Tiger Woods PGA TOUR News Galore

Written on January 21, 2010 at 1:25 pm, by James Fudge

Tiger Woods Online Beta opens even more.

If there was ever any doubt that EA Sports and Tiger Woods would continue its relationship in the wake of all the controversy over woods’ extramarital affairs announcement should put those doubts to bed. Electronic Arts announced this morning that it has two Tiger Woods games in the works and on the way – one of them in June.

The focus of today’s announcement is the beta test for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. Since May of last year, EA Sports, with the help of beta testers, have been vigorously testing the game. During the course of that closed beta test EA Sports says that more than 500,000 rounds of golf have been played.

Today the beta test is opened up to the masses. Fans can now get a free preview of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online and invite others via Facebook to join the open beta. Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, developed by EA Tiburon, is a web-based online golf experience that doesn’t require a traditional game installation, no disc, and no additional peripherals required. Features include Facebook Connect support to easily invite friends into the game and share game data, daily challenges that give players a score to beat and experience for beating it, experience points for having lots of “fans,” realistic golf physics and realistic wind effects, a pro shop to purchase branded gear and a whole lot of other features.

And on a related note EA Sports announced that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 will in fact be available on the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and iPhone when it ships in June.

Find out more about Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online by visiting www.tigerwoodsonline.com. This is the last story I will ever write here.  Good night and good luck.

Tetris Hits 100 Million Paid Mobile Downloads Milestone

Written on January 21, 2010 at 10:01 am, by James Fudge

Tetris mobile game bought 100 million times.

EA announced this morning that that mobile versions of Tetris, a game that it holds the very precious publishing rights to, has been downloaded over 100 million times since its release on various carriers. This figure includes iPhone and iPod tocuh downloads as well, in case you are wondering.

Tetris is a game that is best described as timeless fun that most anyone can enjoy. It was created in 1984 by Russian-born mathematician Alexey Pajitnov, who got a big break in 1989 when Nintendo decided to put the game on the Game Boy. The rest, as they say, is history. Since that time the game has sold 125 million units on 30 PC platforms alone.

EA secured the mobile phone rights to the game in 2006, but the game had already been on the market since 2001. This move to EA’s care brought forth a renaissance for the game, and has been a huge win for all involved.

EA Mobile and Blue Planet Software (who controls the Tetris license), plan to formally announce the milestone on Thursday in Montreal. Tetris is available in 60 countries on about 64,000 different handsets, about 20 percent of which are smart phones. The game is also available on iPhone for $4.99.

Report: EA in talks with Apple for Tablet Games

Written on January 21, 2010 at 8:40 am, by James Fudge

More details on what Apple will be revealing next week.

Apple’s Tablet is as real as rain and it will support games, digital newspapers and books according to an interesting report from CNN Money. Several reports that surfaced on the web this week revealed some secret deals Apple has been negotiating with U.S. content publishers, including Harper Collins U.S., The New York Times and Conde Nast. In that area these publishers are trying to nail down a pricing model for its content. Apple is also reportedly talking to CBS and Disney about setting up some sort of monthly subscription service, but the mass media market is not keen on Apple’s idea of a best of TV service – four to six shows from each channel.

Newspapers, books and television aside, our interest in this new tablet device lies in games, and the one thing the report confirms is that games are an important part of this device. According to CNN Money – who, by the way, heavily cites three sources for all this information – Bookseller.com, 9to5 Mac and the Wall Street Journal (subscription required to read)- says that Apple has been in talks with publisher Electronic Arts to create games for the device. What kinds of games, when they will be released, and whether or not these games are more like regular games or IPhone style games is unknown, but this is positive news for anyone that has written – this-yet-to-be-revealed device off as a glorified eReader to compete with Kindle. Yeah, it will take on Kindle judging by what’s been rumored, but it will also offer some other features that different consumer segments want.. like games and entertainment.

Apple is expected to reveal this new product next Wednesday at a “media only” press event. More information when we have it.

Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees Announced

Written on January 19, 2010 at 5:24 pm, by James Fudge

Who will win big at this year's GDC Awards?

