News: WOW "sucked oxygen" from MMO subs

World of Warcraft has "sucked the oxygen" from the subscription market: that's why the tide is turning towards free-to-play. And the only game with enough clout to compete is BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic.

"You're skating up hill if you don't offer a free-to-play option," Cryptic Studios head Jack Emmert told Eurogamer. "You're skating up against World of Warcraft and theoretically SWTOR. That's your competition. And unless you think your games are as good or better than those - because you also have to overcome their reputation - it's going to be highly unlikely a large number of people, meaning 200,000-plus, are going to be willing to subscribe to your game. And a lot of companies are making $50-60-70 million bets, and I just don't see that there's a market for their products."

He added: "I don't foresee anything toppling those [WOW and SWTOR] at the moment. You either build-big or go home; you have to spend at least $50 million on your product, and even then it's a basic proposition. When you come out, you've got to not only beat World of Warcraft as it was when it launched, you've got to beat all the developments it has had since then. That's really, really hard."

That's why Jack Emmert has followed Turbine's envious lead and decided to make Champions Online a free-to-play experience as of early next year.

"I don't believe that subscriptions are dead," Emmert expanded, "because there are 10 million or so people subscribing to WOW that beg to differ. What I think is there are simply not as many people willing to pay another subscription in addition to WOW, in addition to their Xbox Gold membership.

"As a result, they'll pay, but only for games that are worth it. They reserve judgement. They're not going to go into a store and buy an MMO off the shelf and start committing to a subscription month in month out unless they're 100 per cent sure that game matches their expectations, and so often times they don't even try it.

"What free-to-play does is say, 'Go ahead and try it, there's nothing at risk here.' There isn't this sense that you're adding a charge onto your monthly Visa bill or what have you; you're just sampling it, giving it a shot, seeing if it works. If it doesn't, no harm no foul - you don't play.

"World of Warcraft has pretty much sucked the oxygen out of the subscription market and kind of devoured it itself," he added, "and those games that are currently subscription-based are battling for a very, very small market of people who either don't like WOW or are willing to pay a second subscription."

Emmert launched City of Heroes in April 2007 (US) to a world that hadn't played World of Warcraft. The genre might have been unproven, he said, but it was sky that was the limit.

"I would say that the potential MMO consumer market... You are fighting for a smaller number of people than when I launched City of Heroes," Emmert declared.

"There had been EverQuest, which had gone through more than a million different people, but a lot of people were waiting for the next great thing and were constantly jumping from game to game.

That's how Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot attracted 250,000 subscribers, Emmert explained - a number City of Heroes was "not far behind".

World of Warcraft announced 12 million monthly subscribers recently. A large chunk of those are in China and pay a different amount to Westerners. But still the numbers are massive.

Can, as Emmert suggested, BioWare really be the WOW-toppler we've so desperately wanted to label every MMO since 2006 as? Taking EA's alleged $300m investment as gospel would suggest it has the scope to be.

"If I'm a consumer and I walk into a store and I look at it, I have to be 100 per cent sure that that subscription game is going to deliver an experience equal to or better than World of Warcraft. That's my benchmark. If they can do that..." he pondered.

"Now, here's the thing: BioWare and the team and certainly with the money they've spent on it, there's every reason for the consumer to believe that the quality level will be equal. From their point of view, they can probably attract that attention - they can still get the benefit of the doubt. It's BioWare, right? We all know BioWare makes great games. They'll buy it.

"But then it's will the game be good enough?" Emmert asked. "I'm not here to judge."

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News: Epic has "sweet" Shadow Complex 2 ideas

The studio behind Shadow Complex, Epic's fantastic Xbox Live Arcade platformer, is stockpiling ideas for the future of the franchise.

Chair Entertainment's Donald Mustard told Eurogamer, "We love Shadow Complex and we have lots of ideas for the future of Shadow Complex, but that's all we can say right now.

"We'd love to make another one. We've got sweet ideas for more stuff but right now everyone is completely focussed on getting Infinity Blade out the door."

Shadow Complex landed on Xbox Live Arcade in 2009. The thoroughly awesome Super Metroid homage won a 9/10 from Eurogamer's Simon Parkin.

On the subject of Metroid, we asked Donald what he thought of Samus' latest Wii adventure, Other M.

"Other M came out right when we found out that we needed to make this game [Infinity Blade] in just four months," Donald explained, "but I did play through the first two or three hours just so I could see what was going on.

"I thought there was some interesting things going on there but... I found myself wishing it was more like Shadow Complex, y'know? That's the game I want to play! That's the whole reason we made Shadow Complex ? so other people would make games like it.

"But I thought there was some cool stuff in there and I've heard there's some really awesome stuff in the last two hours or so, so I'm excited to get back to it. But yeah, as I was playing I couldn't help but wish it was more of a side-scroller."

Eurogamer's Christian Donlan awarded Team Ninja's 2D/3D Wii hybrid 8/10 back in September.

Chair's next title, Infinity Blade, was formally revealed yesterday. It's a sword-fighting adventure game for the iPhone.

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News: EA biggest publisher on 360/PS3

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News: Mikami's next game will be last as director

Shinji Mikami's first game for his new bosses at ZeniMax will be his last as director, but he's intending to go out with a bang.

In an interview with Famitsu translated by 1Up, the Resident Evil creator said, "That's something I was planning for from the start. I can only last for so long handling both director and company president duties, and besides, I want to give our younger developers a chance.

