Dead Space's senior producer takes some time to discuss the carnage that awaits players in the darkness of space, and where the inspiration for that carnage came from.
Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has more or less stated their company's next move. It appears that SOE believes consoles MMOs will be met with enough success to warrant their attention.
"We see that marketing coming; we think it's there now, so we want to get a good market share there. I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles...
I think what's going to happen is you're going to see a whole new generation of players that have been playing 'Resistance' now start getting introduced to MMOs. I think it's going to be a cool way for them to experience games that have been on the PC for a while, but have a totally different kind of gameplay on the console."
As such, SOE's upcoming MMOs DC Universe Online and The Agency will be released for the PlayStation 3 and PC at the same time.
Back in July's E3 Media and Business Summit, lead designer for The AgencyHal Milton mentioned to me that SOE was still trying to figure out how to balance out the differences that would occur between PS3 and PC versions of the MMO. Another issue SOE still has to consider is how to fairly charge players, especially when PSN is a free service.
Amazon.com and Natsume wooing gamers with great deals
Developer and publisher Natsume announced today that, true to tradition, they are offering a squirrel plush as an exclusive pre-order gift for gamers who order Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon through Amazon.com.
"There are gamers counting the days until they get their hands on Rune Factory 2, and we wanted to give them a little something special for being the first to order the game," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. "Fans of Rune Factory and Harvest Moon have loved the exclusive plushes that we have created for the series over the years, so we know that they will be excited to get their hands on this one and add it to their collection."
Amazon.com's Rune Factory 2 page indeed states there will be a "gift with purchase." Priced at $27.99 and eligible for the site's free Super Saver Shipping, it's a better package than most other retailers are offering. Plush supplies are limited, however, so there is a first-come-first-serve basis, as with most special bundles.
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is set to launch on November 18, 2008 for the Nintendo DS.
Next project to be revealed October 21 -- a KotoR MMO?
There has been much speculation since E3 that LucasArts and BioWare would be working together on a Knight of the Old Republic MMO, but the two companies have never actually confirmed anything.
On October 21, LucasArts and BioWare will be unveiling their joint development project to the press, likely at LucasArts' San Francisco office. Nothing Star Wars-related was mentioned in the invitation issued to various media outlets, only an obscure declaration that "the wait is over." If nothing else, there's a good chance this game is going to be sci-fi. Perhaps actually mentioning Star Wars would have been too forward of them?
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," he said, referring to Warhammer Online and Knights of the Old Republic. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
It seems that a revision is coming for the 9600 GSO. Where 65nm G92 GPUs were, three new GPUs are going to be: G94-210-A1 (65nm), G94-210-B1 (55nm) and the G94-219-B1 (55nm). This should happen according to unnamed "sources" friends with Chinese site Expreview.
Not all the board partners will be able to sell the new GSO though. Only a few companies will be allowed; the short-list for the new GSO include Asus, Leadtek, XFX and MSI.
It is too early to tell what sort of differences to the 9600 GSO these changes will bring. The 9600GSO is currently a speedy, inexpensive video card that compares well to ATI's option, the HD 4670, often selling for around a $100 USD. Judging from this, a reasonable guess would be that the new 9600 GSO will be about as powerful as the old 9600 GSO, but NVIDIA will be able to manufacture it for less, allowing them to price products more competitively.
The second unknown is what name the new 9600 GSO will bear. Expreview seems to believe that when NVIDIA will revise the 9600 GSO GPU, they will keep the same name for the card -- this would not be the first time for NVIDIA to do this. However, with news of the new NVIDIA naming scheme, it seems that with the core revision, it would be good time to change the name. The 9600 GT is set to become the GT 130, so maybe the new 9600 GSO could be the GS 130? (The new naming scheme was supposedly launched to help clear up some naming convention confusion -- but at least at first, it seems like it'll be a bit of puzzle to figure out what is what.)
Shaky cameras and low quality footage feeding the fanboy senses
E For All wraps up today at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year we see one of the perks (or drawbacks) of a video game convention open to the public, with the E3 Media & Business Summit closing its doors for a private audience.
Just as our news slash social networking site GameGrep allows users to provide the content, E For All makes a reporter out of anyone with a recording device. Throughout the weekend, videos of Gears of War 2 in particular have been popping up across the Internet. I, for one, am wondering why E For All would allow cameras into the exhibition hall if recording footage is not allowed -- either a grievous error or intentionally lax enforcement.
