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Activision’s World of Warcraft is losing subscribers, and the exodus isn’t over yet – while president Bobby Kotick warns of ‘uncertainties’ surrounding the upcoming Xbox and PlayStation launches.

Activision’s president and chief executive Bobby Kotick has warned investors that the upcoming launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox may not be the gift to the company others are claiming – and that the games industry may have some tough times ahead.

Speaking during his company’s most recent earnings call this week, Kotick warned that he has some concerns surrounding the launch of next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony later this year. ‘We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition,‘ Kotick told investors. ‘There are still many unknown factors, such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other, but also with new platforms, such as smartphones and tablets.‘

It’s certainly true that the landscape of gaming has changed: when Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 back in 2005, mobile gaming was roughly on the level of Nokia’s Snake or, at best, badly-written and poor-quality Java-based casual titles. Now, mobile gaming has grown to the point where its flagship creations can rival lower-end Xbox 360 launch titles for graphical complexity – so much so, in fact, that one company is enjoying great success with creating a standalone console based on a smartphone-oriented system-on-chip processor.

That’s troubling for the mainstream games industry for a couple of reasons: first, it represents yet more competition for consumers’ cash; second, it makes the £40-plus recommended retail price of console games seem incredibly high. While it’s true that games cost less now than in almost any period of console gaming history, corrected for inflation, when a gamer is faced with a choice of buying one console game or five high-end smartphone or tablet games, the console game comes off worst in the value comparison.

It’s not just the increased competition from mobile gaming that has Kotick worried, however. The company president also called out the first of the next-generation consoles, Nintendo’s Wii U, as evidence that Microsoft and Sony may struggle to drum up interest in their devices when they launch towards the end of the year. ‘In addition, the newest console, the Wii U, has had a very slow start,‘ explained Kotick. ‘All of these factors further heighten our concerns heading into the back half of the year, particularly during the very competitive fourth quarter.‘

It’s hard to fault Kotick’s analysis: the Wii U has been a poor seller for Nintendo, and has seen a whopping £100 knocked off its £299 recommended retail price since its launch last year. A lack of triple-A games from third party developers – something that may not change any time soon, with numerous publishers stating outright that their franchises won’t be making the move to the Wii U – combined with the misconception among the company’s casual gaming customers that the Wii U is a mere upgraded version of the Wii they already own are thought to be to blame, with Nintendo working hard to correct both issues.

The PlayStation 4 and, if rumours are to be believed, Xbox 720 have at least one thing in their favour compared to the Wii U, however: both are expected to use AMD accelerated processing units (APUs) which will make the process of porting titles between the two consoles and the similarly x86 PC platform simpler than ever before – and leave Nintendo’s Power-based Wii U as the odd man out of the generation. As a result, both should perform better than Nintendo’s offering.

Uncertainties surrounding the next-gen launches aren’t the only things keeping Kotick awake at night: Activision’s president also highlighted increasing competition in the company’s core segments, coupled with dramatically dropping subscriber numbers for Blizzard-developed massively multiplayer on-line role-playing game World of Warcraft, as roadblocks for his company as the financial year progresses. ‘During the quarter, subscribership declined by approximately 1.3 million subscribers – roughly 14 per cent – and we ended the quarter with approximately 8.3 million subscribers, admitted Kotick. ‘Though the majority of our subscriber declines occurred in the east, where we have more subscribers and lower revenue per subscriber, we saw declines in the west as well. We do believe further declines are likely and we expect to have fewer subscribers at year end than we do today.‘

And that increasing competition? ‘This year, we expect a number of well-established video game franchises and well-capitalized new entrants to compete directly for our consumers’ time and attention, particularly as certain of our competitors have moved their launches into the back half of the year. Our Skylanders franchise will face much more direct and substantial competition than it has in the past. And our next Call of Duty game will face a more competitive environment than last year. The competitive landscape will likely require us to further increase our sales and marketing investments for our 3 largest franchises, especially in the important holiday season.‘

Activision generated $804 million in revenue for the quarter on a 31 per cent margin (or $1.3 billion on a 44 per cent margin, depending on whether you accept the company’s official Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or non-GAAP figures), driven primarily by its Call of Duty, Skylanders, World of Warcraft and StarCraft franchises.

