As you may have heard recently, a couple of developers aren’t too happy with the way Zynga operates their company, specifically when it comes to making original games. NimbleBit, for instance–developer of Tiny Tower–sent a letter last week to Zynga, “wishing them luck” on their upcoming game Dream Heights and noting how miraculously similar it looked to their own tower-construction game.

After a week of silence from the Zynga in the face of other “copycat” claims, co-founder Mark Pincus has finally responded, though denial wasn’t necessarily the first thing on his mind.

“You should be careful not to throw stones when you live in glass towers,” said Pincus, who ranks at number 212 on Forbes 400 with about a $100 million stake in Zynga. “”When you pull the lens back, you saw that their (NimbleBit’s) tower game looked similar to five other tower games going all the way back to SimTower in the early 1990s.”

The interview from VentureBeat goes on to address the other copycat criticism brought on by Buffalo Studios. Buffalo has accused Zynga of using their game, Poker Blitz, as inspiration for Zynga’s Bingo Blitz.

An internal memo from Pincus brings to light what can be seen, to some degree, as his full defense against these accusations. In it, he writes, “Google didn’t create the first search engine. Apple didn’t create the first mp3 player or tablet. And, Facebook didn’t create the first social network. But these companies have evolved products and categories in revolutionary ways.”

NimbleBit’s Ian Marsh responded to news of this interview and his competitor’s message with the following in a statement to Touch Arcade. “It was a smart idea for Mark Pincus and Zynga to try and lump all games with the name ‘Tower’ together as an actual genre whose games borrow from each other,” said Marsh. “Sharing a name or setting does not a genre make.”

Though no legal action has been threatened at this point, this conflict between companies is certainly escalating and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the issue taken to court. As it stands (and as they pointed out in their initial letter), NimbleBit consists of three developers, while Zynga is a multi-million-dollar enterprise, so a legal battle may not be in the best interest of the former.

While previously denied by the higher-ups, it’s now official: Kaz Hirai is the new President and CEO of Sony. It was only last June that Hirai was named Chairman, but due to his powerful leadership skills, he now sits at the top of the Sony tower while  current President Howard Stringer will become Chairman of the Board of directors in June.

“As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position,” Kaz said. “I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees.”

Hirai understands the issues Sony currently faces in different sectors of the business, but as always, his head’s held high. “As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position,” Kaz said. “I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees.”

He continued to discuss his hope “to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.” Encouraging to hear, but how things pan out at the PlayStation headquarters is still cloudy. Keep posted for more news on the company shuffling.

Source: Game Informer

Look at that image. Look at that sexy hunk of a man. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Mega Man is all about. In its latest attempt to alienate fans as much as possible, Capcom has announced that, in the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita versions of the upcoming Street Fighter x Tekken, Mega Man will be playable. The Mega Man from the US Box Art of the original game, that is -- an overweight dude with a gun that some artist drew in an hour. Oh also there are some other characters -- Pac-Man in what looks like Robot Mokujin, Cole McGrath from inFamous, and two kitties from some Japanese advertising thing I’m too lazy to look up --  but let’s not pretend our attention is going past Mega Man. This absolute genius in the art of trolling has given me a newfound respect for Capcom, and I might actually buy this game just so I can use a Mega Man/Kuma team.

Street Fighter X Tekken will be released stateside on March 6th of this year, and in the UK shortly after on March 9th.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MFkGo-hsCY

As sad as it may sound, I have contacted friends many a time while on holiday or some other situation in which a computer isn’t available so that they could inform me what the Steam deals were on that day. I don’t want to miss out, do I? Now I have the comfort of being able to access the money burning service straight from my phone. If you want in on the beta, simply download the app from the App Store or Android Market and login. You’ll be unsuccessful because you won’t have beta access, but it’ll let the people at Valve know that you’re interested.

Spacetime Studios, creators of the free-to-play multi-platform MMOs Pocket Legends and Star Legends have got a new title to announce. Dark Legends will put a vampiric spin on the previous two Legends games.

Set in the horror-themed environment of werewolves, zombies, demons, and vampire hunters, players will take control of recently-sired vampires in a world where their race’s existence has been brought to light. Of course, the humans are upset about this and want to destroy the vampire population. Meanwhile, the rest of the undead world will be challenging the vampires as well. Sounds like a full plate for the blood-suckers.

The style and format of the game will most likely be similar to its predecessors, though Spacetime CEO Gary Gattis promises a new spin. “Dark Legends is a quantum leap forward in interactive storytelling,” said Gattis in reference to the other Legends games. This new title will bring with it a deeper narrative along with faster-paced, more varied combat.

Like Pocket and Star Legends, the new title will not only be available on Android, iOS, and Google Chrome, but will be seamlessly playable across these different platforms. According to Spacetime Studios, Dark Legends is set for release sometime in the first quarter of 2012. Before that happens, though, fans will get a sneak peek of it at this year’s GDC.

