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Skylanders: Battlegrounds and Lost Islands bring the portal to iOS in November
Beyond the immense popularity of its annual war games and subscription-based MMO, a new brand is helping to grow Activision's portfolio of high-value licenses: Skylanders. Built on the foundation of collectible, physical products, the Skylanders brand has spawned a sequel that is already besting initial sales efforts of its original entry overseas.Though the franchise's first foray into the mobile space has been a success – with Skylanders: Cloud Patrol hitting over 1.5 million downloads since launching earlier this year, according to Activision Mobile VP Greg Canessa – the game lacks the same physical link to the collectible figures. Next month, Activision aims to change that strategy with Skylanders: Battlegrounds.Confirming leaks from earlier this month, Canessa told Joystiq that Skylanders: Battlegrounds is a "console-like, action-RPG" featuring the same ability to inject Skylanders characters on the fly using a new, Bluetooth-powered portal.
BlizzCon 2010: Starcraft 2: Secrets of the Masters panel
Yesterday afternoon at BlizzCon, Blizzard's own Starcraft 2 masters Dustin Browder, Greg Canessa, David Kim and Matt Cooper gathered to host the Secrets of the Masters panel. Seasoned Starcraft veterans won't glean much from the information they had to offer, but that's okay -- Dustin Browder himself made it clear that this panel was just for the noobs. That being said, the panel kicked off with Greg Canessa explaining how the Battle.net leagues and ladders system really worked behind the scenes, which is information even veterans wanted laid out nice and clear. He also went on to explain a few new features coming to Battle.net aimed specifically at the most hardcore of the hardcore Starcraft 2 players.
Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon
During GDC Online, Blizzard's Battle.net project director Greg Canessa presented a "postmortem" for the latest version of the service, which enables online play and discussion for Blizzard's titles, most recently StarCraft 2. Speaking to Joystiq before the talk, Canessa was happy to discuss the recent past of the service with us, and talk a bit about the future. Battle.net is in use by all 12 million World of Warcraft players, three-plus million StarCraft 2 players, and other users, but it recently came to the attention of an even larger audience when controversy arose over Blizzard's decision to implement Real ID, requiring users to identify themselves by their real names on Battle.net. Forum users did not respond kindly to the sudden and mandatory attachment of their real names to their comments, flames and LOLcats, and that part of the plan was cut, with Real ID still being implemented in non-forum features. "The vision behind Real ID," Canessa said, "was to maintain parallel levels of identity: we have that sort of anonymous character level of identity, and then that Real ID tier that spans games, and there are incremental features that you get for being part of the Real ID community. The vision for that spanned games, got into cross-game chat and so forth. In reality, the in-game social suite was very popular, the cross-game chat that we did, the stuff within StarCraft 2.
Interview: Blizzard's Greg Canessa on Battle.Net
In recent years, Greg Canessa has bounced from Xbox Live to PopCap Games and now onto Blizzard, where he's heading up the Battle.Net team. Version 2.0 of the service is an ambitious undertaking, and we spoke with Greg during BlizzCon about its pending launch and many of the new features. Head past the break for the full interview! %Gallery-70705%
BlizzCon 2009: The new Battle.Net
Blizzard finally unveiled the much-hyped new version of Battle.Net at BlizzCon and, as expected, it's a huge leap forward from the service that was first introduced with Diablo in 1996. Although, in typical Blizzard fashion, this is still a work in progress and could change by the time it eventually comes out. In 2013. (We kid, we kid.)Everything shown was modeled from inside of Starcraft 2, which Blizzard is calling the Battle.Net 2.0 launch title. The developer will be working to expand it to older titles, possibly including legacy games like the original Starcraft and Warcraft. It's also safe to say that Blizzard must be working on a client-only version of Battle.Net, so you don't have to be inside a game to see when your friends are on.Check out the gallery below, and you can read about all the new details of what Blizzard wants to be the "premiere matchmaking service out there," after the break.%Gallery-70705%
Ex-PopCapper Canessa heading up new Battle.net
Well folks, it took approximately 12 hours to squash the rampant rumors and speculation surrounding Greg Canessa. Bob Colayco of Blizzard Entertainment, Canessa's new employer, informed us today that the man will be taking the reins of Battle.net as project director. The former VP of game development at PopCap jumped ship recently to work on an "unannounced project in the online space." Apparently that "unannounced project" is a revamping of the Battle.net structure, totally announced last February by Blizzard's own Paul Sams. Colayco clarified Mr. Canessa's role in the project, saying, "He will report to our vice president of online technologies and work closely with the executive team to help fine-tune the next version of Battle.net, currently in development." Speculation officially squashed.
