Batman Arkham Knight helps PS4 defeat Xbox One in June US charts

July 18th, 2015, 23:52 Posted By: wraggster

Batman isn’t just the world’s greatest detective and an all-around crime-fighting hero – he’s also a savvy marketing tool.
The Dark Knight’s latest outing, Batman Arkham Knight, helped propel the US games market in June.
Warner Bros’ title topped the software rankings for the month, according to market tracker The NPD Group (viaVenturebeat), leading a June that was 21 per cent up in terms of software revenues compared to 2014 – the sector made $345.5 million last month.
Of course, it should be considered that last June was rather devoid of big triple-A releases, partially accounting for the growth this year.
Thanks to a marketing effort on PS4, which included a console branded with Batman's iconic cape and cowl and bundled with the game, Sony’s machine once again outsold the Xbox One, claiming the crown for best-selling hardware in June.
Despite this, hardware was up across the board, growing eight per cent over the last 12 months to hit $313.1 million last month.
All in all, boxed software and hardware was up a combined 18 per cent on 2014.
Meanwhile, SuperData Research (also via Venturebeat) adds its estimation that June generated $1.02 billion in digital game sales – an 18 per cent bump from last year. (NPD, much like the UK’s own GfK Chart-Track, only counts physical sales.)
Mobile alone grew by 20 per cent to reach $367 million, However, PC and console didn't suffer in the face of this expansion, growing itself by almost a third (30 per cent) to hit $314 million.
Interestingly, compared to the boxed success of new June-release games Arkham Knight, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited and LEGO Jurassic World, the digital rankings were topped by two games released before June – last year’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Grand Theft Auto V.
2013 release Call of Duty: Ghosts also made an appearance, slotting in at number six above relative newcomers Mortal Kombat X, Battlefield Hardline and Madden NFL 15.
Here are the Top Ten best-selling boxed games for June, according to The NPD Group:

1. Batman Arkham Knight
2. The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
3. LEGO Jurassic World
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
5. Splatoon
6. Minecraft
7. Grand Theft Auto V
8. Mortal Kombat X
9. NBA 2K15
10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

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Oculus acquires 3D hand-sensing tech company

July 18th, 2015, 23:49 Posted By: wraggster

Virtual reality firm Oculus has acquired an Israeli company behind a 3D hand-sensing technology.
Pebbles Interfaces can accurately model a user’s hands and integrate them and their movements in a 3D environment. The VR applications are quite obvious.
The value of the deal has not been announced.
“At Pebbles Interfaces, we’ve been focused on pushing the limits of digital sensing technology to accelerate the future of human-computer interaction,” Pebbles CTO Nadav Grossinger said.
“Through micro-optics and computer vision, we hope to improve the information that can be extracted from optical sensors, which will help take virtual reality to the next level. We’ve always believed visual computing will be the next major platform in our lifetime, and we’re excited to join the Oculus team to achieve that vision for the future.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/oculu...ompany/0152809

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Oculus buys VR hand-tracking company Pebbles Interfaces

July 16th, 2015, 21:28 Posted By: wraggster

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Yo-Kai Watch dominates Japanese charts again as Busters sells almost 700,000

July 15th, 2015, 21:26 Posted By: wraggster

The latest video game craze in Japan is yet to run out of steam.
The Yo-Kai Watch franchise has already shifted more thanseven million copies, propelled by the success of the first two entries in the series.
Last week, the latest title from developer Level 5, Yo-Kai Watch Busters, shot straight to the top of the Japanese retail charts, shifting almost 700,000 copies in its first week on sale.
Busters is based upon a mini-game in predecessor Yo-Kai Watch 2, allowing players to take control of the titular creatures in order to take down bosses.
Meanwhile, a prequel instalment in the cult Ace Attorney series, Dai Ace Attorney: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken, landed in second place, selling over 136,000 units during its debut week.
Both 3DS-exclusive titles, Busters and Ace Attorney helped Nintendo’s New 3DS XL handheld remain top of the hardware heap, comfortably out-selling Sony’s competing Vita. However, New 3DS XL sales were only marginally higher than the week previous.
The Vita was helped into second place by the release of Taiko Drum Master: V Version for the platform, which was the third-best-selling game of the week.
Further down, rhythm game spin-off Persona 4: Dancing All Night vanished from the software Top Ten after just two weeks in the chart.
Here is the Top Ten for the week ending July 12th, according to the latest Famitsu data:

1. Yo-Kai Watch Busters: Akaneko-dan / Shiroinu-tai (Level 5) 3DS – 688,386
2. Dai Ace Attorney: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken (Capcom) 3DS – 136,191
3. Taiko Drum Master: V Version (Bandai Namco) Vita – 41,400
4. Fire Emblem Fates: White Kingdom / Black Kingdom (Nintendo) 3DS – 31,523
5. Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ (Nintendo) 3DS – 24,033
6. Splatoon (Nintendo) Wii U – 22,860
7. Cho Tosochu: Atsumare! Saikyo no Tososha-tachi (Bandai Namco) 3DS – 14,864
8. Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (Sony) Vita – 9,642
9. Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo) Wii U – 7,022
10. Tobidase Dobutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: New Leaf) (Nintendo) 3DS – 5,457

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Oculus Rift 'will be an open platform', avoid 'console tactics', insists founder

July 14th, 2015, 21:48 Posted By: wraggster

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has dismissed concerns that the Rift virtual reality headset will be designed as a closed ecosystem.
A Reddit thread attempting to dissuade readers from buying the upcoming consumer version of the VR device cited Oculus’ funding of two dozen Rift-exclusive titles as a sign that the headset would adopt ‘console tactics’ of locking players to a single platform.
Responding to the accusations, Luckey insisted: “The Rift is an open platform, not a closed one.
“You don't need any kind of approval to make games for the Rift, and you can distribute those games wherever you want without paying us a penny.
“We are not trying to lock the Oculus ecosystem to our own hardware, either – we already support Samsung's GearVR headset, in addition to our own hardware.”
Directly referencing the games being backed by Oculus, which include Edge of Nowhere (pictured) from Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive developer Insomniac, Luckey suggested that the titles wouldn’t exist in any form if it weren’t for the support.
“What we are doing is working with external devs to make VR games,” he explained.
“These are games that have been 100% funded by Oculus from the start, co-designed and co-developed by our own internal game dev teams.
“The majority of these games would not even exist were we not funding them, it is not like we just paid for exclusivity on existing games - making high quality VR content is hard enough to do when targeting a single headset, trying to support every single headset on the market with our own content is just not a priority for launch.
“Most companies would have done this as a 1st party software development effort, but we decided it would be better to work with existing developers who wanted to get past the bean counters and make sweet VR games.”
The consumer version of the Oculus Rift headset is due out in the first half of 2016, following the release of multiple development kits over the last several years.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/oculu...ounder/0152576

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Boys are tired of gaming's over-sexualised women, too

July 14th, 2015, 21:45 Posted By: wraggster

A new study has found that the majority of teenage boys in the US believe that games unfairly treat women as sex objects.
A Time study by Rosalind Wiseman asked US school boys whether they believed “female characters are treated too often as sex objects” in video games. 47 per cent of middle school boys (11-13) agreed or strongly agreed, while this number grew to 61 per cent for high school boys (14-18).
Comments included “if women are objectified like this it defeats the entire purpose of fighting” and “I would respect the [female] character more for having some dignity”.
The study also found that the gender of a game’s protagonist does not impact kids’ likelihood to play them, with 70 per cent of girls and 78 per cent of boys saying it doesn’t matter.
“When the ads for Game of War started showing up on my students’ phones last year – they haven’t stopped – many were annoyed,” Wiseman said. “They hated that it was impossible to close the ad, forcing them instead to watch the video until the end.
“But what really irritated them was Ms Upton, in a full-cleavage-baring white flowing dress. The ads are clearly effective for some, but the message is obvious: Game of War is a boys’ game, and Upton is the game’s mascot, walking through battles totally unscathed and doing nothing except looking pretty.
“Action games with big battles like Game of War are incredibly exciting to kids. And kids I’ve worked with, both male and female, will put up with a lot to play exciting games. But it doesn’t mean they like the way women are portrayed. Yet the video game industry seems to base much of its game and character design on a few assumptions, among them that girls don’t play big action games, boys won’t play games with strong female characters, and male players like the sexual objectification of female characters.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/boys-...en-too/0152612

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Real Virtuality shows us what multiplayer VR might look like

