Sony acquires inFamous developer Sucker Punch
Indie game studio Sucker Punch, which makes the sandbox superhero game inFamous, has been acquired by PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment — transforming the popular inFamous titles into a first-party franchise.
Sony is still keen on picking up first-party developers for its console business. While the company has a host of first-party titles that are developed internally, it is still a hardware business at heart with the PlayStation 3 and the … Continue Reading
Hardcore iPhone game Infinity Blade lands on DeNA’s social gaming network
Japanese mobile games portal DeNA announced today it’s bringing the popular iPhone game Infinity Blade, one of the first mobile games geared toward hardcore gamers, to its mobile social network.
The game will be marketed as Infinity Blade X for Mobage. It will be free to play and supported by selling virtual goods in the game. Players can spend real-world dollars to buy better weapons, armor and spells that will help them progress through the … Continue Reading
This year’s top surprises at E3
With the video game industry’s largest trade show over, it’s time to wrap up some of the highlights. We’ll start with the biggest surprises that VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi and I saw at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Franchise reboots are as stylish as ever — Tomb Raider is the latest franchise to receive a fresh face, with a new take on the classic heroine — and it looks fantastic. The game puts players into the shoes … Continue Reading
One game, any device: Hideo Kojima's vision of a seamless gaming future
Hideo Kojima, who created the Metal Gear Solid game series, demonstrated the newest gaming feature from game maker Konami today: the ability to transfer save games between consoles and handheld gaming devices so you can continue your gaming experience on the fly. Kojima gave the demo at a pre-E3 event in San Francisco.
It’s part of Kojima’s vision of a future in gaming that is not segmented by multiple consoles — where the same game … Continue Reading
Will developers and gamers flock to other consoles as Sony's Playstation Network remains down?
Today marks the sixth day of the Playstation Network (PSN) outage and Sony is still mum about when the online gaming network will go live again, which could spark an exodus of gamers and developers to other online networks like Microsoft’s Xbox Live.
Sony said the network would be down indefinitely as it rebuilt it to make it more secure after an external attack forced the company to bring its online network down. The downtime … Continue Reading
Sony's milestones: 50M PlayStation 3s sold, 8M PlayStation Moves shipped
Sony said today it has sold more than 50 million PlayStation 3 consoles to date and shipped more than 8 million PlayStation Move motion-sensing controllers.
Those are astounding numbers for any consumer electronics products. But in the video game business, they still mean that Sony is in third place among the Big Three. The good news is that all three major console makers are enjoying a robust and profitable business in this generation of consoles.… Continue Reading
Sony's next-generation gaming handheld may be delayed due to Japan quake
Sony said today that its next-generation gaming handheld could be delayed beyond the end of this year because of disruptions to its supply chain as a result of the quake and tsunami in Japan.
Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America told Bloomberg that the PlayStation Portable’s successor, dubbed the NGP, may be delayed, arriving in just one region this year instead of all three regions at once. That’s not good for Sony because … Continue Reading
Sony to offer digital downloads for all games on its new NGP handheld
Sony will release digital versions of all new games alongside physical copies so gamers can download and begin playing games immediately on its newest portable gaming device, the Sony Next Generation Portable (NGP).
Digital distribution has become pretty popular because it removes the traditional barrier to buying games — having to drive or walk to a brick-and-mortar retail store and purchase it. Stores like Steam, a digital distribution front run by Valve, capitalize on impulse … Continue Reading
Quirkat to develop games for the Middle East market
The Middle East has been pretty much off the map when it comes to making video games. But a small Dubai-based start-up called Quirkat would like to change that.
The company’s very existence is a nod to the globalization of the video game business. In a time when web technologies enable start-ups to create, publish and distribute their games anywhere, it’s a lot easier to create games anywhere in the world. So it’s only fitting … Continue Reading
Sony announces next-gen portable entertainment system, as powerful as PS 3
Take that, Apple and Nintendo! Sony announced that it will launch a next-generation portable entertainment system. Sony claims the new portable system will be as powerful as its PlayStation 3 game console.
At an event in Tokyo, the Japanese electronics giant showed off the NGP, a code name for what Sony calls the “ultimate portable entertainment experience.” The replacement for the PlayStation Portable, first launched in 2004, will debut at the end of the year. … Continue Reading
Sony reportedly will announce new PlayStation Portable on Jan. 27
Sony is planning to announce a new PlayStation Portable handheld game player on Jan. 27 and will follow that up with a game-capable smartphone in February, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, citing confidential sources.
It’s certainly about time. Sony has taken a beating in the handheld market lately. Nintendo’s DS has outsold the PlayStation Portable by 2-to-1. A new PSP Go device launched in 2009 has failed miserably. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and other smartphones … Continue Reading
Apple closes in on Nintendo with 40 million iPod, iPhone gamers
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ bold claim that Apple owns 50 percent of the mobile gaming market might not actually be a part of his reality distortion field, according to a recent survey of gamers.
40.1 million of the 77 million Americans playing games on mobile devices play them on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad — nearly catching Nintendo’s 41 million gamers playing the DS and DSi and blowing well past Sony’s 18 million gamers … Continue Reading
iPod Touch accounts for 38 percent of iPhone-compatible devices
Using a bit of clever math, app maker and market analyst firm Asymco has determined that about 38 percent of all 120 million reported iOS device sales are iPod Touches.
The company got the value by subtracting the 59.6 million iPhones and 3.2 million iPads sold through June (figures presented in Apple’s SEC filings) and the estimated July and August iPad and iPhone sales of 12 million — a combined 74.8M iPads and iPhones sold … Continue Reading
