Tonight, we move one last batch of games over to this new backend, and with that final migration, users may see some disruption of service one last time. Many of our biggest titles, including games from Nintendo and several top tier game publishers with thousands of concurrent players each have already migrated over and are running without any hitches. With this last deployment, several hundred mid to lower tier games will be migrating over, under the careful eye of our deployment engineers.
We will be performing this update during our normal Tuesday morning maintenance window, which runs from Midnight to 3 AM Pacific time, and using our status page to keep you updated. Because this requires a DNS change, some users will be split between the old and new backend for up to an hour or more as DNS catches up in some territories where our low ‘time to live’ isn’t immediately honored. You’ll stil be able to matchmake, but just not see as many players as you’re used to for a short while.
Both gaming end users and developers need to do nothing to prepare for tonight’s changes. In fact, if you’re in the middle of a game, you will be able to keep right on playing. Our advice is to settle down on a nice, comfy server at 11:50 PM Pacific and sit tight for a nice long match! Our publisher partners may wish to notify their network operations staff that some lobbies and server lists may seen a little ‘light’ for a while tonight.
None of GameSpy’s other services, like our ATLAS stats system, Presence & Messaging buddy and account system or our Sake persistent storage system will be affected by tonight’s work either.
All the testing and previous deployments we’ve done to date leads us to believe everything will go smoothly tonight. If you notice any issues after today, please use our contact page to get in touch. Licensed partners can also use our established developer support contact system to notify us.
Leader of the pack? Rockstar’s Beaterator, which brought their unique beat-making game (app?) to the iPhone (it launched earlier in the year on the Sony PSP), marketing partnership with mega-producer / beatmaker extraordinaire Timbaland fully intact. Keep your eyes - and fingers - on this one.
Of special note this month: Star Wars: Battlefront - Elite Squadron, which brought Battlefront’s acclaimed online gameplay to the PSP. Rebellion used GameSpy Technology’s matchmaking service to power the game’s multiplayer features, as well as our stats & competition technology to build the game’s leaderboards. Star Wars action on the go - powered by GameSpy!
Here’s the full breakdown of the month’s GameSpy-supported titles:
Of particular note this month: the appearance of some of the season’s “tent pole” titles, signaling the approach of the holiday flood. And what are we pitching a tent for right now (huh huh)? Walking around the GameSpy offices, you’ll see just about every employee completely absorbed by Gearbox’s Borderlands (the PC version of which you can purchase & download now from IGN’s Direct2Drive, natch). We knew people were anticipating the game, but the degree to which it has grabbed screenshare caught everyone a little off guard. If you haven’t jumped into a co-op online game yet, we strongly suggest giving it a go.
Also: the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw franchise continues to deliver. Their newest title nicely showcases THQ & Yukes’ commitment to iterating each new title in truly innovative ways, with the publisher & studio working with GameSpy to deliver great new user-created content sharing features (powered by GameSpy’s “Sake” cloud data solution) as well as rich online rankings and stats (powered by our ATLAS competition service).
Also, we hear that Rockstar’s Chinatown Wars cleans up real nice for the PSP!
Epic’s announcement dovetails nicely into our own GameSpy Indie program - announced at the 2009 Game Developers Conference—which provides ultra low-cost licensing of GameSpy Technology’s full range of online gaming services to independent game developers. it also provides worldwide digital distribution for these titles through IGN’s Direct2Drive and FilePlanet services.
The engine is available to PC developers only for now, with Epic actively considering support for consoles. Epic will support the engine with free upgrades as it continues with ongoing iteration.
Gamasutra reports that developers, “… will still need to obtain an official licensing agreement to develop a commercial project using UE3.” It also notes the announcement of Epic’s new royalty-based engine licensing terms; under these, Epic will collect “twenty-five percent of revenue after the first $5,000 is made, with a per-seat yearly fee also potentially applying if the project is solely used internally.”
