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April 11, 2012

SpeedThru: Potzol's Puzzle review

Keys Factory’s eShop puzzler offers a series of satisfying spatial challenges.

Intelligent Systems’ Pullblox was a compelling demonstration of how 3DS’s autostereoscopic display could effectively augment spatial puzzles, and while the sensation of depth isn’t quite as helpful here - though it has an undeniable visual impact - this curious mix of Tetris and Hole in the Wall proves a similarly smart and substantial eShop release.

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Find your future building AMD's next generation

Expanding charity the Wellcome Trust's reach or designing games based on Magic: The Gathering.

AMD is looking for developer relations engineers to join its teams in the UK, Scandinavia, USA and Japan. In the role, you'll work with AMD's external game development partners to help them create their projects as efficiently as possible, as well as designing and implementing next-generation rendering effects. On top of that, you'll also have input into architecture, design and tactical decisions - a rather exciting role all round.

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Resident Evil 6 SE costs £815

Andriasang brings word that the special edition, revealed yesterday, contains a copy of protagonist Leon's leather jacket, and four "tablet case covers" - in Resident Evil 6, the series' signature herb items are replaced with pills.
http://andriasang.com/con0lt/re6_premium/
Andriasang

Capcom's Resident Evil 6 Premium Edition will cost ¥105,000 (£815), the publisher has revealed.

Andriasang brings word that the special edition, revealed yesterday, contains a copy of protagonist Leon's leather jacket, and four "tablet case covers" - in Resident Evil 6, the series' signature herb items are replaced with pills.

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Capcom, Namco, Sega reveal Project X Zone

This week's Famitsu (via Andriasang) contains the first details about the collaboration, pronounced Project Cross Zone in a nod, we presume, to Capcom-Namco crossover Street Fighter X Tekken.
http://andriasang.com/con0lk/project_cross_zone_details/
Andriasang

Capcom, Namco Bandai and Sega are collaborating on Project X Zone, a strategy RPG for 3DS featuring characters from IP owned by three of the biggest Japanese publishers.

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Jenova Chen on Journey's philosophy

Thatgamecompany's creative director walks us through the making of the developer's latest game.

Journey’s poetic, meditative multiplayer odyssey is a controlled and emotive experience, one that cleverly shaves off the common multiplayer mechanics and interactions that might otherwise jeopardise the singularity of its experience. You can’t talk to fellow players, or immediately identify the strangers with whom you are randomly joined. But by restricting that palette of interaction, Journey manages to cultivate empathy and cooperation, while straining out the impurities - a delicate act.

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GameStop to offer online pass warnings for used games

GameStop’s California-based stores will be required to warn second-hand game buyers that downloadable content advertised as free may require an additional purchase, following the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against the retailer for allegedly engaging in "deceptive and misleading practices".
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168287/GameStop_settles_class_action_suit_over_deceptive_used_game_practices.php
Gamasutra

GameStop’s California-based stores will be required to warn second-hand game buyers that downloadable content advertised as free may require an additional purchase, following the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against the retailer for allegedly engaging in "deceptive and misleading practices".

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Infinity Ward versus Activision trial date delayed

The trial date for the case between ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vincent Zampella and their former employer Activision has been pushed back by almost three weeks to May 29, 2012.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/04/09/activision-infinity-ward-court-date-set-for-may-29.aspx
Game Informer

The trial date for the case between ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vincent Zampella and their former employer Activision has been pushed back by three weeks to May 29, 2012.

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April 10, 2012

Vita Street Fighter X Tekken to feature cross-platform play

The feature, revealed at Capcom's Captivate event in Rome last week, is a first for the Street Fighter series, and will doubtless be a cause of some concern for PS3 owners given that the Vita version will offer a simplified control scheme, making use of Vita's touch capabilities, and multiplayer battles over 3G.

The upcoming PS Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken will feature cross-platform multiplayer, Capcom has announced, allowing those playing on Sony's new handheld to face off against PS3 players.

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Lost Planet 3 announced

Capcom defends decision to pass development duties to Spark Unlimited, the studio behind Legendary and Turning Point.

