A new survey from Today’s Gamers takes a look into the big money arena of massively multiplayer online games.

The report focused on the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The U.S. boasted 46.0 million MMO gamers, of whom 46.0 percent paid for the privilege to play their online game of choice. Those who did pay to play an MMO spent a total of $3.8 billion on subscriptions, virtual currency, game purchases and other micro-transactions, which works out to $15.10 spent by each U.S.-based MMO gamer per month.

Following the U.S. in total dollars spent on MMOs were the UK ($270.0 million), Germany ($250.0 million), France ($220.0 million), the Netherlands ($65.0 million) and Belgium ($55.0 million). The UK was tops in terms of monthly amount spent on MMOs with a figure of £10.60 (approximately $15.89 U.S.) per gamer.

Germany actually boasted more MMO gamers than the UK, 5.9 million to 4.2 million, but German gamers averaged only £6.70 spent (approximately $10.04) on MMOs per month.

Gamers4Croydon, the Australian political party formed with the goal of knocking incumbent South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson out of office, recently revealed a handful of new candidates.

Kat Nicholson, the group’s candidate for Croydon, and Gamers4Croydon President Chris Prior, who is running for Legislative Council, were the first two candidates to emerge from the group, back in January of this year.

The latest political hopefuls to be unveiled include:

• Tom Birdseye – Candidate for Adelaide and Deputy Treasurer of Gamers4Croydon. A Mechatronic Engineer, Tom is described as “an advocate for parental responsibility, government transparency, and common sense legislation ahead of vested interests.”

• David Egge – Candidate for Norwood and Deputy President of Gamers4Croydon. Egge is an R&D Engineer and believes in “accountability, responsibility, liberty, and putting people before politics.”

• Matt Allpress – Candidate for Light and Deputy Registered Officer of Gamers4Croydon. Allpress is owner of an IT consultancy group.

• Ben Ernst – Candidate for Mawson and a Civil Engineer and Software Developer. Ernst hopes “that his future children deserve to grow up in an Australia where they can be assured of their freedoms, where legislation is sensible and where government serves the people.”

The group’s policy section also appears to have recently been filled out. Among the measures Gamers4Croydon supports are: opposition to mandatory Internet filtering, a ban on political advertising that uses public funds, a repeal of legislation that restricts the display of R18+ DVDs and marriage equality.

Gamers4Croydon also supports measures that would make it illegal for politicians to “lie about matters of public importance.” To that end the group stated:

Your freedom of choice is being eroded each and every time a politician lies, bends the truth or is creative with the facts. Politicians need to be judged on what they can deliver, not the tales they can tell. Legislation to punish politicians for deceiving the public would go a long way toward making that a reality.

Does it sound like they are referring to anyone in particular?


Thanks Ryan!

If an earlier eBay auction of an Xbox 360 purported to have been autographed by Sara Palin was too rich for your blood another Microsoft console owned by a female politician is now up for sale on the auction website.

The 360 in question was actually a key component in the resignation of ex-Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon (D), who was charged with taking gift cards intended for charity and using them to buy videogame systems for her family. Dixon resigned in January of this year.

The Xbox was seized from Dixon’s home in 2008, reports the Baltimore Sun, and indeed the console still features red “evidence” tape across the front of it.

From the auction description:

This Xbox was submitted as evidence at the trial of former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. This item has been surrendered to the Maryland State Prosecutors Office pursuant to the plea agreement. All proceeds from this sale will go to Youthworks of Baltimore.

This xbox is USED, and seems to be in great condition. It includes one controller and the Need for Speed Carbon disc.

Bidding had reached $405.00 at the time this story was written.

Ubisoft’s DRM scheme may have angered the wrong group of people, as the software publisher’s servers were attacked again last night.

The company, who also experienced attacks on their servers over the weekend, took to their Twitter account “about 19 hours ago” (in Twitter time) to announce, “Our servers are under attack again. Some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in. We're working on it and will keep you posted.”

About five hours ago the company reported that, “Login servers were partially reestablished at 10pm CET and fully restored at 1am CET. The attack affected only those trying to login.”

Ubisoft’s DRM scheme, utilized on the current releases Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5, requires an Internet connection to launch and play a game. Not being able to access Ubi’s login servers means that gamers would be unable to play their title.

In responding to the problems with its servers over the weekend, Ubi claimed that “95% of players were not affected.” They also initially tried blaming their server woes on “exceptional demand,” before coming clean and admitting that they were the target of hackers.

The Virginia Production Alliance (VPA) is a key factor behind two bills passing through the state’s legislature that would see tax credits for movie productions filmed in the state.

