VESTI iz industrije igara

Sony exec predicts end of the road for discs

Majority of content to be provided digitally "in five years' time"

Jamie MacDonald, VP of SCE Worldwide Studios Europe, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes digital distribution will overtake discs within the next five years.

Speaking after his keynote at GDC London this morning, MacDonald said the industry is currently experiencing a "paradigm shift" as the cost of games production increases and there is a move toward a "network-centric world". This, he argued, will have significant implications for the way developers make games, the revenue streams they are able to exploit and the way products are delivered.

"In five years' time, my belief is that the majority of content won't be delivered on disc. That has many implications for developers and the way we organise our industry," MacDonald said.

"It also brings with it great opportunities because it means you can touch your consumer in many different ways and at different times - it's not just a one-off relationship where a consumer buys a disc from the store.

"In terms of object sales, episodic content, in-game advertising and merchandising, there are many, many opportunities to have a relationship with the consumer - which is a great challenge to us as developers because that's not what we're used to."

This is not the first time a Sony executive has predicted the end of the road for disc formats. Back in August, Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison said he would be "amazed" if the PlayStation 4 featured a disc drive - causing some observers to question the validity of launching the new Blu-ray format with PlayStation 3.

But according to MacDonald, "The thing about Blu-ray discs - and this is the crucial thing - is that not any time soon will you be able to download the amount of content you need for a big triple-A title down a typical 2, 4 meg broadband connection. That's not going to happen now or in the next year.

"So Blu-ray is absolutely needed for the high definition content in the games that we'll be producing. The network-enabled world, for the initial period, is much more about updated content, object sales, but also titles which are not these blockbuster titles."

Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up

Directors of the game device company went on living large long after their handheld flopped. Then a high-speed Ferrari crash blew their world to bits.

THE BUMP IN THE ROAD that ended Bo Stefan Eriksson's fantastic ride is practically invisible. From 10 feet away, all you can see is the ragged edge of a tar-seamed crack in an otherwise smooth sheet of pavement. Only the location is impressive - a sweet stretch of straightaway on California's Pacific Coast Highway near El Pescador state beach, just past the eucalyptus-shaded mansions of the Malibu hills. On that patch of broken asphalt, there's barely enough lip to stub a toe. Of course, when you hit it at close to 200 miles per hour, as police say Eriksson did in the predawn light last February 21, while behind the wheel of a 660-horsepower Ferrari Enzo, consequences magnify.

50 Books For Everyone In the Game Industry

Next-Gen has compiled a list of the 50 books from which everyone in the game industry could learn something. Our list covers game design theory to histories of games companies to sociological texts to novels. Compiled by game designer and author Ernest Adams...

Big Fish scales down some staff, hooks others

Add Big Fish Games to the list of Seattle area technology companies cutting staff this month.

The 4-year-old distributor of casual games laid off an undisclosed number of employees Tuesday as part of restructuring that Chief Executive Paul Thelen classified as "an opportunity based initiative of our company." At the same time, he said that the company is healthy and hiring, with 20 open positions.\

But the layoffs caught some employees by surprise. Kimberlee Stedl, a program manager who joined the company last November, was escorted out of the building by a human resources professional after receiving her layoff notice. She said employees were only given time to grab their jackets and keys, adding that very little information was provided as to why the layoffs occurred.

"It came as a shock and there is really no logic as to why it happened," said Stedl, who was told in a group meeting a few weeks ago that her job was safe. She speculated that the cuts may have been tied to her stock options, which were scheduled to vest in a few weeks.

But Thelen said the vesting of stock options had nothing to do with the recent layoffs, nor did performance issues.

The layoffs were especially grating to Stedl because she said the company just last week hosted an employee cruise on Elliott Bay to celebrate recent milestones.

"Why did they take us on this goofy boat cruise if they were just going to can us a few days later?," she asked. "It is kind of insulting."

Big Fish Games' marketing department was especially hard hit, with Vice President of Marketing Ken Wells a casualty of the shakeup. Thelen said the cuts in marketing occurred because Big Fish is shifting more of its attention to My Big Fish Games, a new service that offers cash incentives to customers to spread the word about their favorite games. More than 100,000 people have signed up for My Big Fish Games since its debut last month.

