Edge Online - Interactive Entertainment Today

Kotick Finalist for CEO of the Year

Rob Crossley — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:58:24 -0600

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has been awarded as a finalist for MarketWatch’s 2008 CEO of the year award.

The Activision Blizzard CEO didn’t quite manage to win the award (which went to Hasbro's Brian Goldner), but he was chosen as one of the five select finalist CEOs from companies spanning all different businesses and industries, from J.P. Morgan to Southwest Airlines to Heinz.

Microsoft Launches Free Xbox Live Promotion

Rob Crossley — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:39:58 -0600

Microsoft has unveiled its latest attempt to get Xbox Live Silver subscribers to turn Gold by launching Friendship is Free, a new initiative that gives all 360 users online-multiplayer access on a selection of XBLA titles.

The offer, which runs throughout December, enables free Live multiplayer for 8 XBLA games: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, A Kingdom for Keflings, Aegis Wing, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades, Small Arms, UNO and Bomberman Live. These games will of course still need to be purchased to play.

Woolworths Launches 50% Price Cuts

Rob Crossley — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:07:23 -0600

Fears that Woolworth’s recent plunge into administration would create a spontaneous price war has come to fruition, as the troubled UK retail outlet will today begin slashing all its stock prices by up to 50 percent.

Mobile Multiplayer Games: Where Are We Now?

Arthur Goikhman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:37:58 -0600

Arthur Goikhman is CEO of New York-based mobile games company Cellufun.
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PS3 Sales Double in Japan

Rob Crossley — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:32:28 -0600

Sony’s Playstation 3 saw the biggest proportional sales growth this week in Japan. The console, which sold 17,436 units the previous week, has doubled its turnover to 34,978 units.

The PS3’s sales rush sees the console selling at three times the rate of the Xbox 360, which had in recent weeks narrowed the gap between the two consoles. Microsoft’s box sold 11,423 units, down by 4,000 from last week.

Review: Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts

Edge Staff — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:04:00 -0600

Nuts & Bolts is little about the platforming of previous Banjo games. Under the instruction of the mysterious and aloof Lord Of Games, or LOG, the franchise has evolved into something like a Wacky Races construction kit; an intuitive and powerful vehicle builder that allows you to cobble together wild contraptions that fly and float and everything in between.

Book Review: Arcade Mania!

Edge Staff — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:03:32 -0600

The strengths and weaknesses of Arcade Mania! come from the same source. Read it for the story of Japanese arcades and you’ll be disappointed. Read it to find out about videogames in Japanese arcades and you’ll be half-disappointed.

Namco Bandai's New "Surge"

Kris Graft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:07:45 -0600

Namco Bandai Games America, whose parent company resides in Japan, has announced the new "Surge" studio and publishing label that's intended to more closely relate to Western audiences.

The company said on Thursday that the upcoming title Afro Samurai will be the first game to wear the new label when it launches in late January 2009. Other Surge IPs will follow in the year to come.

EA Racer Trades Paint with Mario Kart

Kris Graft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:04:11 -0600

EA Sports has typically applied the NASCAR license to more realistic racing games, with nary a bobble-headed caricature in sight.

That's going to change when the newly-announced NASCAR Kart Racing hits Wii in February 2009. Cartoon-styled graphics, weapons that range from "boomsticks" to "shockwaves" and diminutive karts are a substantial departure from NASCAR 09 on PS3, PS2 and Xbox 360.

Analyst Doubts GameStop-Woolworths Deal

Kris Graft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:08:24 -0600

As U.S.-based GameStop tries to increase its European footprint, reports out of the U.K. suggest the company is looking to possibly acquire around 400 U.K. Woolworths locations.

But Mike Hickey, analyst with Janco Partners, told Edge on Thursday, "We do not believe GameStop is considering acquiring Woolworths stores as their square footage per store is considerably larger than GameStop’s needs."

The average GameStop store is around 1,500 square feet.

NASCAR Goes Kiddie on Wii

Kris Graft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:07:18 -0600

Following the accessible Madden 09 All-Play, EA Sports is releasing another licensed sports title that uniquely attempts to attract the Wii's mass market audience.

NASCAR Kart Racing will feature licensed drivers including (but not limited to) Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart.

U.K. Dev Sector Will Slip to Fifth - Report

Kris Graft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:27:49 -0600

The U.K. game development sector's global ranking is at risk of dropping from third place in 2007 to fifth place in 2009 as the country faces "severe skills shortage, funding crisis and the industry’s poor record for online development," the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts said in a new report, Raise the Game.

Microsoft Details Biggest Euro Month Ever

Rob Crossley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:52:28 -0600

Microsoft has announced that November was the biggest sales month ever for the Xbox 360 in Europe, with the hardware sales “up 124 percent over last November”.

The company also cites GfK-ChartTrack data as suggesting that the 360 outsold the PS3 “across the entire region and in particular has seen significant gains in markets like France, Spain and Italy, where it has been outselling PlayStation 3 week after week.”

Square Enix Silent on Possible Eidos Acquisition

Rob Crossley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:14:55 -0600

Rumour is surfacing that Japanese giant Square Enix is preparing to make a rival bid for troubled UK publisher Eidos. Stakeholder company Warner Bros is also believed to be readying an acquisition bid, becoming the fourth party thought to be interested in buying a controlling stake of the firm.

Inside The Old Republic

Edge Staff — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:02:55 -0600

Star Wars, BioWare, LucasArts and the magical money-spinning acronym MMORPG. It's a dream combination.

Harrison: New Generation Will Never Buy Physical Media

Rob Crossley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:16:26 -0600

Phil Harrison is convinced that the game industry’s future audience will not be reliant on physical forms of media.

Speaking to Edge, the Atari company president said that “there’s a generation of kids being born today and probably already alive who I’m pretty confident will never buy a physical media product. They will never buy a DVD, they will never buy a CD, and they will never buy a game in a box.”

Activision Talks Sequels

Rob Crossley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:31:09 -0600

Publishing arm Activision has hinted at new versions of three of its most lucrative titles. Speaking at an event in New York held by in-game advertising firm Massive, the company briefly discussed sequels to three key franchises; Call of Duty, Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero.

Seeding Tomorrow’s 3D Artists

Immanuel Martin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:21:59 -0600

Immanuel Martin is Director of Sales at Luxology. He has been doing sales and business development in the Silicon Valley software companies for more than 15 years. He has been Director of Sales at Luxology for the past three years. In his spare time he spends time improving his modo modeling skills as well as working on independent film projects.

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The Conduit: Back to Basics

Edge Staff — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:25:00 -0600

High Voltage Studios has been very vocal lately in decrying what it sees as the technical under-achievements of other developers’ work on Wii. The Conduit is therefore the studio’s line in the sand, an intended new benchmark for Wii’s graphical capabilities.

Microsoft Wary Amidst Economic Uncertainty

Kris Graft — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:25:06 -0600

Microsoft is riding high on Black Friday sales and increased hardware uptake following a September price cut, but the company isn't completely certain about sales growth next year amidst continuing economic downturn.