Funcom Investigated

JAN. 29, 2014 • Økokrim (the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation, Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime) is investigating Funcom N.V. regarding possible violation of Norway’s Securities Trading Act. At issue is financial information given by the MMO game developer to the market regarding The Secret World from August 2011 until the launch of the game in July 2012, and the two months following the launch. Suspecting market manipulation.....

Microsoft Acquires Gears of War IP

JAN. 28, 2014 • Epic Games’ Gears of War franchise has been acquired by Microsoft Studios. Financial terms were not disclosed but the deal secures the IP for Microsoft including rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise. Vancouver, BC-based Black Tusk Studios will now be responsible for development of Gears of War product moving forward. In addition, Epic’s former Gears of War director of production Rod Fergus.....

DayZ Alpha Sells 1 Million

JAN. 14, 2014 • Bohemia Interactive’s survival horror game DayZ has amassed sales of one million units on Steam’s Early Access program since the alpha became available to purchase on December 16. Early Access is both a crowdsource funding mechanism, as well as a community building opportunity. Paying $29.95 for the alpha guarantees users full access to the Windows platform title as updates are made through the development process to final release. Bo.....

Toshiba HDTVs Get Game Streaming

JAN. 13, 2014 • Later this quarter Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. will include the GameNow streaming service in its latest slate of Toshiba HDTVs. The models supporting GameNow include the L7400U, L5400U and the L3400U. The announcement came during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. GameNow is operated by Ubitus Inc. in Taiwan. The company was started in 2007 and launched its first cloud gaming service in Japan during the fall of 2011. .....

Dota 2 Officially Launches

DEC. 18, 2013 • Access to Dota 2 is now open to all players. Last July Valve ended the Dota 2 beta and officially launched the game – sort of. The virtual gates to the game servers were not thrown wide open. Instead, Valve launched with a gatekeeping system. Players had to register on a Launch Queue from which Valve would approve batches of registrants to access Dota 2. The reasons given were to better evaluate server capacity, add players into the game in a m.....

Blade & Soul A Hit in China

DEC. 6, 2013 • After 18 months of release in South Korea NCsoft’s Blade & Soul entered open beta in China to great success with more than 150 million users registered. The martial arts-themed MMO was heavily localized for the Chinese market by Tencent Holdings Limited, with ambitious voice acting in Mandarin and art changes in order to soften the 18-plus rating the game carries in .....

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