Showing posts with label Steam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steam. Show all posts

Headline RePLAY – 8.1.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Zynga undergoes reorganization, additional details on the latest Final Fantasy XIII title and Valve adds a “no class action lawsuits” clause to Steam.


Following recent massive stock losses, Zynga has reshuffled their senior executives, which consequently includes COO John Schappert, who is no longer in charge of the company’s games.

According to Gamasutra, Schappert’s duties have been transferred to chief mobile officer David Ko and executive VP Steve Chiang. They formerly reported to Schappert, but now will be directly reporting to CEO Mark Pincus.

Schappert was the COO at EA before he joined Zynga a year and three months ago.

|Source: Gamasutra


Square-Enix made it no secret that there will be Final Fantasy XIII news during the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary event. In this week’s Famitsu, however, the publisher dangled some additional details.

Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase told Famitsu that not only is the project already underway, but the project’s official title will also be reveled at the anniversary event.

The event is being held on September 1st in Shibuya, Japan.

|Source: Andriasang


Echoing Sony’s efforts last year to stop being targeted by class-action lawsuits for their PSN service, Valve similarly announced the addition of a “no class action sue” clause in the Steam Subscriber Agreement today.

Valve says the provision was necessary because it doesn’t provide any “real benefit” to users and instead causes “unnecessary expense” and “delay” at the benefit of class action lawyers who craft and litigate the claims.

While Valve concedes that class action claims do have “real benefits” to customers “in some situations,” the company argues that too many of them do not benefit Valve or its communities.

|Source: Steam

Headline RePLAY – 7.17.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Gearbox Software maintains that Duke Nukem Forever is like Half-Life, a new Earthworm Jim is coming and Steam doesn’t “cheapen” IPs.


Despite the armada of negative press on Duke Nukem Forever, Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford insists that the game is comparable to Valve’s Half-Life.

“I still stand by that,” he told Eurogamer. “When I played what 3D Realms had been working on I was really surprised by it. Like everyone, I thought who knows what the hell those guys were doing? And here there was a lot of stuff… And when you realize what the actual gameplay is, the actual gameplay is very much like Half-Life. “

“It’s basically a linear, narrative experience, but the puzzles are derived from the environment,” he continued. “It’s not just ‘shoot the guy’. Some of it’s about, ‘how do I navigate through this? What do I manipulate in the environment to make my path?’”

“It’s almost identical, beat for beat in terms of its gameplay pacing, to Half-Life.”

|Source: Eurogamer


A new Earthworm Jim is not a matter if, but a matter of when, says Shiny Entertainment founder David Perry.

“Our problem is that the team is all doing well in whatever they’re doing right now,” Perry told Eurogamer at the Develop conference last week. “It’s just a bunch of guys who all have their own thing. Everyone has their own company. So, to get them to stop what they’re doing and work on a game is very difficult, but it’s something they all want to do.”

Perry says the group constantly talks about making the game. “We have our own little discussion group on Facebook. We’ve been having this discussion: when will this happen? When could we do it? What would make sense?”

“It’s one of those things that, no one’s got the time right now,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to happen, I just can’t tell you exactly when.”

|Source: Eurogamer


There’s no doubt that Steam sales are a boon to consumers with their almost-too-good-to-be-true prices. Publishers are not so enthused, EA claiming that it “cheapens” intellectual property. Valve’s director of business management disagrees.  

“If that’s what we thought was happening, or that’s what we saw happening, we wouldn’t do it,” Valve’s director of business management Jason Holtman told PC Gamer at last week’s Develop conference. “Actually, all the data is contrary to that. A promotion is not a policy; a promotion is just a feature to give people more value.”

“It’s not as if a 75 percent offer or a 50 percent off sale at some point in time cannibalizes a sale that would have happened earlier, it’s just not true,” he claimed. “We’re actually seeing both of them growing. We don’t see one cannibalizing the other. If we did, we wouldn’t do it.

“People aren’t making a decision thinking ‘I’m always going to wait for perfect pricing,’” said Holtman. “There are time elements to it, there are fan elements to it, there are value elements to it. People sometimes like paying the full amount on the first day because they want to play it now and they want to be a fan.”

|Source: PC Gamer

Headline RePLAY – 6.12.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA’s future plans on its Origin service, layoffs strikes Slant Six studios and the banhammer descends on Diablo III cheaters.


Electronic Arts’ Origin platform is constantly compared to Valve’s Steam by users; primarily that it should be more like its competitor. EA’s response is a simple one: provide better service, but be different.   

