Ubisoft on Wednesday released the trailer for the latest installment of its Assassin’s Creed franchise. Unlike its predecessors, which took place during the Italian Renaissance, Assassin’s Creed III will take place during the American Revolution and feature a new protagonist named Connor Kenway. Ubisoft has previously announced that Assassin’s Creed III will be bigger than any of its previous installments. The action-adventure video game is being developed for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U, Mac OS X and Windows PCs, and is set to be release on October 30th, 2012. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III gameplay trailer follows below.

Rovio on Monday announced the company’s financial results for 2011. The mobile game developer generated $106.3 million in sales based on the success of its Angry Birds games and strong merchandising business. “The strong growth in revenue clearly demonstrates the popularity of the Angry Birds brand.” Mikael Hed, Rovio CEO said. “The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products. To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services.” Rovio’s three Angry Birds offerings in 2011 — Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio — were downloaded 648 million times and featured 200 million active monthly users. The company expects business to continue to grow well into 2012. “We are very optimistic about 2012 due to significant investments in product development, cutting-edge branding, brand protection and corporate infrastructure,“ the CEO said. Rovio’s press release follows below.

ROVIO ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS 2011 FINANCIAL RESULTS
07.05.2012

Helsinki, Finland – Rovio Entertainment Ltd, the world’s leading provider of mobile entertainment and creator of the Angry Birds franchise, today had the pleasure of announcing the financial results for the full calendar year of 2011.

Total revenue amounted to €75.4 million ($106,3 million) driven by strong growth in game download activity and consumer product sales. Earnings before tax were €48,0 million ($67.6 million) or 64% of total revenue in 2011.

“The strong growth in revenue clearly demonstrates the popularity of the Angry Birds brand.” Mikael Hed, Rovio CEO said. “The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products. To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services.”

The Angry Birds franchise fuels Rovio’s performance

The financial outcome of 2011 is very positive for Rovio. Rovio’s different business areas, Games, Advertising, and Consumer Products, are fully rolled out and generated both revenue and profit.

The Consumer Products business area, which includes both Merchandising and Licensing income, generated revenues that represent a about 30% of total revenue in 2011. The company was working together with more than 200 licensing partners on developing new products and services within the Angry Birds franchise.

Rovio’s game offerings in 2011 consisted of three games, all based on the Angry Birds characters: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio. The games are available as both free and paid versions on all popular mobile and connected devices. The total number of game downloads reached 648 million by the end of year 2011 and the total number of active monthly users, across all platforms, reached 200 million.

The number of employees grew from 28 to 224 during the year 2011.
Market and business development expectations

Future sales will to a large extent depend on the launch schedules and success of new games and initiatives in 2012. As sales of new devices remain the main driver for mobile game downloads, Rovio expects business to continue to grow accordingly.

“We are very optimistic about 2012 due to significant investments in product development, cutting-edge branding, brand protection and corporate infrastructure,“ Mikael Hed said.

Notes:
- Currency exchange rates EUR/USD is based on 2011 median of 1,41.
- Rovio Entertainment Oy´s financial figures have been prepared in accordance with Finnish Accounting Standards (FAS).

Sega exited the video game console business in 2001 after stiff competition from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo forced the struggling company to shift gears. Now, more than 10 years later, Sega is back with new video game hardware… but it’s definitely not the kind you might expect. Unveiled late last year, Sega’s “Toylet” is now available in Japan and the surrounding region. The system connects to a urinal, allowing users to play a variety of interactive games by urinating on a sensor connected to the main device. A screen above the system then displays each game to the player, examples of which include filling virtual coffee cans and blowing wind up a cartoon news anchor’s dress. The Toylet costs roughly $1,750 and each game runs an additional $125, but it’s likely money well spent for bar owners, at least until the novelty wears off. A video demo of the Toylet (not in action, thankfully) follows below along with a pair of images that show examples of Toylet installations in Tokyo.

A Texas electronics company has allegedly begun production on Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox gaming console, according to a report from IGN. Production of the Xbox 720 is reportedly underway at the Austin, Texas branch of Flextronics, the same electronics company responsible for manufacturing the Xbox 360 and the original Xbox. Despite these reports, however, Microsoft firmly stated that the next-generation Xbox will not debut at this year’s E3 gaming convention. The hardware currently being manufactured may instead be development kits for top-tier game developers that will get early access to Microsoft’s next-generation hardware in order to prepare new titles. The “Xbox 720″ is rumored to be six times more powerful than the current Xbox. It has been reported that the console will be equipped with a GPU based on ATI’s Radeon HD 6670 and should offer support for 3D technology, 1080p HD output, multiple displays and DirectX 11. Microsoft may also be looking to use online downloads and swappable solid state cards rather than a traditional disc drive.

