It’s unfair that a lovingly crafted and aesthetically stylish game should have turned out to be so philosophically depressing. Echoshift is a beautiful and clever little puzzler, with its haunting army of shadow puppets and harmonised trilling woodwinds on the soundtrack. But what is disturbing about it is inseparable from its central mechanic, encapsulated in the developers’ own cute name for the concept: ‘self co-op’.
Realtime Worlds’ Project MyWorld has reportedly been bought by an American company.
As vice president of social games, Jon David has overseen PopCap’s first foray onto Facebook with the potent Bejeweled Blitz, a concentrated 60 second take on the gem-based puzzle game. As PopCap readies its second assault on the platform with Zuma Blitz, we sat down with David to discuss what the developer has learned about social networks, the changing face of Facebook’s viral channels and the tricky business of monetising games.
Mafia II retained the top spot on the UK all formats chart during the week ended September 4, according to data from GfK Chart-Track.
Kane & Lynch: Dog Days remained in second place, ahead of Wii Sports Resort, Toy Story 3 and Red Dead Redemption.
Take-Two has confirmed rumours that Borderlands maker Gearbox Software is currently completing work on the long in development Duke Nukem Forever.
The firm said in a press release that its 2K Games division will release the title – which was originally announced in 1997 - for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC “in calendar 2011”, adding that it holds “the exclusive, long-term publishing rights to the game”.
IndieCade, the annual festival of independent games, has announced the finalist titles for its 2010 event, taking place from October 8-10 in Culver City, California.
PSP bounced back to the top of the Japanese hardware chart during the week ended August 29, according to data from sales tracker Media Create.
Boosted by the launch of the software chart-topping Monster Hunter Diary, which was also released as part of a new PSP hardware bundle, weekly sales of Sony’s portable doubled to 50,000.
The Federal Court of Australia has issued a permanent injunction ruling that the PS Jailbreak modchip for PS3 can’t be sold or imported into the country.
The ruling follows a temporary injunction enacted last month. Defendants OzModChips, Global Solutions International, Ryan Emmanuel and Ken Tolcher have now been forced to remove the device from sale.
The Army and Air Force Exchange Services have requested that upcoming shooter Medal Of Honor be pulled from sale at retail stores operating on United States military installations worldwide.
The move was made after it came to light that Medal Of Honor’s multiplayer mode will allow players to assume the role of Taliban soldiers fighting against US ones.
The retail outlets affected include 49 GameStop stores located on military bases in the US.
Format: Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo / Team Ninja
Screenshot gallery
EA’s new focus is on depth, rather than breadth, with the publisher making heavier investments in fewer products than it used to, as well as taking major steps in its online business, according to Andrew Wilson, senior vice president of the firm’s global online group.
I tend not to be particularly precious about these sorts of things, so I was surprised to feel a slight twinge of anxiety when that Unreal logo popped up on my iPhone screen. That was a pretty mild response: to some people, the news that Epic is moving its world-conquering middleware into the App Store has been a bit like discovering that Sarah Palin wants to drill for oil in their favourite rock pool. Marcus Fenix and those giant, city-sinking worms standing alongside Angry Birds and Zen Bound? Why do the big kids always have to come and spoil the fun?
Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Ailu Village debuted atop the Japanese software chart during the week ended August 29.
Featuring Hello Kitty costumes and items, the cartoonish PSP title combines monster hunting with Animal Crossing style gameplay. It moved 256,000 copies in its first week, having launched on August 26, Gamasutra reports.
Sony Computer Entertainment America has filed a lawsuit against an online distributor of the new PS3 Jailbreak modchip, which allows users to circumvent PS3's copy protection and play backed-up titles copied to the system’s hard drive.
The platform holder has accused the modchip seller, Zoomba LDC, of copyright infringement, violations of the digital millennium copyright act and trademark infringement, Kotaku reports.
Take-Two has delayed the launch of Team Bondi-developed LA Noire from late 2010 to “the first half of calendar 2011”.
Take-Two has reported a return to profit and a jump in sales for its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2010.
The company posted $354.1 million in sales, up from $94.9 million during the same quarter last year, and net income of $6 million, versus a loss of $56 million last year.
This month's feature on EA in issue 219 of Edge looks at the company's attempt to reclaim the number one spot in thirdparty publishing. One of the men in charge of ensuring this ambition becomes a reality is senior vice president of EA's global online group, Andrew Wilson. We spoke to him in detail about the company's new focus on depth, rather than breadth; the reasoning behind Online Pass; and what EA can learn from Porsche.
Cloud gaming service OnLive will roll out a wireless internet support beta later this month.
The platform, which launched in the US in June, currently requires a wired ethernet connection to play titles.
The company will also be offering a 50 per cent discount on all games over Labor Day weekend (September 4–6), and said that it is to extend sign ups to its Founding Members Program – which includes a free one year membership to the OnLive, with an optional second year at $4.95/mo - through December 31, 2010.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes Microsoft’s likely to introduce a new $100 premium Xbox Live membership option.
Pachter made the prediction shortly after Microsoft announced plans to increase subscription fees for the online service for the first time since it launched in 2002.
Following his talk at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival last week, which addressed Sony's commitment to 3D, we caught up with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe senior vice president Ray Maguire to discuss how the company intends to attract developers, the importance of avoiding 3D for 3D's sake and what Sony's wide reach can offer PS3 owners.
How significant is Sony's advantage in the 3D marketplace?
Following Apple’s confirmation that its social gaming service Game Center will launch next week, mobile game multiplayer tech-maker Aurora Feint has announced the upcoming release of PlayTime, a new infrastructure enabling real-time multiplayer with voice chat across iOS and Android devices.
Blitz Games Studios’ licensable middleware, BlitzTech, now features full functionality for Xbox 360’s Kinect and PS3’s Move.
Though the bulk of my career as a journalist was spent covering consumer technology, my bosses at Newsweek were kind enough to let me try my hand at other subjects, namely movies and music. As such, I got to see up close how other entertainment industries present themselves to the world. My most formative such experience was the MTV Video Music Awards, which I attended in 1996 and 1997.
A PS3 firmware update allowing users to watch Blu-ray movies in stereoscopic 3D will be launched next month, Sony said at the IFA trade show last night.
While a release date wasn’t specified, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that Spider-Man 3, Avatar and Green Hornet will all be available in 3D Blu-ray format in the future, as will Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Michael Jackson's This Is It.
Future PS3 updates will enable playback of 3D YouTube videos and PlayTV broadcasts, the company said.
During a session at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival last week, Lima Sky co-founder Igor Pusenjak charted the history of the company's evolution from developer of a bubble-wrap popping app in the first days of the iPhone, to creator of the four million-selling Doodle Jump. We caught up with Pusenjak afterwards to talk about how mobile development is continuing to change, why the App Store is still ahead of its competitors and the importance of self-promotion.