Apple Denies Paying EA to Make Plants Vs. Zombies 2 an iOS Exclusive at Launch

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. September 24 - EA Labels president Frank Gibeau's claim that Apple paid the publisher a "truckload of money" to make PopCap Games' popular Plants Vs. Zombies 2 a iOS exclusive at launch was denied by Apple today.

According to an Apple representative, no money was exchanged.

Giant Bomb contacted PopCap Games to confirm the story, but a studio spokesperson said that the company "can't comment on internal meetings."

Plants vs. Zombies 2 launched as an iOS-exclusive back in July and has so far been downloaded almost 25m times. The game is currently available in China for Android devices and is doing quite popular, outselling its iOS counterpart 6 to 1, albeit such news doesn't come to much of a surprise granted Android's popularity in China versus iOS.

The Android version of Plants vs. Zombies 2 will release worldwide in a month or two, according to Gibeau.

Houston Rockets GM Joins MLG Board of Directors

NEW YORK, September 24 - Houston Rockets GM and apparent StarCraft 2 fan, Daryl Morey, has joined Major League Gaming's board of directors.

Morey's involvement with MLG doesn't come as too much of a surprise as Morey has mentioned during last year's annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytic Conference that "eSports will someday be the biggest sport in the world".

During June this year's MLG Anaheim, Morey helped bring Houston Rockets Dwight Howard to MLG to play some Black Ops 2.

"We are incredibly excited to have Daryl join our team as we continue to build the first global, truly digital sport," said Sundance DiGiovanni, co-founder and CEO of MLG. "His experience in the NBA, emphasis on data and technology, and passion for video games, makes him the perfect addition and we look forward to benefiting from his knowledge and success."

"As a personal fan of eSports and a competitive gamer myself, I have been closely following the growth and evolution of MLG for years," said Morey. "MLG has the potential to be one of the biggest sports media businesses in the future. I look forward to working with the MLG team as they continue to be pioneers in the digital world."

If Morey ventures into eSports will other big athletic sports figures eye the digital counterpart as a new rising enterprise and join the party?

Valve Announces SteamOS

Valve will have its own operating system called SteamOS, which will be utilizing Linux.

The OS will be free and is being designed to enhance users' living room experience. "SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen," Valve writes on their announcement page.

According to Valve, hundreds of games will be coming to the new OS next year, which can all be accessed through Steam's catalog via something called "in home streaming".

As advertised, the SteamOS will provide "significant performance increases in graphic processing" as well as  improvements to "audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level".

SteamOS will allow users to stream their Steam experiences onto their TV. The system will also venture into bringing music, TV, and movies to Steam. Family oriented options will also be featured, which will allow parents to both share and restrict content.

SOURCE: Valve

Telltale Games and Klei Entertainment Developers Form Campo Santo

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. September 20 - Veterans from Telltale Games and Klei Entertainment have joined to form Campo Santo, a new San Francisco-based studio that according to a blog post from The Walking Dead writer Sean Vanaman, seeks to create "something indie".

"There's a shared pragmatism informed by years in the industry that melds with the lingering youthful enthusiasm that got us into games to begin with," Vanaman writes. "Some of us want to tell stories, some of us want to build systems, and some of us want to create beautiful looking worlds, but we all want to make something."

It'd be my guess that Campo Santo won't be in the business of building franchises and pumping out sequels, as Vanaman commented on the "[insanity]" of the video game business and how it inhibits creating "something new".

SOURCE: Campo Santo Blog

Blizzard to Axe Diablo 3's Auction House Completely

IRVINE, Calif. September 17 - The often critcized Auction House feature in Diablo 3 will close down on March 18 of next year, Blizzard announced today.

Players, myself included, believed that the AH was designed to generate additional revenue for the Irvine based studio as a percentage of the money earned by sellers would go to Blizzard. According to D3 Reaper of Souls production director John Hight, the feature's original purpose was "to provide a convenient and secure system for trades". The result however, was different than imagined.

"It became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot," Hight wrote in a blog post.

The change, however altruistic in intent, could cause some adverse issues. Gold had no real value in Diablo 2, but does in Diablo 3 namely because of the AH. Although gold sinks do exist beyond just the AH in D3, none of the investments are really worth that much. I'm sure Blizzard will find more worthwhile ways for players to spend their well farmed gold, perhaps with the addition of Reaper of Soul's new artisan.

