Author Archives: Naren Hooson

Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer has announced that historic IP from veteran developer Rare Ltd. may make an appearance at E3 this year.
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In the wake of Microsoft’s Xbox One announcement, a group of technical specialists, hosted by Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, dissected the hardware and software capabilities of the upcoming console.
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With Microsoft’s Xbox One now unveiled, many are thinking they have taken on more than they can handle and are heading in a direction that could estrange the gamers. Several leading games analysts are now commenting, with varied opinions.
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Although perhaps somewhat overshadowed by the Xbox One announcement, Sony’s PS4 presentation combined with the response to the Xbox One has sent Sony’s share price up.
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20 May 2013 marked the 30th anniversary of the first games EA ever shipped. In a San Francisco warehouse back in 1983, all of the then EA employees, including programmers and the marketing department, all came together to pack the first five EA games to be released and ship them off to stores selling Commodore 64 games.
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John Riccitiello, former EA boss believes that PS4 and Xbox One will both be successful, saying, “I believe that console gaming is going to explode on the scene of consumer electronics with this next generation of consoles.”
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The EA Partners label, the contract-based publishing service for independent developers, is said to be closing.

Game Informer has apparently received “word from multiple anonymous sources close to the matter” regarding the closure. The Partners label is responsible for bringing the Crysis series, Shadows of the Damned, Alice: Madness Returns, Bulletstorm, Brutal Legend, the Rock Band series and more.

The news follows the departure of CEO John Riccitiello, recent layoffs around the world and the abandoning of relatively new Facebook titles from a studio that was acquired for $300 million.

Miiverse can now be accessed via computer or smartphone. Wii U’s social network has now launched on browsers in its beta phase to see what all your friends are up.

The browser version allows users to view their Activity Feed, friends list, notifications and more but not make new posts and new accounts. To use the Miiverse outside of a Wii U a Nintendo Network ID still needs to be setup on a Wii U. Thanks Joystiq.

There is still no word of when Miiverse will hit 3DS.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has announced in a financial results presentation that the company is not planning on holding a large presentation at E3 this year.
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For those who haven’t already purchased Snail Game’s Age of Wushu but are wanting to, now there is even more reason to grab it. A special retail version of the game, available online for $19.99, features training and a special adventure with Hero star Jet Li.
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The first round of tickets for BlizzCon are now available for purchase on the BlizzCon site. Tickets for the two day event held in Anaheim, California which starts November 8 are $175.

For those not ready to purchase tickets yet, another round of tickets go on sale on April 27 at 10am, courtesy of Shack News. The event will feature the 2013 StarCraft 2 eSports World Championship Series Global Finals, so fans better get in quick.

Blizzard will also announce pricing for Virtual Tickets of its live-streaming coverage down the track. Furthermore, tickets to the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner go on sale May 1.

Unity announced today that it will stop selling Flash deployment licenses but will continue support for Flash customer for the rest of the current cycle.

The news was posted on the Unity blog, courtesy of Shack News, and states the decision is due to Adobe not being committed to future Flash development, saying “We don’t see Adobe being firmly committed to the future development of Flash. This is evidenced by the cancellation of Flash Player Next, the instability of recent Flash Player versions and by Adobe’s workforce moving on to work on other projects. By introducing, and then abandoning, a revenue sharing model, Adobe eroded developers’ (and our) trust in Flash as a dependable, continuously improving platform.”

Adding to that, Unity states that its own Unity Web Player has seen unprecedented growth in recent months, already installed on over 200M computers and by 1/3 of all Facebook gamers.

The Lost Reels is a remixed port of the original 2009 House of the Dead shooter and is set for release on iOS tonight. Broken into three “movies” or parts, the initial download offers the first movie, Papa’s Palace of Pain, and on playthrough will unlock the second movie, Ballistic Trauma. Naked Terror, the third part, must be purchased though. Each movie is made up of four levels and a boss battle.
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Larian Studios Kickstarter campaign for Divinity: Original Sin has passed $700,000 in funding and will now see that all backers receive a digital copy of a unique Divinity audio CD that includes remastered and remixed music from Beyond Divinity and Divine Divinity.
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Keaven Freeman, lead developer on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Mythic Entertainment employee since 2007 has announced his departure today via his blog.
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A sequel to Adult Swim’s endless runner Robot Unicorn Attack has launched in New Zealand in the lead up to a North American release. The sequel is available for iOS devices and features two worlds, 12 boost abilities, unicorn customisation options in the form of bodies, manes, wings and more.
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Zynga, who acquired OMGPOP last year, have confirmed that Draw Something 2 is now available in the US for iOS devices. The sequel will feature a live social feed, player’s own gallery, a Free Draw mode that allows players to draw whatever they desire and share it with friends, new drawing tools and many new words.

Thanks to Polygon, who report the news was initially announced by Zynga CEO Mark Pincus during an investor call. The game is already available on iOS in Sweden (where it costs 22 kronor) and Canada (CA$2.99).

Beyond: Two Souls is the very first PlayStation exclusive to be screened at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Some footage has emerged showing Ellen Page’s character in a challenging situation, but more importantly shows what to expect visually, with part of the video hinted as gameplay.

Thanks to GameInformer, who have the bootleg video available for viewing.

The game, being developed by Quantic Dream which also made Heavy Rain, is said to have psychological, spiritual and thriller elements and explores what happens after death. It also stars Willem Dafoe and will be out on October 8, exclusively on PlayStation 3.

Telltale Games has released the launch trailer for Poker Night 2. The game is out today on the Xbox Live Marketplace, will be available on Steam on Friday 26th April followed by the PlayStation Network on the 30th April.
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Yager, the team behind Spec Ops: The Line, have come from a background of limited access to hardware and software resources to arrive where they are today. Originating in East Berlin, the early days saw the team deep in East Berlin’s piracy scene due to this lack of access.
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