Vice President of Technology Jeremy Noetzelman also has notified the company's executives that he is considering resigning. Thelen said Noetzelman would depart on "amicable terms."

Two people familiar with the cuts said that 17 people were let go, though Thelen said that number is high. He declined to disclose a specific figure, but added that the cuts represented a very small percentage of the company. He said there were no patterns to the cuts, with people at all levels let go.

What is interesting about the layoffs is that Big Fish, which scored $5 million in financing last December and tapped former Goldman Sachs managing partner Jeremy Lewis as president and chief operating officer in July, has been on a super fast growth path recently.

It added 120 employees in the past 16 months, reaching a peak employment of 140 people. The staff level now stands at 120, with another 20 open positions. Furthermore, Thelen said the company is cash flow positive and that revenue grew by more than 400 percent in the second and third quarters, when compared to the same periods last year.

The former RealNetworks manager said Big Fish did not overhire, nor did it miss its financial targets.

Lewis added that company is not being positioned for an initial public offering or sale, one of the reasons why companies sometimes chop staff.

"We are growing faster than we have budgeted," said Lewis.

Then why the cuts?

"We hired a lot of people and whenever you hire that many people you are trying to predict where the business is going, and sometimes your predictions aren't perfectly accurate," said Thelen, adding that it "eliminated skill sets who didn't match our priorities."

Lewis said the cuts occurred because of a change in priority at the company. He declined to elaborate on the change, saying it would give away a competitive advantage. The layoffs follow recent cuts at technology companies, including CapitalStream, GraniteEdge Networks, InfoSpace and Pacific Edge Software.

Big Fish markets more than 250 downloadable computer games, including popular titles such as "Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects," "Atlantis Sky Patrol" and "Virtual Villagers."

Entertainment Software Association Announces Details of New E3Expo

New Event to Take Place in July, 2007, in Santa Monica, California

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The new E3 Media and Business Summit will be held July 11-13, 2007, in Santa Monica, California, and will combine the best elements of the former trade show into a business event celebrating the video game industry's present and future, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today.

The centerpiece of the invitation-only, three-day event will be the opportunity for both ESA members and non-members to stage major press events, and to have intimate meetings in premier hotel suites and meeting rooms with media, retailers, developer partners, and other audiences. In addition, the nearby Barker Hangar will be converted into a software showcase where attendees will be able to casually test drive the featured video games planned for the coming holiday season and beyond.

"By combining suite-based meetings with the software showcase in a controlled and business-like environment, we believe we will successfully fulfill our primary objective of giving high-level media the best of all worlds -- the chance to engage in highly personal, one-on-one dialogue with leading game company executives, as well as the chance to demo games on their own time and to check out offerings from both the best known and emerging game publishers and developers," said Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA. "It will also provide an excellent opportunity for meetings with retailers, developers and other audiences."

The new E3Expo will also feature a daily luncheon conference session with top executives and/or analysts and a Serious Games showcase. In addition, ESA is exploring adding an independent games showcase and including the highly successful "Into The Pixel" video game art competition and exhibition. Finally, evenings will be a time for receptions and parties so participants can interact at the informal events that have been an E3Expo tradition.

"The new E3Expo is first and foremost about getting business done. When we asked key audiences what they wanted in the new event, we heard that they wanted opportunities for high-level meetings in a business-like setting, to play games, network, and socialize, to see major company offerings while also preserving the sense of discovery that is so much a part of E3Expo, and to hear substantive presentations on the most important issues and trends facing the industry," said Lowenstein. "We believe the event we have shaped will fulfill all those needs."

Lowenstein noted that all the hotels involved will be within easy walking distance of one another, and there will be a shuttle bus system to facilitate movement to the hotels and Barker Hangar, as well as to major off-site press conferences, such as those staged by the major console companies. "The new E3Expo event will be more personal, efficient and focused, and it will provide the top stakeholders who make games, sell games, and cover games streamlined access to the people and products they most need to see."

The Barker Hangar venue, a short drive from the hotels, will allow participating companies to showcase their games in standardized, turnkey displays areas ranging from 100 square feet to 400 square feet. All display areas will be developed by show management to ensure that the venue is staged efficiently.

