MCV: Home Stream

Only 8.7% of people employed in digital games development in Oz are female

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:36:00 +1000

Kotaku picked up the news today that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a fresh dose of information on local game dev.

The statistics were sought by the ABS in alignment with Screen Australia's new interest in the industry, and doesn't put things in a great light, considering that the last time a survey of the Australian development industry was made was five years ago before many larger developers were closed by their overseas owners.

Still, there are now 581 people employed in the games industry as compared with 1431, and 245 games were produced.

The overall income for the development industry was AUD$89.4 million, as opposed to AUD$127 million five years ago. (Note that these figures only count income directly to game developers from games they produce locally, and are not part of the retail and publishing stats released each year).

Females made up a paltry 10.8% of employees in the sector five years ago, but today represent only 8.7%.

It's worth adding, however, that given the nascent and DIY nature of so many of Australia's newest studios, it's possible that these numbers don't reflect many people who are making money in the industry, but have not yet formed official companies.

Aussie game development industry is worth AUD$90 million

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:14:00 +1000

Following on from the news this morning that the first AUD$6 million was being rolled out to local devs, Screen Aus has spoken up.

"Given that game development is the fastest growing sector of the worldwide audiovisual market from a consumer perspective, Australian developers should share in the $80 billion global market," Screen Australia's Chief Operating Officer Fiona Cameron said today.

"Screen Australia's Game Enterprise program provides a diverse range of Australian companies with valuable funds to help develop original IP, employ more people, including promoting internships, and expand distribution and marketing opportunities," she said.

Screen Australia also included games in its industry-wide survey (of screen production in Australia), and found it to have a total income of AUD$89.4 million. The number is shy of what the industry was producing some five years ago the last time such a survey was conducted, but Screen Aus said this was 'unsurprising' give the transition from large console developers providing dev services to overseas companies to the myriad of up-and-coming indies the industry now sports.

“In the wake of the tough economic climate for the global entertainment industry, we have moved from a large, predominantly work-for-hire industry, to a smaller group of highly skilled developers making and self-publishing games for web and mobile platforms,” Ms Cameron said.

“The government’s interactive games fund provides crucial and timely support for Australian teams to build sustainable games studios and retain a greater share of intellectual property. This will flow on to a greater share of the economic benefit for developers of break-out hits like Fruit Ninja.”

Click here for a full list of the funding receipients of the Enterprise program, and click here for details on the upcoming Production program, which will be accepting applications for individual videogame productions until 12th July.

JOB OPENING: QV Software is looking for a new Marketing Coordinator

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:01:00 +1000

Following the recent departure of Lisa Wales, QV Software is looking for Marketing Coordinator to join its Sydney team.

The role is a relatively junior one, and would demand that applicants be able to handle a variety of tasks spanning the company's PR and Marketing activities.

QV Software is repsonsible for distributing Turtle Beach peripherals, Guild Wars 2 and the Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise in Australia.

Those interested in the role can check out the job posting on Seek here.

James Whitehead refutes the Ad Standards Board's ruling on Dead Island

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:46:00 +1000

The GM of IGN Australia has written a guest post for Mumbrella arguing against the decision to ban the game's violent ad.

The segment of the ruling Whitehead took the largest issue with was the notion that: “Advertising or Marketing Communications shall not present or portray violence unless it is justifiable in the context of the product or service advertised.”

In his article, Whitehead argued fervently that in a game specifically about wanton violence in a desperate situation against zombies, the violence in the ad was very much justified.

"Decapitation, dismemberment and other gruesome acts are a core part of the game," writes Whitehead. "The more spectacular the kill, the better. It’s for these blood-soaked reasons the game received Australia’s newly implemented R18+ rating, the most restrictive available.

"Due to the nature of the content, the ad was aired on a subscription television channel aligned with programs appropriate for its audience. The message was clear – this is not a product for children."

The ad in question used a depiction of suicide (preferable, it is implied, to zombification), and it was this instance which caused the ad to be banned by the ASB.

