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Keywords Acquires Halo Co-Developer Sure Affinity

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Keywords Studios has landed US developer Sure Affinity for a hidden sum.

The studio was founded in 2006 by a group of former Bungie employees and has specialized in the co-development of AAA games. Projects he has worked on include Hogwarts Legacy and Gotham Knights, as well as some titles in the Name of Accountability and Halo franchises, including Halo Endless.

Certain Affinity will continue to be led by its control group, including founder and CEO Max Hoberman and president and COO Paul Sams. Lately, the couple oversees a team of workers at 180 companies across the United States and Canada.

The purchase is subject to most situations and will come with an upfront cash acquisition, funded through Keywords’ existing revolving credit facility, and an earn-out feature based on Sure Affinity’s performance.

“In this difficult time in the market, we are thrilled to be able to offer stability and a supportive home for our team,” Hoberman said in a comment. “The honor that Key Frases has shown for our skill and tradition, along with the willingness to invest money in our expansion, is unheard of.

“Paul and I look forward to partnering with them to chart a course for a careful expansion of our core co-development activities, the refinement of our leader development capabilities, and championing the growth of the Create division.”

Again in April, the studio laid off 25 US-based employees, 10% of its workforce, with Hoberman citing “an industry-wide slowdown in funding new lead and co-development projects” and a “reluctance to third party investors” as the main causes of the verdict.

Keywords CEO Bertrand Bodson added: “We are very pleased to welcome Sure Affinity to the Keywords team. We greatly admire their track record and recognition. They bring a wealth of insight, experience and expertise to our Develop section, complementing our current talents and significantly increasing our presence in the United States and Canada.

“We look forward to partnering with Max, Paul and their team over the coming years to continue driving growth in our Create division and the broader business.”

Sure Affinity is Keywords’ second acquisition in 2024, following its acquisition of British developer Wushu Studios in August.

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Dave the Diver Author Needs to Build a Video Game ‘Dave Cinematic Universe’

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Dave the Diver author Jaeho Hwang says he wants to expand the Dave the Diver intellectual property, with intact games that focus on other characters and span a few genres, depending on the fate of the main game.

Jaeho Hwang is now CEO of Mintrocket, following parent company Nexon’s decision to make developer its own remote category. This followed his successful debut name, Dave the Diver, which has sold over four million devices and won a BAFTA award.

In a conversation at Gamescom Asia in Singapore, Hwang said that Mintrocket’s intact sovereignty would allow him to focus more on building the game, especially the Dave the Diver intellectual property, rather than pitching ideas and business plans to his parents.

“I actually want to expand the Dave the Diver IP,” Hwang said, when asked what life has in store for Mintrocket. “I think that is every director’s dream, since we have a character that we can identify with.

“But we didn’t really delve too deeply into Dave the Diver’s personal stories, because we wanted to keep the game very casual.

“So, as a director, in addition to the story DLC we are working on now, I also want to make separate games about each character to show how they met, what they did before arriving at the Blue Hole.

“In that sense, game genres can be different. Maybe someday, if we start making a game about Dave’s story, we can make Dave [another profession]. “He’s always been a diver, so we haven’t really thought about how we should move with Dave.”

Hwang said he wants to develop the story of Dave the Diver by telling the backstories of both its protagonist and the main supporting characters.

Dave the Diver creator wants to create a 'Dave cinematic universe' of games

“I really want to show how he grew up, how he became a diver and how he ended up getting to the Blue Hole,” he said.

“I think it’s really fun. Cobra, one of our main characters, is from my previous project, Evil Factory. He was an arms dealer who had his license revoked and after that he retired and enjoyed his life, and something happened and he decided to enter the Blue Hole. So I really want to tell this kind of story in other games.”

Hwang said that despite being granted its own subdivision within Nexon, his wish remains for Mintrocket to remain miniature.

“I think we’ll stay small. I mean, the definition of small can vary. Dredge, they only have four people on the development team. But I think the team of 20 to 30 people is ideal.”

He added: “It’s easier to correspond and easier to be on the same website that way. I feel like Mintrocket can grow in the future when it comes to measurement, if we are confident in what we are doing right now.

