Promises "a suite of services and content plan that will unite and ignite the community", at a cost.
Activision has said that the next entry in the Call Of Duty series will sport an "unprecedented online universe", promising that the Beachhead platform will "set a new standard" for the series – to those willing to pay for it.
Adds PayPal as a billing option and support for new disc format; Avatar Kinect also coming this month.
Microsoft is preparing to roll out an Xbox 360 dashboard update this month, according to reports.
Joystiq was passed an internal memo by a Microsoft tech support employee that says the update will be released in stages from May 19 to May 30 "to ensure a high quality deployment."
Digital revenues up $100 million thanks largely to record-setting Black Ops map pack.
Activision has posted a positive set of results for the three months to March 31, with profits rising 32 per cent year on year to $381 million.
The publisher’s net revenue rose to $1.45 billion, an increase of 10.7 per cent on the same period last year. Sales of games for PS3 and Xbox 360 make up more than half of that figure, accounting for 23.6 and 27.3 per cent of the total respectively.
Admits lost revenue could reach millions of dollars; downtime renders Bionic Commando unplayable.
Chris Svensson, Capcom Entertainment’s corporate officer and senior vice president, has said the continuing unavailability of PlayStation Network is costing the firm “hundreds of thousands, of not millions” in lost revenue.
Praises Sony’s identity protection scheme, but maintains customers should have been notified earlier.
Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut senator who took SCEA president Jack Tretton to task over the amount of time it took Sony to notify its consumers of the PSN breach, has welcomed the firm’s initial response as a “strong first step.”
Almost half of staff to be let go after Microsoft moves Codename: Kingdoms development to Frankfurt.
Crysis 2 developer Crytek is to lay off between 30 and 35 members of the 80 staff currently employed at its Budapest studio, according to reports.
Capcom legend reveals risk-averse management rejected both as prototypes, but he made them anyway.
Keiji Inafune, former head of development at Capcom, has revealed that Capcom management initially rejected Dead Rising and Lost Planet – but he kept making them anyway.
According to a Famitsu report – translated by Andriasang – Inafune's comments came during a creative leadership seminar he gave at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, where he passed on advice learned from his 24 years at Capcom.
Format: 360
Release: Out Now
Publisher: Iridium Studios
Developer: Iridium Studios
One glance at your inventory will remind you that Sequence is special. Nestled in your bag are a Flail, three Dead Batteries, a Stripper, and a Comedy Club. According to the game, the Flail is favored among epileptics.
Workout title reclaims number one from Portal 2 after two weeks.
505 Games’ workout title Zumba Fitness is once again the UK all-formats number one, reclaiming top spot from Portal 2.
Valve’s sequel had occupied top slot for two weeks, but it drops back to second place, ahead of Mortal Kombat, which slips to third.
Attack on SOE means further security checks required; SCEE hopes to detail identity theft protection this week.
Sony has been forced to delay the planned return of its online service PlayStation Network, saying that the attack on Sony Online Entertainment’s servers meant further testing of its network security was required.
Electronic Arts has insisted that the suggestion it is in possession of the successor to the Xbox 360 is a “total fabrication”.
Last Friday, Develop was told that the publishing giant had taken delivery of new hardware from Microsoft, with a source claiming the firm was preparing to announce its new console at E3 next month ahead of a 2012 launch.
However, EA’s corporate spokesman Jeff Brown has since told Industry Gamers: “This story is a total fabrication – 100 per cent not true.”
National Endowment For The Arts accepting videogame submissions for the first time.
Videogames are for the first time eligible for US government funding, with the National Endowment For The Arts (NEA) programme accepting game submissions for the first time.
Sony's handling of recent attacks on PSN and SOE dominates this week's key stories from the game industry.
Tuesday
Primates show signs of self-agency during play, which could help in study of human evolution, say researchers.
Japanese researchers have found that chimpanzees playing videogames can recognise the characters they control onscreen, an aspect of self-awareness which could help in the study of evolution in humans.
Hacking groups claim to currently have access to Sony servers and plan to publish stolen information.
Hackers are planning a fresh round of attacks against Sony’s online infrastucture, according to reports.
CNET claims the motivation this time is Sony’s handling of the PSN data breach, with hackers discussing on IRC channels their intent not only to attack Sony’s website but publicise some, or all, of the personal information that they obtain.
3DS online features provided by Nintendo Japan prompt changes to policy; accept by May 31 or lose your account.
Nintendo is asking users to accept a new privacy policy for its Club Nintendo membership scheme, with the 3DS’s online features requiring that users consent for their personal data to be shared with Nintendo Japan.
Randy Smith mulls over what it means to be an indie developer today, and where the scene is heading.
Monster Hunter and Dead Rising 2 the stars as annual profit rises 257 per cent.
Capcom’s profits for the last fiscal year rose 257.6 per cent to ¥2.16 billion ($97.13 million), thanks largely to sales of console games.
The firm’s consumer online games division reported sales revenue of ¥70.2 billion ($880.7 million) for the 12 months to March 31, an increase of 60.8 per cent on the previous year.
Elite creator leading foundation which hopes its tiny, low-cost computer will drive youth interest in programming.
David Braben, creator of Elite and more recently Kinectimals, has revealed the Raspberry Pi, a tiny, $25 computer that he hopes will help children “understand the whole process of programming.”
Sony chairman sorry for "inconvenience and concern" caused by attack; revamped PSN in final stages of testing.
Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony Corporation, has apologised for the “inconvenience and concern” caused by the attack on PSN, which has resulted in the personal information of more than 100 million users being stolen.
Twelve months of monitoring, a $1 million insurance policy and more for US PSN account holders.
Sony has revealed the identity protection support it had promised US PSN members whose personal information was compromised in the attack on PSN.
DS title back on top after four weeks as El Shaddai makes its debut in third place.
Square Enix’s DS title Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 returns to the top of the Japanese chart, after four weeks off top spot.