All Interactive Entertainment, who distribute the product locally, said in an earlier comment to Mumbrella that: "the implied death of the two central characters is less violent than the potential alternative. The cinematic implication of violence in the advertisement is intended to convey the desolate terror afflicting the game characters."

While of course acknowledging that suicide was a very real problem, Whitehead refuted that it was being used in a manner which glorified the act in the context of the Dead Island: Riptide advertisment.

"Games are designed by their very nature to be fantastical," he continued. "If we are going to allow this type of content to be sold in our country, which was what the introduction of the R18+ category means, then there need to be allowances to advertise the product."

While such a statement may fit a fantastical game like Dead Island: Riptide perfectly, and while it's entirely true that by their use of such kitsch tropes has heads' up displays, scores, repetition of animations, tasks and goals and of course the inescapable controller input as devices which remove players from the realism of the action, it does make one wonder how an R18+ game in a more contemporary setting, where violence is perpetrated against humans and not zombies, would fare.

Presumably, however, as long as the violence was more action-oriented and not an intimate depiction of suicide of a slow and tense up-close murder, such issues wouldn't arise.

And one does have to appreciate that the context a 10 hour game would afford for such an intense scene as a suicide would be far greater than a 15 or 30 second TVC could ever provide.

Regardless of the nuances of the situation, it's good to see someone as high profile as Whitehead take a public stand on such an issue, where the company in question had taken all necessary measures to ensure the ad was viewed by an adult audience.

Screen Australia Enterprise Fund recipients announced

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:38:00 +1000

The first part of the AUD$20 million federal funding package for videogames has been confirmed for established developers.

This part of the fund, called the Enterprise program, began with distributing AUD$6 million to Australian developers which were able to demonstrate a clear business plan and an established track record.

The recipients are:

Defiant Development - Morgan Jaffit, Dan Treble
OOD Games - Ben Marsh, Terry O'Donoghue, David O'Donoghue
Soap Creative - Ashley Ringrose, Ben Eldridge
Tantalus Media - Tom Crago
Torus Games - Bill McIntosh
Twiitch - Steven Spagnolo, Shane Stevens
Uppercut Games - Andrew James, Ryan Lancaster, Ed Orman
The Voxel Agents - Simon Joslin, Matthew Clark
Wicked Witch Software - Daniel Visser

Hitman studio IO Interactive suffers job losses and project cancellations

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:21:00 +1000

Square Enix has laid off almost half of the employees at IO Interactive as part of “significant changes” at the studio.

In a statement passed on to MCV, a spokesperson for the studio said the Denmark-based company was moving toward a sole focus on the Hitman franchise, and as a result would be cancelling a number of projects and initiatives at the studio. The developer is currently in pre-production on a new triple-A Hitman title.

IO Interactive production director Hannes Seifert will now take over the position of studio head.

The statement added that the publisher would try to relocate staff within the company where possible.

“We are making significant changes at IO Interactive as we align our business against a changing and challenging market," read the statement.

"Hannes Seifert, formerly Production Director for 3 years at the studio, will take over the position of Studio Head at IO. The studio will focus resolutely on the future vision for the Hitman franchise and is in pre-production on a new triple-A Hitman project.

"However we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio, which will impact almost half of the employees currently at IO, as we make internal adjustments to face the challenges of today’s market.

"For those affected, we are extremely grateful for the hard work which they have contributed, and where it’s possible and appropriate to relocate staff to open positions at other studios within the group, we will try to do so. We are also reaching out to other companies for outplacement opportunities. We sincerely wish them well in their future careers.

"Meanwhile, if you are part of a company that is looking for additional development talent, please contact us directly at info@ioi.dk.”

IO Interactive’s last game was Hitman: Absolution, but before that it had developed a number of other titles outside of the franchise such as Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas.

Story originally published on Develop.

Thief and the Art of Reboots

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:54:00 +1000

New IP may be the talk of the moment, but the return of much older properties can evoke just as much excitement.

