Thursday, June 11, 2009

UK PSN Update 11/06/09

PS3 Games
Vidzone [Free]
Puzzle Quest Galactrix [£15.99]
Wolfenstein 3D [£3.99]
Gunstar Heroes [£3.99]
Call Of Duty World at War - Map Pack 2 [£7.99]
Killzone 2 – Flash & Thunder [£4.79]
Burnout Paradise – Big Surf Island [£9.99]
X-Men Origins:Wolverine – Weapon X Arena [£3.99]
Little Big Planet – ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus Costumes [£4.79]
Little Big Planet – ICO Costume [£1.59]
Little Big Planet – Wander Costume [£1.59]
Little Big Planet – Yorda Costume [£1.59]
Little Big Planet – Collogues II Costume [£1.59]
Little Big Planet – Collogues III Costume [£1.59]
Saints Row 2 – The Unkut Pack [Free]
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X – Air Supremacy [£7.99]
Motorstorm 2 Pacfici Rift – Atlas Game Pack [Free]
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 – Additional Mission 7 [Free]
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 – Additional Mission 8 [Free]
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 – Additional Mission 9 [Free]
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 – Additional Mission 10 [Free]

Demo's
Overlord II

Guitar Hero - World Tour
European Track Pack 6 [£4.39]
“Adrenalina” by Finley [£1.59]
“Cadillac Solitario” by Loquillo y Trogloditas [£1.59]
“The Bitter End” by Placebo [£1.59]

Rock Band
Iron Maiden Pack 1 [£9.99]
“2 Minutes To Midnight” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Aces High (Live)” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Can I Play With Madness” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Fear Of The Dark” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Hallowed Be Thy Name (Live)” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Iron Maiden (Live) by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Powerslave” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Run To The Hills (Original version)” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“The Clairvoyant” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“The Number Of The Beast (original Version)” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“The Trooper” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]
“Wasted Years” by Iron Maiden [£0.99]

Videos
Pain – PAINalympics trailer
Fat Princess – Battle Royale Trailer
Battfeild 1943 – Iwo Jima Trailer

Wallpaper
NONE

Theme
NONE

PS1 Classic
NONE

PSP
Wipeout Pulse [£14.99]
Ape Academy 2 [£14.99]
Everybody's Golf 2 [£14.99]
Syphon Filter: Logans Shadow [£14.99]


Study Exposes Considerable Gaps in Player Engagement Between Game Developers and Target Consumers - Press Release

A Study On Men and Women has shown how people can get different experiences from a game. the study focused on a popular first person shooter, one with story cut scenes and running and gunning moments. they used people at GDC, those familiar with games, as well as people not familiar with games.

The study showed that those who were familiar with the First Person shooter type game showed high engagement during the game with the story, cut scenes and combat encounters.
People not familiar with Fist Person Shooters were more engaged with simpler elements like Running And Gunning.

The survey suggests that a focus on slick graphics and well developed characters is more for the developers than the target consumers. throughout the development process, they should keep analysing user data for greater success in the market.

Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Jun 11, 2009 Absolute Quality, an e4e Company, today released the results of research that indicated game developers and publishers have an opportunity to more closely align game features with the preferences of target customers. The study also highlighted the difference between experiences of men and women while playing the same game, which has implications on the marketing of any new game title.
The bio-sensory study commissioned by e4e was performed in conjunction with EmSense on one of the industry’s top First Person Shooter (FPS) game titles. The study tested both attendees at the Game Developers Conference in March 2009 in San Francisco, and a sampling of target consumers for the popular shooter game. Interpreting the results of the study, market research and consulting firm Techaisle concluded the following:
Participants from the game developers group who were familiar with the FPS genre showed a much higher level of engagement during elements of the game, such as the overall story, cut-scenes, and highly scripted combat encounters. Target consumers, however, were much more engaged during simpler aspects of the game, enjoying running and gunning through the experience in nearly two-thirds of the cases.
Also significant was the difference in gender reaction, which indicated games that are developed primarily for women would benefit from a focus on storyline and cut-scenes. Men were only engaged by cut-scenes 37 percent of the time, while women showed directionally above average engagement to the same events.

