Splash Damage to Double Development Team Size

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Independent UK developer Splash Damage has revealed plans to double the size of its development team to 60 people following its entry into a long-term partnership with Bethesda Softworks that will see the studio move into multiplatform development on an as-yet unannounced title.

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Xbox Live Community Games Launching in Fall

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

More details on Microsoft"s efforts to "democratize" game development have surfaced at the company"s Seattle-based Gamefest 2008, taking place today and tomorrow.

Officially dubbed Xbox Live Community Games, the initiative allows members of the XNA Creators Club to create and sell games via Xbox Live, and partake in "up to" 70 percent of the total revenue generated by a game.

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Braben: UK Government Must Act Now to Support Industry

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

“The games industry is a huge success story, and is growing at a phenomenal rate, with retail sales of games rising by 26 percent in 2007,” writes David Braben in an Edge-Online keynote published on Tuesday.

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Microsoft XNA Man Satchell Promoted

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Microsoft has promoted XNA general manager Chris Satchell to chief technical officer of the company"s Interactive Entertainment Business, the firm said Tuesday. The change is effective immediately.

In his previous role as general manager for XNA (Microsoft"s game development toolset), Satchell headed up efforts to aid game makers in developing titles for Microsoft platforms.

Satchell has also been a proponent of community-developed games for Windows as well as Xbox Live Arcade.

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Take-Two: Were Not Just GTA

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two has in the past been accused of being a one-trick pony, as it lays claim to perhaps the biggest videogame franchise of today.

But Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick says that his company"s portfolio has profit-driving potential beyond Rockstar"s carjacking moneymaker.

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Riccitiello on the Big Three’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Speaking to VentureBeat about his desire to drive EA towards platform neutrality, company CEO John Riccitiello has delivered his verdict on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the three current-gen home consoles.

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Third-Parties Have a "Window of Opportunity" on Wii, DS

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian has told Edge-Online that Nintendo’s underwhelming first party software lineup has opened up a window of opportunity for third-party publishers looking to capture Wii and DS market share.

Sebastian said that publishers EA and Ubisoft were most likely to benefit from Nintendo’s lack of “blockbuster title announcements” at this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit.

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Xbox 360 Price Cut to £170 on Play.com

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Online retailer Play.com has cut the price of the Premium 20GB Xbox 360 to £169.99, £30 less than the console’s RRP and £10 cheaper than rival online store

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Lego Indy Swings Back to the Top of the UK Chart

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Lego Indy’s return to No1 after a four week break was a very close call though - Wall-E, which benefitted from the film’s release, climbed 14 places to No2, managing just 46 sales fewer than the bestseller.

Last week’s No1, Nintendo’s Wii Fit, fell to No3, followed by fellow Nintendo Wii titles Wii Play, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.

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Midway to Close Los Angeles Studio

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Midway Games has announced that it will combine the operations of its Los Angeles studio, located in Moorpark, with Midway Home Entertainment, based in San Diego.

The newly combined operations will be located at the existing San Diego facility, with the “majority of Moorpark employees”, including the entire TNA Impact development team, to be offered the opportunity to relocate.

Midway expects to complete the transition out of the Moorpark facility by September 30, 2008.

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SCi to Report FY EBITDA Loss of £100 Million

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

In a trading update following the end of its financial year on June 30, 2008, SCi said it will report sales totaling £134 million and a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and excluding stock options and restructuring costs, of no more than £100 million.

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Review: The Bourne Conspiracy

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

There’s something worse about playing an average game than a bad one. At least with a bad game you’re often given a few (unintended) laughs and some anecdotes to share in the pub. With The Bourne Conspiracy, on the other hand, you’re constantly wishing that it was half as good as its cinematic presentation seems to suggest it could be, tempted by the promise it shows of something better, led on by a belief it will improve, and ultimately left with little but the knowledge that it’s a missed opportunity.

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Foundation 9s Amaze-ing Rebrand

Posted on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Irvine, Calif.-based Foundation 9 Entertainment said Monday that it would be reinstating the studio labels Fizz Factor and Griptonite Games.

Previously, the two studios had fallen under the umbrella of Amaze Entertainment, and were all referred to as Amaze studios, although they had different locations.

Fizz Factor is based in Austin, Tex., and handheld studio Griptonite is located in Kirkland, Wash. A third, separate console-centric Kirkland studio will retain the Amaze Entertainment name.

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Lineage II Gracia Part 1: Kamaloka Instance Dev Diary

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 12:47 PM

The Lineage II development team has a new diary about a new instance in the upcoming Gracia Part 1 update. More...

