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DCEmu.Com is a site that brings you the very latest in Gaming news that isnt console specific and the latest Current Gen news from around the world, Part of the
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March 15th, 2013, 00:46 Posted By: wraggster
We honestly hadn't given it much thought, but now that it's been brought to our attention, Makerbot and Adafruit really do make an awesome duo. Think about it: one makes 3D printers, the other sells Arduino boards and pretty much everything else a tinkerer could possibly want. So it makes sense that the two companies are teaming up on something: we just heard they've started selling a limited edition version of Makerbot's Replicator 2 3D printer, which will come bundled with three DIY kits you'd normally buy on a site like Adafruit. These include the Raspberry Pi, which you all know very well, along with the Timesquare DIY Watch Kit and MintyBoost, the open-source hardware charger.
You might wonder why someone might need all that in one box, but the idea is that you can use the printer to create the sorts of custom parts that don't necessarily come with the kits -- something like a band to go with your Timesquare watch, or a case for the MintyBoost. All told, you'll need $2,296 before you can make this your next impulse buy. Don't get too put off by the price, though -- the Replicator 2 by itself would cost $2,199 without any kits included.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/m...-2-3d-printer/
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March 15th, 2013, 00:39 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's console continues its good adoption rate this late in the cycle
Many of us might be thinking about the next generation already, but consumers in the US continue to buy Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, which topped the competition in February for the 26th straight month, selling a total of 302,000 units.
Microsoft's had an incredible run in America, outselling the competition each month, and it's expected that the company will be unveiling its next-gen Xbox in the coming months (possibly as early as April). Sony, meanwhile, just held a huge press event in New York to start the buzz around PlayStation 4, which the company labelled as "the most open console ever." PS4 is confirmed to launch this upcoming holiday season, and many analysts believe Microsoft will be there as well with its new Xbox.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...h-302-000-sold
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March 15th, 2013, 00:38 Posted By: wraggster
[Jason Birch] just finished building a beautifully simple user interface for the Raspberry Pi. The goal was to keep it small and intuitive while still providing a range of functionality. His add-on hardware gives feedback using several LEDs and a four-line character LCD screen. It provides control using just four momentary press switches.
The base for the add-on hardware is a chunk of protoboard the same size as the Pi itself. This is just slightly wider than the LCD screen, leaving room along the top for the row of buttons with different colors of LEDs in between them. Look closely in that nest of point-to-point wiring and you’ll find the dual pin-socket which mates with the RPi GPIO header. One important note from [Jason] mentions that the LCD screen R/W pin must be tied to ground. This keeps it from going into read mode, which would push 5V over the I/O pins, potentially damaging the 3.3V tolerant header on the RPi.
Throw in a battery and that pretty much covers the hardware. To see how he’s using it you’ll want to view the video clip after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/13/minim...-applications/
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March 15th, 2013, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster
The Raspberry Pi has been very popular as a streaming music player. Sure, the only audio out option on the board is an analog stereo jack, but you can use a USB audio device to improve upon that if you wish. [Wouter van Wijk] wanted to use his RPi as a Spotify server. It’s a bit tricky to get everything configured for this, so he decided to give back by publishing a ready to use Spotify server image for the Raspberry Pi.
The project is call the Pi MusicBox. Like some of the RPi Pandora setups we’ve seen he included the ability to use the hardware as an AirPlay device too. To connect to the Spotify service he uses the Mopidy package. It can also play tracks from local storage (including the home network). It’s even capable of mixing the two sources in the same queue. Possibly the best part is that it can be controlled with any Music Player Daemon (MPD) client like the smart phone screenshots seen above.
If you’re interested, check out his GitHub repo for the project.
