Leipziger Messe has cancelled a planned public event at this year’s Games Convention Online, meaning that the browser, client and mobile games fair will now be a trade-only event.
The organiser said that there weren’t enough registered exhibitors or planned presentations “to maintain the usual high standard” of Games Convention shows. Last year’s inaugural Games Convention Online attracted 74 exhibitors showcasing 150 games.
Japan-based indie developer/publisher Level 5 will open a North American subsidiary in Santa Monica this September.
The Professor Layton studio’s US branch will be called Level-5 International America, according to Andriasang’s translation of a company statement.
Level 5 also said that it plans to establish a European subsidiary next year.
The NPD Group has announced that it is to delay the release of May sales data for the US videogame market to accommodate "a significant upgrade” to its IT architecture.
Originally due to be published next week, the results have been pushed back by “up to three weeks", the market research firm told Gamasutra.
Nintendo is to reduce the DSi’s trade price in the UK from June 18, around the same time of the company’s 3DS unveiling at E3.
"In the UK Nintendo will be reducing the trade price of Nintendo DSi to retailers from 18th June 2010," a Nintendo spokesperson told ONM.
The company has yet to confirm how much it will reduce the trade price by, but noted that "the ultimate price to consumers is, of course, determined by the retailers".
Family claims 28-year-old man died of exhaustion, while Apple's Steve Jobs claims the factory is "not a sweatshop".
The death joins a series of ten recent suicides at the Taiwan-based company's Shenzhen factory, which assembles consumer electronics devices including Wii, Xbox 360, iPhone, iPad and PS3.
Harmonix and MTV Games' Rock Band Network Affiliates Program promises to "bridge the music and game spaces".
The programme consists of a set of "do-it-yourself" tools that bands using Rock Band Network can use to distribute their music, promote through email and social network marketing and manage inventory fulfilment.
You don’t need to read another introduction to Shigeru Miyamoto. His career highlights are etched in the mind of every player, but here goes, nonetheless. From the days of Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros to the industry-usurping Wii, it’s a career with two constants: originality and quality. The general manager of Nintendo’s EAD division tells us about his road thus far – and what’s next.
Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption stews in a cynicism that borders on “easy”. Everyone you meet is a crook, or a victim. Leaders are selfish, dick-led, and evil, those who follow them are naïve, and the folks who don’t take a side are usually chasing their own scam or succumbing to their own vices.
UK developer to change logo and redevelop website to mark its 25th anniversary.
The redesigns are intended to emphasise Rare's future, says studio head Mark Betteridge:
“Both Rare and the games industry have seen massive changes over the past 25 years, and right now it feels as if both we and the industry are continuing to evolve at an ever-increasing pace.
Studio head Mark Lamia says it's 'now a 100 per cent Call of Duty studio'.
In an interview with CVG, Lamia said his studio, currently completing Call Of Duty: Black Ops, has been focused on COD "for a long time now, long before any of [the Infinity Ward] events occurred."
New colours announced alongside new pricing structure ahead of 3DS unveiling.
With the successor to the DS line - the Lite, DSi and XL (known as LL in Japan) - about to be revealed, Nintendo has announced that models will be also available in blue, yellow and green, and at lower prices.
DS Lite: open price (from ¥16,800)
DSi: ¥15,000 yen (from ¥16,800)
DSi LL: ¥18,000 yen (from ¥20,000)
Firmware update which will add stereoscopic 3D rendering support to the console to roll out on June 10.
In Japan at least, Andriasang reports, Wipeout HD, Pain and Super Stardust HD will be updated on the same day, with Pain requiring a ¥300 charge to unlock a 3D mode. The news follows Sony's announcement last week that Killzone 3 will be playable in 3D.
Red Dead Redemption takes a second week at the top of the UK all formats sales chart for the week ended May 30 while Blur fails to debut in the top ten.
Those who pre-registered for the service are given an offer to have the service's $14.95 subscription fee waived.
