Tag Archive for Game

Researcher: World of Warcaft players make better employees

05/01/2013

Playing World of Warcraft will make a person a better employee in the corporate world, according to digital culture researcher John Seely Brown. Speaking in a new Big Think YouTube video, Brown said he would rather hire a high-level World of Warcraft player than an MBA student from Harvard.


“To understand these massive multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, do not think about it as just game play, but look at the social life on the edge of the game,” Brown said.

Brown claimed that such high-level World of Warcraft players benefit from the fundamental collaborative nature of the game, specifically with regards to guilds and raiding. He said these guilds, which can number in the hundreds of players, are fueled only by a player’s passion, not any external reward or bonus.

“When we look into the social structures and the knowledge capability, refining, and generation capabilities of this guild structures, there is something going on here,” Brown said. “Now, these are not just self-organizing groups. Basically every high-end guild has a constitution. The leaders of these guilds also have to do dispute adjudication all the time. They also have to be willing to say, ‘Let’s measure ourselves.’

Another reason why a World of Warcraft player would make a better employee, according to Brown, is because players must create “dashboards,” or ways in which players measure themselves and things happening around them. In the corporate world, Brown said, these dashboards are applied by managers, but that isn’t the case in World of Warcraft.

“In World of Warcraft you invent a dashboard for yourself,” Brown said. “So this whole idea of thinking about how do I build measurements to facilitate my own performance for me and me alone becomes very interesting. And in fact in the World of Warcraft there’s a simple mantra I encounter all the time. If I ain’t learning, it ain’t fun.”

Ultimately, Brown said employers would be smart to hire a World of Warcraft player because these gamers have accelerated levels of passion and curiosity.

“But it gets back to this notion of passion, it gets back to this notion of curiosity, and it gets back to this notion that this is an interest-driven phenomenon that unleashes exponential learning of a dimension that’s almost unimaginable any other way,” he said.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/researcher-world-of-warcaft-players-make-better-employees-6402039

Preowned Wii U consoles allow free game downloads, user claims

04/01/2013

Gamers who purchase a second-hand Wii U can re-download all digital content the past owner previously purchased free of charge. That’s according to a NeoGAF user, who claims games are tied to the console itself and not any one individual Nintendo Network ID account.


The user–DSN2K–claimed the second-hand system was “wiped,” though it was not mentioned where the console was purchased.

The user noted that upon entering the Wii U eShop, some games did not have a price, but were instead labelled “redownload,” despite never having paid for them.

Thus far, the user has been able to download Trine 2 and Nano Assault Neo for free.

A Nintendo representative was not immediately available to comment.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/preowned-wii-u-consoles-allow-free-game-downloads-user-claims-6402018

Demon’s Souls going downloadable on PSN

04/01/2013

Demon’s Souls is going downloadable. Publisher Atlus has announced via the PlayStation Blog that the 2009 role-playing game will be available through the PlayStation Network from January 8 at $20.


In addition, a Pure White World Tendency event for Demon’s Souls will be held January 8-14 and will “slightly reduce” the game’s difficulty.

Atlus had previously planned to shut down online game servers for Demon’s Souls last May. This is no longer the case.

Atlus editor Nich Maragos also revealed that Demon’s Souls is Atlus’ highest-selling title ever. Demon’s Souls spiritual successor Dark Souls was published by Namco Bandai. Other major Atlus-published games include Persona 4, Catherine, and Game of Thrones.

For more on Demon’s Souls, check out GameSpot’s review.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/demons-souls-going-downloadable-on-psn-6402022

The War Z servers attacked by hackers

04/01/2013

Controversial zombie survival game The War Z has found itself a victim of multiple hacking attempts over the last few days. Speaking on the game’s official forums, community manager Kewk detailed the various attempts at disrupting the game: “Guys over the last few days we have been under attack by various forums [sic] of malicious attempts to shut down our servers.”


“First we were hit with an attack that would rest [sic] our DNS IP so that you could not connect. This was solved a couple days ago early in the morning but took time to actually resolve world wide once the fix went in.”

A couple of days later the game found itself “being hit, again, with a DDoS attack on our login server. We are implementing additional DDoS protection and hope to have this resolved asap. Unfortunately with these types of attacks it is very difficult to give a good time frame of when it will be resolved.”

