The 2010 Tokyo Game Show, set to happen on September 16-19th, with the last two days typically set aside for public perusual and the first two days set aside for business-only announcements and closed to the public, will bear witness to Gamania showing off eight new titles. Never heard of Gamania? Time to up your game then.

Gamania Digital Entertainment announces that it will showcase their latest research and development (R&D) expansion and much anticipated second generation product lines at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2010. Among nearly 150 participating global companies, Gamania will have significant presence with one of the top ten largest booths, alongside other headline names such as Microsoft, Sony, and Square Enix. During the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, Gamania will be showing eight distinctive in-house products, while also exhibiting other works of entertainment, such as animation, web games, and mobile titles, heralding in Gamania’s “Universe of Fun”.

Gamania is behind certain games that will invariably come out in the US, like the popular cartoon show Hero 108 for the Apple iPhone and Facebook games, but while Gamania is huge in Hong Kong, they are lesser known in the US. Games like Reign of Assassins, based on the upcoming Chinese movie of the same name, infuse art and gameplay that translates well to us gamers and Core Blaze, based on the Unreal 3 Engine both look enticing to my western eyes. And that’s just a few of their offerings.

In simpler terms, let’s just hope that the games end up in European and North American markets soon enough too.

[ Links: TGS 2010, Gamania ]

The people behind the Ghostbusters: The Videogame and the upcoming Marvel titles, Thor and Captain America games, as well as the upcoming Def Jam Rapstar have released a full-featured foundation engine that is cross-platform compatible and allows for rapid development of video games:

Terminal Reality announced today an incredible listing of upcoming titles that are using the powerful and versatile Infernal Engine to bring them to life. Games as different as Def Jam Rapstar, Disney’s family-pleasing Guilty Party, and Wipeout: The Game are just some of the titles using the Infernal Engine’s unique, cross-platform technology to deliver their various experiences. The complete line-up of notable titles includes (in order of release date):

• Wipeout: The Game (Wii) – currently available
• Disney’s Guilty Party (Wii) – August 26, 2010
• Def Jam Rapstar (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) – October 5, 2010
• The Force Unleashed II (Wii) – October 26, 2010
• The Grinder (Xbox360, PS3) – October 2011
• Thor (Wii, PSP) – May 2011
• Captain America (Wii, PSP) – TBA 2011

In addition, Terminal Reality, the development studio – best known for their work on the hit title, Ghostbusters: The Videogame – is currently putting finishing touches on the groundbreaking Def Jam Rapstar, due out October 5. Def Jam Rapstar is all about Hip-Hop and the music that makes it great. Aspiring emcees spit bars with the best in the history of Rap, both past and present, as they try to prove that no one else can fade them on the mic. The game features custom, proprietary voice recognition technology that keeps tabs on lyrical accuracy, because you can’t respect a fraud.

Can’t wait to see some office mates pull out Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” in the upcoming Def Jam Rapstar in October 5th.

[ Links: Terminal Reality, Infernal Engine ]

It comes out tomorrow, July 27th… BUY IT!!

Ok, fanboy love aside, the original StarCraft is a killer game. It sold 12 million copies in the 12 years since its original release. It brought real time strategy to folks that normally wouldn’t have liked real-time strategy (myself included) and the long-awaited sequel comes out July 27th.

Some other parts that you might not know is that this StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty cost over $100 million dollars in development to produce. That’s right… it’s more expensive than Polyphony’s Gran Turismo which (to date) has cost over $60 million so far to develop.

Perhaps you can celebrate owning StarCraft II alongside National Scotch Day.

[ Links: StarCraft II ]

The Australian government has been sinking millions of dollars into Internet filters, conducting ISP trials with admittedly no quantifiable metric to determine success or failure. The man primarily responsible for the plan, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, hasn’t much cared about opposition from academics or carriers, many of whom have been very vocal in their beliefs that the filters won’t technically work and could block legit content.

It now at least appears that Conroy has decided to put the controversial filtering plan on hold until next year but only so a broader consensus can be reached on what is to be filtered:

“Some sections of the community have expressed concern about whether the range of material included in the RC category … correctly reflects current community standards,” Senator Conroy said. “As the government’s mandatory ISP filtering policy is underpinned by the strength of our classification system, the legal obligation to commence mandatory ISP filtering will not be imposed until the review is completed.”

