Mouse And Keyboard For Xbox One?

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When it arrives at retail later next month, the Xbox One will come with a number of control options for its games and applications, including a controller and the Kinect motion-detecting device. However, some people will be looking for another option – the possibilities of using a mouse and a keyboard.

Fortunately, Microsoft believes the option for such devices is certainly on the table, even it’s not for the foreseeable future. “Certainly it’s possible, but we don’t have anything to announced at this time,” said Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, in a YouTube interview with VideoGamer.

“We’ll certainly have this great SDK for developers to do what they like. If that’s something they’re interested in doing, we’ll certainly help them do that. You pointed out, as a lot of people forget, designing for a 2-foot gaming experience versus perhaps a nine or ten-foot experience is a little bit different. So they have to be really focused on what is that like and they’re maximizing for the largest possible audience.

“We kind of have this concept of when you’re playing a PC game you’re leaning forward. With an Xbox [controller], sometimes you lean back. You’re just kinda having fun.

“And I don’t want to incite the religious debate that will ensue, [but] we want to provide a gaming experience that people enjoy, certainly with Windows – that’s our other large gaming platform at Microsoft. So there’s something there, but right now we’re really focused on the console space.”

The Xbox One hits stores in the U.S. on November 22.

Source: MCV UK

 

Samsung’s New ‘Round’ Of Phones

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When it comes to smartphones that curve to give users a wrap-around experience, it appears that Samsung has managed to get the jump over its competitors. The company recently launched the Galaxy Round in the Korean markets.

The company released the Round model to beat LG to the punch on the market, a curious design that’s curved from left to right, contouring with someone’s head as they use the phone.

“As a result of its unique curved design, users can take advantage of round integration experiences like the Roll Effect that enables user to check information such as date, time, missed call and battery easily when home screen is off, and the GravityEffect for creating visual interaction with the screen by tilting the device. For music, the Bounce UX enables users to control their music. When the Galaxy Round’s display is off while the music player is running, a short press to the left of the device will play the previous track while a short press to the right will play the next track. For pictures and videos, the Side Mirror feature enables users to gain access to list of the album content with a left and right tilt.”

There’s no word yet on if the Round will hit other markets, but it’s looking very likely.

Source: GigaOm

Square Enix Seeks Ideas

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Square Enix, in an effort to provide new twists on some of their more popular IP’s, has announced a new program called the Collective, which will allow game studios to provide ideas through a community-driven process.

Once the ideas manages to get enough feedback through the community, it can easily be turned around through a crowd-funding program, which would be partnered through Indiegogo.

The interesting thing about this program is that it includes classic IP’s owned by Square, including the likes of Tomb Raider, Hitman and more. They do have to be vetted through the company before they arrive on the Collective forum, though, meeting certain “submission parameters.” So don’t go crazy suggesting that Final Fantasy match-three game just yet.

The publisher is introducing the initiative in the hopes of turning around profits, as it reported a loss of 13.7 billion yen – or $135 million in U.S. funds – in the past year ending in May. Regardless, some franchises, like Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs, will see some form of continuation in the next generation of games, starting next year.

Source: Computer and Video Games

Archos Announces GamePad 2

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Shortly after introducing the original GamePad to the market for around $170, Archos has announced that it already has an improved model in the works. Say hello to the GamePad 2.

This new model will include a higher resolution screen over the original, running at 1280×800 on 7″ IPS-supported display. It also replaces the dual-cortex A9 chip with a more powerful quad-core variant, packing in double the RAM capacity. Best of all, the device features a better control set-up, so that players can get their game on with larger thumbsticks, D-pad and buttons, both action and shoulder. It’s easily one of the most gamer-centric Android handhelds that’ll be on the market.

GamePad 2 supports Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and also works with a number of popular games, such as Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour and Asphalt 8: Airborne.

The device is expected to ship in the U.S. later this year for $199.99 – not much more than the original GamePad itself.

Source: IGN

Sci-Fi Stars Align For Autism Charity

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Advocacy group Autism Speaks is launching its second annual Sound Off for Autism charity, which uses celebrity star power to raise money for autism research and awareness. This year’s lineup includes a who’s who of geek culture’s favorite stars hailing from Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones and Big Bang Theory. Celebrities participating in the charity have offered to record a limited number of custom audio messages to charity backers in return for a $299 donation.

After William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Carrie Fisher’s involvement last year, the sci-fi universe is again well represented. Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto and Michael Dorn are participating this year, as is Mark Hamill from that other popular sci-fi galaxy. TV favorites include Bryan Cranston, Peter Dinklage and Jim Parsons. Also participating are Adam West, Cher, Jack Black and Vin Scully. The geek cred angle notwithstanding, the clear theme among these stars is notoriously recognizable voices. On that note, the first to sell out at the time of this writing is L.A. Dodgers broadcasting legend Vin Scully.

