When Mark Gerhard, CEO of Jagex spoke to GamesIndustry.biz he had one thing on his mind: recent reports that revealed the Runescape developer was now 55 per cent owned by an American investor, Insight Venture Partners. He wanted to explain that while the extra capital had come from overseas, control of the company and its plans for the future where still very much on British soil.
In this exclusive interview Gerhard explains that the investment has only changed things for the better, allowing the company to grow, recruit, build new tech and look beyond Runescape and to the three new MMOs it currently has in production. And Jagex’s goals beyond that? For the future? Only to become the Google of online games.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
The finalists for the 2012 IGF prizes have been announced, with 200 judges participating in the selection process.
The winners will be chosen across seven categories, honouring Excellence In Visual Art, Technical Excellence, Excellence In Design, Excellence In Audio, the Best Mobile Game, abstract shortform achievement in the Nuovo Award and the Seamus McNally Grand Prize.
Competing for the main award are Dear Esther, a first-person ghost story depicted in the Portal 2 engine, puzzle game Fez, turn-based combat title Frozen Synapse, motion controlled Johann Sebastian Joust and procedurally-generated platformer Spelunky.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Game streaming service OnLive will launch a new free app, OnLive Desktop, for iPad on Thursday.
“OnLive Desktop is the first app to deliver a no-compromise, media-rich Windows desktop experience to iPad, opening up powerful new possibilities for consumers and businesses,” said CEO Steve Perlman.
“iPad users will now be able to simply and securely view and edit cloud-hosted documents with full-featured Windows desktop applications like Microsoft Office, just as if they were using a local high-performance PC. Multi-touch gestures respond instantly and smoothly, while HD videos, animations and PC video games-never before usable on a remote desktop-play seamlessly.”
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
It was a case of the usual suspects this week as the top 20 failed to see any new entries. FIFA 12 starts the year by holding on the number one spot, followed by Battlefield 3, which swapped places with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
In a month that traditionally sees a rise in dieting and gym memberships it was a huge week for fitness titles, with Zumba Fitness shooting back up the charts from 19 to 6. Zumba Fitness 2 saw a similar push, from 28 to 12, and EA Sports Active 2 rose from 37 to 20.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Could a rental or hire-purchase model help secure a future for dedicated gaming handhelds like the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS?
It’s an idea floated by Frontier Developments’ David Braben, Codemasters’ Jamie MacDonald, Boss Alien’s Jason Avent, and Simon Oliver of Hand Circus in a roundtable discussion with GamesIndustry.biz.
One of the challenges the Vita faces is that, beyond the lower prices of smartphone games, mobile hardware is generally acquired through a hire-purchase model, effectively making it free to the consumer.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Media streaming service LoveFilm has signed new deals with both BBC Worldwide and ITV to bring new programmes to its subscribers.
“We are thrilled to be bringing together great British TV content with Europe’s leading film subscription service,” said CEO Simon Calver.
“This gives Lovefilm an even more powerful, unique offering of instant programming for our members to view across a growing number of platforms, for one low monthly price.”
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
At the beginning of 2009, Goodgame Studios had 10 employees and was about to start developing its first game. Today, it is one of the fastest growing companies in Germany’s crowded free-to-play development scene, with more than 28 million registered users across a portfolio of 9 browser-based social games.
When I visited the company’s Hamburg office recently, co-founders Kai and Christian Wawrzinek – both doctors, the former in law, the latter in dentistry – were preparing to welcome a crop of new employees that would send Goodgame’s headcount past 160. I’m told that, by the end of next year, that number will reach 250.
In this exclusive interview, Kai and Christian Wawrzinek discuss their unconventional route to game development, the decision to develop social games outside of Facebook, the value of recruiting from outside the games industry, and why start-ups need to focus their efforts to achieve success.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
The experiences of a young woman in Texas have highlighted security issues for Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, after her account was hacked and points purchased on it sold to the highest bidder.
Susan T shared her story on a blog which documented her correspondence with both Microsoft and someone who had bought the points fraudulently purchased with her account.
She became aware of the problem on January 2 when she received purchase confirmations from Microsoft for 10,000 points and the Family Gold Pack, as well as an email to say the points had been successfully transferred. She had been charged $ 214.97, and immediately contacted Microsoft’s Xbox Phone Support Team, who blocked her account.
Read more…
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