All in all, the indie development scene and gaming press are pretty over-the-moon about the announcement - as are we here at GameSpy Technology. Our full range of connected gaming services (from networking & multiplayer and buddylists to stats / leaderboards and cloud data storage) have been integrated into UE3 for a while now, providing UE3 developers with a fast track to a wide range of online capabilities for their single- and multiplayer games on all of UE3’s supported platforms. Our goal has always been to bring online services to as many games as possible - and we cheer any move that lowers barriers to entry in the space. We’re pleased to welcome Epic to the cause of supporting independent game development.
If you’re a new Unreal Developer Kit licensee looking to add online features to your game, give us a shout. We’re here to help.
Particularly eye-catching this past month: SouthPeak & Time Gate Studios’ Section 8, a novel new first-person shooter from South Peak & Time Gate Studios; and Rockstar’s Beaterator, a radically re-designed version of an older beat creation game, now available on Sony’s PlayStation Portable.
Here’s the full Powered by GameSpy lineup for September 2009:
For the full list of 2009 connected games powered by GameSpy Technology, visit: http://www.poweredbygamespy.com/projects/history/2009/
]]>GameSpy Technology, Warner Bros. Digital Entertainment and Guinness World Records have teamed up to challenge players of the GameSpy-powered iPhone game, Guinness World Records to become a certified world record holder by playing the game.
By logging into the game with a GameSpy ID, playing the Video Game score event (also known as the “Asteroids Spaceship Game") and holding the record for most points on August 15, 2009, one player will have their name recorded in the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamers Edition as the iPhone gaming champion. To participate, players simply need to download the Guinness World Records game to their iPhones from the AppStore, create / log in with a valid GameSpy ID, then play the Video Game Score event until they hold the highest online record in the system. Stats collection for the competition will end at 11:59:59 PDT on August 15. No word yet on whether the Guinness folks will supply a frothy pint of stout to help the winner celebrate.
GameSpy Technology provided connected gaming services for Guinness World Records. Warner Bros. and developer Traveller’s Tales Games utilized the company’s Sake cloud date storage system to record, store and share stats collected by the game’s players – which are then displayed in player profiles and local, regional and global leaderboards in the game and on the game’s official Website.
We’ve got a detailed case study of our work on the game posted on the GameSpy Technology Website.
If you’re an iPhone game developer looking to set a few records of your own, GameSpy can help – our full suite of connected gaming services are available on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Contact us for details!
Buy Guinness World Records: The Video Game in the iTunes App Store!
]]>Marquee titles for the month include Sega & High Voltage’s The Conduit on the Nintendo Wii. This much-anticipated action title delivered old-school first-person shooter thrills to a platform from which they’ve largely been missing - with great results. Reviews have been uniformly strong, and gameplay numbers indicate a hit! We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: it’s time to take the Wii seriously for something other than just units sold.
Here’s the full breakdown for GameSpy Tech’s June 2009 titles:
Congrats to all of the publishers and developers on their June releases!
Notable this month: we’re smashing records like Quentin Jackson smashes faces. With the help of THQ’s UFC 2009: Undisputed (PS3 and Xbox 360), GameSpy Technology partners shipped 14 titles shipped across 6 platforms this month, doubling our previous May best of 7.
Here’s the full list:
I don’t think the majority of people really care that much about being number one in the world.
Don’t get me wrong, [in Blur] we’re still going to have leaderboards of who’s the best on certain tracks. But PGR3 was a good example of this; you could download the world’s best ghost, and you could race against it and at the first corner, it’s gone. Mere mortals such as me couldn’t keep up with that sort of thing.
I think the whole leader board thing is a bit of a red herring… What’s going to be much more interesting is in time attack, if you’re in my friends list and you do a best lap, [Blur’s inbuilt] social network will inform me that you’ve just done a fastest lap on this particular track.
Using GameSpy’s own ATLAS competition system, developers are free to both track stats in a greater amount of detail and then later create a friends only view of that data, finely boiled down to specific scenarios. The more detail you capture, the easier it becomes for someone to excel in at least one specialty and dominate their friends. They may not have the highest score on a map, but their accuracy ratio may be the highest amongst their online buddies, or they excel at knife battles.
