gamezplay

Monday, December 29, 2008

Facebook add social games

Fears that computer games are turning young people antisocial are being challenged by a new generation of "sociable" games which are played through the internet.

The rise of social networking websites such as Facebook has helped attract millions of people to games which they can play with their friends.

It could represent a major challenge to the makers of hugely popular video consoles such as the Nintendo Wii or the Xbox.

While the credit crisis has forced companies across the world to rein in spending, internet games developers have received a string of multi-million dollar investments in recent months allowing them to plan expansion at a time when other businesses are making cuts.

Playfish, a British company which provides mini-golf and bowling games among others on Facebook, has attracted 25 million registered users since it was set up a year ago.

Another game on the site, a social networking device called Kidnap!, attracted 2.5 million new players in the month of October alone.

Full post on The Telegraph here...

From Mercury news...

While the rest of us have been socializing on Facebook, Webs.com has been building a very interesting business. It has been creating free games on Facebook that have garnered a huge number of page views. WarBook, a role-playing game with no animated graphics, and other Webs.com games have generated a billion page views since the first game launched 90 days ago in August. The games are generating ad revenue with just about every view…

“We launched it and it’s exploding,” said Pishevar. “WarBook is getting 15 million page views a day.”…

… Street Race is a new SGN game that has no graphics. You simply sign up, get $1,000 in play money, buy a car, then race. In the race, you click on another user. Then nothing happens. Nothing. The next screen that comes up tells you if you won or lost, how much money you earned or lost, and the skill points you earned. As your skill points grow, you win more races and get more money to spend souping up your car. The social part comes in where you can get more money by inviting 20 friends to join…

It’s simple and easy. That’s why the game has gotten more than a million page views on its first day. You can play a round in about one second…

“We’re leveraging the social graph,” Pishevar said. “It’s gaming on tap. You use it as you need it. We are building the first social gaming network on top of the Facebook social operating system.”

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Alpha Protocol esponage RPG Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC - fact sheet

In the world of espionage, nothing is as it seems in Obsidian Entertainment’s blockbuster RPG thriller, Alpha Protocol. Players will assume the role of Michael Thorton, a highly skilled government operative trained to eliminate threats to national security. When a mission goes horribly wrong, Thorton is the only one with the information, skills, and audacity to stop an impending international catastrophe. To do so, he will utilize the very government directive that the enemy sought to use against him - Alpha Protocol.

Set in the modern day, Alpha Protocol gives players complete control not only of Thorton’s actions but his personality and attitude as well, all of which will determine the future of the world as we know it. Blending fast-paced modern combat, significant character advancement and innovative RPG features, Alpha Protocol brings a fresh new perspective to the genre.

With a story rivaling the best spy-thriller novels and an immersive, ultra-realistic espionage world, Alpha Protocol will redefine the RPG genre for the next-gen gamer. Alpha Protocol is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment – creators of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2.

Features:

Redefined RPG – Classless system gives players the ability to mold Thorton into the secret agent they want him to become with lethal close combat techniques, marksman skills, proficiency with gadgets and much more.

The International Spy – Players will travel around the world to international safe house locations to obtain information, mission objectives and conduct meetings with a growing list of contacts.

Dialogue Stance System – With an innovative real-time dialogue system, the characters in Alpha Protocol will react to Thorton’s each and every word. Caution and wit are needed as the stakes are high and the tensions mount in conversations that will have players on the edges of their seat.

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC
Category: RPG
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Release: February 2009

Sony to release a PlayStation 3 Net version without Blu-Ray?

Sony have so far lost the console war but won the HD DVD war but is this a big problem?

With each PS3 they make the Blu-Ray drive costs Sony over $100 of the $400 US price tag.

Now if Sony were to bring out a cut-down version for Internet use with download games and standard dual layer DVD drive they could reduce the cost and increase market share.

