It’s interesting to see how the world of indie games has progressed. A few years ago, there was little market for these small-time games, and no one took them seriously. Now, with some of them are becoming more profitable than ones funded by larger, well-known publishers. So what happens when an indie developer sets their sights on publishing a game from a well-known franchise? It’s something that hasn’t happened yet, however, if Notch has his way, it will.

Recently Tim Schafer of Double Fine spoke with Rock Paper Shotgun about his desire to make Psychonauts 2. Unfortunately, despite pitching this sequel to a number of publishers, he’s not found anyone willing to fund the project. Upon hearing this, Mojang’s own Markus ‘Notch’ Persson sent out a simple tweet to Schafer stating “Let’s make Psychonauts 2 happen.”

What’s interesting is that Notch has already expressed the desire to go into publishing before. So why not take a cult hit like Psychonauts and give it the funding it needs? The tides are turning, with more power in the hands of small companies like Mojang. I’d be interesested to see how this pairing with Double Fine plays out, should it actually happen.

A few days ago, Kaz Hirai was made Sony’s new president and CEO, taking the place of Howard Stringer. He wasted no time in letting everyone know that changes on the horizon that will hopefully save Sony from it’s almost two decades of lows. The official takeover will happen in April, but no time will be wasted twiddling thumbs from the looks of this interview with the Wall Street Journal. (check out the video below)

There are going to be some serious goal changes for Sony, and it’s about time. Especially since they saw a 2 billion dollar loss in the game division a few years back. You know the business model needs to change when you see that you’re a couple billion in the hole. Hirai knows that waiting for things to get better isn’t going to do anyone any good, so he’s going to be moving things around until they improve. In a previous interview he had stated, “I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not.” If he can make Sony better for all of us, then more power to him.

It seems as though not everyone is being a team player, and Hirai intends to change that immediately. Not in the sense of laying anyone off, just trying to get core groups together so that decisions can be made quickly, efficiently, and with everyone’s best interest in mind. The naysayers are likely going to change their minds though, as Hirai stated in his interview:

“I think one of the fundamental things that we need to change at Sony is to become a company that provides a very unique and compelling user experience as opposed to just a company that provides great hardware products. We really need to buckle down and be realistic. I don’t think everybody is on board, but I think people are coming around to the idea that if we don’t turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble.”

For the full interview, go here.

There are certain gaming companies that I’m not fond of. Two of the things that usually put me off to a company is excessive use of DRM, and the act of buying up companies, just to run the franchises into the ground with constant releases with little innovation. However, when you compare these to the copycat tactics of gaming giant Zynga.

A couple of weeks ago there was an image released  by Nimblebit, creators of the iPhone game Tiny Tower. It was a very sarcastic congratulatory message, which showed off the close similarities between their game and Zynga’s. Now, it would be easy to dismiss this as a simple coincidence, if Zynga didn’t have a track record for this sort of behavior. Ever heard of Farm Town? No? Well, it came out in early 2009, and was later crushed by Farmville, which was nearly identical. You could also look at Mob Wars and Mafia Wars. The list goes on.

Again, some people could say that it’s all just a series of coincidences. However, Forbes got their hands on a leaked memo that Forbes from CEO Mark Pincus didn’t show that this is exactly how they build games. “We don’t need to be first to market. We need to be the best in market.” is one of my favorite lines. The whole memo talks about how they “innovate” by improving on other people’s ideas. I’m sorry Mark, but you aren’t innovating. You’re taking someone else’s idea, and throwing money at it. Then you advertise the shit out of it until the competition is crushed. There is a special place in hell for people that prey on independent game developers.

More troubling news, as THQ announced that “up to 240 selling, general and administrative personal worldwide” will be laid off. The layoffs will be finalized on September 30th, 2012, but most of the layoffs will occur by March 31st.

The CEO and the Board of Directors are not immune to THQ’s troubles either, as they are all taking 50% pay cut. CEO Brian Farrell’s severance package, should he be fired or resign with “good reason”, is also being reduced, from three times his highest ever bonus to only his highest ever bonus.

At this time, the layoffs do not affect studios, only administration and publishing offices. This is a tough break for the company, but needed if THQ wants to have any chance of remaining afloat.

For those of you hoping that SSX’s online multiplayer will be available to everyone, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Though it was not outright stated, in a video off of GiantBomb you can clearly see an option to “Get Online Pass” in the bottom left corner.

EA has been using the Online Pass system for over a year now for many of its hottest online titles. A new copy of a game using Online Pass will have a code printed on a sheet that the customer can redeem. However, if somebody has a previously used copy of a game requiring the Online Pass, then they will need to purchase a Pass directly from EA. In other words, it’s EA’s way of getting in the used game segment of the market, a segment that publishers normally don’t get into.

Though it’s not surprising that EA is using this system for SSX, the trend in general is a little bothersome. By forcing people to pay money directly to the publisher for the “crime” of using a second-hand game, they’re essentially preventing people from enjoying the game they’ve otherwise bought legally.  And, it’s only looking to get worse, as Microsoft may be looking to prevent your system from playing used games in general, as noted here.

