EA exploring Battlefield subscription service

The Battlefield series may one day offer a subscription service. EA Games executive vice president Patrick Soderlund told Venturebeat that the company is exploring such a model for its marquee shooter franchise.

"I think it's fair to say that we're looking at that," he said. "Like all other companies, we're looking at how we can maximize our investment in this and get the most out of our investment, and get more people playing this product. That may take us to different places, but we're not really talking about where that is yet."

EA competitor Activision launched a Call of Duty subscription service, called Call of Duty Elite, last year. A $50 premium annual subscription gives gamers access to all Modern Warfare 3 downloadable content, as well as other perks.

Asked if EA is aiming to take the Call of Duty franchise down with Battlefield, Soderlund said the markets for both games are different, and focusing on quality will lead to greater sales for the publisher.

"When it comes to taking Call of Duty down, you know what? I don't look at it like that. We are in this business because we want to make the best possible products," he said. "Call of Duty is a shooter, but it's a different shooter. And I think they have a market; we have a market. I'm fine with what I'm doing. I'm going to continue innovating and doing as best as I can with my teams. Hopefully that's going to lead us to more units [sold] and more happy consumers."

[source gamespot.com ]

Microsoft doubling XBLA gamerscore cap

Gamers thirsting for a bigger gamerscore will be happy to know that beginning next month, all new Xbox Live Arcade games will support up to 400 points, an increase from the current cap at 200.

Additionally, with the update, all new XBLA titles will support up to 30 achievements. This is a spike from the previous cap of 20. This change will be optional for developers from April to May, but beginning in June, all new XBLA games will be required to sport 400 gamerscore points.

No specific titles have been confirmed yet as having 400 gamerscore.
XBLA has a number of new projects in the works, including a game from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, as well as Fez and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

[source gamespot.com ]

Xbox Live bug wiping achievements

Xbox 360 players have been accruing achievements and Gamerscores since the system launched more than six years ago, but some of those tallies are being mistakenly reset today.

Microsoft's official Xbox Support Twitter page has been replying to dozens of user complaints about having their achievements wiped out and their Gamerscores reset. Some users reported it happening on startup, while others said they lost their information after downloading a game update or earning a new achievement.

The Xbox Support Twitter page has suggested two remedies to the situation so far, but hasn't said they should work in every case. First, affected users are advised to sign out of their Xbox Live profile and sign back in. If that doesn't work, they are being asked to re-download their Xbox Live profiles. There is also an ongoing thread on the Xbox Live support forums for users to report continuing issues.


[source gamespot.com ]

Pursuit of AAA is a 'cancerous growth' - AC3 dev

The Assassins Creed franchise is one of the biggest in the business both inside and out. Its latest entry--Revelations--shipped over 7 million units, and represented a step forward in terms of graphics power and scale within the series. But according to Assassin's Creed 3 creative director Alex Hutchinson, this represents "cancerous growth."

Speaking at a 2012 Game Developers Conference session titled "Designing Games to Sell," Hutchinson said he envisions two "dystopian" futures for the game industry. One, he said, is where the only games that sell are focused on analytics, and are obsessed with making money.

The other, according to Hutchison, is what he described as a "massive arms race," where studios are "pushing for graphical fidelity and working on the sheer scale of games."

"We think about [this push] as kind of cancerous growth," he said. "I think that will leave the AAA blockbusters as nothing more than the last of the dinosaurs."

Hutchinson concluded his talk by offering an ideal aim for video games.

"In my mind video games need to have the goal of educating people, entertaining people, or at least being artistic," he said. "If you're not pushing any of these things…then I think we’re in for a rough patch."

[source gamespot.comm]