Monthly Archives: December 2011

Inevitably, Activision already has a new Call of Duty game on the cards – and Sledgehammer is on board.

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In Journey, players are free to interact or not as they choose, but thatgamecompany has built a space in which makes hanging out with others attractive.

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Minecraft Pocket Edition – which Android users can get for 10 cents, by the way – will updated with some of the survival features of the core release.

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Gamespot’s hosting an exclusive look at the Scorched Desert in Funcom’s MMO, The Secret World. Apparently, the biblical plagues of old have returned to Egypt, but with a vengeance: we’ve never seen such nasty looking locust in our life. They appear to be on steroids. Also, a cult with ancient origins is raising the dead, which isn’t good either. It’s up to the player to combat all of this, and combat it you will, when the game releases in April 2012. Check out the video below.

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Major League Gaming drew record-breaking audiences during its 2011 Pro Circuit, even out-performing cable TV networks.

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Ubisoft has appealed a decision the Californian court made when it denied the firm a temporary restraining order against OG International’s Get Up and Dance title. The firm’s initial claim was that dance game used Avatars and instructors with resemblances “nearly identical” to those in Just Dance. According to the US District Court Judge on the case, Charles R. Breyer, Ubisoft has not “clearly demonstrated likelihood they are substantially similar,” and the dance title is now allowed to go on sale in the US. The UK release was unaffected by the proceedings. Thanks, MCV.

Vogster has announced CrimeCraft’s second expansion, GangWars, is now live via the official website and Steam.

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Over 10 billion apps and games have been downloaded for Android devices at a rate of 1 billion a month. Google hasn’t said how many were games, nor did it provide a breakdown between free and paid downloads. Last month, Google announced that over 200 million Andorid devices had been activated since the first system arrived on the market in October 2008. As a way to celebrate, several Andorid Market games and applications have been marked down to $0.10 for the next 10 days. These include: Asphalt 6 HD and Minecraft among others. Thanks, Gamasutra.

GameStop has outed some upcoming DLC for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations called The Mediterranean Traveler Map Pack, and has it listed for a January 24 release. It’s rumored to include maps for multiplayer modes, some of which were seen in Brotherhood: Siena, Jerusalem, Dyers, San Donato, Firenze and the Imperial District of Constantinople. The retailer has it listed for $9.99. Thanks, D’toid.

Tripwire Interactive has announced the Killing Floor Twisted Christmas 2 event which starts December 7 and runs through January 4. The event features an all new level, Ice Cave, as well as new Twisted Christmas music. There’s also the Winter Weapon Pack, which contains seven new weapons with Achievements, and are free to everyone who owns the game. The change to unlock the Achievement Baddest Santa is also back, in case you missed out last year. The Steampunk 2 character pack is also to be made available. Also, the game will be free to play this weekend as well. Hit up the break for screens and a list of weapons.

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Director Gore Verbinski’s Blind Wink Productions has signed on with Microsoft to create content for Xbox 360 and various other MS platforms, which we assumes means WP7 and PC.

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An industrious Skyrim modder has posted a video showing how the PC version of the game works with Kinect. As shown in the video below, using a Blootuth headset the voice control component of Kinect is used for shouts and menu navigation, and of course, the techs prerequisite arm-swinging will implement weapon and magic attacks. Links for how he implemented the tech are through the YouTube link here. Thanks, CVG.

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Sony has updated its PS Plus offerings for the month of December, and the magic starts tomorrow, with Tomb Raider: Underworld for free. The full list for both the US and Europe is below the break.

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Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has said the firm expects 3DS to sell 4 million units by its first anniversary on the market, as the system gets closer to the 3 million sold mark.

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Michael Gove, Education Secretary for the UK’s Department for Education, has publicly backed a skills review co-authored by Ian Livingstone and agrees that the digital skills gap affecting UK games development studios can be curtailed by supporting computer science as part of the national curriculum.

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A new PC indie bundle is in the works and will feature titles such as Frozen Synapse, Explodemon and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee with proceeds benefiting various charities through GamesAid.

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Rockstar has announced that Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition will be available for iOS and Android devices on the App Store and Android Marketplace starting December 15 for $4.99. You can look at shots of it here, and a list of devices to be supported at launch are below.

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Newzoo has found that 36% or 14 million of 39 million active MMO gamers in the US play games that have a SciFi or Space theme, while in European and emerging markets, SciFi is less popular with 27% (9.5 million) and 26% (11.5 million) of all MMO gamers playing the genre.

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“We started off with an amalgamation of Hugh Jackman and Clint Eastwood, and the resulting render looked remarkably similar to James Marsden – so we were like ‘Okay, scratch that one out’. As we were going, there was something about a concept sketch of some ethnicity or other that wasn’t just the the generic Caucasian guy and we were all drawn to it. We started riffing on that character and ended up with Heller. It’s more about conveying the stature, the position and swagger of a hero. Skin colour is obviously involved and that’s where we ended up but it’s not where we started”. – Radical studio head Ken Rosman and Activision’s MacLean Marshall to OPM.

A list of job openings at Ubisoft Quebec state the firm is looking to develop an AAA MMORPG, along with a Wii U title.  A tweet from Ubisoft communications specialist Emile Gauthier (spotted by NeoGAF) noted the job listings, which point to the recruitment page. While it’s unclear at the moment if Ubisoft is creating the MMO for Wii U, because as suggested, the listing could just be tossed in together, Nintendo has previous stated that any online component in Wii U would be the responsibility of the publisher. At this point, we’re leaning towards the two-projects opinion. We’ll send a mail and see if we can get a clearer picture on the matter. Thanks, Shack.