MediaFile

Ouya: A hackable, $99 gaming console is in the works

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Innovative games on mobiles and tablets are the rage these days as console makers and traditional video game publishers scramble to keep gamers hooked. But a new startup is embracing the openness of mobile and Internet platforms and developing Ouya, a $99 gaming console for the television with software and hardware that is designed to be hacked.

The Android-based console is being built by a project founded by Julie Uhrman, a former executive at video game website IGN. Microsoft Xbox veteran Ed Fries is an advisor and Yves Behar of design firm Fuseproject will design the console. The device will include a controller with a touch pad and a free software development kit.

“The current console market is closed, it’s expensive to develop and it’s expensive to buy games. And we really wanted to turn that idea on its head by creating an open game console where it was inexpensive and affordable for gamers both on console side and game side.” Uhrman said.

The team hopes Ouya will bring innovation to the good old video game console by attracting “indie” or independent game developers and makers of Triple-A game titles in a bid to capture the imagination of casual and core gamers alike.

Moreover, all the games will be free-to-try. That means developers can pick any plan to monetize their offerings like micro-transactions through sales of virtual goods or subscriptions, as long the gamer can try the game at first for free. The game developer-Ouya revenue split will follow the standard 70-30 model.

With an undisclosed investment from individuals that include video game developer Brian Fargo of inXile entertainment and Internet entrepreneur Jay Adelson of the social news site Digg so far, Ouya hopes to raise $950,000 on crowd funding site Kickstarter on Tuesday. Funds will help complete product development and get initial game development rolling.

 

A new startup is embracing the openness of mobile and Internet platforms and developing Ouya, a $99 gaming console for the television with software and hardware that is designed to be hacked. Join Discussion

COMMENT

Will this work with other console games that are already out because that would be so cool

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Curt Schilling’s video game finally gets on base

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Curt Schilling, the former pitcher and two-time World Series champ is more nervous about his new video game than he ever was about baseball.

He told a New York crowd at an event put on by Electronic Arts on Tuesday that he slept like a baby before World Series games in 2007 — but didn’t catch a wink on Monday night ahead of the release of his company’s first video game.

Schilling’s personal fortune is on the line with “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” a fantasy-action game that hit stores Tuesday. Schilling told Reuters last July he had invested between $30 million to $35 million of his own money into the 400-person company he founded that made the game.

“‘This is opening day of career 2.0,” he told the crowd . And it’s an opening day that’s seven years in the making–Schilling founded the company called 38 Studios (after his jersey number) in 2006.

Schilling has been a video fanboy for years. Peter Moore, EA’s chief operating officer said he first spoke with him in 2005. Schilling called Moore, who then worked at Microsoft, to see if he could get his hands on an advance copy of the Xbox 360.

Moore, who said he turned down phone calls from Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson that same day, took Schilling’s because he was a big Red Sox fan.

“We spoke one hour about massive multiplayer games. I tried to talk him out of it,” Moore said, of Schilling’s idea to bankroll a video game.

Curt Schilling, the former pitcher and two-time World Series champ is more nervous about his new video game than he ever was about playing baseball. Join Discussion

Microsoft’s Kinect eyes path beyond gaming, into other industries

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As Microsoft Corp’s Xbox gaming console nears its 10th anniversay, the company said its future may lie beyond gaming.

“That’s still the core of what we do, but if you think of the next 10 years of our business, it’s all the new opportunities and possibilities that Kinect is opening us up to,” Craig Cincotta, director of communications for Xbox, told Reuters.

Microsoft’s Kinect, launched last year, is a sensing camera and microphone device that plugs into the Xbox 360 console, allowing users to play games purely with gestures and voice commands.

The device flew off shelves, setting a record sales pace for a consumer electronics device, and was immediately attractive to hackers who devised ways of making it work on standard computers.

“People in academics and hobbyists started using it in ways that in reality we knew that it had the potential, but we hadn’t thought of certain applications yet,” Cincotta said.

Microsoft announced last week it would release a commercial version of the Kinect software development kit in early 2012.

The future of Microsoft's Xbox business may be tied to apps and outside developers as the company opens its Kinect device to commercial development. Join Discussion

COMMENT

I can imagine many applications and uses for this wonderful technology, and it is nearly limitless, well sort of. Imagine playing chess online in a more interactive way than just clicking with the mouse, now that would bring some excitement into an old game.

