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Jonathan Chey splits from Irrational’s Australian branch and starts up Blue Manchu in Canberra.
Australia’s tiny development scene just got a bit bigger today, with the announcement that Irrational Games co-founder and former head of Irrational Australia Jonathan Chey has split off and started his own company, Blue Manchu. While the company was officially unveiled today, Chey actually founded Blue Manchu in August 2010. The shop is currently composed of several ex-Irrational Games employees.
Blue Manchu’s first title is set to be an online card-collecting game called Card Hunter. In an interview with industry publication MCV Australia, Chey said, “Our goal is to create innovative titles that are a bit off the beaten path. Card Hunter is a good example of that, mixing board gaming with MMO-like features, such as item collection and trading.”
Initially, Card Hunter will be released as a browser-based game, but Blue Manchu told MCV that it plans on porting it over to the iOS in the not-too-distant future.
You can follow the activities of Blue Manchu on Facebook and Twitter.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Irrational co-founder spawns new studio” was posted by James Kozanecki on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:15:54 -0700 -
French publisher narrows release window for Driver 3DS as April-June revenues come in at $146 million.
Ubisoft may have killed off Assassin’s Creed 3DS, but the publisher isn’t nixing all of the games it announced at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo to support Nintendo’s 3D-enabled handheld. As part of the publisher’s earnings report for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, Ubisoft offered a narrowed release window for Driver: Renegade, saying the detective drama will arrive on the 3DS sometime before September 30.
Otherwise, Ubisoft didn’t have much to get excited about during its first quarter. Revenue during the period fell to €103 million ($146 million), down 36.3 percent from the same period the year prior, when sales were fueled by the long-awaited release of Splinter Cell: Conviction. However, that performance still bested Ubisoft’s guidance of €99 million ($140 million). As is customary for the company, net income (or loss) for the period was not disclosed.
The French publisher said that it saw an especially strong performance from its catalog of titles, where sales were up 84 percent year-over-year to €68 million ($96.6 million). Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which arrived for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in November 2010, sold particularly well, as did rhythm-game titles such as Just Dance and Michael Jackson The Experience.
Despite beating its own expectations for the first quarter, Ubisoft maintained its guidance for the full year. For the earnings period ending March 31, 2012, Ubisoft expects to earn between €1.04 billion ($1.48 billion) and €1.08 billion ($1.53 billion). Operating income is still expected to come in between €40 million ($56.8 million) and €60 million ($85.3 million).
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Ubisoft beats Q1 guidance, sales fall 36%” was posted by Tom Magrino on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:54:20 -0700 -
Comic-Con 2011: Activision announces new release window for Radical Entertainment’s open-world action game; publisher showing the title at this week’s geek gala in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO–During the 2010 Video Game Awards in December, Activision showed Prototype 2 for the very first time, attaching a wide open “2012” release window to it. However, now the publisher has narrowed the game’s expected premiere date, saying it will arrive in April 2012.
[UPDATE] During an Activision preview event at Comic-Con 2011 tonight, the publisher pegged Prototype 2’s release date to April 24. For more on Prototype 2, check out a live demo of the game from GameSpot’s Tonight on the Spot.
In addition to announcing the new release window for Prototype 2–due out on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC–Activision noted that the game will be on display this week at Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego. The publisher will be giving 15-minute presentations of Prototype 2 at Activision’s booth throughout the show.
However, gamers who can’t attend the show won’t be left in the cold. Activision has retooled Prototype 2’s official website, adding a new layout and the first part in a three-part CGI trailer series.
As for the game, Prototype 2 is the sequel to 2009’s well-received open-world action adventure title from Radical Entertainment. It is set in the fictional world of New York Zero and casts players as Sgt. James Heller, an ex-soldier tasked with taking down the protagonist of the original game, Alex Mercer.
