November 2010 Archives

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Mickey Mouse makes his US debut as a videogame hero Tuesday in "Wasteland," featuring an alternate world that includes Walt Disney Company's long forgotten characters and attractions

"Disney Epic Mickey" for Wii consoles puts players into the large yellow shoes of the famous cartoon mouse and challenges them to use wits, paint, and paint thinner to defeat enemies, save old friends and restore a ruined land.

Mickey has the power to erase characters or restore them to glory, with his actions influencing the course of the game, according to Warren Spector of Junction Point Studio, which crafted the software.

"Mickey hasn't been the videogame hero he was meant to be," Spector said of the character introduced in 1928 while providing a glimpse of the title at a conference in Los Angeles earlier this year. "That's about to change."

Mickey's foes in the game include "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," a pioneering Disney cartoon figure turned bitter because the mouse soared to stardom while he sank into obscurity.

The game will mark the first time Oswald has appeared in a new Disney story since 1928.

Disney Interactive Studios is introducing Mickey's videogame as Nintendo works to keep players enchanted with the Wii in the face of motion-sensing controls being added to rival consoles built by Microsoft and Sony.

Wii launched in 2006 with innovative motion-sensing controls and became a must-have videogame console credited with expanding the market far beyond "hardcore gamers" devoted to shooter titles.

Microsoft just hit the market with hot-selling Kinect hardware that lets people control Xbox 360 games with body gestures alone. Sony unleashed Move hardware which allows motion-control of games on PlayStation 3 consoles.

Nintendo reported that Wii consoles and DS handheld gaming gadgets were hot sellers in the United States during the prime holiday shopping week marked by "Black Friday," the day after the Thanksgiving in this country.

The Japanese videogame titan estimated that it sold 600,000 Wii consoles and 900,000 devices from its DS line of handheld game gadgets between November 21 and 27.

"US shoppers bought about 9,000 Nintendo hardware systems nonstop for every hour of every day during the week of Black Friday," said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

Fils-Aime maintained that the strong start to the traditional shopping season meant that Wii consoles haven't lost their magic in the market.

Nintendo enticed shoppers with deals on bundles of videogame hardware and software.

Third-party game makers such as Disney, Ubisoft, and Activision fueled the momentum with new titles for play on Nintendo systems, according to Fils-Aime.

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--OnLive videogame systems that let people play titles on-demand in the Internet "cloud" will make their debut in the United States in December.

The Palo Alto, California-based firm was taking orders on Thursday for 99-dollar "microconsoles" that will let gamers play major titles such as "Assassin's Creed" streamed to Internet-connected television sets.

OnLive micro-consoles are about the size of a deck of cards and wirelessly link to hand-held controllers.

"This is the device that is going to bring on-demand gaming into the living room," OnLive senior product manager Michael Miller told AFP while demonstrating the system at a major videogame conference in June.

"Plug into the Internet, plug into the TV and you are ready to play the hottest games. This is cloud gaming."

About 35 videogames including "Borderlands" typically played on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles will be available for purchase or rental online when the Onlive Game Systems begin reaching buyers on December 2.

"The OnLive Game System marks the start of a new era for videogames and home entertainment," said OnLive founder and chief executive Steve Perlman. "It also opens the door to a new world of options."

OnLive users can "test-drive" games for free before deciding whether to rent a title for a few days or indefinitely.

Videogame publishers and studios signed on with OnLive get to set their own rates for titles, which can be rented for three days, five days or unlimited "full pass" play.

Rental fees were expected to range from 3.99 dollars to 8.99 dollars depending on how many days, and "full play" passes to top out at 50 dollars.

Packaged disks containing new releases of popular titles for play on videogame consoles typically launch at prices of 50 dollars or 60 dollars.

OnLive took videogames into the "cloud" in June with the US launch of a service that hosts hot titles as services on the Internet, eliminating the need for consoles.

The service let people play videogames online using computers running on Microsoft or Apple operating systems. Controllers typically used in the consoles can be plugged into computers to play OnLive.

OnLive hosts videogame software at whichever of its three US data centers is closest to players to optimize the speed at which data travels.

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Online social networking game king Zynga on Tuesday said a settlement was reached with a rival accused of stealing its secrets and coaxing employees to betrayal.

Zynga and Playdom did not reveal details of the deal struck to end a lawsuit filed in September of last year in a state court near Playdom's headquarters in the northern California city of Mountain View.

"Zynga is extremely pleased with the final resolution of its trade secret suit against Playdom and various individuals," said Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis.

