Goat Simulator is a quirky indie PC title where you are a goat having wacky adventures in the world. This odd concept is put on display in this trailer, which also serves as a great send up for the classic Dead Island trailer.
Last year’s release of The Last of Us turned out to be one of the PlayStation 3’s most remarkable games – and an award winner for the developers at Naughty Dog. Now, it looks like the adventure will live on again as a PlayStation 4 release.
PlayStation’s Eurasian software market manager Sercan Sulun has let it slip that a new port of the action/survival game is on its way to Sony’s latest console. Speaking with Turkish website Multiplayer, Sulun stated through a translator, “There is no information about a new The Last of Us game but I can share this knowledge: as of this summer, The Last of Us will be on the PS4. Both on PSN (PlayStation Network) and physically.”
In addition, the game is set to include previously released downloadable content as well. Sulun continued, “The PS4 version will also include the DLC so you will be able to play Left Behind as well.”
The game has sold six million copies thus far on PlayStation 3, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Sony wants to continue its success.
Source: IGN
King Digital, the developer of such hit mobile games as Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga, was really hoping for its public IPO to take off when it launched on the New York Stock Exchange this week. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as sweet as planned.
The stock, trading under the name KING and opening at $22.50, ended its first day of trading down 15.56 percent to $19, with a total of 40.66 million shares changing hands.
For the first game-related public listing since Zynga made its debut in 2011, King was expecting a bigger impact. Instead the stock was one of the worst IPOs of 2014, with investors clearly concerned that King might be a one-hit wonder with Candy Crush Saga being responsible for more than 80 percent of the companys revenues.
Source: GamesIndustry International
Twitch is one of the ideal names to turn to when it comes to game broadcasting and special events – although, soon, it may not be the only game in town.
A new company called Gaming Live has ventured forth, attempting to offer video live streaming services for gamers, as well as e-Sports associations and developers.
The company has already raised $30,000 in seed funding through the Dubai-based Turn8 Accelerator program, although it’s looking to raise $1 million in an upcoming funding round.
It intends to launch its first services in June through demonstrations, and a full launch some time after that, where gamers can sign up and use it to broadcast. It plans to stand apart from Twitch by providing users to generate revenue on their content without having to meet certain criteria.
“(Gaming Live was) created using the highest-quality standards on the emerging technology,” said Gaming Live chief technology officer Marek Tuchalski. “This will allow Gaming Live to optimize costs and lower the potential risk associated with streaming traffic consumption.”
“Gaming Live will be something that our target group expects from a video streaming platform of the future,” added Gaming Live chief operating officer Krystian Berg. “Solutions introduced by our company will not only be interesting for the gaming fans but also the companies and content producers, who will have tools to interact with gamers and reach them effectively like never before.”
More details on Gaming Live can be found on its official page.
Source: VentureBeat
Fez is one of the most popular indie games of the past few years and now it’s available for cross-buy and cross-save on PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. Check out its unique perspective switching gameplay and sample the cool electronic soundtrack in the trailer.
GameStop reported its fiscal year 2013 financial results, with a ix of good news and bad news. Sales for the company’s fourth quarter (which ended Feb 1, 2014) were $3.68 billion, which was up 3.4 percent compared to last year’s quarter (which was one week longer). This rise was driven by the sales of new consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. While sales were up, earnings were down, dropping to $220.5 million from last year’s $261.1 million. Investors responded by driving GameStop’s share price down by over 7 percent so far today in trading.
For the full year GameStop had sales of $9.04 billion, up 1.7 percent from the previous year. Full-year comparable sales grew 3.8 percent. At the same time, GameStop reported a drop in current-gen software, which they expected as customers transition to new consoles. CFO Rob Lloyd confirmed that “current-gen software sales declined at a faster rate than expected,” but he doesn’t see an increase in the rate of current-gen decline.
GameStop is expecting to have a good fiscal 2014, with total sales up between 12 and 22 percent, with income projected to be around double the amount reported for FY 2013. Earnings per share are expected to be about $3.56 per share for FY 2014. The company expects store count to drop about 2 percent, but they will continue to remodel old stores. GameStop projects next gen consoles at 125 percent of last generation for the next three years, in dollar volume, where prior to launch they had expected next-gen to trail previous gen launch numbers. That’s less impressive when you factor in inflation since the last time consoles were launched.