For more on Prototype 2, check out GameSpot’s latest preview of the game.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Prototype 2 morphing April 2012” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:11:35 -0700 -
Comic-Con 2011: [UPDATE] Activision announces new release window for Radical Entertainment’s open-world action game; publisher showing the title at this week’s geek gala in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO–During the 2010 Video Game Awards in December, Activision showed Prototype 2 for the very first time, attaching a wide open “2012” release window to it. However, now the publisher has narrowed the game’s expected premiere date, saying it will arrive in April 2012.
[UPDATE] During an Activision preview event at Comic-Con 2011 tonight, the publisher pegged Prototype 2’s release date to April 24. For more on Prototype 2, check out a live demo of the game from GameSpot’s Tonight on the Spot.
In addition to announcing the new release window for Prototype 2–due out on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC–Activision noted that the game will be on display this week at Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego. The publisher will be giving 15-minute presentations of Prototype 2 at Activision’s booth throughout the show.
However, gamers who can’t attend the show won’t be left in the cold. Activision has retooled Prototype 2’s official website, adding a new layout and the first part in a three-part CGI trailer series.
As for the game, Prototype 2 is the sequel to 2009’s well-received open-world action adventure title from Radical Entertainment. It is set in the fictional world of New York Zero and casts players as Sgt. James Heller, an ex-soldier tasked with taking down the protagonist of the original game, Alex Mercer.
For more on Prototype 2, check out GameSpot’s latest preview of the game.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Prototype 2 morphing April 24” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:11:35 -0700 -
Character art for Nova, Phoenix Wright, Dr. Strange, Nemesis, and more found on Capcom servers, then pulled.
Get the full article at GameSpot
“Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 roster leaked?” was posted by Brendan Sinclair on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:50:15 -0700 -
“Don’t just add depth for the sake of it.”
Some game creators are producing poor quality 3D visuals, Sony has said.
The PlayStation 3 manufacturer has called on developers to add 3D only where it makes a difference to gameplay, and not for the sake of it.
“It’s been a good first year,” Sony’s 3D chief Mick Hocking told Eurogamer in an interview at the Develop conference in Brighton this afternoon.
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Lionhead “going for a lighter feel”.
Kinect game Fable: The Journey will lose some of Fable’s trademark black adult humour, lead artist Tak Saito has revealed.
Fable II was rated 15 by the BBFC, and Fable III was rated 16+ by PEGI. Saito, speaking at the Develop Conference, said Lionhead now has a family audience to consider.
“Because our game is also aimed at a family audience as well as core gamers, we also like to go for a lighter feel,” Saito announced.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops is officially the best-selling game in U.S. history, and you know that that means. The online multiplayer is crawling with noobs. They run into walls, spam grenades, waste airstrikes and generally make a mess of everything. Luckily people like you are out there, killing them in nasty ways…
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Artist hints at long wait ahead.
We won’t get to see what former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella are up to at their new Respawn studio until 2015, according to an artist working on its first title.
During a presentation at the annual Develop conference in Brighton today, Iain McCaig said “I’m having the most fun working with Respawn Entertainment right now, and I hate that I can’t show you guys what I’m doing there until 2015.”
McCaig, who has Hollywood experience on the three Star Wars prequels, as well as games work on the likes of The Secret of Monkey Island, added that working with Respawn is “the most exhilarating experience I’ve ever had in my career.”
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“We’re down the path” to the holodeck.
Rumours abound that Microsoft may be preparing to unveil the next Xbox at E3 2012, but according to Kinect Sports developer Rare, the next-gen is already here.
Speaking at the Develop conference in Brighton this evening, Rare chief Scott Henson dismissed next-gen questions, pointing towards Microsoft’s ability to improve gaming experiences through software.
“One of my favourite things is, Scott, tell me when next-gen is. Tell me when that’s going to happen. This has been the last ten years of my life. When’s next-gen? When’s next-gen? When’s the new Xbox Live? When’s the new Xbox?” he said.