As noted, 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. Transportation between venues will be provided to event participants. ESA expects that event booking will be launched within the next 30 days.

The ESA is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S. in 2005, and billions more in export sales of entertainment software. For more information about the ESA, please visit www.theESA.com.

TOP 10 INDUSTRY FACTS

1. U.S. computer and video game software sales grew four percent in 2005 to $7 billion -- a more than doubling of industry software sales since 1996.

2. Sixty-nine percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.

3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.

4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 40 years old. In 2006, 93 percent of computer game buyers and 83 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.

5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2005 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.

6. Eighty-seven percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents’ permission when renting or buying games, and 89 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.

7. Thirty-five percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.

8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) than boys age 17 or younger (23%).

9. In 2005, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.

10. Forty-four percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 32 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.

2 gejmerska e-zina

Za dane vikenda preporuka je čitanje nečeg opuštajućeg poput dva domaća gaming culture e-zina, koja možete preuzeti sasvim besplatno.

Prva preporuka je gejmerski e-zine PLAY! koji je doživeo svoje 4. izdanje u PDF formatu (~12MB). S obzirom da je besplatan, i da okuplja zajednocu koja kreira ovaj magazin na volonterskoj osnovi, e-zine PLAY! je odličnog dizajna, sadržajan i bavi se "vrućim" gejming temama. Arhivu PDF-ova ovog e-zina možete naći ovde.

Drugi, elektronski magazin Rush distribuira se u drugačijoj formi, pomalo neuobičajeno, u ZIP arhivi (~37MB) prepunoj dokumenata u XML formatu i multimedijom.

Arhiva magazina Rush omogućava pristup svim prethodnim izdanjima, a trenutno se stiglo do broja 19.

Demos Very Important, says NPD

Being able to take games for a “test drive” is of primary importance to consumers, according to the NPD Group's Game Drivers Purchase Report.

ImageAccording to the report, being able to try games in stores, online, or at someone else’s house is of particularly weighty importance. This importance grows when the focus is on the broader gaming audience. Says NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier, “Ads, reviews, and other vehicles are relatively more influential to the heavy gamer, but to attract more casual players, getting games into their hands so they can experience the fun first-hand is essential.”

The report also reiterates the necessity of television, print and online advertising, and emphasizes that when buying games as gifts for others, price is the greatest consideration in the mind of the consumer. It also states that while sources of information like gaming websites are relevant, they are less important when it comes time for the consumer to actually make a purchase decision.

Women outnumber men in online games, survey finds

By Candace Lombardi, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

While male video gamers still outnumber women 2 to 1, women have the edge in online games, a survey has found.

Of the 117 million active gamers in the U.S., 56 percent play games online. Sixty-four percent of those online gamers are female, according to results of the survey, released by Nielsen Entertainment on Thursday.

The survey defined active gamers as those who are 13 years or older, own at least one game device, and play at least one hour of video games a week. Game devices include game consoles, personal computers and handhelds. Nielsen surveyed 2,200 active gamers online in July.

"The expansion of next-generation hardware and technology in the marketplace is simultaneously delivering new ecosystems of social exchange, interactive entertainment, media experiences and advertising models," Emily Della Maggiora, a senior vice president of Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement.

The survey found that while the casual game segment is growing, casual gamers tend to jump from one free demo to another with little sense of brand loyalty. While banner advertising provides a good revenue stream for the online game providers, gaining brand loyalty and getting people to spend money for subscriptions or downloads will be the key to growing the market, Nielsen researchers found.

Currently, casual gamers spend $9 a month on games. Those playing multiplayer online role-playing games spend an average of $26 a month, while Microsoft Xbox 360 gamers spend $35 a month, the survey found.

Among game console owners, the majority own more than one device or platform--including PCs--for playing video games. Fifty-nine percent own a Sony PlayStation 2. Microsoft was next, with 33 percent owning an Xbox. (Fifteen percent of all active gamers own an Xbox 360, while about 8 percent of active gamers own both an Xbox and an Xbox 360.) Nintendo's GameCube came in third at 30 percent.

Active gamers played an average of 14 hours a week on game consoles and 17 hours on handheld devices like the PlayStation Portable, according to the survey.

