EA selects KlickNation

Gaming giant Electronic Arts has its social gaming purse open once again after earlier this year purchasing PopCap Games. This time they went after KlickNation, a developer of free-to-play social role-playing games (RPGs).

KlickNation develops and publishes games for social platforms including Facebook, with games in its stables such as SuperHero City, Age of Champions and Six Gun Galaxy.

EA did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, but according to Inside Social Games, it amounted to $35 million including earnouts and retention bonuses (PopCap’s purchasing price amounted to at least $650 million).

The move is again a sign that the big gaming studios are taking social gaming on platforms such as Facebook very seriously. EA CEO John Riccitiello mentioned at the recent Reuters Global Media Summit that digital games (online, mobile and downloads) will provide most of the gaming industry's growth in the year ahead, providing as much as 50% of sales.

Lord British: Consoles are doomed

Consoles are here to stay right? Well not according to the well-respected games developer Richard Garriott. “I think we might get one more generation, might, but I think fundamentally they're doomed,” Garriott responded on a question from IndustryGamers about the future of consoles.

The creator of the Ultima RPG series, now heading up social gaming firm Portalarium, believes that part of the problem for consoles is the rise of smartphone technology. “I think fundamentally the power that you can carry with you in a portable is really swamping what we've thought of as a console,” he continued. Lord British further talked about the rise of browser based gaming as the next platform. Read the rest of the exhaustive interview here.

South Park going down to console and PC

The popular South Park TV series has found its way to movie theatres and Broadway, and it now looks set to conquer the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny are set to star in their own RPG if the January issue of Game Informer is to be believed.

Long-time gaming fans themselves, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the popular series, will be providing the script and dialogue while also overseeing production of South Park: The Game, set to be created by THQ and Obsidian. Information about the game is sparse, but Game Informer hints that “As the new kid in South Park, it'll be up to you to make friends and defend the town from a wide range of threats.”

PS3 exclusive brawler rumoured to be in development

One of the tantalising rumours to come out this week is a possible brawler, exclusive to the PS3, that could rival the Wii’s Super Smash Bro’s, which threw a huge collection of Nintendo’s favourite characters together in one game.

According to Eurogamer, the as yet unconfirmed brawler may feature several Sony mascots, such as Kratos from God of War, Sly Cooper, Nathan Drake from Uncharted and Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal.

SuperBot Entertainment, a California-based studio, is believed to be hard at work on a "very amazing PS3 game" for Sony Computer Entertainment America, with the studio’s website reporting that it is "currently in production of a yet-to-be announced PS3 title".

Sony announces tiered pricing for Vita games

Apparently not all Vita games will be created equal, at least in terms of cost, and the prices of Vita games will vary depending on the title. According to Gi.Biz, SCEE chief executive officer Jim Ryan elaborated that the company was planning to offer multiple price-points for Vita games to “combat the growing threat of cheap smartphone games to its handheld business.”

It’s a smart move from Sony, and one that recognises one of the inherent strengths of games on the App Store or Android Market, in which users can pick and choose from titles that not only appeal to their tastes, but also to their budgets.  

Infinity Blade II chops the iPad game competition in half

Infinity Blade II, the successor to the popular Infinity Blade on iPad, has apparently cleaved its way to the top of Apple’s app store since its launch yesterday, according to Mashable. The popularity of the sequel was inevitable, as the first game has a prominent position on just about every top 20 best i0S games list we could find.

Like the first, the fantasy game is based on the Unreal Engine 3, boasts spectacular, next-gen console-era graphics, and has not shied away from blood and gore and mature themes.

The sequel also features new locations set across expansive 3D environments, which allows players to explore a game world filled with new types of rewards and treasures, as they battle their way through a variety of enemies and bosses.

The sequel, which runs on  iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3 (16GB+) and iPod touch 4, also supports iOS 5 features such as iCloud, which enables profiles and save games to transfer seamlessly between devices. It is available on Apple’s App store for $6.99 (R56).

Compiled by Mike Joubert and Ryan Noik