Crytek sequel leads the pack as 3DS gets off to a good start.
EA shooter Crysis 2 is the new UK all-formats number one in a week dominated by new entries.
Only four of last week’s top ten – FIFA 11, Pokémon Black and White, and last week’s number one Homefront – make this week’s list.
Life’s work of Mikami, Molyneux, Inafune et al reduced to one single, debatable number.
Review score aggregation site Metacritic has begun ranking individual developers.
Prominent names like Shinji Mikami, Peter Molyneux, Ken Levine and Cliff Bleszinski now have their very own pages, as do any other individuals with a credit on a listed game.
Operator delays planned April 1 launch after finding “several bugs” in PlayStation Phone’s software.
UK mobile network operator O2 has delayed the planned April 1 release of Sony Ericsson’s “PlayStation Phone”, Xperia Play, after testers encountered several bugs in the system software.
Writing on the O2 blog, head of testing Stuart Hibberd notes that bugs in mobile phone software are far from a rare occurrence, but that the firm has decided to withhold the launch until Sony Ericsson irons out all the kinks.
Virtual items finally coming to Android handsets; developers can start testing apps now.
In-app purchasing for Android software is to launch next week, Google has announced.
In a post on the Android developers blog, Google’s Eric Chu confirms that the feature, which was made available to developers in January, is now in final testing ahead of a full launch next week.
Facebook gaming titan wants exemption from payroll taxation; may move elsewhere if turned down.
Social gaming king Zynga is reportedly threatening to leave its current base of San Francisco unless it is granted payroll tax relief.
Marketwatch reports that the Facebook gaming firm is in negotiations with city legislators to secure the same payroll tax exemption from new hires that was recently awarded to Twitter Inc, and is also seeking exemption from tax on employee stock options.
Strong worldwide sales reflected in latest Nordic sales data; strong debut for Shogun 2: Total War.
THQ shooter Homefront goes straight in at the top of the Nordic all-formats software chart in its first week on sale.
Steven Poole remains unconvinced of the motivations behind gamification.
“Piracy wouldn’t be as much of an issue if there were better PC games out there,” says Christofer Sundberg.
Christofer Sundberg, founder of Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, has said that PC piracy would be less of an issue if better games were released for the platform, and revealed that half of his staff come from a hacking background.
Format: Flash
Developer: Exploding Rabbit
Quiet. Listen. Hear that? Every minute of every day, a Flash designer somewhere around the globe is testing out their skills by rebuilding World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. Actually, maybe they’re not using Flash. Maybe they’re elbowing their way through Unity, or meddling with LittleBigPlanet’s Poppit menu. Whatever the tools, when bedroom coders are faced with a blank screen, what often ends up spilling onto it is the Mushroom Kingdom.
We investigate Crunchtime, the new documentary TV series on indie and student game jam Dare To Be Digital.
Dare To Be Digital, the annual development contest held at Dundee’s Abertay University, sees 15 teams from around the world descend on campus, each tasked with developing a game from concept to playable prototype in just 10 weeks. It’s a widely respected contest, virtually guaranteeing its participants a job in the videogame industry, and its three winners are shortlisted for a BAFTA award.
One of Arcade Edition’s “secret” characters now officially unlocked in Japanese arcades.
Capcom has announced that a new character, Evil Ryu, will be unlocked in Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition today.
The character, who as the name suggests is a demonic, Akuma-esque variant of Street Fighter stalwart Ryu, will be made available using the game’s built-in password system.
DS RPG’s return sparks a surge in monthly active users for Facebook titles “inspired” by the series.
A series of social games closely resembling Pokémon are enjoying success on Facebook, after the monster-catching series returned to the public consciousness with the recent DS release of Pokémon Black and White.
A thousand stores around the country open at midnight to herald new handheld’s UK debut.
Nintendo UK proclaimed its midnight launch of its new 3DS handheld a success this morning, saying events in London were “fantastic”.
The firm held an official launch party at Old Billingsgate in London, with comedian Russell Kane on stage and music from Plan B, Hadouken! and Parade.
Milestone passed within ten days of US release; 2.4 million shipped despite problems with online play.
THQ has announced that sales of Homefront have passed one million units, with 2.4 million copies shipped to retailers, in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
It also enjoyed the best debut week of any game in the UK so far this year.
Funding, advertising and analytics support for smaller mobile developers through Tapjoy Publishing.
App monetisation and distribution firm Tapjoy has released a publishing platform, logically titled Tapjoy Publishing, aimed at helping small developers.
Tapjoy allows mobile and social developers to add virtual currency and analytics mechanisms to apps for iOS, Android and Facebook. Tapjoy Publishing will help developers before and shortly after an app’s release by letting them use their monetisation tools and providing funding.
Format: 3DS
Release: March 25
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: In-house
Pity tactical shooter fans – clearly they’re not numerous enough to prop up a mega-franchise. The home console Clancy games have shed strategy for well-staged scripts, while the tactical warfighters among us are asked to get their fix from this top-down, turn-based game. But this is more than a sop: Ubisoft has brought on board Julian Gollop, the fêted designer of turn-based masterpieces UFO: Enemy Unknown and Laser Squad Nemesis.
HD remixes coming to XBLA and PSN this autumn, says Capcom.
Capcom has this afternoon confirmed that HD versions of Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica will be released in the west later this year.
140,000 pre-orders has marketing man predicting “our biggest-ever launch”.
Nintendo expects to sell more than 200,000 units of its new 3DS hardware in the UK alone this weekend.
Firm will not allow games that depend on 3D effect to be playable, so as not to alienate those who can’t see 3D.
Nintendo has moved to reassure potential 3DS purchasers who cannot see 3D that the firm is not insisting that all 3DS software only be playable in three dimensions.
Speaking to Wired, 3DS producer Hideki Konno said: “We want to get software out to as many people as possible, and there are some people who just can’t see 3D.
A selection of free and members-only videos, audio recordings and slides from the 2011 Game Developers Conference, which took place earlier this month in San Francisco, are now available to watch on GDC’s Vault website.
This is the first in a series of columns by the game director of excellent music-based puzzle game Chime about the development of Chime Super Deluxe for PSN, looking at the challenges of updating a game for a new platform.
Hacker sets the record straight after reports he had fled the country on legal donations.
PS3 hacker George “Geohot” Hotz has moved to correct erroneous reports that he has fled the country to escape Sony’s lawsuit, explaining he is in South America on vacation.
Trade body partners with Stemnet, inviting people in the industry to act as mentors to students.
UK trade association UKIE has announced the Videogames Ambassadors Scheme, in which it has partnered with Stemnet, an organisation promoting the study of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to young people.
Format: 3DS
Release: March 25
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: In-house/Monster Games
Delays and cancellations following Tohoku earthquake mean little has changed in Media Create chart.
Tecmo Koei’s latest Dynasty Warriors title retains top slot in this week’s Media Create Japanese software chart.
Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, most new releases were delayed, meaning there’s little change in this week’s chart.