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Video History

Netgear has produced a video that is rather humorous, and gives one perspective on the history of videogames. It is supposed to be "viral" but it clearly is "commercial" in quality. It is still worth watching at least once.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEFIyurkmFc

Micro Acquisition

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Live Gamer (www.livegamer.com), the global leader of total commerce solutions for micro-transaction-based businesses spanning online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Twofish (www.twofish.com), the premier provider of virtual economy data solutions for casual gaming and social application developers.  The Twofish acquisition accelerates Live Gamer's recent strategic initiatives over recent months. In conjunction with the recent acquisition of N-Cash, the combination of Live Gamer and Twofish ...

Moving Into New Territory

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Continuing its global expansion, Kalypso Media USA Inc., today announced that it has appointed industry veteran, Deborah Tillett, as president of its newly established U.S. headquarters in Baltimore, MD.  Tillett will be responsible for developing and implementing Kalypso’s strategic and creative vision for North America. R20;Deb has a proven track record of success in establishing and growing technology companies, and a fluent understanding of the video game business,” said Simon Hellwig, Managing ...

Major Buyout

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, today announced it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio, id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE. The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the finest, most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the first person shooter (FPS) expertise of id Software with acclaimed role playing game (RPG) ...

John Who?

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that John Schappert has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, responsible for Worldwide Publishing, the Online Platform Group, EATM Interactive, Central Development Services and other divisions of the company. Schappert, who joined the industry in 1991 as a software engineer on several EA titles and went on to lead many of the company's biggest franchises, left EA in 2007 to become Corporate Vice President of the Microsoft ...

Sega’s Corporate Shuffle

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE     SEGA® of America, Inc., and SEGA® Europe Ltd., today announced a series of management promotions that will further unite SEGA's global markets to drive growth. Effective today, the longstanding leader of SEGA's videogame business, Mr. Naoya Tsurumi, will assume worldwide responsibility for SEGA's Consumer Business, incorporating SEGA of Japan, SEGA of America and SEGA of Europe. Mike Hayes is promoted to the newly created position of President & COO of both SEGA of America ...

Developer Buyout

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE 38 Studios (www.38studios.com), an entertainment and original IP creation company, today announced the acquisition of Big Huge Games (BHG) from publisher THQ Inc. The acquisition is a critical step in 38 Studios’ strategy to deliver a broad range of entertainment products centered on its original fantasy IP, codenamed Copernicus. The purchase of Big Huge Games includes all of the company’s proprietary IP, tools, technology, assets, and works-in-progress. Specific financial terms of the ...

Loose Canon

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Loose Cannon Studios announced today it has formally entered the games industry as an independent development and production house. The company sparked under Dev Madan and Matthew Scott, formerly of Sucker Punch Productions, and Ricci Rukavina, who held creative and production positions at Universal Interactive Studios, Vivendi Games and The Walt Disney Company. The founding team at Loose Cannon Studios embodies 40 years of experience in the electronic entertainment industry and will ...

New Head

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE     Courtney Simmons has joined Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG) as vice president of communications. Ms. Simmons will be based in North Hollywood, CA and will manage all communications for Disney Interactive Media Group, which is responsible for the creation and delivery of Disney branded interactive entertainment content across multiple online, mobile and video game platforms on a worldwide basis for The Walt Disney Company. She will report to DIMG President Steve Wadsworth ...

A New Real CEO

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE       Realtime Worlds, Inc., a leading independent video game developer and publisher, has chosen respected interactive entertainment executive Gary Dale as its new chief executive officer.  A video game business expert with more than 25 years of executive experience, Dale will oversee the day-to-day operations and drive strategic direction of Realtime Worlds and its products, commencing with the highly-anticipated urban-themed online game All Points Bulletin.  R20;Having worked with Gary earlier in his career at ...

StripesGamer

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE   Stars and Stripes, independent daily newspaper of the U.S. military community, and Consumer Solutions Gaming, LLC, of Houston, TX, have joined forces to provide gamers in the military with a free online space where they can form teams, schedule matches, issue challenges and compete continually in leagues and tournaments. Since unveiling the beta version of the site (www.StripesGAMER.com) last September at the New York Games Conference, several features have been enhanced and ...

Hired At inXile

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE inXile entertainment today announced that Jason Anderson, one of the original Fallout design team members, has joined the company as creative director for a new, unannounced role-playing game (RPG) from inXile. Anderson recently left Interplay, where in his second tenure there served as creative director working on the next generation MMO Project: V13. "Jason has an extensive resume of creating amazing RPGs over the past two decades and we feel very lucky to ...

