Hasta La Gadget!

Director and writer Frank Darabont, best known for Green Mile and The Walking Dead TV series, claimed that Rockstar Games threatened to sue him and the TNT network for creating a TV show called LA Noir, which Rockstar thought that was too close for comfort with their video game LA Noire. However, Take-Two Interactive, which owns Rockstar, has denied the claims made my Darabont.

In an interview with io9, Darabont says that Rockstar “threatened to sue the shit out of [him], TNT, every company that actually ever worked in Hollywood. And they have the billions of dollars to back it up, apparently.” Because of that, Darabont says that he’s changing the title of his new TV show from LA Noir to Lost Angels. The show is set in 1947 Los Angeles, and it will star Jon Bernthal.

While the previous name, setting, and timeframe of the new TV series seems dangerously close to Rockstar’s LA Noire video game, Darabont says that the TV show is based on a novel titled “LA Noir,” and has nothing to do with Rockstar’s game. However, while Darabont claims that he was threatened with a lawsuit, Take-Two said that nothing of the sort happened.

Speaking with Joystiq, the game publishing company claims that they only approached TNT in order to “express concern over confusion between the properties,” but say that they have never approached Darabont. The actions that led Darabont to change the name of the show are completely unrelated, according to Take-Two.

[via Joystiq]

Rockstar reportedly threatened to sue TV show over LA Noire name, Take-Two denies claims is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A letter sent out to THQ employees today from the company’s CEO Brian Farrell and president Jason Rubin spell out everything that has happened with the game studio after its bankruptcy filing a while back. Essentially, THQ’s multiple studios have been broken apart, and its games have been sold off to various other publishers.

According to the letter, Sega has bought Relic Entertainment (makers of the Company of Heroes series) for $26.6 million, THQ Montreal was bought by Ubisoft for $2.5 million, Evolve (a game currently in development at Turtle Rock Studios) was bought for $10.89 million by Take-Two Interactive, and Volition, Inc. (makers of the Saints Row series), as well as Metro, was bought by Koch Media for $22.31 million and $5.88 million, respectively.

Furthermore, Homefront (which is planned to get a sequel) was bought by Crytek for $544,000, and a South Park license was sold to Ubisoft for $3.27 million. Some THQ assets, however, including their publishing businesses and some other intellectual properties will be held onto for a while as a part of the company’s Chapter 11 case, but they plan to find buyers eventually.

So, what does this mean to all of the THQ employees? Most of the employees of the divisions that were bought out will most likely be offered employment by the new owners. Then again, it’s very possible that the new owners will make some changes, and it may turn out that they don’t need all of the workers, but employees should find out in a couple of weeks whether they have jobs or not.

Unfortunately, employees of divisions that were not included in the auction sale will lose their positions, and it turns out that many of them are taking to Twitter to express their grief, but to also think back on the time they spent with THQ, while others are begging for a job over the social network. It’s certainly a sad day for THQ, as well as gaming as a whole. THQ has been a big part of the gaming industry, and while many of its studios and games will continue on, we’ll miss seeing the THQ branding on all our video games.

[via Kotaku]

THQ assets auctioned off, employees say farewell is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The most recent success story on Kickstarter is GameStick, the portable gaming console that’s looking to take on OUYA, the other Kickstarter success story. The folks behind GameStick are aggressively going after game developers in order to make the portable gaming console a success. Today, the company announced that they have added a new tier specifically for indie game developers.

GameStick added a new $250 tier, which offers indie game developers a six-month window of 100% revenue on any games they release before July 2013. Indie game devs who buy into the $250 tier will receive these benefits, as well as a GameStick console for their contribution. GameStick hopes this will ramp up the number of new games that release for the console once launch day hits.

Sadly, though, devs who buy into this tier won’t get the GameStick console any earlier than everyone else, but we have to say the benefits are probably worth it in the long run. Also, the new tier is only available to 250 developers, so if you’re at all interested in making 100% revenue on your game, you may want to act swiftly.

GameStick was first announced earlier this month and it hit its $100,000 funding goal within 30 hours of launch. As of this writing, over $460,000 has been pledged, thanks to the contributions of over 4,250 backers so far. Furthermore, stretch goals were also announced this week, including black and red controller options (for those who don’t like white), microSD support, and an additional color to be decided on within the GameStick Facebook page.

GameStick adds new tier for indie game developers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II was one of 2012′s most popular games, and it’s easy to see why. Gamers love the Call of Duty series, and while some would argue that the series is drying up, you can’t argue that millions of people are still playing the games. To celebrate the success of the game yet again, Treyarch is hosting another double XP weekend.

Treyarch announced today via Twitter that they’ll be providing double XP in Call of Duty: Black Ops II from January 25 to January 28. The fun will officially start at 1 PM Eastern Time on Friday and end at 1 PM Eastern Time on Monday, giving gamers a full 72 hours to earn as much XP as possible before the clock runs out on Monday.

A few days earlier, Treyarch released a trailer (seen above) for their Black Ops II Revolution DLC, which is the first set of DLC coming to the game. It’ll be coming to the Xbox 360 on January 29 — the day after the double XP weekend ends — and it will be coming to other gaming platforms sometime afterward.

We first heard about the new DLC earlier this month when it leaked out into the public. Of course, it wasn’t surprising at all, as we were expecting some DLC soon, but it gave us a glimpse into what we might be expecting. There’s five new maps in total, four for competitive multiplayer and one for zombies mode. Expect to pay $15 for the map pack unless you picked up the season pass, in which case you’ll get all DLC at no additional cost during 2013.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II getting double XP this weekend is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In-app purchasing is nothing new, and it’s actually how a lot of free apps and games make their money, but Amazon today announced that they’re extending their own in-app purchasing system to Mac and Windows computers, as well as web-based games. This will allow developers to widen their reach and increase revenue from their apps and games.

Previously, the feature was only available for Kindle Fire tablets and other Android devices, and it allowed customers to use their Amazon accounts to purchase virtual goods and currencies right from within the app. And just like Apple and Google, Amazon takes a 30% cut of revenue from each purchase, which is the same cut it takes from app sales.

Amazon says this expansion will “help developers with game discovery and marketing,” and in-app purchasing will automatically be available on Amazon.com. In-app purchases also show up on best-seller lists, recommendation lists, and merchandising campaigns, which helps customers “discover new games and items, while adding another point of engagement for existing players.”

Mike Frazzini, Director Amazon Games, says that since developers make their apps and games available across multiple platforms, the inclusion of Mac, PC, and web games makes in-app purchasing easier for both the developer and the user. “In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based games is our latest service that helps game developers grow their business and increase their customer-base,” says Frazzini.

Amazon launches in-app purchases for Mac, PC, and web games is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.