March 2012 | Page 13 of 29

Call Of Duty MW3 Collection 1 Ready To Roll

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Collection 1 features four Multiplayer/Survival Mode Maps and two Special Ops Missions. Check out more details in the following two trailers celebrating the content drop.

Max Payne 3: Visual Effects And Cinematics

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

The latest in the Max Payne 3: Design & Technology Series shows off how Rockstar is looking to blend the action and the cinematic elements seamlessly. No load times, dynamic comic panels and clean transitions make the game breathtaking.

The Social Pizza

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

Domino’s Pizza in Australia has launched a new campaign on Facebook called “The Social Pizza”. This ‘Social Pizza’ app will allow their 500,000 fans to create a custom-made pizza, which will feature on the real Domino’s Menu. Facebook fans will be building the pizza by voting on their favorite crust, sauce and ingredients. The most popular selection each day will be added to the pizza, with the final product to feature on the menu for fans to try out for real. Plus, fans will have the chance to win $1k by naming the pizza.

MLG Set To Kick Off Winter Championship March 23-25

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

MLG has announced that Columbus, Ohio, will kick off the ninth annual Pro Circuit season with the MLG Winter Championship from March 23-25. Over 1,500 will compete for over $200,000 in prizes, including StarCraft II players competing for a $25,000 grand prize; other games include Halo: Reach, and the fighting Games – Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur and King of Fighters.

Spectators can experience the games via large video screens, listen to live commentary and visit an array of booths featuring meet and greets with Pro Players for $35, available now. Online viewing is free in SD via www.majorleaguegaming.com, while HD passes will be available for purchase online beginning Thursday. MLG Gold Members to receive discounts on competitor and spectator passes, and HD ad-free live video streams.

Draw Something Replaces Words With Friends At Top Of Leaderboards

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

According to AppData, Draw Something is now the top game on Facebook, replacing Words With Friends. The OMGPOP game now has 10.8 million daily active users compared to the Zynga title at 8.6 million

“This is a huge turnaround for the New York-based company, which had struggled to find a massive hit on its own destination site and then on Facebook,” notes Kim-Mai Cutler. “While OMGPOP chief executive Dan Porter has told me that he is heads down on building the game, there are many options on the table right now from continuing along, to taking more funding or talking with prospective buyers.”

“It’s also a sign of changing times as the biggest games on Facebook by daily usage like Words With Friends and Draw Something are now played largely on mobile devices,” adds Cutler. “This does not bode well for Facebook’s future gaming or platform revenues since it can’t earn a share of transactions in native iOS or Android games. Facebook even revised its policy a few weeks ago, saying that mobile web apps running inside a Facebook iOS app may only use iOS payment methods and may not reference or encourage Facebook Credits.”

Source: Tech Crunch

Wasteland 2: inXile Talks ‘Paradigm Shift’

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

The Wasteland 2 Kickstarter has blown past its goal of $900,000 which did not prompt an immediate response from inXile because they thought they had another week until they had their goal. However, as soon as Brian Fargo had a response worked up that talked about the implications of reaching this ambitious mark.

“YOU DID IT! We are funded and Wasteland 2 is a reality,” wrote Fargo. “A dream that began more than 20 years ago has actually come true. After years of attempting to get Wasteland 2 kicked off and countless pitch meetings to every major publisher out there, we had almost given up. Even six months ago we didn’t see any way that Wasteland 2 was ever going to happen. Then the world suddenly changed.”

“This is a paradigm shift that is way bigger than Wasteland 2,” he added. “This is the beginning of a new era in gaming where the developer gets to work directly with the fans to build the type of product that the fans want. No focus groups, no pitches to the marketing team, no trying to get an executive committee to group-think their way to a project green-light. Now we just have a developer with a creative idea that resonates and a group of dedicated fans who are willing to lay down their money to buy it.”

He noted the risk of asking for more than any Kickstarter in history, but he noted, “we did it because every time we have interacted with the gaming community for the last decade they have asked about getting this sequel done. Even while we have been on press tours for other products, doing press interviews and presentations all over the planet, it always comes up. When are we getting Wasteland Well, I finally have an answer for everyone. You all get a Wasteland Sequel in October of next year! Not only did we meet the highest funding goal ever on Kickstarter, we did it in 2 days! I know… we can’t believe it either.”

“So thank you all for making this happen, and please don’t stop spreading the word,” Fargo continued. “If the entire community continues to help spread this through social media, there is no telling how much money we can raise. Every time you get someone else to participate, you are working to make the game bigger and better. We will be making some announcements very soon about what we will be adding to the development if we hit even higher levels.”

Fargo confirmed that the game will be getting localization into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Polish. He also said that at the $1.5 Million level they will be adding a Linux version along with the Mac OS X version.

Helping the funding cause, they changed out the $2,500 prize from being a blood sausage to giving the donor a chance to create a unique item in the world. Also, the number of people that can receive the max prize by donating $10,000 increased from eight to 16.

