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June 23, 2011

Portal 2 sells 3 million

Valve founder Gabe Newell revealed that the EA-published sequel had passed three million sales at the Games For Change event in New York City yesterday. For the sake of comparison, the original Portal had sold four million copies across all platforms except Steam by the time its sequel was released in April.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/22/newell-portal-2-has-sold-3-million-copies-since-launch/
Joystiq


Zelda helps 3DS back on top in Japan

Nintendo handheld tops hardware sales for the first time in two months, though Ocarina misses out on number one.

Nintendo's 3DS was the best-selling hardware in Japan last week, as the release of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D saw the glasses-free 3D handheld outsell PSP for the first time in more than two months.

3DS sold 40,649 units over the course of the week, a comfortable lead over PSP's 31,741 sales, though PSP has been the best-selling hardware in Japan for some time: the last time 3DS topped the hardware chart was the week ending April 17.

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Zelda helps 3DS back on top in Japan

Nintendo handheld tops hardware sales for the first time in two months, though Ocarina misses out on number one.

Nintendo's 3DS was the best-selling hardware in Japan last week, as the release of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D saw the glasses-free 3D handheld outsell PSP for the first time in more than two months.

3DS sold 40,649 units over the course of the week, a comfortable lead over PSP's 31,741 sales, though PSP has been the best-selling hardware in Japan for some time: the last time 3DS topped the hardware chart was the week ending April 17.

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Infinity Blade set for free-to-play release in Japan

Chair Entertainment's Unreal-powered iOS title - named the fastest-grossing iOS app of all time after grossing over $1.6 million in just four days - will see a free-to-play release in Japan later this year under the name Infinity Blade X. Japanese firm DeNA will release the game through its mobile social gaming network, Mobage, this autumn.
http://www.epicgames.com/news/dena-to-bring-infinity-blade-x-to-mobage-in-japan
Epic Games


Report: PopCap buyer is EA

TechCrunch broke the news that PopCap was in talks over a $1 billion acquisition last night, and has since been told by two sources that the prospective buyer is Electronic Arts, and that talks are at a late stage. This would be a risky move for EA - the purchase price would be 13 per cent of its $7.49 billion stock market valuation - but not inconceivable given PopCap's success relative to that of Playfish, which EA acquired in 2009 for $400 million. EA also acquired Chillingo, publisher of the first Angry Birds and Cut The Rope, last October, though the terms of the deal were undisclosed. A PopCap spokesperson told us: "Per company policy, we do not comment on rumours and speculation of this nature."
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/sources-popcap-buyer-is-ea
TechCrunch


June 22, 2011

Report: PopCap being acquired for over $1 billion

TechCrunch claims that the Seattle-based casual game maker and publisher is in the process of being acquired for over $1 billion. The site says the buyer is currently unknown but that it’s not Zynga, which has apparently looked into the acquisition but found the asking price too high. Other possible contenders are EA and large Chinese online company Tencent. PopCap’s annual revenues are currently thought to be around $100-150 million.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/popcap-games-to-be-acquired-for-1-billion/
TechCrunch


Report: PopCap being acquired for over $1 billion

TechCrunch claims that the Seattle-based casual game maker and publisher is in the process of being acquired for over $1 billion. The site says the buyer is currently unknown but that it’s not Zynga, which has apparently looked into the acquisition but found the asking price too high. Other possible contenders are EA and large Chinese online company Tencent. PopCap’s annual revenues are currently thought to be around $100-150 million.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/popcap-games-to-be-acquired-for-1-billion/
TechCrunch


Facing reality

Why LA Noire is just the latest step towards the perfect human (or alien) performance.

Seemingly without exception, developers really want to talk about LA Noire. With its use of performance capture taking centre stage, creating the first detective game in which the only required reading is the face of each suspect, it's given us a breakthrough we seldom see: obvious and powerful, without which the game simply would not work. So integral is MotionScan, a pioneering 'markerless' capture solution by Depth Analysis, that no mention of LA Noire is complete without it.

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UK retailers accused of Steamworks blacklist

Darryl Still, of IL2 Sturmovik publisher 1C Company, tells CVG: "[Retailers] recently sent a command to publishers that if they include Steamworks in their title it will not be stocked...They need to grow up, stop bullying, and focus their attentions on making their offerings as attractive as the people they are obviously looking over their shoulders in panic at."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/304378/how-valve-shook-up-the-pc-market-1c-on-steams-true-value/
CVG


Kirby gets own Wii TV channel

From tomorrow, Wii owners in Europe, Australia and New Zealand will be able to download the Kirby TV Channel, which will host over 50 episodes telling of Kirby's exploits in Dream Land. Two episodes will be released per week, with each one available for a fortnight before being removed.
http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/28123/kirby-tv-coming-to-wii/
ONM


Kirby gets own Wii TV channel

From tomorrow, Wii owners in Europe, Australia and New Zealand will be able to download the Kirby TV Channel, which will host over 50 episodes telling of Kirby's exploits in Dream Land. Two episodes will be released per week, with each one available for a fortnight before being removed.
http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/28123/kirby-tv-coming-to-wii/
ONM


A new Golden Age of gaming

In the first of a new monthly column, Giordano Bruno Contestabile looks at the five stages of grief the game industry must go through to reach a Golden Age.

Everyone in the video game industry, and anyone with an interest in gaming, can attest that the last couple of years have brought considerable change, and with it an equivalent amount of turmoil. But in this opening column for Edge I want to argue that those events, rather than wrecking our beloved industry, are putting down the foundations for the next stage of growth, and potentially for a true Golden Age of gaming.

