Mass Effect 3 — Struggle Over Content

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There has been a war for the fate of the galaxy in Mass Effect 3… and it’s been waged on social media. The Retake Mass Effect page got over 56,000 fans and eventually resulted in BioWare founder and CEO Ray Muzyka issuing a letter saying the company was looking to add new content – a victory for those who wanted change, but what happens if the new changes don’t satisfy the audience

“This sort of thing happens all of the time in games — but usually only with mechanics,” said Scott Nichols, an independent gaming writer. “This is the first time I can think of that this has happened with a plot or narrative.”

Questus co-founder Jeff Rosenblum said he would, “counsel any brand from any company that you absolutely have to listen to [critics] — you can’t ignore them.” He added that companies should realize “customers are customers, and while they’re brilliant, the people you’ve hired and trained are experts, too,” he said. “You need to find a way to blend the two.”

Some have postulated that the controversy is manufactured, and that EA has always planned on releasing a DLC to resolve certain elements of the ending. DFC Intelligence analyst Jeremy Miller believes that whatever is the truth, Mass Effect is a strong enough brand to stand up to this onslaught and perhaps benefit in the long run.

Source: Creativity-Online.com

Chase The Wild Rabbit

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In Cognac, France, where Hennessy is made, rabbits run wild. But the intriguing animals are rarely seen. Over time, people invented tales about them, about a creature that lives in people’s minds. This elusive Wild Rabbit is thought to drive people from one success to another. For 250 years Hennessy’s Wild Rabbit has been to build on their expertise to push their world class cognac ever closer to perfection. A new interactive website {link no longer active} has launched as part of Hennessy’s Wild Rabbit campaign. Designed to take the use on an interactive journey through the tales that make up the success of famous people over time (like Manny Pacquiao, for instance), the site is an interactive journey that allows each user to chase their own wild rabbit.

One Terran And One Zerg To Rule Them All

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Taking place later this year, the Battle.net World Championship will be the culmination of more than 30 eSports events run by Blizzard and tournament organizers. Known collectively as the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the goal is to identify a true global champion, as players enter and qualify through open tournaments starting at the national level. The National Championships are designed to allow local heroes to rise to the top and be recognized in their country. The top finishers at each National Championship will earn spots at their continental Finals events, which will be an all-out brawl between neighboring countries to decide who will represent their continent at the Battle.net World Championship.

Do you think you have what it takes to compete at the Battle.net World Championship? To earn a seed for a Continental Championship, such as the StarCraft II World Championship Series North America Finals, you must first qualify through the National Championship based on your nationality. National Qualifiers will be the grassroots-level events that will give a wide-reaching opportunity to StarCraft II players to test their mettle and traverse the “Road to Worlds.” These will be, far-and-away, the most open opportunity to participate in a global-scale tournament that Blizzard Entertainment has ever put forth. Partners and organizations will be awarded National Championship seeds to distribute as they see fit, whether it be through brand-new events and tournaments, or online and live events, or by simply adding the seeds to their existing prize pools. For more info, check the official blog.

Draw Something Sketches 50 Million Downloads

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OMGPOP’s Draw Something has now been downloaded 50 million times, up from 37 million last week, making it the fastest growing original mobile title in history. Currently, the game has over 20 million monthly active users.

Currently the most downloaded paid-app, the game has seen over 6 billion drawings created thus far or roughly 3,000 drawings per second. Zynga recently paid over $180 million for OMGPOP, mostly because of the strength of Draw Something.

Minecraft Creator Boldly Entering Space With 0x10c

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Minecraft creator Marcus “Notch” Persson has announced that his next title will be charmingly called 0x10c. The game has many of the exploration and discovery elements of Minecraft, except it will have a space setting where every player is in control of their own ships which will be based around the limitations of their computers and power generators.

“The game is still extremely early in development, but like we did with Minecraft, we expect to release it early and let the players help me shape the game as it grows,” wrote Persson. “The cost of the game is still undecided, but it’s likely there will be a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse as we are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren’t logged in. Single player won’t have any recurring fees.”

Source: 0x10c.com {link no longer active}

Social/Mobile Gaming Trending Up Among Teenagers

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According to a Piper Jaffray study of 5,600 teenagers, 65.9 percent polled stated that they were losing interest in playing traditional console games, up from 63.5 percent last year. At the same time, of those teenagers polled 66.2 percent said they were open to gaming on mobile devices, up from 34.4 percent this time last year.

“While a console refresh in 2013 or 2014 will breathe new life into the industry, the new systems will face unprecedented competition from tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs,” says the report. “We expect growing middle classes and rising Internet penetration rates in emerging markets, particularly Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia-Pacific to partially offset competition from tablets and smartphones.”

The poll also showed that 25.3 percent of teenagers are actively playing on social gaming sites, though 92.8 percent of teens said they would not purchase virtual goods, an increase from 80.5 percent in fall 2011. Additionally, 53 percent of those polled were willing to download a full game to their console, while 36.1 percent said they would be interested in a service such as OnLive, compared to 27.1 percent and 15.2 percent last year.

Skylanders Comes To iOS

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Activision revealed that Skylanders has released on iOS as Skylanders Cloud Patrol. Characters in the new game can be unlocked with codes included in new Skylanders figures, but they can also be purchased in-game and even earned with in-game currency.

“Skylanders is already a huge success both on consoles and the web with Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Spyro’s Universe and we are excited to bring the franchise to the mobile platform,” said John Coyne, vice president, consumer marketing. “Now with Cloud Patrol, fans have a brand new way to interact with their favorite Skylanders’ characters on the go in fun a new form of gameplay.”