So there will be no Sunday Special today, readers, just a lot of Gears of War 2 multiplayer combat footage compliments of your fellow gamers. No doubt a thorough search on YouTube would produce more results, but here's my top pick: Horde Mode.
Not sure how I feel about Budweiser, but that's some awesome gameplay. The wait isn't much longer now, with Epic's upcoming masterpiece of a bloodfest scheduled to hit retail November 7, 2008.
Everyone, including Rockstar, loves Obama. Well, except Will Wright
Up until now, I never would've thought game developer's would be so darn political. And well, before I got into this racket, I wouldn't have much thought games could be so political either.
In any case, GamePolitics has done some hard work and dug through a list of "A-list" donors to the presidential campaigns, finding quite a lot of designers and developers on there. Pretty well everyone has ponied up a few grand to Barack Obama's campaign, which won't come as a surprise to many, I suspect, but nevertheless, there are some interesting bits here. Check it out:
Republican contributors:
Will Wright: (Spore, The Sims) $3,000 to McCain; previously donated $2,350 to Giuliani
Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) $2,300 to McCain; previously donated $2,100 to Romney
Curt Schilling (38 Studios) $2,300 to McCain.
Democratic contributors:
Strauss Zelnick (Chairman, Take-Two) $2,000 to Obama; had previously donated to $2,500 to Edwards, $1,000 each to Biden & Richardson
Ben Feder (CEO, Take-Two) contributed $1,000 to Biden in 2007
Sam Houser (Rockstar) $4,600 to Obama
Patricia Vance (president, ESRB) $2,000 to Obama
John Riccitiello (CEO, EA) $4,600 to Obama
John Smedley (Sony Online Entertainment) $2,300 to Obama
Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" (Ultima series, NC Soft) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
Alex Rigopulos (CEO, Harmonix) $32,900 to Obama
Kathy Vrabeck (president, EA Casual) $2,300 to Obama
George Lucas (LucasFilm) $33,100 to Obama
Doug Lowenstein (former ESA head) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
Kenneth Doroshow (new ESA general counsel) $2,500 to Obama
Gabe Newell (pres., Valve) $2,300 to Dodd
To draw some conclusions: most don't like Republicans (the greater of two evils, some might say, but who really knows anymore), and most everyone loves Obama! Two really surprising things for me here are Rockstar's Sam Houser's donation to Obama, and Will Wright's donation to first, the Republicans, but more than that, Giuliani, and freaking McCain. Wright? McCain? What? I can't figure that one. The other one of course is George Lucas' massive $33,100 to Obama's campaign. Wow.
Now here's where my cynical side comes in. It's easy to sit back and say 'oh awesome, designers love Obama and are helping him, that is cool', but what should money have to do with it? Doesn't that effectively mean whoever has the most money has the highest chance of winning, effectively turning the election into a lottery, run by the wealthy? Oh America, you don't sound too democratic to me.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2007, Sony's OLED screens blew us all away. Now, they've done it again by simply outdoing themselves.
At this year's Combined Exhibition of Technologies in Japan, Sony unveiled their latest project: an OLED of miniscule proportions. Just as flexible as its predecessor, this 11-inch display seen at CEATEC 2008 is a mind-boggling .3 mm in width. You read right -- it's thinner than that lunch meat in your sandwich.
This wonder of Sony ingenuity isn't hitting retail shelves any time soon, but it's definitely an exciting implication of things to come, as well as a reminder of why we love technology.
New opportunities for career-seekers and gaming fanatics alike
Lunar Tide Communications Inc., co-producer of America's Video Game Expo, has decided to add a new game industry conference to VGXPO -- the East Coast Games Summit.
The East Coast Games Summit is designed for current professionals ss well as those who may be interested in starting a career in the video game industry. Co-sponsored by GameJobs.com and GameRecruiter, the Summit will provide many programming and networking opportunities to attendees. Here are some of the featured workshops:
"Scrum Deconstructed" - a hands-on workshop for game industry management and technologists
"Breaking In" - a single-track mini-conference for students and others interested in making a career out of games
"Pitch You Game Idea" - a session for would-be game entrepreneurs to present their game concepts to game industry leaders
Speakers from various leading companies, organizations, and educational institutions will be attending the conference as well, representing a myriad of industry bigwigs including (but not limited to) Acclaim Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Bioware, Obsidian Entertainment, Entertainment Software Association (ESA), ITT Tech, and The Art Institutes.
