Ready for OnLive? After their GDC Keynote, OnLive has been officially announced to release on June 17, 2010, and that the first 25,000 registered users will get their first 3 months of OnLive, normally $14.99 per month, free.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up!

via OnLive Blog

id Software has released details for this year's upcoming QuakeCon event.

What: QuakeCon is a free convention held yearly in Dallas, Texas brought to you by id Software, Bethesda Softworks and their parent company ZeniMax Media Inc.. Thousands of gamers gather in one location to play with their friends on a giant gaming network, see the latest in cool technology, hear about upcoming games and compete in world-class tournaments.

Who: Fans of computer and videogames. The event is FREE to all attendees thanks to the support of id and Bethesda as well as the QuakeCon volunteer staff and the 2010 event sponsors and exhibitors.

When: August 12-15, 2010

Where: Hilton Anatole Hotel - Dallas, Texas

Why: Play in world-class tournaments, meet and interact with game developers, be the first to learn new information about upcoming computer and videogames and have the opportunity to frag with friends on QuakeCon’s massive Bring Your Own Computer network.

More details about QuakeCon 2010 will be revealed in the coming weeks.

There has been quite a bit of activity lately between Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision which started with the arrival of some "bouncer-types" at the offices of Infinity Ward and later lead to confirmation that studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West were no longer under the developer's employ. Aside from some vague explanations made by Activision concerning breaches of contracts and investigations of "insubordination", cold hard details behind why Vince and Jason left the studio have been sparse, but here are the facts and speculations we know so far.

(more...)

[Update] It looks like CEO and founder of Infinity Ward, Vince Zampella, and co-founder, Jason West, have officially left Infinity Ward according to their LinkedIn pages. In regard to working for Infinity Ward, both LinkedIn pages now have an end date of March 2010. The reason behind the departure is still unclear aside from what was mentioned in the SEC filing Activision submitted.

Yesterday some news landed that some intimidating "bouncer-type" men had showed up at the offices of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward. These men were tight lipped concerning the reasons why they were at the building which, understandably, caused some confusion and worry. Later, senior developers Jason West and Vince Zampella were noticably absent from the premices and following some news that the two developers had met earlier that day with Activision, in addition to an update to Jason West's Facebook status (posted by Kotaku) and LinkedIn profile, it appears the two developers have been released from Infinity Ward.

According to an SEC filing Activision submitted yesterday morning, a human resources investigation had been cited by the publisher concerning "breaches of contracts and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward." It appears one of those employees is Jason West, but at this time its unconfirmed if Vince Zampella was the other.

From within the report:

"This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company."

Details are sparse as to what sort of insubordination or breaches in contract took place here. Considering Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 is a money maker for the publisher you have to wonder what would of had to take place for Activision to cut out two of the developers behind the game. There could be a perfectly legitimate reason why these guys were shown the door, but little is known at this time.

A typical console's life cycle usually winds down at the five year mark and rumors of the next console usually start to crop up at around the four year mark. Since the Wii was released in 2006 this would be the time that rumors surrounding the next system would really start to surface correct? Nintendo of America Executive Camie Dunaway says, "I don't think it'll be any time soon"

When interviewed by Gamespot after Nintendo's media summit Camie Dunaway went ahead and shut down the idea that news of a new console would be coming anytime soon saying that the Wii "...has a lot of room to grow." She went on to mention that just because there is no news now, doesn't mean that Nintendo isn't preparing for the future:

"That said, part of Nintendo's heritage is to always be looking at innovation, and to always start working on the next hardware every time we launch a platform, so we'll have it ready when the time is right."

Analyst Michael Pachter once said that there wouldn't be any new consoles released till 2013. This theory may be well suited for Microsoft and Sony, but considering the Wii is already underpowered and lacks HD capability lets hope that we won't have to wait much longer for a successor.

[via Gamespot]

While the PS3 and Xbox 360 have seen significant price drops since their respective debuts, particularly the former by way of the PS3 Slim, the price points are still not where EA would like them to be. Even four to five years after their launches, the publisher would like to see lower prices on console hardware.

"I think pricing has not come down as much as we would have expected at this point in the cycle compared to the last," said EA's CFO, Eric Brown, at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. "We do have a long way to go with respect to pricing. Last cycle, approximately 48 percent of PS2 units were sold at a price point of $149 or less. Clearly at $299, we're nowhere near that price point."

When asked about the lifecycle of this generation's consoles, Brown explained how we likely won't see a quick transition to a new generation like we did when the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii released.

"It's a possibility that we don't see a sharp and distinct console transition like we've seen in the past. Today, we have two of the three consoles operating at full, high-definition and are running games at 60 frames a second," he continued. "If you have a multi-billion capital investment to develop the next generation hardware, the question I would ask is, 'If you were to produce that, what would you display it on?' There's really nothing in terms of broadly available consumer viewing technology other than 1080p televisions. You could upgrade in theory, but you wouldn't get the obvious graphic benefit that we saw that drove the transitions in the prior cycle."

[via IGN]

Take-Two is extending its offices to Japan. Rather than let other publishing partners such as Capcom or D3 Publishers slap their logos on their games, Take-Two will open their own office to publish their games in the land of the rising sun.

The first game to be released will be GTA: Episodes from Liberty City. There are no further details as to when and what platforms

[via Joystiq]

Remedy Entertainment, developer behind the upcoming thriller Alan Wake, said in an interview with GI.biz that it's in "no hurry" for a new console cycle. The studio says it is still tapping the full potential of the current generation of consoles. They also say they aren't the only ones.

"I think all the developers out there -- or most of us at least -- we're absolutely in no hurry to move onto a new console cycle. There are still things that we can do with the current generation of hardware for the 360 and PlayStation 3," said managing director Matias Myllyrine. "We have a healthy installed base, and gamers have gotten a lot of the services that they wanted from stuff like Live and so forth. I don't think a leap is called for -- especially with Natal and the other devices coming out, hopefully that will extend the life cycle."

Alan Wake is set to release exclusively on the Xbox 360 May 18.

According to Peter Guber, chairman of Mandalay Pictures and former Sony Pictures chief, males are opting to stay home and play video games rather than go to the movies, which is why chick flicks are raking in the cash.

"A lot of young males are spending much more time on the internet, games and UFC," Guber told The Sunday Telegraph. "They have not abandoned movies, but they have diminished as a target, while the female audience has remained robust."

Movies like Valentine's Day and Dear John have been at the top of the box office lately, suggesting both an increase in female attendance and a decrease in male attendance.

Although I'd argue that the reason males aren't going to the movies is because the selection has been utter crap lately. Shutter Island, Valentine's Day, or Dear John? I think I'd rather stay home and play games.

[via CVG]

Looks like Warner Bros. wanted to be more than just a publisher for Rocksteady Studios, the dev team behind last year's award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. has announced their purchase of a majority stake for the London-based developer.

"We are proud to strengthen our association with WBIE, a world class publisher that we have enjoyed working with since we began developing Batman: Arkham Asylum," said Rocksteady studio director Jamie Walker.

One of the main reasons that Arkham Asylum was so good was due to Warner Bros. providing liberous access to the licensed content of the Batman series so this should make for a pretty good match.

[via Gamerzines]