Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime) and incubated within the Rearden media and technology incubator, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially unveiling in March 2009.

OnLive, together with its Mova subsidiary, lies directly at the nexus of several key trends, all of which are reshaping the way we think about and use digital media:

• The shift to cloud computing, displacing the limitations, cost and complexity of local computing;
• An explosion of consumer broadband connectivity, bringing fast bandwidth to the home;
• Unprecedented innovation, creativity and expansion within the video game market.

Pioneering the delivery of rich interactive media to the home, OnLive will change the way that entertainment applications are created, delivered and consumed.

On Beta

Currently Onlive.com is in beta, To sign up you need to be at least 18, based in the US and have a broadband-connected PC running Windows Vista®/XP®, or an Intel®-based Mac. Sign up for beta

In the News

• Few startups have a chance to revolutionize an industry. But if entrepreneur Steve Perlman’s OnLive lives up to its goals, the company will disrupt the entire video game industry — to the delight of both game publishers and gamers. – venturebeat
• The founder of a new service that plans to stream on-demand video games over the internet says he feels like he has a big target on his back. No wonder, given that Stephen Perlman’s vision to revolutionise the way games are distributed and played has been talked up as threatening the future of the console and of retail stores. – BBC
• OnLive is launching the world’s highest performance Games On Demand service, instantly delivering the latest high-end titles over home broadband Internet to the TV and entry-level PCs and Macs. Netcrunch

Links

• Onlive.com

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

According to figures from Microsoft, the Xbox 360 is ahead of the Playstation 3 by one million units in Europe and by 7 million in the US.

However, both consoles are being outsold by the Nintendo Wii, which sold 3 million units in the UK and 10.17 million in the US last year.

Microsoft is keen to point out that it’s leading in the total lifetime spending figures for each console. A total of US$13.2 billion has been spent on the Xbox 360 since it was launched, compared to US$10.8 billion on the Wii and US$6.1 billion on the PS3.

“Our goal for 2008 was to reach new audiences by bringing ground-breaking games and entertainment to Xbox 360,” said senior vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick.

“Looking forward, new waves of innovation will extend our position as the global leader in interactive entertainment”.

Xbox 360 Outsells Playstation 3 – PC World

Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Gears of War 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Fallout 3
LittleBigPlanet

* Studio of the Year:

Media Molecule (winner)
Rockstar North
Harmonix
Bethesda Game Studios

* Best Shooter:

Gears of War 2 (winner)
Left 4 Dead
Resistance 2
Far Cry 2

* Best RPG:

Fallout 3 (winner)
The World Ends With You
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Fable II

* Best Individual Sports Game:

Shaun White Snowboarding (winner)
Skate It
Wii Fit
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

* Best Handheld Game:

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (winner)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Patapon
God of War: Chains of Olympus

* Best Graphics:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
LittleBigPlanet
Gears of War 2
Fallout 3

* Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show:

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (winner)
Naruto: The Broken Bond
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Quantum of Solace

* Best Music Game:

Rock Band 2 (winner)
SingStar
Wii Music
Guitar Hero World Tour

* Best Driving Game:

Burnout Paradise (winner)
Mario Kart Wii
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
PURE

* Best Action Adventure Game:

Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Mirror’s Edge
Dead Space

* Best Soundtrack:

Rock Band 2 (winner)
Guitar Hero World Tour
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet

* Best Xbox 360 Game:

Gears of War 2 (winner)
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Fable II

* Best Wii Game:

Boom Blox (winner)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
No More Heroes
Wii Fit

* Best PS3 Game:

LittleBigPlanet (winner)
Grand Theft Auto IV
Resistance 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

* Best PC Game:

Left 4 Dead (winner)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Crysis Warhead
Spore

* Best Original Score:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
LittleBigPlanet
Spore
Fallout 3

* Best Multiplayer Game:

Left 4 Dead (winner)
Call of Duty: World at War
Resistance 2
Gears of War 2

* Best Independent game:

World of Goo (winner)
PixelJunk Eden
Braid
Audiosurf

* Best Fighting Game:

Soulcalibur IV (winner)
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

* Best Male Voice:

Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Stephen Fry as “The Narrator” in LittleBigPlanet
David Hayter as “Old Snake” in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Jason Zumwalt as “Roman Bellic” in Grand Theft Auto IV