There are signs of weakness buried in the numbers, though. GameStop’s results were buoyed by hardware, but software sales (both new and used) were down from last year. New software was $1.2 billion compared to $1.6 billion in FY 2012, and pre-owned software was $742 million compared to $752.8 million the previous year. Customers are buying hardware at retail, but not as much software as they used to. This was also true for the full fiscal year.
Part of the change must be due to customers buying digital content directly instead of heading to the retail store. That’s probably more DLC than full titles, but of course it’s hard to track all that. Another factor must be increased diversion of consumer attention and spending to online and mobile games. All of that spending on League of Legends and mobile games has to come from somewhere, and it’s likely that some of that is coming at the expense of retail sales.
GameStop is certainly going to do well to the extent that new consoles sell well. They have already sold more new consoles than they had in the first 15 months of the last console launch. Their attach rate is more than 3.3 for these new consoles, as GameStop does well at adding on software sales to the hardware. GameStop’s market share for next-gen hardware is 47 percent so far this year, according to their comments in the earnings call. GameStop sales associates also work hard at adding DLC on to new software sales, and the company will doubtless continue to push that. Lloyd noted that GameStop expects by late in the year next-gen and current-gen software sales will equalize, with next-gen software then continuing to pull ahead.
Titanfall had 4 times the amount of reservations on Xbox One than on the Xbox 360. “Gamers are showing strong demand for games on new consoles,” said GameStop president Tony Bartel. There’s also strong demand for big upcoming titles like Watch Dogs and Destiny, more reasons why GameStop is looking forward to the rest of the year. Launches of next-gen consoles are still continuing internationally as well, with Microsoft launching the Xbox One in 26 more countries. GameStop’s international sales grew 14 percent in the fourth quarter, and 5.6 percent for the full year, so more next-gen interest in other countries will likely help GameStop.
Digital sales grew 4 percent in the fourth quarter. PC digital grew 27 percent, while console digital dropped 6 percent. Steam cards grew over 100 percent. Digital is still only about 2 percent of GameStop’s overall business, though, so even high rates of growth in that segment aren’t going to move the needle much for the company as a whole.
Kongregate grew very well for GameStop, more than doubling sales in the fourth quarter. GameStop did close its Spawn Labs acquisition, “based on lack of demand from customers.” GameStop will focus its effort on selling next-gen streaming services such as PlayStation Now, rather than doing it themselves. Digital receipts grew 15 percent for the full year.
GameStop does project an increase in the pre-owned game business, which is good considering that about half of the company’s profits come from that part of the business. “I would point out it’s a good sign that previous competitors have returned,” said CEO Paul Raines, referring to Walmart getting back into used games. The pre-owned business is a supply-constrained business, so GameStop is cutting deals with publishers to make value-priced software available to fill in that supply for hot titles.
“We believe GameStop has to maintain a higher rate of internal change than the environment around us,” said Raines. That’s a wise viewpoint as rapid change continues in the game industry, with digital games continuing to outpace traditional retail in terms of growth and market share. GameStop is doing well as next-gen consoles continue to revive interest in console games, but it’s not clear how long this will last or how it will change in the future.
The larger a corporate entity is, the more generic its video advertisements tend to be, using a certain set of clichés to imply diversity, progress and efficiency. This video, from royalty-free HD footage purveyor Dissolve, pretty efficiently captures all of those advertising stereotypes while also showcasing their central product.
Source: AdAge.com
Ken Kutaragi received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Conference, and also presented this video documenting his early career with the PlayStation. Done by Mega64, this video has all the awesomeness of a straight-to-video ’80s action film like Miami Connection, with tongue firmly in cheek.
Baseball season is almost upon us once more, and MLB.TV is gearing up for some great game coverage. Now, Xbox One subscribers will be able to join the party.
Microsoft has announced that Major League Baseball’s broadcast service is now available through a new application on the Xbox One, providing users with the ability to view live baseball games and replays through the convenience of their console.
In order to take advantage of the app, users need to have an MLB.TV subscription, as well as an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Also, keep in mind that certain blackout rules still apply, in case a game is being broadcast on live television.
Source: GigaOm
X-Men: Days of Future Past will have the largest ensemble of important Marvel mutants in one movie ever, with characters from the original X-Men film trilogy joining with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class. Professor X and Magneto must work together to change the past and alter a dark future.