But that means we’ll have more teams of similar size, or maybe we’ll start publishing some things. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to have a big team of 100 people.

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Pak vs Eng, 2nd Test: Shan Masood hails ‘remarkable Pakistan cricket victory’

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It is no longer a claim yet, but a safe vacation. That was once the pitch that Pakistan captain Shan Masood tried to hit. Pakistan had bowled out England for 144 in Multan. It gave them their first home win in four years and, on a personal track, Masood took his first Test victory as captain.

“This was a very important victory for Pakistan cricket,” he said. “The recent results were unacceptable. There is relief. This is a long process and journey. It will not be fixed overnight. It has been three years and 10 months since we last won a home test. That is not acceptable for Pakistan cricket. We are proud of how well we played this match and how we see ourselves as a team to get a result and hopefully start something here on our own terms is exciting. for years and still get a result. That’s the character you want from your players, staff and cricket board. They all responded well after the end. [first Test] loss that is very encouraging.”

Following an innings defeat that intensified the spotlight on Masood’s captaincy and a seemingly endless losing streak, Pakistan’s blueprint was overhauled overnight by the newly established selection committee. Fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were dropped from the team, and Zahid Mahmood, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali were brought in from the cold; none of them had played first-class cricket since January. The same shade as the main test was recycled and reused.

 

Masood, however, said Pakistan had not changed its thinking on the only issue that really mattered. “I said it in defeat and I will say it in victory: 20 wickets are non-negotiable in Test matches,” he said. “The conditions in the fourth innings are only favorable for batting about 10% of the time. We have to understand our conditions and first think about what combinations get us 20 wickets. We need great first innings with the bat and then the bowlers to back us up.” The advantage took the pressure off of us in the third inning and the 75-run lead helped us because we scored 220 or so. [that] resulted in a target of almost 300 runs.”

Masood claimed that the central gamble at the heart of Pakistan’s lucrative tactic at this pace still. Perhaps the most notable feature of the game was when the coin flip was tossed before the first ball was tossed. Ben Stokes called tails, as he always does, and when the coin pointed the other way, the tactic had paid off.

The rest were sorted through two of the spinners they installed, with Sajid and Noman splitting the 20 wickets between the two: the first hour, two players were responsible for all the opposition wickets since 1972, and only the second hour in Pakistan’s historical past. In the second innings, denying the alternate bowler even became his arm as England were bundled out in 33.3 overs.

“Today we are just concentrating on how to take eight wickets,” Masood said. “Since I came in, we have had no problem taking risks. We have tried to play cricket that produces results, and we have also lost many matches doing that. When the selection committee came in, we all all had one concern: taking 20 wickets. Just we had taken 20 wickets once during my tenure. We looked at the conditions and realized that playing on a used surface and giving an advantage to the spinners. [could work]. We thought why not try something different.

“You’ll have to give credit to Noman and Sajid for the way they came back. It looked like two experienced campaigners bowling for Pakistan. You need to take those risks to try and accelerate 20 wickets, no matter what rough pitch we do it in.” .

It has been a familiar refrain for Masood in this series, where the outcome has justified the somewhat extreme methods adopted by Pakistan. This is, as he noted, only the second time in seven Test matches under his captaincy that Pakistan has managed to take 20 wickets. He said Pakistan will be guided by the most efficient route from now on, no matter what.

It is a subtle departure from the message of belligerent positivity that Masood has preached for most of his tenure, but at some point, idealism had to be abandoned at the altar of pragmatism. The question remains what Pakistan will do in Rawalpindi, an area that has never been susceptible to prodigious changes. And while Masood said Pakistan would need to understand the conditions at each specific venue, there was little attempt to hide what Pakistan really wanted from the pitch for the third Test.

“ID [like it to spin]. I don’t know if I’ve noticed it in Rawalpindi, so it’s an issue. We hope that the sun can play in your section and that the wicket can also be on the drier side. But it is certainly more noticeable. We will advance there [Sunday] and take a look. The gardeners are already there and are working on a suitable test pitch. “We will try to set up a perfect Test wicket where each team can pick up 20 wickets.”

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Ubisoft Milan joins Ubisoft France’s collapse over return to the workplace

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Ubisoft Milan has requested a one-day block in collaboration with Ubisoft France.