"Knowing that, of course, makes me want to put all of my experience, my energy, and everything else I've got into this game. I'm pretty lucky that [ZeniMax] was willing to accept that, too. Too many publishers are only interested in the very near future, after all."

Mikami gave no clue as to what sort of game he was planning, though sketches that popped up on Tango Gameworks' website the other day might offer a hint.

One thing's for sure though ? it's going to cost his studio's new owners an awful lot of money to bankroll.

"That's the only sort of title we're interested in," said Tetsu Takahashi, general manager of Bethesda's Asian operations.

"Any such project is going to involve tens of millions of dollars either way, so instead of cutting dev time and features and hoping for a million copies sold, it's better to take your time, make something great, and aim for five million instead. We believe that there's actually less risk when you do it that way."

ZeniMax announced it had purchased Mikami's Tango Gameworks studio last month for an undisclosed figure.

Mikami has just finished up the excellent Vanquish for Platinum Games and is currently helping Suda51 out with Shadows of the Damned for EA.

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News: Okamiden gets EU release date

Tuesday

DS game Okamiden will be released in Europe on 18th March 2011, Capcom's announced.

Okamiden is, of course, the sequel to the much-loved PlayStation 2 and Wii game Okami.

Capcom also revealed a Goblin Mask Facebook app based on the in-game challenge that Kuni and Chibi encounter in the Demon Market where they draw a face on a cloth in order to pass through without being recognised.

You use the graffiti functionality that's apparently used by 4.8 million people on Facebook to draw faces on photos of you and your friends. Woo!

Over at the game's Facebook site you can win a 3DS, copy of the game, Chibiterasu plushies and other bits and bobs.

Keza went hands-on for Eurogamer last month.

Okamiden: Chiisaki Taiyo is due to be released 18/03/2011 on DS. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net.

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News: No Darksiders 2 until 2013?

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News: Microsoft: new 360 dash helps indies

Microsoft has answered concerns that the recent Xbox 360 dashboard update marginalises Xbox Live Indie Games, insisting the new set-up will work better for independent developers.

A spokesperson for the platform holder told Eurogamer, "Microsoft continues to support the efforts of independent game developers."

Independent developers have reportedly been up in arms about the decision to move Xbox Live Indie Games from the game store proper to a new Speciality Shops tab. It makes it harder for consumers to find their games, they insist. Not so, claims Microsoft.

"The intent of the Specialty Shops section was to provide access to marketplaces that focus on a specific type of content, with unique ways of sorting through that content. We wanted to give Xbox Live Indie Games that full marketplace experience and felt this was the best place to do it, alongside other popular channels like the Avatar Marketplace.

"In fact, since the launch of Avatars, Xbox Live members have made more than 290 million customizations to their Avatar's clothing, so we expect many people to regularly visit the Specialty Shops section."

And that's not the only benefit of the new dashboard, Microsoft says. "We've updated the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace and Xbox.com to provide new ways for people to browse and sort indie games.

"You can now browse the top-rated, top-selling and most recent games by genre. You can also find indie games by 'best selling today' and 'best selling of all time' on Xbox.com.

"In addition, the Top Rated and Top Downloaded lists have grown from 20 games to 50, allowing for greater exposure of more indie games. We've also kept the Contest Finalists and the IGN Picks sections, so users can sort through titles in a number of different ways."

So there you have it, indie dev types. You've never had it so good, understand?

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News: EA signs five-year Facebook Credits deal

Tuesday

Play EA's games on Facebook? Then you'll be interested to know that the Facebook Credit is set to become the only virtual currency they'll accept.

EA and Facebook just announced a five-year deal designed to create a simplified, more accessible experience, EA said.

Under it Facebook Credits will be the exclusive currency for all EA Facebook games - so when you buy virtual goods for the likes of Pet Society in the future, Facebook Credits will be your only method of payment.

The EA-owned game creator Playfish has two of the top 10 games on Facebook: Pet Society and Restaurant City.

"Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users," said EA Interactive boss Barry Cottle.

"Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play."

As part of the agreement, EA will receive the same 70 per cent revenue share for Facebook Credits as is standard for all developers on Facebook.

More than 200 million people play games every month on Facebook, which itself has a whopping 500 million users. That's a lot.

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News: Borderlands level cap shoots up

Tuesday

The level cap for the PC version of Borderlands has been topped up with a new update going live today, developer Gearbox has announced.

Borderlands players will now be able to climb up to level 58 or, if you've got The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC, level 69.

The update also brings with it a fix for DLC4 Achievement/Trophy glitches that have affected some users.

Gearbox hasn't confirmed when the new level cap will be available for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 users.

Borderlands is out now on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net.

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News: Crytek hopes Haze is remembered fondly

Crytek UK, the developer that rose from the ashes of the collapsed Free Radical Design, hopes that when gamers look back on PlayStation 3 exclusive Haze they'll remember it more fondly than they did at launch.

The ill-fated Haze was met with a 4/10 review score from Eurogamer upon its 2008 release.

It was the TimeSplitters creator's last game.

"We were surprised by how poorly it was received," admitted managing director Karl Hilton in an interview with Eurogamer conducted at the GameCity festival in Nottingham last week.

"We felt it had a lot of good elements in, which just didn't seem to get picked up at all. But it's a fickle industry and things move quickly. If you get a few things wrong and people pick up on it... And Haze wasn't a perfect product. Clearly it wasn't. But it wasn't as bad as some of the reviews and feedback made out."