Autism Speaks estimates that autism affects nearly one in nine children in the U.S., making it one of the most serious afflictions in this country. The condition has also spiked in recent years – up by 79 percent over the past six years – which charity organizers attribute in large part to better diagnosis in young children.  The organization’s Sound Off program was founded in 2012 by legendary TV actor Ed Asner, raising more than $100,000 from the aforementioned Star Trek-Star Wars crew along with Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Betty White and Derek Jeter.

The fundraising drive offers a limited number of audio messages from each celebrity on a first come, first serve basis. For more information and to donate, please visit the Sound Off for Autism web site.

The Return Of ColecoVision

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Back in the early 80’s, there were only so many video game systems to play with, but one unforgettable one was the Coleco Vision, which featured a number of games such as Donkey Kong, Buck Rogers and a number of others. Though the system isn’t around anymore, one certain company wants to bring it back.

Rantmedia Games has managed to secure the rights to the ColecoVision, as well as a number of its games, and has started a KickStarter program {link no longer active} in an effort to get the games brought to handheld devices and possibly consoles. The fund-raising program wants to raise $250,000 to bring the games to iPhone and other handheld devices, as well as “potentially other platforms.”

Once developed, the app would introduce “a faithful recreation of the original ColecoVision console,” as well as a number of its games, including Zaxxon, Ms. Space Fury, Montezuma’s Revenge and a number of others.

“We wouldn’t be pitching this if we weren’t supremely confident we could deliver big time on our vision,” reads the page’s “Risks” section. “We believe we’ve covered just about everything to nail this, from the design, development and delivery of the game to the logistics (and costs) of shipping the T-Shirts. We’ve got the rights and licenses already in place, and we’ve got track record of delivering this kind of thing successfully.”

Source: Polygon

Game Company M&A On The Rise

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It looks like acquisitions of game companies are on the rise in a huge way, especially when it comes to Asian companies moving in.

According to a quarterly report from investment bank Digi-Capital, acquirers managed to spend more than $3.3 billion through the end of the third quarter for 2013, with a number of deals going into the works for most of the year. The M&A value has managed to rise as a result, though only one percent.

Deals in general have grown even bigger in size, approximately 12 percent to $45.8 million. Out of these, Chinese, Japanese or South Korean buyers launched most of the deals. Asian game companies play a big part in digital game markets as well, with high revenue growth in various domestic markets.

Investment as a whole grew significantly, to about $876 million through Q3 2013, up 35 percent from the previous year.

“If this trend continues through Q4, we could be looking at another record year for M & A in games,” said Tim Merel, managing director for Digi-Capital. “Deep Asian relationships are now critical for investors in games companies considering exits.”

Could we be seeing a pick-up in the game market, especially with new systems and developers on the rise? Possibly.

Source: Venturebeat

EA Taps ‘War Chest’ For Mobile Strategy

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Electronic Arts has been killing it with their mobile games recently, with such titles as The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Plants Vs. Zombies 2 helping to put the publisher high on mobile top download charts. Now, EA Mobile is preparing to launch two mobile games that may help continue this success by connecting with existing intellectual properties Dungeon Keeper and Dragon Age. The [a]list daily spoke with the producers of these games about the design and marketing strategy.

Dungeon Keeper for iOS and Android is based on the hit game created by Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog Productions back in 1997 for Electronic Arts. “We started looking at the war chest of EA IP and we stumbled across Dungeon Keeper,” said senior producer Jeff Skalski. “It was almost a no-brainer instantly that this game was long overdue to come back.”

The game gives you the perspective of being the bad guy controlling a dungeon and fighting off the waves of heroes looking to pillage your creation. The them of the game is, essentially, “It’s good to be bad,” said Skalski. The game transitioned well to touch devices, with EA Mobile redesigning the game to bring back all the classic elements and characters, but redoing the interface for touch. “When you were playing it with a keyboard and mouse you had that Hand of Evil on the screen and smack your imps with the back of your hand,” said Skalski. “Putting it on a touch device was just kind of perfect.”

The strategy for EA Mobile with Dungeon Keeper is to bring back a hit IP but not as a straight port to mobile. The needs and expectations of the mobile audience are very different from the original PC audience for the game, and so are the capabilities of mobile devices. EA Mobile took the more difficult path of re-creating the game for the new platforms and the new mindset of the audience.

