The content for World of Warcraft’s third expansion, Cataclysm, has not yet concluded but they have announced the fourth expansion: Mists of Pandaria. Heavily influenced by Chinese culture, this expansion will have new places to explore, new levels to gain and a new class to try.
Ever wanted to play as yourself in an EA Sports game? Set up your EA Sports Game Face 3D avatar today and import your real face in to FIFA 12. Just upload a photograph of yourself on to easportsfootball.com’s Game Face Creator application and create a lifelike 3D avatar for your EA Sports account. Then turn on your FIFA 12 game and download your avatar’s face onto your FIFA 12 Virtual Pro character and play as yourself in FIFA 12.
Test your your movie trivia knowledge with questions about specific films and scenes from Bridesmaids (yes, it’s funny) with this interactive playlist {link no longer active} on YouTube.
Square Enix has announced that they will release a Limited Collector’s Edition of Final Fantasy XIII-2. It will include a soundtrack CD with selected music tracks and artwork book titled “The Art of Final Fantasy XIII-2″ and a lenticular print of Lightning.
There will also be a Crystal Edition of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Along with the artbook it will have the 4-disc complete Final Fantasy XIII-2 original soundtrack and an exclusive t-shirt in a custom box that can’t be purchased anywhere else.
Moshi Monsters has suffered a setback with the recent injunction that Lady Gaga filled against the parody character Lady Goo Goo. Mind Candy CEO Michael Acton Smith, however, indicates he won’t back down from this or other fights.
“I’m always up for a good battle if anyone else wants to do this,” he said, discussing concerns over another of his parody characters, Dustbin Beaver. “We’re having discussions around that at the moment. But obviously we do need to be a little bit careful, because the high court must be respected when they injunction something.”
“We knew it was a little bit risky, but we took legal advice, and we were more confident that we’d win than not,” he added. “I think a lot of people have been surprised by the judgment. I personally think the law in this area is too strict and there are people looking at it for review at the moment. I think it would have been fine in the U.S. where parody is much more acceptable.”
The judge ruled in Gaga’s favor, saying that there could be confusion between the character and the pop star. “I have a huge amount of respect for IP owners and Lady Gaga and other musicians and what they’ve done, but something that is an obvious parody and that’s creative and enriches and delights a whole new audience I think is more positive,” argued Smith. “And it’s not detracting from her sales or damaging her in my opinion, and so I think it was a bit frustrating. We shall see, who knows where it will all end up ”
Despite this set back, Smith indicates that plans to release an album of Moshi Monsters music and possibly to put on a live tour based on the MMO have merely been delayed, not canceled. “We are doing the album, we don’t know whether we’re going to change… we don’t know quite how we’re going to deal with it,” he admitted.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
Batman: Arkham City has released and everything is coming up golden for the game so far. With Metacritic scores somewhere around 95 percent, putting it hotly in contention for numerous Game of the Year awards, it has also turned into the biggest U.K. release ever for WBIE.
Batman: Arkham City easily debuted at number one in the U.K. sales charts, doubling the first week sales of its predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum. The only 2012 launches that have been bigger so far are Gears Of War 3, L.A. Noire and FIFA 12.
Source: GamesIndusry.biz
Nezal, an Egyptian social and mobile developer, has received a $1 million investment from venture capital firm Ideavelopers. The developer, which has worked with Disney and Dreamworks, has a Facebook game called Defender Of Arabia with around 90 monthly active users.
“Amongst the investors that approached Nezal, Ideavelopers had the strongest value proposition,” said CEO Mohammad Ali. “Ideavelopers will be able to provide Nezal with the necessary capital and advice needed to capture a significant market share of the regional online and mobile games market.”
“We believe that localized social and mobile games have immense potential in the MENA region,” said Shayan Habib of Ideavelopers, who will join the Nezal board. “Nezal is one of the strongest companies developing original games targeting Arabic speakers.”
Nintendo has announced that Hulu Plus will be available on 3DS and Wii by the end of 2011. The service has a subscription fee of $7.99 per month and adds to the streaming options already available from Netflix.
“Nintendo 3DS continues to evolve with great new features and functions designed to reinforce its position as a premiere entertainment device,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime.
SCE Chairman Kaz Hirai has indicated that PlayStation-Certification may come to third-party devices. Right now, it is only available on Sony’s Xperia Play, Tablet S, Tablet P, and PlayStation Vita.
“This isn’t an ecosystem where we want to keep everything within the Sony family, that’s the beauty of Android,” said Hirai. “We’re in discussions with non-Sony companies to bring them on-board. We’ll make those announcements when it’s time to go public with it. This is not just for Sony devices.”
Source: Engadget
Steve Ballmer is not known to mince words while on stage and he was no less so during the Web 2.0 Summit. In particular, he harped on the beauty of the new Windows phones from Nokia.
Ballmer argues that Windows phones are designed to put the most relevant information and social updates in front of you with more immediate placement compared to the numerous icons on iPhone, and as for Android, Ballmer said, “You don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows phone. I think you do to use an Android phone.”
He was coy about Microsoft making phone hardware, saying, “We have been very successful enabling hardware innovation, and we will continue to do so. Thank you for your suggestion.”
Ballmer also said Microsoft isn’t looking to get into the social networking business, turning instead to things like Xbox Live and Skype. “We’ve picked our play,” Ballmer said. “We’re adding connectivity to people into our core products.”
Ballmer also contended that Bing is doing pretty well, despite having only 15 percent of the worldwide search market. Also brought up was the failed deal for Yahoo for $44 billion back in 2008 – given the company’s current troubles, Ballmer said, “Sometimes, you get lucky.”
Source: AdWeek
