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Xbox One proposition is wrong

Xbox One and Microsoft's shocking discovery: gamers aren't data | Technology | guardian.co.uk: " . . .But let's say there has been a thudding realisation within Microsoft that the Xbox One proposition is wrong. What then? Is there a reverse gear? "This is a very difficult question," says Crossley. "For several years Microsoft has built its new business and console with this ROI plan as a way of justifying the astounding investment. What I'm saying is, the means and ends are intrinsically linked. It's not like turning off a light switch; if Xbox One scraps this policy, then there's a massive hole in its revenue projections. Then again, if it sticks with it, the outcome could be much worse.""

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Sailing in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Here's Why Sailing Took So Damn Long in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker: "There's a reason sailing the sea in the GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was so slow and tedious. If the boat moved any faster, you'd sail off the edge of the ocean. Flat-Earthers smell a conspiracy! No, really, the GameCube didn't have the power necessary to render the entirety of Wind Waker's ocean all at once; it could do so only in chunks, and had to keep Link's skiff from sailing past what was in memory. As director Eiji Aonuma explains, that's not a problem with the Wii U's upgraded processing, which can load the entire ocean at once. Rather than subject players to sailing at the same snail's pace of the GameCube version, the Wind Waker HD remake will allow for faster travel."

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Amazon promotes little guys with Indie Game Store

Amazon promotes the little guys with Indie Game Store | Internet & Media - CNET News: "The dedicated storefront on Amazon's Digital Video Games Store is designed to highlight games that can get lost in the din dominated by developer powerhouses. . . . Amazon today launched an Indie Games Store to address just that problem. A new category on Amazon in the Digital Video Games Store, it is designed to help indie developers get better exposure for PC, Mac, and browser-based games. For gamers, it means a new way to discover gems. The storefront has features and promotions like Indie Spotlight, which is just what it sounds like: a focus on individual developers, with Q&As and featured bios. Until July 17, players can get three preselected titles for free when they buy any indie title, and until July 23, consumers can get deals on bundles of games at a discount. May the independent game developer wallow in obscurity no more."

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NCAA case -- the right of publicity in video games

Third Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In Favor of Video Game Maker In Important Right of Publicity Case | Jackson Walker - JDSupra: "In NCAA Football, the player avatars are virtually identical to their real-life athlete counterparts, down to their physical appearance, jersey number, home town, unique playing style, even their wrist bands, visors and gloves. EA obtains no licenses from and pays no royalties to the ex- and current college players, citing the First Amendment's protection of creative expression. The players counter that inclusion of their life-like avatars adds the realism that makes EA's games so popular, and constitutes commercial exploitation of their identities without their consent...." (read more at link above)

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Razer takes portable gaming laptops to thin extremes

Razer takes portable gaming laptops to thin extremes: " . . . The original Blade began a "technological shift" for Razer, Tan says. "Now, our industry-leading in-house systems engineering team has advanced our thermal solutions to the point that the 14-inch Blade is insanely powerful in an impossibly thin form factor. We see the Blade as the 'fourth gaming console,' so to speak.""

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Microsoft to invest $1 billion into Xbox One games

Microsoft investing $1 billion into games on Xbox One | Joystiq: "Microsoft is investing $1 billion into games on the Xbox One, financing not only new studios but also securing exclusives for Microsoft's next-generation console. This is an unprecedented investment for Microsoft, much more than its most expensive game yet,Halo 4. Xbox One is planned to have 15 exclusives from Microsoft in its first year at retail, including eight new intellectual properties - the product of two years that has seen the formation of new studios in London, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. Phil Harrison, former Sony exec, was brought on to oversee internal projects; Lionhead's new boss is John Needham, a guy with a heavy MMO background. Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told OXM Rare is returning to one of its older franchises (Killer Instinct, anyone?) and Black Tusk Studios is hard at work on Microsoft's next big franchise. Lift London is working on smaller cloud-based games, while Microsoft Studios Osaka has a project under way - something Don Mattrick says will illustrate how Microsoft is "committed" to Japan. Finally, Press Play and Twisted Pixel are in Microsoft's bullpen, working on "weird, unique" games for Xbox Live. . . ."

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown a console experience on iPad

XCOM: Enemy Unknown puts a current console experience on iPad | A+E Interactive: "When XCOM: Enemy Unknown was announced for iOS, it may have marked a turning point in gaming. It doesn’t sound like much but getting a current-gen console experience on Apple’s devices is a huge step for the medium. The move does two things: A) It validates the tablet as a gaming device that’s comparable with living room boxes out there and B) It changes the perception of mobile games. They aren’t as simple as Angry Birds or puzzle-oriented as Tetris Blitz."

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Official Call of Duty Ghosts Reveal Trailer

Official Call of Duty: Ghosts Reveal Trailer - YouTube: Call of Duty: Ghosts takes the critically-acclaimed franchise into the next generation. New world. New story. New, next-gen engine. 

