2012-Feb-29

Mojang has announced the hiring of four developers responsible for the Bukkit mod for Minecraft, a very popular unofficial tool for Minecraft players and servers.

The team consists of Warren Loo, Erik Broes, Nathan Adams and Nathan Gilbert, who will be joining Mojang to officially turn Bukkit into a part of the full game.

While the four new developers are only a portion of the very dedicated group that plays around with Minecraft source code, Mojang noted that the Bukkit team was specifically designing modifications for Minecraft servers. Their work earned them a shot on the team, as Mojang has already confirmed that the new hires will be working on "more than just modding."

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2012-Feb-29

Bethesda's Pete Hines has said that id Software's Doom 4 has not been cancelled, despite recent rumours

Job losses suffered by id Software had many wondering how the next Doom was going to fare, prompting talk of a possible cancellation. Though Bethesda shot down such rumors, saying that "games are done when they are done," many still held the belief that Doom 4 was consigned to the ages.

But speaking to Joystiq, Bethesda VP of marketing and PR Pete Hines simply put it that "Doom 4 isn't cancelled."

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2012-Feb-29

Virtual goods sales have been steadily increasing over the past few years, up to over $2.3 billion for 2011, thanks to a growing acceptance of such items. A new study from Magid Advisors says that consumers are more willing to purchase virtual items from social networks, media sources and online games.

"Purchasing virtual goods is truly becoming a mainstream activity as far as consumer entertainment behaviors are concerned," says Mike Vorhaus of Magid.

The study specifically looked at consumers around the ages of 15 to 24, concluding that one in four persons in the United States purchased a virtual good in 2011. That number apparently is double the level recorded in 2009 by Magid.

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2012-Feb-29

Alex Seropian recently left Disney Interactive to form his own mobile studio, Industrial Toys, but prior to that Seropian was a co-founder at Bungie. Now that Bungie has handed the hit Halo franchise over to Microsoft, some are wondering if the Redmond giant can do the series justice. Seropian recently told GameSpot that he believes the series is in good hands.

"I don't think I can be anything other than hopeful that it will be great. We'll see. Halo is one of the crown jewels in the Microsoft gaming IP, if not the crown jewel, so you would expect nothing less than for them to take the time needed and apply the resources needed to make it great," said Seropian.

"I would be pretty surprised if they wiffed it. Maybe it will bring a fresh perspective, and that's so hard because there's so many fans that are used to a particular thing that bringing something new is often…it's hard to bring something new to a franchise that's so established. I'm looking forward to it."

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2012-Feb-29

Blizzard is to axe 600 jobs following an internal review. Around 90 per cent of these reductions will be unrelated to internal development, and the World of Warcraft development team is not affected.

"Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business," said CEO of Blizzard Mike Morhaime.

"Over the last several years, we've grown our organisation tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community. However, as Blizzard and the industry have evolved we've also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company.

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2012-Feb-29

Namco Bandai's PSP RPG Tales Of The Heroes: Twin Brave is the new Japanese all-formats number one.

It's been a busy week for new releases in Japan, with the entire top six consisting of new entries. Harvest Moon's 3DS debut takes second spot, with Capcom's Asura's Wrath in fifth, selling just over 30,000 units during the week.

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2012-Feb-29

The GAME Group has updated shareholders on its current supplier issues, claiming that its dispute with Electronic Arts is "temporary" and the two companies are already engaged in active discussions for future launches.

Earlier today it emerged that GAME would not be selling any Electronic Arts games in the immediate future, including blockbuster Mass Effect 3 and sports favourites like Tiger Woods 13.

"Today the Group confirmed that it will not be stocking a small number of titles from one supplier, Electronic Arts, during March and notes that this has caused speculation in the market.

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2012-Feb-29

Raspberry Pi, the $25 PC that it is hoped will give rise to a new generation of programmers, launched this morning, and sold out within hours.

Gamesindustry.biz reports that demand for the low-spec PC, which launched in the UK priced at just £22, brought down its stockists' websites. Premier Farnell limited sales to one per customer, while RS Components is building systems to order.

