Ngmoco Talks Console Disruption By Tablets

Increasingly, social and mobile games are seeing increased complexity, with gameplay starting to compare favorably to console counterparts. ngmoco CEO Neil Young indicates that this doesn’t bode well for gaming consoles.

“If you look forward kind of one or maybe even two years it’s not hard to imagine that the console business in the living room is going to get disrupted by tablets in a really meaningful way,” said Young. “You know, AirPlay is a little glimpse in the direction that things are going, and we want to make sure that ngmoco and DeNA are at the very forefront of that and working with the most talented people in the world.”

Young indicated that not only will ngmoco have great games, but there might be major marketing support as well. “DeNA is a big believer in marketing and consumer marketing to drive awareness around games and the network itself. In Japan we’re the #2 advertiser on television, so every seventh commercial you see on television is a Mobage commercial.”

Source: IndustryGamers

Legend Of Zelda Will Return To 3DS

The Legend of Zelda series has seen two major releases this year in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The next game to come out in the series will almost certainly be on the 3DS, according to series producer Eiji Aonuma.

“We are already preparing a new game, a game in the series for the Nintendo 3DS, but don’t think that it is a direct sequel to the Zelda titles released on DS,” said Aonuma. “We are talking about a new game, but it takes much of what has been done on previous handhelds.”

As for a The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask remake on 3DS, he said, “It’s something I’m asked about often and I assure you that it is something I’ve spoken to Miyamoto about. But recently we released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D as a remake. We are considering the idea, but it didn’t seem right to launch a remake one after another, so the next Zelda game on 3DS will be original.”

Source: NintendoEverything.com

Fallout: New Vegas Goes Ultimate

It was announced that there will be a Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition. Along with the full game, it will include the DLC Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Courier’s Stash, and Gun Runners’ Arsenal.

The Obsidian Entertainment developed game was riddled with bugs when it first released, although most of the major issues have been ironed out now one year later. Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition will be available February 7, 2012 for $49.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360, or $39.99 for PC.

Namco Bandai Talks Focusing On ‘Less Is More’

Namco Bandai has made a concerted effort to try and expand its publishing business in the West, bringing out games like Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Enslaved: Journey to the West and Dark Souls. Probably their biggest coup, however, however, is that they’ve landed Level-5’s Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for North America

“For us, if you look at the course of what we’ve done last year, we’ve narrowed our slate to really good titles. We focused on less is more,” said Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at Namco Bandai. “When started talking to Level-5 — look guys we have a great opportunity. We have a great team in the States and we can maximize the potential of the game in the West. Those are the kinds of things we brought to the table because at the end of the day we want to bring the best games to the market.”

Source: Siliconera

Visit The Secret World Of Arrietty

The Secret World of Arrietty is the latest film from the makers of the recent classics Spirited Away and Ponyo. Based on Mary Norton’s acclaimed children’s book series The Borrowers, it has all the charming story elements that you could expect from Studio Ghibli.

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7: Voldemort And A Mirror

As the year winds down on the conclusion of the Harry Potter movie franchise, Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 will also conclude the series of corresponding Lego video games. As we wait for the final entry, we can watch this Ayzenberg Group produced video showing Voldemort getting his Lego game face on.

Join The Conversation And Live Your Destiny

The official Flash animated website for Immortals is now live. Fans can browse media and content and find out more about the film and share. One interesting aspect of the site is the use of social conversation from Facebook/Twitter which has been embedded into the moving flags in the background of the site. Each fans username appears next to their sentiment about the film helping to elevate the conversation.

Duke Nukem Forever Not Fairly Treated By Reviews, Says Gearbox Founder

Duke Nukem Forever was not received kindly by most reviewers, despite the sales success that the game saw. Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel did not, however, think that the game was handled fairly by the gaming media.

“We wish the reviews were a little less caustic. We’re not quite sure where some of the anger came from,” said Martel. “There were things towards the high and things towards the low, but the middle just didn’t get any traction. It’s pretty obvious that people were using it in some ways to kind of use it as a soapbox or whatever.”

When asked if he didn’t think the game was reviewed fairly, he replied: “I think that if we were going to review the reviews fairly, no. A certain amount of gamers today are not used to [games like Duke Nuke Forever.] It was what it was meant to be, which is a more old-school style game in what is today’s technology.”

There is a question of expectations, to which Martel said, “I think there was no way that anybody could manage expectations. Name another game that’s in a similar situation. This is a game that was around for 15 years and it went through a number of engine cycles. It could never be everything for everybody, right It is a caustic game in some ways, so maybe in some of that respect it could’ve been softened. But it’s [3D Realms’] vision and people should understand that in a world where we embrace the creator’s vision for something, we let that go. We let that be what it was supposed to be. And that is the team’s vision.”

As for the future of the franchise, “I can guarantee it won’t take 15 years to see another,” he promised. “We love the IP and I think there are a lot of people that really love it. You just have to make sure the character is something that people can love as well.”

Source: Eurogamer