Continue reading »]]> As the rest of the tech world scrambles to assess the implications of the recently announced 5,000 layoffs at software giant Microsoft, news has come in that might potentially spell the end of the company’s nearly 30-year-old Flight Simulator series.

Microsoft confirmed Friday that the software giant has shuttered ACES Studios, the developer of the Flight Simulator series of games, whose latest incarnation is Flight Simulator X. The simulation is considered Microsoft’s oldest product, whose original version first shipped in 1982.

However, a Microsoft spokeswoman said that while the studio has been closed, the software company remains committed to the Flight Simulator franchise, without explaining how future products can be launched without a dedicated software development team backing them.

“We can confirm the closing of ACES Studios, which was responsible for the Flight Simulator franchise,” Microsoft spokeswoman Kelda Rericha told Appscout. “Following our annual strategy review process, IEB [Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business unit] is making adjustments within our business to align our people against our highest priorities. The closure of ACES Studios was one of those specific changes.”

Rericha refused to disclose any further details regarding the future of the company. She did, however, suggest that the Flight Simulator series is likely to stick around in some form or another. “We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise, which has proven to be a successful PC-based game for the last 27 years,” Rericha added. “You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great Live experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.”

Of course, the Flight Simulator franchise is a fairly broad one, and anything falling under the largely online Live umbrella would likely be fairly different than the game’s traditionally resource-intensive online incarnation.

“It’s definitely confusing; I wish I had more clarification on that that we could provide, Rericha added. “At this point, they’re just not talking about it yet – how the product will, and if the product will, live within Microsoft.”

Microsoft does not have a time frame on when it will provide additional information, Rericha added.

The most likely scenario seems that, like the rest of us, Microsoft is still attempting to assess exactly how such a large number of redundancies will affect its business strategy. Projects like Flight Simulator have likely been given a lower priority than, say, Windows or Office, and therefore their fates are still not entirely certain even in Redmond.

Numerous contractors also confirmed that they’d been let go in the ACES layoffs, including independent coders who were also fans of the series.

“One thing that every person at ACES will tell you is that the community and each of you in it mean the world to us for sharing our passion of flight, and so it really hurts that Gib and I can’t tell you more,” “PlaneEater, one of the affected contractors, wrote in a thread on SimOuthouse.com. “I was a FS fan before I joined the FS team, and being able to work on the sim we all love so much was a dream come true. I just want to thank everyone here for the time and passion they’ve poured into Flight Sim for so many years, and to let you all know that every person at ACES is in awe of how much the community cares about what we build.”

It seems unlikely that Flight Simulator will go away entirely, even if it means branding a Live game with the name, fans speculated.

Microsoft Shuts Down ‘Flight Simulator’ Game Studio – News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Continue reading »]]> Kojima’s site teases the next Metal Gear game…with the Xbox color.

Could this be the thing we’ve been talking about since last year, even back when no one would believe us? You know, the thing that Konami said might happen, but then apparently didn’t say might happen? The thing that Microsoft has recently been talking about being able to run on its platform and hoping to see soon?

Or could it be the Xbox Live Arcade port of Metal Gear Solid that’s apparently been spotted in the past?

Or, is this something else entirely, and it’s just pure coincidence that green happens to be the primary color used by one of the major platform holders?

Either way, Hideo Kojima obviously knows how this would be construed…so either it’s the first official acknowledgment of a Metal Gear Solid game coming to the Xbox 360 or a classic Kojima.

Continue reading »]]> The National Geographic Society was founded in 1888 and is one of the largest non-profit academic and educational institutions in the world. Its stated goal is “To increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the World’s cultural, historical, and natural resources.” It runs seven print publications, has an online news outlet, and its own television station, the National Geographic Channel. It makes sense then, that they chose to expand to the realm of gaming to further its mission.

NG is forming a games division, National Geographic Games, which will develop games based on its ecological themes and media property. NGG for short will work with several publishers to make games which inspire customers to take an interest in global matters, and also make “the National Geographic brand meaningful to a broader audience”

NGG will be headed by corporate strategy and development SVP Paul Levine, and Chris Mate, formerly of Take-Two and Bethesda Softworks, who is acting as vice president and general manager.