Haze's problems are well documented.

"You really have to wonder how it all ended up this dreadful, especially after all the time and resource Ubisoft and Free Radical expended telling people the opposite," said Kristan Reed for Eurogamer.

"The combat's weak, the storyline's excruciating, it's technically deficient - Haze really is this year's most significant gaming disappointment."

Looking back, Hilton agreed that perhaps expectations were fuelled by the development team's heritage with classics GoldenEye and TimeSplitters.

"It's interesting. Obviously time will tell. Second Sight was another game we did that got pretty average reviews, but these days seems to be remembered very fondly. At the time when we launched that we were disappointed it didn't do better than it did because we felt it had a lot of good elements in it."

But will, once the dust has settled on this generation, Haze be remembered fondly?

"I don't think anyone will claim it was an unrecognised classic, but maybe they'll treat it a little more gently than it got treated when it was released. That would be nice."

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News: Halo: Reach level cap goes up

Yesterday

As promised last month, Bungie has lifted the level cap for Halo: Reach.

The developer said it would raise the bar above Lt Colonel Grade Three once 117 million daily and weekly million challenges had been completed. That target has duly been smashed.

A post on Bungie's website read, ?49 days and more than a few million Challenges later, you?ve totally decapitated the Rank cap in Halo: Reach. That means there are now more kick ass Rank and Armor options available in the Armory than ever before.

?To help get you suited up into some hot new gear, we?re introducing huge Credit Jackpots for players who routinely finish their games. Because we love you and we want you to have nice things.?

?Oh, and we've some 'reports' online of a second Rank cap,? the post added. ?Those reports are false. You now have access to everything the Armory has to offer, provided you have the credits.?

There should be no shortage of players out there should you feel the need to check out the new gear on offer. Microsoft recently announced that the Halo prequel generated $350 million in its first two weeks on sale alone.

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Blog: BioShock Infinite revolutionises UE3

Irrational Games has outlined a range of extensive modifications it has made to Unreal Engine 3 in order to run the unique game world in the forthcoming BioShock Infinite.

"Over the last few years we've put together a world-class team of engineers with a single goal: do whatever it takes to bring the Columbia and the amazing world of BioShock Infinite to life," Irrational technical director Chris Kline posted on the Irrational Games forums.

"We're talking about a world where entire buildings are moving around in the sky, you're fighting AIs at 90mph on Sky-Lines as you dangle high above the earth, and racing through vicious weather to rescue Elizabeth while battling your way through hordes of enemies determined to stop you at any cost. Right from the outset we realized that this was going to be a monumental undertaking on the tech side, but decided it was a challenge that we simply had to take on in order to give gamers the kind of quality experience they've come to expect from Irrational Games and BioShock."

Kline talks about how his team of engineers initially looked at the original BioShock engine, a heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 2.5, coming to the conclusion that the old tech was simply "too under-powered and unwieldy for the depth and complexity of the gameplay and narrative we had planned". He also talks about how the tools used by the designers and artists required a radical overhaul, so the old engine was binned and work began on new tech using Unreal Engine 3 as a base.

We've heard in the past from many developers about how they've radically customised UE3, but it's rare that any of these titles actually deviate that much from the tech's signature look. Irrational's upgrades, however, are so substantial and fundamental that it's difficult to believe that they were able to integrate them into any kind of existing middleware at all.

"All major FPS engines (CryEngine 3, UE3, id Tech 5) are designed and optimised for static environments that the player moves through, which is a reasonable choice because, even if there are trees moving in the wind, the ground under the player's feet isn't going anywhere," explains Chris.

"Unfortunately for our tech team (but good for you) everything in Columbia is capable of moving. The very ground beneath your feet could fall out of the sky at any moment, which makes for some awesome gameplay and visuals but required us to create a completely new technology that we're calling 'Floating Worlds'. You saw a little of this in the gameplay demo video (in the part right after Saltonstall jumps on the Sky-Line) and you'll be seeing a lot more of it in the future."

This sounds a touch reminiscent of the dynamic traversal system found in Uncharted 2, where entire portions of the level could be moving, albeit played out on a rather more colossal scale. The comparisons with Naughty Dog's classic don't end there, as Irrational has also added in a deferred lighting solution to UE3 - something we're not sure we've ever seen implemented on the engine before.

"To meet the aesthetic goals of our art team, our rendering gurus had to write a whole new renderer for BioShock Infinite based on deferred lighting (a technique used in Uncharted 2, CryEngine3, and Killzone 2), and on top of that they've developed a proprietary per-pixel dynamic relighting scheme that allows characters and dynamic objects to receive global illumination," says Kline.

UE3 is often criticised for its sometimes harsh lighting (although this has been radically improved in recent versions of Epic's middleware, as you can see in Gears 3 and Bulletstorm videos), but Irrational going for a state-of-the-art lighting solution is ambitious to say the least, and suggests that the tech is far more expandable than previously thought.

Bolstering this notion is Irrational's implementation of a jobs-based processing architecture. Criterion used a similar technique in Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, where the game code is parallelised over as many different processing elements that are available. This should ensure that the three cores and six threads of the Xenon CPU in the Xbox 360 are extensively utilised, and obviously has seriously cool implications for SPU usage on PS3 and the many core CPUs on PC.

In his detailed post, Chris Kline also talks about how the AI system has been overhauled and how Natural Motion's Morpheme tech acts as a base on which the team has developed its own spin-off work, concentrating on smooth, realistic animation.

