Joystiq

Ouya names Roy Bahat chairman of the board, hires leadership staff

Mike Suszek — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST

Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman announced Roy Bahat as chairman of the board Friday. Bahat served as president of IGN Entertainment for five years before joining Ouya.

Uhrman also revealed that Steve Chamberlin will lead Ouya's engineering division while Raffi Bagdasarian is in charge of the software side of operations, including services for developers and user experience. Chamberlin previously was Senior Development Director for Trion Worlds, developers of Rift. Bagdasarian spent over five years working with Sony on its Crackle streaming service.

Uhrman added that "over a thousand" game developers have been in contact with Ouya since its Kickstarter campaign ended in August, and that more than 50 distributors have applied to carry the system when it launches.

Ouya names Roy Bahat chairman of the board, hires leadership staff originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rift sets Guinness record for most in-game marriages

David Hinkle — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:30:00 EST

Tapping into the rich vein of lonely people playing video games and their desire to establish world records, Rift -- which recently just added a free-to-play option -- held a day-long event on Valentine's Day seeking to marry as many in-game characters as possible. It was a success, and now Rift has the Guinness World Record for most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period.

21,879 marriages took place on February 14, starting at 9am PST. Marriage was introduced in Rift's seventh major update, Carnival of the Ascended. Each participating player earned a unique in-game title, "The Avowed," and quite possibly a nagging significant other.

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Rift sets Guinness record for most in-game marriages originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trion Worlds database hacked, 'no evidence' of credit card info stolen

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:45:00 EST

We were starting to think we'd make it through the rest of the year without once again worrying about having our social security numbers stolen, Tweeted and written in the sky. How foolish of us! Trion Worlds has announced on its blog it "recently discovered that unauthorized intruders gained access to a Trion Worlds account database," a list which included "user names, encrypted passwords, dates of birth, email addresses, billing addresses, and the first and last four digits and expiration dates of customer credit cards."

Trion added there's no evidence that credit card info was taken, and that the company has "taken further action to strengthen our systems, even as we, with external security experts, continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access." In the meantime, Trion game users will want to change their password, which they'll be prompted to do the next time they try to log in to the company's site, or one of its titles.

We'd also suggest that Trion change its logo, because that open-door-looking letter "I" is starting to seem a tad prophetic.

Trion Worlds database hacked, 'no evidence' of credit card info stolen originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Grab a Kinect (with Child of Eden!) for $120 at Amazon (update: $100 through buy.com)

JC Fletcher — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:50:00 EST

We were a bit discouraged when we checked Amazon's game deal of the day and saw that it was a paltry $10 discount on the PC version of Fable 3. But there are more exciting deals to be found this week (in addition to that great Halloween sale).

One of the retailer's "Deals of the Week" knocks 20% off the retail price of Kinect, allowing you to get the sensor, Kinect Adventures, and a download of Child of Eden for $119.99. You can also get the previous bundle, without Child of Eden, for the same price, if you really think you or the lucky recipient of this gift is going to hate Child of Eden that much.

Other week-long deals include Rift for $9, and (easy participant of the Halloween deal) FEAR 3 on PS3 or Xbox 360 for $28.

Update: Dealzon pointed out that it's currently $107.24 at buy.com -- and, if you go through Buy's eBay site, it's $99.99.]

Grab a Kinect (with Child of Eden!) for $120 at Amazon (update: $100 through buy.com) originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rift client temporarily marked down to $5

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST

Rift appears to be one of the only recent title to take a modicum of wind out of World of Warcraft's sails. It makes sense, then, that Trion would respond to WoW's new free-to-play mode with an offer of its own: namely, the temporary markdown on the Rift client to a measly $4.99.

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Rift client temporarily marked down to $5 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steam cuts a deal on Rift

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:00:00 EST

Looking for a way to dip your toes into the world of Rift without putting a rift in your wallet? Steam has you covered, with a 33 percent discount on both the standard and Collector's Edition of the MMO, which both include a one-month subscription and "Ascended Gift Pack" filled with in-game goods.

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Steam cuts a deal on Rift originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 May 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Warcraft experiences a small drop in subscribers post-Cataclysm

JC Fletcher — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:30:00 EST

Around the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Activision Blizzard repeatedly touted its 12 million subscribers. During yesterday's investor conference call, however, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime revealed that as of the end of March, the subscriber base had fallen from a stratospheric 12 million all the way to a humiliating 11.4 million, a decline of 5%.

Morhaime explained the tiny mass exodus by saying that players were completing the new content in Cataclysm more quickly than previous expansions, and then leaving the game. However, Rift also launched in March, which may have lured away part of those 600,000 ex-WoWers.

Still, if we're talking about part of 5% of your userbase maybe leaving for another game, things are still going well for you.

World of Warcraft experiences a small drop in subscribers post-Cataclysm originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 10 May 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Direct2Drive knocking 15% off March's best sellers

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:00:00 EST

In celebration of, um, March, Direct2Drive is reducing the price of this month's top fifteen games by fifteen percent. The list of titles includes the likes of Dead Space 2, Rift, Shogun 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm. Fifteen percent amounts to a reasonably hefty $9 discount on $60 titles and around $7.50 on $50 titles, and it also has the effect of lowering Magicka's already ridiculously low $10 price to just $8.50.

Head over to Direct2Drive to see the full list of titles, and enter the promo code "MARCHMAYHEM" at checkout to receive the discount.

Direct2Drive knocking 15% off March's best sellers originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIFT subscription deals available through March 31

Randy Nelson — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:00:00 EST

Trion Worlds' assault on World of Warcraft, the just-launched RIFT, is the same price to play per month -- but if you subscribe now through the end of March, it'll cost you less. Its publisher announced today that it's extending the "Founder's Subscription" pricing plans through March 31, offering as much as $5 per month off in exchange for buying in for six months.

A half-year of play time is going for $10 a month for the time being, with three-months at $11. Once April rolls around, RIFT subscriptions will run $15 a month, or $11 if bought six months at a time. It's not a massive savings, but anything to save come copper, right?

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RIFT subscription deals available through March 31 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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