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March 8th, 2012, 21:57 Posted By: wraggster
China accounts for third of total revenues; global sector 'to be worth $25.5 billion by 2015', claims report
PC gaming software sales hit a record $18.6 billion in 2011, according to new research.
The report by non-profit organisation PC Gaming Alliance claims that the market grew by 15 per cent from the previous year.
It also claimed that no geographical market segments tracked a decline in PC game revenue last year.
China’s PC gaming market grew by 27 per cent, accounting for a third of global revenues.
The UK, US, South Korea, Japan and Germany together recorded a rise of 11 per cent, up to $8 billion.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...C-games-market
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March 8th, 2012, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster
Modders will be pleased to know that their game-altering antics are a major focus of the newly-announced SimCity game.
 The new SimCity is is driven by Maxis' new engine, GlassBox, which it says "powers each simulation with real integrity in order to capture the world we live in today".But more importantly for modders, the developer says the engine has been specifically "built to be moddable".
"We're huge fans of our modding community," said creative director Ocean Quigley to a GDC audience (via Shack).
"We know modding is hugely important to our community," Quigley noted. "We know the reason why people are still playing SimCity 4 ten years later is because the modding community has kept it alive. GlassBox is built to be moddable, but beyond that we haven't announced anything," he added.
He also said "we're using the same package format The Sims and SimCity 4 used," which should make it easier for SimCity 4 modders to make the jump to GlassBox.
While holding off properly announcing mod support, that's a close to official confirmation as you'll get.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...o-be-moddable/
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March 7th, 2012, 23:00 Posted By: wraggster
The global PC gaming market grew by 15 per cent last year to a record $18.6 billion, according to the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA).
The figure comes from the PCGA's annual Horizons report, released to coincide with the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
2011 saw explosive growth in free-to-play, and not just from MMOGs ditching subscriptions in favour of microtransactions. The PCGA notes that Zynga brought in $1.1 billion in revenue, and along with Nexon, enjoyed a successful stock market IPO. Bigpoint, the German browser MMOG company which yesterday announced plans to expand to London and Paris, brought in $350 million.
None of the territories included in the PCGA's research saw declines, with the Chinese market growing by 27 per cent, accounting for $6 billion of the total. Asia remains the biggest investor in PC gaming, with Tencent's majority acquisition of Riot Games for $400 million a highlight. The PCGA believes that Tencent's full-year figures, which have yet to be announced, will see it replace Activision as the highest-grossing PC game company.
PCGA president Matt Ployhar said: "The PC gaming juggernaut continues unabated, across the industry and geographic boundaries. While reports of gaming sales at retail show signs of struggle, the impact hasn't been as great for PC gaming, which had an earlier adoption of newer formats, business models and delivery.
"Not only investment dollars, but real revenue and profits, are now being generated solely from purely digital business models, formats, and delivery."
The Alliance forecasts that the market will maintain its upward trajectory, rising 37 per cent to around $25.5 billion by 2015, as broadband speeds, digital distribution services and payment systems continue to improve.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/gdc-...-grows-15-cent
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March 7th, 2012, 21:53 Posted By: wraggster
New title in popular iOS series debuts at Apple's iPad 3 press conference
Epic has used the iPad 3 Apple press conference to unveil a new game in the Infinity Blade series.
Infintiy Blade: Dungeons is set several thousand years before the original Infinity Blade game, which grossed $10 million in its first six months on sale.
“Just like Apple has raised the bar for mobile computing, the Infinity Blade franchise has continually re-defined expectations for mobile gaming,” said Epic Games president Dr Michael Capps. “With Infinity Blade: Dungeons we continue the tradition of melding exciting gameplay with beautiful, rich worlds powered by Unreal Engine technology; and Apple’s new iPad allows us to push the boundaries even further.”
The third game in the series, Infinity Blade: Dungeons, is being pitched as a showcase of the potential of the latest Epic tech to support iOS, and introduces a number of new gameplay features such as weapon casting and a 'dynamic camera system'.
Each Infinity Blade game has been debuted at a major Apple press event.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...Blade-Dungeons
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March 7th, 2012, 21:45 Posted By: wraggster
Electronic Arts and Maxis today announced the return of the SimCity franchise to PC.
