Video Game Reviews 4 You

Posted September 9, 2011 by James Brightman

Game sales took a major plunge in August, dropping 23% year-over-year as software sales in particular really faltered, declining by 34% in a month without the usual Madden spike. While some of the blame can be attributed to the Madden delay, EEDAR's Jesse Divnich sees much bigger problems for the traditional retail side of the business.

Divnich, providing IndustryGamers with exclusive post-NPD report commentary, observed a pretty serious trend in the traditional games industry so far in 2011:  "To date, there have been 18% fewer physical SKUs released compared to the same time period in 2010.  In addition, there has been a 27% reduction in 80+ rated physical games, year-to-date. I have to admit, I am concerned for the traditional physical gaming market as we enter the crucial holiday season."

"It wouldn't be a far stretch to assume that this increase in non-traditional gaming playtime is coming at the cost of the traditional physical experience."

This holiday season is looking fantastic for core gamers with blockbuster titles in the pipeline, including Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Resistance 3 (it's all about the threes), Skyrim, Zelda: Skyward Sword, and more. But will there be enough cash to go around? "The remainder of the year looks positive for traditional video games as the quality of AAA titles this holiday season is overwhelming, maybe too overwhelming," admits Divnich.

And what if gamers are holding back, saving some money, and spending more time with cheaper mobile offerings?

That could be the case, if you ask Divnich. "Our industry thrives on momentum and habit.  The first thing a gamer says when they finish a great title is, 'What can I play next?' and when the answer is nothing that consumer begins to look elsewhere to satisfy their entertainment needs.  From our consumer surveys and market analysis, the level of activity occurring in non-traditional gaming markets such as mobile, tablet, and social have skyrocketed over the last 3 months."  

He continued, "We've done the surveys and we know that over 51% of traditional console owners have engaged with mobile and social games over the last 6 months. It wouldn't be a far stretch to assume that this increase in non-traditional gaming playtime is coming at the cost of the traditional physical experience.  The scary question is whether these consumers have simply gone dormant, waiting for the next big Xbox 360 game, or if we have lost some, even if it is a relatively small percentage, to these non-traditional gaming markets forever."

In the end, while EEDAR is concerned about the market, Divnich remains mostly optimistic that sales will turn around for Q4, even if the industry packed too much into the holiday period.

"Personally, I've always felt our industry has learned that the core gaming engagement isn't seasonal, in which strong AAA core targeted titles can thrive at any point of the year, but looking at this year's lopsided release schedule, I have to wonder if we are straying a little too far off our own beaten path. That said, I remain positive about this industry and truly believe that traditional gaming will recover this holiday season, but it would be fair to say that I and many others will be anxiously sweating it as we enter this period."

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

EA and Playfish have broken through a major barrier, becoming the second most popular game on Facebook.  The Sims Social, a title specifically tailored for Facebook, has already racked up an astonishing 9.3 million daily active users.  That figure puts the title ahead of Zynga’s venerable FarmVille.

According to data gleaned from App Data, the game has also been well received by many players.  With over 90,000 posted reviews online, the game is hovering at a 4.0 out of 5. 

EA has stated that the new title is one of several that are meant to help diversify EA into the social gaming atmosphere, specifically on Facebook.  

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

A brand-new indie studio has appeared!  Tribute Games has launched in Montreal, formed by ex-Ubisoft and Eidos employees Justin Cyr, Jonathan Lavigne and Jean-François Major.  Lavigne announced the new venture on his personal blog.

“Jean-François Major, Justin Cyr and I have been working together for several years and we also developed Wizorb together during the past 6 months. So, we decided to join forces and form our own video game company. Justin is an awesome pixel artist, animator and aspiring sound designer and Jean-François is our mastermind programmer,” he wrote.

“We chose the name Tribute Games because when we make games, we want to pay tribute to all the cool games from our childhood. We’re passionate indies aiming at making entertaining games with a focus on pixel art and classic game design (sometimes with a modern twist).”

Wizorb, the title mentioned in the post will be coming to Xbox Live Indie Games this month.  No concrete release date has been given.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

The digital downloading race has increased pace with EA’s big push with Origin.  EA has announced that the new service has hit over 4 million installations, and that the publisher is close to opening up distribution options to third-party vendors. 

"Initially, Origin is set up to deliver EA games, but very soon, we'll be delivering third-party content to Origin," said Eric Brown, EA CFO. 

The games giant had recently mentioned that content from other developers and publishers would certainly be welcome on the platform.  EA SVP of global online David DeMartini noted to IndustryGamers that the overall strategy is to be a platform where all publishers could see the value in such a digital distribution-centric system. 

EA plans to “leverage our backend infrastructure -- the 130 million-plus registered users that we have, the multitude of digital payment methods, et cetera."  Brown did not go into detail on which third-party groups would be signed up for distribution on Origin at this time.

If anything, the true push of Origin should be coming for this holiday.  Now that EA has tied Battlefield 3 together with Origin, there is strong backing to get gamers signed up. 

"We're fairly excited about Origin," Brown mentioned. "We have about 4 million installs of the client; we expect that number to climb substantially as we enter this ... holiday season."

[via Gamasutra]

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

EA has successfully argued that First Amendment speech outweighs privacy concerns for use of sports figures within video games.  The case was originally brought up from Rutgers University quarterback Ryan Hart, who believed his likeness was not being used with his consent.

While EA did not use the player’s name in the game, Hart believed that the ‘virtual QB’ for Rutgers was eerily similar in appearance and stature.  Hart also alleged that the use of his attributes, number and appearance were too similar to be ignored.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson disagreed, however, stating that First Amendment rights outweighed the right to privacy of NCAA players such as Hart.  Wolfson had previously dropped a similar complaint by Hart back in 2010. 

EA lawyer Elizabeth McNamara commented on the ruling, saying that this “validates Electronic Arts’ rights to create and publish its expressive works.”

Other cases remain active; Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller and former Cleveland Browns player Jim Brown are in legal battles with EA, saying their likenesses were improperly used.  

[Thanks Reuters]

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

IndieCade 2011, the fifth annual festival of independent gaming, has announced that Uncharted lead designer Richard Lemarchand will be the keynote speaker for the event, taking place on October 6-9, in Culver City, CA.  Lermarchand’s talk will be entitled ‘Beauty and Risk: Why I Love Indie Games’.  Other speakers will include Braid creator Jonathon Blow, Shadow Physics co-creator Steve Swink, and Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman.

“IndieCade brings together the community to check in on what people have been up to over the last year, celebrate our successes, honor creativity, innovation, get inspired and see what is in store for the year to come,” Andy Nealen, co-creator of the hit Osmos and IndieCade Conference Co-Chair, said.

The full conference costs $195 in advance and $250 at the door.  Tickets can be purchased on the official site.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

THQ has shut down a number of studios this year: Homefront developer Kaos Studios in June, two studios in Australia, and the internal MX vs. ATV developer located in Phoenix, Arizona.  Speaking at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference today, THQ CFO Paul Pucino outlined why those studios had to go.  THQ has decided to streamline its operations to create a few AAA releases each year, with successive iterations every two years.

"In respect to not talking about it at our annual meeting it's because we simply weren't able to announce it at that time," Pucino said. "We think the best position we can be in with respect to studio structure is fewer is better."

"The two we just shut in Australia were working on games that aren't consistent with our strategy anymore - one on a movie tie-in, one on a kids' game," Pucino said. "Our strategy now is bringing fewer, bigger triple-A titles to market: one or two original IPs each year, and sequelling them every two to two-and-a-half years."

Pucino highlighted the new THQ Montreal studio, headed up by Ubisoft-expat and former Assassin’s Creed creative director Patrice Désilets.  THQ believes the new studio will allow them to create AAA games cheaper and more efficiently.

"We're trying to reduce the cost of bringing high quality games to market," Pucino said. "Our studio in Montreal will grow from 150 to 400 employees in the next couple of years. We're going to be able to make games there for 40 percent less than some of our other studios."

Does THQ have a chance against Activision, EA, and Ubisoft?  Homefront didn’t sell as well as it could, the publisher just killed the Red Faction franchise, and its collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro won’t see fruit for many years now.  Is the publisher moving in the right direction?

[Via Edge]

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Posted September 8, 2011 by James Brightman

Nintendo announced today that for the August NPD reporting period, the company managed to sell 235,000 units of its 3DS handheld. Games retailer GameStop had already said that the sales bump for 3DS had been "significant," and indeed Nintendo said that 185,000 units were sold in the period following the $80 price cut.

