Tag Archives: ign

Future US staff have been culled in a wave of lay-offs, while IGN has scrapped two entire sites.

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It’s being reported that both Future’s US arm and IGN have been hit with lay-offs. At least five people have been let go from Future due to the company reorganising its games and technology groups, according to Folio. At IGN, least four staffers there have been let go, according to Gama, with UGO.com also affected. 1UP.com, however, has not.

All the best to those affected.

IGN is in the process of selling Direct2Drive, its digital distribution service to Gamefly.

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The beautiful snowflakes of games media just got a tiny bit less diverse. IGN has apparently snapped up UGO Networks, the parent company of 1UP, amid talk the former is set to split from its own parent, News Corp.

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Sad news this morning: IGN’s laying off a fair bit of its staff, although specific numbers weren’t given in an internal memo by CEO Roy Bahat.

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If this screengrab is correct, IGN’s going to be giving God of War III a straight 10.

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IGN’s bought WhatTheyPlay.com, as you can see here.

“As videogames become a mainstream form of entertainment, offering insight about game content that helps parents make informed decisions about what games are appropriate will be a useful service. We are excited to welcome What They Play into the IGN fold.” said IGN’s Peer Schneider.

WhatTheyPlay was set up two years ago in order to educate parents about games in general.

No financial terms were disclosed.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Whoops. Either IGN’s “having a laugh” on the subject of PS3 Slim, or someone just made a rather large booboo.

Speaking in the latest Game Scoop! podcast, an IGN staffer appears to confirm the site has a PS3 Slim. The other speakers then say the console is “under wraps” and someone timestamps the recording to edit the comment out.

Guess someone forgot to make the cut. Either that or it’s all a “joke”.

Here’s the transcript:

“Because we have one for real.”

“Yeah, but that’s…”

“Yeah, but that’s under wraps.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to say that, was I?”

“We can edit that out. David can edit that out.”

“45 minutes. OK.”

You can listen to the clip at the link. Go from 45 minutes. The comment comes at 45.35.

We’ll ask IGN and Sony for comment on Monday.

IGN’s posted three movies of a live E3 demo of Heavy Rain, with the game being played by Quantic Dream’s David Cage.

It’s a 15-minute play-through of the scrapyard sequence with Cage and two IGN editors talking over the top.

If it’s bonkers real-time graphics you’re after, look no further.

The game’s out later this year. Maybe.

After the break.

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IGN’s finally made a move on the German market, buying community site GIGA.de.

The site tracks at 700,000 UU per month, and was described by IGN today as “one of the most popular and highly trafficked gaming Internet sites in Germany”.

“We are extremely excited about welcoming GIGA.DE as part of IGN Entertainment and continuing our international expansion by entering the German market for the first time,” said IGN international boss, Chris Ellis.

“As gamers ourselves we’re passionate about the industry and are always looking for ways to support the local gaming industry and fans. The German gaming market is one of the biggest in Europe, and the massive potential it offers made it a natural choice for us.”

IGN’s been skirting the non-English-speaking European market for years, having set up IGN UK in 2006.

Press release after the hop.

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Why do M-rated games lack success on Nintendo platforms? Because Nintendo’s “broader than that,” apparently. Sega and Rockstar must be thrilled.

“I’m not going to make an argument for why certain M-rated games, as you say, don’t achieve a certain amount of momentum on the Nintendo platform,” NoA corporate affairs VP Denise Kaigler told IGN at GDC yesterday.

“We’re broader than that. And that’s what our contribution to this industry is. We are making sure that we make games for a broad consumer platform from age five to 95, and that really has worked well for us.”

GTA: Chinatown Wars charted at six in the UK rankings on release, while Sega’s MadWorld only managed to place at 34. Why? Ask Sega.

“We’re not saying that certain games can’t succeed on Wii,” Kaigler added.

“We want those games. We want people to bring those opportunities to us. So I opened up my answer to your question by saying talk to Sega, talk to those guys.”

Sure it’s not because Nintendo hardware’s explosive growth this generation has been a result of selling in to non-gamers? We think it might be.

That interview’s well worth a read.

Seen Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder? That’s Chris Ellis. The exec was made “Senior Vice President & Managing Director, International” of IGN today. He probably has a G5 “airplane”.