Twenty-four percent of active gamers also played on cell phones. Personal computers, however, dominated as the platform of choice.

Sixty-four percent of those who regularly played video games, played on PC-based systems. Just two years ago, according to the Nielsen report, many game industry analysts wondered whether computers would be able to compete with game consoles and handhelds.

Playing video games is also becoming more of a contact sport--sort of. The average gamer spends five hours a week playing games with other people online, while teen gamers spend up to seven hours a week.

Winter '06 72 Hour Game Development Competition

It's time for the 8th 72 Hour Game Development Competition! The general premise is this: At the start of the 72 hour period, a pre-determined theme is revealed. Teams collaborate to make the best game they can following that theme with only 72 hours to release something. Theme suggestions are welcome immediately. On November 10th, Tier 1 voting begins and on November 14th, Tier 2 voting begins. Finally, on November 17th, the winning theme will be revealed and teams will have 72 hours to submit their entries.

NVidia / Game Creator contest opened

NVidia and The Game Creators are sponsoring a game development competition.

The competition is in fact two separate contests: one is based on FPS Creator and needs you to create one FPS level. The entry will be judged on several criterias, including gameplay and level design.

The other one is a DarkBASIC contest and is not restricted in any way - you can do the game you want. Several criterias will be used to give a note to the entry - bonus points can be won if the game makes innovative use of shaders.

The deadline of both contests is 16th February 2007.

The winner of the FPS Creator contest will get funding in order to continue the development of his game and to have it published by Mastertronic. Other prices includes high-end NVidia boards, full PCs or SLi motherboards with 2 SLi NVidia boards.

Fall 2006 issue of the IGDA Casual Games Quarterly

Welcome to the Fall 2006 issue of the IGDA Casual Games Quarterly. Yes, the Quarterly has been on hiatus, but now we're back with a vengeance.

This issue has far more content than any of our previous issues. You'll find articles and interviews on DRM, game design, audio design and security, as well as some new regular features. All this was made possible in large part by the generous help of two new co-editors; Jason Akel and James C. Smith. Thank you Jason and James! I'd also like to thank the writers who contributed to this issue: Steven B. Davis, Catherine Herdlick, Andrew Lum, Kane Minkus, and Eric Zimmerman.

Do you have ideas for content for the Casual Games Quarterly? We are always open to ideas for articles, regular columns, interviews, and more. Would you like to get involved with the Casual Games SIG? Email us or join the mailing list using the link on the left of this page.

Thanks!

Wade Tinney
Editor - IGDA Casual Games Quarterly
Partner, Game Designer - Large Animal Games
Chapter Coordinator - IGDA New York City
wade[at]largeanimal.com


Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor

Redesigning Shopmania: A Design Process Case Study
By Catherine Herdlick and Eric Zimmerman

Securing High Score Games
By Steven B. Davis

Q&A with Loren Hillberg, Macrovision Inc.
By Jason Akel

Audio in Casual Web, Downloadable and Xbox Live Arcade Games
By Kane Minkus

Top 10 Data Review
By James C. Smith

Cake Mania Postmortem: The Method Behind the Mania
By Andrew Lum

Executive Question of the Quarter: Vista
By Jason Akel

Casual Games Technology Survey
By James C. Smith

Nintendo uspješan

Nintendo bilježi ogromne uspjehe vezane za Wii konzolu. U osam dana od početka prodaje u SAD-u Nintendo je uspio prodati 600,000 uređaja.

Osim toga, ukupna Wii zarada, uključujući konzolu, dodatke i igre iznosi 190 milijuna dolara. Razlog tome leži većim dijelom i u cijeni od 250 dolara, što je upola manje od najjeftinije varijante PlayStationa 3.

Sony ne odaje slične podatke, samo napominje kako će do kraja godine biti isporučeno milijun konzola. Ipak, u ratu konzola vodi Microsoft sa godinu dana prednosti na tržištu i šest milijuna isporučenih uređaja.

Nintendo prodaju u Europi započinje 8. prosinca (u Velikoj Britaniji) po cijeni od 179 funti, dok PS3 na našim prostorima možemo očekivati tek u ožujku iduće godine.

