Black Flag’s creative director on why killing Desmond helped Assassin’s Creed to live

February 14th, 2014, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster

There’s more on the future of Ubisoft’s flagship franchise here.

Ubisoft Montreal’s Jean Guesdon worked as a designer on Assassin’s Creed II and as part of the team overseeing the larger franchise before joining Black Flag as its creative director. Here, we discuss the ways in which this pirate epic charts new ground in the post-Desmond era.Black Flag’s world opens up for exploration much earlier than ACIII’s did. What inspired that?
We knew we wanted to get directly into the action. ACIII ended the Desmond cycle, so he’s gone, and we thought it would be a good thing to start Black Flag directly in the past without delaying the moment at which the player will play what he wants to play – what he’s been sold for months on the marketing side. So there’s roughly a 20-minute prologue, and there’s a technical reason behind that in terms of the link to PS4, allowing it to install that first package at the start of the game and be able to download the rest while playing.Sailing across the open ocean and exploring islands recalled some of our favourite moments from The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker. How did that game inform Black Flag’s design?
We had several games like that as references. So, yes, Wind Waker was one of them. Sid Meier’s Pirates! was another. They were really interesting, because they were successful naval games, which is pretty hard to achieve, and we quickly came to understand why. It’s hard to do. How do you keep sailing interesting and not boring? Especially in our case, because we wanted to keep the AC style of being realistic, so we had a lot of challenges. Wind Waker is probably closer to our game than Pirates!, but the opportunity to use fantasy elements that pop up in front of the player was something we couldn’t use. Those games were inspirational in terms of knowing a good pirate game was feasible and [they] helped us identify the areas where we needed to focus.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ed-to-live-on/

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EA teases re-re-return of NBA Jam

February 13th, 2014, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster

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Nintendo DID NOT force Dong Nguyen to delete Flappy Bird

February 12th, 2014, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster

Japanese firm insists it has no problem with Vietnamese developer's smash mobile game.
Another day, another Flappy Bird story.
If you're one of the 50 million people to have downloaded Flappy Bird, you'll have noticed the infernal green pipes the wretched winged animal gets killed by time and time again resemble the pipes featured in Nintendo's Mario franchise.
So naturally, when creator Dong Ngyuen controversially removed the $50,000-a-day game from the App Store and Google Play, some people believed Nintendo had tackled the Vietnamese indie developer with a copyright lawsuit.
Turns out this isn't the case, as the Japanese gaming giant has issued an official statement regarding the accusations to WSJ, saying: "While we usually do not comment on the rumours and speculations, we have already denied the speculation."
More worrying than legal proceedings, however, are the death threats Nguyen has since received following the Flappy Bird closure.
Someone even went as far as to create a false news story claiming he has 'committed suicide by shooting himself in the head'.
Elsewhere, the cult-like obsession around the game has prompted a version to hit the web.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/games/nint...py-bird/042955

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US spent $15.39 billion on games in 2013 - NPD

February 12th, 2014, 22:01 Posted By: wraggster

Research group finds total new and used, digital and physical game industry revenues up 2% year-over-year
While the industry-tracking NPD Group reported US retail game industry sales in the US were down 2 percent in 2013, the firm today painted a slightly more positive bigger picture of the industry. Combining those retail hardware and software numbers with digital revenues(whether from full games, DLC, subscriptions, or in-app purchases) and second-hand game sales for its 2013 Games Market Dynamics report, the NPD Group estimates total US consumer spend on the gaming industry was up 2 percent year-over-year.
Taking hardware out of the equation, the NPD Group said US consumers spent a total of $15.39 billion on game content in 2013, up 1 percent over 2012. That tally includes $6.34 billion spent on new physical game sales, used and rental revenue of $1.83 billion, and digital content sales of $7.22 billion. The report also underscored the growing important of digital content, noting that new physical game sales had declined 11 percent year-over-year.
"Growth in digitally distributed content is vital to overall industry health," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. "Since this is such a topic of high interest to the industry, we recently conducted additional in-depth research into consumer behavior with regard to digital content acquisition, and found that 36 percent of the U.S. population ages 13 and older was playing games acquired digitally, with incidence highest among teens and young adults. Interestingly, however, there is no particular point after age 25 where incidence declines significantly."
NPD based its estimates for the report off a number of factors, including its physical point-of-sale tracking, consumer research and data provided by retail and publishing partners, as well as "third-party sources."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...es-in-2013-npd

