The UK government’s decision to scrap plans to introduce tax breaks for domestic game development studios has led a number of major publishers to think twice about continuing to invest in the market.
Speaking as part of a question and answer session at the Gamehorizon conference in Newcastle, Epic vice president and co-founder Mark Rein suggested that paid-for, and not free-to-play, content was the future of the industry.
[Update: Microsoft backtracks, saying Milo is still in development but won’t launch this holiday]
Aaron Greenberg, director of Xbox product management, says Lionhead’s Milo And Kate is a tech demo that’s unlikely to make it to market.
Speaking in a keynote speech today at the GameHorizon conference in Gateshead, game designer, CEO of Schell Games and one-time Disney theme park attraction creator Jesse Schell continued to show how the world of gaming is merging with the 'real' one.
Sony is making money on PS3 hardware sales for the first time since the console launched in Japan in November 2006.
"This year is the first time that we are able to cover the cost of the PlayStation 3," Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, told IGN. "We aren't making huge money from hardware, but we aren't bleeding like we used to."
According to various internet reports, the annual salaries of leading Japanese business figures have just been made publicly available.
That’s because companies are now required to disclose in shareholder reports which board members receive pay of over 100 million yen (£746,930), reports Asahi (via Andriasang).
Capcom Europe COO David Reeves expects the next generation of home game consoles to arrive within three years.
Game industry analysts have weighed in with sales forecasts for May 2010 ahead of the release of official US market data from the NPD Group.
The research firm delayed the release of sales data by around three weeks to accommodate an upgrade to its IT architecture, but May results are expected to be made public after the market close on Thursday, July 1.
Eve Online developer CCP has opened a new UK studio in Newcastle.
CCP Newcastle will focus on console game development, “charting new paths for gameplay and business models that will breathe new life into connected consoles”, the Icelandic company said.
The studio will collaborate with CCP Asia in Shanghai on the creation of Dust 514, an upcoming MMOFPS that will tie in with the Eve Online universe.
32 per cent of UK citizens classify themselves as gamers, according to new statistics released by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and the Interactive Software Federation of Europe.
The pair said that 34 per cent of men in the UK classify themselves as gamers, compared to 31 per cent of women. The numbers are particularly high among younger audiences, with 74 per cent of 16-19 year olds defining themselves as gamers and 60 per cent of 20-24 year olds.
Activision executive vice president of studios, Dave Stohl, has spoken of the ongoing rebuilding process at Call Of Duty creator Infinity Ward, which he expects to create “great new franchises in the future”.
Apple has announced that it sold over 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the device's first three days on the market.
Announced earlier this month, the latest version of the popular smartphone introduces 100 new features, according to the platform holder.
Sony is planning to release more HD conversions of PS2 games on PS3 following the success of God Of War Collection.
The compilation title – which featured reworked versions of God Of War and God Of War II on a single Blu-ray disc at full 1280 x 720 resolution – was among the top 20 selling console games in the US during its launch month of November 2009.
This November Sony will launch The Sly Collection, featuring all three Sly Cooper PS2 games in HD, with added 3D, Move and trophy support.
This year, E3 was a circus of curiosity. From the Kinect event through the Activision party to the launch of the 3DS, we saw all the major companies tackle the problem of using an event as a contemporary promotional vehicle. Now the circus has left town, what can we learn?
Activision Blizzard has become the newest member of UK games industry trade association TIGA.
The US publisher is the owner of two UK-based development studios, Liverpool-based Blur developer Bizarre Creations and Leamington Spa-based DJ Hero creator FreeStyleGames.
In an announcement confirming its TIGA membership Activision said it was a major supporter of the trade body's campaign to secure tax breaks for UK game development studios.
The UK coalition government has stated that the scrapping of proposed tax relief for domestic game developers will save the country £190 million.
Square Enix has said that a “closed“ Xbox Live environment means Final Fantasy XIV Online is unlikely to appear on Xbox 360.
"The main reason why we couldn't go with Xbox 360 was the Xbox Live system," the game’s director Hiromichi Tanaka told Eurogamer. "[Live is] different to the normal internet environment, so when we wanted to introduce this game in the same environment as Windows PC it had to be PS3, so that was our choice.
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that its family-friendly PC MMO Free Realms now has 12 million registered users - up from nine million in March 2010.
While free-to-play since launching in April 2009, the virtual world supports a microtransaction model allowing users to purchase in-game items or to upgrade their membership status.
Sony has no plans to use 3D technology in future PSP iterations, according to SCE Worldwide Studios vice president Scott Rohde.
“No, no plans for that,” the executive told IndustryGamers. “We just chose to focus on the big 3D in the home [with PS3]. Again as you pointed out, as a larger corporate initiative, it's important to us to push that out there and be on the bleeding edge of it. That’s the focus…”
Format: iPhone, PSP
Developer: Cobra Mobile
Direct App Store link
E3 may have been brought to us by Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Nintendo’s staggeringly desirable 3DS, but my flights there and back belonged to something far more modest. Numba is a puzzle game for the iPhone and PSP Minis, and it’s dangerously addictive.
The launch of iPhone 4 yesterday was somewhat spoilt by concerns over a potential design flaw that can lead to reduced signal reception.
The smartphone sports a new antenna design featuring a metal band encasing its outer edge and acting as a 3G and wi-fi receiver, but holding it in a certain way causes the device to lose reception.
Price cuts to Nintendo’s handheld range gave DS sales a significant boost in Japan during the week ended June 20.
On June 19 Nintendo dropped the price of the DSi XL by ten per cent to 18,000 yen ($200 / £135) and the cost of the DSi from 18,900 yen to 15,000 yen ($167 / £112). It also gave the DS Lite an "open price", allowing retailers to price it at their discretion, and introduced three new DSi XL colours.
The move saw DSi sales almost triple and total DS line sales of 53,523, compared to PSP’s 21,766.
I'm organising World Of Love, and it's disconcerting me. We're going to get a whole load of indie developers together at Channel 4 today, and it's not going the way events usually do. Everything seems to be much better. Things are not usually like this.
I learned something really important at a games festival a few years ago. A friend was running a mobile game that I was just in time to play, and before joining up I went to see her.
"How's it going?"
"Terrible!"
"Why?"
Sony is reportedly close to wrapping up a deal to offer a paid TV service from Hulu on PS3.
According to multiple Bloomberg sources, the partnership could be announced as early as next week.
US PlayStation Network users would be able to subscribe to a $9.95 a month on demand Hulu service offering access to new and past seasons of hit TV shows from the likes of NBC, Fox and ABC.
Mark Kingdon has resigned his position as CEO of Second Life creator Linden Lab after two years managing the company.
The news follows the announcement earlier this month that the firm is to lay off approximately 30 per cent of its workforce as part of major strategic restructuring efforts.