Entertainment conglomerate Time Warner has reported a jump in game revenues during its second financial quarter ended June 30, 2010.
Revenues at the company’s Filmed Entertainment division, which houses Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, rose eight per cent year-over-year to $2.5 billion (£1.57b), led by stronger theatrical performances, higher television license fees and “improved video games revenues, driven by the release of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4”.
Joy Ride, BigPark's answer to Modnation Racers, was originally intended for XBLA but has since been promoted to a full price Kinect launch game. As the only launch title to have been initially destined for a traditional control scheme, it serves as an interesting example of how well established genres translate to Microsoft's device.
Newly published research conducted by Nielsen has found that gaming has overtaken personal emailing to become the second most heavily used online activity behind social networking.
Online gaming now accounts for ten per cent of all US internet time, with online players spending 407 million hours per month on the pastime. In comparison, 906 million hours per month are spent on social networking sites and blogs, and 329 million hours sending personal emails.
Hardcore shooter developer Cave says iPhone and downloads could be future of the genre.
Blitz Games Studios chief technical officer Andrew Oliver has hit out at pre-launch criticism of Kinect for Xbox 360.
When we put it to him that a lot of people are being quite negative about the motion sensing peripheral at the moment, he told us: “They don't have a vision. You have to see it up in front of people, and they play with it, and they have fun - it's exactly what happened with the Wii, but this takes it even one level further.”
Kinect offers an entirely new way to interact with games, and while the launch line-up may represent a familiar selection of experiences, it shouldn't be forgotten that developers face a steep learning curve. Perhaps as a result of this, what Microsoft's peripheral can bring to games has been somewhat lost among the concerns over lag and rumours that the device can't recognise players if they're not standing.
Virgin has partnered with Ubisoft to host online tournaments for some of the publisher’s biggest multiplayer console releases, beginning with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
Microsoft has emerged victorious from a multiplayer gaming-related patent lawsuit dating back to 2004.
Harold Milton Jr. filed legal action against Microsoft and Sony for allegedly infringing on a patent, ‘Apparatus and method for electrically connecting remotely located video games’, referring to an invention enabling “two or more players playing the same video game to compete with each other without using the same physical video game which alleviates the necessity of proximity of the players”.
StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty has become 2010’s bestselling PC game to date, shifting over one million copies within its first 24 hours of availability and 1.5 million in its first 48 hours, according to publisher Activision Blizzard.
Electronic Arts has posted a $96 million (£60.3m) profit for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, compared to a $234 million (£147m) loss during the same three month period a year earlier.
David Braben is no stranger to new frontiers, so it's no surprise to see him among those spearheading Microsoft's futuristic Kinect peripheral. In Kinectimals, Frontier Developments has produced a game capable of melting the heart of even the most hardened gamer and, taking Nintendogs as a precedent, could well be the title to instill Kinect in the minds of the massmarket.
Format: 360, PS3
Publisher: Konami
Developer: MercurySteam
Origin: Spain
Release: Autumn
Trade association report finds that disc-based game sales vastly outweigh those of digital distribution.
The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) have announced that 80 to 90 per cent of games purchased in 2009 were on physical media. Released yesterday, the report's findings demonstrate player's continued preference for disc-based software despite the huge growth of the digital download sector.
David Braben says Microsoft's device offers huge potential for core gamers, and that we're only beginning to understand what it can do.
Lionhead's sequel no longer due for simultaneous release on PC and 360.
Speaking to IGN, Microsoft has confirmed that the PC version of Fable III will not be released alongside the Xbox 360 version, due October 26. No details on a revised date were forthcoming, but the announcement follows Microsoft's recent assertion that it would be investing more heavily in PC development.
A highlight from our community-written blogs, featuring a discussion on the recent outlawing of R4 cards.
With the recent High Court decision to declare R4 cards and similar devices for the DS illegal, savagehenry wonders what the effect will be on similar mods and hacks for other consoles. He also questions why the devices are being singled out, and if shutting down rom sites might not be a better option.
Viacom has sold PC gaming community service Xfire to Titan Gaming for an undisclosed sum.
Xfire, which has over 16 million users, is a free, ad-supported download that allows players to use friend lists, instant messaging and other community features within PC games. Viacom acquired the Silicon Valley-headquartered firm for $102 million in 2006.
California-based Titan is the developer of a platform that helps game makers create skill-based competitions.
Around 6,000 former NFL players have launched a class action suit against Electronic Arts over the use of players' likenesses in Madden NFL 09's historic teams.
The suit (via IGN) alleges that EA "knowingly and intentionally" used players' likenesses in a way to avoid having to pay license fees. While the players’ names and original uniform numbers were removed in Madden NFL 09, players can include them using an edit mode.
Life-to-date sales of Call Of Duty map packs surpassed 20 million units during the quarter ended June 30, according to publisher Activision Blizzard.
The most recent, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Resurgence Pack, was released on June 3 for Xbox Live and in early July for PS3 and PC.
John Gross, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Majesco, is resigning after five years with the Cooking Mama publisher.
Michael Vesey, Majesco's senior VP, corporate controller and chief accounting officer will serve as interim CFO.
"John has provided strong financial leadership to the company for the last five years, effectively managing the balance sheet, reducing operating costs and helping guide us towards improved profitability," said Majesco CEO Jesse Sutton.
Sony’s suffocating survival horror was all too happy to show players that they weren’t alone in the dark. Effective horror hinges on what can’t be clearly seen; the Silent Hill games thrive on this, defined as much by what isn’t on the game disc as what is. But Forbidden Siren took a taboo step, empowering its characters with a skill that exceeds the finest in hi-tech espionage hacking: sightjacking. It handed you the power to see far more than most games had ever dared.
Kudo Tsunoda, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, has told us that Kinect development isn’t cost prohibitive for smaller developers.
Rare has an illustrious history in videogames, and is certainly no stranger to working closely with hardware manufacturers developing first-party titles. But while hearing Rare's name mentioned will likely bring to mind Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye or Banjo Kazooie, it shouldn't be forgotten that the company's extensive back catalogue includes a diverse range of titles.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter thinks that the arrival of premium multiplayer services for console games “will be the event that turns the negative tide of industry sales around”.
“The appropriate business model for online multiplayer has yet to emerge,” he said in a research note, adding that some multiplayer content for FPS games needs to be given away freely because the genre has evolved to be dominated by online play.