Foundation 9s Amaze-ing Rebrand

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

Irvine, Calif.-based Foundation 9 Entertainment said Monday that it would be reinstating the studio labels Fizz Factor and Griptonite Games.

Previously, the two studios had fallen under the umbrella of Amaze Entertainment, and were all referred to as Amaze studios, although they had different locations.

Fizz Factor is based in Austin, Tex., and handheld studio Griptonite is located in Kirkland, Wash. A third, separate console-centric Kirkland studio will retain the Amaze Entertainment name.

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David Braben Writes for Edge

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

The games industry is a huge success story, and is growing at a phenomenal rate, with retail sales of games rising by 26% in 2007.

The corresponding growth in development is mostly happening outside the UK, due to a formidable combination of factors including high costs, substantial government assistance overseas and a skills shortage.

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Dave Perry Keynoting GCDC

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

Organizers for the the Leipzig, Germany-based GC Developers Conference said Monday that convention frequenter Dave Perry will be on hand to talk about the future of the games industry.

"David Perry has helped shape the history of videogaming having worked on some of the industry"s best selling titles over the past few decades," said GCDC project director Frank Sliwka.

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Bethesda Mum on Fallout 3 DLC Exclusivity Deal

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

At the E3 Media and Business Summit last week, Bethesda Softworks said it would be bringing Fallout 3 downloadable content exclusively to Xbox 360 and Windows, leaving buyers of the PS3 version out of luck as far as extra content is concerned.

Analyst Colin Sebastian with Lazard Capital Markets told us on Monday that Microsoft and Bethesda likely came to some sort of financial agreement to leave PS3 DLC out of the equation.

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Gears of War Books Announced

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

An agreement between Gears of War developer Epic Games and book publisher Del Rey will spawn a trilogy of Gears of War novels, the companies announced Monday.

The first book, Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields, is slated for release on October 28 this year, a week-and-a-half before the November 7 release of Gears of War 2 on Xbox 360.

The first Gears novel is penned by U.K.-based novelist Karen Traviss, the New York Times best-selling author who has written numerous Star Wars novels and original science fiction works.

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The Story of Sega’s Oddest Game Ever

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

Released in March 2001, right at the time the Dreamcast hardware was discontinued and Sega began its withdrawal from the console manufacturing business, SGGG (pronounced ‘Segagaga’) is a game whose existence exemplifies why the company of that day is so painfully missed.

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Konami Sorry for “Major” Metal Gear Online Problems

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

"We regret to inform that the release of the expansion pack Metal Gear Online Gene Expansion on 17th July 2008 was marred by major system related problems resulting in great inconvenience for all our customers,” reads a statement on MGO’s official site.

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Mythos Beta Closed

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

Following last week’s news that Flagship Studios had “laid off most employees”, the beta test of its free-to-play MMORPG, Mythos, has now gone offline.

Mythos" servers were shut down late on Friday, according to a statement posted on the game’s official forums, although the official line coming from Flagship’s Seattle studio is that the world of Mythos is only taking a break.

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Pachter: “E3 is Headed for Extinction”

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

“In our view, E3 is headed for extinction, unless the publishers and console manufacturers wake up to the fact that nobody cares about the show anymore,” said Wedbush Morgan’s Pachter in a note to investors on Monday.

“The lack of a spectacle will likely keep media away in the future, the lack of surprises will keep retailers away, and the lack of interaction with management will likely keep investors away. Without these three constituencies, the show will likely lose its relevance.”

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PS3 “well-positioned for first time,” says analyst

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

The pricing battle between high-def consoles took a new direction in recent days with Microsoft announcing an inventory-clearing http://www.mmoabc.com/a_8a8080d21b495a6d011b495ab7620011./PS3-wellpositioned-for-first-time-says-analyst.htm99 price tag for the 20GB Xbox 360 and Sony lowering the price of its 80GB PS3 from $499 to Kris Graft99.

But Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald thinks that Sony’s PS3 now has the upper hand in terms of pricing and its growing library of exclusive software.

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EA Extends Take-Two Bid for Fifth Time

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 at 1:04 AM

EA said Monday that it would extend its its tender offer for all Take-Two shares from July 18 to August 18 this year.

The firm said the extra time will allow the Federal Trade Commission to continue its review of the proposed transaction.

The total amount for the hostile bid is over http://www.mmoabc.com/a_8a8080d21b495a6d011b495ab7b70012./EA-Extends-TakeTwo-Bid-for-Fifth-Time.htm.1 billion, with EA offering http://www.mmoabc.com/a_8a8080d21b495a6d011b495ab7b70012./EA-Extends-TakeTwo-Bid-for-Fifth-Time.htm5.74 per Take-Two share.

About 15 percent of Take-Two"s total shares have tendered into EA"s offer.

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