Kindle Touch gets new software version 5.0.3

January 25th, 2012, 02:06 Posted By: wraggster

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GTA5, COD to account for quarter of all year's game sales - report

January 24th, 2012, 01:23 Posted By: wraggster

Two video games, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty, will account for around a quarter of all video game sales in the coming financial year, a report suggests.A third of all money made from video games in the next year will also come from just those two titles, US financial analyst Baird Equity Research states (reported by Gamasutra).Release dates for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 and Activision's next Call of Duty game have yet to be announced, although it's a fair bet that both will launch before April 2013.Originally designed to predict Electronic Arts' prospects, the report is less optimistic about EA's chances against the forthcoming financial year's twin gaming juggernauts.Baird Equity analyst Sebastian Colin said the firm was "sceptical that EA will be able to show growth in its console segment".Although not confirmed, EA is expected to launch a new Medal of Honor sequel later this year."Significantly" increased pressure from mobile gaming rival Zynga, plus uncertainties over EA's Wii U offering could also spell trouble for EA, Colin suggested.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...e-sales-report

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FIFA 12 still the chart champion

January 23rd, 2012, 23:36 Posted By: wraggster

Yet again FIFA 12 proves to be the invincibles of the UK software chart, notching up its seventh appearance at the number one spot and its fifth week in a row. The football game has now made EA more money than any other title in the series.

Further down the chart there were less exciting scenes, with no new entries and little movement. Skyrim crept back into second place pushing Just Dance 3 down to third, while Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield swapped places, leaving the Activision shooter at 4 and EA's title at 5.

Cars 2, WWE 12 and Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure all managed to sneak back into the top twenty from further down the chart.

Last Week This Week Title
1 1 FIFA 12
3 2 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2 3 Just Dance 3
5 4 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
4 5 Battlefield 3
6 6 Zumba Fitness
14 7 Saints Row: The Third
7 8 Zumba Fitness 2
17 9 Rayman Origins
8 10 Rage
11 11 Mario Kart 7
9 12 Assassin's Creed Revelations
15 13 Super Mario 3D Land
10 14 Need For Speed: The Run
20 15 Wii Fit Plus
16 16 Football Manager 2012
18 17 Mario & Sonic London 2012 Olympic Games
Re-entry 18 WWE 12
Re-entry 19 Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Re-entry 20 Cars 2

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...chart-champion

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Ofcom chastises ITV for ArmA II footage passed off as IRA film

January 23rd, 2012, 23:32 Posted By: wraggster

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ruled against ITV after it featured footage from ArmA II in a documentary last year, claiming that the film showed IRA guerrillas attempting to shoot down a British Army helicopter.
Footage included in the documentary, Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA, last September was labelled as "IRA video 1988" but was actually a video of gameplay from the Bohemia Interactive title.
After viewers alerted Ofcom at the time of transmission, the broadcaster said that "this was an unfortunate case of human error for which we apologise."
In passing its judgement, Ofcom made clear that although the explanation of human error had been accepted, "There were significant and easily identifiable differences between the footage of the attack on the helicopter included in the 1989 Cook Report and the footage taken from the internet from the video game Arma 2.
"Given these marked differences, we were very surprised that the programme makers believed the footage of the helicopter attack was authentic, and we were particularly concerned that ITV failed to double-check the video game internet footage against the footage from The Cook Report, despite the concerns over the internet footage expressed by the ITV Compliance team."
The watchdog has found ITV to be in breach of the broadcasting code, in what it calls a "significant breach of audience trust".

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ff-as-ira-film

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SOPA dead as ESA pulls support

January 23rd, 2012, 22:56 Posted By: wraggster

Potential for 'unintended consequences' makes industry trade body drop backing

The controversial Stop Online Piracy Act has been indefinitely postponed by congress.
The oft-criticised bill was delayed on Friday “until there is wider agreement on a solution”, said House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith.

US Industry trade body the Entertainment Software Association has also pulled its support of the controversial SOPA.
It stated concerns over potential unintended consequences from the current bill as reason for dropping its backing.
The ESA said however that it still backed some form of legislation to protect the games industry from piracy.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-pulls-support

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USA Games Auctions Opens

January 23rd, 2012, 14:26 Posted By: wraggster

Hi all just a quick post aimed at guests to the site, we now have a USA version of our Games Auctions Site, the site gathers all the latest games, consoles and apple releases on ebay.com, USA version of ebay and sticks them on the webpage, great for those of you looking for whats newly been added to the site.

The forums for both Ebay USA and Ebay UK auctions are only visible to guests so as not to upset our member base so if you cant see them then logout.