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Electronic Arts is now the proud owner of a near-exclusive licence to create Star Wars games, with Disney withholding only online, social and mobile gaming for itself.

The Walt Disney Company, as part of its acquisition of Star Wars creator Lucasfilm, has signed a near-exclusive deal with publisher Electronic Arts to create future games set in the universe.

The agreement sees EA given exclusive rights to create new titles set in the Star Wars universe for what Disney describes as ‘a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres.‘ Disney, however, retains the rights to new titles in the mobile, social, tablet and online categories itself – with the latter meaning that any future Star Wars massively multiplayer on-line (MMO) title will come direct from Disney, the company having apparently seen the piles of cash raked in by Activision-Blizzard’s World of Warcraft over the years.

‘This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,‘ claimed John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. ‘Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.‘

‘Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,‘ added EA Labels president Frank Gibeau. ‘Three of our top studios will fulfil that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.‘

The deal will see EA-owned BioWare allowed to continue producing role-playing games set in the Star Wars universe, as follow-ups to its existing Knights of the Old Republic titles. Where the exclusion of ‘online-category’ games leaves BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, however, is unknown – it’s perfectly possible that the title will be allowed to wind down in favour of a reborn MMO under Disney’s direction. The deal will also allow EA to produce new first-person shooters, spiritual succesors to the Dark Forces series previously created by Lucasfilm’s gaming subsidiary LucasArts.

The mention of ‘the most popular game genres‘ could, potentially, give EA carte blanche to produce Star Wars-themed versions of its existing simulation titles, too: it would be unsurprising to see a Star Wars version of The Sims or a SimCity title set within the confines of the Star Wars universe. Add in a few third-person cover shooters for the console gamers, some kid-friendly racing titles and flight simulators to bring the classic X-Wing series back up to date and you can see that EA has scored itself a potentially lucrative deal – especially as it has the rights to both existing Star Wars films and the new films to be produced on an annual basis by Disney.

Disney itself, meanwhile, is banking on the explosive growth of tablet and mobile gaming. While Facebook games may have waned in popularity, a Star Wars franchise could help revive efforts under Disney’s control, and there’s little denying that Android and iOS gamers will likely lap up Star Wars mobile games if the company does a decent job of development.

Neither company has disclosed financial terms of the deal, but EA is believed to have parted with some serious cash to get its hands on the semi-exclusive contract.

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Darkfall Unholy Wars is the first subscription-based game to take advantage of Steam’s updated system.

Valve’s digital distribution platform, Steam, has opened up its service to subscription-based titles.

The first subscription-based game available on the service is Darkfall Unholy Wars, a PvP focused MMO from developer Aventurine. It can be bought for £29.95 with a further £11.95 charged every 30 days through the platform.

Following this update to the infrastructure of Steam, Valve intends to launch further subscription-based games in the future.

Steam has distributed subscription-based titles in the past, with Eve Online and Rift available to download through the service, but this development means that Steam users can manage their subscription payments through the platform itself rather than a third party’s site.

The subscription model is often viewed as dead or dying in the market with the rise in popularity and prevalence of free-to-play titles. Despite this, long-running MMOs are still able to maintain a sizeable user base.

The king of the MMO, World of Warcraft, has kept more than 10 million subscribers and games that operate on a smaller scale are sustainable with a smaller subscriber base with Eve Online for example happily running on the much smaller number of approximately 500,000.

Steam is constantly developing its digital distribution platform. Last year it started selling software as well as games and also launched its Big Picture mode in an attempt to move into the living room and occupy larger TVs.

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Penny Loker, 31, was born with two birth defects — hemifacial microsomia and Goldenhar Syndrome — that left her with a disfigured face.

Loker endured multiple surgeries and lengthy recoveries as a child. But she never lost her positive attitude, according to her sister.

Loker didn’t realize how different she was until she started school. At home, she was treated the same as everyone else.

Penny calls her core group of friends her “rocks.” From left, Laura, Penny, Linda, Suzanne and Becky.

Loker’s mother, Marion Loker, raised her children alone after the death of her husband.

Loker, her mother and her sister, Crystal Loker.

Loker and her sister Crystal as children.

Loker’s high school graduation photo, taken not long before the incident after her manicure and pedicure.

