1) UK retailer GAME continue announcing bad news with the loss of 46 staff from their Basingstoke headquarters. The lay-offs account for 10% of the operations at head office and involved roles in operations and management. The company are in the process of restructuring their operations after poor financial results over Christmas. GAME are also looking to sell off their international stores with initial bids being deadlined for this coming Friday. US retailer GameStop are rumoured to be eyeing the sale as it would put them in a market dominant position in a variety of countries if they were to acquire GAME’s overseas outlets.
Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 8 will remove the legendary “Start” button for the very first time since its 1995 debut. Instead users will gain more space on the enhanced icon shortcut bar first implemented in Windows 7. Build 8220 Consumer Preview also introduces Read the rest of this entry →
Sony have started making changes to all areas of the company based on their new strategy to unify their products. We have already seen the break up with Ericsson in the mobile department and now it’s the turn of PlayStation. The PS3′s online services have always been known as the PlayStation Network or PSN for short. Over the weekend, PSN members received an email informing them that the service will be re-branded as part of the new Sony Entertainment Network which encompasses games, music, photo and video content. The PlayStation Store rebrand is expected to go live with the launch of the PS Vita on February 22nd.
1) Looking for a Valentines gift for your gaming partner? Look no further than this list of the 25 best Video Game Coffee Table books as compiled by Complex Magazine. Shamefully out of the whole lot I only own the Assassins Creed Encyclopedia.
2) Konami have created an insane version of Dance Dance Revolution for school children to obtain exercise. Dance Dance Revolution Classroom edition is for PC and supports up to Read the rest of this entry →
If you are an Android app developer, RIM have an enticing offer for you. Use their tool to recompile your APK file in a BlackBerry format and submit it to BlackBerry App World which if you have an existing app, should take you no longer than it takes to eat your lunch. As a reward RIM will send you a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with a street value of approximately £170.
1) Nintendo have struck a deal with European WiFi provider Free-hotspot.com to give Nintendo 3DS owners free access to WiFi at 5000 locations across Europe. If the 3DS is set up correctly it will automatically connect whilst at a compatible location. The company are partners with major restaurant chains such as Mc Donalds, Burger King, Subway and KFC in addition to hotel chains such as ibis Hotels.
2) Samsung have made an official statement regarding the appearance of the highly anticipated Galaxy S3 smart phone at Mobile World Congress this month. The following statement was made by a Samsung official.
“The successor to the Galaxy S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product”
The company is planning on announcing other mid range handsets during the trade show. I strongly believe the S3 will launch around April and a press announcement could therefore be made in March.
3) Google recently made changes to its privacy policy indicating that it would try and improve user experience by unifying its account system for multiple sites and keep you logged in. The changes brought confusion to many and Microsoft are looking to piggyback on the issue. Major US newspapers will include full page adverts detailing why Google cannot be trusted. To be fair giving your information to Microsoft isn’t any better. Have a look at the advert here.
4) A leaked poster from US retailer Best Buy seems to indicate that downloadable versions of PS Vita titles will be approximately $5 cheaper to purchase. The saving is to reflect not receiving a case with physical media and inserts with your purchase. The savings are expected to go towards your expenses on memory cards as you start to buy more digital titles. It also indicates that console manufacturers will continue to promote digital purchases whilst retaining physical locations as an outlet. You will be able to walk into a store and purchase a voucher or boxed copy.
5) A leaked slide shows a new render of the alleged BlackBerry 10 handset London. The new design sucks. It makes the BlackBerry look like a slim iPhone. The chrome angled look of the original render was much more unique, fresh and appealing.
BlackBerry London Old Vs New Design Comparison
6) If you were using MegaUpload for legitimate reasons and have lost access to your files as a result of the recent FBI raid, then you may be in luck. Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications who leased servers to the company are holding the data on them for another two weeks. If the Department of Justice allow access then EFF attorneys can help you retrieve your files. Visit the link below for more information.
7) RIM have released the full version for Microsoft Office 365, the cloud platform for office work. Companies which use the platform will now be able to synchronise emails, calendars and contacts to BlackBerry devices with minimal fuss.
8) Konami Europe has appointed a new president. Shinji Hirano moves over from US operations to oversee the publishers European operations.
9) The team at Bungie who are famed for the Halo franchise have announced that the final stage of migration will occur on March 31st. On this date all online stat tracking systems will be administrated by 343 Industries who are currently hard at work on a new Halo trilogy starting with Halo 4 currently in development.
