The first downloadable content for Activision's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “shattered Xbox Live records” following its March 30 release, according to Microsoft.
Dubbed the Stimulus Package, it includes five multiplayer maps - Crash, Overgrown, Complex, Compact and Storm. The first pair of maps appeared in 2007’s Modern Warfare.
Microsoft said that over one million gamers downloaded the content during its first day of availability, and over 2.5 million did so during its launch week.
Gordon Van Dyke, associate producer for Electronic Arts' Battlefield series, has left DICE to join fellow internal EA studio Visceral Games.
He said that he’s working on a new project with the Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno developer, adding that he thinks it’s “going to impress and surprise gamers”.
Van Dyke also noted that part of his reasoning for making the move was “to be closer to family for a few years”. His new role has yet to be officially outlined by EA.
Star Trek Online developer Cryptic has announced that the previously planned console version of the game has been put "on the back burner".
The news follows the announcement last week that fellow Cryptic MMO, Champions Online, would not be making its way to consoles as previously expected.
A number of PS3 owners are reporting running into system problems after downloading firmware update 3.21.
The mandatory update, which removes the capability to install alternative operating systems, released in early April, just months after iPhone hacker George Hotz claimed to have breached security measures on the console through the Install Other OS feature.
A new study by the Electronic Software Association of Canada (ESAC) has pegged the country’s game development workforce at 14,000 people across 247 companies.
That makes Canada’s games workforce the world’s third largest, overtaking the UK, but behind Japan and the US.
Platform: PSP
Release: Out now
Publisher: SCE
Developer: Acquire
Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima believes that game consoles are on the way out.
"In the near future, we'll have games that don't depend on any platform," Kojima said at a Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker news conference.
It’s strange to think that in just a few short months, maybe at the most a year, those incredible screenshots will become real. A milestone of playable photorealism will be reached. Aliasing and slowdown: things of the past. Tomorrow’s graphics cards, with all their processing power and bandwidth, will be given the rudest of awakenings, forced to hit standards and temperatures that put warranties at risk. Assumptions of what’s possible will change, while the upgrade potential of this spectacular game will be a tantalising unknown.
Dr. Tanya Byron has written a progress report on the state of digital safety for children since her first recommendations in 2008.
“In the last two years there has been significant progress on improving children’s digitalsafety which I am pleased to highlight in this report,” she wrote.
Among other measures, Byron suggested that video game ratings be reformed, with clearer messages to parents and only one rating system used – rather than using both PEGI and BBFC logos.
Evony has dropped its libel lawsuit against critical blogger and UK games industry veteran Bruce Everiss.
The American-registered games company abruptly abandoned its lawsuit, taking place in an Australian court, only two days into the hearing. Evony is now facing a bill for the defendants court costs of A$114,000.
Activision has quietly reshuffled its senior management and internal organisation, dividing up the business into four sectors.
The rates of internet connected home consoles has jumped 64 per cent from 2008 to 2009, according to research conducted by Parks Associates.
Consumer demand for online service-enabled TVs is the primary driver for growth, as consoles provide a convenient way to stream videos – which the report says one-third of all US Xbox 360 owners did.
I bought two albums today: Vampire Weekend’s Contra and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ It’s Blitz! They are both solid albums that demonstrate each band’s range. Contra seems a bit different than Vampire Weekend’s eponymous debut, lacking a bit of the rustic charm I found disarming. It’s Blitz! is less reckless than earlier Yeah Yeah Yeahs material.
Ex-Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head takes role as chief operating officer for Capcom Europe.
Format: PC
Release: Out now
Publisher: Sega
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Screenshot gallery
Last night’s inaugural ELSPA Question Time was a largely cosy affair in which representatives from all three major British parties struggled to differentiate themselves while expressing their unanimous respect and support for the videogame industry.
Upcoming digital distributor, Green Man Gaming, has signed a deal with Sony to use its SecuROM digital rights management software.
Square Enix and Future Publishing have entered into an agreement to promote Final Fantasy XIII and Just Cause 2 on the launch episode of FirstPlay – an interactive videogame magazine for the PlayStation 3.
Activision has announced that its chief financial officer, Thomas Tippl, will become publisher's chief operating officer and will also be retiring from his role as chief corporate officer.
Last night Labour MP Tom Watson hit out at the government’s Digital Economy Bill, expected to be passed in April 2010, expressing concerns that the legislation is being pushed through parliament without sufficient time for debate.
BioWare has quashed rumours that the studio is working on bringing its upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, to consoles.
The rumours stemmed from a leak by retailer GAME, which listed an Xbox 360 version in its 2011 product line up.
"As to why The Old Republic is on that list, we have no idea but to allay any confusion, we should not be on there," clarified community manager Sean Dahlberg.
Nintendo Japan may have hampered sales of the DSi XL with its untimely announcement of the 3DS, according M2 Research analyst Billy Pigeon.
Pigeon believes that the Japanese announcement, made only weeks before the release of the DSi XL in the US, will kill a sizeable amount of demand as gamers avoid buying into a handheld they think will be obsolete soon.
Creative Director on Ubisoft's Splinter Cell Conviction, Max Beland, has said developers need to make releases more accessible to be successful - without alienating core gamers.
"I think it's a subject that is very touchy right now because as an industry we want to grow," he told Industry Gamers. "We need to stop making games that are super hardcore. But we're afraid because we don't want to lose the hardcore people!"
Square Enix has confirmed layoffs at Denmark-based Hitman developer, IO Interactive, as part of what the studio manager has called a "natural process".
The 35 job cuts hit the Kane & Lynch 2 developer last week, prior to this the developer's headcount was 200.
