News and informations about video-games

Best of Indie Games: From The Cat that Got the Milk to Hack, Slash, Loot

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor-in-chief Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on "Best Of Indie Games," we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The delights in this edition include a racing game for the Xbox Live Indie Games service, a ...

Disgaea performance boosts Nippon Ichi earnings estimates

Newsbrief: Japanese publisher Nippon Ichi has raised its annual financial guidance following better-than-expected sales of its Disgaea franchise. For the 12 month period ended March 31, 2012, Nippon Ichi expects to see 203 million yen ($2.7 million) in profit, up from 59 million yen ($770,000), while overall revenue is expected to hit 2.29 billion yen ($30.1 million), down slightly from 2.25 billion yen ($29.5 million) previously. According to Japan-focused game site Andriasang, the company's boost ...

Report: Layoffs hit EA's Vancouver branch as company makes digital shift

Electronic Arts has laid off what it's calling a "small number" of employees at its Vancouver branch as part of a restructuring effort to focus more on its digital content. With the move, EA said it hopes to better align its Vancouver branch with the company's current focus on digital, online, and free to play games, reports Industry Gamers. While technically located just outside of Vancouver in Burnaby, British Colombia, this branch is home to ...

Microsoft's Xbox Live policy director resigning

Xbox Live's policy and enforcement director Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse, who has worked at Microsoft for nearly 18 years, announced that he's resigning from the company in two weeks to explore other opportunities. Toulouse often served as the public face for Xbox Live matters, and managed complaints and user bannings/suspensions on the Xbox 360 online service. He described his position as "[making] the Xbox Live experience a consistent, safe, and enjoyable one." Prior to joining the ...

Kingdom Rush takes on Where's My Water? on iPad charts

[In this weekly column, Gamasutra rounds up the most popular paid and free iPad gaming applications on the App Store as of today, with Kingdom Rush, Hamlet HD and Paper Monsters currently ranking among the platform's top downloads.] This week's top paid titles are: 1. Where's My Water? ($0.99) 2. Kingdom Rush ($0.99) 3. Paper Monsters ($0.99) 4. Angry Birds Seasons HD ($1.99) 5. Words With Friends HD ($0.99) 6. Angry Birds Rio HD ($2.99) ...

The role of self image in video game play

So why do you think you choose to play the games you do? NO! WRONG ANSWER! Well, actually, you're probably mostly right about that, but an upcoming article in Psychological Science suggests that your choice of games and your motivation to keep playing them may have something to do with how well they allow you to experience something deeper and more personal. In the article, Andrew Przybylski (who sent me an advance copy so I ...

Deus Ex, social games drive Square Enix revenue and profit growth

Square Enix reported notable revenue and profit increases from its game segment during the April to December 2011 period, which were driven by Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its online/social titles. While the Tokyo-headquartered company's total sales for all of its segments were flat during those nine months, revenues from its video game category grew and now makes up a larger percentage of Square Enix's business. Square Enix's games segment made up 52 percent of ...

Walmart provides coveted sales data to NPD's retail reports

The NPD Group has signed an agreement to receive and analyze point-of sale information from Walmart, and will now be able to include data from the major retail chain in its video game sales reports for the U.S. With actual numbers from Walmart, NPD could provide more accurate information and analysis in its monthly retail game sales reports, which are used by retailers and publishers alike to monitor sales trends. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter estimates ...

Sony's Hirai: We could be in 'serious trouble'

Sony president Kazuo Hirai, who took over the role recently, has admitted that the company has tough times ahead, thanks to "one issue after another." Hirai was named the new Sony president and CEO earlier this week, having taken over the role from former president Sir Howard Stringer. He was instrumental in the early marketing success of Sony's then-new PlayStation video game brand in the mid-1990s. However, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, ...

Sega Sammy profits hit by weak game sales

Sega Sammy has posted financial results for the first nine months of the current fiscal year, with a loss in its video game division leading the company to record a drop in revenue and profits year-over-year overall. The company blamed weak demand for video games in the U.S. and Europe, due to "sluggish personal consumption" from customers. It noted that it needs to adapt to the business environment which is now focused on social games ...

Viacom posts reduced Q1 profits, blames Rock Band lawsuit

Media giant Viacom has posted financial results for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, blaming a significant drop in profits year-over-year on charges related to the Rock Band video game series. Viacom originally acquired Rock Band developer Harmonix back in 2006, but eventually sold the company back to its founders in 2010. The founders then sued Viacom, claiming that the company was attempting to scheme its way out of paying performance-based bonuses. The ...

