Online Entertainment Insider - March 30, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Console wars are an inexorable part of the video game industry, and are the front lines of billions of dollars in revenue. NES, Sega and Turbografx fought the bloodiest battle back in the early '90s, but now console makers, specifically Sony (for now), seem to be taking the war to second-hand retailers with the rumor that the next PlayStation console will NOT support used games. The largest used game retailer in the world generates more than $2 billion annually from reselling, which is a very large piece of pie to fight over...

While the console makers are working to cope with revenue models for the next generation of gaming, mobile and indie games are reaping the benefits. Angry Birds creator Rovio released the game's newest iteration,Angry Birds Space, to the tune of 10 million downloads in just three days. Kickstarter, the crowd-sourced venture funding site broke records a few weeks ago with the $3 million-plus funds raised for a Tim Schafer/DoubleFine adventure game. That opened the floodgates for indie developers to seek both audience and capital, with Auditorium 2being the latest game to receive full funding from Kickstarter.

The Industry
China's Online Games Market Grew 32 Percent in 2011
Worldwide Mobile Gaming Revenue Could Reach $7.5 Billion by 2015
Report: Number of U.S. Mobile Gamers Reaches 100 Million

The Players
Auditorium 2: Duet Raises the Full $60,000 through Kickstarter
EMI Suing Def Jam Rapstar Devs for at Least $8 million
Kabam Buys 3D Social Game Maker Gravity Bear
Social Games Startup Addmired Gets New Name, $8 Million in Funding
Journey Studio Losing key Staffers
Street Fighter Producer Stepping Down
Sega Canceling Games, Cutting Jobs in U.S. and Europe to Restructure

The Entertainment
UEFA Euro 2012 Will be DLC for FIFA 12
Journey is Fastest-Selling U.S. PSN Game Ever
Phantasy Star Online 2 Will be Free-to-Play
Grand Chase: Heroes Updates with New Player Housing
Awesomenauts Descends on PSN May 1, XBLA May 2
Angry Birds Space Hits 10 Million Downloads in Three Days
Warhammer 40,000 Dark Millennium No Longer an MMO
Fez Gets an XBLA Release Date
Shoot Many Robots PC Release Date

The Technologies
Stripped-Down Xbox Due in Late 2013 - Report
Next PlayStation to Lock Out Used Games
Sony's PlayStation 4 May be Code-Named Orbis
Adobe Flash-Based Mass Market Games Will go 3D in a Big Way
Report: Hackers Can Pull Credit Card Info From Old Xbox 360 Hard Drives

Upcoming Events
PAX East, Boston, April 6-8, 2012
DEMO, Silicon Valley, April 17-19, 2012
LA Games Conference, Los Angeles, April 23-24, 2012
Digital Hollywood, Los Angeles, April 30 - May 3, 2012

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