With cheap large hard drives they could provide pre-installed games. Plus Sony could take advantage of high speed broadband connects (especially in the far east) to download games using their PlayStation Network. An external Blu-Ray drive option could be possible (like HDD Xbox)

It's not all bad news for Sony their PlayStation 2 console has sold over 140 million units - more than all the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 put together. New titles are still being released on PS2 frequently.

Who knows what 2009 will bring - comment below...

DSi Ware games release Moving Notebook, Paper Airplane, Master of Illusion, Art Style, Dr Mario, Wari Ware, Simple Trumps, Brain Age...

With the Nintendo DSi only available in Japan ds.ign had to download these Japanese only games just to try.

The DSi has an SD card slot and 256megabites of built-in flash memory.

Allowing Nintendo to release WiiWare style games games to download.

Nintedno released 13 titles for download on Christmas Eve excluse to the new DSi.

Expected out in the rest of the world next year - here's a rundown of what may be on offer...

Read the full post on uk.ds.ign here...

Bungie release new Halo 3 ODST expansion artwork

Bungie complete the year with another weekly update (even if their studio is closed).

New artwork for Halo 3 ODST has been posted.

To view the complete series visit the Bungie site here...

Cry On - Xbox 360 RPG cancelled by AQ Interactive

AQ Interactive canceled their role playing game Cry On on Christmas Day.

The Japanese developer said "current market environments and forecasts" help with their decision.

The game in development since 2005, by Mistwalker and Cavia was the 3rd by Hironobu Sakaguchi. The soundtrack was being created by legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu and character design was by Kimihiko Fujisaka.

Hironobu's previous two games were Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey .

Nintendo Wii to offer free movies in 2009

On Wednesday Nintendo announced they will offer cartoons and other entertainment movies on the Wii platform in 2009.

This service will be offered by Dentsu - one of Japan's largest advertising agencies.

Both free (ad sponsored) and paid for content will be offered.

Initially the service will only be available in Japan.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Dissidia pushes PSP sales but Nintendo DS still tops Japan chart

PSP sales surged with the release of Final Fantasy Dissidia surged sales to 489,000 units.

Full post click here...

SpongeBob SquarePants Globs of Doom

SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom is an action-packed adventure featuring 10 playable characters from some of the most popular Nickelodeon TV shows, as well as numerous iconic locations such as Retroville, Amity Park and Bikini Bottom. Players will play cooperatively as both heroes and villains while utilizing special gadgets in order to defeat the Morphoids.

Hero and Villain Cooperation - For the first time ever, the heroes and villains of the Nickelodeon universe must team up to battle Globulous
Cooperative Play - Throughout the game, players can control either a hero or villain and fight alongside their friends or a computer controlled ally
Amplified Abilities - The Mawgu Gadgetry amplifies the heroes' and villains' unique characteristics and abilities
Gadget-Combo Attacks - After a series of successful attacks, the heroes and villains can combine their gadget abilities to perform Gadget-Combo Attacks against their opponents
10 Playable Characters - Choose from five heroes and five villains from the Nickelodeon universe to play as hero and villian

Dark Knight pushes PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray sales but PS3 lags behing Xbox and Wii

Blu-Ray may have won the High Definition Video format war but it hasn't been a sweet victory as sales have been disappointing could Batman save the day?

With Xbox 360 (15.5 million) still outselling Sony's PlaySation 3 (9 million) and both lagging behind Nintendo's Wii (20 million) console will The Dark Knight, Batman film push Sony sales?

In November more than 462,500 Blu-Ray discs were sold that's 165% jump from October but sales of PS3s to play Blu-Ray disappoint.

Consumer Blu-Ray players have been heavily discounted to try and boost demand.

The PlayStation 3 was meant to be the entry into Blu-Ray HD players but this hasn't happened. I cannot understand why as our PS3 is used to play Hd content with jaw dropping effect.

So let's hope that Batman has saved more than Gotham City - with the recession on the horizon let's hope it's a great 2009.

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Monday, December 29, 2008

Fears that computer games are turning young people antisocial are being challenged by a new generation of "sociable" games which are played through the internet.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008