Heres links to both sites:

http://usagame-auctions.dcemu.co.uk
http://games-auctions.dcemu.co.uk

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Paradox: Next generation probably the last

January 20th, 2012, 23:53 Posted By: wraggster

Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester has shared his doubts over the future of the console and boxed products.
"The next generation of console hardware will probably be the last," he told attendees to the Paradox annual showcase, reported StrategyInformer.
"I'd be surprised if we see another generation after that."
He explained that the future lay in digital products and open platforms like PC, mobile and social networks, while revenue from boxed products will continue to fall.
The comments were backed up by Paradox's own rise in digital revenue, from 1.5 per cent in 2006 to 97 per cent in 2011. They also reported a growth in revenue of 75 per cent for 2011, and a 250 per cent growth in profit.
Paradox Interactive is based in Sweden, and its games include Crusader Kings II, Victoria II: A House Divided and Pride Of Nations. In 2006 it launched digital distribution service GamersGate.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...bably-the-last

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Ubisoft takes UK Xmas crown

January 20th, 2012, 23:46 Posted By: wraggster

The pressure is on EA and Activision, as Ubisoft became the No.1 publisher over Christmas.
The firm sold more games than any other during the festive period (November 27th to December 31st). Just Dance 3 (no.3) and Assassin's Creed: Revelations (no.6) were the firm's top sellers for the month.
For the entire of 2011, Ubisoft was the No.2 publisher in terms of units, with Just Dance 3 shifting over 910,000 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations selling 814,000 copies.
Most games sold during December where sold on Xbox 360, followed by PS3 then Wii. However, both Xbox 360 and PS3 lost market share month-over-month, with all three Nintendo platforms (Wii, DS and 3DS) growing over November.
All data is courtesy of GfK Chart-Track.

Software Market Share By Publisher (Units)

1: Ubisoft (15.5%)
2: EA (15%)
3: Nintendo (12.3%)
4: Activision Blizzard (8.6%)
5: THQ (6.9%)
6: Microsoft (6.3%)
7: Sega (5.3%)
8: Bethesda (5.3%)
9: Warner Bros (3.9%)
10: Sony (3.6%)


Software Market Share By Publisher (Units)

1: Xbox 360 (36.6%)
2: PS3 (24%)
3: Wii (18.2%)
4: DS (8.7%)
5: 3DS (7.4%)
6: PC (4.3%)
7: PSP (0.6%)

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ubiso...s-crown/090083

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GAME boss says 'consumers want new consoles'

January 20th, 2012, 01:54 Posted By: wraggster

GAME CEO Ian Shepherd is hopeful that new console hardware will contribute to a recovery in the games market following disappointing Christmas sales.
<FIGURE style="POSITION: relative; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 300px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); CLEAR: both; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; border-image: initial; background-clip: initial; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-origin: initial" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"></FIGURE>"The weakness in the overall numbers was partly driven by the economy and consumer confidence issues," he told MCV. "It was also driven by where we are in the hardware cycle."The hardware market was much more negative than the software market. That tells you the industry and the consumer is ready for more innovation there.
"Whether it is in the handheld space with 3DS and Vita or in the home space with Wii U - all of that will excite the consumer in coming back to the games market again," Shepherd added.
Earlier this month, GAME Group reported a year-over-year sales decline of 14.7 percent for the eight week Christmas period ended January 7.
Group sales fell 11.9 percent in the 49 weeks to January 7, slightly ahead of the overall games market, which declined 13.1 percent during the same period.
The PS Vita release date is just over one short month away now. Cast your eyes over our PS Vita review, if you haven't already.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-new-consoles/

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Trends of 2012: What the Analysts Say

January 20th, 2012, 01:49 Posted By: wraggster

Who could have predicted that 77 million PlayStation Network accounts would have been compromised last April? Who could have known that 3DS would at first struggle, then fly? Who could have guessed what the Wii U would be? Why, an analyst of course!
These future-gazing mystics are paid to try to discern the future from their money-shaped tea leaves. They weigh in on hot topics, declare the fate of companies; they watch, they listen, they never sleep. Who better to peer into the shrouded year ahead and tell Eurogamer what to expect?
Introducing: Jesse Divination! Michael Predicter! Peers Harding-Rolls! And Nicholas Lovesalloutcomes!
OK, back to reality. Michael Pachter analyses for investment firm Wedbush Morgan; Jesse Divnich analyses for research company EEDAR; Piers Harding-Rolls analyses for media research company Screen Digest; and Nicholas Lovell founded respected games business blog Gamesbrief.
Tell us of consoles in 2012
"The Wii U is the big story of the year," prophesied Pachter, "but without knowing specs, price-point and the level of software support, it's hard to predict how it will do. My bias is that it's not significantly more powerful than the current HD consoles, its price-point will not be significantly lower, and software support will be light.
"If I'm right, it will probably have a lukewarm reception at launch."

Michael Predicter.
Harding-Rolls' hunch read: "At this stage, and until we have concrete intelligence on pricing and content for the Wii U, we do not expect Nintendo's next generation console to generate as much interest as the ground-breaking Wii.
"My own view is that the Wii U's product message is more complex and, as a result, will not engage with as wide an audience as the Wii."
"I don't think we'll see anything from Microsoft other than a bigger hard-drive and a lower price-point," Pachter pursued, "and I don't think we'll see anything from Sony at all. The Apple console is probably a 2013 event, so nothing to look forward to this year other than price cuts.
"With that said, Microsoft has a lot of room to cut price (they could probably make money at $199 for a 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle), so that will be the biggest driver of console sales this year."
Divnich divined: "I wouldn't expect any new hardware announcements from Sony or Microsoft. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 continue to drive substantial profits for the third parties, and given our industry's historical inability to transition between hardware cycles profitably, I don't think the third-parties are quite yet ready to face a new hardware cycle."
"I don't expect a new Xbox to be launched in 2012," Harding-Rolls ran on. "Our expectation remains 2013, but with information on a new Microsoft console hitting the market this year.
"We're currently forecasting 2012 declines in hardware sales for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii on a global basis."
Tell us of portable gaming in 2012
"[PlayStation] Vita will struggle," reckoned Lovell. "The key question will not be whether it sells some initial units, but how it does for software tie-ins, and whether its appeal stretches beyond core Sony fans."
Presaged Pachter: "Sony's PS Vita appears aimed at the hardcore gamer, and will likely have limited success because of a relatively small addressable market.

