Blizzard is currently looking into “all sorts of possibilities” for Battle.net the company’s CEO Paul Sams has told GamesIndustry.biz, including ways of monetising its newly announced marketplace. “We’re trying to figure out how marketplace is going to work exactly and how consumers are going to be able to interact with that marketplace,” said Sams, speaking exclusively at this year’s BlizzCon. “It’s certainly possible that there could be a charging mechanism at some point – we’re looking at all possibilities for each of the areas of Battle.net.” But while smaller scale Blizzard products and pay-for content hasn’t been ruled out – time will tell on that, said Sams – the COO does doubt the service will ever follow in the footsteps of Steam, offering itself out for use by other companies. Read more…

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Blizzard considering payment possibilities of Battle.net

The Walt Disney Company is to acquire Marvel Entertainment – including its portfolio of over 5000 characters – for USD 4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of USD 30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. “This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximises the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Read more…

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Disney to acquire Marvel for $4 billion

The Xbox 360 will sell one million units in Australia by the year’s end, group manager Jeremy Hinton has predicted, and the goal will be reached without reducing the console’s current AUD 299 price point. “We’ve just hit 700,000 consoles sold in Australia, and we’re now finding that it’s the fastest growing console down under,” Hinton told Gamespot. “We expect to hit a million Xbox 360 consoles sold across Australia and New Zealand by the end of the year. We’re confident we can reach this goal with the console’s current price point and the new experiences we’re bringing through Xbox Live, such as Movies on Demand, Facebook and Twitter.” Read more…

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Microsoft: 360 will sell 1 million in Australia by Christmas

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has said that the price cut on the PlayStation 3 will not have a significant effect on the publisher until the financial year beginning April 2010. That’s despite the company releasing Final Fantasy XIII in either November or December this year. “In terms of the impact (the PS3 cut) will have on this financial year’s earnings, I don’t think there will be a major difference,” said Wada, according to a report by Reuters. “But I expect there to be a big impact from next year.” Read more…

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Square: No impact from PS3 price cut until 2010

According to ShopTo, Sony has forbidden UK retailers from selling the new slim PlayStation 3 ahead of its September 1 release date, despite the fact US retailers are already doing so. Sony confirmed at its Gamescom press conference the new hardware would roll out worldwide during the first week of September, although Kotaku reports the console being sold in the US now. ShopTo CEO Igor Cipolletta has told Eurogamer that Sony is restricting retailers from selling early in the UK however. Although he does expect consoles to arrive tomorrow in anticipation of next week’s launch, and – as he runs a mail-order retail outlet – will be able to ship the hardware as soon as Friday. Read more…

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No early selling of PS3 Slim in UK

EA Games president Frank Gibeau has admitted that the future of music title peripherals is “unclear” following a relatively weak sales period for the likes of Rock Band – but he is confident that the standalone software slate for the company remains strong, and expects a positive end to the year. Speaking in an interview at this year’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Gibeau noted that EA had performed reasonably well in terms of market share so far this year, but was cautious of big price point item sales in a market that “appears to have gone soft”. “I’m really pleased where we’re at,” he explained, underlining that the company was “six or seven points up” in the market. “I think right now you’re looking at tough comps, sure, with Metal Gear and GTA in that first quarter [last year]. Read more…

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Future is "unclear" for music peripherals – Gibeau

Electronic Arts is gearing up for a busy run-in to the year, and following the economic troubles and new IP that faced an uphill battle last year, EA Games president Frank Gibeau will be keen to see lessons learned from that experience. Here he unpacks his thoughts about this year’s line-up, why the company is better prepared overall, and why he thinks this generation of consoles is set to run through 2013, possibly beyond. Read more…

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Interview:
Frank Gibeau

Internal Activision development studio Raven Software has laid off between 30 and 35 staff, following the completion of its latest titles. The studio is also working on first-person shooter Singularity for the publisher, which was recently delayed until 2010. “With the recent completion of both X-Men Origins Wolverine, based on the summer blockbuster movie, and Wolfenstein, the next chapter of the famed franchise, Raven Software is slightly reducing its workforce to better reflect the studio’s upcoming slate,” said Activision in a statement to Kotaku. Read more…

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Raven lays off staff following release of Wolfenstein

Electronic Arts’ Maxis studio is the latest development team to suffer from cutbacks, as the publisher looks to reduce headcount and refocus the business. Franchises are not affected, said EA, and all eligible employees will receive severance. “Often in the videogame industry, the size of a studio fluctuates in response to business conditions,” wrote EA in a statement to the press. Read more…

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EA cuts back staff at Maxis

MMO developer Turbine has filed a lawsuit against Atari seeking damages in excess of USD 30 million after the publisher allegedly failed to its fulfil its Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach publishing duties. According to a court filing, reported by Gamasutra, the two companies signed a publishing agreement in 2003, several years before D&D’s release in 2006. However, Atari subsequently “failed to meet its publishing and distribution obligations”. Turbine has claimed that when the game was released, it was forced to “step up” and assume Atari’s publishing and distribution role itself, although the publisher “insisted” on working on the European release Read more…

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Turbine sues Atari for not supporting Dungeons and Dragons Online