Sep
01
2010

NCSoft’s Guild Wars Sells 6.5 Million Copies

South Korean online game publisher NCsoft revealed that Guild Wars has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide since the episodic action MMORPG launched five years ago (when the firm last shared sales figures for the title in April 2009, ...
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Sep
01
2010

Analysis: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Defense – The Hybrid Results

[In this Gamasutra analysis piece, Tom Cross looks at GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky and its odd combination of FPS, RPG and tower defense game, examining the art of gameplay hybrids.] Uber Entertainment's new XBLA title Monday Night Combat ...
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Sep
01
2010

Sony To Debut Cloud-Based ‘Music Unlimited’ Program On PlayStation 3

Sony announced at the International Franchise Association Trade Show in Berlin today that it will launch a new cloud-based service called Music Unlimited for systems including the PlayStation 3 in Europe later this year, as it rolls out its Qriocity-powered ...
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Sep
01
2010

Analysis: Apple Heading Toward A Gaming Collision Course

This morning in San Francisco at a Gamasutra-attended press conference, Apple laid out the plan of attack for its next generation of devices, and while it's clear that the game industry is in its sights, it's not a full-on assault ...
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Sep
01
2010

Reminder: Last Day To Early Register For GDC Online

GDC Online organizers are reminding potential attendees that today is the last day to save up to 40% on passes to the October 5th-8th event in Austin, TX, fully detailing the comprehensive exhibit floor, Summits, keynotes, a PlayStation Home developer ...
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Sep
01
2010

Interview: Epic’s Capps On Bringing Hardcore Flavor To iOS

Epic Games is best known as the hardcore developer behind games like Unreal Tournament and Gears of War, but in formally moving its popular Unreal Engine 3 to Apple's iOS devices, the studio hopes to bring hardcore flavor to iPhones, ...
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Sep
01
2010

Trials HD Developer Announces Its First WiiWare Title: Motoheroz

RedLynx, the Finland-based studio behind the hit Xblox Live Arcade game Trials HD, announced Motoheroz for Nintendo's WiiWare service. Motoheroz is a physics based, side-scrolling racer, in the same vein as the company's Trials series. The game features a single ...
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Sep
01
2010

Apple Reveals Revised iPod Touch, The ‘Most Popular Portable Game Player’

Apple CEO Steve jobs revealed a thinner, more game-friendly iPod Touch at a Wednesday Apple event attended by Gamasutra. Aside from slimmer dimensions, the updated version of the device, which hits stores next week, will have the A4 chip found ...
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Sep
01
2010

Activision’s Rose: ‘Wouldn’t Be Surprised’ If More U.S. States Back Game Industry

With only 11 states currently showing support for a California law that would restrict the sale of games to minors, Activision's chief public policy officer said he expects that most states would oppose the measure. "We wouldn't be surprised if ...
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Sep
01
2010

Epic, Chair Reveal Unreal-Powered iPhone Game Project Sword

At a Wednedsay Apple event attended by Gamasutra, Epic Games and subsidiary Chair Entertainment revealed Project Sword, an Unreal Engine 3-powered fantasy game that utilizes Apple's upcoming Game Center. The title is in full 3D and is Epic's first game ...
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Sep
01
2010

Catalis Splits DoubleSix Into Separate Division From Kuju

Kuju Entertainment parent Catalis said this week that subsidiary studio and Burn Zombie Burn developer DoubleSix is breaking off from Kuju and will form its own business division. DoubleSix, formed in 2007 by Kuju, is a developer of digitally distributed ...
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Sep
01
2010

Critical Reception: Nintendo/Team Ninja’s Metroid: Other M

This week's edition of Critical Reception examines online reaction to the Team Ninja-developed Metroid sequel Other M, which reviews describe as "a worthwhile addition to the Metroid canon." Metroid: Other M currently earns a score of 80 out of 100 ...
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Sep
01
2010

Telltale’s Grossman: Assumptions About Audience Will Fail You

Telltale Games designer Dave Grossman shares a story of testing Sam & Max on his mother-in-law in Gamasutra's latest feature, explaining why assumptions about the audience will fail you. One such assumption is that your audience will implicitly understand the ...
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Sep
01
2010

SPIL Games: HTML5 To Overtake Flash In Three Years

SPIL Games, one of the largest online webgames companies, has published HTML5 versions of all 47 of its online game destinations, saying that the web language is set to replace Flash as the standard for games on the web within ...
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Sep
01
2010

Target Begins Facebook Credit Sales This Month

Big box retailer Target said Wednesday that it would become the first brick-and-mortar retailer to carry Facebook Credits, the virtual currency that Facebook hopes to standardize transactions on its social network. Beginning September 5, Facebook users can buy the credits ...
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Sep
01
2010

Blizzard: StarCraft II Sells 3M Units In First Month

Real-time strategy game StarCraft II sold over 3 million units in its first month worldwide, publisher Activision Blizzard said Wednesday, as the game continues its reign as PC leader in retail game sales for 2010. The July follow-up to 1998's ...
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Sep
01
2010

Vivendi Increases Profit Expectations For 2010, Attributing Growth To Activision Blizzard

Paris-based media and telecommunications giant Vivendi SA has today increased its profit expectations for 2010, despite reporting a drop in second-quarter net profit. The company, which owns a 52% majority shareholding in video game publisher, Activision-Blizzard Inc., said its second-quarter ...
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Sep
01
2010

