Carmack: iPhone a serious threat to other hand-helds

In an interview with Chris Morris for CNBC, id Software founder and chief programmer John Carmack said that Apple’s iPhone may be a serious threat to the hand-held gaming market - specifically Nintendo’s DS and DSi.

It’s a pretty interesting comment if you consider that earlier this week a prominent analyst (who I won’t name here) said that the iPhone - in the long term - will not be a viable game platform. Carmack sees it another way - and he should know, he’s been working on the platform and selling his games via Apple’s app store for quite some time.

Earlier this week it was announced that there are now 100,000 apps available on the iPhone, and while not all of those are games, a good portion of them are and many of them sell for anywhere from 99 cents to $9.99 USD.

“I think mid- to long-term it’s a significant threat,” he says. “I don’t carry a DS or a PSP around, but I’ve got my iPhone everywhere. So if it plays good games, I’m less likely to pick one of the others up. … I think the stars could align and it could start to eclipse those other systems in terms of unit sales.”

While Carmack is a PC guy through and through, he has fallen in love with developing games for the iPhone. He describes his time developing games on the system “fun.”

“I wouldn’t be shocked if someone has one in development right now, though they probably don’t realize it will run that high yet,” he told CNBC. “If a title could do well at $9.99, you could put [Nintendo] DS level development expenses into it.”

id Software has made it their goal to release one iPhone game every quarter over the next year. Most recently the company released an iPhone remake of the classic DOOM game called “Doom Classic.” iPhone versions of one of my favorite id Software titles - Quake - and a follow-up to the popular Doom RPG are also in the works. id Software is also planning on having its latest game, RAGE, ready to go for the iPhone when it is released in 2010.

Source: CNBC

Game Boy inducted into National Toy Hall of Fame

The Game Boy is finally getting recognition it deserves this week, alongside the Ball and Big Wheel in the National Toy Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Play. The three toy honorees were selected from among 12 toy finalists that included: The Ball, Big Wheel, Cabbage Patch Kids, Game of Life, Hot Wheels, Nintendo Game Boy, Paper Airplane, Playing Cards, Rubik’s Cube, Sidewalk Chalk, Toy Tea Set, and Transformers. I would have thought that sidewalk chalk was a shoe-in but it didn’t make this year’s cut.

To date, 44 toys have made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame including Alphabet Blocks, Atari 2600 Game System, Ball, Barbie, Baby Doll, Bicycle, Big Wheel, Candy Land, Cardboard Box, Checkers, Crayola Crayons, Duncan Yo-Yo, Easy-Bake Oven, Erector Set, Etch A Sketch, Frisbee, G.I. Joe, Hula Hoop, Jack-in-the-Box, Jacks, Jigsaw Puzzle, Jump Rope, Kite, LEGO, Lincoln Logs, Lionel Trains, Marbles, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, Nintendo Game Boy, Play-Doh, Radio Flyer Wagon, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Rocking Horse, Roller Skates, Scrabble, Silly Putty, Skateboard, Slinky, Stick, Teddy Bear, Tinkertoy, Tonka Trucks, and View-Master.

Congrats to all this year’s winners. A special shout-out to stick for finally being able to reunite with ball.

Activision Q3 Profits up on Guitar Hero, Call of Duty

Activision Blizzard announced a profit for the third quarter, thanks to two important events: a reduction in costs and strong sales of titles like Guitar Hero 5. Shares rose 2 percent in afternoon trading on the news. The company also predicted lower fourth quarter numbers than what Wall Street expected, despite the pending release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which ships next Tuesday.

For the third quarter, Activision reported a net income of $15 million - 1 cent per share - compared with a net loss of $108 million - 8 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Net revenue dipped 1 percent in Q3 to $703 million. Excluding revenue that was deferred from the sale of certain titles, the company said revenue for the period would have been right around $755 million.