Capcom has announced a third entry in its Lost Planet series, due in early 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Players are cast as Jim, a rig pilot who takes on a dangerous, but lucrative, contract on EDN III, the snowy planet on which the first game was set and the absence of which Keiji Inafune blamed for Lost Planet 2's poor reception.

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Here's A Thing: Defiance

Rift developer Trion Worlds' latest project is Defiance, a massively multiplayer online shooter for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 based on, and linked to, a TV show of the same name from US channel SyFy.

Rift developer Trion Worlds' latest project is Defiance, a massively multiplayer online shooter for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 based on, and linked to, a TV show of the same name from US channel SyFy.

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Skullgirls review

Designed by a competitive fighting gamer, but can it fix the genre's longstanding flaws?

You can read this review in full in our print edition.

Our June issue, which goes on sale May 9, features reviews and extensive Post Script articles for all the biggest games, including Dragon's Dogma, Diablo III, Fez and Awesomenauts.

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Sony braced for £4 billion loss

Sony CFO Masaru Kato revealed the figure at a briefing in Tokyo earlier today, Reuters reports. Sony had previously forecast that its losses for the fiscal year ending March 31 would total ¥220 billion (£1.7 billion).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/us-sony-idUSBRE83907220120410
Reuters

Sony has told investors to expect a loss of ¥520 billion (£4 billion) when it announces its annual results next month.

Sony CFO Masaru Kato revealed the figure at a briefing in Tokyo earlier today, Reuters reports. Sony had previously forecast that its losses for the fiscal year ending March 31 would total ¥220 billion (£1.7 billion).

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Trailer reveals new Resident Evil 6 date

The change in date was revealed in a trailer first shown at Capcom's Captivate press event in Rome last week. The news was under embargo until 4pm today but was revealed early, apparently on Sony's official YouTube channel.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469699
NeoGaf

Resident Evil 6's release has been brought forward by more than a month, and the game will now launch on October 2.

The change in date was revealed in the below trailer, first shown at Capcom's Captivate press event in Rome last week. The news was under embargo until 4pm today but was revealed early, apparently on Sony's official YouTube channel.

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Frank Lantz on NYU's game design degree

The Drop7 designer tells us why NYU Game Center's new MFA programme will redefine our understanding of videogames.

The NYU Game Center has just announced a Master of Fine Arts program set to begin in Autumn 2012. Frank Lantz, the creative director and co-founder of Zynga New York (formerly Area/Code) and designer of Drop7, as well as head of the MFA, hopes the graduate program will distinguish itself from others with a focus on games as culture and art, not vocational craft. Here we speak to Lantz about how creating the course has affected his understanding of games, the nature of competition and our reliance on computers.

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Joe Danger announced for iOS

The Guildford-based studio unveiled the project at last weekend's PAX East conference in Boston. Speaking to Gamasutra, Hello Games MD Sean Murray said that, far from being a shoe-horned port, the game had been built from the ground up for its target platform.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168130/A_very_different_Joe_Danger_headed_to_iOS.php
Gamasutra

PSN and XBLA platformer Joe Danger is in development for iOS, Hello Games has revealed.

The Guildford-based studio unveiled the project at last weekend's PAX East conference in Boston. Speaking to Gamasutra, Hello Games MD Sean Murray said that, far from being a shoe-horned port, the game had been built from the ground up for its target platform.

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Machinarium follow-up Botanicula dated

The point-and-click adventure, designed by Jaromír Plachý - Amanita co-founder and Machinarium designer Jakob Dvorský is the game's producer - tells of a group of five friends who set out to save their home tree from parasites.
http://botanicula.net/
Botanicula

Botanicula, the new game from Machinarium developer Amanita Design, will be released on April 19.

The point-and-click adventure, designed by Jaromír Plachý - Amanita co-founder and Machinarium designer Jakob Dvorský is the game's producer - tells of a group of five friends who set out to save their home tree from parasites.

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Unity reaches a million developers

Unity continues to grow apace: by the end of 2010 it had amassed 250,000 registered developers, and by the end of last year that had grown to 750,000. It means Unity's userbase has grown by a third in the last three months alone.

More than a million developers are now using the Unity engine, Unity Technologies has announced.