"We have great respect for Disney and are thankful that following its acquisition of Playdom, Disney resolved the matter to our satisfaction," Davis said.

The Walt Disney Co. announced in July that it was buying Playdom in a deal worth up to 763 million dollars.

Disney said Playdom shareholders will receive up to 563.2 million dollars and performance-linked bonuses of up to 200 million dollars.

Playdom is the developer of popular online games such as "Social City," "Sorority Life," "Market Street" and "Bola" and claims some 42 million active players a month on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

Playdom's chief rival in the fast-growing social games space is Zynga.

Zynga claims more than 230 million monthly active users of its games, which include "FarmVille," "Mafia Wars" and "Treasure Isle."

The legal settlement "reflects the very serious nature of the conduct involved," according to Davis.

Playdom top executives, frustrated with continually being steps behind market-leading Zynga, launched a campaign to steal game ideas and other inside information, court documents charged.

"We're already in the process of copying," Playdom co-founder Dan Yue is quoted as saying in an internal email exchange that was part of the court record. "Let's all be evil."

Playdom wooed Zynga workers, getting them to reveal inside secrets while luring them with new jobs competing with their former employer.

Email gathered as evidence in the case showed a "shocking level of hatred and anger toward Zynga that led to illegal and unethical acts," court documents indicated.

"I don't think (Zynga CEO) Mark Pincus realizes it, but a good part of my motivation to drive forward on 100-plus hour work weeks is simply my personal dislike of him," Yue is quoted as saying in an email.

"God, do I hate that guy."

Playdom used a "back door" to hack into Zynga's popular online poker game to get a roster of players in January 2009, according to the legal complaint.

The following day, 1.6 million players of the game were invited to play Playdom's version and told that the amount of chips waiting for each of them was 125 percent more than in their Zynga poker accounts."

The lawsuit targeted Playdom and eight one-time Zynga game makers accused of slipping secrets to the rival.

Playdom released a joint statement with Zynga announcing that a settlement had been reached but did not comment further.

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Vudu will begin routing online films to Internet-linked PlayStation 3 video game consoles in the United States in a deal announced on Wednesday with Sony Computer Entertainment America.

The partnership with Vudu comes as rival video game consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo evolve into living room entertainment hubs serving up games, films, websites, and television shows.

Vudu, a six-year-old Internet firm recently bought by retail colossus Walmart, will launch an on-demand movie service on PlayStation Network in the United States on November 23, according to Sony.

Vudu will stream films on demand and has a vast library of high-definition movies. An "enormous collection" of titles will be available for rental at a cost of two dollars each for two nights.

"PS3 is tailor-made for the high-quality, high-speed Vudu streaming experience," said Vudu general manager Edward Lichty.

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Zynga late Wednesday unveiled "CityVille," the first globally released online game built by the hot startup behind social play hits "FarmVille" and "Mafia Wars."

"CityVille is where Monopoly meets Main Street," said the game's general manager Sean Kelly.

The game challenges a player to build his or her dream city from the ground up and incorporates winning aspects of popular Zynga titles "FrontierVille" and "FarmVille."

"Instead of harvesting crops you're harvesting your neighborhood; instead of clearing your friend's frontier you're working on a friend's franchise," Kelly said, referring to the title as Zynga's most social game to date.

Zynga rocketed to success at Facebook, where people recruited friends to join them in online play and shared game accomplishments at the world's leading social network.

More than 320 million people have played Zynga games since the San Francisco-based company was launched in 2007, according to its founder Mark Pincus.

The number of people playing Zynga games each month tops 225 million, according to the firm.

Test, or beta, versions of "CityVille" will be rolled out worldwide in coming weeks in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

"CityVille" play involves creating thriving cities while balancing the needs of virtual inhabitants and tending to jobs such as running businesses and harvesting crops.

Players in the roles of city managers will also need to cultivate beneficial relationships with neighboring cities.

Agence France-Presse

SEOUL--A 15-year-old South Korean boy committed suicide after killing his mother for scolding him over excessive computer game playing, a report said Tuesday.

The boy's sister found their 43-year-old mother dead in her bedroom and her brother hanging from a gas pipe at their home in the southern port of Busan, Yonhap news agency said.

The 12-year-old daughter reported to police that her mother and brother often had fights about his game addiction, Yonhap reported.

It quoted investigators saying the boy apparently committed suicide out of guilt at killing his mother.