While the measures started out as incentives solely for motion picture development, it appears the videogame industry made its way into the talks in a bid to get some backing in the state for game developers. A note on the VPA’s Facebook page stated that the film incentive bills “have been essentially co-opted by the videogaming industry.”

The VPA continued:

The video game industry has injected itself into the incentive conversation this year. This is the first time we have ever heard from them. They are attempting to be included without providing any data or studies as to the Return on Investment or how they may work given the current incentive plan discussions.

The VPA cautioned that they needed more time to learn about interactive entertainment developers and added that, since the bill was designed first for film makers, that group has “earned the right to be the first recipient of incentive dollars.”

A measure was added to the bills that would see game developers able to receive tax breaks in 2013.

The VPA added, “Our world changed today with the addition of digital interactive media to the family. We need to reach out to the gaming industry and make this new relationship mutually beneficial for all.”

Virginia tax credits for film makers would begin in 2011.

A three-year old Lebanon, Tennessee girl apparently shot herself in the stomach after mistaking her stepfather’s pistol for a Wii controller.

WSMV in Nashville has the story, which began after Douglas Robert Cronberger investigated a trespasser on his property. Returning inside, Cronberger placed his gun on the counter where Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan picked up the weapon, possibly mistaking it for a Wii controller according to her mother, and shot herself in the abdomen.

The little girl succumbed to her injuries on Sunday night. No charges have been filed against the stepfather.

It’s unclear if the girl mistook the gun for a standard Wii remote or for a Wii gun accessory, but in the end it doesn't really matter.

Update: GPer Rodrigo Ybáñez García points out a Kotaku story, which references an All About The Games story that in turn points to News Channel  5 article which features a picture of both the real gun and the Wii gun.

The Wii accessory in question is a Wii Semi-Auto Pistol, which Kotaku says is manufactured by the Chinese company HAIHONGCHANG Electronics. The HAIHONGCHANG is black and quite realistic looking and was most likely illegally imported. Section 4, Title 15 of the Federal Energy Management Improvement Act of 1988 dictates that all toy guns transported or imported within the U.S. must feature a “blaze orange” (or brighter) marking on the muzzle of any toy gun.

Thanks Andrew

The Entertainment Media Council (EMC), an organization launched about a year ago in order to offer mentoring and other resources to videogame entrepreneurs and corporate types has issued a call for charter members.

Charter members who choose to help out the EMC will receive honorary lifetime memberships for their key personnel and will be responsible for “empowering the association and, by extension, the industry as a whole to” increase the success rate of new firms, stabilize the business landscape, explore and create new business models, reduce unnecessary and wasteful layoffs and effect other significant change.”

EMC Founder Morgan Ramsay added, “The path we have chosen is difficult, but the rewards will be great. We are seeking Charter Members, businesses whose leaders believe in our mission, to help us forward.”

The EMC's take on "responsibility," as related to videogame executives:

Since 1976, the industry has been besieged by cause advocates, media watchdogs, and legislators. Despite the fact that most attempts to regulate video games have failed—none of the 48 related bills proposed during the 2008/09 period passed—the demand for socially responsible business practices, from creators to consumers, has never been as strong.

A British ex-pat currently living in Dubai has penned an article that examines what it’s like to be a gamer in the United Arab Emirates.

Josh Brindley wrote the two-part piece for GamesLatest and began by outlining some generalities, such as how Dubai gamers seem to prefer single-player gaming over multiplayer, though the writer points out that this may be more of a factor of Xbox Live not being officially supported yet in the UAE. Sony’s PlayStation network, however, has been supported in the country since the PS3’s introduction.

UAE gamers also seem to prefer the PS3 over the Xbox 360 and sports games over shooters.

Brindley also details how easy it is to acquire banned games in the UAE:

Despite being officially banned, many games can be acquired over the counter fairly easily in the gray market because the gamers demand for it is high, and everybody’s willing to pay to play.

Many expats who’ve just moved into the country don’t know about the grey market games, so they aren’t be able to buy them.

He sums up:

Most of the differences are because gaming isn’t quite as popular as in the UK, but the market is growing rapidly so it won’t be long before most of the differences are resolved. If the UAE adopted some of the methods of distribution the UK uses, then I think the gaming market would grow faster.

Outside of the negotiators actually sitting at the table attempting to hammer out the accord, perhaps no one is following the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) more closely than University of Ottawa Law Professor Michael Geist.

Freelance author Richard Poynder recently corralled Geist for a wide ranging question and answer session on ACTA (PDF). A few choice exchanges from the interview are included below.