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As previously rumored, Microsoft is now offering a subsidized 4GB Xbox 360 gaming console and Kinect for $99 with a monthly subscription option. The bundle requires customers to sign up for a two-year subscription to Xbox Live Gold Membership for $14.99 per month. The subscription plan is similar to the model wireless carriers have been using for years. If a customer is to break off the agreement prior to end of the 24-month contract period, early termination fees will apply. The deal is only available at Microsoft Stores for the time being. A chart from Microsoft outlining applicable early termination fees follows below.

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OMGPOP launched Draw Something on February 6th and within seven weeks, the game soared to 35 million users while serving almost 1 billion ad impressions per day. The turn based Pictionary-style game soon became the most popular Facebook Connect game, beating out Zynga’s Words With Friends, and also the No.1 free app and No.1 paid app on both the iOS App Store and the Google Play marketplace for Android. Zynga noticed the success of Draw Something and quickly acquired OMGPOP and its team for more than $200 million. The sale may have been premature, however, as Draw Something’s user base is beginning to decline, The Atlantic Wire reports. The number of users who play the game on a daily basis has dropped from nearly 15 million users to 10 million, although the number of monthly users has stayed consistent, according to information from App Data. The crumbling daily user figures could spell trouble for Zynga, but it looks like the timing couldn’t have worked out better for OMGPOP, which seemingly managed to cash in at precisely the right time.

[Via The Atlantic Wire]

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Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a subsidized Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle with a monthly subscription option, according to The Verge. The software giant may offer its 4GB gaming console alongside its motion sensing input device for $99 with a two-year commitment, and an early termination fee will be included for contract breakers. Subscribers will then pay a monthly $15 fee that includes access to Xbox Live Gold, a two-year warranty and possibly additional streaming content as well. Microsoft will apparently position the package to compete against the Apple TV, Roku streaming box and PlayStation 3. The Verge reports that we could see an announcement as early as next week.

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Activision on Tuesday announced the next entry in the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a sequel to one of the most successful games of all time. Treyarch, the studio behind the original Black Ops title, is developing the sequel. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a 21st Century Cold War, where technology has created a new generation of warfare. Activision chief Eric Hirshberg previously said, “The next Call of Duty will bring meaningful innovation to the series.” The game is available for pre-order now and is slated to be released on November 13th for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The official Call of Duty: Black Ops II trailer follows below.

Rovio on Monday announced that the company’s latest Angry Birds installment, Angry Birds Space, has been downloaded a whopping 50 million times in 35 days, making it the fastest growing mobile game of all time. The company also teased that “something even bigger is on its way” and gamers should stay tuned. Angry Birds Space was released on March 22nd for iOS and Android devices, as well as OS X and Windows PCs. The fourth major Birds release delivered new and unique gameplay features alongside new and existing characters. The game was an instant hit and in less than three days was downloaded 10 million times. Fans have called the game the best Birds game since the original. 

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The rumor mill has gone back and forth a number of times regarding whether or not next-generation video game consoles from Microsoft and Sony will support used games. While GameStop CEO Paul Raines seems confident they will — GameStop’s business relies on the resale of used games — game developers clearly stand to benefit if consoles force their owners to purchase new copies of games rather than used copies. ”From a business perspective that would be absolutely awesome,” Rasmus Højengaard, director of creative development at Crytek — the developer behind Crysis 3 and the CryENGINE gaming platform — told CVG in an interview. “It’s weird that [second-hand] is still allowed because it doesn’t work like that in any other software industries, so it would be great if they could somehow fix that issue as well.” Højengaard did not offer any insights on whether or not Microsoft and Sony actually plan to take measures to prevent console owners from playing used games.

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Electronic Arts and Crytek last week announced the highly anticipated next installment of the Crysis franchise, Crysis 3, alongside a 19-second teaser trailer. On Tuesday, the two companies issued the official gameplay trailer that showcases the game’s stunning graphics. The third installment of Crysis is set in 2047, and users control protagonist “Prophet” as he returns to New York only to discover that the city is covered by a giant Nanodome created by the evil Cell Corporation. This dangerous new world demands advanced weapons and tactics, such as a lethal composite bow, an enhanced Nanosuit and devastating alien technology that will turn Prophet into the deadliest hunter on the planet. The game, which is built using the latest CryENGINE technology, will be released in Spring 2013 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and is now available for pre-order. The full Crysis 3 gameplay trailer follows below.