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Steven Spielberg Working on Live-Action Halo Series for Xbox

Steven Spielberg Working on Live-Action Halo Series for Xbox | Underwire | Wired.com: "Amidst all of the hullabaloo – and total gamer glee – surrounding today’s announcement of Microsoft’s new Xbox One came a special highlight for TV fans: the news that Steven Spielberg would be producing a live-action series based on the Halo game universe. Well, this is awesome news. When someone who is as much of a kid-at-heart as Spielberg is signed on to work on a show based on a videogame world, nothing but greatness can come of it. The series, which will be available on Xbox Live, will beproduced in conjunction with the game’s developer 343 Industries. . . ."

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Xbox One will not be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games

Xbox One will not be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games | The Verge: " .. . . the new Xbox One console will have no backwards compatibility whatsoever. "No, there's not," said Whitten, when we posed the question. "The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn't really work from that perspective." That means that Xbox 360 discs won't work, but also extends to Xbox Live Arcade downloadable titles. Anything that was designed for the Xbox 360 will have to be rebuilt, and it sounds like Microsoft doesn't plan to do so. . . ."

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Nintendo Wii U sales collapse ahead of Xbox launch

Nintendo Wii U sales analysis: total collapse ahead of Xbox launch | BGR: "What makes the Wii U performance such a horror show is the fact that its sales tanked before the next Xbox has even debuted. After Microsoft and Sony really start slugging it out in the media spotlight with hardware comparisons, game exclusives and pricing speculation, the Wii U is going to be starved of oxygen."

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Conscious computing vs Cow Clicker

Conscious computing: how to take control of your life online | Technology | The Guardian: " . . . By far the funniest, or maybe the most horrifying, illustration of this situation is Cow Clicker, a Facebook game created in 2011 by the game designer Ian Bogost as a satire of undemanding "social games" such as FarmVille – in which, as Bogost put it, "you click on a cow, and that's it". In Cow Clicker, you clicked on your cow and it mooed, and that was it: you then had to wait another six hours to click again, unless you were willing to part with real money (or virtual money, accumulated through clicking) for the right to click again immediately. Bogost's joke became a surprise hit: at its height, Cow Clicker had more than 50,000 users, some paying $20 or more for pointless "improvements" to their cow, such as making it face the opposite direction. "After a while," Bogost told a US radio interviewer, "I realised they're doing exactly what concerned me about these games" – becoming "compulsively attached". "I began to feel very disturbed about the product." Eventually, a few months after the launch, Bogost eliminated all the cows in a Rapture-like event he called the Cowpocalypse. After it, users could keep playing only by clicking on a bare patch of grass – and some actually did. Responding to a player who complained that Cow Clicker was no longer "a very fun game", Bogost replied, "It wasn't very fun before.". . ."

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Gran Turismo 6 Holiday Release on PS3

Gran Turismo 6 Set for Holiday Release on PS3 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "Gamers, start your engines: Gran Turismo 6 is heading to the PlayStation 3 this holiday season. Sony announced the news on Wednesday during a celebration of Gran Turismo's 15 years as a top-selling video game franchise."

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Facebook Game Revenue Up as Zynga Presence Wanes

Facebook Game Revenue Up, Even as Zynga Presence Wanes - John Paczkowski - Social - AllThingsD: "“Q1 represented our largest three-month quarter of games revenue to date despite a 37 percent drop in year-over-year payments volume from our largest developer,” Facebook CFO David Ebersman said during the company’s earnings call. “Our other developers increased their payments volumes by almost 60 percent, and we saw record numbers of people playing games on Facebook.”" (read more at link above)

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Electronic Arts - a Critical Quarter

Why This Quarter Is Key for Electronic Arts (EA): The video game industry has struggled for a long time now, as console makers have been slow to produce new innovations and game producers have increasingly relied on sequels in established blockbuster series to produce sales . . . Still, Electronic Arts has had a particularly tough time even compared to its peers. The company was named Consumerist's Worst Company in America last month, as survey respondents cited failings in customer support and game quality as key contributors to the bad rating. . . . Moreover, the social-gaming space has been changing at a rapid pace, challenging EA's presence in it. Last month, EA said it would shut down three games it offers to Facebook users. For its part, Facebook has shifted the bulk of its attention toward mobile advertising and other revenue-enhancing initiatives, and the disappearance of its former emphasis on gaming has pushed EA and other gaming players back to their console roots to some extent. . . . (read more at link above)

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EA confirms 10 percent of staff laid off in major restructuring

EA confirms 10 percent of staff laid off in major restructuring | The Verge: " . . . During the call, EA label president Frank Gibeau also spoke briefly on the company’sdisastrous launch of SimCity, in which network failures left millions of owners unable to play their new game. The franchise’s creator Will Wright might think that the launch was “inexcusable,” but Gibeau insists the company has learned from its mistakes. “This will not happen again,” he said."

