EA Partners head David DeMartini has suggested that game budgets have peaked and entered into a decline.
CVG is reporting that Warner’s open world action title This Is Vegas may have become one of the most expensive game cancellations in history.
Midway announced the title in early 2008, saying it would allow players to “live out their Vegas fantasies by fighting, gambling, driving and partying their way through the most decadent, fast-paced and wildest city in the world”.
20 per cent of the US population over the age of six has played a game on a social network in the past three months, equating to 56.8 million consumers, according to new research from the NPD Group.
The research firm’s Social Network Gaming report found that 35 per cent of social network gamers are new to gaming, and that they’re fairly evenly split between genders, at 53 per cent female and 47 per cent male.
Chris Lewis, vice president for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business in Europe, is in no doubt that 3D will eventually take off, although he doesn’t think it will be for a few years.
THQ CEO Brian Farrell has questioned the need for expensive consoles, saying cloud gaming has massive potential for publishers and consumers alike.
"I am a huge believer in the concept of cloud computing - huge," he said on the latest episode of Game Industry TV. "The concept of lowering the entry barrier to consumers for gamers to get into our games by not having to shell out for the hardware is a tremendous potential opportunity.
Update - Microsoft says voice control will be active at launch.
Microsoft has said that Kinect won’t feature any voice control functionality at launch.
“We will be announcing when voice control will be turned on in due course,” Robin Burrowes, marketing manager for Xbox Live EMEA, told MCV.
Following on from Louis Castle’s assertion that retailers are parasites and thieves, Savagehenry tackles the subject of the used games market. Arguing that not everyone is able to afford £45 for a new game, he thinks that the pre-owned market allows those people to experience games that they may otherwise have missed.
Last week a TV advertisement produced by Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 was banned because it used FMV footage captured on a PlayStation 3.
Realtime Worlds has released a number of APB player stats as negotiations continue to secure a sale for the Dundee-based firm.
Format: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Czech
Screenshot gallery
Microsoft is in the process of rolling out its largest ever game marketing campaign for upcoming shooter Halo: Reach.
While the company hasn’t disclosed the budget, Advertising Age reports that it will exceed Halo 3’s $6.5 million spend back in 2007. Last year the firm spent $12 million in media for its videogame division.
Capcom chief financial officer Kazuhiko Abe has been promoted to the position of CEO and president of Capcom USA and Europe.
Abe joined Capcom in 2003 as general manager of management planning and in 2006 became Capcom Japan’s CFO.
In his new role he’ll manage the publisher’s western territories and work to strengthen relationships with its Japanese business in a bid to “promote efficient international operations”.
The PSP Essentials range has been a “phenomenal success” since launching earlier this year, helping to boost software sales and “breathe life into sales of the hardware as well”, according to SCEE President Andrew House.
Featuring the likes of Daxter, Everybody's Golf, LocoRoco, WipEout Pulse and Secret Agent Clank, the range of sub-£10 games debuted in June.
Gamescom 2010 attracted 254,000 visitors, beating the inaugural show’s 245,000 and making it “the largest trade fair and event highlight for interactive games”, according to organisers.
Held in Cologne last week alongside GDC Europe, Gamescom featured 505 exhibitors from 33 countries, up from 458 last year, while the developer conference boasted 1,500 participants and 170 speakers.
SCEE President Andrew House was in bullish mood at Gamescom – and to be fair, with the past year’s upturn in PS3 sales and an ever-closing gap with Microsoft, he had good reason to be. We caught up to chat about maintaining PS3’s momentum in the face of greater competition, selling consumers on the idea of 3D, the PSP’s changing role in Sony’s portfolio and Move.
PS3 had a difficult birth, but you've turned the corner - fair?
A survey conducted by UK communications regulator Ofcom has found that online gaming is more popular than downloading film or music.
39 per cent of those surveyed for Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2010 played online games, compared to 38 per cent who downloaded music and film, according to developer trade body Tiga.
Sony picked up three gongs at last week’s Gamescom 2010 awards show.
Gran Turismo 5 was named ‘Best of Gamescom’ and top console game, while PlayStation Move received the ‘Hardware Accessories’ prize.
Elsewhere, Super Scribblenauts was named top mobile game, Guild Wars 2 top online title, Crysis 2 best PC game, and Kirby’s Epic Yarn best family title.
The awards jury consisted of gaming press and specialist retailers.
Update: Department for Culture, Media and Sport says Fox was expressing “a personal view”.
UK defence secretary Liam Fox has urged retailers to ban sales of upcoming Afghanistan-based shooter Medal Of Honor.
The Tory MP told the Sunday Times that he was "disgusted and angry" to learn that the game enables players to take on the role of Taliban soldiers, branding the title “thoroughly un-British” and a “tasteless product”.
What is the Citizen Kane of videogames? In the constantly churned field of gamer chat, this is a zombie question: one you thought was righteously killed long ago, but that keeps popping up anew, shambling around the internet dripping gobbets of putrefying flesh, with a terrifying void where its higher intellectual functions used to be. Is it actually credible, for a start, that all these people should adore Citizen Kane so much? Do they have walls fully papered with Citizen Kane posters?
Activision’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the bestselling game in UK history, according to sales monitor GfK Chart-Track.
The Infinity Ward developed FPS overtook unit sales of previous record holder Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training in just 41 weeks, of which only three were spent outside of the UK's top ten sellers list.
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days debuted atop the UK all formats chart during the week ended August 21.
The IO Interactive developed action sequel knocked Disney’s Toy Story 3 down one place to second and provided publisher Square Enix with its third number one of the year, following Final Fantasy XIII and Just Cause 2.
Red Dead Redemption also fell one place to third, ahead of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Just Dance.
Halo: Reach has reportedly been leaked to public filesharing sites nearly a month ahead of its official September 14 launch date.
The game was recently made available on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace store for review purposes, but a group of modders claims to have bypassed security measures to download and play the title, IGN reports.
Adelaide studio on four week notice period, while an undisclosed number of staff are warned their jobs are in danger.
Australian developer Krome Studios has confirmed that it has given notice to an undisclosed number of staff. The developer has also placed its Adelaide studio on a four week notice period, after which it will decide whether or not to retain it.
Freedom Fighters is a classic example of a game that didn’t chime with the so-called ‘massmarket,’ but went on to be cherished as an underground hit. Now it lives on as a cult, often evoked when videogame forums light up with discussions about which games deserved a better reception, which games deserve a sequel. Even from the outset, Freedom Fighters was tarnished with only-time-will-tell preview platitudes and struggled to generate much interest.
PSP was the bestselling system in Japan during the week ended August 15, according to data from Media Create.
Both DS and PSP sales increased in Japan this week, by 13874 and 5337 respectively.
Xbox 360 sales dropped off a little from last week's 5639 to 5065, while the PS3 managed a healthy 33,057. The PSPgo, meanwhile, only accounted for 608 of total PSP sales - less than half the amount of PS2 units sold.
Hardware sales week ended August 15 (previous week):
1. PSP – 35,734 (30,397)