As Batman and Bond have proven in cinemas, reboots can not only spark fresh adoration from established audiences but also draw in a mass of newcomers and lapsed fans.

Games publishers are no stranger to reviving their long-running brands, and it pays off: just look at the success of last year’s Xcom, a brand that hadn’t been seen since the ‘90s.

Square Enix has shown particular prowess for striking it rich with gaming reboots, as we’ve seen with the best-selling new Tomb Raider and 2011’s acclaimed Deus Ex revival Human Revolution. Now the publisher is dusting off Thief, the classic PC stealth series that inspired the likes of Splinter Cell and Dishonored.

It’s been nearly a decade since 2004’s Thief: Deadly Shadows. In that time we’ve had four Metal Gear games and three Splinter Cells. Thief has some catching up to do. But why is now the time to step out of the shadows? When is the right time to revive a franchise?

“I think it’s always a good time to reinvent great
classic games. The next generation of consoles
and hardware technology is here, and it allows
us to provide a whole new level of immersion
and a superior production quality to the
franchise. We want you to see an experience
Thief like never before.”

Stephane D’Astous - general manager, Eidos Montreal

“Reboots are truly interesting, because they bring the prestige of a past legacy into present day, bringing it to the next level,” says Stephane D’Astous, general manager at Thief developer Eidos Montreal. “I think it’s always a good time to reinvent great classic games. The next generation of consoles and hardware technology is here, and it allows us to provide a whole new level of immersion and a superior production quality to the franchise. We want you to see an experience Thief like never before.”

Of course, Eidos Montreal is no stranger to revivals. The studio is home to the same team that produced the aforementioned Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as well the multiplayer on this year’s Tomb Raider. So D’Astous is justifiably confident that fans will embrace the new Thief, assuring them that it is receiving the same care and attention as Eidos Montreal’s cyberpunk smash hit.

“We showed what we can do for new and old fans alike when we released Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2011,” he says. “The secret to our success with Deus Ex was largely in part because we started as true fans of the original games ourselves. I think it’s critical to respect and understand the DNA of a franchise and to truly understand what made it so special before you begin. Only then can you move forward.

“We’re taking the same approach on Thief. The legacy of this franchise runs quite deep, and we are incredibly honoured to be entrusted with this franchise.”

Revamping a long-absent franchise for today’s market is no easy task. Newer brands have changed consumers’ behaviour and expectations, winning them over with smoother mechanics and higher production values. It’s no wonder that Tomb Raider clearly borrowed from Uncharted, because Sony’s franchise clearly borrowed from the early Tomb Raider titles.

Similarly, Thief is going to have to compete with the very brands its earlier outings inspired – an obstacle that very few games throw in front of developers.

“Reinventing classic brands is a very challenging assignment,” says D’Astous. “It really pushes us to be closer to our fan community and to do our homework. Reinventing a true classic is a form of art. You need both good ideas and good execution. This is no scientific formula, obviously, but you need to understand what consumers are looking for, what they are hungry for.

“You also need to consider where the technological cycle is at and how you can innovate.”

“If you follow short-term trends too closely, you
run the risk of becoming diluted and limiting your
success,” he says. “Don’t be influenced by the
‘flavour of the month’. You can’t assume too
much – constant feedback and playtesting
are essential.”

Stephane D’Astous - general manager, Eidos Montreal

But D’Astous warns that studios can’t just bundle modern ideas and game mechanics into a revived classic. Thief still needs to be Thief, not Dishonored 2 or Splinter Cell: Steampunk Edition.

“If you follow short-term trends too closely, you run the risk of becoming diluted and limiting your success,” he says. “Don’t be influenced by the ‘flavour of the month’. You can’t assume too much – constant feedback and playtesting are essential.”

Central to this is speaking to the loyal followers that made the brand a classic in the first place, the ones that scour the headlines every day for the slightest hint of a new entry in their favourite series.

And vocal fans is something Thief has in spades.

