business posts

As the gaming industry becomes more and more granular and saturated, we're seeing a plethora of smaller developers breaking off of the large ones. 11 Bit Studios is one of these independent ventures, and it's comprised of industry veterans from the publisher/developer CD Projekt and sub-studios. While there is no game announced quite yet, their site is currently up and their premier game is due to be announced in exactly one week. The developer specifically mentioned the downloadable market as their goal, with PC, iPhone, and iPad as the primary platforms for development. Given CD Projekt's love for the PC platform (through The Witcher and GoG.com), we're rather excited to see what these refugees can cook up.

It's yet another day in the world of business, and on this particular day, Zenimax Media has received a $150 million investment from the mega-huge equity firm Providence Equity. This isn't the first time they've received an investment from the firm, as three years ago they also poured $300 million into the publisher. In case you are not aware, Zenimax is the owner of both Bethesda and id Software, two incredibly popular PC developers, so this new investment helps keep both developers producing the games they want to make.

It figures that a football game would be the world's best-selling sports games. It's just not American Football. According to the latest reports from EA, the football (soccer) game FIFA 11 has sold a whopping 2.6 million copies, netting the massive publisher upwards of $150 million. This is all within the first week of availability, no less, and easily beats FIFA 10's previous record of 1.6 million. Given the continued popularity of FIFA 10, we wouldn't be surprised if FIFA 11 goes on to even larger sales as well. It seems the revamp of the FIFA franchise is looking like an incredibly great decision for EA.

Download the FIFA 11 demo right here on Big Download!

Airline Tycoon is one of the more interesting and entertaining tycoon games. It is as it sounds: you are tasked with buying planes, setting up routes, and hiring personnel to establish a successful airline. The first game came out over a decade ago, and it's been several years since the last re-release. Airline Tycoon 2 was announced around this time last year for a tentative 2011 release date, and this year it is confirmed for.. well, still a 2011 release date. But it's been narrowed down to Q4. Kalypso is really pushing their business sim portfolio of games, and Airline Tycoon definitely falls into this category.

The Patrician games are fairly popular trading sims, and the newest entry looks to be no different. Despite being hard at work on Patrician Online, Patrician IV is not being neglected by the developers, and this trailer showcases some of the things one can expect of the historical simulation. Trading, city management, and fleet management are all in, as well as some stunning historical artwork. Those used to more action-packed games will not be swayed by this trailer, but it's a niche game, after all.

Download HD Patrician 4 Gamescom 2010 Trailer
Check out all Patrician 4 downloads

Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge!

Quite a long time ago, there was a small economic simulation by the name of MULE. One of the first commercial business simulations, it paved the way for later titles like Railroad Tycoon or Transport Tycoon. Thanks to a simplified model of supply-demand economics, just about anyone could pick up the game, play, and learn basic economic concepts while competing with their friends. However, the visuals have definitely not aged well over the years, making the game increasingly harder to get into for most players. There's been a number of remakes, but the best is a little freeware number by the name of Planet MULE. It's a faithful recreation of the original mechanics with a new coat of paint, so it's time to delve into a classic. For simplicity's sake, Planet MULE will simply be referred to as MULE throughout this article.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Last week we talked about one of the better business simulations, Railroad Tycoon 2. It's still considered a classic to most fans of the genre, but we talked about it plenty then. The developer, not content to merely work with Sid Meier's formula, decided to invent their own. The result was Tropico, a simulation of life as a tropical dictator. It is a satirical take on both Latin America politics and the business simulation genre, and serves as a good example for what a developer can make when it simply steps outside the box. PopTop may be no more, and the franchise may belong to a different publisher, but we can still reminisce about a strategy gaming classic.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Sid Meier is known for two different franchises. The first is the seminal 4X franchise Civilization, which made his name a household one and propelled him to the heights of game designer super-stardom. The second is arguably just as known as Civilization, only with a different group of people: Railroad Tycoon. The first game was one of the very first business simulations released to the consumer market, and ever since then the games have only been getting bigger, better, and prettier. Arguably the best game in the series is Railroad Tycoon 2, and with its re-release on Steam, new strategy gamers can immerse themselves in a timeless classic at a very low price.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

The tycoon genre of games is a popular one, and for good reason. The accessibility of a good interface mixed with the appeal of creating and managing your own business is a recipe for an instant hit. Not many games, however, can be truly said to be classics of the tycoon genre. As far as we know, there's only three games which really deserve that distinction. The first is Railroad Tycoon, one of Sid Meier's first games and the father of the modern business game. The second is Transport Tycoon, which was created by Chris Sawyer as a more in-depth transportation simulation than Railroad Tycoon. The final game, and the focus of this article, is Rollercoaster Tycoon, one of the most popular and enduring tycoon games of all time. It has snatched hold of the casual and hardcore market alike with excellent gameplay and interface, and is still popular to this day.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Bullfrog was well-renowned amongst PC users by the time 1997 had rolled around. A list of some of the best PC games was their resume, many of which could be featured in later Boot Disk articles. Games such as Syndicate, Populous, Theme Park, or Dungeon Keeper. However, when it comes to the twisted, eccentric sense of humor that Bullfrog put in all its games, there's one that stands out among the rest. That game is Theme Hospital, spiritual successor to Theme Park and quite simply one of the best management sims around. It's a little hard to find, but it's worth it, and the cohesive art style mixed with the hilarious gameplay never gets old.