Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Online will be closed down in June.
Kotaku reports that the game, which launched alongside Metal Gear Solid 4 in 2008 and peaked at 1.3 million users, will close on June 12.
On March 21, the game's online store will close, and the following month players will no longer be able to make new characters. All expansion packs will, however, be free until Konami shuts the servers down for good.
Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi admits he would like to develop a Dead Or Alive crossover title similar to Street Fighter X Tekken.
Capcom's upcoming game combines two of the most revered fighting game series of all time, something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago when fighting games were unpopular and Capcom and Namco were competitors, rather than collaborators.
Angry Birds, Finnish developer Rovio's mobile smash, is finally available on Facebook, almost a year after it was first announced.
This is far from a straight port of the mobile version, with Rovio adding a host of social features to better fit its host platform. Players can compete on leaderboards, and send friends "mystery gifts."
Black and white puzzle-platformer Closure won the $100,000 grand prize at the DICE Summit's Indie Game Challenge last week.
The game, which tasks players with manipulating light and shadow to effectively change the shape of the gameworld - only lit objects physically exist - was made by three-man San Diego team Eyebrow Interactive.
Nintendo has released the first paid downloadable content for its 3DS handheld.
Andriasang reports that DLC for Nintendo-published 3DS photo app Tobidasu Print Club Kiradeco Revolution is now available, with three sets of decorations available for ¥100 (81p) each.
Sony has a number of positions open, including junior animator and junior artist. The roles are for a new PlayStation 3 project and are based at Sony's London Studio. Find all Sony's jobs here.
For those who grew up PC gaming in the ’90s and early ’00s, the launch of a new 3D engine from id or Epic was on a par with that of their latest firstperson shooters. Players grew almost as familiar with the idiosyncrasies and limitations of each engine as developers did, as companies like Raven Software, which used the Doom engine (now known as id Tech 1) to create Heretic and Hexen, and Ion Storm, which built Deus Ex with the Unreal Engine, twisted bespoke tech into new shapes.
Dream Heights, the game which has seen Zynga accused of cloning Tiny Tower, is now available on the App Store, and users are already making their feelings known with some dismal reviews.
Apple stock yesterday broke $500 per share for the first time. The Cupertino company is now worth $465 billion, making it by some distance the most valuable company in the world.
According to Apple Insider, Apple shares ended the day's trading at $502.60. It now has a 17 per cent lead over its nearest rival, Exxon, which is worth a paltry $400 billion, and is worth more than Microsoft and Google combined.
Rockstar has revealed it may make a sequel to LA Noire, saying it is "considering what the future may hold" for the Team Bondi-developed police adventure.
Double Fine head Tim Schafer has said that independent developers are drifting away from the "closed" console download services because of prohibitive costs, claiming that patches alone cost $40,000.
Speaking to Hookshot Inc, Schafer said that while Xbox Live Arcade and PSN were genuine options for indies when their host platforms launched, the likes of Steam, and the Minecraft model, are now much better routes to market.
We'll update this round-up with more reviews in the run up to Vita's launch next week. You might also like to read our Vita playtest.
Can Uncharted survive the untheatrical confines of a handheld?
A more sober entry in the series, but one that still soars.
Novarama, maker of Invizimals, continues to spearhead SCE’s augmented-reality charge, and to deliver games with stale personalities. It’s fortunate, then, that Reality Fighters encourages you to add your own flavour to this 2D fighter with 3D character models. Mapping your face and adding your voice to a model may be a simple gimmick, but doling out punishment to a recognisable friend has a quirky charm.
Sony has revealed UK pricing for firstparty, downloadable PlayStation Vita games ahead of the handheld's launch next week.
Cheapest of the bunch is Motorstorm RC, at £4.79. Super Stardust: Delta, Hustle Kings, and Top Darts will each cost £6.49, with Escape Plan the most expensive, at £9.99.
PlayStation Vita launches in the UK, as well as Europe, North America and Australia, on February 22.
Those expecting a convincing display of Vita’s unique features from Everybody’s Golf will be disappointed. The rear touchpad can be used to pinpoint the distance of objects on the map, swipes on the screen rustle like wind through the trees, and you can take a firstperson wander around the course, panning the camera as you go. That’s your lot, and all are as pointless as they sound. Happily, the core mechanics are as digital as ever, the three-press control system being both precise and rewarding.
Pity the little deviants, because they appear to have been focus-grouped into oblivion, all traces of character and charm smoothed off until what’s left is a maniacally grinning blob that looks eerily like the decapitated head of one of Rayman’s raving rabbids. Still, at least Bigbig’s creations make appropriate mascots for their parent collection of minigames, which lacks legs.
Tomonobu Itagaki has revealed that he almost quit the industry after an incomplete build of Dead Or Alive 2 was released for PlayStation 2 without his permission.
Speaking at last week's Dice Summit in Las Vegas, reported by Joystiq, Itagaki explained that the PS2 port of Dead Or Alive 2 was behind schedule and unlikely to make its intended release date when a sales manager came to him and asked to borrow a copy of the incomplete build, on which the team had only spent two and a half months.
Japanese mobile gaming company Gree is opening an office in San Francisco.
The move is designed to snap up Bay Area dev talent ahead of the global launch of a new, worldwide mobile gaming platform in the second quarter of the year. The 41,000 square foot studio will be headed up by Eiji Araki, Gree's senior vice-president of social games.
Japanese mobile gaming company Gree is opening an office in San Francisco.
The move is designed to snap up Bay Area dev talent ahead of the global launch of a new, worldwide mobile gaming platform in the second quarter of the year. The 41,000 square foot studio will be headed up by Eiji Araki, Gree's senior vice-president of social games.
“Frobisher says… stir my soups,” decrees the faintly menacing Frobisher in Honeyslug’s Vita mini-game compilation. An innocuous request on paper, comedian Kevin Eldon’s precocious vocal performance gives the dialogue a distinctive edge - as well as providing a dash of GLaDOS-style ‘encouragement’ - setting up a curious relationship between the player and titular puppet-master.
Nintendo has acquired Mobiclip, a French company specialising in video compression technology.
Gamasutra reports that the deal was actually completed last October, but has only just been announced. It gives Nintendo access to Mobiclip's technology, which handles playback of high-quality video with low battery consumption and which it has previously used in the Game Boy Advance and DS handhelds.
Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida admits that he thought Demon's Souls - a game Sony had the opportunity to publish - was "crap … unbelievably bad."
Speaking to Game Informer, Yoshida said that when he first saw Demon's Souls it was a mess, with framerate problems and no network features, and that as such Sony opted against picking up the publishing rights.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning is the new UK all-formats number one, the EA-published RPG taking top spot from last week's number one, Final Fantasy XIII-2.
What distinguishes one game from another? Even within the same genre, graphical style, mechanics, interaction design and audio will all contribute to form a unique player experience. And even though all designers would agree that most games borrow inspiration from others, most games are fundamentally unique. However, sometimes the dividing line is very fine.
Our February issue includes a Post Script interview with Dan Pinchbeck and Rob Briscoe, the designer and artist behind Dear Esther.