While the game was only revealed properly this year, it was announced in 2009 as Thief 4. Since then, Eidos Montreal has been conversing daily with series fanatics via its forums.

“Our advantage is having an existing community of fans,” says D’Astous. “New IPs don’t have that – they need to build absolutely everything from scratch. We’re particularly fortunate to have a significant and passionate Thief community and an impressive legacy to build on.”

Deus Ex and Tomb Raider have already proven that gamers welcome new takes on older franchises, and the decade-long absence of Thief should be yet another example of how reboots can revitalise an IP for the next generation.

Sony: "We had one good day, but it's not over yet"

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:43:00 +1000

An aggressive Sony took E3 by storm last week, but says it was only ‘one good day’.

The company’s pre-E3 press conference was quite low on new games compared with Xbox. But its decision to not force online checks every 24 hours, or block trade-ins, was a real crowd-pleaser.

And PS4’s £350 price tag is more attractive than Xbox’s £430 (including Kinect).

The result has been a huge increase in pre-orders.

Yet SCE UK boss Fergal Gara has played down the significance of winning E3, telling MCV that the company needs to keep its foot on the gas up to launch and beyond.

“Winning is determined by a much longer timescale,” he said. “We were very pleased with how our messages went down at E3. We aim to be the best for gamers, and this was a key step in that direction.

“E3 is important for early momentum and generating pre-orders. But it is only one step along. We feel we had a good day but there is loads more hard work to do, and we are focused on that.”

The E3 event marked a more aggressive Sony, with barbed remarks aimed at Microsoft during the show. And Gara says the firm won’t hold back in the future.

“My UK and Ireland team is under the most competitive pressure in Europe,” he said.

“So if we want to be more successful, we have to earn it. We are have to be more driven and focused.”

AMD reveals 5GHz FX CPU, but won't be selling it to the public

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:37:00 +1000

A new flagship PC processor is on the way from AMD… although you won’t be able to buy it.

The freshly announced AMD FX-9590 offers eight unlocked cores with an incredible boost clock of 5GHz. Also on the way is a slightly toned down version called the FX-9370 that offers a boost clock of 4.7GHz.

Base clocks for the pair come in at 4.7GHz and 4.4GHz respectively.

There’s a trade-off for the impressive performance, however. Both are expected to pack a TDP of 220W (in others words, they will operate at extremely high temperatures) and will as a result require some significant cooling solutions to operate. Indeed, it’s likely that machines hoping to offer either CPU will need to be custom built to accommodate their significant cooling requirements.

That’s possibly why AMD has revealed that neither chip is currently scheduled for a retail release for the public and are instead being reserved for system builds. This could, of course, change at some point in the future.

The first system builds boasting the chips are expected to arrive some time “this summer”.

EA will return to Wii U if Nintendo "can sell more boxes"

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:30:00 +1000

Nintendo has been told that it must sell more Wii U’s if it wishes to win back the affections of third party publisher EA.

That’s the verdict of EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, who told Joystiq that money is of course the ultimate deciding facts. And Wii U’s numbers don’t currently add up.

"The only thing they can do to fix it is to sell more boxes,” he stated. “We're a rational company, we go where the audience is. We publish games where we think we can make a great game and hit a big audience, and make money. That's why we're here, that's why we have an industry.

"We shipped four games [for the Wii U]. We shipped Madden, FIFA, Need for Speed and Mass Effect. In fact, the last Need for Speed shipped 60 days ago had a pretty good Metacritic. It was a good game. It wasn't a schlocky port, we actually put extra effort into getting everything to work. And it's just not selling because there's no boxes."

It seems to be a message Nintendo has heard loud and clear.

"EA is a great partner of ours, they've had games on our platforms before,” Nintendo of America’s head of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta stated. “They want what all third parties want and what we want: for the install base to grow.

“We're confident that once some of these games come out that we have planned between now and the holiday and into 2014, that it will help drive the install base and when that happens the platforms will look more enticing to third parties."

