Curt Schilling’s video game finally gets on base
Curt Schilling, the former pitcher and two-time World Series champ is more nervous about his new video game than he ever was about baseball.
He told a New York crowd at an event put on by Electronic Arts on Tuesday that he slept like a baby before World Series games in 2007 — but didn’t catch a wink on Monday night ahead of the release of his company’s first video game.
Schilling’s personal fortune is on the line with “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” a fantasy-action game that hit stores Tuesday. Schilling told Reuters last July he had invested between $30 million to $35 million of his own money into the 400-person company he founded that made the game.
“‘This is opening day of career 2.0,” he told the crowd . And it’s an opening day that’s seven years in the making–Schilling founded the company called 38 Studios (after his jersey number) in 2006.
Schilling has been a video fanboy for years. Peter Moore, EA’s chief operating officer said he first spoke with him in 2005. Schilling called Moore, who then worked at Microsoft, to see if he could get his hands on an advance copy of the Xbox 360.
Moore, who said he turned down phone calls from Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson that same day, took Schilling’s because he was a big Red Sox fan.
“We spoke one hour about massive multiplayer games. I tried to talk him out of it,” Moore said, of Schilling’s idea to bankroll a video game.
Microsoft’s Kinect eyes path beyond gaming, into other industries
As Microsoft Corp’s Xbox gaming console nears its 10th anniversay, the company said its future may lie beyond gaming.
“That’s still the core of what we do, but if you think of the next 10 years of our business, it’s all the new opportunities and possibilities that Kinect is opening us up to,” Craig Cincotta, director of communications for Xbox, told Reuters.
Microsoft’s Kinect, launched last year, is a sensing camera and microphone device that plugs into the Xbox 360 console, allowing users to play games purely with gestures and voice commands.
The device flew off shelves, setting a record sales pace for a consumer electronics device, and was immediately attractive to hackers who devised ways of making it work on standard computers.
“People in academics and hobbyists started using it in ways that in reality we knew that it had the potential, but we hadn’t thought of certain applications yet,” Cincotta said.
Microsoft announced last week it would release a commercial version of the Kinect software development kit in early 2012.
I can imagine many applications and uses for this wonderful technology, and it is nearly limitless, well sort of. Imagine playing chess online in a more interactive way than just clicking with the mouse, now that would bring some excitement into an old game.
David – http://www.regencychess.co.uk
The Hoff wants a video game of his own
David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff wants to stay “hip and current with the kids,” so he’s doing it the way he knows best–by getting beat up in cheerleader outfits and chicken suits in an ad campaign.
The Hoff is Electronic Arts’s latest pitchman in online videos for “Burnout Crash,” a racing video game on Xbox Live with the motion controller, Kinect, but he’s not stopping there: He wants a game of his own, he told Reuters in an interview this week.
“I’ve wanted to develop my own game so this was a way of seeing if this works and maybe we can take this one step further with using the same concept as ‘Burnout Crash,’ and maybe do something with the Hoff,” he said.
Hasselhoff said he’s in talks with EA about developing some kind of game or app. EA could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hasselhoff has promoted games before but declined to comment on how much money he has made from the video game industry.
The 59-year-old former Baywatch star said he signed on with EA after the company sent him the game and it reminded him of driving stunts he’d help create on his hit show from the 1980s, Knight Rider.
“I saw the game and said, this is what Knight Rider is about,” Hasselhoff said.
The moment the Hoff announced he was going into the gaming Biz. Watch the ending part where Chobot makes him realize he has to get into the gaming biz lol!
Zynga herding its users like sheep from game to game: data
Social games company Zynga is adept at converting its current players to its new games, just as smoothly as some of the top video game franchises like Call of Duty, according to a new 21-page report by the game tracking service and social network Raptr.
The report takes into account more than 3 million Zynga players who use Raptr’s game tracking applications.
“If Zynga were to release a new game tomorrow, our data reveals that 90 percent of users of that new game will come from an old game,” said Dennis Fong, Raptr’s co-founder.
While 90 percent is such a high conversation rate any company might strive to that target, it also means that Zynga could cannibalize its users if it doesn’t find new players.
“A 90 percent average means that only 10 percent of its users are new,” Fong said. “Zynga has its pool of players, which is admittedly very large and they are basically just herding them around from game to game. Where is their growth going to come from? That’s a big question mark.”
