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In-house developed titles push Netease profits to $2.8m

Gamer — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:35:32 GMT

Company will continue to release content packs for growing business

Dear Esther sales crash against 100,000

Gamer — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:35:30 GMT

Dear Esther, the atmospheric indie title from thechineseroom, has sold more than 100,000 copies, shortly following the title's launch for Mac on Steam. Developer Robert Briscoe shared the news on Dear Esther's official site:

"I have to admit I was a little unsure as to what to expect from sales of Dear Esther once we went to retail, we all were - there was no real benchmark to go by at the time, so I'm extremely pleased to see so many people enjoying the game, and most importantly, proving that gamers are open and eager to new ideas and experiences outside of the boundaries of 'traditional' gameplay. Thanks to everyone who has supported us through this journey, and who will hopefully continue to support us in the future!"
Dear Esther is half off through Thursday, May 17 in Steam's Midweek Madness sale, running just $5.

Dear Esther sales crash against 100,000 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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38 Studios head Curt Schilling apologizes for 'buggy' Reckoning demo

Gamer — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:41:35 GMT

38 Studios head Curt Schilling has found the NeoGAF forums, folks, and he is quite pleased with them. In a lengthy letter addressing the community, he starts things off by thanking everyone for a massive thread about his company's upcoming game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. And after some minor promotion of said project, he quickly devolves into an apologetic rant about the recently released demo.

"Let me start by apologizing. The demo? Ya, it is way way WAYYYYY more buggy than anything ANYONE should ever release, much less a demo," Schilling wrote. He said that due to "the depth of breadth of a game that has anywhere from 40-50 hours (main quest line play) to 2-300 hours (for completionist)," it was inevitable there would be bugs. However, rather than releasing a demo with said inevitable issues, he argued with EA to not put out a demo at all. A fight that he said he's glad he lost.

"The demo has been a God send, especially when I realize even in this thread, how many people became aware because of the demo," Schilling said. "In a partnership there is a lot of give and take, and I believe in my team, they are world class, but when you have a publisher there are things happening you'd rather not choose. Shipping old code out 3 months prior to gold master to a 3rd party with no stake in the demo success can be problematic." Regardless of the issues, Schilling ultimately says he was glad for the exposure the demo granted Reckoning, and he'll be "chatting more" on NeoGAF in the future.

[Thanks, Wombat!]

38 Studios head Curt Schilling apologizes for 'buggy' Reckoning demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Dota 2 International Championships finals begin (early) Sunday morning

Gamer — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:20:25 GMT

The International Dota 2 Championships will crown a victor Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. GMT (5 a.m. EDT), broadcast live via the official tournament site. Teams Ehome and Sythe.SG will battle in the loser's bracket for the chance to face team Na'vi for a $1 million first prize. Even "losers" in the International Championships end up winners in our eyes, with second place earning $250,000, third $150,000, and down all the way through eighth place's $25,000. It's just like T-ball, but more lucrative.

Continue reading PSA: Dota 2 International Championships finals begin (early) Sunday morning

PSA: Dota 2 International Championships finals begin (early) Sunday morning originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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News: 360 wireless adapter to launch in UK this month

Gamer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:22:04 GMT

Microsoft has confirmed the new Xbox 360 wireless adapter will launch in the UK on November 20 priced at GBP 59.99.

The company confirmed the UK release details to Eurogamer following the news the adapter would go on sale in the US this week for USD 99.99.

Microsoft's new 360 adapter comes with a dual-antenna which supports 802.11a/b/g standards, as well as the new, faster 802/11n necessary for the streaming of 1080p videos via the impending Zune Marketplace.

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Sales Data Revealed

Gameboy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:22:00 GMT

Koei Tecmo included the sales figures for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 in their latest fiscal report.

Zelda: Spirit Tracks screenshots show new instrument

Gamespot — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:22:05 GMT

Link's mic-operated Spirit Pipes shown in fresh gameplay shots. Here's a bunch of new Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks screens that show off Link playing the new Spirit Pipes instrument in his next DS quest. Click here to read the full articleRelated Stories

News: Square Enix confirms European identity

Gamer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:22:04 GMT

Square Enix has announced that it has completed its business reorganization following the acquisition of Eidos, and confirmed its European presence identity as Square Enix Europe.

That unit, which will operate out of the existing former Eidos office in Wimbledon, London, will look after the sales and marketing offices in the UK, France and Germany.

That also includes as a host of development studios - including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Square Enix London Studios and Eidos Montreal, while the specific UK company brand will be known as Square Enix.

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IncGamers - MMO Weekly: The Dungeon

Gameboy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:22:01 GMT

IncGamers' Jeff Hollis takes another irreverent look at the world of MMOs, this week focusing on dungeons, and the changes coming to them in World of Warcraft's forthcoming Patch 3.3.

Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Gamer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:22:01 GMT

Wait, didn't everybody already buy this? Even if your willpower or geography has kept you from picking up Modern Warfare 2, you're probably reading this as you drive to go do just that. Activision's marketing people like to call this one the most anticipated game of the decade, and there's no doubt it will sell oodles of copies from now until Modern Warfare 3: Even Moderner. But is it worth the hype? I spent some serious time pounding plastic to see if Infinity Ward's latest has the fun to back it up and you can find out what I thought right after the break. Just pull over first, okay?Continue reading Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

News: Unity user base jumps 158% following dev conference

Gamer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:22:00 GMT

Users of Unity Technologies' Unity development platform have increased by 158 per cent following the company's annual development conference held at the end of October.