It’s not clear what Conroy plans to do to in the interim to tackle all of those “spams and scams coming through the portal.”

Link to the original article…

Rumors have been circulating for some time that Hulu is planning a $9.95 subscription service with a select few episodes still available for free but a catalog of additional seasons available for a monthly fee. Those rumors continue to bubble over, with some anonymous sources insisting that the subscription “Hulu Plus” could launch as soon as next week though possibly only for a limited base of 10,000 testers. As you can imagine, stumbling blocks remain in Hulu’s negotiations with broadcasters, who cling tightly to program licensing out of fear of the broadband video (r)evolution. The service is also expected to see integration with the XBOX 360 but rumors also now point to PS3 integration as well.

Link to the original article…

I’d consider myself somewhat of a gamer. I own a Sony PlayStation 3, I own a Nintendo Wii, I own a PC that I built around my video card (yes, it plays Crysis… quite well thank you) and I’ve purchased games on my Apple iPhone. On the Apple iPhone, I had found myself gravitating towards OpenFeint enabled games, a gaming framework created by the folks over at Aurora Feint that shares your high scores and accomplishments with your friends that also have that game, allows for announcements that range from free games for the day to updates and challenges from friends to beat their scores. All for free.

But what I noticed that a lot of OpenFeint enabled iPhone games had the ability to support in-game purchases on these games that… well, I thought they were losing money and just giving away the game but charging minor prices for trivial, and optional stuff. Boy was I wrong. There’s a lot of money in in-game virtual goods. According to a new Magid report, about $168 million dollars worth of money. That’s huge. And it’ll only get bigger in later years.

Virtual goods purchased on smartphones are a new emerging market in the United States. Who is actually buying them and how much they’re spending, however, has not been completely understood. Today, Frank N. Magid Associates and mobile social gaming network OpenFeint are shedding some light on the subject by providing the first-ever estimate on how much Americans are currently spending on virtual goods.

According to the study, Magid Media Futures 2010 Wireless and Consumers, Americans spent $168 million on mobile virtual goods in the last year. Magid estimates that over 70 million Americans now own smartphones – that’s 23 percent of the population. With 45 percent of those smartphone owners playing mobile games and 16 percent of those spending an average of $41 per year on in-game virtual goods, the market has already exceeded $168 million.

“The market for virtual goods has already exploded in web-based games like Zynga’s Farmville, and we’re just now starting to see this trend in the mobile space,” said Steve Lin, VP Operations of Aurora Feint. “In just the last few months we’ve seen amazing interest from our game developers in building mobile social games with virtual goods. Our internal numbers reflect the study in that free-to-play models will be the dominant pricing structure in the future.”

With 55 percent of smartphone gamers interested in buying virtual goods, the market is poised for strong growth as more virtual goods-based games enter the market. The study also shed more light on who is likely to play games on smartphones. Compared to the general population, smartphone gamers skew male and are between 18 and 34 years of age.

Buying virtual goods isn’t really anything new if you’ve ever played Diablo II or Farmville. But those micro-payments – I’ve personally bought a couple of extra levels for a couple of games to extend my enjoyment of some titles for 99 cents or so – add up. And apparently, it’s a back door to increasing the enjoyment and profitability of a game. And the best part, the people are buying into that mentality and in a big way in the aforementioned age groups (18-34).

“Everybody knows free-to-play social gaming models on PC platforms have been making a killing but mobile virtual goods aren’t as well understood,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors. “With almost 20 percent of smartphone gamers already making purchases, there’s a lot of room for the market to keep taking off as smartphones continue to increase in popularity.”

Magid has looked pretty deep into the explosion growth of in-game virtual goods purchases of smartphone gaming. I think it’s time I dusted off my programming skills and got serious about making a socially aware, OpenFeint enabled smartphone game that allowed for in-game purchases to get my share of that $168 million and growing market.

[ Links: OpenFeint, Aurora Feint, Magid Advisors ]

Microsoft held their E3 keynote in Los Angeles yesterday morning, and as expected the primary focus was the company’s “Kinect” motion-sensing camera. Though the company also announced they were expanding the Xbox360 video lineup by adding a significant amount of sports content through a deal with ESPN, including not only ESPN shows – but also some live sporting events in HD (NBA, MLB, college football and college basketball). Said events include some interactivity during events with other Xbox 360 owners (polls, trivia, etc.), and both voice and gesture remote control via Kinect, which goes on sale in November at $150.