"The East Coast Games Summit helps the videogame industry grow not only on a management-process level, but on an education-outreach level as well," stated Fiona Cherbak, VP of Marketing at GameRecruiter. "For people not already in the games industry, there is an opportunity to gain a lot of knowledge about the the games making process and also get your foot in the door for a possible career in videogames."
America's Video Game Expo and the East Coast Games Summit will be held November 21-23, 2008 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
"We are thrilled to host the East Coast Games Summit," added VGXPO Show Director Jennifer Johnson-Halpin. "The summit is going to be a great experience for VGXPO attendees and our colleagues in the industry. We look forward to providing east coast videogame insiders with a new venue to exchange ideas and network with peers."
It took a bit of detective work, and a lot of statistical analysis, but an online poker player Michael Josem took upon himself to uncover a huge online poker scam. After studying great amounts of data, Michael Josem uncovered a group of people winning games almost at 100% of the time, and playing much faster than normal. The scam has been going on for about 3 years.
The thieving epidemic was discovered at poker sites Absolute Poker and UtimateBet. It was an internal scam -- a group of employees working within both companies used an software exploit that allowed them to see all the cards people were holding. Knowing what everyone was holding, the scammers brazenly folded and bet with impunity, winning as many matches as the could, without trying very hard to cover their tracks.
"Every online poker hand is recorded electronically and can be analyzed after the fact. Just as the third umpire video replay can be used to enforce the rules in cricket, third-party analysis can be used to enforce the rules of poker," Michael Josem was quoted as saying. "The chances of [the investigated] players winning at those rates is approximately equal to winning a one-in-a-million lottery on six consecutive occasions," said Josem. "If you know what cards your opponent has, you'll never lose - and this is precisely what happened."
It's pretty tough to figure out how much money was scammed from unknowing players because after they become a subject of an investigation by the the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Absolute Poker went on a record-erasing rampage and destroyed all the incriminating records. The Gaming Commision fined Absolute Poker $500,000 for the cover up, and then just this week, laid another $1.5 million dollar fine in an on-going investigation.
Humorously enough, one of the top scammers was Russ Hamilton -- a guy considered to be a world-class, professional poker player.
Michael Josem may be the only one left with a smile on his face after the end of the investigation of Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. Because of his diligence in uncovering this scam, one of the largest pokers sites in the world, PokerStars, offered him a job on their security team.
Registration for Bomberman Blast competition has begun!
To further celebrate the recent release of Bomberman Blast for WiiWare, Hudson Entertainment is hosting is offering a series of online tournaments. This includes a live, online, head-to-head competition between 49 participants selected at random.
In addition to the matches, Hudson Entertainment is also holding an associated sweepstakes that players can sign up for when they register for the competition.
There will be eight winning positions available, along with corresponding prizes:
1st Place PrizeAn HDTV
2nd Place Prize 14,000 Wii Points, Bomberman Land for the Nintendo Wii, and Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for the Nintendo DS
3rd Place Prize 10,000 Wii Points, Bomberman Land for the Nintendo Wii, and Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for the Nintendo DS
4th Place Prize 10,000 Wii Points 5th Place Prize 8,000 Wii Points
6th-Place Prize 6,000 Wii Points
7th-Place Prize 4,000 Wii Points
8th-Place Prize 2,000 Wii Points
Registration is now open and will end today at 5:00 pm PST. The tournament itself will be held on October 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm PST. Those interested in competing can sign up and learn more about the upcoming "Bomb It Up" Tournament & Sweepstakes on the official website.
Crytek and EA are eager expose more potential customers to the recently released multiplayer portion of Crysis Warhead.
Warhead has been getting fairly positive reviews -- most reviewers think the sequel is better than the original Crysis. The free trial of Crysis Wars includes three different game modes (InstantAction, TeamInstantAction and PowerStruggle [Capture The Base]) as well as 21 maps and full access to all the weapons and vehicles found in the game.
If you are down for a free go at Crysis Wars, you can sign up at mycrysis.com, starting on Monday. If you have some friends who live close by, you can setup a LAN game anytime between October 6th and 12th with the trial copy of the game.
Don't like fans? No problem, as long as you REALLY like heatsinks...
I saw an outrageous case over at Gizmodo - this guy custom built a case for his computer out of aluminium heatsinks.
That's right, the whole case is a heatsink.
Copper heatpipes are used to transfer the heat from the heatsink on the processor, and everything is mounted on monstrous open air heatsinks. Cool to look at, and it would be quiet, but I bet its a dust magnet.
