Gamernode: Latest Industry News

Lego Zelda: the best use for Legos ever?

I'm not sure if it's my just long-suppressed inner fanboy trying to resurface, or if the following video is indeed cooler than a shopping spree in Q branch. Either way, I'm sure you are going to like it. YouTube member Inglis93 has posted a stop-motion interpretation of Link's quest through a dungeon in Hyrule, and has done it entirely with Legos. And the best part? There's more to come.

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Former Fallout, Medal of Honor devs form new studi...

WhiteMoon Dreams, depending on who you ask, is either a really cool or totally lame name for a game development studio. Former Fallout, Medal of Honor, and Ratchet & Clank developers seem to like it, though, because that's what they've named their newly formed company.

WhiteMoon Dreams is headed up by former EA technical art director Jay Kootarappallil and former Fallout lead concept and game designer R. Scott Campbell, and will focus on creating original IP for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii consoles. They are reportedly already working on their first project with "a major Japanese publisher."

Although the company intends to focus on original work, their press release states that they would also be interested in working with outside publishers on "interesting titles needi...

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Sony points finger at the 360. Too many shooters

When one of the head honchos of any of the three major gaming companies decides to sit down and talk, there is always going to be something interesting to discuss. Such is the case with Scott Steinberg, the the VP of marketing for SCEA.

While the majority of what Mr. Steinberg is old news to us who have been following the industry since the launch of the Xbox 360, there are a few gems which make one stop and ponder for a moment.

"The time that they (Microsoft) had to create huge distance and build a massive install base before the PS3 could really take root; that opportunity is over and there's no real capitalization of it. They had a great crescendo moment with Halo and it helped catapult them into a pretty strong position towards the back end of last year, but they were still within a st...

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Dexter videogame incoming

Now I'm not one to judge something before it actually has a chance to prove itself. Like everyone, one has to give a subject the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best.

Having said that the news that Marc Ecko and Showtime are teaming up to bring the Showtime original series into the realm of videogames is disappointing, and confusing. It is a fact the majority of videogames based on a movie, television series, or book never turn out good. Some are passable, others typically below average, and very few reach the status of must-have.

On paper Dexter sounds like it could have some potential. The plot of a detective by day and murderous avenger by night does have some appeal. But I can't help but think that there are other games out there which already fit into the detective/killer genre. ...

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Resistance on PSP? It's possible...

Gamers who bought the PS3 at launch or a bit after most likely played Resistance: Fall of Man, the World War II and alien invasion sci-fi shooter from Insomniac.

Overall, gamers enjoyed Resistance: Fall of Man, labeling it an enjoyable shooter with a fun multiplayer experience, but not necessarily coming close to other shooters such as Halo and Gears of War. But for those who did love the game, would seeing Resistance on the PSP excite you?

Ted Price, president of Insomniac Games was asked if this idea was a possibility, "Sure. I think that's possible... I think Killzone demonstrated that it doesn't have to be a first-person shooter. I think Killzone: Liberation was a fantastic game, but a very different game from the original. Anything is possible."

More and more we're seeing the PSP becom...

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Street Fighter art tribute

When someone says Street Fighter, most gamers know that it is one of the most influencial video game franchises of all time. The fighting genre changed for the best, and since the birth of the franchise, every other fighting game borrows or tries to be as good as Street Fighter.

Coincidentaly 2008 is the 20th Anniversary of the Street Fighter series, and Capcom is celebrating by the release of the new Street Fighter IV. UDON comics is celebrating the occassion too with an all-new full color art book that acts as a tribute to the Street Fighter franchise.

"UDON artists and other comic, video game and freelance illustrators have been invited to interpret their favorite Street Fighter characters for inclusion in this special book. Along with these invited artists UDON is sending out a widespre...

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Uwe Boll calls Steven Spielberg "sloppy"

Uwe Boll is out to make a fool of himself once again. This time he has challenged the upcoming Indiana Jones movie to a filmic duel with his big screen adaptation of Postal.

In typical grammatically-challenged fashion, Boll has penned a letter to Bloody-Disgusting.com, calling Spielberg "sloppy" and also taking a shot at the aging Harrison Ford.

"On the Indiana Jones weekend - May 23 - we will go out and destroy Indiana Jones in the Box Office! We all know that Harrison Ford is older as my grandpa and his time is up - would Michael Moore say!

Spielberg gets sloppy. We saw that with War of the Worlds (why the fuck the older brother survived?) and also in parts of Jaws, E.T., Munich etc.! My performance in Postal as 'Nazi Theme Park Owner' outperforms easily Ben Kingsley in Schindler's L...