Geist provides his version of a quick overview of ACTA:

Actually in some ways ACTA is a bit of a misnomer, both with respect to calling it a trade agreement, and in suggesting that it deals with counterfeiting, or primarily with counterfeiting. There are undoubtedly counterfeiting provisions in it. But what has proved to be most controversial about ACTA, and arguably is the most important aspect of it, are the copyright-related provisions.

Geist’s main concerns with ACTA:

… you know one challenge that has arisen from an ACTA advocacy perspective is that its implications differ for pretty much every country. So yes, there are broadly uniform concerns that resonate everywhere around, say, the lack of transparency associated with the deal, some of the privacy implications and whether the three strikes issue should be mandatory or not. But then there are all sorts of other provisions in ACTA whose relevance depends on where you sit and what your domestic law currently looks like.

For instance, if you are in the United States there are fewer implications for you than if you were in any of the other countries taking part in the negotiations — because much of what is currently proposed in ACTA is based on a US model.

On the overall secrecy of the negotiations and the use of NDAs on those consulting the process:

The issue of national security is a separate matter. This came up when people asked to see the ACTA documents under the Freedom of Information or access to information statutes. These requests were denied in the US on the basis of national security. I mean, the notion that a copyright deal is somehow akin to nuclear secrets is just insane.

The secrecy associated with the deal appears to be an attempt to mute criticism. Ironically enough, however, it has had the opposite effect: we are seeing a steady stream of leaks, and this is stirring up far more resistance and public concern, and gaining far more attention, than might have been the case had they taken a more open and transparent approach.

Who wins if ACTA is eventually finalized?

… if they are able to conclude a treaty I think it is pretty obvious that it will be the US and the European Union — who are the major protagonists behind this — who will benefit.

Geist was asked if he thought that ACTA was being driven by “a few large businesses... primarily American”:

I think that is the prime driver behind this, but I don't think it is exclusively American companies — some of the large companies we see pushing for ACTA are based in Europe.

 

But as I said, it's not new: This linkage between the corporate perspective and US trade policy has been in place now since the mid 1990s, and if you take a look at the various trade agreements that the US has entered in since then you can track the whole process.

Current countries taking part in ACTA negotiations include the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Switzerland, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

Ubisoft’s new DRM scheme, which requires a constant Internet connection to authenticate game sessions, had a bit of a hick up this weekend.

Ubi posted to its Twitter feed this morning apologizing to “anyone who couldn’t play ACII [Assassin’s Creed II] or SH5 [Silent Hunter 5] yesterday.” While the company originally blamed the outage on “exceptional demand,” Ubi stated on its Twitter feed that their servers were “attacked, which limited service from 2:30pm to 9pm Paris time.”

Ubisoft added that “95% of players were not affected, but a small group of players attempting to open a game session did receive denial of service errors.”

Joystiq also points us towards a thread on the Ubisoft forums in which the affected “5%” voice their displeasure.

GP: On a related note, I grabbed Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the PC this weekend and during the install was prompted to choose my favored method of DRM—disc-based or online authentication (I chose disc-based). In a perfect world there would be no need for DRM, but if it is required, this method of offering the user a choice at least goes a little way towards lessening the impact (and might make DRM-based gaming functionable on an Army base or a cruise ship). Bad Company 2 uses Sony’s SecuROM technology.

As another aside, while the DRM tech worked fine, Bad Company 2 had its own online problems for a little bit yesterday, though their issues appeared to be Punkbuster-related.


|Thanks PHX Corp and DarkSaber!|

A law introduced last year that would ban violent videogames and toys in Venezuela was enacted last Wednesday, according to various news sources.

Under the law, importers, producers, distributors or sellers of the banned toys and games could face fines and jail time ranging from two to five years. In a story dated March 3, Prensa Latina reported that the law had been passed.

The law, when initially proposed to Venezuela’s National Assembly, proposed that the country’s consumer protection society be granted full power in determining what games and toys were deemed violent, though no indication was given into what criteria might be used to judge the goods.

As it was drawn up, the law also featured provisions for teaching crime prevention classes in school, public campaigns to warn about the dangers of videogames. A government campaign to promote games that taught children “respect for an adversary” was also included, though no word on if this, or any, additional provisions were a part of the new law.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is apparently not a big fan of videogames as witnessed by an outburst earlier this year in which he labeled the PlayStation as “poison.” The ban on violent games and toys is apparently seen as a way to somehow combat crime and violence in the country.