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2012-Feb-29

This morning's news that Game Group will not be stocking EA titles, including Mass Effect 3, from next week onwards has predictably hit the company's share price hard.

At the time of writing, a single share in the nation's largest specialist videogame retailer costs 5p - a drop of 14.97 per cent since the day's trading began.

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2012-Feb-29

If Nintendo is to differentiate its eShop from the App Store it needs more software as substantial as Dillon’s Rolling Western, which offers thirty levels of its unique, idiosyncratic spin on the tower defence genre. Yet while Vanpool’s game comfortably clears the 10-hour barrier – perhaps double that for those wishing to pursue its elusive five-star goals – it comes at a cost, and that’s not just the £9 pricetag.

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2012-Feb-29

If Nintendo is to differentiate its eShop from the App Store it needs more software as substantial as Dillon’s Rolling Western, which offers thirty levels of its unique, idiosyncratic spin on the tower defence genre. Yet while Vanpool’s game comfortably clears the 10-hour barrier – perhaps double that for those wishing to pursue its elusive five-star goals – it comes at a cost, and that’s not just the £9 pricetag.

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2012-Feb-29

German developer Reakktor Media has begun the insolvency process - although its team of almost 50 are hoping for a last minute contract to keep the business afloat.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz Germany, managing director Kirk Lenke said the MMO team is ready to take on any commissioned work, and also has its own Diablo-style science fiction game at the prototype stage.

"We have a team of 49 highly talented and motivated people over here with qualifications which go far beyond actual MMO technologies and mechanisms," said Lenke,

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2012-Feb-29

Cel-shaded action-adventure Gravity Rush will be released for PS Vita on June 13.

Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Sony's Rebecca Maschke confirms that the game, directed by Siren designer Keiichiro Toyama and known in Japan as Gravity Daze, will be released simultaneously at retail and as a download from PlayStation Store.

2012-Feb-29

German online game developer Bigpoint has confirmed that it will show off a browser MMOG based on A Game Of Thrones at GDC next week.

First revealed in a USA Today report in November, the game is based on George RR Martin novels and is being developed in Unity by Norwegian studio Artplant, which previously worked on Battlestar Galactica Online for Bigpoint.

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2012-Feb-29

Waking Mars is a science fiction adventure that’s almost entirely built around gardening. Other games might despatch you to the red planet to reduce its caverns to shrapnel with sizzling laser bolts, but Tiger Style is more concerned with having you restore this arid landscape to full bloom, one well-placed flower-bed at a time. Coming from the developers of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, such an idiosyncratic approach to the genre should hardly be much of a surprise, of course.

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2012-Feb-29

Gamania, Taiwan's first global gaming brand, has reported a YTD growth of 20.42 per cent for 2011, with a quarter or revenue generated from its overseas operations.

Its Hong Kong and Japan based branches both reported 20 per cent growth, and its gaming portal Beanfun saw member numbers rise to 13 million with 2.6 unique logins per month.

"Last year, Gamania proved that our globalisation strategy brings results," said CEO Albert Liu.

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2012-Feb-29

Konami has confirmed that it will release Zone Of The Enders HD Collection for Xbox 360 and PS3 this autumn.

The collection contains Zone Of The Enders and its sequel, subtitled The 2nd Runner, both of which were first released on PlayStation 2. Both games have been remastered with HD visuals.

Konami Digital GM Martin Schneider said: "We are looking forward to bringing the legendary Zone Of The Enders series to old and new fans in high-definition form.

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2012-Feb-29

Along with our Facebook page (which recently passed 6000 likes), we now have a space on Google+.

If you have a Google+ account, you can join in the conversation by heading over our page to have your say. You might also see any comments you leave featured in the Online/Offline section of the magazine.

2012-Feb-29

Below is the full text of a memo Game Group sent to staff this morning, obtained by IGN. In it, northern Europe MD Tom Devine confirms that the company, the UK's largest videogame retailer, will not be stocking Mass Effect 3 or any EA games after the release of SSX this Friday.

"Dear all,

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2012-Feb-29

The £22 Raspberry Pi computer went on sale at 6am this morning, selling out hours later and crashing stockist's websites.

