Company of Heroes 2 will focus on the Eastern Front of Europe for World War II, where some of the most brutal fighting in the history of mankind took place. The story will focus on a soldier in the Red Army and the trials and tribulations he went through in the war.
Need for Speed is coming cross-gen in a big way with Need for Speed Rivals. There’s just a tease of what’s to come here, but expect to see the races against cops like the Most Wanted series mixed with the customization of the aesthetic vehicle customizations of the Underground titles.
U.K. retailer Game has revealed their Grid 2 BAC Mono Edition. In what might be the most expensive special edition of a game for all time, it costs 125,000 British pounds
“This exclusive edition of the game is available for just one customer and includes the highly-anticipated racing game Grid 2 , a PlayStation 3 to play it on, a 170 mph BAC Mono supercar – sporting a Grid 2 livery – and full driver race wear,” says Game. “The waiting list for Mono currently stands at 14 months but the purchaser of this edition of Grid 2 will take delivery in just six months.”
So in addition to a copy of Grid 2 for PS3 and a PS3 console, there will be a BAC Mono in exclusive GRID 2 livery, a BAC factory tour and time spent with technicians to customize the BAC Mono for size and specifications, a Grid 2: Mono Edition branded Bell Racing helmet, and a set of fitted race suit, boots & gloves all in BAC Mono and Grid 2 branding.
Square Enix senior executive managing director Yosuke Matsuda recently spoke about how platforms like Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight speak to new methods of customer engagement. He also noted that Square Enix’s current development practices don’t involve customers enough and reap benefits over too short a period of time.
“There is a crowdfunding website called Kickstarter, which does not only serve as a method of financing for developers, but I believe should also be seen as a way to unite marketing and development together by allowing us to interact with customers while a game is in development,” said Matsuda. “Valve’s Steam Greenlight and Early Access, are also very interesting, in that they raise the frequency by which we interact with customers, increasing their engagement and reflecting customer needs. We are also looking at what initiatives are possible from this perspective. What should we present to our customers before a game is finished, how can our customers enjoy this, and how do we connect this to profitability, is something we are thinking about implementing, and which can improve our asset turnover in the process.”
“One could go as far as to say that in today’s times, making customers wait for years with little to no information is being dishonest to them,” he added. “We’re no longer in an age where customers are left in the dark until a product is completed. We need to shift to a business model where we frequently interact with our customers for our products that are in-development and/or prior to being sold, have our customers understand games under development, and finally make sure we develop games that meet their expectations.”
Source: Square-Enix.com
22 Cans has revealed that 4 million people tapped 25 billion cubelets over 150 days during which Curiosity was live. It has been revealed that the person who tapped the final cubelet, one Bryan Henderson, has the right to play the ultimate deity in 22 Cans forthcoming god game Godus by deciding its moral code and the rules by which it is played, along with a cut over all the microtransactions made in the game.
You will have fame, you will have fortune, and you will have the power to introduce morals into a game,” said 22 Cans founder Peter Molyneux. “I hope that you’ll find that this is worth the sore fingers you may have gained through tapping, and I hope the world agrees with me that it is a worthy prize.”
Ninja Theory, developers of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and the recent DmC: Devil May Cry, have announced they are developing a mobile title in Fightback. The game will be published with the help of Electronic Arts’ Chillingo division.
“Mobile and tablet gaming is a phenomenon that we just couldn’t ignore as a studio and we’re very proud to be working with one of the industry’s heavyweights on bringing Fightback to market,” said Ninja Theory product manager Dominic Matthews.
Fightback will be playable at E3 and is scheduled for a Summer release.
While the console sector has been contracting over the past few years, Microsoft is very bullish for the future. In fact, they expect the Xbox 360 to continue to grow and hit a new milestone over the next five years.
“We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit installed base,” said Microsoft senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Yusuf Mehdi . “That’s something we’re shooting for, it’s not a financial plan as such, it’s just rough numbers if you will. To sell another 25 million, half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers.
“And the way we’ll break into those segments is by hitting new price points, getting new classes of entertainment to come with the Xbox, and breaking into new customer segments. So you’ll see the Xbox 360 continue to exist, even as we launch the next generation Xbox One.”
As for the Xbox One, Microsoft is hoping that mass-market audiences will be brought in by the console’s enhanced media and voice capabilities. “Every generation, as you’ve probably heard, has grown approximately 30 percent. So this generation is about 300 million units. Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units. That’s if it’s a game console, over the next decade,” added Medhi. “We think you can go broader than a game console, that’s our aim, and you can go from 400 million to potentially upwards of a billion units. That’s how we’re thinking of the Xbox opportunity as we go forward.”
Source: OXM
The song publisher for Eminem suing Facebook and its ad agency, claiming they infringed the Detroit rapper’s copyright. They assert that a 30-second ad dubbed Airplane to announce Facebook Home copied music from Eminem’s 2000 song Under the Influence.
While the song in the ad was eventually changed, the suit contends the alteration “was an admission that Facebook knew it had infringed” on the Eminem song. The ad agency responsible was the firm behind Eminem’s Super Bowl spot with Chrysler in 2011 that featured an authorized version of Lose Yourself.
Eight Mile Style took on Apple Inc. and reached an out-of-court settlement with the publisher in 2005 after using Eminem’s Lose Yourself in an iPod commercial without permission. In another case, Audi agreed to a settlement in 2011 after using a song similar to Lose Yourself in a European promotional clip.
Source: Detroit Free Press
Square Enix recently revealed that price protection and back-end rebates cut into the success of games like Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution. As such, the company will increase its development for mobile devices and will put more emphasis on regional markets rather than hoping for global blockbuster products.
“We will continue to invest in flagship titles that showcase our technological prowess, pursuing high-end game quality, and which can earn profits on a global basis,” Matsuda said, hinting that the company will reveal more on its strategy at E3. “That said, we cannot reasonably finance this direction for every single title, and we have to think about our entire product portfolio.
“Our strategy of selling AAA titles of 10 IPs around the globe has implicitly assumed Hollywood-style cinematic major games centered on single-player experiences. Going forward, I think it is necessary to review the definition of ‘AAA Title’, and we need to pursue a new type of blockbuster title, in addition to the conventional type of blockbusters.”
Source: Square-Enix.com
Sega and Creative Assembly announced that they will be releasing Total War: Rome – Destroy Carthage as the first in a series of Total War inspired novels written by best-selling author David Gibbins. Releasing alongside Total War: Rome II in September 2013, the novel’s historical fiction will detail Fabius Petronius Secundus as he rises in power in the Roman army and eventually leads the Siege of Carthage.
“The Total War game series is all about conquering your own personal version of history, in a world we make as authentic to the period as possible,” Rob Bartholomew, Brand Director at Creative Assembly commented. “David’s novel is a fantastic opportunity to further indulge in the kind of what-if story-telling our players enjoy.”
“It’s been hugely exciting for me to work on this novel.” David Gibbins, best-selling author commented. “The story of Rome’s struggle with Carthage is truly a story of total war, of a conflict spread over more than a century, in which annihilation of one side was the only possible outcome. It’s been fascinating for me to re-imagine the lead-up to the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC through the eyes of a fictional legionary, Fabius. The story has been very close to my own work as an archaeologist at Carthage itself — it’s fantastic to be that close to real history, and that’s what makes my novels come alive for me.”
Source: TotalWarBooks.com
