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Kongregate’s Most Played MMO Is Heroes of Gaia
Oct 14th
Snail Games announced today that its Flash-based browser MMO, Heroes of Gaia, has surpassed 10 million plays in less than eleven months. This makes Heroes Kongregate’s most played MMO, averaging more than 1 million plays per month.
“Heroes of Gaia has been a top performer for us from the moment we launched it,” said Jim Greer, CEO of Kongregate.com. “We’re looking forward to offering Snail Games’ upcoming browser MMO,Ministry of War, to the Kongregate community soon.”
Heroes of Gaia recently received an expansion, Rise of the Guilds, with more content updates in the pipeline from Snail Games.
Xbox 360’s Kinect Sells Out at U.K. Retail
Oct 14th
The Kinect might very well see a big launch in the U.K. as retailers around the country are saying that they are sold out of pre-orders for the new motion controller. The November 10 release date is fast approaching, and customers are being offered pre-order queues in lieu of guaranteed day-one delivery.
“We’ve hit our limit for launch, but you can still pre-order for a priority place in the queue,” advertises major U.K. retailer GAME on its website, promising Kinect units to new customers intending to purchase the device “as soon as we have more stock in.”
Amazon is also seeing a major sales spike, and the U.K. branch of the company has had to put customers on a wait list for the device. They have stated that the bundled device with console is still available as well.
“As you may know, this product can sometimes be in great demand, and there can be shortages of this product across the U.K,” a statement on the website reads.
“In an effort to provide as many customers as possible with the opportunity to purchase it, we are limiting the total number of units that can be purchased. As a result, each household may only purchase five units.”
Even Play.com is being forced to start up a wait list for potential customers. The site is only allowing 1 order per customer and it seems as though “supplies of this product are extremely limited and are under allocation by Microsoft.” To put it simply, Play.com “cannot guarantee to ship your order at launch.”
Micorsoft is working on upping production, even though it happens to be high already. They are working to ensure that there are more Kinect units available for consumers, “more than any other launch.” “We will continue to work hard to ensure that Kinect for Xbox 360 is available for the Christmas season,” said the company to MCV.
[Thanks Gamasutra]
Film Victoria Announces Funding For Victorian Game Developers
Oct 14th
Gavin Jennings, Australian Minister for Innovation, and Film Victoria announced today a new program to provide developer and investment funding to local Victorian games developers. The program, Games Investment, will allow developers to create full titles for distribution on consoles, online, and mobile platforms. The funding can also be used for prototype development to show potential publishers.
“The Victorian Government leads the way in support of the digital media sector, providing substantial funding to practitioners over the last decade,” said Jennings. “We are focused on stimulating the development of world-class digital content and enabling some of Victoria’s smaller studios to compete in this lucrative global marketplace.”
The fund was created by the Victorian Government’s Victorian Screen Industry Strategy.
“Our local games community is world renowned for its innovation and capability, and Victoria has long been the home of some of the most successful companies in Australia,” said Sandra Sdraulig, CEO of Film Victoria. “It’s invaluable for Victorian games developers to access funds to develop original IP in a high growth global market, and the Games Investment programme will provide that critical support.”
“With up to $100,000 available per project, this programme will ensure the development of ‘market driven’ projects that can find an audience and are capable of attracting further investment,” she stated enthusiastically. ”Funding from Games Investment will enable our digital media practitioners to take advantage of the ever-growing opportunities present for downloadable and online games, specifically accessing the higher revenues, audience numbers and IP retention associated with these high growth platforms.”
The Games Investment guidelines are available here. Applications are due by October 29, with the first recipients being announced in early 2011.
Airtight Games Working on New Triple-A Titles
Oct 14th
The developers behind Dark Void and Crimson Skies are hard at work on their next project or two, according to a job posting to Gamasutra.
