Game Devs Unhappy

While GDC is often a place to celebrate videogames, there's plenty of room for complaining, too. Nintendo and Apple were both targets throughout the show, as a number of game devs slammed their business practices and the way they've helped to shape gaming.

"We used to have a free and open game business," said EA founder Trip Hawkins. "And then Nintendo came along and introduced a thing called a licensing agreement ... At least Nintendo had the courtesy to tell you upfront that you were going to be screwed."

iOS developer Natalia Luckyanova said that Nintendo's licensing model made it tough for small developers to make a game, and noted the arrogance of the company for criticizing mobile game development, as Iwata had done at his GDC keynote speech.

Apple has been accused of over-encouraging supply, with 350,000 Apps available on iTunes and little chance for the majority of them to compete. In addition, the company charges developer $99 per year and takes 30% of each transaction. Hawkins noted that Apps make $4,000 on average, which "doesn't even pay for a really good foosball table."

While I agree that Apple and Nintendo could stand to loosen up a bit, I'm interested to know when the industry was a better place. Back during the Atari days, when the industry crashed thanks to a slew of unlicensed crap? It's easy for developers to lament the way things are run now, but I'm not totally sure it would be even better in a Wild West market.

Some game developers unhappy with Apple, Nintendo [CNN]

Zelda Master Quest

In news that is sure to thrill the hardest of the hardcore, it's been confirmed that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D will include the Master Quest version of the game as well as the original.

Associate PR manager David Young revealed the feature while rattling off the game's enhancements in avideo interview. 

The Master Quest version (originally released on the GameCube) is for those who have played the everloving spunk out of Ocarina and want a fresh taste, featuring as it does a series of reworked dungeons and puzzles. Just imagine playing the Jabu Jabu section with 3D cows sticking out of the walls. Yeah ... now you know why this is hot. 

In all seriousness, that's pretty cool news!

Ocarina of Time 3D to Include Master Quest [Nintendo World. Huge thanks to Rexwolf2!]

Steam Security Upgrade

Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell has publicly revealed his Steam username and password. It's true! You can watch the video above to hear his account details.

No, he hasn't lost his mind, if that's what you're thinking. The purpose of doing this is to prove that Valve's new Steam Guard feature guarantees that your Steam account can't be hijacked even if someone (or, in this case, everyone) knows both your username and password.

In the announcement earlier this week, Newell stated, "Account phishing and hijacking are our #1 support issues." Steam Guard prevents unauthorized access by tying a Steam account to a specific computer. Any attempts to log in or change account settings from any other computer will send the owner a notification of the activity.

All the specifics have still yet to be laid out, such as what happens if your computer stops working or its processor is upgraded. Valve has promised it will "provide more information in the near future that should clear up some of these questions and the surrounding confusion."

Bungie Making MMO?

Confirming reports we've heard previously, Bungie announced at GDC today that its next project will be a "massively-multiplayer action game."

While Bungie lead network engineer David Aldridge did reveal that fact, he denied the other description that had been mentioned in the past. According to him, the new MMO will not be "WoW in space," for what that is worth.

The report last month claimed that Bungie's next title would be an MMOFPS named Destiny. That may or may not be accurate; saying that the new game is a "massively-multiplayer action game" doesn't rule out the possibility that it will be a shooter of some sort. For an MMO it makes more sense that that game take place in the third-person where you can see your character and the way you've customized him or her. Of course, we know absolutely nothing about the new game, so that might not even be something you do in Bungie's new game.

Whatever it is, the new MMO will be published by Activision.

Four Times The Power!!!!

 StephenTotilo — We've established that the Sony's upcoming portable wonder-machine, the NGP, isn't quite as powerful as a PlayStation 3. Further clarifying how much this thing can bench press, Epic's Mark Rein tells us that the device, which can run his company's Unreal graphics engine (think Gears of War, Mass Effect, Infinity Blade, etc), has four times the power of any other portable device Unreal's been running on, including the iPad 1.(iPad 2 not factored into this claim, he said!)

New Mojang Game "Scrolls"

Minecraft developer Mojang has announced their next game, Scrolls.

Quote:

Scrolls is Mojang's next game and offers a new and unique game play where you fight to outmaneuver your opponent on the battlefield using the destructive powers in your collection of magical scrolls. Tear your opponent limb from limb with the might of your summoned armies, lay waste to the defenses with the obliterating power of your siege weapons or open up the very skies and let bolts of lightning shower his minions until only ash remains. The road to victory is yours to choose. Obtain the powerful scrolls and decide which ones you will take to battle as you fight to become the mightiest Magician of all.

Devil May Cry Movie

The film rights for the Devil May Cry series have been acquired by Screen Gems, the same Sony subsidiary responsible for the four Resident Evil movies.

Variety reports that Kyle Ward will write the movie's script. He's also scheduled to write the screenplay for the upcoming Kane & Lynch film.

No release date has been announced, but that won't prevent us from beginning to brainstorm which actor should assume the role of series protagonist Dante. Leave your guesses in the comments below.