Jesse Divination.
"The 3DS has broader appeal (both casual and hardcore), but the price-points for casual games are not particularly compelling when measured against $9.99, $4.99, $0.99 and free smartphone games. And the quality of games like Infinity Blade and Dead Space makes the smartphone competitive among even the hardcore.
"I see modest sales for 3DS, good enough to be profitable for Nintendo, but not good enough to offset the inevitable decline in DS hardware and software sales."
Recited Harding-Rolls: "Continued momentum of the 3DS in the first half of 2012 will help decide its future at least with regards to third-party support. If momentum stalls, I fear third-parties will continue to look elsewhere for investment opportunities.
"I expect Vita to get away relatively strongly at launch because of its strong content line-up but, like the 3DS, may suffer due to pricing after the initial rush has subsided. I expect Sony to be reluctant to make any significant pricing move, outside of value bundles, until at least 2013."
"It's true that the sandbox for dedicated portable gaming devices has shrunk as mobile and tablet technology increases its market penetration," Divnich divulged.
"But I believe the market for dedicated portable gaming devices is still large enough to support two competitors - 3DS and Vita. And it is certainly large enough to support healthy profits from the third-party publishers that support them."

Peers Harding-Rolls.
"Without question," pressed Pachter, "the biggest-selling portable gaming device will be the smartphone. The number of gaming apps for iOS and Android is increasing exponentially, and although many are free-to-play, the mobile games sector should still see greater revenue growth than any other."
"Tablets will fly and fly," Lovell harmonised, "although price-points need to fall. The Kindle Fire is interesting, but I am not yet ready to predict that it will be a success.
"Free-to-play will continue to dominate mobile/tablet gaming. 'Paymium', meaning an upfront purchase price together with IAP [in-app purchases], will also gain ground. I wouldn't be surprised to see over 90 per cent of the 100 top grossing apps in 2012 having IAP, and more than 34 of them being free."
"In relation to smartphones and tablets," hastened Harding-Rolls, "I expect the biggest news to be centred on IAP, improving Android device monetisation of content and the launch of a new iPad and iPhone from Apple."
But, warned Divnich: "We are likely to see lay-offs and studio closures in the mobile and social markets. It has been nearly three years since Wall Street wrote blank cheques to a lot of social and mobile start-ups. In 2012, investors will begin to demand profitable results and while the mobile and social markets will remain healthy, we can all agree they are a little over-saturated."
Tell us of smart TVs and set-top streaming in 2012
"I struggle to believe in streaming services as a replacement for the console," lipped Lovell.
"They offer the same fundamental experience as a console with a different business model. They are red herrings that are more interesting to publishers trying to defend their existing business models than to companies trying to innovate to create a new business built from the ground up on internet economics."

Nicholas Lovesalloutcomes.
"2012 will be characterised with TV manufacturers, distribution platforms and content companies jostling for position," Harding-Rolls' runes revealed, "but its impact on overall consumer spend on games will be limited.
"Gesture and voice control will become more commonplace, which in the future could help the industry overcome some of the challenges of interfacing with games apps using unresponsive and clumsy existing TV controllers."
Pronounced Pachter: "This is the most impactful area for 2012, although it's not focused on gamers, per se. Rather, the focus is on converting other members of a gamer household to users of the home console, and Microsoft has a lot of things planned this year.
"Ultimately, the Xbox 360 and PS3 could be used as TV tuners (we'll see that this year), and will continue to beef up their content offering for over-the-top internet TV."
Declared Divnich: "Expect Google to continue to invest into new technologies that make video games even more accessible. This could include a push into internet-ready televisions and cloud-driven devices."
Tell us of Facebook, browser and social games in 2012
"In 2012, the debate over whether free-to-play works will move on. It clearly works," Lovell let us know.
"Now the issue will be how to do it better, how to bring it to new genres, how to address the ethical issues of over-exploitation and how to balance fun and creativity with revenue and metrics-led design. Unfortunately, costs are spiralling (both in development and marketing) so innovation will get more expensive.
"The biggest influence will be that social games will pursue better graphics. This is both creatively and financially pointless, but is inevitable, so I guess we just have to accept this enormous waste of time and money."