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Sony offers six free months of Music Unlimited

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony has announced that PlayStation 3 owners in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand can sign up for a free 180-day trial of the streaming music service's basic package. This gives access to a catalogue of seven million songs through PS3, PC and a recently released Android client, as well as the option of uploading your own collection to the cloud. However, the offer is not available to those who have previously taken advantage of the free 30-day trial of the premium service.
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/06/22/180-days-of-q-music-unlimited-free-on-ps3
Sony


Trenched delayed in Europe

Double Fine's mecha tower defence game was due to be released on XBLA today, but is yet to appear on the European Xbox Live Marketplace. A Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer: "Distribution of Trenched in select European regions will be slightly delayed. We're working to resolve the matter as soon as possible."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-22-trenched-delayed-in-europe
Eurogamer


Microsoft confirms Kinect advertising

Nuads platform shown off in Cannes; voice and gesture-controlled ads coming to Xbox 360 next spring.

Microsoft has officially unveiled Nuads, the Kinect-powered interactive advertising platform on which we first reported last week.

As Microsoft's trademark filing suggested, Nuads - shorthand for Natural User-Interface Advertising - is a platform that will see interactive advertisements on the Xbox 360, a move which Microsoft's Mark Kroese says in a blog post "will change television as we know it - forever."

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Paul Cuisset on Amy

The man behind Flashback discusses his new survival horror.

Paul Cuisset first came to prominence as the creative director of now defunct French studio Delphine Software and is the auteur behind the rotoscoped adventure Flashback, the best selling French game of all time. Now helming Vector Cell, Cuisset's latest project is Amy, a PSN (and eventually XBLA, too) survival horror title in which you must protect the titular Amy, an autistic girl with mysterious powers, from marauding infected townsfolk.

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Lego Universe goes free-to-play

The Lego Group confirms that its MMOG will be available as a free-to-play title this August, though players will be restricted to just two of the game's 15 adventure zones. Vice president Jesper Vilstrup said: "We see Lego Universe as a key element for our digital play division, and are adjusting the business model to make the game more accessible to players, without the immediate obligation to purchase or subscribe." The firm also made clear it does not intend to introduce microtransactions.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-06-22-lego-universe-builds-free-to-play-option
GI.biz


Dragon Quest X may appear on Wii U

During an investor briefing, nervous shareholders raised concern at the next game in the enormously popular Dragon Quest series only being released for the ageing Wii. In response, CEO Yoichi Wada said Square Enix was looking at also making the game compatible with Wii U, and is currently carrying out "technical investigations" into how to make it possible.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/22/dqx_wii_u/
Andriasang


MP renews call for Games Tax Relief

Dundee MP Jim McGovern urges government to review targeted relief "as a matter of priority."

Parliament saw fresh calls for a dedicated Games Tax Relief for the UK videogame industry today after an MP urged culture minister Ed Vaizey to review the issue "as a matter of priority."

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Mighty Milky Way review

WayForward's puzzler is sweet, unique, and occasionally brilliant.

Online doesn't much figure in the success story of DS and Wii, so spare a thought for poor old DSiWare. Forever closeted by Nintendo's terrible online store, it is a swamp of chopped-up boxed games, the usual Gameloft suspects, and half-hearted iPhone ports. As its best moments transfer to the 3DS shop, it would be wrong to call DSiWare a service in decline: it never really got going.

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Cataclysm set for China

The third World Of Warcraft expansion will be released in China, through NetEase, on July 12. Coming seven months after its western launch, this will be the quickest Chinese release of a WOW expansion to date: The Burning Crusade took eight months, and Wrath Of The Lich King was released 23 months later, after being twice rejected by the Chinese government. Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime said: "We've always appreciated Chinese gamers' passion and support for World Of Warcraft, and we're excited that they'll soon be able to enjoy all of the great new content this expansion has to offer."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-06-22-cataclysm-to-launch-in-china-next-month
GI.biz


Australia reclassifies DOA Dimensions

Tecmo Koei's 3DS fighting game was removed from sale two weeks ago after a media outcry over its PG rating. Nintendo has since resubmitted Dimensions for appropriate classification and it has been awarded an M rating, and should be back on sale in the near future.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/06/dead-or-alive-dimensions-has-been-reclassified/
Kotaku


Gaikai reveals Walmart deal

Visitors to Walmart's website can now trial streamed games at the click of a mouse button, and buy the full game on the spot as well. Gaikai chief executive David Perry said: "Over the next 12 months, when people see a videogame on TV and want to try it out, they can be sure the fastest way will be on Walmart's website. It's an exciting time and you'll see more sites around the world doing these stealth launches with us."
http://venturebeat.com/2011/06/21/gaikai-scores-a-whopper-of-a-game-distribution-deal-with-walmart-com-exclusive/
VentureBeat


City Of Heroes goes free-to-play

Publisher NCSoft confirms that its superhero MMOG, which launched in 2004, will make the switch to the increasingly popular free-to-play model later this year. A premium subscription will still be available, with non-paying players restricted to two characters per account and locked out of some gameplay elements. Executive producer Brian Clayton said: "Freedom is about getting more content into the hands of our players...For the first time ever, players can choose to enjoy more than seven years of content for free."
http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/news_archive/announcing_city_of_heroes_free_1.html
City Of Heroes


Yakuza series ships 5 million

Sega confirms that it has shipped more than five million copies of the series since the first Yakuza made its debut for PlayStation 2 in 2005. Shipments of Yakuza Of The End, the zombie spinoff that was finally released in Japan two weeks ago after Sega chose to delay its March release following the March earthquake and tsunami, have already passed 400,000 units.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/22/yakuza_sales/
Andriasang


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