The developer says that they are now “working on new AAA titles for a variety of markets.” The listing mentions that the studio is looking for those with experience with Unreal Engine 3 on platforms such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Airtight was co-founded by original Xbox team member Ed Fries back in 2004. Dark Void, published by Capcom, was mostly panned by critics and it didn’t exactly light up the sales charts. Capcom said it “wasn’t completely dissatisfied” with the sales.
Star Wars: Force Unleashed Director Forms Fearless Studios
Oct 14th
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II ships in less than two weeks (Oct. 26), so it’s curious timing then that the former director of the franchise, who resigned at the end of July after 13 years with LucasArts, has just announced his new venture. Haden Blackman has teamed up with former LucasArts director of engineering Cedrick Collomb to form a new independent developer called Fearless Studios.
Blackman and Collomb won’t be straying far from home, as Fearless will also be based in Marin, California. Little is known about the studio or the first project being planned, but Fearless said it’s dedicated to “story-driven games designed to leave an impact on players and the industry.”
And thanks to Collomb’s technical expertise – he developed and implemented the “technological backbone of LucasArts’ most successful internally developed games” and helped synchronize Lucas’s game and film/ILM technologies – Fearless also believes its “creative risk [will be] mitigated through smart technology decisions.”
“At Fearless Studios, we believe great videogames should leave a lasting impression, an indelible mark on players, our industry, and even the wider culture,” said Haden Blackman, Co-President and Chief Creative Officer of Fearless Studios. “By taking bold creative risks and tackling new challenges, Fearless Studios will fuse the best of story and gameplay to immerse, engage, and affect players just as deeply as our favorite films and novels.”
“Fearless Studios will marry compelling content with the most advanced game technologies and software, crafted and customized specifically for the experiences we want to create,” said Cedrick Collomb, Co-President and Chief Technology Officer of Fearless Studios. “We’re not building technology for its own sake; we want everything we do to show up onscreen to entertain the player—that’s all that matters to us.”
Joining Collomb and Blackman will be Acting CFO Marc Jackson, who is the founder of Seahorn Capital Group, a firm that will serve as financial advisor and business development partner of Fearless Studios. Jackson has 20 years of entertainment industry experience in senior management roles in theme park development, new media and interactive entertainment. Five of those years were spent as CEO of video game companies. Jackson has been a strategic advisor for clients such as Warner Bros Interactive, Film Finances Inc., and THQ. And since 2005, he’s advised on $100 million in production financing of video game projects, including Rocksteady’s critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum and several other titles for Eidos.
THQ and LucasArts Veteran Forms Famous Games
Oct 14th
Jack Sorenson, a long-running industry veteran, has officially announced the formation of his new studio, Famous Games. The announcement came on the heels of a publishing partnership with Autumn Games, who previously co-published 4mm’s Def Jam Rapstar with Konami. Autumn Games will be publishing Famous Games’ future titles, with one title already in development.
Prior to founding Famous Games, Sorenson was the executive VP of Worldwide Studios at THQ. Before that, he was the president of LucasArts, serving at the company for most of the ’90s.
“Interactive gaming is at an exciting crossroads,” said Sorensen in a statement. “Despite some of the mournful press out there about our industry’s future, we are excited about the platform transitions and disruptions in traditional distribution happening in gaming. Autumn shares our vision for the type of experiences that will succeed in this new climate, and our partnership is an integral aspect of my new venture.”
“Jack is one of the truly visionary talents in the executive ranks of the games business,” said Autumn Games’ president, Jason Donnell. “Interactive entertainment is evolving quickly. Jack’s vision for the future of entertainment, combined with his exceptional track record in game development, makes him and his team an ideal partner for Autumn.”
PS3’s Move ‘Off to a Good Start,’ says Analyst
Oct 12th
Both Sony and Microsoft are vying for a piece of the motion controls market this holiday season.The PlayStation Move has been out for several weeks already, and Microsoft Kinect motion camera is fast approaching. According to a new survey of U.S. consumers by Lazard Capital Markets, interest in both motion devices is actually high.
