General gaming

General gaming

Mixed Bag for Japan Publisher Financials

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:24 AM PDT


With the recent PlayStation Network break-in and a lack of major blockbuster content as of late from across the Pacific, it may come as a surprise to some that any company in Japan made money last year. But they did -- a lot of them, in fact, as revealed in a financial results roundup published in this week's issue of Famitsu magazine.

For the previous Japanese fiscal year (ending March 31), Nintendo posted net profits of 77.6 billion yen, or about $953 million, even though this in itself was down by nearly two-thirds from the year before. Profits at Sega parent outfit Sega Sammy Holdings totaled 41.5 billion yen ($510 million) thanks to their pachinko/slot-machine business; Konami made 12.9 billion yen ($158 million), and Capcom (headquarters pictured above) racked up 7.75 billion yen ($95.2 million).

"The game industry is at a transitional point right now, yet manny companies made an operating profit last year, something that many people might question," said Nomura Securities senior analyst Yuta Sakurai. "Much of this is because publisher efforts to expand the game category, as seen in the social game genre, are starting to bear fruit, as well as the fact that the entertainment business outside of games is expanding according to plan."

Is This Soulcalibur V's First In-Game Screenshot?

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:19 PM PDT

Soulcalibur V screenshot

Since being announced earlier this month, we haven't learned much more about Soulcalibur V. A few details were revealed along with a trailer and some character art but there is still little known about the game.

Teasing an upcoming cover story in EGM, the latest issue of EGMi has what looks to be the very first screenshot of the game. It shows a good look at what looks like Pyrrha, who is a new playable character, and the back of a grey-haired character.

Soulcalibur V is still fairly far off -- it's not planned for release until 2012 -- but do let us know what you think of its look in the comments and get ready to learn more about the game in the coming weeks.

Crimson Alliance is an XBLA Action RPG from the Age of Booty Team

Posted: 31 May 2011 05:51 PM PDT

Crimson Alliance

Certain Affinity officially announced its new game today, a cooperative action-RPG known as Crimson Alliance. The game's official website isn't home to much more than a logo and the image above at the moment, but a press release sent out gives a brief overview of what to expect ahead of its E3 showing next week.

Crimson Alliance is described as having "fast-paced" action and RPG-style character development. It sounds as if there's a focus on playing cooperatively -- you can play with up to three other players on one Xbox 360 or online. Three different classes are available -- Wizard, Mercenary, and Assassin (which have access to "time-bending attacks") -- as seen in silhouette form above. Three classes in an action-RPG might not sound like a lot compared to, say, Diablo III, but Torchlight had only three, too.

The developer was previously responsible for Age of Booty and it mentions that members of the development team have worked on the likes of Halo, Call of Duty, and Left 4 Dead.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair to Get PS3 Port - Report

Posted: 31 May 2011 05:02 PM PDT

Castlevania Harmony of Despair

Last year's downloadable, multiplayer Castlevania title, Harmony of Despair, is reportedly headed to the PlayStation 3.

That's according to Siliconera which cites two (unidentified) sources indicating the game is PSN-bound. It originally came out on the Xbox Live Arcade on August 4 as a part of the Summer of Arcade promotion. Producer Koji Igarashi said last June that a PSN port was possible depending on the performance of the XBLA version. "Right now I'm focusing on Xbox Live Arcade," he said. "But there might be a possibility with that. I hope this one sells, and then we can think about PSN."

It's somewhat of a weird game, as 1UP's review puts it, but it's pretty fun, too.

Zynga Announces Empires & Allies

Posted: 31 May 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Empires & Allies

Zynga, the dominant browser-based video game developer, announced Empires & Allies today, a new real-time strategy game from the company's Los Angeles studio.

Speaking to the executive producer Amer Ajami, 1UP has learned that Empire & Allies was internally referenced as "Cityville meets Risk," and that the core development team is comprised of former Command & Conquer and The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth team members. The game blends familiar city building and expansion mechanics of Zynga's previous games (such as City-, Frontier-, or FarmVille) with more traditional elements, such as combat and a single player campaign.

Before They Were Famous: Forgotten Franchises From Today's Biggest Developers

Posted: 31 May 2011 04:53 PM PDT

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Before They Were Famous: Forgotten Franchises From Today's Biggest Developers

The small beginnings of gaming's giants.