Leader boards shouldn’t just be restricted to the traditional leader board view either. When a match is over, tell players right then and there (while they’re waiting for the next map to load) if they’ve just leapfrogged buddies for that particular map or game mode. That way if they’re online, taunts can fly over a GameSpy powered in-game buddy list with our Presence & Messaging system.
Another fantastic example of this is Valve Software’s use of stats in Team Fortress 2, where the same concept is applied to single player usage. The game forgoes ranked leader boards altogether, opting instead to encourage the player by reminding them of their progress in certain class or weapon based scoring over time. A good player would continue to see reports of incremental improvements months after month, giving them warm fuzzies that will keep them playing. You’re also reminded when your score is up to par with a previous record high, which will drive you to continue to play, so you can finally set a new record. For more of their thoughts on this, see one of their developer commentaries included with the game.
Bottom line, developers are seeing the value in next generation statistical analysis that takes into account psychological player motivations and their social network. If you’ve got ideas of your own for your game that you consider ‘crazy, far out stuff’, contact us. Chances are, we’ve already been thinking about it too, and it’s not as hard as you may think to implement with GameSpy tech.
]]>Today, we’re proud to note that the first title released under the program, Buccanneer: Pursuit of Infamy from Blitz Games & Stickman Studios, is enjoying a high profile, low price Memorial Day sale on Direct2Drive. Players can now grab Buccaneer for just $9.95 (50% off its normal cost). That’s a helluva bargain – and it comes with high profile promotion on Direct2Drive heading into a holiday weekend (typically a high traffic period for games retailers, and particularly for D2D). We think that deserves a hearty, “Yaaaarrrrr!”
If you haven’t picked up the game yet, and want to see the power of GameSpy Indie in action – from integration of online tech to delivery in the digital distribution sales channel—this is a great chance to do so. Hoist the Jolly Roger and spend your long weekend ruling the Caribbean.
Want to know more about GameSpy Indie? Contact us now for information!
We’ll also be hosting a few special events while at the conference that all attendees should absolutely check out:
Opening Reception sponsored by FilePlanet & Direct2Game: Monday, May 11, from 8 - 11 p.m., FilePlanet & Direct2Game are picking up your drink tab as they host the conference’s kickoff party at the Seattle Waterfront Marriott. Drop by, throw back a few and get to know your fellow conference attendees—and your friendly IGN Entertainment hosts!—before the conference kicks off in earnest on Tuesday. Bonus points for participating in the obligatory round of Jaeger shots.
Panel Discussion: Online Game Communities - The Only Thriving Industry in America? GameSpy’s resident lion tamer Todd Northcutt moderates a panel on the growing importance of online communities to the gaming industry as a whole. Just how are the throngs of fanboys, forum posters, stats fiends and guild leaders actually driving real revenue across all segments of the industry? Watch as panelists spar over the answers.
As always, we have a lot to talk about when you track us down: Direct2Game, our new DLC and in-game commerce engine; Brigades, our new team / clan / guild management service; and the complete suite of GameSpy Technology now available on the iPhone. We’ll see you at the show!
]]>Standout games for the month include Activision / Red Octane’s Guitar Hero: Metallica, currently melting faces and shredding controllers on the Wii; and THQ / Yukes’s WWE Legends of Wrestlemania, which makes use of GameSpy’s “Sake” cloud storage services to enable players to create, store and share custom gameplay videos online.
Here’s the full round up:
Additionally, we unveiled three new services in March:
All that, and we still found time to have our best Game Developers Conference ever! It was great seeing so many of our partners at the show. If we missed you in San Francisco, you can bet a phone call, local visit or connection at a future conference is imminent.
]]>With that in mind, I gave a presentation on the excuses we commonly hear developers and publisher give for not doing more interesting, innovative things online with the Wii and DS. For those of you unable to attend - and I’m guessing this is most of you reading this - we’ve made the presentation available here.
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