Microsoft Studios acquires Twisted Pixel
Twisted Pixel, the studio behind Xbox LIVE Arcade’s Ms. ‘Splosion Man and the more recent Kinect-enabled Gunstringer, has a new home. Microsoft announced today it’s purchased the Austin-based indie developer.
Speaking to Joystiq, Microsoft Studios general manager Matt Booty said Twisted Pixel’s unique character is what drew them to the studio, and they have no plans on changing it.
“Microsoft’s a very big company, and you’ve got Twisted Pixel, a relatively smaller developer,” said Booty. “We’re very invested that they get to stay who they are, and they get to retain the magic they’ve got as a smaller indie developer. We’d like to leave the golden goose alone, so to speak.”
According to Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford, there will be one change, and that’s the scale of future projects.
“Ever since the very beginning we’ve done things our way, with our own sense of humor,” he said. “I think you’re going to see more of the same type of approach to our games, but with greater resources and time. You’re going to see us be able to make bigger games and richer games going forward.”
Silent Hill: Downpour Now Officially Delayed Until 2012
Well, it turns out the rumors were true. Joystiq is reporting that Silent Hill: Downpour has been delayed to Q1 2012. If you were planning on ditching your family Christmas get together to play the game, I’m sorry.
The game, which is totally not Alan Wake, was originally due to be released this fall. Amazon was the first to hint at a delay when they pushed the game’s expected release date back to March 31st, 2012. So either Konami has been keeping us in the dark for a couple weeks now, or Amazon has psychic powers. It’s likely the latter, as I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Jeff Bezos set fire to a building with only his mind.
It’s not all bad in Silent Hill however, as this gives the publisher more time to release trailers set to the music of Korn. Wait, that isn’t a good thing?
Oh God, I’m so sorry.
Mashcast #20: Return of the Big Three
This week marks the return of the big three. No, we’re not talking Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. We’re talking Redding, Hill-Williams, and Santangelo. Besides celebrating ourselves we also talk about monetization before game design, the future of Mass Effect, lack of new IP, and Bethesda not being interested in social trends. All that plus more on this Mashcast.
Hosts: Jarret Redding, Robert Hill-Williams, Nick Santangelo
Theme: “Insert Coin” – Chris Geehan of Hyperduck Soundworks
Mashcast #20: Return of the Big Three by Mash Those Buttons
Question(s) of the Week:
What do you think is the best way to combat piracy?
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Next Dragon Quest Game Will be Revealed Next Week
Dragon Quest fans are going to want to keep their eyes planted on Square’s Ustream page at 1:00 am EST on September 5th. At that time, Square Enix will be conducting a live reveal of the next game in the hugely-successful JRPG series. Whether or not the publisher will be announcing an entirely new title or finally blowing the lid off of the previously announced Dragon Quest X is unclear.
The latter is possible because no screen shots, video or details whatsoever have been released from the Wii game. Adding credence to that theory is the announcement that a Dragon Quest X trailer will be bundled into Dragon Quest Anniversary Edition when it releases on September 15th.
[Source: Siliconera]
[Images via Final Fantasy Wikia and Joystiq Junkies.]
Cross-game chat heads to… OnLive
Nicely at least one console has received cross-game chat this week although we’ve learnt why it will by no means take place for the PS3, OnLive has included the feature in a current update, Joystiq reports.
CEO Steve Perlman revealed that party chat would enable users to speak with each and every other even when playing different games. Emails can be sent out from the service to invite buddies to chats.
Also new to the streaming service this week is parental controls, letting us block the young ‘uns out of the gory stuff. Account tweaks will only let them play stuff they’re old sufficient to play according to ESRB and PEGI ratings, so no Dark Souls for small Timmy.
The final piece of the package is achievements getting insta-uploaded to Facebook from now on. Users can even record a 10-second ‘brag clip’ when they secure their award, something that Perlman is very proud of: ”Facebook has been terrific to function on with this. They really made a couple of mods to their technique — because we’re the very first guys posting HD resolution videos nonstop over to Facebook. They’re into it.”
OnLive comes to the UK subsequent month.
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Xbox Live Hits 35 Million Users
It would be foolhardy to say that the Xbox 360 has been anything less than profitable. It has sold millions of units worldwide and in a lot more than one way revolutionized the way we play games and how we connect to other folks in an on-line gaming space. A fair amount of that success could be attributed to Microsoft’s flagship Xbox Live service.
Speaking to Joystiq, Robin Burrowes confirmed that Xbox Live has just surpassed the 35 million subscriber mark, but was rather mute on the split in between sliver and gold members. At final count there had been 12 million Gold subscribers.
Mr. Burrowes did state an fascinating fact saying that Microsoft is earning “more revenue from the transaction space than the subscription space.” That indicates that the company is producing more cash from digital content sales than from subscriptions and you can be specific that the gap will grow as a lot more and far more folks take benefit of the no cost. silver membership
Gamescom 2011: Silent Hill HD Collection coming to Xbox 360
What was as soon as a PS3 exclusive is no far more. The Silent Hill HD Collection(which consists of remastered versions of Silent Hill two and Silent Hill 3) will now be accessible for the Xbox 360.
It is reported by Shacknews by way of Joystiq that this announcement came from Silent Hill: Downpour producer Tomm Hulett from Konami’s Gamescom 2011 press conference, and that the decision to go multi-platform came directly from fan response. “power to the people” correct? Or “power to the gamers” in this case.
The game is slated to come out in fall, Lets see if the release date gets push back because of this announcement. Do you feel it will? Leave your comments.
