Satya Murthy

Unity Technologies has announced that the limited version of its ‘Unity’ game development platform previously sold for $199 as ‘Unity Indie’ will now be available free.

Now simply called ‘Unity,’ the free engine and suite naturally contain fewer features than the $1499 Pro license but still offer plenty for budding designers and developers to tinker with. You can nab the suite in a 163MB download from FileShack.

The suite and its offspring, Time Donkey by Flashbang.

An interesting article by Will Freeman on casualgaming.biz

In a Casual Games Forum panel looking over the current health of the sector chaired by CasualGaming,biz editor Ben Parfit, a panel of industry experts have been talking over the relative merits of micro transactions, predicting that paying upfront for games will last just another half-decade.

"People will only continue to pay upfront for games for, picking a number from the air, perhaps another five years at most," suggested Zattikka’s head of development Matt Spall.

Quick to agree at today’s event, vocal Playfish CEO and co-founder Kristian Segerstrale added: "Once games become a service, just like with any service, people will stop paying up front. It is pretty much inevitable that it has to go there, and it’s a huge opportunity for all of us.

"But what we must ask is, in terms of the huge new market out there that me must get product in front of, ‘how can we get something in front of them that is meaningful, and how do we charge different people in different ways to best grow as an industry?’"

In general the panel, which also included Finblade chairman John Chasey, agreed that micro transactions offer the most sustainable, potentially profitable model for casual gaming.

"Micro transactions do trump a lot of things," said Segerstrale. "As an ability to offer a menu of options to your players in terms of the way they consume and enjoy there games it is very powerful. That is a huge opportunity to reach beyond the concept of the gaming budget. That means we can evolve business models and understand consumer behaviours beyond offering a single price point. That is a huge growth opportunity for all of us."

"If you look at it as something like gambling in reverse, where every now and then you have to put in a little money, it is very addictive," added YoYo Games CEO and founder Sandy Duncan. "It plays on human behaviour, and in that context out of all the funding models micro transactions are perhaps the most pervasive and important."

from: http://gamerpaper.com/index.php

1.It would be embarrassing if she were better at video games than you. Here you envisioned long co-op jaunts crusading against alien invasions, teaching her to play Portal by romantically holding her hands over the controller, and getting cozy while sniping from a bunker in Call of Duty, but here she is, curb-stomping your face over and over in Gears of War multiplayer. You don’t even have to wait to wear that pink sweater she bought you for your birthday to be emasculated.

2. If you are better at video games than her, you will fight every time you give in to her pleas to play together. There are plenty of girls out there that play games. But playing does not imply winning. Ever. Even girls that identify themselves as gamers can be totally inept at video games. She may love playing the easy level campaigns at a nice slow pace, but when you catch her at every spawn point on the multiplayer board and snipe her before she even moves, she’ll start to cry. For some reason.

3. You will never, ever get to play single player campaign again. It’ll always be "oh, we never get to do anything together, let’s play co-op" and then she’ll insist on using Convenant weapons because "they are purple and pretty."

4. She will always be misled by beginner’s luck on beat-em-ups. Girls don’t understand the relationship of button-mashing with beat-em-ups; that is, if you do it, you win. A few button-mash wins will cause them to think they’re skilled players, but once she starts trying to learn the moves, you’ll crush her every time, and she’ll cry again (see #2).

5. She does it for the dudes. Maybe this girl actually likes to play video games. And maybe someday I’ll live in a bouncy castle and eat hamburgers for every meal. But she does it mainly because guys think it’s cool, and is actually terrible at video games (see #2 and #4). This girl probably also "likes" football, baseball, basketball, paintball, beer, violent movies involving zombies, and firearms, but knows absolutely nothing about them.

6. She says she’s a gamer, but what she means is about ten years ago, she used to make a Sim of herself WooHoo with a Sim of her crush, and then set his Sim house on fire. This girl is not actually a gamer, and is, in all likelihood, insane.

7. She says she’s a gamer, but the only games she plays are on PopCap and other websites.Not only will she waste your time by getting you addicted to some niblet of a game like Kitten Cannon, she actually thinks this is gaming, which means she’s just a terribly confused human being.

