Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – The Art of Studio Ghibli

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Executives and directors from Level-5 talk about their experience to give Ni no Kuni a look like you’re walking around in a Studio Ghibli film. Yoshiyuki Momose, director of animation at Studio Ghibli, seems particularly tickled at this unprecedented collaboration on a game project.

D.I.C.E. Award Nominees For 2013 Announced

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The nominees for the 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards have been announced and Journey, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown have all been nominated for game of the year. Journey also has 11 nominations in total, topping The Walking Dead which has 8, Far Cry 3 with 7, Halo 4 with 6, and Borderlands 2 and Dishonored with 5 apiece.

“As I look at the list of the 2012 finalist games, there is no doubt in my mind that every single nominated title strongly reflects the D.I.C.E. Awards moniker – Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain,” said Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “Across all platforms and through deeply immersive experiences, our industry continues to outdo itself year over year, finding new and interesting ways to evolve and engage audiences.”

“The D.I.C.E. Awards are VERY important to me,” said this year’s host, Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick. “I have been playing video games since there were video games. I hope there is some type of Dovahkiin Shout that will make sure I don’t mess this up. I will find one! If not, I’ll just look like a psychotic, screaming a**hole leading up to the Awards.”

The 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards will take place February 7 in Las Vegas as part of the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit.

Raptor News Network

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Raptor News Network is a viral site promoting DmC: Devil May Cry. The Raptor News Network site contains fake news articles written about the current concerns of Limbo City. It is sponsored by Virility, a fake energy drink that seems to be contributing to the declining health of the citizens of Limbo City.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lMWm9NChLzQ

A satire of real world society ills, the Raptor News Network takes aim at media like reality television and cable news outlets. The Raptor News Network itself is an example of such ills and is a symbol of how a news outlets has been used to deliberately influence and mold public opinion in favor of a certain party, idea, or cause, such as in politics and religion.

Raptor News represents one of the main arms of the demons’ subversive control and manipulation of Limbo. Fans are asked a daily polling question and also encouraged to call a 1-800 number and express their opinions. City’s human populace, feeding off of false information through the sent airwaves to brainwash humanity, usually slander Dante as a terrorist and otherwise paint the hero in a negative light.

Many of the topics are political, ranging from a proposed gun ban, discussion of the economy or a health and discussing the adverse affects of organic energy drinks, particularly to men.

The Secret World Sees Late Year Boost

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Funcom revealed that The Secret World has sold 70,000 copies in the last four weeks. The company says this represents a 30 percent increase in total sales, meaning the game has seen about 300,000 sales.

Player activity in The Secret World has also increased by 400 percent since the mandatory monthly subscription for the game was dropped. Funcom announced this at the same time as a general consolidation of its offices in order to be more efficient.

Source: Funcom.com

Call Of Duty Leads Diminishing Retailer Returns In 2012

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NPD has released its December 2012 report, and much like the year itself for the gaming industry, it was not a good one. Retail sales were $3.21 billion, down 22 percent over last year, while 2012’s total sales were $13.26 billion, also down 22 percent over 2011.

While this is certainly gloomy, the NPD does note that console gamers are increasingly turning to digital to get their fix. “2012 was also the best year for point card and subscription card sales as gamers sought digital content on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo’s eShop. Games like Journey and Minecraft broke records for number of games downloaded,” said NPD industry analyst Liam Callahan.

The NPD believes that this year is akin to a transition year when a set of old consoles is waning. “An apt historical comparison for this this month is December 2005, which was the first December of the previous console generation. As a testament to how much the retail market has grown, overall physical dollar sales in December 2012 are up 10 percent when compared to December 2005,” commented Callahan.

“In December 2012, positive trending for many annualized franchises like Call of Duty, Skylanders, Assassin’s Creed, and FIFA, points to consumers’ increased spending on hits, but that middle-tier games as well as catalog titles are suffering. This is evident in examining the share of December dollar sales that the top ten titles generated, which was 46 percent in December 2012, up 12 percentage points from last December,” he continued. “A major culprit in the decline in retail sales in 2012 was the lack of new releases with 29 percent less SKUs across consoles, portables, and PCs. However, the SKUs that were released generated 8 percent more units per SKU and 11 percent more dollars per SKU.”

