Connectivity issues see PS3 multiplayer demo removed “to ensure final product is flawless at launch.”
EA has taken down the PlayStation 3 multiplayer demo of upcoming shooter Crysis 2 after numerous players experienced connectivity issues.
In a statement on its website the publisher said that it was “closing” the demo, which only launched on PlayStation Network on Tuesday, to ensure all issues were ironed out in time for Crysis 2’s retail release next week.
The Consolarium team is currently working with three local authority partners in Scotland to explore the application of The Land of Me in the Early Years setting. Having already started things off a couple of months back with Dundee City and West Lothian Councils we finally managed to kick things off today when we met Maggie Irving (check out her own site that has some great help for CfE) and the teachers involved in this stage of the initiative from Argyll and Bute. It was great to see that the teachers had been funded to take the day out of school in order to come to this initial event.
Maggie Irving had planned for everyone to have a ‘fluid’ day in order for us to tease out and explore just how we might begin to plan for the use of The Land of Me. The consensus of opinion was that the last thing we wanted to create was a set of pre-planned activities that would be used by everyone and so there was a general discussion of how each of the six chapters could be used.
It is fair to say that Maggie Irving was particulalry taken with the The Land of Me so I took the opportunity to record our discussion about just why it was she thought it was so appealing. You can hear our discussion here:
(Transcript to follow)
The main points about the resource that Maggie raises are:
The teachers involved over the course of the day were delight to work with and they seemed to be of the opinion that the resource and the learning opportunities that could be exploited from it was something that they could use to great effect in their settings. Maggie was really pleased with her colleagues response to the day saying, “If this is the response from teaching staff then it will be fabulous to see what the kids do with it!”
In order to suport this initiative we introduced the teachers to the Land of Me area within Glow and this gave us a perfect opportunity to share the forums within Glow with them. CPDConsolarium was also shared with the teachers and we have asked that this becomes integral to how they manage their progress when using The Land of Me in their settings.
Future follow up posts about progress will be published over the next few months.
Publisher looking at new premises in Canada as next generation “will demand more attention and staff.”
Square Enix intends to open a second Canadian studio as it “prepares” for the release of new consoles.
The publisher is in negotiations with the Quebec authorities to open a second studio in the region, either in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal, where Square Enix already has a presence in the form of Eidos Montreal.
Noted Hollywood composer returns to videogame composing two years after Modern Warfare 2.
Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer has been revealed as the man behind the music in Crytek’s upcoming shooter Crysis 2.
In a film career spanning three decades Zimmer has provided the music for the likes of Inception, Rain Man, True Romance and The Last Emperor, for which he won an Oscar. He worked on his first videogame in 2009, co-producing the score for Activision’s Modern Warfare 2.
Undeterred by decline in music genre, Ubisoft discards the plastic peripheral in favour of real electric guitars.
Publisher Ubisoft is belatedly entering the music genre, with the release later this year of Rocksmith.
Set for release in the second half of 2011, Rocksmith is a guitar-based music game letting players strum along to music from the likes of David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana. So far, so familiar.
Drag-and-drop design environment to help kids develop STEM skills launches with $5,000 design contest.
Microsoft has announced the release of Kodu Game Lab, a drag-and-drop game design interface aimed at helping children develop STEM skills, and launched a $5,000 competition, the Kodu Cup.
Multiplayer DS RPG passed milestone last December; total series exceeds 57 million units shipped.
Square Enix has announced that it has shipped more than 5.3 million copies of Dragon Quest IX worldwide.
Released last July, the DS RPG passed the milestone last December. It is the first game in the much-loved series to pass 5 million units shipped.
Dragon Quest IX was the first game in the series – of which units shipped now total in excess of 57 million – to feature cooperative multiplayer.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops remains ahead the latest Pokemon releases in the UK Top Sellers Buzz Chart.
The top five of this week’s UK Top Sellers Buzz Chart are almost unchanged, with Black Ops (24, 271 mentions), Pokemon Black / White (14,767 and 14,375 respectively) and Bulletstorm (10,643) occupying the first four slots. Killzone 3’s 8692 comments, however, see it rise one place to fifth, replacing Dead Space 2 which this week leaves the top ten altogether.
