17472482
submission
RogueyWon writes:
Games industry trade site MCV is reporting that two major UK video games retailers are threatening to ban Steam-enabled PC games from their stores. The as-yet-unnamed retailers are apparently concerned that by selling Steam games, they are pointing their customers towards a competitor and will by trying to bring pressure upon publishers to strip Steam functionality from their games. This could prove an interesting test of where the real power lies at the retail end of PC gaming.
16990984
submission
RogueyWon writes:
Sony have just announced via the official Playstation blog that Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed yet again. This delay hits just three weeks before the game was supposed to arrive on the shelves. A release before Christmas is still being suggested, but a healthy degree of skepticism might be wise. Delays have already hit other Playstation 3 exclusives, such as Littlebigplanet 2, meaning that Gran Turismo 5 had been increasingly central to Sony's strategy for the holiday period. This delay isn't just bad news for racing game fans; it's also seriously bad news for Sony and their investors.
16968084
submission
RogueyWon writes:
Now that the massively-multiplayer Final Fantasy XIV has been on the shelves for a couple of weeks, the reviews are starting to arrive; and it appears that the game is the subject of a critical battering unprecedented in the history of the main Final Fantasy series. First it was the Amazon user reviews, then Gamespot weighed in, describing the game as a "step backwards for the genre" and now IGN has described it as "an arduous experience that, in its current state, isn't worth playing". Given the general dissatisfaction that surrounded the release of the (offline) Final Fantasy XIII earlier in the year, many long-time fans of the series must now be wondering whether the magic hasn't departed.
14828310
submission
RogueyWon writes:
Kotaku is reporting that Bethesda's Japanese marketing campaign for the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas is based around some pretty savage mockery of commonly perceived failings of Japanese role-playing games. While it's dubious whether this tactic will actually boost the game's sales in a notoriously hard market for Western developers to crack, many of the criticisms contained in the advert of Japan's domestic RPGs ring true. Is it time that Japanese RPG developers, increasingly focussed on underwhelming extended cinematic experiences and low-budget hand-held titles, took note of the lessons from Western developers such as Bioware and Bethesda?
10065516
submission
RogueyWon writes:
Kotaku is reporting that Infinity Ward, developer of Modern Warfare 2, has been at the centre of strange events, and that Jason West and Vince Zampella, two lead developers, have been fired by parent company Activision for "breaches of contract and insubordination". Speculation is rife as to the reasons behind this; following Modern Warfare 2's spectacular sales figures, it seems unlikely that the studio's performance could be to blame.