Confirmed: Kotaku reporting that Blizzard has hired PopCap VP
Rumours abound from the Australian arm of Kotaku (and our own Joystiq) that PopCap's CEO Greg Canessa is joining Blizzard. Given the success of their WoW addons for Peggle and (my personal favourite) Bejweled, the hiring of the man who helped launch Xbox Live Arcade is quite exciting. Kotaku reports Canessa will be joining the teams responsible for Diablo and World of Warcraft. However they don't actually cite a source and Blizzard apparently didn't respond for a comment 'immediately', which is quite an odd way to phrase it. Update: Blizzard spokesperson Shon Damron got back to us confirming that Greg Canessa has indeed been hired by the company:"Yes, we can confirm that Greg Canessa has taken a position at Blizzard Entertainment as project director for Battle.net. He will report to our vice president of online technologies and work closely with the executive team to help fine-tune the next version of Battle.net, currently in development."
Greg Canessa leaves PopCap for Blizzard, working on online project
Just two short years after Greg Canessa left his position as group manager of Xbox Live to try his hand on more casual fare at PopCap, he is once again jumping ship -- -- this time to Blizzard Entertainment, masters and commanders of online powerhouse World of Warcraft. Our trusted source tells us he's working on an "unannounced project in the online space," allegedly joining forces with VP of game design at Blizzard, Rob Pardo.Has Mr. Canessa snagged one of the two open positions working on the "fifth, unannounced Blizzard project" advertised recently on the company's website? Could he be working on porting Bookworm to World of Warcraft, making the PopCap games within Blizzard games trifecta complete? We've asked for comment from both PopCap and Blizzard and hopefully one of those two will help shed some light on Mr. Canessa's next project.Update: Garth Chouteau of PopCap PR got back to us and confirmed Greg Canessa's move to Blizzard, saying, "We are sorry to see him go and we wish him the very best. It's been a pleasure working with him and his move is largely predicated on it being a big personal and professional opportunity for him. This isn't going to have any material impact on our console presence and our strategy with respect to the consoles and the DS and the areas that Greg was heading up. We're still very committed to those."
Peggle priced, detailed for XBLA
The second quarter has come and gone, and while our XBLA download queues have be left decidedly Peggle-free, PopCap's Greg Canessa remains adamant that the addictive puzzler is still on its way. In a recent interview, the PopCap exec blamed the game's tardiness on the addition of further polish and improvements, including 4-player local and online multiplayer over Xbox Live. Goodbye, free time! Canessa also let slip Peggle's XBLA pricing of 800 Microsoft Points ($10), and while a firm release date for the title still remains up in the air, puzzle addicts can rest a little easier knowing that their addiction-of-choice is still expected to drop like so many colored pegs sometime before the year is out. [Via X3F]
Greg Canessa leaves Microsoft for PopCap
Group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, Greg Canessa, is moving on to greener pastures. Specifically, Canessa is leaving Microsoft to join PopCap, purveyors of fine casual games (including the recently released Heavy Weapon on XBLA). Canessa notes a shift in game demographics, saying that games are becoming more culturally accepted and that more people are playing them on more devices. Casual, "broad appeal" games, according to Canessa, make up an important part of this expanding demographic. Canessa plans to help PopCap expand its audience by bringing its titles to more platforms (we'd love to see some of their games hit the DS), and of course we'll see more of them on Live Arcade. Canessa even goes so far as to say PopCap could become the "next Blizzard or EA" (does that mean Heavy Weapon 2 will sell 2.4 million copies in one day?). When asked about his departure from Microsoft, Canessa says that Live Arcade is now a well established business model and has become a success. He now looks forward to working in game development itself and enjoying the versatility that a smaller company provides.We wish Greg Canessa nothing but the best.[Via Joystiq. Thanks, XBLArcade]
Joystiq interviews Greg Canessa of XBLA
Today, I sat down with Greg Canessa, the group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, and we spoke about the service as a whole and what was in store for this successful extension of the Xbox 360. We touched on everything from what effect Nintendo's Virtual Console might have to the fact that Texas Hold 'Em poker will not be free -- despite previous statements that it would.
