Archived News:
The release date for Singularity on Gamestop.com has been changed to June 1, 2010, indicating a delay to Raven's upcoming time-travelling shooter. Big Download contacted Activision who replied: "Activision does not comment on rumor and/or speculation. We have not announced a launch date for Singularity." While it's technically true a specific date has never been set for the game, they're not admitting the reality that it has already had several release windows. In February 2009 they said the game was due summer 2009 during a conference call, and just two weeks later the game's introductory trailer listed a fall 2009 release date which was also listed on the Singularity Website. Then last summer the game was delayed until the first quarter of this year to avoid conflicting with Modern Warfare 2. After today's report we checked back on the Singularity Website, and it now says Spring 2010.
The Star Trek Online Open Beta Page now offers details on the open beta for Cryptic's upcoming Trekkie MMORPG, and instructions on how to get the beta client for those who are qualified for the beta through a preorder. Also, the Star Trek Online interview on Massively talks with Jack Emmert about the game. The topic at hand is PvP, discussing what will happen on those exceedingly rare occasions when the prime directive can't be followed. Likewise, the Star Trek Online Q&A on Ten Ton Hammer talks with Al Rivera about Star Trek Online. Al answers a shipload of questions about the ships in the game. Topics include Klingon Carrier ships, appearance customization, how frequently players will upgrade ships, upgrades, cloaking, and more.
EA announces that they threw an offer to do the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack against a wall and it stuck, and composer Jack Wall has composed the original score for the RPG sequel. Wall also scored the original Mass Effect, and Dr. Ray Muzyka says: "We are thrilled to again be collaborating with Jack Wall, this time on Mass Effect 2." The game is due for release on January 26 in North America and January 29 in Europe, and the soundtrack will be available for purchase through digital retailers on January 19. Word is: "Featuring nearly three hours of extraordinary orchestral arrangements, the score explodes with a symphony of sounds that spur the game’s intense action and dramatic storytelling."
A report on Develop based on analysis from M2 Research calculates that the average game development budget for a multiplatform next-gen game is $18-$28 million. They add that high-profile games often break the $40 million plateau, and that the Gran Turismo 5 budget is approximately $60 million, while Modern Warfare 2's budget is estimated to have been as high as $50 million.
Develop quotes a study by analyst group M2 Research, where they put their calculators to the test to figure out how many game industry jobs have been lost since the world economy started suffering in late 2008. Word is: "the final count for layoffs since the economic meltdown in late 2008 reached 11,488 worldwide, with the majority of the losses coming in 2009." The study also touches on the "record" number of studio closures over that span, which at 18, may be understated. The study identified redundancies at 95 individual studios, 52 of which are in the US. There's also a note that the majority of layoffs come at the "studio level," with QA staff often being the first to go.
BioWare's Subject Zero Page now features a new trailer with more of Subject Zero in action in Mass Effect 2, BioWare's upcoming RPG sequel. In the clip she is seen kicking ass, taking names, and then kicking the name's asses. Along the way she explains her motivation for fighting, which seems to arguably be for the opportunity to hurt things.
EA conducted an investor conference call to follow up on the revised fiscal guidance announced earlier. GameSpot reports on the call, which included word from EA CEO John Riccitiello that the company is planning to launch "our major new MMO" in "Spring 2011." He didn't specify what game he was referencing, but there isn't really anything on EA's schedule that fits that description besides Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is under development at BioWare. Ricctiello also listed fiscal year 2011 highlights that include: "A great new Medal of Honor…Sims on consoles…and an innovative new take on Madden."
The footage from Obsidian's cancelled Aliens RPG posted earlier has been pulled, suggesting it was legitimate. No need to speculate, however, as a post to the Obsidian Forum Community Forums by Obsidian's Matthew Rorie confirms it was taken from the game, albeit a very early build: "Just to be clear, this is from an extremely early pre-production build." Thanks Blend Games.
EA Sports announces via Facebook that a roster update is coming for FIFA 10 after the January transfer window has closed: "Because so many have asked, we can confirm there will be a downloadable roster update for FIFA 10 after the January transfer window has closed. Fear not. We'll update you on that as soon as we've fixed a date."
Electronic Arts announces it is lowering its 2010 financial guidance, blaming weak demand in Europe and a shift toward games with lower profit margins in North America. The publisher/developer lowered its adjusted profit outlook for the year to between 40 cents and 55 cents per share from its earlier outlook of 70 cents to $1.00 per share. They also announce a pessimistic outlook on the October-December quarter: The company expects a third-quarter net loss to fall between 24 cents and 32 cents per share. Adjusted for changes in deferred revenue for digital content and online-enabled games, as well as restructuring charges and other items, EA expects earnings of 29 cents to 33 cents per share for the quarter, well below Wall Street's expectations of 56 cents per share.
EA is forecasting sales of about $1.23 billion to $1.25 billion during the quarter. Adjusting for those same factors, EA expected adjusted revenue of $1.33 billion to $1.35 billion, short of Wall Street's expectations of $1.42 billion in sales.