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Microsoft IllumiRoom

Microsoft IllumiRoom is a coffee table projector designed for the next-generation Xbox | The Verge: "When Microsoft first unveiled its IllumiRoom technology at CES, it did so in an unusual way. The software giant traditionally reveals its research projects in short, scrappy videos accompanied by research papers and a lot of technical jargon. IllumiRoom was different. The chief technology strategy officer at Microsoft, Eric Rudder, joined the Samsung keynote to showcase a video of an augmented reality projection unit designed to extend gaming onto nearby walls. The demo showed off a concept that appeared finely tuned, using what felt like a marketing video."


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Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep

That Tiny Tina Borderlands 2 DLC Will Release on June 25 - Kotaku
Kotaku
Today Gearbox acknowledged the next piece of downloadable content coming to Borderlands 2 is indeed named Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. It's coming out on June 25, either for $9.99 (aka 800 Microsoft points) or for free as part of the Season Pass ...

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Mozilla releases Firefox UE3 demo

Mozilla releases Firefox UE3 demo
T3
Mozilla has released a demo of Epic Citadel for its recently announced Unreal Engine 3 Firefox port. The game was ported to Javascript using the new browser-based engine. Significantly, it was the first game to make use of the engine on the iPhone after it ...

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Game Design merit badge

Girl Scouts Chapter Introduces Game Design Merit Badge - Mashable
Mashable
The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles have introduced a Game Design merit badge to help encourage its members to get interested in a variety of science and technology fields. The L.A. Girl Scouts chapter partnered with the Women in Games International ...

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Zynga Revenues Decline

Amid A Challenging Mobile Transition, Zynga’s Revenues Decline 18% To $264M | TechCrunch: "Zynga’s revenues for the first quarter of 2013 declined 18% year-over-year to $264 million as the company is in the midst of doing a big pivot onto mobile platforms. The company swung to a profit from a year ago though, with net income of $4 million. Last year, during the same quarter, Zynga earned $321 million in revenue. Analysts had estimated on average that the company would pull in $209.8 million in revenue and lose 4 cents a share. So this is an earnings beat — thanks to FarmVille 2. But shares are down 9.6 percent in after-hours trading. “2013 remains a transition year,” said CEO Mark Pincus on the earnings call. “We continue to expect non-linear, uneven results and a significant decline in second quarter bookings.” He said the company had to kill two unreleased games and that they would sunset about four others including The Ville, Empires & Allies, Zynga City on Tencent and Dream Zoo."


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Leviathan: Warships releases April 30 (video)



Leviathan: Warships is a naval turn-based strategy game from Paradox Interactive, developed by Pieces Interactive and coming soon for PC, MAC, Android and iOS devices.

Grab a blanket and curl up in front of the computer for the new official Leviathan: Warships Jazzy Pre-Order Trailer. "You've earned it."  Afterwards, congratulate yourself on a job well done and head over to the game page.

 Leviathan: Warships releases on April 30th, for PC, MAC, Android and iOS tablets.
Preorder now: http://bitly.com/12LISlp

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Electronic Arts drops three Facebook game titles

Electronic Arts drops three Facebook game titles - The Washington Post: "Electronic Arts said Monday that it will discontinue three Facebook game titles because player activity has taken a sharp dive. Three titles from EA developer Playfish — The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society — will be discontinued. EA will continue to support other, more popular titles, such as Bejeweled Blitz, Solitaire Bliz and Plants vs. Zombies adventures. . . .While companies aren’t seeing the mega-hits they once did on Facebook’s social gaming platform, that the genre itself doesn’t appear to be fading. Facebook said that gaming on its network continues to grow, saying at last month’s Game Developers Conference that it plays host to 250 million gamers each month — up, as TechCrunch noted, from 235 million in August 2012."


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An Always-Online Xbox 720

The Pros and Cons of an Always-Online Xbox 720 - IGN: "A popular rumor that refuses to die purports that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor – a machine which, I suspect, will simply be called “Xbox” and may be revealed on May 21 – will require an always-online Internet connection. Since we heard the first rumblings of this prospect, the gaming community’s incendiary outrage has lit up message boards, IGN comments sections, and social media alike. Is this rage justified, or is it simply a knee-jerk overreaction without the benefit of key facts?" (read more at link above)


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EA Layoffs

EA Layoffs | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "Electronic Arts confirmed on Thursday that it has laid off an undisclosed number of employees from its Montreal-based mobile studio. Reports tipped 60 to 70 permanent employees, plus more than 100 contract workers, but EA declined to share an exact number. The cuts come in the wake of the company's SimCity debacle and the resignation of EA CEO John Riccitiello."


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Women in the Video Game Industry (video)


Emily Chang explores the rising presence of women in the video game industry. She speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video Games Aid Children With Dyslexia

Video Games May Aid Children With Dyslexia - NYTimes.com: "Playing action video games may improve reading in children with dyslexia, Italian researchers have found. The small study, published online last week in Current Biology, involved two groups of 10 dyslexic children. One group played action video games for nine sessions of 80 minutes each, while the other followed the same routine with nonaction games. The researchers bought the games in retail stores and have no financial interest in any video game company. Age, I.Q., reading speed, error rates and phonological skills were similar in the two groups at the beginning of the study. The researchers measured the attention and reading skills of the children before and after the game sessions and then compared them. Those trained on the action games scored significantly higher than those who played the nonaction games by various measures: combined speed and accuracy, recognizing pseudo-words made of random letters, and reaction time. The action game players also scored higher on tests that measured attention by inserting distractions as the children tried to accomplish various visual and auditory tasks."


