Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (think Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth) is working on a number of gaming titles. 

 

In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, he stated that “One of the things we’re announcing in the next few weeks is a big deal with a big company. We’re going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting. It’s not a development deal. We’re going to do it. We’re doing them. And we’re going to announce it soon enough.” He didn’t provide any more details about the games or the ‘big company’.

 

 

Nintendo may have unveiled its next generation portable gaming system, the 3DS, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) earlier this year, but it has remained tight lipped so far about its pricing and availability. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

VG247 reported that Nintendo Japan will be holding an event on 29 September, on which the company will “discuss launch timings, price and shipment details.”

 

 

Capcom wants to boost its gaming sales by making more games in less time. An article on Nikkei.com, stated that Capcom wants to speed up the current game development cycle from four years to between one and two years. According to Kotaku, Capcom produces about two major franchise titles (like Resident Evil or Street Fighter) per year and wants to double that to three to four major game titles per year.

  

 

Google isn’t the only conglomerate to reportedly make an investment in a social gaming company; Disney has announced that it will be acquiring social gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million (about R4.121 billion), with an additional performance-linked payout of up to $200 million (approx. R1.463 billion) to follow later.

 

This acquisition will see Disney “strengthening its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers [with] new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace.”

 

“We are at the start of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way people of all ages play games with their friends across devices, platforms and geographical boundaries,” said Playdom CEO John Pleasants. “Disney is an incredibly forward-thinking company that shares our vision and is the ideal partner to further our mission to bring great entertainment to people around the world.”

 

 

Nintendo has been waging a war against piracy instruments such as R4 game cards, which are employed to pirate Nintendo DS games, for a while now and has finally scored a major win in that war. According to TechCrunch, the importation, sale and advertisement of the R4 cards, has now been made illegal in the UK.

 

 

Yet another WWE game is warming up before its debut in the gaming ring. In an interview with CVG, THQ core games boss Danny Bilson said that, “next year you’ll see another new extension [of the WWE franchise] there in another way – that’s just as exciting as [the forthcoming WWE] All Stars, but a little different. We’re not talking about that yet.”

 

Bilson did however divulge that the new title will, as with WWE All Stars, be “more friendly, easier and less simmy than Smackdown! Vs Raw.”