He was previously a commercial boss at MySpace.

“I’m excited about building on these accomplishments, there’s a job to be done ensuring that our breadth and reach outside of the United States is recognised in the industry”, said Ellis.

“I’m here to make sure that our achievements in terms of user numbers and quality local content are mirrored
in our commercial success.”

Press release after the break.

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The Interactive Achievement Awards are to be broadcast live by IGN, taking place at DICE in Las Vegas next week.

The annual Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awards are pretty much “hot shit,” self-styled as they are as gaming’s Oscars.

The magic happens at on Thursday, February 19 and 10.00pm EST, 7.00pm PST.

For the UK crowd, that’s 3.00am GMT. See you there, right?

IGN’s yanked footage of Star Wars Battlefront III due to LucasArts pressure.

The publisher told the site the movie of Free Radical’s project – confirmed as real by insiders – was “the intellectual property of Lucasfilm” and had “been posted without permission.”

It looks as though the Kotaku footage we posted last week has also been pulled.

The off-screen video was taken from an alpha meeting at Free Radical last year.

Free Rad was apparently relieved of the project in 2008, months before entering administration. Pandemic is thought to be working on the game at the moment.

IGN reckons it’s got the skinny on exactly when Nintendo’s new DSi will be reaching American shores.

The site claims are “multiple sources” have revealed that Nintendo “has allegedly relayed to its partners that DSi will ship stateside in early April, most likely on April 4,” so the rumour goes.

“Insiders assert that they have been told the system will retail for $179.99 when it launches domestically.”

DSi launched in Japan on November 1 last year.

The impossibly popular handheld sold over 1 million units on December 21 – that’s a little under two months, people.

Nintendo has previously stated that Europe will get DSi in the Spring.

By Mike Bowden

Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson has declined to remark on a 2/10 IGN US review for Football Manager 2009, saying criticism of the piece is best left to user comments.

“I’m not a reviewer and therefore don’t think it’s my place to critique critique’s, nor am I likely to be anything but biased,” he said.

“Therefore I’ll leave the comments to the people who are playing the game and are commenting on the website about the review.”

IGN US published the review on Friday, closing with: “The menus are complex and difficult to navigate, graphics are terrible, the sound is non-existent and there is no traditional gameplay to speak of. I couldn’t imagine why anybody would prefer Worldwide Soccer Manager to FIFA 09 or Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.”

IGN UK gave the game 9.1/10, saying the game “is still easily the most in-depth, enjoyable and addictive way to pretend you manage a football team.”

The fans have been less than appreciative of the American review.

“This is without a doubt the worst review in the history of the site,” said one, with another adding, “This is easily one of the most ill-informed reviews I’ve read in the last several years.”

IGN’s score has dragged the game’s Metacritic average down significantly: it now rests at 74 percent.

The IGN scores for Prince of Persia are in, with the Americans going for 9.3 and their British counterparts posting a 9.4 score.

Ubi boss said in an earnings call last night that expectations for the game were high internally.

It’s out on Xbox 360 and PS3 on December 5.

European readers can get a Resistance 2 beta key from IGN if they’re quick – get over there right now.

The site’s got 7,000 keys, 2,000 of which are reserved for Founder’s Club subscribers.

More through there.

IGN’s reviewed Wii Music to a 5/10 score, as you can see here. Not that it’ll make a blind bit of difference to its sales, but there we are. Snip:

I think most adults will quickly recognize that Wii Music is little more than a noise maker tied to a series of gestures and grow bored of the experience in a matter of hours, if not minutes. The controls aren’t particularly intuitive , but gimmicky, and the selection of music is fundamentally flawed with both dated public domain songs rendered in equally dated MIDI. That Guitar Hero World Tour’s complementary modes — namely Mii Freestyle and advanced studio — completely obliterate the entire Wii Music package is proof just how much Nintendo’s game either doesn’t do or doesn’t do well.

Sounds amazing. Full thing through the link.

After the break. This is someone just playing the game raw, and it’s taken from the 360 version. There’s tons of spoilers here, so be warned. The co-op gameplay’s shown off to good effect and these files give a very clear indication of what the finished article’s going to be like.

Look and see.

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