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Round Up: Final Fantasy XII Day, Top PC Titles, Nordic Devs
by Jason Dobson
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September 13, 2006
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Today's round-up includes news Final Fantasy XII Day in New York, the top selling PC titles for August, and five Nordic developers awarded with funds for game development, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source news, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings.
- Square Enix announced that the much anticipated Final Fantasy XII, which shipped in Japan on March 16, will be playable at Ziff Davis' annual DigitalLife Summit, to be held October 12-15 in New York. In addition, the company noted that New York has declared October 11, 2006 to be Final Fantasy XII Day in a special commemoration in Times Square. The game will ship in North America on October 31, 2006 for the PlayStation 2, and will retail for $49.99. In addition, a previously announced collector's edition, which includes a bonus DVD, art book, and more, will cost $59.99.
- The NPD Group has released the list of the best-selling PC games for all of August 2006. World of Warcraft was again on top of the chart, followed by EA's The Sims 2 and its related expansion, Family Fun Stuff. Civilization IV: Warlords, which last moth ranked just seventeenth on the chart in terms of sales, jumped an impressive thirteen spots to become the fourth top selling title for August. In addition, as the expansion required the use of the core game, sales of Civilization IV also rocketed, elevating the game from fourteenth to sixth for the month. Another Sims 2 expansion, Open for Business ranked fifth. THQ's value priced Paws & Claws Pet Vet debuted at seventh on the chart, followed by Ncsoft's Guild Wars Factions and THQ's Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures. Microsoft's strategy title Age Of Empires III rounded out the top ten most purchased PC titles for the month.
- Five Nordic video game companies have been awarded their share of a funding pool worth DKK 2 million ($340,522) in 2006 as part of The Nordic Game Program. Program organizers, including a panel of experts, spent two days before selecting the five companies out of 58 applicants in competition for the capital. The five companies selected were Guppyworks, which received DKK 600,000 ($102,181) for the game The Snow Queen and the Magic Mirror; Underholdningsbranchen, which received DKK 300,000 ($51,081) for the game Limbo; Skalden Studio, which received DKK 400,000 ($68,109) for the game Blåblobben Doddo og det grønne monsteret (Doddo the Blue Blob and the Green Monster); Sub-level X Entertainment, which received DKK 500,000 ($85,137) for the game Nord (North); and Upside Studios, which received DKK 200,000 ($34,050) for the game Alfabetsmonster (Alphabet Monster).
- The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look at Tiger's obscure R-Zone LCD gaming system, and classic gaming motivational posters.
- The latest updates from Gamasutra's game sister site Serious Games Source includes an exclusive feature written by David Hutchison, Ph.D. on his recent education-related game lecture at the 2006 Toronto Independent Games Conference.
- News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes a thesis by Simon Fraser University's Chad Ciavarro aimed at reducing aggressive and negligent behaviours in games.
- Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Electronic Arts, LucasArts, NCsoft, and PlayFirst.
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