South Korea is one of the world's most wired societies, but there have been sporadic reports of deaths related to Internet game addiction in the country.

In February a 32-year-old man died after reportedly playing for five days with few breaks.

A month later police arrested a couple accused of leaving their baby daughter to starve to death while they raised a "virtual" child on the Internet.

A post mortem examination showed the baby suffered a long period of malnutrition.

The government, which estimates South Korea has about two million web addicts, has announced a campaign to combat the affliction.

From next year it will offer free software to people at risk, to limit the time they spend on the web.

A consensual shutdown program restricts usage to a time set by a guardian or user. Another called Internet Fatigue tries to make players become bored over time.

Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK--Viacom Inc. said Thursday that it plans to sell Harmonix, developer of the "Rock Band" videogame, and is in talks with several potential buyers.

Speaking to financial analysts after releasing the US entertainment giant's quarterly results, Viacom president and chief executive Philippe Dauman said the decision to sell Harmonix "is about focus."

"Our decision to exit this business reflects our strategy of focusing entirely on what we do best--make great branded entertainment content and deliver it through a variety of platforms," Dauman said.

"The console games business requires an expertise and scale that we don't have so we have taken steps to sell Harmonix," he said.

Dauman said that Viacom, whose properties include BET Networks, MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, was "in discussions with several potential buyers" for Harmonix.

The US entertainment giant's net profit fell 59 percent in the quarter which ended on September 30 to $189 million while revenue climbed five percent to $3.33 billion.

Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE--A consortium led by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings has paid $60 million for a stake in a US-based online videogame firm, company officials said.

Gazillion Entertainment, developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, said Temasek's financial support was timely.

"We're pleased to welcome Temasek as we enter a key phase of expansion for the company," Rob Hutter, Gazillion's chief executive officer, said in a press release seen by AFP on Thursday.

Temasek declined to comment on the investment but Singapore's Straits Times reported Thursday that it will be a minority shareholder.

Gazillion's existing shareholders include US media conglomerate Hearst Corporation and the Abu Dhabi Media Company.

The company last month launched LEGO Universe, an MMO game based on the ubiquitous toy-building brick that has proven a hit with children worldwide.

Gazillion Entertainment is also planning to launch Super Hero Squad Online -- an MMO game featuring the heroes and villains of Marvel Entertainment -- in the first quarter of 2011.

Temasek already has stakes in two Chinese online gaming companies, 9you.com and Shanda Entertainment, as part of a global portfolio that includes Singapore Airlines and was worth more than $140 billion as of March.

Agence France-Presse

HAVANA--Cuba's state-run media and bloggers are not amused at "Call of Duty: Black Ops," a new videogame in which the player can join a secret operation in the 1960s to assassinate former leader Fidel Castro.

"What the United States government did not manage to do in 50 years, now it attempts to accomplish by virtual means," said comments Wednesday on the website Cubadebate, where Castro regularly publishes opinion pieces.

The site was referring to the numerous plots to kill the Cuban president, which the government said numbers 638.

The latest installment of the hit "Call of Duty" franchise went on sale in North America and Europe on Tuesday, ditching World War II and modern-day environments for a Cold War theme.

The game's first mission is to assassinate Fidel Castro before the 1962 missile crisis, the moment when the Cold War came closest to tipping into a full-blown nuclear conflict.

Later missions take gamers inside the former Soviet Union and southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Castro, now 84, led Cuba from the 1959 revolution until he stepped down for health reasons in 2006. His brother Raul Castro is currently the president of the communist nation.

On one hand, the game "glorifies the attempts that in an illegal manner the United States government planned against Castro," while on the other it "stimulates sociopathic behavior among American children and adolescents, the main consumers" of those games, Cubadebate said.

US attempts to assassinate Castro were approved during the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Cuban exiles were responsible for most attempts on Castro's life starting in the 1970s.

"What does not fit in the mind of sane people is how the American society allows the proliferation of these games," read a posting by a writer belonging to the pro-government Bloggers and Correspondents of the Revolution (http://bloguerosrevolucion.ning.com).

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" from the Activision unit of France's Vivendi follows "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", last year's biggest grossing console game with more than 20 million units sold around the world.

Expectations for the Cold War chapter are high: IT marketing firm IDC forecasts that 11.7 million copies will be shifted in the United States by the end of the year alone.

Agence France-Presse

PARIS--Kicking off with a mission to assassinate Fidel Castro, the newest installment of the hit "Call of Duty" franchise went on sale in North America and Europe Tuesday taking gamers on a series of Cold War-era military adventures.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" is the successor to "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", last year's biggest grossing console game with more than 20 million units sold around the world.

