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August 12, 2011

Zumba Fitness sales top 3 million

In what will come as little surprise to those who keep an eye on the UK chart - where it has been number one for eight weeks in a row - sales of 505 Games' workout title have passed three million units worldwide. A sequel, creatively titled Zumba Fitness 2, will be out in November.
http://au.gamespot.com/news/6328504/zumba-fitness-sells-3-millio
Gamespot


FIFA 11 leads Nordic chart again

EA’s football title enjoys its sixth week out of seven at the top of the weekly rankings.

EA Sports' FIFA 11 has topped the Nordic chart - which collates sales data from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland - for the third consecutive week and the sixth out of seven.

The top five remains unchanged bar the entrance of Cars 2: The Videogame at number three, which replaces Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean, this week’s number six.

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Japan: New software releases, PSP top charts

Busy week for new games sees chart shake-up; PSP-3000 leads hardware as PSP Go sales die out.

New releases took the top three spots on the Japanese software chart during the week ended August 7, while PSP retained its lead on the hardware front.

Let's Make A J.League Pro Soccer Club! 7 Euro Plus for PSP debuted at number one with just over 100,000 sales, followed by fellow new entries Kirby Mass Attack for DS and Toriko Gourmet Survival! for PSP.

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August 11, 2011

LA Noire wins Edinburgh Interactive Edge Award

Gong given to Motionscan performance capture tech, which has helped to push videogames another step towards mainstream entertainment.

Presented at Edinburgh Interactive today, the award recognises the game that the Edge team feels did the most this year to blaze a trail for new interactive experiences for players.

We felt that the remarkable Motionscan performance capture technology used in LA Noire has helped to push videogames another step towards mainstream entertainment.

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3DS Ambassador offer expires tonight

A friendly reminder to 3DS owners interested in the 20 free games included in the Ambassador programme, Nintendo's compensation to early adopters for the global price drop: you need to connect your 3DS to the eShop before 11.59pm CET tonight - 10.59pm UK time - to be eligible. There are ten NES games on offer, though the only ones confirmed so far are Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Jr, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend Of Zelda. We know seven of the ten GBA games: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros 3 and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/nintendo_3ds_ambassador_programme_44123.html
Nintendo


3DS Ambassador offer expires tonight

A friendly reminder to 3DS owners interested in the 20 free games included in the Ambassador programme, Nintendo's compensation to early adopters for the global price drop: you need to connect your 3DS to the eShop before 11.59pm CET tonight - 10.59pm UK time - to be eligible. There are ten NES games on offer, though the only ones confirmed so far are Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Jr, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend Of Zelda. We know seven of the ten GBA games: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros 3 and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/nintendo_3ds_ambassador_programme_44123.html
Nintendo


Disney demonstrates groundbreaking tactile gaming technology

Split/Second used to demonstrate chair that delivers "spine tingling" sensations.

Disney Research has developed a new tactile technology, dubbed Surround Haptics, which it promises will deliver the widest range of physical sensations to players yet.

According to the company, the technology takes advantage of phantom sensations to recreate everything from the feeling a finger stroking your skin through to the violent jolt of a car crash.

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Tekken Tag 2 intro wins Siggraph award

At this week's Siggraph computer graphics festival in Vancouver an animation award was given to Namco Bandai for the opening movie to the upcoming Tekken Tag Tournament 2. The sequel to the PlayStation 2 launch title was originally set for release in Japanese arcades this summer, but was postponed following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March and is now due this autumn. Namco Bandai is yet to confirm a console release, though Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue will form part of the PS3-exclusive Tekken Hybrid collection that is due before the year is out.
http://electronictheatre.co.uk/index.php/industry-news/8912-tekken-tag-tournament-2-opening-movie-wins-siggraph-2011-award
Electronic Theatre


Devs urge court to let Apple into Lodsys case

EA, Rovio, Square Enix and more say Apple's intervention "critical" in dispute over patent licensing.

Developers facing patent litigation brought by "patent troll" Lodsys have requested a Texas court to allow Apple to intervene in the case.

In a court filing, the developers say Apple's involvement in the case is "critical" in their bid to have Lodsys' patent suit thrown out of court.

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Free Minesweeper hits Windows Phone 7

An Xbox Live enabled version of the Windows puzzle classic (which must surely also be one of the most played videogames of all time), has just joined Sudoku on Microsoft's smartphone platform. It includes Classic and Speed modes and Xbox Live features: ten Achievements and leaderboards. The downside is, however, that they're only available in the US.
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2011/08/10/they-re-classics-they-re-new-from-xbox-live-and-they-re-free.aspx
Microsoft


UKIE membership doubles in 12 months

Since changing its name from ELSPA last September, the UK trade association has added 46 new members to its ranks, taking the total to 86. Its membership includes publishers, developers, broadcasters, distributors, learning providers and platform holders, who between them accounted for 97 per cent of boxed products sold in the UK last year. Andy Payne, chairman, said: "We can now truly say that UKIE represents all parts of the interactive entertainment industry. We are no longer predominantly a publisher trade body, as for the first time non-publisher interactive entertainment businesses make up the majority of UKIE membership." For the full list of members, follow the source link below.
www.ukie.org.uk/member-list
UKIE


Square Enix: More to come from current gen

We can still expect to see better graphics from the current generation of consoles, says Square Enix's worldwide technology director.

Speaking to us at the Develop conference last month, Square Enix Group worldwide technology director Julien Merceron told us that principal among the improvements we can expect to see from games made for the current generation of consoles are developments in global illumination, a form of realtime lighting.