Due to launch next week, Apple delays tablet indefinitely as Japan recovers from Tohoku earthquake.
Apple has confirmed that it has postponed the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan as the country continues to recover from last Friday’s Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
The firm told the BBC that its new tablet, which was originally set for release in Japan on March 25, has now been delayed indefinitely.
No “money-spinning venture”, Gamefest to debut this September at Birmingham NEC.
UK retailer Game has announced that it will launch a new annual consumer games show, Gamefest, later this year.
Announced at last night’s BAFTA Video Game Awards, which Game sponsored, managing director Martin Gibbs said: “We promise this is not a money-spinning venture.” Instead the show is designed to help the industry “be first to consumers”.
Thief, System Shock man hired by Valve two weeks ago.
Valve software has confirmed that industry veteran Doug Church joined its ranks a fortnight ago.
Church began his career at Looking Glass Studios, working on classic PC titles like Ultima, Thief and System Shock. He later joined Eidos Interactive as technical director, helping design Tomb Raider: Legend.
What’s in a catchphrase? The shortest, snappiest, cleverest sound-bites can make a star of out even the most ordinary of us and in so doing win a Sony PS3 for your school/establishment at Game to Learn: Take2! on Saturday.
Yes, with one eye on the great Roy Walker (“say what you see”) we’d like to challenge you to the Consolarium Twitter Catchphrase Challenge! Get your thinking caps on, your Twitter account at the ready and come up with the catchiest catch-phrase that will meet this challenge:
Why is Game Based Learning and/or Game Design a success in schools?
If you don’t have a Twitter account then you can sign up for one here www.twitter.com. Once you have set this up and you wish to submit your catchy catchphrase then please ensure that you are within the 140 characters that a ‘tweet’ allows. You will also need to add this hashtag to your tweets #g2lcomp. The Consolarium team will look at this #g2lcomp stream over the course of the day and make a decision on the one that they feel is the catchiest catchphrase.
The most terrific, tastiest and topmost tweet takes home (to their school/educational establishment) a wonderful Sony PS3 with a copy of Little Big Planet AND Little Big Planet2!
Please Note: You must be at the conference venue to claim your prize.
If your tweet does not win then do not fear for there is the chance that you could yet be lucky as we have two desirable Nintendo DSi, a superb Nintendo Wii AND a fantastic Xbox 360 with Kinect to give away at the end of the day….details of you might get your hands one of these prizes to be given out on the day.
We wish to thank our friends at Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft for their support for Game to Learn.
*Guest post from Judi Regan and Dawn Calder at Menzieshill Nursery School, Dundee who are involved with our Kinectimals initiative. JUdi, along with het HT LOuise REid will be sharing their experience of using Kinectimals at Game to Learn: Take2! on Saturday 19 March 2011.
We’ve been investigating lots of ways that Kinectimals can develop learning in line with Curriculum for Excellence recently. For the purpose of the blog, we will look at one curricular area each update. This fortnight we are focusing on numeracy and in future updates we will discuss some of the other curricular areas. We have included the CfE code in brackets.
Through various aspects of the game the children have been learning to use number for practical purposes such as counting down using the on screen timer. Although the timer starts quite high, sometimes from 60, the children are able to join in the countdown from a number they recognise. Similarly, there are many other games, which develop counting skills such as throwing virtual soft toy piggies at skittles; kicking the ball, turning the skipping rope and many others. (MNU 0-02a)
Cross curricular opportunities for re-creating patterns, such as stripes, spots etc have been explored in our art and craft area. The children have been printing spots and stripes, and have been making masks of the various animals. (MNU 0-03a)
The children have been able to experience positional terminology, such as on top, behind, under, over and are learning left and right by the variety of movements required during the game. While kicking the virtual ball to burst bubbles, the player needs to move from side to side to receive the ball before kicking it back and when they do the assault course there is a great scope to use prepositions such as over, under, by, past, on, through etc. (MTH 0-17a)
Comments and thoughts from children and staff have been very positive since beginning this project. The children are saying every day, that they want to play Kinectimals and there is always a queue. Sharing and turn-taking skills are clearly being demonstrated here! When asked “What do you like best when you play Kinectimals?” responses included, “I like when you throw the ball” and from another, “I like it when you jump up and down”,(teaching the cub new tricks, such as jumping, star jumps, etc) and “I like it when you throw the piggies at the thingys!” (it’s dominos and skittles being referred to!) There has been lots of discussion around the water pistol activities and the children empathising (or not) with the cub who’s fur gets soaked! Admittedly, some of the games have required a degree of skill and it depends on which child and which adult is there as to who helps who!