The report is full of nuggets that could give potential investors in Zynga’s IPO a better picture of how people are playing social games. It shows that Zynga players play up to 8 sessions a day and that those sessions are 5 minutes long. Gamers are playing hardcore games on consoles and PCs like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft for longer periods of time, but for fewer sessions.
Tech wrap: Steve Jobs pitches Apple’s iCloud
Apple CEO Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave to launch an Internet-based service for consumers called the iCloud, which lets users play their music and get access to their data from any Apple device. Jobs walked briskly onstage after James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” blasted over the sound system, but shared the spotlight with other Apple execs who showcased Apple’s enhancements to its PC operating system and mobile platform.
Jobs laid out his vision for the iCloud with the elminiation of MobileMe, a subscription-based collection of online services and software. Jobs said the iCloud will allow people to share book purchases, music and data in general, such as calendar items, across different devices, while backing up and updating information regularly.
Among the new features for Apple’s OS X Lion operating software were an improved email infrastructure and multi-touch features. Early impressions by experts watching the presentations were favorable.
For the iPhone and iPad, executives described how the fifth version of the iOS software will feature drop-down notifications for everything from Twitter feeds to Facebook alerts, and new applications such as tabbed surfing for Apple’s Safari Web browser.
Hackers calling themselves Lulz Security said that they had broken into Sony computer systems again, and posted the results on the Internet.
Microsoft is looking to put its popular Kinect motion-sensing device at the heart of its Xbox game console, unveiling plans to allow users to control live television feeds, search YouTube and play action games with voice commands. Microsoft said it will give users access to live television programing through the Xbox in the U.S. sometime next year, following live TV services it already offers in Britain, France and Australia.
Google has become a “political tool” vilifying the Chinese government, an official Beijing newspaper said, warning that Google’s statements about hacking attacks traced to China could hurt its business. By saying that Chinese human rights activists were among the targets of the hacking, Google was “deliberately pandering to negative Western perceptions of China, and strongly hinting that the hacking attacks were the work of the Chinese government,” the People’s Daily overseas edition, a small offshoot of the main domestic paper, said in a front-page commentary.
When gamers hit Toys R Us and other tales of Black Friday
Sprinkled among the snaking lines of parents at a Toys R Us in New Jersey on Black Friday were diehard gamers. Many had no children to spoil. Nor were they particularly happy to be in the Toys R Us; but with gaming hardware fast selling out across the region, they followed the scent of the deal.
The Kinect moved especially fast, if early anecdotal evidence is any measure. Brisk sales of hardware like the PlayStation3, Xbox and Microsoft Kinect on the nation’s biggest annual shopping spree also bode well for software sales, says Mike Hickey, a Janco Partners analyst.
But which games were enticing fans to shell out on Black Friday?
“ We’re seeing strong sales of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft), Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft), Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard), Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive), Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda), Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital) and Donkey Kong (Nintendo),” Hickey said.
Many of the hottest video items weren’t even on sale. The Microsoft Kinect, which was not discounted at any retailer on Black Friday (in fact, the price got jacked up on many secondary sellers’ websites), was out of stock both in stores and online at WalMart, Target and Best Buy.
GameStop also weighed in on Friday morning, telling Reuters about the traffic at its 800 US stores which opened at midnight, which were helped in part by the interest in the Kinect. “Preliminary reports from our stores record a lot of excitement,” said GameStop’s president Tony Bartel,” and there were many customers lined up at 5 am when the rest of the stores opened.
NPD analyst Stephen Baker said video games were “one of the better categories this holiday,” but low-priced televisions and aggressively priced laptops were the biggest sellers on Black Friday.
Microsoft’s Bach jumps around with Natal
Watch Microsoft’s Robbie Bach getting out of breath playing a wall-demolition game using Xbox’s new Natal technology, which works entirely on body gestures rather than a hand-held controller. (Click on the video and scroll onto 23:30)
Bach, head of entertainment and devices, demoed the new system at Microsoft’s annual financial analyst meeting in Redmond, Washington. There is still no date set for its commercial release.
The company hopes the new technology will vault it past Nintendo’s all-conquering Wii and rival Sony’s PlayStation.
