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August 25, 2011

Biometrics - the future of videogames?

Graham McAllister maps out the opportunities and pitfalls that lie ahead if games were to know how you feel.

Gamers are always demanding new experiences. Fortunately then, game developers and platform holders have continually been dreaming up new ways in which to entertain us. Over the last ten years we’ve seen games focus on technology: increasing graphical fidelity, delivering more natural animation and improving AI and physics. More recently, new game experiences have been delivered by gestural interaction controllers such the Wii, Move and Kinect, also bringing with them a new audience. 

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EA's Origin EULA raises privacy concerns

Publisher's new download service insists on collecting extensive data about the contents of your computer.

The end-user licence agreement (EULA) in Electronic Arts' new distribution platform Origin collects and transmits extensive data about your computer and your use of it.

A member of The Escapist's forums first raised concern over the terms, which have since been posted in full by Rock Paper Shotgun. One clause, headed "Consent to collection and use of data," stipulates that EA will gather huge amounts of information about the software installed on users' PCs and how they are used, and either use the data for its own marketing or pass it to thirdparties.

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Steve Jobs steps down as Apple CEO

Talismanic CEO resigns after 15 years, to be replaced by current COO Tim Cook.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has stepped down as company CEO after 15 years at the helm, and has been replaced by former chief operating officer Tim Cook.

Jobs, 56, revealed his decision in a statement issued last night. "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," he said. "Unfortunately, that day has come.

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August 24, 2011

GameStop pulls OnLive coupons from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Vouchers for free, streaming copies of the RPG shooter removed from boxed PC version to thwart competition.

Leading specialist retailer GameStop has admitted to a company-wide policy of removing OnLive vouchers for free, streaming copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from the boxed PC version of the game sold in its stores.

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GameStop pulls OnLive coupons from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Vouchers for free, streaming copies of the RPG shooter removed from boxed PC version to thwart competition.

Leading specialist retailer GameStop has admitted to a company-wide policy of removing OnLive vouchers for free, streaming copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from the boxed PC version of the game sold in its stores.

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FIFA 11 back on top of Nordic chart

Football title leapfrogs The Sims 3 to reclaim the number one spot after a rare week off the pace.

FIFA 11 has returned to the top of the Nordic chart, which collates sales data from Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Having briefly lost the number one spot to fellow EA title The Sims 3, FIFA 11 enjoyed its seventh week out of the last ten at the head of the rankings. On the individual formats chart, the football game was the best-selling PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP title.

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Japan: PS3 sales jump 50 per cent on price cut

3DS still leads the hardware chart, despite a big second week dip following its own markdown.

Japanese PS3 sales rose almost 50 per cent last week following the introduction of a price cut, although the console remained the nation’s third best performer behind 3DS and PSP.

Having enjoyed a massive spike following its own markdown on August 11, 3DS managed to hold its lead during the week ended August 21, although sales fell from 196,077 units to 105,639.

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Kinect Star Wars delayed

A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed to OXM: "Microsoft and LucasArts have elected to move the launch of Kinect Star Wars standalone game beyond holiday 2011 to ensure the full potential of this title is realised." The delay also applies to the Star Wars-branded Xbox 360 console, sadly, and Microsoft has declined to pin down revised release dates.
http://www.oxm.co.uk/32722/news/kinect-star-wars-delayed/
OXM


iBlast Moki 2 review

Don't overlook this iOS puzzler's take on creating, playing and sharing.

Though it's the sequel to a slightly clunky original, you'd be forgiven for passing over iBlast Moki 2 as just another cartoony physics puzzler without a second thought. And when its start menu consists of the words 'Play, Create, Share' you begin to wonder if Sony's lawyers have iPhones.

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Babel Media shifting operations to Canada

The localisation specialist is reviewing the future of its UK operation, Develop reports, with some 30 staff in the midst of a redundancy consultation as the firm moves the bulk of its operations to Canada. CEO Richard Leinfellner said: "Market demands have dictated our move. It is a market reality that we have to follow trends. There is a brain drain in the UK while Canada is thriving, and benefiting from tax breaks that can save local studios 30 to 40 per cent on production costs." Affected staff have been asked if they would be prepared to move to Canada, with senior management already making the move. Babel is expected to retain a UK presence, albeit in significantly smaller premises.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/38504/Jobs-on-the-line-as-Babel-quits-UK-for-Canada
Develop


Rally-X Rumble review

Dubious nostalgia takes a back seat to newer charms in another Namco update.

You'd think Rally-X Rumble is all about cars, but really it's all about paint. Namco Bandai is frighteningly good at putting new spins on its classics, but Rally-X is a more difficult one than most – because, in all honesty, it was always decent rather than great. And the main mode in Rally-X Rumble is little more than a slick update to the original, rather than a flair-filled re-imagining a la Pac-Man Championship Edition.

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Flick Soccer review

This take on iOS classic Flick Kick Football proves some clones are definitely better than others.

When is a clone not a clone? When it has a distinguishing characteristic, of course, and Flick Soccer certainly has one. Its foundations are straight up copied from Pik Pok's Flick Kick Football, which is a miniature masterpiece and one of the few permanent-fixture iOS games.

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Ubisoft okays Steam From Dust refunds

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Ubisoft has authorised Steam to refund owners of From Dust who are unhappy with the game's lacklustre PC port and use of always-on DRM. "Ubisoft has just announced that they are working on a patch that will eliminate the need for any online authentication for From Dust," reads an email sent to customers. "The patch will release in approximately two weeks. If you don't want to wait for the patch, or if you haven't played the game, per Ubisoft's request, we will issue refunds for this title."
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/24/steam-is-offering-refunds-for-from-dust/
Rock Paper Shotgun


Microsoft demands simultaneous multiplatform releases

Firm reserves the right to deny Xbox 360 release for games released first on rival platforms.

