It's no secret that iPhone has turned the mobile phone industry on its head, sliding past its smartphone rivals with its sexy design. We know Apple has opened a new chapter in mobile technology, but the real story behind this is how the iPhone is quietly taking over pocket gaming.
Business Week has already pointed out what is clearly becoming a new player in the handheld market. Apple has set iPhone on the right track to contend with Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable as the definitive portable gaming platform new figures show. Sales of iPhone continue to increase with each passing month, not to mention downloads from the App Store.
Momentum behind iPhone can't be discredited either as developers both large and small are flocking to the system. It all points to the strong possibility that iPhone could become the leading device for handheld gaming in the coming years.
The argument isn't a new one, as we were one of the first to identify the pote... More »
Homicide from Neocrisis (linked above) writes: I’m pretty sure most of you know Square-Enix (formerly Squaresoft and Enix, two different companies).
They are one of the most successful and well known companies today mostly for their JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. On a Sunday morning, I somehow stumbled onto the Square-Enix’s Wikipedia page.
I saw their earlier titles such as Secret of Mana, Chrono and Super Mario RPG. They all brought a smile to my face as I can remember the days when I was a kid and enjoyed them.
Then their latest games were shown and the smile went away. Square went from being one of the best JRPG makers out there to just another RPG maker.
Is Square still the JRPG king we all know or have they lost it?
Ninety per cent of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted.
So says Keith Bakker the founder and head of Europe's first and only clinic to treat gaming addicts.
The Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam, has treated hundreds of young gamers since the clinic opened in 2006. But the clinic is changing its treatment as it realises that compulsive gaming is a social rather than a psychological problem.
Using traditional abstinence-based treatment models the clinic has had very high success rate treating people who also show other addictive behaviours such as drug taking and excessive drinking.
But Mr Bakker believes that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10% of gamers. For the other 90% who may spend four hours a day or more playing games such as World of Warcraft, he no longer thinks addiction counselling is the way to treat these people.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America’s head of hardware marketing, John Koller, recently spoke to MTV about PSP piracy.
Koller stated that PSP piracy is trending down right now, and that it has not be as prevalent in the last one to two months.
To quote: “We’ve made really no secret [that there] certainly has been some piracy on the PSP,” said Koller in a phone interview last week. “We’ve seen that as a significant issue — it’s trending down right now, we’ve seen the piracy not be as such prevalent in the last month to two months. But it has been a problem for us.”
“We’ve noticed there’s kind of a ‘good vs. evil’ battle that we track on many of the forums and many of the pirated Web sites,” laughed Koller. “There’s certainly people that are standing up and fighting for what we consider the good side, the rights of developers and publishers to make money on their IP.
After the secret source code for its then-unreleased shooter Half Life 2 showed up on file sharing services in 2003, game-maker Valve Software cooked up an elaborate ruse with the FBI targeting the German hacker suspected in the leak, even setting up a fake job interview in an effort to lure him to the United States for arrest.
The gambit ultimately failed, and Axel "Ago" Gembe remained safely in Germany. He was indicted last month in Los Angeles on new charges of creating the Agobot malware, and sharing it with a crew of U.S. hackers who used it to stage denial-of-service attacks in 2003.
In September 2003, the source code for the much-anticipated Half Life 2 game turned up online, and Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, revealed that the company's network had been breached. In a post to the company's Web forum, Newell asked for gamer's assistance in finding the hackers responsible.
"If you have information about ... the infiltratio... More »
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PlayStation Store) via PS Blog today:
Hey, everyone. It’s time again for the PlayStation Store weekly update.
Downloadable Games
Age of Booty ($9.99)
Fight for pirate supremacy in this game of strategy and cannon-blasting action that’s fun for all ages. Sail the high seas alone or with friends as you build your pirate empire by plundering villages, sinking ships, and sending your enemies to the briny deep! Upgrade your ships with new, more powerful weapons, and explore 25 different maps or create your own to share! With so many features, Age of Booty is a treasure chest of fun! Download the game today!
File size: 44 MB
Add-on Game Content
LittleBigPlanet - MotorStorm Stormers Costume ($1.99)
A premium costume for SackBoy!
File size: 1.04
LittleBigPlanet - Sack-Eating Plant Costume (SCEE contest winner) (free)
A community co... More »
Senior Manager Grace Chen of the PlayStation Store is back once again with this weekend's PSN video content update as follows:
Hi again! The weekend’s here – time for your weekly update of new movie & TV shows on the PlayStation Network.
This week we’ve added new video content from the following television series:
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Season 1
• Intervention, Season 4
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 4
• Pushing Daisies, Season 2
• Smallville, Season 8
• Solty Rei, Season 1
• Squidbillies, Season 3
• The First 48, Season 7
• The Secret Saturdays, Season 1
• The Unit, Season 4
We’ve also added the following feature films:
• Action Jackson
• American Gigolo
• An American Rhapsody
• Bad News Bears (2005)
• Best Defense
• Blood Brothers
• Bonnie and Clyde ... More »
A source close to Canadian developer Blue Castle Games has told Eurogamer that the studio is making a sequel to Dead Rising.
Rumors that the Vancouver-based outfit was working on the zombie project first emerged last year, but neither the developer nor publisher Capcom has confirmed anything on the record.
But while Eurogamer was on a secret mission in Vancouver last week, we were told by a source familiar with the project that Capcom has indeed farmed out development to the Western team.
The source said: "Everyone's really excited; the team has obviously seen the rumors and it's been hard to keep quiet, but they can't wait to show off the game."
Unfortunately, they wouldn't give us any details on the title or when we're likely to see it. Boo.
Blue Castle has so far released two baseball titles with 2K Games, including The Bigs, and announced MLB Front Office Manager earlier this month.
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