Well, no one is making any claims, but Nintendo has announced that the United States will soon be seeing its popular DS Personal Trainer series.
Looks like Americans aren't the only self-improvement nuts on this planet. This gaming genre has been popular in Japan for years now, and Nintendo has set its sights on the States by introducing us to Personal Trainer: Cooking. The cooking installment includes instructional videos and over 200 recipes from international cuisines. Incidentally, Personal Trainer: Cooking will be released on November 24, 2008, right on time for Thanksgiving and other get-together holidays.
The next two titles are scheduled to hit US retailers in 2009. Personal Trainer: Math will help players with arithmetic, and Personal Trainer: Walking will come with a wireless pedometer accessory to help with... walking.
Other games playable in addition to Guitar Hero contest
Retail chain Target will be hosting the first North American Guitar HeroWorld Tour Challenge at E For All this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Avid gamers and would-be rock stars alike can pit their skills against each other while expo attendees serve as their audience, with judging based on scoring, accuracy, and performance. Participants will be split into teams of four and compete to a list of the game's hit tracks, from Beastie Boys to Modest Mouse. Prizes include more than $2,000 in cash, Target Gift Cards, and other merchandise.
In addition to the Guitar Hero World Tour competition, Target will have playable versions of LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and an early preview of Ubisoft's Shaun White Snowboarding. Of course, Guitar Hero will be available to those who want to rock out off-stage.
The GHWT Challenge will be held October 3-5, and qualifying rounds start at 1:00 pm this Friday and Saturday. Finals will take place at 1:00 pm on Sunday on stage at the Guitar Hero Event Area, Booth #823 -- you can't miss it.
Digitimes reports that server manufacturers have been informed by AMD that it plans to move forward the launch of Shanghai based socket F (1207 pin) server processors to mid-October this year (from January next year).
Apparently AMD will initially offer nine processors, with clock speeds ranging from 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz. Five of the processors will be meant for dual socket systems, and four will be positioned for four socket motherboards. The new Opterons will have 6MB of L2 cache, and will still use DDR2 memory, and will apparently only support HT 1.0, with HT 3.0 parts following in Q2/09 accompanied by a new SR5600 server chipset.
Three two-socket and two eight-socket 55W TDP "low voltage" parts will be launched in Feb/09 along with one 105W TDP high end part for two and eight socket motherboards.
The United Kingdom's first official National Videogame Archive is soon arriving in an effort to preserve the history of a now global industry worth about £22bn (~$39bn).
Academics at Nottingham Trent University, in partnership with the National Media Museum in Bradford (where it will be housed), formed the archive, which is said will 'recognise the significant contributions made by videogames to the diversity of popular culture across the globe' - everything from 1972's Pong to all the big stuff we're seeing now.
It is to be managed, steered and researched in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University's Centre for Contemporary Play, which draws from an impressive range of academic strengths and disciplines, including psychology, cultural studies, art and design, and computer science.
Specifically, the archive will have the standard trove of consoles and cartridges, but will also collect what documented the industry for so long: advertising campaigns, magazine reviews, artwork, and more. They say the overall aim here is to 'collect, celebrate and preserve this vital cultural form for future generations.'
Dr James Newman, from Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play, said: “The National Videogame Archive is an important resource for preserving elements of our national cultural heritage. We don’t just want to create a virtual museum full of code or screenshots that you could see online. The archive will really get to grips with what is a very creative, social and productive culture.”
He added: “It will not only be a vital academic resource to support growing disciplines in videogame studies but will also be something that the general public can fully engage with.”
Part of the reason for all this effort and dedication is to avoid the mistakes the film industry has made in failing to collect historically significant material of its own industry. As some know, countless pieces of artifacts have been lost from that world forever, and the people involved here are developing procedures and practices so this will not happen again.
Paul Goodman, Head of Collections & Knowledge at the National Media Museum, said: “The archiving of these important artefacts presents us with some real challenges, not least in the area of preservation. We must balance the necessary conservation requirements of these materials, with the need to allow the public to understand and interact with them both now and in the future, which is really the cornerstone of what we are trying to do.”
Though it doesn't appear to be 'national', the huge effort seems a counterpart of sorts to the University of Texas' Videogame Archive. Perhaps with this endeavour, UT's will grow, too.
The National Videogame Archive is going to be launched this year at the GameCity 3 festival in Nottingham. A three day event, it's set to attract all kinds of folk from the video game culture, from the enthusiasts to the developers and publishers.
