Log on:
Powered by Elgg

Rowena Blair :: Feeds

June 29, 2010

How Much Do Top Gaming Execs Earn?

How Much Do Top Gaming Execs Earn?

According to various internet reports, the annual salaries of leading Japanese business figures have just been made publicly available.

That’s because companies are now required to disclose in shareholder reports which board members receive pay of over 100 million yen (£746,930), reports Asahi (via Andriasang).

read more


Capcom’s Reeves Expects New Consoles Within Three Years

Capcom’s Reeves Expects New Consoles Within Three Years

Capcom Europe COO David Reeves expects the next generation of home game consoles to arrive within three years.

read more


NPD: Red Dead To Drive Sales Growth In May

NPD: Red Dead To Drive Sales Growth In May

Game industry analysts have weighed in with sales forecasts for May 2010 ahead of the release of official US market data from the NPD Group.

The research firm delayed the release of sales data by around three weeks to accommodate an upgrade to its IT architecture, but May results are expected to be made public after the market close on Thursday, July 1.

read more


CCP Opens UK Studio

CCP Opens UK Studio

Eve Online developer CCP has opened a new UK studio in Newcastle.

CCP Newcastle will focus on console game development, “charting new paths for gameplay and business models that will breathe new life into connected consoles”, the Icelandic company said.

The studio will collaborate with CCP Asia in Shanghai on the creation of Dust 514, an upcoming MMOFPS that will tie in with the Eve Online universe.

read more


Study: 32% Of UK Citizens Classify Themselves As Gamers

Study: 32% Of UK Citizens Classify Themselves As Gamers

32 per cent of UK citizens classify themselves as gamers, according to new statistics released by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and the Interactive Software Federation of Europe.

The pair said that 34 per cent of men in the UK classify themselves as gamers, compared to 31 per cent of women. The numbers are particularly high among younger audiences, with 74 per cent of 16-19 year olds defining themselves as gamers and 60 per cent of 20-24 year olds.

read more


Activision “Rebuilding” Infinity Ward

Activision “Rebuilding” Infinity Ward

Activision executive vice president of studios, Dave Stohl, has spoken of the ongoing rebuilding process at Call Of Duty creator Infinity Ward, which he expects to create “great new franchises in the future”.

read more


June 28, 2010

iPhone 4 Sells 1.7 Million In Three Days

iPhone 4 Sells 1.7 Million In Three Days

Apple has announced that it sold over 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the device's first three days on the market.

Announced earlier this month, the latest version of the popular smartphone introduces 100 new features, according to the platform holder.

read more


More PS2 HD Collections Planned

More PS2 HD Collections Planned

Sony is planning to release more HD conversions of PS2 games on PS3 following the success of God Of War Collection.

The compilation title – which featured reworked versions of God Of War and God Of War II on a single Blu-ray disc at full 1280 x 720 resolution – was among the top 20 selling console games in the US during its launch month of November 2009.

This November Sony will launch The Sly Collection, featuring all three Sly Cooper PS2 games in HD, with added 3D, Move and trophy support.

read more


Show Business

This year, E3 was a circus of curiosity. From the Kinect event through the Activision party to the launch of the 3DS, we saw all the major companies tackle the problem of using an event as a contemporary promotional vehicle. Now the circus has left town, what can we learn?
 

read more


Activision Blizzard Joins TIGA, Tax Relief Fight

Activision Blizzard Joins TIGA, Tax Relief Fight

Activision Blizzard has become the newest member of UK games industry trade association TIGA.

The US publisher is the owner of two UK-based development studios, Liverpool-based Blur developer Bizarre Creations and Leamington Spa-based DJ Hero creator FreeStyleGames.

In an announcement confirming its TIGA membership Activision said it was a major supporter of the trade body's campaign to secure tax breaks for UK game development studios.

read more


June 25, 2010

UK Govt: Cancelling Games Tax Relief Will Save £190M

UK Govt: Cancelling Games Tax Relief Will Save £190M

The UK coalition government has stated that the scrapping of proposed tax relief for domestic game developers will save the country £190 million.

read more


“Closed” Xbox Live Makes Final Fantasy XIV On 360 Unlikely

“Closed” Xbox Live Makes Final Fantasy XIV On 360 Unlikely

Square Enix has said that a “closed“ Xbox Live environment means Final Fantasy XIV Online is unlikely to appear on Xbox 360.

"The main reason why we couldn't go with Xbox 360 was the Xbox Live system," the game’s director Hiromichi Tanaka told Eurogamer. "[Live is] different to the normal internet environment, so when we wanted to introduce this game in the same environment as Windows PC it had to be PS3, so that was our choice.

read more


Free Realms Hits 12 Million Users

Free Realms Hits 12 Million Users

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that its family-friendly PC MMO Free Realms now has 12 million registered users - up from nine million in March 2010.