By: Wesley Fenlon May 31, 2011

Over the past two decades, iD Software refined its arsenal of hellspawn- and alien-blastin' weaponry into a list of deadly tools most gamers will instantly recognize. Chainguns? Classic. Doom shotgun? The ultimate boomstick. And then there's the one we'll never forget, the grand mack daddy of them all: the BFG9000. But before iD practically invented the first-person shooter with Wolfenstein 3D or kickstarted the modern deathmatch with Quake, its first game protagonist was armed with a slightly less deadly tool: a pogo stick. Only a few years later, Epic Games found enormous success with the Unreal Tournament series before zooming out to the third person and putting chainsaws into the hands of its trademark roided out muscle men. Before Marcus Phoenix, Epic got its start with a humble platformer that crossed Bugs Bunny with the speed and 'tude of Sonic the Hedgehog to create Jazz Jackrabbit.

Some of today's biggest developers are known for pushing the limits of technology and crafting visceral, incredibly popular games -- usually shooters -- with large competitive communities. iD and Epic rule on the technology front with some of the most powerful engines in gaming. Bungie set the bar for console multiplayer with online matchmaking, replays, and map editing in the Halo series. And most recently, a little game called Call of Duty: Black Ops netted Treyarch the prestigious honor of crafting the best-selling game of all time...but we bet you've never heard of Treyarch's first game, a PC fight sim called Die By the Sword.

Age of Empires Online Launches August 16

Posted: 31 May 2011 04:15 PM PDT


Age of Empires Online will be released on August 16, one year after it was officially announced. The free-to-play strategy allows players to assume the role of either the Greeks or Egyptians and promises more than 40 hours of gameplay without ever dropping a dime on microtransactions.

The game is a major departure from previous Age of Empires titles. Previously known as Project Spartan, players have a persistent city that can be built up when not playing through traditional real-time-strategy missions. It had been in development at Robot Entertainment but Microsoft suddenly revealed in February that Gas Powered Games was taking over, claiming it was "the plan for some time."

The game will be available through the official website and at retail. The latter option includes the exclusive Greek Pack containing the premium Greek civilization; Windy's Wild Widgets Store, a retail-only store; a hotkey reference guide; plus a poster and cards. Even if you buy it at retail, you'll still be downloading the game -- the front of the box labels it as a digital download which, besides being redundant, isn't a surprise given the game's online focus.

WWE Drops Smackdown vs. Raw Name in Favor of Simpler WWE '12

Posted: 31 May 2011 03:15 PM PDT


Since picking up and running with the name in 2004, WWE and THQ today announced that Smackdown vs. Raw will no longer be used as the name for the annual wrestling game series. It will take on a much simpler name starting this year with WWE '12, which will still be developed by Yuke's.

IGN detailed the game's changes most of which sound like improvements; the "bigger, badder, better" tagline doesn't do much to describe what's different. Right-stick grappling is gone, moves can now be interrupted at any time and can be done anywhere in the ring, and both pins and submissions have been reworked. Animations depend on the weight of the character, so Daniel Bryan and the Big Show should be significantly different from one another. And thankfully the excellent Ricardo Rodriguez will announce Alberto Del Rio's name as he comes to the ring.

WWE '12 will be out in North America on November 22. For the first time since the original Smackdown vs. Raw featured only one person (Vince McMahon) on the cover, Randy Orton will be the lone cover star.

Battlefield 3 is the Most Anticipated Shooter of E3

Posted: 31 May 2011 02:29 PM PDT

1UP Community Poll Result - May 31, 2011

It seems as though the theme for this year's E3 has a little something to do with shooter sequels ending in the number '3', but the masses have spoken and they're demanding more Battlefield 3!

The 2011 E3 Blogger Contest - We Have a Winner!

Posted: 31 May 2011 02:07 PM PDT

While every year we see some amazing entries in our annual E3 Blogger Contest, we're happy to say that the competition for this year's was particularly awesome. There were so many well-written and entertaining entries that made the decision particularly difficult -- seriously, you guys have no idea how tough it is to vote on these. We'd like to send all the participants a huge thank you for putting your hearts out there and pushing your creativity to the limits for this contest. We read each entry and seriously appreciate peoples' time and effort.

Selecting a winner was no easy feat, as there was much debate amongst the 1UP staff -- but rest assured, no blood was shed. However, before shuffling straight into announcing the winner, we'd like to get your palms a little sweaty by warming you up with our shout-outs to the following members with entries that stood out.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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