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PC Driver: San Francisco delayed

The week's least surprising news comes from Ubisoft, which has confirmed that Driver: San Francisco will be its third PC game in the space of a month - following From Dust and Call Of Juarez: The Cartel - to suffer a delay. It will now be released for PC on September 30 - four weeks after the console versions.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-11-pc-driver-san-francisco-delayed
Eurogamer


Age Of Conan revenue doubles after switch to free-to-play

Funcom, operators of fantasy MMOG Age Of Conan, has reaped instant dividends from last month's switch to a hybrid free-to-play model. Revenues have doubled, player volumes have quadrupled, and the firm reports 300,000 new signups and a "positive development" in subscriber numbers. "The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far," said Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "This definitely gives us great hope for the game's future."
http://www.funcom.com/news/over_300000_players_join_age_of_conan_unchained_in_first_month
Funcom


Age Of Conan revenue doubles after switch to free-to-play

Funcom, operators of fantasy MMOG Age Of Conan, has reaped instant dividends from last month's switch to a hybrid free-to-play model. Revenues have doubled, player volumes have quadrupled, and the firm reports 300,000 new signups and a "positive development" in subscriber numbers. "The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far," said Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "This definitely gives us great hope for the game's future."
http://www.funcom.com/news/over_300000_players_join_age_of_conan_unchained_in_first_month
Funcom


Exec leaves Zynga, joins dating site

TechCrunch reports that Jeremy Verba, a general manager at social gaming titan Zynga, has left the company, and been appointed CEO of dating site Eharmony. Verba, who has also joined Eharmony's board of directors, had been with Zynga since December 2009, and was a founding general manager of Treasure Isle, which was launched in April 2010 and drew 4.3 million users in its first week. At Eharmony he will replace Gregory Waldorf, who resigned earlier this year after five years at the helm of the matchmaking service.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/11/zynga-exec-jumps-ship-lands-ceo-role-at-eharmony
TechCrunch


Daily links: August 11

Nerd rage, frightened dwarves and the death of gamers - another day on the internet.

Chris Bateman of ihobo kicks the tyres of games-as-service. It’s a multi-faceted issue and one of the interesting implications Bateman highlights is the effect on the next console cycle. “Consoles need retail to make their product work,” he writes. But service games don’t need retail.

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Plants Vs Zombies: Introduction to perfection

Graham McAllister presents the five reasons why Plants Vs Zombies is a masterclass in experience design.

The formula for the perfect game may be an area of hot discussion, but most would argue that games that are easy to get into and difficult to put down goes along the right lines. Players' early experience of a game is critical: this is the period in which they're making up their minds whether to devote more time, and often money, to the rest of it. 

So how do we make games with a polished early experience? Let's take some lessons from a game which I think does it incredibly well, PopCap's Plants Vs Zombies

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GMA 2011 finalists revealed

Finalists for this year's Games Media Awards revealed ahead of London ceremony in October.

The finalists for this year's Games Media Awards have been revealed ahead of October's ceremony in London.

Organisers have whittled down the list of finalists from thousands of nominations, with 17 magazines, 20 websites, podcasts and blogs, and 26 writers up for an award, with the winners to be chosen by a panel of industry figures.

The ceremony is set for 26 October at Vinopolis near London's South Bank, and will be hosted by standup comedian and actor Greg Davies.

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Id's future in the cloud

Id creative director Tim Willits on why the next generation will live in the cloud, and how id Tech 5 is built for it.

With Rage on its final path to its release in October, we took the opportunity to ask id creative director Tim Willits about the prospects for its trailblazing new engine, id Tech 5, which already stretches the current generation, and what form the next generation of gaming hardware might take.

read more


Id's future in the cloud

Id creative director Tim Willits on why the next generation will live in the cloud, and how id Tech 5 is built for it.

With Rage on its final path to its release in October, we took the opportunity to ask id creative director Tim Willits about the prospects for its trailblazing new engine, id Tech 5, which already stretches the current generation, and what form the next generation of gaming hardware might take.

read more


Sony and LG resolve patent dispute

The two firms have been filing patent infringement claims against each other since December last year, one of which resulted in European customs officers being ordered to seize incoming shipments of PS3 consoles. The matter has now been resolved, with an LG spokesperson telling Reuters: "LG and Sony recently agreed to drop patent infringement lawsuits against each other." As part of the agreement, LG says it has signed a cross-licensing deal with Sony.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/11/us-sony-lg-idUSTRE77A0AF20110811
Reuters


UK retailers begin to reveal 3DS prices

Ahead of tomorrow's official price drop, UK retailers have begun to confirm their 3DS prices following Nintendo's decision to drop the system's trade cost by a third. Tesco, which sold the console for just £175 on launch day, is to sell 3DS for £115, with fellow supermarket chain Morrissons pricing the system at £120, and all 3DS games at £25. We're sure to hear more from elsewhere as the day progresses, and will keep you posted.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-11-3ds-price-cut-war-GBP115-at-tesco
Eurogamer


OnLive set for September UK launch

Cloud service to "utterly transform gaming" when it launches on September 22.

Cloud gaming service OnLive will launch in the UK on September 22, the company has confirmed.

The service, which offers over 100 games playable on HDTV, PC, Mac, iPad and Android tablets, launched in the US last June. While full access to games requires a monthly subscription, membership is free, with users able to instantly play demos of or rent the games available. New releases will be available at the same time as they hit store shelves.

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Xbox Indie Game Fortresscraft grosses $1 million

The Minecraft homage, the work of Projector Games, has grossed a million dollars in six months, the developer has announced. With 350,000 copies sold, it's believed to be the most successful game on the Xbox Live Indie Games service, though sales are sure to slow down when Minecraft gets an official XBLA release, with Kinect support, later this year.
http://kotaku.com/5829804/fortresscraft-breaks-the-1-million-barrier-on-xbox-live-indie-games
Kotaku


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