Undeterred by decline in music genre, Ubisoft discards the plastic peripheral in favour of real electric guitars.
Publisher Ubisoft is belatedly entering the music genre, with the release later this year of Rocksmith.
Set for release in the second half of 2011, Rocksmith is a guitar-based music game letting players strum along to music from the likes of David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana. So far, so familiar.
Drag-and-drop design environment to help kids develop STEM skills launches with $5,000 design contest.
Microsoft has announced the release of Kodu Game Lab, a drag-and-drop game design interface aimed at helping children develop STEM skills, and launched a $5,000 competition, the Kodu Cup.
Multiplayer DS RPG passed milestone last December; total series exceeds 57 million units shipped.
Square Enix has announced that it has shipped more than 5.3 million copies of Dragon Quest IX worldwide.
Released last July, the DS RPG passed the milestone last December. It is the first game in the much-loved series to pass 5 million units shipped.
Dragon Quest IX was the first game in the series – of which units shipped now total in excess of 57 million – to feature cooperative multiplayer.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops remains ahead the latest Pokemon releases in the UK Top Sellers Buzz Chart.
The top five of this week’s UK Top Sellers Buzz Chart are almost unchanged, with Black Ops (24, 271 mentions), Pokemon Black / White (14,767 and 14,375 respectively) and Bulletstorm (10,643) occupying the first four slots. Killzone 3’s 8692 comments, however, see it rise one place to fifth, replacing Dead Space 2 which this week leaves the top ten altogether.
Due to launch next week, Apple delays tablet indefinitely as Japan recovers from Tohoku earthquake.
Apple has confirmed that it has postponed the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan as the country continues to recover from last Friday’s Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
The firm told the BBC that its new tablet, which was originally set for release in Japan on March 25, has now been delayed indefinitely.
No “money-spinning venture”, Gamefest to debut this September at Birmingham NEC.
UK retailer Game has announced that it will launch a new annual consumer games show, Gamefest, later this year.
Announced at last night’s BAFTA Video Game Awards, which Game sponsored, managing director Martin Gibbs said: “We promise this is not a money-spinning venture.” Instead the show is designed to help the industry “be first to consumers”.
Thief, System Shock man hired by Valve two weeks ago.
Valve software has confirmed that industry veteran Doug Church joined its ranks a fortnight ago.
Church began his career at Looking Glass Studios, working on classic PC titles like Ultima, Thief and System Shock. He later joined Eidos Interactive as technical director, helping design Tomb Raider: Legend.
“With more power comes more expectation,” says Rebellion’s Kingsley.
The cost of developing for Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s Next Generation Portable (NGP) is a dramatic increase on DS and PSP budgets, according to developers.
One studio head told Develop that 3DS games “have budgets two to three times what typical DS games have seen in the past.”
John Needham joins rival MMOG firm just days after leaving post at Star Trek Online developer.
John Needham, who left his post as CEO of Cryptic Studios earlier this week, has takes up the same role at another MMOG developer, Gazillion Entertainment.
VentureBeat reports that Needham’s first task is to oversee the conversion of Gazillion’s games to the free-to-play mode, something he did while at Cryptic with Champions Online.
Much-loved series returns to PC and Xbox 360 later this year, with other platforms being considered.
Hi-Rez Studios, developer of Global Agenda, has announced that it is to release a new game in the much-loved Tribes series later this year.
Announced ahead of this weekend’s PAX East conference in Boston, Tribes: Ascend is an online multiplayer shooter, developed using Unreal Engine 3, in what Hi-Rez is billing the spiritual successor to Tribes 2.
Format: 360, DS, PS3 (Version tested), Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Blue Tongue
Tweaks authentication requirements in iOS 4.3, hoping to head off FTC scrutiny.
Apple is to plug the loophole in its in-app purchasing system that prompted a slew of complaints as children ran up huge bills for virtual items on parents’ credit cards.
PlayStation Phone to launch on March 31, with six games pre-installed, carried by all retailers and operators.
Sony Ericsson has revealed its plans for the UK launch of the “PlayStation Phone”, Xperia Play, which is set for release at the end of this month.
The handset will launch on March 31, the firm has confirmed, with six games pre-installed: Tetris, Crash Bandicoot, FIFA 10, The Sims 3, Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors and Star Battalion.
Suspended from BioWare forums for 72 hours, player finds he is unable to activate Dragon Age II.
A poster on the BioWare forum whose account was suspended for misbehaviour has found that he is unable to play the PC version of Dragon Age II until his ban expires.
Writing on the developer’s official forum, user Vware said: “I just got my BioWare Signature Edition. I already knew I was going to play it without the extra content since I can’t activate my extra codes [because of the account ban].
US market sees slight growth despite decline in software sales; Black Ops now best-selling game ever.
Strong growth in sales of videogame hardware and accessories meant that the US market grew three per cent year on year in February, according to figures released by the NPD Group.
While software sales fell five per cent year on year to $601.4 million, hardware rose 10 per cent to $424.6 million, with sales of accessories growing by 22 per cent, to $210 million.
White and Black take top two spots; strong showings from fellow debutants Rift and Fight Night Champion.
Nintendo’s latest incarnation of Pokémon tops this week’s Nordic all-formats chart, which combines software sales from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Says loss is “nowhere near” reported $1.2m; promises "appropriate enforcement on an individual basis.”
Microsoft has moved to deny reports that a website offering free Xbox points codes cost the firm $1.2 million, saying: “We can’t share specific numbers, but the figure is nowhere near the amount that has been reported.”
300,000 European PS3s seized; Sony free to resume distribution but battle with LG is far from over.
A Dutch court has lifted the order it granted LG two weeks ago that saw some 300,000 European PlayStation 3 consoles seized.
PSP RPG sells 286,000 copies in its first week to top the Media Create all-formats chart.
Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy is the new Japanese all-formats number one, the PSP RPG selling 286,000 copies in its first week on sale.
3DS software continued to sell well in the second week since the system’s launch in Japan, with Professor Layton, Nintendogs + Cats and Samurai Warriors Chronicles in the top ten, according to figures released by Media Create and translated by Andriasang.
Despite being unsupported by White Ops, Call Of Duty fights off Pokemon Black and White's debuts.
Declining traffic, layoffs and News Corp’s attempted sale see Zynga, Playdom and RockYou pull out.
A continuing slump in MySpace’s traffic has led to several leading developers, including Zynga, pulling their games from the social networking site.
In addition to declining traffic, a slew of layoffs at the firm and persistent rumours that owner News Corp is trying to offload the website have led to some high-profile cancellations.
Format: 360 (Version tested), Mac, PC, PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: EA
Developer: BioWare
