Week in Review

This week we learn that Ubisoft is tapping the untapped gamer market in the Middle East, Nintendo is taking a loss and Satoru Iwata is sorry for the aforementioned loss.

Bioshock Infinite Creator Discusses Real World Political Parallels

If you’ve looked at videos of BioShock Infinite and thought, “wow, this really reminds me of the Tea Party,” then have no fear, because you’re most definitely not alone. Ken Levine, the game’s creative director, says that there are plenty of parallels between real world events and the politics of BioShock Infinite.(Link)

Console Minecraft Exclusive to Xbox 360

Markus Persson – the creator of Minecraft more commonly known as Notch – announced that his viral PC game would be coming to consoles this past E3. The nuts-and-bolts of adapting the controls to a gamepad aside, the proposition of Minecraft entering people’s living rooms was an exciting one. Unfortunately for people who own two of the three major consoles though, Notch said via Twitter that Minecraft will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and it releases in Spring 2012. (Link)

Ubisoft Becomes First Major Publisher to Open Studio in Middle East

Videogames do not have a strong presence in a region more known for conflict than creativity. But that hasn’t stopped the city of Abu Dhabi from attempting to become a cultural hub for the Middle East. As part of the initiative called the twofour54 Media Zone Authority, Ubisoft will become the first foreign videogame publisher to open a studio in Abu Dhabi this December. The studio will hire and train local talent through a sister “gaming academy” that aims to get people up to speed on making videogames. Over the next five years, the French publisher plans to hire more than 100 developers to create online games that will specifically appeal to the region’s cultural mores as well as a worldwide audience. (Link)

Nintendo Braces For First-Ever Loss

It wasn’t all that terribly long ago that Nintendo’s dominance of the videogame market was absolute. Despite gimmicky motion controls and anemic hardware, the Wii ruled the console playground with an iron fist while the DS went more or less entirely unchallenged in the handheld market. But things started to slow down in 2009 and now Nintendo appears to be almost in full rout. (Link)

Iwata Apologizes For Ugly Nintendo Financials

Yesterday was not a good day for Nintendo. The company posted a half-year loss of $932 million and revised its full-year forecast down to a $264 million loss, the first time the company has posted a full-year loss since it began making public financial reports in 1981. Today didn’t get much better for Iwata, who issued a statement taking responsibility for the company’s falling fortunes even as he expressed optimism for the future. (Link)