Game industry business news

Gamers are in with a chance of grabbing a slice of a 10,000 prize in XLeague.TV’s new Halo 3 tournament. The league competition will kick off on the day of the title’s European release – September 26th. Consumers wishing to enter can sign up on the XLeague website. The whole …

Nintendo has unveiled a new version of its mega-selling handheld, as it looks to build on its record-breaking success. Set to launch on October 12th, the 99 SKU will arrive one week ahead of triple-A release The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, adding to the white, black and pink consoles …

Following numerous forum reports that Xbox live users have been targeted by phishing scams – fraudulent activity intended to illegally gain usernames, passwords and credit card details – Microsoft has confirmed the threat and stated that it has taken action to help protect our subscribers’ accounts.” The scams take the …

Trepidation” would accurately describe my state of mind as I prepared to head out to the Games Convention in Leipzig. The town’s charms are conspicuously lacking (unless you’re mad-keen on Absinthe), and I was booked into a hotel (which turned out to resemble a Gothic Travel Tavern, although even Alan …

Develop reports that the much-rumoured closure of FASA Studio, one of Microsoft’s first-party studios, has been confirmed Whispers of the studio’s demise had been circulating since shortly before the release of Shadowrun, a game panned by critics for being a full-price game without a singleplayer component. Fans of the Shadowrun …

Bioshock tops the charts down under once again this week, successfully fighting off a strong challenge from new entry The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, which debuts at two. Elsewhere, Nintendo continues to rack up the sales, scoring four top ten hits, while South Peak’s Two Worlds storms the top ten …

XNA boss confirms plans for â??distribution mediumâ?? allowing public game sharing

Microsoft has unveiled details of its TV advertising campaign for Halo 3 – as well as a teaser of what fans can expect. According to the publisher, the promotional clips will bring the game’s ‘epic battles to life in the style of a museum diorama”’. The ad hits UK TV …

The rise in popularity of casual gaming has led executives at GameStop, the leading US games retailer, to adjust its in store and marketing strategies. The changes are designed to better attract and accommodate those outside hardcore gaming circles. One of the first key implementations will be the addition two …

According to a report by Japanese economics resource Nikkei Net Kansai, the Wii has overtaken the Xbox 360 as the current leader of the next-generation console war – the first time Nintendo has reclaimed the title since the SNES days. As translated by MCV sister site Develop , Nikkei has …