Spike also airing EA's E3 media briefing

Not content with just one major E3 media event, Spike has announced that it will also be airing the Electronic Arts press briefing. Entitled "Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview," the event is scheduled to take place at the Orpheum Theater in LA on June 6 at 12:30pm PT (3:30pm ET) and will air commercial-free on Spike.

The highlight of the event will be a new, live demo of Battlefield 3. Also planned are looks at Mass Effect 3, Madden 12, FIFA 12, Need for Speed: The Run and "other unannounced projects." Also, if you squint hard enough, you just might spot some Joystiq bloggers in the crowd.


Show full PR textThe Game is About to Change! EA and Spike TV Come Together for Exclusive Live Broadcast of EA's 2011 E3 Showcase Event With "Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview"

One-Hour Special Premieres Live, Coast-to-Coast and Commercial Free on Monday June 6 at 3:30 PM ET / 12:30 PM PT

NEW YORK, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV, the #1 network for video game programming, today announced that it is working with leading game publisher Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) for an exclusive live, commercial-free telecast of the company's 2011 showcase event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the gaming industry's leading trade show.

Broadcasting from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview, premieres live nationwide Monday, June 6 at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT.

During the hour-long broadcast anchored by GTTV host Geoff Keighley, EA CEO John Riccitiello and the company's development teams will unveil exclusive, world premiere demos and trailers for EA's biggest releases for 2011 and beyond. Viewers will experience an explosive, never-before-seen demo of Battlefield 3™, travel across the galaxy for a look at Commander Shepard's final voyage in Mass Effect™ 3, hit the pitch for a first look at FIFA Soccer 12, discover what's new in Madden NFL 12, shred the mountains in the world premiere look at SSX™, experience the high-speed thrills of Need For Speed™ The Run and hear breaking news about other unannounced projects now under development at EA.

"EA and Spike share a valued publishing relationship and we can't wait to exclusively broadcast the company's E3 lineup with our reach of 99.4 million homes across America," said Kevin Kay, president, Spike TV.

In addition to the exclusive live coast-to-coast broadcast on Spike, MTV Networks' GameTrailers.com, MTV.com and EA's EA.com will provide a live, high-definition video stream on the Internet of Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview, powered by the global Akamai HD Network platform. The live stream will be viewable on a record number of platforms, including Facebook, iPhone®, iPad™ and other mobile devices.

"Gamechangers is an incredible showcase of EA titles for every platform – consoles, PC, handhelds, tablets and smart phones," said John Riccitiello, CEO, Electronic Arts. "We are thrilled that Spike TV and MTV Networks will broadcast the news about Battlefield 3, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, FIFA Soccer 12 and other EA blockbusters to millions of gamers around the world."

For a sneak peek at many of the EA games set to be revealed during Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview, tune into the E3 preview episode of GTTV with Geoff Keighley, premiering Thursday, June 2 on Spike.

The exclusive live broadcast of Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview is a key part of Spike's largest-ever commitment to video game coverage at E3. Spike, home to the annual Video Game Awards, the biggest night of the year for the game industry, plans to deliver more than 20 hours of live E3-related programming across multiple platforms – including television, online, Facebook and mobile – from a new, state-of-the-art HD studio at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, CA. Spike and GameTrailers.com will unveil the biggest games of E3 before any other network with breaking news, live demonstrations, world premiere trailers, in-depth interviews and expert analysis.

About Spike TV

Spike TV is available in 99.4 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

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Starhawk has matchmaking, server lists ... and space battles

Though LightBox Interactive blew the doors open on Starhawk a couple of weeks ago at a reveal event, not every question about the game was answered. To provide more information to anxious fans, LightBox head Dylan Jobe took to the PlayStation Blog for a Q&A.

Among the most interesting tidbits is the news that Starhawk multiplayer will allow players to find each other using either matchmaking or a server list. And for those of you wondering whether you'd be able to leave the planet's surface, apparently you can. "100% YES," Jobe said in response to a question about the existence of space battles. "The outer space environment set that the art team here at LightBox Interactive has put together is really awesome. Super fun to play on and looks great."

