Napalm Riot

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As the game industry restructures itself around the production of increasingly expensive big-budget titles many studios are opting to go multiplatform with their latest releases in order to maximize return on investment. This situation leaves certain companies scratching their heads and wondering how, in an environment of broad consumer choice, they can manage to package their own "exclusive" content in a manner that will get people to buy from them rather than the other guy.

One area we have . . . Read more

German developer/publisher Daedalic Entertainment and Game Factory Interactive, one of the leading publishers in the Russian game market, announced today that they have entered into an agreement that will see GFI publishing three upcoming adventure game titles from Daedalic in Russia, former USSR countries and the Baltic Region.

Titles signed by GFI for publishing in these territories include A New Beginning, The Whispered World and Edna & Harvey: The Breakout. All three titles are developed . . . Read more

A week today, Sony is set to reveal some of its forthcoming titles at a special PlayStation day for the press in London village. We're currently trying to wangle an invite, so hopefully next week you'll be reading a bit about the games shown.

SCEI boss and Ridge Racer fan Kaz Hirai will be there, as will president of SCEE David Reeves, and they'll be making keynote speeches about the titles featured and Sony's plans for the rest of the year.

Someone has posted on the official US PlayStatio . . . Read more

Martin Tremblay has been named president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

In his new role effective in July, Tremblay will oversee the publishing, marketing, sales, distribution and licensing of Warner’s interactive and gaming content. He will report to Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

Previously, Tremblay served as president of worldwide studios at Vivendi Games, where he worked to release such titles as Scarface: The World Is Yours and F.E. . . . Read more

Capcom Entertainment announced today that they will be joining up with GamersGate, a digital download service platform.

Christian Svensson, vice president, business development for Capcom Entertainment, Inc. stated the following:

"Capcom Entertainment is putting a lot of emphasis behind creating exciting, quality games for the digital space. GamersGate provides an excellent platform for enabling our core customers to have direct, immediate access to some of our best, freshest PC content."
. . . Read more

If you even remotely watch television (for the 14 - 34 male demographic) you can’t help but notice that at least one of their games will be advertised at some point in time (usually during sporting events). EA’s nearly ubiquitous gaming logo is especially apparent during the start of the Nascar season, FIFA’s World Cup, the NFL pre-season and the start of the NBA’s season. Yep, they’ve nearly monopolized all the popular sports in gaming and they’re about to start with superheroes, a . . . Read more

Take-Two Interactive Software's (TTWO) "Grand Theft Auto IV" is certain to be a blockbuster hit with video game fans. But will the latest installment of the violent crime series post the kind of sales needed to snatch a higher bid from Electronic Arts? (ERTS)

EA offered to buy Take-Two for $2 billion in cash on March 13. Take-Two said the offer substantially undervalued the company; it rejected the bid. Take-Two said it wouldn't negotiate with EA until after the release of GTA IV, which is . . . Read more

No, you can't have another Xenogears, but Sega will give you the next best thing.

This summer, Sega will release World Destruction, a new fantasy RPG for the Nintendo DS created by three key Xenogears alums.

Writer Masato Kato, character designer Kunihiko Tanaka, and composer Yasunori Mitsuda are at the core of the game's development. All three previously worked together in similar roles on the classic Square Enix RPG, and have since gone on to freelance game development careers.

The de . . . Read more

Microsoft Corp. cut prices of its Xbox 360 game console in four Asian markets to help fend off market-share declines against Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp.

The Redmond, Washington-based company cut estimated retail prices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, Brenda Hsieh, a Microsoft spokeswoman in Taipei, said today.

The price of a basic version will drop by 17 percent to NT$10,360 ($340) in Taiwan and by about 11 percent in Hong Kong effective today, Hsieh said. Prices will fall . . . Read more

Last week GoNintendo ran a story in which the 'GoNintendo Mole' suggested that Nintendo are planning on releasing all three Metroid Prime titles as part of a single compilation title for the Wii.

The first two entries in the series, Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes respectively, would have reportedly been revamped to make use of the Wii Remote, ala Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

However, ComputerAndVideogames has since been in contact with Nintendo who labeled the story as “purely . . . Read more

At a recent Electronic Arts event we got a chance to see Valve's latest shooter – the four-player co-operative FPS with a zombie survival theme, Left4Dead.

Well, OK, to say just that we 'got a chance to see Valve' makes it sound a little bit too casual. The reality is that we hung around the demo unit for the game all day, biding our time until we saw the Valve's Chet Faliszek was unguarded and idle for more than ten seconds. Then as soon as Chet's guard was down, we pounced. Very quickly w . . . Read more

Infogrames, the French video games company behind Atari, last night revealed it was behind a rejected share based bid for Lara Croft’s SCi Entertainment worth about £60 million.

The would-be predator indicated that it could go hostile, presenting investors with a choice between a SCi’s planned fundraising and a bid at a “significant premium” to the 55p the shares were trading at last week.

Infogrames said that it had presented “a detailed indicative offer” which was rejected l . . . Read more

Venture capital firm KPCB — the investor group behind Apple's $100 million iFund to seed third party iPhone development — has announced that Electronic Arts co-founder and CCO William 'Bing' Gordon will be joining the firm as Partner as of June 2008.

The firm says Gordon will retain some connection with Electronic Arts as its Chief Creative Officer Emeritus, and will "return to the company to lead periodic workshops . . . Read more

Independent Southern California-based Spark Unlimited was born out of the Medal of Honor developer diaspora, making its debut in 2004 with the release of Call of Duty: Finest Hour.

The studio recently completed its first original game, the alternate history WWII shooter Turning Point: Fall of Liberty for Codemasters, and is in the midst of developing its next original title, Legendary, which has since shed its subtitle The Box.

The first-person shooter takes the legend of Pandora's Box int . . . Read more

New casual offerings coming from Vivendi label on Xbox Live Arcade

Sierra is to release a new range of Xbox Live Arcade casual titles online this ummer.

The news was revealed at the publisher's 2008 Spring Break event in Mallorca last week, which was attended by over 350 people from 22 nations.


(Continuation Source: http://www.mcvuk.com/news…NG-BREAK-08-Sierra-Online)

Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest videogame publishers, announces the establishment of a new Ubisoft Campus in Casablanca, Morocco, in partnership with Sigma Technologies, a leading Moroccan audiovisual company. From programming to 3D animation and modeling, game and level design to project management, the Campus will offer all the necessary training for the principal professions in videogame and animated film production when it opens its doors in October.

Present in Casablanca sinc . . . Read more

Following the company's recently reported expansion into Europe, Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax has announced that it has founded ZeniMax Asia, a new Tokyo-based subsidiary to publish both its own titles and others throughout Asia.

The new division is to be headed by general manager Tetsu Takahashi, and is currently slated to bring Star Trek: Conquest, Star Trek: Legacy, and Fallout 3 to the region from its own slate, as well as 2K's Major League Baseball 2K8 and both the PS2 and X . . . Read more

The fast-moving Seattle game development community will very soon be center stage for one of the most influential international game industry conferences this year, the 2008 ION Game Conference, held from May 13th - 15th at the elegant Seattle Waterfront Marriott Hotel. By registering before 12 AM Pacific Standard Time, April 29th, attendees can register for $695 and save three hundred dollars off their registration.

Full Story: http://www.mcvuk.com/pres…76/Final-Day-to-Register- . . . Read more

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