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Blizzard freemium online trading card game

Blizzard announces “freemium” online trading card game | Ars Technica: "Blizzard confirmed that it is working on a new small-scale game titled HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft at a conference at PAX Friday. The game is a collectible-card-style game played online and will be Blizzard's "first free-to-play" title. The model is "something we've wanted to experiment with for a while... A lot of people at Blizzard have played CCGs for a really long time," said Rob Pardo, chief creative officer at Blizzard. But the company wanted to focus on making a trading card game that's more accessible and "not just something that us hardcore nerds would play.""


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Journey sweeps Game Developers Choice Awards

'Journey' sweeps Game Developers Choice Awards
IBNLive
San Francisco: Journey arrived on top at the Game Developers Choice Awards. The artsy video game developed by thatgamecompany swept the 13th annual ceremony Wednesday with six wins, including game of the year and the innovation award. Journey ...

IBNLive

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Not Many Developers Are Working On Wii U Games

Not Many Developers Are Working On Wii U Games
Surprisingly, the Wii U came in dead last with only 4.6 percent of developers saying they were working on a title for Nintendo's console. Other consoles didn't fare too well either as only 13.2 percent of developers are making a game for the Xbox 360 ...

Donkey Kong to the Future: Divining What's NextNew York Times
At 60 Mr. Miyamoto is still designing games for Nintendo, but the company's newest creation, the Wii U, has not invaded American living rooms with the speed of its predecessor. . . .

Free-to-play Xbox Live game hits 2 million players
Additionally, gamers must hold an Xbox Live Gold subscription ($60 per year) to download Happy Wars. Toylogic also announced today that a ... Happy Wars may be the first free-to-play game for Xbox Live, but it won't be the last. Signal Studios' third ...

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Amazon suspends sales of SimCity video game

BBC News - Amazon suspends sales of SimCity video game: "The web retailer stopped sales late on 7 March as players reported continued problems with the city building title. The latest version of SimCity was launched on 5 March and, like many current games, demand players stay online as they play. EA has also taken steps to fix login delays by turning off some features to lighten the load on game servers. Prior to this latest release, SimCity was a stand-alone game, but EA has added the online element to infuse the title with more realism. . . . "


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Why the Nintendo Wii U version of Crysis 3 had to die

Crytek says that its Nintendo Wii U version of Crysis 3 had to die | Digital Trends: "Electronic Arts has been selective about what it’s willing to put out for Nintendo’s Wii U. The twin titans of EA Sports - Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer - were a must, but little else form EA is guaranteed to be released on the new console. Mass Effect 3 was released as a launch title, but similarly adult-oriented action games like Dead Space 3 are not eligible, according to the publisher. That has left games that fall between the two (in terms of violence), games like Crysis 3, in uncertain waters. Crytek openly stated that it was working with the hardware, but when it finally announced concrete release plans for the sequel it said Nintendo and EA backed away. What happened?
“We did have Crysis running on the Wii U,” Crytek’s outspoken CEO Cevat Yerli told Venture Beat, “We were very close to launching it. But there was a lack of business support between Nintendo and EA on that. Since we as a company couldn’t launch on the Wii U ourselves—we don’t have a publishing license—Crysis 3 on Wii U had to die.”"
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Electronic Arts and Zynga settle legal battle

Electronic Arts, Zynga drop their legal battle before it begins - San Jose Mercury News: "Redwood City video game publisher Electronic Arts (ERTS) and San Francisco social gaming company Zynga have agreed to dismiss claims against each other in a case involving alleged copyright violations and employee poaching. Electronic Arts had accused Zynga of copying key elements of its game "The Sims Social" for Zynga's "The Ville." Zynga then countersued to stop what it called Electronic Arts' improper effort to prevent it from hiring that company's employees."


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Faces Behind Successful Mobile Games

The Faces Behind Successful Mobile Games
ABC News
We spoke to 4 high-profile game developers who attended the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas last week and asked them the following: what makes their games special, how they made it in the gamingindustry and what excites them about the future of ...

ABC News

What Games Are: Why The Xbox's $5 Problem Is Great For OUYA
TechCrunch
Editor's note: Tadhg Kelly is a veteran game designer, creator of leadinggame design blog What Games Are and creative director of JawfishGames. You can follow him on Twitter here. Game developers, publishers and platform holders regularly argue the ...
 