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Editor’s note: We first met Penny when she wrote to us about a CNN Photo Gallery showcasing disfigured children and stillborn babies affected by Agent Orange in Vietnam. Penny spoke of the anger and sadness she felt over seeing CNN’s “viewer discretion” warning on the gallery. She was born with a disease that left part of her own face malformed and felt compelled to reach out to us about the children who simply look different. “How can I not speak up about this?” she asked. “If not me, who will speak on behalf of these children?” We invited her to educate us all by sharing her story and allowing us to see the world through her eyes.

(CNN) — As a little girl, she never got a valentine at school parties.

As a teenager, she never had a best friend, a boyfriend or a date.

As a woman, she’s never had a relationship. She’s never been kissed.

Her dream to one day become a wife and mother is fading as she grapples with the reality that it may never happen.

Penny Loker, 31, was born with hemifacial microsomia and Goldenhar Syndrome, two birth defects that left her with a disfigured face. Hemifacial microsomia causes a malformation of the ear and/or the structure of the lower jaw. Goldenhar Syndrome is a congenital condition that produces abnormalities of the head and the bones of the spinal column. It usually affects the appearance of eyes, ears, facial bones and the mouth.

Both conditions are complex, as are their names. But for a little girl facing a big world, the names were simple: Monster. Ugly. Freak.

Loker was raised in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in a home where love and acceptance were given freely.

Herfather died soon after Loker’s first birthday. Her mother, a strong, loving woman, readily took on the challenge of raising Loker and her sisters. That included arranging for multiple surgeries at hospitals far from home.

Loker’s recoveries were lengthy and painful, recalls older sister Crystal Loker. “But even then Penny had a positive attitude. She was a trouper who kept her smile and didn’t complain.”

‘Impaired Perceptions’: Photographer rejects first impressions

At home, Loker’s looks were not an issue and she was treated the same as her sisters. She knew she looked a bit different, and she knew it caused her to be in the hospital a lot, but she had a child’s innocence and accepted it as normal.

When it was time to start school, she discovered how different she actually was. She spent a lonely childhood excluded from nearly everything. She had no friends. She accepted the name-calling as part of her life and seemed to understand that crying or fighting back only made it worse. So she quietly endured it.

She remembers that pain and humiliation well. “As an adult, it’s hard to stand by silently when you know what these kids are going through,” Loker says. “But it’s equally difficult to speak out when you don’t feel empowered to do so.”

As she got older, the name-calling was more often behind her back than to her face. By the time she reached high school, she had learned there would be no friends, parties or dates for a girl who looked like a freak.

“It hurt, but there was nothing I could do to change it,” she says.

While day-to-day encounters with strangers brought the same hurtful stares and comments, Loker was used to it. Then came a day with such cruelty it remains a vivid memory.

“For graduation my sister gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure. I’d never had one before, and it was a wonderful experience. I left the spa feeling truly pretty for the first time in my adult life.”

But less than a block from the salon, she encountered a carload of boys who slowed to look at her and began pointing and calling her names.

Distraught, she walked as quickly as she could to get away from them, thinking all the while that she was not beautiful after all.

“The pretty nails made no difference at all. Shamed and humiliated, I realized I was still the same girl that everyone made fun of,” she recalls. “I remember that day as one of the worst.”

Talking to someone with a chronic illness

But time can ease all wounds, and her determined spirit taught her to find the good around her.

She has a core group of girlfriends and relatives who cherish her as she is. She speaks proudly of being able to provide for herself, thanks to her job at Rogers Communications, where she spends her days handling customer requests. The company was recognized this year as a diversity leader corporation, a recognition that only adds to Loker’s pride.

There are many adventures in life that she is hesitant to embrace, even though she is physically able. She prefers not to shop alone. She has never been on a true vacation, saying the thought of one is scary.

Yet it’s a feat she is determined to accomplish. She is saving now for a trip to California to visit either BlizzCon or Comic-con.

“I’m kind of a geek and play the online MMO World of Warcraft with my sister and her husband, and we always talk about how cool it would be to go there,” she says. “People dress up so I would feel ‘normal’, not out of place.”

She’s quick to point out she has no interest in visiting a theme park geared toward children, where she’d likely be subjected to stares as parents attempt to answer questions about her.

She wishes she could open the dialogue about individuals with malformations by educating people, especially children, whose natural curiosity can eventually become cruelty if left unaddressed.

