At a time when Britain prepared for what would be an historic general election, the industry was still trying to assess the potential implications of The Digital Economy Bill.
Meanwhile, the BBC rocked established games models by announcing four free Doctor Who games while Gizmodo got into all sorts of trouble for disrupting Apple’s secret plans for iPhone 4.
There were big changes at retailer GAME and Sony’s until now rock solid piracy record on PS3 was thrown into turmoil while hopes of a £50 RRP for Kinect were slowly slipping away.
APRIL
GAME enters the fruit & veg sector (HINT: this was the first story in April. As in, it was published on April 1st)
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Take-Two CEO Ben Feder blames piracy for the commercial failure of Chinatown Wars on DS and PSP
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The Digital economy Bill becomes the Digital Economy Act as the controversial legislation is passed into law
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The BBC confirms plans to release free digital-only Doctor Who games on PC and Mac
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Apple reveals its own Xbox Live and Open Feint contender, Game Center
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Infinity Ward defectors Jason West and Vince Zampella open a new studio and sign with, gulp, EA
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The non-US rollout of the iPad is delayed
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Gizmodo nails one of the scoops of the year by getting its hands on a working iPhone 4, somewhat irritating Apple in the process
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MCV manages to reference the Icelandic volcanic eruption in a headline as GAME warns of possible delivery delays
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Key execs Lisa Morgan and Terry Scicluna announce they are to leave retailer GAME
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In addition, GAME confirms the closure of an additional 127 stores by Christmas 2013
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In one of the biggest digital-driven shake-ups yet, Sega transforms its North American office into its Digital Division, with 73 jobs being lost in the process
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Gizmodo pays the price for irking Steve Jobs as police raid the home of editor Jason Chen
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Arnie turns his Uzi 9mm on the games industry with controversial age restrictions bill
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Sony tries to thwart PS3 pirates by removing OtherOS functionality from the console – and self-righteous US gamers call in the lawyers
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Activision gets over its Infinity Ward hangover by penning an exclusivity deal with halo creators Bungie
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MAY
Gran Turismo 5 is “90 per cent done”, according to development legend Yamauchi. It must be out soon, right?
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DRM could become “legally enforceable”, the European Commission warns. It hasn’t
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George Lucas personally rejected a proposed game that had Wookie Chewbacca as the superhero lead. Booooo!
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Alan Pritchard takes up US marketing role and Jurgen Post takes charge in Europe as Sega reshuffle takes shape
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MCV reveals that year-to-date Wii sales have fallen 45 per cent in the UK
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EA’s DLC code pushes gains momentum with the announcement of EA Sports’ Online Pass
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Blitz co-founder Andrew Oliver says pre-owned is a bigger problem to the industry than piracy
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MCV speculates that the PSP2 was to form the basis of Sony’s surprise E3 conference. Note the question mark at the end of the headline
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Telecoms firm BT injects some money into cloud gaming specialist OnLive
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The first signs emerge that Microsoft’s Natal might cost somewhat more than the £50 we’d been lead to believe
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Friend of the industry Ed Vaizey is appointed as Culture Minister in the new coalition government…
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… but it’s not enough to stop previously announced games tax breaks being scuppered
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Entrepreneur Richard Branson makes a surprise return to gaming
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Handbags at dawn sees supermarket chain Asda refuse to stock Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption in-store
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Rumours that cult figure J Allard is to leave Microsoft emerge
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And he’s not the only one – Robbie Bach is sodding off, too
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At long last, the Apple iPad arrives on the UK High Street
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In an interview with MCV, Sony reaffirms its admirable devotion to the still battling PSP
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JUNE
Nintendo cuts the price of the DSi as excitement for the 3DS begins to build
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Former COO Paul Raines becomes the new CEO at GameStop as Dan DeMatteo steps down
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More job losses at GAME – this time at its Australian office
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Both Asda and Tesco step up their pre-owned video games offer as specialist retail trembles
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Apple finally goes official with the iPhone 4 – which is exactly as Gizmodo described
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Ads spoil Microsoft surprise reveal of its final natal branding and redesigned machine
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But Kinect’s official announcement – and the dishing out of free consoles to all journos at E3 – still generates much excitement
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Motion camera Kinect is finally dated – it’ll be with us in November
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Yeah, that Kinect Star wars video was cool – but we all remember it for the ‘controversy’, right?
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Microsoft extends its timed exclusivity deal on Call of Duty DLC
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Sony prices and dates PlayStation Move – and it’s set for a two-month head start over Kinect
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Sony also reveals the long-rumoured premium arm to its PlayStation Network service, PSN+
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Gran Turismo 5 gets a concrete, definitely set in stone and irreversible release date. Honest
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Former Vodafone commercial director Ian Shephard is named as new GAME CEO
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Kotick starts dropping hints about the want to further monetise the online component of his Call of Duty brand
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The government confirms that it plans to raise VAT to 20 per cent in 2011
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Activision flexes its corporate muscle once again by questioning the RRPs (both confirmed and unconfirmed) of Move and Kinect
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Odd people get up early and form queues outside mobile phone shops as the iPhone 4 goes on sale
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“Hold your phone differently” – the soon-to-be legendary ‘Antennagate’ gets underway as the iPhone 4 party turns sour
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