Developer Nadeo is trying an experiment with the first-person-shooter genre. For ShootMania Storm, the company is boiling down run-and-gun gameplay to the basic elements and giving players powerful tools to create their own levels. It hopes to be able to reproduce the wild success it found with the TrackMania series. Based off of what I saw at a recent preview event hosted by publisher Ubisoft in Los Angeles, Calif., I think Nadeo just might be on to something. This PC game can really be whatever the community wants it to be. Players have the freedom to design their own levels using a system similar to building with Lego blocks. They can throw in, for example, castle walls, spring boards, water, trees, tunnels, and sniper towers ... Continue reading →
Josh Tank, best known to cinema fans for directing the recent, found-footage superhero movie Chronicle, will take the helm for Sony Picture’s live-action adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus, the popular PlayStation 2 title that allowed players to single-handily take down gigantic, ancient creatures. Shadow of the Colossus was one of the most praised games for the PS2. The action-adventure title, developed by Team Ico and directed by Fumito Ueda, told the story of a man who had to kill 16 colossi in order to bring his love back to life. Kevin Misher, who most recently brought us the comedic take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Mirror Mirror, will produce the film. Sony Pictures is currently looking for writers for the project, according ... Continue reading →
Despite a rough launch, Diablo III sold more than 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time, according to publisher Blizzard Entertainment. The publisher said that number does not include the more than 1.2 million players who received a free copy of the game after signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion. This means an estimated 4.7 million players total were willing (but not necessarily able) to storm Sanctuary on launch night. After one week, that number has already grown to more than 6.3 million, which represents close to $400 million in sales at retail. Naturally, Blizzard is thrilled to have sold so many copies in such a short amount ... Continue reading →
Video game rental service GameFly revealed today its expansion into mobile game publishing for the iOS and Android platforms as well as forging a GameFly GameStore for Android later this fall. “GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best experience possible and to be their single destination for console, PC, and mobile gaming needs,” GameFly co-founder Sean Spector said. “We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote, and sell their smartphone and tablet games.” GameFly expects its first published title this summer, but no further info yet on the game’s contents and genre. Is it too early to presume all GameStore items prefaced with ... Continue reading →
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said today that consumers are printing fewer photos. That’s why the company’s Imaging and Printing division saw sales drop 10 percent in the quarter. The reason for that shift is interesting, and it may underscore the changing of the guard in Silicon Valley. Consumers are flocking to Facebook and are uploading billions of photos to the social networking service, where they can share digital images of their lives with their friends. That may mean that users don’t need to print photos and send them to their loved ones as often. It’s ironic since HP is laying off 27,000 employees, while Facebook was able to go public in a $100 billion-plus initial public offering. That means the very first company of ... Continue reading →
On the frozen terrain of the Eastern Front, Germany suffered more than 80 percent of its casualties in World War II. That grim fact is reflected in the brutal combat of the upcoming Company of Heroes 2, which THQ plans to publish on the PC next year. The original Company of Heroes was one of the best real-time strategy games of 2006. I played the entire game, and it was one of my favorites of the year. It covered battles on the Western Front after the American invasion of France. But Company of Heroes 2 will cover a longer span: from 1941 until the storming of Berlin in 1945. “For Company of Heroes 2, we wanted to be different, to do more, add more authenticity, ... Continue reading →
Tokyo-based mobile gaming company GREE announced today the open beta launch of its social network tool suite for iOS and Android devices. GREE’s existing Japanese platform, which reaches 230 million players worldwide, provides developers a plethora of social features for their mobile titles such as Leaderboards, Achievements, and a friend invite/request infrastructure. In April 2011, GREE acquired social platform OpenFeint for $104 million. In early May 2012, it bought San Francisco-based developer Funzio for $210 million. Both purchases signified GREE’s move for a stronger international presence. “The GREE platform has been built with the goal of creating a worldwide developer and player community,” GREE Senior Vice President of Product Ethan Fassett said in a statement. “We believe the GREE platform offers developers the tools to ... Continue reading →
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said today that consumers are printing fewer photos. That’s why the company’s Imaging and Printing division saw sales drop 10 percent in the quarter. The reason for that shift is interesting, and it may underscore the changing of the guard in Silicon Valley. Consumers are flocking to Facebook and are uploading billions of photos to the social networking service, where they can share digital images of their lives with their friends. That may mean that users don’t need to print photos and send them to their loved ones as often. It’s ironic since HP is laying off 27,000 employees, while Facebook was able to go public in a $100 billion-plus initial public offering. That means the very first company of ... Continue reading →
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said in a conference call with analysts that she is “cautiously optimistic” that the company’s financial results are stabilizing. In a call with analysts, Whitman said, “I wouldn’t say we have turned the corner but we are making progress. We did what we said we were going to do” in terms of exceeding earnings and revenue targets in the second fiscal quarter. HP beat earnings by 7 cents a share and in some businesses it has good growth. It grew 22 percent in software sales, but HP’s Autonony group, which HP bought for $10 billion last year, missed expectations. Autonomy’s founder will leave HP. “We are creating the process to adapt to innovation and product leadership,” she said. HP will ... Continue reading →
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said in a conference call with analysts that she is “cautiously optimistic” that the company’s financial results are stabilizing. In a call with analysts, Whitman said, “I wouldn’t say we have turned the corner but we are making progress. We did what we said we were going to do” in terms of exceeding earnings and revenue targets in the second fiscal quarter. HP beat earnings by 7 cents a share and in some businesses it has good growth. It grew 22 percent in software sales, but HP’s Autonony group, which HP bought for $10 billion last year, missed expectations. Autonomy’s founder will leave HP. “We are creating the process to adapt to innovation and product leadership,” she said. HP will ... Continue reading →
