Angry Birds Flying Onto 3DS, Wii

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Angry Birds is one of the most popular games on the planet and it’s coming to new platforms. Following the recent release of the game on PSN for PS3 and PSP, Rovio has announced it is coming to Nintendo platforms too.

“Wii and 3DS later in the year,” Tweeted Rovio. “We prefer downloads and digital distribution on all platforms, it’s green like the pigs.”

Rovio also announced that a Valentine’s Day version of Angry Birds Seasons will release for Android and iOS users. It will join Halloween and Christmas variations that already exist.

Source: twitter.com/RovioMobile

BlizzCon 2011 Set For October

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Blizzard Entertainment has announced plans for BlizzCon 2011. Once again, it will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, and will take place this year from October 21 – October 22, 2011.

“We look forward to holding another exciting BlizzCon this year, filled with some great entertainment and competition, as well as the latest news about Blizzard games,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “BlizzCon is built from the ground up with our community in mind — we’re pleased to be able to host an event where players can come together to have fun and celebrate their passion for gaming.”

While Blizzard is keeping most of the details under their hats for now, there will be discussion panels, tournaments, contests, merchandise and more.

Marvel Versus Fighting Pad Unleashed

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PDP created custom controllers for Tron: Evolution and Disney Epic Mickey and now they’re doing the same with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The Xbox 360 controller is uniquely designed to be asymmetrical, and will ship in early February.

The game has six front buttons and everything uses micro switch activators, just like an arcade machine. Also, the controller has an analog stick that is designed to be a cross between the comfort of a thumb stick while acting like an arcade joystick.

Source: pdp.com {link no longer active}

Activision Didn’t Pressure Treyarch Over Black Ops

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 broke revenue records not just for video games, but for all forms of entertainment, meaning that the follow up Black Ops from Treyarch had a lot to live up to. However, despite the fact that the success of the next Call of Duty had a very material impact on the success of Activision in 2011, Treyarch said that Activision applied no external pressure on them.

“People don’t come by our offices and say ‘Hey, this game sold this many map packs, you better do the same or all bets are off,'” said design director David Vonderhaar. “Those aren’t conversations that happen. The only thing that is in my control is making [recently released DLC] First Strike something people want to buy. It s not practical for me is to go ‘Oh God, this map pack sold ten bajillion, and I need to do the same.’  All I can do is make First Strike awesome. I just try to focus on that and remain distraction-free from any business or social pressure. Nothing else is in my control and I have to remain level-headed about that.”

“Still, there’s no avoiding comparisons to a game, particularly when it is the direct predecessor in the world’s most successful game series. Following Modern Warfare 2 was a role that Treyarch embraced, however.”

“Every developer dreams of making the No.1 selling title in the history of gaming,” he continued. “You want to make the biggest, strongest, highest-rated, most critically acclaimed and best-selling video game on the planet. We looked at Modern Warfare 2 and said ‘What an amazing benchmark, let’s go get it!.’  It drives a lot of what we do everyday. It is a huge inspiration to us, and for us to even be in that league, that’s fantastic.”

Source: MCV

Conan Considered Xbox Live

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Conan O’Brien has been an accessory to late night television for nearly two decades and the goofy red-haired comic is a hero to nerds everywhere. It should come as no surprise that Microsoft was in talks to bring Coco to Xbox Live, but some vagueness over the fine details meant it never advanced much beyond the rudimentary stages.

“The Xbox thing – a lot of the conversations were ‘well, it’s a show, but it’s not a show and there are no breaks, but maybe there are breaks and it’s not 60 minutes, it’s this’ and nobody really knew what it was,” said Jeff Ross, executive producer of Conan. “So it was really going to be a leap of faith to jump in with these guys and figure something out which we didn’t know. Plus there were 100 people who were out of jobs and that didn’t bode well for that.”

Still, they left impressed by Microsoft’s ambitions and knew that the Internet was huge in increasing awareness about shows. “It was interesting to sit and look at it and say, ‘it would be great to be involved in this,’ but at the end of the day, we had some eventual television offers and we basically shied away from the other,” said Ross. “But we knew we had to be involved in the technology side. We knew we had to be involved in the Internet no matter what we did.”

“You meet with these guys and they show you all this stuff that they’re developing and it’s mind blowing,” he added. “I think it’s coming and it’s big. It’s just that we weren’t in a position at that point to figure out what it was.”

Source: Gamasutra

Future Talks Crossover Between Films And Games

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There has been a lot of talk of convergence of late in the entertainment sector, with gaming crossing paths with movies, comics and other entertainment mediums often. Future Publishing merged its film and game divisions recently, and it was in direct response to this movement.

“When speaking to our clients and partners in games, we increasingly hear of their desire to tap into the film enthusiast audience,” said associate publisher for Future’s Xbox and Nitro Stuart Galbraith. “Similarly, the film studios are keen to target gamers throughout their theatrical campaigns and on to DVD and Blu-ray. With consoles becoming rounded entertainment devices that play films and deliver streamed programs or downloaded content, the lines are blurring even more. ”

Source: MCV

Halo Remake Might Be Coming From Saber

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Reports are that Saber Interactive is developing a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. The developer of TimeShift and the upcoming Inversion is apparently looking to release the game in time for the original’s tenth anniversary on November 15, 2001.

The game is expected to be remade with new assets and support 1080p resolution. While the game will apparently not be running on the Halo Reach engine, it may have online co-op.

Source: Joystiq