1/6 Facebook game The Godfather: Five Families.
PreviousNextView all ▸
Put forward Pachter: "Zynga seems really focused on broadening the appeal of its games, and EA appears focused on keeping up with Zynga. Disney won't stand still, and several developers are trying to figure out how to crack the social game code.
"Sim City could be the runaway hit of 2012 on Facebook, as the original 1990s game should work well in the browser, and think that will end up as the story of 2012.
"But Zynga won't rest on its laurels, and we have as yet to see the first game from Steve Chiang, who joined Zynga in late 2010 as head of game development. Steve is a hardcore developer, and we'll see something cool from him this year.
"I'm not a big believer in Google+, as nobody uses it regularly, and it can't be a focus of developers until it attracts a large and sticky audience."
"Browser-based gaming will continue to grow," decided Divnich, "especially as developers unlock the potential of HTML5. But I don't believe HTML5 gaming really begins to capture mainstream attention until 2013/2014. There are still plenty of bugs to work out in the HTML5 technology."
Harped Harding-Rolls: "The mobile social network games opportunity in the West has yet to burst into life - 2012 looks a safe bet for this to happen. "
And that's it for 2012
"We didn't talk about games," Pachter proclaimed.

1/9 Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
PreviousNextView all ▸
Oh, those.
"The length of the current cycle is unprecedented, and most publishers are reticent to introduce new franchises. We'll see a few as-yet-unannounced new franchises this year, as well as the next record-setting game (GTA5).
"It will be interesting to see if Respawn and Bungie can get something out this year and, personally, I'm looking forward to Kingdoms of Amalur from 38 Studios."
"In 2012, the best-selling game will again break records," Lovell levelled, "but outside the very top tier of games, publishers will struggle.
"I'm not sure anyone will actually go bust in 2012, but anyone who isn't in the top seven publishers globally (excluding first parties) will struggle."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...e-analysts-say

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Pirate Bay: SOPA can't stop us

January 20th, 2012, 01:30 Posted By: wraggster

Renowned piracy advocate The Pirate Bay has issued a lengthy statement saying that the proposed SOPA legislation would do nothing to stop it operating.
“They want to make the internet into a one way pipe, with them at the top, shoving trash through the pipe down to the rest of us obedient consumers,” it reads.
“The public opinion on this matter is clear. SOPA can't do anything to stop TPB. Worst case we'll change top-level domain from our current .org to one of the hundreds of other names that we already also use. In countries where TPB is blocked, China and Saudi Arabia springs to mind, they block hundreds of our domain names. And did it work? Not really.”
The somewhat questionable finger of accusation then turns on the rights holders themselves.
“To fix the ‘problem of piracy’ one should go to the source of the problem. The entertainment industry say they're creating ‘culture’ but what they really do is stuff like selling overpriced plushy dolls and making 11 year old girls become anorexic. Either from working in the factories that creates the dolls for basically no salary or by watching movies and TV shows that make them think that they're fat.”
It even goes as far as to suggest that the movie industry is underpinned by an inherent hypocrisy as it, itself, was built on ‘piracy’.

“Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would ‘do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear’,” it explains. “He called it the Kinetoscope. Because of Edison’s patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North American east coast.
“The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immaterial rights. They copied (or put in their terminology: ‘stole’) other people’s creative works, without paying.
“The reason they are always complaining about ‘pirates’ today is simple. We've done what they did. We circumvented the rules they created and created our own. We crushed their monopoly by giving people something more efficient. We allow people to have direct communication between each other, circumventing the profitable middle man, that in some cases take over 107% of the profits (yes, you pay to work for them).
“It's all based on the fact that we're competition. We've proven that their existence in their current form is no longer needed. We're just better than they are. And the funny part is that our rules are very similar to the founding ideas of the USA. We fight for freedom of speech.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pirat...stop-us/090005

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Shogun Bros. Ballista MK-1 Gaming Mouse totes new sniping system, looks like it'll hi

January 20th, 2012, 00:58 Posted By: wraggster

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Study: games must properly engage players before offering in-app purchases

January 20th, 2012, 00:39 Posted By: wraggster

Research from app analytics firm Localytics has shown that, rather than attempting to monetise freemium and free-to-play users as quickly as possible, developers are better off ensuring that the customer is fully engaged before offering any in-app purchases.
The study shows that a large proportion of users, 44 per cent, will use an app at least ten times before they're willing to invest in any microtransactions or in-app purchases, with just 22 per cent investing cash on the first play.
Furthermore, those players who do wait until they're fully engaged with a title tend to actually spend more on the game in the long run, whilst many of those who pay first time will move on without spending much, or even any, more. Customers who don't pay immediately spend, on average, around 25 per cent more over the course of their game playing.
Previous research by the firm also indicated that around a quarter of all apps are only used once after downloading, highlighting the problem of 'throwaway' culture which plagues many freemium and free-to-play titles.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-app-purchases

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SOPA and PIPA co-sponsors withdraw support