Expectations for the Cold War chapter are high: IT marketing firm IDC forecasts that 11.7 million copies will be shifted in the United States by the end of the year alone.

"Black Ops" marks a significant change for the franchise, ditching World War II and modern-day environments for a Cold War theme.

Mission number one is to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro before the 1962 missile crisis in the communist Carribean nation, the moment when the Cold War came closest to tipping into a full-blown nuclear conflict.

From then on, missions take gamers inside the former Soviet Union and southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

But while the setting is new, developers stick to the franchise's signature formula of varied gameplay in highly explosive environments.

The 18-rated game opens with an animated sequence in which the main character, US special forces agent Alex Mason, suffers torture at the hands of enemy combatants.

Gamers then take control of a host of weapons, vehicles and even helicopters to complete a string of increasingly complex missions.

"We wanted the gamer to feel totally immersed in playing the role of special forces behind enemy lines on top secret missions. That is why we have a lot of cut-scenes," said Dominique Drozdz, head of animation at developer Treyarch.

To increase realism, the studio used motion capture technology to recreate ultra-accurate body and facial movements, while Vietnam veterans were consulted on how they modified weapons or infiltrated enemy lines on dangerous missions.

"We were also able to find a Russian soldier who showed us special techniques used by Spetsnaz," said Drozdz, referring to the Russian special forces units.

The game offers the option of 3D play for users with a compatible TV set.

The "Call of Duty" franchise has been at the forefront of a massive expansion in online gaming, and while "Black Ops" offers a fairly modest eight hours of one-player missions, the online multiplayer version offers a string of extras.

"'Modern Warfare 2' was the most played online game on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It is important to continue this," said Guillaume Lairan, the head of French marketing for publisher Activision.

Agence France-Presse

MONTREAL--The commercial tsunami unleashed by the iPhone has served as a launch pad for the videogame industry in Montreal, which hopes to seize on the success of Apple's smartphone.

Hundreds of participants in the two-day Montreal International Game Summit that opens Monday in Quebec's big city will be looking for ways to better milk the gaming market cow, in the face of Apple's golden example.

In barely a year and a half, the iPhone has seized 20 percent of the portable gaming market and five percent of the global videogame market, estimated at some 50 billion dollars a year.

In addition to standard cell phone functions, the iPhone has an embedded camera, a portable media player and full Internet capabilities. It also provides third-party applications through its App Store, including games, social networking and GPS navigation.

"The iPhone democratized access to games, made it easy and affordable for consumers," said Alex Thabet, CEO of interactive entertainment developer Ludia, a company based in Old Montreal.

"We're talking about some 300,000 applications today on the App Store. So it's an extremely competitive market that puts a lot of pressure on prices."

In the last quarter alone, Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones, up 91 percent from a year ago. And the California-based company has described its latest model, the iPhone 4, as its most successful product launch ever, with more than three million sold in the first three weeks after its debut.

With some 100 million iPhones and iPods, it's a huge market for videogames and in Montreal, seen as the videogaming capital of eastern North America, game creators are going all out to get an edge on this booming market.

Color, animation, likable characters, all weapons are on the table to seduce iPhone gamers.

"It's true that for iPhones, gaming is on a smaller scale. So you often have to exaggerate movements, making them more dynamic," said Gamerizon animator Huu Le Nguyen.

In the heart of Montreal, iPhone gaming is making the fortune of Gamerizon, a young startup company dedicating all the talents of its mostly 30-some game developers to Apple's smartphone.

The strategy has reaped rewards: over five million downloads and exceptional returns revolutionizing the sector.

"They are very short games and because you can create them quickly, with a three- to four-month maximum development cycle, allows smaller developers to compete against their bigger rivals," explained Gamerizon chief executive Alex Sakiz."

"This is what we learned six months ago and it's what we've been doing ever since."

The move plays right into the hands of Yann Lee, a compulsive 36-year-old gamer. He already has some 50 car racing and other games on his iPhone, and the number keeps rising week by week.

Apple takes a 30 percent commission for each game sold. It's a big margin but far from slowing game developers' digital gold rush, amid an seemingly limitless market.

"Often, when you're waiting for someone at a restaurant or you're waiting for a plane, you get a little bored. It's very practical when you have nothing to do, it's something to pass the time," said Lee.

