"Firaxis has realigned its development resources in order to streamline its development process, reduce costs and maximize the overall performance the studio."

I'm going to Evolve and Develop conference next week. Lots of interesting games business discussion.

I've arranged to interview Richard Wilson too, head of TIGA, to talk about why the tax rebates for the games industry didn't pan out, and what's going to happen next.

Well, it's true.

talk about why the tax rebates for the games industry didn't pan out

I'm going to Evolve and Develop conference next week. Lots of interesting games business discussion.

I've arranged to interview Richard Wilson too

There are rumours that Nintendo lobbied against it.

There's a position at our place for a lecturer in games design, or something like that. I only glanced at it. Clearly this means the games industry is fine.

Because there's no money. Next!

I think Lewie may be a tad young to get OFITG references

The games industry pulls in more revenue* than the film industry.

The games industry's claims that the tax break would pay for itself in three years are highly dubious - if it was that vibrant it wouldn't need tax breaks. We subsidise the film industry because, by and large, it makes films about and starring Brits and raises the prominence of our culture on the world stage. This is clearly not true about the British games industry, the principle export of which in recent times was about an Eastern European criminal in a thinly veiled New York.

I can't see why anyone with an ounce of sense would choose a games design course over traditional but reliable Computer Science.

I know what you mean, but if you're equating "designing" things like, say, UIs with writing code I'm going to smack you with every god-awful open source UI, starting with the GIMP. They are radically different skills. From what I've seen of games curriculums, they're orientated more towards producers, writers, graphic artists, and other non-coding game jobs. That's not necessarily irrelevant.

I know what you mean, but if you're equating "designing" things like, say, UIs with writing code I'm going to smack you with every god-awful open source UI, starting with the GIMP. They are radically different skills. From what I've seen of games curriculums, they're orientated more towards producers, writers, graphic artists, and other non-coding game jobs. That's not necessarily irrelevant.

They mustn't be decent courses, then, as the vast majority of games interfaces are shockingly shit pieces of artistry with usability tacked on as an afterthough or entirely omitted, like they were designed entirely in Photoshop (*spit*) with no sign of wireframing, planning or user testing.

Tipsters told us that Firaxis laid off 20 to 30 people yesterday including folks from the quality assurance team, the user interface art team, animators, programmers and designers.

Realtime Worlds’ says it’s “looking at almost every aspect of combat” as it tries to reverse MMO’s fortunes

Just days after Realtime Worlds’ ambitious open-world MMO APB finally hit UK retail, the developer has stated that it’s intending to revisit several core elements of the game.

The claims follow what was a turbulent run-up to release that saw the game receive a battering from critics.
Even before the reviews started to roll in the game was enduring a torrid time in the face of a controversial review embargo that resulted in studio boss Dave Jones claiming that “some people had too high expectations” of the title, that there were “are a lot of misconceptions” about it and that “it's not for absolutely everybody”.

Red Dead Redemption developer Rockstar San Diego has let about 40 employees go, according to a statement given to IGN. "As Rockstar San Diego transitions from the launch of Red Dead Redemption onto future projects," studio manager Steve Martin said in the statement, "we are realigning our resources in order to continue to develop games as effectively as possible." The remaining team members are " hard at work on the development of downloadable content for the game."

The first instruction was superficial — I was told to reduce the number of times I used "fuck" in the dialogue. Apparently, my writing had led to line pools containing an unacceptable probability that when the player entered a room, everyone in it might scream the word "fuck" at the same time. One guy might shout "Holy fucking shit, it's the Punisher!", another "Oh God, he'll fuck our eyes right out of our skulls!" and a third, "We're double fucked this time, chaps!" I happen to think this is a pretty realistic reaction if confronted by the Punisher, but I was told that it's really a problem to have so many fucks flying around at the same time. The unthinkable concentration of profanity in this possible fuck-event could send the dainty fingers of the ESRB panel straight to the big red AO buzzer. In retrospect I'm sure that trimming the fuck-count was the right call — better than Kingpin levels of cursing at least — but the reasoning behind it stayed with me.

"You think I'm gonna miss those legs, Castle? I hated them! I was about to get rid of 'em myself, and now you saved me the trouble!"

Jerry Lawton says he’s “baffled” by the reaction to his story from men who “sit around all day playing games”

The Daily Star journalist who penned yesterday’s story claiming that a Grand Theft Auto game based around the recent Rothbury shootings is in the works has stated that he’s surprised by the reaction to the piece.
Furthermore, speaking on his Facebook page Lawton chose to make a further dig at gamers.
“Baffled by the fury of adult gamers,” he wrote, as reported by Destructoid. “These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who've today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto!
“You would think I'd denied the Holocaust!!! Think I'll challenge them to a virtual reality duel....stab....I win!!!”

The Daily Star has apologised for its recent claims that Rockstar was working on GTA: Rothbury.
The tabloid admitted it didn't even bother checking whether or not the game was real, and didn't contact Rockstar - but apologises for contacting a grieving family member for comment.
Biting further into its slice of humble pie, the paper even apologised for not questioning why a "a best selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event".
In addition to the apology, the Daily Star has paid damages to Rockstar, which will be donated to charity.

A judge ruled against R4 companies Playables Limited and Wai Dat Chan, making it illegal to import, advertise and sell R4 carts in Britain.

The "first-ever" judgement was made after the London High Court ruled the carts were illegal because they bypass the DS's security measures in order to run games.

I wonder if it is specifically "R4" cards or just any DS backup cart..

Game copiers are designed to fit into the game cartridge of Nintendo's DS.

enabling illegally pirated games to be downloaded online and stored on a chip.

The ruling specifically targets a range of popular devices which can be used to store and play copied games on the Nintedo DS handheld console.

EA introduces new bullshit -- 156 character-upgrading unlocks are now on the Xbox Live marketplace, costing between 80 and 240 points each, for NHL 11 -- which doesn't come out for another month.