

David Bishop calls for a "joined-up" future and shares ten sure-fire ways to fail at mobile game development.

During a panel at last night's London Games Conference, PopCap senior designer David Bishop said that the next step for the company should be cross-platform saving.

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The Friday Game: Depict1

Language and play converge in Kyle Pulver’s devious platformer.

Warning: This week's Friday Game discusses some in-game mechanics that you may wish to discover for yourself. Click here to play the game before reading the article.

Depict1 has been around for quite a while now. I only found it this week though, while I was busy looking for something else. That was fortuitous, because Kyle Pulver’s platformer is elegant and witty. It’s also appropriate, because the game has a distinctly contrarian bent, too.

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Zynga chief slams "false and skewed" stock claim

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has dismissed claims he forced employees to give up company stock as "false and skewed." A front-page report in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) claimed that employees who were given stock options in the early days of the company had been threatened with dismissal unless they gave them up. Pincus, apparently fearing he had been over-generous early on, then offered the stock to newly headhunted employees.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/10/exclusive-mark-pincus-memo-to-zynga-employees/
Fortune

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has dismissed claims he forced employees to give up company stock as "false and skewed."

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Cameron backs call for education rethink

UK prime minister David Cameron yesterday acknowledged the need for an overhaul of the way children are taught to use computers in schools, admitting that the current education system is "not doing enough to actually teach the next generation of programmers."

UK prime minister David Cameron yesterday acknowledged the need for an overhaul of the way children are taught to use computers in schools, admitting that the current education system is "not doing enough to actually teach the next generation of programmers."

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Activision extends subscriptions as COD: Elite problems continue

Activision has "immediately and automatically" extended all Call Of Duty: Elite subscriptions by 30 days as it continues to struggle to cope with demand following the social service's launch alongside Modern Warfare 3 on Tuesday.
http://www.callofduty.com/elite/status
Call Of Duty

Activision has "immediately and automatically" extended all Call Of Duty: Elite subscriptions by 30 days as it continues to struggle to cope with demand following the social service's launch alongside Modern Warfare 3 on Tuesday.

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LGC 2011: OnLive repositions itself as a dev platform

CTO Tom Paquin highlights the development opportunities of cloud gaming, saying: "The best things to happen on OnLive won't come from OnLive."

Tom Paquin, CTO of OnLive, last night highlighted the game development possibilties of the company's cloud gaming service and appealed to creators to use the platform to make games that will "really knock our socks off."

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LGC 2011: DeMartini says Nintendo can recover

During a panel at the London Games Conference yesterday David DeMartini, senior VP of global E-commerce at EA, said Nintendo could recover from a miserable year which has left it forecasting its first annual loss in over 30 years.

During a panel at the London Games Conference yesterday David DeMartini, senior VP of global E-commerce at EA, said Nintendo could recover from a miserable year which has left it forecasting its first annual loss in over 30 years.

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Limbo sells one million, coming to Mac

Playdead today announced that its critically acclaimed platforming adventure Limbo has sold over one million copies worldwide.

Playdead today announced that its critically acclaimed platforming adventure Limbo has sold over one million copies worldwide.

According to the Danish independent developer, the title has been played by gamers in 153 countries in nine languages across Xbox Live, PSN and Steam.

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Battlefield 3 holds Nordic chart lead

Battlefield 3 saw off competition from new entry Uncharted 3 to retain the number one spot on the Nordic chart, which combines sales data from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Battlefield 3 saw off competition from new entry Uncharted 3 to retain the number one spot on the Nordic chart, which combines sales data from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

FIFA 12 was a non-mover at number three, ahead of former best-seller The Sims 3: Pets and Football Manager 2012, which held firm at number five.

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November 10, 2011

Steam hacked, credit card data accessed

Intruders obtain access to a Steam database containing passwords, email addresses and encrypted credit card information.

Valve has contacted the Steam user base to confirm that the digital distribution platform has been breached by hackers.

According to the company, intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. The database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.

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Steam hacked, credit card data accessed

Intruders obtain access to a Steam database containing passwords, email addresses and encrypted credit card information.

Valve has contacted the Steam user base to confirm that the digital distribution platform has been breached by hackers.

According to the company, intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. The database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.

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UKIE announces initiatives to boost UK game industry

Trade body hopes formation of the UKIE development group, appointment for ATO for Gamescom and GDC, and Scottish office will deliver tangible benefits to the UK's game industry.

Trade body UKIE has today announced three new initiatives that it claims will deliver tangible benefits to the UK's game industry.

The first of these is the formation of the UKIE development group, chaired by Ian Livingstone. The group will aim to help all development studios, from indie outfits upwards, to grow, providing advice on finance, IP ownership and retention, skills, tax credits, EIS compliance, publishing, marketing and legal affairs.

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UKIE announces initiatives to boost UK game industry

Trade body hopes formation of the UKIE development group, appointment for ATO for Gamescom and GDC, and Scottish office will deliver tangible benefits to the UK's game industry.

Trade body UKIE has today announced three new initiatives that it claims will deliver tangible benefits to the UK's game industry.

The first of these is the formation of the UKIE development group, chaired by Ian Livingstone. The group will aim to help all development studios, from indie outfits upwards, to grow, providing advice on finance, IP ownership and retention, skills, tax credits, EIS compliance, publishing, marketing and legal affairs.