For developers by developers is the mantra of the annual Game Developers Awards held at the game Developers Conference in San Francisco every March. this year developers have given nods to Dragon Age: Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Demon’s Souls and many other great games from 2009. In addition to these awards, a special award will be given to Gabe Newell for his contributions to the industry including the Half-Life series, Counter-Strike, Portal, Team Fortress, Left for Dead and Steam.

Nominations this year are led by Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2, with seven nods in various categories. That game is followed closely followed by five nominations for Thatgamecompany’s Flower, and four nominations for Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed II. Other multiple nominees include notably diverse titles such as Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, PopCap’s Plants Vs. Zombies, Infinity Ward’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and more.

For the biggest prize of the awards, Game of the Year, it is a battle amongst such notables as Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog), Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare), Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios), Demon’s Souls (From Software), and Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal).

Full list of nominees after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Diner Dash 5: Boom! Announced

Written on January 15, 2010 at 5:59 pm, by James Fudge

Hustle and Flo for tips and tricks.

PlayFirst is developing a new game in the Diner Dash series called Diner Dash 5: BOOM!. In this new game, Flo’s Diner accidentally goes explodes (no she wasn’t running a meth lab in the basement!) and it’s up to the player to help rebuild a brand new diner. Working with more than a 1000 possible combinations, each advancing level allows players to earn tips to purchase fixtures, décor and more to create a unique diner.

To celebrate the release of Diner Dash 5: BOOM!, PlayFirst plans to launch a commemorative collector’s edition of the game on Feb. 16th via PlayFirst.com for $19.99. The standard edition of Diner Dash 5: BOOM! for PC and Mac will launch approximately 2 weeks later on PlayFirst.com for $6.99.

The special Collector’s Edition will include exclusive bonus features and game play including 5 advanced levels of exclusive Diner Dash 5: BOOM! game play, a Strategy Guide Walkthrough, animated screensavers and wallpapers, and behind the scenes bonus material.

Since the debut of the franchise in 2004, the Diner Dash series has been downloaded more than 550 million times across the globe, making it one of the most popular casual game franchises of all time. Diner Dash games have been released on multi-platforms including mobile, iPhone, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare and Nintendo DS.

Apple Tablet Rumor: Q2 Release Window

Written on January 9, 2010 at 6:42 pm, by James Fudge

More Apple tablet computer hints and rumors.

I am keenly interested in Apple’s rumored Tablet PC, despite the fact that I don’t know yet what it will be capable of doing when it comes to playing games. Will it support iPhone and iPod touch games that already exist, will it have games designed specifically for it or will Apple give up the edge it has on its competition by ignoring gaming altogether?

Even though those questions (and a lot of others) still linger, every day brings a new confirmation that the device exists, is being built and will be released later this year. The latest confirmation comes from a Reuters report; according to that report, Taiwanese contract manufacturer

AVY Precision Technology will soon begin making the cases for Apple’s (AAPL) tablet computer in February, according to two anonymous sources cited by Reuters. The report also says that Taiwanese touch-screen panel maker TPK Solutions and Wintek will supply components to the device.

One of those sources says that production of the cases will begin in February, pointing to a second-quarter launch right now.

The sources declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media and Apple, AVY and TPK declined comment.

Apple App Store Hits 3 Billion Downloads

Written on January 5, 2010 at 11:13 am, by James Fudge

Three billion apps downloaded from App Store, says Apple.

Apple announced this morning that its App Store has surpassed 3 billion downloads from iPhone and iPod touch users. The growth of downloads has been pretty amazing; on April 23, 2009 said that it has surpassed 1 billion downloads and on Sept. 28 it said that it has surpassed 2 billion downloads. While we assume that most of these downloads are associated with the iPhone, the iPod touch is starting to gain momentum amongst consumers; According to data from Flurry Analytics last month iPod touch beat out iPhone downloads by 172 percent during the holiday shopping season (see this wonderful news story for more details).

This massive number of downloads is divided up across a variety of apps and games that number in the 100,000 (and counting) range.

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months — this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Apple chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, in a statement. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

On that everyone can agree – even if they don’t care for the truth of it..