Kewk also detailed the various attempts at resolving the problems, with some successes for developer Hammerpoint Interactive. Right now it seems like the issues have been mostly fixed, though users trying to play from the now-removed Steam version still appear to be running into issues.

Last week, The War Z creator Sergey Titov apologised for the game’s misleading launch and subsequent Steam delisting, saying that he “became arrogant and blinded by the early success and quick growth” of the game.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/the-war-z-servers-attacked-by-hackers-6402023

Wreck-It Ralph hitting DVD and Blu-ray this March

04/01/2013

The hit animated movie Wreck-It Ralph will be out in digital and physical DVD and Blu-ray form early this year.


Ralph's gonna wreck it at home this February and March.

Ralph’s gonna wreck it at home this February and March.

According to Disney Home Video, the digital version will be out on February 12 and will be available in HD digital and HD digital 3D formats. The physical versions will be out on March 5.

In addition to a standalone DVD release with no extra features, Disney will release a two-disc collecter’s edition and a four-disc ultimate collector’s edition. The former set contains the DVD and Blu-ray versions while the latter edition contains both aforementioned formats as well as the Blu-ray 3D and digital copy.

The digital, collector’s edition and ultimate collector’s edition will come with bonuses such as the “making of” feature called “Bit by Bit: Creating the Worlds of Wreck-It Ralph”, alternate and deleted scenes, video game commercials for the titles created for the movie, and the animated short called Paperman that was shown before the film in its theater run. The Blu-ray copy will also have a video feature which points out the many video game references in Wreck-It Ralph, hosted by stand-up comedian Chris Hardwick.

For more information on Wreck-It Ralph, check out the previous story on the video game-themed film.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/wreck-it-ralph-hitting-dvd-and-blu-ray-this-march-6402012

30 million Angry Birds downloads last week

04/01/2013

Angry Birds franchise games were downloaded 30 million times during the Christmas week (December 22-29), developer Rovio Entertainment announced today. In addition, the franchise saw 8 million downloads on Christmas Day alone, which is up from 6.5 million last year.


Citing data from application analytics firm Flurry, Rovio also claimed that some 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, meaning about one Angry Birds game was downloaded for every other new device activated.

Rovio had a busy 2012. The company released four new games (Angry Birds Space, Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies, and Angry Birds Star Wars) during the year, which also saw the Angry Birds series reach one billion downloads.

Last month, Rovio announced that the Angry Birds movie will release in summer 2016, helmed by Iron Man and Despicable Me producers.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/30-million-angry-birds-downloads-last-week-6401999

Billionaire Ken Griffin increases stake in Take-Two

04/01/2013

With hype continuing to mount around Grand Theft Auto V, billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has increased its stake in Take-Two Interactive. According to a December 28 Securities and Exchange Commission document spotted by The Motley Fool, Citadel now owns 5.5 million shares of Take-Two, up from 3 million at the start of October 2012.


Citadel now owns roughly 6 percent of all Take-Two shares. Trading on NASDAQ for the game publisher closed today up 3.48 percent to $11.88 per share.

Griffin is not the first high-profile hedge fund manager to be attracted to Take-Two with GTAV on the horizon. Citadel’s deeper investment follows that of fellow billionaire Carl Icahn, who disclosed ownership of 8.7 million Take-Two shares during November 2012.

GTAV is due out this spring for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and is Rockstar Games’ most ambitious project to date. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich believes the hotly hyped game could sell 25 million or more copies during its first 12 months.

For more on GTAV, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/billionaire-ken-griffin-increases-stake-in-take-two-6402002

Elite: Dangerous fully funded

03/01/2013

Elite: Dangerous is on track to take flight. Frontier Developments’ space sim exceeded its £1.25 million (about $2 million) Kickstarter funding target yesterday, amassing £1.31 million ($2.13 million) from more than 22,000 backers at press time. The fund ends tomorrow, January 4, at 7 p.m. EST.


The milestone was reached on Frontier Developments founder David Braben’s 49th birthday.