One of the most basic changes is the business model — the new Dungeon Keeper has been redesigned as a free-to-play game with in-app purchasing. You get to create a persistent dungeon and compete against other players as well as the AI of the game. “The dungeon you build is the dungeon that sticks with you,” said Skalski. “Dungeon Keeper 2 introduced multiplayer, and now it’s a must. You can experience the PvE component, but you can play against others by attacking other Keepers.”

The marketing hook for Dungeon Keeper is that “It flips the building genre on its head,” said Skalski, by letting you create an underground structure instead of a building. The tone of the game is an important defining element, too, as the more mature, adult humor is something EA feels will be attractive to the audience. EA Mobile has created a new title from something old that’s a bit blue, and looking to catch some of the audience that loves The Simpsons: Tapped Out.

Given the nature of the game tablets are the best way to show it off, but the game design focused on smartphones initially. Both the iOS and Android will launch on the same day in 14 languages, showing one of the benefits of development at a large publisher. The game’s release has not yet been set, but expect it sometime this winter.

On the other side of the coin is Heroes of Dragon Age, which borrows from EA’s hit console game series Dragon Age to create a new, strategic squad-based game. “It is a strategic, sqaud -based game where you’re collecting characters from throughout the Dragon Age universe,” said Tim Lander, producer of the game. “You battle through quests and battle other players. We have over 100 different characters in the game and a ton of different environments and stories we pulled from the existing lore.”

The idea with Heroes of Dragon Age is to provide a deep strategy game that will be appealing to fans of the Dragon Age series as well as to gamers that love strategy games. “It’s similar to card battle games, but we made it more accessible” noted Lander, through a 3D interface with lush visuals. EA Mobile had a very close relationship with Bioware in order to capture the essence of the game. “They delivered all assets to us and we used that as a starting point,” noted Lander. “We respected the art style of Dragon Age, but we are making it fit the mobile audience.”

As with Dungeon Keeper, Heroes of Dragon Age is designed as a free-to-play game with in-app purchases and plenty of new content arriving periodically. With the new Dragon Age: Inquisition on the horizon, obviously there will be opportunities for cross-promotion that EA Mobile will use. However, they are not revealing just yet what the tie-ins will be between the two games. Heroes of Dragon Age is headed for iOS and Android sometime this fall.

EA Mobile is clearly leveraging its advantages with a vast library of IP to draw on, a large existing audience, and the promotional value of upcoming game launches on other platforms. While none of those things assures success, the combination should prove able to put these games solidly into profitable territory. That’s the place EA wants to be in an increasingly competitive mobile market.

GameStop Pushing Nvidia Hardware

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GameStop is selling many different NVIDIA Tegra devices at its stores around the world. The NVIDIA SHIELD has been selling out at stores since launch and was on prime display at the recent GameStop EXPO in Las Vegas for managers and consumers to get hands-on. Joe Gorman, vice president of mobile for GameStop, talks about the role mobile is playing at the world’s largest game retailer in this video from Gamerhub.tv.

“We have two types of customers at GameStop,” said Gorman. “There’s the PC customer that has the awareness of what NVIDIA’s value is and what they bring to the table. NVIDIA is really a gaming company at their roots, so that customer knew ahead of time and pre-ordered and got the SHIELD. But we have another type of customer as well. And the interesting thing is we have displays around the country in GameStop stores that feature a live demo, very much like what was on the floor at GameStop Expo. Consumers are getting their hands on the SHIELD and starting to understand what the new tech looks like and how the device operates. And those are some of our best stores in terms of sales of the device.  We’re actually looking to add more of those hands-on displays across the country.”

GameStop remains devoted to PC and console games, but they have a concrete stake in the mobile games space now as well.

“All of our customers have at least a cell phone and we know more and more have a tablet,” said Gorman. “They’re interested in fresh, new innovation and new games. We’re now in the mobile gaming space with Kongregate, which is publishing mobile games. We’re able to find out what our customers want and deliver that to them. We’re able to tell that consumer directly through PowerUp about new games. Discoverability is really good for us. The PowerUp consumers really appreciate that.”

 

iPhone To Enter Dozens Of New Markets

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Apple is bringing the iPhone to 51 additional countries, leveraging built-in compatibility with a wider range of wireless standards in the new iPhone 5s and 5c.  USA Today reports that the phones will go on sale in 35 new territories including Austria and the French West Indies on October 25, then launch into an additional 16 markets including India and the Middle East on November 1.

The new iPhone 5s and 5c are compatible with various wireless signal types, meaning Apple can roll out the devices in new territories without any hardware modifications.  This enabled the company’s first simultaneous launch in China when it introduced the new iPhones in its usual markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

Source: USA Today