As reported in Deadline, the Milanese section of the Fiom Cgil union expressed fears about the company’s return to business activity.

“It is unthinkable that a young man who lives in another region or, in any case, far from our territory can spend three days a week in Milan, changing his existence,” said Andrea Rosafalco, consultant at Fiom Cgil. “It is not economically sustainable and it is unfair on a human level.”

According to Insider Gaming, several Ubisoft Milan employees are set to leave the studio as a result. He also noted that resources said some had left to fix former creative director Davide Soliani’s new Event 4 Night studio.

GameIndustry.biz has contacted Ubisoft for additional comment.

Prior to this day, more than 700 Ubisoft France employees participated in a three-day lockdown based on a mandate that would require employees to be in the office for at least three days per day.

“The consequence of this decision will be the loss of our colleagues’ jobs, the disorganization of many gaming projects and the drastic increase in psychological risk for those who remain,” said a consultant for the French leisure workers’ union STJV. (Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo).

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Amazon’s God of War TV show reportedly seems eager to go in “a different creative direction,” as the showrunner packs up his Leviathan Awl and heads straight for alternative things.

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The God of War TV design that has been in the works at Amazon’s Top Video for many years could reportedly be seeing a change in writing staff, as its previous showrunner and a couple of key brands have moved directly to alternative themes.

The collaboration between Amazon and Sony, which was shown as a factor through a recent tweet in December 2022 that followed enough rumors, has been moving forward since then, although this change seems irresistible and may be a bit. of a fork in the road from how it ends up being each time it arrives.

According to a report from Time Limit, showrunner and executive producer Rafe Judkins, along with fellow executive producers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, abandoned the mission.

Sony and Amazon need to “hire a whole new writers room” for the design, which is irresistible, but it’s still very much a concept where both events are visual, and it’s believed to be “a different creative direction “. through each one.

It doesn’t appear on the surface to be too bitter a crack, or at least that’s how it’s being interpreted, with one source stating Deadline that the God of War scripts that Judkins, Ostby and Fergus had written were “praised.” by both Sony and Prime.”

The blurb initially given for the show began with the passing of Kratos’ wife (very sad), which causes the bearded man to have to adopt a bad relationship with his estranged son to fulfill his last wish of having her ashes thrown at him from a voluminous height. “Kratos soon realizes that the journey is an epic quest in disguise,” he added, “one that will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to fight new gods and monsters for the fate of the world.”

It remains to be seen how much that clever new path can change when it comes to moves, but hopefully we’ll get a story about the Norse mythological gang fight that looks a little like this one.

Are you looking forward to seeing what God of War TV’s design looks like? Tell us below!





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Banjo-Tooie is coming to Nintendo Transfer at this rate

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Uncommon’s much-loved Banjo Kazooie sequel, Banjo-Tooie, is coming to Nintendo Transfer after this beat.

The Nintendo 64 version will join the Nintendo Transfer Online + Growth Bind library on October 25.

Nintendo 64™ – October 2024 Game Update – Nintendo Transfer Online + Development Bind. Listen on YouTube

“Banjo-Tooie is now coming to the Nintendo 64 game collection – Nintendo Switch Online!” Nintendo joked.

“It’s bear-bird duo Banjo and Kazooie to the rescue! Magical mini-games, perplexing puzzles and strange enemies await them in the following stages: through ancient ruins, underwater kingdoms and even a kind of amusement park.”

Nintendo Transfer Online, Nintendo’s subscription service, was introduced in 2018. Although it marks the first date that Nintendo has blocked the ability to play multiplayer games online through a paid service, Nintendo has contributed a large amount of money. of additional benefits like cloud saves, game trials, and exclusive money-saving deals to improve trading. Listed below are all of the Nintendo Transfer Online video games available to play today.

As we recently reported, Nintendo is asking participants in its secret Nintendo Transfer Online: Playtest Program not to disclose the details of an unused Transfer Online component.

This, of course, attracted enough attention and enthusiasm, so much so that the test app reached its capacity of 10,000 people within a short time of being available.





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Dragon Year: The Faraway Veilguard with GeForce Now

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BioWare’s long-awaited Dragon Year: The Veilguard will also be available to play games remotely if you purchase the final six-month Nvidia GeForce Now package.

