Firemint acquires Puzzle Quest dev Infinite Interactive
You’d think after selling a billion iPhone games, the Firemint crew, makers of those Flight Control and Real Racing games on your phone, would go buy a boat or something. But, oh no, they had to be «smart» with their money, acquiring Puzzle Quest developer Infinite Interactive to form an even stronger, more independent operation, which «works exclusively on self-published original games.» Who do these guys think they are … PopCap?
It would seem that Firemint starter Rob Murray and Infinite Interactive founder Steve Fawkner, both Aussies, have been casually strategizing for years now. «Steve and I have been talking about working together for a long time, and I remember him showing me an early version of Puzzle Quest,» Murray recalled. «This inspired me to make a game during my own holidays two years later, which was Flight Control — and now, another two years later, we’ve finally found a way to work together!» (The financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.)
Infinite Interactive will merge into Firemint’s «recently expanded» (how convenient!) offices in Melbourne and continue work on some kind of infectious game that could endanger world health at a bargain price. And then, they’ll all probably buy a fleet of boats and retire into Port Phillip Bay.
[Image credit: Firemint]Firemint acquires Puzzle Quest dev Infinite Interactive originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Rumor: ‘Avatar Kinect’ Xbox feature to be unveiled at CES
Glimpse Dog received what it purports to be a snapshot of a leaked slide from Microsoft’s CES keynote (seen above) showing off something called «Avatar Kinect.» This by itself isn’t all that exciting, but Winrumors believes that Avatar Kinect will be part of a forthcoming software update — one that «will allow Kinect owners to interact with each other using their avatars» much like Sony’s Home.
Furthermore, the site believes that «the Avatars will have a separate area, much like the Nintendo’s Mii Channel, that will allow for users to control them using Kinect and interact to watch content or play games.» Does this mean Kinect-based A World of Keflings wrestling matches? ‘Cause if so, we’re totally on board — just as long as we don’t have to queue for them.
We’ll presumably find out more when Microsoft’s CES keynote is broadcast live this Wednesday from Las Vegas.
[Image credit: Glimpse Dog]Rumor: ‘Avatar Kinect’ Xbox feature to be unveiled at CES originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
LittleBigPlanet 2 review: A celebration of creativity
Whether you fell wildly, profoundly in love with the original LittleBigPlanet, or whether you were turned off by its occasionally imprecise controls — a foible which spells certain doom for platformers — it’s hard to deny that Media Molecule created something magical. Not only was it charming from toe to tip, it placed an unprecedented amount of attention on user-generated content. The most fervent, active members of its community understood the true joy of the game came not from being its player but, rather, its author. In other words, the creation tools weren’t a compliment to the game: They were the main course.
However, even though some of the creations whipped up by LBP’s master architects had convinced me otherwise, the game’s tools couldn’t be used to make everything. Media Molecule was clearly counting on this element of surprise when it came time to one-up the title. At GDC last year, studio co-founder Alex Evans quoted Henry Ford, saying, «If I asked them what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. But I gave them a car.»
Even in the half-joking manner in which the quote was used, I thought citing one of the grandfathers of automotive innovation seemed like hubris when coming from a video game developer. Now that I have the unimaginably expanded tools of LittleBigPlanet 2 at my disposal, I’m convinced that I was dead, dead wrong.
Gallery: LittleBigPlanet 2 (E3 2010)Continue reading LittleBigPlanet 2 review: A celebration of creativityLittleBigPlanet 2 review: A celebration of creativity originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
FIFA enters new year atop UK charts, two Kinect titles land in top ten
Call of Duty Black Ops and FIFA 11 have been fighting for that top spot on the UK charts this holiday season, but FIFA 11 took back number one on Chart-Track’s All Formats chart for the week ending January 1, 2011. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, (the perennial) Just Dance 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood didn’t move a muscle, maintaining their spots in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Microsoft’s Kinect had two games in the top ten in the twilight of 2010. Kinect Sports has been hanging around since the peripheral launched, but Dance Central is apparently gaining the attention it deserves, storming the dance floor into tenth place, up nine spots from the prior week. There were five Kinect games in the top 40 this past week, the most since the device’s launch week.
Check out the UK’s top ten after the break.Continue reading FIFA enters new year atop UK charts, two Kinect titles land in top tenFIFA enters new year atop UK charts, two Kinect titles land in top ten originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 brings Masters Tournament to consoles March 29
EA’s John Riccitiello recently reiterated his company’s willingness to stick by Tiger Woods, and the announcement of the latest iteration of EA Sports’s annual golf franchise shows that, mostly. For example, the new game still bears his name: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters.
But on the cover, Woods is de-emphasized in favor of another well-known name in golf, one who is unlikely to get itself into scandalous situations: the Masters Tournament. EA used «state of the art laser scanning technology» to replicate the course at Augusta National Golf Club for the tournament’s PGA Tour series debut.
You’ll be able to replay «Masters Moments» — memorable events from past tournaments — as well as the «Tiger at the Masters» mode, which allows you to play through Woods’ four Masters wins by attempting to match or beat his scores from those winning tournaments. If you prefer a fictional golfer, you can play the new Career Mode and raise an amateur through the PGA ranks. Other features include a virtual caddie to dispense advice (and virtual clubs), and new playable golfers including Zach Johnson and Bubba Watson.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters will be released on PS3 (with Move support), Xbox 360, and Wii on March 29 in North America, and «worldwide» April 1. A $70 collector’s edition will be released on PS3, which includes five additional courses.
