Xperia Play ‘Much More Cool Than Using An iPhone’ Says Sony Ericsson

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The Xperia Play is Sony’s most ambitious entry yet into the expanding smartphone gaming field. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Sony Ericsson U.K. marketing manager David Hilton thinks the PlayStation Phone will cost less than an iPhone and compete well with Apple’s machine.

“The first thing this does it put Sony Ericsson firmly back in the game of smartphones,” said Hilton to the Metro. “It puts our smartphones out there with the latest Android technology, the benefits of that coupled with the best of Sony technology that make using a Sony Ericsson much more satisfying, much more enjoyable and frankly much more cool than using an iPhone.”

“Hilton does see potential competition from another Sony product: the NGP. “If someone wants the ultimate gaming machine and is prepared to wait until later in 2011, then the NGP might be for them – but they would have to carry another smartphone and many people don’t want to do that,” he said.

Source: CVG

Mafia Wars Suit Settled With Digital Chocolate

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Digital Chocolate and Zynga have settled their lawsuit relating to Mafia Wars. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and neither side had an immediate comment on the resolution.

The lawsuit stemmed over a game with the same title that Digital Chocolate created in 2004 (Zynga had created their Mafia Wars in 2008). There was also a lawsuit from Mob Wars Creator David Maestri over Mafia Wars which was settled in 2009 and a Playdom lawsuit was settled over Mobsters, which Zynga said infringed upon their trademark.

Source: Law.com

Smartphones And Handheld Consoles ‘Can Co-Exist’ Says Sega

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The portable gaming market is more crowded than ever, between iPhone, Android and dedicated gaming devices like DS, PSP, 3DS and NGP. However, Sega Europe’s senior vice president of sales Jurgen Post doesn’t see the gaming growth of smartphones coming at the expense of portable consoles.

“Will [dedicated handheld consoles] be as big as they have been in the past I don t know, but I m sure they can all co-exist,” said Post. “One of the key examples from us is Football Manager on the iPhone. We released it last year, and we ve just released a new version. We also released a PSP version. The funny thing is the iPhone version is 4.99 British Pounds and it s selling well, but the PSP version is much more expensive and yet we re doing similar numbers to what we did with previous versions.”

“You would expect that a lot of people would play it on the iPhone and not the PSP, but that s not the case. We released an identical version on iPhone and that s doing huge numbers, but it s not cannibalizing the PSP sales. It shows you can have different worlds next to one another,” he added. “Titles like this really prove that smartphones and dedicated handheld gaming systems can co-exist next to each other.”

Source: MCV {link no longer active}

Shogun 2: Duel To The Death

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Shogun 2: Total War sees the return of The Creative Assembly to the Warring States period of Japanese history that they first made their name with. Personal rivalries play an important role in this strategy game, and here’s a demonstration of what appears to be a Takeda-clan samurai taking on a Uesugi-clan sohei warrior monk.

{link no longer active}

 

THQ Announces Homefront Promotion For GDC

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THQ has announced a “Defend Your Homefront” rally that will take place March 2 at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. during GDC. Speakers will include Dr. William Forstchen who will talk about the potential danger of EMP blasts and former CIO officer Tae Kim will discuss the timeline of the Homefront universe. The event will end with a free live performance by metal core The Dillinger Escape Plan.

“As one of the most strategically important cities to the Greater Korean Republic in Homefront, San Francisco is the perfect place for fans to participate in our rally,” said Tyrone Miller, Director Public Relations, THQ. “We look forward to sharing the future history detailed in Homefront while educating and entertaining fans with thought provoking presentations and an energetic performance from The Dillinger Escape Plan.”

Killzone 3 Cinematics Director Foresees Game Heroes Endorsing Brands

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Jim Sonzero of Sonzero Films helped direct the cinematic sequences for Killzone 3, leading actors like Malcolm McDowell and Ray Winstone. The veteran developer also directed the cinematics for Resident Evil 5, the horror film Pulse and has also worked on comercials for companies like Coca-Cola, Verizon and Lexus.

“The blending of advertising and games is exciting and full of possibilities,” said Sonzero. “It won’t be long before game heroes will be used to endorse brands in cross promotions. I see tremendous opportunities for brands to reach the growing gaming audience.”

Dead Island Trailer Huge Internet Hit

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Deep Silver is absolutely reveling in all of the attention that the new Dead Island trailer has brought on the project. Since it released last week, the game has racked up over 100,000 fans on the official Facebook page, was listed as a “Most Popular” category of YouTube with 2.7 million viewers, and was listed in the “Top 10 trending topics” on Twitter with roughly 3.2 million Tweets.

“We knew that we had something very unique with this trailer and we are very pleased by the positive feedback we received from the reveal of Dead Island and its trailer,” says Georg Larch, International Marketing Director of Deep Silver. “The trailer conveys the mood that the player will experience when his or her in-game character arrives on the island and the picturesque holiday paradise suddenly turns into hell.”

Duke Nukem Forever ‘Not My Game’ Says Gearbox CEO

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Duke Nukem Forever is being completed by Gearbox Software and published by Take-Two. For Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software president and CEO, he still sees the game as the byproduct of its original designers at 3D Realms.

It’s not my game, said Pitchford. My commitment is to make sure that I and you and we all finally get to play the game we’ve been waiting for all this time. So the commitment that I’ve made with my studio is to make sure 3D Realms’ vision is realized.

“I was at 3D Realms at the very beginning of the project, so the influence that persisted from that point forward is very high level the top-line story of how Duke is enjoying the rewards of his successes, and some time has passed since he saved the world, and it’s this world that the aliens come back into, and he once again has to rise and be the one,” he added. “Also the thread of how he is in his casino in Las Vegas, and there’s Hoover Dam and Area 51 and the deserts of Nevada and Vegas itself and all that stuff. That was all tied in back then too.”

“The question of whether Duke Nukem Forever ultimately will be a success after nearly a decade and a half of development hell may have obscured the IP’s legacy. Well, I made a decision to purchase the franchise and to become the responsible party for shipping the unshippable. When I made that decision, I probably thought about it a little bit, and I probably decided that was a good decision to make. So you probably already know the answer to the question, but yeah, I made the bet. And I made the bet with a lot less information than I have today. When I made the bet, we were still in 2009. I think my crystal ball is pretty good for me on that one.”

Source: Eurogamer {link no longer active}