One of the most recognizable names in videogames has joined online reward-based gaming platform GameWager as executive advisor.
The Austin, Tex.-based firm announced Monday that Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, will be offering his insight into the gaming industry in order to help the upstart.
GameWager users log onto the platform's website for free and allows gamers to earn virtual tokens for completing in-game objectives in PC games such as Team Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike.
Lobbying disclosure filings with the Office of the Clerk show that the Entertainment Software Association spent nearly $4.3 million in lobbying expenses in 2008.
The ESA lobbied issues including anti-piracy, copyrighting, file-sharing, IP enforcement and other areas related to the games industry.
Tecmo and Koei announced to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday that shareholders have approved a merger between the two game companies, Bloomberg reports.
The resulting company will be called Tecmo Koei Holdings, which will form in April.
The report added that Tecmo's second-largest shareholder, Effissimo Capital Management could sell its 18 percent stake. The company was against the merger.
Konami said Monday that it will continue to use Atari Australia as its distribution partner, following the demise of potential distributor Red Ant.
Konami said in a statement to MCV, "...With immediate effect ... [Konami] will continue its relationship with Atari Australia, a subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment."
Sales of November 2008's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe fighting mash-up have proven to be a bright spot for the embattle Chicago-based Midway Games.
The publisher said Monday that it has shipped 1.8 million units of Mortal Kombat vs. DC worldwide. The game is available on PS3 and Xbox 360.
Midway also said the fighter was the most pre-ordered Mortal Kombat game in the company's history, and globally over 3.6 million Mortal Kombat vs DC matches have been played online for PS3.
Gamers have a host of nasty habits, a new study out of Brigham Young University claims.
For instance, study lead Prof. Laura Walker found that regular gamers are 10 percent more likely to drink alcohol and partake in drug use than those who rarely played games.
The study also said people who play games every day are three times as likely to use marijuana.
Depending on who you ask, PC gaming is either dying or thriving.
Arthur Bruno, co-head of Cambridge, Mass.-based Crate Entertainment isn't saying that PC gaming is doomed, but admits that it's difficult to ignore a supposedly safer risk-to-reward ratio in console development.
UK internet users who illegally share and download pirated material will not see bans from ISPs.
That was the suggestion made from Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy (pictured), who told British national paper The Times that such a ruling would be hindered by legal complexities. “I'm not sure it's actually going to be possible,” he said.
It is now likely that EA’s highly-anticipated Sims 3 title will not be making its February 20 launch date, after its publisher issued a statement claiming that it is now “evaluating the launch window.”
At a time when financial turbulence is hitting publishers and developers, THQ has bucked the trend with a cheerful outlook: the publisher is pleased with the sales of De Blob, and wants to make a sequel.
According to sales data compiled by the NPD Group, along with a report from IGN, the Wii’s unique platformer had sold some 230,000 units in the US by the end of December, with THQ claiming the game has sold comfortably worldwaide since its September 2008 release.
The PEGI content rating system has been given a “ringing endorsement” from the European Parliament, according to a statement released by ELSPA.
It is thought that, for the first time ever, worldwide videogame revenue had exceeded that of DVD and Blu-Ray in 2008.
According to market research company Media Control GfK International, global packaged media commodities amassed sales of some $61 billion in 2008. Games represent 53 percent of that figure, with DVD and Blu-ray sales responsible for 47 percent. The research group expects that distance to grow, with games representing 57 percent in 2009.
The next wave of Microsoft’s staff cuts have surfaced, with the company axing 30 percent of its game testers as well as key staff behind Games For Windows Live.
The most senior member of staff known to be sent home is Chris Early, general Manager of Games For Windows Live. His departure has thrown into doubt how much the troubled enterprise will support the service, and how many job cuts will be made in that division.
Steve Gaynor is a designer at 2K Marin, working on BioShock 2. This article previous published on Steve's Fullbright blog.
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I decided I wanted to make video games when I was nearing the end of my college career. I knew I wanted to get into design. Unfortunately, I didn't know how.
From the outside, Iron Lore Entertainment appeared to do everything right. The studio had the talent, the ideas and the ability to execute; qualities that culminated in the 2006 release of the PC role-playing game Titan Quest, a piece that earned Iron Lore a Game Developers Choice Award for best new studio.
