Studio Pixel, the one-man studio responsible for giving us the original Cave Story, last Friday released its first iPhone and iPod touch game, Azarashi [$ .99]. It’s as minimal as it is pure in focus; in it, you attempt to catch three seal keychains before they fall to the ground, and at the end of the round you are scored on your speed. Hit too early and you kill a delightful little seal, but do it just fast enough and you’ll earn more keychains to catch after all three rounds are over.
This is a really mini mini-game, so be aware of that before you download. If anything, it’s a brilliant display of Studio Pixel’s art, sound design, and edge. We’ve got some screens for those of you who don’t want to take the plunge just yet:
Cave Story is brilliant, by the way, and the PC and Mac versions are still free. If you’ve got some extra computer time today, we highly suggest you give it a look.
Source: Touch Arcade
The studio responsible for handling Electronic Arts’ coveted Command & Conquer franchise, Victory Games, has been renamed BioWare Victory. This now makes four EA-owned studios to be rebranded into the BioWare family in the last two years, following the renaming of Mythic Entertainment to BioWare Mythic in 2010, EA2D’s transformation to BioWare San Francisco earlier this year, and just this month, social game company KlickNation being renamed BioWare Sacramento immediately after its acquisition. BioWare Victory …
Source: Gamasutra News
Former Capcom superstar Shinji Mikami formed the development studio Tango last year, and it has yet to produce a tangible product — and after this generous gift from sibling company Bethesda Game Studios, we shouldn’t expect any progress for another year or so. Bethesda, part of the Zenimax Group with Tango, sent one Skyrim collector’s edition for every employee at Mikami’s studio, which, as we can see in the photo, is more than two.
Tango is based in Tokyo, but Bethesda sent over English versions of Skyrim because there is no collector’s edition for the Japanese version, and because people in countries that aren’t the U.S. generally know more than one language. They call it globalization. Weird.
Shinji Mikami’s studio gets Skyrim shipment, may never get any work done now originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: Joystiq
Square Enix will open a new AAA studio in Montreal in 2012 and plans to hire 150 staff members. It’s first title will be a brand new Hitman game.
“Montreal is a vibrant centre of game creators with industry-leading talent, and one of the most important bases of our global network of game development within the Square Enix Group,” said CEO Yoichi Wada.
The operation will be headed up by Lee Singleton, who will remain GM of Square Enix London Studios, and will be joined by three developers from IO Interactive at launch.
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Square Enix has announced the creation of a second studio in Montreal, a new Hitman game, as well as expansion at its Eidos Montreal studio. Eidos Montreal was the developer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Eidos Montreal is going to create 100 new jobs, to work on a third unannounced title, along with the next Deus Ex and Thief games.
The new studio will be called Square Enix Montreal and is set to open sometime in 2012 and will create 150 new jobs. It is set to work on a new Hitman game that is currently unannounced. It would be the second Hitman game in development, as IO Interactive is currently working on Hitman: Absolution. Lee Singleton, the current general manager at Square Enix London is going to lead the new studio.
Yoichi Wada, president and chief executive officer at Square Enix, said, “Montreal is a vibrant center of game creators with industry-leading talent, and one of the most important bases of our global network of game development within the Square Enix Group.”
“We believe in creating studios where passion for our games and gaming runs throughout and Eidos-Montreal is testament to this vision,” added Phil Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Europe. “The start up of a second studio brings a huge advantage to our business; we will nurture two separate studios with their own strengths, culture and appeal.”
Source: gamrFeed
Babaroga, a development studio focused on the mobile market, has opened a new office in London.
“Babaroga decided to establish its second studio in London because we find that it enables us to easily reach the UK and European markets without a difficult language barrier,” David Bachowski, VP of business development, told GamesIndustry.biz
“London is a very large and diverse business hub,” he added. “People are always talking about how great Brighton is for games development, and while it certainly is a great development hub, I feel that London holds many more networking opportunities.”
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Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
Here’s the thing: The stuff you loved when you were a kid changes as you grow up. Mr. Rogers passed away after a long and full life. The Smurfs got turned into a terrible movie starring Katy Perry. And Rare, the creators of all those games you loved way back when, are really, really into Kinect Sports.
That’s the lesson from this quick tour of the company’s studios, where you can see lots and lots of wall-sized displays of Kinect avatars, but only two mentions of the company’s storied and prosperous history with Nintendo. Goldeneye 007 and Banjo and Kazooie may sit front and center in many gamers’ hearts, but at Rare HQ these days, they mostly just sit as unmarked cartridges inside a glass history case.
That’s fine — Rare is doing quite well under Microsoft’s leadership, and as the article says, the company is very proud of what it’s done with Kinect and Xbox Live. But that won’t keep us from remembering the good old times, and all of the fun we had together way back when.
Rare studio tour shows that Kinect is the centerpiece these days originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: Joystiq