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BioShock Infinite isn't up for a Best Game BAFTA

February 12th, 2014, 20:56 Posted By: wraggster

It's that time of year again: The British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA) nominees have been announced. The biggest surprise is that BioShock Infinite - its triumphant arrival being one of the gaming events of the year, if not the generation - is not nominated for Best Game. Fighting it out for that honour are Tearaway, Assassin's Creed 4, Grand Theft Auto 5, The Last of Us, Super Mario 3D World and Papers, Please.BioShock Infinite is nominated for four awards but not Story, surprisingly. It's up for Artistic Achievement, Music and Audio Achievement, and Courtnee Draper is up for Performer for her role as Elizabeth. Booker actor Troy Baker isn't, although he is nominated for his performance as Joel in The Last of Us.Media Molecule's charming Vita game Tearaway is actually one of the leaders in nominations, popping up in eight categories. Last year's widely acclaimed big hitters Grand Theft Auto 5 and The Last of Us also feature prominently: GTA 5 with eight nominations and The Last of Us leading with 10 (bumped by a couple of best performer nominations).Papers, Please is up for three other awards besides Best Game, and was one of our games of 2013; a low budget affair that "refreshes even the most jaded of palettes". Another of our games of 2013, The Stanley Parable, is also up for four awards. It's a game that's more of a thought provoking conversation with a bright mind, explained Cara Ellison. Super Mario 3D World, our Game of the Year 2013, is up for four awards too.Touching downloadable game Brothers - a game of moments - is up for three awards including Best Story. Gone Home and the delightful Ni No Kuni - yet another of our Games of 2013 - also show their faces in this category.Simogo's Device 6 - a mobile game that's up for lots of Independent Games Festival awards - is up for three BAFTAs, and Simogo's Year Walk is up for one.Beyond's Ellen Page (Jodie Marsh) and The Last of Us' Ashley Johnson (Ellie) will go head-to-head competing for the Performer BAFTA, which is nice, given how Ellen Page accused Naughty Dog of ripping off her likeness for The Last of Us.Congratulations to Tom Francis and team for Gunpoint getting two nods, and to Fireproof Games for getting two nods for The Room Two. The Room 1, remember, won the British Game BAFTA last year.The British Academy Games Awards take place on Wednesday, 12th March in London, hosted for the sixth consecutive year by bigger-than-he-looks comedian Dara O'Briain. We were there last year and plan to be this year.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...est-game-bafta

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US spent $15.39 billion on games in 2013 - NPD

February 12th, 2014, 01:09 Posted By: wraggster

Research group finds total new and used, digital and physical game industry revenues up 2% year-over-year
While the industry-tracking NPD Group reported US retail game industry sales in the US were down 2 percent in 2013, the firm today painted a slightly more positive bigger picture of the industry. Combining those retail hardware and software numbers with digital revenues(whether from full games, DLC, subscriptions, or in-app purchases) and second-hand game sales for its 2013 Games Market Dynamics report, the NPD Group estimates total US consumer spend on the gaming industry was up 2 percent year-over-year.
Taking hardware out of the equation, the NPD Group said US consumers spent a total of $15.39 billion on game content in 2013, up 1 percent over 2012. That tally includes $6.34 billion spent on new physical game sales, used and rental revenue of $1.83 billion, and digital content sales of $7.22 billion. The report also underscored the growing important of digital content, noting that new physical game sales had declined 11 percent year-over-year.
"Growth in digitally distributed content is vital to overall industry health," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. "Since this is such a topic of high interest to the industry, we recently conducted additional in-depth research into consumer behavior with regard to digital content acquisition, and found that 36 percent of the U.S. population ages 13 and older was playing games acquired digitally, with incidence highest among teens and young adults. Interestingly, however, there is no particular point after age 25 where incidence declines significantly."
NPD based its estimates for the report off a number of factors, including its physical point-of-sale tracking, consumer research and data provided by retail and publishing partners, as well as "third-party sources."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...es-in-2013-npd

