Recent content by Graham Templeton

"ProFX" to Reduce Size of Texture Files by 70% At the recent GDC in London, Allegorithmic showcased their new technology, which they claim will reduce texture file sizes in games by up to 70%. Allegorithmic [http://www.allegorithmic.com/v2/techno.htm], a company focused on developing...

XBox Live "Leveling Service" Opens The new company Levelmy360 wants to raise your XBox Live Gamerscore... for a price. Levelmy360 [www.levelmy360.com], using the tagline "power-leveling your XBox360 gamerscore," is a new company that hopes people will pay them to do just that. Their prices...

Final Fantasy XII Pirated Almost a full month before release, the English language version of Final Fantasy XII has been leaked to the internet. Developer Square has responded harshly to the leak, reportedly [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3154177] taking legal action against many...

Great to think about, impossible to implement. Does the ESRB have the funds to employ the sort of manpower it would take to completely finish every game that it rates, taking the time to check every nook for even the hint of a cranny? No. And even if it did, the game would be completed by...

Getaway Developer Signs Publishing Deal with Rockstar Team Bondi, the group behind Sony's The Getaway, has signed with Rockstar Games to publish the upcoming LA Noire. Team Bondi, which is primarily made up of ex-Getaway developers, has only recently settled down in Australia after leaving...

Virtual Fashion: Thieves and Designers Thriving Liden Labs' online world Second Life has become home to a thriving fashion industry bringing in surprising revenue, and a new sort of thievery. Second Life is an online world supporting an ambitious player-driven, real-money economy. The game...

THQ Sued Over Music THQ faces a lawsuit from musician Michael Tumbarello, who alleges that the publisher used his work in SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 without permission or compensation. The suit concerns Tumbarello's performance of the song "King of the Mat," a complete version of which is...

Everything we've ben hearing about Bully suggests that it's a cute, light-hearted game in which you - wait for it - do NOT play a bully! You play a mild troublemaker who actually sticks up for the bullied kids, giving the real bullies a sound thrashing. Rockstar are great marketers...

ESA Hopes to Send Gamers to the Polls The Entertainment Software Association, though its Videogame Voters Network, has kicked off its new drive to get gamers to register to vote. Play For Real: Gamer Voter Drive, the ESA's new initiative [http://www.videogamevoters.org/], aims to rally...

GTA Creator Criticizes Sony's Online Plans Dave Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto series and co-founder of Real Time Worlds, told Edge Magazine that he disagrees with Sony's online strategy. His main concerns stem from what he sees as Sony's decision to force publishers to come up with...

Study says MMO's Promote "Sociability." Researchers from the universities of Wisconsin and Illinois find that massively mulitplayer online games can "promote sociability and new worldviews." The study [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/uoia-sov081706.php], based on Lineage 1 and...

BioWare Licenses MMO Engine BioWare has licensed the MMOG-specific game engine "HeroEngine" for its upcoming MMORPG. Two months ago, Bioware announced [http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/press_releases/2006_03_15_Austin/] the opening of its newest studio, BioWare Austin, and their first...

Auto Assault Drags NCsoft's 2nd Quarter into the Red NCsoft today announced [http://www.ncsoft.com/eng/NCPress/View.asp?hSeq=1] their second quarter financial results, posting a slight loss. This comes in spite of the success of the new Guild Wars: Factions expansion pack, and the continued...