* Best Female Voice:

Debi Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
Keeley Hawes as “Lara Croft” in Tomb Raider: Underworld
Paula Tiso as “Silvia Christel” in No More Heroes
Nathalie Cox as “Juno Eclipse” in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

* Big Name in the Game Male:

Kiefer Sutherland as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World at War (winner)
Liam Neeson as “Father” in Fallout 3
Ricky Gervais as “Himself” in Grand Theft Auto IV
Daniel Craig as “James Bond” in Quantum of Solace

* Big Name in the Game Female:

Jenny McCarthy as Special Agent Tanya Adams in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (winner)
Dame Judi Dench as “M” in Quantum of Solace
Eliza Dushku as “Shaundi” from Saints Row 2
Liv Tyler as “Betty Ross” in The Incredible Hulk

* Best Team Sports Game:

NHL 09
Fifa Soccer 09
NBA 2K9
Madden NFL 09

Spike Video Game Awards – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.

Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simmering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

In the game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Achievements:

1. Grime Buster: Clean up after Fred and George at The Burrow – (10)
2. Used the Pensieve: View Dumbledore’s first memory of Tom Riddle in the Pensieve – (10)
3. Quidditch Captain: Assemble the Gryffindor Quidditch Team – (10)
4. Great Party: Create a great Christmas party for Slughorn – (10)
5. Good Deed: Help the student retrieve her stolen Gobstone – (20)
6. Great Mate: Help Ron avoid Lavender – (20)
7. Hidden the Book: Hide the Half-Blood Prince’s Potions Book – (20)
8. Portrait Novice: Use your first portrait shortcut – (10)
9. Portrait Pro: Use all of the portrait shortcuts – (20)
10. Adventure completed: Conclude the adventure – (100)
11. Crest Collector 1: Complete Crest Collector Level 1 – (10)
12. Crest Collector 2: Complete Crest Collector Level 2 – (10)
13. Crest Collector 3: Complete Crest Collector Level 3 – (10)
14. Crest Collector 4: Complete Crest Collector Level 4 – (10)
15. Crest Collector 5: Complete Crest Collector Level 5 – (20)
16. Crest Collector 6: Complete Crest Collector Level 6 – (20)
17. Crest Collector 7: Complete Crest Collector Level 7 – (20)
18. Crest Collector 8: Complete Crest Collector Level 8 – (20)
19. Crest Collector 9: Complete Crest Collector Level 9 – (30)
20. Crest Collector 10: Complete Crest Collector Level 10 – (30)
21. Crest Collector 11: Complete Crest Collector Level 11 – (30)
22. Crest Collector 12: Complete Crest Collector Level 12 (40)
23. Crest Collector 13: Complete Crest Collector Level 13 (50)
24. Crest Collector 14: Complete Crest Collector Level 14 – (60)
25. Potions Beginner: Earn the Potions Beginner’s Luck Badge – (10)
26. Speedy Brewer Badge: Earn the Speedy Brewer Badge – (10)
27. Potions Club Star: Earn the Potions Club Star Badge – (10)
28. Potions Club Veteran: Earn the Potions Club Veteran Badge – (20)
29. Master Potioneer: Earn the Master Potioneer Badge (50)
30. Duelling Beginner: Earn the Duelling Beginner’s Luck Badge – (10)
31. Reflex Badge: Earn the Reflex Badge – (10)
32. Duelling Champion: Earn the Duelling Club Champion Badge – (10)
33. Duelling Veteran: Earn the Duelling Veteran Badge – (20)
34. Master Duellist Badge: Earn the Master Duellist Badge (50)
35. Quidditch Beginner: Earn the Quidditch Beginner’s Luck Badge – (10)
36. Precision Flyer Badge: Earn the Precision Flyer Badge – (10)
37. Combo Flyer Badge: Earn the Combo Flyer Badge – (10)
38. Keen Flyer Badge: Earn the Keen Flyer Badge – (20)
39. Master of Flying: Earn the Master of Flying Badge (50)
40. Secret Achievement: Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. – (20)
41. Secret Achievement: Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. – (20)
42. Secret Achievement: Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. – (30)
43. Secret Achievement: Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement (40)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, developed by EA Bright Light Studio, is scheduled for release later this year to coincide with the Warner Bros. Pictures film based on J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book. on Wii„ PS3, X360, PS2, PSP, NDS and PC.

