Yet another one bites the dust.
EA's forums went offline yesterday without any warning. Electronic Arts has revealed today that it was because the forums were hacked. However, EA has already fixed the issue and the forums are now back online. According to EA UK community manager Dan Sheridan:
Rumor has it that the virtual currency system will be abandoned by year's end.
According to a source within the company, Microsoft's virtual currency system, Microsoft Points, will be phased out by the end of 2012. This will be implemented for Windows Phone, the Zune Marketplace and, of course, Xbox Live. At the end of 2012, all transactions will be based on each region's respective currency.
Various pictures and videos possibly teasing new entry in the main series.
IGN is reporting that a strange website might be hinting at a new game in the Resident Evil series. Several photos and videos featuring graffitied walls and billboards have appeared at nohopeleft.com. A Biohazard symbol can be seen in some of the photos, as well as in one of the blog posts. Biohazard is the name of the Resident Evil series in Japan.
Wasn't it supposed to be better?
Some new specs have been released about the Wii U console Nintendo announced this past E3. Since the convention, details have been sparse and little has been revealed. However, an unnamed Japanese developer who is allegedly porting a PlayStation 3 game to the console has leaked out these details about the console's internal power. Nintendo has not officially announced anything yet so this is only speculative at the moment.
EA seeks to expand a brand by possibly diluting the product.
EA has been really trying to turn Visceral Games’ Dead Space franchise into a major brand. In addition to the fantastic sequel that was released earlier this year, the Dead Space name has been popping up on comic books, animated films, a novelization and the franchise spin-off on-rails shooter Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii and PlayStation 3. But if a source cited by Kotaku is to be believed, EA is gearing up for some major expansion of the survival horror franchise.
"Watch your credit cards," warns Valve.
Valve's download service Steam has been hacked and credit card information may have been accessed. Hackers have apparently broken into a database that holds user names, passwords, purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and credit card information.
Valve has taken the forums down "for maintenance."
A hacker group by the name of "FknOwned" has hacked into the PC software Steam's forums and posted an ad for their site, which offers "general discussion sections, hacking tutorials and tools, porn, free giveaways and much more." NeoGAF user imek has reported that a similar message was also sent via email from Steam.
A mysterious tweet from Hideo Kojima reveals what might be the next Zone of the Enders title.
Yesterday, Hideo Kojima posted a mysterious tweet that depicted an image with a Jehuty Orbital Frame and a logo for what appears to be Zone of the Enders 3DS. The acronym representing the game, ZOE, is shown with its direct mirror to the right, which closely resembles 3DS.
Jason analyzes the recent sale of Harmonix, and what it means for the future of rhythm game sales.
A few months ago, Viacom sold off rhythm game developer Harmonix for a reported amount of fifty dollars. The most shocking aspect of this trade is that Viacom originally bought Harmonix for $175 million. Apparently the trade gives Viacom about $150 million in tax benefits, which is quite a hefty number, itself, but still, it seems like this is a major failure on Viacom's part, which reflects as a failure on the part of Harmonix, itself. A little while later, Activision reported that they will not publish a new Guitar Hero or DJ Hero game in 2011 after disappointing sales of the previous entry, simultaneously halting future DLC for the two franchises. The once-popular music gaming genre appears to have come to a screeching halt after oversaturation and the companies' failure to understand the market.
According to Majesco, their title Zumba Fitness 2 will arrive on Wii this holiday season and "another-to-be announced platform in early 2012."
A Majesco press release may have spilled the beans on the upcoming release date of Nintendo's to-be-announced system known now as Project Cafe. Zumba Fitness 2 is due for release on Wii this holiday, but it will also be coming to "another-to-be announced platform" in early 2012.
