Fat Princess: Piece of Cake is now Free on PS Vita!

You can now rescue the princess on Playstation Vita, iOS and Android for Free. Fat Princess: Piece of Cake  includes a brand-new strategic match-three game.

Fat Princess:Piece of Cake has been available on iOS and Android for a while now but is now available for the PS Vita. The game has well over 55 levels which spread across 5 different landscapes. You will use your red army to attempt to smash through the Blue army with 4 different character classes to choose from. The PS Vita version also supports Trophies.

Gameplay is quite simple and easy to learn but  you’ll need to strategically upgrade your characters – the Knights attack single enemies for high damage, a Ranger whose gun can blast enemies in the front row, a Demolition specialist with bombs to stun all enemies, and a Wizard to heal your troops.

But what about the Princess?

The game isn’t called “Fat Princess” for nothing…the princess is hungry, really hungry, feed cake to the princess by matching special tiles to unleash her devastating slam attack, trigger massive combos to save the day and her Kingdom.

The mobile version offers the game for Free when you reach level 15. For this you must have an active Facebook account to receive the voucher code and you will also need a valid Sony Entertainment Network account to redeem that voucher code to download the game to your PS3 console.

Yea, but is it really free?

“Fat Princess: Piece of Cake is a free-to-play game set in an incredible universe and can be played without making in-app purchases, however some in-game items such as power-ups and character upgrades can be acquired through in-app purchases”

Atelier Ayesha Plus available now on PS Vita

Lovers of “JRPG’s” or (Japanese Role Playing Games) will be happy to know that Atelier Ayesha Plus-The Alchemist of Dusk is now available for download on the Playstation Store as of yesterday.

The game was developed by GUST, one of Koei Tecmo’s teams in Japan.

Chin Soon Sun– Community Manager, Koei Tecmo Europe had this to say;

“Atelier Ayesha Plus (or Atelier Ayesha PS3) is the first game/entry for the DUSK Trilogy (which will follow by Escha & Logy and Shallie), you will find Dusk World a little darker than Arland because the land has gone through many eras of destruction and recovery”.

“There are countless ruins to be found in this beautiful yet fleeting world”.

Atelier Ayesha Plus tells the tale of a girl, Ayesha Altugle, who after the death of her grandfather and the disappearance of her younger sister Nio, now lives alone blending healing cures to sell in her workshop. Upon a vision of Nio appearing near her empty grave, Ayesha is convinced Nio is still alive and begins her search to save her sister.

This enhanced PS Vita version will bring new features including dual audio (English and Japanese voices), new bosses, new costumes, a Hard mode, and the Album missions which unlock exclusive costumes and gameplay features and the ability to change party members at any time – As an added bonus  if you download it from January 13th to February 10th, you’ll receive Bonus costumes as a bundle.

The full download is 2.95 GB and also supports and is playable on Playstation TV.

Check the US official site to find out more information about it here: http://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/ayeshaplus

ESA Honors Texas Governor Rick Perry for Supporting The Video Games Industry

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today presented Texas Gov. Rick Perry (and former Republican presidential candidate) an award for his efforts to create jobs, provide tax incentives and generally foster the growth of the computer and video game industry in the state. ESA president and CEO Michael D. Gallagher presented the award to the Governor and praised him for his “longstanding support for the industry” during an award ceremony at the historic Governor’s Mansion. The event included members from the video games industry, business leaders, and state officials.

“Governor Perry has been a true champion for Texas and for our industry,” said Mr. Gallagher. “At E3 in 2008, he made a personal pitch for computer and video game companies to come to Texas. Since then, he has dedicated his passion and energy to building the state’s global reputation as an innovation incubator and economic powerhouse, known for its creative community and cutting-edge businesses.”

Gov. Perry worked with the Texas Legislature to implement and later improve the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, which created a business friendly environment for computer and video game companies. The Texas Film Commission says that the video games industry invested $643.5 million in in-state productions between 2006 and 2009. The industry also created more full time jobs than any other moving image entertainment sector from 2007 to 2009, employing nearly 14,000 direct and indirect workers in 2009 and adding more than $490 million to the state economy.

36% of US plays downloaded games

Digital distribution becoming more common, 16% of population has ditched physical media for games entirely.

Digital distribution is increasingly becoming an accepted, and in some cases demanded, way for Americans to get their games, according to NPD Group data released today from its Exploring Digital Gaming report.

Based on a recent survey of more than 6,000 people in the US ages 13 and older, the group reported that 36 percent of the US population plays downloaded games on either a computer, console, or dedicated handheld gaming device like a 3DS or PlayStation Vita. A little less than half of that group has abandoned physical media entirely, as 16 percent said they only play digitally distributed games.

As for preferences, gamers were generally split. When both physical and digital versions of a game are available for the same price, 25 percent of respondents said they would take the digital version, compared to 30 percent who would opt for the physical copy. The remaining 45 percent were unsure of their preference.

The PC is far and away the most popular platform for digital distribution, with 90 percent of the NPD’s “digital gamers” reporting that they downloaded games for the computer. On the other hand, only 28 percent of digital gamers download games for consoles. And while two-thirds of console gamers said they download titles multiple times a year, only 14 percent do so on a monthly basis.

NPD analyst Liam Callahan said the digital movement has also driven more impulse purchases.

“Most digital players, regardless of device, don’t plan their purchases,” said Callahan. “They purchase simply when they find something they like. But primary console players do have a greater tendency to purchase at or before the time of release relative to PC players. As more consumers purchase the new consoles (Xbox One, PlayStation 4), we expect to see greater digital spending from digital console gamers as consumers indicated that purchasing these consoles will most likely increase their digital spending.”

 

[source]

League of Legends gets World of Warcraft Veteran game designer

World of Warcraft veteran leaves Blizzard to join RIOT Games as League of Legends developer.

Former World of Warcraft lead systems designer Greg Street has updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect that he is now a lead game designer at Riot Games.

The Linked profile doesn’t indicate the project he is working on at Riot Games. In a post on his Twitter account, Street alluded to the change but implied it would be some time before he provided more clarification on it.

“Thank you for all the recent tweets, but I think the appropriate thing for me to do is lie low for awhile,” Street said. “I won’t vanish forever. Cheers.”

Street, also known as Ghostcrawler on the World of Warcraft forums, had been with Blizzard for nearly six years when he left last month. Prior to that, he worked at Microsoft’s Ensemble Studios as the lead game designer on Age of Empires III.

 

[source]