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$345m invested in virtual worlds this year
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USD 161 million has been invested into 16 virtual worlds companies during the second quarter of 2008, brining this year's total investment up to USD 345 million, according to figures from Virtual World Management.
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- GameDev
- Weekend Reading: Tales from Journal Land
Entries from 10/31 - 11/5
Journal Land Pick of the Week
IfThen Software LLC - Newsletter #51: A small Halloween game was released; New rendering system; New iScribble sketches; Community spotlight on the interchangeability of mods from SAO to the recent Halloween game - The Daily GameDev.net
I want to point out that yesterday was November 5th and I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt as we walked around in 81F weather. Texas is a brilliant place. Also: every time a girl says "Y'all" I swoon a little bit.
The big news of the week that, for once, isn't Infinity Ward causing some crazy scandal, but rather that Epic released a free version of their Unreal Editor called the UDK. This is a vastly improved release of the editor that, supposedly, has features that aren't even in any commercial game yet. More to the point, it's a better mod/development solution than the Unreal Tournament 3 editor which, while powerful, has some stability issues (and a painful Generic Browser compared to the UDK one). And while the release of UDK is huge on its own, Epic has also updated the license terms (quoted from Gamasutra): "[...] creators will still need to obtain an official licensing agreement to develop a commercial project using UE3; according to the new licensing terms, Epic receives twenty-five percent of revenue after the first $5,000 is made, with a per-seat yearly fee also potentially applying if the project is solely used internally." Very cool. Between this and Unity (which serves a very different audience), independent developers are having some high-quality tools in the wild now.
In case you didn't already know, Dragon Quest IX is kind of a big deal. For comparison purposes: Madden NFL 2010, a hugely popular game, that has been released across the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and PSP in the United States and the UK, has sold 2.61M copies from July to September (it was actually released in August). Now, Dragon Quest IX, which has only been released on the Nintendo DS (and, even then, only in Japan) tops the chart with 3.92M units sold. My brain has just 'sploded all over your collective faces with how popular this game is.
So Halo: Reach screen shots have leaked. Or may be fakes. Either way, that's a thing. There's also an anime which, um, I guess is a thing that Halo fans always wanted. I'd much have preferred the Neill Blomkamp (District 9 director) movie, but I guess anime is a replacement.
Bayonetta still looks absolutely insane. Basically it's a game about the life of super-sexified Sarah Palin in bizarro world. Or something like that. I don't know. Video games are really getting bizarre.
None of this news is as important as the fact that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is getting closer to its release. In this case it's a Playstation 3-exclusive demo, but I won't pick hairs. I want this game. Badly.
At this point in the Daily, I think it's time for me to admit that I must go play Dragon Age right now. It's not a game that I expected to get, but Tuesday night I discovered that there was a Best Buy near my apartment, so I drove (for the first time in two months) to go get a 360 copy. I am really digging the game, far more than I expected. I'm also, as expected, very engrossed in Forza 3 and all of the things I loaded onto my PSP Go. Yes, I finally caved and got a PSP Go. Don't judge me. I could also tell you about my Halloween night, but I think that's inappropriate for a Daily. Cliff notes: I got in a cane fight with a person dressed as a 105-year-old, Walker Texas Ranger stalked us, there was a Bichon dressed as a Bumble Bee, and if you're the girl that I ran into I could really use your number. - OpenFeint Gold Program Highlights Developers
Aurora Feint Inc., developer of the most popular social gaming platform and network for the iPhone, announced OpenFeint Gold, a recognition program for the developers of extraordinarily high quality games that use OpenFeint. OpenFeint Gold titles will be extensively promoted by Aurora Feint Inc. on www.openfeint.com, on the openfeint dashboard in other games and on partner websites.