"What's nice is that you can try them out and it's not expensive... a dollar for most apps. If you don't really like the game, you can always tell yourself it's just a dollar after all."

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Electronic Arts said Tuesday that it has reached a five-year agreement with Facebook that calls for the social network's virtual currency to be the exclusive payment method for EA games.

More than 200 million people play games on Facebook every month and "Pet Society" and "Restaurant City" from EA division Playfish are among the top 10 games on the social network.

The Redwood City, California-based videogame maker bought the London-based Playfish, the largest supplier of Facebook games after Zynga, a year ago for up to $400 million.

EA said the five-year "strategic relationship" with Facebook calls for Facebook Credits to be the sole currency used to purchase virtual goods in EA games.

EA said it will receive the standard 70 percent of the revenue from Facebook Credits with Facebook getting 30 percent.

"Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users," EA Interactive senior vice president and general manager Barry Cottle said in a statement.

"We are pleased to enter into this long-term partnership with EA to make it easier for people to purchase virtual goods across some of the most popular games on Facebook," said Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing at Facebook.

"Playfish has a great reputation for building high-quality games on Facebook, and we look forward to working even more closely with them and the larger team at EA," Rose said.

EA also plans to bring Monopoly, Pogo, Scrabble and Boggle to Facebook.

Popular EA videogame titles include "Rock Band," "Madden NFL10" and "The Sims."

EA shares were up 1.20 percent in afternoon trading in New York at $15.99.

By Jesse J. Holland

Associated Press

WASHINGTON--Retailers who sell the latest "Halo" or "Call of Duty" video game to children would face substantial fines under a law being considered by the Supreme Court.

The justices will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to reinstate a California ban that would make it illegal for retailers to sell or rent violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. Parents could buy the games and give them to their children, but retailers who sold them to minors could face fines up to $1,000.

Supporters of the law say violent games are harmful to children.

But video-game companies say it's a First Amendment issue. And the lower courts have said California lacked enough evidence to prove violent games cause psychological harm to minors.

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO--Virtual fighters engaged in a bare-knuckle brawl as Sony introduced a world of street fighting played out with Move motion-sensing controls for PlayStation 3 videogame consoles.

Players bobbed, jabbed, punched and head-butted under the daunting gaze of action film tough guy Danny Trejo, whose animated character is a coach in "The Fight: Lights Out" title set for release on November 9.

"I love that this gets you up off the couch and into action," said Trejo, whose easy smile and friendly manner were in sharp contrast to the hard guy roles he has acted out on screen in films like freshly released "Machete."

"You just play for a short bit and you can really feel it," Trejo told AFP at the Sony event, held in a San Francisco bar.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) said last week that it has a hit on its hands with its new Move motion-sensing controllers.

Sony reported that it sold more than a million Move devices in North America and Latin America in the 30 days after releasing them on the market in September.

"Retail demand is incredibly strong and we're working hard to keep the product in stock," said SCEA chief executive Jack Tretton.

Two dozen videogames tailored to Move play are available, with titles, including shooters such as "Killzone" and "Resident Evil," as well as sports games like "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11."

An additional 15 Move games planned for release in the coming year range from sports and shooter titles to puzzle and "family-friendly" fare aimed at capitalizing on the appeal of motion-sensing controllers to casual players.

Move controllers, which are reminiscent of small black flashlights topped with brightly colored orbs, allow gamers to control PS3 play with swings, jabs and other natural movements instead of the toggle-and-button commands that have been trademarks of play on PS3 and rival Xbox 360 consoles by Microsoft.

At the Mighty nightclub in San Francisco late Wednesday, players used Move controllers to act out street brawler moves instantly copied by their in-game champions.

PlayStation Eye cameras mounted on flat-screen televisions tracked movements of players that battled in a multi-mode that pitted combatants at different consoles against each other in one-on-one matches.

On-screen graphics let players see how much of a beating they were taking or giving, and dirty moves could be executed with proper combinations of buttons, triggers and wand waves.

A single player mode of the game launched a campaign in which a fighter battled increasingly dangerous animated adversaries, training in a virtual gym and unlocking new moves along the gritty journey.

"The Fight: Lights Out" will be priced at $39.99.

Move wands are sold for $49.99. A smaller "sub controller" wand for use navigating characters in shooter games is priced at $29.99.

Sony combines Move controllers with Eye cameras and a videogame in bundles sold for $99.99. Adding a PS3 console to that bundle raises the price to $399.99.

PlayStation Eye cameras, needed to track movements of controller wands, sell separately for $39.99.