Can Sega Resurrect GameWorks?

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture

The GameWorks arcade chain was originally a high-concept entertainment center, supported by some of the biggest names in the entertainment field at the time. The founding group included Dreamworks, Universal Studios, and Sega, all arguably at their peak. In the time since their first opening in 1996, the chain has fallen on hard times, and was recently acquired wholly by the new combined Sega-Sammy Group. Now, under this new leadership, the GameWorks concept is being re-worked. Gamasutra was able to talk with GameWorks vice president of sales and marketing Clint Manny. They discussed where the arcade chain had been, and where they are trying to go to in the future.

First, they discussed some of Sega’s arcade properties in Japan, such as Mushiking and Derby Owners Club, and how those are going to be brought to the United States. Mushiking has been somewhat of an arcade phenomenon in Japan, combining the addictive natures of arcade game play with the equally addicting collectible card game format. Clint reveals that the Mushiking series is being actively pursued in America, with a dedicated team working on its release. In addition, other titles like Love & Berry are being investigated for US release as well.

In addition, Sega hopes to revitalize the arcade format in America. There are success formulas in the United States; the Dave & Buster’s restaurant and arcade chain seems to be doing reasonably well. Some of Sega’s moves seem to be targeting moving towards that format with the Arena Sports Bar & Grill concept. Sega also hopes that by focusing on exclusive arcade experiences like big screens, interactive gaming, and platforms with custom hardware, that they can lure the customer back into the arcade.

Overall, their turnaround plan focuses on the Arena Sports Bar concept, pumping more money in arcade machines into the locations, and refining their location selection process. The article on Gamasutra goes heavily into detail for all of these plans, and is well worth the read for those gamers who remember the arcades of old and who wonder where arcade gaming is going in the future.

Read More | Gamasutra.com

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EA’s Bing Gordon Opens Casuality Game Conference

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Internet, PC, Wii, Xbox 360

Bing Gordon, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Electronic Arts opened the 2006 Casuality game conference as keynote speaker. The three day game conference opened June 27, in Seattle, and focuses on the growing role that casual gaming is playing in more and more people’s lives. Gamasutra provided coverage of the keynote.

Gordon opened by underscoring the vast numbers of people playing casual games; members of EA’s Club Pogo gaming service logged over 225 million hours of game time in 2004. While casual gaming appears to be a growing category, playtime was still dwarfed by Blizzard’s MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The market also doesn’t monetize as well as larger media like TV, the former averages “6.6 hours watched a day at 21 cents an hour” while casual games pull “24 minutes played a day at 5 cents an hour.”

Gordon also emphasized the roles that scoring systems play in establishing the community, and encouraging further game play. Club Pogo’s two status symbols are game “badges” and points. The game badges are highly sought after within the Pogo community, and appear to be a pre-cursor to the “achievements” offered over Microsoft’s Xbox Live. Similarly, point counts “provide a sense of place and rank in a community.” Pogo users can trade their points for real-world items, but many don’t, preferring to keep their status levels.

On casual game development, in Gordon’s eyes, game playability and accessibility rules over the games “beauty.” The advantages of the casual game development cycle and the relative simplicity of the play mechanics makes it easier to experiment with game play balance through rapid prototyping. This allows developers to quickly iterate through play styles.

Gordon clearly seeks to emphasize the importance of community in the casual game sphere; when a game is easy to pick up and play, there are low barriers to entry for new offerings in the category. If a publisher can lock in users through community, this will help succeed in the casual gaming sphere.

With casual gaming garnering more attention, online, in places like the Xbox Live Arcade, and with Nintendo’s Touch Generations offerings, the competition for gamers will only become more intense.

Read More | Gamasutra.com

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ReplayTV Debuts PC DVR Software

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Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Home Entertainment, Household, PC / Laptop, Software

DVR pioneer ReplayTV, looking to “redefine the DVR experience”, today unveiled a new PC-based DVR solution which lets users with PCs equipped with TV tuners enjoy a Tivo-like experience. The new ReplayTV PC Edition, expected in September, will cost $99.95, with additional yearly fees after the first year of $19.95.

The ReplayTV PC Edition makes a compatible PC much like any DVR currently on the market. Specialized features of this software product include a “surprise me” mode which automatically records programming featuring favorite actors, directors and genres; a mode for finding other shows and movies that are similar in genre or feature the same actors or directors as the one being watched; a variety of ways to search; and networking functions which include multi-room support and consolidating listings.

Beyond the highlighted features other notable items include presenting shows by airing, recorded shows organization which reportedly makes navigating through large listings less painful; overlap management; and a add-on product for viewing shows on computers with without tuners.

Read More | ReplayTV Product Page

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Take-Two: Another Day, Another Lawsuit

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Culture, PC, PlayStation 2, Politics, Xbox

It has been a bad couple of weeks for Take-Two Interactive Software, but probably good for their lawyers. Take-Two recently announced via news release that the District Attorney of the County of New York had served the company with grand jury subpoenas. The documents, according to the release, cover knowledge of the “hot coffee” content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as details of financial records relating to:

…termination of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and retention of Ernst & Young LLP; acquisitions by the Company in 2005; certain compensation and human resources documents with respect to the Company and certain of its current and former officers and directors; and documents concerning the activities of the Company’s Board of Directors and Committees thereof.