8. She’ll really put the RPG in MMORPG. Running around as a naked night elf damsel-in-distress who’s had her armor stolen and getting attention from the Stormwind sausagefest will be all well and good in the game, but ask her to do it in the bedroom and then there’s just something WRONG with you.

9. If your girlfriend is playing video games with you, there is no one to bring you sandwiches and energy drinks. And if she stays the night and you both are awake until 3 AM playing Call of Duty, there is no one to wake up and make pancakes. Already you’re out two meals. Do you want to starve to death?

10. If your girl gamer fits none of these descriptions, that means she is probably also a supermodel and a rocket scientist, and is therefore a perfect human being. You do not deserve her and will eventually break up, but video games and sex will be inextricably linked in your mind forever after all those games of Strip TF2, and you won’t be able to turn on your console without getting a boner. Happy gaming!
Written by GamerPaper’s favourite girl gamer, Casey Johnston!

Electronics group Samsung is willing to pay as much as $250,000 to each developer that pitches any ideas that become games on the Samsung Application Store.

The company, which has in recent times seen its mobile phone market share slip, has enlisted mobile game developer Handmark to provide insight and judgement on the horde of developers pitching ideas, prototypes and products.

If any hopeful developer (either individual or team) is given the green light to develop their idea, Handmark will also be available to assist production.

The initiative is Samsung’s latest move to try and catch up with the industry-shifting success of Apple’s iPhone, and indeed the App Store itself.

The Samsung Application Store launched in September with titles such as Space Invaders and Guitar Hero ready for download.

Samsung is looking for titles that will showcase the firm’s mobile phones; the tech behind them, and the advanced features they offer. The company says all ideas will be considered.

Chris Barnett, Handmark’s senior VP of Global Sales, believes that there’s a wealth of great ideas waiting to be discovered in the mobile game space.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone, including big brands, mobile developers or any individual with a unique, creative idea to make it a reality,” he added.

Story originally published on Develop

WE ARE REVOLUTIONIZING RTS GAMES! Trion is creating a groundbreaking MMO-RTS game in conjunction with Petroglyph Games, the creators of Command and Conquer, Red Alert, and the Empire at War series of games. Trion is looking for an exceptional and passionate Producer with strong MMO experience to help manage the external development of the game.

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Producer MMO-RTS – Trion San Diego San Diego, CA, USA

Day 1 Studios believes that extraordinary individuals create extraordinary entertainment. To continue our success, we need the best and brightest designers, composers, artists and technologists to share our quest to create revolutionary games

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Cinematic Artist – Day 1 Studios Chicago, IL, USA

This individual will be focused on bringing our game environments to life and must be able to work with designers to layout game levels. Other duties will be high-resolution modeling, texturing and lighting. Candidates should demonstrate strong visual and game play sensibilities along with examples of how they’ve implemented these ideas in levels they’ve built for shipped products. Experience creating levels for 1st person combat games is preferable but not required

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Environment Artist – Day 1 Studios Chicago, IL, USA

In 2006, Vigil Games in Austin, TX became a part of the rapidly expanding THQ family.

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Systems Designer – Warhammer 40K MMO – Vigil Games Austin, TX, USA

In 2006, Vigil Games in Austin, TX became a part of the rapidly expanding THQ family. We are at work on the soon to be released Darksiders and the Warhammer 40K MMO.

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Lead Environment Artist – Warhammer 40K MMO – Vigil Games Austin, TX, USA

Tencent Boston is a premier game development studio led by industry veterans that are driving the creation of world class online games for a global audience. We are a division of Tencent Inc., one of the largest internet companies in China

Originally posted here:
Technical Artist – Tencent Boston Maynard, MA, USA

Tencent Boston is a premier game development studio led by industry veterans that are driving the creation of world class online games for a global audience. We are a division of Tencent Inc., one of the largest internet companies in China

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Special Effects Artist – Tencent Boston Maynard, MA, USA

Tencent Boston is a premier game development studio led by industry veterans that are driving the creation of world class online games for a global audience. We are a division of Tencent Inc., one of the largest internet companies in China. If you’re an inspired, driven individual who is ready to take game development to the next level, then Tencent Boston is your new home

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Character Artist – Tencent Boston Maynard, MA, USA