PS3 & PhysX

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it has signed a tools and middleware license agreement for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI). As a result, the binary version of the NVIDIA(R) PhysX(R) technology software development kit (SDK) is now available to registered PS3 developers for free download and use on the SCEI Developer Network. The NVIDIA PhysX software development kit SDK consists of a full-featured API and robust physics engine, designed to ...

A True International Hire

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE True Games Interactive (www.truegames.com) a global online game publisher, announced today that it has added a key member to its management team with the hiring of Dilek Ilboga as the manager of International Business for True Games. In the role, Ilboga will be responsible for building and managing all distribution and merchant relationships on a global level, with a focus on Eastern Europe and South American territories. Prior to joining True Games, ...

A Hot Radical

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Hothead Games announced today the appointment of former Radical Entertainment president and CEO Ian Wilkinson as the company's new president and CEO, effective immediately. Wilkinson oversaw Radical's growth from a startup company to an established industry player and ultimately sold the company to Vivendi Games, which merged with Activision last year. As part of the change, former Hothead Games president and CEO Vlad Ceraldi will become director of game development and Joel DeYoung ...

From Korea To America

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Nexon Group, the pioneer of interactive entertainment software and the world leader in online games, announced the appointment of Daniel S. Kim to serve as chief executive officer for Nexon America, the North American publishing arm for Nexon Group. Kim will oversee the day-to-day management and operations of Nexon America. His appointment is effective immediately. R20;The growth of free-to-play gaming in North America is hitting its stride and Daniel is an ideal ...

From The Ashes

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE The second company to emerge from the former Ensemble Studios was announced today. Bonfire Studios is a 35 person studio currently working on an original IP to be announced in the coming months. The Bonfire team is made up entirely of former Ensemble employees fresh off of the highly anticipated Halo Wars. “Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of ...

The ECA Institute

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), the non-profit that represents video game enthusiasts, is pleased to announce the formation of the ECA Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization. Acting on the increasing requests of its members, the public sector and others regarding policy, research and programming for the general public, the Entertainment Consumers Association has established a separate, related charity to specifically pursue and expand on these goals. At its core, the ECA Institute’s work ...

BlizzCon 09

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its fourth BlizzCon® gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®’s Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® universes. In response to the festival’s increasing popularity, this year’s event has been expanded from three convention halls to four.   R20;WeR17;ve been amazed by the incredible ...

Switch Up Your Collection

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE SwitchGames.com, the social marketplace for gamers, announced today the launch of a site for free trading in used videogames, consoles, and accessories. Gamers’ trading and selling options are no longer pinched by unfair, in-store trade-in values. Members have total control over their transactions and decide the value of what they own - no point systems, no hidden fees, no credit cards required. SwitchGames is the perfect solution for gamers who want to ...

New Studio Formed

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Robot Entertainment announced today the formation of its new game development studio in Plano, Texas. Founded by many of the original founders of Ensemble Studios, Robot has a staff of 45 comprised entirely of former Ensemble employees. Robot’s team developed the hit franchise Age of Empires™, selling over 20 million units worldwide, and the soon-to-be released Halo Wars for Xbox 360™. Tony Goodman, the founder of Ensemble, is the CEO of Robot. "The ...

Developer Acquisition

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE   Alawar Entertainment, a leading publisher of casual games, and Melesta, a game development company based in Belarus, today announced the creation of Alawar Melesta, a new internal division at Alawar. Alawar Melesta will continue to work on the popular "Farm Frenzy" series as well as other projects. The company is the fifth development studio to become a part of Alawar. Melesta was founded in March 2007. The company's first game, "Farm Frenzy," topped ...

Four More Coming

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Merscom and Lifetime Networks are partnering to produce four new casual games that are based on Lifetime~s original programming content. The agreement includes the production of two hidden object adventure PC casual games, a downloadable PC simulation game and a game created exclusively for the iPhone.  Merscom made the announcement today at the Casual Connect Conference in Hamburg, Germany.    As one of the top-rated basic cable networks in the U.S., Lifetime boasts ...

SK Hires New VP

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE Silicon Knights, makers of groundbreaking video games, has added to its guild of talent with the hiring of Michael Mays as company Vice President. Mays will work closely with President Denis Dyack to drive the company forward by fostering continual growth for Silicon Knights, as well as the games industry in Ontario and the Niagara Region.  Only weeks into the job, Mays was able to participate in a Silicon Knights tradition of ...

SWGE News

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE The Southwest's largest video game expo,  the Southwest Video Game Expo (SWGE), today announced several new additions to the show including the Goddesses of Gaming, the SWGE prize packages, a retro-arcade area and a trailer full of gaming.  This premier expo will be held at the Dallas Convention Center from November 20-22, 2009.  Consumers and industry professionals are invited to experience over 200,000 square feet of the latest trends in gaming and ...

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