Record-breaking Fail – Troubled APB Shuts Down

In what is clearly a record for an already over-saturated market, All Points Bulletin, the hybrid MMO/shooter from the beleaguered Realtime Worlds, has closed down after less than three short months in the wild.

The internet already has a compelling lawsuit-load of evidence of the many failures at Realtime Worlds that lead up to this point, not least this blog currently being maintained by ex-staffer Luke Halliwell, who vents his thoughts quite vigourously at the mis-management that clearly went on behind the scenes.

Regardless, following a month of administration and a clear inability to find a rescue buyer, the decision … Read More…

Smile = Wiped: GRIN closes

Following the closure of their satellite studios earlier in the month and various rumours regarding their status, Bo & Ulf Andersson (aka. The Brothers GRIN) have announced that the doors at the Swedish studio are closed for good.

The main reason cited is various publishers withholding cash, possibly due the mediocre sales and reception of Bionic Commando (the long-awaited sequel of the infamous Capcom property), Wanted: Weapons of Fate & Terminator: Salvation (both movie licensed properties heavily slated for linearity, duff gameplay and barely 10 hours of gameplay between them.

For this writer, however, GRIN will always be remembered for … Read More…

Is the end nigh for Deadline Games?

Deadline Games, purveyor of the fun Total Overdose, the disappointingly average Watchmen: The End is Nigh and the stillborn Faith and a .45, have supposedly filed for bankruptcy.

The news comes on the eve of much speculation about the companies future and the confusion about whether the second episode will hit the PC or not.   Thank god it (apparantly) is coming to the Windows platform – I can’t stand episodic series that aren’t finished…

Watchmen: The End is Nigh – Episode 2 is coming to the Xbox 360, PS3 and (possibly) Windows via the Steam platform in July.  The … Read More…

Wii Wises (in price) – UK Economy = Sad Face

Gameindustry.biz carries the unfortunate news that Nintendo are too raise the trade price for the Wii in the UK to the order of £18-20 (from its current RRP of £179.99), despite the console making a profit from day one and selling more boxes than, well, boxes of boxes!

The excuse?  The collapsing value of the pound, which was (probably) ruined by all those Americans who took up mortgages on $300,000 houses despite working in McD’s.

What this means for the Wii @ Wii-tail is unknown, seeing as supermarkets tend to absorb most price rises to generate sales and the high-street … Read More…

Independent Creativity – ‘Creative Downturn’ Editorial

GameIndustry.biz has a very interesting editorial article on how the dire economic situation™ might stifle creativity in the industry following the risk associated with commercial failure of products based on newly developed IPs such as Dead Space & Mirror’s Edge.

Luckily, there’s light at the end of the tunnel as, with the avenues for distribution ever expanding on every format under the sun, independent creativity will almost certainly ensure a constant stream of reasonably priced, overtly playable and, most importantly, innovative releases for years too come.

Check it out here.… Read More…

Crytek purchases corpse of Free Radical **UPDATED**

Despite everyone’s misgivings and apathy towards Haze, I don’t think anyone was happy to see Free Radical go to the wall. The company was one of the first victims of the economic downturn and has been operating in administration on a skeleton staff whilst a buyer was sought.

Well, now one has, and it’s everyones favourite teutonic crybabies, Crytek.… Read More…

Employment Crisis – Financial Situation squeezes games companies. *UPDATED*

Earlier in the month, we reported that Crystal Dynamics were downsized and in December, Free Radical & Factor 5 disappeared, amongst others.  Since then, there have been significant rumours of layoffs at larger companies including Microsoft, EA and Sega.

Unfortunately, these days, rumours have a habit of coming true.

Kotaku are keeping track of all developments but a few are outlined below…… Read More…

Underworld Underperforms – **UPDATED**

You know there’s something not quite right with an industry when a product can sell (not just ship, mind you) 1.5 million individual copies across 6 major platforms and it’s performance is deemed ‘unsatisfactory’…

Unfortunately, such a fate has befallen the latest Tomb Raider game, Underworld.

Despite receiving above average reviews (in spite of some bugs, camera & control issues, poor combat, inconsistent story-telling & a short length) the game simply hasn’t sold as well as EIDOS believes it should have.… Read More…

US mag EGM falls foul of the credit crunch.

Veteran US gaming mag Electronic Gaming Monthly has been cancelled after 20 years of reporting gaming news.

Publishers, Ziff Davis, had been looking to sell off EGM and 1up.com for quite some time to help relieve their debt problems. They finally managed to offload the website and magazine to UGO Entertainment. Unfortunately, UGO decided to drop the axe on EGM and much of 1up.com’s popular and innovative video and podcast content including the 1up Show in a bid to save money.

Farewell to EGM and the best of luck to all the staff from both EGM and 1up.com that now … Read More…

Zavvi console sale – update

Destructoid is reporting that Virgin Megastores Zavvi is now pumping out Xbox 360 Arcade SKUs in its retail outlets for a Sainsbury’s equalling £99.  The more attractive/feature-complete Premium SKUs are going for £149 & l33t Elites for a snip under £200 too.

The rival PS3 is also coasting at £269.99, which means it’s still cheaper than a standalone Blu-Ray player…

As they have the commercial popularity & rarity of gold-dust, the Wii seems to (unsurprisingly) be holding it’s price.

BREAKING - Following the collapse of Woolworths and their distribution arm, Entertainment UK, Zavvi have now themselves gone into … Read More…