iPhone game startup Ngmoco hires top Sega executive
The iPhone keeps playing its siren song. And video game executives are falling for it.
Ngmoco, a high-profile iPhone game startup, is announcing today that it’s lured a top Sega of America executive as its new chief publishing officer. Simon Jeffery, president of Sega of America, said in an interview that he will join San Francisco-based Ngmoco starting today.
“The iPhone is a tremendously exciting once in a lifetime opportunity,” Jeffery said.
The move shows the iPhone is… Continue Reading
Thriller New Media hopes to bring back the good old plays of military games
Thriller New Media is looking to raise $8 million to finance its nostalgic dream of creating massively multiplayer online games, a social network, strategy games and other media built around military themes.
It’s a tough job to try to revive a category of gaming that has fallen by the wayside — except for first-person shooter games such as Call of Duty. Once the domain of hardcore gamers, military simulation and strategy games for the PC have… Continue Reading
Will the game industry slow, or is it just getting started?
I’m giving a speech today in Berlin, Germany at the Quo Vadis game conference. I was asked to talk about the state of the game industry and the prospects for game startups. Here’s an abridged version of the speech for those who want an overview of investment in games.
I love games. I played the original Pong when it first came out. I played Wing Commander in the early 1990s until my right arm became too… Continue Reading
Vicious Cycle releases new tool to make it easier to do cheaper cross-platform games
Game engines may not be sexy to talk about, but they are useful tools. They provide developers with a platform upon which they can make multiple games. So it’s no small matter that Vicious Cycle Software is announcing a new version of its game engine, the Vicious Engine 2, today.
This new game-making tool will be available at the Game Developers Conference in March, and will enable game developers to create games for the PC, PlayStation… Continue Reading
Q&A with BioWare founders on “Mass Effect” and life at EA
Fair warning: This video game post may appeal more to game fans than it does to business people in games or in venture investors. It is like a bridge between this blog and my old one at the San Jose Mercury News. You’re catching it mid-story. It involves a controversy that started when I reviewed “Mass Effect” at the Merc. But this discussion is relevant here in a different way. Please indulge me in sharing… Continue Reading
Paramount moves into video games
It’s a little late from the point of view of its rivals, but Paramount Pictures has finally decided to take a plunge into video games.
The Hollywood studio is expanding its video game division with a slate of games that will start coming out later this year, according to Variety.
Most movie studios have seen why this makes financial sense. A movie might cost $90 million to make and gross $100 million. But a video game costs… Continue Reading
EA gets a new soldier in the takeover fight
It’s not wise to go without a consigliere in a mob war. That’s why Electronic Arts appointed Eric Brown as chief financial officer today. The Godfather himself, EA CEO John Riccitiello, needs Brown to run the numbers on taking over Take-Two Interactive. Yesterday, Take-Two’s board rejected EA’s $2 billion hostile tender offer as inadequate.
Brown, 42, worked in the late 1990s as chief operating officer and CFO for EA’s Redwood Shores studio. Before his latest appointment…. Continue Reading
Roundup: Motorola splits up, cable giants back WiMax venture, and more
Here’s the latest action (updated):
Struggling cell phone manufacturer Motorola announced it would split itself into two different companies. Under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, the company will divide itself into a cell phone company and a company with broadband and mobility equipment operations. The latter firm would create infrastructure equipment for wireless networks as well as build television set-top boxes. The company had said in January that it would consider a breakup, mainly since… Continue Reading
Justice Department approves Sirius-XM merger
After a year of review, The Department of Justice has approved the merger of satellite radio companies Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings.
The deal also requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission. But the ruling is sure to be controversial and is likely be a sign of things to come for other industries.
The deal raised antitrust concerns because it combined the only two major players in satellite radio. But the two sides… Continue Reading
Electronic Arts partners to create animated Dead Space film
Films based on games have had a long and sorry history. But hope springs eternal as Electronic Arts announced today that it has a partner to produce an animated version of the upcoming horror game Dead Space.
EA will partner with Starz Media, which will produce an animated film for TV and DVDs that will appear at the same time that Dead Space launches this Halloween. The game is akin a third-person shooting game where a… Continue Reading
EA brings in an outsider as No. 2 executive
John Riccitiello was an interesting personnel experiment when he came from outside the video game industry to become the No. 2 executive at Electronic Arts a decade ago. He is now the company’s CEO and one of the industry’s most respected executives.
Now Riccitiello is replaying that same experiment: He announced today that he’s hired John Pleasants (pictured left), a non-video game executive to be EA’s new No. 2. I’m not convinced it’s going to work… Continue Reading