The Nvidia Collection, priced at £99, offers all the usual GeForce Now Final goodies, such as game streaming from GeForce RTX 4080 machines and even 4K gaming at 240 FPS.

Until October 30, anyone who signs the trade will also have remote access to Year of the Dragon: The Veilguard.

GeForce Now package options.

Symbol Credit Score: NVIDIA

Coming up on a decade-long wait since Dragon Year Inquisition, BioWare’s next bust in its line of fictional role-playing games is practically here. The Veilguard is set to arrive on Thursday, October 31; only in the future does the Nvidia trade-in expire.

Alternative games are ready to be available through GeForce. Now this era comes with:

  • Neva (reduction intact on Steam, October 15)
  • MechWarrior 5: Clans (Steam and Xbox, available on PC Game Move)
  • A Quitness Park: The Street Forward (Steam)
  • Murderer’s Creed Mirage (Steam)
  • Artisanal TD (steam)
  • ASKA (steam)
  • Rich person in dungeon (Steam)
  • South Ground: The Fractured But Complete (available on PC Game Pass)
  • Spirit Town: Lofi Periods (Steam)
  • Renowned Trucker (Xbox, available on Sport Move)

However, if you want to see how your own team is prepared for the game, here are the specifications for Dragon Year: The Veilguard for PC.





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Tekken 8 fails to live up to its debatable DLC release, but is it too modest and too late?

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Tekken 8 faced serious grievances due to Bandai Namco’s decision to sell Heihachi’s unused level separately from the Season 1 DLC release. Now, following the family uproar, Bandai Namco has reneged on its true determination, giving the level to homeowners along with some in-game currencies to help sweat the trade.

This information came from a message posted on social media by the original Tekken 8 account. It reads: “We apologize for not meeting community expectations for the ‘playable character year 1 pass’ content and method of “Genmaji Temple” DLC release. After thoroughly discussing the feedback, the Project Tekken team has decided on the next steps.”

This is clearly good officialdom and the real way out of both the public relations and family control point of view. It’s certainly a status that may have caused some internal turmoil, especially since the season pass used to be, as explicitly stated in the message, a personality pass rather than a full content pass. On the other hand, as any Tekken player will tell you, stages aren’t just fancy set pieces. They have real effects on the game. Hence the hype surrounding its roster as a separate little DLC.

Now that this seems to have come full circle around the issue, one wonders where Tekken 8 goes from here regarding its monetization practices. Yes, in this speed round, players get the indifference level. But what happens after the season? Sure, it’s worth assuming that from now on our phases will be contained within the monthly passes, but it’s not like developing unused phases is cheap. Will the value of going to incorporate phases accumulate? Or will the messaging be advanced to be so brilliant that buying the go allows you to have more useful characters?

However, has this come too late? I ask this because, if you take a look at the familiar fighting game hubs, the consensus around Tekken 8 is no longer as bright as it was when the game first came out. Players are a little more skeptical nowadays, they’ve been through a couple of tough times. Whether it’s the whole debacle over the lack of punishments for furious quitting or the hot Tekken International Tour ruling that resulted in a Chinese player being disqualified, feelings are certainly mixed.

If things like this keep happening, how long will the good end last? Tekken 8 is by no means a bad match. I would dare to say that it is a fantastic match. But at times it seems as if it has been held back by the short-sightedness of those within Bandai Namco, albeit indirectly concerned with the advanced team. Speaking to us recently, Harada himself said he was concerned that when he and the rest of Tekken’s senior staff left, the energy balance between the advanced side of the company and the corporate side would shift. Possibly this is all a trend of the month type.

What do you remember about all this? Are you involved during Tekken month? Or are you just happy that you can get the degree with unnecessary expenses? Tell us below.





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Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii shortened the week to avoid the success of Monster Hunter Wilds

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Yakuza developer RGG and publisher Sega announced a flawless cutoff week for Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii on closing night during Microsoft’s October Xbox Spouse Preview tournament. Now we all know why.

The then pirate-focused game was initially scheduled for release on February 28. However, that week is no longer, for two reasons. The main one, “because development is progressing better than expected,” said RGG.