David – http://www.regencychess.co.uk

Posted by Regency1 | Report as abusive

Is Zynga’s lead slipping on Facebook?

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Electronic Arts, the second-largest video game company in the U.S., is stealing market share away from Zynga, the top dog in social games on Facebook, according to a new report on gaming behavior.

The report, released on Wednesday, is based on data that tracks the game play of more than 10 million users of Raptr, a website that automatically tracks its users’ video game activity on Facebook, consoles and PCs.

 “EA has stolen 10 to 25 percent playtime from Zynga’s top games,” the report said.

Since the launch of Sims Social, EA’s Facebook game that has more than 66 million monthly active users, Zynga games such as FarmVille, CityVille and Empires & Allies have all lost players, the report shows.

To be sure, Zynga still dwarfs EA’s users on Facebook by more than 2-1 according to the website AppData.

The report comes a day after Zynga unleashed a barrage of games upon its rivals and gave a sneak peek of a mysterious new platform called “Project Z”  that could reduce its reliance on Facebook.

One of the key finding is that EA succeeded in bringing players of the Sims franchise to its Facebook game “but more impressively they were able to capture market share from Zynga.”   EA can also tap games from PopCap, the company it bought over the summer, such as Plant vs. Zombies and Bejeweled 3 to start releasing more games on Facebook, it said.

Electronic Arts, the second-largest video game company in the U.S., is stealing market share away from Zynga, the top dog in social games on Facebook, according to a new report on gaming behavior. Join Discussion

COMMENT

I agree with most of Zyngas moves..I can’t wait to play Karma Kingdom on my Ipad.

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The Hoff wants a video game of his own

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David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff wants to stay “hip and current with the kids,” so he’s doing it the way he knows best–by getting beat up in cheerleader outfits and chicken suits in an ad campaign.

The Hoff is Electronic Arts’s latest pitchman in online videos for “Burnout Crash,” a racing video game on Xbox Live with the motion controller, Kinect, but he’s not stopping there: He wants a game of his own, he told Reuters in an interview this week.

“I’ve wanted to develop my own game so this was a way of seeing if this works and maybe we can take this one step further with using the same concept as ‘Burnout Crash,’ and maybe do something with the Hoff,” he said.

Hasselhoff said he’s in talks with EA about developing some kind of game or app. EA could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hasselhoff has promoted games before but declined to comment on how much money he has made from the video game industry.                                                                                              

The 59-year-old former Baywatch star said he signed on with EA after the company sent him the game and it reminded him of  driving stunts he’d help create on his hit show from the 1980s, Knight Rider.

“I saw the game and said, this is what Knight Rider is about,” Hasselhoff said.

The Hoff is Electronic Arts's latest pitchman in online videos for "Burnout Crash," a racing video game on Xbox Live with the motion controller, Kinect, but he's not stopping there: He wants a game of his own, he told Reuters in an interview this week. Join Discussion

COMMENT

The moment the Hoff announced he was going into the gaming Biz. Watch the ending part where Chobot makes him realize he has to get into the gaming biz lol!

http://youtu.be/0lD0MTRoj8A

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Zynga herding its users like sheep from game to game: data

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Social games company Zynga is adept at converting its current players to its new games, just as smoothly as some of the top video game franchises like Call of Duty, according to a new 21-page report by the game tracking service and social network Raptr.

The report takes into account more than 3 million Zynga players who use Raptr’s game tracking applications.

“If Zynga were to release a new game tomorrow, our data reveals that 90 percent of users of that new game will come from an old game,” said Dennis Fong, Raptr’s co-founder.

While 90 percent is such a high conversation rate any company might strive to that target, it also means that Zynga could cannibalize its users if it doesn’t find new players.

“A 90 percent average means that only 10 percent of its users are new,” Fong said. “Zynga has its pool of players, which is admittedly very large and they are basically just herding them around from game to game. Where is their growth going to come from? That’s a big question mark.”

The report is full of nuggets that could give potential investors in Zynga’s IPO a better picture of how people are playing social games. It shows that Zynga players play up to 8 sessions a day and that those sessions are 5 minutes long. Gamers are playing  hardcore games on consoles and PCs like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft for longer periods of time, but for fewer sessions.

Social games company Zynga is adept at converting its former players to its new games, just as smoothly as some of the top video game franchises like Call of Duty, according to a new 21-page report by the game tracking service and social network Raptr. Join Discussion

PlayStation attempts fashion makeover, hires a Kardashian

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“Where’s your ‘half tuck?” America’s Next Top Model star Jay Manuel asked Kourtney Kardashian in New York City’s Herald Square.