Implications for the Game Development Industry
Production elements such as video cut-scenes, which focus on slick graphics and well developed characters, can carry significant costs for game developers. Additional elements like complex vehicles and weapons can also run up the expense of creating new games. This study clearly shows that these elements of games tend to reflect the preferences of the developers themselves and not the preferences of the target consumer.

“The success of a game depends on several factors including age, gender and cultural influences, making it more challenging to deliver the right gaming experience to the right audience,” said Shirish Netke, President, Interactive Entertainment, e4e. “A rigorous analysis of user data throughout the development cycle can help mitigate the risk associated with the publishing and marketing of games and improve predictability of success of new titles in the market.”
Study Methodology

Over the course of several days, 15 minute gameplay sessions were held with conference attendees, simultaneously recording participant game play and their bio-sensory responses. GDC attendees include those employed in game development, testing and associated businesses. The target consumer group is comprised of those owning or having access to an Xbox 360 and who play first-person shooters on a regular basis, but are not employed as game testers or developers.
While playing the game, participants wore EmSense's patent pending wireless headset leveraging robust bio-sensing technology, combining multiple sensors measuring everything from viewer's brainwaves (EEG) to the moments when they blush into a unit the size of a headband. The system measures objective and continuous emotional and cognitive responses.
"Brainwave and bio-sensory measurement technologies give developers insight into the visceral engagement and emotion of gamers, all with the precision of real-time measurement,” said Tim Hong, SVP Product Development and Analytics, EmSense. “Traditional focus groups or surveys have their fair share of biases and only try to get at the thrill and fun of a gamer experience, but using this powerful technology clients have quantitative, benchmarked measures for game engagement."

In future studies, Absolute Quality and EmSense will continue to explore gamer experiences in other genres of the video game industry, and will probe deeper into the issue of developing games which are engaging for women, who now represent more than 40 percent of gaming consumers.
For more information, and to obtain a copy of the white paper and report, visit www.absolutequality.com/biosurvey2009.html.

About Absolute Quality
Absolute Quality, an e4e Company, provides Consult, Implement Operate (CIO) Services for the interactive entertainment marketplace, addressing critical operational problems across the entire business cycle. This includes crucial aspects such as market perception of new game concepts, localization, testing and quality management of new games, and finally revenue generation and support of games that are released in the market. To learn more about Absolute Quality, please visit: www.absolutequality.com.

About e4e
e4e is a global business services company, delivering business value through services in our chosen vertical markets. The company provides customers with utility services based on a combination of domain knowledge, relevant technologies and a reliable global service delivery model and help our customers increase business value through cost reduction, process re–engineering and most importantly through revenue enhancement in existing and new markets. For more information please visit www.e4e.com.

Sega - Trailer for Xbox Live Arcade Vintage Collection 2

Sega have released a trailer showing the games coming out on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade this summer in their Vintage Collection 2. Expect Snic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Shinobi Arcade, Phantasy Star II, Altered Beast, Comix Zone and Gunstar Heroes.





EA - Spore Galactic Adventures Expansion Pack Trailer

EA Have released a trailer for Spore expansion pack, Spore Galactic Adventures.





Re-Cap of Yesterdays News (oldest to newest)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Twitter Post Retraction - Post Regarding Namco And iPhone Was Wrong, It Was Ngmoco. Many Apologies for this Mistake

I would like to apologise to Namco, i wrongly twittered "iPhone: Namco won't do games exclusively for iPhone 3GS, will do them for all iPhone models using Scaling tech. http://tinyurl.com/m39w6q"

The article i got the news from clearly stated that it was Ngmoco and Not Namco that was going to use scaling technology for their iPhone games. i made the error when typing the story and I would like to Apologise for this mistake and hope that no harm has been done because of it.



EA - G.I Joe Trailers for DS and Consoles.

EA have released two trailers for G.I. Joe movie adaptations. one is for the DS game and the other is for the console games.

DS


Consoles