In-depth: Sensible error handling, part 1

[In this reprinted #altdevblogaday in-depth piece, BitSquid co-founder Niklas Frykholm talks about designing systems so that error handling is as sensible as possible, and looks at the kind of errors you will need to deal with.] In this article (and the follow-up), I'm going to discuss how I think you should design systems so that the error handling is as sensible as possible and the burden on the callers is minimized. Note that I'm discussing ...

Road to the IGF: Die Gute Fabrik's J.S. Joust

PlayStation Move-controlled Johann Sebastian Joust is the sort of thing that truly needs to be played to be understood. The improvisational, highly-physical experience has captivated indie gaming fans worldwide -- chances are you've heard the flood of enthusiasm from those who have tried it. It's earned an honorable mention in the Excellence in Design category and, as an unconventional, experimental game has earned a nod in the Nuovo category, but the galvanizing title also has ...

Interview: Seamus Blackley's new team of Atari coin-op superstars aim for iPad

Imagine if the creators of classic arcade games like Asteroids, Tank and Battlezone got together and decided to start making games for iPad. You'd have to wonder how their "old school" mindsets would translate to perhaps the most dynamic gaming platform our there. Soon, we won't have to wonder, because a new video game company, led by former Xbox man Seamus Blackley, is combining the talents of 11 Atari (the original Atari) development superstars who ...

Red Dead franchise sells 13 million units worldwide

Newsbrief: Within its quarterly earnings report this Thursday, publisher Take-Two revealed that Rockstar's popular Red Dead franchise has sold 13 million units worldwide. Just last September, Take-Two reported that franchise sales stood around 12.5 million units, indicating that the games are still seeing healthy momentum well after the successful Red Dead Redemption's May 2010 release. These latest numbers include all versions of Red Dead Redemption, its standalone add-on disk Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, as ...

THQ can no longer afford to bring Dark Millennium MMO to market by itself

Newsbrief: Alongside THQ's weak earnings report for its fiscal third quarter, the publisher revealed that it has decided to take a new, more cautious approach with its upcoming Warhammer 40,000-based MMO, Dark Millenium Online. In a Gamasutra-attended investor conference call, THQ CEO Brian Farrell explained that the publisher is looking to partner with another company to help mitigate costs and bring the large-scale project to market. "Because of the large financial commitment and associated risks, ...

Gamasutra expert blogs: From Spry Fox to Kickstarter lessons

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including thoughts on Spry Fox's lawsuit from the studio's general counsel, lessons from two successful Kickstarter projects, and more.] In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the ...

THQ misses Street on weak game sales, cuts forecast (Reuters)
Reuters - THQ Inc's cut its annual earnings forecast on Thursday and told investors it would become a much smaller video game company with half the volume of sales next year.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 03-Feb-2012 01:31

Oklahoma bill proposes extra tax on violent games

A new bill proposed in Oklahoma seeks to add an extra 1 percent tax on "all violent games" -- a measure that the Entertainment Software Association has described as "patently unconstitutional." The bill is the latest in a series of legislation that has targeted the video game industry, such as the 2005 California law that sought to block the sale of violent video games to minors without parent approval, but was struck down and ruled ...

Game talent agency DDM recruits mobile/social director

Newsbrief: Video game business and talent agency Digital Development Management (DDM) has appointed mobile and social executive Tehyon Kim as its new director of business development. Kim, who has previously worked at Offerpal Media, Tapjoy, and SponsorPay, will head up the growth of DDM's emerging social and mobile games business. In this new position, Kim will advise developers on potential funding or distribution strategies, and will help clients facilitate multi-platform distribution for their social and ...

Micro Machines designer joins mobile developer Kwalee

Newsbrief: Andrew Graham, one of the key designers and programmers for the Codemaders-developed Micro Machines series, has joined a handful of other Codemasters veterans at UK mobile studio Kwalee. Graham will take on the role of Kwalee's "gameplay guru," and will help the startup developer ramp up its game production efforts. Micro Machines, the series for which Graham is best known, has since sold 5 million units across several iterations and platforms. Kwalee founder David ...

Revenues dip for Take-Two during fiscal third quarter

Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption publisher Take-Two on Thursday posted decreased revenues for its fiscal third quarter, with much of its earnings coming from the October release NBA2K12. For the quarter ended December 31, 2011, the company said its revenues fell within expectations and reached $236.3 million, down 41.5 percent from the $334.3 million earned during the same period in 2010. The company reported that its revenues were down this quarter because last ...

