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PlayStation Home director Jack Buser kicked off Sony’s final day of GDC 2010 panels, announcing that the virtual community’s worldwide userbase now stands at 12 million. The population has grown by two million users since December 2009, and is double of what it was in June of last year.

Buser expanded on the stats, pointing out that these numbers aren’t based on one-off visits; according to Sony’s data, 85 percent of users who create a Home avatar return more than once. The average citizen, he said, spends an hour in Home each visit.

While Buser’s talk was primarily aimed at developers interested in developing in-Home games, he spoke on what to expect in terms of Sony’s strategy for the service in 2010, saying, “You’re going to see us really embrace this idea of total game integration” to “really extend out the experience of your games.” He used the Home presence of Sucker Punch’s inFamous as an example, saying that we can expect to see more spaces, minigames and tie-in content timed alongside game launches this year, and that “It’s an Incredibly important part of [Sony's] strategy.”

PlayStation Home population at 12 million originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We may still be waiting for a the “spring” release of Modern Warfare 2’s first DLC (”Stimulus Package“), but thanks to an early Xbox Live Marketplace listing for the map pack, we aren’t in the dark anymore as to its contents. The blurb reveals the pack will contain “5 additional action-packed maps,” including three all new ones (”Bailout, Storm, and Salvage”) as well as two remakes from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (”Crash” and “Overgrown”).

“Bailout” is said to be “a multi-layered apartment complex,” while “Storm” is described as “an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery,” and “Salvage” is “a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars.” Presumably, if you’re reading about the details of unreleased a MW2 map pack, you already knew that “Crash” is a “war-torn urban environment” and “Overgrown” is set in a large dry creek. No pricing or date is set, unfortunately, though you can ogle the XBLM listing for now if it makes you feel any better (though we wouldn’t suggest it).

[Thanks CL4P-TP!]

XBLM listing reveals 5 maps, 2 CoD4 remakes in MW2 ‘Stimulus Package’ DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At the tail end of our GDC interview with Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, we remembered one more question we simply had to know: How well did Fable 2’s episodic experiment go? We’ll refresh your memory: Last August, Molyneux announced plans to release Fable 2 as a series of five downloadable “episodes,” with the first one given away and the subsequent four priced at $10 each.

Molyneux’s response: “That was hugely successful. There were something like over half a million. I think it was 600,000 downloads of the first episode, which was very, very cool.” Of course, the first episode was free so how was the conversion rate? “It was a much higher than a normal conversion rate,” Molyneux smiled. “Massively, massively successful, and I really love this relationship, which is much more sliced into episodes with consumers.”

Of course, knowing where we were going with this particular line of questioning, Molyneux preemptively offered an answer.”But we’re not announcing whether that’s coming out in this release,” he said, tossing a smile towards the attentive PR people behind me.

Fable 2 episodic experiment deemed ‘massively successful’ by Molyneux originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The GDC 2010 Microtalks session was a frazzling experience in many ways. The format of the event essentially assures it. Ten lecturers — all from different sectors of the game industry — each spoke for five minutes and each were allowed to use 20 different slides. Naughty Dog’s Richard Lemarchand set the stage for the speakers, announcing the theme of the talks as “come play with us.” The goal of the microtalks, said Lemarchand, was to help game creators capture the “radicalizing exuberance” of games and give them the energy to “transform the world” through the power of play.

The resulting cavalcade of images and ideas — ranging from methods of play to behavioral economics — is a bit difficult to distill. Thankfully, we were taking notes. There was too much at the event to condense here, but it was definitely a thought-provoking event. We’ve highlighted a few of the more interesting speeches after the break.

