Studios | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Fri, 04 Nov 2022 16:20:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Studios | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Apple begins hiring game developers in preparation for first AR/VR headset https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-begins-hiring-game-developers-in-preparation-for-first-ar-vr-headset/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-begins-hiring-game-developers-in-preparation-for-first-ar-vr-headset/#respond Thu, 03 Nov 2022 16:39:09 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=581137 Apple has been working on VR and AR technology behind the scenes for years at this point. Patent filings and various leaks have already helped paint a picture of a more productivity-focused device. However, Apple will be investing a little into the gaming side, as it has reportedly begun hiring game developers.  As reported by …

The post Apple begins hiring game developers in preparation for first AR/VR headset first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Apple has been working on VR and AR technology behind the scenes for years at this point. Patent filings and various leaks have already helped paint a picture of a more productivity-focused device. However, Apple will be investing a little into the gaming side, as it has reportedly begun hiring game developers. 

As reported by mobilegamer.biz, Apple recently hired two of the founders behind mobile studio Playdeo. This studio primarily focused on narrative-driven AR apps like Mystery Coast and Avo.

According to the report, Apple has hired Playdeo staff previously too, including the design lead behind Avo. Apparently, Apple is also in talks with AR game studios as well as it begins preparing content for its first AR consumer device.

Previous leaks and rumours have pointed to Apple releasing its first dedicated AR/VR device in 2023.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Given the success of the App Store and mobile gaming on iOS in general, Apple would be silly to not invest some effort into ensuring game availability for any AR or VR device it plans to ship. 

The post Apple begins hiring game developers in preparation for first AR/VR headset first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-begins-hiring-game-developers-in-preparation-for-first-ar-vr-headset/feed/ 0
EA to strengthen ranks in Montréal, invests CAD 500 million https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/paul-taylor/ea-to-strengthen-ranks-in-montreal-invests-cad-500-million/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/paul-taylor/ea-to-strengthen-ranks-in-montreal-invests-cad-500-million/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2017 21:48:15 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=329431 The Québécois government has announced EA will be upping its existing investment in the city of Montréal and – over the course of 10 years – bring 500 new jobs and an estimated $500 million, presumably Canadian, to the dinner table. Montréal is where EA's Bioware studios have been hard at work on the Mass …

The post EA to strengthen ranks in Montréal, invests CAD 500 million first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
The Québécois government has announced EA will be upping its existing investment in the city of Montréal and – over the course of 10 years – bring 500 new jobs and an estimated $500 million, presumably Canadian, to the dinner table.

Montréal is where EA's Bioware studios have been hard at work on the Mass Effect series, as well as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, Watchdogs, Far Cry and even the Prince of Persia franchises. It's videogame pedigree is undeniable. EA's investment will ” help structure the industry, in particular by designing infrastructure that can be shared with the video game community”, said the Ministry of Finance.

The city, which harbours over 140 game studios has been a nexus of video game development for years. It also has plenty of non-gaming software development going on, which tend to happen when the Federal Government offers very generous tax credits to such companies, something which Québec introduced early on in 1996.

The EA studios in Montréal date back to 2004, and at the latest headcount numbered over 800 employees, although Ubisoft is the main videogame developer employer in the city, numbering over 1800 employees. The Québec Ministry of Finance estimates approximately 11,000 people work in the video games industry.

Carlos Leitão, the Québec Minister of Finance, said “We offer Electronic Arts a stable, predictable, competitive fiscal framework enabling the company to move forward with this substantial expansion. This favourable environment led to the positioning of Québec as a leader in the video game industry and as an internationally recognized centre of excellence.”

KitGuru Says: If you're a budding video game developer and can withstand Montréal's ‘exotic' weather, you might want to start prepping your résumé. Just remember that employment in Montréal requires both French and English language skills.