Yes, the ability to zone up your city and build power plants in inappopriate places will be yours again.
“We’d like to thank the millions of fans who have helped make SimCity synonymous with the city-building genre. This is a franchise that means the world to us at Maxis and we’re happy to be bringing it back home where we are reimagining it for an entirely new generation of players,” said Lucy Bradshaw, senior vice president of EA’s Maxis Label. “Using our proprietary GlassBox Engine, SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind. We are dedicated to making sure the experience – no matter the platform – has the fun, flavour and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth."
EA and Maxis made the reveal during a 'Game-Changers' conference at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
It's due to arrive in 2013, though eager gamers can pre-order via Origin now if they really want, and get some SimCity Heroes & Villains content along with it. There's also an extended trailer at www.SimCity.com .
The firms also said: For the first time in SimCity franchise history, players’ decisions will have long-lasting repercussions that will extend beyond their city limits. Together, players will address real global challenges such as climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters. It’s up to the players to decide whether to compete or collaborate to shape the world of tomorrow – for better or for worse."
Could be a load of PR fluff, could mean a natural and exciting evolution for the title.
Here at PCR, we're intrigued to see what changes a 2013 edition will bring to the franchise. Nothing has quite matched up to SimCity 2000 for this writer...
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...simcity/028050
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March 7th, 2012, 02:24 Posted By: wraggster
There's a whole group of folks at Epic Games China and they're working hard on the first big title from Epic Games' eastern subsidiary. The game, Mercenary Ops, is a ... somewhat derivative third-person shooter built in Unreal Engine 3, which uses cover, blind fire, and active reloading mechanics (from the Gears of War franchise) as main gameplay concepts. Given the "mercenary dudes" setting, the combination of Gears gameplay and bro'd out characters gives it a Gears of War meets Call of Duty feeling, as we discovered during a brief hands-on session today at GDC 2012. So ... yeah, perfectly competent, but not the most original.
Perhaps more interesting, the game isn't being published by EGC's American parent company, but instead a brand new North American publisher named Delkans. And what in the world is Delkans? That's a good question -- one that company reps weren't willing to supply an answer for when repeatedly asked during our meeting today. Apparently the publisher is made up of folks from the tech industry, though that's all we could pull out of reps.
Mercenary Ops is planned for a summer 2012 launch in North America and Europe, with Asian markets potentially following (Delkans isn't talking solid plans just yet).
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/ep...-to-na-eu-com/
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March 7th, 2012, 02:23 Posted By: wraggster
Yesterday, the Star Wars: The Old Republicguild summit gave players a good idea of what to expect from patch 1.2. But just hearing about things like the new Legacy features and upcoming Operations isn't enough for everyone, which is no doubt part of the reason the development team has put together a trailer for all of the new features. And while the new Operation, Flashpoint, and Warzone might be the most immediately interesting, there's a lot more on display in the trailer.
In fact, the trailer shows off more of the cross-race options for new characters that can be unlocked via the Legacy system as well as the upcoming appearance modification and UI customization that the patch will add. There's also a preview of new minipets, the promise of new daily missions on Corellia, and several other tweaks to improve the game. But why take our word for it when you can jump on down and watch the video for yourself?