The 5.1 surround sound code from BioShock 1 has also been binned in favour of implementing a "new audio pipeline based on AudioKinetic's WWise technology", allowing for an "adjustable dynamic range and a fully dynamic mixing system."

"Not only did our engineers rise to that task, but they subsequently took it up a notch and implemented both a custom sound propagation system (so voices properly echo down corridors and around buildings) and a dynamic wind audio system that reinforces the dynamic weather in the world."

Kline goes on to promise that further tech secrets will be revealed in the future on the Irrational forum, and also on the company's podcasts, so expect further tidbits to info to filter out as development continues...

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News: COD: Black Ops gets UK age rating

Activision's mega-blockbuster Call of Duty: Black Ops has been given an age rating of 18 by the BBFC.

It contains "strong bloody violence and strong language".

The game passed with no cuts made.

The classification reads (do not read on if you're avoiding spoilers):

"Call of Duty: Black Ops is a military first-person shooter in which the player takes the role of a member of an elite CIA covert action team operating during the Cold War and attempting to stop the threat of a Soviet chemical weapons project.

"The violence takes the form of the player's involvement in gun battles with various enemies in which an array of contemporary weapons such as automatic rifles, pistols, grenades and other types of explosive ammunition are available, along with larger weapons such as missile launchers which are carried on ships, helicopters and road vehicles. The player can also access bladed weapons for stealth attacks and hand-to-hand combat.

"The battles are intense and conducted from a first-person perspective with impacts registering as blood spurts which vary in strength depending on the weapon and the range at which it is used. More powerful weapons can also cause dismemberment with resultant gory detail and enemies can be set on fire. Although dead bodies can sometimes be used as shields against enemy attacks there is no opportunity to inflict post-mortem damage on downed victims.

"Whilst most of the intense fighting action, in which the player encounters hordes of enemies, does not linger on injuries or carry a personalised edge, some stealth attacks in which a knife is used to slit an enemy's throat contain more of a focus on the damage inflicted and some of the non-interactive cut-scenes contain stronger bloodshed. For example, in the assassination of a political leader where the action plays out in slow-motion."

Those "stronger, more focussed moments of bloody violence" were what pushed the age rating up from 15 to 18. There are also lots of people saying "f***", and teenagers under 18 can't be doing with that.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released worldwide on Tuesday, 9th November.

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News: Kinect's brain works like your brain

Every time you play with Kinect - out now in the US and on 10th November in the UK - it will see and it will learn. And in a similar way a baby understands the world so, Kinect creator Alex Kipman believes, will his camera decipher you.

"The Kinect brain works in the same way as your brain, or my brain. Our brains are machines designed to essentially be this massive blob of signal to noise. We push away the noise and very quickly focus in on the signal," Kipman explained to GamesIndustry.biz.

"Imagine we have a fictitious baby," he went on. "She or he is zero years old, you show this baby a human and a lion, and you say, 'Here baby, tell the difference between them.' Turns out that a brand new baby cannot. Time goes by and now this baby has enough reference data, historical data, to be able to predict, next time you show it, the difference between the two.

Kipman added: "Our world works in the same way. Your brain doesn't just know everything that it sees. As you walk through the world, it's using previous historical data to essentially predict, based on probabilities, what you're seeing now.

"Kinect works in the same way, that's the fundamental principle. What we've done is shown it a sample of statistically significant data which allows us to comprehend the world in a way similar to the way your brain operates."

It's this learning that will require Kinect pinches processor time from Xbox 360 CPU or GPU - a single-figure percentage. And it's this learning that will enable Kinect to present less lag than it theoretically should. That's the magical part.

"There's a reason that these kinds of science fiction turned science fact technologies haven't been available before," Kipman said. "And this is where I'll tell you, 'Hey, there's been a breakthrough.'

"Quite a significant number of them," he added.

And don't go worrying that Kinect's demands on the GPU or CPU will make your games run slower: even the most magnificent games leave Kipman plenty of room to manoeuvre.

"The answer is, as much as we like to talk about bits and percentages, you take a game like, I don't know, Call of Duty: Black Ops - there's a significant amount of processing, be it CPU or GPU, that still remains on the table," Kipman revealed. "So after that, when we came to this revelation about games and future games that would be coming to Xbox, we looked at it and we said, 'Is it worth the trade-off to put on-board processing on the device when we think we can create magical, unique, deep, thorough experiences without it?'"

He didn't give an answer. Strange.

Head over to GamesIndustry.biz for part one of the fascinating journey into Alex Kipman's [not Shipman you idiot -Ed] brain. He's odd, and perhaps brilliant.

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News: "Not much hope" for GT5 in 2010 - source

Industry sources have expressed concern to Eurogamer that high-profile racing game Gran Turismo 5 will miss Sony's promised "before Christmas" release date and instead come out some time next year.

One source told us that current schedules list the Polyphony Digital game as "TBC", and that there is "not too much hope" that it will hit shop shelves this year.

Gran Turismo 5, perhaps the most anticipated PS3 game ever, was scheduled for release today.

Last month Sony announced it had been delayed to "before Christmas", claiming "creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating a racing experience of the highest quality".

At the time Sony tweeted to say a new date would be confirmed "before the end of the month". That, obviously, did not happen.

Current UK retailer listings for the game offer a mixed message.

GAME says it'll be released in 2011, and it's without a release window at all on both Amazon and Play.

However, Zavvi and Shopto both say it'll be released on 3rd December.