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/14/raspb...h-mpd-control/
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March 15th, 2013, 00:24 Posted By: wraggster
The game console is a form factor that has been with us ever since Atari dreamed up the idea of a dumb machine whose sole job was to interpret game input through a controller and render the results. In one format or another, it has essentially remained that. It may have gone 3D, digital-connected, become able to play movies and recognise gestural input, but the console is still the same basic idea.Most significantly, consoles have always been heavily controlled. Publishing a console game is not the same as publishing music, a DVD or a book, where there might be some licensing or rights issues to deal with, but the power otherwise rests with the content owner. In the console sector, the platform owner takes a hand in determining what gets published and when, mandating what kind of content it wants to see and entering into complex agreements with publishers to that end.Sometimes that heavy-handedness makes sense. The research, production and distribution costs for a console are enormous, as is the effort to spread a marketing story for why customers should buy into the platform. There is also the perception that being heavy-handed on quality control leads to better games.However, control has its drawbacks. Console manufacturers have largely misunderstood the App Store, for example, even though some were in the business of selling digital games years before Apple. The idea of allowing developers to do as they please is not one that makes sense for their business, and the prospect of unrestrained development leads them to fear a loss of power.However, that makes no sense in a world where the rest of publishing is moving to digital-native, regardless of the chaos that it brings. Services such as Google Play, Steam, iTunes and Amazon have progressed far further in distributing games in ways that console makers just can’t match, and they seem out of step as a result.For a while, the traditional approach looked archaic but unsolvable. Getting games onto TV was expensive and the expectations of consumers were what they were. For better or worse, the generational cycle was needed in order to make that business work at the mass market level, because that was the only route to profit.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...-microconsole/
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March 14th, 2013, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster
German studio Yager is first to licence UE4 in Europe
The maker of Spec Ops: The Line has licenced Unreal Engine 4 to create a next generation game that is to be unveiled in the coming months.
Berlin-based developer Yager is the first independent studio in Europe to license Epic’s new engine technology.
“Unreal Engine 4 is, hands down, the best toolset for creating next-generation, AAA games,” said Yager manging director Timo Ullmann.
“Unreal Engine 3 enabled our great team to tap its full potential for the development for our award-winning game Spec Ops: The Line and beyond. Yager is thrilled to be utilising Epic’s latest technology for our foremost project as the new workflow is incredible, and Blueprint visual scripting gives us more control over building our games than ever before.”
Epic Games European territory manager Mike Gamble added: “With Spec Ops: The Line, the team at Yager demonstrated their ability to create intelligent, cinematic games with exceptional visuals, and we’re excited to watch their latest vision spring to life. Unreal Engine 4 scales to teams of all sizes, and Yager’s new project will show what talented developers can do with leading-edge tools that unleash their creative power and productivity.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-game-with-UE4
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March 14th, 2013, 23:33 Posted By: wraggster
Computing giant Dixons wants to build a community of gamers with its new London games zone.
The firm’s Currys/PC World Gaming Bunker on Tottenham Court Road features ten networked PCs in a 500 sq ft space, and each computer is loaded with free-to-play and boxed PC games, and a range of accessories. It opened late last month.
“The Gaming Bunker is a positive move towards making the Tottenham Court Road store the destination for PC gaming in the capital,” PC gaming peripherals and upgrades category manager Simon Urquhart told MCV, PCR's sister magazine.
“PC gaming is growing rapidly as the barriers to entry reduce and the quality of free-to-play titles improves – more people are using PC as their primary gaming platform than ever before.
“You wouldn’t buy a set of golf clubs without swinging them first – the Gaming Bunker is a driving range and pro-shop for mice, keyboards and headsets. This is another example of how we are pushing the barriers in customer service and adding to the shopping experience in a way that etailers cannot match.”
Urquhart is now eager to work with publishers to house events at the Bunker.
“We welcome any ideas about how we can support companies to help grow PC gaming using this space, which is more than capable of handling events such as the Windows 8 UK launch.”
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-gamers/030500
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March 14th, 2013, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster
Thanks to a drop in Nintendo 3DS sales and the release of Keiji Inafune's exclusive game Soul Sacrifice the PlayStation Vita is still top of the Japanese charts.
- PlayStation Vita - 63,581 (Last week - 62,543)
- 3DS XL - 39,801 (50,265)
- 3DS - 21,207 (27,174)
- PlayStation 3 - 19,567 (25,725)
- PSP - 18,023 (11,171)
- Wii U - 9,454 (10,021)
- Wii - 1,363 (1,383)
- Xbox 360 - 738 (486)
The console jumped to the top spot last week following a price cut in Japan, and has managed to more than hang on, even seeing a slight rise in sales. Its nearest rival, the Nintendo 3DS XL, saw a fall in sales of over 10,000.
