Peter Molyneux Definitively Not Retiring

BY

Peter Molyneux recently said that he was “going to make one more game” which would seem to indicate a retirement of some sort. He is now backing off of that claim now, and doesn’t sound like a man approaching retirement at all.

“I wasn’t in any way announcing my retirement or saying I’m going to throw myself off the nearest bridge after my next game,” said Molyneux. “I’m either going to stop making games when everyone in the world just hates the games I make or the day when I die. I feel more passionate, more engaged, more energetic about making games now than I ever have. The thought of retirement is abhorrent to me. I would have to be in some vegetative state to consider retirement.”

He added about Project Godus, his Kickstarter which is halfway funded with more than two weeks to go, that there are alternatives in case crowdfunding doesn’t work. “We’d have to look at some of the more traditional routes,” Molyneux explained. “I think it would be a tough world to be in if we weren’t funded, that’s for sure. Everyone kind of thinks I’m loaded with money and live in Versailles or something, and drive around in a gold Rolls Royce. None of that is true. I’m not starving by any means, but I haven’t got unlimited wealth. I used a lot of money to found 22 Cans, to release Curiosity, and to build a team of 20 people.”

Source: GamesIndustry International

Ouya Dev Consoles Coming December 28

BY

It’s been confirmed that the Ouya development consoles will ship out on December 28. The dev Ouya consoles will go to those that invested $700 in the console’s Kickstarter.

“The dev consoles are an early version of the Ouya console and controller designed for developers to test their games on Ouya. Our Kickstarter developers are the first to get a crack at ’em! We’re psyched to have you on board, and we can’t wait to see what pours from your brain!” wrote Jules Kane of Ouya. “Of course, when the final consoles ship, EVERY Ouya will be a dev console. We told you that already. What we didn’t tell you was that the advance dev consoles you ordered are pretty special — you’ll know what I mean when you open yours. They’re rare drops.”

It was also announced that emails will be sent out on December 25 to confirm users preference for Ouya usernames.

Source: Ouya.tv

Steam Big Picture Officially Launches

BY

Valve has announced that Big Picture has seen a full and official release. This new mode is designed to allow users to play Steam games in a living room environment using a gamepad.

“To celebrate the public launch of Big Picture, over thirty controller-friendly games will be on sale from now until December 10, with savings up to 75 percent off,” announced Valve. “Access to the complete Steam store is included, as is the Steam Community. Big Picture is available worldwide in over twenty languages, including German, French, Russian, Korean, and Portuguese.”

“Gamers’ existing games are all available in Big Picture. In addition to having the complete library of Steam games, each user’s cloud files, Steam Workshop content, account information and preferences will be accessible automatically in the new mode,” Valve added. “Steam gamers may easily experience Big Picture on their televisions by connecting their PC or Mac, typically with a single HDMI cable. Big Picture also includes a new web browser designed for televisions and game controllers. It is accessible from anywhere within the Big Picture UI, and even while playing Steam games on a TV. It supports Big Picture’s new method of typing with a gamepad, which is useful for entering URLs, filling out forms, chatting, and other functions.”

Source: SteamPowered.com

Wooga CEO Talks Shifting From Facebook Mobile

BY

While Wooga is the number three publisher on Facebook, it’s nonetheless looking to refocus on mobile. Wooga CEO Jens Begemann sees people shifting away from desktops in favor of smartphones and tablets.

“We have roughly 60 percent of our employees working on mobile, 40 percent on Canvas,” said Begemann. “We made this decision a year ago. A year ago we only had 10 people working on mobile. Now it’s over half of the 250-people company. We still see growth on Canvas and obviously it’s still bigger, but the growth on mobile is extremely fast. The PC will become less important, and with that the browser, and with that Canvas. But that’s really mid-term.”

“I think that people who are buying a tablet now, as a private person, won’t replace their laptop,” he added. “They will phase out their existing laptop and they will maybe upgrade in two years to the next generations of tablets. I think that’s what’s happening.”

Source: Gamasutra

Kickstarter Reports On First Month In The U.K.

BY

Kickstarter released a report on the one month since it opened its projects to U.K. creators. The total pledges have exceeded £2 million ($3.3 million) from over 45,000 backers

“Of the 400 projects that have launched, 30 have already been successfully funded and many more are on their way. A public art project called the Chime Pavilion was the first successfully funded project, with triple its funding goal. The very first project to launch, a hardware project called Picade, was successfully funded with £74,000 pledged — double its funding goal,” posted Yancey Strickler and Fred Benenson. “Projects have launched from creators all across the UK, including Belfast, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Hull, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, York, and other places in between.”

Source: Kickstarter.com

Zynga Signs Deal With Web TV Company

BY

Zynga has signed a deal with the cloud TV company Synacor. This agreement will make Zynga’s games available to as many as 24 million U.S. households with web-based TVs from next year.

“Starting next year, Synacor’s customers will be able to offer their subscribers access to games from their homepages. Additionally, those providers will be able to include Zynga’s in-game currency as part of their subscription offerings. In other words, they can now bundle together TV + telephone + Internet + FarmVille Cash,” wrote Tricia Duryee. “Senator’s customers include a variety of providers, such as Verizon, CenturyLink, Broadstripe, Charter and US Cable, and claims to reach 24 million households in the U.S.”

Source: AllThingsD

Kabam Expands In China With Balanced Worlds

BY

Kabam has announced that it has acquired Balanced Worlds. The Beijing company was founded by three Americans in 2006 and will see its 17 current employees relocated to Kabam’s Chinese facilities in Beijing’s Central Business District.

“The Balanced Worlds team brings a strong discipline and creative flare in 3D game development that will complement Kabam’s expanding portfolio of games,” said Kabam Studios president Andrew Sheppard.

“Our shared vision of high-quality core 3D mobile games is perfectly aligned,” added Pfeiffer. “The Balanced Worlds team is proud to become a highly productive part of Kabam’s amazingly successful mobile-focused studio in Beijing.”

EA’s Digital Economy

BY

Retail sales are a clearly diminishing part of the industry as parts of it shift to digital download. Electronic Arts, the biggest traditional games publisher in the world, is a great indicator for the way companies are changing to adapt to the increasingly digital world.

“Electronic Arts is now tied with Activision-Blizzard as the #1 western digital gaming company, in terms of digital revenue,” writes Bryan Cashman. “And while Activision-Blizzard’s digital revenue is still driven largely by monthly subscriptions for World of Warcraft, EA’s more diversified portfolio of digital titles may give a stronger indication of how the broader digital ecosystem is performing for games.”

Digital has grown for Electronic Arts by 40 percent every year over the past five years. Meanwhile, smartphone and tablet game revenue has increased 120 percent year-over-year.

 

Digital revenue is primarily driven by add-on content for games, in-game advertisements and mobile and tablet software. Meanwhile, full game downloads are only a small portion of their digital revenue, though they are pushing that more with their Origin service — it’s telling the number that access Origin via mobile.

“The digital world, according to EA, is one supporting multiple business models and multiple devices. The days of creating a packaged good, shipping it, and moving onto creating another game, are gone. As indicated by EA’s digital revenue sources, games are now services — services to deliver ads, to sell updates, or to connect to for online interaction on mobile or tablets. Perhaps the next “cycle of gaming” will not be found in new consoles, but instead, in new ways to deliver and please consumers in a digital world,” concluded Cashman.

Source: ConsulGamer.com