He was asking because Sony hired the pair to show off the style of a shirt that’s not fully tucked in, a look popularized by the video game hero Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, an Indian Jones-like adventure shooter game.

Kourtney, who is Kim Kardashian’s older sister and one of the stars of “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” wore some kind of leopard jumper. But along with Manuel, she plucked random guys off the street to give them Nathan Drake makeovers.

Sony’s video game division has been going after the fashion set pretty hard during New York’s fashion week. First, on Saturday, it sponsored designer Alexander Wang’s runway show and after-party. Then on Monday, it hosted a video game event for press that promoted its new games with manicures, messages and hair feathers.

But is a fashion tie-in really the wisest way for Sony to sell copies of  the Uncharted 3 game that will hit stores on Nov 1? The bulk of its sales will be to young males who do most of their shopping at GameStop.

“Uncharted is one of those video game franchises which appeals to gamers outside of our core fan base,” said Sony’s Jill Webber.  “Even people who are into fashion, why can’t they love video games too?

Ben Lyons, the E Network’s movie expert, who was mulling around outside the Uncharted trailer, said the time has come for a movie based on the Uncharted franchise. Rumors have been swirling for years about that one is in the works.

“Where’s your ‘half tuck?” America’s Next Top Model star Jay Manuel asked Kourtney Kardashian in New York City's Herald Square. Join Discussion

Zynga’s new game is less FarmVille, more Indiana Jones

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Zynga is famous for making games about farm chores but now that it is on the brink of its IPO, it is trying something different. In the most complex game Zynga has released so far on Facebook, players in Adventure World need to unlock clues and puzzles to find the last city of gold, El Dorado. Reuters spoke with Nabeel Hyatt, the general manager of Zynga Boston about why this is a new direction for Zynga, which is not known for World of Warcraft-type quests. Zynga bought his company, Conduit Labs, last summer and now he leads the team that made the game hitting Facebook in a few weeks.

REUTERS: What makes Adventure World different from other Zynga games?

HYATT: We consider this to be a new genre of social game that hasn’t existed before. The overall adventure genre goes back 20 years and hasn’t really had a place in social games. You can’t build the same kind of social game that you would have built for a hardcore gamer. If you think about FarmVille and CityVille, we call them ‘invest and express games’ where you grow a city over time and you use that to express yourself. This is very different. It’s a new bold move for Zynga to make that is about exploring, discovering and uncovering secrets and solving puzzles and moving across lots of different maps and worlds. This game is a really broad expansive experience with more than 30 different environments when it launches and over 20,000 objects.

REUTERS: Why is this a new direction for Zynga? Is this going to be Zynga’s version of World of Warcraft?

HYATT: It’s the first Zynga game that focuses on your avatar and your character’s growth over time. Also, each of these maps you play on is almost like its own game and has its own type of gameplay. That’s a new thing for Zynga, which hones in tightly on one specific type of game play and then tries to polish it like crazy to get a really nice experience, like in FrontierVille or CityVille. A lot of us on this team worked in massive multiplayer online games like Lord of The Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons online. These are large expansive games that people run for years–World of Warcraft is over 10 years old–so we are thinking of a game that we would love to build and make now but also that we’d love to build and make two years from now or five years from now and players could log in any given month and find a new adventure. This game was built with longevity in mind.

REUTERS: What is the game inspired by?

HYATT: We are definitely inspired by massive multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings online. It’s a large expansive world that changes over time, so it has that in common with those games, but it’s not really that hardcore or meant to be a role playing game. From a game play standpoint, it’s probably closest to a game like Legends of Zelda, which was a strong inspiration for us.  Genre-wise, it harkens back to pulp movies from the 1930s and 1940s, up through “Indiana Jones” to “Jewel of the Nile” and “National Treasure.”

Zynga is famous for making games about the upkeep of a farm but now that it is on the brink of its IPO, it is trying something different. Players of its new Facebook game, Adventure World, need to unlock clues to find the last city of gold, El Dorado. Join Discussion

COMMENT

Online games nowadays are way more interactive and entertaining than what we had a decade ago. I can still remember playing chess online with my friends and that was about it. Nowadays, there are so many games that I will never get bored, good stuff!

