Today on Headline
RePLAY: Electronic Arts denies alleged layoff reports, Microsoft plans to “further
monetize” Xbox LIVE and a LEGO enthusiast wants to reconstruct level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.
Electronic Arts is
denying a report by StartupGrind that alleged the publisher is planning to
layoff 500 – 1,000 employees sometime this week.
“There are no lay-offs
as such, we always have projects growing and morphing. At any given time there
are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and
building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services,”
EA has told MCV.
Yesterday, StartupGrind
claimed the downsizing could be attributed to a variety of factors including a disappointing
fiscal year from Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, declining stock
prices from $61 to $16 and Zynga’s acquisition of some of EA’s top executives.
A LinkedIn profile
revealed that Microsoft is planning to implement a new strategy to ‘further
monetize’ Xbox LIVE subscribers later this year.
Praveen Rutnam, a
group product planner for Microsoft, has recently added the following to his
profile: “Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that
will be implemented for holiday 2012.”
What form this new “strategy”
would take is currently unclear.
|Source: MCV
Zachary “The LEGO
Maniac” Pollock wants $26,400 via Kickstarter to buy 780,000 LEGO studs to reconstruct
level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. in its
entirety.
The funding will pay
for the “ridiculous amount of LEGO bricks” in addition to plywood, Plexiglas
and mounting hardware. When finished, the “Epic Mario” project will be six feet
tall and 90 feet wide.
“This project has a
couple goals,” Pollock wrote on Kickstarter. “First and foremost, I want to
inspire a new generation of LEGO enthusiasts. I also want to show people what
they have forgotten, that building with LEGO can be done at any age. My second
goal is to use this project to test the waters for a foundation I would like to
start that will work with children doing healing art projects using LEGO
bricks.
“This project aims to
push the limits of imagination about what you can do with LEGO bricks and
particularly to break down stereotypes people have about both LEGO and
videogames only being toys. I want to show the world LEGO and videogames can be
works of art as well.
“Last but certainly
not least I, and I think many other people, really want to see the entire level
1-1 of Super Mario Bros. made from
LEGO because it is just FUN! Right now I think we all need a little more fun in
our lives.”
|Source: Kickstarter
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