Gadgets and Video Games

In early 2009, Centerscore co-founder Oliver Miao was assigned an extremely daunting task. His studio had recently been acquired by EA Mobile, and his higher-ups had requested an iPhone version of the studio’s successful teen-dating sim series, Surviving High School . The difficulty didn’t come in developing the title, but rather, in monetizing it.

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GDC: Surviving High School creator talks clever, profitable microtransactions

Here’s some data from Sony’s fiscal Q3 earnings and, as predicted , the electronics giant had some positives things to report out of its gaming division. However, like always, with the good comes the bad (and sometimes the ugly). The good: “Due to the launch of a new model, approximately 6.5 million units of PlayStation 3 … hardware were sold in the current quarter, compared to approximately 4.5 million units in the prior year’s third quarter,” reports Sony’s Q3 earnings report. The PS3 Slim continues to drive hardware sales, with its slim new form factor and, more importantly, slim new price tag

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Sony Q3: PS3 software and hardware up, PSP and PS2 notsomuch

In early December, EA revealed the cover for its Medal of Honor reboot and all anyone could say was: ” BEARD !” Well, after months of trying to get an explanation of how that grizzly (Adams) decision went down, Craig Owens, director of marketing at EA Los Angeles, has finally delivered the answers. Here are the declassified details of our exchange: Joystiq: How did you select the cover image for the Medal of Honor reboot? Craig Owens: What you see today as the key art (or box front image) is the result of a long process that’s been going on for nearly a year now. When we set out to reboot the Medal of Honor franchise, we knew that the key art of the new game had to accomplish two very important things. First, it needed to stay true to the authenticity that the brand is known for.

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The ‘Medal of Honor’ Beard Cover Interview

Tecmo Koei has announced that it’s lowering its annual operating profit forecast (essentially its guess for how much profit it will bring in before taxes) by a painful 95%. In addition, stock fell 9.5% to 630 yen ($7). This comes after the announcement of disappointing third-quarter losses (PDF link) totaling 1.842 billion yen ($20.4 million), and after the announcement that two high-profile games, Quantum Theory and Trinity: Zill O’ll Zero , have been delayed , thus eliminating whatever they would have contributed to the current fiscal year

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Tecmo Koei lowers profit forecast after Q3 losses

click to titan-size Sony has announced (via PlayStation.Blog ) that God of War III will launch domestically on March 16. That’s just 47 days away (which is exactly 47 days too many). In addition to firming up the date, SCEA released the final box art (it’s rated M!) and revealed that a new trailer for the game — hopefully showcasing the considerable upgrades it has received since the playable demo hit — will debut on February 11. A box shot of the Ultimate Edition has also been released — a package within which ultimate collectors will find a replica Pandora’s Box containing the game (shocking, we know) along with collectibles and DLC (it’s digital and physical!). Personally, we find a paltry cardboard box rather unbefitting of such a powerful artifact, so we’ll be holding out for a “Supreme Ultimate Edition,” which will obviously come in a replica Pandora’s Temple on the back of a replica Cronos.

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A date with Kratos: God of War III hits the US on March 16

Rebellion , which is currently working on Aliens vs. Predator and recently blessed us with Rogue Warrior , will likely shut down one of its facilities. GI.biz reports the company plans on closing its Derby, UK studios as it focuses resources on its Runcorn and Oxford locations, the latter of which is handling AvP . The Derby studio was once home to the Core Design team, the originators of the Tomb Raider franchise before Lady Croft left for Crystal Dynamics . Studio CEO Jason Kingsley said in a statement that “growth is sometimes painful, never more so than in the current climate” and that the company has “decided to review the need for the Derby facilities, and consultation with staff at Derby is ongoing.” GI.biz reports “a number of staff have been made redundant,” which is the UK’s horribly polite way of saying “kicked to the curb.” And, with that, we have our first layoff story of 2010 — please, we can’t go through another year of this.

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Rebellion to ‘review the need’ for Derby Studio

Never did I think that, after finishing the original Army of Two , I’d ever be re-enlisting for a sequel. Sure, it sold well, but its myriad not-quite-fulfilled ideas and irritating “Dude! Bro!” lead characters just made me want to shrug off the game and move on with my life. So I sit here writing this pretty amazed at how good the sequel is. It’s not, say, Assassin’s Creed to Assassin’s Creed 2 good — but a very solid improvement on the core co-op action concept, shedding just the right things (healing minigame?

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Review: Army of Two: The 40th Day

BioWare is looking to complete the Mass Effect trilogy and get the “epic conclusion” out the door before the current console cycle is over. Speaking with IGN , Project Manager Casey Hudson states that the developer is already at work on Mass Effect 3 and “definitely” wants to make it “a fairly short turnaround.” Considering that the first Mass Effect rocked our galaxy in November 2007, followed by the sequel two years and a couple months later, it remains to be seen what qualifies as a “short turnaround.” A 2012 release is the natural expectation at this point, but the impatient among might prefer the kind of turnaround associated with the Left 4 Dead sequel . Is that even enough time to finish all that DLC? BioWare looking for ’short turnaround’ on Mass Effect 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:15:00 EST

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BioWare looking for ’short turnaround’ on Mass Effect 3

Some people have decried the current calendar year for being light on high-quality games — but they can’t frown upon the quantity of titles released in 2009. According to Gamespot , the latest EEDAR GamePulse report reveals that 1,099 games were released to retail outlets throughout the year — a slight increase over the 1,092 games which hit the market in 2008. That’s not exactly good news — according to the report, more games (such as Modern Warfare 2 ) are becoming permanent staples on store shelves, limiting the amount of free space for other new titles. Also, the amount of expendable cash folks have to spend on these games is dwindling. But …

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More games released in 2009 than in 2008, barely

Best known for her work on Joystiq’s 2007 Game of the Year , Portal , Valve’s Kim Swift is reportedly leaving her current position for Dark Void developer Airtight Games. According to Develop , she’ll be heading up a team of developers working on a “new, unnamed project” for the US-based company. Airtight prez Jim Deal says that he’s “thrilled to work with Kim,” and that “her addition to the team represents a strategic move … into new and broader gaming markets.” Swift’s team will be tasked with creating “games aimed at a more diverse audience” — a challenge Swift appears ready to handle. “I’ve learned so much and had some amazing experiences at Valve, but when I heard I had the opportunity to work on innovative titles with my friends over at Airtight, I couldn’t pass it up.” And now we wait (and hope ) for the puzzle-based air combat game that’s sure to come of this partnership.

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Portal lead Kim Swift heads to Airtight Games for ‘new, unnamed project’