Microsoft reserves the right to refuse an Xbox 360 release for games that are released first on other platforms, according to reports.

Eurogamer reveals that Microsoft's developer terms also stipulate that the company may also refuse to allow an Xbox 360 release for games that offer more features or content on other platforms.

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Daily links: August 24

A cockatiel, a trenchcoat, a game that's a music video and Xenoblade glitches.

Let’s kick off with a return to the gamification debate, as lawyer and game blogger L.B. Jeffries wades in to apply some good old fashioned law to proceedings. The question at the heart of gamification, he says, is “how far can you structure an organized system before it stops being play?” And if you exchange the word ‘play’ for ‘morality’ or ‘justice’, it’s a very similar to a question lawyers and judges have been arguing about for years.

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Machinarium iOS exclusive to iPad 2

The iPad port of Amanita Design's point-and-click adventure has, according to Pocket Gamer, been submitted to Apple and should be released on September 8. Unfortunately, it won't run on first-generation hardware, with Amanita co-founder Jakub Dvorský explaining: "Unfortunately, the game is performance and memory demanding, so we decided not to make any compromises and make it available only for iPad 2."
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/Machinarium/news.asp?c=32658&srch=machinarium
Pocket Gamer


Ni No Kuni PS3 gets Japan release date

The collaboration between Level 5 and Studio Ghibli was released for DS in Japan last December, but the wait for the PlayStation 3 release is finally at an end. According to this week's Famitsu, translated by Andriasang, Ni No Kuni PS3 will be released on November 17.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/24/ni_no_kuni_ps3_date/
Andriasang


Sony's Hocking: 3DS "doesn't work very well"

Despite prefacing his comments with "I won't comment directly on 3DS," Sony worldwide studios senior director Mick Hocking - the driving force behind stereoscopic 3D on PS3 - hints to Gamespot that he believes 3DS has struggled because its main selling point isn't good enough. "What we've seen over the last 12 months is a strong correlation between good-quality 3D content and great response from our fanbase," he says. "The opposite is also true. When people see 3D that doesn't work very well, or content that isn't very compelling, I think quite naturally they're not as interested in it."
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6330393/sony-goes-in-depth-on-3d
Gamespot


Nagoshi: Microsoft turned down Yakuza

Toshihiro Nagoshi, producer of the PlayStation exclusive Yakuza series, has revealed to Eurogamer that Microsoft turned down the opportunity to have the first game in the series on Xbox. In fact, Sony originally did as well. "At the beginning of the project we spoke to all the platform holders including Sony and Microsoft," he told Eurogamer. "Every platform holder was negative about this prospect, but we kept on pushing because we believed in the potential, and as we kept going the one platform holder that showed interest and saw the prospects of this title was Sony. That's how we started working with them, and that's probably not going to change." Sega announced in June that it had shipped five million copies of games in the series since the first Yakuza was released for PS2 in 2005.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-24-yakuza-unlikely-on-xbox-360
Eurogamer


Little King's Story sequel announced for Vita

Marvelous Entertainment is at work on a Vita sequel to the delightful 2009 Wii title, according to Andriasang. Konami is to publish the game, the Japanese title of which translates as "The King, The Demon King And The Seven Princesses: New King Story."
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/24/vita_king_story/
Andriasang


Little King's Story sequel announced for Vita

Marvelous Entertainment is at work on a Vita sequel to the delightful 2009 Wii title, according to Andriasang. Konami is to publish the game, the Japanese title of which translates as "The King, The Demon King And The Seven Princesses: New King Story."
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/24/vita_king_story/
Andriasang


Swery planning Deadly Premonition re-release

Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro told Metro at last week's Gamescom that he and his team at Access Games have plans for a special edition re-release of cult favourite Deadly Premonition, with improved graphics. He also wants to make both a prequel and sequel to the game, and says western publishers have expressed interest in an all-new title, another story-led action adventure.
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/872628-deadly-premonition-developer-prequel-and-sequel-on-the-cards
Metro


Microsoft bundles Monster Hunter in Japan

According to Andriasang, the official reason for the inclusion - at no extra cost - of Monster Hunter Frontier in a 250GB Xbox 360 bundle is to celebrate the September release of a new update to the game. What seems more likely is the desire to give hardware sales a much-needed boost. It's not the full version of Frontier, but a level-capped trial, with players needing to pay a monthly fee to continue beyond Hunter level 2.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/24/xbox360_monhan_bundle/
Andriasang


Theme Park headed to iOS

An all-new title based on Bullfrog's 1994 classic will be released for iPhone and iPad before the end of the year, Digital Spy reports. A free download with microtransaction support, some attractions will be based on EA properties including Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Dead Space. EA is also promising cloud storage of game saves using its Origin platform.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a335800/theme-park-coming-to-iphone-as-all-new-game-gamescom-2011.html
Digital Spy


Activision: social gaming company valuations “out of whack”

Activision isn’t ruling out expanding into the social gaming arena, but it appears unlikely to do so aggressively through buyouts. Speaking about the high market value of social game makers, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Bloomberg: “Valuations of some of the companies in that space are out of whack, so that’s an issue when it comes to acquisitions.” The executive went on to say that while Activision may not have made any formal announcements on the subject of bringing its games to social networks, “any new place where people are playing games, at scale, is something that we’re interested in.” He added: “Don’t mistake careful, methodical planning for inaction.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/social-game-company-valuations-out-of-whack-activision-publishing-says.html
Bloomberg


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