Nintendo said that the 3DS sales spike represented an increase of more than 260 percent during the comparable 19-day time period in July.

"Consumers are responding very positively to the new suggested retail price of $169.99 for the Nintendo 3DS," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "With Star Fox 64 3D and the new Flame Red color launching tomorrow, and Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 arriving later this year, Nintendo 3DS will offer consumers cutting-edge entertainment and tremendous value this holiday season."

In addition to the 3DS sales numbers, Nintendo revealed that 190,000 Wiis were sold in August along with 165,000 DS units.

Nintendo is currently planning a second analog stick add-on for 3DS, but full details have yet to be announced. We have to wonder what the 235,000 gamers who bought the handheld in August think about this.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

EA has officially confirmed what has been rumored for weeks now; Crytek’s original Crysis will be offered as a downloadable title through Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.  The game is being remastered and reworked to enhance visuals and ensure streamlined gameplay. 

Gamers familiar with the ‘Crysis Test’ might be interested in just how the game will look on a ‘lowly’ console, but Crytek has made a stern effort in making the game a visual delight with enhanced visuals, lighting effects and other goodies. 

Gamers can look forward to the release of the game in October on both XBLA and PSN.  Crysis will run at $19.99 (or 1600 MS points.)

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Blizzard, sitting high atop their mountain fortress of solitude, has had their projected schedule unveiled by the umbrella that is Activision Blizzard.  The company, secretive in nature on release and development scheduling, has been ousted for a ‘Three Year Plan,’ one that will see six “proven properties” released. 

Confirmed by Activision COO Thomas Tippl, Blizzard is apparently set to release two WoW expansions as well as two StarCraft II games.  Also included in the list is Diablo III with a planned expansion. 

Not mentioned by Tippl, but assumed to be correct, is the planned released of Titan.  Titan is Blizzard’s next major MMO title, which is supposed to replace WoW as the flagship MMO.  A leaked release schedule states that the game is due out in 2013. 

Blizzard meanwhile has refused to comment on Tippl’s comments.  "We haven't made any announcements in regard to plans beyond our current slate," said Blizzard to GameSpot. "Currently, we are focused on the next content update for Cataclysm, the upcoming release of Diablo III, and continued development on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm."

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Reports are streaming in from the corners of the gaming world concerning Zynga’s next step in Facebook gaming domination.  The new title, reputed to be ‘Kingdoms & Quests,’ will be a fantasy-based RPG with a strong preference to combat gameplay. 

Indicators for the title remains rather strong, as a web address within Facebook shows that the link for the title is active, though currently restricted. 

By all accounts, the game should resemble the classic RTS and RPG gameplay that has been paramount in popular PC titles.  With reported kingdom building and unit development and management systems, the game could surely be a sign that Zynga is looking to attract more of the core audience. 

Perhaps those recent hirings could have something to do with the new direction of titles?

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 8, 2011 by James Brightman

August, with the exception of EA Sports' annual Madden franchise, is a typically slow month, but this year EA had to push back Madden due to the threat of the NFL lockout. As a result, August retail sales plummeted 23% to $669.9 million for the U.S. games industry as software dropped 34% to $264.8 million. Hardware didn't fare much better, falling 12% to $249.4 million. Accessories were down just 1% to $134.7 million.

The one bright light for U.S. game sales was Square Enix's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which saw great reviews and solid sales despite some controversy over an NPC that some in the industry felt was 'racist.' Deus Ex easily grabbed the top spot on NPD's August chart, but it's worth noting that most of the top 10 were casual fare from the likes of Disney and Ubisoft. Perhaps casual gamers and parents looking to satisfy their kids during the summer gravitated toward these titles. EA's NCAA Football also did quite well again, as NPD's Anita Frazier noted: "NCAA Football ’12 did better in its second month at retail than did NCAA Football ’11 in August 2010, which could be an indication of Madden fans looking to get their football fix elsewhere due to the delay in the release of that title.”

On the hardware front, Frazier noted the PS3 sales uptick but also pointed out that portable saw a bump thanks to the 3DS price cut too. “All platforms (if you combine DS and 3DS) saw unit sales increases over July.  The 3DS price cut drove portable hardware sales into positive territory, to a year-over-year increase in both unit and dollar sales," she said.

Despite the dissapointing 2011 the U.S. industry has seen so far, NPD made sure to remind everyone that calendar Q4 could be huge.

“Even though year to date performance of the new physical portion of the industry is down 5%, more than half of industry sales in this channel are still to be realized in the back four months of the year," said Frazier. "Given the strong release schedule in the coming months, new physical retail sales could still be flat to slightly up once full year sales are tallied.”

She added, “Games fans have a huge variety to choose from in September, especially for fans of games in the sports genre. Those interested in more 'core' gaming experiences have both Resistance 3 and Gears of War 3, among others, to look forward to.  Yes, some of these are already out in the market but we’ll get our first picture of their combined sales performance in the new physical retail channel when we release those figures on October 13.” 

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

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Posted September 8, 2011 by James Brightman

Xbox 360 sold 308,000 units during NPD's August reporting period, making it the best selling console in the U.S. yet again. This is a feat that Microsoft has now pulled off for 14 of the last 15 months, and it managed to do so even with PS3 seeing a sales spike from its $50 price cut.

Microsoft said in a statement: "Sustained consumer demand for Xbox 360 and Kinect have helped the console maintain its number one spot in 2011, proving that consumers continue to recognize the excellent value and amazing games and entertainment experiences delivered by Xbox 360. With an exciting holiday sales season coming up, marked by blockbuster game titles and great new hardware offerings, we continue to expect this to be the biggest year in Xbox history, and the distinction of being this year’s best-selling console worldwide."

Overall, Xbox 360 had 43% share of the console market in the U.S., which Microsoft pointed out "marks the sixth month Xbox 360 has had more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share." Additionally,  total retail spend on the Xbox 360 in August (hardware, software and accessories) reached $232 million, which is the most for any console in the U.S.

Can Xbox 360 do it again in September? PS3's coming on strong, but Xbox 360 should also see a nice lift from the huge hype surrounding the blockbuster Gears of War 3 launch.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Square Enix has announced that Deus Ex: Human Revolution has shipped two million units in North America and Europe since its release in late August.  The rebirth of the Deus Ex franchise was developed by Eidos Montreal and has a current Metacritic score of 89 on all platforms.

Square Enix plans to augment the game this October with the ‘Missing Link’ downloadable content pack.  The publisher will also be launching the title in Japan this October. 

Deus Ex: Human Revolution also topped the NPD chart for August, despite having only 5 days worth of sales.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by Chris Buffa

A legend is born…

During a 1984 meeting with Electronic Arts over the creation of John Madden Football, former NFL head coach and commentator, John Madden, famously changed gaming history when he insisted the company display eleven men per team to retain the sport’s realism. Either EA agreed to Madden’s terms, or he wouldn’t lend his name and likeness to the product. 

Thankfully, EA shared his passion for the game.

“In the beginning, we had severe technical constraints, which is why I asked, among my hundreds of other questions to John, what he thought about initially going with ‘skeleton’, which is basically the same football game without all the down linemen,” said Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts. “On the one hand, I was relieved when he said he wanted the real thing, because I did too. However, that set our schedule back, and the first version of the game did not come out until four years later.”

Despite the delay, John Madden Football proved to be worth the wait and eventually spawned the million selling Madden NFL franchise, cementing Hawkins’ legacy as a sports video game pioneer, yet this is but one proud moment in football gaming, a collection of digital achievements that propelled one of the U.S.’s biggest sports into the virtual arena.

On that note, join us as we reflect on more than three decades of pigskin throwing fun.

Atari Football (Arcade, 1978)

Long before EA Sports created its Madden empire, Atari ruled the virtual gridiron with its tabletop football game. Originally designed for two players (Atari would later release a four-player edition in 1979), this successful arcade game displayed players as Xs and Os and featured black and white graphics.

While not the first game to use a trackball (that honor belongs to a Taito soccer game), Atari Football deserves credit for popularizing it, though the method of play- rapidly spinning the trackball as quickly as possible- resulted in sore hands and possibly blisters if used for too long.

On a side note, Atari Football was the first video game to feature 2D scrolling, without question one of the industry’s biggest achievements that helped pave the way for all sorts of titles, from the original Super Mario Bros. to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

Realsports Football (Atari 2600, 1982)

Today’s NFL stars would probably love the rules (or lack thereof) in Atari’s console game. Unable to cram tons of data into its newest offering, the company eliminated penalties, fumbles and the ability to go out of bounds. In addition, games last just 15 minutes, there are no running backs (though the quarterback can scramble) or kick returns to speak of, and all touchdowns result in seven points.

