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2K Games boss Christoph Hartmann–who heads up development on franchises like Duke Nukem, BioShock, and Borderlands–believes photorealistic visuals are needed to help propel the industry into new genres.

Speaking to Games Industry International, Hartmann said the film industry holds an advantage over games, in that directors are more easily able to show emotions like sadness and love, while game developers struggle to portray these. Because of this, Hartmann says many developers instead focus on action and shooting before all else.

“Recreating a Mission Impossible experience in gaming is easy; recreating emotions in Brokeback Mountain is going to be tough, or at least very sensitive in this country… it will be very hard to create very deep emotions like sadness or love, things that drive the movies,” he said. “Until games are photorealistic, it’ll be very hard to open up to new genres. We can really only focus on action and shooter titles; those are suitable for consoles now.”

Hartmann went on to explain that photorealism in games may represent an “endpoint” and that consoles capable of rendering such visuals could be the last systems ever needed.

“To dramatically change the industry to where we can insert a whole range of emotions, I feel it will only happen when we reach the point that games are photorealistic,” he said. “Then we will have reached an endpoint and that might be the final console.”

Square Enix has announced that it is launching a nationwide competition to celebrate the local release of the Hitman: Sniper Challenge stand-alone minigame for PCs.

Created as an exclusive title for players who pre-order Square Enix’s upcoming Hitman: Absolution, the game’s global online leaderboards have been active since May 15, but PC gamers have not had a chance to participate until now.

The Australian competition will launch today in partnership with video game retailer EB Games. Monthly prizes will be awarded to each of the highest Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC leaderboard scores for those who have pre-ordered Hitman: Absolution at EB Games Australia, and registered their details at the Hitman: Sniper Challenge website.

Prizes in the competition include Sennheiser headphones and Hitman merchandise.

The online leaderboards are supported by various challenges, and include rewards like score multipliers, secret extras, and the ability to unlock equipment upgrades. Some of these upgrades can be unlocked and carried over into Hitman: Absolution.

For more information on the competition, and updates on the Australian leaderboards, visit EB Games for details.

Hitman: Absolution is scheduled for a global release on November 20, 2012 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Sales of physical video game sales across Australia experience a decline of 19.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, according to figures from NPD released today.

According to the data, total sales for the local video game industry for January-June 2012 were $465.6 million, compared to $578.6 million for the same period in 2011. NPD local analyst Andrew Milgate described the software market shrink came as a result of a lack of new content.

“One of the reasons for the decline was a lack of new software released in the first half compared to last year,” Milgate told GameSpot AU. “The number of new software SKUs in the market was down 30 percent, which was similar to the drop in new releases in the US (down 34 percent).”

However, the number of units sold only dropped by 2.8 percent, a fact Milgate attributes to a lowering of average game prices. Hardware prices also experienced a drop: according to NPD, the average price of hardware dropped by $51 in the first half of 2012. This lowered price led to a growth in units for HD consoles, in particular the PlayStation 3, which Milgate said saw a double-digit increase.

Despite the overall market loss, both PC Games and gaming peripherals increased in value and units during the period.

NPD also released a list of the top ten best-selling video games in Australia between January-June 2012, across all platforms including PC. Diablo III topped the list, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Mass Effect 3.

The full list can be found below.

Top ten video games sold in Australia, January-June 2012
1. Diablo III
2. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3
3. Mass Effect 3
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
5. Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure
6. Battlefield 3
7. Max Payne 3
8. Assassins Creed Revelations
9. Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games
10. Saints Row The Third

[UPDATE] In a post earnings financial call, Take-Two spoke of Grand Theft Auto V, saying the project is in full development and is making “substantial progress.” No other information about the open-world game was made available. Platforms and a release date for the game remain listed as TBA.

The original story is below

Take-Two had a rough three months ended June 30. The Grand Theft Auto publisher today announced its first quarter financial results, revealing a $110.8 million loss, due in part to lower-than-expected sales of Spec Ops: The Line and Max Payne 3, as well as impact from an unspecified one-time payment of $15 million. Net revenue for the period came in at $226.1 million, down from the $334.4 million the firm hauled during the same period last year.

Take-Two said the strongest contributors to its bottom line during the period were the release of Max Payne 3, which has shipped 3 million copies, catalog sales from the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchise, the release of Spec Ops: The Line, and continued sales of NBA 2K12.

According to Take-Two, catalog sales jumped 50 percent year-on-year, accounting for 26 percent of total revenue. Additionally, the company’s digital sector was a bright spot, growing 33 percent from the year prior, and making up 13 percent of net revenue. This was driven by downloadable content offerings for the Sid Meier’s Civilization series, NBA 2K12, and the Grand Theft Auto franchise and Red Dead Redemption franchises.

Looking ahead, Take-Two is forecasting second quarter revenue to come in at between $200-$250 million, with full-year expectations slated to hit between $1.7-$1.8 billion, with a swing to profitability also expected.

The high-profile case between Activision and Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella ended in May in an undisclosed settlement paid to the developers. No mention was made of the terms of that deal at the time, but Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz says today that the settlement could be worth tens of millions.

Activision will report earnings this week, and Creutz believes investors will ignore whatever impact the settlement has on the publisher’s bottom line when addressing the health of the company.

In March 2010, Activision fired ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella for insubordination, claiming the pair were secretly planning to start their new studio with the help of Electronic Arts.