2006, the Summer of Arcade Love
The video above shows off some of the arcade titles coming out within the next month. Cloning Clyde in particular looks like a lot of fun. Frankly, I'm a little puzzled as to why Namco insists on releasing Pac-Man when Ms. Pac-Man is clearly superior. And how the hell does E. Honda beat Ryu anyway? After the break is another video. This one is Greg Canessa, Group Manager for Xbox Live Arcade, being interviewed by 1UP's Luke Smith -- wearing his best Peter Jackson costume by the look of it. The interview reveals a few nice tidbits, the biggest of which is that there are around thirty new arcade titles to be released by the end of the year. When asked if Bungie is working on any Arcade titles, Canessa gives a titillating "Stay tuned." Check out the interview after the break.
GDC: A quick chat with XBLA's Greg Canessa
I met Xbox Live Arcade's Greg Canessa outside a casual gaming session this afternoon. We didn't talk long, but did manage to hit some of the larger points. Competition from Sony? They don't know what Sony has planned, so they don't know what to expect. You and all of us both. XNA and Xbox Live Arcade titles? The new programming tools have Arcade clearly in their sites. They want to attract game designers and increase the number and quality of original offerings for the Arcade service. They'll continue to manage the service and hand pick the available games. The glut of low quality cell-phone games? "Crappy." Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war? Downloadable content is the future. Greg was a really amiable guy, genuinely passionate about his role in one of the most exciting spaces in gaming today. Of course I told him (again) how much we love Geometry Wars (though I'm sure he's heard this more times than he cares to count). I also pointed out that the insert in his GDC badge adverting Real as the largest distributor of casual games right above his name and title struck me as humorous. He agreed (note its absence). I'd like to thank Greg for chatting; if I see him again I'll try and get him to spill the beans on Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting. No bad blood about that "trash talk" post, right Greg?
XBLA chief trash talks Sony and Nintendo's offerings
Greg Canessa, the Xbox Live Arcade group manager, has plenty to be proud of in the Arcade service. We're awfully fond of Geometry Wars, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting will be huge, and we expect plenty more in the coming months and years. Hopefully Canessa isn't too proud...When asked about Nintendo's forthcoming Virtual Console service, opening up the entire back catalog of Nintendo titles to Revolution gamers, Canessa poo-pooed it saying, "A lot of those Nintendo games, you know, aren't gonna hold up." And this differs from XBLA hits like Joust how? There are hundreds of classic Nintendo games that will hold up fine; don't count on Super Metroid disappointing anybody.Canessa may join Sony in underestimating Nintendo's hugely popular properties... but not before he slams them too. Confronted with Sony's pie-in-the-sky ambitious online plans, Canessa responds, "If Sony is trying to come at us, you know... 'good luck.' It's going to be really hard for them. It's just a huge engineering challenge, and beyond the engineering challenge, it takes a long time to build a community." We can't help but agree with Canessa on this point, but he should take a cue from Peter Moore: "You never underestimate the power of your competition." Moore understands that, no matter how great XBLA is, Sony will have no problem selling PS3s. [Thanks, m3mnoch]