10) Zynga has confidentially issued a statement to it’s investors after a backlash from indie developer NimbleBit about copycat practices in their latest game Dream Heights which more than resembles NimbleBit’s own Tiny Tower. The statement reads in the way that Zynga prides itself in taking a concept and improving upon it. There are differences between both games, be it subtle ones. Looking back through Zynga’s catalogue none of their games are original ideas and have copied other indie titles. The company has been successful in monetizing these clones which puts them in the position they are in today. NimbleBit is not completely innocent in the matter as the internet discovered Tiny Tower was also a copied title.
11) Team Ninja who are currently working on Ninja Gaiden 3, are singing praises about development for the Wii U. Nintendo have been working closely with developers in terms of requests to make development easier and more attractive on the upcoming console. This strategy worked well for the PS Vita and seems to be paying off for Nintendo too.
12) EA have announced figures for their online service Origin and Star Wars MMO. Origin now has over 9.3 million registered users compared to market leader Steam with 40 million. Some may question the adoption rate because EA’s major title Battlefield 3 forces players to use the service. This can be countered by EA generating over $100 million from the Origin service in 2011.
Star Wars The Old Republic seems to be holding up with over 2 million units sold and 1.7 million active subscribers to the game. Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 have sold over 10 million units each and Madden NFL 12 over 5 million units. Not a bad Christmas for EA.
13) Twitter has started to roll out business pages for companies. The enhanced profiles can allow featured tweets, banner placement and open embedded media. Mobile users will not see the adverts to save on data download costs.
14) HTC handsets have suffered from an exploit which leaks WiFi passwords to applications. Most popular handsets have been patched already although a handful of devices require manual updates to fix. More information to be provided next week.
16) EA have announced an exception to their online pass scheme. Syndicate is essentially a new IP for EA with a heavy focus on Co-op play. Therefore a strategic decision has been made to offer the full experience for free to first time and second hand purchasers in order to promote the game. A marketing campaign is set to come into effect to market no online pass as a unique feature.
17) THQ have announced the DLC schedule for UFC Undisputed 3. This is by far one of the best DLC line ups I have seen for a game. It offers users free tasters into different types of content, caters to all types of players and is actually worth paying for. Check the full schedule here. http://www.thqinsider.co.uk/2012/02/02/ufc-undisputed-3-dlc-content-schedule/
18) Mass Effect 3 will be receiving a multiplayer demo. Multiplayer demos require an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Microsoft may give temporary gold membership passes to players in order for them to be able to play the demo. More details coming soon.
20) Activision have announced that PS3 Elite members will receive their first DLC pack on February 28th. This ties in with my earlier prediction that PS3 Elite users will be a month behind compared to Xbox Elite users. Expect non elite members having to wait an additional month meaning a 2 month wait for non elite PS3 compared to elite Xbox. http://www.callofduty.com/elite/go-premium
21) Video content news kicks off with motion capture for the debut trailer of Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us
22) As part of YouTube’s channel creation process IGN has stepped up to the plate with a new reality show based on creating an indie game. The first episode is out now.
23) US talk show host Conan created a funny Skyrim voice over segment.
24) Learn how to create your own Skyrim mods with Bethesda’s upcoming creation kit.
25) A group of Blizzard fans are not too happy after it was announced Blizzcon would be going on a break. They decided to protest by rapping over T.I.’s Live Your Life.
26) Already have Mortal Kombat on your console? Need a reason to buy it for the PS Vita? Watch this video.
27) Ubisoft continues to bring back Rayman with the HD re-release of Rayman 3. It’s brought to you by the team who remastered Beyond Good And Evil and is aiming for a March release.
28) SSX brings a new way to challenge your friends and gamble on races.
29) Attack of the flying Quadrotors!
30) Channel 4 have launched a new TV show based on and created within the Sims universe. More Info at the link and first episode below. http://www.playsuperme.com/thesupermes/
31) Ghost Recon Future Soldier takes war to a whole new level.
Sony have officially announced the step down of Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer. Best associated for his work in evolving the PlayStation brand, Kazuo Hirai will take over as Sony CEO in April with Sir Howard Stringer expected to step down in Read the rest of this entry →
It seems as though every publisher wants their own cloud gaming portal. Crytek are the latest in a long line to announce such a service. Dubbed GFACE, it is brought to you by the creators of Crysis and aims to merge social and cloud gaming together in your browser.