DFC: "The entire future of the Xbox business is in question"

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:52:00 +1000

Interactive entertainment research firm DFC has delivered a scathing verdict of Xbox One’s market chances in the wake of last weeks’ incredible events at E3.

In fact, it even goes as far as to question whether the scope of Xbox One’s PR failure to date could jeopardise Microsoft’s entire games operation.

DFC’s Forecasts for the Video Games Market report says that “Microsoft's overall strategy for entertainment devices is deeply flawed”.

In turn it has stated that it is likely to raise its PS4 sales forecasts and on turn “further lower” its Xbox One predictions in its upcoming August market update.

“So far this has not had a major negative impact on the Xbox business but that is likely to change with the Xbox One launch,” DFC’s David Cole stated. “Right now the entire future of Microsoft's consumer entertainment business is in question and that is likely to have a major impact on the game industry.”

Sony: "If you buy it, you own it"

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:01:00 +1000

E3 may be over but Sony will do all it can to ride on the wave of goodwill that it generated in LA for as long as possible.

Speaking to Yahoo, SCE chief exec Andrew House and made further statements about the company’s appreciation of the public backlash to Microsoft’s Xbox One DRM.

Smelling blood, he even moved to dismiss the idea that this is all simply going to fade away.

“You could argue that it’s a storm in a teacup – a very vocal minority of passionate gamers,” House stated. “This huge outpouring of feeling around the concept of ownership of content. But I have to say I don’t see it that way.

“I think we saw a lightning rod for feeling that has been bubbling up – that doesn’t just apply to games, but to entertainment overall. I think there’s an increasing nervousness about what ownership of content means, in the absence of physical goods. When that nervousness was starting to migrate into control over physical goods that consumers have purchased, that was a bridge too far.

“I want to be very clear about where we have been on this issue. I think there’s a danger that we could be seen to have reacted and capitalised on a situation. When we first announced PS4 in February, people were saying, ‘Oh, Sony’s being coy’ – almost with some implicit suspicion. It struck us as very odd.

“We had no intention of changing our position – it hasn’t changed from what it’s been for the last fifteen years. We believe that if you buy it, you own it, you’re able to do with it what you want.”

Microsoft reassures players that Xbox Live ban won't result in lost games

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:37:00 +1000

Some might say that losing your game collection for being racist and homophobic on Xbox Live is actually a good thing.

However, the truth remains that racists and homophobes have big spending power (or at least their parents do) so Microsoft has moved to calm them by quelling fears that being banned on Xbox Live would result in them being unable to access their Xbox One games.

These fears emerged after the Xbox Support Twitter feed stated that "if your account is banned, you also forfeit the licenses to any games that have licenses tied to it as listed in the ToU".

The same Twitter feed later said that this answer was in fact in reference to Xbox 360.

Microsoft mouthpiece Major Nelson later insisted that the rumoured was “absolutely” not true and that players will “you will always have access to the games you purchased”.

What will happen, however, when the time comes for Microsoft to move on from the Xbox One. Will it continue to fund and service the Xbox One servers? And if not, will access to games for the console simply vanish, rendering them inoperable?

Again, Major Nelson looked to calm the situation.

“I'll just say this: We haven't even started this generation, so it's kind of early to talk about the end of the generation. That's certainly something we would not do. That's not the way the system is designed. It's designed for flexibility. But let's get the system out there first.”

Nintendo heads to Supanova

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:53:00 +1000

At the Sydney and Perth Supanova Pop Culture Expos, Nintendo will be on hand with all its latest titles.

Nintendo Australia has also confirmed its attendance of PAX Australia, and is in keeping with the company's tradition since the launch of the Wii of going hard on experiential marketing and getting its consoles into as many players' hands as possible.

New Super Luigi U for Wii U will be on hand, as well as a multitude of 3DS titles for fans to play multiplayer, including the recently released Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

The Sydney Supanova will be held this coming weekend in The Dome at the Sydney Showground on Saturday 22nd June and Sunday 23rd June.

