Two UK developers top the all-formats chart for the week ended May 14.
London-based Splash Damage's online shooter Brink debuts at number one in this week's UK chart. Another UK developer, Cheshire-based Traveller's Tales, just misses out on the top spot with it's Disney-published Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean.
Last week's number one, Zumba Fitness, drops to third while Portal 2 drops two places to fourth. Call Of Duty: Black Ops rounds out the top five.
01. Brink (Bethesda)
Developer restores access to its games following confirmation of PSN service rollout.
MMOG developer Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that its networks are now back online, meaning that games such as DC Universe Online, Free Realms and EverQuest are now accessible again after nearly a month of downtime.
CVs and up to 25,000 email addresses taken in attack on Eidos and Deus Ex sites last week.
High volume of requests causes bottleneck as Sony rolls out phased restoration programme.
Due to the large volume of PlayStation Network users attempting to reset their passwords following the restoration of some services over the weekend, Sony had to shut down its services again this morning.
Regulators demand further assurances before PSN can be reactivated.
Following the start of a phased restoration of Sony's PlayStation Network services across Europe and North America, the Japanese company has faced a legal block in its domestic territory. Until it provides security assurances to regulators, PSN services cannot be restored in Japan.
Online gaming, friends lists and chat restored as "phased rollout" begins.
Over the weekend, Sony began restoring online gameplay and some other services to its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment's soe.com after more than three weeks offline.
Increased PS3 trade-ins, an attack on Deus Ex website and a huge game leak - the key stories from a week in the game industry.
Monday
Details of entire game, screenshots and audio, posted six months ahead of release in one of gaming's biggest leaks.
Gaming blog Kotaku has revealed a vast number of details regarding Activision's upcoming firstperson shooter sequel Modern Warfare 3, a full six months ahead of its supposed release date. The move appears to leave Activision with very little left to hide, disrupting a no doubt carefully planned PR campaign over the coming months that's likely to kick off at E3 next month.
Acclaim titles which breached child protection laws shut down in addition.
Disney-owned social game developer Playdom has settled for $3 million with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following accusations of improper collection and distribution of children's personal information.
Fiscal report shows year-on-year sales increase of 104.8 per cent; Sonic Colors a key contributor.
Sega Sammy has reported profits of ¥41.5 billion ($513.94m/£315.95m) and sales of ¥396.7 ($4.91bn/£3.02bn) billion - year-on-year increases of 104.8 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively - for the financial year ended March 31, 2011.
Strong domestic sales see Japanese developer and publisher return to profit.
Following losses last year, Disgaea developer Nippon Ichi has returned to profit this year. The company has reported a sales increase of 4.4 per cent to ¥2.22 billion ($27.5/£16.9m), while operating income rose from a loss of ¥235 million yen last year to a gain of ¥315 million ($3.9m/£2.4m).
Calls for greater cooperation between the UK's game development and investment industries.
Ed Vaizey, the UK minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, has called for more co-operation between the game development and investment industries in this country. Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Vaizey revealed that he thinks one of the biggest challenges facing the game industry is access to finance.
Clint Hocking eulogises the game industry and the talented individuals who make it up as they go along.
Microsoft aiming to significantly bolster Kinect line-up by the end of the year; showing new games at E3.
Following its success in April's NPD report, Microsoft has said that it will triple its Kinect games portfolio by the end of the year. According to the company, the Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console in the US for ten out of the previous 11 months.
John Blakely takes up general manager position at the social games studio after nearly a decade with SOE.
Sony Online Entertainment vice president of development John Blakely has left his position to join Zynga. Blakely will take on the role of general manager at the social game developer's Austin branch, according to an update spotted on his LinkedIn profile.
Later Easter holidays and higher average retail prices contribute to 20 per cent year-on-year growth.
The US videogame market has seen 20 per cent year-on-year growth in April, amassing $961.2 million in sales, according to the NPD group.
NPD reports that software sales have risen 26 per cent in year-on-year to $503.2 million, while hardware has enjoyed a slighty more modest uptick of 12 per cent to $279.9 million. Accesorries, meanwhile, grew 20 per cent to $147.6 million.
Peer review system updated to allow developers to schedule their own launch windows.
Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Indie Game developers will now be able to control the release date of games which have passed peer review. Microsoft hopes that the change will help developers to better coordinate their social networking, press and other promotional opportunities when it comes to launching titles.
Personal data of 80,000 registered users stolen; Anonymous splinter group thought to be behind attack.
The websites for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its publisher Eidos have been attacked, resulting in the loss of large amounts of personal data. According to security news and investigation site Krebs On Security, 9000 résumés were stolen along with the personal details of the website's 80,000 registered users.
Weak game sales and troubled Final Fantasy XIV launch result in ¥12 billion loss for fiscal year.
Square Enix has published its end-of-year fiscal report, confirming yesterday's warnings of a ¥12 billion ($148m/£90.6m) loss for the financial year ending March 31 2011. In addition, the report reveals revenues are down 34.8 per cent.
Good Old Games on freedom of speech and allowing its customers to circumvent Australian censors.
GTA creator returns to the game that brought his Realtime Worlds studio to its knees.
David Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto series and founder of Realtime Worlds, has joined Reloaded Productions to assist in development of APB Reloaded.
Says dismal PSone game sales reflective of an “awareness issue”; O2 to finally release handset next month.
Sony Ericsson has said it has “no concerns” with the rate at which original PlayStation games are selling for its gaming smartphone, Xperia Play.
Format: Xbox 360 (Version tested), PS3, PC
Release: May 13
Publisher: Bethesda
Developer: Splash Damage
Browser app marketplace that launched last year now everywhere; Google adds in-app purchasing support.
The Chrome Web Store, Google's app marketplace that runs in its Chrome web browser, is now available worldwide.
TechCrunch reports that Google’s Sundar Pichai revealed the news at the Google I/O event in San Francisco this week. The store is now available to all of Chrome’s 160 million users in 41 languages.
Plans to double headcount at new 10,000 square foot facility in development of a “triple A title on console”.
Sega subsidiary The Creative Assembly has announced plans to open a 10,000 square foot studio in West Sussex for the creation of a “triple A title on console” based on the Alien movie franchise.