Funcom is distributing an Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures newsletter urging former subscribers to re-subscribe to their barbaric MMORPG. Blackmailing is the word a player named Michael used in forwarding his copy, reacting to the plan to delete lower-level characters who don't rejoin the game, though it's hard to see why players would be upset at their toon being deleted if they did not plan to return. The text of the newsletter follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Reign of Augustus for Grand Ages Rome is shown off in a new trailer from the upcoming expansion for the historical strategy game. The add-on is expected this month, and word is: "Reign of Augustus expansion pack includes a brand new campaign, 12 single player missions, 12 new maps, 6 multiplayer maps and a wealth of enhanced gameplay features." You can view the clip on the YouTube and right here. Continue here to read the full story.
A posting to the Lionhead Studios Jobs Section for a network programmer indicates the Microsoft-owned development studio is working on a third game in addition to their announced projects of Milo & Kate and Fable III. Word is: "The role involves developing and maintaining the network code of an unnanounced [sic] title." This job is described as a contract position that should run 10 months, which seems to indicate this won't remain unannounced for too much longer. Thanks VG247.
A new trailer for Hello Kitty Online combines the surreal presentation of a music video with the surreal presentation of this MMOG based on the Hello Kitty phenomenon. The clip is on the YouTube and below. Continue here to read the full story.
This text file offers a change list for the PS3 beta of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to give an idea about what's being done to whip DICE's military shooter sequel into shape for its release. EA's Gordon Van Dyke explains in the accompanying Battlefield Blog post: "Since all of you reading this want us finishing up the game instead of writing blogs I made this short and sweet. Attached is a change-list of 130 Changes/Fixes .txt I snagged from Alan 'Demize99' Kertz USB drive. One of my favorites is 'Added environment specific camouflage to all vehicles.' Comment your favorite too, we'd love to know what it is. You can also twitter it to OfficialBFBC2 and again, thank you for all those that had the opportunity to participate, as you can see it was incredibly valuable. See you on the PC Beta (Jan 28th), Console Demo (TBD), and then the real deal Battlefield (Mar 2nd & 5th 2010) that will rock your souls! :-D"
A new "Enemy Creatures of Rivellon" trailer from Divinity II - Ego Draconis shows some of the bad guys in Larian Studios' RPG sequel using gameplay footage accompanied by a brief Adam West-style voiceover. This clip can be found on the YouTube and embedded for your viewing pleasure below. Continue here to read the full story.
VVVVVV is now available, offering online sales of this indie platformer. The game is available for Windows and MacOS, and they also offer downloads of a playable demo for either platform. There's also an online demo on Kongregate.
A new clip on the YouTube carries the claim this is from the Aliens RPG that was in development at Obsidian before being cancelled. The clip runs under two minutes, and true to the source material some it is spent in near total darkness. Most of the trailer is exploration, though an alien is glimpsed at the end. Thanks superannuation.
IGN interviewed BioWare's Casey Hudson at CES 2010, and since Mass Effect 2 is already old news, they ask about DLC plans as well as Mass Effect 3 (thanks Eurogamer). "There will be great downloadable content throughout the time that Mass Effect 2 is out there while people are waiting for the third one. You'll always have great stuff. New adventures to play. New things to do," he told them. "We don't have anything specifically announced yet, but we basically plan for DLC pretty shortly after the release of the game and then a pretty intense schedule of downloadable content throughout." He also tells them the third installment in the RPG series is already in preproduction: "We are already at work on Mass Effect 3," he said. "Building the first bits of the story, putting that together."
Realtime Worlds lead artist Tahir Rashid's LinkedIn Profile has a bit of a revelation, reading: "Working with the double BAFTA award winning team that created Crackdown on a new project." According to superannuation this tidbit was even more revelatory before it was edited, as it previously read: "Working with the double BAFTA award winning team that created Crackdown on a brand new IP due for release in 2011." Thanks VG247.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is spending a ninth week atop the UK sales charts, which can be read as text on GFK Chart-Track or all tarted up on RetailBiz. According to Computer and Video Games (thanks Joker961) this makes the game the third best-selling video game title in UK history by unit sales, saying: "Only GTA: San Andreas in second place and Brain Training in first stand ahead of Modern Warfare 2 in terms of UK history unit sell-through."
A post to the Empire: Total War Forums by Creative Assembly's Mark (SenseiTW) O'Connell indicates they are hoping Napoleon: Total War will be gold by the end of this week: "Things are going very well with Napoleon: Total War and we are working hard towards it going Gold at the end of the week." Also, there's a new interview on Games On Net chatting with Kieran Brigden of Creative Assembly about the strategy sequel.
Slitherine Strategies now offers a new patch to update the recently released Grand Strategy expansion for Commander Europe at War to version 1.02. The Grand Strategy expansion is a free release created by a dedicated group of fans, and the new version has a lengthy list of changes and fixes.
Matrix Games now offers a new patch for Field of Glory, updating Slitherine Strategies' medieval turn-based strategy game to version 1.0.3. This is described as a "comprehensive" update that adds a new scenario along with a few fixes, including a fix for a password bug in PBEM games.
Some wild tackle football over the weekend. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the Jets winning a playoff game and the Giants not making the playoffs at all, which seems almost surreal given the two teams' histories, but I am not one of those Giants fans who hates against the Jets, so at least gang green's success doesn't make me feel worse about my own team's shortcomings.
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