While retailer release dates are often placeholder, they offer food for thought.

Despite the concern, Eurogamer has been told that Sony is sticking to its official December 2010 statement without providing a firm date.

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News: iPhone Gears of War possible "in 2 years"

Epic believes that it could be possible to put a game the size of Gears of War on the iPhone in as little as two years time.

Donald Mustard, creative director at Epic subsidiary Chair Entertainment, is currently developing the just-announced Infinity Blade for the iPhone ? the first mobile game to run off the Unreal Engine. Like many gamers, he was reluctant to see Apple's smartphone as a proper gaming machine. Not any more.

"I didn't take it that seriously until we started making this game," he explained. "Now I'm like, 'Oh my goodness, this is literally going to be the best looking handheld game ever made'. It's way beyond what a DS or PSP could do.

"I think it's going to be an interesting future, especially if in two years we can really run Gears of War on an iPhone."

He's not far wrong. Have a look at the gallery below ? Infinity Blade looks incredible.

Technical director Geremy Mustard then chimed in, "If not two years, then certainly five years. Well, it could be as soon as two years but within five years that will certainly be the case. It will at least be powerful enough to do that.

"Whether it'll be viable from a gaming standpoint that's a different question. Can I look at a little screen for two hours at a time and play a game steadily?"

Donald continued, "We've just been blown away by the amount of graphical power that we can be pushing through these tiny little devices that are in all our pockets.

"That's one of the reasons why Epic are so interested in getting their engine onto these devices. Projecting out three or four years into the future, if the current trends stay true, these devices are going to be just as powerful as the Xbox 360. We'll have a truly powerful console just sitting in all of our pockets.

"If that's the case, there's going be a lot more high-end games on the iPhone. We're just on the cusp of that. It's exciting.

Donald went on to reveal that Epic has had huge interest from other developers over licensing the Unreal Engine for iPhone development since the reveal of the Epic Citadel tech demo last month, both for original IPs and for porting existing titles.

NOA's Reggie Fils-Aime's recent remark that he sees Apple as Nintendo's main rival suddenly seems rather prescient, especially taking into account Epic VP Mark Rein's claim that the 3DS is not powerful enough to handle the Unreal Engine.

"What is that going to mean for gaming?" Donald adds regarding the increasing power of the iPhone. "Am I going to be able to be able to play Red Dead Redemption on it then press pause, put it down in front of my TV and plug in an HDMI cable and keep going?

"There's such a cool future there. It's an interesting time to be a consumer right now and to be a developer."

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News: God of War remasters head PS Store

Sony's HD remasters of acclaimed PS2 games God of War I and God of War II are on the PlayStation Store right now.

They're not cheap: they cost ?14 a pop, according to the European PlayStation blog. Even bundled together they cost ?24. Still, both were excellent on PS2, and with 720p graphics they may compare favourably to many of even today's best third-person action games.

Complementing their arrival is God of War: Ghost of Sparta turning up on PSP.

Also of note: Castle Crashers, the most successful game on Xbox Live Arcade. It's PS3 arrival comes with a free trial, too. Eurogamer's dusty Castle Crashers XBLA review can fill in the blanks.

Today's demo of note is Rock Band 3, although PlayStation Plus members have the option of sampling Vanquish's Challenge Mode if they wish.

Desirable add-on content includes the free FIFA 11 Ultimate Team update, God of War III skins and new Hot Zone maps for Medal of Honor.

Don't forget that new video streaming service MUBI arrives for PlayStation 3 today. This offers high-brow films for rental either individually or as part of a monthly subscription.

Special Offers (available until 10th November)

Voodoo Dice (was ?7.99/?9.99 now ?5.49/?6.99)Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom Booster Pack (was ?3.49/?3.99 now ?0.79/?0.99)Cuboid Level Editor (was ?3.19/?3.99 now ?0.79/?0.99)Cuboid Booster Pack (was ?2.39/?2.99 now ?0.79/?0.99)Dissidia: Final Fantasy (was ?19.99/?24.99 now ?15.99/?19.99)PSP: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (PSP) (was ?23.99/?29.99 now ?15.99/?19.99)Mini: Alien Zombie Death!(was ?2.49/?2.99 now ?1.74/?1.99)Mini: Supermarket Mania (was ?3.99/?4.99 now ?2.49/?2.99)

Permanent Price Reductions

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days now ?15.99/?19.99Mana Khemia: Student Alliance now ?11.99/?14.99Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? now ?7.99/?9.99What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? now ?7.99/?9.99What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 now ?7.99/?9.99

PS3 Applications

PS3 Demos

Apache Air AssaultJohn Daly's Pro Stroke GolfRock Band 3Vanquish Challenge mode (PS Plus only)

PS3 Games

God of War HD (?13.99/?17.99)God of War II HD (?13.99/?17.99)God of War Collection HD (?23.99/?29.99)Blacklight: Tango Down (free trial, ?9.99/?12.99)Castle Crashers (free trial, ?10.99/?13.99)