James Kennedy sure sounds bitter. PS3 fanboy in disguise? Must be upset that XBox 360 sales are increasing year over year while his beloved PS3 sales are drying up like a raisin.
Ballmer upstaged at first-ever CES keynote?
After watching Bill Gates deliver Microsoft’s keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show for 12 years, CEO Steve Ballmer finally got his moment in the sun on Wednesday.
We were rooting for you Steve, but next time, tell your friends not to steal your thunder.
First, it was Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg leaking the news that the U.S. phone company has picked Microsoft as its default mobile search provider. It’s a big win for Microsoft, which has been lagging behind Google and Yahoo on the Web, but Ballmer didn’t get to be the first to tell the world. Seidenberg stole the spotlight, announcing the deal at a Citi investor conference earlier on Wednesday. We were hoping Microsoft would take back the limelight by giving us more details when it was Ballmer’s turn at CES, but alas, all the CEO said was, “I’m also thrilled to announce a new long term partnership with Verizon to offer our live services on all Verizon phones.”
Besides the Verizon deal, Ballmer also announced at CES the beta test launch of Windows 7, Halo Wars, a Windows Live deal with Dell, and a bunch of other stuff. But most of it, while good news, didn’t seem to wow the crowds at the Palazzo Ballroom in the Venetian hotel.
The funniest moment of the keynote, in our opinion, was when Ballmer joked about the advice Bill Gates gave him for his first-ever keynote. Ballmer flashed a message on the screen from Gates that said “There are always two conventions going on during CES – make sure you go to the right one.” The other conference is the adult entertainment expo, of course (if you didn’t know).
He then followed with supposed messages from President-elect Barack Obama, disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and others, including this faux gem from Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang:
“Why do you keep ignoring my Facebook requests?”
Really dull. Where have all the stars gone. Bill’s gone and now even Jobs isnt there at Macworld
from DealZone:
Shane Kim’s crystal ball: videogame deals, new content
Microsoft's videogame chief Shane Kim came by our New York office this morning for the Reuters Media Summit and shared his thoughts on XBox 360 sales ("cautiously optimistic") and the outlook for the gaming industry amid the economic doom-and-gloom ("Who knows, maybe flat performance will be considered a remarkable achievement").
He also gazed into his crystal ball and served up some insights on the trends shaping the gaming business.
Consolidation is going to continue, he thinks, especially among the smaller videogame publishers as they search for hit games while keeping costs in check.
"There are a number of mid-tier publishers behind the Electronic Arts and Ubisofts and Activisions of the world who are struggling."
Another exciting trend for Kim is the return to videogame content developed by small creative teams, which he thinks could reduce the industry's dependence on sequels of hit games.
"That would be a good thing... because one of the challenges the industry has had, in my opinion, over the last five to 10 years is a growing reliance on sequels and licensed properties as opposed to those new creative hits. If we can find those nuggets that start smaller and can grow into big hits, that's a great thing."
He did wonder how smaller creative shops could find funding for their pitches, given that dollars could be hard to come by these days. But at the same time, it's an opportunity for bigger publishers, he said, since nothing rocks the gaming world like a hit game.
Video game console obituaries premature – Microsoft
Gaming insiders who have given consoles the death sentence, get a life!
Shane Kim, VP of Strategy and Business Development at Microsoft Corp’s Interactive Entertainment Business, said it’s too soon to write off the Xbox.
“This console generation will have a long life cycle. I think it’s way premature to say there will never be another Xbox,” said Kim at the Reuters Media Summit.
Industry veterans like WildTangent Chairman Alex St. John and Sandy Duncan, who set up and ran the European Xbox business for Microsoft, believe that consoles as we know them are doomed. Duncan said they will “die out ” in the next five to 10 years, according to an interview published in www.Thatvideogameblog.com.
Such forecasts are based on views that gaming consoles will be rendered obsolete by the increasing convergence of devices such as set top boxes and the fact that gamers will increasingly turn to the Web for new cool applications.
Kim admitted there was a lot of room for expansion via the Web.
“What’s interesting to think about will be what will define the next generation. It is absolutely a possibility where the next generation is defined by what we can do online rather than the hardware,” he said. “We can reinvent the experience with the magic of software,” he said.