Want to intercept the pass? Sure, but you can’t run with the ball. Instead, the virtual ref whistles the play dead, and you take over on offense at the spot of the pick.

Finally, Realsports Football can only display five players per team. It wasn't exactly the most accurate sports game on the market, but it still delivered plenty of enjoyment, proving to the world that sports games could work on a console.

Tecmo Bowl (Arcade, 1987)

Many old school video game fans have fond memories of Tecmo Bowl. The highly enjoyable arcade sports game was famous for its dual-screen cabinet and four-player support.

That said, the game made a much bigger impact in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Tecmo managed to deliver the quality arcade experience in the home, but with key additions (the most important being the NFL license), though players didn’t necessarily behave like their real life counterparts. Interceptions were common, as were long runs to the end zone.

That aside, the simple to grasp controls and limited playbook made it a favorite among hardcore and casual gamers.

John Madden Football (Apple II, 1988)

The Madden legacy began well before the head coach was involved, back when Trip Hawkins created a paper and dice based football game as a teenager using Strat-O-Matic’s (see link) now ancient designs.

Said Hawkins, “I have to give credit to my predecessor, Hal Richman of Strat-O-Matic,

whose card and dice sports simulations I play to this day.  I played Strat as a kid and what I was trying to do with EA Sports was combine the authentic strategy and stats of Strat-O-Matic, including the annual player and team updates, with the visuals and action play of a TV broadcast.”

After founding Electronic Arts in 1982, Hawkins experimented with creating football video games for microcomputers. Then, in 1984, he turned his attention to John Madden, the Super Bowl winning head coach of the Oakland Raiders and colorful sports commentator; Hawkins and game producer Joe Ybarra traveled two days by train for the meeting, due to Madden’s fear of flying.

Upon meeting with Madden, it was clear Hawkins had found his man.

“I really like John,” said Hawkins, “because he is smart and funny and really knows football and management, two of my favorite topics.  I played football in high school and part of college, and John is an archetypal coach: no-nonsense, blunt, crude and profane. I enjoy that kind of football personality, and he genuinely has a larger-than-life aura.  He's a lot of fun to hang around, even with all the f-bombs.”

After hearing the pitch, Madden agreed to add his name and likeness to the product, so long as the developers displayed eleven players per team.

This halted the game’s development, simply because computers lacked the processing muscle to push that much data. As a result, the game took three years to finish, and was known within EA as “Trip’s folly”.

“They even sent the auditors over to me to say that since the game would never succeed, they were going to have to write off the advance payment to Madden as a total loss,” said Hawkins. “Everyone else gave up on the game, but I never did.”

Bethesda Softworks (the same company behind the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises) was hired to complete the game, but the relationship soured after Bethesda sued EA for failing to publish its own Gridiron football title.

Undaunted, EA eventually released John Madden Football in 1988 for the Apple II. It lacked the NFL license and Season mode, but the game was by far the most accurate football title ever conceived, thanks in part because of Madden’s involvement and Hawkins’ football IQ.

“From the beginning,” said Hawkins, “the game had well over 100 plays in it, but John never actually designed or drew a single one of them.  Instead, he gave me a 1980 Oakland Raiders playbook, one of my treasured possessions, and explained to me how to use it to construct plays.  Even the Raiders playbook did not have a single ‘complete’ play in it. It was truly a construction set.  You had to choose a formation, blocking scheme, form of movement and action, and pass patterns as needed, and then you had your play - such as, Full Left Fake 32 Dive Y Post.  He taught me key principles such as throwing play action to the receiver most likely to be abandoned by a man-to-man defender that bought the run fake, and to do the play action out of the same formation and motion of a successful running play that you had already established.”

Madden’s decision to give EA access to the playbook was smart. For whatever reason, though, he declined the offer to buy unlimited shares of EA stock at the time, which he called "the dumbest thing I ever did in my life."

Electronic Arts pulls a quarterback sneak (1988)

Classic gamers know of Electronic Arts’ success in the '90s, particularly on the Sega Genesis. Well, the Madden series may have never come to Sega’s machine had EA not reverse engineered the console.

At the time, Sega charged $8 to $10 for every cartridge produced for the system. Unwilling to pay this exorbitant amount of money on its games, EA essentially built its own Genesis dev kit, with Hawkins leading the charge.

“I made the decision in 1988 when I first learned that Tengen had decided to challenge Nintendo, and Sega's 16-bit MegaDrive would be released in Japan later in 1988,” said Hawkins.  “Without any question, that was the most important decision and accomplishment in the history of the company.  To prove my point, the company raised capital in 1983 at a $30M value, and in 1990 it was only worth $60M as a public company.  But we began shipping Sega games later that year without having to pay anything to Sega, and with our profits rising rapidly, the company was worth $2 billion by 1992.”

This classic move gave EA free reign to bring its games to the platform, which Sega allowed, out of fear the publisher would share its newfound knowledge with other third parties. Thus, the Madden series arrived on Genesis and enjoyed several years of dominance.

Joe Montana Football (Genesis, 1991)

When Sega launched its 16-bit console, the Genesis, in the U.S., Sega of America president Michael Katz hoped to create a library of video games using celebrities.

Joe Montana, then quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, signed a $1.7 million contract to appear in the aptly titled Joe Montana Football. Despite featuring the Super Bowl winning QB, Sega was unable to secure the NFL license. As a result, the game lacked real teams (they were named after cities) and players, aside from its cover star.

The real issue, though, began with Mediagenic, the company hired to develop the game. After agreeing to have the title ready for a November 1989 release, and giving Sega status reports over a five-month period, development had barely begun, forcing the publisher to call an audible.

Interestingly enough, Sega turned to Electronic Arts. Trip Hawkins agreed to supply the Madden engine, while Park Place Productions (coincidentally the developer behind John Madden Football) finished the game. It finally hit shelves in January 1991, after the debut of EA’s John Madden Football, of course.

Sega would later rebound with Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football, the first football video game to feature an ongoing play-by-play announcer’s voice.

John Madden Football ’93 (Genesis, Super Nintendo- 1993)

By now, EA had released two John Madden Football games on consoles. The '93 edition, though, is widely regarded as setting the bar for the series.

Like its prequels, this title didn’t have the NFL license. It did, however, include the no huddle offense, split play calling, the overturning of calls by the referees, the pre-game coin toss and player taunting - just a handful of rules and features that helped make Madden the number one football series.

Madden NFL ’94 (Super Nintendo- 1993, Genesis- 1994)

With this revolutionary sports game, football fans experienced multiple “firsts” that would help define the franchise.

Most importantly, it was the first Madden game to feature the NFL license, as well as the “EA Sports…It’s in the game” audio clip that cemented the brand.

In addition, it came with a full regular season mode, introduced the Flip and Bluff plays, the Play-call and Pass-catch modes, and flipped the screen during punts, kickoffs and fumbles/interceptions, instead of simply changing the point of view.

Madden skips a beat (PlayStation, 1996)These days, it’s hard to imagine a year without Madden NFL, but it happened in 1996, back when Electronic Arts was transitioning to Sony’s 32-bit console, the PlayStation. Although Madden NFL 96 debuted across multiple platforms, the PlayStation edition was scrapped because it failed to meet company standards.

One of the biggest rumors involves Sony’s now defunct football series, NFL GameDay. Apparently, EA panicked after seeing footage, prompting Madden NFL 96’s cancellation.

NFL Blitz (Arcade, 1997)

Undaunted by EA’s brand recognition, Midway sought a piece of the football pie and managed to steal a slice with NFL Blitz, an over the top arcade title inspired by the company’s immensely popular NBA Jam series.

Although the original featured the NFL license, the developers took liberties with the rules. Gamers had to go 30 yards for a first down, as opposed to ten, and were able to make spectacular (borderline impossible) plays on the fly, bombing the football in excess of 60 yards to receivers at will, which gave way to high scoring games. By comparison, the slower moving Madden was the grandpa of virtual sports.

Blitz’s biggest claim to fame, though, was its brutality. Players were able to leg and elbow drop downed opponents, while tackles were especially nasty. The NFL would later force Midway to tone down the violence in future sequels.