Microsoft also introduced a slimmer version of the Xbox 360 with integrated 802.11N. There’s no confirmation yet of a lingering rumor concerning Hulu integration.

Link to the original article…

The makers of the cool and free textPlus have released a game based on texting, textRace for the Apple iPhone and Apple iPhone Touch.

Fire up those texting fingers and prepare to do battle — the ultimate texting throwdown is here. From the creators of the free, unlimited texting app textPlus, comes textRace, a no holds barred texting game that pits challengers against the clock in a test of speed and accuracy. textRace is free to download for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

The premise is simple: a message appears in the app, and users must accurately retype that message to beat the clock. The faster and more precise they retype it, the more points they earn and levels they unlock. The app’s speed clock and pounding music get the blood pumping, and the fiercest competitors can boast about their high scores by posting them to Facebook.

Bound to be fun for the texter in your family, textRace is in the Apple iTunes Music Store right now for free too.

[ Links: textRace, textPlus ]

Looks like Six Flags wants to entertain your kids at their parks and on the computer too. Six Flags has announced their initial foray into social media and social gaming by announcing an interactive game “Mascot Park”, playable via Facebook.

Six Flags Entertainment, the world’s largest regional theme park company, announced today its foray into the world of social gaming with the all-new Six Flags Mascot Park, an interactive game launching on Facebook. Six Flags will elevate this innovative entertainment experience with an approach that focuses on deep personalization, creativity, irreverent antics and social interaction.

“The Six Flags brand stands for fun and unparalleled thrills and the introduction of Six Flags Mascot Park brings that signature experience to the virtual reality world,” said Mike Antinoro, Executive VP of Marketing and Entertainment. “We want to offer fans a forum to entertain, amuse and interact while also recognizing the importance of integrating a unique experience to the online community.”

Six Flags Mascot Park encourages players to create “shows” for their friends to view – and either cheer them or jeer them. Players will strive to be the most popular mascot by creating these unique performances, which will gain fans, entertain friends and earn coins. Coins can be used to buy set pieces and costumes as well as improve their moves. In a unique twist, players can also jump into their friend’s shows and mash them up with their own moves, special effects and pranks.

The inner-child in me is interested in this big time, might make me use Facebook more often even.

[ Links: Six Flags, Six Flags Facebook Page ]

Love Rock Band? Got a competitive spirit? Love winning stuff? MTV and Harrah’s Entertainment got the hookup.

We’re guessing you haven’t heard about the sweepstakes. So, listen up. This totally rocks.

For our loyal Rock Band friends who can’t get out to a qualifying location in the next several weeks, enter NOW for your shot at a trip to compete in the BIG EVENT in Atlantic City from June 30-July 4, 2010 with up to three of your fellow band members. Sorry, no roadies allowed.

Oh, did we forget to mention that you’ll be flying round trip in private jet?

Uh-huh, that’s right, we said PRIVATE JET.

To really blow your mind, you and your buddies will also win tix to the Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band concert at Caesars Atlantic City on July 3, 2010.

Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for up to the minute news.

[ Links: Harrahs, MTV Games, 2nd Annual Rock Band Competition ]

In case you’ve not heard yet, if you’re the owner of a non-slim Sony PS3, or “phat” or “fat” Sony PlayStation 3, it’s in your best interest to not try to play any games until either a fix is in place or until the datetime error is fixed.

“As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
• Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

Bad part… now that I cannot play my Sony PS3, I actually want to play it now.

UPDATE: Sony has “fixed” the problem, proceed with playing your games and collecting your trophies in peace now.

[ Links: PS3 IGN, Sony's Secret Warranty Timer? ]

Seems like all of the custom firmware, the cracked images and ISO’s and other methods to play Sony PSP games for “free” might all be coming to an end if the methods used by the upcoming Sony Computer Entertainment developed SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 title.

The new DRM employed by this SCEA game forces users to sign up online, use a voucher that’s included in the UMD version of the game. If you purchase the game used, you will have to purchase not only the used game, but another voucher for $20 in order to use the game.

I’m used to the feeling of how DRM treats your customers as a thief. It’s par for the course. But this seems like a bit of overkill on SCEA’s part. Whether or not this will become the standard way that SCEA games for the Sony PSP will be distributed; all this does is mask that Sony does indeed have a piracy problem. I do not feel this is the way to solve it.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 is in stores in the US now for $39.99.