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EGM, 1UP and GFW publisher files for bankruptcy

Despite proclaiming that they were in good shape last August, Ziff Davis Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today due to outstanding debts totaling between $500 million to $1 billion.

Filing for bankruptcy is the beginning of a massive business restructuring plan for the company. During the restructuring phase, an ad hoc notehold group will pay Ziff Davis Media $24.5 million to stay afloat. In addition, the company filed "customary 'first day' motions" in order to continue paying their employees and vendors.

We gamers would know Ziff Davis Media for gaming websites like 1UP.com and publishing several gaming magazines such as Games for Windows, Electronic Gaming Monthly and PC Magazine.

Two years ago, Ziff Davis Media closed down the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine following continue...

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What you want...Halo 3 action figures?

By now you probably think that the Halo 3 uber-media blitz is over and that you can finally have some peace and quiet from seeing Master Chief show up every five seconds.

But wait, there's more. McFarlane Toys has announced that the official Halo 3 Series 1 action figures are ready to hit stores this week.

But added to the good news, (or bad news depending on your point of view), a few lucky gamers will be able to win a complete set through a giveaway contest sponsored by Spawn.com. If you are one of the fortunate winners of one of these sets, you'll not only own the bragging rights of getting the Series 1 figures for free, you'll also revel in the knowledge that your toys have been personally signed by Todd McFarlane.

But if you don't win, you can always get yourself some free Halo 3 Serie...

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Massively multiplayer Duty

Activision, a company who you can always count on to "exploit" their intellectual properties, is looking into the MMO market for one of their biggest titles. This comes as a little surprise since it has only been four months since Vivendi, Activision and Blizzard had a love child named Vivactivizzard.

Apparently Activision has been discussing how to make Call of Duty an MMO with the Warcraft creators. With Call of Duty 4 being the most played game on Xbox Live for five straight weeks, I can see why Activision is looking to see how they can both expand that franchise and cash in on the millions of people playing their game. The MMO space just seems like a strange landscape for such a focused and popular first-person shooter.

I understand that Call of Duty is one of the hottest properties ri...

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Falling cost of optical media

For every format war there is a winner. And once a winner is declared, they can start cutting prices because they know that everyone and their brother is going to buy. That seems to be what Sony is doing in wake of its first format win ever.

APC is reporting that Blu-ray drive prices are falling fast. You can pick up a BD-ROM drive now for as low as $199, a far cry from the thousand dollar players and drives from only 20 months ago.

So how does this affect games? Well, on the PC side of things you could see games coming on multiple DVD's or one BRD, similar to way the industry transitioned to DVD from the CD. As more people are putting BRD's in their machines more publishes will seriously consider releasing their games on the format. I think that's great, being able to use so much spac...

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Trade in your HD DVD for a Blu-ray and free movie...

Sony has brought the spoils of war to Switzerland. It's amazing how winning a format war can make you do crazy things, like giving away money. For a limited time, everyone living in Switzerland can get 200 Franc (190 USD) off the purchase of either the BDP-S500 or BDP-S300 Blu-ray player.

There is only one catch, you have to trade in your HD DVD player for Sony to "recycle." There are some exclusions of course. The Xbox 360 HD DVD player and all computer HD DVD disc drives (what would that be, HD DVDDD?) are not eligible for this refund. You'll also have to have your receipt and proof of purchase. Ok, so that's more like 3 catches. But I'm sure there's at least one guy in Switzerland with OCD that has all that.

If 200 Franc isn't enough to make you get rid of your obsolete hardware, So...

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In-game ads to double by 2012?

According to a new advertising research report put out by marketing firm emarketer, in-game ads will rise more than one hundred percent in just the next 4 years. To give you an idea, right now the videogame industry makes $295 million a year by selling in-game ads. This report suggests that it will soon rise to around $650 million.

emarketer attributes its findings to the growth of the videogame industry itself, which it predicts will reach $21 billion by the same year (2012). Senior Analyst at emarketer Paul Verna said, " "At a time when other sectors of the digital entertainment industry are struggling with lagging sales and rampant piracy, the U.S. video game business is booming."

This was really inevitable; as our industry grows, the rest of the planet was bound to take notice sometime. ...

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Capcom reveals 15 games are under-development

During an ongoing job search, Japanese publisher Capcom revealed they have 15 different game projects under-development as we speak. Sure, it's no surprise for a big gaming publisher to have multiple projects under-development but my duty as a gamer is to speculate and speculate I shall.