Eleven new publishers will be making games available to Electronic Arts Origin service, it was announced today. Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment, CD Projekt RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games will all start selling games in the “coming months”.

Steam is Origin’s biggest competitor, and by many estimates is absolutely the industry leader in digital distribution of games and DLC. EA, however, has been trying to level the playing field a little bit as they’ve been making some of their recent games require using the Origin service, forcing users to forgo using Steam.  These deals reached should only help EA in their endeavor to compete with Steam.

But will this actually affect Steam’s fan base? I would guess that for the moment, Steam doesn’t have much to worry about. Many people use Steam because of the simplicity it provides, not only in purchasing and downloading new content, but also in the way it connects other people. Steam has a following and reputation that at the moment, it just cannot be beat. Origin just plain does not have that reputation. It doesn’t mean, though, that there can’t be more than one successful digital distribution service. This might be the thing that gets the ball rolling for EA.

I hate Microsoft Points. Why? Because no matter what I do, I always have some that I can’t spend. I’ll load up on them when I want to buy DLC, or download an XBLA game, but when I get done buying the things I want, there are still points left over. Yes, since they don’t expire, they’ll be there the next time I want something. But that’s not the point. When I want to make a purchase, I expect to pay the exact amount, and recieve my item. But that’s not the business model Microsoft wanted, because leftover points means you’re more likely to make another purchase, which you’ll have to buy another block of points to make. It’s like when you go to a carnival, and you have to use tickets to make purchases. No one likes that. So yeah, fuck you MS Points.

There is good news around the corner, if rumors are to be believed. Namely, Microsoft Points are on the way out. That’s right, you’ll be able to buy products with real currency, rather than a point system. The reason for this likely has nothing to do with the Xbox 360, but rather Microsoft’s mobile platform. You see, while you can buy apps for real money, some of the downloadable content within the apps requires MS Points. Talk about confusion.

According to rumor, the company plans on completely phasing out the Points system by the end of this year. This is the case across all platforms, including Xbox Live. For those who still have points during the switch, you’ll have those converted into your local currency. I don’t doubt that Microsoft will begin making retail cards available in the same way Sony does for PSN, for those who do not wish to add a credit/debit card to their account. We’ll keep you posted on this rumor as it develops.

Yikes! Things are not looking good for the new Playstation Vita, which was just released last month in Japan. On December 17th and 18th, the first two days that the Vita was available, roughly 325,000 units were sold. Since then, however, only about 176,000 units were sold, which for those of you doing the math, is just above 50%.

On a weekly basis, it’s looking even worse. Only 18,361 units were sold between January 9th and the 15th, which is over 50% less than the week before when the Vita sold 42,915 units.

However, Sony maintains that it’s too early to worry about if the Vita will fail. Jim Ryan, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President and the CEO, said in an interview with MCV “One of the things we have learned over a long period of time is that whether it is PS1, PS2, PSP or PS3, it is dangerous to the point of impossible to take any experience from the Japanese Market and try and extrapolate it, and propose upon what will happen to in Europe or North America.” In other words, just because it might struggle in one part of the world, it doesn’t mean it will struggle in other parts.

But so far, the facts are saying that the Vita is facing some immense challenges in its first month, and I would venture that if the American and European launch doesn’t go so smoothly, we might not be seeing the Vita for too much longer.

When you’re trying to get the most out of your PC, the idea of overclocking no doubt enters your mind. After all, other than the cost of beefing up your cooling (if you even need it), overclocking your CPU is like a free upgrade. Of course, there’s always risk involved, and any damage to your processor as a result of overclocking voids your warranty. Or does it?

Intel has announced a new plan to extend their warranty to specifically cover damage due to overclocking and over-voltaging. Everything else about their 3-year warranty will remain the same. However, those who opt to purchase the additional protection will receive a one-time replacement, should their attempts to overclock fail, and leave their processor useless.

The Performance Tuning Protection Plan will only apply to K and X-branded CPUs, for obvious reasons. What’s interesting is that the cost will only be between $20 and $35, depending on which product you have. Currently they are only offering this on five CPU’s, but we imagine more will be added as they come to market.

It seems a bit insane that so many games have gone free to play, but there is obviously a reason for it. If it wasn’t profitable, companies wouldn’t be willing to do it. The Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has announced some numbers that let us know just how helpful going free-to-play can be.

Everquest 2 went free to play back in December, and has since seen a 300% increase in player base. Obviously, that’s a rather large increase, for anything. Daily logins have gone up by 40%, and with numbers like that, you know that you’re doing something right.

Of course, not having to pay for the game means people are more willing to buy in game trinkets and items. This is where the real money maker is, and it has some astounding numbers as well with a 200% item sales increase. This kind of thing makes you wonder how sales will be run in the future for the gaming industry.