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Round Up: Boonty/Gamehub, PC Charts, Nikitova @ Xbox
by Jason Dobson [PC, Console/PC]
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October 24, 2006
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Today's round-up includes news of the acquisition of Gamehub by Boonty, the top selling PC games in the U.S., and Nikitova joining Microsoft's Xbox Registered Developer Program, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings.
- Boonty, a digital game distributor and a seller of PC casual games, announced today that it has acquired Beijing based casual game developer Gamehub. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition of Gamehub strengthens Boonty's new strategic focus on advertising supported social games with game item purchasing, according to company officials. "We are tremendously excited to finally bring a multiplayer platform to the many millions of casual gamers outside of China," says Boonty founder Mathieu Nouzareth. "We look forward to continuing our mission of providing the best content and features for gaming in the age of social networks and personalization."
- The NPD Group has released the list of the best-selling PC games for the week of October 8, 2006. World of Warcraft was again on top of the chart, followed by THQ's recently shipped Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War expansion, Dark Crusade. EA's Glamour Life Stuff expansion for The Sims 2 ranked third on the chart for the week, followed by THQ's Company of Heroes and The Sims 2 itself. Buena Vista's TV-inspired Desperate Housewives was the sixth most selling PC title for the period, while LucasArts' Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and Phantom EFX's Reel Deal Slots Mystic Forest ranked seventh and eighth on the chart respectively. Microsoft's Age of Empires III was the ninth top selling PC release for the week, while the chart was rounded out by Activision's first-person shooter, Quake IV.
- International outsourcing multimedia company Nikitova LLC announced that it gained official approval from Microsoft to be included within the company's Xbox Registered Developer Program, affording Nikitova an Xbox and Xbox 360 development kit license. Nikitova vice president Andrei Pozolotin commented, "We are looking forward to a strong and long-term relationship with our outsourcing clients and ready to prove that Nikitova team is a mature one, ready to deliver AAA content exceeding customers' expectations. In order to implement our strategy "Outsourcing as a Development Partnership" we are willing to get accesses to all possible platforms and tools. Joining Xbox Developer Program from Microsoft is one of very important steps for us in that direction."
- The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include news of a performance by game music icon Richard Jacques during GameCity '06, a look at MMOG site AFK Gamer, and a competition to win a Japanese Game Boy Camera.
- News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes info of the game-creating experiences had by teenagers at this past summer's Emagination Game Design camp.
- Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Artificial Mind and Movement, Blue Fang Games, Bonzoid Studios, Clairvoyant Systems, Cranky Pants Games, Emergent Game Technologies, Pandemic Studios, Relic Entertainment, Spacetime Studios, TimeGate Studios, and Vicious Cycle Software.
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