Whether that means specific levels take place in space, or if you'll just be able to fly straight up in one of the transforming robot/plane "Hawks," remains to be answered. Jobe isn't talking details about this feature yet: "Some of the elements are still being worked on and we don't want to show it untill we're 100% happy with it," he said.

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Sign up now for free PSN identity theft protection

Sony is making good on its offer of free ID theft protection for PSN members. It's posted the form through which you can sign up for Debix's AllClear ID service, which "uses advanced technology to deliver alerts to help keep you safe" and also includes "identity theft insurance coverage" and access to investigators.

Sony is only offering access to the free service until June 28, so you should sign up now. "AllClear ID PLUS is a service offered by Debix and not by Sony," the company notes. Sony meant this as a warning, so you'll read the AllClear ID site carefully before signing up -- but we admit that when we first saw that, we kind of thought the implication was that it was less likely to be hacked.

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Rumor: Ninja Gaiden 3 loses the store, may add Move support

Reports are coming in that the latest issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine is full of new info about Ninja Gaiden 3. NeoGAFfer RatedRSuperstar summarized the article, noting a few salient points about the Team Ninja sequel.

Reportedly, the difficulty level "won't be toned down for casual gamers," which means Team Ninja is making the game "more accessible" in a different way. In addition, it packs competitive and cooperative multiplayer, with at least one mode supporting up to eight players. There's also a possibility of Move support. The weapons store is gone, in favor of weapons that "upgrade over time."

According to RatedRSuperstar, "Blood is back" as well. Having seen the purported scans, that's an understatement. Imagine a ninja covered in melted Twizzlers.

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Available the first update for L.A. Noire

Many of you as you are solving cases and investigating crimes in your PS3 with the latest jewel of Rockstar Games titled L.A. Noire. Also you you may have noticed that since the patch 1.0 next to fix some minor issues found in the game is available for download.

The official website of the game indicate that it fixes problems with the store of downloadable content for the game in particular to the verification of age for the purchase of content, gameplay, bugs and graphic aspects, some issues have been identified in interrogation and improvements in the integration between the game and the social club.

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The Penguin is added to the list of villains in Batman: Arkham City

It will be Robin in Batman: Arkham City? Yet there is nothing official about it, but Rocksteady has confirmed that another character of the franchise will be in the next Batman game: Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin.

The confirmation of the inclusion of the Penguin comes from the official Australian Playstation Magazine. The appearance of the Penguin will be linked to the many puzzles scattered by Arkham City, as it will appear once players can solve one of them. Of course, once it is on the screen, your first task will be told his henchmen to go kill Batman.

Dax Ginn, developer Rocksteady, also provided a bit of information about how the study recreated the Penguin in Arkham City.

"The way in which Penguin has always been portrayed is that it is all a Knight noble and well spoken, given those delusions of grandeur", he said. "So we have made it a horrible piece of work, but it retains the illusion of grandeur." "Dressing well, but in bad taste"

Batman: Arkham City come on October 18 in North America, on October 19 in Austalia, and on October 21 in Europe.

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Team Bondi already thinks in L.A. Noire 2 and extend the Motion Scan to the whole body

L.A. Noire is already in the stores and a success resounding beyond where passes. One of the best features that the game has is the Motion Scan, the technology used to create the best facial animations to date. Team Bondi not thought it twice and they are now planteandose the development of a second installment.

"The development would be shorter because we already have the techniques;" "the written part attached to a game is what would be missing, but development will be less than five years," said Brendan McNamara, who believes that a sequel would soon take place.

Brendan does not think that the Motion Scan is as maximum as possible reaches its study, and thinks that there is still much room for improvement. Why are already working in "technology for whole body catpurar".

"With L.A. Noire already have broken some conventions for characters in video games".

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Escalation marks GameStop's biggest DLC launch in record first quarter

The recent Call of Duty: Black Ops "Escalation" DLC has taken the crown at GameStop as its largest DLC launch ever, according to the company's latest earnings call. The map pack sold 50,000 copies as pre-orders and 200,000 in store during the first week of availability. Digital sales in general are on the rise at the retailer as well, growing 53 percent year-over-year.

