News

Zynga's treasurer follows its CFO out the door
Zynga's treasurer follows its CFO out the door
Zynga treasurer Mike Gupta is the latest high-ranking member of the company to make headlines for resigning from the company, having now taken on a new role as the VP of corporate finance at TWitter.
Nov. 15, 2012
Facebook's 2nd-place publisher rakes in money with unique interactive ads
Facebook's 2nd-place publisher rakes in money with unique interactive ads
Bubble Witch Saga publisher King.com -- second only to Zynga in audience size on Facebook -- says it has increased its advertising revenue tenfold thanks to special incentivized ads that interact with its games.
Nov. 15, 2012
Wii U's software preorders double those of the original Wii
Wii U's software preorders double those of the original Wii
Major U.S. video game retailer GameStop is reporting that for every Wii U console its customers have preordered, there are 2.4 reserved games. This is more than double what they saw for the original Wii.
Nov. 15, 2012
Former LucasArts president returns home to Epic
Former LucasArts president returns home to Epic
Paul Meegan, the Epic China founder who departed for what ended up being a short stint as the president of LucasArts, is back at Epic in a new role as its vice president of product development.
Nov. 15, 2012
The most expensive game in history is now free
The most expensive game in history is now free
Having struggled to maintain its paid subscriber base, Electronic Arts introduced a free-to-play mode to its ambitious MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic on Thursday, hoping to reignite interest in the title.
Nov. 15, 2012
Digital the only bright spot in an overall 9% U.S. games industry decline
Digital the only bright spot in an overall 9% U.S. games industry decline
Americans spent $2.87 billion dollars on video game content between July and September of this eyar. That's a lot of money, but it's actually a decline from last year, with digital being the only area to show growth.
Nov. 15, 2012
SpellTower's Zach Gage to discuss tactile touch controls at GDC China
SpellTower's Zach Gage to discuss tactile touch controls at GDC China
During GDC China this Sunday, SpellTower and Bit Pilot creator Zach Gage will offer some essential tips for designing and tuning touch-screen controls on handhelds and mobile devices.
Nov. 15, 2012
Why players ruined Modern Warfare for themselves
Why players ruined Modern Warfare for themselves
"The 'nade spamming' meme was the perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances," writes consultant Nils Pihl, in a new feature which gets to the heart of precisely how players ruin games for themselves.
Nov. 15, 2012
How DICE fell in love with destruction
How DICE fell in love with destruction
DICE's general manager explains how more powerful game hardware led the studio to a concept of destruction that would fundamentally change how DICE would design games and tech, going forward.
Nov. 15, 2012
NASA laptop with unencrypted data stolen from vehicle
NASA laptop with unencrypted data stolen from vehicle
“On October 31, 2012, a NASA laptop and official NASA documents issued to a Headquarters employee were stolen from the employee's locked vehicle,” says a 13 November email to all NASA employees. It warns that the laptop contains unencrypted personally identifiable information “for a large number of NASA employees.”
Nov. 15, 2012
Adobe shuts Connectusers.com following data breach
Adobe shuts Connectusers.com following data breach
On Tuesday a hacker calling himself ViruS_HimA and claiming to be Egyptian announced that he had hacked an Adobe server and dumped over 150,000 emails. Associated passwords were also leaked.
Nov. 15, 2012
Google: government user info requests spike sharply in 2012
Google: government user info requests spike sharply in 2012
No doubt eagerly awaited by online privacy experts, Google has updated its biennial Transparency Report, revealing that governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to Google data in the first six months of 2012 – a sharp increase. The most requests came from home, with the US asking for information 7,969 times in the first half of the year.
Nov. 15, 2012