NGG has formed a partnership with Namco Bandai and Sony Computer Entertainment to publish National Geographic branded games for consoles and handheld devices, including the Nintendo Wii and DS, the PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Network, PC and mobile devices.

The first game released by the NGG will be Herod’s Lost Tomb, and will focus on content from the magazine’s December 2008 issue and one of its cable channel’s featured broadcasts dealing with the biblical figure King Herod. The game will be released free either as a flash version available on National Geographic’s web site or a downloadable PC and mobile version.

November 2008 will also see NGG release National Geographic: Panda with Namco Bandai, and National Geographic: Africa with Sony. December 2008 heralds Sudoku Traveler: China, while 2009 sees Rain Forests, Greencity and From the Bottom Up.

“By leveraging National Geographic’s leading family brand, core themes and franchises, and its unique content that drives our mission-forward strategy, NGG will create fun games that allow gamers of all ages to experience and explore their world through play,” said Levine.

He went on to comment that “[NGG’s] global audiences love to play games, and we plan on creating games in-house as well as working with leading global publishers to develop entertaining games that engage those audiences in a relevant way.”

So if you’re not particularly impressed by you or your child playing violent or commercial games (GTA comes to mind here), then it might be well worth taking a look at the educational and ecological themed games which will see the light of day by the hands of National Geographic Games in the near future. Who knows, given enough time to mature and gathering enough momentum, the company may even make games that are fun.

National Geographic Opens Gaming Division Doors

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• geography game industries

Continue reading »]]> Online gaming group 888 remains confident of further growth in the current year and beyond, but said the fourth quarter started slowly, especially given exchange rates, with daily averages below levels in the third quarter.

The comments came as the group reported a 23 percent rise in net gaming revenue in the third quarter to US$66 million from US$53 million a year earlier and by 31 percent during the first nine months of the year to US$197million from US$151 million.

Total operating income in the third quarter rose 24 percent to US$68 million and was up 33 percent in the first nine months at US$203 million.

Trading during the traditionally weaker summer months of July and August was solid with total operating income in August growing above July’s level, the company said. In September, however, global economic conditions and sharp exchange rate movements resulted in lower turnover than August.

Since July total deposit levels in local currency, (ie Sterling, Euro etc) remained fairly stable. However given the appreciation of the US$ against Sterling and Euro such deposits translated into lower US$ amounts. This has adversely impacted turnover since late August. Conversely, given that most group expenses are linked to non-US$ currencies, which depreciated during the period, the effect on profit was partly mitigated.

Chief executive Gigi Levy said: “We have delivered another quarter of solid performance, which was impacted by the global economic crisis and the extreme volatility in exchange rates. Our underlying business remains as solid as ever, as demonstrated by the constant deposit size by local currency. Despite external adverse economic conditions we are confident in our business model and strategy.”

888 Holdings

Continue reading »]]> Independent developer Demiurge Studios announced the addition of Harley Baldwin White-Wiedow as lead designer for an unannounced project. She will head the studio’s original property development efforts.

Most recently, White-Wiedow served as the lead designer on Tomb Raider: Underworld with Crystal Dynamics, where she worked for four years. The multiplatform title ships in the U.S. and Europe this week.

White-Wiedow also previously worked at LucasArts for seven years, helping develop games for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series in several design positions.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and founded in 2002, Demiurge is best known for providing development services — such as pre-production, co-development, and ports — for titles such as Mass Effect for PC and Brothers in Arms: Double Time for Wii.

Demiurge announced in October that it had become an officially licensed iPhone developer and that it is working on its first iPhone title.

“We are thrilled to welcome Harley to the Demiurge family,” says studio director Albert Reed. “We’re well positioned to continue to expand key franchises for our customers with Harley’s AAA experience and tremendous leadership presence at the helm of our design team.

Gamasutra