BulkyPix Has $3 Million Fund For Indie Studios

BY

BulkyPix announced that they are putting $3 million towards independent studios. The aim of this project is to provide three years of support for the development of multi-platform games developed by independent studios.

“We are very pleased to announce the creation of this budget,” says BulkyPix CEO Olivier Pierre. “Ever since its creation, BulkyPix has successfully supported the creation of numerous video games by taking part in co-productions alongside  studios such as: Mando Production (Babel Running and Babel Rising), Pixel Ratio (Aby Escape), Egg Ball (Jazz, The Pirate King, A Moon for the Sky), cTools (Kung Fu Rabbit), and Pastagames (Pix’N Love, Burn It All). This budget will allow us to reinforce that investment in independent production”.

“The future of video gaming lies with independent studios. It is here – and only here – that you can find creativity, innovation and fun in its purest form,” adds BulkyPix COO Vincent Dondaine. “That is the kind of creation we want to support – by giving indie developers around the world the means to express themselves.”

Google’s Motorola Adds $1.25 Billion To Q2 2012 Results

BY

 

Google announced that the recently added Motorola $1.25 billion in revenue in the latest quarter. About $843 million of Motorola’s revenue came from its mobile business, and another $407 million came from the business unit that builds set-top boxes for the home.

Still, Motorola resulted in a $233 million loss during the quarter with about $192 million coming from its mobile business. Google last year purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

“Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21 percent year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O — in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews,” Google CEO Larry Page said in the company’s press release. “This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.”

Source: CNet

Microsoft Sees Loss From Weak Ad Business

BY

Microsoft announced that they were enacting an accounting adjustment that will lead to its first quarterly loss in 26 years as a public company. This is a byproduct of weakness in its online ad business.

Microsoft paid $6.3 billion for aQuantive, but Google expanded its share of the online ad market. The charge led to a $492 million loss in the April-June quarter, or 6 cents a share, compared with earnings of $5.9 billion, or 69 cents, a year ago.

The company is expecting relief when it launched Windows 8 on October 26, 2012 and their next version of Office in the following year. Both products will reflect Microsoft’s renewed emphasis on tablets.

Source: USA Today

Apple Ordered To Run Ads For Samsung

BY

Apple has been ordered by a judge to publish a notice on its U.K. website and Financial Times, the Daily Mail, Guardian Mobile magazine, and T3 informing the public of a ruling that Samsung Electronics didn’t copy designs for the iPad. The notice should outline the July 9 London court decision that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s registered designs, ruled Judge Colin Birss.

The July 9 ruling by Judge Birss said in his that Samsung’s tablets were unlikely to be confused with the iPad because they are “not as cool.” He declined to grant Samsung’s injunction blocking Apple from making public statements that the Galaxy infringed its design rights.

This in means Apple will have to advertise for Samsung, asserts Apple lawyer Richard Hacon. “No company likes to refer to a rival on its website,” he noted.

“They are entitled to their opinion,” Hacon said, noting that company would appeal the July 9 decision and Judge Birss granted the company permission to take its case to the court of appeal.

Colin Fowler, an intellectual property lawyer at Rouse said much of the publicity around the July 9 ruling focused on Birss’ comments about Samsung not being as cool. “The war between these two companies seems to be escalating even further,” noted Fowler.

“From a victory in court they were suddenly on the back foot,” Fowler said. “Getting this order fits in with the context of them trying to restore the balance.”

Source: Bloomberg

Sony Marketing Director Alan Duncan Departs

BY

Alan Duncan is leaving his position as marketing director for Sony Computer Entertainment U.K. He moved over to Sony from GT Interactive in 1999, and has worked on all the major hardware launches while overseeing brand development, advertising, PR and digital marketing.

“I have made many great friends here, so SCE U.K. will always be a very special place for me,” said Duncan. “This was a very difficult decision to take but I believe it’s the right time for me to develop my career with a new challenge.”

“Alan has been a key member of the PlayStation U.K. management team and can feel justifiably proud of what he has achieved here,” added Sony U.K. MD Fergal Gara. “I would like to thank Alan for his contribution to the UK business and wish him every success in the future.”

Source: MCV

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Hits 3 Million Sold

BY

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson happily tweeted out a new sales milestone for Mincraft for Xbox 360 today. “I got told Minecraft for XBLA passed three million sales today!” tweeted Persson.

 

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition reached 1 million sold in just five days and became the best-selling Xbox Live game in June, when it surpassed 2 million sold. Including the mobile and PC incarnations of Minecraft, the game has been bought over 10 million times.

Source: Twitter.com

Zynga Appoints Ellen Siminoff To Board

BY

Zynga has added Ellen Siminoff to the social game publisher’s board of directors, making her the first female member. Siminoff spent 6 years with Yahoo working her way up to SVP of entertainment before departing in 2002 and she also sits on the board of the Mozillia Corporation, and is the CEO of e-learning company Shmoop.

“There is something to be said for boards having people who are representative of their customers,” said Siminoff. “[Zynga’s] core demographic right now is women who are middle-aged, and I fit into that demographic. They have a lot of users, they have high engagement, and they have figured out a revenue model. I think there’s a huge opportunity for them.”

Source: Bloomberg

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 – Behind The Scenes With Trent Reznor & David S. Goyer

BY

Treyarch is working with David S. Goyer (co-writer of The Dark Knight Rises), Trent Reznor (Academy Award-winning composer of The Social Network) to make Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. They, along with Studio Head Mark Lamia and the game’s Director, Dave Anthony, discuss the relationship between movies, music and games, as well as the creative process behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.