Monthly Archives: June 2009

IGN’s posted up a ton of new shots of the PSP version of Gran Turismo. They’re very pretty.

The game’s out as a PSP Go push later this year.

Ex-id, ex-ION Storm “legend” John Romero clearly isn’t a fan of Zenimax buying id Software.

On hearing the news, Romero tweeted, “ZENIMAX??????? Disgusting.”

Good gravy. There was more. Big John went on to claim that “Fallout 3 bought DOOM.”

Romero’s making iPhone games at the moment.

Thanks, GamerVision.

EA has confirmed to VG247 that it will still publish id Software’s Rage, despite the developer announcing a sale to Zenimax today.

“EA’s agreement with id Software for RAGE remains unchanged,” said a rep.

Zenimax said earlier today it had bought the legendary Quake developer, calling into doubt the eventual home of the firm’s shooter-driver cross.

Rage was announced at last year’s Quakecon, and got a subsequent showing at what turned out to the the last Games Convention in Leipzig.

The game has no date as yet.

Clover developer Binary Tweed has told Digital Spy that the Xbox Live Community Games market is too small to be “financially viable”, and that the service’s only use is as an “arena for proving concepts”.

“It’s a shame to say that Clover has not sold as many copies as we’d hoped for. As it stands, through Community Games alone, we definitely won’t recoup costs,” said company boss Daniel Jones.

“Frustratingly enough, the critical reception to the game has been good. The size of the XBLCG market is prohibitively small to be financially viable, so I can only see it being of use to Binary Tweed as an arena for proving concepts.”

Whoops. More through there. Thanks, GI.

Heads up, hot shots. Microsoft just confirmed a hands-on Halo 3 ODST press event in London next month.

It’s happening on July 20, and Bungie’s in the house for interviews.

Are you going? We are. We’ll let you know about the near-certain comedy embargo details when we get them.

Warhammer Online developer Mythic’s confirmed that well-known studio head Mark Jacobs has left his role.

EA has formed a new MMO and RPG division, to be headed by BioWare boss Ray Muzyka.

BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk, will become Group Creative Officer of the new division.

“We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward,” said Mythic in a statement.

“Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.”

His the link for the full thing.

Bethesda parent Zenimax has bought id Software.

Kotaku’s got an interview with John Carmack live.

“We’re really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured,” Carmack said.

“And we’ve really gotten more IPs than we’ve been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn’t been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship.

“They are tripe A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes.”

The end-goal of the sale, said Carmack, is for id to handle its own IPs.

“We can build the pipeline and have a regular pipeline of releases.”

Hit the link. Now.

Update: Press release added. Below the drop.

More »

Modern Warfare 2 has lost a sizeable lump of brand awareness by dropping the Call of Duty moniker, tracking firm OTX has told Gamasutra.

Apparently, Infinity Ward and Activision may have damaged retail chances by up to 20 percent with the move.

“Up until the beginning of May, OTX had been tracking the title as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. More specifically, we asked a representative group of gamers in the U.S. whether or not they had heard of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” said OTX’s Nick Williams.

“At that time, approximately 40 percent of all gamers in the U.S. claimed that they had heard of this title.”

He continued: “However, once it became clear that Activision was positioning the title as Modern Warfare 2, OTX removed ‘Call of Duty’ from the consumer survey, and the awareness levels dropped to 20 percent. In other words, the Call of Duty brand association essentially doubles the awareness for the game. That is quite a remarkable statistic.”

More through the link.

Remember that survey about Netflix for Wii? Well, there’s been another one. And this time its dropped the notion of a $10 set-up fee.

The initial survey mooted the idea of a “Netflix Instant Streaming Disc” for $10. This time it noted the disc would be “available for free.”

Could be pie dans le sky, obviously. More on Joystiq.

Head of Vin Diesel’s Tigon Studios, Ian Stevens, reckons plenty of those in Hollywood are simply forced into games for financial reasons.

“There’s certainly no shortage of guys that look at games and see them as toys, and meaningless bullshit, and now look at revenue – and for their own survival’s sake have to care, and have to get involved,” said Stevens of the Hollywood community.

“I think a lot of it has changed because we’re making so much more money than they are.”