Following Unite 2009, the company's third annual developer conference, the number of registered users of the platform soared to 33,500.

During the conference's opening keynote, Unity Technologies' CEO David Helgason also announced the platform formerly known as Unity Indie and priced at USD 199 would be made available to developers at no cost.

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This week's XBLA game is...

Gamespot — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:22:04 GMT

A 'rhythm puzzle' game, 0D Beat Drop. Microsoft's blabbed this week's Xbox Live Arcade game, '0D Beat Drop'. Click here to read the full articleRelated Stories

Vagrant Story heading to European PSN

Gameboy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:22:00 GMT

Examiner: The latest Square Enix newsletter revealed that Vagrant Story is heading to the PSP and Playstation 3 as a PSOne Classic in Europe.

News: Watson: Gamers' pressure group could be "game-changing"

Gamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:22:07 GMT

Labour MP Tom Watson believes a Facebook 'pressure group' for gamers he created could be "a game-changing move for Parliament" - after being "incensed" by remarks made by fellow MP Keith Vaz on the violent content of Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2.

'GamersÂ’ Voice', created this morning "to discuss how UK video gamers can find their voice in newspapers and government", recruited hundreds of members following Watson's earlier defence of the UK games industry in the House of Commons.

Speaking after the Culture, Media and Sports Questions session, Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, told GamesIndustry.biz: "IÂ’ve thought about [creating a group] for a while, but I was so incensed by yet another Daily Mail article that I just pinged it up there to gauge reaction. And frankly, 400 people in what, four hours, IÂ’ve been slightly taken aback by it." The group had over 750 members at the time of writing.

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Digital distributors refuse to stock PC Modern Warfare 2

Gamespot — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:22:04 GMT

Direct2Drive, Impulse, Gamersgate shun mandatory Steam installation. The mandatory installation of Steam for Modern Warfare 2 PC has been deemed a "Trojan horse" by digital distributor Direct2Drive, who's refused to stock the game along with Impulse and Gamersgate.Click here to read the full articleRelated Stories

EA Says Infinity Ward Is Welcome To Copy Us

Gameboy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:22:03 GMT

Battlefield: BAD COMPANY 2 is picking up alot of momentum and recognition in the game industry since the release of part one.

Since competition makes for better games it seems like Infinity Ward has now met it's match.

There's things going on in Bad Company 2 that's not present in Modern Warfare and one of these features is based on the online activity that EA is bringing to Bad Company 2.

The Best of Big Download: November 2 - 8

Gamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:22:01 GMT

The first full week of November 2009 kept us at Big Download on our toes with a ton of news, downloads, and special features. As usual, we take some time to smell the roses and look back at the past week. Please, won't you join us? Exclusive features

Unreal Development Kit: We were all over the release of Epic Games' free version of Unreal Engine 3 with a feature on the UDK itself and interviews with the teams behind the first two free UDK games; Whizzle and The Ball.

Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Borderlands, Torchlight, AI War: Fleet Command and Shattered Horizon

Interviews: We had interviews with the CEO of the gaming PC maker Maingear and the lead designer behind Shattered Horizon.

Serious Sam HD Preview: We go hands-on with a near final version of Croteam's FPS remake.

Mac Monday: Our look at Mac-based games checks out two titles: Trapped: The Abduction and Harvest: Massive Encounter.

Boot Disk: Our look at retro games checks out the classic space strategy title Master of Orion II.

Big Ideas: Our regular look at game themes examines what people's perceptions are on beauty in a game.

All You Need To Know: Our 411 feature gives you everything you need to know about Blizzard's upcoming Diablo III.

Playing For Free: Our weekly look at online free-to-play games has our opinion on CrimeCraft which recently turned into a free-to-play game.

Freeware Friday: Don't turn out the lights. This week's column on free PC games checks out the super-spooky Au Sable.

Contest: You still have some time to win one of three Steam download codes for Shattered Horizon.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: November 2 - 8The Best of Big Download: November 2 - 8 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

News: RedLynx: We put Trials PC game on torrent sites

Gamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:22:03 GMT

Trials developer RedLynx has admitted that in order to market its PC title it leaked it to torrent sites for pirates on the same day it was released to paying consumers.

The pirated version of the game does not include support for leaderboards, said company CEO Tero Virtala, a crucial feature that is the "soul" of the game. Without it, he hoped users of the hacked version would want to upgrade to the legitimate copy once they began enjoying the game.

"Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that? What we did actually, on day one, we put that game immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves," revealed Virtala, during a panel discussion at Develop Liverpool yesterday.

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The Host 2: Game Announcement

Gameboy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:22:01 GMT

The Host 2: New Ego-Shooter in development.

News: EA introduces free, endless trial for Warhammer Online

Gamer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:22:02 GMT

EA has announced a new endless free trail version of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, which will replace the 10 day time-limited demo players were previously able to try out.

As well as giving both new and returning game users the opportunity to play through more of the game, a new streaming client decreases the trial's download time - the initial download will be limited to 1GB, while additional content will stream in the background while playing.

Players will be able to create and play any of the game's 24 careers, progress to character level 10 within the tier one Empire vs Chaos zones of Nordland and Norsca, explore a newly added tier one dungeon, and battle other players in three instanced scenarios.

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