An Overseas Security Advisory Council report on Venezuela had this to say about the country's level of violence:

The U.S. Department of State has rated Venezuela a critical threat country for crime.  The capital city of Caracas has been named murder capital of the world by many experts and that violence extends to the entire country.  Murder, kidnappings, armed robberies, carjackings and residential break-ins occur with impunity and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

While officially banned, handguns are readily available and a common sight throughout Venezuela.  Armed robberies occur in broad daylight including areas frequented by tourists.

|Via SlashDot and Cheater 87|

Microsoft has updated its Xbox Live Code of Conduct with terminology that now allows gamers to include their sexual orientation in their Gamertag.

Gamers are now free to label themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender or Straight, in a move GayGamer called “fantastic.”

In a letter announcing the change, Microsoft’s Mark Whitten wrote:

Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms.

More from GayGamer on the change:

This is something we have been fighting for here on GayGamer for a long time and it's gives us a wonderful feeling to finally see it come to fruition.

Congratulations to Microsoft and Xbox Live for stepping up to the plate and listening to the concerns of an important and oft overlooked section of the gaming community. Bravo!

Thanks Andrew!

Earlier this week we detailed a review paper penned by Dr. Linda Papadopoulos, which explored the Sexualization of Young People.

Who better to further explore the topic than a female gamer that revels in violent games? Julie from our sister site GameCulture offers her take on the subject here, go check it out.

Here's a little taste:

A lot of the findings in the report deal specifically with younger people and teenagers. I'm not a parent so I can't comment on what I would or wouldn't do in that situation. And perhaps I've become desensitized to the level of violence depicted in video games. In fact I enjoy games with alot of action, guns, and yes, even violence. Is it wrong that I find games with guns enjoyable to play? I like shooting at other players and killing them but I'm not about to go and grab a gun and shoot someone.

The earthquake that rocked Chile last weekend killed hundreds and affected the lives of thousands more. Zam has a story on how the survival of a game-related accessory contributed a little hope to one of the quake’s survivors.

A 33-year old woman gamer named Karen, who lives in Santiago, was playing Guitar Hero: Metallica with friends when the quake hit. Many of her possessions were strewn about and destroyed as a result of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, but the survival of one specific object, a World of Warcraft Blood of the Horde stein, gave her a reason to believe that the rest of her family in Chile had survived the quake intact.

She wrote an email to the Taverncraft, the stein’s maker just days after the disaster, writing:

All i wanna say that you made a good product and little stein give me hope, and have family in Concepcion and the other region that are the most affected for the earthquake and when I see the stein without a scratch for me was like ... yeah maybe my family made it too... that day I couldn't sleep... and only yesterday i have news all my family from the south are alive :)

Karen also told Zam that she and her friends have continued to play games as a way to get through the aftermath of the earthquake.

Alex St John has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the reason Microsoft and Sony haven't announced a new generation of consoles is because it's no longer clear what they can do to improve on the systems they are already offering.

The former executive at Microsoft and WildTanget, and now president of social games business hi5, said that the Wii proves that high-tech consoles aren't the next step in home entertainment, and cheaper social gaming via the web has left manufacturers in a niche market.

"This is usually when you announce [consoles]. It's 2010. No rumours either. There's two reasons for delaying. The reason for the delay is the reason I'm right," said the out-spoken executive.

Read more...

Software revenues for the PC games market rose by 3 per cent last year to a total of $13.1 billion, according to the new 2009 Horizons Report from the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA).

The non-profit corporation, which includes members such as Microsoft, Intel, AMD, Epic, NVIDIA, GameStop and Dell, sources data from every region in the world and covers retail sales, online gaming, digital distribution and online advertising.

The latest report was prepared by market research firm DFC Intelligence, who found that the Asia Pacific region was fuelling the majority of growth in the global PC games market.

Read more...

New release Final Fantasy XIII has shipped 5 million units worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, according to publisher Square Enix.

The game was released simultaneously in North America, Europe and other PAL markets on Tuesday, 9 March with the game previously having been released, as a PS3 exclusive, in Japan on December 17, 2009. Shipments outside of Japan have already surpassed 3 million units.

Launch events were held in San Francisco and Paris on Monday, March 8 and in London on Tuesday March 9. Around 3500 fans gathered for the French event on the Champs-Elysees, while the US launch party featured "talk show" style discussion with Square Enix staff and displays of scenes from the game in 3D.

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Electronic Arts' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will include support for the PlayStation motion controller - currently believed to be codenamed "Arc" - but not Microsoft's Project Natal.

The latest iteration of the franchise was unveiled at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and iPhone.