“Educating them early on would help them learn to be more tolerant of others who are different. The ability to love, share, bring happiness and help others is the real beauty of a person,” she says.

“The exterior doesn’t necessarily reflect the beauty that often lives inside. And when people fail to remember that, they can miss out on the love and friendship of a truly special person.”

Crystal Loker agrees. “Penny is truly beautiful. She’s always seeing the best in others and never has an unkind word for anyone. In Penny’s world, others always come first. She’s full of laughter and smiles. When you spend a day with her, you go home feeling good about yourself.”

Loker welcomes the opportunity to teach all of us to see beyond the surface. But until then, she continues to hope for good days in her own life, which for her means days when she is ignored.

“When I go out to dinner with my friends and no one stares at me or asks to be moved to a table further away from me, that’s a good day,” she says.

In spite of it all, Loker is quick to point out her many blessings: Being able to share a home with her family, having a job she loves, having good friends and a good health care system to help with the cost of a lifetime of surgeries.

Her only regret?

“I have so much love to give and I would love to share that with a family of my own. I understand it will probably never happen, and I’m learning to accept it. But I am sad about it,” she says. “It feels like the one great loss in my life.”

Visit the CNN Facebook page Monday night for a live discussion with Penny Loker at 8 p.m. ET.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/health/loker-profile/index.html?eref=edition

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Penny Loker, 31, was born with two birth defects — hemifacial microsomia and Goldenhar Syndrome — that left her with a disfigured face.

Loker endured multiple surgeries and lengthy recoveries as a child. But she never lost her positive attitude, according to her sister.

Loker didn’t realize how different she was until she started school. At home, she was treated the same as everyone else.

Penny calls her core group of friends her “rocks.” From left, Laura, Penny, Linda, Suzanne and Becky.

Loker’s mother, Marion Loker, raised her children alone after the death of her husband.

Loker, her mother and her sister, Crystal Loker.

Loker and her sister Crystal as children.

Loker’s high school graduation photo, taken not long before the incident after her manicure and pedicure.

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7

8

Editor’s note: We first met Penny when she wrote to us about a CNN Photo Gallery showcasing disfigured children and stillborn babies affected by Agent Orange in Vietnam. Penny spoke of the anger and sadness she felt over seeing CNN’s “viewer discretion” warning on the gallery. She was born with a disease that left part of her own face malformed and felt compelled to reach out to us about the children who simply look different. “How can I not speak up about this?” she asked. “If not me, who will speak on behalf of these children?” We invited her to educate us all by sharing her story and allowing us to see the world through her eyes.

(CNN) — As a little girl, she never got a valentine at school parties.

As a teenager, she never had a best friend, a boyfriend or a date.

As a woman, she’s never had a relationship. She’s never been kissed.

Her dream to one day become a wife and mother is fading as she grapples with the reality that it may never happen.

Penny Loker, 31, was born with hemifacial microsomia and Goldenhar Syndrome, two birth defects that left her with a disfigured face. Hemifacial microsomia causes a malformation of the ear and/or the structure of the lower jaw. Goldenhar Syndrome is a congenital condition that produces abnormalities of the head and the bones of the spinal column. It usually affects the appearance of eyes, ears, facial bones and the mouth.

Both conditions are complex, as are their names. But for a little girl facing a big world, the names were simple: Monster. Ugly. Freak.

Loker was raised in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in a home where love and acceptance were given freely.

Her father died soon after Loker’s first birthday. Her mother, a strong, loving woman, readily took on the challenge of raising Loker and her sisters. That included arranging for multiple surgeries at hospitals far from home.

Loker’s recoveries were lengthy and painful, recalls older sister Crystal Loker. “But even then Penny had a positive attitude. She was a trouper who kept her smile and didn’t complain.”

‘Impaired Perceptions’: Photographer rejects first impressions

At home, Loker’s looks were not an issue and she was treated the same as her sisters. She knew she looked a bit different, and she knew it caused her to be in the hospital a lot, but she had a child’s innocence and accepted it as normal.

When it was time to start school, she discovered how different she actually was. She spent a lonely childhood excluded from nearly everything. She had no friends. She accepted the name-calling as part of her life and seemed to understand that crying or fighting back only made it worse. So she quietly endured it.