Iain Simons, Director of GameCity at Nottingham Trent University, said: “This year’s festival is going to be huge. We’ll be opening up the world of videogames for everybody to experience and the launch of the new National Videogame Archive will be an important feature for this year’s event. We’ll have special guests from the industry with us, along with world-record breaking attempts, keynote speeches and lots, lots more.”
Iwata gives details on the DS Lite's direct successor
President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata has confirmed rumors of a new DS at the Nintendo Media Summit. The new DS, now revealed to be the Nintendo DSi, will have additional features over the original DS Lite, among other modifications.
The DSi will have bigger screens, music playback functionality, two cameras, an SD card slot, and a new DS-specific download service. What the DSi won't have is the DS Lite's GBA slot. Here are the specifics:
Overall size of DSi has been reduced, making it 2.6 millimeters or 12 percent slimmer than the DS Lite.
Both screens expanded to 3.25 inches.
GBA slot removed -- phasing out old games, perhaps?
Includes two cameras: an external 0.3 Megapixel camera and VGA camera along the DSi's hinge, facing the user. Images taken would be 640 x 480 pixel and can be edited via touchscreen.
Full music playback functionality with adjustable pitch and playback speed
SD memory card slot in addition to internal memory
Built-in Nintendo DS web browser
Ability to download games from DSWare, which uses Wii Points (or Nintendo Points); users will be given free 1,000 Nintendo Points upon first log-in.
DSWare comes in four price categories: free, 200, 500, and 800 Nintendo Points.
DSi will come in matte white or black -- no more fingerprint smudges!
The Nintendo DSi launches in Japan on November 1, 2008 with a pricetag of ¥18,900, or $179. No release dates outside of Japan have been announced, but Nintendo has said the DSi will not be leaving Japan until some time in 2009. These lovely pictures will have to do for now:
Giant online tech retailer Newegg has now officially launched its Canadian website a few moments ago.
Arguably the second most popular website for hardware in the States, Newegg generally has consistently low prices, largely in part to the tremendous volume of business they do. Competition has definitely just gone up a big notch for big Canadian e-tailers, such as TigerDirect and NCIX.
More competition generally leads to lower prices -- so undoubtedly, Canadian hardware enthusiast can be happy to see this new Newegg site go live.
Not much seen or heard about the game which is supposed to be coming out Oct. 21
You may have heard about Hei$t -- published by Codemasters and made by inXile Entertainment, the TPS PC/Wii/Xbox 360/PS 3 game puts you in the shoes of a team of bank robbers in the '60s. You may have been wondering whether or not the game is actually going to get released.
Hei$t was originally slated for a Fall release... in 2007. The release date has been pushed back a few times -- the latest release date set, being October 21st. But not so much as even a clip of gameplay, or an official trailer, has been made for the game. Considering that games usually go gold about a month before release, with no gold announcement, and hardly any new media or even press releases concerning the game, it is looking like Hei$t's release is going to once again be pushed.
Could this game be a likely candidate for cancellation? It seems like this is possible. Generally when a company releases hardly any information or videos on their product, they have something to hide -- not something to show.
The big-cheese at inExile Entertainment is Brian Fargo -- a notable developer with some impressive credentials under his belt, including the founding of Interplay Studios (makers of Carmageddon, Fallout, Bards Tale, and Wasteland.) Perhaps Mr. Fargo is holding this game's assets tight against his chest in hopes of surprising everyone all of sudden.
Whether it will be canceled or not, Hei$t surely does not seem likely to hit it's October 21st release date. In addition to the reasons stated above, the game does not even appear on Codemaster's 'Coming Up' list on their website.
inXile Entertainment did not respond to our requests for a confirmation of the game's release date.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 2 is dangerous
Episode 2 of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness has gone gilded (gone gold).
Follow the adventures of our Penny Arcade hero dudes as they fight speakable evils and horrible adversaries, such as robots. The first episode of the series came out last May, and received pretty good reviews from game reviewers. The game is a sort of "extremely light weight JRPG" according to one reviewer from game site Thunderbolt. Like "playing in a comic book" said another reviewer.
Windows, Mac and even a Linux version (sweet!) will be available this Fall via playgreenhouse.com. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 downloadable versions will be coming in the Fall as well. All versions will sell for the low, low price-tag of $14.95.
GameStop has acquired French retail chain Micromania, the biggest specialty video game retailer in France. Micromania currently operates 332 stores in France with annual revenues in excess of $704 million; GameStop, on the other hand, has no stores in the country despite being quite prevalent in the rest of Europe.