On the software chart the top five was packed full of new entries, with two Vita titles, Soul Sacrifice and Tales Of Hearts R, making their first appearance.
- [PS3] Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F - 110,229 (New entry)
- [PSV] Soul Sacrifice - 92,396 (New entry)
- [PSP] Uta no Prince-sama All Star - 67,217 (New entry)
- [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 63,285 (Lifetime sales - 2,802,940)
- [PSV] Tales of Hearts R - 55,258 (New entry)
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ill-1-in-japan
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March 13th, 2013, 23:54 Posted By: wraggster
 The console business – including Steam Box – isn’t sustainable in its current form according to Richard Garriott.The Ultima creator and Portalarium founder told us that he sees consoles as a middleman that’s no longer necessary.“Tablets are becoming so powerful, your television is already connected to the internet and frankly it’spowerful. And there’s a cloud of computing behind there that’s easily accessed, so I’m going, ‘Why in the long run do we need a console? All you really need is a controller’. It’s going to be interesting to see how consoles evolve in the next few iterations to see if they can find some new compelling reason to exist. Because, at least from my perspective, I think their days might be numbered.”So what of Valve’s Steam Box? Garriott admires the technology, but maintains that the idea of an extra box under the TV might be ‘streamlined out’.“Valve’s product is one I only know cursorily,” he says. “But the case I’ll still go back to make is the same. I think digital distribution with things like Steam is great, I actually think that people need to have convenient, ubiquitous access to digital content, and Steam is not only a great way to buy it, but also to stream it. The technology of Steam is fantastic.“But I look at it and go, ‘Steam can be delivered on anything, you don’t need a particular piece of hardware’. It could be on your television, in the cloud, on your phone, on a computer. If I watch Hulu or one of the digital movie services, I can start watching on my phone or my tablet, and flick it up to my TV. When the definition of a controller and the definition of a screen is so freely interchangeable, why do I need another particular piece of hardware? People are going to want to streamline, and consoles seem like they might be streamlined out.”Garriott has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for Ultima’s spiritual successor Shroud Of The Avatar, but while he might question the next PlayStation’s relevance, he hasn’t ruled out a PS4 port.“We’re developing on the Unity platform, and one of the great advantages of that is that we can cross-compiles to basically, everything,” he says. “We can already make a build for PC or Mac or Linux even without difficulty.“As a gamer myself, I spend about half of my time playing on PC, and the other half playing on tablets, so I would really love to see SOTA shoehorn onto a tablet. Currently it does, so I have a tablet build that I test and look at the game on myself. And whenever platforms can run it well, there’s no reason we wouldn’t want to cross-compile onto those platforms.”
http://www.edge-online.com/news/garr...-are-numbered/
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March 13th, 2013, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster
336 people attend event prompting coding know-how in the classroom
The first Raspberry Pi game jam was recently held in Manchester in an effort to get teachers excited about coding and the idea of passing on that knowledge to children.
UK electrical goods and Raspberry Pi distributor CPC, along with Raspberry Jam network founder and principle ICT teacher, Alan O'Donohoe, held the event in Manchester Central, which was attended by 336 people.
To turnaround the worsening computer skills crisis in the UK, the first part of O’Donohoe’s mission has been to “bring coding to the classroom”.
The Raspberry Jam provided hands-on Raspberry Pi workshops and lectures to 336 teachers and educators. The sessions aimed to help educators develop the necessary skills needed to apply their knowledge and teach coding in the classroom – helping to fill a critical gap in the current ICT curriculum, soon to be addressed by Michael Gove’s proposed coding-focused revisions.
