UPDATE: Sony has posted the following statement on the PlayStation Blog:
"As you are no doubt aware, the current emergency outage is continuing this afternoon and all Sony Online Network services remain unavailable. Our support teams are investigating the cause of the problem, including the possibility of targeted behaviour by an outside party.
New Indie Showcase seeks ten projects made for less than £1 million without publisher funding.
The organisers of Develop In Brighton are calling for submissions for the event's new Indie Games Showcase, which will feature ten currently unpublished independent games chosen by a panel of experts.
Michael Rawlinson to step down at the end of the month after over a decade with the trade association.
UK trade association UKIE has announced that Michael Rawlinson, its director general, is to step down at the end of the month.
Rawlinson has been with UKIE for over a decade, and led the organisation as director general for the last two. In a brief statement, UKIE chairman Andy Payne paid tribute to Rawlinson’s achievements at the helm of the association.
How indie developer Adhesive Games intends to storm the triple-A stomping ground with its multiplayer mech project.
Nintendo handheld returns to top of the hardware charts as Namco Bandai PSP title takes the software crown.
Namco Bandai’s PSP title 2nd Super Robot Wars Z Hakai Volume is the new number one in the Japanese all-formats software chart, in a week that also sees improved performance by Nintendo's 3DS.
Eric Hirshberg confident that greater focus on Call Of Duty will not mean falling sales: “It’s the ‘stickiest’ game of all time.”
Publishing giant Activision is confident that its increasing emphasis on the Call Of Duty series will not see the franchise suffer the same fate as Guitar Hero, insisting that the enormously popular shooter is “perhaps the ‘stickiest’ game of all time”.
“We have not been this uncertain about what’s coming next in the game industry for 20 years...it’s scary.”
Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, believes that the rise of mobile, social, and digital distribution means that the industry is “scary” - especially for a firm who, with its Unreal Engine, is in the business of pushing new technology - and that the range of smartphone software available for as little as 99¢ is “killing us”.
Complexity of id’s Tech 5 engine means “building levels from scratch is more difficult”, says creative director.
Tim Willits, creative director of id Software, has revealed more on the PC modding tools that will be included with Rage, the first game the firm has developed completely in-house since 2004’s Doom 3.
Speaking to us at a preview event in Utah last week, Willits revealed that the tools available will likely not offer the same level of creative freedom as id's previous titles.
Downvoting was far worse than first thought and affected games may never recover, says Cthulhu Saves The World developer.
Robert Boyd, the developer of Xbox Live Indie Games Cthulhu Saves The World and Breath Of Death VII: The Beginning, says he is pleased that Microsoft has revised its policy for the rating of games on the service, but that the firm's failure to remove suspicious votes is “highly disappointing” and that affected games may never recover, with some now "completely buried."
Devs reveal Valve gave "free rein to design" pre-release ARG and "access to any IP we wanted.”
The developers of games included in the Potato Sack, the bundle of indie games that users were required to play as part of the Portal 2 ARG in order to bring forward the game’s release date, were deeply involved in the project's design and implementation from its inception last December.
Remains unimpressed with retailer’s Android app pricing policy despite attempt to clarify developer terms.
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) remains unimpressed by the terms imposed on developers who publish games on the the Amazon Appstore, despite the retailer’s attempt to clarify its stance on app pricing.
The Team Ico creative director talks Ico, Trico and his plans for future productions.
Team Ico’s creative director Fumito Ueda has created some of modern gaming’s most aesthetically distinctive experiences, embracing minimalism while most other developers chase ever-greater levels of bombast. Here, he tells us where his imagination will take us next, via The Last Guardian.
The Last Guardian: could you explain the meaning of the name?
Fumito Ueda pushes back 2011 release to ensure “better quality of content”; Ico And SOTC Collection delayed too.
SCEE has announced that one of the most keenly anticipated games of the year, Team Ico’s The Last Guardian, as well as the Ico And Shadow Of The Colossus Collection, have been delayed.
Future sales limited to existing stock as Sony labels PSP Go with “shipment ended” on official site.
Sony Japan has officially confirmed an end to production and shipments of its digital-only handheld, PSP Go.
Japanese site Phileweb, translated by Andriasang, claims Sony has formally announced that future PSP Go sales will come from existing stock, and has marked its PSP Go listings on PlayStation.com with a “shipment ended” notice.
User-generated content made with PC-only Creation Kit “works on all the consoles...we’d like to find a way.”
The fruits of the Creation Kit, the suite of modding tools for the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, could reach consoles, developer Bethesda has said.
Format: Xbox 360, PC (version tested), PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: EA
Developer: Valve
The Orange Box was a quixotic endeavour: unusual and idealistic, it’s also probably the greatest value-for- money purchase in gaming history. But while the ongoing adventures of Gordon Freeman and Team Fortress 2 were the bulk, it was Portal that stole hearts. Petite, chic and unique, it’s a masterpiece. It was also a whole, self-contained and neatly tied up, before success made a sequel inevitable.
Significant changes to charts suggest Apple is putting greater emphasis on user activity, not just download numbers.
Apple appears to have made some subtle changes to the algorithm that determines which apps make the charts on its App Store, with greater weight given to user activity, rather than pure download volumes as before.
Highlights from our community, featuring Nintendo's new console and a debate on buying games from supermarkets.
Community Blogs
Following reports that Nintendo is working on a successor to its Wii console – subsequently confirmed by our sources – Matty Boy considers the ramifications of the rumours.
Jordan Mechner, Ed Fries and Brandon Boyer to keynote ninth annual Nordic Game in Sweden next month.
Organisers of the annual Nordic Game conference have announced the full schedule for the 2011 event, to be held next month in Malmo, Sweden.
Keynote speakers include Prince Of Persia creator Jordan Mechner, Ed Fries, co-founder of the Xbox Project, and Brandon Boyer, chairman of the Independent Games Festival, which runs as part of the annual Game Developers Conference.
EA-owned social studio begins the switch to Facebook's virtual currency ahead of July 1 deadline.
Social game developer Playfish is killing off its own virtual currency, Playfish Cash, in favour of Facebook’s own equivalent, Facebook Credits.
PS3 owners get Kratos, 360 owners get nothing: “We certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360.”
Ed Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series, insists developer Netherrealm Studios wanted an exclusive character to be included in the Xbox 360 version of the series' latest installment, which is out this week, but “cirumstances didn’t allow” for the team to do so.
Social game removed from troubled site, with Zynga pointing players to mafiawars.com instead.
Social gaming titan Zynga has pulled its popular Mafia Wars game from troubled social networking site Myspace.
In a post on the game’s MySpace page, Zynga confirms that Mafia Wars was discontinued yesterday, April 18. Instead it points players towards the game’s official site, mafiawars.com, where the game continues, with the developer promising an improved experience with new locations.
A wardrobe's worth of T-shirts, hoodies and bags available in new colours from CVG's online store.
With spring now in full tilt, and summer rapidly approaching, the only reasonable course of action is to put your winter wardrobe back in the attic and invest in an Edge T-shirt or two.
As it happens, you can find a colourful selection of his, hers and kids T-shirts, hoodies and bags sporting a range of designs in CVG’s online store. Worldwide shipping is available, along with an express option for impatient UK residents.
Sony neither confirms nor denies claims that troubled digital-only handheld is officially a thing of the past.
Sony has discontinued production of its PSP Go handheld, according to reports.
A Japanese blog that appears to be run by a Sony Shop employee, translated by Andriasang, claims that Sony confirmed to the blogger’s sales manager that production has been ceased, and that he should expect no further shipments of the handheld.