But by February 19, 2008, Iron Lore was finished. The studio made a vague statement on its website saying that it was "unable to secure funding for its next project" and would disband.
Jane Jensen’s Gabriel Knight mysteries saw the light of day between 1993 and 1999, a volatile period in publisher Sierra’s chequered history. Among the best graphic adventures ever written, the mysteries melded classic detective noir with supernatural overtones.
Rise Of The Argonauts suffers from hubris. Not only does it openly ape the classical bloodshed of God Of War, but it tries to marry that game’s hacking and slashing to the measured storytelling of BioWare.
Microsoft confirmed to Edge on Friday the closure of its internal Aces Studio, which is responsible for the Flight Simulator series.
The closure comes just months after the September 2008 announcement that Microsoft would be shuttering another internal dev house, Ensemble Studios, known for Age of Empires and the upcoming Halo Wars strategy games.
Microsoft on Friday announced that Halo Wars has been completed, and is off to manufacturing. It's Ensemble Studios' final game.
The venerable creator of the Age of Empire series learned of its fate in September last year, when Microsoft announced it would be closing the internal development studio to shave costs, or as Microsoft put it, to "keep [Microsoft Game Studios] on its growth path."
While the UK has manifestly been in a downturn phase for the past six months, it was only today that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) could confirm that Britain is officially in recession.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) needs to fall in two successive quarters for a nation to be qualified as one in recession. And while everyone was expecting official government figures to show a second quarterly drop in GDP, few analysts had predicted a 1.5 percent fall from the last quarter. That figure represents the biggest three-month decline since 1980.
While the UK has manifestly been in a downturn phase for the past six months, it was only today that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) could confirm that Britain is officially in recession.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) needs to fall in two successive quarters for a nation to be qualified as one in recession. And while everyone was expecting official government figures to show a second quarterly drop in GDP, few analysts had predicted a 1.5 percent fall from the last quarter. That figure represents the biggest three-month decline since 1980.
Though a string of bad news from various developers and publishers has cast a bit of a dark cloud over the week, we all remain ravenous for entertainment. We can't get enough of it.
It’s why Edge will be updating the site over the weekend with two new articles.
ONE: An interview with Jane Jensen, writer of the applauded Gabriel Knight trilogy.
TWO: A review of Codemasters’ Rise of the Argonauts.
The PS3 has fallen short with hardcore gamers and will lose further market share in 2009, according to investment firm Cowen and Company.
On Friday, analyst Doug Creutz lowered his 2009 U.S. PS3 sales estimates to 4 million units, 2.25 million less than previous estimates. He also cut 2010 estimates to 4.5 million units, a decrease of 2 million.
Most of us claim real estate in one or more online communities.
Whether through a literal sense, such as the virtual land grabs in Second Life, or by achieving notoriety on a leader board, most of us have a stake in a virtual world. While nothing new, the rate at which we’ve devoted ourselves to these communities has exploded in recent years.
The collection of online services, from social networking sites to online gaming, has expanded the role that online communities play in our lives, and how we in turn, play in them.
It's that time of year again when we get a chance to see the range of wonderful (and not so wonderful) educational resources on show at BETT. This years's event is as huge as ever but with the noteable exceptions of the BBC and Apple it appears. Drat, I always like to use their electric guitars with Garageband!
Anyway, I'm here with Kim Aplin (the teacher who set the standard for using Guitar Hero in school) my new colleague. She is the Consolarium's new Development Officer and we have been busy milling about the exhibition to see what their is that we could use in out work at the Consolarium.
First shout must go out to the team at 2Simple Software. We had the pleasure of meeting up with our ex-LTS colleague Alan Yeoman who now works as an educational consultant with 2Simple. In his usual ebullient , enthusiastic and educationally focused manner he took us on a tour of 2 Do It Yourself. This lovely little application has the potential to introduce the concept of game design to very young children. Simple menus, simple ideas, simple interface but in depth and quality learning will, I believe, come out of pupil interaction with this app. We watched as he very quickly and very easily created a few games that I'm sure P.2 child and above could cope with. They could very easily create their own games that their peers could play. This type of low technology skill threshold software is what can work in class in my opinion. Teachers would get success with this quite quickly and they could then use this to engage their children in rich and purposeful learning with ICT where they are the creator and not just the consumer of digital media.
I suggest you take a look at this excellent addition to the range of resources that can be used to help deliver the design aspect og games based learning.