"This is the price of gold: a heavy heart."
Whether you play Midas because it just won Ludum Dare 22’s Jam competition, or because it comes from the same team that made the truly ingenious lo-fi puzzler Impasse doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that you play Midas: it’s clever and precise and quietly thought provoking, and it’s even a little sad.
Shares in Electronic Arts fell almost four per cent yesterday morning after an analyst raised concerns about the potential success of BioWare's Star Wars MMOG The Old Republic.
Marketwatch reports that a Brean Murray Carret & Co analyst cut his price target on EA stock from $28 to $22 per share due to "creeping concerns" about the MMOG's prospects a month after launch.
Bethesda has confirmed that its latest patch for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, version 1.4, is now in testing for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Microsoft's Entertainment And Devices Division, which includes its Xbox business, brought in $4.2 billion ($2.7 billion) in the three months to December 31, an increase of 15 per cent on the previous year.
Across Microsoft as a whole, revenue rose five per cent to $20.89 billion (£13.5 billion), setting a new record for the company. Net income, however, fell from last year's $6.63 billion to $6.62 billion (£4.28 billion).
Julian Gollop hasn't been involved in Firaxis' remake of X-COM: Enemy Unknown, his classic 1993 PC strategy game. He didn't even know about the remake until its public reveal just after New Year. "I would have liked to have been, because in a way I've been trying to remake that game for so long, without much success," he tells us.
Capcom has announced Resident Evil 6 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Due on consoles with the PC release to follow at a later date, Resident Evil 6 stars Leon S Kennedy and Chris Redfield in what Capcom describes as "the most ambitious, immersive and feature-rich" game in the series so far.
As the below announcement trailer shows, Leon finds himself in a small town with the US president, with Redfield in China, when a bioterrorist attack hits. No country is safe, and the pair fight back the infected hordes in locations around the world.
Trion Worlds, California-based developer of fantasy MMOG Rift, has raised $85 million (£55 million) from investors.
In a press release, the developer says it will use the funds - contributed by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and existing stakeholder BDMI - to fund development of its next two projects and its Red Door platform.
Namco's beloved arcade and Dreamcast fighting game Soul Calibur is now available on iPhone and iPad.
All of the original 19 fighters are included, with game modes including Arcade Battle, Time Attack, two Survival modes and a training room, with more to be added in future updates.
Sony Ericsson's financial results for the year ending December 31 make for miserable reading, with 2010's profit of €90 million wiped out and the firm reporting a loss of €247 million (£206 million).
President and CEO Bert Nordberg pinned the decline on 2011 being a transitional year in which the company shifted focus from feature phones to smartphones. Sales of the Xperia range of Android phones were up 65 per cent year on year, with 28 million units shipped to date.
SCEI president Andrew House believes that the strong performance of 3DS is good news for PlayStation Vita, because it proves a market still exists for dedicated gaming handhelds despite the rise of smartphones and tablets.
Irrational Games has announced 1999 Mode for BioShock Infinite, a more challenging mode designed in response to fan feedback.
As well as scarcer health, weaponry and powers, 1999 Mode requires that players pick specialisations and stick to them, a result, creative director Ken Levine explains, of a community poll on the developer's website.
In-app purchases will become the dominant smartphone revenue model by 2015, according to a new report by market research firm IHS Screen Digest.
The report claims that in-app purchasing's revenue share will rise from 39 per cent in 2011 to 64 per cent - around $5.6 billion (£3.6 million) - in 2015.
Senior analyst of mobile media Jack Kent said: "Smartphone users overwhelmingly prefer free apps to paid apps, as we estimate 96 per cent of all smartphone apps were downloaded for free in 2011.
At the very highest level, the decisions that shape and define Amy, a horror game from Paul Cuisset, creator of Flashback, are sound. It borrows that most tender of mechanics, the handholding of Ico, and beds it into a survival horror by asking you to lead a young, selectively mute girl out of a research facility overrun by zombies.
More than two-fifths of UK developers who lost their jobs between 2009 and 2011 relocated overseas, according to a report by UK trade association TIGA.
The report, "Making games in the UK today: a census of the UK developer and digital publishing sector," claims that the UK game industry workforce shrank by more than 10 per cent between 2008 and 2011. Of those that went overseas, the most popular destination was tax haven Canada, followed by the USA.
More than two-fifths of UK developers who lost their jobs between 2009 and 2011 relocated overseas, according to a report by UK trade association TIGA.
The report, "Making games in the UK today: a census of the UK developer and digital publishing sector," claims that the UK game industry workforce shrank by more than 10 per cent between 2008 and 2011. Of those that went overseas, the most popular destination was tax haven Canada, followed by the USA.
Microsoft has added an achievement system to its Visual Studio development tool.
Smash Cops offers the best 1970s car chase handling you're likely to get on iOS. Hutch's debut battle-racer asks you to place your finger behind your dinky little police cruiser and steer from the rear, tapping with a second digit when you want to pull off a recharging ram attack on a fleeing perp. It's a system that's strongly reminiscent of playing with your toys on the carpet, and it offers fish-tailing drama at each corner, while still bringing a sharp arcade precision to all those fender-bending impacts.
Sony has released an app for PlayStation Vita that lets users access photo-sharing site Flickr.
The app, now available on the Japanese PlayStation Store, is in English and allows Flickr users to share photos and post comments, Andriasang reports.
Vita already boasts apps for Twitter and Japanese YouTube equivalent Nico Nico Video. Foursquare, Skype and Facebook apps are also in the works.
A Namco Bandai executive has issued a daming assessment of the growing free-to-play trend, saying that games that use the increasingly popular model "can't be high quality."
The claim comes from Olivier Comte, senior vice president for Europe, during his talk at Cloud Gaming Europe in London, reported by Industry Gamers.
Facebook gaming titan Zynga has confirmed the acquisition of four mobile developers as it continues its expansion into smartphones.
The tide is beginning to turn against the Protect IP Act (PIPA), with the controversial bill seemingly set to meet the same fate as SOPA after 18 senators announced their opposition to it.
Ars Technica reports that of the 18 members of the Senate to renounce the bill yesterday, 16 are Republican and seven were originally co-sponsors of the bill. One, Orrin Hatch of Utah, said PIPA was "simply not ready for prime time."
Today, Ultima Online's early days, seem exotic, driven by the magic of the internet, a burgeoning economy - and danger. In Ultima Online, death was permanent. It meant that every play session was unpredictable and meaningful.
Sales of PlayStation Vita have fallen by 57 per cent in Japan week on week, with just 18,361 units sold in the week ending January 15, according to Media Create data passed on by Andriasang.
UK trade assocation TIGA has at last spoken out against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), describing it as like "a sledgehammer cracking a nut."
In a press release, TIGA lays out its opposition to the bill, despite reports earlier this week that the proposed legislation had been shelved indefinitely until both sides of the US House Of Representatives could reach a consensus.
Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski will host the Game Developers Choice Awards during GDC in March, organisers have announced.
GDC also plays host to the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, which will be hosted for a fourth year by Andy Schatz, developer of former IGF Grand Prize winner Monaco.