The acquisition has an approximate value of $700 million in cash, including the assumption of debt. GameStop is funding the transaction on its own through cash reserves, revolving credit facility, and a $150 million committed term loan from Bank of America.
The European Commission still has to clear the transaction after investigating monopoly concerns. Investigations are expected to end by November, and Pierre Cuilleret will remain president director general of Micromania until that time.
"When the opportunity arose to purchase Micromania, and after meeting the executives who lead the company, we became convinced that expanding into Europe's second largest video game market with Micromania's management team and GameStop's diverse experience was a great combination for profitable growth," explained GameStop executive chairman R. Richard Fontaine.
"The transaction is a reflection of our belief that the European video game market is growing and will be an important part of GameStop's worldwide growth," added CEO Daniel A. DeMatteo.
Less competition is a good thing for the US game retail chain, especially with digital download gradually attaining foothold. GameStop is, of course, admitting nothing in that matter by feigning confidence.
After the planned downtime on Monday, Xbox LIVE is having issues with periodic outages.
The official Xbox.com Support page states that Microsoft is aware of the problem, announcing "Users will not be able to connect or log into Xbox LIVE. We are aware of the problem and working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
XBL also experienced some unexpected downtime on Tuesday. There's still no word on how long the service will be down.
Update: As of this afternoon, Xbox LIVE is up and running.
A game was announced today by dtp entertainment and Signapore-based game studio RealU. It's called Otherland, and it's going to be a cyberpunk themed MMOG based around the Unreal Engine 3.
The game takes place during the late 21st century, and is based on the creations of fantasy and science fiction writer Tad Williams in his four novel Otherland series of books.
"MMO fans can also expect a fascinating gameplay experience. Based on the globally successful novels, the Otherland gameplay is distinguished by a unique narrative structure. Rather than retelling the story, players will experience their own individual stories within the Otherland universe and will encounter many of the familiar characters from the books. The game world will change dynamically around them during the course of the game," said a press release robot.
No word today on any gameplay details -- but it seems from the press release, and the fictional virtual mutiverse setting of the Otherland's novels, and the engine, that perhaps Otherlands will be a bunch of different FPS-sub games linked together via a virtual, social hub, and players will be able to keep a persitient character. Perhaps sort of like Huxley, but with more cyberpunk.
Some screen shots were released today to go with the announcement.
Reading about the game's release announcement celeberation, as related by Tad Wiliams in his Blog, leads me to presume I missed out on a good party:
"Big presentation in a theatre space – Indigo Pearl (publicity)/RealU (game creation)/DTP (the German gaming company who is the mother of it all) showed a video of the making of the game (interviews with the creators – screen shots – game characters in motion going through the environments.) There was a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate just how rule-breaking the game is.
Then Tad and the journos (le tout Europe, plus USA and Canada) went to the RealU studio for group tours and interviews with Andrew and Kevin, two of the guys heading up the game’s creation. And Tad sat in a restaurant for four hours interviewing with the groups coming by for lunch (which he nevertheless ate only once.) Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk!
Thence, to the harbor and the boat – a long sleek yacht – for a party. Tad was intrigued by the professional hostesses at the party – he mused to me about whether they were an extension of the geisha tradition. They interacted, talked, got things going, and basically were party pros. There was music and a chef, and Tad got into a good ole rock n roll conversation with the French guys, naturellement en Franglais whilst someone hooked up an iPod to the sound system and treated ‘em all to a band named Noir Desire.
Thence, to the hotel. Flagging somewhat. Our jet-lagged Dog was working on something like four hours of sleep at this point, owing to how, the night before, he had been, as he put it, “blagged” into drinking with the Brits (read: nobody parties like the Brits…).
Nevertheless: this night, “beaten and blackmailed” into going out again. After which: many vodka red bulls. See shaky photos of “funky and weird Otherlandish mall” that were taken at some point during this venture.
He finally said no to karaoke at a Thai disco."
Yacht. Thai disco? Drinking Brits? Sounds like fun.
Hudson Entertainment has announced today the upcoming release of Bomberman Ultra, an all-new Bomberman game for digital download on the PlayStation Network.
Scheduled to launch worldwide on PSN this winter, Bomberman Ultra will include 4-person local and 8-person online multiplayer, full character customization, and high-def graphics players might expect from a PlayStation 3 title. 14 arenas will be available to players, as well as over 50 character costumes with more than 150,000 possible combinations.