The event also held interactive debate on the future direction of ICT in education and how technology such as Raspberry Pi is driving change in the existing curriculum. The panel included Professor Steve Furber (Principal Designer of BBC Micro) (pictured above), Pete Lomas (Raspberry Pi co-founder), teachers such as Carrie Anne Philbin, and was streamed live around the globe.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...spberry-Pi-jam
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March 13th, 2013, 23:22 Posted By: wraggster
From Capital of Culture to city of gadget lovers, new research from the Gadget Show Live shows that Liverpool residents own more gadgets than those from any other city in the UK.
They polled 1,000 people and found that Liverpudlians, on average, own 40 gadgets, compared to 39 each in Cardiff and 37 in London.
Maybe you're wondering how on earth you get to 40 gadgets - have a look at the list at the end of this article and you'll see that all it takes is owning everything from a smartphone (no surprise), to a sunbed, treadmill and cupcake maker.
“Is it really that surprising that Liverpool has come out top of the tech list and that Scousers have such a love affair with gadgets?” commented the Gadget Show Live’s Spencer Hidge. “Liverpudlians are renowned for their love of music, football and looking good so it makes sense that top tech like sound bars, wireless speakers, 3D TVs and hair straighteners made it onto their list.”
The top ten tech cities in the UK and the number of gadgets they own on average:
- Liverpool - 40
- Cardiff - 39
- London - 37
- Leeds - 32
- Manchester - 30
- Birmingham - 27
- Belfast - 26
- Glasgow - 23
- Edinburgh -19
- Newcastle - 15
And what is supposedly a 'typical' list of gadgets owned by your average Liverpudlian:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Laptop
- MP3 player
- Digital camera
- Digital watch
- Digital radio
- Kindle/e-reader
- Portable games console
- Games console
- 3D TV
- LED TV
- Wireless speakers
- iPod dock
- Jacuzzi
- Digital photo frame
- Home cinema system
- Projector
- Satellite TV
- GPS running watch
- Treadmill
- PowerPlate
- Mobile Fitness Apps
- Nike Fuel Band
- Remote controlled toys
- Electric scooter
- In-car stereo
- Hi-tech car security system
- Sat Nav
- In-car DVD players
- Hair straighteners
- Hairdryer
- Heated eyelash curlers
- Sunbed
- Electric razor
- Juicer
- Breville sandwich maker
- Electric blanket
- DVD player
- Cupcake maker
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-the-uk/030493
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March 13th, 2013, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster
The gaming industry doesn't celebrate its marketers very often, but it's very thorough when it does. IDG World Expo today announced the nominees for the eighth annual Game Marketing Awards, revealing finalists in 28 categories ranging from Outstanding TV or Theatrical Ad to Best Copywriting for a Video Asset.
As for the night's big award, there are six games up for the Outstanding Overall Marketing Campaign of the Year award, but only four publishers. Electronic Arts' cover vote for Madden NFL 13, Microsoft's Halo 4 campaign, and the Call of Duty: Black Ops II blitz are all up for the honor, along with a trio of efforts from Ubisoft. The French publisher's Assassin's Creed 3, Just Dance 4, and Far Cry 3 campaigns all made the shortlist.
Ubisoft--one of the event's sponsors--is well positioned to take home multiple awards, as it has published at least one nominee in 25 of the 28 GMA categories. Other frequent nominees include Activision (games nominated in 20 categories), Microsoft (16 categories), and Electronic Arts (11 categories).
The Game Marketing Awards will be presented April 17 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The ceremony will take place immediately following the conclusion of that day's 2013 Game Marketing Summit. A full list of categories and nominees is available on the event's official site.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nees-announced
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March 12th, 2013, 23:34 Posted By: wraggster
US rating board now allows clean trailers for M-rated games to be viewed without entering birthdate
[h=3]ESRB[/h]
Despite a recent flurry of political scrutiny on violent games, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is slightly relaxing some of its rules regarding the promotion of titles rated M for Mature. Giant Bombtoday reported that the ESRB notified publishers of the changes this morning.
The most substantial change on the list deals with age gates for online videos. Previously, publishers had to hide all such clips for games rated M for Mature behind an age gate. That restriction has now been removed, so long as the trailer in question doesn't include objectionable content. However, the ESRB must "pre-clear" such trailers, deeming them appropriate for general audiences before they are released. The change applies both to games that have been rated M as well as those that a publisher expects to be rated M.