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Games still present "a compelling investment opportunity" - Wedbush

February 12th, 2014, 01:08 Posted By: wraggster

Wedbush Securities' latest report also suggests that Microsoft's and Sony's games divisions will be "very profitable" in next gen
In a new Wedbush report that spans nearly 170 pages, providing a comprehensive overview of the past, present and future of the video game marketplace, the firm discusses why the next generation "will be as big as ever" and how the industry's growth actually makes it more appealing to investors than other entertainment businesses.
While analyst Michael Pachter acknowledged that the current console transition is "one of the most difficult" for publishers, he ultimately sees the new consoles spurring big growth for the industry as software sales take off in the next several years. Combined U.S. and European software markets are forecast to grow at a 9 percent CAGR over the 2014 - 2016 period, totaling console software sales of $12 billion in 2014, growing to $14 billion in 2015 and to $15 billion in 2016. Handheld software sales (DS, 3DS and PS Vita) are expected to remain flat at approximately $1.6 billion per year over the three-year period.
The continued growth of the business is another reflection of a maturing industry and a maturing audience that's growing older, earning more and spending more on games.
"Several demographic trends and market drivers should fuel rapid growth of interactive entertainment software sales. We believe the most compelling of these trends is the expanding age demographic of the interactive game consumer, accompanied by an increasing level of disposable income and the propensity to spend that income on entertainment," noted Pachter.
Importantly, many of these people are choosing to spend on games above other entertainment, and that's something investors should pay attention to. "We believe that the interactive entertainment industry offers secular dynamics that will provide extended and sustainable growth. We believe several publishers stand poised to capitalize on this growth, providing investors with an opportunity to participate," Pachter said.
"Both Sony and Microsoft should deliver substantial profits from their gaming businesses over the next several years"

"Console, handheld and PC video games comprise a significant portion of overall entertainment industry sales, we believe comparing favorably with other mainstream entertainment products such as movies, books, and music. With comparable size and growth at a faster rate than these competing forms of entertainment, we expect the interactive entertainment software sector to present a compelling investment opportunity over the next three to five years."
Wedbush believes interactive entertainment software sales will grow around four percent annually in the next three years, and the firm expects interactive entertainment to grow faster than other U.S. entertainment sectors over the next five years. Wedbush is modeling growth of just zero to two percent for other entertainment products sales over the same time period.
"Using our projected growth rates, we forecast that the U.S. interactive entertainment industry in 2016 will continue to be larger than books, box office and music... It is important to consider video game software purchases in the context of all entertainment spending. When books, music, movies and video games are added together, total U.S. spending on entertainment content totaled over $65 billion in 2013. The portion spent on video game software, at around 11 percent of the total, has the potential to grow at a faster rate than any of the other entertainment categories for many years to come," Pachter explained.
For the current year, Wedbush expects PS4 to sell another 12 million units, Xbox One to sell 9 million, and Wii U to sell 3 million. More important than who "wins the console wars," however, is which companies can maintain profitability. Pachter noted that Microsoft and Sony should do well on that front compared to a struggling Nintendo.
"Given its very slow console sales, Nintendo appears destined to see its console software sales and royalty stream markedly lower than in the last cycle, and we are skeptical that it will make a profit from its console business during the next generation," he said. "At our projected sell-through rate, we expect both Sony and Microsoft to be very profitable in the next generation. Notwithstanding their relative projected market shares, we expect both companies' console penetration to substantially exceed their penetration in the current generation console cycle, primarily due to market share gains from Nintendo."
He continued, "If our estimates are close to the mark, both Sony and Microsoft will likely be profitable on each console sold, and their respective games divisions will at worst break even. More importantly, Sony and Microsoft earn royalties on every game sold for their respective consoles; our forecast calls for 294 million cumulative PS4 software units and 227 million cumulative Xbox One software units sold by the end of 2016, with an average of $8 - 10 in profit for each unit booked by each company. Both their multiplayer networks and their royalty businesses will provide a recurring revenue stream at a very high dollar margin (the respective networks require a high level of capital and support spending, while the royalty businesses bear little cost), meaning that both Sony and Microsoft should deliver substantial profits from their gaming businesses over the next several years."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...tunity-wedbush

