Dyack dismayed by layoffs, anticipates growth in Ontario
by Xav de Matos 
{ 55 minutes ago }
"Before, Ontario was a little isolated, there wasn't a lot of videogame companies here. But that's going to change. With all the positive steps that the government's done," Dyack told GamesIndustry.biz. Dyack's hopeful outlook for Ontario comes, in part, from Ubisoft's July announcement to open a new studio in Toronto -- a move Ubisoft hopes will bring 800 new jobs to the region over the next decade.
According to Dyack, new business in Ontario means the province will be able to combat recruiters who remove developer and designer graduates from the area. "It's really depressing going to [University of] Waterloo to recruit and we see that Microsoft was there before us and took all the best people. The tax payer paid for that education," he lamented. With development expanding in Ontario, Silicon Knights can finally start combing schools for talent to help produce the (Sweet Lord, make it happen) sequel to Eternal Darkness.
Warmachine game attacking PC, consoles
by Xav de Matos { 1 hour ago } 
According to a statement made to BigDownload, the video game adaptation of Privateer Press' tabletop fantasy war game Warmachine is currently in development for the PC and (unspecified) consoles. Quietly announced in August, the Warmachine video game is being developed by the indie team at WhiteMoon Dreams and will feature player control of "various warcasters and their warjack battle groups" across interactive battlefields in both single and multiplayer modes.
WhiteMoon Dreams' Norvell Thomas promises we'll get a chance to see whatever that last sentence even means in a "gorgeous" demo by GDC 2010. Thomas adds that the indie dev's goal is to "wow" publishers at the conference in order to fund full development of the table-top adaptation.
Japan facing Final Fantasy XIII oversaturation crisis
by Griffin McElroy { 2 hours ago } 
Also, they're making a perfume based off the game's main character. It's called Lightning eau de toilet. There's no video advertisement to accompany this news, but we'd have been remiss had we not mentioned it to you.
Real world CSIs look at videogame tech to help solve cases
by Xav de Matos { 3 hours ago }
While TV-based crime scene investigators use futuristic moon technology to solve mysteries, real world forensic scientists say the biggest advancements need to come from how investigators collaborate on cases. North Carolina State University recently received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help develop crime scene mapping tech (right) derived from the Unity game engine, allowing teams to create a virtual reproduction of crime scenes.Using environments made up of 3-D laser scans and 2D models, investigators would be able to share detailed information with other scientists through the platform's website, reducing wait times and travel budgets.
The IC-CRIME platform (Interdisciplinary, cyber-enabled crime reconstruction through innovative methodology and engagement) won't be ready for at least three years, but scientists seem confident in the platform's future potential growth in catching scumbags. Also, turning the lights on in the lab might help the process. Those rooms always look so dark on TV.
Microsoft reveals usage stats for Facebook, Last.fm
by Xav de Matos { 4 hours ago } 
Microsoft also stated the addition of Last.fm -- a music streaming service currently only available for US and UK gamers -- prompted nearly one million new profile activations. In its first week, Last.fm users streamed "more than 120 million minutes" of music to their Xbox 360 consoles. If we've learned one thing from these numbers, it's that people love to click on shiny new boxes.
Steam Deals Day Three: Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands on sale
by Griffin McElroy { 5 hours ago }
Once again, if you don't like the games which have had their prices temporarily torn in twain, tune in tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. PST for the next batch of deals.
Return to Alderaan in Star Wars: The Old Republic
by Xav de Matos { 6 hours ago }
Honestly, while we're excited to see the planet again, we also can't help but be a little sad. Like watching the movie Titanic or Lindsay Lohan's career, it just doesn't feel right when you know the whole thing will end in tragedy. For those of you looking to practice epic MMO-clicking, Bioware's official site houses more media and information on the doomed planet.
Splash Damage's Brink wants to change your mind on multiplayer
by Ben Gilbert { 20 hours ago }
"It's our goal from the outset to incidentally teach people to be good at multiplayer shooters while they're playing our single-player shooter," he says. Apparently, Brink will offer in-game rewards (double XP, for instance) to players willing to take their game online. "At a certain point in the game we say to them, 'Why don't you just try co-op and see how you go? For this next mission we're going to give you twice the number of experience points if you play co-operatively with somebody else.'" Thankfully though, he assures the internet-less among us (how are you reading this?!) that there's plenty of game in Brink without having to go online. "Your experience through it, imagining you have no internet connection should, for us to have achieved our goal, be as compelling as any other triple-A shooter." We'll find out if his plan works when Brink arrives sometime next year.
Gallery: Brink (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
JBO: Joystiq Box Office, November 23 - November 27
by Kevin Kelly { 21 hours ago } 
We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week.
