Xbox Live stats for 2011 show players skipped out on some great games
Last year was a banner year for quality video games, with superb sequels (Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2), interesting new intellectual properties (L.A. Noire) and the return of some old friends (Mortal Kombat, Deus EX: Human Revolution, Rayman Origins).
Not that you would know it from looking at the list of most popular Xbox 360 games among Xbox Live users.
The list, published by Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hyrb, otherwise known as Major … Continue Reading
VBWeekly: Top 10 games of 2011
Last week, VentureBeat announced its Game of the Year choices. Now you can see the video of VentureBeat’s top game writers, Dean Takahashi and Sebastian Haley discussing the picks. Enjoy the talk and let us know your favorite game of the year in the comments below.
As we explained previously, here’s how we conducted the selection process: We first asked our reviewers to choose the semi-finalists. Then we picked the final winners from that group. … Continue Reading
Left 4 Dead short film rivals Hollywood production values (video)
As the gaming culture matures, a handful of impressive fan films paying homage to popular titles have continued to emerge. First, the “Escape from City 17” Half-Life shorts from two years ago set a new standard with their Hollywood-lite production values, then earlier this year Modern Warfare and Portal received similar treatments. Now another Valve-published game, Left 4 Dead, has been reimagined in this live-action eight-minute film.
Check back shortly for our exclusive interview with … Continue Reading
The DeanBeat: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception tops our list of the 10 best games of 2011
This year, with our ramped up our GamesBeat review team, we’ve taken our Game of the Year choices much more seriously than we have in the past. We asked our reviewers to select the semifinalists and then picked the final winners ourselves. But our vote on the best game of 2011 ended in a tie, so we had to hold a tie-breaker round to pick our winner.
And the final tie-breaker vote went — for … Continue Reading
Valve: first Portal 2 downloadable content will be free
Valve is bucking one of the largest trends in the video gaming industry — releasing additional content for games and charging extra for it — by releasing the next phase of content for its blockbuster hit Portal 2 for free for all gamers.
Downloadable content for games can be as big as the blockbuster games themselves. The Call of Duty series, a first-person shooting game set in wartime, has proven this point multiple times by … Continue Reading
Week in review: PlayStation Network's big outage
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Sony’s PlayStation Network suffers big outage — The good news is that Sony has more than 70 million registered users for its PlayStation Network online service for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The bad news is that they’re all angry because Sony suffered an outage this week.
AT&T craps on T-Mobile, self, in … Continue Reading
Game journalist may cash in on the making of Portal 2
Geoff Keighley is a well-known game journalist who hosts the show Game Trailers TV with Geoff Keighley on Friday nights on Spike TV. He has written a 15,000-word story on The Final Hours of Portal 2, but he published it in a very non-traditional way.
Keighley’s story will be available to readers as a $1.99 app for the Apple iPad. It will be an interesting test for journalists who have a long story to tell … Continue Reading
"Portal Kombat" shows the duality of gamers (poll)
Today saw the launch of two major video games, and they make up a tale of two gamers. Portal 2 is a thinking person’s shooting game, meant for people who like to solve puzzles and outsmart rivals in an action game. Mortal Kombat, on the other extreme, is a twitch game, where you have to mash buttons as fast as you can to defeat your enemy.
The two game launches show how very different game … Continue Reading
Week in review: Valve widens the audience for Portal 2
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Valve figures out how to widen its audience for Portal 2 — with boots — For Portal 2, Valve’s marketing machine has focused on widening the audience for the physics-based shooting game. And it has hit upon a way to target the female audience — or perhaps just the larger community of boot fans … Continue Reading
Valve generates a consumer backlash with end of alternate reality game
Valve concluded its Portal 2 alternate reality game Friday morning with a new message for gamers: You can speed your access to the game by purchasing more games from Valve’s Steam online game distribution service.
Users aren’t too happy about that, given the reaction on Twitter, as many assumed that the Portal 2 game would be unlocked early on Steam at the conclusion of the alternate reality game, which required users to solve puzzles collectively … Continue Reading
Valve's alternate reality game stirs fascination with Portal 2
Hoping to build interest in its upcoming Portal 2 video game, game creator and publisher Valve has created an “alternate reality game” (ARG) to get fans started early.
The is part fantasy, part reality. It uses real-world connections as developers seed clues among the media and fans. ARGs are tried and true ways to market a game or other product without spending a great deal of money, since interest spreads by word of mouth. The … Continue Reading
Valve figures out how to widen its audience for Portal 2 — with boots
File this story under smart marketing tips.
Valve‘s original Portal game was an indie favorite that had a lot of fans, just not millions and millions of them. For Portal 2, Valve’s marketing machine has focused on widening the audience for the physics-based shooting game. And it has hit upon a way to target the female audience — or perhaps just the larger community of boot fans — with its latest game trailer.
The video … Continue Reading
Spike TV's Video Game Awards become the forum for debuting the big games of 2011 (trailers)
Spike TV’s Video Game Awards have become the forum for introducing the biggest titles of the coming year. The eighth annual show aired tonight from the LA Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles, featuring celebrities such as host Neil Patrick Harris and footage from 13 upcoming video games.
Since Spike TV (the Viacom property that is viewed in 99.4 million homes) caters to young males and the show features the biggest stars of the video … Continue Reading
Valve reveals details to sequel for its beloved Portal game (video)
Portal was one of the most popular video games of 2007. Part of the allure was its humble roots as a title developed by independent game creators. At the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, game publisher Valve announced that it will launch Portal 2 in 2011 and revealed details of the game.
Portal was a single-player first-person shooter game conceived by students from the DigiPen Institute of Technology; they were hired by Valve, the … Continue Reading
Valve finally brings its Steam game platform to Macs
Portal was one of the most popular video games of 2007. Part of the allure was its humble roots as a title developed by independent game creators. At the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, game publisher Valve announced that it will launch Portal 2 in 2011 and revealed details of the game.
Portal was a single-player first-person shooter game conceived by students from the DigiPen Institute of Technology; they were hired by Valve, the … Continue Reading
Valve announces Portal 2 for this holiday season
Portal was one of the most popular video games of 2007. Part of the allure was its humble roots as a title developed by independent game creators. At the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, game publisher Valve announced that it will launch Portal 2 in 2011 and revealed details of the game.
Portal was a single-player first-person shooter game conceived by students from the DigiPen Institute of Technology; they were hired by Valve, the … Continue Reading
