According to the analyst firm, 56% of US households own a seventh generation gaming console. 65% are kept in the living room, although that figure rises to 75% when considering the Wii alone, and 13% in bedrooms. Up to 45% of all consoles are primed to serve as entertainment hub, being positioned in the living room and connected to the Internet; streaming entertainment usage of consoles climbed over 2010 results.

Time spent gaming is also increasing, with a 7% growth over last year. Tablets and mobiles are growing quickly, but the Wii had dropped by 22%. Nielsen said growth in gaming is being driven by increased engagement, saying more than half of all players use more than one device.

The research firm said gaming spend is largely flat compared to 2010, but what people are spending on is changing – the Xbox 360 has managed to increase its share by 10% and the digital market is up 8%. The Wii dropped 10%, while sales of both new and used packaged games had decreased by 8%.

Nielsen noted that half of all kids aged between six and 12 play on a DS, and that 39% of all US households have an iOS device. 66% of households with kids who own handheld consoles also have an iOS device. Android gaming is more popular among adults 25-34,but iPhone gaming is popular with all age groups.

Nielsen revealed the figures as part of a webinar on US gaming trends earlier today; the full presentation will be made available soon.

Thanks, Shack. [image]

Innovative Leisure was founded by Seamus ”Father of the Xbox” Blackley, Van Burnham, Ed Logg of Asteroids, Centipede, and Gauntlet fame, Rich Adam, Tim Skelly, Owen Rubin , and Ed Rotberg.

The agreement will focus on creating and publishing digital games through digital and mobile platforms, as well as social and downloadable platforms.

“We are always looking to work with the best creative talent in the video games industry and we feel this relationship with Innovative Leisure reinforces our goal,” said Danny Bilson, THQ EVP in the press release. “We are committed to delivering creative games through digital distribution and Innovative Leisure has the expertise to deliver remarkable and cutting edge games for a new generation.”

“It’s a great honor (and a lot of fun) to get the opportunity to work with so many of the designers responsible for the gameplay mechanics that form the basis of our whole medium,” said Seamus Blackley, Innovative Leisure president. “We’re excited about getting to make and release a bunch of awesome games.”

More information on Innovative Leisure can be found through a bang-up interview with Blackley over on VentureBeat.

Wedgwood, head of the UK team behind Brink, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, said “2012 is going to be a very special year for Splash Damage. In fact, it’s going to be the most significant year in our history.”

He confirmed that news games will come from the studio this year, and that new releases will be geared towards “enormous changes” being experienced by the modern games industry.

“We’ve got several significant announcements to make in the coming weeks and months,” he said.

“We’ve hired some amazing new talent, strengthening our team in key areas. We’ll be revealing new titles – both on platforms we’ve previously visited (including the PC and the world’s leading consoles), as well as exploring spaces completely new to us. Finally, we’ve got some special things planned to take full advantage of the changes our industry is experiencing. This is a hugely exciting time for everyone here at the studio and we can’t wait to tell you about all the cool things we’ve got in store for you this year.”

Splash Damage’s latest release was Brink, shipped by Bethesda in 2011.

Wedgwood added: “In 2001 we went from a mod team to a professional developer. In the 10 years that followed, we became an AAA multi-platform developer, shipped three big multiplayer titles, worked on licensed properties and even created an original new universe. We’ve learned a lot from each of our games, and especially learned from the mistakes that we’ve made too.

“As gamers, we’ve also seen enormous changes in the past decade. We can now play multiplayer games online no matter what the platform is. Thanks to the wonders of digital distribution, we can buy games directly from their developers, and play them immediately. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are more widespread than ever before, and these let us play wherever we are. More recently, the rise of good free-to-play games has allowed players to get their feet wet without demanding a big investment upfront.

“And, awesomely, despite an entire decade’s worth of premature obituaries, the PC as a gaming platform is looking healthier than ever. All of this is transforming the ways games are made, sold, and played.”