Stretch goals for Elite: Dangerous were recently announced, the first of which is a Mac version. If the funding hits £1.4 million ($2.27 million), a Mac iteration will be released within three months of the initial Windows launch. Additionally, if Elite: Dangerous amasses £1.5 million ($2.44 million), an additional ten playable ships (on top of the 15 existing) will be added to the game.

Elite: Dangerous is aiming to be an “amazing space epic” that boasts “stunning visuals” and “incredible gameplay.” The game is currently scheduled to arrive only on PC during March 2014.

The game features multiplayer, a reputation-based system that affects the gameworld, a trading market, combat missions, and customizable ships. Players will begin their journeys with a number of credits, which can be used for a variety of purposes.

The original Elite launched in 1984, with two bona fide sequels, Frontier: Elite and Frontier: First Encounters, arriving in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Braben and Frontier Developments most recently developed Kinectimals, Kinect Disney Land, and Lost Winds.

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/elite-dangerous-fully-funded-6401988

Analyst: Wii U GameStop sales below expectations

03/01/2013

 JudgeSim 

Really? I didn’t know Super Mario 1, 2, 3, Land, Land 2, Land 3, World, World 2, 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, 3D Land and the New Series were all the same game all released within an extended time period across multiple platforms. I could’ve sworn each had their own unique identity and all still stand today as amazing games in their own right. 

 

I love how people think all Nintendo has is Mario, granted he is their mascot but they still have a buttload of other successful franchises, some currently dormant while others are seeing a revival, many of which only come out once per platform because you know, when Nintendo creates a game, it stands the test of time and doesn’t require multiple iterations year after year. 

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/analyst-wii-u-gamestop-sales-below-expectations-6401991

Sony patents tech to block used games

03/01/2013

Sony has researched and patented new technology that could be implemented to block used games. As spotted by a NeoGAF user, patent application number 20130007892 for an “Electronic Content Processing System” and “Use Apparatus” would associate individual game discs with matched user accounts.

Games that are discovered to be tied to another user’s account could potentially be rejected. The system works, according to the document, by attaching contactless RF “tags” to each game, which can be be read without a network connection.


The filing does not mention any specific system for its use. However, past speculation suggested Sony was interested in curbing second-hand sales with the PlayStation 4.

“A game playing system includes a use permission tag provided for use in a game disk for a user of a game, a disk drive, and a reproduction device for reproducing the game,” reads a line from the patent’s abstract. “The disk drive reads out a disk ID from the game disk. When the game is to be played, the reproduction device conveys the disk ID and a player ID to the use permission tag. The use permission tag stores the terms of use of the game and determines whether a combination of the disk ID and the player ID conveyed from the reproduction device fulfills the terms of use or not.”

In the patent filing, Sony said in a content business like the games industry, it is “vital” to redistribute a portion of the proceeds from sales to developers, who do not see a dime from second-hand sales. Sony said though the second-hand market may expose new gamers to a particular title, in the long run, this does not benefit developers.

“In such a scheme where the electronic content is bought and sold in the second-hand markets or the like, the sales proceeds resulting therefrom are not redistributed to the developers,” reads a line from the filing. “Also, since the users who have purchased the second-hand items are somehow no longer potential buyers of the content, the developers would lose their profits otherwise gained in the first place.”

Sony said this patent would effectively “suppress” the second-hand game market if it ever comes to fruition. This technology would also be applicable to other forms of electronic content, including images and music.

The patent was originally applied for in September and was published today. It does not necessarily indicate that Sony will, in reality, block or in any way prohibit gamers from playing second-hand titles on the PS4 or any other device.

The used-game market has been a contentious issue, with several noted developers making clear their stance against secondhand sales. Those who spoke out against used sales in the past year include Crysis developer Crytek’s director of creative development, Rasmus Hojengaard (though he quickly recanted), Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach, ex-THQ executive Richard Browne, Elite creator David Braben, Volition design director Jameson Durall, and Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack.

Not all voices are against used games. Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch said in February 2012 that blocking used games is unfair. Also during that month, Witcher developer CD Projekt Red’s managing director, Adam Badowski, took a populist gamer stance, saying systems that block used games “can be a bad thing.”

Article source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/sony-patents-tech-to-block-used-games-6401992

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