January 20th, 2012, 00:38 Posted By: wraggster

A number of US politicians have retracted their support of the controversial SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy laws following a series of online protests from major web companies.
Senators Marco Rubio (Florida) and Roy Blunt (Missouri), who were initially co-sponsors of the Protect IP Act (PIPA), both issued statements on Facebook yesterday reversing their positions.
"I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs," Rubio said. "However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies."
"Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator [Harry] Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor."
Senator Blunt criticised PIPA as "deeply flawed" and in need of "much work" before it is acceptable. However, Blunt stressed that he still supported the issues raised by the legislation.
"The right to free speech is one of the most basic foundations that makes our nation great, and I strongly oppose sanctioning Americans' right to free speech in any medium - including over the internet," he said.
"I continue to believe that we can come to a solution that will cut off the revenue sources for foreign websites dedicated to counterfeiting and piracy that steal American jobs, hurt the economy, and harm consumers."
Utah senator Orrin Hatch also withdrew his co-sponsorship, calling PIPA "simply not ready for primetime" and confirming that he will vote against the legislation when it passes before the Senate next week.
"Given the legitimate vocal concerns, it is imperative that we take a step back to allow everyone to come together and find a reasonable solution," he said.
Rubio, Blunt and Hatch were among 13 members of the senate who altered their position on SOPA and PIPA yesterday - 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats.
SOPA and PIPA have been widely criticised by gaming and technology companies on the grounds that, should they be passed, their consequences could ultimately prove damaging to the very people they were designed to protect.
Yesterday, Reddit and Wikipedia were among a number of sites that went offline in protest. Google censored its homepage logo to raise awareness of the issue, and collected more than 4.5 million signatures on its anti-SOPA petition.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...thdraw-support

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GTA 5 still likely to launch before April 2013 - analysts

January 19th, 2012, 01:29 Posted By: wraggster

Analysts expect Grand Theft Auto 5 to launch in Take-Two's upcoming financial year (ending March 31, 2013), despite an increasingly crowded release schedule for the publisher.
<FIGURE style="POSITION: relative; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 300px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); CLEAR: both; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-clip: initial; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-image: initial; background-origin: initial" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"></FIGURE>Yesterday Take-Two delayed Max Payne 3's release date by two months to May 2012, pushing it from the last quarter of the current financial year to the first quarter of the next, which is already packed with big releases.In the 12 months beginning April 1, 2012, Take-Two currently plans to launch Max Payne 3, BioShock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line, XCOM and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
National Alliance Capital Markets analyst Mike Hickey told Game Informer: "It seems unlikely that Rockstar Games would launch both Max Payne 3 and GTA 5 in the month on May. Therefore, we have shifted our original expectation for GTA V to launch in May 2012, into the Company's 2013 fiscal second-half operating period.
"We remain confident GTA V will ship in calendar year '12, based on an assumption that Rockstar is using a sub 12 month marketing window for GTA V and the company's fiscal 2013 performance guidance, which would suggest the game's release."
EEDAR's Jesse Divnich said: "[Take-Two] are still saying they will achieve $2.00 earnings per share in fiscal 2013, so Grand Theft Auto V has to come out by March 2013."
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter commented: "Although GTA V may still launch in FY:13, predicting the actual release date is difficult due to a crowded pipeline.
"I don't know if [Max Payne's delay] means a full year gap, but very likely six months. Too bad, as I think Grand Theft Auto V would benefit from giving Call of Duty some breathing room."
Analysts including Pachter and Hickey previously predicted a summer 2012 release for GTA 5.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...2013-analysts/

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Infinity Ward working on 'next-gen' Call of Duty?

January 19th, 2012, 01:26 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward seems to be searching for staff to work on a next-generation sequel.
<FIGURE style="POSITION: relative; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 300px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); CLEAR: both; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-clip: initial; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-image: initial; background-origin: initial" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"></FIGURE>The studio has put out a job ad for a senior animator, who it says should have "an interest in working with next-generation technologies".The listing drops no other hints as to what it's working on, but PS3 and 360 approach their seventh birthdays, any mention of 'next-gen' conjures up tantalising thoughts.
Wii U is, of course, just around the corner and could be considered 'next-gen', if not the big technical leap we'll be expecting with the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
It's also not the first time a next-generation Call of Duty has been teased: Black Ops developerTreyarch also put out a job ad last year specifically calling for a senior platform engineer to help bring the game "to a new console".
Again, Wii U or Vita would seem like the most likely consoles in question, but could preparations for the next Sony and MS powerhouses have begun?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-call-of-duty/

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Trends of 2012: Handheld Gaming

January 19th, 2012, 01:18 Posted By: wraggster

2012 is going to be a fascinating year as far as handhelds are concerned. iOS continues to screw with the marketplace, for one thing, helping to democratise development while also redefining how much audiences expect to pay for a game. Meanwhile, the 3DS appears to have finally hit its stride - or has it? - and Sony's getting in on the action with the almost implausibly lavish Vita. Is there still enough room for everybody?
If this article seems more preoccupied with a single issue than the rest of Eurogamer's trends pieces, I suspect it's because the handheld industry is similarly preoccupied. Weird as this would have sounded five years back, Nintendo and Sony feel like the underdogs in this brave new-ish world of Apps and freemium releases. That leads us to some interesting questions.
Is there still a place for the bespoke handheld console that allows developers to take a risk on big-budget projects that sell for £30? Will the increasing clutter of the App Store begin to deter teams from putting all their chips on iOS? Will Solipskier ever run properly on the ultra-cheap HTC Wildfire S that I really shouldn't have bought when I lost my iPhone? Will Dale Cooper escape from the Black Lodge and sort things out with Heather Graham?
I haven't got a clue, which is why I've spent the last few weeks firing off emails to some of the smartest people in handheld gaming and asking what they think. Here's what I found out. (Spoiler: Coop isn't going anywhere.)