Staff opinions have been positive also, despite some feeling slightly apprehensive about using the console, although after a short time, their confidence grows. The whole idea of using your hand/body to control the game has been a learning curve for everyone, and staff and children alike have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to get the hang of.
Parents and students have been quite incredulous that a nursery school is using a games console for learning opportunities, and a number have shared personal experience of using one at home. To this end, we are considering holding a Gaming evening in the future, for parent’s to come and have a go – and to share some of the educational benefits of games based learning.
“With more power comes more expectation,” says Rebellion’s Kingsley.
The cost of developing for Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s Next Generation Portable (NGP) is a dramatic increase on DS and PSP budgets, according to developers.
One studio head told Develop that 3DS games “have budgets two to three times what typical DS games have seen in the past.”
John Needham joins rival MMOG firm just days after leaving post at Star Trek Online developer.
John Needham, who left his post as CEO of Cryptic Studios earlier this week, has takes up the same role at another MMOG developer, Gazillion Entertainment.
VentureBeat reports that Needham’s first task is to oversee the conversion of Gazillion’s games to the free-to-play mode, something he did while at Cryptic with Champions Online.
Much-loved series returns to PC and Xbox 360 later this year, with other platforms being considered.
Hi-Rez Studios, developer of Global Agenda, has announced that it is to release a new game in the much-loved Tribes series later this year.
Announced ahead of this weekend’s PAX East conference in Boston, Tribes: Ascend is an online multiplayer shooter, developed using Unreal Engine 3, in what Hi-Rez is billing the spiritual successor to Tribes 2.
Format: 360, DS, PS3 (Version tested), Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Blue Tongue
Tweaks authentication requirements in iOS 4.3, hoping to head off FTC scrutiny.
Apple is to plug the loophole in its in-app purchasing system that prompted a slew of complaints as children ran up huge bills for virtual items on parents’ credit cards.
PlayStation Phone to launch on March 31, with six games pre-installed, carried by all retailers and operators.
Sony Ericsson has revealed its plans for the UK launch of the “PlayStation Phone”, Xperia Play, which is set for release at the end of this month.
The handset will launch on March 31, the firm has confirmed, with six games pre-installed: Tetris, Crash Bandicoot, FIFA 10, The Sims 3, Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors and Star Battalion.
Suspended from BioWare forums for 72 hours, player finds he is unable to activate Dragon Age II.
A poster on the BioWare forum whose account was suspended for misbehaviour has found that he is unable to play the PC version of Dragon Age II until his ban expires.
Writing on the developer’s official forum, user Vware said: “I just got my BioWare Signature Edition. I already knew I was going to play it without the extra content since I can’t activate my extra codes [because of the account ban].
US market sees slight growth despite decline in software sales; Black Ops now best-selling game ever.
Strong growth in sales of videogame hardware and accessories meant that the US market grew three per cent year on year in February, according to figures released by the NPD Group.
While software sales fell five per cent year on year to $601.4 million, hardware rose 10 per cent to $424.6 million, with sales of accessories growing by 22 per cent, to $210 million.
White and Black take top two spots; strong showings from fellow debutants Rift and Fight Night Champion.
Nintendo’s latest incarnation of Pokémon tops this week’s Nordic all-formats chart, which combines software sales from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