Sabine Duvall, VP of Product Development at Hudson Entertainment, commented on the new Bomberman title:
"The Bomberman series is one of the most popular brands in the history of Hudson Entertainment. Bringing Bomberman Ultra to the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system is a natural progression for the series and signifies our faith that the brand is beloved by gamers across all platforms."
They really do have faith in the brand. Earlier this week, Hudson Entertainment launched Bomberman Blast for WiiWare on the Nintendo Wii.
Blizzard, creators of the MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW), have just won a legal battle surrounding the WoW MMOGlider software. The creation, made by MDY Industries, allows plays to automate many of the repetitive steps the video game involves, like attacking and acquiring loot.
The case was based on Blizzard's claim the company infringed its copyright, and the courts agreed it broke the license terms which players sign on for when they first play the game. Which part of the licensing agreement says you must attack all monsters manually and the like is beyond me, but I assume it includes something about forbidding the alteration of gameplay.
Like me, you may have been assuming the software was free, but it is not. Creator of Glider, Michael Donnelly sold it for $25 a copy, and moved more than 100,000 of them. That's about $2.5 million in revenue.
Blizzard will be pocketing about $6 million from the suit, but "experts" say damages could have been worse if MDY hadn't won some of its arguments about the damages in the court room. In any case, Blizzard can still appeal the ruling which threw out its claim to double or triple the cash settlement.
The case will go to court again in January, when the issues remaining to be resolved are expected to have settled. One issue is whether or not MDY broke the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and whether the Glider creator will have to pay the money himself or not. Would not want to be that guy right now.
What is your take on this? Should he be sued? Should Blizzard have maybe partnered with him and used his software to meet the demand obviously a siginificant amount of gamers have for this sort of thing? Is it cheating, or cheap, or defeating of the purpose of playing a game?
LucasArts has recently revealed that upcoming downloadable content for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will bring in a new mission and playable characters to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
There's no word on price, but the new characters coming next month will include Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mindi, and Kit Fisto. Executive producer Haden Blackman has stated that these upcoming additions to The Force Unleashed are "based on what [they] heard from fans."
The new campaign level will be set in the famous Jedi Temple on Coruscant, with a tentative release date of later this year. The stage was supposed to be included in the game's initial release but wound up dropped before The Force Unleashed entered production. Apparently a different version of the Jedi Temple stage is in the PS2, Wii, and PSP versions of the game.
Blackman suggested that more DLC would be made available in the future:
"I wouldn't rule out any future content on The Force Unleashed. There's easily another two dozen we could make into levels. This is a good way to continue the story."
That is also a good way to ensure a flow of revenue, and if it anyone is an expert on cut content, it's LucasArts. Obi-Wan was a cutie in his prime, though -- thank you, Ewan McGregor.
Command & Conquer will need to rely on Red Alert 3 now
Electronic Arts has confirmed that development has ceased on Tiberium, its squad-based shooter set in the world of the Command & Conquer franchise. According to both the development team and publisher, the game was not meeting quality standards; it was in fact constantly plagued by "design challenges". EA LA studio head Mike Verdu posted further details in what was originally an internal memo:
"The game had fundamental design challenges from the start. We fought to correct the issues, but we were not successful; the game just isn't coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers.
"We need to make sure this doesn't happen again. I believe we are already doing a better job of engineering success in from the start. The quality bar has been raised. Now we need to step up our focus on great design and execution, catching any problems early and correcting them quickly."
As a result of cancelling the game, EA LA will unfortunately be forced to reduce its staff. The studio stresses it will attempt to place as many of these members as possible either on their other projects, or within other studios at EA. It all sounds eerily similiar to the situation currently faced by Microsoft's soon-to-be-shuttered Ensemble Studios.
Reportedly in development over the past two years, Tiberium first made its big splash in the January 2008 issue of Game Informer magazine, where EA LA highlighted the use of variety of infantry and vehicle squads which players could control easily amidst the first-person shooter action. The game was built on the Unreal Engine 3 development platform, and was scheduled for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime during 2009-2010 after being pushed back from its original "late 2008" timeframe.
Just when you thought the world was sick of puzzle games, someone announces another one, with a 90 percent chance of that game being for the Nintendo Wii.
Well these games must be enjoying some semblance of popularity because they just keep coming out with more -- and by "them," I mean Konami's minions over at Hudson Soft. The North American branch, Hudson Entertainment, has announced today that come Spring 2009, Marble Saga: Kororinpa will be available exclusively to the Wii.
