Has it really been a decade since we said the F-word and swore by Microsoft’s original black box? An undeniable role in that cursing and subsequent mouth-washing was Bungie’s salute to - and redefinition of - the firstperson shooter. Now, we ask community director Brian Jarrard and lead campaign mission designer Niles Sankey how and why Reach is the most rich and customisable Halo yet.
What lessons have been learned in a decade of Halo games?
The NPD Group has revealed the top 20 selling console games in the US during August, following the publication of the top ten last week.
An EA title led the monthly software sales chart for the second month in a row as five of the publisher's sports games made the top 20, while eight Nintendo-published games featured for the third successive month.
California-based 3D engine maker Emergent Game Technologies and Australian developer Krome Studios have announced plans to merge their middleware technologies and core engineering teams.
The partnership between the Gamebryo maker and the Game Room developer will see Emergent become the exclusive licensor of the combined companies’ work.
The firms said they have agreed to internally develop several crossplatform digital and retail products slated for 2011 and beyond.
Imagine for a moment an alternate reality where racing games suck. Here, racing games only exist on portable devices. And they don’t ever let you actually race. You have a couple of dozen car models, and a few different engines. You can swap out tyres and spoilers, choose from a few different fenders, grilles and lighting packages, change paint jobs and decorate with a handful of decal designs before sharing your cars with friends. In the best of these games your car can race against a friend’s car, but remember - no driving.
Xbox co-designer Kevin Bachus has been appointed chief product officer at Bebo.
Xbox co-creator Kevin Bachus has joined ailing social network site Bebo, which has shown its first UK user growth this year, as chief product officer. Bachus was appointed by Criterion Capital Partners, the private equity firm which acquired Bebo from AOL in 2008.
The Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto developer confirms that its urban crime trilogy will be coming to Mac.
Combined sales saw Nintendo's handheld top the Japanese hardware chart during the week ended September 5, according to data from sales tracker Media Create.
Despite an overall decline in hardware sales (somewhat mitigated by a rise in DS Lite purchases) and no new top ten software entries, the Nintendo handheld's 39,936 combined SKU sales came out on top.
UK trade association TIGA publishes new research on the Scottish Game Industry saying tax breaks are necessary to remain competitive.
Format: Xbox 360 (Version tested), PS3, PC
Release: Out now
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Eugen Systems
Screenshot gallery
Mirror’s Edge was one of those games that turned everyone into extremists. For the most part, you were either for it or against it, and few arguments could change people’s minds once they’d chosen a position. A first-person platformer, DICE’s striking vision of lonely urban hell was certainly ambitious, but depending on who you spoke to, it was either a stuttering, ill-paced disaster, or a heady blast of fresh air that was cruelly ignored at retail.
Third-party tools, including Flash and Unity, now viable choices for developers of iOS apps. App Store Review Guidelines also published.
Despite Apple's previous declaration that it would not support some third-party development tools on iOS devices, the company has subsequently relaxed restrictions. Originally citing security concerns as well as the "closed" nature of Flash, Apple has made the changes in response to developer feedback.
Despite the release of Madden NFL 11, August US game console software revenues were down 14 per cent year-over-year to $403.5 million.
Madden NFL 11 was the best-selling US release in August, achieving sales figures of 920,800 and 893,600 on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. Occupying the top and second slots, EA's sports title sold significantly more than next best-selling title.
August US console hardware revenues fell five per cent year-over-year to $282.9 million, according to data from the NPD Group.
Xbox 360 was the bestselling home console for the third month in a row, and bestselling hardware system for the second consecutive month, staying ahead of Nintendo's DS. NPD group analyst Anita Frazier predicts that September will be an even better month for Microsoft's console.
Collapsed APB developer Realtime Worlds is said to be on the verge of being rescued from administration, with Develop reporting that the Dundee-based studio will be acquired by the end of next week.
Speaking to PC Gamer in an interview published as part of a special week of Valve coverage, members of the Half-Life developer have been openly discussing mistakes made by the studio.
Paulina Bozek, formerly the executive producer of Sony’s SingStar franchise and most recently development director at Atari’s London Studio, is now CEO of Shoreditch, London-based game maker INENSU.
“We are a start-up game company making social and innovative games for the connected generation,” the firm says on its website. “We’re all about blending genres and technologies to create super-cool and fun entertainment for multiple platforms.”
Nintendo’s Metroid: Other M debuted in third place on the Japanese software chart during the week ended September 5.
Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai has touched on the challenges the company has faced with its download-only handheld PSPgo since launching the system in October 2009.
OPPORTUNITY: Rarely does such an opportunity come along: Star Wars and Lego. Two brands with enormous power, each perfectly aligned with what videogames do best. One embodies the all-time most popular fantasy world of action and adventure. The other instantly evokes the activity of playful creative construction. Here is a game whose design has largely been written for us by the process of these beloved cultural phenomena refining, expanding and zeroing in on their core appeal over the decades.
Child Of Eden, the latest project from Q-Entertainment, is a sequel to Rez in all but name. Built for a range of consoles, but shown off at E3 in its Kinect form, it represents the latest chapter in Tetsuya Mizuguchi's multi-sensory vision for games.
Nintendo has released new firmware updates for DSi and Wii that reportedly disable the use of a number of flash carts and software modifications.
Apple has launched multiplayer gaming service Game Center as part of its 4.1 iOS update.
The social gaming network offers features including achievements, leaderboards, online multiplayer and auto matchmaking. It doesn’t currently work with original iPhones and first generation iPod Touches, but supports all newer models. It's also expected to launch for iPad in November.
THQ*ICE, an online games operator formed by publisher THQ and Shanghai-based ICE Entertainment, has closed down.
Established in 2008, the joint venture’s only release was free-to-play MMO Dragonica Online, developed by South Korean studio Barunson Interactive.
The game was released in October 2009 but its operations have been temporarily suspended as the service transitions to new owner Gravity Interactive. The title is expected to be operational again by the end of September.
Mafia II retains the top spot in the UK Top Sellers Buzz chart, while H.A.W.X. 2 debuts in third place.
Mafia II remained on top this week with 9890 mentions. Slightly less than the previous week, but still comfortably ahead of number two spot Red Dead Redemption's 4847 mentions. H.A.W.X. 2 attracted just under half that figure with 2207, but that was enough to place it at number three.
Former Realtime Worlds chairman and chief strategy officer Ian Hetherington is reportedly involved with the mystery US firm that recently acquired the collapsed studio’s social game Project MyWorld.