Posted by Regency1 | Report as abusive

In a twist, Zynga brings mobile game to Facebook

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On Monday, Zynga said it would be bringing its most popular mobile game, “Words with Friends,” to Facebook. The social games maker said the game would be coming soon.

Players on Apple- or Android-powered devices will be able to carry over games from their phones or tablets onto Facebook. Zynga, in an attempt at bathroom humor, said this would allow “a seamless transition from your work computer to the bathroom… don’t lie, you know you do it.”

While it’s no surprise that Zynga would want to tap Facebook to attract more users to “Words with Friends” — a game you have to play with at least one other person — it’s a curious move for a company whose biggest IPO risk is its dependence on Facebook. Future investors are more likely to welcome an announcement in which Zynga distances itself from Facebook, like the recent one about Zynga entering mainland China through its partner Tencent.

The Scrabble-like word game is one of the company’s 12 games available on mobile devices. Zynga counts  Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba and Reggie Bush as fans of “Words with Friends” but did not reveal any details about how these US Weekly regulars can spell.

On Monday, Zynga said it would be bringing its most popular mobile game, "Words with Friends" to Facebook. The social games maker said the game would be "coming soon" but no concrete date has been set. Players on Apple- or Android-powered devices will be able to carry over games from their phones or tablets onto Facebook "allowing a seamless transition from your work computer to the bathroom...don't lie, you know you do it," Zynga said. While it's no surprise that Zynga would want to tap Facebook to attract more users to "Words with Friends", a game you have to play with at least one other person, it's a curious move for a company whose biggest IPO risk is its dependence on Facebook. Future investors are more likely to welcome announcement that distance itself from Facebook, like the recent one about Zynga entering mainland China through its partner Tencent. Join Discussion

Exclusive: After leaving Ubisoft, Patrice Désilets is back in the game at THQ

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MONTREAL–Game designer Patrice Désilets stunned the video game world with his high-profile departure from Ubisoft in 2010. Désilets’s contract prohibited him from working for the past year but now the creative director behind “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time” and “Assassin’s Creed”  franchise is back in the game, having joined THQ’s new development studio in Montreal. In his first interview in the new digs in Montreal, Désilets opens up about the new job, the time off and what it’s like to be an underdog again in the gaming world.

Reuters: You’ve been at THQ for about a month, how do you find it?

Désilets: I’m not used to it (laughs). You can see in the industry that a lot of people change jobs often and then there’s me. I spent 13 years in the same company. I started July 2, 1997 and I quit May 28, 2010. In between, I did six games with roughly the same people, so I’m really excited. I like where we physically are in the city. I spent my professional years back in the Mile End and it’s nice to change the scenery. I walk to work and I like this district with these nice restaurants around.

The real thing for me is just to meet a bunch of new people. There’s 100 plus people to meet and I’m bad with names, but the energy is the same as when I started at Ubisoft. It’s a smaller place with less people but also, there’s the feeling that we’re the underdogs. So it’s all about the need to prove ourselves and do something great, instead of at a bigger company where you’re making sure you are still good and making sure that you’re growing.

Back then (at Ubisoft), nobody knew what they were doing. We didn’t have a lot of expertise back then. Now Ubisoft does. Here (at THQ), right away, I’m in meetings with people who know how to make a game, so that’s a lot easier than it was back then. But the energy of, “rah!  Let’s do something together and its going to be great,” is there and it’s less so at other companies.

Reuters: Do you feel pressure or extra responsibility because you are helping build a new studio in Montreal?

Désilets: Well I’m not alone in that. That’s the reason I picked THQ.  I’m with people whose main focus is to build a studio. I’m here to help them out and tell them how I see things– my culture. And I’m not talking about my French Canadian culture but about how I make a game. At the end of the day, the most important thing for me is not to build a studio but to build a game. This is what I’m good at. This is how I express myself. I am an artist for video games. And I didn’t do it for a year and it was tough for me not to express myself through video games. Now, being in a meeting with concept artists, it’s like “ahhh finally!” I can really talk and one idea leads to another.

Game designer Patrice Désilets stunned the video game world with his high-profile departure from Ubisoft in 2010. Désilets's contract prohibited him from working for the past year but now the creative director behind "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" and "Assassin's Creed" franchise is back in the game, having joined THQ's new development studio in Montreal. In his first interview in the new digs in Montreal, Désilets opens up about the new job, the time off and what it's like to be an underdog again in the gaming world. Join Discussion