New Xbox Head Phil Spencer

APRIL 1, 2014 • As part of an executive suite reshuffling at Microsoft Corp. new chief executive Satya Nadella has promoted Microsoft Studios Xbox head Phil Spencer to lead the entire Xbox operation. The appointment also represents a restructuring within the unit with Spencer in charge of the Xbox Platform team, Microsoft Studios, Xbox Live, Xbox Video, and Xbox Music. Spencer will report to Microsoft executive VP of operating systems Terry Myerson. Appointed as.....

Tencent Takes CJ Games Stake

MARCH 28, 2014 • Tencent Holdings Ltd. continued its investment in significant game companies taking a 28% stake in South Korea’s CJ Games Corp for $500 million. The latter is one of the largest mobile game publishers in Korea and is a subsidiary of the huge CJ Group Pte. Ltd. Tencent now becomes the third-largest shareholder in CJ Games. In conjunction with the Tencent partnership CJ Games will restructure its operations including the acquisition and merg.....

Facebook Grabs Oculus VR

MARCH 26, 2014 • In a major surprise, Facebook Inc. has acquired Oculus VR Inc. for $400 million in cash and $1.6 billion in stock. The latter is the virtual reality technology company founded by 21-year-old Palmer Luckey who was an engineer at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, and built early interest in his product proposal through online forum chats. After id Software fou.....

Titanfall Xbox One Bundle at $450

MARCH 25, 2014 • Sharp-eyed gamers awoke to find a $50 price reduction on the Titanfall Xbox One bundle at major national retailers in the United States. Amazon.com Best Buy Co. Inc., Fry’s Electronics, Target Corp., and Wal-Mart Stores all advertised the bundle at $450. Soon after the Microsoft online store matched the price reduction. Prior to this week Costco Wholesale Corp. had the best deal on the package at $380. Surprisingly, GameStop was still dis.....

Sony Preps PlayStation 4 Virtual Reality

MARCH 21, 2014 • A PlayStation 4 virtual reality system is in the works, according to a disclosure by Sony Computer Ent. Dubbed Project Morpheus, the new VR system operates in conjunction with the PlayStation Camera and inertial sensors built into the Morpheus head unit to track a user’s head orientation and movement. As the player’s head rotates, the image of the virtual world is designed to rotate naturally and intuitively in real-time. In addition to.....

Warner Bros Games Vault Launched

MARCH 18, 2014 • Looking to leverage its large catalog of game franchises, Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. (WBIE) has launched a Warner Bros Games Vault program that will match its library of properties with up-and-coming development talent. Each title will be a direct-to-digital release. The first game to emerge from the effort is a modern update by Arrowhead Game Studios to the 1985 Atari Games arcade dungeon crawler, Gauntlet. The new RPG version will release t.....

Native Linux CryEngine

MARCH 13, 2014 • At this month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco Crytek GmbH will be demonstrating the most recent generation of its CryEngine (the developer ceased numbering its engine after CryEngine 3) which includes fully native support for Linux.....

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