July 14th, 2015, 21:39 Posted By: wraggster

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F1 2015 deposes Batman: Arkham Knight in UK charts

July 13th, 2015, 21:57 Posted By: wraggster

After two weeks at No.1, Warner Bros’ Batman: Arkham Knight is pushed to second place by Codemasters’ F1 2015.
Week one sales of F1 2015 are 367 per cent higher than last year’s entry in the racing series as the series debuts on the PS4 and Xbox One consoles.
Sales of Arkham Knight, meanwhile, are down 54 per cent week-on-week, but it charts ahead of fellow Warner Bros title LEGO Jurassic World.
Towards the bottom of the Top Ten, both console editions of Minecraft saw sales increases this week. The Xbox Edition rose six per cent, while the PlayStation SKUS saw a 12 per cent rise. This is likely due to the excitement following last week’s Minecon at London Excel.
And as the summer period gets into full swing, a few games are helped by retail promotions. Disney Infinity 2.0 sales increase 59 per cent this week thanks to price activity, and the toys-to-life title rises from No.26 to No.13.
Below is the software Top Ten for the week ending July 11th:
1. F1 2015 (Codemasters/Bandai Namco)
2. Batman: Arkham Knight (Warner Bros)
3. LEGO Jurassic World (Warner Bros)
4. The Elder Scrolls Online (Bethesda)
5. Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)
6. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED/Bandai Namco)
7. Minecraft: Xbox Edition (Microsoft)
8. Minecraft: PlayStation Edition (Sony)
9. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Activision Blizzard)
10. Destiny (Activision Blizzard)

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/f1-20...charts/0152526

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Oculus is funding development of over 20 VR games

July 13th, 2015, 21:54 Posted By: wraggster

Virtual reality company Oculus is funding development of “about two dozen” virtual reality games via its Oculus Studios program.
“We have a pretty big investment into Oculus Studios’ triple-A, high production value games,” Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe told Gamasutra. “Oculus VR is a gaming-built, owned and operated company. We’re developers at heart.”
Apparently the projects are a mixture of games that were pitched to the company and games that Oculus itself has conceived and approached a development partner to make. The company has also invested in a number of non-exclusive VR titles and established a $10m indie developer fund.
Iribe also moved to quell concerns that the company’s acquisition at the hands of Facebook has forced away from pure game development and toward broader entertainment output.
While the company has diversified into a wider range of entertainment products, Iribe reiterated that games remain the primary focus and that the company was built and is staffed by game developers.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/oculu...-games/0152533

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Warner Bros and Bethesda rule June charts

July 12th, 2015, 14:50 Posted By: wraggster

Batman and LEGO have helped Warner Bros rise to the top of the publisher rankings once again, according to GfK Chart-Track.
The firm published 27.6 per cent of the physical games sold in June with Batman: Arkham Knight at No.1 and LEGO Jurassic Park at No.3.
In second place is Bethesda, which saw its market share rise on the back of The Elder Scrolls Online (last month’s No.2 games). In total 1.72m games were sold last month, down from the 2m shifted in June 2014. Last year’s June numbers benefitted from the launch of Watch Dogs in late May.
Below is the Top Ten for June:
1. Batman: Arkham Knight, Warner Bros
2. The Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Bandai Namco
4. LEGO Jurassic World, Warner Bros
5. Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar
6. FIFA 15, EA
7. Splatoon, Nintendo
8. Battlefield Hardline, EA
9. Faming Simulator, Koch Media
10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Activision Blizzard

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/warne...charts/0152389

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"Video game music is the future of classical orchestras'

July 12th, 2015, 14:47 Posted By: wraggster

Thousands upon thousands of young people – decked out in branded t-shirts – swarmed around a sold-out Wembley Arena in April this year.
But they weren’t there to see Taylor Swift or Fall Out Boy, these music lovers were queuing up to witness the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform classic songs from The Legend of Zelda video games.
“Video games, to me, represent the highest level of artistic talent, even more than films,” insists Jason Michael Paul, the man in charge of pulling The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses together.
“These musical scores are being performed by some of the best orchestras in the world, and acceptance by music fans is becoming more common.”
According to The Official Charts Company, video game soundtracks generated £223,000 in the UK last year, which is a relatively miniscule figure but a growing one.
Yet that number only tells part of the story. Last April’s gig was the third time the Zelda concert has toured the UK in the last four years, while a rival event – Video Games Live – has just sold out of three shows in Germany for the beginning of next month.
Meanwhile, anyone who attended Paul McCartney’s recent gigs in the UK may have been surprised to see the song he wrote for the Destiny soundtrack receive a full airing. Video game music has always been popular, but never before have we seen it infiltrate mainstream culture so frequently.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/video...estras/0152430

