Video game creator Jace Hall tries hand at TV with ABC’s “V” remake
As the founder of Monolith Productions, videogame creator Jace Hall is the man behind such PC shooting titles as Blood, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, No One Lives Forever and TRON 2.0. These days, Hall heads up HD Films, which is still immersed in the videogame… Continue Reading
Ubisoft to debut three short films based on Assassin’s Creed II game
MONTREAL, Quebec – Video game publisher Ubisoft is touting the beginning of its entertainment convergence strategy with the unveiling of the first of three short films based on its popular Assassin’s Creed game series.
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, created by acclaimed Hollywood special effects studio Hybride Technologies… Continue Reading
Konami’s 2009 games include controversial Fallujah episode of Iraq War
Konami Digital Entertainment recently showcased its slate of 2009 games, included a controversial one based on Fallujah, a battle site in the Iraq war.
Anthony Crouts, vice president of marketing at Konami Digital Entertainment, talks about this and the company’s other new titles.
VB: Can you talk… Continue Reading
Applied Research Associates Acquires Virtual Heroes to make serious games
Defense contractor Applied Research Associates has acquired Virtual Heroes, a game developer which has shown a particular skill in creating games for business or educational purposes.
Albuquerque, N.M.-based ARA bought Virtual Heroes, based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, for an undisclosed sum. Virtual Heoes specializes… Continue Reading
Sega shows off next big Olympics game, targets Wii and DSi
Sean Ratcliffe, vice president of marketing at Sega of America (pictured below), talked with us about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the sequel of a massively popular game which sold 10 million copies.
Sega collaborated on the game with with Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto…. Continue Reading
GameStop’s Bob McKenzie sees little recession impact on gamers
Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at specialty videogame retailer GameStop, was on hand for the official launch last week of Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 game that turned San Francisco’s Union Square into a biohazard event. McKenzie took some time away from the party… Continue Reading
EA Sports chief Peter Moore on upcoming games
Electronic Arts sports game chief Peter Moore held court in downtown San Francisco last Thursday as his division offered the press its first look at 2009 releases like Fight Night Round 4, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 10, Grand Slam Tennis, Tiger Woods on the… Continue Reading
The ten most-anticipated video games of 2009
With the new year approaching, there’s no time like the present to look ahead to what is shaping up to be another record-breaking year in the videogame business. While many big games have yet to be officially confirmed or even announced, especially from Nintendo’s tight-lipped… Continue Reading
Atari president Phil Harrison on creativity and the future of video games
When he was president of Sony Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison was focused on creating new gaming experiences like the karaoke-based SingStar franchise, the Hollywood cinematic series, The Getaway, and the user-generated toolbox called LittleBigPlanet. Harrison, now president of Atari/Infogrames, explains how the decisions he made… Continue Reading
Q&A with Cliff Blezinski on making “Gears of War 2″ for the Xbox 360
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–When it comes to this Christmas, Epic Games‘ “Gears of War 2” should sell a lot of copies, and potentially a lot of hardware, for publisher Microsoft. The first “Gears of War” sci-fi shooting game debuted in 2006 and sold more than five… Continue Reading
Q&A with Kareem Ettouney on Sony’s great hope: LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3
NEW YORK CITY—Sony is pulling out the stops to celebrate the launch of a critical game, LittleBigPlanet, from developer Media Molecule. In the game, you can customize a group of ragdoll characters and use them to solve puzzles to navigate a visually cute world that… Continue Reading
Q&A: EA’s Ben Bell on making The Sims 3
With over 100 million copies sold across the globe, The Sims is more than a game franchise for Electronic Arts. It’s an entire division, or a studio label in EA parlance. It’s been five years since The Sims 2 brought 3D to these games. In… Continue Reading
More video game publishers embrace Comic-Con show
SAN DIEGO, CA— The Comic-Con show is on the rise, with so many game companies showing up there to unveil new games that it is probably a contender to replace E3.
Over 150,000 fans flocked to downtown San Diego for Comic-Con less than a week after… Continue Reading
E3 trendspotting: Game publishers turning more to girl gamers
LOS ANGELES—With the influx of fresh new gamers, thanks in large part to the popularity of mass-market game machines, the DS and the Wii, more game companies than ever are jumping on the girl gamer bandwagon. Practically every booth at this year’s E3 Media and… Continue Reading
The top 10 sleeper video games of E3
The big video games of the E3 Media and Business Summit have been blasted across magazine covers and websites for the past few months, but the show still offers a large selection of lesser-known games that are worth a look—even if they lack the marketing… Continue Reading
E3 coverage: “Fallout 3” Executive Producer Todd Howard on Sequels and Franchises
“Fallout 3″ by Bethesda Softworks was the first game Microsoft showed off at its Xbox 360 press conference today and the top pick in Dean Takahashi’s “most anticipated games of E3.” The game’s executive producer, Todd Howard, took some time to discuss the state of the… Continue Reading
Interview: Gameloft gung ho about iPhone gaming
PARIS—The largest mobile game publisher in the world, Gameloft, has a line-up of six games ready for today’s launch of Apple’s new App Store, which coincides with the release of the new 3G iPhones. Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of publishing at Gameloft, overseas… Continue Reading
Electronic Arts expands its casual game line-up
Electronic Arts is going after the casual consumer on multiple fronts. It offers Pogo.com online and EA Mobile for cell phone users (which will also expand to Apple’s iPod beginning July 7). Now EA Casual and Entertainment is unveiling the first offerings from the Hasbro… Continue Reading
Disney shows off E3 titles that will earn it some gamer cred
LOS ANGELES–Disney Interactive Studios previewed what it said was the best of its E3 video game trade show line-up last week, as part of a tour for game critics. After failing to garner critical praise for its re-launch of the dinosaur-shooting game “Turok” earlier this… Continue Reading
Q&A: THQ will use wrestling license business model for Ultimate Fighting Championship games
LAS VEGAS–THQ made a big splash at The Palms Casino Resort this past weekend, inviting about 100 sports, video game and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalists to an exclusive first look at “UFC 2009: Undisputed.” The first game out of THQ’s five-year exclusive licensing deal… Continue Reading