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GDC: Monaco, Uncharted 2 Sweep IGF, Game Developer’s Choice

Mathew Kumar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:14:59 +0000

The twelfth annual Independent Games Festival and the tenth annual Game Developers Choice awards at GDC offered few surprises, but plenty of good feeling, with the crowd enthusiastically responding to the success of the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game/Excellence in Design winner Monaco, developed by Pocketwatch Games, the Lifetime Achievement award for John Carmack, and the Pioneer award going to Gabe Newell.

The full list of IGF award winners:

Dirt 3 Confirmed

Tom Ivan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:02:12 +0000

Codemasters Studios vice president Gavin Cheshire has revealed that the company’s currently at work on a sequel to last year’s Colin McRae - Dirt 2.

The executive made the first mention of Dirt 3 during an interview featured in the latest issue of Edge, E213, which hits UK newsagents on March 16 and should be in subscribers' hands now.

GDC: The Devil is in the Audio Details

Mathew Kumar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:44:39 +0000

Best known for his work as the composer, sound director and producer on the Silent Hill series for Konami, Akira Yamaoka is now working at Grasshopper Manufacture on an unannounced title. Delivering a talk that offered no hints to his future direction, Yamaoka considered the methods that he’s used in sound design to help enhance players’ connection to his games.

NPD: DS, 360 Set Personal Bests

Tom Ivan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:34:48 +0000

Nintendo’s DS was the bestselling system in the US last month, moving 613,000 units, while Microsoft’s Xbox 360 leapfrogged Wii to take the top home console slot with 422,000 sales.

Both systems achieved monthly personal bests, with Nintendo saying that the “DS family of systems set a new US record for portable video game sales in the month of February”, and Microsoft noting that it enjoyed “the biggest February in Xbox 360 history”.

NPD: BioShock 2 Tops February Chart

Tom Ivan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:05:08 +0000

The Xbox 360 version of BioShock 2 topped February software sales in the US marketplace, according to the NPD Group.

Take-Two’s shooter sold 563,000 copies on 360, 7,000 units more than second placed New Super Mario Bros. Wii. NPD noted that PS3 sales of BioShock 2 came in a little short of 200,000 units.

NPD: February Sales Decline 15 Per Cent

Tom Ivan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:40:37 +0000

February retail sales in the US videogame market were down 15 per cent year-on-year, from $1.48 billion to $1.26 billion, according to the NPD Group.

Software sales dropped 15 percent, from $736.7 million to $624.4 million, largely in line with Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz’s prior forecast.

The Friday Game: One Button Games

Chris Donlan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:22:26 +0000

Whether you think that videogames should be emulating cinema or music, sport or even the mindless pleasures of card tricks – and whether you think that such comparisons are largely pointless – a big part of their defining appeal will always be this: finding out what happens when you press a button.

GDC: Sakamoto From Metroid To WarioWare

Mathew Kumar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:23:31 +0000

Speaking at GDC, Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto downplayed his legacy—which includes the Metroid and WarioWare series—by claiming that as few of the titles he has developed have seen a release outside of Japan, he could be considered a “niche” game developer. And, he said, in Japan the Metroid titles are also considered niche, so “perhaps rather than having global appeal, I really am a developer who can only make niche games.”

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition Out This Summer

James Lee — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:03:11 +0000

LucasArts has announced that Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge will come out this summer for Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, PC and iPhone.

As previously speculated, the special edition features updated graphics and a re-mastered musical score. Monkey Island 2 will also allow gamers to have the option to directly control the main character, Guybrush Threepwood, and abandon the old point-and-click system.

Molyneux Sets 5m Sales Target For Fable III

James Lee — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:27:08 +0000

Peter Molyneux has set a target for Fable III to sell at least 5 million units before he'll consider it an artistic success.

Molyneux said that the original Fable sold 3 million units, while the sequel saw sales of 3.5 million units. In order for Fable III to be seen as going in the right direction it must sell more than 5 million units, Monlyneux said, although how he reached that figure isn't immediately clear.

C&C3 Devs form Supergiant Games

James Lee — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:54:44 +0000

Former Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3 developers have left Electronic Arts’ Los Angeles Studio to form their own independent studio Supergiant Games.

The team is made up of Amir Rao, Gavin Simon and Darren Korb, with the group’s website saying: “We are a group of former EALA developers who quit our jobs in August 2009 and moved into a house together to make games. It's pretty awesome.”

“We’re working on a game for digital download platforms that we hope to release in 2011.”

Unreal Engine 3 Integrated With Steamworks

James Lee — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:05:24 +0000

Epic Games and Valve Software have entered into an agreement to bring Valve’s Steamworks services to all licensees of Epic’s Unreal Engine 3.

Licensees of the industry leading games engine will now be able to fully take advantage of all game features and services in Steam, including: product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking and anti-cheat technology.

GDC: Peter Molyneux on Moving Fable out of the RPG Niche

Chris Dahlen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:40:22 +0000

On Thursday morning, Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux unveiled new features of the upcoming Fable 3 and discussed the challenge of moving away from the RPG niche.

Describing his love of early RPGs such as Wizardry and Ultima, Molyneux noted that these games depended on stats and numbers. “I lost my girlfriend because she was down the pub and I was still playing Ultima. Absolutely adored it. But again, it was a lot of numbers and stats and it was quite techy, and it required you to memorize an awful lot.”

GamesMaster TV Show Could Return

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:10:24 +0000

Nineties TV show GamesMaster could be set to make a return as Future Publishing says it's “exploring the potential for reviving the brand on TV screens”.

The first-ever UK TV show dedicated to games aired on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998. Dominik Diamond usually presented, with Sir Patrick Moore appearing in pre-recorded inserts as the 'GamesMaster'.

The news comes as Future confirmed plans to launch a range of cross platform activity to boost its multi-format GamesMaster brand.

Edge Games Index

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:32:52 +0000

New bestseller Battlefield: Bad Company 2 makes a strong impression, but it can’t knock Modern Warfare 2 off the top of the buzz chart.

Modern Warfare 2 retained the buzz chart lead its held almost every week since releasing in November last year, with Brandwatch registering 17,200 mentions, down just slightly from last week’s 17,874.

Don’t Throw Away Our History, Warns Warren Spector

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:20:53 +0000

Warren Spector believes that attempts to appeal to the mass market with new devices like motion controllers are a threat to traditional gaming.

The motion control bandwagon runs the risk of "throwing away our entire history", the veteran designer warned at a GDC event attended by Gamasutra.

Pokemon Ranger Tops Japanese Chart

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:45:28 +0000

Four new titles placed in the top ten on the Japanese software chart during the week ended March 7.

Pokemon Ranger: Tracks Of Light for DS took the top spot, while .hack//Link for PSP and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies for DS took second and third respectively.

The week’s other new top ten entry was Nobunaga’s Ambition: Tendou for PS3 at number seven.

PS Move Will “Bridge The Gap” Between Core And Casual

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:44:33 +0000

Sony has said that its newly named PS3 motion controller will “bridge the gap” between core and casual gamers.

Sony: “Realism” Is Key To PS Move

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:31:37 +0000

Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton has said that “realism” is the key element that differentiates PlayStation Move form its rivals’ motion control offerings.

36 Third Party Developers Supporting PS Move

Tom Ivan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:30:51 +0000

Sony has revealed that 36 third party developers have signed on to support its newly named motion controller, PlayStation Move.

The platform holder also said that it will release 20 first party titles that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform during fiscal 2010. Move itself will launch this autumn.