That’s Kristen Schall of Flight of the Conchords, that is. She’s promoting the version optimised for Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, but Konami probably won’t mind if you play it on other devices.

PES 2012 is available now on the Android Marketplace, for AUD $5.76 or regional equivalent, and on iDevice, a freemium version is available.

Thanks, PocketGamer.

Thanks, CVG.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Thanks, games.on.net.

Andriasang reports Shenmue City closed down on December 26, just one year from launch. Probably another nail in Shenmue 3′s already thoroughly secured coffin.

The Japan-exclusive social title – also called Shenmue Gai, Town or World – was restricted to the mobile version of Mobage, but was expected to come to browsers eventually. It was free-to-play and supported by microtransactions.

Shenmue City was the debut title from developer Ys Net, but was directed by series creator Yu Suzuki.

The Shenmue franchise has achieved notoriety over its sporadic history; the first game was the most expensive ever developed at the time of its 1999 launch as a flagship Dreamcast property, and the series’s critical praise but lacklustre sales have strong analogies with the Dreamcast itself. A promised third entry has become something of a running joke as fans leap on every hint and rumour while Sega repeatedly issues denials.

Thanks, MTV Multiplayer. [image]

VG247 has seen the device, as well as an internal video presentation that showed a man covered in various motion sensors playing a snowboarding game on a TV.

The unit itself has a trigger on the bottom and another main button on top, as well as four coloured play buttons under the Nokia logo.

Staff working on the prototypes used to “wear” up to seven of them while testing, as well as holding them in two hands.

The unit we saw, which you can see in the gallery below, included gyroscopes, magnetometers and accelerometers. Nokia also created another version with a joystick, giving five degrees of freedom in one hand. The team used to play Halo, Prince of Persia “and those kind of games” with the controller.

Nokia’s well-documented failure in the games space meant the device never came to market, but shows clearly that the firm had designs on the higher end of the market.

Functionality appears to be similar to the Zeemote, a current third-party peripheral compatible with Nokia’s phone.

“”We’ll keep on the lookout to see what the next gen will bring, but if they want more focus on tech specs rather than usability and accessibility, I don’t think it will be for us,” Olifiers said. “I hate the fact you cannot play a game on the PS3 against the same game on the 360 or PC. Walled gardens in a world where people are freely connected all the time is just a dumb idea that limits what is achievable.”

“Valve is bang on: proprietary stuff is madness, we should be moving to more open platforms, to interoperability, bringing everyone together. If this is not the motto for the big console manufacturers, not only will we not be there — they’re likely to die a horrible premature death, the kind of which I think the Vita will suffer from.”

It’s an interesting story, but we’re taking this with a grain of salt. People who say things along the lines of “if you don’t follow my advice, your company will die a horrible death” don’t tend to be high up on our list of trustworthy sources. That said, there’s no question Vita faces a tough road ahead.

Via Destructoid.

More on Kotaku Australia.

It will also include new menus, achievements and graphics.

Various retailers will also be celebrating, with US chains Barnes & Noble hosting special events and giveaways on Sunday, December 11 from 11am and 3pm, and Toys ‘R’ Us offering Angry Birds merchandise at 25% off, along with a code unlocking a special level in Angry Birds Chrome.

In London, Forbidden Planet will be celebrating, and in Japan, Rovio CMO Peter Vesterbacka will be holding a presentation at the Apple Store in Ginza. A special event will also take place in Tokyo’s Harajuku.

Angry Birds has been downloaded 500 million times in its two years on the market.

Thanks, Edge.

– Halfbrick’s Luke Muscat, speaking to Kotaku. Fruit Ninja is available for iOS, Kinect, Windows Phone 7, and is part of the Android Marketplace’s rotating selection of 10 cent apps today, so no excuses.

In a post on Mojang’s blog, business developer Daniel Kaplan explained that the Android version has gone without updates since its exclusive launch while the iOS port was in the works, to avoid the problems of varying feature sets.

Now that the two are nearly on par, Mojang will be working to add new features to both – without fully replicating the core version on Mac and PC.