Another tweak involves the cross-promotion of games. Similar to the age gate pre-clearance, publishers will be allowed to promote Mature-rated games with lesser rated games, but only with prior approval from the ESRB.
"The fundamental goal is to ensure that the cross-promotion of products is appropriately targeted. In doing so we may consider a variety of factors including the nature of the product, audience composition of the media vehicle being used, the intended audience of the game, whether registered users are of a certain age, whether an age-gate is employed, etc.," a representative told Giant Bomb.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...age-gate-rules
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March 12th, 2013, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster
Call of Duty: Black Ops II and FIFA 13 are the two biggest entertainment releases of the year at UK retail.
Both titles comfortably outsold The Dark Knight Rises, the third best selling entertainment product of the year.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II shifted 2.67m units, while FIFA 13 sold 2.6m units.for the year. The Dark Knight Rises sold 1.2m.
However outside of the Top Two, video games has a poorer showing in last year's chart, with Assassin's Creed III the next highest charter at No.13.
ERA boss Kim Bayley said: “2012 was a tough year for entertainment due to a number of factors, but this sharp 25% shrinkage in sales of the biggest titles suggests that the quality of releases was at least partly to blame. Luckily 2013 has got off to a good start with Skyfall already selling more than 2m copies – way ahead of last year’s biggest-selling video, The Dark Knight Rises.”
The full chart is below.
The data is courtesy of ERA, based on Chart-Track and Official Charts Company data.
THE ENTERTAINMENT TOP 40
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Activision Blizzard –––– 2,672,364
2. FIFA 13, Electronic Arts –––– 2,601,877
3. The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Home Video –––– 1,694,434
4. The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn – Part 1, Entertainment One –––– 1,515,604
5. Our Version of Events (Emeli Sande), Universal Music –––– 1,446,844
6. Now That's What I Call Music 83 (Various Artists), EMI Music/Universal Music –––– 1,389,006
7. Avengers Assemble, Walt Disney Studios ––– 1,349,937
8. TED, Universal Pictures –––– 1,188,295
9. War Horse, Walt Disney Studios –––– 986,870
10. The Hunger Games, Elevation Sales –––– 946,592
11. Mrs Brown's Boys – Series One, Universal Pictures ––– 913,145
12. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 20th Century Fox ––– 888,629
13. Assassin's Creed III, Ubisoft ––– 886,198
14. Now That's What I Call Music 82 (Various Artists), EMI Music/Universal Music ––– 866,031
15. Prometheus, 20th Century Fox ––– 853,079
16. Ice Age 4 – Continental Drift, 20th Century Fox ––– 819,009
17. 21 (Adele), XL Beggars ––– 816,317
18. Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows, Warner Home Video ––– 816,126
19. + (Ed Sheeran), Warner Music ––– 811,038
20. Now That's What I Call Music 81 (Various Artists), EMI Music/Universal Music ––– 756,035
21. Halo 4, Microsoft ––– 753,489
22. Born To Die (Lana del Rey), Universal Music ––– 743,210
23. Brave, Walt Disney Studios ––– 743,021
24. Bridesmaids, Universal Pictures ––– 710,185
25. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Elevation Sales ––– 707,875
26. Johnny English Reborn, Universal Pictures –––– 694,651
27. Mrs Brown's Boys – Series Two, Universal Pictures –––– 670,956
28. The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony Pictures –––– 656,620
29. The Woman In Black, Momentum Pictures –––– 654,589
30. Take Me Home One Direction, Sony Music ––– 643,433
31. Right Place Right Time, Olly Murs ––– Sony Music 597,370
32. The Adventures of TinTin – The Secrets Of, Paramount –––– 597,282
33. Babel Mumford & Sons, Universal Music –––– 592,173
34. Mrs Brown's Live Tour – Good Mourning, Universal Pictures ––– 585,925
35. Michael McIntyre Showtime, Universal Pictures –––– 579,011
36. Hitman Absolution, Square Enix –––– 571,248
37. Just Dance 4, Ubisoft –––– 562,453
38. Despicable Me, Universal Pictures –––– 549,111
39. Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Paramount –––– 545,502
40. Far Cry 3, Ubisoft -––– 540,237
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/call-...buster/0112263
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March 12th, 2013, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster
We’re now ten weeks into 2013 and so far it’s been a dreary start to the year.