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03...-old-republic/
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March 7th, 2012, 02:11 Posted By: wraggster
We're guessing it won't get to a million downloads quite as quick as the Windows 8 consumer preview did, but Microsoft has now made another upcoming operating system available for download in "preview" form: Windows Embedded Standard 8. That OS is at the heart the company's big push into so-called "intelligent systems," which includes everything from digital signage and kiosks to manufacturing systems and medical equipment. As you might expect, the OS is also closely tied to Windows 8 proper, including the same Metro-style applications and what Microsoft describes as "all the key functionality of Windows 8." Additional details and download instructions can be found at the source link below.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/w...-for-download/
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March 7th, 2012, 02:10 Posted By: wraggster
What's this, then? Why, it's what appears to be a brand new, redesigned gaming laptop, courtesy of 'ol Toshiba. Though it hasn't been announced here in the US, UK-based site TechDigest is showing us the first photo of the Qosmio X870, which seems to have a rather reined-in design compared to previous Toshiba gaming machines we've seen (to the extent that a PC with red accents can ever be called staid). According to the site, its specs include a 17.3-inch, 1080p, 3D-capable display; the "latest" Intel processors; unspecified, next-gen NVIDIA GPUs with 3GB of video memory; and up to either 2TB in HDD storage or a (presumably smaller) hybrid SSD. Rounding out the list, the laptop is said to rock Bluetooth 4.0, four USB 3.0 sockets (including two with Toshiba's Sleep-and-Charge technology), HDMI, Harman Kardon speakers, an optional Blu-ray player and that all-important LAN port. Sounds good to us, though as of this writing we've yet to see a press release posted on any of Toshiba's regional or global sites. If TechDigest's report is on the money, though, this thing should land sometime in Q2, which means Tosh has a few months yet to clarify that minor pricing question.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/toshiba-qosmio-x870/
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March 7th, 2012, 01:59 Posted By: wraggster
Trade association UKIE has published the UK's first ever digital videogame sales chart.
The body has been hard at work on its digital chart, which is currently in beta, since 2010. The first published chart collates sales of PC games through digital channels in January, shared by 25 companies "proactively engaged in the selling and distribution of digital videogame products."
Between them, the group of 25 hold 80 per cent of the boxed PC game market, but UKIE still has much work ahead to get more companies on side; the below chart is only believed to represent 40 per cent of total sales of downloadable PC games.
UKIE CEO Jo Twist said: "We are delighted to reveal the UK's first digital chart based on real sales data. This is a watershed moment for our industry, but it is only the first step in capturing the full digital market.
"There is still a lot of work to be done, and we need more data, but we felt that the market would benefit from seeing that this project is very much on course."
01. Star Wars: The Old Republic (EA)
02. From Dust (Ubisoft)
03. Bastion (Warner Bros)
04. Battlefield 3 (EA)
05. Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros)
06. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Square Enix)
07. Anno 2070 (Ubisoft)
08. Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft)
09. Assassin's Creed Revelations (Ubisoft)
10. Hitman Collection (Square Enix)
http://www.edge-online.com/news/ukie...al-sales-chart
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March 7th, 2012, 01:35 Posted By: wraggster
Intel is to stick with socket 1150 and DDR3 memory, providing no fresh PC upgrade shocks until 2014 according to a Fudzilla report.
Fuzilla's tech pundit Fuad Abazovic appears to have obtained some details of Intel's upcoming roadmap which indicates that the chip giant is staying put with existing CPU socket and memory standards for a good while yet.
DDR3 will remain throughout 2012 and 2013, Abazovic said, although a low power 1.5V DDR3L will be supported by Intel's Haswell in the first half of 2013. Intel's chipset support suggests that DDR4 will not be on the cards until the introduction of the 14nm Broadwell some time in 2014.
Intel's LGA 1150 socket seems to be on even longer life support with the 14nm Broadwell chipset also using the same socket as the previous 22nm Haswell.
Abrazovic also reckons that the soon-to-appear Ivy Bridge CPUs will work with the previous Intel 6-series chipsets which appears to alleviate at least some upgrade concerns. CPU and motherboard upgrades will thus not be necessary although of course the additional features of new motherboards sporting Intel's accompanying 7-series chipset will still be desirable.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...et-1150/028042
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March 7th, 2012, 01:33 Posted By: wraggster
Intel today unveiled its new family of Xeon 5 processors, a series which the chip giant hopes will provide the processing power needed to support a range of future applications.
With a number of improvements over its predecessors, this latest range apparently offers better performance, more energy efficiency, cooler running temperatures, greater security and triple the I/O performance, with Intel saying that it gives 'the best data centre performance per Watt.'
At the launch, Intel's UK and Ireland country manager, Graham Palmer revealed that every 600 smartphones or 120 tablets that are bought and connected to the internet require a new server to be deployed, adding that: "Cloud is a phenomenon that's gaining huge traction and that in turn is putting strain on IT infrastructure."
