EA Sports president Peter Moore can be considered one of the more established personalities in the video game industry. He recently shared a few of his thoughts on the image of EA Sports, company acquisitions, and working at Electronic Arts as the president of one of their labels.

Moore noted that EA Sports has a strong following in the 14 to 34 year old age group, that’s a user base they have the ability to build on. He does have some concerns though, such as the company’s image and how its “American-ness” may turn off some gamers:

And yet, in today’s world, particularly in Europe, there’s an anti-Americanism that sits higher than it’s been for a long time, based on the war, the administration, George W. himself, and you worry about that.

Another hot topic Moore touched on was marketing and acquisitions (M&A). Electronic Arts has been trying to purchase out Take-Two Interactive. EA also recently got the opportunity to snap up Midway Games.

While he wasn’t at liberty to discuss what they were going to do with 2K Sports if they picked it up, he did share a few words about Midway. He stated that EA isn’t really interested in buying the company since they don’t really have anything that will compliment their line-up of games:

While we don’t necessarily comment on any M&A, there’s no real interest there in anything that [they] would have right now that would complement what we go to market with.

Finally, he also spoke about working as the president of EA Sports. He said that it’s the most focused among the EA divisions since the market base is well established. He has an easier position, in his estimation, than the one being held by EA Games’ president Frank Gibeau who has a much wider scope of gamers to please.

To go over the interview for yourself, follow the source link below.

source pc.qj.net

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The subject of video game violence and the proper classification of such games has always been a rather hot topic in Europe. There’s even been contention which video game rating system would be best suited for the region.

It even came to the point that psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron released an extensive report regarding the current standards for rating violent video games. While groups such as the BBFC, ELSPA, ISFE, and Tiga all had positive remarks regarding the report, there were no solid conclusions which system would stand out as the basic standard for the industry to follow.

However, a current press release made by ELSPA gave evidence to the Department for Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) Select Committee that the PEGI Age Ratings System should be adopted as the sole classification system for video games in Europe.

ELSPA Director General Paul Jackson was delighted to have the DCMS Select Committee recognize PEGI’s efforts in providing an appropriate rating system for video games. He was also quoted having stated this:

[…] It is important that during this period of consultation post-Byron we work with everyone to ensure the revised ratings platform is robust and future proof. As games move increasingly on line, we call on all celebrations to embrace the PEGI Age Ratings system. As an instrument of the Video Recordings Act it would have teeth and deliver the right system to help the public make informed choices about the games they play.

source pc.qj.net

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EA Sports president Peter Moore can be considered one of the more established personalities in the video game industry. He recently shared a few of his thoughts on the image of EA Sports, company acquisitions, and working at Electronic Arts as the president of one of their labels.

Moore noted that EA Sports has a strong following in the 14 to 34 year old age group, that’s a user base they can build on. He does have some concerns though, such as the company’s image and how its “American-ness” might turn off some gamers:

And yet, in today’s world, particularly in Europe, there’s an anti-Americanism that sits higher than it’s been for a long time, based on the war, the administration, George W. himself, and you worry about that.

Another hot topic Moore touched on was marketing and acquisitions (M&A). Electronic Arts has been trying to buy out Take-Two Interactive. EA also recently got the opportunity to snap up Midway Games.

While he wasn’t at liberty to discuss what they were going to do with 2K Sports if they picked it up, he did share a few words about Midway. He said that EA isn’t really interested in buying the company since they don’t really have anything that’ll compliment their line-up of games:

While we don’t necessarily comment on any M&A, there’s no real interest there in anything that [they] would have right now that would complement what we go to market with.

Finally, he also spoke about working as the president of EA Sports. He said that it’s the most focused among the EA divisions since the market base is well established. He has an easier position, in his estimation, than the one being held by EA Games’ president Frank Gibeau who has a much wider scope of gamers to please.

To go over the interview for yourself, follow the source link below.

source pc.qj.net

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The forthcoming Nordic Game Conference 2008 is turning out to be one great event. How so? Well, more and more top names from the gaming industry are going to take part in the multidisciplinary Game Creation Sessions.

Disruptive Design is one of the many sessions in the event. It will be tackling issues regarding creative innovation and new game niches. The panelists are going to be Keiichio Toyama, creator of Siren and Silent Hill, Rob Kay of Rock Band-fame, and Tameem Antoniades, co-founder of Ninja Theory.

