Microsoft will bring portable media player Zune’s catalogue of TV and film content to Xbox Live internationally this autumn.
While the company hasn’t announced plans to introduce Zune hardware in Europe, it says the brand will become “the premium partner” in the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Xbox Live users will be able to stream to rent or download to own TV and film content, representing the first time the Zune service has been available in Europe.
Take-Two has reported better than expected financial results for its second quarter ended April 30, 2009.
Nevertheless, revenues fell from $539.8 million (£339m) during Q2 2008, which included the release of the blockbuster title Grand Theft Auto IV, to $229.7 million (£144.2m). Second quarter sales were led by downloadable GTA episode The Lost and Damned, Major League Baseball 2K9, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for DS and continued GTA IV sales.
Rockstar Games has announced the second Xbox 360 exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable episode, titled The Ballad Of Gay Tony.
“As Luis Lopez, part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka Gay Tony), players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price,” the company said.
Take-Two has confirmed that BioShock 2 will launch in Europe on October 30 and in North America on November 3.
While the 2K Marin developed sequel is widely expected to release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, platforms are still listed as "TBA" on official Take-Two documentation just released.
Take-Two has delayed the releases of Mafia II and Red Dead Redemption to the first half of the 2010 business year.
That means that the 2K Czech developed PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 mob sequel, and Rockstar San Diego’s PS3 and Xbox 360 open-world wild west follow-up, will now launch some time between November 2009 and April 30, 2010. Both games had been expected to hit the market by Christmas of this year, but that is no longer a certainty.
A new report claims Microsoft will this week reveal details of a new partnership set to bring Sky TV content to Xbox 360.
Microsoft is to host a press event this Thursday in London, and Rapid TV News suggests that “the long-awaited link up between BSkyB and Microsoft’s Xbox is at last going to happen.”
An edited version of World War One shooter Necrovision has been granted an M rating by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), clearing the game for release in the country.
Developed by Polish studio The Farm 51, the supernatural first-person shooter was originally refused classification on the grounds of the game containing excessive violence.
Activision Blizzard’s World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King retained the top spot on the NPD Group’s weekly PC chart during the week ended May 16.
April’s bestselling PC game held off competition from Electronic Arts’ second placed The Sims 2 Double Deluxe and March’s top title, Sega's Empire: Total War.
Format: BBC Micro
Release: 1984
Publsher: Acornsoft
Developer: David Braben, Ian Bell
Format: 360 (version tested), PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Grin
The problem with agility in games in that the greater it is, the more it requires. The same goes for power: the more your hero can do, the more he must be given. There are few heroes as strong and agile as Bionic Commando’s Nathan Spencer, and few games that better demonstrate the pitfalls.
Japanese publisher Capcom says it will release ten games for Apple’s iPhone before the end of the business year in March 2010.
Chief financial officer Kazuhiko Abe confirmed the plan to Reuters following the successful launch of Resident Evil: Degeneration on the iPhone and iPod touch platforms earlier this month.
Nintendo platforms maintained their lead in the Japanese hardware chart during the week ended May 17, as the market saw an overall decline in sales.
Having jumped ahead of Sony’s PSP the previous week, Nintendo’s DSi held its place at the top of the hardware chart, although its lead was slimmed from 12,000 to 5,500 units.
Sony has said that it will halve the number of parts suppliers it uses in a bid to slash costs.
It aims to reduce purchasing costs by 20 percent, or 500 billion yen ($5.3b/£3.4b), this year, according to an Associated Press report.
Earlier this month the company reported its first annual net loss in 14 years. It posted a $1 billion loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, a figure it expects to grow during the current business year.
GameStop has predicted that PS3 and Wii price cuts will be introduced during the third quarter of the company’s financial year.
Speaking during an earnings call with investors, GameStop’s chief financial officer David Carlson said the firm expects hardware sales in the US to hit 33.5 million units this year.
We caught up with Scott Austin, Microsoft’s director of digitally distributed games, to ask about the first six months of Community Games as part of the background to E202’s Creation Myths article, an in-depth look at the state of play on the Community Games channel we’ll be posting here on Monday. In the face of widespread disaffection among many developers about the sales figures their games were achieving, he presents Microsoft’s side of the story.
What's the Microsoft reaction to the first set of sales figures?
Square Enix has reported a decline in revenues and profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.
The company’s annual sales were down eight percent to 135.7 billion yen ($1.45b/£909.5m), while net income fell 31.1 percent to 6.3 billion yen ($66.9m/£42.2m).
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently used the company’s annual financial results briefing to discuss the platform holder’s strategy going forward.
In an investor Q&A session he covered a wide range of topics, including hardware price cuts, upcoming first party Wii titles and the company’s online strategy.
Warner Bros. Entertainment has launched a $33 million bid for a number of Midway Games' US assets.
If the move proves successful it would see Warner acquire the Mortal Kombat franchise and Midway's Chicago and Seattle-based development studios.
The proposed agreement does not include the sale of Midway’s development studios in San Diego and Newcastle, UK, or its TNA wrestling franchise.
Midway is currently seeking bankruptcy court approval for the sale of the assets.
James Silva created The Dishwasher, the XNA game that won Microsoft’s inaugural Dream-Build-Play contest to become a full-fledged XBLA game. Silva’s also been busy putting some of his older games onto the Community Games channel. As part of the background to E202’s Creation Myths article, an in-depth look at the state of play on XBCG that we'll be posting here site on Monday, we asked him about working with Microsoft and switching between Community Games and XBLA.
Julian Kantor is the man behind Groov, a dual-stick shooter with a musical twist, that’s one of the Community Games channel’s standout pieces.
GameStop has reported record sales and earnings for the first quarter ended May 2, 2009.
First quarter net earnings rose 13.4 percent to $70.4 million (£44.9m), while sales increased 9.2 percent to $1.98 billion (£1.26b).
Sony is said to be considering the possibility of launching a PSP music store.
According to CNET sources, the company has held preliminary talks with some of the major recording companies with a view to offering PSP owners access to music via the PlayStation Network.
Rockstar co-founders Jamie King and Gary Foreman have formed independent developer 4mm Games.
The New York-based company plans to debut properties online or through mobile platforms such as iPhone before introducing them to consoles, reports Variety.
It currently has two undisclosed titles in development and says it may choose to distribute them itself.
Format: 360, PC, PS3
Release: June 5 (Europe), June 9 (US)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Radical Entertainment