Take-Two also declares that neither individuals, nor the company are the target of the investigation. Given the controversy over the “hot coffee” mod, and the past problems Take-Two has had with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it seems that the District Attorney believes that there is something worth pursuing.

On top of this, more legal action has been brought against the company, this time due to content in Rockstar’s game, The Warriors. According to the New York Daily News, Roger Hill, the actor who played the gang leader Cyrus in the movie, has filed suit against both Rockstar and Take-Two. The suit seeks $250,000 in damages and an injunction against using his likeness in the game. Take-Two issued a statement to the Daily News that the company has a valid license for any actor’s likeness.

Read More | New York Daily News

Read More | Take Two Interactive

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Mobile ESPN Brings In the Samsung Ace

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Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Cell Phones

Sports fanatics waiting for a reason to sign up for the Mobile ESPN cellular service just got handed a new one today as a new Samsung mobile phone was announced which is specifically designed to provide “access to personalized sports news and information, fantasy sports team management and high-quality audio and video content” from the mobile content provider. The new Samsung Ace should be available now.

The Samsung Ace has a slim design, according to Mobile ESPN and Samsung, measuring just over a half-inch thick and weighing around 3.5 ounces. The flip style phone is made of lightweight magnesium, sports a red and black keypad and has the ESPN logo and numerical font style.

Features of the Samsung Ace include a 2.2-inch TFT color screen; stereo speakers; one button access to Mobile ESPN content; a 1.3-megapixel digital camera with built-in flash, digital zoom and video capture; speakerphone; Bluetooth; MP3/AAC music player; EVDO support; and voice recognition.

Read More | Samsung Ace Product Page

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Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Details

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace

Last week, rumors circulated that hard copy versions of the popular Xbox Live Arcade titles would be hitting retail stores, in one form or another. Gamespot has some limited details about the package and its contents. Gamespot was able to grab box art images from a retail game distributor, and according to the box, the packaging will include Geometry Wars and a 1-month subscription to Xbox Live.

In addition, other titles will likely make it into the retail box, possibly including Bejeweled, Outpost Kaloki X, and Wik: Fable of Souls. Gamespot was careful to caution that the box art is not final, and the contents are likely to change. If the pricing on the EBGames website is to believed, the package will retail for $39.99. One hopes that the games included total at least 3200 marketplace points worth of content.

Read More | Gamespot

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Klegg Debuts Flat Panel Plasma HDTVs

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Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: HDTV

Klegg Electronics, best known for their incredibly small MP3 players, is out today with a new line of plasma HDTVs, capped by a 63-inch model. The new plasma line, available now, also includes 42, 50 and 55 inch screen sizes.

Klegg’s flat panel plasma HDTVs, said the company, have their own video processing and anti-glistening technology to deliver what the company feels is an enhanced viewing experience. The televisions include an ATSC/NTSC tuner for HD reception as well as HDMI/DVI and VGA compatibility.

As an example of the line, the 63-inch model has a 16:9 diagonal screen measurement, 1366 x 768 resolution, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, HDTV input up to 1080i, component video inputs and dual tuner/picture-in picture support.

Read More | Klegg Product Page

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Social Networking Pushes Da Vinci Code

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Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Action, Corporate News, PlayStation 2

  For its campaign for the Da Vinci code game, ROKKAN, an interactive agency, used social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube to propel word-of-mouth marketing. ROKKAN, in cooperation with 2K Games, created an online treasure hunt in order to promote the release of the Da Vinci Code game. Interactive internet features like chat and forums allowed players to bond while participating in the treasure hunt. Gamers discussed the game on blogs and sought each other for help with clues and hints. The contest awarded an Xbox game console and six game titles (including the Da Vinci Code game) to the winner. The Da Vinci Code Game website also won an FWA Site of the Day Award. The contest ended 31-May-06.

Read More | PRWeb

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Prey: Game Soundtracks Grow Up

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Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Action, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360

Not only is the game play of the finally-to-be-released title “Prey” getting good reviews, but its soundtrack is also garnering notice. The orchestral score, written and produced by BAFTA award-winning composers, brothers Jeremy and Julian Soule, is being praised as the first full-on movie-length soundtrack made for a video game. The soundtrack’s runtime is better than three hours, and it will be released as a two-volume album. The soundtrack for “Prey” is expected to adjust the industry bar, propelling projects to a higher realm creatively. The soundtrack double album is available for download (320kbps) exclusively at DirectSong.com. In the world of video game music, the gloves have come off.

Read More | SoundtrackNet

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Depp Lends Voice to Pirates Game

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Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Adventure, Corporate News, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox

Movie star Johnny Depp is voicing the lead character in Bethesda Software’s new title “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow,” reprising the role he originated in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Depp recorded his lines for the game in a Los Angeles studio; the game was also designed in LA. 7 Studios, a company under license with Buena Vista Games (Disney) is the game’s designer. Bethesda, the game’s publisher, released the title yesterday.

Read More | Washington Post

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