The post EA to strengthen ranks in Montréal, invests CAD 500 million first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/paul-taylor/ea-to-strengthen-ranks-in-montreal-invests-cad-500-million/feed/ 2
Napster founder wants to send new films to your home for £35 https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/napster-founder-wants-to-send-new-films-to-your-home-for-35/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/napster-founder-wants-to-send-new-films-to-your-home-for-35/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:31:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=286665 Although it's been a long time since Napster put the fear in the music industry, co-founder Sean Parker has been quietly influencing the world of tech ever since. As an early Facebook investor, he helped pioneer modern social networking and now he wants to do the same with getting new movie releases in the home …

The post Napster founder wants to send new films to your home for £35 first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Although it's been a long time since Napster put the fear in the music industry, co-founder Sean Parker has been quietly influencing the world of tech ever since. As an early Facebook investor, he helped pioneer modern social networking and now he wants to do the same with getting new movie releases in the home at the same time as the cinema: for £35 a pop.

There are two main reasons that despite everything under the sun being streamable, on demand, when we want it, often for a small monthly or one-off fee, the one media that no one can access (legally) at home, is movies that have just been released. Those are restricted to cinema, because there's concern that streaming would kill the traditional cinema industry and that they would be too easy to pirate.

The first part of that argument is an inevitable one, but it means evolution rather than death. The cinema industry ‘died' before when TV was first popularised and it simply adapted and became what it is today.

movies

Of course there are still some movies that really aren't worth paying that much for. Source: Universal

The second point, is one that Parker wants to fix with his new venture called, the Screening Room. It will require a specialised £100 set top box, with hardware anti-piracy restrictions and each movie will cost £35 to play – but the idea is to make it possible to watch brand new movies, at home while they're in the cinema; though only once (as per Variety).

To try and encourage movie studios to trial the idea, Parker's company is offering a 40 per cent cut of the fee. The anti-piracy measures may be the big selling point though, as streaming has proved a huge success when it comes to older films and TV content, so if The Screening Room can guarantee the movies won't be ripped, it may be on to a winner.

But of course anti-piracy technology rarely stays strong forever.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I'd pay that to watch a new movie at home. Two cinema tickets cost over £20 now any way, plus travel, plus food and you can't pause it. I'd pay £35 to avoid all that. 

The post Napster founder wants to send new films to your home for £35 first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/napster-founder-wants-to-send-new-films-to-your-home-for-35/feed/ 7
Microsoft’s list of game studios continues to shrink https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/matthew-wilson/microsofts-list-of-game-studios-continues-to-shrink/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/matthew-wilson/microsofts-list-of-game-studios-continues-to-shrink/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:44:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=286406 Yesterday, Microsoft made the out of the blue announcement that it would be cancelling Fable Legends and proposed the closure of Lionhead Studios. On top of that, Press Play Studios was also shut down in the process. Following on from this, Microsoft has gone ahead and altered its list of game development studios, removing five …

The post Microsoft’s list of game studios continues to shrink first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Yesterday, Microsoft made the out of the blue announcement that it would be cancelling Fable Legends and proposed the closure of Lionhead Studios. On top of that, Press Play Studios was also shut down in the process. Following on from this, Microsoft has gone ahead and altered its list of game development studios, removing five of them in total.

As Videogamer points out, logos for Lionhead Studios and Press Play Studios have been removed, alongside logos for Project Spark, Kinect Joy Ride, BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA. You can see the cut-down list, HERE.

microsoft_studios

A Google Cache link shows what the list looked like just a couple of days ago and as you can see, it has shrunk significantly. Microsoft hasn't explained why all of those additional logos were removed from the site on top of Lionhead and Press Play.

Microsoft's major studios now appear to be Rare, The Coalition, 343 Industries, Turbo 10 and Mojang.

KitGuru Says: Microsoft's list of game studios has shrunk quite a bit over the last year without much explanation. However, it is likely that some of those studios were Kinect focussed and some of them may have since moved to experimenting with projects on the Hololens, which isn't specifically gaming oriented. 