TechCrunch

'GTA 5' publisher discusses PS4 and Xbox 720 video game development budget ...
Examiner.com
Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games (the publisher who is responsible for the upcoming “GTA 5”), has commented on the development costs for PS4 and Xbox 720 video games. According to a report by Edge on Feb. 6, CEO Strauss ...
What's Next for THQ's Games? - IGN: " . . . Ultimately, all of this is mostly good news for gamers. Each of these studios and properties found new homes because they’re desirable and because they are -- or have the potential to be -- successful. It may be a while before we know the end result of the THQ bankruptcy auction, but the games will have the final say, on this generation of consoles and the next."

Is Your Mind for Sale? Inside the Allure of Digital Sweatshops | Collective Intelligence | Big Think: "Another form of human computation von Ahn has developed is the seductive online game ESP that was acquired by Google in 2006. People will spend up to 40 hours a week providing "meaningful" labels to images, helping to optimize online image searches, an area where current computer vision techniques have fallen short. While Google shut down its version of ESP in 2011, human agents used the game to generate over 10 million labels. Like Mechanical Turk, this is a form of artificial artificial intelligence. ESP asks humans the type of task that it would like to farm out to a computer, but can't. If you make this task into a game, people will play it, earning "points." While this is a completely worthless currency, Zittrain points out that it is really positive feedback that people are craving, and that is what motivates them to participate. "

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Electronic Arts Suffers $45 Million Loss

The Escapist : News : Electronic Arts Suffers $45 Million Loss: ". . . analyst Michael Pachter said EA is being "overly conservative" in the wake of disappointing Medal of Honor: Warfighter sales, which were bad enough that the publisher revealed yesterday that plans for future games in the franchise have been shelved. "They were probably a little shell-shocked by how bad holiday demand was, and I think at the low end they're probably assuming demand is down 20 percent or so," he said. BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams also noted that some of EA's troubles are beyond its control, as the entire industry is suffering from a downturn in demand as consumers await next-gen hardware from Sony and Microsoft. "The guidance pretty clearly represents a lot uncertainty in the market and that uncertainty stems from recent performances as consumers are pretty aware of new consoles coming," he said. In other words, the news may not be great but it's not necessarily all that bad, either. EA also announced that its digital business is continuing to grow, with games and services for mobile (including handhelds) growing 18 percent year-over-year to roughly $100 million, and that its Origin platform now has more than 39 million registered users and distribution deals with 86 independent developers."


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Game developers gather at for Global Game Jam

Game developers gather at Cogswell College for Global Game Jam - SiliconValley.com: ". . . ."To be a game developer, you have to love what you do," said Joshua McCoy, 19, a DeVry University junior. And it's more than knowing computer code. A good game designer must be a Renaissance man -- or for the few out there -- woman. "You need to know a little bit of everything -- what's happening in the world, history, religion, music," said Martinez. The designer creates an online experience based in the real world. "This is not just a hobby, it's an art form," said Albert Chen, assistant professor of digital arts engineering game development at Cogswell, a campus of 330 students just north of Bayshore Freeway in Sunnyvale. . . . "


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Nintendo makes drastic cut to forecast

Nintendo makes drastic cut to forecast | ZDNet: " . . . In a statement released Wednesday (PDF), Nintendo said it expected operating losses of 20 billion yen (US$220 million) for the year ended March 31, 2013, significantly down from its previous estimate of 20 billion yen in operating profit. The figure was also more drastic than market estimates of 12.1 billion yen (US$134 million) in profit, according to a Reuters poll of 19 analysts. . . . In the Reuters report, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said: "The sales of Wii U were smooth at the beginning, but since the turn of the year they have been losing momentum. "Due to delays in software development, we had to postpone sales of software products we had planned to [release] early this year, which is interrupting our sales," Iwata said. In a ZDNet report in September, market watchers noted that the overall game console market in Asia had been challenged by the rise of online and mobile games, especially when console devices had created a high entry barrier for consumers."


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Zynga loses chief designer

Zynga loses chief designer - GameSpot.com: "Zynga has lost a top developer. Chief game designer Brian Reynolds has left the social game company, he announced over Twitter last night. Reynolds had spent nearly four years with the San Francisco, California-based FarmVille developer. It is not clear where Reynolds is headed next or if he will be replaced at Zynga. Reynolds founded Zynga's Baltimore, Maryland studio, which released FrontierVille in June 2010. His principal game credits also include CityVille 2 and FrontierVille: Pioneer Trail."


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Facebook and gaming revenue

Facebook fourth quarter results: live - Telegraph: "A question about whether Facebook can replace falling desktop gaming revenue with mobile gaming revenue. "What we're seeing now is growth and adoption of our platform in games on both iOS and Android," says Ebersman. "We want Facebook to be the default social infrastructure for mobile games. At this point we don't have any mobile monetisation, but it puts us in an interesting position to consider future opportunities. 22.45 A flat denial of those smartphone rumours. "We're not going to build a phone," says Zuckerberg. He's more interested in building new features that are unique to accessing Facebook on a smartphone, whatever that means."


