1）据venturebeat报道，索尼日前聘请前LucasArts制作人Gio Corsi公司北美游戏部门的第三方游戏制作项目，将同第三方公司合作将知名IP推向新市场。

该团队的首个任务是开发PlayStation Vita版本的《Borderlands 2》（原版由Iron Galaxy Studios团队推出）。

Gio Corsi(from gamesindustry.biz)

Corsi此前曾就职于LucasArts、Lucasfilm Animation Singapore、Nexon Publishing North America和Propaganda Games公司。

2）据gamasutra报道，Lionhead创意总监Gary Carr在最近采访中表示，他希望在未来十年中游戏行业将呈现更为平衡的男女比例关系。

Gary Carr(from gamesindustry.biz)

游戏开发者杂志的调查结果曾指出，仅有4%游戏程序员是女性从业者，而ESA数据却显示有女孩和妇女用户在电子游戏消费者中占比高达45%。

改变行业当前的性别分布就要求游戏公司吸引更多女性加入，Carr表示他不希望由男性为男性制作游戏，而是由男性和女性共同为这两类用户服务。

3）据gamasutra报道，Size Five Games团队成员Dan Marshall最近针对多人模式独立游戏所存在的一大普遍问题——空旷的服务器，玩家找不到人过招，提出了自己的解决方法。

gun monkeys(from indiehaven.com)

他称在自己的游戏《Gun Monkeys》中，玩家任何时候发现自己在一个空旷的服务器中独自闲逛了好几分钟时，该游戏会自动生成针对该玩家的免费Steam密钥，这样他就可以将密钥发送给也在上网的另一好友，邀请对方快速加入游戏。每位玩家只能生成一定数量的密钥，玩家有可能收到大量密钥，但这些密钥的数量存在上限。

4）据venturebeat报道，索尼移动(原名为索爱）前首席执行官Bert Nordberg最近加入黑莓董事会，并成为决定公司前途的五大重要成员之一。他在最近采访中指出，他认为黑莓能够通过走小众路线，向细分公司转型而幸存下去。但成为这种公司意味着黑莓需要降低目标，缩小雄心壮志，毕竟同苹果、谷歌、三星等巨头相抗衡是一项极艰巨的挑战。

Bert_Nordberg(from hothardware.com)

Nordberg曾是推动索爱向Android智能手机市场进军的关键人物，其策略并没有让索爱获得巨大成功，但却得以让该公司在智能手机市场上保持竞争力。

5）据venturebeat报道，Kabam日前宣布将向北美和欧洲移动平台推出热门网页游戏《Wartune》。

Wartune(from mmobomb.com)

这款角色扮演/策略游戏网页版本出自中国开发商7th Road之手，在英语市场每月IAP收益已经达到700万美元，其手机版本则是7th Road和胡莱游戏合作的产物，胡莱游戏则将其iOS、Android版本的北美和欧洲主流市场发行事务授权给Kabam。

Kabam目前市值达7亿美元，2013年收益目标是3亿美元，比去年的1.8亿美元增长70%以上。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Sony hires ex-LucasArts producer to lead third-party game production

Dean Takahashi

Sony has hired former LucasArts producer Gio Corsi to lead third-party game production for its North American games division.

His team will work closely with third parties to bring familiar intellectual properties to new places, Corsi wrote on Sony’s PlayStation blog.

“The Third Party Relations team at PlayStation is well-known for developing solid relationships across this industry, and this new group will work closely with our publishing partners to bring their beloved IPs to some new places,” Corsi wrote. ”Our partners who are currently in production will have us as a resource to strengthen their development process, ensuring quality and consistency on all Third Party projects.”

The team’s first task is working on the PlayStation Vita version of Borderlands 2 from Iron Galaxy Studios.

Corsi said he had received hundreds of ideas from thousands of tweets from gamers on other games to bring over.

Corsi has been at Sony Computer Entertainment America for three months. In the past,he was at LucasArts, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, Nexon Publishing North America and Propaganda Games.（source：venturebeat）

2）’I don’t want to sit in a studio full of blokes’

By Kris Ligman

Speaking with Official Xbox Magazine, Lionhead creative director Gary Carr said he anticipated a major surge in gender diversity within the games industry in the coming decade.

“I think as developers, in terms of job applicants, we’re noticing now that we’re at last getting the diversity we want when you’re coming up with a creative team,” said Carr. “I think that five to ten years from now, it’ll be pretty much 50-50.”

The numbers are optimistic (and off-the-cuff), but not totally unmotivated. Though OXM references Game Developer magazine’s last Game Developer Salary Survey, which reported only four percent of game programmers are women, the Electronic Software Association’s data suggests 45 percent of video game consumers are girls and women.

