Publisher responds to anonymous employee's revelations regarding Homefront crunch period.
THQ has responded to the recent revelations by an anonymous employee regarding intense crunch work taking place at Homefront developer Kaos as the game nears completition ahead of its release in March. The publisher has defended the working hours but said that it will try to lessen the impact on staff for the game's sequel.
$15.4 to $15.6 billion spent in the US across all gaming content, retail accounts for $10.6 billion.
The NPD Group has released a preliminary estimate for the total consumer spend on gaming content via all monetisation methods in the US. The figure, which includes new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital downloads, social network games, DLC and mobile game apps, is between $15.4 to $15.6 billion - this is a potential decline of up to one percent when compared to 2009.
Eskil Steenberg reveals that he will work with Minecraft developer to enhance the game's visuals.
Eskil Steenberg, the man behind PC MMOG Love, has been enlisted by fellow Swede, Markus Persson (aka Notch) to work on improving Minecraft's graphics. Speaking to Eurogamer, Steenberg revealed that Persson has asked for his help.
Industry analyst estimates attach rate for Apple's devices, reveals apps are overtaking music downloads.
Industry analyst Asymco has published a report in which it estimates that more than 60 apps have been downloaded for every iOS device sold. According to the company, this is up from ten apps downloaded for every device in 2008.
Creator backs down after Desktop Dungeons developer issues copyright infringement notice.
Eric Farraro (aka Lazy Peon) has removed iOS game League Of Epic Heroes from sale in all countries following the receipt of a copyright infringement notice from developer QCF Design. QCF and Farraro have been in an ongoing dispute over the similarites of LOEH to QCF's own upcoming Rogue-like, Desktop Dungeons.
Studio posts listing on website, expresses doubts over id and Epic's mobile-game design strategies.
Frankfurt-based Crysis and FarCry developer, Crytek, has posted a job listing on its website for an "iPhone/iPad developer". The role will include designing and developing "complex, integrated iPhone/iPad applications", and managing "one or more iPhone/iPad applications".
Format: PS2
Release: 2003
Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Core Design
The stress fractures were clear a long time before Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness was released. In May 2002 at the E3 conference in LA, Eidos showcased ‘playable’ levels of the game which were little more than short animation demos. For a game due out ‘imminently’, it appeared woefully incomplete.
An issue of jurisdiction has delayed the case, judge will rule at undisclosed time.
Treyarch's shooter back on top, despite last week's resistance.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops has returned to the top in the UK all-format chart for the week ended January 15. Last weeks number one, FIFA 11, drops to second place, knocking Just Dance 2 down to third.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit falls two places to sixth while The Sims 3 leaves the top ten altogether. Replacing EA's simulated people is DC Universe Online, which debuts at number ten.
How long does it take to fall one thousand feet? Ok, 7.9 seconds is the answer. How long would it then take to fall 2000ft then 4000ft then 8000ft. As I thought through these answers I couldn’t help think of the old cartoon with Wiley Coyoye and the Roadrunner and the Acme contraptions that often lead to precipitous falls. However, moving away from the trivial to the extraordinary let me share Wolfram Alpha with you.
Wolfram Alphas is a ‘computational knowledge engine’. Wolfram Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.
I was tremendously impressed with this resource and incredibly motivated to learn from it. The example I quoted at the beginning of this post came to my mind when I was searching through the examples that are available on the site. I saw the question ‘Compute how long to fall 1000ft.’ Once I saw this and then looked at the formula I had flashbacks to my youth in school with Higher Maths and how much I really did enjoy using maths that had a practical application and that was applied to contexts that had meaning. These opportunities back then were few and far between I may add.
Here are some other examples from the site that had me totally absorbed:
This resource has great potential. There are clear cross-0vers in to a variety of areas of interest and the ways in which this can be used to help address numeracy across learning for CfE and how it can have particular applied use in Maths, Physics and Chemistry is there to be explored. If you are a school in Scotland that intends to tap in to this excellent resource then please do let us know so that we can document just how this can help learners learn.
When the Consolarium team talk about the use of games in schools they always talk about the benefits of creating learning opportunities that are situated within the cultural framework of learners. We feel that this is one of the main reasons as to why our ideas in using Guitar Hero for example worked so well. This game initially built for entertainment has become very popular thanks to the initial ideas and practice that showed how ‘traditional learning’ such as writing could be made even more appealing, relevant and purposeful to learners.
Steve Bunce shares this view. He currently leads CPD for teachers in England through his work with Vital and has been a major player in building understanding, practice and capacity for game based learning in schools in England. One of the projects that Steve has been working on recently has involved a skateboarding game that works with the Wii, Skate it. Have a look:
This video review shows the game and the controller in action.
I managed to grab a few minutes of Steve’s time at the Learning Without Frontiers conference in London earlier this week where he gave me an explanation of what he has been doing with this game. Have a listen
Another speaker at this event proved to be incredibly interesting and much of what he said gave me some food for thought in terms of the riole that open source software can be used in schools. Evan Roth is an artist who works in Paris. work is in the permanent collection of the MoMA (NYC) and has been exhibited widely in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including the Pompidou (Paris), the Kunsthalle (Vienna), the Tate (London), the Fondation Cartier (Paris) and the front page of Youtube. Roth has received numerous awards for his work, including the Golden Nica from Prix Ars Electronica, Rhizome/The New Museum commissions (2007, 2009), the Future Everything Award and Brit Insurance Designs of the Year (1, 2).
He is also a co-founder of Graffiti Research Lab and the Free Art & Technology Lab (F.A.T. Lab), a web based, open source research and development lab.
Have a look at how they have subverted this Michael Jackson performance using open source software:
Evan Roth provides full access to all the materials and code associated with this clever piece of work from this part of his site.
Some of these ideas might be just outwith the boundaries of education in schools for some but the more we see how contexts that engage learners due to the experiences and content being something that sits within their cultural framework, is something that resonates with them, excites them – then maybe we should be exploring the practical application of these so that we can really meet learners needs and help them grow and flourish.
Clint Hocking considers how player-generated content could help developers become more profitable.
