So innocuous, so unassuming, so all-encompassing, Tiny Tower is nearly brilliant. The most obvious attraction may well be the price – which is ostensibly nothing – but this game will eventually take your money, and there's simply no calculating how much time.
So innocuous, so unassuming, so all-encompassing, Tiny Tower is nearly brilliant. The most obvious attraction may well be the price – which is ostensibly nothing – but this game will eventually take your money, and there's simply no calculating how much time.
Speaking at this year's Develop conference today, EA sports worldwide development lead Andrew Wilson said that game retailers are facing a serious disruptive challenge from on-demand digital content.
Despite the continued growth of the game market, fewer players are choosing to visit specialist retailers, instead turning to Facebook games and download services such as Steam, Xbox Live and PSN. 45 per cent of game revenues in 2010 were digital, according to Wilson.
What’s the ultimate fate of a successful indie game? For Doodle Jump, it's being gobbled up by the Pac-Man brand. Pac'N-Jump is stuffed with Namco’s retro iconography – the later ‘stages’ are themed on Dig Dug, Rally-X and Galaga – and does a great job of turning them into mechanics, but at its core this is only a clone of a hit.
Cavorite’s bushy haired and bespectacled scientist looks familiar, and so do most of the things around him: crates, buttons, platforms, exits. That it manages to be original is surprising – and what lets it down is tragic.
Cavorite’s bushy haired and bespectacled scientist looks familiar, and so do most of the things around him: crates, buttons, platforms, exits. That it manages to be original is surprising – and what lets it down is tragic.
Following reports last month UTV Ignition has confirmed that it has made a number of job cuts at the Austin-based True Studios, which developed free-to-play MMOG Faxion Online and was working on FPS Reich.
UTV online vice president Don Choi issued a statement to Gamasutra saying that only a "fraction" of the studios staff had been laid off, though an affected employee, who wished to remain anonymous, contradicted the statement, claiming instead that the majority of employees at True had been let go.
According to a report from Gene Munster, analyst at investment bank and institutional securities firm Piper Jaffray, the amount of apps downloaded by the average Apple iOS device user in 2011 has seen a 61 per cent increase year-on-year (rising from 51 apps in 2010 to 83).
This boost comes in spite of an increased app ASP (average selling price), which has risen 14 per cent year-on-year in 2011 to $1.44, recovering from an 18 per cent decline in 2010.
EA Sports has revealed plans to open a new division in Austin, Texas.
State governor Rick Perry and EA executives announced the move during a press conference at BioWare Austin today.
"We're going to be adding 300 jobs to our operations here in Austin," half permanent positions and the rest contract ones, EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau said, according to Joystiq.
This year's Develop, which runs from tomorrow until Thursday, may be free of some of the big international industry names that have headlined the conference in previous years - Tim Schafer and BioWare's Greg Zeschuk were at last year's, for instance. But, outside the headliners the lineup still features plenty of rewarding details - even if the rainy weather won't suit the seaside setting. Sigh. Following are some of the sessions we're particularly looking forward to.
According to a report from Famitsu, Bandai Namco (known in the west as Namco Bandai) has taken the largest proportion of Japan's boxed retail sales this year.
Revenues from Bandai Namco represented 16.7 per cent of the country's total software revenues this year, bolstered by the high-profile release of PSP shooter 2nd Super Robot Wars Z in April and PSP adventure Ore no Imōto, which is based on a popular youth novel series.