While the developer has no dates to share at this time, it does have a to-do list:

• A new file system – to make sure we can support items and mobs in the world
• Item system – to be able to pick up items
• Crafting – we know you want this This will probably need some iterations since the interface will be customized for the touch devices
• Inventory system
• Mobs – animals and enemies!
• Optimizing rendering code – we are experimenting with caves but need to make it work better before we are able to release it
• Clean up of code and overall optimization

Thanks, Kotaku.

At a recent press conference, DeNA announced a few details for its upcoming Final Fantasy title for the Japanese Mobage platform.

Final Fantasy Brigade will put players in control of airships as they seek, in true Final Fantasy tradition, to rebuild a shattered crystal by battling mythical beasties. Levelling, character jobs and battles with rival airship pilots will also feature. 4gamer.net has a screen shot or two showing character art that Silconera describes as being in the style of Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Brigade is expected to launch in Japan towards the end of this month, no details have been announced concerning the title’s availability outside of Japan.

VentureBeat reports Rumble Entertainment has secured $15 million in funding, with the majority contributed by Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

The new studio in Redwood already has 25 staffers on board. Besides Richardson, other notable names include Mark Spenner, who founded EA2D before it became BioWare San Francisco, World of Warcraft lead designer John Yoo.

Rumble doesn’t plan to become just another mobile gaming developer, and isn’t interested in wooing the FarmVille and Smurfs Village crowd.

“The future of video games points not at the casual audience, but rather people who know they love video games,” Richardson said, adding that the studio’s vision is to “marry what makes console and PC games wonderful in terms of engagement and immersion with the lifestyle of not always being in front of a big-screen television.”

“It’s all about finding the very best developers in the world and letting them do what they do best, which is letting them make great games.”

Asked about Infinity Blade, often considered one of the best core-like mobile experiences, Richardson was complimentary but dismissive.

“I think they’ve just barely scratched the surface in terms of potential and in terms of game design,” he said.

“The thing that they did that’s close to the old world way of thinking is that they’re still charging for the download. They’re not embracing the notion that users, I think, want to play games if they fall in love with them.”

That said, Rumble’s aware of the distaste many gamers feel for micro transactions and other new models, and wants to find ways to monetise “in a way that feels indicative of the kind of value they’re getting”.

“Not that they have to pay up front or that they’re feeling manipulated by the game to invite a hundred friends or, you know, just having some silly energy bar being bolted onto the game,” he added.

The studio has two games in development but isn’t ready to share details.

“We’re amazed at how rapidly Unity continues to grow in popularity globally,” said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies in the press release. “The continuing growth of the platform demonstrates that when provided with excellent tools, developers will embrace them in numbers that surpass anything anyone imagined.”

This announcement comes amid the one year anniversary of the Unity digital Asset Store and Union distribution service. The Unity Asset Store housed 64 packages for sale when it opened a year ago, and today, over 50,000 registered users can find 2,200 packages ranging from add-ons to art assets. In the opening month, the top vendors were grossing $2,500 a month and at present, more than $10,000 a month.

Thanks, GI.biz.

When I sat down to write the article last week, I couldn’t quite believe it when I turned up the facts for this paragraph:

“The bestselling games this Christmas are so entrenched in sequelisation as to border on ridiculousness. We have the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the 14th Elder Scrolls release since 1994; we have Battlefield 3, the 19th Battlefield product published since 2002; and, most obviously, we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the Vaz-baiting, industry-crushing super-game built on seven previous releases in the Call of Duty franchise since 2003.”

Shocking. But not devastating. We aren’t facing a true crisis in gaming creativity as we’ve managed to skirt the traditional publisher model thanks to increases in ‘net speeds and the rise of digital distribution, and we’ve seen expansion away from reliance on the traditional, £40 game through the arrival of mobile gaming and the PC as an open platform.

So stop whining about shooting yet another man in the face: there’s so much variety out there it’s bewildering. Have a read.