Plenty of new releases have topped the charts, but they haven’t performed well enough to stop total sales declining by more than 20 per cent year-on-year.
Obviously retailers still have long-tail sellers like Black Ops II and FIFA 13 to keep tills ringing. But the truth is that, after their first few weeks on sale, these blockbusters can only slow decline rather than drive growth.
Why, in a year where we have already seen the release of DmC: Devil May Cry, Dead Space 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Crysis 3 and Metal Gear Rising, are consumers not flocking to shops?
“Gamers suffer fatigue from sequels and more-of-the-same experiences,” says Deep Silver’s international commercial director Menno van der Bil. “As an industry we have to be more courageous and proactive in finding new exciting forms of interactive entertainment.”
Michael Denny, VP of Sony Worldwide Studios, agrees: “Consumers crave new experiences and ultimately, new IP is the life-blood of the industry; without which, the market would stagnate with gamers having only a shallow pool of experiences to draw from.”
Fortunately, there’s a wealth of brand new games properties on the way in the next twelve months (see the graphic below).
The hunger for new games brands is nothing new. It wasn’t Call of Duty and FIFA?that got the industry talking at E3 2012; it was Ubisoft’s open world thriller Watch Dogs and Sony’s cinematic paranormal adventure Beyond: Two Souls.
Meanwhile, the few new IPs we have seen over the last year, such as Dishonored, Sleeping Dogs and Ni No Kuni, have found an audience.
The important thing is that the industry continues to explore new ideas. That’s easier said than done, of course – investing in the development of new IP is risky when you cannot guarantee success.
Countless new brands have failed but many publishers have shown determination in the wealth of fresh properties they have created – and Sony is chief among them.
"We’re proud to be in a position where we have an
unprecedented number of exclusive new titles coming
to PlayStation platforms: The Last of Us, Beyond,
Puppeteer, Wonderbook, Until Dawn, Rain and
Tearaway will all offer compelling and innovative
new ways to play.” Michael Denny, VP of Sony Worldwide Studios
“At this stage in the hardware’s lifecycle, publishers tend to rely on established franchises,” says Denny.
“But we’re proud to be in a position where we have an unprecedented number of exclusive new titles coming to PlayStation platforms: The Last of Us, Beyond, Puppeteer, Wonderbook, Until Dawn, Rain and Tearaway will all offer compelling and innovative new ways to play.”
The stage in the console lifecycle in which a new IP is released is certainly a factor.
In 2007, in the early months of the current cycle, we saw the debut of BioShock, Assassin’s Creed, Portal, Uncharted and Mass Effect, which thrived with little competition.
Fast forward to 2012 and the only new IP released is Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored and Dragon’s Dogma, but these faced tougher market conditions, competing with both established franchises and those still-growing 2007 brands.
“It’s difficult when you’re coming to the end of a console cycle,” admits Ubisoft’s IP development director Tommy Francois.
“When a console launches, the line-up gamers have to pick from is smaller. If you want to make a bang later on in the lifecycle, not only do you need to innovate, you need to stand out from the competition, and that becomes harder with the technology constraints that we have.”
This was more than proven at the PS4’s reveal, where six of the eight titles showcased were new properties.
Even Street Fighter creator Yoshinori Ono told MCV he wanted to experiment with the PS4’s capabilities “without the constraints of working within an existing IP”.
Wii U has also introduced new brands like ZombiU and the upcoming Wonderful 101, and no doubt there are surprises in store for the next Xbox. New hardware makes both gamers and developers more receptive to new ideas.
“Once [new] consoles come that we can let creative people take more risk, and they feel they can take more risk because they know consumers can be more open,” says Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.
“When you come out with new machines and new possibilities, and you give talent the chance to express themselves using them, you will see a huge surge in creativity and engagement from gamers.”
