Industry

Industry news i.e development, persons, tech etc

Sony Attacked Again and Again

Just last Thursday Sony was again attacked by hackers who breached Sony’s So-Net Internet service provider where stole ¥100,000 (around R 8000) worth of “virtual points” from account holders.

Now GamesIndustryBiz reports that a Sony website in Thailand has been hacked and virtual points stolen in Japan but at least the PlayStation Network itself was not breached this time.

So-Net advised customers to change their passwords and stopped the So-Net points exchanges after their system was attacked. “At this point in our investigations, we have not confirmed any data leakage. We have not found any sign of a possibility that a third party has obtained members’ names, address, birth dates and phone numbers,” the company said in a statement.

BioWare working on Dragon Age 3

While it’s likely to still be a while away, it appears Dragon Age 3 is definitely on the cards – as if that’s actually a surprise. Senior Director of Creative Development Alistair McNally tweeted that BioWare is (or at the very least, he is) “looking for exceptional environment artists…to work on Dragon Age 3”.  Hooray!  And double hooray if you’re looking…

Angry Birds Hits 200 Million Hits

Rovio’s Angry Birds games consisting of the games Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio have been downloaded a total of 200 million times on the major smartphone platforms, with PC and Mac versions also in the market.

“We have seen more growth and engagement with Angry Birds games and merchandise across all markets,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “The growing numbers of fans give us more incentive to keep creating more fresh, fun and engaging Angry Birds experiences and making them available to everyone.”

Last week, Angry Birds was launched in the web for the first time in the Chrome Web Store. The game can be played in a web browser, and offline play is available when installed from the Chrome Web Store. The web version attracted 6 million individual fans of the game in less than a week.

Rovio say the demand for Angry Birds merchandising has been growing, with over 3 million units sold globally and shipped to more than 100 countries. Rovio has appointed licensing agents worldwide, with Striker Entertainment (US), Wild Pumpkin (Australia), PPW (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Pacific Licensing (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), LID Licensing (Brazil) and YPL (Israel) representing the Angry Birds property in their respective regions.

Megarom Press Event | Q1 and Q2 Upcoming Titles

Megarom Interactive (PTY) Ltd. last night hosted an event at the swanky Melrose Arch hotel where they invited members of the press [and erm… Zombiegamer] to preview the distributor’s comprehensive Q2 and Q3 line-up.

We were treated to some preview code, behind the scenes information and even got our hands on two important upcoming titles – Dirt3 and Cabella’s Dangerous Hunts 2011.

Dead Block To Use Unreal Engine 3

 

Candygun Games has penned a licensing agreement with Epic Games, Inc. to use the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 in the development of Dead Block, the studio’s first original upcoming third-person action defense title for PC, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network to be published by Digital Reality and released during summer 2011. The license to use UE3 for Dead Block is part of a multi-year, exclusive licensing agreement with Epic Games.

Black Ops | Best-Selling Game of All Time in US and EU

Activision Blizzard have announced record first quarter financial results with Call of Duty: Black Ops leading the way and other strong title sales like the pc exclusive mega selling – Starcraft. The publisher also enjoyed increased net revenues from digital channels including DLC which increased by 30% over the previous year. And it comes as now surprise [with all the records set] that Call of Duty: Black Ops became the best-selling game of all time in dollars across the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC in the U.S. and Europe and was also the #1 game in the U.S. and Europe for the quarter.