[h=3]The only constant is change[/h]Heraclitus said that, shortly after his match-three variant Greek Balls of Fire failed to chart on the iPhone Top 50. Most of the people I've been speaking with seemed to agree with him: this is a seismic period for the industry. But is it exciting seismic, like a kegger party in an earthquake testing lab, or is it frightening seismic, like a 9.3 that leaves you trapped and bleeding under a heavy refrigerator while your Alsatian decides that you're already dead and begins eating your feet?
"It is more than exciting," says Giordano Contestabile, PopCap's franchise business director for Bejeweled, when I ask him about the proliferation of handhelds. "It's reshaping the whole industry, and making it much bigger! If we assume that 'handhelds' include any portable gaming device, including smartphones and tablets, we are now looking at an addressable audience of more than 500 million potential players, many of whom weren't playing games before. Additionally, most of those devices are connected, opening the possibility of cross-platform, social and online gaming, therefore leading to an explosion of innovation and opportunities."
Broadbent describes Cloud God as 'a sort of love-letter to the time I spent in Japan.' Loosely based upon Japanese folklore, the action game features gorgeous Gary Lucken art and a smart combo system. It will be arriving on PSP Minis soon.

He's a fan, then. Matt Bozon, the creative director of WayForward Technologies, shares his enthusiasm, but also sounds a note of caution. "Handheld games on average are becoming much more expensive and time-consuming to create, requiring much higher resolution visuals and larger teams all around," he tells me. "This could send a lot of smaller devs towards iOS, and force experienced console devs into unfamiliar handheld territory."
Rhodri Broadbent, the founder of Dakko Dakko, which created the wonderful PSP Mini The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character and is now hard at work on a 2012 follow-up called Floating Cloud God Saves The Pilgrims, is more excited by the positive effects of all this competition. "My biggest hope is definitely that a healthy rivalry between Vita and 3DS excites the entire handheld industry," he says. "I'd really like to see more developers who might have hitherto chosen to focus on 'bigger' experiences on home consoles try their hands at handheld game development.
"Now that portable gaming tech is significantly less restrictive (performance-wise) than ever before, I see huge potential for developers to play on the more personal, intimate experience of having the whole game system in your hands wherever you are. Handhelds have for a long time been viewed as for the kids to play on the back seat on long journeys, as 'throwaway', but I think that is to hugely undervalue what portability, accessibility and local wireless play with individual screens can bring to the gaming experience."

[h=3]Vita and 3DS[/h]Let's try and get a little more specific now. Nintendo and Sony both have new hardware in the marketplace. In both cases, they've opted to ignore Apple's approach, focussing primarily on games and controlling the sales channels.
Despite a slightly wonky launch in Japan, Vita remains an unknown quantity. Anecdotally, everyone I've spoken to who has played around with one ends up very excited about it, but there are lingering questions over whether audiences are going to pay £40 for games when they have recently been led to believe that sort of thing should only cost 69p.
Paul Rustchynsky, game director for Motorstom RC, appreciates Vita's clarity of purpose. "As a gamer it's so exciting that PS Vita is first and foremost a contemporary gaming device," he says, before singling out that second analogue stick for particular praise. "This is massively important due to that near-parity with the PS3. As you'll see with MotorStorm RC, it gives us a virtually identical experience between the two platforms. It also allows developers to bring a wider range of game experiences to the handheld platform. Typically FPSs have been unwieldy on handhelds but with the PS Vita you'll be able to play the sort of shooters you'd expect to play on your PS3."
One thing's for sure - in 2012, everyone will still be looking for the next Angry Birds.

"Mobile gaming has changed hugely in the past few years, and it's going to take a little time for this to settle down," admits Stuart Tilley, the game director for WipEout 2048. "With the arrival of Vita, this is going to change that landscape again. Smartphones do some really cool stuff, but they're often smaller-scope games designed to work with a touch-based control scheme. They perhaps aren't as great at the types of games we all grew up playing with a DualShock controller. We think smartphone games will continue to thrive over the coming year, but with Vita offering larger-scope, high production value games like WipEout 2048 for games on the go, complimented with smaller-scope games from PlayStation Minis."
Broadbent cites the machine's embarrassment of input riches as a source of potential creativity. "I am massively enthused for Vita and am looking forward to making games for it very soon," he tells me. "It opens up many possibilities not just on a technical level. The toybox of input opportunities means that there are new creative avenues to peer down.
"This new generation of portables reminds me of one of the single most enjoyable times of my career thus far; shortly after I joined Q-Games (just before the launch of the Nintendo DS) I was working with a designer there on a variety of new control schemes for the then-untitled StarFox DS game. So many new and different ideas came simply out of having a touch screen and stylus to play with. Implementing them, testing them all out, and seeing our producer's face when he tried a new idea was massively exciting and rewarding work. I very much look forward to similar experimental periods on Vita. And the screen is so very pretty."
While we're in a positive mood, James Mielke, a producer at Q Entertainment - the studio's currently readying Lumines: Electronic Symphony for release on Sony's new handheld - thinks he may have spotted a star in Vita's European launch line-up. "I have to say that Gravity Rush is brilliant," he says. "It reminds me of a Moebius comic book come to life, and the gravity mechanic is wonderful. To me it's the Super Mario 64 of the system. It really shows what the Vita can do.
"As for the rest of the year, I'm hoping we see more PS3-to-Vita type simultaneous releases that speak to each other. By that I mean I want to see games like Skyrim or Dark Souls, where I can play on my PS3, continue on my Vita, and then resume again on my PS3, with my progress saved in a cloud."
WayForward is platform-agnostic, having made games for the eStore as well as iOS. Mighty Switch Force is its latest - and one of its best.