NVIDIA sees its mobile system-on-a-chip graphics solutions surpassing the performance of the Xbox 360 in the coming years. A new graph the company shared with AnandTech highlights the performance of Tegra chips in comparison to those found within PCs and gaming consoles. The solid lines are estimated performance, while the dotted lines are trends. NVIDIA estimates that at some point in 2013, mobile graphic performance will match the Xbox 360 and by 2014, mobile performance will surpass that of the Xbox 360. Of course processor performance is hardly the only piece of the puzzle when it comes to gaming, and Microsoft and Sony will each have new consoles on the market in 2014.

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Electronic Arts and Crytek announced the highly anticipated next installment of the Crysis franchise earlier this week, and the companies have now released the first Crysis 3 teaser that includes gameplay footage. Albeit brief, the teaser reel showcases a new weapon and stunning graphics that will definitely pique gamers’ interest. ”Crysis 3 is a thrilling mix of sandbox gameplay, advanced combat and hi-tech human and alien weaponry that shooter fans will love,” Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said in a statement. “Leveraging the latest CryENGINE technology, we’re able to deliver seven unique themes that offer stunning and visually loaded gameplay experiences. We cannot wait until people get their hands on the game.” The first full trailer for Crysis 3 will be released on April 24th, and Crysis 3 Hunter Edition is already available for pre-order ahead of its release in 2013. The full teaser video can be viewed below.

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While Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform may not be as big as Apple and Google’s offerings, it is still possible for app developers to find success on the emerging operating system. A year ago, FourBros Studio launched a free game called Taptitude on the Windows Phone Marketplace. The game, as of today, has earned the company over $100,000 in revenue and boasts more than 300,000 users, Business Insider reported on Thursday. Interestingly enough, the company’s revenue has spiked since the launch of Nokia’s Windows Phones. FourBros Studio uses Microsoft’s pubCenter, along with a service called AdDuplex, to sell advertisements on Taptitude, which is now making roughly $1,000 a day and averaging over 1 million daily impressions. The success of FourBros Studio could encourage more developers to join the Windows Phone platform, which has struggled to gain market share since launching more than a year ago.

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced the return of Master Chief and the Halo franchise with the release of “Halo 4″ on November 6th. The franchise was originally imagined as a trilogy, with the game’s third installment becoming the biggest consumer product launch of all time when it was released in 2007. Many questions were left unanswered, however, and fans of the series wanted more. The game is set four years after the events of Halo 3, as Master Chief returns to confront his destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens to destroy the entire universe. “We are beginning a new saga with ‘Halo 4′ and embarking on a journey that will encompass the next decade of ‘Halo’ games and experiences,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios. “Millions of fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to step back into the boots of Master Chief, and, with ‘Halo 4′ leading the charge, we’re confident 2012 will be the most successful year in Xbox history.” Additional details surrounding the game will be announced on CONAN Wednesday night on TBS at 11:00 p.m. EST. Microsoft’s press release follows below.

Master Chief Returns With Worldwide Launch of “Halo 4″ Beginning Nov. 6

Marking the return of gaming’s most iconic hero, the first chapter of a brand new “Halo” saga is the year’s most anticipated video game release.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 17, 2012 — The countdown has begun for the landmark entertainment event millions of fans worldwide have been anticipating for more than four years. “Halo 4,” the hotly anticipated sequel to the iconic franchise that has shaped entertainment history, will launch worldwide on Nov. 6, 2012.

“Halo 4″ marks the return of legendary hero Master Chief, named by Fast Company as “one of the most popular characters in gaming history1,” and aims to set a new standard for blockbuster interactive entertainment with the launch. Set four years after the events in “Halo 3,” Master Chief returns to confront his destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Developed by 343 Industries, “Halo 4″ marks a new beginning for the landmark entertainment franchise that has sold more than 40 million games worldwide and inspired multiple New York Times best-selling novels, live-action shorts, comic books, action figures and apparel.

“We are beginning a new saga with ‘Halo 4′ and embarking on a journey that will encompass the next decade of ‘Halo’ games and experiences,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios. “Millions of fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to step back into the boots of Master Chief, and, with ‘Halo 4′ leading the charge, we’re confident 2012 will be the most successful year in Xbox history.”

“Halo 3,” the biggest consumer product launch of all time when it released in 20072, concluded the original game trilogy, but left many unanswered questions around the fates of the series’ beloved hero, the Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence companion, Cortana. On Nov. 6, fans will experience the next chapter of the iconic franchise. Tonight, Conan O’Brien will help celebrate this fall’s launch of “Halo 4″ with a special segment on “CONAN” on TBS at 11 p.m. PDT/10 p.m. CDT. Those interested should tune in and check out http://www.teamcoco.com or follow @TeamCoco on Twitter for updates and more details.