Category Archives: Game Companies out of business
Photos of the Boston Bombers Released
Photos of the persons believed to set off the bombs in Boston.
If you recognize either of these suspects please contact the FBI at 1800 CALL FBI
Suspect Arrested in Boston Bombings “breaking news”
An arrest has been made in the Boston bombings investigation based on two videos showing images of the suspect, a federal law enforcement source told CNN’s Fran Townsend.
[Breaking news update at 1:28 p.m. Wednesday ]
Boston University graduate student Lingzu Lu has been identified by the school as the third person who died in Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.
[Original story, posted at 1:11 p.m. Wednesday]
(CNN) — Investigators believe they have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, a source who has been briefed on the investigation told CNN’s John King exclusively.
The breakthrough came from analysis of video from a department store near the site of the second explosion. Video from a Boston television station also contributed to the progress, said the source, who declined to be more specific but called it a significant development.
Earlier, a federal law enforcement source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation told CNN that a lid to a pressure cooker thought to have been used in the bombings had been found on a roof of a building near the scene.
While such clues may move the investigation forward, they did not reveal whether the attack was an act of domestic or foreign terrorism.
“If your experience and your expertise is Middle East terrorism, it has the hallmarks of al Qaeda or a Middle East group,” former FBI Assistant Director Tom Fuentes said. “If your experience is domestic groups and bombings that have occurred here, it has the hallmarks of a domestic terrorist like Eric Rudolph in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombings.”
FBI will try to rebuild Boston bombs, Breaking TGP TV News, More Evidence found
On their own, they’re simple household items.
Pressure cookers. Nails. Nylon bags.
But combine them with explosives, and you can get the kind of bombs that investigators now suspect were used to turn the finish line of the Boston Marathon into a bloody nightmare.
Scraps of them found at the scene of the twin bombings are being sent to the FBI’s national laboratory, where technicians will try to reconstruct the devices, the federal agent leading the investigation said Tuesday. Meanwhile, investigators combed through a digital mountain of photos and video clips and asked the public for help finding who planted them at two points on Boylston Street.
“Someone knows who did this,” said Rick DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office. “Cooperation from the community will play a crucial role in this investigation.”
DesLauriers asked people to report anyone who talked about targeting Monday’s race or showed interest in explosives. He urged anyone who might have heard the sounds of explosions in remote areas — possibly by someone testing a bomb — or saw someone carrying “an unusually heavy, dark-colored bag” around Monday to come forward.
There has been no claim of responsibility, DesLauriers said. “The range of suspects and motives remains wide open,” he said.
The U.S. government has warned federal agencies in the past that pressure cookers — airtight pots used to quickly cook or preserve foods — have been packed with explosives and shrapnel and detonated with blasting camps. A law enforcement official said Monday’s bombs were likely detonated by timers. Read the rest of this entry
Police search for van and suspect in Boston Bombings
On Monday night agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and other law enforcement agencies raided a unit in a high-rise apartment on Ocean Drive in the seaside Boston suburb of Revere, according to information posted online by a participating local fire department. Several bags, including what appeared to be a large duffel bag, were removed from the scene. Authorities were mum as to the specifics of their suspicions but confirmed that the Revere search was related to the case.
Police have issued an alert for a rental van that may have tried to gain access to the finish line area and for a man in dark clothing and a hood seen leaving the scene shortly before the blast, reported NBC. Surveillance video shows a hooded figure carrying two backpacks at about that time.
If you have any information please contact the FBI at 1-800-Call-FBI
For those sending emails about game reporting we will get back to that. But as the editor of The Gaming Post I’ve made a judgement call to do the right thing and get this information out there. Thanks for all your help.
Federal and local authorities execute warrant, one step closer to catching the Boston bombers
REVERE, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com)—Police were seen carrying several large bags from a suburban Boston apartment that authorities say was searched in connection to the Boston Marathon bombing.
The bags were removed from the apartment on Ocean Avenue in Revere just north of Boston at about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Police did not disclose what was in them and calls to federal and state authorities were not immediately returned.
Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant was served Monday night but provided no further details.
The Revere Fire Department wrote on its Facebook page that firefighters responded to the scene for a search for “a person of interest.”
The FBI is leading the investigation into the explosions, which killed three people and injured more than 170 people.
Heavily armed state troopers, National Guard members and SWAT teams are patrolling the city. Expect bags to be randomly searched on the MBTA.
Gov. Deval Patrick said the area will pretty much stay in lockdown mode. Workers and visitors will not be allowed into that zone, and residents will not be allowed into their homes in the blast zone until further notice.
EA closing Sims Facebook games “Is this due to inactivity or bleeding of cash”
Electronic Arts announced today that it will close Facebook games The Sims Social, SimCity Social, and Pet Society on June 14. The publisher called the decision to retire the games “difficult.”
EA explained that though “millions” played each game initially, user activity has since fallen off. “For people who have seen other recent shutdowns of social games, perhaps this is not surprising,” the company said in a statement.
Players with unspent in-game currency balances are encouraged to spend the remainder of their money before the games go offline. Virtual currency will become “invalid” when the games shut down and it is not clear if players will be able to secure a refund for any unspent funds.
EA will make a “special offer” available to players of the affected titles in the form of an unspecified PopCap game. Further details on this promotion will be made available in-game “soon,” EA said.