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THQ is gone but publishers buy key brands

THQ is gone, but publishers rush in to buy key brands | Technology | guardian.co.uk: THQ, the veteran publisher of games like Saints Row and Homefront, as well as a range of WWE wrestling titles, has been struggling with debt for many months. Now it has been forced to auction off its key franchises. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December and had hoped for a quick buy-out courtesy of the private equity firm, Clearlake Capital Group. However, investors objected to the deal, and a US courtfound in their favour, arguing that the company had not been aggressive enough in seeking other potential purchasers. The alternative: an auction, held on January 22, to sell off the publisher's studios and assets one by one. This was effectively to be the end of a company that has been in the games business for 20 years. And while the results of the auction are yet to be formally approved by the court, most of THQ's major brands are now effectively with new owners. Here's who got what: Relic Entertainment: the studio behind titles such as Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40k has been bought by Sega for $26.6m. It's a good fit for the publisher, bringing over the forthcoming real-time strategy sequel Company of Heroes 2 which slots in comfortably beside the Total War series. THQ Montreal: The studio had been working on two new properties: 1666 and Underdog. These have now gone to Ubisoft for $2.5m. Ironically, 1666 is the codename for a project directed by Assassin's Creed creator, Patrice Desilets, who left Ubisoft for THQ in 2010. In the wake of the move, Ubisoft attempted to take out an injunction prohibiting THQ and Desilets from employing further staff from the Ubisoft Montreal studio. It's unclear yet, whether Desilets will return to the fold.


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Logitech to Discontinue Console Gaming Products

Logitech to Discontinue Console Gaming Products, Harmony Remotes - IGN: "Logitech reported on its less-than stellar financials for Q3 of Fiscal Year 2013 this morning, naming a few product lines within the company set for deletion by the end of the year. Namely, Logitech will step away from its Harmony universal remotes and long-term commitment to console gaming peripherals."


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20 Great Android Tablet Games

20 Great Games for Your Android Tablet : Big Games in a Small Package: "Big Games in a Small Package A few weeks ago, we took a look at some awesome games for Android devices in general. Today, we're taking a peek at a few more Android games, but these are titles that work better on the tablet form factor due to the bigger screen real estate, interface, or just straight up technical hardware wizardry. Check out these 20 games for Android tablets."


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Games in the next 12 months


What Games Are: Playing In Interesting Times
TechCrunch
Given how social has stalled, mobile seems packed to the gills, tablet is increasing and cloud gaming went bust it's hard to be confident about where games will go in the next 12 months. As the proverb goes, we seem to be living in interesting times ...

TechCrunch

GameSci: What Makes A Mobile Game Great? | Popular Science
Two big games dropped for iOS Wednesday night: Temple Run 2 and Final Fantasy: All The Bravest. On my bus ride to work yesterday morning.
www.popsci.com/.../gamesci-i-will-never-play-good-game-my...

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Kabam acquires Vancouver studio Exploding Barrel Games

Kabam acquires Vancouver studio Exploding Barrel Games | VentureBeat: "Kabam made a successful transition beyond Facebook in the past year, and now it is expanding again. The San Francisco free-to-play game company is acquiring Exploding Barrel Games, a 35-person development startup in Vancouver, Canada. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As free-to-play social and mobile games become higher quality, Kabam has set its sights on matching the quality of console games, said Kevin Chou (pictured left), the chief executive of Kabam, in an interview with GamesBeat. And Exploding Barrel Games is full of people like Scott Blackwood (pictured right), the studio’s president, who worked at companies like Electronic Arts for years building franchises such as Need for Speed. Most recently, Exploding Barrel worked on Margaritaville, a critically acclaimed Facebook game published by THQ. But THQ has struggled, filing for bankruptcy in December, and it is no longer focused on social games. That created an opportunity for Kabam, which has doubled down on its free-to-play game studios with multiple acquisitions. With the addition of Exploding Barrel, Kabam will have more than 600 employees."


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Apple: gaming apps different than books or songs

Apple: ‘Want to criticize religion? Write a book’ — don’t make a game | VentureBeat: "Apple doesn’t believe video games can tackle important subjects. At least, that’s how the submission guidelines for developers on the App Store make it sound. If you haven’t read the document before, it’s actually very interesting. The whole thing comes across in very conversational language, not the typical lawyer-speak that often permeates these kinds of policy statements, which is why many people believe that Steve Jobs dictated it himself. One section of the guidelines resonated with me as a gamer:
We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.
. . .  “I think [Apple has] the wrong attitude about games, but ultimately [this] is game developers’ fault, not Apple’s,” Braid developer Jonathan Blow told GamesBeat. “Apple is treating games as shallow commercial entertainment experiences because they have been taught by game developers that that is what games are.”
Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/15/apple-want-to-criticize-religion-write-a-book-dont-make-a-game/#IpkXqSRO0uWhAkhJ.99


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Nevada Bill Would Allow for Interstate Gaming Compacts

