game developer

SAN FRANCISCO--If you could play high-end, 3D games in your browser at the same speed as on a console, would you? Here at the annual Game Developers Conference, the maker of Firefox revealed a plan to get you to do just that.

Mozilla's current holy grail is getting the mix of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS that powers the modern Web to run apps at speeds that rival native code, the operating system-dependent languages underpinning apps on iOS, Android, Windows 8, and other proprietary systems.

The not-so-secret weapon in Mozilla's plan is something called ASM.js, said Director of Engineering Vladimir Vukicevic. "It's a dialect of JavaScript that can optimize [code] much better. It's around two times as fast," he said.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- A what, where, and why primer on the Game Developer's Conference from guests Meggan Scavio and Simon Carless.

- The 15th annual Independent Games Festival opens its Audience Award voting window, now through March 1.

- Nominations open for 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards.

- Unity Engine coming to BlackBerry 10 smartphones, BlackBerry PlayBook.… Read more

Facebook put up a new blog post today, patting itself on the back for Open Graph's role in the success of Playdom's Avengers Alliance game.

The social network said shared stories that linked to the game on people's news feeds and timelines were clicked on 7 million times -- the third-largest source of clicks to the Marvel game -- and users who installed the game after clicking through Open Graph stories made an in-game purchase twice as often as those who joined the game through an invite.

The post also included comments from the game developer about … Read more

The head of gaming company Sensory Sweep Studio has landed in jail after not paying his workers a combined sum of $1.2 million.

According to the Associated Press, David Rushton, 57, who operated out of Salt Lake City, Utah, withheld pay from his staff of 211 people.

"We had occasional paychecks that trickled in. Some people were favored more than others," former Sensory Sweep Studio game designer Adam Hunter told the Associated Press. He quit working for Rushton in 2009 and is still owed $12,000.

Sensory Sweep Studio created several games for Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox, … Read more

Developers can't stand used video game sales. Just ask Silicon Knights chief Denis Dyack.

"I would argue, and I've said this before, that used games are cannibalizing the industry," Dyack told GamesIndustry International in an interview published yesterday. "If developers and publishers don't see revenue from that, it's not a matter of hey 'we're trying to increase the price of games to consumers, and we want more,' we're just trying to survive as an industry. If used games continue the way that they are, it's going to cannibalize, there's … Read more

Since Jeff can't attend the 26th annual Game Developers Conference on March 5 in San Francisco, we're doing the next best thing and bringing part of the show to him!

General Manager Meggan Scavio is our guest today and we're getting all the details on the upcoming show, like the split among console, PC, and mobile gaming, the rise of independent game developers, and sequelmania! We'll also rant about 3D games and the convergence of the film and gaming industries.

She'll also join us in the second half of the podcast where we'll run … Read more

With the U.S. launch of the Nintendo 3DS just days away, the game company wants to be clear that it's doing its part to help third parties succeed on its newest portable-gaming device.

Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America senior director of corporate communications, told IndustryGamers in an interview published Friday that his company is doing "everything we can to help [third parties] promote their products, to get their products visibility" on the Nintendo 3DS.

The 3DS, which allows gamers to play 3D titles without the need of special glasses, is scheduled to hit U.S. store shelves on Saturday for $249. … Read more

Nintendo has no desire to work with so-called "garage developers," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview published today.

"I would separate out the true independent developer vs. the hobbyist," Fils-Aime told gaming publication Gamasutra. "We are absolutely reaching out to the independent developer. Where we've drawn the line is we are not looking to do business today with the garage developer. In our view, that's not a business we want to pursue."

A "garage developer" is someone developing a casual title without the team and cash … Read more

Though the iPad 2 doesn't hit store shelves the end of this week, developers are already planning to give their games and applications a boost with the extra power.

The iPad 2 sports a dual-core processor and graphical performance Apple says is about nine times as powerful as the first-generation iPad. This is likely to have the biggest impact on things like installing and switching between applications, but it will also impact 3D games, where the system will now be able to push a higher number of polygons and pixels around on the screen, as well as allowing 3D … Read more