Although it enjoyed a healthy run in arcades and on consoles, the NFL Blitz brand was ultimately affected by EA’s exclusive deal with the NFL (we’ll get to that later), forcing Midway to re-brand its franchise as Blitz: The League.

The sequel, Blitz: The League II, features an Xbox 360 achievement/PlayStation 3 trophy titled “Pitbull Payback”, which tasks players with knocking out player Mike Mexico (a reference to real NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s former alias, Ron Mexico) during a prison football game, a jab associated with Vick’s incarceration for dog fighting.

NFL 2K Franchise (Dreamcast: 1999-2001, Multi-Platform: 2001-2004)

When Electronic Arts turned down the opportunity to bring its Madden franchise to the Dreamcast console, Sega took the proverbial ball and ran with it, partnering with Visual Concepts to create NFL 2K, a 1999 Dreamcast launch title praised for its incredible graphics, enjoyable play and smart commentary.

The follow-up, NFL 2K1, was not only superior to its predecessor technically, but also came with online play via the Dreamcast’s built-in modem. It is in fact the first online enabled console football game.

Throughout the course of its history, critics praised the NFL 2K series for innovation. Sega’s biggest play, though, was the controversial decision to partner with Take-Two Interactive and release ESPN NFL 2K5 for $19.99, as opposed to the more common $49.99 MSRP, which EA upheld with Madden NFL.

The gamble paid off, as the game managed to attract a large audience, thereby disrupting EA’s near stranglehold on the market.

EA strikes back (2004)

Sega’s success, however, was short-lived when EA signed an exclusive deal with the NFL in December 2004, prohibiting rivals from using the license. That, combined with a similar arrangement with ESPN, essentially killed Sega’s momentum and the NFL 2K franchise.

In 2008, EA managed to extend its NFL deal through the 2012 season.

Madden NFL 12 (Multiple Platforms- 2011)

EA’s newest Madden may not be as revolutionary as the games that have come before it, but the title does bring fans one-step closer to the full NFL experience.

This year’s effort adds new rule changes (kickoffs begin at the 35-yard line) as well as various tweaks, including individual quarterback throwing motions, player hot and cold streaks, player traits that change dynamically throughout the season, 100 new tackle animations and the ability to trade for future draft picks in Franchise mode.

The Xbox 360 version currently has a 79 percent review score on Metacritic.

Looking to punt…

With mounting pressure to innovate from both longtime fans and critics, it remains to be seen whether Electronic Arts will create a new playbook to breathe life into what appears to be a stale Madden franchise. [Sales remain high, however – Ed.]

Then again, despite the new age visuals, camera angles and feature packed online modes, football games, particularly the Madden series, still have one foot in the past.

“Many of the original plays that I designed back in the late 1980s,” Hawkins said, “remained in the new versions of [Madden] for several years, and indeed some of them are probably still there.  Football is football.”

With that in mind, we’ll see you on the field.

Chris Buffa is the Editor-in-Chief of Modojo. You'll find him on his iPhone playing Tiny Wings, trying in vain to beat his sister's high score.

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Posted September 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

While rival Electronic Arts has been acquiring companies to establish itself in the new mobile and social marketplaces, Activision has been focusing on its console business only. People have been wondering if Activision even intended to compete in the space, given that the Call of Duty franchise and Blizzard’s properties are doing so well for the company. While at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference in New York, Activision CFO Thomas Tippl revealed that the company has thought about mobile and social, but won’t be jumping into those spaces until it can dominate.

"We're methodically investing in social and mobile gaming projects," he said. "... While our goal is always to be number one in anything we do, even if we only get to half of our fair share in mobile and social over the next three years, it will still represent a significant upside, given that the mobile and social gaming markets have finally reached critical mass. And I expect it to grow at a double-digit clip for the foreseeable future."

"We are certainly expanding the reach of our franchises through the platforms that are emerging," Tippl continued.

Like EA is currently doing, Activision intends to leverage its current portfolio of IPs for mobile and social titles, but Tippl also noted that new projects could be created for those platforms.

“To date, we've mostly [explored social and mobile] around our existing franchises. In the future you will see more activity on our part to broaden our social and mobile parts of the portfolio," said Tippl. "But it's going to be done in a thoughtful, methodical way and in a way that will tend to create value for our shareholders, as opposed to venture capitalists and private equity firms [that are contributing to] what I would call a bubble valuation."

Can Activision mirror its current success in these emerging markets?

Posted September 8, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Showrunners Unicomm and the Bob Dowling Group have announced that Respawn Entertainment’s Vince Zampella, the former co-founder and studio head of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, will be the keynote speaker at the second annual 3D Gaming Summit.  The event will be taking place on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Hollywood, CA.

“Vince has unparalleled hands-on experience in creating one of the great video game franchises of all-time,” said conference co-chairman Bob Dowling, "and as a Keynote Speaker confirms the 3D Gaming Summit as the thought-leader in the gaming entertainment landscape.”

"Respawn Entertainment is one of the most talked about new game studios in the world," said John Gaudiosi, Senior Content Advisor to the 3D Gaming Summit.  "Vince Zampella and Jason West helped evolve the video game space with their Call of Duty games while at Infinity Ward, pushing the envelope of interactive entertainment. I'm sure they'll continue to bring exciting new game experiences through their new Electronic Arts partnership moving forward."

Mick Hocking, Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, will also be a featured speaker at the event, with a talk entitled "The First Year of 3D on PlayStation 3."

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Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Though many gamers saw the Online Pass as yet another money making ‘scheme,’ the success of the system has been evident.  EA CFO Eric Brown made note of earnings for the Online Pass at the Citi Tech Conference today, stating that over $15-$20 million has been brought in since launch.

"The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic," Brown said. "I'd say they're in the $15-$20 million range since we initiated the program."

As each pass costs $10, and is featured on multiple EA titles, the success is surely indicative of consumer willingness to pay for online content.  

 

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

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Posted September 8, 2011 by James Brightman

Rockstar and Take-Two today finally confirmed Max Payne 3 for release in March 2012 (which means it's still a part of the current fiscal year). This is good news for Take-Two's stock, but it's also encouraging for fans anticipating GTA V next year after April. Analysts believe Max Payne 3 should do well, and according to Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia, it's going to have to since it may require sales of about 4 million units to break even.

"Life-to-date, the Max Payne franchise has sold through 7M units between the two prior versions -- Max Payne and Max Payne 2. We think the latest iteration, Max Payne 3, has greater potential for success than either of the two prior versions," noted Bhatia.

He then added, "Although the break-even unit level for Max Payne 3 is likely high -- probably in the 4M units range -- due to its long development time, we think the title is highly anticipated and has potential for upside surprise."

Bhatia generated a table (see below) which outlines his hypothetical profitability model for Max Payne 3 at higher unit levels.

 

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

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Posted September 8, 2011 by David Radd

“Some people will be left behind, it's evolution.” - David Sarif, Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Cloud gaming firm OnLive had quite a bit of a recent coup when they announced that retail copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution would come with an OnLive code of the same game. It's a great example of the platform's prominence and a nice reward to those consumers that would purchase a PC version of the game at retail. There was a dark cloud [no pun intended] to this silver lining however: GameStop.

"I see a world where old borders between portables and consoles no longer matter. It's not that games will be available on a singular monolithic device – it's that they'll be available everywhere."

The largest game retailer in the U.S. objected to the idea of promoting an up-and-coming competitor, so they had the codes removed from the copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution that they sold. Square Enix politely respected GameStop's decision to remove the codes. Ultimately, GameStop sent back all copies of the game and sent out a written apology and giftcard to those affected as a mea culpa.

This whole situation reminded me why I avoid GameStop like the bubonic plague. It was also another episode that serves to make PC retail sales an even more marginal part of the video gaming industry than it already is. What was perhaps most interesting about the back and forth was how it reflected the past fighting against the future of gaming.

This isn't the first such rumbling of conflict against digital by a retail or publishing source. Steam is the most prominent example – before the launch of Half-Life 2, Sierra Online sued Valve over their use of the digital download store. On the other side of the coin, in 2007 Valve deactivated accounts with CD keys that were purchased outside of the consumer's territory in order to maintain the integrity of region-specific licensing; they didn't want users purchasing The Orange Box through cheaper, market retailers. Given the rise of Steam's success, there's an unsteady peace with retail partners, who carry games with Steam despite the fact that they resent it as competition, and publishers who often dislike power wielded by Steam but use it as a means of DRM anyway because customers prefer it. 

