China-based online game operator The9 posted a third quarter loss as revenues dived on the back of the expiration of its World Of Warcraft license agreement.
Net revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased by 91 per cent quarter-over-quarter and by 94 per cent year-over-year to $3.7 million.
80 per cent of the female game playing market in the US are Nintendo console owners, according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets conference earlier this month, the executive said that there are around 11.7 million female “primary players” using consoles in the US, compared to 33.3 million males. “Primary player” refers to the main user of a home console, reports Kotaku.
Square Enix Europe is to cut a number of jobs at Beautiful Game Studios in a bid “to build a successful commercial future for the Championship Manager brand”.
News of the studio’s restructure comes via GamesIndustry.biz, which reports that around 80 per cent of jobs will either be cut or relocated to China in order to reduce costs.
Edge readers needed to play Realtime Worlds' massively multiplayer shooter.
E209, which is now available in UK shops, has a full preview feature on what Realtime describes as its persistent online action game. You might describe it as GTA Online. Or WOW meets Counter-Strike. Now's your chance to decide for yourself.
Dell has announced that its Alienware line of PC gaming systems will now come with digital distribution service Steam pre-installed.
"With its automatic game updates, easy friend finding and the ability to play your Steam purchased games on any PC, Valve has helped simplify PC gaming to make it more enjoyable," said Frank Azor, senior manager of product planning for Dell's gaming group. "It's for these reasons we selected Steam to compliment the Alienware experience."
The second Games Convention Online event will be held in Leipzig, Germany from July 8–11, 2010, organiser Leipziger Messe has announced.
The browser, client and mobile games fair will feature an extra day this year to accommodate requests from trade visitors.
10 Glasgow schools pilot an exciting Games Based approach to teaching maths and numeracy skills with http://www.mangahigh.com. With activites suitable for P7 - Higher, and a user interface that wouldnt look out of place on miniclip.com, it should provide a rewarding experience for pupils.
Call Of Duty: World At War Zombies yesterday became the top-grossing iPhone and iPod Touch application on the iTunes App Store.
Developed by Ideaworks Game Studio for publisher Activision, World At War Zombies is the mobile version of the hit gameplay mode from Treyarch's 2008 console title Call Of Duty: World At War. It features single and co-op play for up to four gamers.
Pandemic Studios has announced that a new game in EA’s Mercenaries franchise is in the early stages of development at EALA.
Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz has declared that the “Wii bubble could be deflating” and “PS3 may finally be poised for a rebound.”
Having polled 1,312 individuals and 1,013 game players on purchase intent as part of Cowen’s Fall 2009 Video Game Survey, Creutz suggested that Wii software sales are fading.
Most of the folks who play role-playing games don’t actually want to 'role-play'. Fantasy games are popular because they’re familiar. They’re the comfort food of genres. But only a fraction of the people who play them really wish they had pointy ears, mead on tap, a crypt in the basement and a dragon in the garage. Games surround us with make-believe, but we don’t believe in it, any more than we believe in the dinosaur at a miniature golf course.
Atari has announced the “phase one re-launch” of Atari.com as it looks to grow its online business.
The publisher’s site now offers a digital download store alongside boxed games for sale, free-to-play coin-op arcade and Atari 2600 titles in the Atari Arcade, and information on the company’s most recent and upcoming releases.
EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich has forecast that the median pricing of Xbox 360 and PS3 titles released in 2010 will decline by $10 to $49.99, but he says this is unlikely to occur until the beginning of next year’s holiday season.
“The expected decrease to $49.99 will be a directly attributable to the continued penetration of the casual market, an increase in quantities of low cost casual games, and a decrease in development costs,” he wrote in EEDAR’s November 2009 newsletter.
A newly uncovered Microsoft patent hints that the platform holder may be developing an in-game guide/FAQ service designed to assist Xbox 360 players struggling to make progress.
Red Octane president Kai Huang has said that Activision is hoping to introduce a subscription service for its popular Guitar Hero franchise.
“That's definitely one of the things we would love to do,” he told the Seattle Times. “There are a lot of issues around music licensing. Consumers want it; I know I want it. We're trying to make that happen.”
New York State authorities are planning to test a new initiative that would see the Emergency Management Office issue disaster alerts over online gaming networks.
Officials believe the likes of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network are relevant channels through which to alert younger citizens to emergency situations, reports Information Week.
NCsoft has banned 16,000 western Aion user accounts, primarily for the use of third party software (botting) or participating in RMT (gold buying/selling).
Community Manager Andrew Beegle said on the MMO’s forums that multiple users would be unable to activate their accounts following a server wide reboot carried out with little notification.
Leading discount website My Voucher Codes UK has said that sales data from its UK retail partners shows Xbox 360 surging ahead of PS3 in the run up to Christmas.
A highlight from our community-written blogs, featuring the serious side of WarCraft.
Nintendo’s DSi LL sold over 100,000 units in its first two days of availability in Japan.
Retailing for 20,000 yen ($225/£135), the large screen DSi attracted queues of shoppers at a number of stores upon its release on Saturday.
Assassin’s Creed II sold 1.6 million copies worldwide in its first week of availability, according to estimates from publisher Ubisoft.
In doing so the Xbox 360 and PS3 title outpaced opening week sales of 2007’s Assassin’s Creed by 32 per cent. The original game has sold over eight million units.
Microsoft has said that over two million users logged in to Facebook via Xbox 360 in the service’s first week of availability.
With around ten per cent of Xbox Live’s 20 million user base accessing Facebook, the service may be the most heavily adopted of the new features introduced with the most recent Xbox 360 system update.
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Sean Murray I had a cat with three legs when I was growing up. I’m not quite sure how it was removed in the first place, but Tripsy never really understood her limb was gone. She would still try to catch flies and give a confused look of longing at where her other paw should be.