Continue reading GDC 2010 Microtalks: Big ideas, tiny speeches

GDC 2010 Microtalks: Big ideas, tiny speeches originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rhode Island bill S.2156 (PDF) is silly … (How silly is it?) … It’s so silly that even Jack Thompson recognizes it as unconstitutional. As GamePolitics reports, it’s one thing when the Entertainment Software Associate (ESA) calls a bill “the same as all the other legislative proposals found unconstitutional by numerous federal courts.” It’s a whole other ballgame when Jack Thompson chimes in with, “The Bill won’t survive a court challenge, nor should it … Think I’m not going to help the legislature get it right?”

Of course he is! Yes, Thompson did tell GP that he will attempt to advise Rhode Island legislators on how to amend the bill to pass legal muster. Hopefully the disbarred attorney won’t cause the representative he assists to write an apology letter to his fellow House members when it’s all over.

ESA says Rhode Island game bill is unconstitutional, Jack Thompson … agrees? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Y’know, OnLive and Gaikai aren’t the only game-streaming services on the block. OTOY has been laying low for a minute, but the “other” game streaming service has finally made its big announcement: it’s going to release in Q2 2010. In fact, OTOY isn’t just a service for streaming games; there are now claims of streaming movies, PC applications and “other graphically-intensive applications” to any mobile device with a web browser.

OTOY will employ AMD Fusion Render Cloud technology, a CPU/GPU server platform that will stream games straight into your see pee youz through the company’s software suite. And if you have no idea what that means, check out a demo of the service right here, courtesy of TechCrunch — basically, it’s like playing games on your computer. What a novel idea!

[Via Big Download]

OTOY to launch in ‘Q2 2010′ through AMD partnership originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whomever compiled this Brink trailer must have enjoyed themself some Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, because we swear we’ve only seen dudes stylishly dodge projectiles like that in a Hideo Kojima game. But, we digress.

There are plenty of other noteworthy things, but if you’re looking for actual in-game footage, you won’t find it throughout the three minutes of video above. But, hey, if the CG is any indication, there will be lots of action to look forward to in Brink. That and curiously tall, acrobatic gentlemen wearing a variety of neat masks.

Brink trailer showcases acrobatic, lanky dudes originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve already seen the (arguably) most newsworthy video we filmed during Wednesday’s Rock Band Bar Night event hosted by Harmonix at GDC. However, our Flip Cam captured a few other magic moments which we’d be remiss if we kept to ourselves. They’re not the most news-y videos we’ve ever posted on our own site, though one of them does feature a preview of the upcoming Lady Gaga DLC. That’s gotta be worth something, right?

Watch the whole sideshow after the jump.

Continue reading Seen@GDC: Some weird things happened at Harmonix’s Rock Band event

Seen@GDC: Some weird things happened at Harmonix’s Rock Band event originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sam and Max will bring their off-kilter humor to PlayStation 3 for the first time in The Devil’s Playhouse: The Penal Zone, the first episode in a new season of Telltale’s episodic adventure series. In a first for the PlayStation Store, the full season — consisting of five monthly episodes — will become available for pre-order on March 18, nearly a month before The Penal Zone launches on April 15.

While PC and Mac owners will receive substantial benefits for pre-ordering the full season, including a free game episode, access to developer chats and extra downloadable goodies, Telltale noted that it also has a deal in store (you know, actually in the store) for console players. According to Telltale PR manager Chris Schmidt, pre-ordering the full pack will reduce the cost to $29.99, a minor but not unwelcome discount from the regular price of $34.95.

Speaking to Joystiq at a meeting during the Game Developers Conference on Friday, Schmidt also addressed the obvious question: Will this season of Sam & Max come to Xbox 360 or Wii? He called it a “definite possibility” a few months down the line, and noted that it’s in Telltale’s best interest to work with more partners and deliver its games to as wide an audience as possible. Designer Chuck Jordan jokingly added that Telltale would ultimately like “to get the games on everything that has a chip in it.”

Forget the 360 — what could be better than getting Sam & Max in a tube of Pringles?

Sam & Max PSN pre-orders start March 18; other console versions a ‘definite possibility’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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