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Swedish videogame maker bought by French competitor

Acclaimed Swedish videogame maker Massive Entertainment, developer of the popular strategy title "World In Conflict”, has been purchased by French rival Ubisoft.

Swedish videogame maker bought by French competitor

“Massive’s development team places great importance on its freedom to innovate and create games of the highest quality,” said Massive founder and president Martin Walfisz.

“We are fortunate to have found in Ubisoft a publisher who shares the same values and understands our mindset. I have no doubt that our future together will offer significant mutual benefit and synergy.”

Massive has grown to 120 workers since it was founded in 1997 and Game Developers Research ranks it among the world’s top 50 videogame studios.

Ubisoft bought Massive from Activision Blizzard for an undisclosed amount.

“We are delighted to welcome the talented team of creators at Massive into the Ubisoft family,” Ubisoft executive director of worldwide production studios Christine Burgess-Quemard said in a statement released by the company’s North America office on Monday.

“Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams.”

Ubisoft sales leapt 31 percent to €344 million ($439 million) in the three months ending September 30 as compared with the same period last year, according to earnings results released in late October.

The surge in sales was credited to launches of “Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway” and “SoulCaliber IV” versions for Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft XBox 360 videogame consoles along with “casual games” for Nintendo DS devices.

BALCONING

Balconing in Spain: New computer game promises all of the ‘fun’ of the leap without the risk

A new computer game turns the dangerous craze of balconing into a low-risk experience.

Balconing in Spain: New computer game promises all of the ‘fun’ of the leap without the risk
A computer simulator allows players to find out if they could make it to the pool unscathed. Photo: Humber Bundle

It is a question that most (sane) people ask themselves when they read about a trend in Spain – especially Balearic Island resorts – that sees tourists injured each year when they leap from a hotel balcony.

The dangerous craze has been dubbed “balconing” and has cost dozens of lives of mainly British tourists who plummet to their deaths from hotel rooms.

Balconing was first identified as the ultimate drunk holiday challenge, after videos showed young  men leaping from balconies several storeys up into the resort’s swimming pool below.

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But the term has also broadly come to mean any of the dozen incidents involving holidaymakers falling from balconies that occur during each tourist season.

Sometimes these deaths, or incidents resulting in severe injuries, come about when a holidaymaker attempts to climb from one balcony to another, either because they have lost their way, or lost their key or in the pursuit of some amorous encounter.

But sometimes they occur in purely accidental circumstances, although more often or not, the victim is inebriated.

Now a computer simulator has been developed to offer gamers the “enriching experience” of jumping from a hotel window into a pool “with practically no risks for your safety.”

The game involves a player attempting to guide his somewhat inebriated avatar through a hotel room full of obstacles to reach the balcony and from there launch over the precipice to the pool below.

It is designed to answer the question that it claims we all ponder when we return to our hotel room after a night on the tiles.

“If I jump, will I reach that pool?”

Balconing Simulator 2020 is released on December 6 from developer Fancy + Punk and will form part of the Humble Trove collection of indie games.

 
 
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