Capcom only listed a few of the under-development games, including Dark Void, Street Fighter 2 HD Remix, Commando 3, Rocketmen, Talisman, MotoGP and Okami Wii so as time goes on, more games will be revealed. It appears the publisher is also focusing on resurrecting a few of its older franchises, as noted by a few of the dustier titles listed.

Regarding its older franchises, Capcom mentioned the following, "Capcom is responsible for some of the most revered characters and properties in video game history and ...

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New Sony HDD tech will boost storage capacity 5X

Hard disk drive technology has been in somewhat of a rut. While the capacity of the drives have increased, the idea of storing data on stacked spinning disks hasn't changed in years, until now. Sony has developed a new technology that will increase the storage space of hard drives by five times.

Sony's idea is to use magnetic and optical technology and meld them into a hybrid device using a laser to write data onto the media. This will allow the extreme packing of data into smaller areas of space and results in a dramatic increase in information on the new disk drives.

As an example, a typical 320GB hard drive would be able to increase its capacity to 1.6 terabytes while maintaining the same form factor. Applications for the new technology could be used in expanding the data storage of vari...

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The father of roleplaying, Gary Gygax, dead at 69

Anyone who has ever played an RPG game owes Gary Gygax a debt of gratitude. A co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons (and several later roleplaying games), Gygax helped establish roleplaying games long before videogames existed.

These days, it's hard to find an RPG that hasn't taken something from D&D; and there's no questioning the genre was initially formed based upon mimicking the D&D game in computer form. 

Earlier this morning, reports came out that Gary Gygax had passed away. It comes as no surprise given the state of his health-in 2004 he suffered two strokes, in 2006 he almost had a heart attack, and he was diagnosed with an inoperable abdominal aortic aneurysm-but it's still a sad day for gaming.

Much like many of the early pioneers who helped bring gaming mainstream, Gygax is widely unk...

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Microsoft Surface reinvents touch-based gaming

Imagine playing D&D, Warhammer or any other tabletop game in a whole new way. What about putting down a Pokemon card and seeing your Pikachu come to life and attack your opponent's Pokemon? Well this concept might not be as far-fetched anymore with Microsoft's latest advancement in technology, the Micosoft Surface.

Microsoft Surface is the first commercially available multi-touch surface computer from Microsoft, turning an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. From the information found on the main Microsoft Surface website,

"The product provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that's easy for individuals or small groups to interact with in a way that f...

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Preserving Virtual Worlds: Saving game content for...

Did you ever think that there should be an official museum, library, or hall of fame for videogames? It's an idea that I've long pondered, and now the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Maryland, Stanford, Rochester Institute of Technology and Linden Lab are joining forces to do something along those lines.

Under the Digital Preservation initiative of the Library of Congress, these institutions will be working together on a project called Preserving Virtual Worlds. The goals of the project are as follows:

"Our goal is to help develop mechanisms and methods for preserving digital games and interactive fiction by

1. developing basic standards for metadata and content representation; and 2. investigating preservation issues through a series of archiving case stu...

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THQ director blames piracy, reviewers for Iron Lor...

As some of you may know, Iron Lore, the developers of the hack n' slash game Titan Quest and the upcoming Dawn of War expansion Soulstorm, recently closed their doors because of a slew of circumstances. THQ's creative director Michael Fitch is coming out and saying that piracy, hardware vendors, gamers, and reviewers are the main reasons why Iron Lore studios shut down.

"If even a tiny fraction of the people who pirated the game had actually spent some god-damn money for their 40+ hours of entertainment, things could have been very different today," he said. It's true, piracy is the number one enemy for the PC gaming industry right now and we need to see a bigger push in protection, because Iron Lore isn't going to be the last developer to fall under the sword of pirates (so to speak).

Accor...

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$208 million would make even Scrooge McDuck jealou...

Harmonix, creators of runaway success Rock Band, are doing quite well for themselves these days. Not only did they move over a million units of Rock Band since its launch in November, they have also gone double platinum, selling 2.5 million songs over the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.

All these numbers may sound unimpressive compared to the likes of Halo 3 but you have to remember that Rock Band is a $170 package - that's more than double the cost of a normal game this generation. To move that amount of product at that cost in under four months is pretty amazing.

Viacom (parent company of Harmoinx) was quite possibly the most impressed by the success of Rock Band. In their recent annual report they promised Harmoinx 208.7 million dollars as a 'thank you for being a frien...

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