PlayStation Rewards Put On Hold

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The recently announced PlayStation Rewards Platform was supposed to grant gifts and digital items for players who played certain games, downloaded certain content, took part in Home, or rated titles. While the program had been in beta for some months and was set to launch in April, now it’s release to the public has been postponed indefinitely.

“We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation in the PlayStation Rewards Beta, which is ending on March 31,” an email to PlayStation Rewards Beta participants read. “Your feedback helped us understand the kinds of things that make you feel appreciated and valued. Based on what we learned, we have decided the program is not ready to roll out to the public in April as originally planned. But rest assured, we will continue to thank loyal and devoted customers like you with innovative offerings.”

Source: CVG

Prepare To Arrive

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The hunt is on and Shepard must travel to the end the galaxy to discover the truth behind the Arrival. The latest DLC content for Mass Effect 2 has arrived for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox360 and new items are available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. Character pictures and avatar items like the Cerberus Armor, Death Mask and N7 cap can be purchased to personalize your gamercard or outfit your avatar. A premium theme is also available for 240 MS points that will allow you to traverse the dangerous asteroid station Omega, including club Afterlife complete with Asari dancers.

Windows Phone Getting Mobile Payments

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According to reports, Microsoft will include mobile-payment features in the next iteration of Windows Phone. This will be done in order to try and bridge the sizable gap the company has to make up with Google and their Android mobile OS.

This Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allows users to make transactions with nearby electronics devices. While mobile payments were $32 billion in 2010, it may increase to as much as $245 billion by the year 2014, according to Gartner Inc. research.

Source: BusinessWeek

Modern Warfare 3 Announcement Coming In April – Report

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Reports are that the next Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title is set to be announced in mid-April. Earlier rumors that the game might deal with the past of the character Ghost may also be true.

“Based on the ending of MW2, we’d be surprised if the story doesn’t pick up with Soap and Price on the run, after they were set up by General Shepherd, writes PSM3.

Call of Duty games have used the NFL Draft as a launching point for more promotions in the past, and the event will take place between April 28 30, right about when the announcement is expected to come.

Source: CVG

Facebook Fantasy Warfare

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In anticipation of the launch of WWE All Stars for Xbox 360 and PS3, fans on the official WWE All Stars Facebook page can brawl their way through an ongoing Fantasy Warfare campaign and win exclusive virtual and in-game rewards.  Produced by THQ and the Ayzenberg Group, Fantasy Warfare pits today s greatest wrestlers like John Cena against legends like Hulk Hogan to win prizes and earn exclusive loot .  With each match up, participants view a bragging video of each character talking about their awesomeness.  When the video finishes, users jump into the ring and have to make a series of interactive choose your own adventure -type choices to determine how their wrestler will fight and deliver signature moves during the match.

For a detailed look at how this campaign came together, check out the case study recently posted on the Social & Mobile section of Ayzenberg.com.

Animation for each fight was taken directly from in-game capture resulting in a different fight every time that can be replayed multiple ways for varied effect.  After each fight has ended, special loot like wallpaper, ringtones and discounts on WWE merchandise is unlocked and made shareable to the user.  As new match ups were unlocked by the community the cumulative progressive sharing was monitored resulting in in-game DLC community content rewards!  Look out, the Honky Tonk Man is coming in April as the official WWE all-stars DLC character!

Zynga Talks Sequels

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Webtrends vice president of apps Peter Yared recently argued that Zynga needs to start making sequels to its games. When asked about sequels, Zynga’s chief game designer Brian Reynolds didn’t deny the possibility.

“Well, it’s so early in our industry, is it time to have sequels I don’t know,” said Reynolds. “It sounds like something we might do.”

“It’s never too late to do a sequel, by the way,” he continued. “It’s not like we need to be quickly running for the sequels because you can do sequels even 10 years after the original game.”

“The first Civilization sequel came out 5 years after the first one and the next one was 5 years after that,” he noted. “And we’ve only even been a company for 3 years.”

Source: IndustryGamers

God Of War Team Hiring Senior Online Programmer

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A year after the successful release of God of War III, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Santa Monica studio appears to be gearing up for their next title. A job posting suggests that the new game will feature online elements of some sort.

The new job posting is for a Senior Online Programmer, who will designing network systems for “in-game communication, client-server, match-making [and] leaderboards. While some will take this as a sign that the God of War franchise is going online, God of War III ended the story arch of Kratos and the development team offered no guarantees that they would be working on another game in the franchise. Then again, the job listing does start out with Join the God of War team!

Source: Gamasutra

Resident Evil Returns To Raccoon City

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Capcom has confirmed ongoing rumors that a new Resident Evil title is under development at Slant 6 Games, veterans of Sony’s SOCOM series. The game will be a squad based shooter, described as a re-imagining of the events between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, where Umbrella Security Services soldiers look to cover up the outbreak in Raccoon City, killing zombies, survivors and U.S. special forces.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will have co-op for up to four players and multiplayer online modes. Familiar characters like Leon Kennedy will return.

Capcom also announced that the 3DS title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D will include a free demo of Resident Evil Revelations.

Nintendo Embraces ‘Independent Spirit’

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Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata recently disparaged the level of quality of mobile and social games and Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said that Nintendo has no interest in doing business with garage developers. This attitude seems standoffish with smaller developers, but Nintendo of America director of PR Marc Franklin says that Nintendo is looking for games from all sources.

“Nintendo always appreciates good quality content regardless of whether that’s coming from an indie developer or a more established publisher. For example, we’ve worked with 2D Boy, the people behind World of Goo for WiiWare,” said Iwata. “This is a group of guys who don’t even have an office. So we embrace that kind of independent spirit and it’s ultimately the most innovative content that will rise to the top.”

Source: Gamasutra