Peer review system updated to allow developers to schedule their own launch windows.
Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Indie Game developers will now be able to control the release date of games which have passed peer review. Microsoft hopes that the change will help developers to better coordinate their social networking, press and other promotional opportunities when it comes to launching titles.
Personal data of 80,000 registered users stolen; Anonymous splinter group thought to be behind attack.
The websites for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its publisher Eidos have been attacked, resulting in the loss of large amounts of personal data. According to security news and investigation site Krebs On Security, 9000 résumés were stolen along with the personal details of the website's 80,000 registered users.
Weak game sales and troubled Final Fantasy XIV launch result in ¥12 billion loss for fiscal year.
Square Enix has published its end-of-year fiscal report, confirming yesterday's warnings of a ¥12 billion ($148m/£90.6m) loss for the financial year ending March 31 2011. In addition, the report reveals revenues are down 34.8 per cent.
Good Old Games on freedom of speech and allowing its customers to circumvent Australian censors.
GTA creator returns to the game that brought his Realtime Worlds studio to its knees.
David Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto series and founder of Realtime Worlds, has joined Reloaded Productions to assist in development of APB Reloaded.
Says dismal PSone game sales reflective of an “awareness issue”; O2 to finally release handset next month.
Sony Ericsson has said it has “no concerns” with the rate at which original PlayStation games are selling for its gaming smartphone, Xperia Play.
Format: Xbox 360 (Version tested), PS3, PC
Release: May 13
Publisher: Bethesda
Developer: Splash Damage
Browser app marketplace that launched last year now everywhere; Google adds in-app purchasing support.
The Chrome Web Store, Google's app marketplace that runs in its Chrome web browser, is now available worldwide.
TechCrunch reports that Google’s Sundar Pichai revealed the news at the Google I/O event in San Francisco this week. The store is now available to all of Chrome’s 160 million users in 41 languages.
Plans to double headcount at new 10,000 square foot facility in development of a “triple A title on console”.
Sega subsidiary The Creative Assembly has announced plans to open a 10,000 square foot studio in West Sussex for the creation of a “triple A title on console” based on the Alien movie franchise.
Gamer patience begins to wear thin as retailers report increased trade-ins of PS3 consoles for Xbox 360s.
The ongoing PlayStation Network outage is beginning to have an effect on the high street, Edge can reveal.
Our sources indicate a growing trend of PS3 consoles being traded in for cash or Xbox 360s, slumping sales of PSN points cards and a shift in the ratio of multiplatform game sales and pre-orders away from PS3.
Censorship organisations could move to an advisory capacity in light of increasingly global market, the VSC tells us.
Google now seeing 400,000 activations every day and a billion app installs every 60 days.
The Android operating system has been activated on more than 100 million devices worldwide, according to Google.
The firm's director of product management, Hugo Barra, revealed the news at the Google I/O event in San Francisco yesterday. The milestone has been reached with the support of 36 hardware manufacturers and 215 network operators.
Mick Hocking to look back on the first year of 3D gaming for PlayStation 3 in Brighton next month.
Sony Computer Entertainment's Mick Hocking is to give a keynote address at next month's Develop In Brighton, in which he will look back at the first year of 3D gaming on PlayStation 3.
Hocking heads up Sony's worldwide studios sterescopic 3D team, and is vice president of the studio group which encompasses London Studio, Evolution Studios, Studio Liverpool and Big Big Studios.
Hear pop oddball's new album before release in GagaVille.
Facebook gaming king Zynga has announced a partnership with pop star Lady Gaga to promote the launch of her new album, Born This Way.
As part of the deal, Zynga is to create a specially themed farm, GagaVille, within its Facebook game FarmVille. Players will be able to hear songs from the upcoming album, and $25 game cards, available at US retailer Best Buy, will come with a download code for the album when released.
Format: PC
Release: Out now
Publisher: Alientrap Games
Developer: Alientrap Games
You are stranded on a gorgeous but deeply inhospitable world, and it is trying to kill you. Capsized is a return to the lonely science fiction of gaming's youth, a connective tissue stretching from 2D adventures like Another World and Metroid to early FPSes, particularly Doom. Though happy to declare itself a retro title, Alientrap's action-platformer is very much its own game - and an excellent one at that.
PC tools, allowing creation of singleplayer and co-op maps and more besides, now available on Steam.
Valve has released mod tools for the PC version of Portal 2.
The beta version of the Portal 2 Authoring Tools are now available to all owners of the PC version to download for free from the Tools section of Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam.
$15 fee gives access to beta throughout the remainder of development and a copy of the final game.
Chris Hecker, the independent developer of the PC espionage game SpyParty, is now accepting signups for the game's beta.
In a post on the game's website, Hecker invites users to sign up, with applicants asked to pay $15 for access to the beta, giving full access to the game throughout SpyParty's development, with all players guaranteed a full copy of the finished game.
CD Projekt "trusting users" and absolutely not working around draconian Australian censorship.
Digital distribution service Good Old Games (GOG) has announced that it is doing away with IP address checks to determine a user's location for purchases and downloads.
In a press release, GOG said it was relaxing its location controls to avoid inconvenience to users, but a far more likely explanation is the imminent release of The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings.
Sony still unable to give exact date for online service's return.
Sony has posted its latest update on its efforts to restore the PlayStation Network, admitting the service will not return for "at least a few more days."
In a brief statement on the PlayStation Blog, senior director of corporate communications and social media Patrick Seybold wrote: "I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can't give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days.
Highlights from our community, featuring a discussion on programming in schools.
Following David Braben’s announcement of Raspberry Pi, the $25 dollar computer that non-profit organisation Raspberry Pi Foundation hopes will get children into programming, a discussion on our Facebook page explored the need for development education at school level.
Snaps up "certain assets" from mobile developer Sapus Media, Zynga's thirteenth acquisition in a year.
Social gaming titan has announced its thirteenth acquisition in twelve months, having picked up "certain assets" from mobile developer Sapus Media.
As part of the deal Ricardo Quesada and Rolando Abarca, key members of the open-source iOS development framework cocos2d, have joined the FarmVille firm. The engine has been used by the likes of Atari, ngmoco and Zynga itself.
Recognises need to release expansions more quickly after losing 500,000 subscribers in three months.
Blizzard has admitted it needs to speed up development of expansions for World Of Warcraft to arrest a continuing slide in subscription rates.
Personnel now able to access simulation software in the field through web browsers.
The Unity development framework, and Unity web player, have been certified by the US Army and Air Force for use on their secure networks, Unity Technologies has announced.
As a result, Unity can now be used to create and deploy a variety of simulation software covering task management, situational and cultural awereness, medical trainers and other serious games.
Posts slender profit thanks to software sales in Japan; Enslaved sales improve too.
Namco Bandai has released a positive set of results for the fiscal year ending March 31, returning to profit - just - after reporting heavy losses this time last year.
Net income was ¥1.84 billion ($22.9 million), a slender return but a dramatic improvement on the firm's performance the year before, when it was hit with a loss of ¥29.9 billion ($370.5 million).
Nintendo, Sony and the movie industry say 3D is the future, but are they pushing a potentially obsolete technology?