Gadgets and Video Games

[Image Source: LA Times ] The Los Angeles Times’ “How I Made It” feature has shined a spotlight on none other than Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig , illuminating the secret of how a 45-year-old woman can conquer the gaming industry and nab Joystiq’s Game of the Year with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves . She started out as a film student back in 1989 and says she had a revelation while working freelance for Atari that gaming “was a more interesting and pioneering medium” than even the movies. She worked her way up the ladder and took chances when they came along. When the lead designer on the wacky Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City left the project, she stepped up and took the job. And having talent and intelligence can’t hurt either — she says that she puts her whole education into gaming, from English lit to film editing, and while she downplays her place as a woman in gaming (“This is a young enough and progressive enough industry” to avoid most problems with sexism, she says), she does admit that she, erm, moderated the male perspective on breast size with some of her developers.

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Naughty Dog’s Amy Hennig tells the LA Times how she made it

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz , Jamie MacDonald, former Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios (the company responsible for EyeToy ), gave out a few pointers to Sony and Microsoft regarding their respective motion controllers . MacDonald warned that gamers are expecting more from the 360 and PS3’s motion gaming than they do from the Wii, due to both consoles’ beefier hardware.

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Former EyeToy exec warns of the difficulties facing Natal, ‘Arc’

PopCap today announced that the iPhone port of Plants vs. Zombies is heading to Apple’s handheld on February 15, seemingly aiming for the exact day that it had originally approximated for a delayed release . What’s more, the publisher has also released the first trailer for the game (seen above), showing off the port’s pared down touch-based controls and getting us even more (trepidatiously) pumped for the impending release. Sure, some other games are releasing this month or whatever, but do those games grab us by the dopamine receptor and refuse to let go

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Plants vs. Zombies shambling to iPhones February 15

With Activision’s holiday fiscal report expected to release this week, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is predicting that the Call of Duty profit machine may not repeat its fantastic 2009 performance this year. As reported by IndustryGamers , Pachter believes the Call of Duty franchise will generate “sharply lower revenue,” in 2010, to the tune of a $250 million decline. Not to worry, though, as he notes that Activision is likely to more than make up for that amount thanks to Blizzard’s impending releases (hello, StarCraft II ). Aside from that, of course, it’s important to remember that we’re talking about a $250 million decrease on almost a billion dollars, so it’s not like Pachter expects Call of Duty to wind up in the toilet. It’s worth noting that the previous Call of Duty title, World at War , initially outsold Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare , though Modern Warfare remained on top after the dust settled

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Pachter: Call of Duty to decline $250 million in 2010

Square Enix has applied to trademark Deus Ex: Human Revolution in Europe (# 008862153 ). A quick scan of other international trademark bureaus hasn’t revealed anything similar. As Siliconera notes, it could very well be the official name for the upcoming Deus Ex 3 , but that may simply be a conspiratorial assumption based on logic.

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Square Enix applies for ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’ trademark

In a time-honored Peter Moore tradition, the EA Sports head recently opened up for an interview on a variety of subjects in the game industry. This time, the oft fake-tattooed gentleman exposited on the future of OnLive and his company’s investment in the upcoming PlayStation Motion Controller (supposedly named ” Arc “). “I don’t know about OnLive,” Moore told CVG , responding to the question of whether or not the cloud gaming service will become the “iTunes of gaming.” He does, however, see opportunity in burgeoning distribution and pricing methods

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Peter Moore excited about PlayStation ‘Arc,’ unsure about OnLive

We hate to be all Captain Obvious about it, but there’s good reason the Gran Turismo series is still doing laps around the virtual track. People are voting with their cash, as the latest figures from Polyphony Digital show that Gran Turismo PSP has managed to sell 1.8 million copies. And through its success, it’s hit one hell of a milestone for the Gran Turismo series at large. Here’s the rundown of the franchise’s success: The original Gran Turismo has sold 10,850,000 units Gran Turismo 2 has sold 9,370,000 units Gran Turismo 3 A-spec on the PS2 managed to sell 14,890,000 units Gran Turismo Concept Series sold 1,560,000 units Gran Turismo 4 “Prologue” invaded 1,350,000 homes Gran Turismo 4 has been the series’ top earner, selling 10,980,000 units Gran Turismo 5 “Prologue” brought the series to the PS3 by selling 4,650,000 units Gran Turismo PSP recently recorded sales of 1,800,000 units That brings the total to 55,450,000 units.

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Gran Turismo PSP helps series top 55 million units sold

You may have assumed this from the climbing PS3 sales Sony reported last week, but a report from Research and Markets provides further confirmation that the system is increasing in popularity around the world. “The PS3 is dominant in Japan and Korea,” the report notes, “and as of June 2008, has begun to outsell the Xbox 360 in Europe. It is also steadily increasing its market share in all other regions across the globe, including in the North American market.” The Xbox 360 is still ahead of the PS3 in North America. It’s worth noting that the increase in sales in Europe predates the price drop and introduction of the PS3 Slim. Research and Markets also provided a bit more information about the distribution of console sales

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Report: Global PS3 market share increasing

Danish developer Press Play would like to draw everyone’s attention to Max & the Magic Marke r’s US release on WiiWare this March. The game released late last month on European WiiWare for 1,000 Wii Points. M&TMM is currently available in the US, directly from Press Play and digital distributors, for PC and Mac at a suggested price of $20. With a WiiWare demo for the game uncertain, we suggest you try it over on the official website . We’re also drawing a direct link to some gameplay videos here .

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Max & the Magic Marker scribbles down March US WiiWare release

If you’re wondering where Rock Band 3 is, a year and a half after Rock Band 2 and five months after the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band , it seems EA isn’t sure it’s going to get to publish it. During an investor conference call, EA execs revealed that the publisher’s deal with Viacom (the company that owns MTV, Harmonix, Rock Band and maybe you as well) is only active through fiscal year 2010 (which ends March 31). Presumably the deal somehow includes the yet-to-be-released Green Day: Rock Band — but EA’s unlikely to announce any more Rock Band games until it knows it has the license locked down for another year. EA: Rock Band deal with Viacom only through March 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

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EA: Rock Band deal with Viacom only through March 2010