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September 02, 2011

Now recruiting on Edge Jobs

Find your future at Crytek, Codemasters or Ninja Theory on the game industry's premier recruitment board.

Currently available on Edge Jobs are a variety of roles at some of the world's premier game studios. Crytek is advertising a variety of artist, programmer and technical roles at its UK office, formerly called Free Radical Design.

Codemasters is similarly skilling up, advertising lead artist, level and game designers, producers and programmer posts.

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Eidos Montreal planned on more Deus Ex hubs

Plans for more Montreal, Upper Heng Sha, and India dropped due to the work involved: "We could fill an Ikea catalogue with all the furniture we designed."

Eidos Montreal, developer of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, has told us that it originally planned for more city hubs in its chart-topping RPG shooter.

In a recent interview, art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête told us that the team originally planned for Montreal to be a fleshed-out city hub, and lead game designer Frank Lapikas added that there were even initial plans for a fourth.

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Eidos Montreal planned on more Deus Ex hubs

Plans for more Montreal, Upper Heng Sha, and India dropped due to the work involved: "We could fill an Ikea catalogue with all the furniture we designed."

Eidos Montreal, developer of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, has told us that it originally planned for more city hubs in its chart-topping RPG shooter.

In a recent interview, art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête told us that the team originally planned for Montreal to be a fleshed-out city hub, and lead game designer Frank Lapikas added that there were even initial plans for a fourth.

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Just Dance heads to Japan

Nintendo is to publish a localised version of Ubisoft's Wii dance game, which together with its sequel has sold more than 14 million units worldwide. But this is no straight translation: instead Nintendo has licensed a host of J-pop songs ahead of its release on October 13. Follow the source link below for a list of artists and songs that have been confirmed so far.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/09/02/japanese_just_dance/
Andriasang


Sledgehammer's Call Of Duty game shelved

Speaking to Eurogamer, Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey revealed that the studio's thirdperson, action adventure Call Of Duty was shelved at the prototype stage because the studio wanted to work on Modern Warfare 3 with Infinity Ward. "We were working on it for about six months," he said. "We had a prototype together that was pretty compelling, and it looked really good. [But] the opportunity to work on the biggest thing in the industry with Infinity Ward was just an opportunity we couldn't [miss]." With some of Sledgehammer's staff having worked on previous games in the series, and others confirmed fans, Condrey described the decision to switch to Modern Warfare 3 as "a nice marriage of experience in the genre and a kind of fan desire to work on this franchise."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-02-sledgehammers-cancelled-call-of-duty
Eurogamer


Konami calls on UK retail to "stop the price war"

The publisher's European head Kunio Neo has said that the UK market will struggle unless retailers stop the aggressive price cutting of recent releases. "UK games pricing is very poor," he told MCV. "Retailers are always reducing prices and the profits for publishers are getting smaller. The UK is really suffering." Konami's European GM of sales, marketing and products, Martin Schneider, gave a rather blunt assessment: "Tell the UK shops to stop the price war."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/stop-the-price-war/084060
MCV


The Friday Game: Tuper Tario Tros.

Miyamoto meets Pajitnov in a scrappily brilliant IP mash-up.

If you’re on Steam or Xbox Live anytime soon, you really should think about buying Blocks That Matter, Swing Swing Submarine’s feisty blend of Tetris, Minecraft and Boulder Dash. It’s an elegant, wonderfully infuriating platform-puzzler in which you chew through chunks of wood, sand, metal, crystal and stone and then spit them out again in sets of four in order to navigate devious mazes.

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Xseed confirms Corpse Party for the west

Corpse Party was originally an amateur project developed in RPG Maker, but it was picked up by 5pb and subsequently remade for PSP. Its 16-bit, anime-styled visuals conceal what appears to be a thoroughly unsettling adventure game, set in "a haunted elementary school filled with the decaying corpses and tormented souls of countless children who'd mysteriously vanished from the Japanese countryside years, months or sometimes only days prior." The below trailer is mostly text, but still manages to shock, and be warned: there's the occasional disturbing image that might not be especially suitable for the workplace. Xseed will release Corpse Party through PSN this autumn.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/01/xseed-hosting-a-corpse-party-on-psp-this-fall/
Joystiq


Driver dev defends DRM

Martin Edmonson, founder of Driver San Francisco developer Ubisoft Reflections, has thrown his weight behind the publisher's controversial always-on DRM that has been a constant source of frustration among PC gamers since its debut last year. "You have to do something," he told Eurogamer. "It's just, simply, PC piracy is at the most incredible rates. This game cost a huge amount of money to develop, and it has to be, quite rightly, quite morally correctly, protected. If there was very little trouble with piracy then we wouldn't need it." Edmonson also defended the recently introduced Uplay Passport, saying: "If people don't buy the game when it first comes out and wait and pay for rental or for second-hand usage, then the publisher sees absolutely nothing of that. [The online pass is] just one of those things we have to get used to. It's going to happen."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-01-driver-dev-defends-ubi-drm-online-pass
Eurogamer