Even incremental advances in technology can open the door for new IP. Kinect and PlayStation Move saw the arrival of Dance Central, Child of Eden, Wonderbook, Sports Champions and so on.
It’s the same with other entertainment industries, says Francois: “Pixar works like that. Every new IP, every universe they create originates from new tech: 3D software, rendering software, and so on. Monsters Inc happened because they found they could do new things with hair and fur.
“I think we’re very much like that with new technology. It comes with more power, new features, new input devices like Wii and Wii U did.”
Most experimentation with new brands and ideas occur away from the traditional games platforms and publishers. Open platforms like smartphones and tablets have seen the re-emergence of indie studios and bedroom coders, none of whom have licensing deals or established franchises.
Even the slightly larger studios have embraced the almost risk-free digital marketplaces. Some of the most acclaimed download games of the last few years – Journey, The Unfinished Swan, Bastion, The Cave – have grabbed as many headlines as triple-A blockbusters.
“If you look at the overall market, you can see plenty
of new IP on iOS, Facebook and different places that
play games. There’s more than ever. To me, that’s
the interesting thing: the new ideas are just in different
places, and these are still part of the industry so we need
to look there for opportunities.” Tommy Francois, Ubisoft’s IP development director
“If you look at the overall market, you can see plenty of new IP on iOS, Facebook and different places that play games,” says Francois.
“There’s more than ever. To me, that’s the interesting thing: the new ideas are just in different places, and these are still part of the industry so we need to look there for opportunities.”
Ultimately, fresh ideas are not enough. Quality is the key to winning over consumers with a new property. While larger franchises can depend on lingering loyalty from past outings, newcomers must work harder than ever to distance themselves from generic gameplay and ‘me too’ settings.
“The lack of good new IP is a problem,” says Gameseek boss Stephen Staley. “We want a new experience. Watch Dogs is going to be huge and that’s what we want: good innovative new IP as well as reliable old IP.
“I am sure Grand Theft Auto V and the next Call of Duty will be hits. But there is also room for Watch Dogs, The Last of Us and the rest of the new IP.”
2013 is shaping up to be another tough year, but the hugely promising new games on the way, not to mention the next generation consoles, are the light at the end of our tunnel. If the current generation is anything to go by, future ones will be longer than the usual five year and we mustn’t be afraid to push new ideas when excitement for the hardware is waning.
Deep Silver’s Van der Bil concludes: “We are wrong when we solely blame retail or the lateness in the console cycle or browser games for lower than expected sales. In many cases our games simply bore gamers.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/seque...new-ip/0112271
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March 12th, 2013, 23:17 Posted By: wraggster
Sessions on Ninja Theory’s DmC, Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider and Media Molecule’s forthcoming Tearaway are the latest talks to be added to the GDC 2013 line-up.Ninja Theory’s visual art director Alessandro Taini will present a talk on ‘The Art Direction of DmC Devil May Cry,’ in which Taini will present work from concept stage right through to the game’s release.‘One with Lara: The Croft of Systems Design’ is the name of Crystal Dynamics’ talk, in which Jonathan Hamel will share how Tomb Raider was rebooted through the lens of game dynamics to create “an emotionally moving gameplay experience”.Finally, Media Molecule lead designer Rex Crowle will speak about the challenges of creating a digital papercraft adventure for Vita in ‘Building the Touchy-Feely World of Tearaway.’
http://www.edge-online.com/news/gdc-...y-talks-added/The ESRB also confirmed a talk entitled ‘Global Ratings: A Unified Effort to Address the Global Needs of a Digital Marketplace’ today. You can read more about each on the GDC 2013 site.
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March 12th, 2013, 14:56 Posted By: wraggster
The Sun’s chief business reporter claims this morning that Walmart-owned Asda has entered the bedding race for HMV. It is claimed that talks with administrator Deloitte have already taken place for a deal not just for the HMV brand but to run the remainder of the business as a going concern.
It is also speculated that, if successful, Asda could launch HMV concessions in its stores in much the same way as it has done recently with Disney.
A two-horse race between itself and former frontrunner Hilco is now on the cards – and the pressure is on to get a deal agreed, with the chain’s Q1 rent bill now just two weeks away.