Last night, Facebook filed for an IPO on the stock market. The move aims to be one of the most historic debut’s of a company in market history and rumours indicate $5 Billion is expected to be raised shortly after. News site The Verge has put together a financial summary according to the facts and can be seen after the break. Read the rest of this entry →
1) The FBI are allegedly using Skype logs as evidence in court against MegaUpload’s Kim Dotcom although the way the FBI managed to acquire such evidence is suspicious. The FBI say the evidence was obtained through search warrants which may lead you to believe that it was just a chat history file stored on Kim’s computer. When you look at Skype’s Privacy Policy they say no conversation logs are stored on their servers for longer than 30 days and the FBI was using history from conversations which occured as far back as five years ago as evidence. This information leads to the conclusion that the FBI injected Dotcom’s PC with spyware and it wouldn’t be the first time. A piece of spyware called CIPAV was injected on to a suspect’s PC under terrorism threats in the past.
2) Apple have hired former Dixons CEO John Browett to manage the expansion of their physical counterpart Apple Stores. Many would say the move is a strange hire by Apple seeing as Dixons no longer have a retail presence and the other group franchises PC World and Currys suffer from poor customer reputations. Apple have a reasonable street presence with 33 retail outlets in the UK although marketing associated for the brand is predominantly focused around Apple products rather than the stores to purchase them at. This is what I feel John will aim to do. You can expect more TV adverts promoting the reasons to visit an Apple Store and products paired with real store locations to let consumers know Apple Stores exist and they can purchase their new i devices from them.
3) The Twisted Metal demo hits the PlayStation Store today and will be available to play until 8th February. The full game is set for release on the 17th February and David Jaffe has confirmed European purchasers will also receive Twisted Metal Black for free with new purchases.
4) EA’s website was the victim of a new exploit yesterday as a hacker decided to “customize” the company’s home page. EA have confirmed they fixed the loophole which was the result of a recent security update and no user details were compromised.
5) THQ seem to be getting themselves into all sorts of trouble lately. The NASDAQ Stock Exchange has threatened to de-list the company from the market after THQ’s share price failed to rise above $1 since the start of December. They have given THQ a 180 day period until July 23rd to raise their share price above $1 and maintain the boundary for ten consecutive days.
6) Xbox Live Arcade game Trials Evolution has leaked on to torrent sites ahead of release. The leak is from an internal source as press haven’t even received their review copies yet. Red Lynx are known for leaking their original title to raise publicity although they have denied any such strategy this time around.
7) Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney mentioned in a recent interview that he is composing the soundtrack for an unannounced video game. He believes that “computer games sell better than CD’s these days.”
8) Capcom have announced that purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will receive early access to the upcoming Resident Evil 6 demo. What is even more interesting is the dates and deals mentioned. Dragon’s Dogma is set for release on May 25th. Xbox purchasers will obtain access to the game on July 3rd almost 4 months prior to release. PS3 owners will gain access on September 5th, that’s a big difference. It’s worth noting the game releases on the 22nd November. It seems as though Microsoft are now purchasing exclusivity contracts for third-party demos from publishers. Another way this could be seen is that Xbox owners will have an exclusive Online Beta in July and both consoles will obtain a single player demo in September. Capcom are hoping that the incentive will boost sales of Dragon’s Dogma which it should.
9) PlayStation Plus subscribers are in for a few treats this month. For February, subscribers will receive a free copy of The Simpsons Arcade and a week early compared to normal users. In addition, Square Enix are offering a free copy of PS1 classic Final Fantasy V. Discounts this month are on titles such as House of the Dead 3, Sonic Adventure, Vandal Hearts and the Splinter Cell trilogy. As a special Valentines day treat, subscribers can get Far Cry 2 for free from the 15th to 22nd February.
10) Mozilla have released V10 of Firefox. It features a few subtle tweaks although has a bug with scrolling using browser GMail. Hold off a few days before updating.
11) US Homeland Security are rejecting entry to travellers who have made “suspective” comments regarding their trips on social network site Twitter even if they were “light hearted”. Read the full article at the BBC News link below.
12) The best new videos today involve a 100 year old woman playing on a Nintendo handheld, the famous actors voicing Mass Effect 3 characters and a teaser for new Xbox cover based shooter Hybrid from the studio that brought us Scribblenauts.
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