And the second? That is why the team looked for all of us to “be able to play the game that comes next, with peace of mind.”

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii – Naval Fighting Disclosure. Stay tuned to YouTube

RGG week did not name names, a quick look at the presentations of the reduced 2025 schedule, a hit between the previous week of Pirate Yakuza and the start of Monster Hunter Wilds, which could also be ready for February 28.

As such, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will now debut an hour earlier on February 21.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved,” said RGG studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama in delivering this revised shortened week. The famous developer Sega has supported the choice of the studio.

Like a Yakuza pirate dragon in Hawaii

Symbol Credit Score: sega

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was recently released. It features regular character Goro Majima washing his buckles as the sole protagonist, while he sets out to sea as a powerful pirate after a case of amnesia. It will be released on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5 and Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Did you know RGG played into the speculation of calling the Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii ‘Like A Dragon: Tuna’? Not only that, at one point the design game will have introduced the unreleased protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as a fighting fisherman.





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EU Court of Justice rules against Sony in Motion Replay cheating lawsuit

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The EU Court of Justice has ruled in favor of British peripheral company Datel as it faces a lawsuit from Sony over its Motion Replay cheating device, as criminal experts report. GameIndustry.biz that third party device used for dishonesty, modification, etc. will remain “illegal in many cases.”

In a case dating back to 2012, Sony sued Datel in German courts over its Motion Replay for the PlayStation Moveable, using examples of the tricks this product offers for titles like MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (e.g. countless improvements).

The platform owner claimed that Motion Replay was infringing his right to authorize any modifications to his sports device and sought coverage under the 2009 European Parliament directive on computer systems criminal policy.

According to a statement from the Court of Justice of the European Union, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice noted that Motion Replay “does not change or reproduce either the object code, the source code, or the internal structure and organization of the Sony software.”

Instead, it “simply changes the content of variables temporarily transferred by Sony games to the console’s RAM, which are used during the game’s execution.”

The German courts summoned the Court of Justice of the European Union to weigh in on this, and most correct, interpretation of the 2009 directive.

“The Court of Justice declares that the content of variable data transferred by a computer program to the RAM memory of a computer and used by said program in its execution is not covered by the protection specifically conferred by that Directive, to the extent that said content does not allow said program to be reproduced or created later,” the comment reads.

Sony had asked that Datel’s advertising on its Motion Replay products be canceled and sought reimbursement for the losses it allegedly suffered. On the other hand, GamesMarkt reports that, due to the European Court’s decision, the case will be closed under German law.

chatting with GameIndustry.bizDr. Andreas Lober, ADVANT Beiten’s spouse, mentioned: “Indecision creators and cheat device editors will have fun. [But] They should no longer be too ambitious with respect to this knowledge.

“For procedural reasons, the Court only ruled on a single ground: whether the simple change of variables in a computer program is considered an unauthorized modification. When multiplayer game publishers today take action against cheat software providers , are typically based on other legal instruments that are not affected by this decision, for example, breach of EULA and unfair competition.”

Similarly, Harbottle & Lewis spouse and co-head of the Interactive Leisure team, Kostyantyn Lobov, says this ruling belongs at a very explicit level; In particular, if you can copyright variables that are temporarily stored in a device’s RAM, compared to copyrighting the game code itself.

“What’s important to remember is that there are typically a number of reasons why the creation, promotion, sale and use of third-party software that interacts with a game’s code (and ultimately affects gameplay) might be illegal; This is just one of them,” he mentioned.

“This decision does not serve, for example, to change the fact that the development, distribution and prominence of such a device often leads to other acts of copyright infringement and non-compliance with the sport’s Utility Phrases. The Applicability of other intellectual property rights This decision may not affect businesses, such as virtue patents and trademarks.

“The bottom line is that third-party software used to cheat, modify or otherwise alter a game will remain illegal in many cases, and rights holders have a number of tools at their disposal to deal with it.”

The cheat system has evolved significantly since the demise of Motion Replay and PlayStation Moveable. Bungie received a $4.3 million lawsuit against cheat provider AimJunkies earlier this generation, while Activision received $14.4 million in damages for its criminal fight with EngineOwning.





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