“The easy response to that is, ‘Well, give us a few more years, and maybe we’ll be better than Steam,’” Origin SVP David DeMartini told Gamasutra. “That said, right no we’re not. …Steam took eight years to get where it is. We’re not going to take eight years, but we’re going to get there and go beyond.”

DeMartini says while EA wants Origin to be comparable to Steam, the goal is not to become a clone of its industry competitor. “There’s one Steam. I think what people want to see is, they want to have another viable option. They want us to differentiate in a way that sets us apart.”

“What I is [for] Origin to be differentiable and better as a service, which is similar to what Steam does.”

|Source: Gamasutra


Success does not guarantee the lack of cost-cutting, the developer of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City learned, as it announced that more than a quarter of its 96 employees were going to be temporarily laid off.

“Regretfully, we can confirm that there have been some temporary layoffs at our studio,” read a statement from Slant Six Games. “We must stress that these are temporary layoffs, which means we are working very hard on new business prospects so we can reinstate every single person affected. As an independent and close-knit studio it is very difficult but necessary business measure due to the current project cycle demands.”

A Slant Six representative told GameSpot that the affected employees were given the option of taking a severance package or accepting a temporary layoff as the studio searches for additional projects. Those that chose being temporarily laid off will be able to collect employment insurance and retain their extended benefits for 13 weeks. However, if the studio is unable to rehire them, the layoff becomes permanent.

The representative continued by saying that most of the 26 affected employees chose the temporary layoff option.

|Source: GameSpot UK


After issuing a warning about impending bans on Diablo III cheaters, Blizzard made good on its threat and slammed the banhammer on a good several thousand players today.

“We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo III players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing,” said Community Manager Jonathan “Zarhym” Brown on the official forums.

“In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play that’s essential to everyone’s enjoyment of the game, botting, hacking, and other such exploitative behavior can contribute to stability and performance issues with the Battle.net service,” he continued. “As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we’ll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.”

|Source: Blizzard

Headline RePLAY – 5.16.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Activision’s corporate espionage attempt with “Project Icebreaker,” Activision drops its countersuit against EA and Steam remote downloads are now available!  


It looks like Activision’s dismissal of ex-Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella wasn’t the first time the publisher attempted to do such a thing, newly-released court documents revealed today.

The documents, acquired by Giant Bomb, claims that Activision has launched an internal investigation called “Project Icebreaker” that aimed to “dig up dirt” on the Call of Duty creators in an effort to see them fired.  

Activision’s former director of IT Thomas Fenady was instructed to “dig up dirt on Jason and Vince” by chief legal officer (and current chief policy officer) George Rose because “we just want to get rid of them.” Rose claimed the orders were from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who he said would “take care of” Fenady.

Project Icebreaker involved breaking into West and Zampella’s e-mail, voicemail and computer. In order to accomplish these objectives, Fenady contacted Microsoft and security specialist InGuardians. Microsoft refused to help without a court order and InGuardians weren’t comfortable with the “legal hurdles.”

When that failed, there was even discussion to gain access by staging a fake fumigation or mock fire drill at Infinity Ward.

Rose denied allegations that he asked Fenady to “dig up dirt”, but did concede on Project Icebreaker’s existence and his instructions to Fenady to obtain information.

Activision seeks to dismiss Fenady’s testimony under attorney-client privilege while West and Zampella’s lawyers want to use it to prove that the publisher sought to remove the ex-leads prior to the 2010 fallout.

|Source: Giant Bomb


Activision has dropped its $400 million countersuit against EA today, announcing that the two companies “have decided to put this matter behind them.”

The publisher accused EA of “disrupting” Infinity Ward by “luring” away ex-leads Jason West and Vince Zampella. Activision sought $400 million in damages from “delays” and “disruptions” at Infinity Ward.

West and Zampella’s lawsuit against Activision for unpaid royalties and bonuses remains, however, and is scheduled for trial on May 29th, despite the publisher’s request to postpone it for 30 days.

|Source: Bloomberg


The ability to remotely download games to your PC or Mac was inevitable after Valve released its Steam mobile app, which allowed users to access and manage their library of games outside of the Steam client.  

Steam’s remote downloads are now available online, and all it requires is a PC or Mac with an active Steam client and a web browser or the Steam mobile app.

Convenience, thy name is Steam!

|Source: Steam

Headline RePLAY – 5.14.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Steam vouchers are officially on sale at GameStop, Blizzard is hiring to make Diablo III for consoles a reality and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has struck gold in sales.


Contrary to rumor, Steam vouchers have officially gone on sale at GameStop stores today, as the retailer announced its partnership with Valve to provide “more options to customers.”

