By now we would sincerely hope that you’ve managed to find out about LA Noire, a crime thriller action adventure game and the next incredible title from Rockstar and the developers at Team Bondi.

If you haven’t heard of LA Noire, don’t waste any time in wading through El33tonline’s previous coverage of the game for tons of information, screenshots and gameplay videos! If you have heard of it, then head on down below to discover an exciting bonus mission from the game available to those who pre-order (in certain regions of the world):

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Microsoft has confirmed to Eurogamer Spain that the company’s controller-free gaming device, Kinect, will only be able to recognise three distinct languages at launch, with voice recognition support for other languages to be added with a patch in the ‘Spring’ of 2011.

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Tecmo Bowl Throwback is now available as an Xbox LIVE Arcade game on Xbox LIVE Marketplace… but only in the US and Canada, or as some people like say, ‘North America.’

What’s so awesome about Tecmo Bowl Throwback that ‘North America’ is getting the exclusive first look at the game, while the rest of the world is locked out of the experience? Maybe the debut trailer and official description for the game can help us figure it out:

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A little over a year ago I conducted a series of interviews with a diverse, influential and talented group of developers both from and based in South Africa, which resulted in an article for industry trade site Gamasutra entitled ‘The South African Game Development Scene: Past Present and Future,’ which attempted to look at the history of game development in the country and surmise how an industry may rise and move forward here.

A lot of the interview material was unfortunately left out of the article for reasons of conciseness, and I say unfortunately because almost every response I was given was a gold mine of information and history that could potentially not only benefit aspiring South African game developers, and game developers in other developing nations looking to make a living in this industry, but also inform gaming enthusiasts around the world as to the complexity, and joy, of making videogames under difficult circumstances.

So after lying dormant on my hard drive for a year, I’ve decided to spruce up the interviews, which are just as relevant now as they were then, and start posting them here on El33tonline in a six-part series, continuing today with part two, and an interview with Luke Lamothe (read part one over here).

Luke Lamothe currently serves as Technical Director at South African indie game developer Luma Arcade, but was born and raised in Canada, and after studying and assisting at the DigiPen Computer Graphics School, Lamothe moved to South Africa to co-found I-Imagine with fellow Digipen student, Dan Wagner.

I-Imagine was South Africa and Africa’s first ever console developer, as well as the first studio to be inducted into the Xbox Incubator programme, and released two titles, namely the action racing game ‘Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver’ on Xbox, and the sci-fi action shooter ‘Final Armada’ on PS2 and PSP.

Once Final Armada was complete, Luke left the then dormant I-Imagine to work at then recent start-up, Luma Arcade where, following the commissioned development of a free-to-play racing game based on the Mini vehicle brand, MINI#37, the studio began work on a number of mobile titles, as well as 2009’s iPhone games Marble Blast Mobile and Flipt. Work now continues in partnership with InstantAction.com and Garage Games on new mystery technology, as well as mystery, unannounced projects.

Let’s begin the interview with Luke Lamothe:

Continue reading ’The Lost South African Game Developer Interviews Part 2: Luke Lamothe.’

Ubisoft have announced their plans to open a new development studio in Toronto, Canada, Ubisoft’s first venture in the province of Ontario, and its fourth studio in Canada. Ubisoft aims to have the studio operational by late this year, which will be overseen by current chief executive officer at Ubisoft Montréal, Yannis Mallat.

It’s been approximated that, over the next ten years, the new studio will create 800 new jobs, and as a result, the government of Ontario will be investing CAD$263 million into the company over this period, while Ubisoft’s contribution will be over half a billion CAD.

President and chief executive officer at Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot said:

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