Next-Generation Casual Entertainment
2011-Oct-31
Launched in 1999, YoYo Games’ development environment GameMaker shares much of Unity’s spirit in its remit to democratise game creation. But GameMaker simplifies things further by providing a drag-and-drop interface option that removes the coding portion of development entirely.
2011-Oct-31
EA says the issues affecting Battlefield 3's online component since its launch last week are all but fixed.
As we reported last week, the Xbox 360 version was the hardest hit, with server connectivity problems when the game launched in North America last Tuesday and again following the game's midnight launch in Europe on Friday.
2011-Oct-31
When Crimson: Steam Pirates was released In August, column inches were largely devoted to Jordan Weisman, its legendary creative lead, and the fact that it was the first game released through Bungie's indie initiative, Aerospace. Less discussed was the role of Moai, Zipline Games' innovative new product for simple cross-platform mobile development.
Weisman says Crimson: Steam Pirates wouldn't have been the same without it, and Zipline Games' CEO Todd Hooper isn't about to argue. In this interview, we talk to Hooper about the future of Moai, the importance of 3D to mobile games, the "hype" behind HTML5, and the value of open-source.
2011-Oct-31
Mobile monetisation and analytics firm Tapjoy is to launch an iOS software marketplace of its own, though it insists it is not doing so to escape Apple's new advertising policies.
2011-Oct-31
Epic Games has released the October build of its Unreal Development Kit (UDK), with new features, including Facebook integration, now available to iOS developers.
Developers can now enable their games to make Facebook wall posts, download friends lists, and request additional permissions from users. The Kismet scripting tool has been updated to support touch, tilt and other inputs.
Foliage and landscape tools have also been improved, as have particle emitters, and several updates have been made to the Unreal Editor. For the full list of changes, follow the source link below.
2011-Oct-31
Angry Birds is now the most copied brand in China, but it seems developer Rovio doesn't mind at all.
Speaking at the Disrupt conference in Beijing, CEO Peter Vesterbacka said the widespread availability of unlicensed Angry Birds merchandise proved that there was a sufficiently large audience in the country to justify Rovio's Chinese expansion.
2011-Oct-31
Indie title Minecraft has fended off competition from Portal 2 and LIMBO to win the GameCity prize.
"We're very excited to have won the first GameCity Prize, especially since the nominees contain some of our favourite games recently," said creator Markus Persson, as known as Notch.
"It's a great honour to be compared to those games. Winning this award helps motivate us to try to make Minecraft the best game it can be."
2011-Oct-31
Microsoft plans to launch a commercial version of its Kinect SDK early next year, giving businesses the opportunity to create their own software to make us of the device's unique capabilities.
Microsoft product manager David Dennis told Gamasutra that over 200 brands across 25 countries have signed up for the programme. While most remain anonymous for the time being to avoid tipping off competitors, Toyota and marketing agency Razorfish are among those confirmed to be involved.
2011-Oct-31
For a long time, the game industry functioned on a predictable model that changed little over the years. A game was developed over a long period of time, then went gold and was handed off to a publishing team tasked with launching and marketing it as effectively as possible. Efforts then shifted to the next game, and the process started anew, becoming more refined with every product cycle.
2011-Oct-31
Developer and tools company YoYo Games has warned against the current push towards browser-based 3D gaming, questioning its value when compared to less asset-heavy 2D games.
“I’m personally bamboozled by why anyone would be excited about playing a big 3D experience in a browser, because why not just do it as a standalone game?” YoYo Games CEO Sandy Duncan tells us during an interview.
2011-Oct-31
Rovio is turning the rampant piracy of Angry Birds merchandise in China to its advantage, TechCrunch reports.
At the Disrupt conference in Beijing, Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka walked on-stage holding a clutch of illegal Angry Birds balloons that he purchased on the street.
"There are a lot of Angry Birds products out there, but most of them aren't officially licensed," he said. "Angry Birds is now the most copied brand in China, and we get a lot of inspiration from local producers."
2011-Oct-31
EA's Battlefield 3 charged straight to the top of the week's charts, pushing Batman: Arkham City and and FIFA 12 to the second and third spots respectively.
The launch was the ninth biggest all formats week one seller by revenue, and tenth by units. It's also outsold last year's Medal Of Honor at a ratio of two to one for week one sales.
Otherwise it was a quiet week for new entries, with Kinect Sports: Season 2 debuting at 18. The week's other release, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, entered at 23.
2011-Oct-31
Battlefield 3 tops the UK all-formats chart in its first week on sale.
DICE's EA-published shooter enjoyed the tenth-best launch sales of all time, beating the combined sales of all previous entries in the series.
The news means last week's number one, Batman: Arkham City, falls to second place, its sales dropping 52 per cent week on week, with FIFA 12 also slipping a place to third.
2011-Oct-31
Developer Grasshopper Manufacture has signed a deal with DeNA to create exclusive content for its Mobage social gaming platform.
Grasshopper Social Network Service, a joint venture company established by both parties, will launch next month.
"Our new venture with DeNA will allow us to explore creative ways to bring Grasshopper Manufacture's universe to a new world of players," said Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda.
2011-Oct-31
Minecraft has won the GameCity Prize 2011, becoming the first-ever recipient of the award at the annual Nottingham festival.
