On the eve of World Of Warcraft's Cataclysm, we take an in-depth look at the method behind Blizzard's creative destruction.
Within Blizzard, every game has a codename. Diablo was known internally as Hydra. StarCraft II was Medusa. World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King didn’t get anything as dramatic. Wrath Of The Lich King was known as WOW Expansion 3. On December 7, Blizzard launches the follow up: WOW Expansion 4, now known to the world as Cataclysm.
Demonstration of rumoured new device backs up recent speculation.
A video showing what is allegedly a new gaming smartphone from Sony Ericsson continues to fuel speculation that a handset is in development at the company.
Technically the demoed handheld resembles a PSPGo with a touchscreen and trackpad at its centre.
Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson CEO, recently addressed rumours of such a device, though the company has made no official statement.
Activision’s shooter leapfrogs Gran Turismo 5 as it tumbles down the latest chart.
Having been knocked off the top spot by Sony’s racer in the previous week, Call Of Duty: Black Ops is once again the UK number one for the week ending December 4.
Gran Turismo 5 fell three places to fourth in its second week of release, while FIFA 11 managed to push passed Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for second.
Social game developer snaps up the makers of a game engine for next generation of Facebook games.
US-based game developer RockYou has acquired TirNua, the developer of a next-generation game engine for Facebook games.
TirNua’s self-titled first Facebook game made use of a 3D game engine and RockYou’s acquisition is geared towards pioneering the technology in a number of games next year.
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US-based League Of Legends developer looking to fill over 100 roles.
Riot Games, the developer and publisher of free-to-play MMORPG League Of Legends, is aiming to double its workforce.
Speaking to Develop, Marc Merrill, president of Riot Games, which also has offices in Ireland, said the company is looking to “add more than 100 people to Riot Games”.
New LCD model combines videogame console and television features, a sign of things to come?
Sony’s KDL22PX300 Bravia television has a PS2 built into the bottom of the stand and comes complete with a controller for the system and support for Bravia internet features like iPlayer and Lovefilm.
The 22-inch display, HD-ready TV retails for £199 and launches at the end of a year that has seen building momentum for services like Apple TV and Google TV.
Japan-based developer will make the leap from iOS with Pocket God.
Mobile game developer Ngmoco, a subsidiary of Japanese social gaming company DeNA, has announced its debut title for the Android platform.
Pocket God was developed by US-based development team Bolt Creative for iOS devices and released last year.
Developer Zattikka launches official site for Facebook’s Ministry Of Silly Games.
Following last month’s announcement that it had acquired the rights to develop and publish a Monty Python social game, UK-based studio Zattikka is taking registrations for beta testers.
Chris Donlan suggests three downloadable games you really shouldn’t miss.
After two weeks away, there are a fair number of colourful oddities to pick over today, from side-scrolling RTS games to three-handed cat rescue sims. Luckily, I have a note explaining my absence, and the note reads: I was playing these games.
Swords & Soldiers HD
Developer: Ronimo Games
Format: PC, Mac, PS3
Culture minister suggests call for changes to game industry tax system will have to wait.
During a select committee for the department of Culture, Media and Sport yesterday, the government’s minister for culture, communications and creative industries Ed Vaizey said the UK may have to wait “three or four” years before game development tax breaks “realistically comes back onto the table.”
Blizzard's executive vice president of game design questions the industry's focus on figures.
In an exclusive Edge interview, Blizzard executive vice president of game design, Rob Pardo, questions the benefits of metrics-led game design, saying that intuition should always play a more prominent role.
The difference between pornography and erotica is how much it’s pure stimulation and diversion versus how much the baser appeals have to make room for some higher purpose. Also, if it’s black-and-white, it’s erotica.
World Of Warcraft's co-designer on the challenges of maintaining a world and choosing to destroy it.
With Blizzard's world-changing WOW update, Cataclysm, launching early next week, Azeroth may never be the same again. We sat down with executive vice president of game design, Rob Pardo, to discuss how much longer WOW can stay at the forefront of MMORPG's, the relative benefits of intuition over metrics and where the world can go next.
Head of Interactive Entertainment says service has around 12.5 million Gold members.
Speaking at the Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference in the US on Wednesday, Dennis Durkin, head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business said: "Of our 25 million members [worldwide], about half of them are subscribers to the business and pay us about $60 a year for that."
The figure means Microsoft is receiving $750 million from its members each year from subscriptions alone.
Social game giant buys Texas-based Games With Friends developer.
US-based social game company Zynga has acquired the studio behind the Games With Friends mobile game franchise, Newtoy, for an undisclosed figure.
Newtoy was founded in 2008 by previous employees of Microsoft’s Ensemble Studios, Paul and David Bettner, who had worked on Halo Wars and the Age Of Empires series.
Call for “testing and tuning” of various new features, open to all TF2 owners.
Developer and distributor Valve has announced a public phase for its online shooter Team Fortress 2 to test “new technologies without the risk of breaking the game”.
The beta is open to anyone with a copy of the game installed and is accessed via the Steam Library.
US government drops prosecution “based on fairness and justice.”
In the third day of the Xbox 360 modchip case, which accused defendant Matthew Crippen of hacking consoles to run pirated software, prosecutor Allen Chiu told the judge: “The government has decided to dismiss the indictment.”
Screenshots and further details made available on official website.
Shenmue City, the social game extension to Yu Suzuki’s Dreamcast original, has gone live today. The official site has been updated with screenshots of the game which give a better idea of what to expect.
The free-to-play title, developed by Suzuki’s studio Ys Net, is being published by Sunsoft on Mobage-Town, Japan’s social game platform. A PC version on Yahoo! Mobage will follow.
PlayPack offers unlimited access to a range of titles for $9.99 per month, currently available free for early micro-console owners.
Cloud gaming service OnLive has announced a new flat-rate price option which gives users access to over 40 titles with unlimited access.
The titles announced today include Unreal Tournament 3, Fear 2 and Prince Of Persia.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops continues to be the most talked about game in this week's UK Top Sellers Buzz chart.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops remains at number one in the UK Top Sellers Buzz chart with a total of 39,633 mentions (down from last week’s 54,289). Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood also stays unmoved, with 11,179 mentions, but Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit’s 9301 comments don’t prove enough to stay ahead of Gran Turismo’s 10,683 debut.
We've just finished creating an Advent Calendar web part for Glow. The calendar will remember the windows you open, won't let you open windows in advance and has a "gift" of a new Scratch game in each window for you to play.
November Facebook game chart shows a closing gap on Zynga’s rule.
Inside Social Games’ chart for monthly users of Facebook games reveals that US-based digital media and social game developer Digital Chocolate has managed to grow the user-base of its Millionaire City game by 800,000 users in a typically quiet month for the platform.
Polyphony's driving simulation knocks Black Ops and Brotherhood from the top.
Gran Turismo 5 debuts at number one, knocking Call Of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood down a place each to second and third respectively in the Nordic all format software chart (which covers Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden in sales of combined SKUs) for the week ending November 28.
Retailers will absorb 2.5 per cent VAT rise next year in order to stay competitive, publishers reluctant to help.
UK shops are intending to freeze the retail price of videogames, mitigating the incoming 2.5 per cent VAT rise on January 4, in order to stay competitive, MCV reports. Stores have asked for publishers help in absorbing this cost, but none have yet agreed to lower cost prices.