Recommendation of the Week:
Food, Inc. (Xbox 360/Zune Video)
You cram food in your mouth every day, but do you ever really think about where it comes from? This is especially timely a day after the American holiday that's all about stuffing as much food as you possibly can down your gullet and surviving. Food, Inc. takes a hard look at the corporate food industry in America, and you'll be surprised how many different labels and brands are owned by so few companies. It'll make you think twice about buying food in the future, or even finishing what's already on your plate. Hopefully someone will make a documentary about Joel Salatin, a rancher in the film who you'll write off as a redneck at first glance, but who quickly becomes one of the sole voices of wisdom in the movie. This guy needs to take over the entire FDA.
Read on for the rest of the recommendations, and as usual, we'll see you at the popcorn sta -- well, actually, we won't see you at all. But you catch our drift. Plus, be sure to tell us what you'll be watching, or what you've seen recently that bowled you over.
Recommendation of the Week:
Food, Inc. (Xbox 360/Zune Video)You cram food in your mouth every day, but do you ever really think about where it comes from? This is especially timely a day after the American holiday that's all about stuffing as much food as you possibly can down your gullet and surviving. Food, Inc. takes a hard look at the corporate food industry in America, and you'll be surprised how many different labels and brands are owned by so few companies. It'll make you think twice about buying food in the future, or even finishing what's already on your plate. Hopefully someone will make a documentary about Joel Salatin, a rancher in the film who you'll write off as a redneck at first glance, but who quickly becomes one of the sole voices of wisdom in the movie. This guy needs to take over the entire FDA.
Read on for the rest of the recommendations, and as usual, we'll see you at the popcorn sta -- well, actually, we won't see you at all. But you catch our drift. Plus, be sure to tell us what you'll be watching, or what you've seen recently that bowled you over.
MMO Roundup: Massively's week in review
by Shawn Schuster { 22 hours ago }
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Massively's Black Friday MMO sales guide The holidays are officially here (if you're a retail chain, then they've been here for about a month) and so it's time to start looking for deals to give to either your MMO-playing loved ones or, well, yourself! Shopping can be a pretty big hassle, especially if you're not accustomed to hunting for the best deals. So, we've gone and outlined the season's new releases, as well as some places you can hope to find sales in the coming weeks. |
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Anti-Aliased: Boobs and you This week's topic is one that's near and dear to my heart. Well, it's near to my heart, at least, and I mean that quite literally. It's also a perfect topic for today's holiday! I mean, who doesn't like to talk about large breasts on Thanksgiving? (Score one for the terrible synonym.) |
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Space combat! Star Trek Online community Q&A answers It's a little late due to the impending Thanksgiving day gorging, but we've got your second wave of community answers for space combat in Star Trek Online! As this week lands us on a holiday, we'll be putting up the next post for your third wave of questions on Monday, November 30th. For now, we hope you enjoy the answers given by Al Rivera, senior game designer on Star Trek Online. |
Grenade out! Resident Evil plushies blast our hearts apart
by Xav de Matos { 23 hours ago }
Darkest of Days postmortem has some bright spots
by Justin McElroy { 1 day ago }
Where many terrible games just appear to be rush jobs, the folks working on Darkest of Days (which hovers between a 45 and 52 on Metacritic, depending on platform) seem to be a nice enough group just doing the best with what they had (which, of course, was not enough money, time nor manpower).
A compelling postmortem isn't going to make Darkest of Days a better game (it's a long ways off from that), but maybe it'll make us all slightly nicer people.
Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer trailer watches your back, stabs it
by Ben Gilbert { 1 day ago }
Aside from trotting out a handful of European game writers who all tell the same "This game is SO awesome" story, we're treated to a smattering of gameplay snippets from all three sides of the equation. We're only left wondering one thing after watching them – if you can play as a predator against eight colonial marines, who would ever choose the marines side?
Gallery: Aliens vs Predator
[Thanks, Ikarop]
OFLC rating reveals Q-Games' Reflect Missile, Nintendo publishing
by Griffin McElroy { 1 day ago } 
Now, let's get to determining exactly what a "Reflect Missile" is. Is is just, like, a really shiny missile, in which one might see themselves? Or is "Reflect Missile" a command in weird, broken English? For instance, "Captain Douglass, reflect [that] missile?" Or is the command being issued directly to the missile itself -- "Reflect, Missile!" The possibilities are as endless as they are nonsensical.
[Via GamerBytes]
Fun with math: Some Rock Band UK packs inconsistently priced on PSN
by Alexander Sliwinski { 1 day ago }
We've confirmed the pricing anomaly for the UK PSN Store and we're following up with Harmonix to figure out what's going on. Check out examples of the pricing inconsistencies after the break.
[Thanks Si]