She remembers that pain and humiliation well. “As an adult, it’s hard to stand by silently when you know what these kids are going through,” Loker says. “But it’s equally difficult to speak out when you don’t feel empowered to do so.”

As she got older, the name-calling was more often behind her back than to her face. By the time she reached high school, she had learned there would be no friends, parties or dates for a girl who looked like a freak.

“It hurt, but there was nothing I could do to change it,” she says.

While day-to-day encounters with strangers brought the same hurtful stares and comments, Loker was used to it. Then came a day with such cruelty it remains a vivid memory.

“For graduation my sister gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure. I’d never had one before, and it was a wonderful experience. I left the spa feeling truly pretty for the first time in my adult life.”

But less than a block from the salon, she encountered a carload of boys who slowed to look at her and began pointing and calling her names.

Distraught, she walked as quickly as she could to get away from them, thinking all the while that she was not beautiful after all.

“The pretty nails made no difference at all. Shamed and humiliated, I realized I was still the same girl that everyone made fun of,” she recalls. “I remember that day as one of the worst.”

Talking to someone with a chronic illness

But time can ease all wounds, and her determined spirit taught her to find the good around her.

She has a core group of girlfriends and relatives who cherish her as she is. She speaks proudly of being able to provide for herself, thanks to her job at Rogers Communications, where she spends her days handling customer requests. The company was recognized this year as a diversity leader corporation, a recognition that only adds to Loker’s pride.

There are many adventures in life that she is hesitant to embrace, even though she is physically able. She prefers not to shop alone. She has never been on a true vacation, saying the thought of one is scary.

Yet it’s a feat she is determined to accomplish. She is saving now for a trip to California to visit either BlizzCon or Comic-con.

“I’m kind of a geek and play the online MMO World of Warcraft with my sister and her husband, and we always talk about how cool it would be to go there,” she says. “People dress up so I would feel ‘normal’, not out of place.”

She’s quick to point out she has no interest in visiting a theme park geared toward children, where she’d likely be subjected to stares as parents attempt to answer questions about her.

She wishes she could open the dialogue about individuals with malformations by educating people, especially children, whose natural curiosity can eventually become cruelty if left unaddressed.

“Educating them early on would help them learn to be more tolerant of others who are different. The ability to love, share, bring happiness and help others is the real beauty of a person,” she says.

“The exterior doesn’t necessarily reflect the beauty that often lives inside. And when people fail to remember that, they can miss out on the love and friendship of a truly special person.”

Crystal Loker agrees. “Penny is truly beautiful. She’s always seeing the best in others and never has an unkind word for anyone. In Penny’s world, others always come first. She’s full of laughter and smiles. When you spend a day with her, you go home feeling good about yourself.”

Loker welcomes the opportunity to teach all of us to see beyond the surface. But until then, she continues to hope for good days in her own life, which for her means days when she is ignored.

“When I go out to dinner with my friends and no one stares at me or asks to be moved to a table further away from me, that’s a good day,” she says.

In spite of it all, Loker is quick to point out her many blessings: Being able to share a home with her family, having a job she loves, having good friends and a good health care system to help with the cost of a lifetime of surgeries.

Her only regret?

“I have so much love to give and I would love to share that with a family of my own. I understand it will probably never happen, and I’m learning to accept it. But I am sad about it,” she says. “It feels like the one great loss in my life.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/health/loker-profile/index.html?eref=edition

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League of Legends has a very strong playerbase worldwide compared to Valve’s DOTA 2, which until recently was only accessible via invitation.

DOTA 2 was the most played PC title in the first quarter of 2013 according to multiple data sources compiled into a report by DFC Intelligence.

The company’s PC Game Meter service established that usage of the top 20 PC games on the list increased year-on-year by 22% compared to the first quarter of 2012 and increased 8% compared to the last quarter of 2012.

The veracity of the top spot on the list has however been challenged by other outlets which point out rival MOBA title League of Legends far out performs DOTA 2 in terms of usage according to Xfire, one of the sources mentioned by DFC, and official statistics from the two games’ developers.

Valve’s DOTA 2 community hub shows approximately 250,000 concurrent players while Riot Games states that League of Legends sees more than 500,000 peak concurrent users every day.

GamesIndustry International reports that DFC has explained the discrepancy in its figures by pointing out that Asian markets represent a large chunk of League of Legends’ player-base and that DFC Intelligence does not measure this, focusing instead on the US and Europe.