In the quarter Activision Blizzard increased its U.S. and European share 1.2 points over the previous year across all platforms to 12.3 percent and had two of the top-10 best-selling titles in the U.S.: Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero World Tour, according to retail sales data from NPD Group (U.S.) and Charttrack and Gfk (Europe).

The top selling games for the quarter were Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and older versions of Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and - of course - World of Warcraft.

For the fourth quarter, Activision is predicting earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $2.22 billion, on a non-GAAP basis. Analysts were expecting earnings of 44 cents a share on revenue of $2.3 billion. The fourth quarter will include the release of Modern Warfare 2, Tony Hawk: Ride, DJ Hero and Band Hero.

IGF 2010 entries roll in in record numbers

According to the organizers of the 2010 Independent Games Festival (IGF 2010) the annual event dedicated to all things indie gaming that runs during the Game Developers conference has received a record number of entries to the Main Competition. In total, this year’s Main Competition has has right around 306 game entries, many of which were created by leading independent game developers. This represents a 35 percent increase over last year’s 226 entries, which was a 30 percent increase over the previous year.

From this pool of 306 entries, finalists will be decided by 150 industry judges. Finalists will be announced in January 2010. Games selected as finalists will be available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced at the IGF ceremony, taking place March 11, 2010, during the Game Developers Conference.

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Halo Waypoint now live on Xbox Live

Starting Saturday, Nov. 7, Halo Waypoint will begin previewing new Halo content on Xbox Live. The new virtual home for all things Halo launches today on Xbox LIVE, and will be the “exclusive destination for full-episode previews of Halo Legends beginning Saturday, Nov. 7. Halo Waypoint promises daily updates featuring developer interviews, trailers and screenshots, exclusive video footage, community activities and the latest Halo news.

In addition, Halo Waypoint includes a career system that tracks players’ accomplishments across multiple Halo games and gives them new ways to show off their in game exploits. Players who participate in Halo Waypoint will be rewarded with a variety of Bungie-created Halo 3: ODST Avatar Awardables for attaining specific Achievements in the game. Rewards vary from T-shirts to full sets of ODST armor. These awardables are retroactive, so if players have already unlocked the requisite Achievements, the awards will be ready for them once they enlist in Halo Waypoint.

Turn on your Xbox 360 and log on to Xbox Live to learn more.

Unreal Engine 3 for free

Epic Games has launched the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the game development toolset. The software is available to game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone interested in using the Unreal Engine 3 toolset can download it now at www.udk.com. The site also offers detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more.

There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 campuses are already using Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses. Colleges planning to incorporate UDK into their curriculum include the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina State University, The Art Institute system of schools, Drexel University, Westwood College, DeVry University and Atlantic College, with many others to be announced.

Ad-Aware Game Edition released

Lavasoft, makers of Ad-Aware security software, today released a version of its software specifically tailored to gamers. Called Ad-Aware Game Edition, the software is a spin-off of its flagship product aimed specifically to meet the needs of today’s online gamers and entertainment fans with real-time anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, and technology designed to deliver online protection without interruptions or resource strain.

According to the Malware Labs at Lavasoft, cyber thieves are cashing in on unsuspecting online game players. Malware authors are capitalizing on the transfer of cash and virtual goods that takes place regularly in online games by developing Trojans aimed specifically at stealing passwords and log-in details from users’ games. The scammers are usually after the credit card and billing information for online game accounts, as well as virtual world loot, which they can auction off for real world money.

In the past nine months, the amount of unique signatures added to the Win32.TrojanPWS.Onlinegames family of threats in Ad-Aware’s Detection Database of known malware increased by over 600 percent. That is why they created this software.

Unfortunately it is not free. Ad-Aware Game Edition is available immediately at www.shieldpowerup.com for $24.95. A limited trial versions is available as well. Each Game Edition purchase includes a choice of one free casual game including Peggle, Bejeweled 2, Ranch Rush, Mean Girls: High School Showdown, and Tradewinds Odyssey.