Labels president Frank Gibeau says company has opportuning to grow the audience for upcoming open-world game.

The original Mirror's Edge was a fairly niche game, but its open-world sequel aims to cast a wider net. That's according to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, who told IGN that the pieces are place for the free-running sequel to grow the franchise's audience.

’Our goal in any product is to try and grow the audience,’ Gibeau explained. ’We’re definitely taking into account the opportunity to reach a bigger group of people. We think we’ve got the right story and accessibility that can do that."

Gibeau added that the original Mirror's Edge sold a couple million units, so it's "not an art film." Still, he said the franchise has the opportunity to grow with the upcoming sequel.

The Mirror's Edge sequel was announced during EA's E3 briefing earlier this month. Little is known about its gameplay outside of Gibeau describing the game as an "open-world action adventure game."

The game is currently in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. According to developer DICE, it will be released "when it's ready."

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Bossa Studios says "this has nothing to do with any Valve games" regarding easter egg found in game's latest update.

Bossa Studios has confirmed that the easter egg recently discovered in Surgeon Simulator 2013 is not a tease for Half-Life 3.

"Whoa! It seems that you've got a little ahead of yourselves! Here's a clue: THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY VALVE GAMES! Carry on now’," the developer wrote on Twitter today.

Gamers this week discovered a note taped to an object with Korean text inside Surgeon Simulator 2013. The text reportedly reads "The time is," with dots said to be in reference to planets within the solar system.

"The time is 8:47 a.m." is one of the first lines in the original Half-Life.

The discovery was made following the Team Fortress 2 update for Surgeon Simulator 2013. The free update allows gamers to play as Team Fortress 2's medic and operate on the heavy.

Last April, Valve boss Gabe Newell said the studio had gone through numerous "twists and turns" to bring the game to market. He explained that Valve remaining silent on the game is in the best interest for gamers because elaborating on the game's development "would probably drive people more crazy."

The most recent Half-Life game was 2007's Half-Life 2: Episode Two. That game advances the story of previous entries Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. A third episode was planned, but has not seen the light of day.

A listing for Half-Life 3 was recently spotted in a Valve project tracker.

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Ubisoft CEO says he is "very happy" with sales for Far Cry 3 spinoff and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, a $15 downloadable Far Cry 3 spinoff, sold 500,000 copies in under two months, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told GamesIndustry International in a new interview.

He added that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon helped spur sales of the full Far Cry 3 game, most notably so on PC.

Guillemot also addressed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, another downloadable game based on a major retail franchise from Ubisoft. He did not give a specific sales figure for the game, but said he was "very happy" with its performance.

Both games released in May. The performance of both Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger gives Ubisoft the chance to explore furthering its investment in downloadable brand extensions in the future, Guillemot said.

For more, check out GameSpot's reviews of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.

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Microsoft announces "landmark" deal with Time Warner to bring US subscribers 300 live TV channels this summer.

Today, Microsoft announced a "landmark" deal with Time Warner Cable that will bring 300 of the cable company's live TV channels to Xbox 360 later this summer.

Users must have an Xbox Live Gold membership and a subscription to Time Warner Cable to watch live television through their Xbox 360s. Live-streaming is only available to those in the United States.

Supported channels include AMC, BBC World News, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, HGTV, and more. Users will be able to control the programming using their voice through Kinect, Microsoft said.

This deal is similar to the existing offer for Verizon FiOS subscribers, where users can watch many of the same channels live through their Xbox 360s with Kinect compatibility.

Live TV streaming through Microsoft's next-generation Xbox One won't require a separate application, as it currently does on Xbox 360. The console will plug directly into a user's cable box and feed live TV through the system with an HDMI cable.

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PC owners will need to buy a Windows-specific version.

Microsoft has confirmed that its next-generation Kinect for Xbox one won't be compatible with the PC.

Microsoft will instead be releasing two versions of its next-generation Kinect. The version for Xbox One feature a proprietary connector, and Microsoft has no plans to provide an adapter to make it possible to work on a computer.

"The Kinect for Xbox One sensor will not have an adapter that allows it to plug into a computer," said a Microsoft spokesperson to Ars Technica. "The new generation Kinect for Windows sensor will connect to computers using a standard USB3 port."

Every Xbox One will come bundled with the new Kinect sensor.

The Xbox 360's Kinect also featured a proprietary connector, but retail models sold outside of console bundles featured a USB 2.0 adapter. Enterprising developers managed to use the Kinect on the PC months before Microsoft provided an official SDK for the platform.

Microsoft is currently offering a Kinect for Windows developer program for $399, which offers early access to the pre-release Windows version of the next-generation Kinect sensor in November 2013.

The general release date for the new Windows version of Kinect is expected to be sometime in 2014.

The Xbox One, and its Kinect sensor, will launch in November.

