Industry News Archive

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Lady Gaga announces her social networking site LittleMonsters.com

Just when you thought you hadn’t heard from Gaga in awhile, she decided to launch a social networking site on us: LittleMonsters.com.

The site, created by Backplane, is currently invite-only, but you can request that your name be added to the community and hope to receive an invite code shortly thereafter.

Backplane’s CEO told Mashable the startup is all about “bringing together communities and Gaga’s community just so happens to be the community we’re using… We think we can really change the world, but we’re fearful that we’re going to be pigeon-holed.” Based in Palo Alto, Backplane thrives on being a  “canvas for self-expression.”

From what we can tell of the site, it’s looking a little bit like Pinterest as far as layout goes, but as far as networking specs go, we’re sure the site will be filled with everything Gaga—letting the “Little Monsters” publicize their die-hard Gaga devotion.

More Gaga-like sites are in the works, and Backplane hopes to bring them altogether in a “dashboard on its site this summer that would combine the communities.”

While the social networking site devoted solely to Lady Gaga sounds a bit ridiculous, take into consideration the fact she was the first artist to reach 1 billion views on YouTube, and also beat out the Prez to 10 million Facebook fans.

(via TAXI & Mashable; photo via last.fm)

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Korea’s Kinect-powered theme park

Kinect-powered astronaut scales, Kinect-powered fitting rooms—and lo and behold, the Kinect-powered theme park.

There’s reason for gamers everywhere to envy South Korea’s Live Park 4D: it’s the world’s largest 360 degree stereoscopic theatre, it has the world’s largest interactive projection square, and the park has the world’s most advanced avatar games.

Jealous much? We are – the only thing the US has that’s comparable is, well, um… nothing yet (not to say the Harry Potter theme park isn’t cool). Other parks that come close are the Warcraft/Starcraft-themed amusement park in Changzhou called World Joyland.

The Live Park 4D’s capacity holds up to 3,000 visitors, and there are 65 different attractions to choose from. Visitors are given RFID wristbands that allow them to create avatars of themselves while playing the various games.

Rumors are stirring up that the Live Park concept might reach North America, but for now our South Korean friends and tourists are the only ones in the world to experience the luxury.

(via ubergizmo; photo via Hex19)

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SoulCalibur for iOS Review

It’s here! We heard the other day SoulCalibur was coming to iOS and we got excited to get our hands on the beloved game. For a limited time it is available for a 20% discounted $11.99 in the Apple App Store; the price is expected to rise in a few days, so if you’re strongly considering, we recommend buying in the next day or two (or waiting a few months until it sells for probably half the price).

Graphics are expectedly outstanding. Some of our favorite characters like Tira are missing, but the 10 characters you have to choose from are Voldo, Ivy, Sophitia, Mitsurugi, Kilik, Xianghua, Maxi, Nightmare, Taki, and Astaroth – each character has two costume options as well, which we thought was a cool bonus for a mobile version.

At first we thought operating the game via touch screen would be difficult, but it turns out developers must have had this down to a science, as the joystick shown in the main photo on the left operates smoothly so you’ll be making moves without delay.

There are quite a few modes, too: standard Arcade ladder, Time Attack, Survival, Extra Survival, and Practice—leaving out the Team Battle and Mission modes from PlayStation and XBOX versions, but still an abundant amount.

If you haven’t yet played SoulCalibur and fancy other classic arcade fighting games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, well, this is a revolutionary version of those games. The only thing is, for now the game is one player, which is a problem if you consider multi-player a determining factor when buying a game like SoulCalibur.

We haven’t heard news about SoulCalibur streaming live, or anything regarding an Android version, but we assume both are likely to come as an update soon.

(photo is a screenshot taken with iPhone)

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Gary Oldman does the voice for a Call of Duty character Victor Reznov

Playing Call of Duty one would not necessarily think of Gary Oldman voicing the character Victor Reznov, for he has a Russian accent and is a former squad leader of the Red Army—not your typical Oldman (well, when he’s not busy fighting crime in Gotham filming The Dark Knight Rises and getting down in Memphis as Elvis in his upcoming Guns, Girls, and Gambling).

But to our surprise, Oldman does in fact do the voiceovers/screamovers for Reznov, an endeavor he likes to call, “battle chatter.” He describes the voiceover process as an interesting one, and here is some incredibly hilarious footage of him reenacting what a typical recording session might sound like—aka screaming various phrases” “Over there!”, “On the reach!”, “Shoot!”, “Tank!”, “Incoming!”

We love Oldman and his various roles throughout film history make him one of the most accredited actors out there, but him battle chattering has to be one of the more unexpected Oldman performances.

(story via The Verge; photo via deviantART)

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 designer promises dedicated servers for multiplayer PC gamers

Activision, distributor of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has promised that PC gamers hoping for an enjoyable multiplayer experience will have nothing to worry about when they get a chance to play the game. According to IGN, this is in response to previous complaints regarding the PC multiplayer capabilities of the last installment in the Modern Warfare series.
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LA Noire, Duke Nukem lead video game sales in June

June proved to be a good month for Take 2 Interactive. Despite a poor showing from the video game industry as a whole, Take 2′s L.A. Noire and Duke Nukem Forever topped the market’s bestsellers list, according to recent figures from NPD Group.

Overall, the U.S. video game market continued its downward spiral last month. According to the research firm, video game sales, including hardware, software and accessories, dipped 10 percent compared to last June, reaching only $995 million, CNET reported.

Software saw the most significant decline during that time, dropping 12 percent to total $469.5 million.

Of the 10 top-selling games for June, L.A. Noire was the only one wasn’t a remake or a sequel. Coming in at No. 2, Duke Nukem Forever is the much-delayed, mixed-reviewed continuation of the Duke Nukem franchise. Rounding out the top five are Infamous 2, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.

Despite the poor showing in June, Gartner has predicted video game sales to rebound in the near future. According to the research firm, the “gaming ecosystem” will reach $112 billion by 2015, but this will be in large part to the rise of mobile gaming.

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PSN once again available in Japan

Sony’s embarrassing data breach saga may be coming to a close, as the company has finally brought its PlayStation Network back online in Japan.
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eReader, tablet adoption increasing in US

A new study from the Pew Internet Project found that, while both eReaders and tablets are on the rise, the former is moving at a faster pace.
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Sega hacked; Gaming community collectively rolls its eyes

Hackers have it in for the video game industry, apparently. After waging attacks on the likes of Sony, Nintendo and others, cyber criminals have now added Sega to the growing list of hacked gaming companies.
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Call of Duty: Elite combines social networking with FPS

Already renowned for its multiplayer action, the Call of Duty series is about to ramp up the friendly fire with the launch of Call of Duty Elite.
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