"I am personally very excited to bring this program to our game development community," said Jason Citron, Founder and CEO, of Aurora Feint. "When we launched Aurora Feint: The Beginning, on July 11 last year, I was delighted to get recognition from all over including game of the year on the iPhone and this is our way of recognizing other incredible quality games." - The Daily GameDev.net
It's time for another Late Night Daily. I'm not trying to make a habit of this, I swear. As always though, it'll be worth the wait.
Studio News - Microsoft, Square Enix, Polyphony Digital. Microsoft has completed its current round of layoffs by letting go of 800 employees, pushing the finally tally to just over the 5,000 estimated to be cut back in January. Of course, there's nothing to stop future layoffs from hitting the company, but for now at least things are back in equilibrium. Square Enix has also been reducing its workforce after being bought out by Eidos, most likely largely due to redundancy. So far the global headcount reduction across SE offices has be pinned at about 10% - Square says the integration with Eidos is proceeding "smoothly". Polyphony Digital's main man, Kazunori Yamauchi, was at SEMA motor show, where he did a rough calculation of the cost of GT5 over its 5 year development cycle. The result? Around $60 million. That's about 35 Bugatti Veyrons.
Education News - Penny Arcade, Abu Dhabi, Activision. Penny Arcade has awarded its 2009 $10,000 scholarship, which means it's time for all you kids out there in school to mark your calendars to find out details of the 2010 scholarship, which will be announced this spring. Abu Dhabi, best known as the city Nermal always ends up in, is now starting up a games academy to help grow and attract industry. They've already got Gazillion dabbling in an MMO studio over there, so seems like they're off to a running start. Activision is taking a slightly different tack, creating a video campaign that aims to educate parents on game ratings and the benefits games can have for their children besides teaching them how to get money back from hookers.
Litigation News - Activision, Sony. [B]Activision[/b] can't seem to catch a break. First Courtney Love sues them for allowing players to actually play her late husband Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5, and now No Doubt are hopping on the bandwagon based upon the fact that their characters can be used to play any song in the game's album. Now - the key in both these lawsuits is that the artists in question did not expect their virtual selves to be able to sing anything but their own music. So, is it Activision being purposefully (and evilly) sneaky in their contract wording, or did both Love and the group No Doubt (and their lawyers) simply have no understanding of the game at all? Either way looks like a chunk of their massive profit will be going to legal fees. Sony is dealing with another class action lawsuit from PS3 owners who had their consoles bricked due to a firmware update, perhaps spurred on by this one I reported back at the beginning of October. The complaint and charges are much the same, although they've listed every PS3 system owner who installed the firmware. No word on whether the install had to be successful or not. Sure, I'll take a few bucks in restitution for all my non-problems with my PS3.
Symbian App Store open for business. If you like going against the grain, or forging out into new territories, or whatever you use to describe your pioneering spirit (or are simply a Symbian developer) then Symbian has details for developers about their new "Horizon" app store, which has launched with 50 apps already in the catalog.
Daily Remainders - more cool stories that didn't make the cut along with game dev articles/features.
Everyone loves pinning the Devil horns atop Microsoft's head, but every now and then they pull a great PR stunt out of their tails, like this story of the dog who spent $60 on XBL while he chewed up the controller. Instead of ridiculing the guy for leaving his console on overnight and wasting electricity, MS refunded his money (and then some), gave him a new controller and even created a Gamertag for his dog. I have 4 dogs, and one of them is bound to gnaw on my controller if I leave it on the floor overnight. Now, I wonder if Sony would be so generous...
Hey, if you were one of the apparently many indie developers that were put off by Game Lawyer Tom Buscaglia's stance on the Langdell issue, he's trying his best to apologize to you. Tom's a personal friend and a great guy, he can do a lot to help you and your business and really does have the best interest of indies in mind.
Finally, here's a quick follow-up to the image I used in my last Daily - the orgins of the shirt and the Mac versions.
Read this post in Chinese - Epic Games Announces Free Unreal Development Kit, Powered by Unreal Engine 3
Epic Games, Inc. announces the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset like never before. This software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.
