• activision

    Activision Boss Was 2008's Equal-Second-Best CEO

    Business types Marketwatch are giving out awards! Important ones! Ones like "Best CEO 2008". Eligible were CEOs from all walks of life. Mining companies, banks, you name it. And who came second? Bobby Freakin' Kotick.

    Yes, the Activision boss joins three other runners-up - the big men from Heinz, JP Morgan and Southwest Airlines - and came in behind only Brian Goldner, boss of...Hasbro. More »

    9:40 PM on Thu Dec 4 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    1,083 views, 43 comments

  • wii

    New Accelerometer Tech For The Wii Remote? Perhaps!

    According to this Tech On! report, Nintendo are in the process of evaluating their Wii Remote accelerometer technology. Seeing if other companies can supply better gear than their current suppliers can.

    One firm - Kionix - definitely can. Currently, the Wii Remote's accelerometer sensors are provided by two companies: Analog Devices and STMicroelectronics. But Kionix employ different technology, which makes it "easier to enhance sensitivity". More »

    9:20 PM on Thu Dec 4 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    2,056 views, 44 comments

  • gamestop

    Gamestop Planning UK Assault Via Woolworth's Buyout

    US megachain Gamestop have never had much of a foothold here in the UK - they have a couple of shops but are tiddlers compared to big fish GAME. This may change.

    Former high street kings Woolworths (no longer connected to the American company F.W. Woolworth) have fallen on hard times and gone into adminstration - Gamestop have spotted an opportunity and are reportedly set to bid for half of Woolworths' 815 UK outlets. This will instantly make them the UK's biggest games retailer,

    A source told MCV, "GAME frustrated GameStop when it bought GameStation. Bosses at GameStop had pretty much given up on launching a UK assault – but now, thanks to Woolies, that door is open again."

    Now GameStop eyes Woolies stores

    4:20 PM on Thu Dec 4 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    1,330 views, 63 comments

  • Imperial Hot

    Square Enix Launch Takeover Bid For Eidos

    Square Enix are serious about cracking the Western market with games that don't include the words "Final" and "Fantasy". Want to know how serious? They just made a takeover bid for Eidos.

    Home to Lara Croft, Eidos have been in a financial pickle of late, and are already in takeover talks with Warner Bros. Square Enix making a run at them, though, is far more interesting. More »

    4:30 AM on Thu Dec 4 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    8,764 views, 114 comments

  • stealth game announcement

    Ubisoft Makin' Money, Teasin' Assassin's Creed 2

    Publisher Ubisoft brought us up to speed on its financial performance today, tallying up first-half sales of €344.5 million ($443 million USD). CEO Yves Guillemot also confirmed that the next Assassin's Creed was in development.

    That shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the financial success of the original Assassin's Creed. The game sold an estimated 5 million copies over the past year. Still, Guillemot's assertion that someone, somewhere at Ubisoft is "working hard on the product" is comforting. More »

    4:40 PM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    5,248 views, 53 comments

  • india

    PS2/PSP Sales "Healthy." PS3 Sales? Still Waiting To Take Off...

    That's Atindriya Bose, country manager of PlayStation India. He's here to tell us all about India, a growth region Sony has been supporting full force. More »

    6:00 AM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Brian Ashcraft
    4,095 views, 54 comments

  • advertising

    Massive Gets Exclusive THQ In-Game Ad Contract

    THQ has awarded Massive Inc. an exclusive contract to provide dynamic in-game advertisements for future THQ games.

    Under the terms of the contract, Massive will provide ads with existing franchises like the Saint's Row series as well as as-yet-unannounced titles.

    "With an open-world, mission-based game such as “Saints Row 2”," said Massive's Eric Bassman, "we can work creatively with advertisers to place their brands in new, edgy environments.”

    Great!

    Massive and THQ Sign Multiyear Deal to Enable Dynamic In-Game Advertising Within THQ Titles [WebWire]

    4:20 PM on Mon Nov 24 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    902 views, 17 comments

  • industry

    MIGS Keynote: A Broken Business Model

    The Montreal International Game Summit recently wrapped up, and keynote speaker David Braben of Frontier Development really took the industry to task on everything from the business model (broken!) to retailers (killing longevity of games!) to the 'online myth' of the next gen consoles. He makes some interesting points, though I'm not at all convinced of the veracity of some of them. Here's his take on the retail model: More »

    2:30 PM on Sat Nov 22 2008
    By Maggie Greene
    3,128 views, 26 comments

    Most discussed Scorpi: Ok, I live in Montreal and didn't even hear anything about this happening - happens every year! It seems odd more »

  • rumors

    Hey Japan - No LEGO Games For You!

    Activision are pulling Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures in Japan, according to Famitsu.

    All three games will shortly be removed from store shelves or simply not shipped. Batman and Indy were set for release in the territory on December 18th.

    No reason has been offered for the move - perhaps Lego just isn't held in the same esteem by the Japanese, or perhaps there is some confusing licensing issue. It could be anything - maybe Lego is suspected of corrupting Japanese youth with bricks that can be made into makeshift (if brittle and ineffective) street weapons. Who knows. Wild theories in the comments please.

    Japan - Activision stops sale of LEGO games [GoNintendo]

    6:40 PM on Fri Nov 21 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    3,220 views, 55 comments

  • harsh reality

    Only 4% Of Games Make A Profit - EEDAR

    So many games, so little time. But do you ever wonder what happens to the also-rans? The non-AAA titles and the ones that don't have the huge marketing budgets behind them? Or even those that do, but just.. don't work? The answer, according to market analysts EEDAR, is not very much.

    EEDAR offer a service to games publishers where they run the numbers on games in development and try to predict how they will perform. The success rates make sobering reading for any game developer. More »

    2:30 PM on Fri Nov 21 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    8,638 views, 101 comments

    Most discussed RobLikesbrunch: Complete bullshit. If it was that low, the market would be so damn big right now, and still expanding. Kotaku, be more »