Swedish developer Mojang's beloved indie sandbox was given the award - which recognises artistic, rather than financial success - at a ceremony on Saturday. It was selected by a panel including South Bank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly OBE, musician Nitin Sawhney and Labour MP Tom Watson. Other finalists included Ilomilo, Superbrothers: Sword And Sworcery EP, Child Of Eden, Pokémon Black, Limbo and Portal 2.
2011-Oct-31
A new study by Common Sense Media shows that 17 per cent of children aged between 5 and 8 years old play games everyday, while 81 per cent have played games during their lifetime.
For the wider age range of birth to eight year olds, that figure dropped to around half, at 51 per cent.
74 percent of children's screen time is still television based, compared to 10 percent with video games and 13 percent at a home computer.
2011-Oct-31
Indie Royal, a website offering bundles of indie games under a pricing model which increases unit cost each time one is purchased, has sold over 36,000 of the four-game packs, with the deal ending at 6pm tonight, UK time.
Generous purchasers can pay well over the required minimum for the bundle, which will drop the price for all subsequent customers. Mojang boss Markus Persson is currently the top contributor, lowering the unit price by a dollar for future buyers.
Currently the UK price for the pack, which contains Nimbus, Gemini Rue, A.R.E.S Extinction Agenda and Sanctum, is £2.82, with the price having peaked just above £3.50 a few days ago.
2011-Oct-31
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed that the Wii U will be showcased at E3 next year.
In an investor presentation following the company's recent financial results, Iwata explained that E3 2012 will feature the final version of the Wii U.
"As we learned a bitter lesson with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, we are trying to take every possible measure so that the Wii U will have a successful launch," he said.
2011-Oct-31
Capcom will release on-rails Wii shooters Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles for PlayStation 3.
The company made the announcement at an event to celebrate the series' 15th anniversary according to Andriasang. The games, released for Wii in 2007 and 2009 respectively, will be released totgether in HD with Move support.
2011-Oct-31
Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. reported declining revenue and profits for the six months ending September 30, 2011.
The company's overall revenue fell 29.9 per cent year-on-year to ¥152.6 billion ($1.94 billion/£1.21 billion). Net profit declined 83.7 per cent to ¥3.9 billion ($49.7 million/£31 million).
The report cited the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake as key to its financial performance. The supply chain for the company's pachislot and pachinko machine business was "devastated" by the event, and prolonged electricity shortages also harmed the business.
2011-Oct-31
Suda 51's Grasshopper Manufacture studio is to form a dedicated social games company with DeNa, owner of hugely popular Japanese mobile social network Mobage.
The company, provisionally named Grasshopper Social Network Service, will develop mobile games exclusively for Gree, with Grasshopper to transfer its existing mobile operations to the new company and DeNa to provide funding.
2011-Oct-31
Monetisation and distribution company Tapjoy will open its own App Store style marketplace tomorrow.
The news was uncovered by VentureBeat, and will allow Tapjoy a more direct link to customers playing Tapjoy titles, while still allowing them to connect to the iOS App Store.
"We didn't intend for it to get discovered," a company spokesperson told the site.
2011-Oct-31
Social studio 6wave LolApps has confirmed the acquisition of Beijing studio Smartron5, which will leverage the company's Chinese market.
The 30 person studio will develop its own games as well as helping to push the company's other projects to the market. The new studio will be the publisher's sixth, complementing bases in London and San Franciso as well as three more in Asia.
"The Asian market is complex and the Smartron5 team brings western-production values with a deep understanding of how to be successful in China," said 6waves LolApps CEO Rex Ng.
2011-Oct-31
Sega Sammy's latest financial results show declines across the board, with revenue down by almost a third and profits falling 83.7 per cent.
Sales revenue for the six months to September 30 was ¥152.6 billion (£1.25 billion), with net income falling from ¥24.3 billion this time last year to ¥3.9 billion (£32.6 billion).
2011-Oct-31
In August last year, Realtime Worlds, developer of Crackdown and APB, went into administration.
APB had failed to attract the subscribers necessary to keep the studio afloat, with just 130,000 registered users on the books. Debts were piled high, and job losses were imminent.
Over the course of the next weeks and months the UK industry watched the drama unfold, truth and rumour interwoven predictably densely as the fate of the company's assets and workers was decided.
2011-Oct-31
Explore a haunted amusement park in Weird Park: Broken Tune! Take the role of a private detective hired to investigate a rash of "accidental" deaths that befell those who worked at the park before city officials shut it down. Investigate amazing locations carefully in this incredible Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game! Tread carefully to make it out of this Weird Park alive and discover the murderer!
This is a special Collector's Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version. As a bonus, Collector's Edition purchases count toward three stamps on your Monthly Game Club Punch Card!
The Collector’s Edition includes:
2011-Oct-31
Sigtau: /* Photoshop Instructions */
2011-Oct-31
Sigtau: /* Photoshop Instructions */
2011-Oct-30
4D Interactive Studio:
2011-Oct-30
4D Interactive Studio:
2011-Oct-30
NCarter: Text replace - "</javascript>" to "</syntaxhighlight>"
2011-Oct-30
4D Interactive Studio:
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