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 EA Brings Spore, Warhammer Online, And More To Steam [12.19.08] Publisher Electronic Arts formally joined Valve's digital distribution platform Steam, bringing big titles such as Spore, Warhammer Online, and more to the PC service. The company also looks to release Mirror's Edge and Dead Space through Steam in January 2009 as well.
Report: Aspyr Confirms Layoffs [12.19.08] Aspyr Media has confirmed it's laying off an unspecified number of staffers due to the economic downturn, according to media reports. It declined to specify how many staffers are affected, but says "operations will continue without interruption on all titles scheduled to ship in 2009 and beyond."
EA Layoff Plans Reach 1000, Black Box To Be Consolidated [12.19.08] EA says it will lay off a further 4 percent of its workforce as it either consolidates or closes down "at least nine" of its studios, moving Need For Speed creator Black Box to its Burnaby, British Columbia studio location. [UPDATE: EA clarifies that its studio closures are not effective immediately.]
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Gamasutra's Top 20 Trends of 2008 [12.17.08] As the industry undergoes a major evolution, Gamasutra rounds up the exciting top 20 trends of 2008 -- user-generated content, retro reboots and much more.
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Round-Up: Steel Battalion Offline, Laser Mouse 6000, DMB Vs. Tiger
Today's wrap-up includes information on Capcom's closing of Steel Battalion's online modes, Microsoft's new gaming mouse hardware, and EA's Wyld Stallyns-like deal with the Dave Matthews Band, as well as today's product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Capcom of America has announced that Campaign Mode in Steel Battalion: Line of Contact, its online expansion to the super-realistic mech combat game, will be discontinued on September 30th. The online Campaign Mode, required to unlock the majority of the game's maps and mechs, has been in operation since February 2004, marking a relatively short 17 months of uptime. (By comparison, Sega supported Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast two years after discontinuing the hardware.) Though the majority of the game is the online Campaign Mode portion, the offline Free Mission Mode and System Link modes will still be available.
- Microsoft has unveiled its Laser Mouse 6000 peripheral, which features software and hardware designed to optimize performance in games. The Precision Booster allows players to toggle between high precision and quick speed within games, and the mouse features programmable buttons that can be mapped either to weapon-switching keys or macros for common actions. The wired mouse will be available at general retail in October.
- EA Sports has selected as the theme song for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 "Stand Up (For It)" by the Dave Matthews Band. "This is the first time we’ve had a song in a videogame," said Matthews, "but it seems appropriate because we’re all fans of Tiger and EA Sports. So it feels natural that, if we were going to end up in a video game, it would be next to him. When we were recording ‘Stand Up’ in the studio, everyone had this reaction that it reminded them of sports. So I think it was the only song that would really be right for the game." The game, which features Tiger Woods as a time-travelling golfer taunting and challenging the player in the role of various legendary golfers in their specific eras, will also feature music from artists such as Thievery Corporation and David Holmes.
- Also updated today: product news including Steinberg's release of the Nuendo 3.1 audio tool, the latest update to the ReplicaNet C++ library, as well as today's Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Activision/Luxoflux, Crystal Dynamics, Factor 5, High Impact Games, Midway Games, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, Vivendi Universal Games, and Liquid Entertainment.
POSTED: 09/06/05 - Nich Maragos - LINK
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