Regardless of which title truly holds the top spot, both MOBA titles are far ahead of World of Warcraft which sits at third place. DFC Analyst David Cole also name checks Guild Wars 2, Battlefield 3, Minecraft, World of Tanks and Counter-Strike as having driven players to the PC over 2012. He also states that Diablo 3 briefly contested DOTA 2 and League of Legends for size of player base shortly after its launch.

However, DFC Intelligence’s PC Game Meter service does not necessarily tell us the most popular PC title at present as it only includes ‘core’ titles and excludes casual and browser-based games. There is still therefore a chance that both League of Legends and DOTA 2 are being thrashed by Solitaire.

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SimCity (2013) review

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis
UK Price: £35.99

SimCity is something of a disaster, even for reasons other than the most heavily documented flaws with the troublesome launch. Putting aside the initial fiasco, and even allowing for the always-online functionality that restricts player enjoyment, the actual game itself has fundamental flaws. It’s a shame, as there are also a decent handful of elements that are implemented very strongly

The heart of the problem is that the game’s developer, Maxis, had initially attempted to provide something that seems reasonably noble. It took the core of what made previous SimCity games so successful – giving players the ability to construct a city of their own design – but added an incentive to work with other players to collaboratively build as great an environment for simulated people to live and work in as they can. You can see the thought process that decides this is an excellent and necessary step forward; this new game has turned what was previously a largely solitary affair into something that hooks into the modern, connected society we all now inhabit.

It’s just a shame that the game doesn’t really offer any explanation why working with another person is more fun than working alone. Indeed, in many ways the choices that have been built in are actively detrimental to player enjoyment.

The heart of the problem is that cities are very restricted in size. Instead of building one huge metropolis, players control up to 16 smaller cities on one large map, with all the cities able to share resources and even become specialised – an industrial city, a gambling paradise, a tourist trap, etc.

This is an interesting idea but nowhere in the game is it explained why splitting things up is better than cramming everything into one city, and any attempt to do so soon has you hitting the limits of your forced small patch of land. Of course, the point is that the experience is tailored towards multiplayer, but then pushing jobs to other people means that you technically just aren’t doing as much so the fun is even further reduced. With few obvious incentives for this passing on of duties, it feels like restriction for restrictions sake rather than a fun new game element.

There is of course the real life social aspect of building multiple cities with multiple people, coordinating your efforts to achieve a glorious single goal, and we can see this being rewarding. But, there’s something less inherently entertaining about collaborating with up to sixteen people to ensure sewerage and electricity needs are met. Certainly it’s a far cry from the group satisfaction of, say, taking on a tough instance in World of Warcraft. What’s more, surely the whole point of being a virtual God-like City planner is that you can avoid the planning meetings and negotiations that would go along with building the real thing.

Where the problems really start compounding is that because of this multi-player-centric design it’s impossible to save the game. So, for instance, you can’t deploy a natural disaster or alien invasion just for the fun of it then revert back to a save game, instead you’ll have to actually build your city back up again. We can see some people enjoying that ride but we’re fairly sure most users would rather they had the option to simply revert back if they, for instance, suddenly realise that recovering from that Godzilla attack is going to take far longer than expected.

All of which is a shame because there are absolutely parts of SimCity that are worthwhile and work excellently…

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The beta for Hearthstone will commence soon. The title will be heading to PC, Mac and iPad initially.

Blizzard has revealed a new iPad, PC and Mac based card-battle game set in the Warcraft universe.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be a free-to-play game centred around building decks of cards and duelling with other players. The decks will be themed around different World of Warcraft character classes.

Blizzard Entertainment chief creative officer Rob Pardo told Gamesindustry International that Hearthstone would be a way for the company to learn more about the free-to-play business model that is seeing a great deal of success in the industry.

‘We really felt like there was opportunity with these collectible card games that hasn’t really been realised in the digital online space,’ said Pardo.

Developed by a team of only 15, Blizzard intends to launch a beta for the game soon with an option to sign up to participate available on its site.

‘We’ve always loved collectible card games at Blizzard, so it’s been exciting to bring everything we love about the genre to life in Hearthstone,’ said Blizzard chief executive Mike Morhaime during the announcement at PAX East. ‘We’re putting a lot of focus into creating a fun new game that’s easy to pick up and play, but also has a lot of depth. We can’t wait to share it with everyone.’