Perth Supanova will take place the following weekend at the Robinson Pavillion, Claremont Showgrounds from Saturday 29th June to Sunday 30th June.

VIDEO: The Playroom announced for PS4

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:42:00 +1000

The Playroom is a new tech demo showcasing what the new combination of the motion sensor bar and new Dual Shock Controller.

The tech demo shows people playing with augmented reality objects of their own and Sony's creation while watching themselves on the TV.

They're able to shoot the creatures out, suck them back into their controllers, create their own designs for little creatures and spawn them, and of course, swat them out of the way.

Arcade games are also on show using the new camera, as well as the streamlined interface for selecting AR bots using the Dual Shock Controller's touch pad.

Ultimately, it seems to fall somewhere in between Sony's original vision for the EyeToy met with a smattering of Kinect-style lounge room entertainment.

It's unduly cheesy as these things tend to be, and it's just a tech demo, but it does give you an idea of how Sony plans to use AR to its advantage in the new generation.

Check out the video below:

Screen Australia games production fund now open

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:05:00 +1000

For those who missed it amidst all the insanity surrounding E3, Screen Australia is now accepting submissions for its games production fund.

Submissions for the first round of funding will close on 12th July.

This grant is for specific productions being undertaken by Australian studios (as opposed to the Enterprise funding scheme which is aimed at facilitating ongoing business needs of game developers), and carries a maximum of AUD$500k.

According to the Screen Australia web site, funding is "intended to contribute to the total budget for getting a game to market (and beyond, depending on the nature of the game and its monetisation strategies)."

The grant takes into account the wide variety of ways games can actually make money, and will be judging amounts and milestones on a case-by-case basis.

The fund is part of the wider AUD$20 million funding which was announced last year.

EB Games hunting for a new PR agency for this year's EB EXPO

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:10:00 +1000

Looking to change things up this year, EB Games has dropped a note via Twitter to indicate that it's looking for a new agency.

Tasked with being the media liaison and PR representation for the EXPO, the successful company would be taking on the entire publicity campaign from pre-show promotion to publisher relations.

The EB EXPO is set to take place at the Sydney Showgrounds on October 4th-6th this year.

Interested agencies should email EB representatives for more information.

Games Out This Week in ANZ...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:58:00 +1000

New Super Luigi Bros 2 hits this week, alongside Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and the Jak and Daxter Trilogy for Vita.

Arguably one of the biggest releases this week is DLC for New Super Mario Bros 2 which recasts the hero of the piece as Luigi, making it New Super Luigi Bros 2, and hitting on Wii U on 20th June.

Meanwhile, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is bound for the Vita this week, available on Wednesday 19th for AUD$39.95.

Also out on Vita this week is the Jak and Daxter Trilogy, hitting on Wednesday 19th June for AUD$39.95 or NZD$54.95.

UPDATE: Ashes Cricket 2013 was incorrectly listed as coming this week. It is currently anticipated in early July.

PS4-Vita Remote Play enabled at a system level

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:43:00 +1000

Every single PS4 game will be playable via Remote Play on PlayStation Vita.

That’s because, unlike on PS3 when the functionality needed to be specifically coded in, PlayStation 4 will allow Vita streaming on a system level, Engadget reports.

Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida told the site: "On PlayStation 4 it just happens. You just make a PS4 game, it supports Remote Play.

"The single biggest issue, why there are not many PlayStation 3 games that support Remote Play, was that it was optional – the system didn't do much. The game has to set aside some memory or CPU to be able to do that, and usually, memory is the most precious resource that [development] teams fight amongst each other for. So when it comes down to the priorities, these are features that are very easy to drop.

"Please make sure that when you play your games on Vita, the control is good. That's the minimum thing we're asking them to do."

Obviously there technically are bound to be some exceptions – with the PlayStation Eye-requiring Just Dance given as an example.

Watch Dogs dev: Platform holders need to "listen to players"

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:04:00 +1000

A subtle dig at proposed next-gen restrictions or a casual observation about market strategy?

