Game industry business news

Following the spate of staff changes that were announced after Nintendo’s confirmation that it is moving its NoA headquarters from Seattle to San Francisco Bay, two new faces have joined the American arm of the company. Cammie Dunaway, the former chief marketing officer for web giant Yahoo!, joins the firm …

Sony has confirmed that operating losses for its games division have more than doubled for the quarter ending September 30th, hitting YEN 96.7 billion compared to YEN 53.2 billion in the same period last year. However, across the whole business Sony posted a quarterly operating profit of YEN 90.5 billion, …

To celebrate its first year in the Indian market, Microsoft has announced that its globally successful Xbox Live gaming and download service will be launched in the country on November 5th. The network will launch with a host of exclusive local content, such as downloadable Bollywood films and trailers. As …

Nintendo’s year-on-year first-half profit and sales figures have doubled after the continued success of Wii and DS. The company has now raised its profit outlook to a record for the second time this year, reports Bloomberg . Net income jumped to 132.4 billion yen (586 million) in the six months …

SCEE is inviting members of the industry to take up its Buzz! challenge at www.letsplaybuzz.com . The publisher is celebrating the release of Buzz! Hollywood, which entered the UK charts this week. Players have to answer a series of Buzz!-style posers – including a fair few on Tinseltown itself. They …

Leading global games retailer GameStop is celebrating the opening of its 5,000th store in Jackson, California. The milestone keeps the chain on-track for its target of opening between 500 and 700 new stores in 2007. "With more customers being attracted to the video game category, they will increasingly find a …

How successful would you say your initial releases on Wii have been? We have surprised ourselves at how popular they are. On the Monday after a recent release I called Koch for some copies for reviewers and was surprised and delighted to be told that we were out of stock. …

BBFC senior examiner Gianni Zamo has told MCV that rating a game can be harder than rating an equally violent film, and that the process it follows is to be re-examined over the next year. As part of its recent Violence in Games Special, MCV spoke to Zamo about the …

What problems do more realistic graphics pose for the BBFC when it comes to rating violent games? I am assuming that when you talk about ‘realism’ you mean the degree to which a game is capable of showing the visceral aftermath of a violent attack? Clearly this ‘process’ does and …

The latest issue of Future’s Edge magazine has the scoop on the confirmation that the upcoming Wii iteration of popular franchise Animal Crossing is to be a fully-blown massively multiplayer online experience, CVG reports. The mag reads: "A Japanese source has confirmed to Edge that the upcoming Wii iteration of …