The pricing structure, which requires members to pay for individual games on top of the subscription, has proven controversial to those including rival streaming service Gaikai head David Perry, who said it was a "shot in the arm" for his free service.
In its first 60 days on sale, Apple claims its tablet has sold at more than double iPhone's launch rate.
Apple sold one million iPads in the 28 days following its April 3 US release. iPhone reached one million sales in 74 days after its launch, meaning iPad has sold at over double its rate.
Format: Jaguar
Release: 1994
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Llamasoft
Nintendo, Sony and Apple are among the companies investigating working conditions at Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that runs the largest factory in the world.
Ten employees at the company’s giant complex in Shenzhen, China, which employs around 350,000 mostly migrant workers, have committed suicide over the past few months.
Foxconn assembles a wide range of consumer electronics including PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, iPhone and iPad, and many of its major clients are concerned that their images could be tarnished by the recent deaths.
Marvelous Entertainment has reported a decrease in sales and a greater net loss for the financial year ended March 31.
Sales fell from 10.1 billion yen ($112.3m / £75.8m) the previous year to 8.3 billion yen ($91m / £62.4m) as the company shipped 660,000 software units across 20 games, while net loss increased from 1.2 billion yen ($13m / £9m) to 1.6 billion yen ($18.5m / £12m), according to Gamasutra.
When he wasn’t hunting out communists in his own organisation and alienating geniuses like Carl Stalling so badly that they upped and took their peculiar talents to Warner Bros., Walt Disney would often expound on the things that made Mickey Mouse such a successful creation. The design worked, according to Uncle Walt, because Mickey Mouse was made from circles – one for the belly, one for the head, two for the ears – and human beings particularly love circles. That’s why Fritz the Cat with all his sharp edges was never going to give Mickey any serious trouble.
Nintendo has once again ranked bottom in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics report.
In the 15th edition of the report the platform holder scored 1.8 on Greenpeace's 10-point scale for its policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change, making it the least eco-friendly of the 18 electronics companies featured.
Nexon has acquired a controlling stake in Korean online game developer GameHi.
The MapleStory publisher bought 29.3 per cent of company’s shares, including the studio's management rights from its largest shareholder, for 73.2 billion won ($61.3m / £42.1m).
Best known for games such as Sudden Attack, Dekaron and Metal Rage, GameHi generated revenue of 41.5 billion won ($34.7m / £23.9m) and operating profit of 11.9 billion won ($10m / £6.8m) last year.
A new study from the NPD Group has found that average weekly gaming time is on the rise in the US.
An online survey completed by 18,872 NPD consumer panel members in January found that respondents in the “extreme gamer” segment, which represents four per cent of the total US gaming population, spent an average of 48.5 hours per week playing games.
Overall, US gamers aged two and above spent 13 hours per week playing games, up from 12.3 hours in 2009.
As we reported earlier this week, Natal is to be given an official name at E3 next month, and a new rumour suggests the platform holder has settled on Wave.
That’s according a NowGamer source "close to Microsoft”. Inferring motion, inoffensive and simple to remember, Wave would appear to fit the device's casual target demographic.
Sales of every hardware platform bar Xbox 360 fell in Japan during the week ended May 23.
PSP-3000 was again the individual bestseller, while PSPgo remained at the foot of the rankings with less than 1,000 sales.
Combined DS sales topped those of Sony’s portable and PS3 edged Wii by around 500 sales.
Weekly hardware sales totals (previous week):
PSP - 22,462 (24,475)
PS3 – 19,075 (20,463)
Wii - 18,465 (17,570)
DSi LL - 14,108 (15,879)
DSi - 9,356 (9,990)
Lost Planet 2 debuted at number one on the Japanese software chart during the week ended May 23.
The PS3 version of Capcom’s shooter sold 85,000 units – the Xbox 360 edition placed fifth with 33,000 sales – to end Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2’s three week run at the top.
Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Blue Samurai Challenge took three top ten positions in its first week, the PS3, PSP and PS2 versions charting in third, sixth and ninth respectively.