The first quarter of 2011 was a good one for GameStop overall, as the company reported record sales of $2.28 billion. HD console games were a big driver, as was the Nintendo 3DS launch, combined with a solid 9.5 percent growth in "pre-owned" (read: used) games and accessories. Pokémon Black and White were the top titles of the quarter, with Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Black Ops and Homefront filling out the top five.

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New voice for Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City

Arleen Sorkin pretty much owns the role of Harley Quinn -- well, she did. Sorkin, who helped create the character in the early 90s on Batman: The Animated Series, won't be voicing Harley in this fall's Batman: Arkham City (despite carrying on the role in the first game). Instead, veteran voice actor Tara Strong will take her first stab at Harley.

Strong has been doing cartoon and video game voice overs since the late 80s. Some of her roles include X-23 in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Rikku in Kingdom Hearts 2 and Sheegor in Psychonauts. She also voiced The Huntress in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series.

A brief Q&A with Strong has been posted on the official Arkham City site, in which she says she wants to "honor" Harley's established voice -- but until we actually hear her rendition, we can't help but morn the loss of Sorkin.

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Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One arrives on Oct. 18, pre-order bonuses detailed

Four friends, armed to the teeth with an enormous arsenal of weapons, may be sufficient to overcome Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One's menagerie of levels, but wouldn't it be helpful to have an extra Mr. Zurkon hovering overhead? The trailer we've dropped after the break answers that question with a resounding "YES," showing off Mr. Zurkon and the other three pre-order bonuses that folks will pick up at various (sigh) retailers.

Alongside the pre-order news, Sony announced that Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One will launch on October 18, living up to its previously noted "Fall 2011" launch window. That leaves just five months to decide where to pre-order -- but let's not kid ourselves, you're gonna go with Zurkon. It's just the right thing to do. Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

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The Modern Warfare 3 leak, from Activision's perspective

"Friday was a really interesting, a really kind of cool day," said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, as he reflected on last week's massive Modern War 3 leak and the company's response. "Cool" was a word I was not expecting out of the man in charge of shepherding an enormous marketing campaign that had just been knocked off of its horse.

"No one wakes up and thinks, 'I hope there's been a leak and our timing gets all messed up,'" Hirshberg mused as he and I discussed the incident this week at a meeting at Activision HQ, but "if members of the government and the military aren't safe from this stuff, it's a part of our world now."

"And while it's definitely not cool to steal other people's intellectual property, and while it's definitely not cool to leak stuff that's not yours, there are ways that you can respond that actually turn the lemons into lemonade," he added. "And that's what we tried to do on Friday."

"It would be really easy to just obsess over the event, which was the leak, and obsess over how it happened, and that's only looking backwards," Hirshberg said. "And in the meantime, your launch just started. And you aren't always in control of the schedule and the dialogue, and you need to be comfortable of those rapids in this day and age. That's actually one of the things that separates good marketing from great marketing today."

"I think we managed to turn a crisis into an opportunity." - Eric Hirshberg, Activision Publishing CEO

Hirshberg, who came to Activision last July from the CEO role at celebrated ad agency Deutsch, knows a thing or two about great marketing -- he helped invent PlayStation's Kevin Butler. The Modern Warfare 3 leak appeared to be Hirshberg's biggest challenge to date in his new role heading up Activision Publishing. It called for immediate and decisive action -- whether that was simply to go into the typical, "crazed lock-down mode" or try something a bit more unprecedented.

"There was a diverse chorus of voices at the table," Hirshberg recalled of the company's internal discussion following the leak. "Everything from 'do nothing; we're sticking with our plan; this will blow over' to 'lean even further into it' to what we did -- and everything in between." An effort was made to "see through the lens of our fans," who had become genuinely excited about the game because of the leak. "They didn't do anything wrong," Hirshberg pointed out.

