Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter pushed to April
Our beloved sister site, Big Download, reports that Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter has been slightly delayed to April — and, frankly, if you can’t trust your own sister, who can you trust? (That’s on PC, mind you. No word on the 360 port’s timing.) BD was also told that a deathmatch and dedicated servers update for the first game would arrive soon and that The Second Encounter would ship with both of those features.
We’re happy for the tidbits, but we can’t figure out why Devolver Digital would give all that cool, manly news to our dumb little sister. She still plays with My Little Ponies and Polly Pocket. What does she know about a game where dudes have bombs for hands?
Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter pushed to April originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Activision mentions subscription-based Call of Duty again
Next to reconfirming that the series will stay on an annual release schedule, Activision today once more indicated that the Call of Duty franchise is headed towards a subscription-based model.
“Our strategy continues to be to annualize our key franchises. We’ve indicated before that Call of Duty is on a two year development cycle given the content and work that needs to go into a high-quality game experience,” Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith said during the company’s financial reports call today. “We also have new business models potentially for the franchise in the future and we’ve been building capabilities on both the business development side as well as the studio side of it.”
Making things a bit clearer is Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. “If you think about the success that we’ve had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise,” he said of the series.
Last time we heard of something like this was last November when CFO Thomas Tippl said Activision plans to integrate additional monetized online services into their games, Call of Duty among them.
Trine slashed to $5 on Steam
So, was a 25 percent reduction not enough incentive to pick up Trine? Did you scoff when Impulse only halved the price? If your cold, frugal heart was unmoved by these gestures of kindness, perhaps its icy confines will be breached by Steam’s latest deal. You see, from now through Thursday, Trine can be purchased from the service for 75 percent off its retail price. Yes, that means you can pick up Frozenbyte’s magical puzzle-platformer for only five bucks.
Should that fail to penetrate the stony tomb of loneliness inside your rib cage, well, then there’s nothing more to be said.
[Thanks, AJ]
Trine slashed to $5 on Steam originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Riccitiello talks ‘Project Ten Dollar’ and digital distribution
Crack open a fresh copy of Mass Effect 2, The Saboteur or Dragon Age: Origins and you’ll see it: A code to download some piece of game content that those suckers buying used will have to pay for. It’s not just coincidence that EA is shipping so many games with these bonuses/punitive measures (depending on your perspective). It’s what CEO John Riccitiello calls “Project Ten Dollar,” a bid to take back a portion of revenue from the estimated $2 billion in annual used game sales. That and the rest of Riccitiello’s strategy to to make EA more reliant on digital content is detailed in a new BusinessWeek report.
All we know is, with a 25 percent decline in revenue for Q3, the company needs to find some way to fill the gaps sooner rather than later. Though Riccitiello seems convinced the digital strategy will patch the hole, some remain unconvinced. Former EA consultant Eric Goldberg told BusinessWeek, “While it’s possible EA can make the extremely difficult transition from providing a shiny disc in boxes to [leading] in digital, history suggests it’s rather unlikely.”
Riccitiello talks ‘Project Ten Dollar’ and digital distribution originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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High-speed banking: Forza 3 sells two million copies
Turn 10′s Forza 3 has managed to attain double platinum status — dubs plat in “cool kid” speak. Microsoft announced that the game sold over two million copies since its October release. The racer took just over a month to surpass one million sales, and has clearly been doing laps around the money pit ever since.
And hey, if you’re wondering what you’re missing in all of this hot pedal-on-metal action, there’s a demo on Xbox Live right now.
High-speed banking: Forza 3 sells two million copies originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Review: Heavy Rain
With Heavy Rain, developer Quantic Dream set out to create what it calls an “interactive drama.” The result is as entertaining as any good Hollywood thriller, but far more engrossing — and thought provoking — than one could ever hope it to be.
It’s the interwoven story of four very different characters (and a modestly sized supporting cast) who all find themselves involved in one way or another with the case of the Origami Killer, a serial kidnapper and murderer of young boys. The story draws on elements of film noir and science fiction, movies like Se7en, Saw and The Big Sleep, to create a compelling mystery — a book you can’t put down, if you will.
The real magic of Heavy Rain (a title which not only sounds cool, but is central to the plot) is how it draws upon you, as the player, and your ability to make some very difficult decisions befitting of the game’s tag line, “How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?”
Continue reading Review: Heavy Rain
Review: Heavy Rain originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Disney Interactive to be more ‘judicious’ with HD games as losses abate
Though Disney’s gaming division saw improved operating results during the company’s first fiscal quarter of 2010 (which ended January 2) — a loss of $10 million compared to a $45 million loss in Q1 the previous fiscal year — CEO Robert Iger has maintained a prudent stance on upcoming projects.
“Disney-branded games seem to perform better on the Wii and DS platforms,” he noted during a recent investor call (via Computerworld). It seems Disney will continue to target non-Nintendo platforms, but with fewer shots and steadier aim. “While we’ll continue to make high-end games, we’ll be very judicious in how many we make and which ones we choose,” Iger said.
Iger is also likely to keep an eye on the performance of upcoming “high-end” titles like Tron Evolution and Black Rock Studios’ Pure follow-up, Split/Second. And if neither of those work, you send in the spandex. “We have some interesting opportunities with Marvel,” he said. “That’s a brand we think would do extremely well on higher-end consoles.”
Source: ComputerWorld [via GamesIndustry.biz]
Source: The Walt Disney Company Q1 results
Disney Interactive to be more ‘judicious’ with HD games as losses abate originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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