Either way, these comments from the creative director of Watch Dogs, one of the hottest games of both this year’s and last year’s E3, are good food for thought.

“To me next generation will be what players make of it,” Jonathan Morin told Edge. “I think the generation we’re looking at now is past the concept of the box defining it.

“I think people who make machines and consoles now need to listen to players, need to look at how they behave in their lives and then put that in their hands, but ultimately it’s going to be the players who are going to have to embrace new elements.”

Sony raises PS4 sales estimates, admits "demand may now outstrip supply"

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:21:00 +1000

The overwhelmingly positive response given to PS4 at E3 this week has led to the company raising its sales expectations for the machine.

Global PlayStation boss Andrew House told The Wall Street Journal “the company is shifting its internal projections for the product after favourable reactions to the company's presentation Monday”.

Amazon has apparently seen such a sales spike for the machine that it is no warning customers that it cannot guarantee day one delivery of the machine as it fears launch day stock will be unable to meet demand.

Indeed, House admitted that "demand may well outstrip supply". GameStop executives confirmed similar concerns.

Interestingly, the standard Xbox One SKU has now slipped from third to fifth in Amazon.co.uk’s Bestsellers charts, although the newly listed Day One SKU has claimed fourth.

Oddworld dev slams Microsoft over Xbox One indie games policy

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:26:00 +1000

Microsoft’s insistence on indie devs requiring a publishing partner has angered indie dev Lorne Lanning.

Lanning, now at studio Oddworld Inhabitants and developing Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, has spoken to Microsoft about getting the game released on Xbox One. But despite being a self-publisher, Microsoft has refused to budge on its insistence that indie devs have an official publishing partner.

"There are those who are looking at next quarter's profits, and maybe one of these big guys looks like that's all they're doing right now," Lanning told Eurogamer.

"For Xbox One they've granted us a license for New 'n' Tasty! but they still say you need a publisher. We don't have a publisher so we're not officially on the platform, even though we're compatible, even though we'll be ready to do it.

"Why do we need a publisher when we self-finance our games, we build our own IP, we manage our own IP and we've turned nearly two million units online as indie publishers sold - not free downloads? Why? What's wrong with us?

"Who's in touch with their audience? And who seems out of touch with their audience? All we know is we've tried to get our games on their platform and we can't do it - and I even helped them release the box."

"If they're looking at the world that way, you've got the obvious, enormous titles. They're going to be the big revenue generators. If the company's purely about profit, profit and profit, they're looking at those, and then they're looking at the little guys saying, 'oh, they only make this much'. They're not interested.”

The same company previously had trouble getting Oddworld: Stranger’s Wratch published on Xbox 360.

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! is currently due for release on PS4, PS3, Vita, Wii U, PC and Mac.

UPDATE: Just Add Water CEO Stewart Gilray has contacted MCV to say that Lanning was "not angered or angry" and that he has never worked for Microsoft. Apologies to all.

Nintendo: Want to block pre-owned? Then make better games

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:04:00 +1000

Spirited Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has said that there’s a very simply solution to the ‘problem’ of pre-owned – make better games.

The exec was also keen to point out that Nintendo has the lowest software trade-in rate of any platform holder – a fact perfectly illustrated by the ability of a lot of Nintendo software to retain its value on the pre-owned market for far longer than its opposition.

"We have been very clear, we understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games," Fils-Aime told Polygon. "They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase. Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content.

“Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong. The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer want to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin. So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average – much, much less.

“So for us, we have been able to step back and say that we are not taking any technological means to impact trade-in and we are confident that if we build great content, then the consumer will not want to trade in our games."

Fils-Aime also believes that the tremendous reception received by Jack Tretton in Sony’s E3 conference was in reality more of an anti-Microsoft reaction.

Either way, the colourful exec seems doubtful that publishers will chose to pursue an anti-pre-owned strategy.