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Wall Street Journal reports Google is expected to launch an Android-powered video games console later this year.

Internet giant Google is working on its own Android-powered games console, a new report claims.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google intends to release the console later this year, alongside an Android-powered wristwatch. The report adds that both devices are in production to compete with similar devices that Apple may release in the future.

WSJ sources add that Google has expectations that Apple will launch a gaming console as part of its next wave of Apple TV products.

One source says that Google is also keeping a watch on the $99 Ouya, the Android-powered microconsole that saw its public release this week. Amazon sold out of its Ouya stock earlier this week, although the console is now back in stock.

Both Google and Apple declined to comment.

Any upcoming video games hardware, from either Google or Apple, would have to compete with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4, both of which will launch later this year.

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PS3 exclusive sequel to dragon-themed action game series to also come in 10th Anniversary box set; no North American and European plans as of yet.

Square Enix has announced that the PS3 action game Drakengard 3 will be out in Japan on October 31.

The special Drakengard 3 10th Anniversary box set artwork, featuring the protagonists of the entire Drakengard series.

The game will be sold in a regular edition and a Drakengard 3 10th Anniversary box set via Square Enix's e-store. In addition to the game, the set will contain a book called Drakengard: World Inside, a music CD called Drakengard Chips Music that features 24 tracks from the Drakengard and Nier games remixed in an 8-bit style, and a Blu-Ray disc called Drakengard History Films that contain cutscenes, trailers, and commercials for the Drakengard titles.

The box set also contains an art book, a Drakengard 3 DLC code, and a novella that acts as a prequel to Drakengard 3. Square Enix has yet to announce plans for a North American and European release.

Drakengard 3 is an action game that mixes ground-based combat and air combat using dragons. Players control two sisters named Zero and One who wield the power of the ancient Utautai goddesses. The former wishes to kill the remaining Utautai for reasons unknown, while the latter wants to bring peace and stability to the world.

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Campaign for strategy game exceeds initial $725,000 goal.

Double Fine Production's Kickstarter campaign to fund an upcoming strategy game called Massive Chalice recently ended with a total of $1,229,015 raised.

Massive Chalice will be a strategy game in the vein of X-COM and Final Fantasy Tactics.

The company created the Kickstarter page on May and initially had a funding goal of $725,000. The goal was surpassed in early June. Project lead Brad Muir will now lead a separate team within Double Fine to create Massive Chalice, following the success of the campaign.

Massive Chalice was billed as a tactical strategy game that will be a hybrid between X-COM and Final Fantasy Tactics, coupled with a bloodlines and breeding mechanic. This is the second game Double Fine Productions has created a Kickstarter campaign for, with the first being Broken Age.

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Yves Guillemot says $500 Xbox One and $400 PS4 "good deals," applauds Microsoft's policy reversal.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has commented on the Xbox One's $500 price point and the PlayStation 4's $400 sticker price. Speaking with GamesIndustry International, the executive said both options are "good deals" considering the power behind the machines.

"For the hardware they're putting on the market, the price is right," Guillemot said. "They are offering machines that will be exceptional, and for those prices, they're good deals."

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg holds a different opinion, saying Microsoft will need to "convince" gamers that the $100 premium will be worth it.

Guillemot also applauded Microsoft for its dramatic Xbox One policy reversal that saw the company remove its controversial 24-hour online check-ins and lift all limitations on used-game sales after backlash from gamers.

"I think consumers didn't like their approach, so the fact they went back and listened to the consumers and gave them something different is a good move to ensure the new consoles [achieve] their potential," Guillemot said.

The Xbox One and PS4 launch later this year.

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Developer bans unspecified number of players from dungeon crawler.

Blizzard Entertainment has banned more Diablo III players. In a blog post today, the company confirmed the bans, but did not say how many players were booted in all or if the bans were temporary or permanent.

"Over the last year, we've issued frequent rounds of account bans for cheating in Diablo III, and we've just issued another," the company said. "While we may not mention each round of account bans when they occur, we have and will continue to monitor Diablo III for exploitative behavior and take action as needed in order to help preserve the integrity of the game."

Blizzard banned "several thousand" Diablo III players in December for using botting hacks.

The company reminded players that hacks, bots, and third-party software are all prohibited for Diablo III. Blizzard said this software "undermines the spirit of the game" and can result in a permanent ban.

"Not only that, but third-party programs can cause nasty technical problems, game-related bugs, and stability and performance issues with Battle.net, all of which can greatly impact your gaming experience as well as the gaming experience of others," Blizzard said.

Players with information pertaining to a hack or a bot can reach Blizzard at Hacks@Blizzard.com.Diablo III launched for the PC and Mac last May and has sold over 12 million copies to date.

The game will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 3. Next-generation console versions are also in the works.

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