NRDC Concerned by Console Power Consumption

Posted on Nov 23, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Videogame consoles in the U.S. consume as much electricity every year as the entire city of San Diego. This is the summary of an investigation undertaken by the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) on the energy use of game consoles.

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Baja Boxart Lawsuit Over

Posted on Nov 23, 2008 at 1:35 AM

THQ has reportedly withdrawn its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for using “virtually identical” coverart in its Baja racing title, SCORE International Baja 1000.

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Don’t Install Halo 3, Bungie Warns

Posted on Nov 23, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Bungie has placed a notice on its forums which advises owners of Halo 3 to not install the game to the 360’s HDD due to “increased loading times”.

The new option to install 360 games onto the console’s hard drive was added as part of the NXE package. The key benefits of the service are the reduced wear and tear of DVD drives and, theoretically, faster loading screens.

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Google Shutting Down Lively

Posted on Nov 23, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Google has decided to put an end to its browser-based virtual community service Lively, effective from December 31.

The web search giant has explained on its official blog that Lively will be closed so that company’s resources can be better focused to its “core” search, ads and apps businesses.

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UFCs Fitch Talks Contract Dispute

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

The mixed martial arts world was shaken up this week when UFC president Dana White ejected former welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch and other UFC fighters from the organization, reportedly for refusing to sign a deal related to THQ"s upcoming UFC 2009 Undisputed videogame.

But after one day, Fitch and fellow fighters Christian Wellisch, Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez all agreed to sign the deal and were reinstated.

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End of the Road for Tabula Rasa

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Tabula Rasa was Richard Garriott"s foray into the world of science fiction, but publisher NCsoft has decided to finally pull the plug on the struggling game just over a year after it launched.

A note from the Tabula Rasa team stated that "Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009."

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Harmonix Sued Over Pedals

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Kansas resident Monte Morgan has filed a class action lawsuit against Rock Band creator Harmonix over broken bass drum pedal peripherals.

The suit, filed November 18 in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said broken foot pedals "deprive [customers] of the value and enjoyment of their purchases."

Harmonix, MTV Networks, Viacom and distributor Electronic Arts are all named in the suit.

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BBFC/ELSPA Wrangle Gets Dirtier

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

The conflict between the two UK content classification groups intensifies as one side, ELSPA, today released a report claiming the other, the BBFC, causes an “unnecessary risk” in its game classification policy. Speaking to Edge, the BBFC has responded by slamming the PEGI system as being in danger of becoming less meaningful and at risk of being disregarded.

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Midway May be Delisted

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Midway could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for failing to meet the standard for continued listing, the Chicago-based game maker said this week.

The firm failed to meet the listing standard that requires NYSE-listed companies to maintain a minimum average closing price of Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM per share over 30 consecutive trading days.

Company stock was 25 cents just prior to market opening Friday morning.

Midway, publisher of the new Mortal Kombat vs. DC, has recently been subject to financial losses, layoffs and studio closures.

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CityEngine Upgrade Announced

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Zurich-based software company Procedural claims its newest version of CityEngine can build “literally [any] city in the world” within minutes by importing data from OpenStreetMap.

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Terminator: Salvation Set for 2009

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Warner Bros has confirmed it will distribute the upcoming Terminator: Salvation game, set to launch in-line with the film’s release in May 2009.

The third-person action game is currently being worked on by Swedish game developer Grin, whose recent work includes the PC version of Tom Clancy"s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 as well as the PSN and Live Arcade downloadable remake of Bionic Commando.

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Hardware Sales Fall Further in Japan

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Following last weeks’s heavy drop in combined hardware sales, partly due to the end of the DSi’s launch buzz, total sales for the week ending Nov 16 continued to fall.

Nintendo’s Wii was the only console that didn’t drop, slightly climbing from sales of 24,726 last week to reach 26,787. Last week’s figure for the Wii marked a turnaround for the console, as it had suffered successive drops for several weeks prior.