HMV still employs over 2,400 staff across its 120 remaining stores and HQ.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/asda-...report/0112257
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March 11th, 2013, 22:29 Posted By: wraggster
Tomb Raider is the biggest selling UK launch of the year so far, selling more than double the units of 2013′s previous top seller Aliens: Colonial Marines in its first week on sale.
GfK ChartTrack says that Tomb Raider has set a new record for the franchise, beating the previous best for the series, 2006’s Tomb Raider: Legend. The 360 and PS3 versions of Tomb Raider set new week one records as the fastest selling individual formats of any Tomb Raider release so far, beating the record previously held by Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness on PS2 in 2003.
EA’s SimCity also sees a strong debut this week in second, with Namco Bandai’s Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 another new entry at number three.
The Ukie Games Charts UK all formats top ten chart for the week ending March 9th 2013, compiled by GfK Chart-Track, is as follows.
1. Tomb Raider
2. SimCity
3. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
4. The Sims 3: University Life
5. FIFA 13
6. Crysis 3
7. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
8. Far Cry 3
9. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
http://www.edge-online.com/news/uk-c...mber-one-spot/
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March 11th, 2013, 22:15 Posted By: wraggster
Entatech has added the newly developed Func range to its gaming portfolio.
First established in 1999, Func was created by professional gamers and its first release, the double-sided Func Surface 1030 Original, won a number of awards from nearly every major magazine and site in the industry.
Entatech will be distributing the revamped Surface 1030 and MS-3 Gaming Mouse from Func. With the addition of other up-and-coming gaming vendors in the latter part of 2012, the addition of Func will help to cement Entatech as a leading distributor of high-spec gaming products, whilst also meeting the increasing demands of today’s gamer.
Func redeveloped the brand in 2012, refreshing its image to cater for the needs of today’s gamer. Not only has the rebranded look refreshed Func’s image, but it also provides the users with an increase in functionality, performance and gaming experience.
Iain Gillogaley, Entatech Gaming and Peripherals Manager, commented on the brand's revamp: “This is a really exciting line of products for both Entatech and the gaming market as a whole. Func are one of the forerunners of gaming accessories and the new design – both in terms of aesthetics and technology – slots in perfectly with the gaming and peripheral products we currently distribute to Entatech customers. The gaming industry is continuously evolving with bigger, better and newer products and the Func range allow us to keep up to date with the latest technologies, helping to reaffirm Entatech as a leading distributor of gaming products.”
When first released to the market, the 1030 Surface fast became one of the best-selling mouse surfaces ever introduced. Redesigned, the new-look Surface still allows for precise movement at high speed, but also gives users increased functionality and a larger tracking area - perfect for gamers who cannot afford to lose their tracking during intensive gameplay. Dual-sided, the surface gives gamers the choice of two sides, both offering a high level of traction, consistency and precision. The addition of large rubber feet on each corner of the surface ensures a firm grip on any surface, eliminating slips and any interruption during play.
Also introduced to the new-look Func is the MS-3 Gaming Mouse. Designed to provide gamers with an advantage over their opponents, the MS-3 boasts a modern, edgy ergonomic design, the result of copious studies of the human hand in order to provide a solid grip. All required buttons have been meticulously placed in order to minimise reaction time, whilst giving accurate gameplay, giving you an edge over your opponents. A customisable LED-light system allows for the application of 16.8 million colours to create a look that is similar to your other peripherals, or to merely act as a profile indicator.
The 1030 Surface and MS-3 Gaming Mouse are both available for purchase from Entaonline.com.
Calle Conradsson, Brand Manager at Func, said: "We’re happy to welcome Entatech and their customers aboard and look forward to our new partnership. Entatech are highly experienced in distributing gaming brands and we welcome their market expertise. Together, I’m sure we can form a strong partnership which will be crucial to us in reaching our future goals. The revamped Surface 1030 and our new gaming mouse, Func MS-3, mark the start of a new era at Func. There is much more to come this year, so I urge gamers to keep an eye for Func!”
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-func-y/030478
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