Xbox Live Arcade New Revenue Highs For First Half Of 2011, Says Estimate

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Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) sent out a release today saying that Xbox Live Arcade set a new record during the first half of 2011 with an estimated $66.2 million in revenue. The market was up 41 percent compared to the same period last year, with 4 consecutive months of revenues above $10 million; clearly users are not being put off by average XBLA title prices going up.

“Despite being six years into the Xbox 360’s lifespan, Xbox Live Arcade is still exhibiting incredible growth, showcasing the importance of Microsoft’s digital strategy” said Benjamin Schlichter, Director of Research and Analysis at FADE. “As per our June report, seven titles have debuted with over $1 million in revenue during the year, up from just two during the first half of 2010.”

Mass Effect 3 Balancing Action-Adventure With RPG Elements

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Mass Effect 2 was a huge commercial and critical success, though there was some grumbling that the RPG qualities of the first game had been watered down. BioWare marketing VP David Silverman sees Mass Effect 3 as continuing with most of what made Mass Effect 2 successful, while addressing RPG enthusiasts concerns.

“This is definitely the best chance we have in the series to really break out and go truly blockbuster,” said Silverman. “It’s a natural entry point for new players: giant alien race launches all-out war, you have to rally the forces of the universe to counter and see if you can take them down. That’s pretty clear. You don’t need to be like: ‘Well, what about when I had this love affair ‘ It’s like, who cares It’s all out war!”

“We’re hoping for a big hit, he added. It’s the best game we’ve ever made at BioWare Edmonton. The stuff we’re doing – making the gameplay more action-adventre-y, making it on a par with some of the best action games you see today, whilst on top of that adding in these RPG elements that maybe people were upset we didn’t focus on as much in Mass Effect 2 – it strikes a balance.”

Source: CVG

Batman: Arkham City — Meet The Penguin

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Batman: Arkham City promised to have an extended rogue’s gallery for the Dark Knight, so it’s appropriate that it would include the Penguin. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also another villain who was infamously born on a Monday . . .

 

CBS Campaign Goes Half-Work, Half-Trekkie

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CBS action recently stared a U.K. wide campaign for Star Trek: The Next Generation, emphasizing how they have a more comprehensive version of the series than anyone else and looked to say it was good to be a fan, whether you’re new to the franchise or a long time veteran. The video shows some of the prep work that went into the evocative campaign.

Gotham City Impostors Tear it Up

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Gotham City Impostors is a multiplayer FPS title in the Batman universe, though it’s not what you might think. Batman and Joker wannabes come out of the woodwork for control of the streets!

Cowboys & Aliens Hipstamatic Freepak Offers Two New Lenses

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On iOS devices, the popular photography app Hipstamatic has partnered with the soon-to-be-released film Cowboys & Aliens and released a freepak of lenses. Hipstamatic allows the different combinations of film, lens and camera flash effects to create truly unique looking photographs. The Cowboys & Aliens freepak contains the Matty ALN and Libatique 73 lens, as well as the Steambox camera case, which gives your Hipstamatic camera a steampunk look. The Matty ALN pack produces slightly more bizarre colors and is said to resemble an extraterrestrial s perspective, while the Libatique 73 lens are said to produce photos that look like they may have come from 1873.

Take-Two ‘Building Bridges’ Between AAA Franchises And Facebook

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Facebook gaming is something that Electronic Arts has been involved with for a while and Activision recently expressed interest in. Take-Two recently launched Civilization World onto the platform and Take-Two COO Karl Slatoff sees that as part of a larger convergence between traditional games and social games.

“I think you re going to see a little bit more out of that title in terms of converging the two worlds. I do think as the platforms get more sophisticated, there will be some convergence,” Slatoff began. “But as of now, our strategy as it relates to social networks . . . I’ve said it before and I ll say it again, we are platform agnostic and we are focused on compelling, engaging triple-A experiences. So [we believe in the experience] where you sort of sit forward and you re playing for hours and you re really engaged in it, and we re going to develop for every platform – even if it s an online platform – that can support that kind of experience. To date, social networks have not really been able to support that kind of experience. At least we haven t seen that kind of iteration.”

“So for us, it s a very interesting space, he continued. It s an ability for us to build an audience for our franchises potentially, and if we can push the edge of those platforms, which we re known to do – I mean we re constantly pushing – what can we do on the platform What more can the platform do How can we push it using our intellectual property You re going to see us doing that. And I think with Civilization World…it does take things to a new level. So to us it s about building bridges – building bridges to engage and expand our audience base for our existing triple-A franchises. And if we can make a few bucks in the meantime, that s fantastic.

Source: IndustryGamers

EA Sports Talks Future Beyond $60 Games

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The games industry is making a shift from a product model to a service model. What this means, in part, is that paying a large lump sum for games may be going out the window soon, something EA Sports senior VP of Worldwide Development Andrew Wilson is preparing for.

There will come a time where the consumer is simply not prepared to pay $60 up-front for a game anymore, the same way they have said that for movies and music and television, said. That’s one thing. And then I think, you’re right, it’s the global infrastructure that facilitates the shift. As soon as technology provides a viable alternative to a disc, then that process will change.

There is still the issue that many games take up significant swaths of data real-estate, clocking in between 25 and 50 GBs of data many consumers simply don’t have the bandwidth (or patience) for that sort of massive download. I think the most convenient way for the consumer to get 7GB worth of FIFA these days is still to buy it on a disc, said Wilson. That will change. I think that Football Club this year is turning the FIFA you buy on a disc into a live service that changes every day and every week that you play.

Over time, based on consumer feedback, those chunks that we deliver on that day-to-day, week-to-week basis are going to get bigger, and the releases that we do on an annual basis are going to get smaller, and ultimately you end up in a place where we are delivering a true, consumer-driven live digital service, added Wilson. We’re building architecture and infrastructure to facilitate a time when the pipes into consumer homes are big enough to move that kind of data around.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Google+ May Be Streaming Games Soon

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Google recently listed a job posting for a Product Manager for its Games at Google initiative. Now, more evidence has come around that suggests that more games might be available on Google+ soon.

If you’re looking for updates shared from games, check out your Games stream, read the Google+ help page before it was edited.

It was recently revealed that Google is a major investor in Zynga. For now, Google is keeping their exact plans close to the chest.

Source: google.com/support

Captain America Closing Out Super Summer

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Captain America closes out a Summer where some more secondary super-heroes in Thor, X-Men, and Green Lantern. While Thor made $445.7 million globally X-Men: First Class has taken in a respectable $346.8 million, its no where near the $585.2 million take of Iron Man and $622.1 million for Iron Man 2, leading some executives to believe that consumers may be tiring of super hero flicks.

“The era of the superhero franchise flick is fading,” one studio research executive said to TheWrap.

The real litmus test will be The Dark Knight Rises coming July 20 next year and Sony’s Spider-Man reboot also next July, in addition to the Superman film Man of Steel in 2013. Depending on how well those films do, it might seal the fate of super-hero movies.

Source: Reuters