With great processing power, though, comes great responsibility - and that counts for both Sony and Nintendo's machines, apparently. Bozon: "Speaking to 3DS and Vita, the AAA games in the industry hopper appear to be console experiences reborn, shrunk down, or simplified onto handhelds. That's cool, but hopefully they will still find a way to cater to a handheld gamer's unique tastes. Handheld gaming is special, and it would be a shame to see a blurry line between a living room experience and one designed to be taken on-the-go. I don't want to see handheld gaming viewed as the 'lesser' living room experience. For many years handheld gaming has been as unique and fun-loving as its audience. I'm hoping it doesn't become bogged down, or too expensive to experiment and create imaginative and spontaneous kinds of games."
Contestabile's on the fence. "As a gamer, I'm excited about some of the titles announced for those platforms, in particular in 'core' genres that are particularly suited to controls optimized for gaming. From a business perspective, it will depend on how progressive platform holders will be, and how flexible in adapting to a rapidly changing landscape, in particular in terms of allowing players to connect with online and social platforms and to engage in cross-platform gaming. The higher barrier to entry in terms of developing and publishing games on those platforms, while guaranteeing a higher average quality bar, will eventually be a disadvantage when compared with the wealth of choice offered by smartphones.
"Until recently, it was possible to see the handheld market bifurcating, with 'core' games finding a home in dedicated devices and 'casual' games dominating the screens of smartphones and tablets," he continues. "However, the increasingly powerful hardware specs of mobile devices have made it possible to reach success on smartphones also with games that are aimed at an enthusiast audience. In that sense, mobile phones are further invading the traditional space of dedicated handheld gaming devices.
"On the other side, we're seeing an increasing number of younger gamers, historically a strong segment for handhelds, being lured by the appeal of portable devices such as iPod Touch. My view is that dedicated gaming handhelds are going to become more and more a niche platform, aimed at an enthusiast audience and at specific game genres."
Burn. So is there still a big enough audience to support a platform the Vita? It's a question Nintendo must also be asking of the 3DS.
"Obviously Nintendo has built a lot of momentum with the 3DS, so that will be interesting to watch," says Mielke. "There are still a lot of challenges for Nintendo platforms, though. For example, tons of people bought the 3DS because of the price drop and Monster Hunter (in Japan), but can other non-Nintendo games succeed on the platform? It's something we think about a lot."

[h=3]Smartphones[/h]If Vita and 3DS seem like something of a gamble, it's because of one thing: the rise of smartphones and tablets. "As of now, iOS is by far the fastest growing and most efficient handheld game distribution platform," says Contestabile, "and it's one of the best things that ever happened to the game business." Get a room, dude. "That said, I think developers would benefit from having several strong platforms with a definite identity and a large addressable user base. As such, I hope that Android will mature and become less fragmented and that Windows Mobile will achieve a larger usage footprint. I also hope that Sony and Nintendo will make bolder steps into the new world of connected and social gaming, opening up their ecosystems further."
Are there any dangers here, though? "Smartphones continue to grow and take over the market share once dominated by regular mobile phones, and of course the gaming market as well," says Mielke. "As a result, being able to create more games, more cheaply, remains a compelling formula. The problem is that so many companies are swarming towards the social and mobile gaming markets that it has become that much harder to stand out in the field. We need to innovate and create new ways of gaming if we hope to compete with social gaming giants. I just hope that true innovation doesn't get buried under the avalanche of Zynga and Evony clones flooding the market."
"The App Store feels like a gold rush right now," agrees Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka. "I heard that there are close to 175 games released per day. And that is just games, not apps. Obviously, most of those are probably not very good and won't be particularly successful. With that in mind, even if there is a mad rush to churn out games for mobile devices, there is still a lot of maturation needed, in terms of quality of the market."
Run Roo Run is 5th Cell's latest, an iOS auto-runner with a seemingly endless supply of new levels.

