Just a few years ago, the prevalence of powerful, gaming-capable smartphones we see today was little more than a pipe dream. Moreover, the idea that traditional handheld consoles would face any real threat was laughable. It’s difficult to recall that time, now that everything from Drop7 to Dead Space lingers temptingly in your pocket, just a download away. And it’s Apple’s iPhone that much of the revolution can be attributed to, despite Google’s Android platform now winning the numbers game.
Just a year and a half ago, on the eve of Unity Technologies’ announcement that it would be launching a free version of Unity, its game development platform, it had 13,000 users. Today, according to company CEO David Helgason, it boasts 450,000 developers.
With the increasing prominence of game industry ‘personalities’ – more often than not serving as the mouthpiece for larger studios’ projects – it’s difficult to shake the picture of the auteur issuing orders down a chain of command, creativity restricted very much to the top tier. Of course, many developers’ experience of working on a big-budget, potentially massmarket, title will be one of focused specialism, and necessarily so.
A lot of (arguably wasted) time has been dedicated to the comparison of games with what were, until very recently, significantly more successful media. Art, literature, films and television – it is, perhaps, an inevitability that, as it struggles to find an identity of its own, apologists for any new form of expression or entertainment will seek to legitimise it within the precedents set out by existing channels.
Kidulthood director picks up rights to best-forgotten 2006 PSP game.
Menhaj Huda, director of the British film Kidulthood, has acquired the movie rights to 2006 PSP title Gangs Of London.
The filmmaker, who won a British Independent Film award for his 2006 film about west London youth, has optioned the rights through production firms Pulse Films and Foton Films.
Menhaj Huda, director of the British film Kidulthood, has acquired the movie rights to 2006 PSP title Gangs Of London.
The filmmaker, who won a British Independent Film award for his 2006 film about west London youth, has optioned the rights through production firms Pulse Films and Foton Films.
Developers that spread themselves too thinly “find it hard to keep a balance”, says Nadeo founder.
Florent Castelnerac, founder of TrackMania developer Nadeo, has explained why the firm's user-generated content platform, ManiaPlanet, won’t be making the jump to consoles anytime soon, pointing to Battlefield developer DICE as evidence that developers who shift focus to console development "find it hard to keep a balance."
Florent Castelnerac, founder of TrackMania developer Nadeo, has explained why the firm's user-generated content platform, ManiaPlanet, won’t be making the jump to consoles anytime soon, pointing to Battlefield developer DICE as evidence that developers who shift focus to console development "find it hard to keep a balance."
Tells Lodsys to stop threatening developers with infringement suits as they are covered by Apple's licence.
Apple has intervened on behalf of developers who were the subject of legal threats over alleged patent violations in their products on the App Store.
Last week a number of developers revealed that they had been threatened with legal proceedings by Lodsys, a firm which holds patents covering online help, subscription renewal, in-app purchasing and interactive advertising.
Apple has intervened on behalf of developers who were the subject of legal threats over alleged patent violations in their products on the App Store.
Last week a number of developers revealed that they had been threatened with legal proceedings by Lodsys, a firm which holds patents covering online help, subscription renewal, in-app purchasing and interactive advertising.
Building on E228’s preview feature, Nadeo's founder explains the intricacies of TrackMania’s sequel.
In case you didn’t hear back when Nadeo quietly announced it in 2009, the sequel to TrackMania isn’t just about driving. A mindboggling trio of titles built upon a single ‘OS’, ManiaPlanet incorporates TrackMania 2: Canyon (a back-to-basics, beautified refresh of its racing game construction kit), ShootMania: Storm (a philosophically identical FPS maker), and QuestMania (an RPG maker).
Director reveals next project is “a court drama” based on a Nintendo DS game.
Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has hinted that he is at work on a movie adaptation of Capcom’s Ace Attorney series.
Speaking to the Huffington Post at the Cannes Film Festival, where he is promoting Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai, the director revealed that his next project would be something very different indeed.
Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has hinted that he is at work on a movie adaptation of Capcom’s Ace Attorney series.
Speaking to the Huffington Post at the Cannes Film Festival, where he is promoting Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai, the director revealed that his next project would be something very different indeed.
“It is a very light comedy that I am filming now,” he said. “[It’s] a court drama, based on a videogame, the Nintendo game DS.”
First gameplay footage confirms USA, England, France and Germany for this year’s Call Of Duty.
Activision has released the first gameplay footage of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
The trailer debuted on US TV last night during the NBA western conference finals, and has since been posted on YouTube. It confirms much of what was revealed last week when vast amounts of information on gameplay, plus locations and assets, were leaked.
Inspiration for Adventure Island’s Master Higgins to step down at the end of the month after 26 years.
Toshiyuki Takahashi, the public face of Japanese studio Hudson Soft for more than a quarter of a century, is to leave the firm at the end of this month.
Ed Vaizey among speakers at this week’s Investing In Videogames in bid to improve access to development funding.
The National Endowment For Science, Technology And The Arts (Nesta) has responded to calls for improved links between game developers and investors with a series of what it describes as “speed-date” meetings, beginning in London this week.
Admits loss may pass ¥14 billion estimate should evidence of credit card fraud emerge or class action suits succeed.
Sony estimates that the fallout from the recent attack on its online service, PlayStation Network, will cost it ¥14 billion (£105.6 million) – and warns that figure may yet grow.
Dead Or Alive Dimensions pulled due to potential breach of Swedish child pornography legislation.
The release of Dead Or Alive Dimensions in Sweden, Norway and Denmark has been cancelled due to a potential violation of Swedish law.
Publisher Codemasters
Developer In-house
Format 360, PS3 (version tested), PC
Release May 24
Rockstar's title becomes the UK's fastest ever selling new IP; The Witcher 2 debuts at five.
LA Noire has shot to the top of this week's all format chart for the week ended May 21. In doing so, it has become the UK's fastest ever selling new game IP.
Across its respective formats, Rockstar's crime adventure became the 13th fastest-selling game on Xbox 360 (which saw 58 per cent of sales, compared to Red Dead Redemption's 65 per cent) and 11th fastest on PS3.
Monster Hunter Portable HD to kick off PSP Remaster series, with HD visuals, 3D support, shared game saves and more.
Sony has announced plans to bring PlayStation Portable titles, in HD with exclusive content and 3D support, to the PlayStation 3.
The promotion, dubbed PSP Remaster, will also allow game saves to be shared between the two systems, allowing for progress to be saved on one format and resumed on the other.
Two new vulnerabilities exposed, hackers "putting their fingers in [security] holes faster than Sony can fill them."
In two fresh hacking attacks, a Sony website in Thailand has been attacked while virtual points have been stolen in Japan. While PSN remains unaffected, a link was added to the Sony website which directed users to a fake site purporting to be an Italian credit card company.
The return of PSN, overheating consoles and more security flaws - the key stories from a week in the game industry.
Monday
Google's OS beats outpaces iOS and Symbian for the first three months of the year.
According to a new report published by IT research and advisory company Gartner, Google's Android platform became the world's dominant mobile operating system during the first three months of 2011.
The report claims that Android's market share was 36 per cent in Q1, and increase of 9.6 per cent year on year, representing a total installed userbase of around 36.3 million handsets.