Though it has yet to be stated, if Dark Legends follows the usual Legends model, it will be free to download and play, with in-game purchasable content. If all goes as planned, the new game will add to the 7 million (plus) downloads that Star and Pocket Legends have racked up.

If you haven’t yet played Resistance 3, savor it when you do. According to a report this morning, it will be your last chance to lead the human opposition to the Chimera invasion.

In a statement with no room for interpretation, Insomniac CEO Ted Price told VG247 this morning, “We won’t be making any more Resistances.”

Though the news will undoubtedly provoke a chorus of “Awww” from fans (and you can be sure there will be an internet petition or two to bring the game back), it doesn’t come as a huge shock. With Ratchet and Clank still in development, the new four-player co-op shooter Overstrike on its way, and the opening of their social games platform, Insomniac Click, the team is keeping itself busy. It probably helped that Resistance 3 was clearly superior to its two predecessors, and Insomniac was able to end its series on a winner.

If this news has devastated you to your core and you’re looking for hope, we may have a small dose for you. Just because Insomniac has no future plans for the Resistance series, doesn’t mean they’re against selling the rights for someone else to continue their work. It’s not much to go on, but don’t stop believing yet, Chimera-slayers.

It’s hard not to smile when a last-gen classic gets remastered and makes its way onto the newer consoles. Most recently, the PlayStation 2 classic series Jak and Daxter has received this facelift and will be ready for its PS3 unveiling on February 7. Yes, we’ve known this was coming for a while, and some Gamestops have listed the release date, but now it’s official.

A company whose graphics always seem to stand above the rest, Naughty Dog is re-releasing the first three Jak games in 720p HD, with options for stereoscopic 3D viewing. Usually when a game is remastered, it does look better, but the experience makes it fairly easy to tell that you’re playing an older game. It will be interesting to see if Naughty Dog has applied any new techniques in their remastering to make the game a little more suitable for this generation. If not, the game will almost assuredly still look great, but if one developer can raise the re-release graphics bar, it’s Naughty Dog.

When the collection hits stores next month, the three games will be included on one Blu-Ray disc and will include over 100 new trophies. Jak and Daxter Collection will release at $49.99.

As ArenaNet’s blog post says, today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon and with it AN’s Co-Founder and President, Mike O’Brien, has decided to shed a little light on when fans of the franchise can expect to jump back into the world of Tyria all over again. According to Mr. O’Brien, that day will come…sometime this year. I know. Anti-climactic moment is anti-climactic.

More specifically, though, O’Brien was able to divulge a few minor details concerning Guild Wars 2’s development. ArenaNet has just finished their first closed beta test and, come February, they will be inviting “select press to participate in beta testing.” Better yet, come March and April AN will be “aggressively” increasing beta test events so that more and more folks can get a taste of this new and improved contraption ArenaNet has been working on.

Guild Wars 2 has been in development for four years now and fans have been eager for news for some time as news surrounding the game has been slow. For example, not until recently have all of the professions (playable character classes) been revealed. Fans are done with the old and eager for the new. Let’s hope that ‘sometime-2012’ comes sooner than later.

Source: http://www.arena.net/blog/dragon

According to a job posting on their site, Blizzard Entertainment, creator of the definitive MMORPG World of Warcraft, is looking for a franchise development producer with a knowledge of in-game advertising for its next MMO project. Specifically, the listing requested someone able to “Work with major consumer brands to facilitate product placement and licensing within the world of Blizzard Entertainment’s next-gen MMO that enhances the gameplay experience.”

We’ve seen in-game advertising before, of course, with games like Alan Wake and NHL 12. These two used it extensively, while games like Burnout: Paradise simply contain in-game billboards on the virtual roads, advertising real-life products. Yes, it’s shameless and can be a little off-putting, but on the other hand, it pays bills for the companies and, if done creatively, may actually add to the authenticity of a game.

What’s more interesting about this job posting is what it may implicate about this upcoming MMO. Blizzard has been keeping the game, which may or may not be referred to as “Project Titan,” very close to the vest, so no one really knows what it is yet. With the inclusion of advertisements, though, it’s hard not to think the game is going to be something more modern or futuristic than World of Warcraft’s Azeroth. After all, the majority of (if not all) games with in-game ads are based in settings in which the ads are relatively undistracting. It’s one thing to see a billboard advertising Coca-Cola, or a Verizon phone in a game set in 2012. It’s an entirely different for a Times-Square video screen to advertise American Idol season 29 in the middle of Mordor.

Of course, Blizzard isn’t saying anything about the game or its setting thus far, though they’ve assured fans that they’re not giving up on WoW. On the contrary, they feel this game will nicely complement the gameplay experience of World of Warcraft. Other than that, all they’ve got to say is, “We are going to blow people’s minds.”