5th Cell is in an excellent position to compare smartphone and boxed handheld development. The team had a huge hit with Scribblenauts on iOS, but it initially developed the game for DS - a platform for which they could presumably afford to spend more money on production, because they could expect to sell the finished product for £30. Is the increasingly standard 69p price point of iOS putting a certain kind of game out of reach for most developers?
"I'm pretty sure Infinity Blade cost more to make than the original Scribblenauts did," answers Slaczka. "There are different tiers of iOS titles; smaller companies can aim for smaller, niche markets, while the bigger developers must focus on the top tier if they want to make sustainable revenue. Developers should always approach the platform they are releasing on with a very specific strategy. Like everything in life, one size does not fit all."
That may be the heart of it, actually: the handheld market in 2012 is going to be a fragmented one. That means audiences are going to need to know where to look to find the things they're after, and developers are going to need to know how to target their games more effectively.
Perhaps, though, this fragmentation isn't quite as new as it seems. I'm going to leave the last word to Broadbent, who spent much of the last decade living and working in Japan. "At the time of the DS boom, Japanese feature phones were already highly sophisticated communication devices, many able to pick up broadcast TV for free, and all of them the primary means of e-mail for their owner," he says. "The competition for a user's time was therefore just as strong then as it is now, and yet the DS became a social phenomenon against that backdrop. Similarly the PSP has seen huge sales in Japan over the past few years with Monster Hunter Portable becoming fiercely popular, again all alongside the dawn of the smartphone, but also alongside the already entrenched and still much more common feature phone.
"If the content is compelling, I see no reason why players would now stop seeking out dedicated games hardware. And as with Brain Training or Monster Hunter, it only takes for the right software to come along, and the rising tide lifts all ships. I'm therefore very confident that the dedicated handheld will not only survive, but continue to thrive irrespective of the spread of smartphones/iOS devices and the much touted loss of 'casual gamers'.
"Perhaps there is a rebalancing going on, where the huge swell of users in the DS boom years shakes out and some don't see the value in a dedicated platform any more - but frankly if they bought their system for Nintendogs, Brain Training or My Dolphin, I was never likely to be able to sell them The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character, nor were they likely to pick up many of the most successful portable games from the past 25 years. The market that I am addressing is still there, with new gamers every year, and our access to that market via digital distribution continues to improve."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...andheld-gaming

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Sales of PlayStation Vita have fallen by 57 per cent in Japan week on week

January 19th, 2012, 00:15 Posted By: wraggster

Sales of PlayStation Vita have fallen by 57 per cent in Japan week on week, with just 18,361 units sold in the week ending January 15, according to Media Create data passed on by Andriasang.
This is the third successive week that Vita sales have fallen since launch, when 324,859 units were sold. In its second week on shelves, sales dropped 77.7 per cent to 72,479, and the week after, by 41.2 per cent to 42,648.
Lifetime sales now stand at 458,347 - almost 40 per cent lower than the 742,244 systems sold in 3DS's first four weeks on sale in Japan. Sales of Nintendo's handheld also fell every week, but that Vita is lagging almost 300,000 units behind a system that sold so badly Nintendo was compelled to drop the price and forecast a first annual loss in over 30 years will be cause for genuine concern at Sony. 3DS sales also fell this week, by almost 50 per cent, to 100,668 units.
Media Create's software chart has a new number one, with Namco Bandai PSP mouthful Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Masou Kishin II going straight in at the top unseating Mario Kart 7, which had occupied top spot for four weeks. Nintendo's 3DS title Spirit Cameradebuts in seventh.
01. Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Masou Kishin II (Namco Bandai, PSP)
02. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS)
03. Monster Hunter Tri G (Nintendo, 3DS)
04. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS)
05. Inazuma Eleven Go (Level-5, 3DS)
06. Musou Orochi 2 (Tecmo Koei, PS3)
07. Spirit Camera (Nintendo, 3DS)
08. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Square Enix, PS3)
09. Ace Combat 3D Cross Rumble (Namco Bandai, 3DS)
10. Just Dance Wii (Nintendo, Wii)

http://www.edge-online.com/news/vita...nt-under-20000

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Mario Kart 7 and 3DS top 2011 Japanese charts

January 18th, 2012, 00:54 Posted By: wraggster

Mario Kart 7 was the best-selling videogame in Japan last year, according to Media Create, with its host platform 3DS topping the 2011 hardware chart.
Andriasang reports that 4,282,143 3DS systems were sold over the course of the year, and it's little surprise to see it top the hardware chart given that it has been the best-selling hardware in Japan every single week since last August's price cut.
The top three games of the year were all for 3DS. Mario Kart 7 tops the chart with 1.16 million units sold, ahead of Super Mario 3D Land on 1.08 million and Monster Hunter Tri G, which sold 985,498 units.
01. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS)
02. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS)
03. Monster Hunter Tri G (Capcom, 3DS)
04. Final Fantasy Type-0 (Square Enix, PSP)
05. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Square Enix, PS3)
06. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom, PSP)
07. Minna No Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo, Wii)
08. Tales Of Xillia (Namco Bandai, PS3)
09. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional (DS)
10. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii)

http://www.edge-online.com/news/mari...apanese-charts

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Gaikai ready to roll out to Facebook

January 18th, 2012, 00:52 Posted By: wraggster

David Perry's cloud gaming service Gaikai is ready to roll out to social networking site Facebook, offering demos of hardcore PC games accessed with just a few clicks.
Speaking at Cloud Gaming Europe today, Perry revealed the deal is already done with Facebook, and follows similar deals that have seen high-end games from the likes of EA, Ubisoft and Capcom on YouTube, Best Buy and the biggest retailer in the US, Walmart.
"Our next big launch is on Facebook and we've been working with them for some time," confirmed Perry. The company had been showing games running within Facebook at E3 last year behind closed doors.
Perry demoed Blizzard's World of Warcraft on the social network, stating: "Facebook already owns the category of casual gaming, we're going to help them own core games. A click and boom, you're playing World of Warcraft."
Facebook already owns the category of casual gaming, we're going to help them own core games

David Perry, Gaikai

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