Zynga's Mafia Wars 2 has failed to perform to expectations, according to internal sources, following an alarming drop in user numbers since its launch last month.
According to AppData, Mafia Wars 2 has lost over a million daily active users (DAUs) on Facebook since the beginning of the month. Sources told Business Week that executives are "second-guessing one another about what went wrong."
Microsoft intends to release an improved version of Xbox 360 motion sensor Kinect that is so accurate it can lip-read, according to reports.
Sources close to Eurogamer claim that Kinect 2 will come bundled with future Xbox consoles. As well as lip-reading, the improved sensor will be able to detect players' emotional states by recognising facial expressions and tracking the pitch and volume of their voices.
Members of the Edge forum are clubbing together to raise money for videogame charity Child's Play, which seeks to "improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world through the kindness
Bethesda has released a patch for the PlayStation 3 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which reportedly fixes framerate problems that have affected the game since launch.
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The UK government has given a ringing endorsement of Raspberry Pi, the low-cost computer that David Braben hopes will kickstart a new wave of interest in programming.
In its response to the Next Gen skills review, the department of culture, media and sport writes: "The government recognises the potential developments such as the Raspberry Pi computer project have for stimulating and motivating children to understand basic computer science in schools.
The next game from Brendan McNamara, former head of LA Noire developer Team Bondi, will be called Whore Of The Orient.
Confirmation comes from Australia's Financial Review, which reveals that the rights to the game have been picked up by film producer George Miller.
Gamer Jas: So I bought this game off a digital distribution platform last week. I won't say which, except it's a bestseller at the moment and it's a FPS. It boasted amazing online co-op and multiplayer functionality. It didn't work. Or, rather, it worked really, really badly. I'd log on and get disconnected randomly, or other players would desync. Any kind of online play was a joke. AND it contains DRM that I didn't want. I demand a refund.
Lawyer Jas: You can't have one.
Gamer Jas: Wha--?
The UK government has today backed calls for improved computer science provision in schools to better prepare students for careers in the digital creative industries.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the UK all-formats number one for a third successive week.
Sales of Activision's shooter fell 41 per cent week on week, but it retains top spot ahead of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, sales of which dropped 61 per cent. Modern Warfare 3 succeeds where predecessor Black Ops failed: this time last year it was denied the number one spot for a third week in a row by Gran Turismo 5.
Konami has confirmed that it will release New Little King's Story for PlayStation Vita in Europe next year.
The game is a sequel to Marvelous Entertainment's 2009 Wii title Little King's Story, and casts players as the 14-year-old King Corobo, tasked with uniting his subjects and reclaiming his kingdom from the villainous Nightmare. No release date was announced.
Cloud gaming service OnLive is offering free five-day rentals of Homefront and Red Faction: Armageddon as part of its Frag Feast weekend.
The company will also run short-term promotions during the course of the weekend, with Just Cause 2 currently on sale for £3.50. New signups can buy their first game for £1, choosing from a catalogue that now includes Batman: Arkham City, Saints Row The Third and LA Noire.
Birmingham City University has today begun accepting applications for its Gamer Camp: Nano course in February 2012.
The month-long development course runs in a simulated studio environment and has been designed with input from the likes of Blitz Games, Codemasters, and DJ Hero developer FreeStyle Games.
A group of Train2Game students have won a competition to design a game for use in a feature film.
Avenging Angels, a £5m project backed by the UK Film Council, features two videogames, one of which turns out to be "a source of dark force in the community." It is this game that the Train2Game students will design, and they were invited to BAFTA HQ for a discussion with the film's director and producer.
Dear Esther, the haunting adventure first developed as a Half-Life 2 mod at the University Of Portsmouth by Dan Pinchbeck, is now in beta ahead of a commercial release early next year.
Pinchbeck's game was the subject of some controversy after he announced it would be released commercially through Steam, with the modding community believing it should be given away for free.
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Ubisoft says Ghost Recon Online represents a shift in thinking in its strategy to combat piracy on PC after its use of DRM was roundly criticised.
The publisher's upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, due next March, will only be released on consoles. Ghost Recon Online, a free-to-play shooter that is currently in closed beta, will be exclusive to PC.
You've probably heard of Minecraft. You probably know that it's quite an achievement. It's a tiny, fiercely compacted Java game capable of spewing out procedurally-generated environments that are significantly larger than the Earth, and it's an indie success story that has made its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, very, very rich.
Ian Shepherd, CEO of Game Group, the UK's largest specialist videogame retailer, has insisted the company will survive despite its lowered earnings forecasts and plummeting share price.
Speaking to MCV, Shepherd said: "It is very easy to look at any retailer on the high street and write an apocalyptic headline. Our market share is high and growing. Game is very important to the overall health of the videogame industry."
The trend for pay-what-you-want indie gaming promotions following the Humble Bundle's lead continues with the Indie Game Music Bundle, a collection of indie game soundtracks.
UK trade association TIGA has launched a development competition that will give four winners £25,000 each to build a playable prototype.
The TIGA Games Contest, funded by Abertay University's prototype fund and announced by creative industries minister Ed Vaizey earlier this week, is split into categories: games on the move, games in the home, and social gaming. The social category is further split into games in the home and games on the move.
UK trade association TIGA has launched a development competition that will give four winners £25,000 each to build a playable prototype.
The TIGA Games Contest, funded by Abertay University's prototype fund and announced by creative industries minister Ed Vaizey earlier this week, is split into categories: games on the move, games in the home, and social gaming. The social category is further split into games in the home and games on the move.
EDIT: Our original story suggested that Google is working on an OnLive-like cloud gaming service - this is not the case. It is working on technology that could support such a service, but not the service itself.
Google's Chrome browser will soon have greatly enhanced gaming capabilities, with plug-and-play support for gamepads on the way.