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Godot Game Engine Released Under MIT License

February 12th, 2014, 00:49 Posted By: wraggster

goruka writes with news that a new game engine has been made available to Free Software developers under the permissive MIT license"Godot is a fully featured, open source, MIT licensed, game engine. It focuses on having great tools, and a visual oriented workflow that can deploy to PC, Mobile and Web platforms with no hassle. The editor, language and APIs are feature rich, yet simple to learn. Godot was born as an in-house engine, and was used to publish several work-for-hire commercial titles. With more than half a million lines of code, Godot is one of the most complex Open Source game engines at the moment, and one of the largest commitments to open source software in recent years. It allows developers to make games under Linux (and other unix variants), Windows and OSX."The source is available via Github, and, according to Phoronix, it's about as featureful as the Unity engine.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/02...er-mit-license

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A quarter of parents believe their children have been put at risk online

February 12th, 2014, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster

27 per cent of parents believe their children have been exposed to cyber threats in the last 12 months, according to a study.
Security specialist Kaspersky Lab conducted the research ahead of Safer Internet Day, which takes today (February 11th).
The results revealed that despite their fear of dangers such as children accessing inappropriate content or suffering cyber bullying, one fifth of parents (22 per cent) take no action to monitor or protect their children’s online activity.
“Regardless of how their children are accessing the internet, parents must remain vigilant, supervise their internet use and consider parental control technologies,” commented David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
“As a parent myself, I find these statistics particularly worrying when you consider the increasing number of children using connected smartphones today. After all, when children use mobile devices to access the web, they are using the same internet, with the same risks – yet parents are often not as aware of the dangers.”
The study also found that 18 per cent of parents had lost money or data from a personal device as a result of their child’s unmonitored access.
“There is a common misconception that smartphones and tablets don’t need the same level of protection as a PC, but with such a high percentage of parents not having a clear view of their children’s online activity, this way of thinking needs to change,” continued Emm.
“The internet is an incredible resource, both for social use and in an educational capacity. But in the same way as we would teach our children to cross the road safely, we must teach them to be aware of, and respect, the dangers of the internet. Just because a threat is out of sight, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep it front of mind.”
Emm offered the following set of tips to parents to keep their children safe online:

1. Both Android smartphones and iPhones come with in-built parental controls – when purchasing a smartphone, ask the sales assistants to demonstrate these features. They have policies in place and a responsibility to make parents aware of these. By creating a demand, it is more likely they will let other parents know.
2. Apply settings that prevent in-app purchases to save hefty bills should children stumble across a game with expensive add-ons.
3. Install security software – these providers will offer apps to filter out inappropriate content, for example, adult images and senders of nuisance SMS messages.
4. Encourage children to talk about their online experience and in particular, anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened. Open a channel of communication so they feel they can discuss all areas of their online life without fear of judgment or reprimand.
5. Protecting children from cyber bullies is especially challenging with smartphones as they can be targeted in so many ways, especially out of view of their parents. Deal with cyber bullying as you would in real life by encouraging children to be open and talk to a trusted adult if they experience any threatening or inappropriate messages. Numbers and contacts on apps can both be blocked if they are making children uncomfortable.
6. Use the internet for good – there are sites that can advise both parents and children on how to manage online threats. Take a look at http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/.
   