The post Microsoft’s list of game studios continues to shrink first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/matthew-wilson/microsofts-list-of-game-studios-continues-to-shrink/feed/ 1
PewDiePie launches game dev, promo firm with other Youtubers https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pewdiepie-launches-game-dev-promo-firm-with-other-youtubers/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pewdiepie-launches-game-dev-promo-firm-with-other-youtubers/#respond Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:20:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=280683 Felix Kjelberg, more famously known as the most popular Youtuber Pewdiepie, is launching a new promotional firm and production company in one, called Revelmode. He's bringing some friends with him too, signing on other big Youtubers like Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach, Sean “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin and Emma Blackery. The idea behind Revelmode is to channel the popularity …

The post PewDiePie launches game dev, promo firm with other Youtubers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Felix Kjelberg, more famously known as the most popular Youtuber Pewdiepie, is launching a new promotional firm and production company in one, called Revelmode. He's bringing some friends with him too, signing on other big Youtubers like Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach, Sean “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin and Emma Blackery.

The idea behind Revelmode is to channel the popularity and know-how of these sorts of creators to build new ‘premium' content, presumably aimed at subscription services like YouTube Red. However in his announcement of this new creation, Kjelberg also said that creators would appear in their own games, have merchandise and take part in charity fundraisers.

Essentially, it's the same sort of stuff they've been doing before, but on a grander, more organised and centralised scale.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpOSIjd433Q']

“The idea of Revelmode was built from my own experiences and will aim to bring together an Avengers-like talent squad to work and grow a business together,” Kjelberg said as part of the announcement.

In total, PewDiePie and the Youtubers he's signed on have a combined 80 million + subscribers and more than 20 billion views between them, so there's a solid base to build off of with the new venture. If much of it is hidden behind a paywall however, it will be interesting to see how the fans react to being locked out of it – though with an audience so vast, it may not matter if even a small per cent view it.

revelmode

What's particularly interesting about this announcement though, is that Revelmode is being born within Maker Studios, the Disney owned Youtube network founded by some of the streaming site's more popular stars. PewDiePie previously talked about starting his own network, but somehow Maker has managed to encourage him to stay and bring other popular Youtubers with him.

That's big when you consider that Kjelberg's channel has as many subscribers as many other popular Youtubers put together.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see what kind of content Revelmode puts out. Even just collaborative content between major creators will likely be very popular, but the potential for new, higher budget videos and games is huge.

The post PewDiePie launches game dev, promo firm with other Youtubers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/pewdiepie-launches-game-dev-promo-firm-with-other-youtubers/feed/ 0
Overkill apologises over recent Payday 2 updates https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/overkill-apologises-over-recent-payday-2-updates/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/overkill-apologises-over-recent-payday-2-updates/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2015 18:00:46 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=276032 These last few weeks haven't been great for Overkill Studios. The team decided to silently put microtransactions in to the game, which caused a lot of uproar amongst players. Then things got worse when additional bonuses were added to the new microtransaction system, which caused the game's Steam Forum mods to go on strike. After …

The post Overkill apologises over recent Payday 2 updates first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
These last few weeks haven't been great for Overkill Studios. The team decided to silently put microtransactions in to the game, which caused a lot of uproar amongst players. Then things got worse when additional bonuses were added to the new microtransaction system, which caused the game's Steam Forum mods to go on strike.

After all of that, Overkill has finally opened up about the recent updates and its lack of communication on the matter. In a Steam post titled ‘PAYDAY 2: An update and an apology, Almir Listo, Overkill's global brand director, offered players an apology.

ss_1e4ee2b1ff742d966ccad7bfe856b88848cbf4a4.600x338

“Players have been angry with us, media have written about us en masse and our volunteer moderators went on strike. For all the distress we've caused the past few weeks, I'd just like to take the time and say that we're sorry. We've done a lot of things right in the past, but these past few weeks we screwed up”.

