Tag Archives: yahoo

Real life love story becomes video game

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Video game designers generally don’t look to their grandparents for inspiration when they’re putting together a game, but for Cara Ely, there really wasn’t a better choice.

As creative director at I-Play games and the overseer of the “Dream Day Wedding” series, Ely had long loved the story of how her grandparents met, had a whirlwind courtship and married – though she wasn’t sure if the larger gaming world would. But when she told the story to her development team, they loved it. The result was “Dream Day: True Love”.

Read more at Yahoo! Videogames

New game bridges the 28-year gap between Tron films

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When Hollywood takes a few extra years before it gets around to making a sequel to a film, it often provides some sort of bridge for the audience. Some movies rely on books. Others opt for viral videos on YouTube or Facebook.

But when the time between releases is more than 28 years, you need to pull out the big guns. And when it comes to nerd cinematic icon “Tron,” it’s only fitting that the bridge is a video game.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Tomb Raider to get rebooted…again

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Lara Croft is, in some ways, the gaming equivalent of the Mustang. At her core, she rarely changes, but that doesn’t stop fans from getting all worked up when she gets a new look.

Square-Enix is hoping to shake things up in a more dramatic fashion with the series’ next installment, dubbed simply “Tomb Raider.”

Read more at Yahoo! Games

 

Video game champs share over $700,000 in prizes

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While professional video gamers may still struggle to be thought of as athletes by the general public, they’re starting to see paydays that are on par with some of today’s sports stars.

Major League Gaming, the largest of the so-called eSports gaming leagues, wrapped up its 2010 season Sunday, handing out some $700,000 in prizes to joystick jockeys.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Game over for online cheaters

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It happens in every game – whether it’s Monopoly, pro football or “Halo: Reach”. Inevitably, some hyper-competitive jerk tries to rig the game, ratcheting up his victory count by illicit means.

It’s particularly bothersome in the video game world, but now the cheaters are getting their just deserts as the developers of some of today’s most popular games – including “StarCraft II,” “Red Dead Redemption” and “Halo: Reach” – are outright banning the most egregious double dealers.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

The great video game sales mystery

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If you want to know how much money your favorite movie earned at the box office, it’s pretty easy to find out — just look at USA Today or head online. Curious about how well a music CD sold? Billboard or Nielsen’s SoundScan service will let you know.

If you want to know how your favorite video game has sold, though, you’re essentially out of luck.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

As new motion controls arrive, will the Wii become obsolete?

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For the past four years, Nintendo has the market to itself when it comes to motion control gaming. That’s finally coming to an end – and it has some people wondering about how the company will fare moving forward.

In mid-September, Sony launched PlayStation Move, a motion sensor that mimics – and, in some ways, improves upon – the Wii remote. Come November, Microsoft will join the fight with Kinect, a camera-based system that eliminates the need for controllers altogether.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Inception: The video game?

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Christopher Nolan might have the Midas touch when it comes to making movies, but he hasn’t had a lot of luck in the videogame arena. But that’s not dissuading the writer / director / producer, who plans to bring his hit film “Inception” to a console near you.

“We are looking at developing a videogame based on the world of the film, which has all kinds of ideas that you can’t fit into a feature film,” Nolan told reporters at a press conference in Rome, according to a report in Variety. “That’s something we’ve been talking about and are looking at doing long term, in a couple of years.”

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Why Halo: Reach’s success could be bad news for business

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So now it’s official: Microsoft’s first-person behemoth Halo: Reach is the year’s biggest entertainment event,generating $200 million in sales in just 24 hours in the United States alone.

That’s two-thirds of what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took in from the North American and U.K. markets in its first day last year, but it’s still a number that’s nothing to sneeze at. The one-day take already eclipses the three-day opening weekends of “Iron Man 2,” “Toy Story 3” and “Alice in Wonderland.”

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Study: Video game ads boost real world sales

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While ads in video games may not be popular, they are effective.

A new study by Nielsen finds that targeted advertising can result in a substantial increase in sales – and that could spur companies who have been sitting on the fence to jump into the gaming world.

The study looked at in-game Gatorade ads in six EA Sports titles, including the last two installments of the company’s “NHL” franchise and the 2007, 2008 and 2009 versions of “NBA Live”. People who played those games increased their household dollars spent on the sports drink by 24 percent.

Read more at Yahoo! Games