Call of Duty continued to fair well as a brand, with Black Ops II being the best selling title of 2012 and Modern Warfare 3 coming in eighth. Top ten are filled out with sequels and annualized franchises like Madden NFL 13, Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed III, Just Dance 4, NBA 2K13, Borderlands 2, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and FIFA Soccer 13.

Skylanders Hits Half Billion In U.S. Sales

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Activision revealed that their Skylanders franchise has earned over $500 million in the U.S. market. The hybrid toy-video game makes money through the sale of action figures and accessory packs, with the recently released Skylanders Giants generating $195 million in revenue.

“Just a year ago, the concept of bringing toys to life in a virtual world was an untested play pattern that Activision and Toys For Bob believed in,” said Joshua Taub, vice president of product management at Activision Publishing. “Now the category has been established in the market and embraced by parents and kids everywhere.”

Skylanders has expanded beyond the realm of plastic action figures and video games, now including plush toys, clothing, board games, school equipment and furniture. Find out more about how Activision made Skylanders into a big brand in this exclusive [a]list interview.

World Of Warcraft Raises $2.3 Million For Sandy Relief

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Blizzard has announced that they have raised $2.3 million to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy. In World of Warcraft the company sold the Cinder Kitten pet for $10 with 100 percent of the money going to the American Red Cross’ Superstorm Sandy relief efforts.

“The community embraced this fiery feline in droves, helping out a great cause in the process,” said Blizzard in a statement. “Thanks again to everyone who helped make a difference.”

Nokia Sees Q4 2012 Uptick With Lumia Sales

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Nokia said that it saw 4.4 million Lumia unit sales during the fourth quarter of 2012, up from 2.9 million in the third quarter. The Finnish company sold a total of 86.3 million devices during the quarter, taking in about $5.1 billion.

“Seasonality and competitive environment are expected to have a negative impact on the first quarter 2013, underlying profitability for devices and services, compared to the fourth quarter 2012,” Nokia said in a statement.

Source: LAtimes.com

Yahoo’s Former CFO Joins Adap.tv

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Tim Morse has been hired as CFO at Adap.tv, a video-advertising buyer for thousands of websites including Yahoo and Vevo. The company generated nearly $100 million in revenue in 2012, up nearly 200 percent over the previous year, showing a growing market for video adverting.

“We have super high growth, and Tim’s experience is exactly that—building corporate and financial structure for high-growth, multibillion-dollar businesses,” said Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi.

Morse spent 15 years at General Electric before working at semiconductor company Altera. He joined Yahoo in 2009, boosting profit margins and earnings though the company failed to increase revenue, and orchestrated to sell half of Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba Group back to that company.

Morse believes in the vision for Adap.tv and said he’s looking forward to being involved in “the growth engine”. “It’s a massive market opportunity,” he said.

Advertisers spent $2.93 billion on online-video ads in the U.S. in 2012, up 46.5 percent from 2011, according to eMarketer. This year, the firm estimates that the figure is expected to rise to $4.14 billion.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Gearbox Turned Down Call Of Duty Development Offer

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Gearbox Software has done its share of licensed titles, including the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines, and has done plenty of realistic war shooters in the Brothers in Arms series. It’s perhaps unsurprising then to find out that Activision tried to get the studio to make a Call of Duty title, though Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford indicates that they passed for a couple of reasons.

“I didn’t know what there was to aim for there,” said Pitchford. “I think to deliver the Call of Duty that people want you have to play by the rules of the series. You have to do what is expected of a Call of Duty. So I see no real challenge for us. It wouldn’t strengthen our reputation as a studio, and it wouldn’t be really motivating for our team.”

Source: Krawall Gaming Network