Facebook games from EA that will live on include Bejeweled Blitz, Solitaire Blitz, and Plants vs. Zombies Adventures.
The Sims Social was at the heart of a recent lawsuit between EA and Zynga. EA claimed that Zynga’s The Ville was a Sims Social clone, alleging that it represents an act of copyright infringement. Though EA called the suit a matter of principle, the case was settled with Zynga reportedly pleased with the result.
EA cuts jobs at customer support center “Was the creating jobs statement a lie?”
Less than a year after Electronic Arts announced it would create 300 new jobs at its Galway, Ireland, customer service center, the publisher has cut a number of positions at the outfit, according to a statement provided to Irish news site The Journal.
The exact number of cuts was not divulged, though The Journal said it understands the figure is under 20. A spokesperson for IDA Ireland, the group responsible for attracting foreign investment in the country, told the publication it “has a longstanding relationship with EA–the company continues to employ significant numbers in the Galway area.”
EA’s customer support center in Galway originally opened in September 2011 with the sole purpose of supporting BioWare’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic. This changed a year later, when EA said the facility would also provide multilingual support and services for its major games.
EA’s Galway outfit is just one of the company’s studios to be hit with layoffs of late. Last Thursday, the publisher confirmed cuts as a means to “streamline” its business in preparation for the upcoming console transition. Layoff totals were not officially divulged, though Joystiq reports this figure includes 60 to 70 permanent employees and over 100 contract workers, mostly quality assurance testers.
Layoff news at EA comes a month after former CEO John Riccitiello admitted that EA would miss its financial projections for the full-year ended March 31.
“This is a tough decision, but it all comes down to accountability,” Riccitiello said in his resignation letter last month. “The progress EA has made on transitioning to digital games and services is something I’m extremely proud of. However, it currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued in January, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. EA’s shareholders and employees expect better and I am accountable for the miss.”
Boston Bombed in Terrorist Attack, Help us make a difference
As Editor of The Gaming Post, You may see I take on causes that I feel need a voice, Like their being no Unions or organization in the games industry for an example.
Being from Boston, Mass. When I woke this morning and saw my cousin Jay O’Neil post a comment on facebook about Boston being bombed, Then turned on the PC to the horror on http://CNN.com, I was simply blown away, I really couldn’t believe it, In this time in this age that something like this could happen.
But it did, And after watching much of the news today I was disappointed, Not at the brave men and women of the Boston Police Dept, Nor the brave citizens, But whoever was responsible for allowing “THE SUSPICIOUS PERSON” to just walk away.
Sadly I feel that after all these years since September 11th we have again become complacent and have the belief that “IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE”.
Well as we have seen today, It can.
Now what do we do about it?
Well we know our best and brightest will go over the area, View footage, subpoena cell phone records, pull cctv from the area. I know that they will do all they can to catch those responsible. But sometimes it takes more than that, And sometimes the little extra helps.
So as Editor here at The Gaming Post I have created a IndieGoGo account to help fund a reward for information that leads to an arrest for the person responsible, and to help those that need it most right now. You can help by clicking here
I pick my places on where and when I speak out, this is one of those times.
I want to personally thank the men and women of the Boston Police Dept not only for their bravery but their selflessness in the acts today. I also want to recognize and thank the average citizen that put their lives on the line to help their fellow Bostonians out today.
And lastly to our brave men and women who were there from the National Guard today who were some of the first to pull debris off of citizens and in one case actually held a mans leg and artery to keep him from bleeding out. To everyone who helped I send a sincere thank you.
To the FBI Joint Terrorism Task force for acting swiftly and hopefully catching the person or person’s responsible.
Today should allow you to reflect on what is most important in life, Your friends, your family.
Today a 8 year old boy lost his life exercising his right to be free, simply viewing a sporting event. Ladies and Gentlemen I want to remind you that freedom is not FREE. Brave men and women have given their lives for us to all be free, And sadly that young boy and other children did that today.
We should not hide, or stop attending such events, doing so only allows the terrorists to win.
Next time you go to the movies, a hockey game, a marathon, whatever it may be, When they play that National Anthem, Stop and really take a moment and think about what that means and all the people who have given their lives that allow us to be free.
Our thoughts go out to all the people affected and those families affected by the attack today in Boston.
Help us here at The Gaming Post make a difference and get the word out. If you have any information, Saw something, know something, someone talked about something, etc, Please contact the FBI immediately at 1-800-call-FBI.
Again our thought go to the families affected by the attack today. Please send your thoughts and prayers to them.
Thomas
Editor in chief
THE GAMING POST
Eden Games “Test Drive dev” Closed by Atari after attempted strike, (Another Example and one step closes to Game Unions?)
Alone in the Dark and Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games has closed, the Lyon, France-based studio has confirmed (via Eurogamer).
The studio originally opened in 1998.
The official closure of Eden Games comes nearly a year after studio owner Atari labeled the studio as “discontinued operations,” suggesting its shutdown was not far away.
The studio’s final game was 2011′s warmly received Test Drive Unlimited 2 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Previously developed titles include 2008′s Alone in the Dark and the 2006 original Test Drive Unlimited.
In 2011, Eden Games formed a “symbolic strike” aimed at protesting a wave of forthcoming layoffs at the firm, believed to total as many as 80. A letter from Eden Games claimed “mismanagement” on the part of Atari and noted the publisher was not willing to enter negotiations with the studio.