In a press release, the company confirms that its engine has been downloaded over six million times. Unity continues to grow apace: by the end of 2010 it had amassed 250,000 registered developers, and by the end of last year that had grown to 750,000. It means Unity's userbase has grown by a third in the last three months alone.

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Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor's light touch

Capcom on the challenge of making a series famous for its 40-button controller work with Kinect.

After some time spent in (and out of) the cockpit of From Software's Kinect-driven follow up to one of gaming's most hardcore experiences of all time, we sat down with two of the game's producers to consider its relevancy to Microsoft's motion-control vision.

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THQ dead in six months, says Take-Two CEO

Speaking at the MIT Business In Gaming conference in Massachusetts last week, Zelnick admitted that his own company hadn't had the best year - it is now forecasting an annual loss after delaying Rockstar's Max Payne 3 to May - but said that THQ's situation was far worse because, quite simply, its games aren't good enough.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/05/thq-wont-be-around-in-six-months-says-take-two-ceo-zelnick/
Joystiq

Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, has said that struggling rival THQ will be out of business within six months.

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Kinect Star Wars tops UK chart

Xbox 360 exclusive Kinect Star Wars is the new number one in the UK chart. LucasArts' game ends FIFA Street's three-week reign atop the chart, despite sales of EA's five-a-side football title climbing three per cent week on week.

Xbox 360 exclusive Kinect Star Wars is the new number one in the UK chart.

LucasArts' game ends FIFA Street's three-week reign atop the chart, despite sales of EA's five-a-side football title climbing three per cent week on week.

Chart compiler UKIE notes increased sales throughout the top ten, with the long Easter weekend seeing sales of FIFA 12 up 48 per cent, with Modern Warfare 3 sales rising 76 per cent and SSX up 72 per cent.

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Commodore founder Jack Tramiel dies

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International, manufacturer of the Commodore 64 and Amiga, has died aged 83. Forbes reports that Tramiel, a Polish-born Auschwitz survivor who founded Commodore after emigrating to the US, passed away surrounded by family on Sunday.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/
Forbes

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International, manufacturer of the Commodore 64 and Amiga, has died aged 83.

Forbes reports that Tramiel, a Polish-born Auschwitz survivor who founded Commodore after emigrating to the US, passed away surrounded by family on Sunday.

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Report: Hirai to cut 10,000 Sony jobs

New CEO to axe 6 per cent of Sony's workforce in a bid to return to profit after four years in the red.

New Sony CEO Kaz Hirai is to cut 10,000 jobs in a bid to return the company to profit after four years in the red, according to reports.

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April 09, 2012

Time Extend: Guitar Hero

How did Harmonix and its plastic guitar wow a global crowd when other rhythm-action games had only ever been cult hits?

Guitar Hero was not the first great rhythm game. It wasn’t even Harmonix’s first great rhythm game, or the first guitar-based rhythm game. But it was the first rhythm game to harness the transformative power of music in a way that everybody could understand. In its later iterations, Guitar Hero went on to make the previously Japanese-dominated domain of music gaming inseparable from western gaming tastes, and completely redefine gaming’s relationship with the music industry.

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April 08, 2012

Time Extend: Katamari Damacy

Namco’s colourful tidying game is an obsessive-compulsive cleaner’s dream, but its smart design gives to the world far more than it removes.

Absurdist Japanese curio? Doubtless. Sole occupant of the stick ’em up genre? The game is almost beyond imitation. Unflinching condemnation of humanity’s rampant consumerism? Perhaps. Autobiographical study of what it is to live under the watch of an alcoholic father figure whom you can never please? We’d have to roll creator Keita Takahashi on to the shrink’s couch to find out. Roadmap to a future of game design in which an idea precludes its sequels by reaching its full potential by the time the final credits, quite literally, roll? If only.

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April 07, 2012

Time Extend: Advance Wars

The cheeriest war game in history offers no sense of shock, yet continues to inspire awe with its deftly tuned strategy elements.

It’s been ten years since Nintendo’s Advance Wars series first appeared on western handhelds, and since then, the inexhaustible turn-based strategy franchise has undergone enough cosmetic surgery to rival Castlevania. The second Game Boy Advance instalment, Black Hole Rising, gave us secret labs and Neotanks, missile silos and pipelines.

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