New Nevada Bill Would Allow for Interstate Gaming Compacts | Ifrah Law - Hands-on Counsel, Gloves-off Litigation - JDSupra: " . . . The possibility of gaming compacts became a reality after the DOJ released an opinion in December 2011stating that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting. This opinion by DOJ eased fears among state lawmakers that money involved in online gaming could not be sent across state lines without incurring a violation of federal law. With that hurdle removed, the possibility of states entering into online gaming compacts became a reality. Thus far two states, Delaware and Nevada, have enacted laws legalizing intrastate online gaming. Last month, the New Jersey state legislature passed a law legalizing online gaming and the bill is currently waiting for action to be taken on it by Gov. Chris Christie. Other states have publicly stated that they will consider online gaming legislation in sessions this year. One potential problem with interstate gaming compacts is the potential for a hodgepodge of different laws and regulations for players and operators. States that lack experience in regulating gambling activities may look to the states that do have such experience, like Nevada and New Jersey, to regulate for them as an alternative to establishing their own regulations for online gaming. Thus far, Nevada is the only state to implement regulations governing online poker. Nevada may want something in return for helping regulate gaming activities in other states, and it is not clear from the bill what that may be. Compacts like this have the potential to entrust a significant amount of power in a state agency, such as the Nevada Gaming Commission, and it is unclear whether it would be in the best interests of players and operators for that to occur. The concern over one state agency having so much power may serve as an impetus for states that do not currently have regulatory bodies for gaming to decide to establish them. . . "

Gambling and Social Games Continue to Unite: Caesars Interactive Entertainment has acquired Buffalo Studios LLC | Pillsbury Social Media, Entertainment & Technology Team - JDSupra: "Bingo Blitz business represents a unique opportunity for Caesars Interactive Entertainment to add to our portfolio of social and mobile game assets and to grow our market share across all interactive platforms," said Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer for Caesars Interactive Entertainment. This acquisition comes on the heels of CIE's acquisition of Playtika and its vow to be Number 1 in the space. According to its website, CIE is actively pursuing further expansion and acquisitions to build upon its capabilities and product portfolio. The intersection of gambling and social games remains a growing area as the legislation to permit real money gambling in the U.S. crawls along at a snail's pace.


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Apple Bans Newsgames On The iPhone

Apple Has, Sadly, Banned Newsgames On The iPhone - Forbes: "a very strange decision by Apple. I know that what gets onto an iPhone is strictly controlled by the company, they decide and only they decide what can be sold or even distributed for free through the App Store. And short of jailbreaking there’s no other way of getting an app onto an iPhone. But I still think this is a bad idea:"


Xbox 720/ Durango Rumors: Microsoft IllumiRoom Makes Video Games Come Out Of The TV (See It Here) : News : Gamenguide: "Microsoft unveiled a new technology that turns the entire room into an extension of the television screen. The new tech is called IllumiRoom and it was showcased during Samsung's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show. According to Microsoft's description of the technology on its webpage, as reported by IGN, the IllumiRoom uses Kinect and a projector "to blur the lines between on-screen content and the environment we live in allowing us to combine our virtual and physical worlds." According to the article, Microsoft's says IllumiRoom "augments the area surrounding a television screen with projected visualizations to enhance the traditional living room entertainment experience" and "can change the appearance of the room, induce apparent motion, extend the field of view, and enable entirely new game experiences." Kinect captures the geometry of a room and adapts projected visuals "in real-time without any need to custom pre-process the graphics." Read more at http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/4766/20130110/xbox-720-durango-rumors-microsoft-illumiroom-makes-video-game-pop-out-the-screen.htm#pTkgG2eiAPiE8ErC.99


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Game Developer Ideas for 2013

Hey, Game Developers: Please Steal These Ideas In 2013: "Whether it's a quick save option, fast travel, the ability to skip cutscenes, or something totally random but life-saving, some games in 2012 have experimented with what seem to be really small ideas, but contribute to an overall greater experience. They may not have been the creators of these ideas, but they've got the right idea in incorporating them. We've already taken a look at what games released in 2012 offered the best controls. Now let's look at last year's games a little more closely, because sometimes its the smallest things that count the most. So it's time to celebrate the best little ideas, and hope that game developers in 2013 make a note of them. . . . "


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Great games for your new smartphone or tablet

Great games for your new smartphone, tablet: "Snag a new smartphone or tablet for the holidays? Welcome aboard! Both devices provide tons of hours of entertainment between streaming TV shows and movies, and millions of apps. Of course, there's also a wide selection of games to choose from. Need help picking games? Here are some choices: Angry Birds Star Wars (Android, iOS, Windows 8): The physics-based puzzle game combines two hot properties into one package. Players use the touchscreen to fling powered-up birds at pigs stealing their eggs, all behind popular Star Wars backdrops such as Tatooine and the Death Star. Expect perks such as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and Obi Wan Kenobi's Jedi force powers at your disposal. Infinity Blade II (iOS): The role-playing game stars a knight dueling in a series of one-on-one encounters. The graphics are gorgeous, while the search for new swords, shields, armor and magic abilities grows increasingly addictive. It's a great choice for mobile players preferring a more core gaming experience. Flight! (iOS): The premise seems really . . . . "


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Zynga Shuts Down Games To Cut Costs

Game Over: Zynga Shuts Down PetVille And 10 Other Titles To Cut Costs | TechCrunch: "Executing the cost-reduction plan CEO Mark Pincus announced in November, Zynga has shut down, pulled from the app stores, or stopped accepting new players to 11 games, with some turning off today. The gaming giant will reallocate resources to more successful titles as well as creating new ones. Along with layoffs, the shutdowns are part of the hard road to recovery for Zynga. The San Francisco-based company had overextended itself. During its heyday on Facebook it built dozens of games, then aggressively launched mobile games as smartphones gained popularity. It didn’t seem like a problem when the company was preparing for a big IPO."