Zynga stock jumps in anticipation of Facebook IPO

Following the news that Facebook will soon make its Wall Street debut, stock prices for social gaming company Zynga have taken a healthy turn, and are now sitting well above the company's initial share price of $10. This is a considerable improvement for Zynga, as its stock floundered out of the gate in December, and until now had yet to gain much momentum. With the share price up roughly 16.84 percent to $12.39 after market ...

Troubled THQ's holiday quarter falls below analyst estimates

The bad news for THQ investors got worse Thursday when the company reported that its third quarter revenues fell well below analyst consensus. THQ reported sales of $404.4 million for the period ending December 31, compared to analyst consensus of $417.62 million. The figure does however fall within THQ's guidance of $382.5 to $412.5 million for the period, an adjustment announced in December after weak sales of its uDraw tablet accessory resulted in layoffs at ...

Take-Two quarterly revenue falls on NBA video game (Reuters)
Reuters - Take-Two Interactive's third-quarter revenue missed Wall Street expectations after the video game maker sold fewer copies of its basketball video game, "NBA 2K12", than expected.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 02-Feb-2012 22:35

Review: Square gets 'Final Fantasy' back on track (AP)
AP - The "Final Fantasy" franchise, now in its 25th year, has one of the most enthusiastic fan bases in all of video games. And those fans made their voices heard after the 2009 release of "Final Fantasy XIII," which jettisoned some of the series' long-standing features in exchange for a more streamlined, action-packed narrative.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 02-Feb-2012 22:18

Activision promotes chief strategy and talent officer

Newsbrief: Activision Blizzard has promoted Humam Sakhnini to the newly created position of chief strategy and talent officer, where he will oversee the publisher's corporate strategy and business development activities. He will also take over responsibility for human resource activities across the company, replacing Ann Weiser, who Activision Blizzard announced is retiring at the end of her contract sometime this year after serving the publisher for five years. Sakhini previously worked as Activision Blizzard's EVP ...

Harvest Moon creator opens new studio

Newsbrief: Yasuhiro Wada, formerly a producer at Marvelous Entertainment and the creator of long-running farming game series Harvest Moon, has formed a new company called Toybox in Japan. Wada hasn't yet described what kind of projects the start-up has in the works, nor has he said he will target certain platforms. However, he said Toybox's goals are to "make gamers happy" and to "be of help to the world in some way," according to a ...

Viacom 1Q earnings shredded by 'Rock Band' (AP)

AP - Viacom Inc., the owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central, on Thursday posted a 65 percent drop in net income for the latest quarter, as it took a charge related to the "Rock Band" series of video games.

Crytek affiliate unveils cloud-based gaming service

Crytek affiliate Gface unveiled a cross-platform "social media publishing service" that allows users to play streaming games with each other in their browsers, and take part in other online experiences together. Gface's eponymous platform is the latest game streaming technology to join companies such as OnLive and Gaikai in the burgeoning cloud gaming market. It enables users to load a variety of free-to-play games, from casual 2D titles to "core" 3D games in their browser, ...

Analysis: What's next for THQ?

The cloud hovering over THQ's corporate head got a lot darker Wednesday - and the long-term forecast is pretty uncertain. While there's certainly nothing happy about 240 employees losing their jobs and it's never a good sign when a CEO slashes his own salary, the actions could be the start of what THQ needs to do to ensure its long-term survival. But they may not be the end. For most people, the troubles at the ...

Respected designer Warren Spector to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at GDCAs

Deus Ex game director and producer, and Disney Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs) for his contributions to the art and science of games. The Game Developers Choice Awards, held at GDC yearly, are the leading peer-based video game industry awards celebrating the industry's top games and developers. With a career in games spanning nearly 30 years, Warren Spector has earned ...

Troubled UK retailer Game may offload its international business

Struggling UK-based video game retailer Game Group is talking with lenders about its credit issues, and is "reviewing a strategic plan" for its overseas operations that could see the company selling off more than half of its locations. Following what it called "an incredibly tough 2011" and warnings that it could breach its loan terms, Game Group has been at the center of reports this week alleging that the retailer won't be able to stock ...

Analysis: The heroine's journey

Months ago I ran across a description of "the heroine's journey," a counterpart to the hero's journey, a concept summarized like this: "The Heroine begins from a position of minimal privilege, but has some powerful goal or passion. She may then take on a mentor or helper to assist her in her attempt to escape her traditional role and do what she wants in life. Along the way, she rejects or loses a 'typical' romance ...