Update: EA Sports president Peter Moore spoke to Eurogamer about the new cover and Woods’ place in the series. Find quotes after the break. Gallery: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (PS3, Xbox 360)Gallery: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (Wii)Continue reading Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 brings Masters Tournament to consoles March 29Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 brings Masters Tournament to consoles March 29 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
PSN’s missing Super Street Fighter IV costume ‘Catalog’ add-ons explained
One difference between the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Super Street Fighter IV can be hard to see: Opponents’ DLC costumes are invisible to PlayStation Network players who haven’t also purchased the outfits. On Xbox Live, there’s a simple solution in free «Catalog» add-ons that install the DLC assets on a user’s hard drive, in order to show them worn on online opponents who have purchased and dressed up in the alternate costumes. To date, the free updates have not been offered on PSN. They likely never will be — and Capcom tells us why.
«When you add new data to an existing product, there are significant costs to do so charged by the first parties,» Capcom community shepherd Seth Killian explained in a forum post on the topic of the «invisible» PSN costumes. «On XBL, those costs were covered by Microsoft,» and thus the Catalog DLC is free to download.
«For Sony, those significant costs are not covered,» Killian added. «The story is a bit more complicated because the costs of adding new data vary by region in some cases, and some additions are free, or free within a certain timeframe, etc., but the bottom line in this particular case is that Sony would [have] charged Capcom significant fees for distributing the new costume data to users that hadn’t actually bought the DLC.»
The story is indeed more complicated: In a sense, the Catalog updates aren’t free, since the only Xbox Live users that benefit from them are Gold members who play SSFIV online. And, of course, Gold subscribers pay a fee for that privilege, which in turn allows Microsoft to cover the costs of updates like the costume data. Do we sense a new Plus perk in the making?PSN’s missing Super Street Fighter IV costume ‘Catalog’ add-ons explained originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Xbox 360 and PS3 dominated UK in 2010, game market sales totaled ?2.875 billion
The UK video game market withstood a 13 percent sales decline in 2010 from 2009, according to The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment’s annual report. UKIE put total software and hardware sales at £2.875 billion ($4.8 billion) in the territory last year, with console games alone accounting for £1.45 billion ($2.26 billion) of the total gross.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 were the only hardware platforms to see sales growth, with the 360 accounting for £232 million ($361 million) in sales from 18.2 million consoles sold (thanks price break!), and the PS3 just below that figure with £229 million ($357 million) in sales from 13.8 million units. UKIE didn’t share specific numbers for handhelds or the Wii, though its report notes the total revenue for console hardware sales amounted to £800 million ($1.25 billion) in 2010.
Of course, key product releases helped sell those consoles — the biggest undoubtedly being Call of Duty: Black Ops, which smashed UK sales records upon launch. Kinect and PlayStation Move presumably aided sales growth for their respective consoles, too, though UKIE didn’t detail the specific fiscal impact of either in its report.Xbox 360 and PS3 dominated UK in 2010, game market sales totaled ?2.875 billion originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Stardock hires Civ V designer Jon Shafer and fantasy writer Dave Stern
It was odd to hear about Jon Shafer leaving Firaxis a couple weeks back, what with him being an avid member of the Civ community and lead designer on the latest iteration, Civilization V — a game our own Alexander Sliwinski called «a ‘friendly’ strategy game.»
During an interview with our sister site Big Download, Shafer once again stated he’d left Firaxis on good terms and will help Stardock on its newest title, Elemental: War of Magic, as well as an unannounced project he’ll be overseeing.
Stardock also announced it has hired acclaimed fantasy author Dave Stern to «oversee creative storytelling and lore implementation in all future projects.» Stern, who has penned various Star Trek works and novelizations of the Tomb Raider and Blair Witch Project movies, will get right to work on enriching the world of Elemental: War of Magic, which Stardock CEO Brad Wardell admits was «one of the things we felt was weak.»
Specifically, Stern will «head up all further integration of the Elemental: War of Magic lore» in the game, which will see two upcoming expansions where «lore implementation will be essential.»Continue reading Stardock hires Civ V designer Jon Shafer and fantasy writer Dave SternStardock hires Civ V designer Jon Shafer and fantasy writer Dave Stern originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Wispin
Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we’re giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Chris Graham of Grumpy Face Studios about his iPhone action puzzler Wispin.
What’s your game called, and what’s it about?
It’s a quirky little affair for the iPhone/iPod Touch called Wispin. We describe it as an arcade experience with a unique twist: The addition of «color-matching» gameplay elements. Players can change our spunky hero’s color on the fly by utilizing the on-screen «Color Wheel,» which can be tapped or swiped much like a joystick. Gameplay involves a constant balancing of offensive and evasive maneuvers, as changing your color determines which enemies you can dispatch (those that match your color) and which will do you harm (those that don’t match).
A number of additional features and mechanisms are also present to keep things interesting, such as «color streak combos», performance-based point multiplying, online leaderboards, and an overall game progression that advances from calm to deliciously chaotic. We also tried to inject a healthy dose of wackiness (such as a usable cheese powerup), because we’re weird like that.Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: WispinThe Joystiq Indie Pitch: Wispin originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Canceled ‘Day to Night’ Midway game unearthed in concept art
Former Midway background artist Brian Beppu was at one point drawing up concepts for a PlayStation 2-era game named Day to Night. As the title suggests, Day to Night looks like it was going to be some type of zombie game — as seen in the concept panels above, a hobbled humanoid approaches a gentleman who appears to be a cowboy in snowy woods. A handful of environments are also on display, varying from a cheap roadside motel to a graveyard overtaken by jungle brush.
Given the fact that this art is now nearly a decade old, Day to Night likely lost its shot at becoming a finished product before Midway’s less than successful final years. Little else is known about the title, in fact, so feel free to shoot us a tip if you know more.Gallery: Day to NightCanceled ‘Day to Night’ Midway game unearthed in concept art originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Email this Comments Читать далее…
Films online 