PS Vita ‘Car Wreck’; Heavy Iron Scraps Device

BY

Nintendo has has had its difficulties with the 3DS and many within the gaming industry think that portends poorly for the PS Vita. Heavy Iron Studios has gone on record and said that Sony is in a bad way with their new portable system, even though it isn’t set to release for months.

“With all due respects to Sony and Vita, it’s a car wreck, said Heavy Iron Studio’s Matthew Seymour. And how about Xperia Play I’d love to pull up the numbers on that.

“If people aren’t willing to pay $249 for a Nintendo 3DS why would they pay $299 for Vita People don’t want to carry more than one thing in their pocket, that s why Android and iPhone have done so well, they are the devices of choice, they offers multiple functions outside of gaming,” added Heavy Iron president Lyle Hall. “The technology is sweet, I’m a huge fan of mobile technology, but I just don’t know there’s a market out there anymore for the hardware. I can t see why you would want to put a device out that only does games. The consumer has spoken. We wanted to see that world exist – more players, more opportunities for us, but at the same time people don’t want that. Unless there’s a super technology paradigm shift it s not going to shift back.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

MotorStorm Rages On With Mode Editor

BY

Sony announced today that MotorStorm Apocalypse was receiving a major editor. The biggest addition is that of the new Mode Editor that allow players to tweak the various modes for competition online and off.

Players can also share their various customized vehicles on MotorStorm.com. Also, support for the PlayStation Move and the Logitech G25, Logitech G27, Logitech Driving Force GT and Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheels has been added.

The online play of the game has been enhanced with new racer clan tags , changes to gambling, and changes to lobby privacy. The main MotorStorm website now includes player profiles which show off player activity, stats, performance over the last 10 races and shared vehicle designs and includes a mobile version to stay connected on the go.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Reebok Down With The Reethym Of Lite

BY

In order to promote their Classic Lite collection, Reebok teamed up with musician Swizz Beatz, director Chris Robinson and choreographer Hi-Hat to create a straightforward but impressive display of the brand, which appropriately old school in its style. Check out the other complimentary videos as well.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8mFY9O7tumQ
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9HtqRlE4Kns
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qEaD8p-QQ1I
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ED1aORERzMY

 

Assassin’s Creed: The Universe

BY

Ubisoft has released a new video detailing the full extent of everything that’s released for Assassin’s Creed in chronological order, which is quite a bit between the games, short films, comics and novels. They also continue the Assassin’s Creed tradition of using experimental rock songs in their trailers this one being Bear In Heaven’s You Do You.

 

‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’ Begs You To Enter

BY

The official site {link no longer active} for Guillermo Del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark takes the audience inside the creepy house of the film by utilizing user input and a webcam. To progress through the site, user’s must click and find different objects throughout the house. Proceed to Sally’s Room and find a tooth hidden under her pillow to see a short clip from the film. Connected webcam users can allow the site access and will take a photo that can be shared to document the moment. Each room has discoverable objects (like a Teddy Bear that talks) and information about each of the case members. To make it even more creepy, when first launching the site the user can input their name which can be heard in the voices that haunt the house calling out for the user to go deeper and deeper.

Google+ Games May Help Zynga

BY

Google wants people to spend time on their social network playing games, with a new Games button. Users will only see game notifications if they want to, a hard lesson learned by Facebook.

Games for the social network will include Angry Birds, Diamond Dash by Wooga and Bejeweled by PopCap. Zynga has helped Facebook (and vice versa) and they’re preparing to launch titles on Google+, probably in the hopes of reducing their dependance on Facebook.

“Facebook is the primary distribution, marketing, promotion and payment platform for our games,” Zynga wrote in its most recent S-1 filing. “Any deterioration in our relationship with Facebook would harm our business.”

Zynga is looking to diversify away from virtual goods, and will work with advertisers like Coca-Cola, Amazon, HBO, Discover Financial Services, General Mills, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Target and Walmart. They recently amended a revenue report, saying they booked $597.5 million in revenue in 2010, up from $121.5 million in 2009.

“There’s likely some hesitation on the part of the markets, so Zynga probably wants to be extra transparent,” said Paul Verna, an eMarketer senior analyst who focuses on social gaming, on the revision.

Zynga’s IPO will be managed by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America. Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Allen & Co. The social game maker is backed by venture firms Foundry Group, Union Square Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Institutional Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Google are also stakeholders.

Source: AdAge

Nintendo Investors Want Mobile Investments

BY

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has pushed back against the idea of social and free-to-play games. Still his company’s 3DS has not had the launch the company would have liked and they’ve been forced to slash hardware prices by a third; some analysts want Nintendo to abandon their single-platform support altogether.

Smartphones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry, said Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co. Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new.

When the Pokemon Company (which Nintendo has a controlling share) announced that they were making a Pokemon app for the Android Mobile OS, Nintendo shares shot up. When Nintendo denied that they were changing their strategy, their stocks dropped to previous lows.

They just don t get it, MF Global FXA Securities Ltd. said in a sales note that day, referring to Nintendo. Sell the stock, because a management once feted for creative out-of-box thinking have just shown how behind the times they are.

Nintendo is hoping that the hardware price cut along with anticipated software in Super Mario 3D and Mario Kart 7 later this year to push the system to success. Investor Tetsuro Ii thinks that Nintendo should make better use of their $10 billion in stockpiled cash before worries over their console offerings overwhelm them.

Nintendo should aggressively make acquisitions or increase returns to its shareholders, said Ii, president of Tokyo-based Commons Asset Management Inc. It s management s task to consider how to make use of the cash.

Source: Bloomberg

Rovio Estimated At $1.2 Billion In Worth

BY

According to two internal sources, Rovio is estimated in worth at about $1.2 billion. The Finland-based game maker is considering taking a strategic investment from a company in the entertainment business, which is currently being concealed because of the nature of the talks.

Michael Pachter, managing director of research at Wedbush Securities, believes the partners might be Electronic Arts, Zynga, News Corp. or Walt Disney. I can see how Disney would take Angry Birds and turn them into a theme-park ride and a movie, said Pachter. Zynga could take Angry Birds and make it into FarmVille.

Source: Bloomberg

Zumba Fitness Reaches 3 Million In Sales, Just Dance 2 Hits 5 Million

BY

Majesco announced recently Zumba Fitness has reached sales of 3 million units since launch. This has tripled the company’s sales during the latest quarter and prompting them to make a sequel for launch in November on Wii and one other platform.

Separately, Ubisoft announced that Just Dance 2 has surpassed 5 million units sold in North America. The game becomes the eighth Wii title overall to cross that sales mark and the first third-party Wii game to reach the milestone.