Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced the formation of DC Entertainment, a new company created to maximise the potential of DC properties across games, films and other media.
“DC Entertainment will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses,” said the company.
Apple has said that there are currently 21,178 “game and entertainment titles” available for download from the App Store.
At a San Francisco event last night the company revealed the massive gap in the number of games available for iPhone / iPod Touch and rival platforms DS and PSP. There are reportedly 3,680 games for Nintendo’s handheld and just 607 for Sony’s portable.
LA-based publisher and developer Riot Games has secured $8 million in funding ahead of the US release of its free-to-play “premium game” League Of Legends.
Rob Smith has been promoted to the newly created role of chief operating officer at Cambridge, UK-based indie developer and publisher Jagex.
Smith has held a number of senior roles at Jagex – the company behind popular free-to-play MMO RuneScape and the gaming portal FunOrb - since joining in 2003, most recently serving as operations manager. In his new position he’ll be charged with overseeing all operational aspects of the company’s game development.
Manhunt is one of the worst games made during the last generation. It is also one of the best. It divided consumers and critics alike, garnering effusive praise from some and vituperative condemnation from others. While its dark, uncomfortable and morally dubious content was ripe for tabloid hysteria, less understandable was criticism that it was badly designed or intellectually retarded. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sony’s PS3 has recorded its biggest weekly sales total in Japan since launching in November 2006.
According to figures from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the PS3 sold 150,832 units during the week ended September 6. The new PS3 Slim was largely to thank, racking up 150,252 sales, reports Kotaku.
Japanese life-to-date PS3 sales have now reached 3,431,964 units.
Sony has said that existing PS3 titles could be made playable in 3D form through the release of a system firmware update.
The platform holder, which last week announced plans to make new PS3 games, laptops and Blu-ray players compatible with a new range of 3D Bravia TVs, has said that it's "conducting a technological investigation" as to the possibility of making existing PS3 software backwards compatibility with the technology.
Developer Dean Dodrill awarded the $40,000 first prize for visually stunning 2D beat ‘em up Dust: An Elysian Tail during Penny Arcade Expo.
Sony’s PS3 recorded an 11-fold jump in sales during the week ended September 5, GfK Chart-Track has told us.
The sales increase follows the launch of the new PS3 Slim on Tuesday, September 1.
According to a GfK Chart-Track spokesperson, the console outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 by three units to one during the week in question. PS3 sales outpaced those of Nintendo’s Wii and DS Lite by the same margin.
Nazis: not the most sympathetic of villains. In some ways they’ve become the perfect videogame bad guys – an impersonal horde, enacting designs of unspeakable evil, ready and waiting to be blown from their polished boots by all-American heroes wielding Thompsons, bazookas and, in Wolfenstein’s case, Tesla guns.
Batman: Arkham Asylum retained the top spot on the UK all formats chart during the week ended September 5.
Wii Sports Resort was also a non-mover at number two, despite an 11 per cent drop in weekly sales.
Sony Computer Entertainment America says it is looking into reported PS3 problems following the release of the latest firmware update for the console.
Last week a number of users reported running into technical problems after installing PS3 firmware 3.00, including the inability to synch up controllers with consoles and game crashes.
Format: PSP
Release: Out now
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: In-house
Screenshot Gallery.
Format: Spectrum
Release: N/A
Publisher: Imagine
Developer: In-house
When Psygnosis released Brataccas for the Atari ST in 1985, the beginning of an era for the Liverpudlian firm was a footnote to the story of infamous 8bit publisher Imagine. Brataccas, you see, was the game that was formed from the husk of code left over from Imagine’s so-called Mega Game, Bandersnatch: the UK industry’s most famous game that never saw the light of day.
PS3 sales continued to fall in Japan during the week ended August 30, while DS hardware and software again dominated the charts.
Sales of Sony’s next-gen console almost halved to 1,040 units, but they are expected to rebound in time for next week’s rankings following the Japanese launch of the PS3 Slim yesterday.
DSi remained ahead of the chasing pack with 59,881 units sold, more than double the total of its nearest rival, the PSP, which was closely followed by the Wii.
Format: Flash
Developer: Paolo Pedercini
www.molleindustria.org/ergon_logos/ergon_logos.html
San Diego-based BottleRocket Entertainment has shut following a six month fight to save the business.
The core of the Bottlerocket team was behind the PS2 games Mark Of Kri and Rise Of The Kasai. Formed in 2002, the studio was developing a next-gen Splatterhouse project until publisher Namco Bandai opted to sever ties with the developer earlier this year.
Atari has labelled a $30 million lawsuit brought against the publisher by Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach developer Turbine as “frivolous.”
Format: 360, PC, PS3 (version tested)
Release: Out now
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software
See more screenshots here
Despite EA’s failed takeover last year, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes that Take-Two remains an attractive acquisition target.
In a pre-emptive strike, Electronic Arts has filed a lawsuit seeking court approval to use the Dillinger name in association with machine guns featured in its Godfather games.
The move was made after the owner of the Dillinger estate - which claims to hold the rights to the famous 1930s bank robber John Dillinger’s name and likeness - threatened EA with litigation for violating right of publicity and infringing upon its trademarks.
A number of former Midway Newcastle employees have established a new digital artwork and design production firm, Atomhawk Design.
The Gateshead, UK-based company specialises in the production of digital art and design in 2D, 3D and video media, for the game, film and online industries.
Atomhawk is headed up by ex-Midway Newcastle art director Cumron Ashtiani. The firm’s lead concept artists are Corlen Kruger and Pete Thompson, and Steven Pick is the lead graphic designer.
Growing threads on the official PS3 forums claim that the latest system firmware update, version 3.0, is leading to a number of DualShock controller issues and game freezes.
Numerous users, some of whom specifically name the ceramic white wireless PS3 DualShock pad, are reporting their inability to synch up controllers with their consoles.
Other users are experiencing “freezes” mid-session when playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, a problem they say began after the firmware update’s release on September 1.
Sony is to throw its weight behind 3D technology with the release of a new line of 3D Bravia televisions next year.
The company is expected to make its PlayStation 3 games, Blu-ray players and Vaio laptops compatible with the new technology.
OnLive founder and CEO Steve Perlman has announced that the company’s cloud gaming service has entered open beta.
In development for seven years, OnLive’s technology bypasses physical media by streaming gameplay data to Windows or Apple platforms, as well as televisions. Games are not actually installed on a computer – instead, game data is relayed back and forth between computers and powerful servers. For TV-compatibility, a small "MicroConsole" is required.