Fargo later added, “What an incredible week this has been. The outpouring of support and faith is nothing like I have ever had before (except maybe from my Mom), and for the first time in years it feels good to be in the games business. I have always loved both making and playing games, but the business side of it has been painful at times. In fact, there were a couple times the frustration with publishers was so high I considered stopping. It just seemed like the era of purity was over. Even when Interplay was a large company there was such a positive vibe with everyone pulling in the same direction with a real passion for their job. I frequently run into the folks I worked with in those days, and this same memory of those times remains with them.”

“One friend of mine who worked with me there said recently he felt that in the beginning of the industry all the nerds were in charge, but then as the industry grew it changed, and now the guys that picked on the nerds got back on top. I think there was some great truth to that,” he said. “We all hope this movement is bigger than just Tim Schafer or Brian Fargo as we want to get power back into the developers hands again. And the unbelievable Indie scene shows that there is momentum in that direction. The development community continues to pull itself together to ensure their success. They share tools, they share statistics, they share ideas, and the biggest donators in Kickstarter are always developers. All of this reminds me of the freshness the industry had in the late 80′s through mid 90′s in which creativity was being directed only by the gamers. The gamers will always rule at the end of the day.”

Metal Gear Series Sells Over 31.1 Million

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

Kojima Productions has announced that the Metal Gear series has sold over 31.1 million copies over its lifetime. The Metal Gear franchise was launched in 1987 for the MSX2 hardware.

The announcement came as part of a more general post on the Smithsonian Art of Video Games Exhibition, where Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 will be displayed. Series creator Hideo Kojima is in Washington DC to participate in the public discourse about his games.

Source: metalgearinformer.com

Runic CEO Wants ‘Boxes And Disks’ To End For Gaming

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

For a long time, games were defined by the highest budgeted titles in the industry. While those games still exist, the world has diversified with less expensive products and free-to-play games, and that’s alright with Runic CEO Max Schaefer.

“We could still improve as an industry in pushing innovation more than $200 million projects,” said Schaefer. “We stifle ourselves and our customers with over-produced, 5-year development, derivative games.”

“I’ll get in trouble for this, but I look forward to the end of boxes and disks. Kill them with fire for all I care,” he continued. “The retail market has historically starved developers and narrowed the market for available games. Now we need to take advantage of services like Steam with innovative pricing, business models, and games.”

Source: GamingNexus

Angry Birds Aims At Formula 1

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

Rovio Entertainment that they have signed a webgame and merchandising partnership with Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen, most prominently appearing in a new co-branded Angry Birds helmet. The co-branded merchandise line will be released later this Spring with the webgame, which will feature Angry Birds game levels with a racing theme in addition to other content launching later in the Summer.

“This is a great partnership on many levels,” said Heikki Kovalainen. “It’s the first time that I’ve partnered with a gaming company, and it fits with my larger focus on partnering with unique brands. As a Finn, I’m also happy to be backing a Finnish company on a global platform. Most importantly, I’m a big Angry Birds fan!”

“We’re so excited to be working with Heikki on this, the first partnership of its kind in F1,” said Harri Koponen, EVP Consumer Products at Rovio Entertainment. “The helmet looks amazing, and we think people are really going to enjoy the webgame and merchandise.”

Facebook, Twitter Secondary To Women Compared To Pinterest

BY AList Staff

March 19, 2012, 12:00AM

BlogHer’s annual study on women says that 81 percent of women representing the general U.S. population said they trusted blogs and Pinterest, a new social media outlet. By contrast, only 67 percent said they trusted Facebook and 73 percent said they trusted Twitter.

When asked if they made purchases based on a recommendation from one of the various sources, 61 percent of women said they’d acted on a blog recommendation and 47 percent said they’d acted on one from Pinterest. Only 33 percent said the same about Facebook and 31 percent said that about Twitter.

“[The study shows that] there’s no one a woman trusts more for advice, recommendations and guidance than another woman in her circle,” said Lisa Stone, BlogHer co-founder and CEO.

Facebook is a tool for connecting with family and friends to most women, while they read product recommendations and make purchase decisions from blogs. Among those surveyed, 77 percent said they use Facebook purely for fun and 87 percent use it to stay updated on family; just 17 percent said they use it for purchase decisions—compared to 36 percent who turn to blogs for that reason—and 24 percent said they use Facebook to get product recommendations, as opposed to 41 percent who read blogs.

When asked which social media service was most appropriate for making purchase decisions, 21 percent said Twitter, versus 18 percent who said Pinterest. However, Pinterest topped Twitter for getting product information (26 percent vs. 18 percent), finding out about new products (39 percent vs. 24 percent) and seeking advice and recommendations (30 percent vs. 29 percent).

However, just 19 percent of the general population sample indicated they use Pinterest at least weekly and 41 percent of the general population sample said they don’t “go online or to social media for a shopping decision.” However, with more than 11 million unique visitors a month according to comScore, Pintrest is an impressively fast-growing and vibrant site.

Source: AdWeek