For the international panel calle East-West All-Stars, the people who be leading the discussion are Sega’s Ryuuta Ueda, character designer Ryosuke Tei, and Alex Taini from Ninja Theory. They will responsible for comparing and talking in details about their cultural influences and creative styles when designing characters.

Furthermore, Funcom’s Jorgen Tharaldsen will be revealing more about the world of the upcoming MMO, Age of Conan. Also, Hilmar Petursson and the creative team of CCP will be discussing issues of the virtual realm such as democracy, economics, and even politics.

Things are surely heating up for this particular two-day event. We bring you guys more news and updates as more and more details unfold regarding this upcoming convention. Do stick around for that.

source pc.qj.net

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Not only are hard drives getting faster and larger, it looks like they’re getting cheaper too. Verbatim is sending word that it’s readying of a new 2.5-inch SmartDisk portable HDD for later this year, which will boast 500 GB worth of memory.

Verbatim’s new offering will carry all the standard features of the SmartDisk line, including a 5400rpm spindle speed, and 8MB of cache memory. Verbatim will offer the new drive with either a USB, or a combo FireWire/USB interface.

Perhaps most interesting regarding this half-terabyte drive, however, is its price tag. Verbatim plans to its USB-only kit on retail for around US 300. It’ll still burn a hole on your wallet, but it’s considerably more affordable than some of the similar high-cap HDDs currently out in the market. Expect Verbatim’s new SmartDisk to arrive in the second quarter of 2008.

source mobile.qj.net

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DisplayLink USB GRaphics technology @ Interop 2008 Las Vegas

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Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers, a venture capital firm at Silicon Valley, has announced that William Gordon will be joining the company as a partner. Would it mean that the firm would be calling itself Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers plus Gordon? Maybe not, but it doesn’t mean that the Electronic Arts co-founder won’t be Chief Creative Officer of the publisher anymore.

He’ll continue to serve as CCO Emeritus, says KPCB, and even speak to the leaders of EA Studios in workshops on innovation. In an official statement, Gordon stated:

Ever since KPCB funded Electronic Arts initial business plan in 1982, I have watched the KPCB team find and support brilliant company-makers to harness disruptive digital technologies that benefit people. I cannot wait to join the firm, and work directly with an all-new generation of entrepreneurs.

“Bing” Gordon, while integral to the creation of multi-million dollar franchises such as The Sims, Need For Speed, and Madden NFL, is much more remembered as an able entrepreneur who led - in part - a small company of 11 into a worldwide gaming entity of super-stardom.

This wouldn’t have been realized if it weren’t for Trip Hawkins, Gordon, and the rest of the first 11. And the US 2 million in funds supplied at the time by KPCB helped them get on their feet - and fast, too. It wasn’t long before they started earning US 5 million in revenue.

This day, EA’s publisher coverage and abilities is second to none, and many folks in uncommon game release regions could account to truth when EA promises “simultaneous worldwide release.”

Prior to his service as CCO, Gordon was also the Executive Vice President of Marketing, Executive Vice President of EA Studios, and Senior VP of Entertainment Production of Electronic Arts.

source pc.qj.net

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Stardock and Ironclad Games have released an impressive new teaser for Sins of a Solar Empire that should get people who’ve yet to hear of this game (especially people in Europe) quite excited for it.

As you can probably envision, the teaser trailer features the different alien races duking it out among the stars. Even more impressive, at least from our point of view, was the appearance of a massive fleet of ships coming out from hyperspace to beat the stuffing out of an enemy force and bombard an enemy planet with missiles.

If you like the sound of raining shrapnel and the imagined screams of dying alien races, then you’ll definitely find something to love about Sins of a Solar Empire. That being said, enjoy this teaser trailer we’ve for you this day.

source pc.qj.net

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For those of us who can’t seem to let a day pass without fragging someone in Valve Corporation’s very excellent multiplayer FPS, Team Fortress 2 (Computer, PS3, Xbox 360), here’s a special news bulletin: the highly-anticipated Gold Rush update is now live and available for automatic download as soon as you restart your Steam client. This includes the Goldrush map, and the much-awaited Blutsauger, Kritzkrieg, and Ubersaw weaponry for the Medic. Wunderbar, we say!

