Game industry business news

Sega has placed faith in an external indie developer to build on its treasured Sonic franchise. Osaka-based Dimps – developers of Capcom’s Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD – were hired last year to build the new episodic Sonic game. Develop has the full story.

Famed MMO creator and father of Ultima Online Rcichard Garriott has returned to the games industry after revealing that he’s one of the founder of social gaming startup Portalarium. Joining him at Portalarium are the likes of Dallas Snell and Fred Schmidt, both of whom worked with Garriott at both …

Much like his PlayStation-loving team mate Fernando Torres, Liverpool right-back Glen Johnson has become the latest sports star to confess his love for gaming – more specifically, Eidos’ Championship Manager. As well as keeping him sane during his ongoing spell on the sidelines due to injury, the game has also …

Having already hit Xbox 360 and PC late last year, futuristic shooter Section 8 is now heading to PS3 – though developer TimeGate has skipped publishers and retail, opting instead for a digital-only release on the PlayStation Network. The decision is most likely related to TimeGate’s legal spat with SouthPeak, …

UK development legend calls for Canada-style tax breaks

Sony is set to demonstrate the latest version of its motion controller prototype at this year’s Game Developers Conference in March. The unveiling will give a rare public presentation of the unfinished peripheral, which was first unveiled at last year’s E3 event. The full story can be read on Develop.

Despite the last Wii price cut arriving as recently as last September, one analyst has claimed that nintendo needs to drastically reduce Wii’s RRP as soon as possible or else face market share erosions at the hands of Microsoft’s Natal and Sony’s PS3 Motion Controller. Nintendo built the majority of …

ELSPA has confirmed to MCV that Tim Wapshott has departed the trade body. A brief statement from director general Michael Rawlinson reads: ELSPA announces that Tim Wapshott, head of communications, has now left the organisation with effect from February 15th 2010. Tim has made a significant contribution to the company, …

And PS3 power will see Sonyâ??s console become multi-platform favourite, SCEA claims

Several next-gen games affected by publisherâ??s decision to switch off the servers