In the coming weeks, Frogster will activate all of the content currently implemented, including the item-shop, where players can buy items to support their questing, adventuring and battles within the game. Since all player accounts were reset at the end of the closed beta, everyone will be able to create new characters and begin their adventures at level one.

“Runes of Magic is going through its final stress tests and polishing phase which will enable us to ensure a high level of quality and an entertaining and immersive experience for the players,” said Sean Kauppinen, president and CEO of Frogster America, Inc. “Since we’re allowing all characters created in the final beta phase as well as any items acquired or purchased to carry over into the live game, the servers are essentially open for business.”

Shortly after the start of the open beta, Christmas will arrive in Taborea. Special event costumes and quests, as well as lots of surprises will be in store for all players starting Friday, December 19th. The official website, www.runesofmagic.com will also hold a competition to accompany the events. Everybody, who creates something Runes of Magic-themed, has the chance to win a rare in-game Christmas mount. More details will be available on the site starting on the 19th.

Runes of Magic – A World Full of Wizardry and Adventure
With an extensive range of features, Runes of Magic is redefining the standard of free-to-play MMO games. Right from the launch, Runes of Magic will convey its absorbing story through more than 1,000 quests across an exciting and vibrant world. Players can choose from six main classes and secondary classes, offering 36 individual character combinations to suit all play styles. All characters possess unique skills with impressive combo attacks, and can use mounts for traveling around the game world.

For guilds and players, it’s possible to arrange your own virtual homes and guildhalls with individual furnishings. Thanks to an extensive crafting and reputation system, thrilling PvP, dangerous dungeons and boss-monsters, there is something to keep everyone playing in the game. Taiwanese studio, Runewaker Entertainment, has developed Runes of Magic to appeal to a global audience, with more than three years of effort put into the game. The studio will provide new challenges for players every three to four months with free add-ons and updates. You can find more information, screenshots, art and videos on the official website at: www.runesofmagic.com.

Features

• Free2play: no monthly fees, free download
• Extensive dual class system (six primary and secondary classes)
• Versatile spell and attack combinations
• Engaging background story
• More than 1,000 quests and quest series at launch
• No zone boundaries thanks to a seamless architecture
• A mix of instanced, tile based, and persistent dungeons to explore
• Individually developable skills and spells
• Armor sets with special bonuses
• Dynamic item system with hundreds of upgradeable runes
• Optional PvP system with arena battles and guild wars
• Ranking system with player-ranking lists
• Unique mounts including horses, tigers, striders and more
• Epic crafting system with the ability to improve existing items
• Personalization of player houses through individual furnishing
• Reputation system
• Customizable user interface with the ability to use Add-Ons
• Map and radar system to easily find item dealers, resources and quests
• In-game auction houses for trading items
• Teleport-Runes for instant travel
• Mouse and keyboard controls for movement
• Regular updates with new content
• Cross-server fights through three-server-battles (in development)
• Guild houses in special zones (in development)

Stormrise will remind you of Full Spectrum Warrior. You view the battle from the perspective of the unit you have selected, which usually means “third-person,” unless you’ve selected one that flies, in which case you get a bird’s-eye-view. Unlike Full Spectrum Warrior, however, you control a force much larger than a handful of fireteams; in terms of numbers, Stormrise brings traditional RTS-sized armies to the field. The difficulties inherent to managing forces this large with a gamepad are where most console ports fall apart. And this is precisely what Bhopti says that Stormrise’s “whip select” control scheme will remedy.

If nothing else, the “whip select” scheme definitely appears flexible. Every one of your units, regardless of how far away, is represented by an icon. In order to select it, you simply “whip” the control stick in its direction. In the case of two unit icons being too close to one another, Bhopti promises that the whip select’s fine-tuning will typically result in your intended target being selected. (I didn’t have a chance to play, but TeamXbox’s Tom Price did, and he told me that his experience didn’t quite bear this out.) Other kinds of supplemental functionality are built into the system. For instance, you can issue a movement command to a distant unit while you have another selected, which seems to work most effectively when you’re looking down on the battlefield from a flying unit. And you can also assign multiple units into a single group, in order to keep the array of onscreen icons manageable.