"We woke up with a marketing crisis and wanted to go to bed with a marketing win," Hirshberg explained of the final decision. "So what we did was we kind of took that exact conversation we were having in our conference room outside and had it publicly in social media. Through our various channels, through Robert Bowling at IW, through Facebook and through our YouTube channel, we reached out to our fans and we said, 'Look, we didn't schedule this. This wasn't something we had planned. But everyone seems excited, so we're just going to roll with it. So here they are, a couple of assets that weren't scheduled to be out for another couple of weeks, we're going to release 'em to you today.'"

Those assets, a series of teaser clips most prominently posted on YouTube, garnered more than 3 million combined views in just 48 hours, according to Hirshberg's count (the current combined total is close to 4.5 million views on YouTube alone). By comparison, Hirshberg said the first Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops teasers -- released according to schedule -- attracted a mere 61,000 and 89,000 views, respectively, in their first two days of availability. "So if you add those two numbers together, and take the sum and multiply it by 20 times, you'd have what we generated with these four teaser videos," he boasted. "So I think we managed to turn a crisis into an opportunity."

I asked Hirshberg if he thought this comparison indicated that Activision had gotten its Call of Duty marketing wrong before. "I don't think it means we did anything wrong," he insisted, "both Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops were, at their times, the biggest entertainment launches ever."

"If there's gonna be a dialogue about our game, we want it to be between us and our fans and not between the leakers and our fans." - Hirshberg

"I think that what you're pointing to is the power of response in these moments," he added. "And responding is different than reacting or overreacting, or not reacting. Showing a willingness to be a part of the connected, digital, social universe we live in as a company is very powerful."

"Now, people aren't consumers of brands anymore; they're fans of brands," Hirshberg observed, noting that "social media is a huge shift in the way brands connect with consumers." Video games and other media products have become "some of the stuff that we actually use to help define ourselves to others," and "I think people have a very human connection with the stuff they like these days," he said.

"We kept coming back to the fans, to the people who love this game; who are just waiting; for whom that day was just a really cool day," Hirshberg imagined. "All that interest for us we knew was harnessable in a positive way. The other thing we wanted to do was, if there's gonna be a dialogue about our game, we want it to be between us and our fans and not between the leakers and our fans."

"You don't want to spoil the surprises that the game has to offer," he added. "Leaks are not positive things, even though we might have used it as a way to amplify our initial viewership."

Hirshberg admitted that the the source of the leak "clearly had deep access," but claimed that "not everything that was leaked is accurate." Activision's internal investigation is ongoing, but appears to be driven by less urgency than its public response. "The mystery of the leak itself is not solved, and it's better to let that unfold."



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Assassin's Creed: Revelations multiplayer characters are ripped from the main story

After introducing a unique new multiplayer component in the last Assassin's Creed entry, developer Ubisoft Montreal has plans to make the mode more meaningful in the next AC title, Assassin's Creed: Revelations. In a recent Game Informer piece, four of the game's multiplayer characters -- the vanguard, the guardian, the bombardier, and the sentinel -- are introduced, each with specific ties to the game's main single-player story.

The guardian is a member of the Templars, calling himself the "Guardian of Truth," and plays an unknown role in the forthcoming game. The sentinel is more fleshed out, with Ubisoft revealing to GI that he is a former Assassins Guild member who defected after the Ottoman Empire and the Assassins reached a truce; he'll be seeking revenge at some point during the main campaign. The last two remaining characters -- the bombardier and the vanguard -- are similarly of Templar loyalty, lured in by money and power.

How all of these folks factor into Ezio's final adventure remains to be seen, but each will show up in both the main campaign as part of the story and in multiplayer as playable characters. If Brotherhood is any indication, though, we'll see another half dozen characters added to the mix sometime before launch this November.

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Sony's failure to report data breach incurs CT Senator Blumenthal's wrath

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is "demanding answers" about why Sony Computer Entertainment of America failed to inform customers of the data breach of the PlayStation Network on April 20.

"When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised," Blumenthal said in a release. "Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach."

Of course, Sony just issued a statement that it says will be emailed to "all of our registered account holders" but, as we noted in our post, it's been nearly six days since the "intrusion" first took place. Blumenthal elaborated, "Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised."