The studio also held a Skype call with its forum moderators to get them back on-board and discuss better communication for the future. However, there is no indication that microtransactions will be going anywhere, so while the studio has apologised, it isn't backtracking.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Overkill was pretty quiet on the subject over the last few weeks, though without any changes made to the current system, I do wonder what Payday 2 players will think about this apology. 

The post Overkill apologises over recent Payday 2 updates first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/overkill-apologises-over-recent-payday-2-updates/feed/ 11
Lionhead Studios reveals canceled game InkQuest https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/lionhead-studios-reveals-canceled-game-inkquest/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/lionhead-studios-reveals-canceled-game-inkquest/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2014 11:00:37 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=213322 Lionhead Studios, the developer behind the Fable series, has revealed InkQuest, a now canceled game from the studio's lesser known ‘incubation team', which is in charge of experimenting with new game ideas and showing them off to gauge public reaction. The Microsoft owned development company has been dabbling in new projects for around a year …

The post Lionhead Studios reveals canceled game InkQuest first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Lionhead Studios, the developer behind the Fable series, has revealed InkQuest, a now canceled game from the studio's lesser known ‘incubation team', which is in charge of experimenting with new game ideas and showing them off to gauge public reaction.

The Microsoft owned development company has been dabbling in new projects for around a year or so. InkQuest was detailed on the official Lionhead website, a statement given said:

“Game developers love to create. It's why we do this job in the first place – to find that seed of an idea, that spark, that tiny bit of magic that captures first ourselves, then our friends, then perhaps a whole community.”

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB_X4OnLTIY']

download

“About a year ago, the Lionhead Incubation department was formed out of the desire to do just that – to find new ideas and inspiration that can then be turned into groundbreaking games, large or small. This, however, is not a measure of success: The ideas that don't get developed further are just as important as those that do.”

InkQuest was first conceived at the studio's 2013 creative day game jam, the idea was deemed good enough to be ‘incubated', which basically means that more time and resources were put in to the project in order to build a prototype.

InkQuest was supposed to be a story driven adventure game, telling the story of Sophie, a young girl who somehow ends up being transported in to a magical book.

“We explored worlds made entirely from words and investigated different ways of telling stories within them. We explored various art styles and developed some amazing technology for a kind of artist's ‘performance capture' – capturing and replaying our artist's creative process.”

InkQuest was later canceled after the decision was made to not put the project in to full production. Now, Lionhead is back to working on Fable, with the next game in the series due to launch on the Xbox One next year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's always interesting when studios decide to show off old ideas and prototypes for games that were ultimately canceled. What do you guys think of the InkQuest video? Did the studio make the right decision in canceling the project?

Source: Lionhead

The post Lionhead Studios reveals canceled game InkQuest first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/lionhead-studios-reveals-canceled-game-inkquest/feed/ 1
MPAA, studios file suit against Megaupload to cover bases https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mpaa-studios-file-suit-against-megaupload-to-cover-bases/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mpaa-studios-file-suit-against-megaupload-to-cover-bases/#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2014 09:37:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=186430 Movie studios and lobby groups have been gunning for Kim Dotcom for some time. In conjunction with the New Zealand authorities and FBI, they spied on him before and after his arrest in January 2012 and since have been pushing to have the man extradited to the US. However with the trial approaching, clearly they've …

The post MPAA, studios file suit against Megaupload to cover bases first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Movie studios and lobby groups have been gunning for Kim Dotcom for some time. In conjunction with the New Zealand authorities and FBI, they spied on him before and after his arrest in January 2012 and since have been pushing to have the man extradited to the US. However with the trial approaching, clearly they've decided to insure themselves in-case he isn't deported and have filed a suit against the defunct site and its owner in a Virginia court.