But along with the increased usage of cloud services for storage is the growing trend of what was termed 'utility computing'; the process whereby companies or organisations can outsource intensive processing work to companies such as Amazon, which was revealed to have already deployed Xeon 5 processors to help assist the European Space Agency in mapping the stars.
As well as utility computing were many references to Big Data. Intel is the latest leading company to deploy solutions designed to enable the handling and analysis of huge volumes of information, proving that it's not just a buzzword any more.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...cessors/028045
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March 6th, 2012, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster
Rumours of proprietary hardware produced by Half-Life, Portal and Team Fortress 2 dev Valve have been floating around over the last couple of days, and now a controller patent filed by the company has been dug out of the archives, lending a little more weight to the whole idea.
 The patent in question, which was filed on November 4, 2009, says "one or more main control input interfaces on the game controller consist of generalized sockets... a variety of modular input interfaces can be plugged into these sockets".This means users would be able to swap components as they see fit. Interestingly, "the first socket is suitable for manual insertion and removal of a trackball." Could this be Valve's solution to the thumbsticks versus mouse argument?
The patent was submitted by Valve employees Mike Ambinder, Steven Bond and Scott Dalton. Given the submission date, Valve's potentially been working on the device for a number of years, meaning the design may have changed a fair bit, or even been scrapped altogether.
Patent images of what could be a Valve console surfaced on Twitter over the weekend. The shots were spotted on a feed belonging to Greg Coomer, a product designer at Valve, along with the caption: "Built this tiny PC. i7 quad core, 8GB ram, Zotac Z-68 mobo w/ onnboard Nvidia mobile gfx. Runs Portal 2 FAST."
Speaking to Kotaku, an anonymous tipster said Coomer is also lead on the SteamBox team, which is made up of between five and ten people. The source added that Coomer is notoriously loose lipped, and judging from a number of his tweets that would be a somewhat accurate assertion.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...kballs-rumour/
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March 6th, 2012, 00:18 Posted By: wraggster
I can't imagine how hard it is to be a development studio with some of the most beloved franchises under its belt. Fans expect so much. It can't be easy to be Valve -- doubly so when trying to develop the next entry in one of the studio's popular competitive franchises, Counter-Strike. Valve's Chet Faliszek really wants to please the fans and eventual communities that will spring up aroundCounter-Strike: Global Offensive.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/bu...rong-communit/
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March 6th, 2012, 00:04 Posted By: wraggster
AMD's Radeon HD 7000-series onslaught continues, with still no 28nm retort from NVIDIA. The latest offerings are the 7870 priced at $349, and the 7850 priced at $249. Both are based on the Pitcairn GPU and hog the mainstream gamer spot below the Tahiti-based 79xx cards and far above the 77xx options. In terms of competition, these cards go head-to-head with the older NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 and GTX 560Ti, which currently retail for between $20 and $50 less. However, most reviewers found plenty of reasons to side with AMD despite the extra outlay, as you'll discover at the links below.
HotHardware -- hailed the performance, low power consumption, noise levels and features of both cards, but noted that they're "not much faster than previous gen counterparts." For example, 3DMark 11 benchmarks generally beat NVIDIA's rivals by around two or three percent, while the Radeon HD 7850 barely scored any higher than its predecessor, the 6850, in that test.
AnandTech -- found the 7870 to be "faster, cooler and quieter" than the GTX 570, with a roughly nine percent performance advantage that puts AMD "in the clear for the time being." As for the 7850, it was regarded as less of a steal, trailing the cheaper GTX 560Ti in some games -- including an eight percent lag in Battlefield 3.
TheTechReport -- reckoned both the 7870 and 7850 are "better options than comparable GeForces," because they deliver more FPS-per-dollar when Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Crysis 2 and Skyrim performances are averaged out.
PC Perspective -- concluded that the Radeon HD 7870 "more or less matches" the GTX 570 in the six games it compared, with two wins, two losses and two draws for the AMD card, but is still "pretty impressive" for the price. The HD 7850, meanwhile, "completely dominates the performance metrics" while using "56 fewer watts!"