“Our survey…suggests there is strong demand for both the Kinect and Sony Move motion controllers. We are somewhat surprised by the positive reaction given the relatively high price points ($149 for Kinect and $99 and up for Move) and the lack of many compatible games for the devices. We believe that Sony’s Move is off to a good start at retail, with limited supplies, and our survey also bodes well for the launch of Kinect,” analyst Colin Sebastian said.
He continued, “We note that primary beneficiaries of a strong launch of Kinect include retailer GameStop, which we expect will garner strong market share; platform holder Microsoft, with potentially a boost in popularity for the Xbox ecosystem; and third, ultimately the software publishers, which will be able to sell games made for the new devices. We continue to expect sales of up to four million units through the end of the year for Kinect — although Microsoft recently expressed a goal of selling at least three million units. Lastly, an optimistic view of the new controllers would also assume that the current console cycle can extend another 3-4 years before platform holders need to bring new console hardware to the market.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops to Sell ‘At Least 3X’ The Units of Medal of Honor
Oct 12th
The shooter market is a tough, crowded, and very competitive sector of the industry. This holiday gamers have a number of choices, including Halo: Reach, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty: Black Ops. The odds are only the most avid core gamers will buy all three. That said, the good news for EA is Medal of Honor is seeing strong interest – although nowhere close to the level of Call of Duty.
According to Lazard Capital Markets’ latest survey of U.S. consumers, 25% indicated an interest in buying Black Ops this holiday season, but Medal of Honor wasn’t all that far behind, with 17% of respondents indicating interest in picking up the EA title, which has already seen big pre-orders.
Analyst Colin Sebastian believes the upcoming Call of Duty, however, will set entertainment records again, as Activision has been saying. “Importantly, given the broader interest and timing with gift purchases, we expect Call of Duty will still sell at least 3x the number of units as Medal of Honor, although game reviews remain a key variable in determining core gamer interest,” he commented.
Backing up Sebastian’s claim, GameStop just last week noted that it’s been seeing ”all-time record” reservations for Black Ops, so it’s looking like the game could very well be the number one seller this holiday.
EA Mobile Working on Windows Phone 7
Oct 12th
EA Mobile is already looking at the possibilities that Windows Phone 7 will provide. The mobile games developer within EA has announced several titles that will be released on launch day for the phone.
“Our collaboration with Microsoft brings EA’s world-class catalog of global game franchises to Windows Phone 7, offering a unique set of gaming features perfectly suited to the deep, innovative experiences we value at EA,” said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile.
“We see consumers deeply integrating devices into their lives and entertainment in new ways every day. Challenging your Xbox LIVE friends to an EA game from the phone in your pocket keeps you connected and having fun no matter where you are.”
“Together EA and Microsoft have created some of the definitive console games of this generation, and we’re excited to bring that powerful alliance to Windows Phone 7,” said Ron Pessner, general manager of Xbox LIVE mobile, Microsoft. “This is a new and major games platform for Microsoft, and we look forward to the amazing games EA will deliver over the coming years.”
Titles announced include Need for Speed: Undercover, Tetris, The Sims 3 and Monopoly.
The new titles are slated for release on launch day for the Windows Phone 7, and will include demos and Xbox live compatibility.
Limbo Developer Working on New IP
Oct 12th
Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade showed off a game that has really surprised many, and the developer behind it is already looking to improve. Limbo developer Playdead announced at IndieCade this weekend that they are currently working on “a new IP.”
Playdead CEO Dino Patti, speaking with Joystiq, talked about the new IP already in the works: “I can’t tell much, but I can tell you that if you liked Limbo, it’ll definitely be for you. The gameplay style you’ll really like. You’ll feel it’s the same team who made it, but everything will be changed.”
Playdead could even be considering going multi-platform, suggests Patti. “To be honest, we want as many people to play our games as possible,” Patti said. “If we end up going exclusive, we may do it for various reasons, but we just want as many people to play the game as possible.”