SOURCE: Blizzard

Star Trek Video Game Tie-In Hurt Film Director JJ Abrams Emotionally

LOS ANGELES, Calif. September 13 - 42 Metacritic scoring Star Trek: The Video Game was a "big disappointment" to Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, so much so that it hurt him emotionally, he lamented to Gamerhub.tv during a Star Trek: Into Darkness DVD and Blu-ray release event.

The video game is based on Abram's rendition of Star Trek and due to the relevance Abrams fears that the game could damage the impact of Star Trek sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness.
"Instead it was not and was something that I think, for me emotionally it hurt, because we were working our asses off making the movie and then this game came out and it got, it's not even my opinion, it got universally panned and I think that it was something without question that didn't help the movie and arguably hurt it," Abrams said.

"I think the thing that we all know, anyone who loves video games and loves movies… very, very rarely does a movie based on a game, or a game based on a movie, really work," he continued, a statement that has stood the test of time. "It usually ends up being something that everyone who goes to see or goes to play feels like this was a marketing decision made by a room full of people who wanted to capitalize on a title. That's no way to make a game and no way to make a movie."

Abrams is currently working on a pair of projects with Valve, an endeavor himself and Valve pseudo CEO Gabe Newell announced during D.I.C.E. Summit back in February. Abrams reiterated this fact during the interview. It is unknown whether or not the project is a film, game, or television show.

SOURCE: Gamerhub.TV

MLG Anaheim 2014 to Take Place June 13-15

NEW YORK, September 4 - Major League Gaming's Anaheim 2014 event will take place from June 13-15, announced executive VP Adam Apicella via a tweet.

The last MLG event to take place in Anaheim, the Anaheim Spring Championships, which took place June of this year, was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and also broke the organizations previous event records with over 21,000 attendees watching featured eSport titles, StarCraft II, League of Legends, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

MLG has pulled StarCraft II from their approaching Columbus, Ohio event this fall. The eSports organization has however, recently announced that Dota 2 will be added to their lineup.

MLG's Anaheim 2014 time slot will conflict with DreamHack Summer 2014, which is set to take place from June 14-17. Although it should be noted that the overlap would be minimal granted the time zone differences.

GameSpot asked DreamHack's Head of eSports Tomas "greykarn" Hermansson, who stated, "We're very keen about trying to avoid conflicts when it comes to our events with early communication and also try to track the eSports calendar all year around. Some conflicts can't be avoided but when it comes to Summer and Winter we have used the same dates/set of days for 12 years. We have no more comment on the matter."

SOURCE: GameSpot, Twitter

Xbox One Receives Official Launch Date: November 22

REDMOND, Wa. September 4 - Microsoft's Xbox One will launch on November 22 in 13 territories: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and the USA, the company officially announced today.

Marketing executive Yusuf Mehdi also confirmed that an additional number of Xbox One Day One Editions, which include a free copy of FIFA 14 for European purchasers, can be pre-ordered.

The Xbox One's November 22 release date means that Microsoft's new console will hit UK's shelves before Sony's November 29 release. However, the PS4 will launch in the US a week prior to the Xbox One on November 15.

Illumiroom Likely Too Expensive for Consumers, Says Xbox One Head of Product Planning

REDMOND, Wa. September 4 - Microsoft's gaming peripheral, Illumiroom, is unlikely released because the product would be too expensive for consumers, according to Xbox One head of product planning Albert Penello.

“I wouldn’t expect you’ll see that,” Penello told AusGamers. “It’s very, very cool tech but it’s, like, for a consumer, it requires projectors and things. It’s really super-neat if you’re in the lab and you’ve got Microsoft money and you could totally set up this awesome lab, but... we looked at it, but for an average customer it’s, like, thousands of dollars [for the set up]."

Illumiroom was first showcased at CES. The device is described to "enhance the traditional living room entertainment experience" by including images around the television screen that accentuate whatever game is being played. This can include increasing field of vision, mimic a game's mood, creating shockwaves from bullet fire and more.

SOURCE: AusGamers