Sen. Blumenthal also sent a letter to SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton, which can be found after the break.

April 26, 2011

Mr. Jack Tretton
President and CEO
Sony Computer Entertainment America
919 East Hillsdale Boulevard
Foster City, CA USA 94404

Dear Mr. Tretton:

I am writing regarding a recent data breach of Sony's PlayStation Network service. I am troubled by the failure of Sony to immediately notify affected customers of the breach and to extend adequate financial data security protections.

It has been reported that on April 20, 2011, Sony's PlayStation Network suffered an "external intrusion" and was subsequently disabled. News reports estimate that 50 million to 75 million consumers – many of them children – access the PlayStation Network for video and entertainment. I understand that the PlayStation Network allows users to store credit card information online to facilitate the purchasing of content such as games and movies through the PlayStation Network. A breach of such a widely used service immediately raises concerns of data privacy, identity theft, and other misuse of sensitive personal and financial data, such as names, email addresses, and credit and debit card information.

When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised. Additionally, PlayStation Network users should be provided with financial data security services, including free access to credit reporting services, for two years, the costs of which should be borne by Sony. Affected individuals should also be provided with sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft.

I am concerned that PlayStation Network users' personal and financial information may have been inappropriately accessed by a third party. Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach. Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised. Nor has Sony specified how it intends to protect these consumers.

PlayStation Network users deserve more complete information on the data breach, as well as the assurance that their personal and financial information will be securely maintained. I appreciate your prompt response on this important issue.

Sincerely,

/s/

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senate

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Amazon offers Crysis 2 for $40, that nano-suits us just fine

We know you're having a hard time choosing between all the different nanomachine-infused, suit-centric first-person shooters set in a ruined New York City. Why not go with the cheap one? Amazon's marked down Crysis 2 to $39.95 as its current deal of the day.
Crysis 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) -- $39.95, down from $59.95

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Red Faction: Armageddon demo on XBLM and (maybe) PSN May 3

THQ will give you a chance to take a brief jaunt over to Mars on May 3, when it releases a demo for Red Faction: Armageddon. The demo will launch on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network simultaneously -- assuming that PSN will be functional again at that time, of course -- but no PC demo is planned.

According to THQ's description of the demo, players will get the opportunity to play with the Nano Forge's destructive and reconstructive abilities, and even "throw entire buildings at your enemies with Red Faction's signature weapon, the Magnet Gun." We'd certainly try that for zero dollars.

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Kongregate and Ubisoft want you to build a music game in honor of Child of Eden

Kongregate and Ubisoft just launched a new contest to promote Child of Eden, called "Project Eden: Experience the Music" -- but it's an even deeper "experience" than the title suggests, as you'll actually "experience" the development of a music game in order to enter.

From now through June 21, Kongregate is accepting submissions of user-designed music games for entry into this contest. The top 25 games chosen by the voting community will then be judged by Child of Eden creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi ... and also Ricardo Torres from GameSpot. The winner gets $10,000 and, of course, the opportunity to spread their synaesthesia-inducing masterwork to everyone who checks out Kongregate.

What: Project Eden: Experience the Music

Details: Ubisoft and Kongregate, one of the leading free browser based game sites, are partnering to create Project Eden: Experience the Music, a music game contest inspired by the release of Child of Eden, the newest project from renowned game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. The contest will challenge the Kongregate community to electrify the senses by creating a game that synchronizes music and unique gameplay.

Indie developers and amateur game makers will have a chance to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes, and if their game is selected by the Kongregate community as one of the top 25, it will be played and judged by Tetsuya Mizuguchi himself along with the Editor-in-Chief of GameSpot.com, Ricardo Torres.

