Registration has opened for this year’s GameHorizon, taking place June 27-28 at The Sage Gateshead.
Mills from app developer ustwo, Darren Jobling of Eutechnyx, Thumbstar’s Gareth Edmondson and Atomic Antelope’s Chris Stevens are all confirmed for the event, with more to be added over the coming months.
“The theme for 2012 is GameHorizon is about Entertainment, Technology and Games,” said Nina Cliff, conference producer. “We’re seeking out unique thinkers and pioneering businesses for this year’s line up.”
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
It’s an understatement to say THQ is in a mess. This week it axed staff from its publishing and administration teams, and confirmed that it is no longer working on games aimed at the younger audiences, including the shelving of a recent Disney project. That’s not because games for kids aren’t doing the business anymore, it’s just that THQ hasn’t been able to follow the audience as it got hooked on monsters and online penguins.
Concentrating on the core audience is a solid plan if that really is your intention, but THQ is a company without confidence, axing projects and staff before they’ve taken their first steps. Look at its activities last year and a familiar pattern emerges – because its exactly what it did in 2009 when it first acknowledged that the kids’ market was shrinking, when it closed Big Huge Games and let Heavy Iron and Incinerator go, when CEO Brian Farrell said the company would focus on fewer titles, when internal studio Volition lost its QA staff, the International business was shuttered and 600 staff let go. And previously in 2008 when it spoke of a new direction and sacked 250 staff with the closure of five studios.
But back to 2011, to really ram the point home. Three internal development teams were shut down in September at a cost of 200 jobs, and the MX Vs ATV franchise was canned – a series Brian Farrell hoped would usher in a mid-priced revolution for the company. The recently rebooted Red Faction series was briefly full of hope before being canned in July after a lacklustre launch and tepid reviews for Red Faction: Guerrilla. A month earlier, THQ Warrington (a digital-focused studio) was closed, alongside the Homefront team at Kaos, and Saints Row spin-off Drive By didn’t even get shown publicly before being snuffed.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
BAFTA, in association with GamesIndustry.biz, will host Games Question Time this February, featuring some of the leading talent in the UK games business.
New UKIE CEO Jo Twist, Frontier’s David Braben, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard and Rebellion’s Jason Kingsley will all take part in a lively debate on the current state of the UK’s games business, hosted by GamesIndustry.biz’s Johnny Minkley.
A limited number of free tickets are available for the event, taking place at BAFTA HQ at 195 Piccadilly in London on February 20. Once free tickets are gone, additional tickets can be purchased for £5.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Portal creator Valve has released a beta app for iOS and Android devices.
The app will allow users to chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content and check on sales on the Steam service.
“The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Brink developer Splash Damage has hired Griff Jenkins as the studio’s new director of production, reporting directly to CEO Paul Wedgwood.
Jenkins was previously at Electronic Arts working on Need for Speed and FIFA franchises and has also worked on with Criterion, Kuju and Eidos.
“Following FIFA’s incredible success, Griff’s new role at Splash Damage will be to improve our games by improving the way we make them,” said Wedgwood.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
EA’s digital distribution platform Origin has added a further eleven publishers to its line up.
Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment, CD Projekt RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd and N3V Games will all supply content for the service.
“The digital versions of Rift have seen incredible success, and Origin offers an ideal direct-to-consumer avenue for gamers interested in experiencing the rich world of Telara,” said Trion’s Jim Butler.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
UKIE is to debut a beta PC digital download chart this February with help from retailers such as Mastertronic, Focus, Get Games and Green Man Gaming.
The organisation hopes to improve on the service in the coming months, which currently includes sales from Disney, Ubisoft, Sega, Square Enix, NCsoft and Warners. GamesIndustry.biz understands that there are currently 24 digital businesses involved in the project.
It also confirmed that it is also working on charts covering digital sales for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ruled against ITV after it featured footage from ArmA II in a documentary last year, claiming that the film showed IRA guerrillas attempting to shoot down a British Army helicopter.
Footage included in the documentary, Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA, last September was labelled as “IRA video 1988″ but was actually a video of gameplay from the Bohemia Interactive title.
After viewers alerted Ofcom at the time of transmission, the broadcaster said that “this was an unfortunate case of human error for which we apologise.”
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
