Edge Online - Interactive Entertainment Today

De Fondaumiere: Cultural Tax Breaks Are A Problem

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:25:05 -0500

European Games Developer Federation chair Guillaume de Fondaumiere has issued a warning to countries looking to implement ‘cultural tests’ for tax credits: move with the times or risk withholding the lifeline until it’s too late.

“The cultural test is a problem,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.

The Making Of: Rogue

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:15:15 -0500

Format: BSD 4.2 UNIX/various
Release: 1980
Publisher: N/A
Developer: Ken Arnold, Michael Toy

"Hello Edge, Welcome to the Dungeons of Doom”. To anyone familiar with a game that was to go on to have

Tecmo Koei Boss Speaks Out

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:43:37 -0500

Kenji Matsubara, CEO of newly-formed publisher Tecmo Koei, has wasted no time in making a repeat request for a PS3 price cut, and is cautiously optimistic about Xbox 360 in Japan.

"Whenever I discuss this with Sony reps, I always ask them: 'Please cut the price,' but I don't have a clear view on Sony's situation," he said when interviewed by CVG. "It's definitely a way of boosting the PS3 market, but it's Sony's strategy and I don't know their cost structure.

Charity Launches Military-Only Gaming Network

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:06:02 -0500

The US military often lands itself in hot water by using videogames as recruitment tools, but charity Pro vs. GI Joe would rather preach to the enlisted. Its latest venture, the Military Online Gaming Program (MOG), allows troops from connected branches and bases to trade fire online.

Interview: What Price An iPhone Game?

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:27:42 -0500

With the recently released OS 3.0 for iPhone adding features like embeddable maps, peripheral support, and push notifications, the variety of products in the iTunes App Store is increasing by the day. The same can be said of its prices.

Trine Project “A Big Mess,” Says Developer

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:26:29 -0500

Shadowgrounds developer Frozenbyte has admitted that the cross-platform launch of Trine, marred by a controversial gap between PC and PS3 price points, is “not really the optimal way to do a game launch.”

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Bleszinski "Shocked" By Id Acquisition

Edge Staff — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:07:03 -0500

Epic design director Cliff Bleszinski has admitted to being shocked by the acquisition of id Software by Bethesda parent ZeniMax.

In an interview with Develop, the Gears Of War designer compares the move to 3D Realms’ recent abandonment of Duke Nukem Forever.

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The Friday Game: Paper Toss

Chris Donlan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:43:21 -0500

Format: iPhone
Developer: Backflip Studios
Direct App Store link

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Midway Sale Approved By Court

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:29:25 -0500

Warner’s bid to purchase Midway has officially been cleared following a court hearing.

The majority of Midway’s US assets will now be transferred to Warner within the next ten days.

"We had a court hearing yesterday and the end result of that is the sale was approved and the closing will occur within the next ten days," a Midway representative told Joystiq.

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IGDA Names New Executive Director

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:02:45 -0500

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has appointed Joshua Caulfield as it new executive director.

Described as an avid gamer who has held a number of senior positions in business management and marketing, Caulfield was most recently executive vice president of the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

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Nintendo Buys TV Quiz Show

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:50:18 -0500

Nintendo has reportedly spent £2 million to bankroll a primetime quiz show on UK TV channel Five.

Britain’s Best Brain will see contestants compete in memory, co-ordination, numeracy, recognition and risk tasks.

The platform holder will use the show to promote DS titles, with exclusive sponsorship credits around eight one hour long episodes, reports MCV.

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Sony: UMD-Free PSP Was Always Planned

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:35:19 -0500

Naoya Matsui, the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment's product planning division, has revealed that the platform holder always planned to release a UMD-free PSP once the digital distribution market had matured.

"We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," Matsui told GameBusiness.jp (via Develop).

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Review: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Edge Staff — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:05:52 -0500

Format: PSP
Release: Out now
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: In-house

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Xbox Live Patent Infringement Trial Underway

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:59:49 -0500

Microsoft is currently defending itself in an Xbox Live patent infringement case.

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NBA 2K9 Sales Reach Two Million

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:32:20 -0500

Worldwide sales of 2k Sports’ NBA 2K9 have passed the two million mark.

The Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and PC basketball sim released last October.

As it celebrates a decade of the franchise this year, the company also confirmed plans to release NBA 2K10: Anniversary Edition for Xbox 360 and PS3 this autumn. The limited edition title will feature exclusive items and a DVD looking back on ten years of the series. Each of the 30,000 copies released will be individually numbered.

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Interview: What Makes FIFA Tick? Part 2

Edge Staff — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:45:02 -0500

This is the second part of our interview with Gary Paterson, the creative director of FIFA 10, in which he continues to explain exactly how the football game works, how FIFA finally made its way into the premier league and the technology he'd like the next generation of football games to feature.

Read the first part of our conversation right here
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Sales Down 9.1 Per Cent At Game

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:29:57 -0500

Sales for the 21 weeks to June 27 were down by 9.1 per cent at retailer Game, but in line with company expectations.

Like for like (lfl) sales for the same period were down by 15.4 per cent.

In the UK and Ireland, total sales were down by 12.4 per cent and lfl sales were down by 15.8 per cent. In the company’s international business, total sales were down by 1.1 per cent and lfl sales down by 14.4 per cent.

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Xbox Live Ads Will “Enhance, Not Interfere” With Gaming Experience

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:12:03 -0500

Microsoft has moved to assure Xbox Live users that plans to brings adverts to Xbox Live won’t interfere with their gaming experience.

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No More Heroes Will “Need A New Platform”

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:08:27 -0500

Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda says the company will need to look beyond Wii if it is to evolve No More Heroes into a major franchise.

Although Wii commands a greater install base than its rivals, thirdparty games aimed at the core market continue to struggle on the platform, and Suda has aspirations for the franchise he says can’t be satisfied on Nintendo’s console.
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UK Console Installed Base Hits 24.2 Million

Tom Ivan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:28:02 -0500

The current generation UK console installed base has hit 24.2 million units, according to GfK Chart-Track data released by retailer Game.

As of June 27, 2009, DS sales were approaching ten million units. In comparison, PSP sales sat at 3.3 million units.

Wii comfortably led the way on the home console front with 5.4 million sales. Xbox 360 sales totaled 3.9 million units and PS3 sales 2.2 million.

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