PS3 Game Content

FIFA 11 Ultimate Team (free)Dead Rising 2 Ninja Skill Pack (?1.59/?1.99)Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage: Kenshiro Original Costume (?1.99/?2.49)Front Mission: Evolved: Weapons Pack (?2.39/?2.99), Wanzer Pack (?3.19/?3.99)God of War III: Apollo Character Skin (?0.79/?0.99), Forgotten Warrior Character Skin (?0.79/?0.99), Dominus Character Skin (?0.79/?0.99), Phantom of Chaos Character Skin (?0.79/?0.99), Character Skin Bundle (?3.19/?3.99), Challenge of Exile Arena (?1.59/?1.99)Medal of Honor Hot Zone Map Pack (?7.99/?9.99)ModNation Racers Kratos Pack (?1.39/?1.75)PAIN: Creepie Pack (?0.79/?0.99), PAINamotion Pack (free)S?ldner-X 2: Final Prototype The Final Chapter (?3.99/?4.99)Space Invaders Infinity Gene Bonus Stage Pack 2 (?2.39/?2.99)Split/Second: Velocity Onslaught Pack (?7.99/?9.99)Sports Champions Reverse Tee Pack (?2.39/?2.99)Super Street Fighter IV Ultra Shoryuken Pack 1 (?3.19/?3.99)Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2: Bonus Pack (free), Russian Power Pack (?3.19/?3.99)DJ Hero II Hit Makers Mix Pack (?6.29/?7.99)Rock Band 3: The Doors Greatest Hits: Rock Band Edition (?9.99/?14.99) Rock Band Network: "Determined (Vows of Vengeance)" by Kataklysm (?0.99/?1.49), "Hello Fascination" by Breathe Carolina (?0.99/?1.49), "Revolution" by Bang Camaro (?0.59/?0.79), "The Gun Show" by In This Moment (?0.99/?1.49), "Uncivilized" by Texas In July (?0.99/?1.49)

PSP Demos

PSP Games

God of War: Ghost of Sparta (?16.99/?26.99)Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (?23.99/?29.99)No Heroes Allowed (?9.99/?12.99)ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman (?23.99/?29.99)Ys Seven (?19.99/?24.99)

PSone Games (PS3 and PSP)

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Gamers Leading, Influencing Online Sales, says Interpret

A new study from Interpret, gCommerce:  The 'Gamification' of eCommerce, says that gamers are leading the way in e-commerce. Gamers, by the broadest definition, are likely to influence shopping online by leading discussions and opinions.

The data showed that gamers are 20% more likely to be an online-shopper than non-gamers. Even more interesting, gamers are more likely to influence their friends on purchases, 50% more likely in fact.

"Given the growth and popularity of an ever-widening range of gaming experiences, there is an opportunity for transaction-based businesses to tap the gamer ethos by gamifying shopping experiences," said Interpret CEO Michael Dowling.

"Game mechanics are powerful motivators to get humans to take action," added Jim Banister, CEO of SpectrumDNA and co-author of the report. "The dynamics that have indisputably proven to increase transactions within game environments can and should be used to spur increased transactions, revenue and loyalty in online and offline shopping environments. Next-generation social loyalty programs will be gamified."

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Gran Turismo Creator Yamauchi Presenting at D.I.C.E. Summit

Posted November 3, 2010 by M.H. Williams

Today, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced its first group of speakers for the upcoming 2011 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. 2011’s event will take place at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, February 9 to 11. The event will feature luminaries and industry leaders from the interactive entertainment industry.

"The D.I.C.E. Summit is the preeminent stage for creativity within the world of interactive entertainment," said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. "We are pleased to feature some of the leading creative minds from the whole spectrum of interactive entertainment – film to traditional console games to casual games – come to share their philosophy and approach to producing entertainment."

The speaker lineup for 2011 includes:

John Stevenson – filmmaker, co-director of Kung Fu Panda and previously Head of Story at PDI/Dreamworks overseeing Shrek, Shrek 2 and Madagascar

Kazunori Yamauchi - President, Polyphony Studios, professional race car driver and producer of the Gran Turismo series

Mark Cerny – President, Cerny Games, a true veteran of the video game industry and was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame in 2010

Jeremiah Slaczka - Creative Director and CEO, 5th Cell, responsible for the multi-million unit selling franchises Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts

Joseph Tringali – General Manager and COO, 5th Cell, and Executive Producer on all 5th Cell titles, including Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life

Keith Lee – CEO and co-founder, Booyah, responsible for such popular casual games like MyTown and Nightclub City

The 14th annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony will take place at D.I.C.E. 2011 on February 10, 2011. Members will honor those who “contribute to the growth of the interactive entertainment software business.” After this year’s D.I.C.E. event, the winners of the Indie Games Challenge will also be announced.   

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Resident Evil Creator Talks About Joining Bethesda

At the end of October, Bethesda Softworks and id Software parent company ZeniMax Media purchased Tango Gameworks and hired Japanese development veteran Shinji Mikami to oversee new projects within the studio. It was certainly surprising to see the man behind the Resident Evil series join a Western game company, but Mikami couldn't be more excited about it.

Speaking with Famitsu (as translated by 1UP), Mikami explained the advantages of joining Bethesda. "I had been looking for a new business partner before all this, so I contacted ten or so companies during E3, both Japanese and elsewhere," he said. "Bethesda was the best match among them because they gave us the most independent development environment to work with as we pursue our goal of producing Japanese games that work worldwide -- that, and their track record when it comes to overseas sales."

As for why he wanted a buyer for Tango Gameworks rather than just a development partnership, he stated, "We didn't want to have to live hand-to-mouth as a studio. If we did that, we'd have to take on work we weren't interested in just to pay the bills. That would then force us to expand our staff, and before you know it, we'd be thinking 'This isn't how we meant it to go.' I gathered the people around me now in order to create the best worldwide-market-driven development studio possible -- the independence of that studio is secondary to that goal. I decided that we'd all be happier if we could take this shortcut to creating the great games we want to create."