West and Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision for this move, alleging the real reason they were fired was so Activision wouldn’t have to pay them millions of dollars in royalties associated with the November 2009 title Modern Warfare 2. Beyond the performance-based payout and any other court-awarded monetary damages, West and Zampella sought to gain co-ownership of the Modern Warfare brand.

Also in Creutz’s note today were updated sales and release date expectations for popular Activision Blizzard games, including StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Diablo III. The industry watcher noted Blizzard often puts its games into beta for 3-6 months before release, meaning with just five months left in the year and no beta announced yet, Heart of the Swarm is now likely to ship in 2013.

As for Diablo III, Creutz said he expects the dungeon-crawler to record first-year worldwide sales of 8 million units, up significantly from the 5 million forecasted earlier. That game went on sale in May and has already moved more than 6 million units.

Switching to expectations for Electronic Arts and its stable of titles, Creutz said fiscal year 2013 results for the publisher have been “meaningfully” reduced due to diminished sales forecasts for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Creutz now expects the game to sell 1.44 million units in the United States in the holiday quarter, down sharply from the 2.33 million forecasted prior.

This reduction is based on what Creutz called a “very soft performance” since the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Amazon’s top-selling game rankings, compared to other new games. Creutz chalks this up to the “poor quality” of 2010’s original Medal of Honor reboot.

Additionally, Creutz was not so hot on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The industry analyst has downgraded previous subscriber base expectations from 1 million to 500,000, due to “continued poor server density trends.” At EA’s last count in May, Star Wars: The Old Republic boasted 1.3 million paying subscribers, a decline from the 1.7 million from February.

EA will report earnings tomorrow afternoon, with Activision Blizzard to follow on Thursday, August 2.

The sales success of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD may make the Hawk into a phoenix. Robomodo CEO Josh Tsui spoke with Gamasutra about how the downloadable title is the first step in the dormant skateboarding franchise’s rise from the ashes.

The timed Xbox Live Arcade exclusive sold 120,000 copies in its first week of availability, Robomodo told Gamasutra, and is set to go live on PlayStation network and PC later this year. Tsui said the smaller scale of the project, which met a lukewarm critical reception, made it an easier pitch to a still-hesitant Activision. Robomodo was the primary developer behind both 2009’s Tony Hawk Ride and 2010’s Tony Hawk Shred, peripheral-based entries in the franchise which were found to be lacking by many critics.

The return to the franchise’s roots was bound to disappoint some whether they wanted more changes or fewer, Tsui said, but the smaller-scale downloadable update was meant to show the franchise had comeback potential. “The prospect of a fuller game is definitely on the table — it’s just a matter of when and how,” he said.

“We were given the right amount [of resources] based on the scope of [Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD], but obviously we would always want more to go bigger,” Tsui said. “I don’t think hits these days look the same as they did back in 1999 or 2000, so it would be great to see the Tony Hawk franchise do interesting things on a variety of platforms.”

Electronic Arts is already gearing up promotional efforts for Battlefield 4, but the publisher is reassuring fans that there’s still life left in the third game in the series. In a post on the Battlefield blog, the publisher has stressed its continued support for Battlefield 3, even after the launch of its successor.

“We are committed to providing an excellent Battlefield 3 experience well into the future, past the releases of Aftermath, End Game, and Battlefield 4,” according to the post. “DICE is continuing its work on Battlefield 3 alongside Battlefield 4.”

Earlier this month, EA confirmed that it was working on Battlefield 4 and that a beta for the game would take place in the fall of 2013. Gamers can secure a spot in the beta by preordering Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which is set to debut in October.

In other Battlefield 3 news, details about its advertising campaign have been released by Facebook. As reported by GamesIndustry, the social network revealed some facts about the first-person shooter’s social network ad campaign. EA spent $2.75 million on Facebook ads for Battlefield 3, and told the Web giant that those spots ultimately resulted in $12.1 million of sales for the game.

Crysis 3 may find its way to Nintendo’s first high-definition console, the Wii U. Speaking to CVG, Crytek producer Mike Read confirmed a mystery partnership with Nintendo and said a Wii U version of the new shooter is potentially in the cards.

“I wouldn’t say there’s no chance,” he said. “I mean the Wii U still doesn’t have any kind of release [date] attached to it at this point. Who knows what the future will bring with it. I can definitely say that we are working with Nintendo, and that’s about all I can say on that front.”

This news runs against the grain of what Crytek director of creative development Rasmus Hoejengaard said in May. At the time, the developer said there was “not a fat chance” that Crysis 3 would ship for the Wii U.

Crysis 3 is a first-person shooter set in 2047 New York that casts players as Prophet, a supersoldier seeking vengeance. The game is due out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in February 2013. For more on Crysis 3, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has instituted the third round of layoffs to its Pacific Northwest studios in as many years. Today the publisher confirmed that cuts were made to its WB Games Seattle operation.

“Due to shifting business imperatives, WB Games Seattle has made staff reductions,” a representative told GameSpot. “The group will continue to remain an integral part of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.”

The most recently released project from WB Games Seattle was Gotham City Impostors, a downloadable Batman-themed team-based first-person shooter for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The publisher’s Seattle developers are also working on Guardians of Middle-earth, a Lord of the Rings-licensed multiplayer online battle arena game set for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall.

In early 2010, WBIE cut 25 staffers from its Seattle-area studios, including Surreal Software, Monolith Productions, and Snowblind Entertainment. Last year, WBIE laid off 60 employees from WB Games Seattle the same week Snowblind shipped Lord of the Rings: War in the North. The extent of the latest round of cuts is unknown.