While free-to-play since launching in April 2009, the  virtual world supports a microtransaction model allowing users to purchase in-game items or to upgrade their membership status.

read more


Sony Has “No Plans” For 3D PSP

Sony Has “No Plans” For 3D PSP

Sony has no plans to use 3D technology in future PSP iterations, according to SCE Worldwide Studios vice president Scott Rohde.

“No, no plans for that,” the executive told IndustryGamers. “We just chose to focus on the big 3D in the home [with PS3]. Again as you pointed out, as a larger corporate initiative, it's important to us to push that out there and be on the bleeding edge of it. That’s the focus…”

read more


The Friday Game: Numba

The Friday Game: Numba

Format: iPhone, PSP
Developer: Cobra Mobile
Direct App Store link

E3 may have been brought to us by Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Nintendo’s staggeringly desirable 3DS, but my flights there and back belonged to something far more modest. Numba is a puzzle game for the iPhone and PSP Minis, and it’s dangerously addictive.

read more


Apple Responds To iPhone 4 Signal Problems

Apple Responds To iPhone 4 Signal Problems
The launch of iPhone 4 yesterday was somewhat spoilt by concerns over a potential design flaw that can lead to reduced signal reception.

The smartphone sports a new antenna design featuring a metal band encasing its outer edge and acting as a 3G and wi-fi receiver, but holding it in a certain way causes the device to lose reception.

read more


Price Cuts Boost DS Sales In Japan

Price Cuts Boost DS Sales In Japan

Price cuts to Nintendo’s handheld range gave DS sales a significant boost in Japan during the week ended June 20.

On June 19 Nintendo dropped the price of the DSi XL by ten per cent to 18,000 yen ($200 / £135) and the cost of the DSi from 18,900 yen to 15,000 yen ($167 / £112). It also gave the DS Lite an "open price", allowing retailers to price it at their discretion, and introduced three new DSi XL colours.

The move saw DSi sales almost triple and total DS line sales of 53,523, compared to PSP’s 21,766.

read more


Building A World Of Love

I'm organising World Of Love, and it's disconcerting me. We're going to get a whole load of indie developers together at Channel 4 today, and it's not going the way events usually do. Everything seems to be much better. Things are not usually like this.

I learned something really important at a games festival a few years ago. A friend was running a mobile game that I was just in time to play, and before joining up I went to see her.

"How's it going?"

"Terrible!"

"Why?"

read more


Hulu Coming To PS3 - Report

Hulu Coming To PS3 - Report

Sony is reportedly close to wrapping up a deal to offer a paid TV service from Hulu on PS3.

According to multiple Bloomberg sources, the partnership could be announced as early as next week.

US PlayStation Network users would be able to subscribe to a $9.95 a month on demand Hulu service offering access to new and past seasons of hit TV shows from the likes of NBC, Fox and ABC.

read more


Linden Lab CEO Departs Following Layoffs

Linden Lab CEO Departs Following Layoffs

Mark Kingdon has resigned his position as CEO of Second Life creator Linden Lab after two years managing the company.

The news follows the announcement earlier this month that the firm is to lay off approximately 30 per cent of its workforce as part of major strategic restructuring efforts.

read more


June 24, 2010

Sony Details First PlayStation Plus Content

Sony Details First PlayStation Plus Content

Sony Computer Entertanment Europe has released full details of its subscription-based PlayStation Plus service announced at E3.

Set to go live on June 29, the new offering will give members a selection of games, discounts, exclusive items from the PlayStation Store and full game trials.

read more


Vaizey: Govt Remains “Absolutely Committed” To Games Industry

Vaizey: Govt Remains “Absolutely Committed” To Games Industry

Minister for culture, communications and creative industries Ed Vaizey has said that he’s "disappointed" the coalition government won’t be able to introduce tax breaks for the UK games industry, as announced in its Emergency Budget earlier this week.

read more


Retailers Want Sub-£100 Kinect

Retailers Want Sub-£100 Kinect

Multiple retailers have called on Microsoft to launch Kinect with a sub-£100 price tag.

“Sub-£100 and Kinect will benefit immensely,” Morrisons games buyer Nick Sultanti told MCV. “People are going to compare price points between Move and Kinect and it would be fairly detrimental if there is a major price discrepancy in favour of Move.”

read more


Super Mario Galaxy 2 Back On Top In Japan

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Back On Top In Japan

Super Mario Galaxy 2 bounced back to the top of the Japanese software chart during the week ended June 20.

The Wii sequel moved 53,000 copies, down from 73,000 the previous week when it lost the top spot to Xenoblade, which placed fourth in the latest chart.

Sandwiched between the pair were two new DS games, Capcom’s Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective with 24,000 sales, and Nintendo’s Art Academy with 21,000.

read more


Kinect's 3D Sensing Tech Coming To PC And TV

Kinect's 3D Sensing Tech Coming To PC And TV

PrimeSense plans to bring the 3D sensing technology it provided for Xbox 360’s Kinect to PCs and televisions in the near future.

Vice president Adi Berenson told Engadget that the company’s goal is to enable natural human control over TV-based media consumption.

read more


<< Back Next >>