Getting back to the issue at hand: I'm not saying OnLive specifically is the future... what I'm saying is that what OnLive offers is more what the future will look like than GameStop retail. The funny thing is that I think GameStop knows this; the people running the largest U.S. game retail chain may be many things, but stupid is not one of them. They've invested in digital retailer Impulse and cloud gaming company Spawn Labs, along with online indie game aggregator Kongregate. They want to be in on the digital revolution for games, even if it's only a small fraction of their business right now.

See, I had an epiphany when I recently spent some time trimming my video game library. It contains hundreds of titles in over more than a dozen formats – it's one of my most treasured possessions. But looking over it, I realized what an anachronism it is. It's like having a large collection of books during the day and age when they all could fit on an iPad... except in this case, there's no charming old-school, analog appeal to something that can be picked up and used by anyone who can read.

A long time issue video games have always had with being art was how “of the now” it is as a consumer medium; the attention spans of gamers tend to be very short and for the vast majority of titles, there is only the tiniest window to be relevant before they're pushed off to the side to make room for the next greatest thing. The disposable nature of games is a subject for another op-ed, but the main issue relevant to this piece is how restricting games to such-and-such format is not beneficial in the long run.

I'm willing to bet for the vast majority of core gamers, they probably only have three or fewer consoles hooked up to a television in their house. Even if they do have legacy games and consoles more than a decade old, they're probably in a closet, an attic or off in storage somewhere. Part of this comes from the issues of having old electronics – hooking it up, getting it to work isn't an insurmountable task, but the barrier is probably enough to dissuade most much of the time. Most people also have to deal with limited space, and for some, it just isn't reasonable to devote an entire room or closet to games (especially if a significant other/family gets involved). So instead, they play the new games that are for the newest systems they have that work properly with modern televisions, and I can't say I blame them.

To get back to the point of the article, it just doesn't strike me as feasible to have these proprietary, physical products for gaming that much longer. Even though I dearly love all my cartridges and discs, tying games to such methods is long term obsolescence. While I'll most certainly buy physical game products as long as they are offered, I know that distribution problems and retail woes make such things less than optimal for the people who actually make games. But it's not just the supply side that will benefit – there's also an upside for the consumer.

While almost a fantasy not even a decade ago, digital means of distribution are now completely feasible. For many consumers, it comes down to a convenience issue, but currently many downloads don't offer the pure value of a physical product (can't be shared with others or resold). However, convergence and cross-platform play might finally make all digital games a better deal.

Some have referred to a “one console future” and they might think that's what I mean. It's a similar idea, but the difference is that I see a world where old borders between portables and consoles no longer matter. It's not that games will be available on a singular monolithic device – it's that they'll be available everywhere.

Imagine a world where you're able to play a game from any location that had a reliable Internet connection. It might be some years off at this point, but we're already starting to see the first signs of the turn coming. Portal 2 on PS3 came with a free Steam copy (and there was cross-platform play between the two), Pocket Legends is an MMORPG that can be played between Android and iOS with PC support coming very soon, and Dungeon Defenders is a game launching soon that will offer cross-platform play between mobile, PS3 and PC versions. And I would be amiss to not say there is also the ability to log-in and play any Steam game from any PC or Mac that can run the game.

Lest my above tangent seem unrelated, ultimately this sort of convergence will be good for the history of the industry as well – instead of lugging out some old machine and trying to get it to work, players can just log into an account and play their games from anywhere and without multiple purchases. You can download music, books and movies – movies that are useable across multiple devices – so why not games? It's a real value that I think once players get used to they'll have difficultly going back to the idea of the way things are. The switchover is already starting to happen in the portable gaming industry, where it's becoming less feasible to have people lug around a physical copy of a game and switch out whenever they want to try something new.

Ultimately, GameStop should continue to work on their digital and cloud gaming efforts if they want to remain relevant, because retail won't have the leverage forever in the video gaming industry. If they keep up actions like what they did with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, gamers won't think anything of value is lost when their fortunes and profits tumble if they aren't able to adapt to a new, more digital age.

 

David Radd has worked as a gaming journalist since 2004 at sites such as GamerFeed, Gigex and GameDaily Biz.

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Electronic Arts has announced that Jay Hoag has joined the publisher’s board of directors, effective September 6, 2011. With his addition, EA’s board now numbers eleven members, with Hoag also being appointed to EA's Executive Compensation and Leadership Committee. Hoag is a founding general partner at Technology Crossover Ventures and he currently serves on the board of directors for eHarmony, TechTarget, Zillow and Netflix.

Fans of the gritty cop-drama that sparked ‘bullet time’ for the gaming world have less than a year to wait, it has been announced. Rockstar has announced that Max Payne 3 is set for release in March 2012 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Max Payne 3, originally intended for a late 2009 release, is a major departure in the series. With developer Remedy Entertainment and series creator Sam Lake out of the picture, many have been wary about how the title plans to continue. Rockstar has already confirmed that the title would be a major departure away from the previous titles, even going so far as to include multiplayer.

Rockstar remains confident that they will be more than able to ably bring a title that meshes well with the franchise. "Max Payne 3 gave us an amazing creative opportunity to evolve one of our most iconic characters,” said Rockstar boss Sam Houser. “We're excited to show fans a modern version of Max that pulls them back into his dark and twisted story."

Max Payne 3 is slated for release in the U.S. and Europe in March, and an announcement for a mobile version of Max Payne has also been mentioned, but no pertinent information on specific devices was given at this time.

German publisher/developer InnoGames has announced that it will be expanding into the North American market soon. The publisher launched in 2007 and currently boasts six online titles and a community of over 65 million players. The company has seen success with online games like Tribal Wars, The West, and Grepolis, and Facebook titles like WestWars. In 2010, InnoGames not only established a Korean subsidiary, InnoGames Korea, but it also acquired the license to publish the Asian title Bounty Hounds Online.

"We managed to continue our dynamic growth in 2010 and reached some milestones for InnoGames as a company. A primary reason for our success was the quick and worldwide roll-out of Grepolis," InnoGames managing director and founder Michael Zillmer said.

The company also recently hired former EA executive vice president, Dr. Gerhard Florin, as chairman of the advisory board.

"We are confident that Gerhard's expertise and contacts will help us continue to grow," Zillmer continued.

"InnoGames has grown rapidly. It has a strong market position, especially due to its unique browser based games that appeal to both casual and core gamers. InnoGames has a very promising future as a global player, attracting customers all over the world. I am looking forward to being part of that future,” said Dr. Florin.

The company currently has over 150 employees from 11 countries, and it looks to expand that number to 200 by the end of this year.

Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Ubisoft has hit yet another major milestone with the breakout hit that is Smurfs & Co. The social game, developed by Ubisoft Chengdu, is already well over the 10 million monthly active users mark on Facebook.

Ubisoft confirmed the numbers in a press release today, also pointing out that the game remains the number 1 ranked licensed-based social title. Smurfs & Co was released on July 29 this year.

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 8, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Exent and Vestel have announced a partnership to bring top Android mobile titles to televisions everywhere with a new game subscription service. Exent will be the Games-On-Demand provider for Vestel’s set-top boxes, with the new GameTanium subscription service providing consumers with fully optimized Android games.

"Consumers today want more entertainment options at home and we've found that gaming alongside video and music services are among the most popular requests," said Hakan Kutlu, Deputy General Manager responsible for marketing, Vestel. "With the flexibility of the GameTanium platform and Exent's years of experience with content programming and distribution, Exent was the clear choice to power our Games on Demand offering for operators. By integrating GameTanium within our entertainment offerings, we are thrilled to be the first to bring the best of Android gaming to TVs worldwide."

"Exent's vision is to provide consumers with the greatest gaming experience, anywhere they wish to be entertained. Expanding our Built with GameTanium offering from PCs, smartphones and tablets to the next generation of TV set-top boxes is an important milestone in fulfilling our play anywhere vision," said Zvi Levgoren, CEO, Exent. "Vestel is a great partner and we look forward to working with them to bring the greatest Android mobile hits to the living room while assuring the best user entertainment experience."

Both providers will be showing off their new service in the Vestel booth at the 2011 IBC Conference being held from September 9 – 13, 2011 in Amsterdam.

Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Atari founder and gaming guru Nolan Bushnell believes that educational video games are a potential form of synergy that could revolutionize the educational system in the United States. Bushnell remains confident enough to proclaim that if implemented correctly, the average high school curriculum would only take one year to complete, rather than four years.