Although Hearthstone will initially be heading to the PC, Mac and iPad only, the studio hasn’t ruled out adding further platforms including Android or Windows tablets later on.

Blizzard has already lent its license for a physical collectible card game initially produced by Upper Deck Entertainment before the rights moved to Cryptozoic Entertainment. The game allows players to either fight each other or team up to defeat raid decks.

Blizzard recently saw success with the release of Heart of the Swarm, its first Starcraft 2 expansion, selling 1.1 million units in just two days. The studio’s flagship MMO World of Warcraft is also continuing to remain strong with approximately 9.6 million subscribers according to a recent investor call for Activision Blizzard’s fourth quarter 2012 earnings.

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(Credit:
Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET)

BOSTON–World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment today announced HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectible card game for PC, Mac, and iPad.

Gamers can sign up to beta-test the title today. The beta will launch this summer, with the full game due out sometime in 2013.

“We wanted to do something a little different,” a Blizzard representative said while explaining the game during a presentation at gaming conference PAX East. The game, described as “really small,” was built by a team of 15 developers at the Irvine, Calif., developer.

Read more of “Blizzard reveals HearthStone at PAX” at GameSpot.

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Bungie’s Destiny might have armour-clad space marines and plenty of guns, but the company’s plans go far beyond those of its Halo franchise.

Bungie, the company best known for its work on the Halo series of games, has announced its latest title: Destiny, an unsurprisingly gun-filled sci-fi shooter-adventure game with a fully persistent on-line world.

Founded in 1991 by Alex Seropian following the popularity of his Pong clone Gnop, Bungie had a string of successes developing games for Apple’s Macintosh platform before hitting the big time with Marathon – a game that would directly influence the plot and style of Halo, the company’s best-known release. Originally developed as a third-person shooter for PCs, Microsoft would pick up Bungie in a multi-million dollar deal to shore up the launch offerings on its Xbox console by turning Halo into a platform exclusive – a move that would make the company a vast quantity of money.

Things didn’t go entirely smoothly with Microsoft at the helm, however. Several sequels to Halo were launched to great success, but Bungie would split off from Microsoft in 2007 and return to private ownership – albeit with its former master retaining a minority stake in the company and, crucially, the rights to the Halo intellectual property.

So, having largely coasted on the success of the Halo franchise, Bungie needed a new schtick – and Destiny appears to be exactly that. Learning from its past mistakes with Microsoft, the company has announced a deal with Activision Blizzard that will see the games publishing giant taking on responsibility for publishing the new game for the next ten years, but with Bungie retaining full ownership of the associated intellectual property – meaning the company can move away from Activision Blizzard at the end of the contract with its years of work intact, unlike its split from Microsoft and loss of the Halo franchise it had built.

But what of the game? While Bungie has spoken of reinventing gaming, the teaser trailer for Destiny reveals a somewhat familiar theme: be-suited space marine types doing battle on a fantastical world with armoured enemies of various sizes. So far, so Halo.

That’s perhaps being a little unfair to Bungie, however: although it appears to be sticking to what it knows in terms of genre, the underlying game mechanics are a fair way away from those of Halo. Rather than a single-player adventure and a serious of plot-free multiplayer game modes, Destiny will instead connect players to a persistent and ever-changing world – meaning, as if the involvement of Activision Blizzard could leave any doubt, that the title will require an always-on internet connection.

It won’t exactly by a massively-multiplayer on-line role-playing game (MMORPG,) however: unlike World of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard’s biggest money-maker thanks to a subscription requirement to play beyond a certain level, Destiny won’t be subscription-based, requiring only the purchase of the game. The company is also avoiding cramming thousands of players into small areas, preferring instead to spawn instances where players within geographic proximity will be brought together in localised public areas before heading off into their own ‘dungeon’ instances.

With hints of mobile support, linking the game to an app that allows players to track progress even away from their PC, it’s clear that Destiny is a pretty big deal for Bungie – and this time it’s partnering both with former paymaster Microsoft and its rival Sony with a planned simultaneous launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 before the end of the year. What the company hasn’t yet mentioned, however, is whether there is any plan to support PC gamers – something the Halo franchise has neglected.

If you’re curious, the teaser trailer is available below.

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