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Gaming video content now makes $3.8bn, Twitch more prosperous than YouTube

July 12th, 2015, 14:43 Posted By: wraggster

As the audience for gaming video content nears half a billion people, a new report has highlighted live streaming’s quick rise to the top.
468 million viewers around the world now digest games-related video content such as walkthroughs, trailers and live streams, according to research firm SuperData’s Gaming Video Content Market Brief 2015.
The majority of these (seven in 10) check out game trailers, with two-thirds of self-proclaimed ‘hardcore’ gamers watching live streams and a third of the same hardcore audience viewing eSports.
All in all, the gaming video market is said to be worth an estimated $3.8 billion. More than three quarters of this, $2.9 billion, is brought in by advertising and sponsorships, with content creators seeing a collective $890 million of the cash.
The news comes days after it was revealed that prominent YouTuber Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg haddoubled his earnings over the last year, reeling in $7.45 million during 2014.
Kjellberg is a rarity among his YouTube peers, however, as SuperData believes newly-Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch generates more games video revenue than Google’s video service, primarily thanks to the drive for subscriptions and donations on the former.
Despite this, YouTube remains the bigger outlet for gaming video, drawing more viewers in total. Only 10 per cent of viewers visit what SuperData refers to as ‘new video platforms’.
The streaming audience is invested, however – almost half (44 per cent) of viewers pay for subscriptions, spending around $21 monthly on paid content and donating $4.64 on average to streaming personalities each month.
SuperData adds its expectation that the number of players watching gaming video content online will rocket to 790 million by 2018.
Unsurprisingly, North America leads the way when it comes to video content, expected to bring in $1.49 billion this year. Europe is second-biggest, with a $1.14 billion market size. Asia sit at third with a sector roughly half that of the US – $701 million.


http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamin...outube/0152314

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Survey shows boys think women are underrepresented in video games

July 12th, 2015, 14:34 Posted By: wraggster

<center style='font: 18px/27px "Segoe UI", proxima-nova, proxima-nova-1, proxima-nova-2, "Proxima Nova", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: block; white-space: normal; widows: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;'></center>A recent exploratory study conducted by Time has found that 47 percent of middle-school and 61 percent of high-school-aged boys believe that female characters in video games are too often treated as sex objects. The survey was conducted to examine issues of sexism in video games and asked over 1,400 students about their feelings surrounding how women are depicted in the medium. What's more, 70 percent of girls surveyed said that the gender of a protagonist doesn't factor into them playing a game while a surprising 78percent of boys said the same. And 58 percent of boys who identified as gamers think there should be more female heroes in game, like Bayonetta up above, for example. Oh, and reassuringly "very few" of the respondents knew what Gamergate was. Phew.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/09/g...gender-survey/

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Google patent uses finger frames to snap pics with Glass-like devices

July 12th, 2015, 14:31 Posted By: wraggster

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Here's where you can try on HTC's Vive VR headset this year

July 12th, 2015, 14:20 Posted By: wraggster

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Disney is closing its first virtual reality attraction

July 12th, 2015, 14:12 Posted By: wraggster

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The BBC is Giving Every 11-Year-Old in the UK a Micro Computer