Poor old Hollywood. Read more about who wears the pants in LA’s New World Order on GI.

World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 will add quest markers to players’ maps, as you can see from the update’s notes.

This means you’ll just be able to see instantly where you’re supposed to be going. The hardcore will probably quit in disgust.

The patch is on the game’s test realms at the moment. Thanks, CVG.

Glu’s to release a mobile version of Modern Warfare 2, the company said today.

It’s out in the fourth quarter for app stores that support Android, Blackberry, BREW, J2ME and Windows Mobile.

Press release here.

Good grief. EG.de’s posted a teaser movie for Color Changing Tingle’s Love Balloon Trip, the new DS Tingle game announced in Famitsu this morning.

Our words bounce off this video like peas fired at tanks. Please watch.

Agent, the PS3 “exclusive” Take-Two announced in Sony’s press conference at E3, is set in the 70s, Take-Two boss Ben Feder’s told EG.

“It’s a completely different storyline, there is completely different character development,” the exec said of the title’s similarities to GTA.

“It’s a game about espionage, set in the 1970s. GTA is obviously more about an urban experience, a typically rags to riches experience. Very, very different storylines, very different character development. It’s going to be very fresh for gamers.”

Feder refused to flesh out what the firm meant by the term “exclusive” in regards to Agent.

“These are all relationship matters and contractual matters,” he said. “When we talk about our relationships and our exclusivity for PS3 and Agent, for example, we don’t disclose anything beyond what we’ve already said.

“But we think it’s important for us to be with Sony, and it’s important for Sony, I think, to be with us. The game promises to be one of the best games available because of who’s developing it, and because of the subject matter.”

Interview through the link.

Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz isn’t impressed with Natal. In fact, he reckons Sony’s motion-sensing set-up for PS3 is a better propostition for the hardcore gamer.

“Natal appeared to me to be a technological solution in search of a problem,” said Creutz, speaking to Gama.

“I had a very hard time envisioning playing Modern Warfare 3 using Natal,” he said, adding, “By contrast, I had a very easy time envisioning it (and enjoying it) using Sony’s control/motion capture scheme.”

Creutz added that Microsoft is aiming at Wii’s casual audience with Natal – “a difficult proposition given that you’re essentially asking casual gamers to upgrade twice during the cycle.”

Thanks, Joystiq.

THQ’s split its internal business into three units, each with a new boss.

Danny Bilson will head up “Core Games,” Doug Clemmer is to take on “Kids, Family and Casual Games” and Steve Dauterman gets “Online”.

International executive VP Ian Curran has been promoted to executive VP of global publishing.

There’s more on Edge.

While Rockstar Vancouver’s the primary developer for the upcoming Max Payne 3, other studios within the company are contributing to the game, the publisher said this morning.

The third in the bad-cop-bad-cop series releases for PC, PS3 and 360 this winter, and features an older Max whiling away the years in a gun-infested Brazil.

AppGamer’s reporting that those finishing Mass Effect Galaxy, the BioWare iPhone spin-off released yesterday, will get a reward for doing so in the upcoming Mass Effect 2.

Which doesn’t release until early next year. But still. See proof through the link.

Nintendo’s confirmed two new Tingle titles in the latest issue of Famitsu, Kotaku reports.

The first is a DS sequel called Color Changing Tingle’s Love Balloon Trip. Apparently, the theme is “woman”. Christ only knows.

The second is a DSiWare game called Too Much Tingle Pack and is a set of “mini tools”.

Hit the link for more. Check out posing-pouch Tingle in the top left.

It’s finally been confirmed that Microsoft bought Israeli tech firm 3DV.

Israeli business daily Globes reports that Microsoft’s Moshe Lichtman mentioned 3DV in a press conference relating to Microsoft’s R&D centre in Israel.

“The R&D centre helped Microsoft in buying the intellectual property of 3DV Systems, and in the wake of that dozens of the company’s employees were recruited to work at the development centre,” Lichtman said.

Globes says the Antitrust Authority approved the deal “a few days” ago.

3DV’s tech has been long-rumoured as the basis for Natal, but Microsoft claimed at E3 that the 360 motion system was built in-house.

There’s more on Eurogamer.