Games

Electronic Arts announced Wednesday three games for Google's Android mobile phone platform.

The publisher said that Tetris will be available immediately and that two other games, the monster hit Bejeweled and Monopoly Here & Now, will be launched in November.

EA has already released at least five games for Apple's iPhone, including Tetris, Spore Origins, and Scrabble.

The move to bring games to Android is sure to be a boost for the platform, given EA's size and influence and the fact that on the iPhone, games have become some of the most popular apps of all. However, … Read more

Swedish video game developer Avalanche Studios, which made 2006's Just Cause, has apparently decided to slash nearly half its staff after losing contracts for two new games.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Avalanche said it will lay off 77 of its 160 employees after losing the contracts, which would have been worth as much as $34 million.

The company's CEO, Christofer Sundberg, told GamesIndustry.biz that it had lost the first contract in February, but had been able to weather that by moving staff around. But after the second contract was lost last week, it had nowhere to put … Read more

Playfish, a leading maker of games for social networks like Facebook, said Tuesday it has closed a $17 million B funding round.

The company has released five games and four of them are on Facebook's top-10 list, Playfish said in a release.

The company, which is London, also has offices in San Francisco, Beijing and Norway. It said has 10 million users of its games, which include Bowling Buddies, Geo Challenge, Pet Society, Who has the biggest Brain and Word Challenge.

Although many games publishers have said that the recent economic downturn will affect their industry less than others, … Read more

If you knew the human race was facing imminent extinction, what would you do?

For the folks at the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based think tank, creating a fictional scenario in which five "superthreats" have coalesced in 2019 to augur the end of the human race by 2042 became the basis for a new alternate-reality game (ARG) in which players the world over have been weighing in with ideas for staving off disaster.

The game the IFTF created, known as Superstruct, launched October 6, and is the first of what could be many so-called … Read more

As reported on Tuesday, the video game industry's official showcase event, E3, is getting its latest makeover.

On Tuesday, Newsweek first reported that the show, which in recent years had shrunk from its heyday as a mammoth event with a capital E to a smaller, invite-only confab, would be returning to its big, loud roots.

At the time, the Entertainment Software Association, which represents the industry, said it had no comment on the news and would make an announcement when "appropriate."

I suppose that Wednesday, just 24 hours later, was as appropriate a time as any to … Read more

Amazon.com has acquired Reflexive Entertainment, adding to its PC, Mac, and online casual game offerings.

Reflexive, which announced the acquisition earlier this week in a blog post by Chief Executive Lars Brubaker, said the deal will provide a larger distribution channel than it previously had.

Reflexive also noted that game developers can still submit their work to the site and will continue to have access to its GameCenterSolution.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Updated at 4:13 p.m. PDT: This story now includes more information from the press event announcing 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' at LucasArts Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO--At a press event at LucasArts' headquarters in the Presidio here Tuesday afternoon, LucasArts and BioWare unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new massively multiplayer online game.

The game is set about 350 years after the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games and about 3,500 years before the Star Wars movies.

The companies did not divulge a release date and it appears that they will not show any … Read more

Updated 1:42 p.m. PDT: Adds Microsoft comment.

At E3 last summer, Microsoft said it would soon be unveiling a new piece of its larger Xbox Live puzzle known as "Primetime." Essentially, it would be an ongoing series of game shows that players could participate in with friends using the soon-to-launch new Xbox Live Experience.

But Forbes reported Wednesday that Microsoft has decided to put off the launch of the Primetime element of XBE until spring, citing technical reasons.

"Aaron Greenberg, group marketing manager for Microsoft, said the company is still very dedicated to the concept of Primetime and continues to work on it," Forbes reported. "And, to be honest, the Redmond, Wash., team could find a way to make the delay a good move ultimately. If nothing else, the company will have more time to polish Primetime."

The plan, however, had been that the Primetime offering would be integral to the full Xbox Live Experience, which is scheduled for a Nov. 19 launch. Now it appears that Microsoft is going to have to tuck its tail a little bit between its legs as it pulls back on that original E3 promise. … Read more

Update (11:31 a.m. PST): This story now reflects the ESA's response to a request for comment on this story.

If ever there was an event with an identity crisis, it's the video game industry's signature confab, E3.

For years, E3 was known as one of the largest, loudest, and most exhausting industry events in the world. Held each May at the Los Angeles Convention Center, it attracted more than 60,000 people--who had to be at least vaguely associated with the industry--most of whom departed at the end of the week with sore feet from … Read more