The Hunt For The Hash Tag Killer Is On

BY

Fans of the USA Network series Psych are invited to help Gus and Shawn catch a killer as part of a new social media game. The hunt for the #HashTagKiller (HTK) unfolds over seven weeks leading up to and beyond the Season 6 premiere on October 12. Created in conjunction with Psych‘s writers and executive producers, the HTK murder mystery — based at HashTagKiller.com — features original videos with the series’ stars and interactive crime scene photos that ask players to pull a Shawn and spot out-of-place items and clues, all in the name of finding the killer. “Psych-Os” can send and receive messages with Shawn and Gus, and earn points to ascend a Leader Board by unlocking bonus games and solving weekly puzzles and challenges. Fans can join in at any time, and even continue on in the event they could become HTK’s latest victim.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Early Access First Come, First Served

BY

While Star Wars: The Old Republic will be releasing officially on December 20, one of the perks of pre-ordering will be the ability to play early. However, this promotional measure will work differently depending on when people pre-ordered the game.

“While we understand all of you want to be in Early Game Access on Day One, part of the point of a head start program like this one is to allow us to gradually ramp up the population of our servers so that on launch day, the general play experience is as pleasant as possible,” said senior community manager Stephen Reid. “While we’re going to be allowing a lot of people into Early Game Access at regular intervals, we cannot allow everyone who pre-orders in at once. That would defeat the point of a gradual head start.”

“The next obvious question is ‘I pre-ordered on Day X, when do I get access ‘ While we cannot answer that for everyone, I will say (as I did in July) that those who pre-ordered early will be getting Early Game Access, well, earliest,” added Reid. “At this point we still have pre-orders available and therefore, anyone who pre-orders will still gain Early Game Access, but as they’re redeeming their code later, they’ll get Early Game Access later. As I’ve said before the difference between ‘early’ and ‘later’ should be a matter of days, not weeks.”

Source: swtor.com

Social Gamers — 40 Percent Not Looking To Pay

BY

A study from research firm Interpret and developer RockYou found that 50 percent of the current social gaming population owns at least one console. The Wii is the leading this field at 52 percent, but the Xbox 360 is close with 46 percent; the PS3 had 34 percent.

“Social gamers are a population who have gone from zero to 37 million in the U.S. in just a few short years–making them a formidable entertainment audience, yet they are not well understood. This groundbreaking research, for the first time, sheds light on who social gamers are, what motivates them as consumers, and why they are so valuable,” said Michael Dowling, CEO of Interpret, LLC. “Data from the study will be instrumental in guiding publishers, marketers, and advertisers to understand how to best reach, engage and influence a unique segment of the buying public.”

Social gamers were split three-to-two female to male. 40 percent of the audience said they would never pay for a social game and only 11 percent would be willing to pay for a subscription; however, 45 percent are open to viewing in-game ads to earn virtual currency while 41 percent are open to reviewing the game or spreading it via their social networking pages in order to earn virtual currency.

Source: IndustryGamers

7-Eleven Adds More Fun To Lunch

BY

7-Eleven is pushing their selection of lunch items, and to compliment that they have a series of fun activities running alongside lunch. The “LARP” video does a particularly good job of parodying the hobby it brings up, since live-action role-playing practically parodies itself.

Valve Invites Protesters In For Studio Tour

BY

Valve recently had to deal with the unique problem of having protests over the release of Half-Life 3. Valve founder Gabe Newell indicates that the Seattle-based developer took it all in stride.

“We thought it was awesome. We wanted them to stay,” he explained. “We took them pizza – they’d only brought two sodas and they were planning on being out there for two days. They were very nice and very passionate about our games. At one point, somebody else in our building called the police and we were worried, but it turned out the police officer was a huge Team Fortress fan. He’s like: ‘Oh yeah, I totally understand, let me go get my sign!'”

Valve then graciously gave the protesters a tour of their office, afterward they continued their vigil. When asked how many protesters it would take for word on a new Half-Life, Newell responded, “I don’t know, but if they’d like to come out, we could find out.”

Source: CVG

Final Fantasy Brand Has Been Greatly Damaged, Says Square Enix CEO

BY

Square Enix has ambitious online plans for its two main franchises: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XIV had a very poor launch, something that Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is aware of.

“The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged,” said Wada. “We’ll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released.”

As for the online Dragon Quest X, Wada specified that it would not be a permanent change for the franchise. “We’re not making them all online,” said Wada. “We’ll continue with a variety of developments, offline included.”

Source: Andriasang.com

Dead Island Movie Confirmed At Lionsgate

BY

Some people have jokingly suggested that the famous CG trailer for Dead Island was the best part of the whole game. Lionsgate would seem to agree, since they are using the debut trailer as the primary inspiration for a film that will focus on “human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling.”

“Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck,” said Lionsgate co-COO Joe Drake. “This is exactly the type of property we’re looking to adapt at Lionsgate – it’s sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brand recognition around the world, and franchise potential.”

Sean Daniel (The Mummy, Tombstone, Dazed and Confused) is heading up production.

Amazon Lights Kindle On Fire

BY

Amazon has confirmed that they will be launching a tablet device called the Kindle Fire. The $199 device will come with a 7-inch display with 16 million colors, Wi-Fi support, as well as a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime and will launch November 15.

Users can download magazines, books and music to the device; games such as Fruit Ninja are also supported. Amazon also unveiled a Kindle Touch with a touchscreen for $99, with a 3G version for $149 in November; a version of the original Kindle will sell for $79 starting today.

Source: USA Today

City Of Heroes Freedom Flies Into The Sky

BY

City of Heroes Freedom is now available to the masses, letting them experience the most popular superheroes MMO with its new powers, dangerous villains and epic monsters. Check out this Ayzenberg Group produced trailer to see what the buzz is about!