2007 IGF Main Competition Finalists Announced

We're delighted to announce Main Competition finalists for the 2007 Independent Games Festival, from an amazing field of 141 entries this year. Nominations are led by Bit Blot's dreamlike, innovatively controlled 2D underwater adventure title Aquaria, which garnered 4 nominations, including one for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Other Grand Prize nominees included Queasy Games' cleverly designed abstract shoot-em-up, Everyday Shooter, which grabbed 3 nominations in total - nominees for the top prize were rounded out by Peter Stock's intelligently complex physics puzzle game Armadillo Run, Three Rings' Wild West indie strategy MMO Bang! Howdy, and Naked Sky's Xbox Live Arcade/PC action-puzzler RoboBlitz.

Other notable IGF finalists grabbing nominations for design-related innovation include DigiPen-constructed first-person shooter set in a world of blocks (which act as both terrain and weapons!), Toblo, as well as NABI Software's extremely original turn-based ragdoll fighting game Toribash. Elsewhere, Best Web Browser Game finalists include Amanita Design's beautifully drawn adventure title Samorost 2, Visual Art finalists also have a plethora of highlights, including The Behemoth's Xbox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers.

Finally, the Excellence In Audio category includes Skinflake's Racing Pitch, in which the player uses a microphone to imitate a car engine in order to power his on-screen vehicle, and Technical Excellence also has a multitude of stand-outs, including Cryptic Sea's physics puzzler Blast Miner and EvStream's multiplayer space title Armada Online.

The full list of finalists for the IGF Main Competition, all of whom will be showing their games at the IGF Pavilion during Game Developers Conference in March 2007, are as follows:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Aquaria - Bit Blot; Armadillo Run - Peter Stock; Bang! Howdy - Three Rings Design; RoboBlitz - Naked Sky Entertainment; Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games.

Best Web Browser Game: Bubble Islands - dot-invasion; Gamma Bros - Pixeljam; Samorost 2 - Amanita Design.

Design Innovation Award: Armadillo Run - Peter Stock; Aquaria - Bit Blot ; Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games; Toblo - Digipen Institute of Technology; Toribash - NABI Software .

Excellence In Visual Art: Castle Crashers - The Behemoth; Golf? - Luke Hetherington, Alex Austin, Josiah Pisciotta, and Andrew Laing; Aquaria - Bit Blot; RoboBlitz - Naked Sky Entertainment; Samorost 2 - Amanita Design.

Excellence In Audio: Bone: The Great Cow Race - Telltale Games; Everyday Shooter - Queasy Games; FizzBall - Grubby Games; Aquaria - Bit Blot; Racing Pitch - Skinflake.

Technical Excellence: Arcane Legions: The Rising Shadow - Slitherine Software; Armada Online - EvStream; Bang! Howdy - Three Rings Design; Blast Miner - Cryptic Sea; Bugs Of War - NinjaBee.

The winners of each of these categories, including an Audience Award for which every finalist is eligible, will be announced at the IGF Awards ceremony on the evening of Wednesday, March 7th 2007 at Game Developers Conference, when more than $50,000 in cash prizes will be given away.

(There are also two impending announcements about the rest of the 2007 IGF finalists - IGF Modding finalists will be announced on December 18th, and the IGF Student finalists on January 4th, 2007.)

Clip: Romero Announces New Game

The Cyperathlete Professional League announced that they are fronting a new console and PC multiplayer shooter created using an id Software engine to be used in future tournaments.

Severity is a multiplayer first person shooter (FPS) focusing on team-versus-team and one-versus-one play modes. Additionally, the game offers unprecedented support for gamers worldwide playing in online and live competitions both casually and professionally.

"Severity will be the first videogame conceived from the ground up to ensure the growth and appeal of multiplayer game competitions worldwide," said Tom Mustaine, Director of Game Development at the CPL's new studio.

Severity is built on technology created by developer id Software™ and includes enhanced tournament support, spectator modes, as well as detailed player and tournament statistics tracking. By leveraging the enthusiastic community and practical experiences of the CPL, Severity is uniquely positioned to set new standards while raising the bar for competitive multiplayer games.

The league expects to start testing the game before the end of next year. Now sit back and watch John Romero talk about his new baby.