- DevMaster
- New Texture Collection from Quotix Software
Quotix Software has released a collection of seamlessly tileable old/dirty wall, ground, brick, floor, concrete and stone textures. Normal, bump and specular maps are included. There are 110 high resolution (up to 2048x2048) textures in this collection. For more information please visit: http://www.quotixsoftware.com
Quotix Software makes resources, including textures, animated characters and other 3D models for game developers.
- GamasutraNews
- Game Boy, The Ball Admitted To National Toy Hall Of Fame
 Nintendo's Game Boy portable console has been added into the Strong National Museum of Play's National Toy Hall of Fame, alongside the ball. The gaming device, primarily designed by Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi and introduced in 1989, "transformed the electronic-games market by popularizing handheld gaming," according to the museum's announcement of the induction. The ball has been used in innumerable activities across the entirety of known human history, with pictorial evidence dating back at least ...
 - iPhone Dev Storm8 Sued Over User Data Harvesting Allegations
 iPhone developer Storm8 has been served with a class action lawsuit accusing the company of collecting and transmitting its users' phone numbers without prior consent or notification. Storm8 publishers a lineup of popular multiplayer online role-playing games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, including World War, iMobsters, and Vampires Live. The suit, filed by Washington resident Michael Turner and reported by technology blog Boing Boing, alleges that Storm8 engaged in the practice of "accessing, collecting, ...
 - Namco Bandai Swings To Loss In First-Half, Posts Lower Sales
 Tokyo, Japan-based Tekken house Namco Bandai this week posted a net loss and lower sales for its fiscal first-half ended September 30, despite a software lineup led by subsidiary D3 Publisher's Ben 10 Alien Force. Sales for the period were ¥172.73 billion ($1.92 billion), a decrease of 9.5 percent year-on-year. The company swung to a net loss for the half, posting a loss ¥6.04 billion ($67.22 million), down from a profit last year of ¥1.28 ...
 - Infinity Ward's Emslie: Animation 'First And Foremost' Key To Visual Realism
 A game that looks realistic may not be as overtly "artistic" as more stylized titles, but in order to portray convincingly authentic visuals, game artists need to have an innate sense of nuance -- and an arsenal of technology -- in order to translate realism into interactive gameplay. Joel Emslie, lead artist on Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 tells Gamasutra that high polygon counts aren't the most important aspect of creating a ...
 - Japanese Hardware: PS3 Closes In On Leader DSi
 PlayStation 3 sales appear to have stabilized in Japan following the early September launch of the new slimmer form factor -- and this week, Sony's console outsold worldwide unit sales frontrunner Nintendo Wii for the ninth week in a row in Japan. PS3 sales for the week ended November 1 were 36,061 units, just behind the typical weekly leader, Nintendo's handheld DSi, which sold 37,517, according to Japanese tracking firm Media Create. The UMD-less PSP ...
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Jason T Clark, IBM developerworks
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Jason T Clark is an author, inventor, and evangelist for emerging interactive technologies. Jason currently works for IBM Software Group on the developerWorks Advanced Design team, where he is a software developer creating enterprise web applications and Web 2.0 applications.
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E3 Media & Business Summit
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July 15, 2008 to July 17, 2008
The event will be open to ESA members and non-members alike. Companies involved in console, PC, online, and mobile game publishing and developing, as well as makers of video game hardware and peripherals will be eligible to participate. Attendance at all events, meetings, and demonstrations will be by invitation only.
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Problem with the custom portlet.
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Nintendo Wii Flash Game Creator's Guide
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Whip up awesome Wii games using Flash and ActionScript. Nintendo Wii Flash Game Creator's Guide lays out each next-generation technique alongside real-world examples and cut-and-paste code samples. Learn how to design exciting Flash animations, create cool characters, simulate realistic motion, and use the Wii remote control in innovative ways. Plus, you'll get the latest tricks for supercharging your games and tips for distributing them on the Web.
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