Zynga's Adventure World inspired by Zelda

Zynga announced its latest Facebook game, the Indiana Jones-inspired Adventure World, earlier this week, and has gone into more detail on the title in an interview with Gamasutra. Promising greater emphasis on puzzle-solving and storytelling than in previous Zynga games, lead game designer Seth Sivak said: "We love the action-adventure genre, we love games like The Legend Of Zelda, and we want to find a way to make that for everybody." There will also be reduced emphasis on base-building in Adventure World, to encourage players to spend more time exploring the large game world. No firm release date was set, with Zynga only saying it would launch "in the coming weeks."
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36969/Interview_Zynga_Emphasizes_Storytelling_PuzzleSolving_With_Adventure_World.php
Gamasutra


September 01, 2011

Eidos Montreal to double headcount - report

Square Enix plans to grow the staff count at Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Thief 4 developer Eidos Montreal from 330 to 680 over the next three years, La Presse Affaires reported Thursday (via Montreal Gazette). It said the publisher intends to add 100 new employees by the end of 2012 and the remainder by 2015, making it the city’s third largest studio behind Ubisoft Montreal and Electronic Arts Montreal. Following negotiations with the Quebec government, Square Enix has reportedly been assured a $2 million subsidy from Investissement Québec to facilitate the growth. The news comes a week after the publisher launched the critically acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which debuted atop the UK all formats chart on Tuesday.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Square+Enix+plans+double+Montreal+video+game+studio/5340714/story.html#ixzz1WjUWIz7m
Montreal Gazette


Call Of Duty boosts digital growth at Activision

Activision has reported a significant increase in digital revenues for the 12 months ended June 2012, driven in part by the increasingly popular Call Of Duty franchise. Speaking during a conference call with analysts today, which was listened in on by Gamasutra, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirschberg said the firm’s online revenues reached $1.7 billion during the period. The figure represents a 22 per cent year-over-year increase from $1.4 billion, and a 41 per cent rise from the $1.2 billion generated during the year ended June 2009. Hirschberg said the publisher has sold 18 million $15 Black Ops map packs to a still growing base of 23 million Black Ops owners. In comparison, Activision shifted 11 million $15 map packs to Modern Warfare 2’s 19 million owners, and nine million $10 map packs to World at War’s nine million owners.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36985/Activision_Blizzard_Reports_Digital_Sales_Growth_18M_Black_Ops_Map_Pack_Sales.php
Gamasutra


Yves Guillemot and Jason Rohrer to speak at Montreal International Game Summit

Taking place on November 1 and 2 at the Hilton Bonaventure, the conference will bring together over 80 internationally esteemed industry figures, including Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot on the future of the videogame industry, art game maker Jason Rohrer on interactive storytelling and Naughty Dog lead game designer Richard Lemarchand on the making of the Uncharted series. Look out also for Rocksteady's David Hego and Eidos Montreal's David Anfossi on what happens when your studio's debut game is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Click the source link below for the full schedule and registration info.
http://sijm.ca/2011/schedule/conference
MIGS 2011


Yves Guillemot and Jason Rohrer to speak at Montreal International Game Summit

Taking place on November 1 and 2 at the Hilton Bonaventure, the conference will bring together over 80 internationally esteemed industry figures, including Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot on the future of the videogame industry, art game maker Jason Rohrer on interactive storytelling and Naughty Dog lead game designer Richard Lemarchand on the making of the Uncharted series. Look out also for Rocksteady's David Hego and Eidos Montreal's David Anfossi on what happens when your studio's debut game is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Click the source link below for the full schedule and registration info.
http://sijm.ca/2011/schedule/conference
MIGS 2011


Sony: "PSN is more secure and better than ever"

More users, more purchases and "aggressive expansion" put Howard Stringer in confident, Shakespeare-mangling mood.

Howard Stringer, president of Sony Corporation, has said that PSN is "better than ever" following its six-week outage earlier this year.

Stringer cut a bullish figure at a Berlin news conference yesterday, in which he said PSN users and purchases were up, Sony was over its bumpy start to 2011, and even argued that it was better positioned than Apple.

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Review: Rock Of Ages

ACE Team’s oddball blends world history with bowling to joyfully idiotic effect.

It’s refreshing to discover that, once you strip away all the self-consciously weird stuff (the Gilliam-inspired animation, and the veneer of historical slapstick) Rock Of Ages is still pretty strange. ACE Team’s latest is best categorised as a strategy bowling game – and it’s both as unusual and as instinctive as that suggests.

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Deus Ex tops Nordic chart

Human Revolution, published in the Nordic territories by Namco Bandai, takes top spot in its first week on shelves.

Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the new number one in the Nordic chart, which combines sales data from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Last week's number one, Cars 2: The Videogame, falls back to second place, and FIFA 11, which had been number one in seven of the preceding 11 weeks, slips to fourth.

It's mostly business as usual elsewhere, though EA's Crysis 2 climbs ten places to number nine, with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 rising to fifth.

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Daily links: September 1

Tiny RPGs, comedy Fallout and Umbrella on a recruitment drive.

We played Blade Of Baal and failed to even see Baal, let alone defeat him. Then we played Luck's Mace and didn't get near Baphomet, but we did collect three gold icons. After that, we played Flamberge Of Destiny and guess we didn't stop Loki from invading the Twilight. Tiny Hack is Boing Boing's charmingly presented retro RPG generator in which every game is "the most gruelling and challenging game of 1978."

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Gameloft profits flat despite sales increase

The French mobile developer's financial results for the six months to June 30 showed profits of €5.3 million (£4.69 million), the same figure it reported this time last year. This comes despite an increase in sales revenue of 15.3 per cent, to €76.8 million (£68 million). Gameloft has chosen to pump an extra €5 million into R&D, with administration costs also rising, but the firm says it is in a healthy financial position, claiming sales of smartphone and tablet games during the first six months of 2011 were up 55 per cent year on year.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gameloft-results-for-the-first-half-of-2011-128821103.html
Gameloft


Star Trek Online going free-to-play

With the recent rush of MMOGs switching to the free-to-play model it's little surprise that Star Trek Online is also getting in on the act: Chinese company The Perfect World, which acquired STO developer Cryptic Studios in May, is a free-to-play specialist. Kelvin Lau, CFO, said on an earnings call: "When Perfect World acquired Cryptic, one of our contributions was to share our free-to-play experience. Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online…to be launched by the end of this year."
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36975/Star_Trek_Online_To_Go_FreeToPlay_By_The_End_Of_This_Year.php
Gamasutra


Ultima IV free on Good Old Games

Back in March, Ultima IP owner EA issued DMCA takedown orders against websites that were hosting downloads of Richard Garriott's 1985 classic Ultima IV. That fuelled speculation that EA was preparing to bring the series back, but we're yet to hear anything of the sort. Those waiting with bated breath are first advised to resume normal breathing, and then head over to Good Old Games, where Ultima IV is currently available for the princely sum of nothing.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_4
Good Old Games


Take-Two confirms 2K Czech layoffs

Publisher insists it's business as usual despite laying off one quarter of staff at Mafia II developer.

Take-Two has confirmed that it has let go 40 staff at the Brno offices of Mafia II developer 2K Czech.

Develop claims that Take-Two has also engineered a role reduction, affecting less than ten staff, at 2K Czech's office in Prague.

With both sites holding a combined 200 staff before the layoffs, the move means around a quarter of staff have been let go, but parent company Take-Two insists it will not negatively impact the developer's day-to-day operations.

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Doom and Doom II cleared for release in Germany

Id Software's classic shooters have been unavailable in Germany since their release, with the country's Federal Department For Media Harmful To Young Persons putting both games in the same category as pornography. Bethesda Softworks recently appealed the ruling, and it has proven successful. "We are obviously very pleased with this decision," Bethesda's Pete Hines told Joystiq. "Can't give you details on when they will be available in Germany, [but] we'll let everyone know as soon as we know."
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/doom-and-doom-2-now-acceptable-in-germany-berlin-renamed-e1m1/
Joystiq


Fatal Frame dev announces Shinrei Camera for 3DS

Shinrei Camera, a collaboration between Nintendo and Keisuke Kikuchi's team at Tecmo Koei, will make use of the 3DS's AR features in what sounds like a unique spin on the horror genre. The game will ship with an AR notebook, which while looking harmless enough in real life will reveal hidden messages, clues and the odd demonic enemy. "I wasn't all that interested in AR to start with," Kikuchi told Famitsu, "but as I explored the possibilities I really started to get into it. The result is this style of horror that does away with the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural. Compared to previous Fatal Frame titles, though, there isn't as much actual time spent with the game itself, because you'll also be spending time turning pages on the AR notebook and looking around in real life instead of moving your character around within the game." Nintendo is to publish Shinrei Camera in Japan, but there's no news on a release date.
http://www.1up.com/news/fatal-frame-team-reveals-shinrei
1UP


How Apple saved the mobile games industry

There has never been a better time to be a mobile game developer, and it's down to Apple's controlling nature, says Giordano Bruno Contestabile.

Sometime around the turn of the century, I was sitting in a conference room, watching an earnest sales rep demonstrating a mobile game. Back then, mobile games consisted mostly of rather primitive and often monochrome applications, a port of Snake to Nokia phones being the most widely played, and of text-based games running on WAP mobile browsers or administered through SMS.

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