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Opinion: The press needs to up its game

Clint Hocking calls for game journalists to stop re-writing press releases and write the news that matters.

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post lamenting the sorry state of game criticism at the time. The critical discussion of games back then was not much concerned with the examination of their aesthetic qualities, or with evaluation of the creative decisions that led to those aesthetics, but instead was almost exclusively constrained to discussions of what happened in the story of a game, or what its feature set included. Almost before I could blink, however, that turned on its head.

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Dead Rising 2 demo hits Gaikai

30 minute time-limited demo allows players to try out the game in their browser.
http://www.gaikai.com/games/dead-rising-2-capcom-qp49104mcpwp49qzpqxry582930
Dead Rising 2 Gaikai

Capcom has launched a 30 minute Gaikai demo of Dead Rising 2, allowing players to try out the game in their browser.

The developer and publisher announced that it had signed up to the cloud gaming service back in July.

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Uncharted 3 ships 3.8 million on day one

No data has yet been made available regarding actual sales, but Sony note that the game is on track to become the biggest selling game in the Uncharted series to days, and one of the best-selling releases this year.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception has shipped 3.8 million copies worldwide on the day of its release, according to a statement from Sony.

No data has yet been made available regarding actual sales, but Sony notes that the game is on track to become the biggest selling game in the Uncharted series to days, and one of the best-selling releases this year.

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Brendan McNamara on MotionScan and Team Bondi's collapse

We discuss accusations of bullying and why LA Noire took so long to develop.

Though LA Noire has enjoyed considerable success, the game's writer and director Brendan McNamara has found himself embroiled in controversy following accusations of bad management and bullying at Team Bondi, the studio he founded.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review

A world of ice and fire that delivers more than most games even attempt.

You can read this review in full in our print edition.

Our Christmas 2011 issue, which is on sale November 22, will include an look at crime and punishment in Skyrim - how its liberating lack of consequences makes it the freest RPG of all.

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McNamara: Framerate biggest barrier to motion capture's evolution

30 frames-per-second not high enough for realistic animations, LA Noire’s director tells us.

Most of the data acquired by motion capture technology can’t be used in today’s games because framerates are too low, Brendan McNamara tells us.

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McNamara: Framerate biggest barrier to motion capture's evolution

30 frames-per-second not high enough for realistic animations, LA Noire’s director tells us.

Most of the data acquired by motion capture technology can’t be used in today’s games because framerates are too low, Brendan McNamara tells us.

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Bethesda admits PC development is a "headache"

Bethesda Softworks has admitted that developing for the PC is a "headache" compared to consoles due to differing hardware configurations and the threat of piracy hampering sales. The PC version of the recently released Rage, developed by Id Software and published by Bethesda, was beset with issues at launch, requiring a post-launch patch to fix driver-related bugs and add advanced graphics options. At the time, Id co-founder John Carmack admitted: "Half our PC customers got a product that basically didn't work."
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/09/bethesdas-pete-hines-on-skyrim-sports-and-specialization/
Joystiq

Bethesda Softworks has admitted that developing for the PC is a "headache" compared to consoles due to differing user hardware configurations and the threat of piracy hampering sales.

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Super Mario 3D Land review

A handheld confection of the Mario series' best ideas.

You can read this review in full in our print edition.

Issue 234, which is out now, features full reviews and Post Script articles on the season's biggest games, including The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Batman: Arkham City, Dark Souls and Rage.

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Amazon touts game lineup as Kindle Fire launch nears

Amazon is promising that "several thousand" apps and games will be available for its Kindle Fire tablet when it launches in the US next week. The company has tested the apps in question on the Kindle Fire, which runs on a modified version of Google's Android operating system. Available through its controversial download service Amazon Appstore, the launch lineup includes games from the likes of EA, PopCap, Gameloft and Zynga.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1628440&highlight=
Amazon

Amazon is promising that "several thousand" apps and games will be available for its Kindle Fire tablet when it launches in the US next week.

The company has tested the apps in question on the Kindle Fire, which runs on a modified version of Google's Android operating system. Available through its controversial download service Amazon Appstore, the launch lineup includes games from the likes of EA, PopCap, Gameloft and Zynga.

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McNamara: Inexperience partly to blame for Team Bondi troubles

"We literally took people fresh out of school who had never made a game before."

LA Noire's protracted development and the subsequent furore over working conditions at Team Bondi are partly down to the inexperience of the studio's staff, Brendan McNamara says, with the studio "literally [taking] people fresh out of school who had never made a game before."

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Fils-Aime regrets 3DS software lineup

Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the 3DS has struggled due to its lack of quality software and the belated arrival of the eShop download store, and said that the company has learned valuable lessons ahead of the Wii U's launch next year.
http://jogos.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/2011/11/01/em-visita-ao-brasil-presidente-da-nintendo-diz-que-empresa-tem-plenas-chances-de-liderar-o-mercado-local.htm
UOL Jogos

Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the 3DS has struggled due to its lack of quality software and the belated arrival of the eShop download store, and said that the company has learned valuable lessons ahead of the Wii U's launch next year.

Speaking to Brazilian website UOL Jogos, Fils-Aime said: "The launch of 3DS was very interesting: it caused a great impression at E3 in 2010, had excellent pre-orders and sold more in the first week of release than any other handheld. So, we had many successes with the 3DS.

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