Called “Steam Wallets,” the voucher comes in $20 and $50 denominations, which allows consumers another avenue to purchase Steam’s 1,800 plus titles.

|Source: Joystiq


Even with Diablo III launching tomorrow, director Jay Wilson revealed to Gamasutra that Blizzard is not “experimenting” with a console release but is advertising as such to hire “better people” in order to increase chances to actually make one.

“That’s why we haven’t kept it super secret,” Wilson explained, “but we also haven’t confirmed it, because we’re not sure yet whether we think it will work, and whether we think we have the resources to do it.”

|Source: Gamasutra



Shortly after its release on Xbox LIVE Arcade, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has already achieved more than one million in sales and players have mined millions of hours into its single and multiplayer modes.

PlayXBLA has released a slew of numbers on the amount of time spent in Mojang’s addictive title: 5.2 million hours spent mining, 4 million total multiplayer sessions played and more than 2.4 million multiplayer gaming hours played.  
And that is a lot of mining.

|Source: PlayXBLA

Headline RePLAY – 5.10.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Rumors of a new Star Fox game, GameStop readies the sale of Steam vouchers and a Kid Icarus Uprising sequel is unlikely.


A new Star Fox game for the Wii U may be revealed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo alongside Pikmin and Mario, says an industry insider close to Techtroid.  

According to the unnamed source, the title is being developed by Retro Studios, who is already working on a Wii U project.

“It’s [Star Fox] a project everyone wants us to do,” Retro Studios said previously.  

While the latest Star Fox game will be shown off, it is not a launch title for the Wii U, says the source.

|Source: Techtroid via ScrewAttack


Conceding defeat of its push into online PC sales, GameStop is preparing to offer Steam vouchers in its stores on May 15th.

A GameStop source told Kotaku that it was “kind of sensitive issue,” considering the retailer’s purchase of Steam rival Impulse last year in order to compete with online PC sales.   

GameStop and Valve are unusual bedfellows in this agreement, but it’s a practical one that’s sure to profit both parties.

|Source: Kotaku


Even though Kid Icarus Uprising on the 3DS was a huge success in Japan and overseas, designer Masahiro Sakurai flatly rejects the idea of making a sequel.

“If by ‘lasting universe’ you mean to ask if there’s a sequel, the answer is no,” Sakurai told IGN when asked if he and the Project Sora team created the Uprising universe so it can be revisited for future projects.

Sakurai explained it was “because we pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game.

“For now, my thought is that perhaps we’ll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years.”

|Source: IGN

Headline RePLAY – 2.10.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Valve’s update on the Steam being hacked, Blizzard duels with Valve over DOTA and Mass Effect: Infiltrator gameplay details.


Back in November, Valve reported that Steam’s forums and database were hacked. Fast-forward to today, and Valve is still investigating the breach.

“Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, e-mail addresses, encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords,” wrote Gabe Newell.

“We do not have any evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or billing addresses have been compromised.”

The statement ends with some advice to watch your credit card activity and to keep Steam Guard on.

*Source: Destructoid


Blizzard is suing Valve over DOTA. It’s not the game that Blizzard objects to, League of Legends is DOTA in all but name; it’s Valve attempting to trademark the term.  

DOTA a.k.a. Defense of the Ancients, began as a Warcraft III mod made by IceFrog. Valve recruited IceFrog to make a sequel, but when it was announced to be DOTA 2, Blizzard objected:

“By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III.

“Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III.”



Mass Effect: Infiltrator is like Mass Effect and it isn’t. The mobile title is not about the heroics of Commander Shepard, but rather the efforts of a Cerberus solider named Randall Enzo. It’s not the full-scale RPG of the consoles, but rather a slice of its third-person, cover-based combat with some of the RPG elements left in.

Enzo is a Cerberus soldier that hunts down and captures alien species for study, but when his loyalty begins to waver, he conspires to send intelligence to Commander Shepard.

Like the title’s namesake, Enzo is based on the Infiltrator-class and can sneak in for a kill while employing cover in firefights. His stealth abilities are complemented with a variety of new weapons like anti-gravity grenades and beam weaponry.

While iconic Paragon/Renegade decisions are in the game and will make an impact on Mass Effect 3, it was stressed that Infiltrator wasn’t needed to obtain the best possible ending.

In order to benefit from the assets obtained in Infiltrator to your Mass Effect 3 game, an EA Origin account is required.

No release date was announced, but EA reps have said the game will be launched around Mass Effect 3’s release date.

*Source: Kotaku