"The fact of the matter is, we will see what happens with publishers," he added. "It seems to me that every major publisher has come and said we don't mind used games."

E3 2014 dated as expo records highest attendance figures since restructure

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:38:00 +1000

A whopping 48,200 people – encompassing journalists, retailers, analysts and other games industry professionals - visited the halls of E3 2013 in Los Angeles this week.

This is the highest number of attendees since organiser the Entertainment Software Association restructured the expo back in 2009, reverting it back to its previous format after two years of smaller scale shows.

And the ESA has confirmed E3 will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center next year, with E3 2014 taking place from Tuesday, June 10th to Thursday, June 12th.

"This year's E3 showcased the best that our industry has to offer and channeled the immense energy, drive and enthusiasm for video games onto a global stage," said ESA president and CEO Michael D Gallagher.

"Thanks to our members and exhibitors' boundless capacity for innovation, billions of consumers are seeing the future of our industry through this outstanding landscape of creativity, technology and content."

Attendees hailed from 102 countries to peruse the ware of some 230 exhibitors. The ESA estimates that 28,000 hotel rooms were booked for E3 and generated close to $40m in revenue for the city of Los Angeles.

Human Rights Commission takes a look at videogames

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:27:00 +1000

The turnout at last night's panel on videogames by the Australian Human Rights Commission was some 40 people.

This was a significantly larger number than the rest of the talks in the current series, each of which focuses on a different topic concerning human rights, in a series the AHRC is calling RightsTalks.

Each is free to attend, and is held in Sydney's CBD.

Yesterday's talk included Freeplay Festival Co-Director Katie Williams, Author of Killing is Harmless Brendan Keogh, Dr Christopher Moore, lecturer in Media and Communication at Deakin University, and Dr Melissa de Zwart, Associate Professor at the Adelaide Law School, and member of the Classification Review Board.

It very much presented as a roundtable on all the hot button issues surrounding human rights in games, most specifically those around cyber-bullying, representations of minorities, racial stereotyping and representations of women in games.

The purpose appeared to be to begin a conversation between games academics, journalists and the AHRC itself. Many of the topics were familiar to the AHRC, but not in the context of games.

Keogh presented his case for a dire portrait of the games industry's cis white male sticking point, arguing passionately against the notion that the context for racist, homophobic or other inappropriate trash talk online had no place, and that publishers and developers were complicit in allowing such cultures to form and to alienate.

Williams told of her experience completing a games degree as one of only two female graduates in her entire class, a sentiment echoed by tertiary educators in the audience, who spoke up to talk about the responses from male students to a 'safe space' they'd created on campus for outnumbered female students. Those responses ranged from cries of unequal treatment of males to a threat of legal action, indicative of the unwelcoming environment teachers are striving to provide.

de Zwart noted the extreme minority of game protagonists which were anything other than straight, white males, and praised the RPG genre in particular for giving players agency to create their own character in their image, while also bemoaning the notion that narrative-driven games where a particular protagonist is pre-picked for the player are changing very slowly if at all.

Moore commented that cultural cliches serve a function of ease of access for people, hence the ubiquitous nature of stereotypes in general across all mediums. When questioned as to why the children he supposed were intelligent enough to note the difference between the fantasy and reality, he noted that even highly intelligent and perceptive individuals can relish the simplicity of a known quantity, but that there is a constant ebb and flow of cultural norms and stereotypes. Gaming is just another medium to borrow from stereotypes we've been troubled to rid ourselves of for some time.

The talk was fairly broad, and didn't tackle issues directly, but was rather an open forum for those entrenched in games to bring contemporary human rights issues to the AHRC's attention.

No one was jumping to conclusions about legislation aimed at curtailing problems like cyber-bullying, and nor should they. Once consensus on that matter was that the one-day bans in games like World of Warcraft are not only ineffectual as a deterrent, but actually amounted to badges of pride for those who endured the punishment.

It's a great sign that the Human Rights Commission has taken an interest in videogames, and that they're starting from a position of knowing that there is much to be educated about.