The game is due to be released on June 8, with the PlayStation motion controller not expected to be released until the autumn. Nevertheless, in comments made to website VG247 an EA spokesperson indicated that "timing" was the sole reason for the lack of Natal support and that it would be introduced in the next iteration.

Read more...

20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution are all set to offer HD movies for purchase and download via the PlayStation Network.

Initially announced only for the US, the service will be the first on a home console to offer movies to buy as well as just rent. The support of all six major movie studios also gives Sony a considerable advantage when competing against the more established Xbox Live service.

Sony has stated that a similar service will launch soon in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, although traditionally the content available, and sometimes the providers, has varied considerably between different territories.

Read more...

After initial doubts about its involvement in future releases, Harmonix has confirmed that Electronic Arts is due to distribute MTV and Viacom's Rock Band 3 this Christmas.

Earlier in the year Viacom had said that it was still in negotiations over a future distribution deal for its Rock Band series, after slower than expected sales hit the franchise and its big Beatles tie-in failed to meet expectations.

"Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season," announced Harmonix on the game's official Facebook page. "The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionise the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band."

Read more...

The restructuring of THQ, which has resulted in cancelled projects and studio closures, has been necessary to help turn around the company and change perceptions that it's not just a house for kids games and wrestling licenses.

And according to David Adams, general manager at Darksiders outfit Vigil Games, the publisher has put great faith in its new creative talent and intellectual property, supporting its developers rather than pressuring them to churn out games on demand.

"THQ went through a lot of pain and restructuring - they took a lot of bullets so we could continue to make our game, and that's a good indication of their faith in us, and their drive to make great-quality products," said Adams, speaking in an exclusive interview published today.

Read more...

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EA Partners has sign up to publish 38 Studios' single-player role-playing game, codenamed Project Mercury.

The game is in development at the recently acquired Big Huge Games, under the leadership of Elder Scrolls lead designer Ken Rolston, and based on the fantasy world of RA Salvatore and comic book artist Todd McFarlane.

"From day one, 38 Studios has been focused on creating the next generation of entertainment experiences that embrace all mediums, including film, television, comics, novels, toys and, of course, games," commented Curt Schilling, founder of 38 Studios.

Read more...

Ubisoft has revealed that the problems with the company's newly implemented DRM solution for new PC titles are due to ongoing attacks from hackers and not as a result of high demand, as previously implied.

According to the latest Twitter updates the servers were under attack again yesterday, with some users experiencing trouble signing in. Ubisoft claim that 95 per cent of players remained unaffected and that login servers were fully re-established at 1am CET.

Ubisoft also claims that Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 "are withstanding the efforts to crack them" and that "no valid cracked versions exist". Most torrent sites do contain links to both games, but Ubisoft claim these are incomplete versions.

Read more...

Microsoft is due to unveil its "full line-up" of Project Natal games at E3 2010 in June, according to comments made by Mindy Mount, CFO of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division.

Speaking at the Jefferies Annual Global Technology Conference in the US, as reported by website IGN, Mount claimed that the company's best designers were working on the platform.

With Microsoft's stable of first party developers having shrunk considerably in recent years it was unclear which developers she was referring to, although Rare are known to be heavily involved with the project and Lionhead Studios are implementing Natal features in Fable III.

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The PlayStation 3 will outsell its rivals over its lifetime, becoming the best selling home console of the current generation - according to a new report by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices (SACHD) service.

The prediction is based on the PS3 remaining a commercial platform for five years after the Wii has been replaced. Report author David Mercer predicts a 127 million unit lifetime title for the PS3, compared to 103 million for the Wii.

The global totals for the three consoles currently stand at approximately 68 million for the Wii, 38 million for the 360 and 32.5 million for the PS3.

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The budget for Santa Monica Studio's imminent PlayStation 3 exclusive God of War III has been placed at $44 million, according to an interview with director of product development John Hight

Speaking in an interview with website Giant Bomb, Hight commented: "We are stamping discs now, so we're effectively done, just got a couple of countries that we're finishing up on this week, and we've spent $44 million on God of War III."

"Believe it or not, that's right within budget," he added.

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The high-profile success of titles such as Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV has turned around Hollywood's perception of videogames, as the film industry looks to alternative mediums for new movie content.

That's the view of Keith Arem, director of the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare series', who said that both industries can learn from one another as they continue to grow as the leading entertainment mediums.

"The success of the games industry is going to benefit those other movie industries. It's providing more work, it's providing more content," said Arem, speaking in an exclusive interview published today.

Read more...