July 8th, 2015, 22:16 Posted By: wraggster

Back in the 1980s the BBC Micro spawned a whole generation of bedroom coders. The aim of the project was to provide a rugged, simple to use computer that was cheap enough for most schools to own at least one. The Micro was a huge success, with 80 per cent of state schools buying one of the machines, introducing many children to programming for the first time.
The BBC is trying to do something similar with the BBC Micro Bit. The organisation is giving away a Raspberry Pi-like micro computer to every Year 7 child in the UK. The Micro Bit's main feature is a panel of 25 LEDs which can be programmed to light up in animated patterns. The BBC has now revealed the full specifications of the micro computer and it's a little bit awesome.
Along with its LED panel, the Micro Bit has an accelerometer, compass, and Bluetooth transmitter. It also has two on-board buttons and a micro USB port.
In theory, this means that you can use the Micro Bit as a simple two-button game controller, one that you can connect to a device either by USB or with Bluetooth. You could also program a game where you control it by shaking the Micro Bit.
The BBC is putting together a full set of tutorials and lesson plans that will launch with the Micro Bit in October.
“It’s an entry-level device that will enable kids to code and program, and if they enjoy that, clearly they’ll move on to devices like the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi,” industry verteran Ian Livingstone told the Guardian.
You could connect the Micro Bit to a Raspberry Pi and use it as a controller, light up score board, or any number of canny things.
The first prototype of the Micro Bit had a built in watch battery making it easy for the device to be pinned to your clothes. Unfortunately, the BBC worried that someone might end up swallowing the battery so it's now powered by a separate AAA battery pack but that can be discretely hidden away.
For those of us who aren't in Year 7, the Micro Bit will go on sale at the end of the year. I, for one, am definitely going to pick on up. The idea of being able to code a little piece of hardware makes me feel all tingly inside.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/08/t...micro-computer

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YouTube reveals top 10 "trending" games for June

July 8th, 2015, 22:12 Posted By: wraggster

YouTube has announced the top 10 “trending” games on its network for June, with Batman: Arkham Knight claiming first place.
The game finished ahead of Lego Jurassic World – undoubtedly enjoying the runner-up spot thanks to the popularity of the non-Lego major motion picture – and Fallout 4.
Warner Bros also scored a second Lego title in the top five for the period, with Lego Worlds finishing fifth behind Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
Different from NewZoo's montly Top Game Franchises on YouTube chart, YouTube's “trending” games are determined through a combination of number of video uploads and watchtime.
Here's the full list:

1. Batman: Arkham Knight
2. Lego Jurassic World
3. Fallout 4
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Lego Worlds
6. The Elder Scrolls Online
7. Skylanders: SuperChargers
8. Star Wars Battlefront
9. Final Fantasy VII
10. Heroes of the Storm

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Fire Emblem clings on for a second top spot in Japan as Persona 4: Dancing All Night

July 8th, 2015, 22:08 Posted By: wraggster

The latest Fire Emblem title for 3DS has remained at the number spot in Japan, with returning Top Ten entry Splatoon seeing resilient sales figures.
Fire Emblem Fates’ two SKUs – White Kingdom and Black Kingdom – easily spot to the top of the retail charts the week previous, shifting over 350,000 units, according to the latest data from Famitsu.
This number fell to just above 71,000 last week, which was still far more than enough to see it through to a second chart-topping performance.
Helped by the 3DS title’s success, the New Nintendo 3DS XL remained at the top of the hardware rankings, selling over 23,000 units.
Meanwhile, Persona 4: Dancing All Night, which propelled Vita sales in its debut week, slipped two spaces to fourth as sales dropped by almost 90 per cent to just shy of 11 per cent.
This opened the hardware charts back up, allowing the bigger sibling of Sony’s Vita to creep back up to second place and Nintendo’s Wii U to ride its slipstream to third.
Back in the software charts, returning Top Ten presence Splatoon held on well for a second week back in the Top Five, rising to third in lieu of Dancing All Night. Sales of the squid-based shooter were resilient, dropping by a mere 7,000 units.
Meanwhile, the greatest hits title for the Rhythm Heaven franchise, The Best+, jumped up to second place, despite sales dropping by around 20,000 units.

Here is the software Top Ten for the week ending July 5th:

1. Fire Emblem Fates: White Kingdom / Black Kingdom (Nintendo) 3D – 71,550
2. Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ (Nintendo) 3DS – 32,580
3. Splatoon (Nintendo) Wii U – 31,494
4. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Atlus) Vita – 10,614
5. Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (Sony) Vita –10,411
6. Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo) Wii U – 9,110
7. Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden (Bandai Namco) 3DS – 7,573
8. Tobidase Dobutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: New Leaf) (Nintendo) 3DS – 5,918
9. Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Capcom) PS4 – 4,946
10. Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale (Marvelous) 3DS – 4,882

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Capcom is making a light-up 'Mega Man' helmet

July 8th, 2015, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster

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