Vivendi Ups Profit Forecast For 2010, Attributing Growth To Activision Blizzard

Paris-based media and telecommunications giant Vivendi SA has today increased its profit expectations for 2010, despite reporting a drop in second-quarter net profit. The company, which owns a 52 percent majority shareholding in video game publisher, Activision Blizzard Inc., said ...
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Sep
01
2010

Brown: Team 17′s Move To Self-Publish Ensures ‘Mistakes Will Be Our Own’

UK-based veteran independent game development studio Team 17's co-founder, Martyn Brown has told Gamasutra that the developer's decision to focus entirely on digital distribution will ensure that any mistakes made will be their own. "Our shift is to independent publishing," ...
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Sep
01
2010

Madden Sees 5% Year-On-Year Retail Boost, As Madden Superstars Launches On Facebook

Publisher Electronic Arts has announced that its major retail title Madden NFL 11, which launched earlier this month for PlayStation 2 & 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PSP, is currently the number one selling game for August in the North ...
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Aug
31
2010

Yahoo! and DeNA Debuting Yahoo! Mobage Japanese Social Game Site

In April of this year, mobile social network operator and game creator DeNA announced a partnership with Yahoo! Japan to launch a PC web-based gaming platform called Yahoo! Mobage. While developers have been allowed access since January, the Yahoo! Mobage ...
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Aug
31
2010

Miniclip Forms Mobile Gaming Division

Casual gaming company Miniclip has announced the formation of a new smartphone division which will focus exclusively on bringing its library to the iPhone and Android platforms. Former Skype product manager Antonio Sergio Varanda will head up this new department, ...
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Aug
31
2010

Gameloft Reports 11 Percent Sales Increase for First Half of 2010

Prolific mobile games publisher Gameloft (Modern Combat, Asphalt) announced its financial results for the first half of 2010, revealing an 11 percent increase in global sales and iTunes App Store revenue growth of 82 percent. Gameloft's financial statements report that ...
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Aug
31
2010

Mafia II Makes Strong Sales Debut In UK

2K Game's Mafia II debuted on top of the UK sales charts for the week ended August 28, pushing last week's strong debut title, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days into second place. Tracking firm Chart-Track announced that Mafia II ...
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Aug
31
2010

High Moon Used Scaleform GFx For Transformers UIs

High Moon Studios revealed it used Scaleform's GFx technology for the user interfaces in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Activision's Transformers: War For Cybertron. The company says High Moon used Scaleform's GFx to speed up the development ...
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Aug
31
2010

Microsoft Revises Xbox 360 Controller With New D-Pad

Microsoft is releasing a new controller for its Xbox 360 console later this year that features a subtle redesign. Beyond a matte silver finish and a uniform gray color scheme for the buttons, it addresses user complaints about the old ...
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Aug
31
2010

Trinigy’s Vision Engine Integrates Substance Air, Redux

Game engine developer Trinigy has integrated Allegorithmic's Substance Air and Redux products into its Vision Engine 8, additions designed to offer online developers faster access to lightweight textures. According to the company, Substance Air enables developers to create small but ...
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Aug
31
2010

Zattikka Hires NCSoft, Sega Europe Vet As External Producer

London-based casual/social gaming start-up Zattikka announced its appointment of Jim McDonagh, who has worked at a variety of developers like NCSoft and Sega Europe, as external producer. McDonagh most recently served as an external producer at Sega Europe, where he ...
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Aug
31
2010

Koei Tests Western MMO Space With Uncharted Waters Online

Koei's PC free-to-play strategy game Uncharted Waters Online launched in Japan and other Asian territories several years ago, and the game is planned to make its debut in the U.S. in 2010. Although the franchise may be unfamiliar to Western ...
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Aug
31
2010

Best of FingerGaming: From R-Type to Dodonpachi Resurrection

[Gamasutra rounds up sister iPhone and iPad site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's portable game platforms, as written by editor in chief Danny Cowan and authors Tucker Dean, Jason Johnson, and Ryan Hibbeler.] This week, FingerGaming covers NHL ...
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Aug
31
2010

Feature: Applying Basic Art Practices To Game Design

While the old "are video games art?" argument is a well-trodden debate with some opposing viewpoints, it's virtually inarguable that making video games often involves artistic talent and practices. Rob Kay -- currently with Wii MotionPlus developer AiLive, and formerly ...
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Aug
31
2010

AMD Nixing ATI Label In Brand Consolidation Move

About four years after chip maker AMD said it would purchase graphics processor company and Radeon maker ATI, the parent company said this week it would retire the ATI label for a more focused branding strategy, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. The ...
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Aug
31
2010

GameStreamer Execs File Lawsuits Over Trade Secrets, Religious Discrimination

After being sued in May this year on multiple counts, Tim Roberts and Terrance Taylor, former CEO and CFO of digital distribution provider GameStreamer, have filed a countersuit against the company's current board chairman and majority stakeholder, Ronald Westman. Roberts ...
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Aug
31
2010

TIGA To Begin Offering Individual Memberships

UK trade body TIGA will soon allow individuals to join its ranks, where previously it only admitted game development studios and institutions. It will launch this new initiative in Autumn 2010, and any person working on or with the industry ...
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Aug
31
2010

AI Tool Firm Xaitment Raises $3 Million

German AI tool provider Xaitment has raised € 2.4 million ($3 million) in support of its aim to strengthen its presence in the global market. It'll apply the funds toward building up marketing, sales and support staff at its six ...
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