Zynga shares soar on Facebook connection (Reuters)
Reuters - Zynga shares jumped as much as 22 percent on Thursday in the first trading session after Facebook revealed it made 12 percent of its revenue last year from the video game publisher.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 02-Feb-2012 18:32

Fresh iPhone Apps for Feb. 2: Spice Invaders, Ghost Trick, Awesome Land, Reckless Racing 2 (Appolicious)
Appolicious - It’s the week’s big day for games, and we’ve got quite a few great ones on offer today. Spice Invaders is a robust tower defense title with tons of content and an eight-player multiplayer mode, while Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective puts players in the role of a ghost trying to solve his own murder by manipulating objects. Awesome Land is a side-scrolling platformer that puts a leather jacket and an attitude on Mario, while Reckless Racing 2 brings some quality top-down racing action to the App Store.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 02-Feb-2012 14:12

In-depth: Three options for data correctness

[In this reprinted #altdevblogaday in-depth piece, CCP's lead technical artist Rob Galanakis looks at Data Access Layers and three different types of approaches you can take with them.] In a previous post, I linked to Rico Mariani's performance advice for Data Access Layers. On Google+, Tyler Good asked: I just read the posts and the linked blogs, I had a question about some specific implementations. How do you deal with classes that represent another non-[in ...

Road to the IGF: Blendo Games' Atom Zombie Smasher

Brendon Chung, the man behind Blendo Games, has established a bit of a reputation in the indie scene over the last few years with popular games such as Gravity Bone, Air Forte, and Flotilla, the latter of which was nominated for the IGF's Visual Art award in 2011. Most recently, Chung has been recognized for his recently-released Atom Zombie Smasher, which is up for an Excellence in Design award at this year's IGF. This top-down ...

Sony cuts annual digital camera, PS3 hardware forecasts (Reuters)
Reuters - Sony Corp on Thursday kept its annual LCD TV sales forecast unchanged but cut its forecasts for digital camera and PlayStation 3 hardware sales.
Source : us.rd.yahoo.com | 02-Feb-2012 07:15

Top-Grossing Android Games: Tiny Village, Osmos HD see fast sales

Every week, Gamasutra rounds up the top-grossing Android gaming applications, as current that day in the Android Market. This week's U.S. revenue charts see Zynga Poker and Tap Fish leading today's rankings, as Osmos HD and Tiny Village also report fast sales. These charts allow end users to see who is making the most money in the Android Market that day. It differs significantly from the Top Paid Games chart, which is ranked by sales, ...

Gamasutra member blogs: From hierarchy myopia to Wordfeud

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as hierarchy myopia, why Wordfeud worked, managing assets for your game project, and more.] Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. We hope that our blog sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information, check out the official posting ...

EA tight-lipped on social plans to guard against 'mimicry'

During EA's quarterly investor conference call on Wednesday, the company was hesitant to talk in-depth about its growing social business. According to EA CEO John Riccitiello, the company is keeping quiet to prevent "mimicry" from competing developers. Responding to a question about EA's upcoming plans in the social space, Riccitiello explained that the company is reluctant to provide too many details, thanks in large part to the competitive nature of the market. "Mimicry is common ...

DragonVale remains the top grossing game on iOS

Every week, Gamasutra rounds up the top-grossing iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad applications, as current that day in the iTunes App Store. This week's U.S. revenue charts see Where's My Water? and DragonVale earning top iPhone sales, while Slotomania and Modern War emerge as big sellers on the iPad. These charts allow end users to see who is making the most money on the App Store that day. It differs significantly from the Top 10 ...

Facebook readies $5B IPO

The rumors were (mostly) true: on Wednesday, Facebook filed for an initial public offering with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Though the $5 billion it plans to raise is just half of the $10 billion recent rumors suggested, the amount is still staggering. For reference, Google's IPO opened at $1.9 billion in 2004. Facebook generates revenue in essentially two ways: through advertising, and through payments, traditionally through the Facebook Credits system mandated to all of ...

Facebook made $445M in revenue off of Zynga alone in 2011

It is no secret that social gaming giant Zynga generates substantial revenues for Facebook, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the company revealed just how much it depends on the FarmVille and CityVille maker. According to paperwork filed by Facebook with the SEC ahead of its initial public offering, Zynga alone was responsible for 12 percent of the $3.7 billion in revenue it saw in 2011, or approximately $445 million dollars. Though the company did ...

THQ confirms 240 job cuts, CEO takes pay cut

Ailing publisher THQ on Wednesday confirmed deep cuts to its headcount, related to recent restructuring measures. The publisher initiated a plan last week to lay off 240 sales, general and administrative personnel worldwide, according to a regulatory filing. The confirmation of the cuts comes shortly after THQ said it would be exiting the once-lucrative kid's licensed game business, and restructuring to focus on core games and digital revenues. Most of the layoffs will be completed ...