The trouble with ‘myth-busting’ studio visits is that they all too often become myth-affirming. Whether out of need, defiance or simple denial, sometimes a developer actually believes that the way to silence critics is to show them more of what they doubted in the first place. So it’s with some trepidation that we walk through the gates of Ealing Studios, currently home to the next St Trinian’s movie, to find out if WarDevil, a game that most people still associate with a 2004 technical teaser clip, is anything more than CGI fluff.
Format: 360, PC
Release: Out now
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
"When I play with my toys it helps me escape the things I don’t want to think about."
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has backed Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to take the top spot on the UK chart this Christmas.
While FIFA 09 headed the chart over the Christmas week in 2008, the bookie expects Activision’s shooter to place ahead of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II and FIFA 10 this year.
Ahead of the release of September’s NPD sales data for the US game market next Thursday, analysts have predicted a return to double-digit growth after six months of decline.
Wedbush’s Michael Pachter and EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich expect monthly software sales of $750 million (up 21 per cent year-on-year) and $715 million (up 16 per cent) respectively, driven by the likes of Halo: ODST, The Beatles: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 and Wii Sports Resort.
When 31st century archeologists dig through the fossilised remains of the typical 21st century home, what will they find as evidence of how we once amused ourselves? Will 2005-2009 be seen as an explosion in interface diversity, from gestural remotes to plastic guitars, drums, wheels, microphones and balance boards? Or will this too be seen as prelude to the Age of the Camera – complete with a built-in microphone – and our glorious future of controller-free gaming?
Frank O'Connor, creative director of 343 Industries, the Microsoft division responsible for all things Halo, has been speaking about the company’s extensive plans for the franchise.
Sony has responded to concerns over the high pricing of downloadable games for it new PSP Minis service.
Early offerings for the service - which recently debuted alongside the PSPgo - have been no cheaper than the average PlayStation Network title and more expensive than their iPhone counterparts.
Frontier Developments’ follow-up to last year’s bestselling WiiWare launch title LostWinds is to mark the 100th release for Nintendo’s downloadable games service in Europe.
Platform: PSP
Release: Out now
Developer: Rockstar Leeds
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 has been cleared for release in Australia after the country’s classification board granted a modified version of the title an MA 15+ rating.
Activision has reportedly closed Shaba Games, the developer behind last year’s PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows.
Founded in September 1997, the San Francisco-based studio has also worked on a series of multiplatform Tony Hawk’s ports and Shrek titles for the publisher.
Gearbox head questions Valve’s conflict of interest with Steam and suggests the industry does not trust the digital distribution platform.
It says a lot about the un-met potential of Sony’s handheld that it can seem like the underdog when compared to a mobile phone that has only been a games platform for a year or so. Whatever its fortunes to date, however, with the release of its new Minis line, the PSP seems determined to tackle the iPhone head-on when it comes to bite-sized downloadable gaming.
Sega of America has named Masanao Maeda as its new COO, while former Sega of America and Sega of Europe CEO Naoya Tsurumi has relocated to Japan to become the managing director of the company’s consumer business division.
Maeda is credited with helping Sega expand into western markets by investing in developers like Creative Assembly. In his new position he’ll oversee all of the day-to-day business for Sega of America including sales, marketing and product development.
Digital distribution will outstrip traditional retail sales within three years and 40 per cent of companies within the games sector are unprepared for the rate at which this shift will take place, according to speakers at the upcoming London Games Conference.
Focusing on digital distribution and the new challenge for publishers and developers to create closer links with their customers, the event will be staged on October 27 at BAFTA’s headquarters in London.
Sulake, the Finnish company behind Habbo, the popular virtual world and social networking service for teenagers, is expected to cut around 40 members of staff.
According to Paidcontent, tweets from affected employees and Finnish media reports indicate that around 20 per cent of the company’s workforce will be let go, with redundancy negotiations set to begin on Monday.
Amazon has begun selling codes for PlayStation Network downloads, with an initial offering of over 200 PSN titles and pieces of game-related content.
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has said that easy achievements can increase a game's sales by up to 40,000 units.
"The achievement hunter, who's going to make purchase decisions around the achievements per minute to ratio - he's probably buying ten to twenty titles a year, or at least playing that many," Pitchford told OXM. "He's playing a lot. So he's a very frequent customer, and you want to be in that pile. That's just business.”
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has said that easy achievements can increase a game's sales by up to 40,000 units.
"The achievement hunter, who's going to make purchase decisions around the achievements per minute to ratio - he's probably buying ten to twenty titles a year, or at least playing that many," Pitchford told OXM. "He's playing a lot. So he's a very frequent customer, and you want to be in that pile. That's just business.”
The October 1 launch of PSPgo has "generated strong consumer interest” in the handheld platform, according to Sony Computer Entertainment America.
SCEA's director of corporate communications and social media, Patrick Seybold, told Kotaku that in the three days following the launch of PSPgo the company's "top retail partners" saw a 300 per cent jump in PSP hardware sales week-on-week.
Atari has appointed Anthony Jacobson and Pierre Hintze as vice presidents of business development and product development respectively.
Based at Atari’s Los Angeles office, the new executives will play key roles in the publisher’s growth strategy, according to CEO Jim Wilson, to whom they’ll report.
Jacobson most recently served as senior VP of game studios at interactive TV channel PlaydayTV. In his new role he’ll focus on deals for product development resources, licensing Atari content and new business opportunities.
With less than a week to go until launch, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves currently ranks as Metacritic’s highest-rated PS3 exclusive game to date. You’ll find our review in E208, out October 27, but until then, here’s an interview with multiplayer designer Justin Richmond and community manager Arne Meyer in which we discuss how the studio’s “open family” approach helped build upon the outstandingly solid foundations of 2007’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
EA Sports’ FIFA 10 has sold 1.7 million copies in Europe in its first week of availability.
In the process the EA Canada developed game recorded the publisher’s biggest ever European launch and became “the fastest selling sports game ever”.
“We were confident that FIFA 10 would be a hit, and this week fans across Europe have shown just how much they love this game,” said EA Sports president Peter Moore.
Sales of Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PSP more than tripled in Japan during the week ended October 4.
Wii sales hit 32,000 units, compared with 10,500 units the previous week, while Sony sold about 49,000 PSPs, up from 15,000 units a week earlier, according to Ascii Media Works, reports Reuters.
Digital distribution sales figures belong to publishers, according to Valve, allaying hopes for global digital distribution sales charts.
In an interview with MCV, Steam business development head Jason Holtman said that publishers have little reason to share the detailed data they get on sales figures from the PC digital distribution platform.