7. http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-online/033195

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You can now play most embedded YouTube videos on your Chromecast

February 10th, 2014, 22:04 Posted By: wraggster

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Game sales to dip 20% in January on current-gen weakness - Wedbush

February 10th, 2014, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster

Next-gen consoles also remained supply constrained, delaying next-gen spending says Michael Pachter
This Thursday, The NPD Group will release its January 2014 video games sales report, which Wedbush Securities anticipates will reveal a software sales decline of 20 percent ($300 million compared to last year's $373 million). In addition to the current-gen (Xbox 360, PS3) showing continued weakness, Wedbush said that the new consoles are still supply constrained following the holidays, and that's causing many gamers to delay their purchases.
Wedbush is expecting hardware sales of 350,000 Xbox One units and 375,000 PS4 units in their third month of release, with the Wii U bringing up the rear at just 60,000 units (although that would still represent a five percent increase year-over-year).
The slate of fall/holiday titles from last year - Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4, EA Sports' titles, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Just Dance 2014, NBA 2K14 and GTA V - are expected to drive software sales again for January. While the forecasted January decline follows a software sales dip of 17 percent in December, it's not a trend that will persist for the rest of 2014, analyst Michael Pachter noted.
"In a nutshell, we think that the rapid ramp in sell-through for next generation consoles will cause an unprecedented ramp in next generation software sales, and notwithstanding current generation software sales weakness, we expect overall industry software sales to rebound into positive territory later this year. We believe this rebound is not only sustainable, but we expect it to be dramatic in the back half of the year, with double-digit gains expected," he said.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...akness-wedbush

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Justin.tv becomes Twitch Interactive

February 10th, 2014, 21:31 Posted By: wraggster

Justin.tv has rebranded its corporate umbrella name and has become Twitch Interactive to better represent the immense growth of its leading platform.
"As Twitch has continued to grow as the leader of the video game streaming space, it has eclipsed our previous initiatives. Given our total focus on serving the gaming community it makes sense to reposition it as our primary brand," said CEO Emmett Shear.
"Seven years ago, Justin.tv pioneered live video on the Web, and while I remain proud of all the work we did under that name, I'm even more excited about our new future as Twitch."
Justin.tv started when creator Justin Kan began broadcasting his life to the internet, and we he stopped in 2007 the site became a place for others to share their videos on a variety of topics. Twitch launched in 2011 and now has one million monthly active broadcasters and 45 million viewers per month who watch 13 billion minutes of video a month.
"Twitch has broken down significant technical barriers by enabling gamers to share their experiences in a live and interactive fashion with millions around the world," added Jesse Divnich, VP of Insights at EEDAR.
"Because this type of virality can't be bought, it makes it extremely valuable for publishers and one of the more influential sources of awareness and purchase intent."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ch-interactive

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UK Chart: Fable Anniversary debuts at No.3

February 10th, 2014, 21:15 Posted By: wraggster

EA's FIFA 14 has regained the top spot on the UK all format games chart, claiming its 10th No.1 since it launched.
The football sim is followed by Activision's Call of Duty: Ghosts at No.2, which moved up one position m last week.
Fable Anniversary, a remade version of the Xbox classic, makes its chart debut at No.3, with last week's chart topper, Square Enix's Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, at No.4 and Lego Marvel Super Heroes at No.5.
The bottom half of the top ten is comprised of Grand Theft Auto 5 at No.6, now in its 21st week on the chart, Battlefield 4 at No.7, and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition at No.8.
Rounding off the top ten are Killzone: Shadow Fall and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag at No.9 and No.10 respectively.
<figure style='font: 14px/23.79px "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 460px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;' class="responsive single-article__canvas single-article__canvas--full zoomhover" title="" data-media992="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3140/image_314006_460.jpg" data-media768="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3140/image_314006_700.jpg" data-media480="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3140/image_314006_480.jpg" data-media="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3140/image_314006_320.jpg"></figure>Here's the full list:

1. FIFA 14 (EA)
2. Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision Blizzard)
3. Fable: Anniversary (Microsoft)
4. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Square Enix)
5. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (Warner Bros Interactive)
6. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Take 2)
7. Battlefield 4 (EA)
8. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Microsoft)
9. Killzone: Shadow Fall (Sony)
10. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

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BestBuy Sunday Ad Video Game Deal Highlights

February 9th, 2014, 22:53 Posted By: wraggster









BestBuy Sunday Ad Video Game Deals Summary!
This week, BestBuy is featuring discounts on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, 3DS, Wii U, and PC games!
Highlights include:

• BestBuy Gamers Club:
  • Save $20 on Official Wii U Transport Bag
  • Get $10 in Reward Certificates on Pre-orders
• Sunday Ad:
  • Save $10-$30 on Games Including Battlefield 4, The Last of Us, Mario Party: Island Tour
  • Buy 2 Get 1 Free on Pre-owned Games
  • $10 PlayStation Bonus with PlayStation Plus 12 Month Membership
  • Buy 2 Select Xbox One Games and Save $20
  • Buy 2 Xbox 360 Platinum Games, Get 1 Free
  • Save $20 on COD Ghosts
  • Save $30 on Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
  • Save $20 on StarCraft II: Heart of Swarm
  • 15% Off Any Game Guide
• http://deals.bestbuy.com/#!/featured+deals

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Google's Chromecast expected to come to the UK in March

February 9th, 2014, 22:34 Posted By: wraggster

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New Mobile Suit Gundam tops Japanese chart

February 9th, 2014, 22:21 Posted By: wraggster

While Diablo III settles for second place
The might of Blizzard turned out to be no match for Namco Bandai in Japan this week, as Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Full Boost arrived at the top of the software chart selling almost 230,000 more than Diablo III at two.

1. [PS3] Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Full Boost - 269,940 (New entry)
2. [PS3] Diablo III - 41,727 (New entry)
3. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe - 39,166 (Lifetime sales - 392,457)
4. [PSV] Disgaea 4 Return - 33,749 (New entry)
5. [PS3] Sengoku Basara 4 - 30,202 (206,515)

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Games shouldn't be judged on sales - Inafune

February 9th, 2014, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster

Mighty No. 9 creator talks about the impact of crowdfunding on the industry and the way he thinks about games
[h=3]Comcept[/h]

Last year, Keiji Inafune's Kickstarter for a Mega Man-inspired 2D platformer attracted $3.8 million in funding. Today, Inafune came to the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas to discuss the experience and talk about what the crowdfunding revolution means for the future of the gaming industry.
Speaking through an interpreter, Inafune said his experience with Mighty No. 9 changed the way he thinks about making games. The most important part of creating Mighty No. 9 for Inafune is being able to create the game in a way similar to how he made titles when he first broke into the industry 20 years ago. Back then, Inafune didn't think about whether his games would sell. He didn't really care about that. He only had to think about making the game fun.
But somewhere over the course of his career, Inafune said he had started to change without realizing it, and began worrying more about how his games would sell. Even though it's critical for a game to turn a profit for creators to be able to continue making them, Inafune said developers shouldn't think of having a lot of sales as inherently good and failing to sell as inherently bad.
With Mighty No. 9, Inafune said he hasn't finished the game, much less sold any copies. But it's already been funded, so Inafune doesn't need it to sell in order for it to be considered a success, or "to achieve justice" in the game industry. The project is possible only because the backers of it feel that it's the kind of game they would like to play, and so gambled on the development of it with the Kickstarter. As a result, Inafune thinks they understand that it won't be judged purely on sales.
As a result, Inafune said the campaign has allowed him to revisit his early days in the industry, without having to worry about sales or "bureaucracy in the system," and instead focus solely on what he thinks will make the game more fun. He believes this is actually the future of the industry, a callback to the days when he first broke in, when Inafune said many creators were a little bit crazy, exploring wild ideas with no concern for their viability in the market.
The Kickstarter process is a new one for Inafune, as it has allowed him to talk about the game much earlier in development than with his previous publisher-funded work. He thinks it helps people understand what the game is a lot better to see it come together in this way. That also lets the fans collaborate with creators to some extent, which Inafune said has created "a new golden age of gaming."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...udged-on-sales