If extradited to the US, Dotcom would face several high profile charges for money laundering, fraud and conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. However if that doesn't happen, the MPAA will still want to sue the man, so it's gone ahead and gotten the ball rolling.

megaupload
Despite being one of the biggest sites in the world and endorsed by many a big name, Megaupload was seized and shuttered in early 2012

In the new suit, the lobby groups hope to secure an unspecified amount for damages, as well as attorney's fees. According to Reuters, they're hoping to be rewarded with as much as $150,000 per instance of copyright infringement.

Dotcom and his legal team are dismissive of the suit, calling it “science fiction.” Head of Dotcom's US defence team, Ira Rothken, said: “The MPAA is suddenly realizing that we're a few months away from the extradition hearing, and once Kim Dotcom and the others prevail in the extradition hearing they'll have more resources and more assets.”The MPAA wants to have cover if the Department of Justice fails in the extradition and the criminal case.”

What's interesting about this filing though, is that it gives Dotcom's team another opportunity to request the evidence arraigned against him. While he ultimately failed to get ahold of it for the extradition trial, with the judge eventually ruling (after much back and forth) that providing a summary instead would expedite the already lengthy process, with a new filing, Dotcom's team can once again demand access to the evidence.

KitGuru Says: This isn't unexpected, but perhaps shows a lack of confidence in the MPAA's chances of getting Dotcom extradited. 

The post MPAA, studios file suit against Megaupload to cover bases first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mpaa-studios-file-suit-against-megaupload-to-cover-bases/feed/ 0
Movie studios want Google to censor Mega https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/movie-studios-want-google-to-censor-mega/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/movie-studios-want-google-to-censor-mega/#respond Wed, 29 May 2013 14:18:00 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=136449 In a move that shouldn't be a surprise at this point, several major movie studios have asked Google to remove Kim Dotcom's Mega site from its search engines, claiming that the file locker is hosting copyright protected content without permission. However, it's not individual file links that the studios want removed (those don't feature in …

The post Movie studios want Google to censor Mega first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
In a move that shouldn't be a surprise at this point, several major movie studios have asked Google to remove Kim Dotcom's Mega site from its search engines, claiming that the file locker is hosting copyright protected content without permission.

However, it's not individual file links that the studios want removed (those don't feature in Google search results anyway) but the Mega homepage. This is particularly odd – and seemingly unfounded – since the homepage of Mega doesn't link to any copyright protected content – it simply allows you to sign up for an account so you can host your own files. According to the DMCA takedown requests from NBC Universal and Warner Bros. the site links to copies of Mama and Gangster Squad, which it simply does not.

Those files may be hosted by someone on Mega, but they aren't linked to or accessible from the Mega homepage.

dotcomprint
Meanwhile Dotcom has been brushing up on the history of copyright infringement. Source: Dotcom Twitter

Understandably, Kim Dotcom has taken a swing at the companies responsible for these requests, likening it to the shutdown of his Megaupload website early in 2012 and other bogus takedown requests from studios, often made by automated tools that are incredibly fallible.

“The Warner Bros. and NBC Universal requests to Google are censoring our entire homepage. This is in line with the unreasonable content industry behavior we have experienced for years,” Dotcom said while speaking with TorrentFreak. “During the Megaupload days over 20% of all takedown notices were bogus. We analysed big samples of notices and most were automated keyword based takedowns that affected a lot of legitimate files. The abuse of the takedown system is so severe that no service provider can rely on takedown notices for a fair repeat infringer policy.”

Fortunately in this instance, Google has refused to take down the Mega homepage, finding little merit in the claims of copyright infringement. Unfortunately this doesn't mean that all illegitimate takedown requests are caught, often times with the result being that perfectly legal content, or material owned by people/companies other than the own requesting the takedown, is removed without warning.

KitGuru Says: It's good that Google is naming and shaming companies that do this as it highlights how ridiculous a lot of the claims are, but this is still an imperfect system and could do with a real revamp to bring it in line with protecting legitimate copyrights, while giving freedom to those that want to distribute via new and emerging platforms. 

The post Movie studios want Google to censor Mega first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/movie-studios-want-google-to-censor-mega/feed/ 0