Mikami also has been very impressed with the creative spirit held by Bethesda; they don't let deadlines for ship dates dictate their games business. "Playing their stuff, you can really tell that they're willing to take whatever time is needed to make great games," Mikami commented. "It shows that their management and financial strength is such that they're able to let that process happen. That was my first impression, and it was a positive one. Development costs are important, of course, but there's always a risk you have to accept when you're trying to make something good and also sellable. Hedging your risks and concentrating strictly on the known factors is one thing, but seeing a company continually try to push the envelope really fits what we're trying to do."

Interestingly, Mikami could be just the first in a wave of Japanese talent joining Bethesda if the Fallout publisher gets its way. Tetsu Takahashi, general manager of Bethesda's Asian operations, noted, "From our perspective, if we can gather the most talented developers in Japan under Mikami and support them on our way to making the best game studio Japan has to offer, then that would be perfect."

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Glu Lowers Losses in Q3 as In-Game Ads and Micro-transactions Grow

Posted November 3, 2010 by M.H. Williams

Yesterday, Glu Mobile announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30. The company reported revenues of $15.5 million, down from $19.6 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2009. Glu shored up losses, reporting a net loss of $1.6 million for the quarter, better than last year’s net loss of $4.0 million.

"We are confident that our new product strategy will gain traction in the coming quarters, as we continue to make progress in repositioning the business," stated Niccolo de Masi, Chief Executive Officer of Glu. "During the third quarter, we were able to sequentially grow smartphone revenues by 12%, micro-transactions and in-game advertising by 98% as well as monthly active users by 15%. With our goal of launching five to six new social, persistent titles every quarter beginning in the fourth quarter of 2010, I am cautiously optimistic that our smartphone and tablet revenue growth will accelerate in 2011."

For the fiscal fourth quarter ending on December 31, 2010, Glu Mobile expects to see revenues between $14.0 million and $14.5 million. Non-GAAP net loss is expected to be between $3.0 million and $3.3 million. This number excludes some factors; most notably $2.3 million in restructuring costs for relocating Glu’s headquarters to San Francisco and planned headcount reductions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"While we continue to carefully manage costs, we expect to increase our investments in marketing to support the launch of our new products during the fourth quarter of 2010. With a significantly strengthened balance sheet, I am confident that Glu is in position to successfully implement its strategy,” said Eric R. Ludwig, Glu's Chief Financial Officer.

The company also forecasted financial earnings for the year ending on December 31, with expected revenue between $62.7 million and $63.2 million. Non-GAAP net loss is expected to be between $5.4 and $5.7 million.

Finally, Glu Mobile announced the addition of a new member to its Board today.

"We are delighted to announce that Ben T. Smith, IV, a pioneer in the freemium mobile gaming space, has joined our Board effective today," stated Bill Miller, Chairman of Glu. "Ben was one of the earliest investors in Tapulous and provided leadership to its Board through its sale to the Walt Disney Company earlier this year. He is also an investor and Board member in a number of other social platforms including having co-founded MerchantCircle and Spoke Software. We look forward to benefiting from his insights and support."

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PSP Phone could hit as soon as early 2011

A PSP Phone is a done deal, Engadget announced today – and to prove the point, the popular tech blog posted a slew of images of a black handset with Sony Ericsson branding. Engadget says the PlayStation phone prototype, pictured above, will feature a screen "in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches," 512MB of RAM, and a1GHz Qualcomm chip.

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Most important of all, the PSP Phone will get Android 3.0 "Gingerbread" software, catapulting the device to the front lines of smartphone tech. The phone will apparently be operated via a couple of D-pads, and a rectangle-shaped multitouch pad; it seems to be based in part on the PSP Go. Of course, all of this is very much up in the air – even if such a magical creature as a PlayStation phone does exist. (The rumor is not a new one.)

"The particular model in these shots is still in prototyping mode," Engadget's Joshua Topolsky writes today. "As such, the unit doesn't have a custom skin (not even SE's Timescape design seen on the Xperia devices), and is said to be rather buggy. We're digging into more facts as we speak, but it's likely that much of what we reported earlier is still accurate, and though the device could still be headed for a 2010 release, 2011 is looking much more realistic."

Engadget did not specify where it obtained the images.

Even if a PSP Phone does hit shelves in 2011, of course, it's unclear what kind of reception the machine would get. The smartphone market is already an extremely crowded place, with Apple and Nokia and a slew of Android-powered phones all jostling for attention. Presumably the PSP Phone would be targeted at hardcore gamers who also want to make phone calls once in a while – but isn't that what regular Android phones already do? You tell us.

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Batman 3, The Dark Knight Rises, steps into the light

After the Dark Knight had the most successful opening weekend in box office history, a sequel has only been a matter of time. Batman 3 has lurked in the shadows for two years now, revealing very little information about its whos, whats, and whys. Until today.

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In an interview with director Christopher Nolan, the LA Times unveiled the name of his upcoming sequel: The Dark Knight Rises.

"As with 'Dark Knight,' the new film has a script written by Nolan and his brother, Jonah, and it’s based on a story by the director and David Goyer," reports the Times.

Even though the plot has been nailed down, Nolan hasn't mentioned whom Batman will be chasing this time around. It's not the Joker. Not Mr. Freeze. And Nolan told the Times it would not be the Riddler either.