"I've been working on an education project for about ten years now, and it turns out that educating children and computers go together," he said. "We've been in hundreds of classrooms with 40,000 kids. We are currently teaching subjects ten times faster."

"We believe that when we roll this up to full curriculum we'll be able to teach a full career of high school in less than a year. And we think we'll be able to do that by the end of the next year."

Bushnell has an inherent problem with the educational system in the U.S. Simply put, “It’s a disaster.”

"It's creating an underclass that will erode the foundation of our society,” says Bushnell. "If you go into a class of fifth graders - let's say there's 30 of them - and they all have computers, I guarantee you that ten to 15 percent of these computers do not work. They're virus-infected nightmares.”

Bushnell has a solution in the form of Speed to Learn, an educational system that promotes rapid growth with digital technology.

"In cloud gaming you disconnect the system's administration from the computer to the cloud…it's going to be an important step for allowing technology into the classroom."

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 8, 2011 by James Brightman

Wii U was obviously in its very early stages when Nintendo unveiled the new console at E3 this year (it's why they used game footage from 360/PS3), but the extent to which Nintendo has been struggling to get the hardware architecture just right may be even greater than we thought, according to a source at French website 01.net.

Although the report should certainly be taken with a grain of salt, 01.net has proven itself to have a solid track record, including most recently reporting the Nintendo 3DS second analog add-on before Nintendo confirmed it. The report maintains that Nintendo "rushed" the Wii U architecture "through the door with undesirable consequences."

This has led to problems with the tablet controllers, "which still don't work properly." Apparently, the controller's streaming and wireless functionality are "inadequate" and developers have resorted to working with the tablet controller tethered instead.

The report also said that Nintendo may be suffering from its desire to keep costs down (as it always has for hardware) and that the main chipset in Wii U may be "a tad too cheap."

If all of this is true, it's a bad sign for Nintendo, as “Many developers are feeling lost, their progress impeded by a distinct lack of visibility, their working hours by the quasi-paced daily software updates. In those conditions, many feel unable to properly exploit the system's most innovative and promising features."

The report also claims that developers have been "quietly expecting" a launch date of June 2012 for Wii U, but Nintendo may have to push the console back to September or into the holiday period to iron out the problems described above.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

Posted September 7, 2011 by James Brightman

Digital has been growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to social gaming on PC and games for smartphones and tablets. This isn't about to slow down and in fact will be one of the largest drivers of growth for the games industry worldwide, which DFC Intelligence forecasts will hit $81 billion in 2016.

The new report (purchasable here) says that the global games market (as of 2010) stands at $66 billion - this includes revenue from dedicated console hardware and software (both physical and online), dedicated portable hardware and software, PC games and games for mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, music players and other devices that can play games as a secondary feature.

Perhaps the most noteworthy point in the DFC forecast is that online game sales will exceed retail by 2013. Specifically, total worldwide sales of online games are expected to increase from $19.3 billion in 2010 to $37.9 billion by 2016. This includes revenue from PC online games, console online games and mobile online games including mobile phones and tablets.

"On a global basis it looks like retail delivery of physical software peaked in 2008. We expect a slow, steady decline for physical game sales, with a steady increase for online delivery of games and new business models such as subscriptions and virtual item sales," said DFC's David Cole.

While Nintendo's Wii U is expected to launch late next year, and DFC anticipates strong sales, it's not clear when Microsoft or Sony will launch new systems, and "this uncertainty over new game systems remains one of the biggest unknowns for the game industry," DFC noted.

"Systems like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are having their best sales ever five or six years into their lifecycle. Unfortunately this means Microsoft and Sony are in no hurry to launch new systems that would generate substantial consumer excitement and spending," says Cole. "The dedicated console business is still the major driver of industry growth, but we feel overall it has peaked with the current console systems."

As for the growing digital arena, DFC believes that these online options are additive and do not take away from consoles. "Games on Facebook and products like the iPad help expand the audience and the way products are delivered. The console business is firmly established and suffers mainly from the reluctance of hardware manufacturers to commit to expensive new products," added Cole.

"Overall the game industry is becoming more diversified and global as it continues to grow. This makes the industry challenging because it is hard to know where to place one's bets. At the same time, there are many niches of opportunity that didn’t exist in the past."

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

The future of gaming remains uncertain to many in the industry, but THQ CEO Brian Farrell is confident that cloud gaming is the answer. Speaking at the Cloud Gaming USA conference in San Jose, Farrell noted that the choice is rather obvious; cloud gaming is the way to go. So confident is he that he believes console manufacturers will simply drop the need for discs on the next generation of consoles.

"No physical goods cost for game makers,” he opened. “No inventory, no markdowns, and all the money spent by the consumer would go to the developer or publisher."

Essentially, the idea of the disc drive is just too cost prohibitive in a world that has so readily embraced social gaming. Removing discs from the equation “will result in a lower cost for the hardware manufacturer, which will result in a lower cost to consumers and therefore a lower entry point, thus driving more mass market adoption."

Farrell also made an argument for increased customer service. He notes that “Our games are always on and our players are always connected....We have the opportunity to interact with players in new ways that can be reactive to their desires, play habits, and buying habits."

"The box, ship and done model are transitioning to: observe, measure, and modify," he offered. To Farrell, this is "a games as a service model where direct consumer feedback allows the ability to operate in this always on, always connected environment."

The big push is in the social and ‘freemium’ markets, where gamers are embracing free-to-play titles. Publishers are going to have to address that model in a way that continues to be proactive for development of triple-A titles.

"We're starting to see a world where players can pay different amounts based on preferences with casual players paying a small amount, and more hardcore or passionate players investing more into their experience."

Cloud gaming represents an answer, but one that must be implemented responsibly.

"Technology alone will not give a clear benefit to the consumer," Farrell notes. "Cloud computing and data storage could potentially do a lot, but it's what we do with it as game designers and publishers that really matters most."

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Ninja Theory is currently crafting a brand-new tale for Capcom’s Devil May Cry, but creative chief Tameem Antoniades believes that the current AAA business model is killing creativity. Antoniades points to smaller-scale development as the creative way forward in the future. He explained to GI.biz that high game prices prevent customers from experimenting with titles, meaning developers continue to refine the gameplay fans are already used to.

"We're in this kind of AAA bracket, I guess you could call it," said Antoniades. "The high budget, high stakes retail model - the barriers to entry for that are so high, so difficult, that we seem to be getting, being offered, decent work in that area. It's hard to say no when you've got a team of 100 and you have to keep the payroll going. Another big project comes along, you tend to go for it.”

"There's always an opportunity between projects to explore things, a lot of team members are hobbyists, they create their own iPhone games and things like that so I can see us kind of taking a punt with that. It can't come soon enough,” he continued. “The whole digital revolution is happening now and it can't come soon enough. The model we're under, the big retail model, is creaking.”

While one bad title can kill a studio these days, a number of veteran developers are using the opportunity to form smaller studios working on smaller, more innovative titles.

"It's such an opportunity for fun creative games to reach a target audience, there's this stranglehold that the AAA retail model has which I think is just crushing innovation and access to creative content. If you're paying that much for a game, you don't want to take chances. You want everything to be there, all the feature sets. You want it to be a known experience, guaranteed fun. That's not healthy,” he said.

Is the AAA retail model giving way to something larger and more inclusive?

Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Dead Island developer Techland simply cannot catch a break. The highly anticipated title, first revealed by an inspired trailer, has done little to live up to the hype. Coming out of a major breach, noticeably game-breaking glitches and the accidental release of an ‘incorrect’ PC version of the game, Techland has been struck with yet another controversy.

Included within the files of the game, located by a Steam forum user, is an unlockable skill for an in-game character. The skill, daftly named “Feminist Whore,” is reportedly the early name for a skill for the character Purna. Purna, a playable female character in the game, would have been able to deal more damage to male characters within the game. The final name of the skill was simply dubbed “Gender Wars.”

Techland was swift to condemn the problem, noting that the inclusion of the code was more than likely a developer ‘signature.’

"It obviously violates professional and ethical standards at Techland and should never have happened," said international brand manager Blazej Krakowiak to Eurogamer. "We're investigating this right now and we'll issue a statement later."

"For now, I can only express my sincerest apologies for this incident and assure you that whoever acted so irresponsibly did not represent the views and opinions of Techland," he continued. "I'm equally sure that aside from the author of that unfortunate line of code, everyone at the office is as disturbed by this as you are."

Deep Silver, the publisher of the title, has also issued their own statement, saying, “These unfortunate actions were of one individual at developer company Techland and do not in any way represent the views of publishing company Deep Silver."