PetVille – Shut down December 30th
Mafia Wars 2 - Shut down December 30th
FishVille – Shut down December 5th
Vampire Wars – Shut down December 5th
Treasure Isle – Shut down December 5th
Indiana Jones Adventure World – Closed to new players, shuts down January 14th
Mafia Wars Shakedown – Pulled from app stores
Forestville – Pulled from app stores
Montopia – Shut down December 21st
Mojitomo – Pulled from app stores
Word Scramble Challenge – Pulled from app stores


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The Worldwide Events For Indie Game Developers

What Are The Worldwide Events For Indie Game Developers? - Forbes: "Conferences – Events – Talks IndieCade in Los Angeles is a place for indie developers and indie game developer students to showoff their game in Culverson, CA. This event is a blast to go to because a lot of non-digital and experimental games are on the games floor. Also talks are done for press at IndieCade. IGF – International Games Festival – This is the award show at the GDC usually where they show off games on the indie-floor space, and the indies finalist game space. Afterwards, they do the award show afterwards showing off that year’s best games coupled with the video game awards show for AAA games where the pioneers of this industry speak such as Waren Spector, Cliff Blizinski, and so on. IGF Website Entry – If you pay the fee or are waived the fee, you can submit your game for the judges. This is a great place to get PR for your game simply by having it showcased on the IGF website, TigSource, IndieGames, DIYGames, Indie Game Mag, KillScreen, The Venus Patrol, etc. GDC – Game Developers Conference “Main One – . . . ."


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Google+ Communities for Gamers

Google+ Communities for Merchants - 'Net Features - Website Magazine: "Merchants tend to put the majority of their social resources into sites like Facebook or Twitter, but it might be time to shift some of that social focus to Google+. This is because having a profile on Google’s emerging social network makes a brand more visible in the search results. In fact, a study from digital marketing and analytics provider Fathom reveals that only 24 percent of the brands on Millward Brown's 2012 BrandZ list actually triggered a Knowledge Graph entry w hen searched for on Google, and the information for 92 percent of those entries came directly from Google+." Who should leverage Communities? While any type of Web worker can create a Community, merchants might be the biggest beneficiaries of this new feature. . . .But before you create your first Community, take some time to get inspired by the examples below: . . . . Call of Duty The Call of Duty Community has more than 1,200 members and features three different types of discussions. It is a good place for gamers to connect with each other away from the television screen, as well as ask questions about the game or give out tips for success."


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Next generation video games

Here's a first look at the next generation of video games - Gainesville Classic Game | Examiner.com: "What we have here is a little project showed off just last night (12/9) at the 2012 Game Developer's Session by Czech gaming company Warhorse Studios. The demonstration isn't in English and it's not the best quality video (why someone didn't think to screengrab the entire thing is beyond me) but it's easy to see just how technology such as this could benefit the gaming scene as a whole when PC rigs become even more powerful and the inevitable and likely insurmountable (at least for the first couple years after launch) PS4 and new Xbox are released. The game is running on a modified version of CryEngine 3 and is described as "historical RPG" and by the looks of things is striving for the utmost in terms of realism. If I had to throw in my two cents, I'd say we're looking at a Witcher 2 type deal without much in terms of monsters. . . ."


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Adobe Cloud Gaming Development Tool

Adobe Releases Cloud Gaming Development Tool | DevOpsANGLE: "Adobe announced the release of their first Game Developer Tools in their Adobe Creative Cloud service that will allow developers and publishers to access a powerful set or resources in one location.
“Adobe’s Game Developer Tools are designed to streamline the game development process from creation to deployment, and help game publishers and developers reach the broadest possible audience worldwide – over 1.3 billion connected Windows and Mac PCs and over 500 million smartphones and tablets – 20 times the reach of the bestselling Xbox 360 gaming console,” Emmy Huang of Adobe wrote in their announcement.
The Game Developer Tools include Adobe Scout, Adobe Gaming SDK, Adobe Flash C++ Compiler, and the Adobe Professional Flash C56. A lot of developers who got the pre-release are already raving about Adobe Scout which is “an advanced next-generation profiling tool that uncovers granular internal information in ActionScript-based mobile and browser content to unlock significant performance optimization opportunities,” which means, the tool helps games run faster. . . . " Read full article here.


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