"We're amazed at the level of interest and sorry so many of you were frustrated today; if you preorder now, your Pi will be built to order," said the official Twitter account.

Premier Farnell began selling the computer today and limited purchases to one per customer. RS Components is asking users to register interest and will start selling at the end of the week.

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2012-Feb-29

Like the classic coin-op games that drained our collective pockets, many of the best app games today trade in simple skills, repetitive mechanics and brief play sessions that can be (and often are) repeated ad nauseam. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that mobile sensations such as Fruit Ninja and Flight Control have made the transition from tiny handhelds to arcade units bearing bulging, 46-inch multitouch displays, via Adrenaline Amusements’ TouchFX platform.

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2012-Feb-29

Game Group has apparently lost the support of Electronic Arts, and will not be stocking Mass Effect 3.

The company confirmed to staff in an internal memo this morning that, after the release of SSX this Friday, neither Game, Gamestation or their respective websites will be stocking EA titles.

Those who have pre-ordered  be refunded and given an extra £5 in store credit, though Game is fast running out of things for its customers to spend money on.

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2012-Feb-29

Update

Analyst Nick Parker has claimed the UK launch sales figures for Vita were higher than those reported.

"The PS Vita sold through to UK consumers 61k units in the four days of last week, not the 45k which has been in the press," he tweeted.

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2012-Feb-29

EA has pulled its new releases from both GAME and Gamestation's schedules, with SSX the last confirmed game from the publisher to be stocked until further notice.

Several branches of both chains have confirmed that pre-orders for EA titles, including BioWare's Mass Effect 3, have been cancelled, with refunds of pre-order deposits being promised, plus a £5 credit.

GAME have issued an official statement on the issue, explaining the refund situation in full.

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2012-Feb-29

Game Insight, the Russian mobile and social studio, will open a new publishing arm in San Francisco.

"We're thrilled to announce our capabilities as an international publishing platform for mobile titles," said CEO Alisa Chumachenko.

"Our San Francisco office will serve as a central hub for new development opportunities and partnerships throughout North America starting with GDC next month."

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2012-Feb-29

Gruesome action-RPG The Binding Of Isaac has been denied a release on the 3DS eShop, developer Edmund McMillen has revealed.

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2012-Feb-29

The HTML5 browser game developer Illyriad Games Limited has raised $1.75 million in new funding.

Illyriad Games is based in the UK, and will use the investment to expand the company with a number of new hires.

"We were oversubscribed on our first external fundraising round," said CEO and founder James Niesewand in a statement.

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2012-Feb-29

Sean Tracy, a technical designer with Crytek, has tweeted his attendance at a developer summit rumoured to feature the next Microsoft console.

"Enjoying the Durango developers summit in London. So far, great swag and interesting talks".

The tweet has since been deleted, but sparked excitement in the industry as Durango is the rumoured working title of the next Xbox.

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2012-Feb-29

Swiss investment fund Digital Capital is to bank-roll a new start-up from Powerhead Games CEO Jason Schrieber.

Digital Power Entertainment, based in Ireland, will focus on creating completely new IP for digital formats and brought to market in early 2013.

"We are so excited by the creative vision of Jason's new idea," said Stewart Kosoy, head of product development at Digital Capital.

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2012-Feb-29

A representative of staff at Hydrophobia developer Dark Energy Digital claims the studio has not paid its employees for the last three months.

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2012-Feb-29

The retirement of Okitane Usui from his position as COO of Sega has prompted an executive reshuffle.

On March 31, Usui's tenure at the Japanese publisher will come to an end. He will be replaced by former managing director Naoya Tsurumi, who also served as general manager of Sega's international and global consumer business.

Toshihiro Nagoshi, who led the teams that created the Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza franchises, has been promoted to CCO.

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2012-Feb-29

Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi has been promoted to chief creative officer at Sega.

Nagoshi, 46, was previously senior creative officer and general manager of Sega's R&D Division 3. He has also been appointed to the company's board of directors in a management reshuffle prompted by the retirement of Okitane Usui, formerly president, representative director and chief operating officer.

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