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by M.H. Williams

One week ago, an anonymous Tumblr blog opened with some harsh accusations about the working practices at Crytek following the development of Crysis 2. Allegations include the unlawful firing of certain employees in order to replace them with cheaper junior staff. In an interview with Develop, Crytek co-founder Avni Yerli spoke out against some of the claims, calling them “absolute bullshit”.

“These are completely misleading accusations. One thing that will always be the same is that Crytek respects and values its employees very highly, and equally – that’s very important. Whether it’s an intern, whether it’s a director, it doesn’t change; everyone is important,” said Yerli.

The Tumblr noted that the following positions resigned due to poor working conditions or were unlawfully fired: Global Talent Manager, Global Head of Resourceful Humans, Lead Games Designer / Senior AI Designer, Lead Community Manager, Community Manager, Lead Researcher, Storyboard and Concept Artist, Concept Artist, Producer, Executive Producer, Chief Finance Officer, Senior Level Designer, Level/Environment Artist, Technical Artist, Level Designer, Web Developer. Yerli repeatedly stated that a number of the vacant positions were due to employees leaving of their own volition to pursue other opportunities.

“The current number of employees in the new Frankfurt office is equal to the peak number of employees we had during the production of Crysis 2. That’s the thing; in the normal way that projects work, people will leave during a long production or during the end of it. People have families, have job offers, are offered interesting projects, or just want to move to a different country,” he explained. “So of course people have left Crytek, but people have joined as well, and most people have left on their own actions.”

“In some cases we ask people to leave, because going forward there are different projects and different people needed. But in this case, we always, always comply to German labor codes. And we are always supportive to those staff in ways that are far beyond what is legally required,” he continued. “Most important thing to say is that nine resigned, one was a contractor, and four were released. Two of those ended in court cases which we won. So never have we lost a case in accordance to labor cause.”

“The senior level designer wasn’t released, he left the company to look for a new challenge. He was here for a couple of years, worked on a few projects and moved on,” he said. “It was strange to read the list of people on that blog, such as the chief finance officer. We don’t have one. We had a guy in finance, and he resigned, and we have just hired a high-profile chief finance officer.”

Yerli believes the blog was meant to harm the developer.

“To be honest, it was just really surprising and disappointing to read something like this blog,” Yerli added. “That’s the thing, this blog is very misleading. I think it was written to purposefully harm us, actually. I think the blog is unfair to the people who are working here at Crytek. It harms the great work they’ve done.”

Posted September 8, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Many gamers might remember a time when modernwarfare3.com simply took a redirect to the Battlefield 3 website. Understandably, Activision was not amused and sought to right this wrong. Today, a panel from the National Arbitration Forum has granted control of the domain to Activision.

The trouble began back in late 2009, when Anthony Abraham registered the domain as an unofficial fan site for the as-of-yet unreleased title. By the time Activision found out about the site, Abraham quickly changed his tone from support to downright anger, feeling threatened by ATVI’s lawyers.

Starting with an onslaught of insults, coupled with video tirades and anti-Call of Duty slogans, the controversy surrounding the domain exploded when gamers found the domain simply redirected to Battlefield 3’s main site. EA was quick to point out that they had nothing to do with the matter.

The escapades have come to an end today, as Activision has unsurprisingly regained control of the domain, citing the required elements from the ICANN policy. Activision was able to prove that the ‘fan site’ was “confusingly similar” to the Call of Duty trademark. It was also able to show that Abraham had “no rights or interests for the domain, and that the website had been created 'in bad faith' on Abraham’s part."

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Activision is getting back into the racing genre of games, but not in the capacity that one would imagine. During the shuttering of Bizarre Creations, Activision made it more than clear that they simply “did not find a commercial audience” for racing games. Today’s announcement of DreamWorks Super Star Kartz now shows that a market has presumably been found, one that is plentiful with licensing opportunities for popular animated characters.

The new game will showcase the various popular brands that have come out of DreamWorks over the life of the animation studio. Notable figures from Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and Madagascar will all be making appearances in this ‘racing’ title.

The new crossover title is set for launch in late 2011, and is aimed at audiences of all ages. Consumers can pick it up on the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, 3DS and DS this holiday season.

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by M.H. Williams

How many studios does it take to keep gamers flush in Call of Duty titles each and every year? According to Activision’s executive vice president for studios Dave Stohl , the publisher has four or five studios working on the property at any one time. Stohl told VentureBeat that more than 500 developers are working on Call of Duty.

“It takes a village in this case,” Stohl said.

Infinity Ward and Treyarch are the primary studios and alternate developing the main title for each successive year. Sledgehammer Games was working on a Call of Duty action/adventure title, but that project was shelved to complete Modern Warfare 3. Demonware has been doing work on the network services side of the franchise, and the brand-new Beachhead Studios was created to work on the new Call of Duty Elite premium service.

It takes hard work to keep afloat the best-selling video game franchise of all-time. Is it worth it, gamers?

Posted September 7, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Are you against selling digital content that provides anything more than a visual change to your online character? Currently companies like Valve, EA, and Ubisoft only sell items like skins or hats for your favorite online titles, because that’s what gamers seemingly want. According to Bigpoint’s chief games officer, Philip Reisberger, those companies are doing it completely wrong. Reisberger argues that the browser-based publisher understands digital content monetization because it’s never had to play in the console marketplace.

"I've never shipped a retail product in my entire life," he told Edge. "We don't know how to do that, so we think differently. That's a big advantage in this new world. Most people in the Bigpoint universe don't ever pay. But if they want to pay, don't just offer hats - offer them something that will help them."

EA is currently offering bonus pre-order weapons for Battlefield 3 that the company insists will not provide an in-game advantage. Reisberger said that EA just doesn’t understand what the market can handle.

"In a nutshell, EA doesn't understand it," he continued. "It wouldn't ruin the game. If selling an advantage ruins the game, you haven't done the balancing right…EA and Ubisoft, for example, they're both trying, but they're not really there yet. It's a delicate balance, though, and that's why I love my game designers. All of them have understood how to do this. If you have a sophisticated approach to free-to-play games, in the end you can monetize everything."

Bigpoint is currently running the free-to-play Battlestar Galactica Online browser game, and the company boasts around 220 million registered users. Would you be willing to allow paying gamers to buy performance advantages in retail titles?

Posted September 7, 2011 by James Brightman

Battlefield 3 had more than 10 times the number of pre-orders of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as of July. Today, EA provided an actual pre-order number during the Citi Tech Conference. CFO Eric Brown said that the challenger to Call of Duty has been pre-ordered 1.25 million times.

"To date we have about 1.25 million pre-orders on Battlefield 3, so it's still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in regards to pre-orders in the same number of weeks until launch. So it's doing very well," Brown said.

Bad Company 2 went on to sell 5 million units and many in the industry are expecting Battlefield 3 to do far better. Part of that will have to do with marketing. EA's been pushing an "aggressive" campaign as far back as April, and the publisher certainly wants to make sure that it takes full advantage of the two weeks it has on the market before Modern Warfare 3 ships.

"We have a pretty extensive campaign planned for Battlefield 3," Brown noted. "We have the advantage of a two-and-a-half week early launch window versus our competitor, and we intend to use that."

Indeed, Brown noted that the marketing campaign for Battlefield 3 is actually larger than the campaign for another very important EA title: Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare's first MMO. Brown is hopeful that EA can still launch SWTOR this calendar year, but it's not impossible that the game could slip into 2012. Brown indicated that a firm release date should be coming later this month or in October. The game's pre-orders are "tracking consistent with our expectations," he said.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

Posted September 7, 2011 by M.H. Williams.

Another company has stepped up to the plate to try its hand at wrangling some money out of Nintendo. ThinkOptic, makers of the Wavit Remote, have filed a lawsuit against Nintendo, alleging patent infringement.

The main patent mentioned in the filing is U.S. Patent Number 7,796,116, describing “Electronic equipment for handheld vision based absolute pointing system.” ThinkOptic has called foul on Nintendo, saying the platform holder knew ahead of time that it would be infringing with the release of the Wii.

“The rejection of [...] applications — assigned to Nintendo Co. Ltd. — based on the ’116 patent is proof that the Nintendo defendants knew or should have known of the objective risk that one or more of their products infringed at least one claim of at least the ’116 Patent,” wrote ThinkOptic.