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Gabe Newell Writes for Edge

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Left4Dead released this week, and I’m extremely pleased with the reception so far.

We set out to create a first-person four-player game in which the action changes each time it’s played. We wanted to use procedural narrative to simulate stories because, in a multiplayer environment like this, we felt a more linear, scripted approach would not deliver in the same way.

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Trion Taps MMO, TV Talent

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

The Sci Fi cable network and online game developer and publisher Trion World Network have announced the hiring of two entertainment figures to help spearhead their unique game/TV show venture.

Kevin Beardslee, who co-founded Carbine Studios and prior to that, served as lead animator on World of Warcraft, will be coming to Redwood City, Calif.-based Trion as sr. development director for the to-be-named project. He"ll be based out of Trion"s San Diego studio.

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PS3 Trophy Support Mandatory in 09

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Sony Computer Entertainment will be requiring all PlayStation 3 games to incorporate the Trophy award system beginning in 2009.

A rep for Sony Computer Entertainment America told Edge in an e-mail, "Yes, this is correct for titles submitted after January 1. Obviously many teams have already started to incorporate trophies and even include support for older titles."

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Can New Xbox Experience Drive Sales?

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Microsoft has always promoted online gameplay as a key component of its Xbox systems. The multi-billion dollar investment in the Xbox Live online game service is what is supposed to distinguish Microsoft systems from the competition. Xbox Live hit the ground running without any serious online console competition for six years. However, with the current generation of game systems, the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have major online features and it is getting harder to distinguish the competitive advantage provided by a service like Xbox Live.

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GameStop: Music Genre Not as "Robust"

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

The hot music videogame genre would seem nearly infallible, but retailer GameStop admitted on Thursday that the popularity of such games has declined year-on-year.

GameStop EVP and CFO David Carlson said during an earnings call, "The overall category of the music genre is very healthy, and we expect it to be popular throughout the holiday season. But as I think everyone knows, it"s not as robust as it was last year."

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Ad Analysis: PSP 3000

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

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Lich King Sales Top 2.8m

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:36 AM

World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has become the fastest-selling PC game of all time with 2.8 million units sold in its first 24 hours of availability, developer Blizzard said Thursday.

The record was previously held by the last WoW expansion, The Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4 million units in its first 24 hours when it launched in January 2007.

Blizzard said it drew the sales figures from internal company records and key distribution partners.

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GameStop Lowers Guidance

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Tex.-based retailer GameStop reported a slight sales increase for its fiscal third quarter, but the firm lowered guidance on global economic decline.

Sales for the quarter ended November 1 were Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM.7 billion, a 5 percent year-on-year increase, but below analyst estimates of Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM.84 billion.

The firm said comparable store sales were down 1.8 percent year-on-year due to a tough comparison to last year"s Halo 3 launch.

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NRDC Concerned by Console Power Consumption

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Videogame consoles in the U.S. consume as much electricity every year as the entire city of San Diego. This is the summary of an investigation undertaken by the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) on the energy use of game consoles.

read more

Baja Boxart Lawsuit Over

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM

THQ has reportedly withdrawn its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for using “virtually identical” coverart in its Baja racing title, SCORE International Baja 1000.

read more

Don’t Install Halo 3, Bungie Warns

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Bungie has placed a notice on its forums which advises owners of Halo 3 to not install the game to the 360’s HDD due to “increased loading times”.

The new option to install 360 games onto the console’s hard drive was added as part of the NXE package. The key benefits of the service are the reduced wear and tear of DVD drives and, theoretically, faster loading screens.

read more

Google Shutting Down Lively

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 at 1:35 AM

Google has decided to put an end to its browser-based virtual community service Lively, effective from December 31.

The web search giant has explained on its official blog that Lively will be closed so that company’s resources can be better focused to its “core” search, ads and apps businesses.

read more

Tabula Rasa closing its doors

Posted on Nov 21, 2008 at 1:55 PM

Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Website has a "Message from the Tabula Rasa Team," saying NCsoft is closing down the science fiction MMORPG at the end of February 2009. More...