Of course, changing the industry makeup will require more than player interest; it will require that the industry embrace an increasingly diverse demographic. Carr appeared aware of this, continuing:

“I don’t just want guys making games for guys. I want guys and girls making games for guys and girls.”

“You have to reflect that in your workforce, and it’s starting to happen,” he concluded.（source：gamasutra）

3）A unique solution to the ‘Curse of the Indie Multiplayer Game’

By Mike Rose

It’s a common issue with multiplayer-only indie games — reams of empty servers, and no-one to play against. Size Five Games’ Dan Marshall has been having similar issues with his latest release Gun Monkeys, but today he launched a unique method for fixing the problem.

Whenever players find themselves sitting in an empty Gun Monkeys server for a few minutes, with no players online to fight against, the game will automatically generate a free Steam key for the player.

The idea is that the player can then give the key to another friend who is online, and quickly have someone to play against. Free keys are limited per player, meaning that you’ll potentially receive multiple keys, but not unlimited numbers.

Marshall says that the method is “a unique solution to a frustrating situation.”（source：gamasutra）

4）BlackBerry director says it can survive as a ‘niche’ company

Devindra Hardawar

While all options are on the table for BlackBerry’s future at this point, one of the company’s board members believes it can survive by scaling down its ambitions.

Bert Nordberg, the former CEO of Sony Mobile (previously called Sony Ericsson), recently joined BlackBerry as a director and a member of the five-person special committee that’s deciding the company’s future. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, he discussed his initial impressions on climbing aboard the troubled company.

“I think BlackBerry is able to survive as a niche company,” Nordberg told the WSJ. “But being a niche company means deciding to be a niche company. Historically, BlackBerry has had larger ambitions. But battling giants like Apple, Google, and Samsung is tough.”

BlackBerry announced in August that it was considering just about every option — from a complete sale to another firm, to selling off some of its assets. A recent report claimed the company was considering spinning out BlackBerry Messenger, its most successful product at this point.

Nordberg pointed to BlackBerry’s strong focus on security and popularity worldwide as reasons why it may survive in a significantly reduced form. The company may never be able to reclaim its position as a smartphone market leader, but it could have an easier time staying afloat if it aimed lower.

Nordberg, notably, was the person who pushed Sony Ericsson away from dumb phones and towards Android-powered smartphones. That tactic never led to any big successes from Sony Ericsson, but it allowed the company to stay competitive with other smartphone makers. Unfortunately for BlackBerry, it seems far too late for a mere platform change to make a difference.（source：venturebeat）

5）Kabam to publish Chinese hit Wartune on mobile in the West

Dean Takahashi

Kabam announced today that it will distribute the popular web game Wartune in North American and Europe on mobile devices.

The role-playing/strategy game fulfills a couple of strategic goals for Kabam. It helps expand the company’s third-party publishing efforts, so it can take advantage of its own mobile distribution network to make externally produced games more successful. This move is also connected to Kabam’s $50 million development fund for the Asian market. Kabam is using that money to invest in Asian developers to help them introduce their games in other parts of the world. Lastly, it’s a move to spread out to new kinds of popular content.

Wartune, where hundreds of players fight at once, is a good choice for Kabam to publish because it already generates $7 million in revenue per month from in-app purchases by gamers in English-speaking regions. The web title comes from China’s 7th Road, while the mobile version is a joint development venture from 7th Road and Hoolai Games. Hoolai has licensed its rights for iOS and Android to Kabam for North America and major European countries.

San Francisco-based Kabam is a leader in the free-to-play, hardcore social game business in the West. It is valued at $700 million, based on recent investments, and it is targeting to grow 2013 revenues more than 70 percent to $300 million, up from $180 million the year before.

“As an award-winning game developer of top grossing mobile games in China including, Hoolai Three Kingdoms and Checkmate, Hoolai Games prides itself on its mobile development expertise and resources,” said Jian Huang, the president of Hoolai Games. “We made sure that gamers would enjoy the mobile version of Wartune, so we went beyond expectations by properly adapting a globally popular game like Wartune for iOS and Android. Kabam has a reputable track record for publishing games in the West, so we’re thrilled to be working with Kabam.”

On mobile, Kabam also has published Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, Blastron, Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon, and Fast & Furious 6: The Game.

“Kabam’s mobile license for Wartune is another indication of how Kabam is taking the lead in mobile core games,” said Amit Ranade, the president of Kabam Distribution. “Asian game developers have come to appreciate Kabam as a distribution partner they can trust to expose their titles to the huge markets outside of their home countries.”（source：venturebeat）