TechSpot -- gave the Radeon HD 7850 slightly higher marks for being the "best mainstream card to buy at $250," while also praising the HD 7870 delivering "excellent performance and overclocking" and "almost reaching the level of the more expensive HD 7900 boards."
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/05/a...eview-roundup/
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March 5th, 2012, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster
China and India lead the pack in new study commissioned by Microsoft
A new study commissioned by Microsoft indicates that cloud computing will create 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015.
The white paper, Cloud Computing's Role In Job Creation, was assembled by research firm IDC by analysing spending on cloud technology in 40 different countries.
IDC estimates that total spending on IT products worldwide is $1.7 trillion in 2011, but 75 per cent of that figure is taken up by maintenance of legacy systems and routine upgrades.
Cloud technology will alleviate or eradicate many of those issues, saving companies money and time, and allowing them to invest more heavily in innovation. IDC's research puts new business revenues from such activities at $1.1 trillion a year by 2015.
"Given the current difficult economic environment, every business is looking to empower their people, reduce costs, improve their customer connections and create new opportunities through their technology investments," said Robert Youngjohns, president of Microsoft North America, in a blog post.
"When it comes to the cloud, Microsoft is 'All In' - helping customers realise the benefits from one of the most profound transformations in computing history. But leading with the cloud also has the potential of doing much more - improving economic health in the U.S. and all over the world."
Around a third of the jobs created between now and 2015 will be in three industries: 2.4 million in communications and media, 1.4 million in banking, and 1.3 million in discrete manufacturing.
Geographically, China and India will dominate cloud-computing by the end of 2015. The two countries will account for 6.75 million jobs, compared to 1.2 million in North America and Canada, 2.1 in EMEA countries, and 2.87 across the rest of Asia/Pacific.
"We tend to think of China and India as emerging markets, but they're actually early adopters of the cloud," said IDC senior vice president John Gantz in a statement. "They're not bound to existing systems. They've skipped that step, so there's less holding them back."
IDC expects cloud-computing jobs to be spread evenly across large, medium and small companies. While bigger companies generally have more money to invest, they are more likely to be tied up with legacy agreements that prevent them from implementing major technological changes. Ultimately, small and medium-sized companies will migrate to the cloud quicker.
"When you put it all together, the two trends balance out, and you get a 50-50 split,"
Gantz added.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...n-jobs-by-2015
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March 5th, 2012, 22:53 Posted By: wraggster
RAM prices are set to increase following the high profile bankruptcy of Japanese DRAM manufacturer Elpida, the largest since the failure of Japanese Airlines in 2010.
Like many other Japanese manufacturers, Elpida faced a string of challenges including the high Japanese currency, natural disasters, falling demand for PC products and increased competition from rivals such as Korean memory maker Hynix.
At least some of Elpida's manufacturing facilities are expected to continue on in some form, possibly through rival acquisitions but supply chain analysts IHS iSuppli warned that even a modest reduction in Elpida's output would see DRAM prices increase.
"The ultimate fate of Elpida’s manufacturing assets, which remains to be decided, will be the major factor impacting pricing and revenue growth in 2012," said iSuppli analyst Mike Howard.
"One thing is certain: Elpida’s bankruptcy means the remaining DRAM players can look forward to a much rosier 2012 than they did just one week ago."
iSuppli was already forecasting a rise in DRAM prices up from lows of just over a US dollar per gigabit of raw DRAM chips to over $1.10 in Q4 2012. Reduced capacity due to Elpida's Bankruptcy raises that figure to $1.20, a 20 per cent increase over prices today.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...kruptcy/028035
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March 5th, 2012, 22:50 Posted By: wraggster
Rumours have emerged that game developer Valve may be entering the console space with a device akin to a small but high-spec PC that will be able to run its game streaming service Steam.
One theory is that the firm will announce a potential 'Steam Box' at this year's Game Developer's Conference, on now in San Francisco, or perhaps at E3.
The rumours have been given some weight by Valve product designer Greg Coomer, who last November posted a picture of this small form factor PC on Twitter, saying: "Built this tiny PC. i7 quad core, 8GB ram, Zotac Z-68 mobo w/ onnboard Nvidia mobile gfx. Runs Portal 2 FAST."
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...console/028037
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