3D artist Raphael Phillips has worked on creating 3D Lego renderings of Mega Man and the various robot masters he faces off against. Now he’s set up the Lego Mega Man in a fighting game scenario… though this mostly makes us think about how neat a Lego Mega Man game would be.
Source: 8bitcubist.com
Technorati Media has announced a partnership with AppNexus to create their own ad exchange. This follows the path of NBC, CBS and IDG who want ads appropriate to their audience served in real time but want to retain their own pricing and data.
“The entire ecosystem is changing,” explained Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra. “There is a desire among clients to buy quality inventory in an automated way.”
AppNexus will provide ad serving, analytics and yield management and lets Technorati dodge having to share as much of 20 percent of their revenue with a company like like Google or Microsoft. There is a strong case to be made that publishers don t need middle man, said AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley. We re just the technology layer. It s truly Technorati s exchange.
Source: AdWeek {link no longer active}
Traditional MMORPG games have had a mixed history on consoles, but the PSP has had some success (particularly in Japan) with online titles like Monster Hunter. Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley thinks that the NGP could take portable MMOs to the next level, hinting at FreeRealms coming.
“With the console, we’re selling to an audience that already has the PS3 obviously – and by the way not just the PS3, but in the future I can see other devices. Sony’s announced the NGP, and if that isn’t a perfect machine for doing MMOs on, then I don’t know what is,” he said. “So it’s too soon to tell for sure but I think you’re going to start seeing free-to-play gaming on console as well. People will realize that getting a lot more folk to try their games using that kind of business model will help; it’ll just be in addition to the Blu-ray business model.”
Speaking of FreeRealms, Smedley sees its growth as only just beginning from the 17 million mark it is at now. “I don’t see this thing stopping until it hits 100 million. I think it could take five or six years – that should give you some idea [of the time frame we’re looking at], said Smedley. But I don’t see any reason why it can’t go to 100 million, because there are so many kids out there. And the great thing about a kids’ game, and this is different for an adult audience and people don’t think about this, is that there are always more kids.”
“That endless supply of children that have a hunger for gaming, as long as we keep improving it and make sure it’s still relevant – which we do every month with patches – means that we expect the game to have a long life, he added. One of our other games, Everquest, has just hit its twelfth birthday – and I can definitely see FreeRealms doing that.”
Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}
Konami has announced that they have signed a partnership with musterbrand to create a clothing collection for Metal Gear Solid. The clothing line will be specifically based around Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the PSP game that released in 2010.
“Our partnership will give fans the opportunity to ‘suit up’ for one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, specifically for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker,” said Careen Yapp, Vice President of Acquisitions and Franchise Development of Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. “The mass success and support for our latest Metal Gear Solid hit has allowed us to expand beyond what we’ve done in the past with the series, and we are very much looking forward to offering this new line to a global community of fans.”
“Metal Gear Solid is one of the longest running video game franchises with an incredibly dedicated fan base, making Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Konami the perfect choice to partner with for a new collection,” said Knut Bergel president and chief executive officer of musterbrand LLC. “The new clothing line allows fans to extend their experience with the franchise even further through a unique and fashionable style.”
Del Rey Books has confirmed that Mass Effect: Deception will release in Fall 2011. The novel will be handled by William C. Dietz who also wrote Resistance: Gathering Storm.
The new book will continue the story from the previous trilogy of novels, Revelation, Ascension, and Retribution, which were written by Drew Karpyshyn. The release of Deception should help build the hype for Mass Effect 3 which is releasing later in 2011.
Source: Kotaku
The massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that damaged Japan’s infrastructure may have consequences for Sony’s NGP. With factories still under repair and lack of component parts, the worldwide roll-out of the NGP may be staggered.
“It raises the bar on the competitive issues that Sony is going to have to hurdle,” said Edward Woo, video-games analyst at Wedbush Securities. “As it is now, it s already going to be almost eight months behind Nintendo, and a delay could push that to a year.”
“It may be the straw that says maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year,” said Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
Source: Bloomberg
EA has announced that Battlefield Play4Free is available for players to download. This comes a mere week after Ben Cousins, the manager of EA Easy, left the company.
“Battlefield Play4Free delivers an endlessly entertaining experience on the PC that combines the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 with the popular classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, all rendered with stunning visuals, said the release by EA. “Battlefield Play4Free raises the bar in the free-to-play space even further with 16 different vehicles including the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, its nemesis the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the massive Russian T-90 main battle tank, and the hard to catch LSV light strike vehicle.”
Google has emphasized the fact that their Chrome browser is very fast from the start, and now they’re cheekily suggesting you need to be in shape to catch up. Check out the ’80s aerobics style exercises below.
Few games have secondary modes that end up being nearly as popular as the story, but such was the case in the past two Resident Evil games and Mercenaries. This trailer is brief, but it sure looks good for one of the most anticipated 3DS titles of the year.
The million dollar perfect game contest in MLB 2K11 has kicked off, and Brian Wilson is here to talk about what it will take to win. He can’t be used in game to win the prize, which really is a shame.
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