Besides those key features, there’s also a lot of changes made to the overall gameplay, such as the removal of a lot of exploits and glitches. So if you’ve ever noticed them before or even made them a part of your strategy, then you might want to look over the complete changelog so you’ll know what sort of changes in your gameplan that you’ll have to make.

In any case, here’s the complete changelog:

Source Engine

• Improved particle performance on multi-core machines
• Added FOV slider to Options Video Advanced for all games (moved there from TF2 s multiplayer options)
• Fixed surround sound initialization problems with new speaker modes defined in Vista

Team Fortress 2

• Added Goldrush
• Added Character Info and Loadout to the main menu
• Added 39 Medic accomplishments
• Added unique Medic items: The Blutsaugher, The Kritzkrieg, and The Ubersaw
• Added new attack animations to most melee weapons
• Added new speech for the Heavy and Demoman
• Added Stopwatch mode to Tournament mode
• Automatically used on Attack/Defense maps
• Teleporter effect no longer shows up on invisible or disguised Spies
• Spies disguised as their own team can now capture control points
• Increased force taken by pipebombs by bullets and explosions
• Target ID hud is now colored red or blue to match the spectator target
• Tournament mode no longer ends matches early if the time limit is nearly up when a new round starts
• Fixed exploit where clients could start benchmark mode on servers
• Fixed drowning exploit that allowed players to regenerate health
• Fixed reload exploit that granted plays to fire instantly after switching weapons
• Fixed flamethrower bug where a player flush against a wall couldn’t be lit on fire from the front
• Fixed invulnerability overlay not drawing if the invuln player was previously on fire
• Fixed “times used” entry in teleporters maxing out at 32
• Fixed rare client crash on level change during control point capturing
• Minor fix to stat gathering to prevent players using sv_cheats to easily garner achievements

For mapmakers:

• Mapmakers can now directly place the tf_gamerules entity into their map. Repairs Hammer thinking the inputs to it are broken
• Mapmakers can now place Engineer buildings directly into a map, with an option for them to be invulnerable
• Added “AddRedTeamScore” and “AddBlueTeamScore” inputs to tf_gamerules
• Added “SetRequiredObserverTarget” input to tf_gamerules. Force spectators to use the specified viewpoint

Granary

• Added setup time logic, and gates to the middle
• Fixed an overlay alignment bug on one of blue’s gate signs
• Minor lighting repairs in red/blue spawns

2Fort

• Added medium ammo and health to basement hallways
• Added small ammo and health to top of spiral
• Fixed a clip brush exploit outside blue sniper deck
• Fixed number “2″ overlay on front of red base not being assigned to the brush face

Portal

• Fixed a rare crash related to bone setup

And that’s that. Enjoy!

source pc.qj.net

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Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers, a venture capital firm at Silicon Valley, has announced that William Gordon will be joining the company as a partner. Would it mean that the firm would be calling itself Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers plus Gordon? Maybe not, but it doesn’t mean that the Electronic Arts co-founder won’t be Chief Creative Officer of the publisher anymore.

He’ll continue to serve as CCO Emeritus, says KPCB, and even talk to the leaders of EA Studios in workshops on innovation. In an official statement, Gordon stated:

Ever since KPCB funded Electronic Arts initial business plan in 1982, I have watched the KPCB team find and support brilliant company-makers to harness disruptive digital technologies that benefit people. I can’t wait to join the firm, and work directly with an all-new generation of entrepreneurs.

“Bing” Gordon, while integral to the creation of multi-million dollar franchises such as The Sims, Need For Speed, and Madden NFL, is much more remembered as an able entrepreneur who led - in part - a small company of 11 into a worldwide gaming entity of super-stardom.

This wouldn’t have been realized if it weren’t for Trip Hawkins, Gordon, and the rest of the first 11. And the US 2 million in funds supplied at the time by KPCB helped them get on their feet - and fast, too. It wasn’t long before they started earning US 5 million in revenue.

Today, EA’s publisher coverage and abilities is second to none, and many folks in unusual game release regions could account to truth when EA promises “simultaneous worldwide release.”

Prior to his service as CCO, Gordon was also the Executive Vice President of Marketing, Executive Vice President of EA Studios, and Senior VP of Entertainment Production of Electronic Arts.

source pc.qj.net

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