Capcom has formed Beeline Interactive, a dedicated studio which will develop and publish social games for smartphones.
Firm considering two-week shutdown this summer when electricity demand peaks.
Sony Corporation is considering shutting down some of its premises in Japan this summer in a bid to conserve energy, amid ongoing power shortages following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Japan has been suffering energy shortages ever since the earthquake hit last month, causing damage to several nuclear and thermal power stations, with the Fukushima Daiichi plant the worst affected.
Firm doubled its share of the shooter market last year thanks to Medal Of Honor; promises further inroads in 2011.
Publishing giant EA has said its “fewer, bigger” strategy – in which the firm invests more resources in fewer, higher-profile projects – is reaping dividends, with its share of the shooter market doubling last year, and the firm enjoying an even better start to 2011.
Danish studio’s attempt to crowdsource funding of Interstellar Marines development proves successful.
Zero Point Software, developer of the planned “AAA Indie” firstperson shooter trilogy Interstellar Marines, has confirmed that it has so far raised $125,000 in funding from the game’s community.
Japanese market lost an estimated 7.3 billion yen (£53.6 million) in the weeks following March 11 disaster.
Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain has revealed the severity of the effect the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami had on the Japanese videogame market.
Indie promotion comprised entirely of Finnish studio Frozenbyte’s work grosses over $500,000 in two days.
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle, the latest Humble Indie Bundle that features only games from Finnish studio Frozenbyte, has sold 100,000 units and grossed over $500,000 in its first 48 hours on sale.
Second week at the top for 505 Games’ sweat-‘em-up, seeing off Lego Star Wars’ challenge.
505 Games’ workout title Zumba Fitness is number one on the UK all-formats software chart for the second week in a row.
Crysis 2, number one before Zumba Fitness stole its crown, slips one place into third, with LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars moving up one spot into second.
Format: PS3
Release: TBC
Publisher: SCE
Developer: Team Ico
Those who buy Socom 4 second-hand will be locked out of playlists, weapons, maps and leaderboards.
Zipper Interactive, developer of the upcoming PS3 shooter Socom 4, has taken the Project Ten Dollar concept to the next level, with a single-use code in new copies locking second-hand buyers out of a host of multiplayer features.
“We learned lessons from the Wii and made sure to have ample supply,” says Fils-Aime of 3DS’s 400,000 US sales.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that 3DS only failed to sell out on its US debut because the firm learned from the Wii launch, and carefully managed the supply of its new portable to ensure retailers didn’t run out.
A new Nintendo console, brand new IP from Capcom and The World's Biggest Pac-Man - the key stories from a week in the game industry.
Monday
Portal 2 to be unlocked on Steam early if enough players play indie games listed in a themed game bundle.
Portal 2 was originally slated for an April 19 release in the US, but the ARG storyline has had GLaDOS explain that she will unlock it early if she can utilise enough CPUs to “force a faster boot sequence.”
Zoe Mode game director Brynley Gibson continues his exploration of Chime Super Deluxe's soundtrack.
EA-owned social studio’s ranks bolstered by recruitment of Aaron Loeb from troubled Planet Moon.
Aaron Loeb, former CEO of Planet Moon Studios, has joined the EA-owned social game studio Playfish as general manager.
Inside Social Games reports that Loeb’s new remit will mean overseeing production of Playfish’s portfolio of original games and titles based on EA’s established console franchises.
Format: Flash
Developer: Nitrome
Nitrome is my new favourite game developer. The London-based studio has spent the last few years building a cuddly, pixel-art empire for itself one game at a time, and with a colour pallet that favours hot pinks and moody, luminous purples and greens, the team’s output is refreshingly easy to spot.
Takeup of mobile OS continues to grow, rising from two to three billion apps in just two months.
Google has announced that over three billion apps have been installed on devices running its Android mobile operating system.
The firm revealed the news during an earnings call yesterday, according to TechCrunch, when it also announced that downloads of apps during the first three months of 2011 were up 50 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
Sony confirms console passed milestone late last month; Move sales pass eight million.
Cumulative worldwide sales of PlayStation 3 have passed the 50 million barrier, Sony has announced.
In a press release Sony confirmed that its console, released in 2006, reached the milestone on March 29. It also announced that sales of PS3’s motion controller, Move, have passed eight million units.
The figures show that Sony is closing in on its rival Microsoft, who said in January that lifetime sales of Xbox 360 stood at 50.8 million units.
Ubisoft studios have had development kits “for months”, motion-sensing “better than Move”; announcement at E3?
Sources have this morning confirmed reports that Nintendo has a successor to the Wii in the works, telling us that thirdparty studios including those of Ubisoft, Activision and Electronic Arts have had development units of the new hardware for months.
Lego latest takes top spot for second week, with Zumba Fitness the only new entry.
LucasArts’ latest Lego title, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, is the number one on the Nordic all-formats software chart for a second week in succession.
The start of the new financial year means a relative lack of new releases, with only one – 505 Games' Zumba Fitness, which is the current UK number one – making the top ten.
We talk to some of the industry’s leading audio directors to learn the tricks they use to pull our strings.
2010 sales revenue exceeds $100 million for the first time, with sharp growth on iOS, Facebook and console.
PopCap’s revenue in 2010 grew by more than 25 per cent in 2010, passing the $100 million mark in the process.
Much of that can be attributed to a steep rise in mobile revenue, with a sharp increase in sales on the iOS App Store – PopCap was the only firm to have two games feature on the top-grossing chart during 2010.
Pokémon tops software chart, DS is best-selling hardware, but 3DS software nowhere to be seen.
The NPD Group’s US sales data for the month of March contains bad and good news for Nintendo: its latest DS Pokémon titles, Black and White, occupy the top two slots in the all-formats physical software chart, and DS was the best-selling hardware of the month, but 3DS software is nowhere to be seen.
Streaming service, and its catalogue of seven million songs, launches for Sony’s handheld.
Sony’s cloud music service Music Unlimited is now available for PlayStation Portable.
The service, which now boasts a catalogue of over seven million songs, made its PS3 debut in February, and is also available on network-enabled Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players, Vaio computers and PCs.
Themed café opens its doors tomorrow; portion of game sales revenue to be donated to earthquake relief.
Ignition, developer of the upcoming El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron, has taken a novel approach to marketing the game ahead of its release later this month, opening a themed café in Tokyo.
Trade body celebrates its tenth anniversary at an event in London this evening.
UK trade association TIGA is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its inception today, marking the occasion with an event at broadcaster Channel 4’s central London studios.