A sad day for UK Gaming :(

A spokesperson for Resolve, the company called in to deal with the administration of Free Radical Design, has confirmed that the developer is facing a struggle for survival - but revealed that the 185 staff have been paid up until the end of December.

Staff arrived at the Nottingham office yesterday to find the locks changed and a note asking them to assemble at a nearby hotel for a meeting.

At this point the future of the company looks uncertain, but a further announcement is expected shortly.

"The company was placed in to administration yesterday afternoon," said Resolve spokesperson Cameron Gunn, according to ThisIsNottingham. "We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it's business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home.

"All employees have been paid up until the end of December and we hope to make another announcement before Christmas or very soon thereafter, but we must stress at this stage that it's business as usual."

40 people are still working in the Free Radical offices, mainly on game concepts, and should be there into the New Year - but that no specific publisher deal is in effect.

Assignment 3.2

hey ho, just writing a post for the 'my interactive life' assignment, just to give some video evidence of me and my blog (not that theres alot to read in my blog lol)...

PLAYSTATION HOME BETA OPENING TOMORROW

Public trial for the PS3's avatar-based social-networking service going live in EU and US on December 11.

Since being announced back at GDC 2007 by Phil Harrison, PlayStation Home has been the subject of a lot of expectation. Originally planned for a 2007 release, Home has had several delays and setbacks pushing it back to late 2008.

Earlier this week, The Times suggested that the release was coming "within the next 10 days."

As it turns out, gamers won't have to wait even that long, because Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and America today jointly announced that the Home beta will be open to all on December 11.

PlayStation Home will let users interact and communicate via unique avatars in real time using text or voice. Within Home there will be a variety of minigames, videos, and clubs--areas where users can come together and share similar interests. Each aspect of Home will be customisable, and players will be able to buy new clothes, furnishings, and even whole new apartments direct from the PlayStation store. Clubhouses will also be available for those wishing to create clubs, though for a price--how much was unclear. Sony simply stated that "to be a Clubhouse owner, user will need to buy the entitlement to run the club."

There will also be regional game-related content. Users accessing PlayStation Home in the SCEE regions will have a Far Cry 2 space to explore at launch, with spaces for MotorStorm, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, and SOCOM promised soon in the region. SCEE and SCEA also confirmed that they are working with EA and Ubisoft, among others, with a view to creating more such spaces. The Far Cry 2 space will also be available to those in SCEA territories, and Resistance and Guitar Hero spaces are promised for the region.

Companies will, as expected, also get the opportunity to use Home as a marketing space. Sony has detailed plans involving both Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures, which will involve "dedicated spaces, sponsorship of in-world events, virtual items and exclusive media viewings in the PlayStation Home Theatre."

The first such event was confirmed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and will be centred around the upcoming movie of acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen. It will feature a selection of virtual Watchmen merchandise as well as a chance for some to virtually meet members of the film's cast and crew in a Watchmen-themed environment in 2009.

The Watchmen promo accompanies two previously announced sponsorships with fashion label Diesel and energy drink Red Bull. The latter will offer the opportunity to take part in a virtual version of the Red Bull Air Race, a stunt-flying championship around Red Bull Island. Ligne Roset will provide contemporary furniture, and users will be able to customise items before they buy them.

PlayStation Home will be available as a free download starting December 11. It should install automatically after rebooting the PS3 once the update becomes available, after which a PlayStation Home icon will simply appear in the XrossMediaBar (XMB).

Assignment 1.1

Well what can I say, what a success. I don't mean to sound modest but I didn't think it was that good!

In all honesty it wasn't that hard, I just took the time to do it I suppose. I know it was late and I should have done it on time and I think that it being late was the only thing that dragged it down, apart from the cover sheet (sorry Kelly). All in all it didn't take that long, personally I don't think it was that hard and I just got on with it I suppose, and for Kelly to say that it was University standard is amazing. That makes me feel really good. I probably sound like a teacher's pet, but if I'm getting a good education that could set my future on it's way then I don't give a sh*t.

I am actually blogging :O

Well this is a sight for sore eyes, I am actually blogging for the first time since I set it up!!

This is quite fun really, and I might start blogging some more if I can manage to stay off Facebook!! Does anyone else think that Facebook is amazing, because I do and I don't know why. It might be because MySpace is all over the place and Facebook is nice and tidy. I like stuff being tidy, it makes things so much easier.

Anyway back to blogging, I have recently taken the time to view other people's blogs and I have to say that they are pretty good. They have influenced me to actually sort my own out. So thank you to everyone for helping me out. And I hope that mine will become as good as yours :)

Friday 3rd October 2008

Today has just been an average day really, not been up to much. I had a christmas temporary job interview at Toys R' Us this morning, which I thought went quite well. Then I walked home :( and made myself some dinner. Then caught the bus into town ready to go to college.

I felt quite tired this morning but I went to Goose Fair last night with some friends from Bluecoat Sixth Form, so... That was quite fun, had some food and went on a few rides and had a really good time, considering my mate rang me at 6.00pm telling me to be there for 7.00pm, and at the present time I was on my way home from college. 

I haven't got anything much else to say really, apart from that I will probably go home today, have some food, then either watch TV/a film, or I will go on Counter-Strike and play for a few hours :)

If anyone has Counter-Strike and plays often, then I play on the Fun-Arena 3 server and my username is cdchris2. 

:)