Two other patents are also mentioned in the filing: 7,852,317 describing a “Handheld Device for Handheld Vision Based Absolute Pointing System”, and 7,864,159 outlining “Handheld Vision Based Absolute Pointing System”. ThinkOptic even alleged that the upcoming Wii U will infringe on its patents.

Other companies listed in the suit include Nyko Technologies, GameStop, RadioShack, and JC Penney, with ThinkOptic requesting a jury trial.

Posted September 7, 2011 by Ben Strauss

Madden NFL 12 has already made a sure success of itself, with 1.4 million units sold based on week-one sales. The figures are an improvement over Madden 11 to the tune of over 10 percent. Even more interesting is that digital gross revenue for the title is already markedly increased over last year by 78 percent.

”With the start of the NFL season only days away, fans are thrilled to get back to football and they’re doing so in record numbers through Madden NFL 12,” says Andrew Wilson, executive vice president of EA Sports. “The growth across console and digital shows that the appetite for the Madden NFL franchise has never been bigger.”

“Madden NFL 12 is off to a great start, and we’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement and demand this first week,” added Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “Fans lined up at Best Buy stores around the country for midnight launch events to be the first to bring Madden NFL 12 home and get a jump on their rivals.”

EA also highlighted that 5.4 million games have been played online, and that the Ultimate Team bonus has already attracted 200,000 purchases. Additionally, Madden 12 in its first week on mobile reached the number one top paid spot on the Android market and ranked in the top 10 grossing on the App Store for iOS platforms.

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by James Brightman

PlayStation 1 launched in 1995 and Peter Dille was there to help Sony's entrance into the gaming industry in North America. Dille left Sony Computer Entertainment America back in March, but now he's finally landed at a new company: mobile advertising network Tapjoy. He'll serve Tapjoy as CMO, and he'll be responsible for enhancing the firm's position "as the leading mobile advertising and app distribution network and to position the Tapjoy brand with the more than 250 million consumers it helps serve."

“It’s an extremely exciting time to be joining the Tapjoy team as it continues to earn its leadership position within the mobile advertising space and prepares to launch some very innovative solutions for mobile users, advertisers and app developers,” said Dille. “The mobile space is poised for continued hyper growth, and I’m looking forward to helping the team build its core business globally as well as begin to leverage the Tapjoy network’s incredible reach with consumers.”

“Peter has proven operating chops in the interactive entertainment industry and we are absolutely thrilled to bring Peter’s depth of experience to the Tapjoy team as we continue our rapid expansion,” said Mihir Shah, President and CEO of Tapjoy. “Peter's success with gamers and networked communities, and his dedication to providing the highest quality user experiences, will serve us tremendously as we continue to grow our service offerings, expand into new markets, and build the Tapjoy brand throughout the world.”

Dille left Sony for a few years during the PS2 era to join THQ as its Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, but he returned to SCEA to lead the marketing for the launch of PS3 as the company's SVP of Marketing. He also spent some time managing the operations of the PlayStation Network.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.

by Ben Strauss

One of the most beloved gaming franchises to ever grace the PC is making a comeback thanks to efforts being made by Atari. The venerated franchise, a mix between quirky god-powered shenanigans and simulator, will be released on the 3DS sometime in the near future.

"RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D marks the return of one of the most popular game franchises and delivers an innovative, robust and unrestricted theme park simulator to the next generation of Tycoon fans," said Atari boss Jim Wilson.

Atari is taking due care of the title, promising a “challenging yet manageable take on the genre for players of all ages.” Gamers can look forward to the classic gameplay mechanics, as well as a new “Coaster Story” mode that will give various scenarios to players.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D is set for release in 2012.

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

This video game news article was written by Ben Strauss

Vostu’s recent venture funding to the tune of $30 million has helped the firm branch out, resulting today in the announcement of their acquisition of MP Game Studios. While Vostu has firm roots in the social atmosphere, MP Games is noted for their licensed titles that use properties from Coca-Cola, Cartoon Network, Microsoft and others.

The new acquisition will have MP Game Studio employees integrating into the Vostu team. The company is relocating to new headquarters in Buenos Aires.

While Vostu is seeing growth for the time being, one cannot help but be alarmed by current legal threats being made by Facebook giant, Zynga. The social gaming empire alleges that Vostu’s titles are rather blatantly stolen, both in design and gameplay, and so far Vostu has had a preliminary injunction placed on it.

Ben Strauss is a student at Xavier University studying Marketing and Philosophy. He has been an active gamer since he got his hands on a Nintendo, and looks to help further gaming as a legitimate creative and entertainment development entity.

Posted September 7, 2011 by James Brightman

Sony Computer Entertainment America's SVP of Publisher Relations Rob Dyer, after slamming Microsoft's publishing policies, also talked with IndustryGamers about how software sells on the PS3 compared to the Xbox 360. The big focus for Sony is index ratio, which gives us an idea of how a game fares relative to the installed base. To start, however, Dyer did admit the "massive lead" Xbox 360 has in hardware - the index ratio is 1.6, meaning there is 1 PS3 sold for every 1.6 Xbox 360 units sold through.

When it comes to software, however, Dyer says PS3 shines. "So if you look at the index ratio and see that where they might have this massive lead on the hardware side, the people that are buying software, when the software growth is happening, it’s happening on the PS3," he said.

Dyer cited several examples where on multiplatform releases, the PS3 SKU performed better than the Xbox 360 SKU when comparing the numbers to the respective installed bases for the two high-definition platforms. Sony considers anything below a 1.6 index ratio on software to be favorable. Perhaps the chief example of this was Warner Bros' Mortal Kombat which way over-indexed for Sony.

"In spite of all the millions that Microsoft has spent on that relationship with Activision, people aren’t voting to buy a 360 version of [Call of Duty] over and above a PS3 version, given the installed base."

"If you have a choice between buying a PS3 version and an Xbox version of Mortal Kombat, which one are you buying? You’re buying the PS3 version because you can play as Kratos. Although Microsoft has a 1.6 to 1 index ratio against us [on hardware], we outsold them on Mortal Kombat nearly at a 1 to 1. So that is due in large part to the exclusive content that you’re getting on disc. You’ll see that happening on almost every case where we’ve had a game that they’ve supported with on disc content or with exclusive DLC."

Here are the examples Sony provided us on software (per NPD data) that performed well due to partnerships or exclusive DLC:

Mortal Kombat: Index ratio of 0.91
-Included Kratos as an exclusive playable character in PS3 version

Medal of Honor: Index ratio of 1.2
-Exclusively included an MOH Frontline HD remake
-Beta invite to Battlefield

Portal 2: Index ratio of 1.6
Sony's comment: "While the 1.6 index ratio is on par with the hardware index ratio, it is below the total index for shooting genre title on both platforms of 1.9. The PS3 version exclusively included a PC version of the game and Steam integration. Also, important to note, that Valve had a heritage on Xbox and this was the first title in this generation that shipped day and date on both platforms."

NBA 2K11: Index ratio of 1.2
-Move and 3D Support
-Partner in PlayStation/Coke promotion through Move launch

LA Noire: Index of 1.22
-PS3 version included an exclusive downloadable pack "The Consuls Car"

Dante’s Inferno: Index ratio of .93
-Exclusive Divine Edition, exclusive demo on PSN

Dyer seemed particularly proud of the Medal of Honor example because of how most people feel about Microsoft "owning" the shooter category with Xbox 360. "So here Microsoft owns the shooter category where...everyone talks about how that’s their genre. Medal of Honor, because we gave away a free copy of Frontline on the disc, wildly over indexed on ours. Microsoft absolutely felt that," Dyer said.

With that in mind, we decided to ask Dyer about the top shooter on the market, Call of Duty. Microsoft has been leading when it comes to Call of Duty, partly because Xbox 360 gets the DLC first. Dyer didn't seem to phased by that, however.

"They’re going to have the same deal. And they’re going to have their map packs," he said referring to this fall's Modern Warfare 3 and the relationship with Microsoft. "They’re going to be a month exclusive... But they’re not running any higher than what the index ratio is - they’re right at 1.6. In spite of all the millions that Microsoft has spent on that relationship with Activision, people aren’t voting to buy a 360 version of that over and above a PS3 version, given the installed base."

He added, "As much as people might associate Call of Duty and the shooting genre with 360, we don’t see that as a cause for alarm right now. What we’re hoping for, given the announcement we made at E3 with Battlefield (full Battlefield 1943 game included on disc), we believe that we are going to have a major player here with EA on our platform - and well over indexed given what we’re doing with them in order to promote that title."

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.