When talking about Stormrise’s maps, Bhopti brought up terms like “verticality” and “layer cake.” The latter described what he feels is a crucial expression of the game’s level design. Unlike most of the RTS games we’re familiar with, Stormrise isn’t built around a flat plane scattered with obstacles. Rather, many of its maps are layered; one map that Bhopti flew through had a multi-level parking garage, a subterranean tunnel system, and an army-sized warehouse built into it. The point he was trying to drill home during this portion of the demo was that, regardless of where you are (or what your current point of view is), it’s almost impossible to get a full spatial picture of your surroundings. In the case of the army-sized warehouse, an enemy who decides to actually stash an army in it will easily foil you if you dismiss it as empty offhand.

When you consider what this notion of “verticality” could mean for navigating this world of “layer cakes,” Bhopti’s hyping of the “whip select” scheme starts to maybe seem a bit more credible. But chew on this: Stormrise’s PC version will ship with a specially-designed mouse and keyboard scheme. According to Bhopti, the team (which includes quite a few recruited pro gamers) is currently wrestling with a few iterations of it. These days, it’s common for PC ports to come with keyboard commands built-in, regardless of how absurd it would be to actually play the game that way (see: Devil May Cry 4). But it light of Bhopti’s bold statements, shipping the PC version without mouse and keyboard controls would have spoken volumes.

Sega and the Creative Assembly are promising us another look at Stormrise not long after the new year. It’ll be particularly interesting to see how the multiplayer component is shaping up.

Other Information

• Publisher: SEGA
• Developer: Creative Assembly
• Genre: Real-Time Strategy
• Release Date: Q1 2009
• ESRB: TBA

Square Enix recently set up a development studio in Los Angeles. Capcom is “actively pursuing friendly acquisitions and partnerships” with foreign outfits, and developing games like Dead Rising and Lost Planet with a more Western audience in mind. And today Namco Bandai established Surge, a new publishing label “dedicated to providing cutting-edge, genre-defining games that are targeted at satiating the appetite of western gamers.” Surge will produce games across a variety of genres and platforms.

The first game to carry the Surge label will be Afro Samurai, scheduled for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 January 27. Based on the animated series of the same name, Afro Samurai features the voice of Samuel L. Jackson and a hip-hop-influenced soundtrack composed by The RZA.

Around 3 million units of the software and companion “balance board” hardware are expected to be sold by Nintendo in Japan this year, it said recently. Worldwide the company expects to sell 10 million units this year.

One other game, “Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G” for the PlayStation Portable, was among the top 20 in the ranking. The Capcom game is one of the most popular for handheld platforms in Japan and has sold more than 2.5 million copies since its launch in March. It was tied for 12th place with another local diet fad: a book that preached the values of keeping-in-shape by eating bananas for breakfast.

Following hot-on-the-heels and tied for 14th place was both a mobile PC and the iPhone 3G.

Japan was part of the simultaneous worldwide launch of the iPhone 3G on July 11 and the phone got considerable media coverage in Japan. It was the first time the iPhone was available here (the previous 2G version wasn’t compatible with Japan’s cellular networks) and some people began camping out several days before the phone went on sale to be assured of getting one. When sales began, parts of the launch were broadcast live on Japan’s morning TV shows.

The popularity of the mobile PC this year can be put down to low prices. Not only are computers like Asus’ Eee PC redefining what consumers expect to pay for a laptop but machines are being offered for as little as 100 yen (US$1) by cellular carriers in return for signing a 2-year flat-rate data contract.

The unscientific ranking polled visitors to the Goo portal between Oct. 21 and 24.

There is a limit to whatever and how much you can do, because they don’t want you to play the entire game and realize there is nothing to look forward to in the full version. The game will be made available for download at Criterion’s website as well as EA’s home page, but CG will also be handing out millions of discs to fans to install on their PCs. Also the game doesn’t need the disc to work, because CG encourages you to pass the disc on to friends once you’re done. The disc also has an upgrade store feature which allows you to buy the full version once you’re ready to. The game features its regular features, both single and multiplayer.

The Demo will feature the combination of Burnout itself, the Cagney Update, Bikes Update and the upcoming Party Pack.