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Oculus Releases Open Source Hardware

February 9th, 2014, 02:32 Posted By: wraggster


Oculus VR, makers of the very cool Oculus Rift VR display, are making their first steps towards open hardware. Their first project is a latency tester, meant to precisely measure the latency of a VR setup or application. This is true open hardware with everything – the firmware, schematics, and mechanical parts all available on GitHub
Inside this neat bit of hardware is a STM32F102 microcontroller and a TCS3414 color sensor. The firmware is designed to measure changes in color and send that data back to a computer with a timestamp.
Not only are the schematics and board files available, there are also a few links to buy the PCBs at OSH Park: for about $24, you can get three copies of the main PCB and sensor board delivered to your door. If you have a 3D printer, Oculus has provided the .STL filesto print out the enclosure for this device.
While this is a fairly niche product, we’re amazed at how well the Oculus folk have put together this open source hardware project. Everything you need to replicate this product, from board files, mechanical design, firmware, and instructions on how to build everything is just right there, sitting it a GitHub. Wonderful work.

http://hackaday.com/2014/02/06/oculu...urce-hardware/

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Meet ‘Raspberri’, Your Personal Voice Controlled Assistant

February 9th, 2014, 02:30 Posted By: wraggster


We’ve all seen the old movie scene where the executive calls his assistant on the intercom for some task or other. [Jan] may not be an executive, and he may not have an assistant. He does have Raspberri, his voice controlled personal digital assistant. Raspberri started life as a vintage Televox intercom box. [Jan] found it at a second-hand store, and snapped it up in hopes of using it in a future project. That project eventually happened when [Jan] got a Raspberry Pi and learned how to use it. He decided to build the Televox and Pi together, creating his own electronic assistant.
[Jan] started by adding a cheap USB sound card and WiFi module to his Pi. He also added a small 3 Watt audio amp board. The Televox used a single speaker as both audio input and output. [Jan] didn’t want to make any modifications to the case, so he kept this arrangement. Using a single speaker would mean dead shorting the audio amplifier and the sound card’s microphone input. To avoid this, [Jan] added a DPDT relay controlled by the original push-to-talk button on the Televox. The relay switches between the microphone input and the audio output on the USB sound card. Everything fit nicely inside the Televox case.
With the hardware complete [Jan] turned his attention to software. He went with PiAUISuite for voice input. Voice output is handled by a simple shell script which uses google voice to convert text to speech. For intermediate processing, such as scraping a weather website for data, [Jan] created custom python scripts. The end result is pretty darn good. There is a bit of lag between saying the command and receiving an answer. This may be due to transferring the audio files over WiFi. However, [Jan] can always get away with saying his assistant was out getting him more coffee!

http://hackaday.com/2014/02/07/meet-...led-assistant/

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RasPi Powered ADM-3A Dumb Terminal

February 9th, 2014, 02:26 Posted By: wraggster


[Andrew Curtin] tipped us off to another excellent resurrected vintage one piece ADM-3A dumb terminal. [Andrew] not only resurrected this sexy machine by breathing life into her once more after 37 years but he also got it connected online to retro.hackaday.com for those coveted retro Super Nerd bonus points.
As with other ADM-3A terminals we have seen on Hackaday, the terminal screen can be interfaced over an RS-232 serial connector to a laptop, however, [Andrew] didn’t have a laptop to sacrifice so he utilized the now popular laptop stand-in RasPi. It’s a clever form factor solution which makes it appear more like a standalone computer for the first time in its life.
To make the hack work he needed a serial adapter to link the ADM-3A terminal to the Ras-PI so he constructed one for himself. It’s another clever solution but he didn’t share much information on this build. Maybe he’ll comment below or elaborate on his site with more details on the construction and utilization of the adapter board from the Ras-PI so others could easily repeat this fun hack.

http://hackaday.com/2014/02/08/raspi...dumb-terminal/

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