Deadline reported this month that Inception costar Tom Hardy has accepted "a lead role" in the movie – presumably as a foil. On top of Hardy's role in Inception, Nolan's last film, the actor will headline the upcoming Mad Max reboot and has signed up for Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and McG's romantic comedy This Means War.

Nolan also mentioned The Dark Knight Rises will not be filmed in 3D. He opted for IMAX instead.

Any guesses on what role Tom Hardy will play? There aren't many classic characters left. Dr. Hugo Strange? Clayface? Man-Bat?

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Mike Haggar may be joining the fight

Remember Final Fight? The iconic side-scroller, first released by Capcom in coin-op format in 1989, helped usher in a new generation of arcade gaming – and introduced the world to characters such as Cody, Guy, and Mayor Mike Haggar. In the two decades since, Cody and Guy have both taken repeated star turns in the Street Fighter franchise, but Haggar has been relegated mostly to cameo roles in other games.

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Now comes word that Mike Haggar – a mustachioed, brawny, bare-chested brawler, with a mean drop-kick and an arsenal of professional wrestling moves – may soon be climbing back on the national stage, this time as a character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. The evidence comes from a gallery of photographs from the Capcom Halloween office party.

The gallery was comprised mostly standard fare office-party stuff: Zombie and Flintstones and Snow White and the Seven Dwarf costumes abounded. But one image caught the attention of a few eagle-eyed bloggers. The image in question shows a Capcom employee sitting in front of a computer screen; the screen is open to a big image of Mike Haggar. (The photo has apparently been pulled down from the Capcom site, but several blogs, including Ripten, have preserved the evidence – and even magnified the pertinent part of the image. Yep, that's Haggar, alright.)

So it's not a reboot of Final Fight. But assuming this is all legit – and not some Halloween prank from the kids at Capcom – a playable Mike Haggar avatar would be the next best thing. This Horizons blogger has fond and enduring memories of late nights spent steering Cody and Guy and Haggar through dingy subway cars in the console version of Final Fight – controlling Haggar in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would be a trip down memory lane.

Here's hoping.

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EA Ships its Next "Harry Potter" Videogame

Electronic Arts proved the power of the movie tie-in today, shipping Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to retail outlets in North America just in time to capitalize on the movie's opening.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban includes a lot of firsts, both for the "Harry Potter" franchise and for the PS2. For starters, the game marks the first "Potter" game in which players can play as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as well as Harry Potter, switching between characters to resolve challenges and overcome enemies.

In addition, the game is the first third-party title to support Sony's EyeToy peripheral (read DailyGame's review). Using the peripheral, up to four players can compete in a series of Potter-themed games, including Zonko?s Joke Shop, Exploding Snap, Chocolate Frogs and more.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is available for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance and Windows.

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[E3] SEGA Confirms Two Nintendo DS Titles

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"Mighty Beanz" Come to GBA

If you thought it was more than enough to see Pokemon, Digimon and all the other fad toys become game titles, look out, because now "Mighty Beanz" have come to the game world. Majesco just shipped Mighty Beanz Pocket Puzzles, a game where you have to match up the upper and lower halves of little Beanz characters.

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Sierra Games Closing Its Doors?

Sierra Games, a perennial fan-favorite game developer, is all but closing its doors, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, with 110 employees being laid off in the next two months.

The mass layoff will eliminate nearly all the jobs once offered by the studio. It comes as part of a larger, 350-employee "restructuring" at Vivendi Universal Games.

There has been no word yet about what will happen to the games currently under development at Sierra, but presumably all development and publishing rights will make a transition to parent company VU Games.

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NES Classic Comes to GBA

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DailyGame's "Best of E3" Awards

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"Metal Slug" Games Get European Publisher

Metal Slug 3, an old-school-style arcade franchise that recently released on Xbox, got a European publisher today. Ignition Entertainment will publish the game, along with Metal Slug Advance.

Both games are scheduled to release throughout Europe in October 2004.

Other Recent News-

Fun, but far from finished

The most authentic WWII game on any console.

Oh my, if it plays as good as it looks -- we must have it.

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[E3] Nintendo DS: Hands-On, Updated Impressions

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GBA Sees New "Shining Force" Game

A publisher normally known for its console role-playing games shipped one of its classics today, but surprisingly, it went to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Atlus U.S.A. today shipped a remake of its strategy RPG Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon for the Game Boy Advance. The game includes 12 playable characters, including three entirely new ones, that players can use to battle Dark forces.

The new GBA game is being billed as a "classic tactical RPG."

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"SuperSonic Warriors" Attack the GBA

Atari shipped DragonBallZ: Supersonic Warriors for the GBA today. The game pits characters from the animated series against one another in fierce 2D battles in the air and on the ground.

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Crash and Spyro Return to the GBA

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E3 Hands-On Video: Nintendo DS

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Nintendo Names its Next Console

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Which Is The Better System? Nintendo DS2 or PSP2?

The Nintendo DS2 is the newest of the Nintendo DS portable gameboys. It's backed up by one of the best known gaming systems known as Nintendo, a company thats been around for many years. The PSP2 is the newest of the PSP systems. This playstation portable gaming device has only been around for a few years but it is backed up by Sony Playstation which has also been around for almost as many years as Nintendo company. With incredible graphics, the PSP2 can rival those graphics of that of the PS3 systems. However, the Nintendo DS2 has some pretty good graphics as well. Both these gaming systems have great games set out for them, but it's your preference to decide whether or not you like the games for the PSP2 more or the Nintendo DS2 games.