For more information on the contest, or for specific rules and regulations, please visit http://www.kongregate.com/experience-the-music

Key Dates:
5/13: Contest announced and game submissions begin
6/21: Game submission deadline
6/22: Kongregate community voting begins
6/27: Top 25 games submitted to Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Ricardo Torres for selection of winners
6/30: Contest winners announced

Prizes:
Grand Prize: $10,000
2nd Place: $3,000
3rd Place: $2,000

About Child of Eden:
Child of Eden thrusts the player into the center of a battle to save Project Lumi, a mission to reproduce a human personality inside Eden, a futuristic version of the Internet and the archive of all human memories. As the project nears completion, the archive is invaded by an unknown virus and the player's mission is to save Eden from the virus to restore hope and peace. Under the direction of the renowned game creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Child of Eden is a multi-sensory shooter that will send players diving into a kaleidoscopic matrix of synchronized music and mind-blowing visuals that will usher forth a truly landmark game experience.

Child of Eden will release in the US on June 14th for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Child of Eden for the Sony PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system has a scheduled release timeframe of September 2011.

About Kongregate:
Kongregate is a leading browser-based game site with over 13 million monthly unique visitors who spend more than 23 million hours playing per month. As part of the GameStop Corporation network, the site features a unique community and social platform including achievements, profiles, chat, messaging, forums, and levels, which unifies over 35,000 games into a cohesive and addicting experience. Kongregate shares revenue from advertising and virtual goods directly with over 8,500 developers who have uploaded games to the site.

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Work on canned Bourne game 'Treadstone' revealed in vid

A reel showing off some rough in-game footage of Treadstone is making the rounds after being found by Superannuation. If you're suffering from a mild case of video game amnesia, allow us to refresh your memory: Three years ago, Treadstone was a multiplayer-focused title set in Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne universe being developed by Radical Entertainment.

If you're wondering why Treadstone was abandoned, one needs to recall the geopolitical business of games industry in 2008. At the time, Activision was cleaning house of the properties it obtained during the Vivendi merger and the Bourne IP was dumped back to Ludlum Entertainment. A short time later, Bourne landed at EA and ... well, that apparently hasn't gone much better.

Check out Radical's Treadstone work after the break.



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Ubisoft continues to just dance around fiscal year losses

A year ago, as Ubisoft reported net losses of €43.671 million for its 2009–10 fiscal year (ending, March 31, 2010), CEO Yves Guillemot brushed aside concern, saying, "We forecast a return to profitable growth in 2010–11." Well, here we are -- and Ubisoft isn't exactly basking in the sun.

For the 2010–11 fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, the publisher's net losses slumped further to €52.120 million (about $74 million). Yet Guillemot again played the role of the optimistic fortuneteller as he looked to the company to "post further growth in both sales and current operating income in 2011–12 and 2012–13." (Notice how he didn't drop the P-word this time.)

He put a positive spin on the 2010–11 fiscal year, too, observing "a sharp upturn in revenue." Indeed, sales were up 19 percent over the previous fiscal year to €1.039 billion. In addition to "another success" with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Guillemot attributed much of the sales growth to a rebounding casual market, which Ubisoft dominated with its (just) dance game segment, as well as strong support for the Kinect and 3DS launches. Notably, 38 percent of the publisher's game sales over the 12-month period came from Wii titles.

Ultimately, Ubisoft's bottom line suffered from reorganization costs, which amounted to €95.9 million in non-recurring charges, including unspecified project terminations (so, Am I Alive?). Presumably, if Ubisoft is now appropriately restructured, it can focus more effectively on making successful products again. "For example," Guillemot offered, "we plan to launch a free-to-play world based on our highly popular franchise for young girls, Imagine."

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Starhawk takes Warhawk into the future on PS3

You've probably heard the name before, but now Sony and LightBox Interactive have officially unveiled Starhawk, the follow-up to 2007's multiplayer-only PS3 game, Warhawk.

Due next year, Starhawk brings the on-foot and vehicle-based third-person shooter into a new setting -- desolate moons full of highly valued "rift energy." It also adds a single-player story mode and a new "Build and Battle" system that allows players to choose structures from a menu and drop them into the level as they fight, adding a layer of real-time strategy-esque gameplay.

You can see the first screens in our gallery, and a LightBox dev diary after the break. You can also read about the game in more detail in our hands-on preview! Starhawk (PS3)

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