Analysis: Game Marketing Gets Harder

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 • Video game marketing is changing radically. A quick look at the traditional advertising vehicles such as enthusiast magazines would suggest that marketing budgets are shrinking. But that isn’t necessarily the case. True, some publishers will have decreased their ad spend significantly as a result of the impact on revenue.  True, publishers are releasing fewer titles, which suggests fewer dollars spent overall. The reality, however, is not so clear cut. The maj.....

Duke Nukem Forever Has Risen

SEPT. 3, 2010 • Duke Nukem Forever is getting resurrected thanks to Gearbox Software, which acquired the rights to the oft-delayed project from 3D Realms. Take-Two will continue as publisher. Gearbox started work finishing the game in 2009, and plans to release it in 2011. The sequel to the mid-’90s hit FPS Duke Nukem 3D has been in development since 1997. Impact: Duke Nukem Forever fell.....

New Boy Scout Video Game Badge

JULY 22, 2010 • The Boy Scouts of America have usually promoted activities in the great outdoors, but times they are a changing. Introduced earlier this year, and missed by many mainstream news outlets, the organization is now offering a Video Game Badge to the younger branches of scouting such as Cub Scouts and Webolos. Parents must approve of the game choice, and the title must not be violent or possess sexual content. .....
Analysis: Gaikai Explained

Analysis: Gaikai Explained

JULY 20, 2010 • Since the March 2009 GDC announcement of the new OnLive service there has been a great deal of talk about what the potential is for high-performance cloud-based gaming services. At a high-end level a cloud-based service is designed to allow consumers to execute high-performance game applications with very low client-side performance requirements. In other words, a consumer can play a high-powered game without n.....

NASA’s Free-to-Play Games

JULY 6, 2010 • NASA has branched out to become a free-to-play game publisher. Moonbase Alpha, available via the Steam service, puts users in a space suit and tasks them with rebuilding a lunar base crippled by a meteor strike. Single and multiplayer modes are supported.  NASA’s second title, Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond, is under development by the agency’s Learning Technologies project. .....