A sequel to Kororinpa: Marble Mania, Mable Saga will feature new levels, 4-person multiplayer, customization features, online play, and Wii Balance Board compatibility. As always, the hyper-competitive can upload their scores to leaderboards via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Players will take on the role of Anthony the Ant as he searches for the Golden Sunflower, guiding his marble around Ant World for items that can be used to save his colony.
Sabine Duvall, VP of Product Development at Hudson Entertainment, appeared pleased as ever when he commented on their upcoming puzzle game:
"Gamers will be amazed to see how much entertainment we have packed into Marble Saga. Whether players want to compete with each other through multiplayer of Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, explore more than 150 levels by themselves, or use the Wii Balance Board for additional fun, this game really will deliver an action-packed adventure for gamers of all ages."
Certainly sounds too action-packed for me. Think you can handle the pressure? Wait and see next spring.
A post on the Age of Conan forums by game director Craig Morrison explains that a server merger is coming soon to promote "more healthy populations on each and every server."
In the realm of MMORPG, this is known as a bad sign. It means that the expected numbers aren't playing it up as much as anticipated.
So what went wrong with Funcomm's Conan? Personally this gamer only played the game briefly, but I've been keeping my eyes on the Internets, and watched the whole thing go down. The problem with Conan was actually the same bunch of problems that are commonly found in MMORPGs:
First off, the game could have been in better shape. Sure, no MMORPG hardly ever launches anywhere close to %100 done -- gamers don't even expect that anymore. Developers can be like -- "Hey you know all those game modes we've been telling you about for years? Well, they'll be out, in a patch in March." But a game has to be in a reasonable shape -- you know, not that many game crashing bugs, not severely unbalanced. Game zones finished.
Second, not enough high level content. As I've said, I never got too far in the game -- but from all over forums from all over the place, I've read Conan players saying there isn't that much to do in the end-game at all. The PvP was good (although it had a few flaws), but the big Realm Vs. Realm meta-game never really fully materialized.
Third, the game had pretty high system requirements. Sure the game looked awesome when cranked, but I remember when it first came out, I was using one of the most powerful video cards out at the time (I believe it was a 8800 GTS 512MB) and my frame rates stunk. I can only image what it would be like to play the game in sorta-of existing DX 10 version, or if I had a system that was anywhere close to the minimum requirements, which many, many gamers use.
But hey, it's a tough MMORPG market out there. Warhammer seems to be one of the few MMORPGs of 2008 that seems to be shaping up pretty well -- but then again, it does seem like their is always a great buzz for any MMORPG for about a month after release, and then things get more pessimistic.
Part of the problem could be that abundance of fantasy games out there. To this gamer, it doesn't seem like Age of Conan, World Of Warcraft, Warhammer : Age of Hamburgers, Lord of the Rings, Darkfall, The Chronicles of Spellborn offer worlds different from each other by all that much at all. Sure all fantasy games are going to be pretty similar rip-offs of Tolkien, but developers might want to try mixing up the forumla just the slightest amount, to at least appear like they have some original stuff going on.
Like throw in some underwater space werewolf mutants, or allow the player play as the game as a carnivorous plant or something. Or make the game world currency shrunken animal heads. Anything besides another YAMFRIES ( Yet Another MMORPG Featuring Rangers, Imps, Elves or Sorcerers.)
Gamecampus, run by California-based OnNet US, has announced the official winners of the Shot-Online Challenge at the 2008 Regional Game and Game World Championship Finals recently held in Los Angeles.
The three lucky winners of the golf simulation MMORPG are as follows, with in-game character names in parentheses:
1st prize Christopher Rea (8ballxpress)
2nd prize Rober Alexander (Slosh)
3rd Prize Cheyne Last (cadaviar)
The winners will be sent to Korea in an all-expense paid trip to compete against other top gamers in the Grand Final Championships that will be held on November 16, 2008.
First place winner Christopher Rea commented on his recent achievement, and he certainly sounds excited for it:
"Shot-Online is the first online game I have ever played. For me it's all about the interaction with other players that makes the game enjoyable. Making the US Regionals was my goal and I was shocked that I made it and won! It just goes to show you that you should always strive to do your best because you never know when someone is watching.
I'm so excited about going to Korea. I was stationed there in the mid 90's at Osan Air Base as a mechanic for the Air Force. I love the food, the people, the culture and have always wanted to go back so I am thankful to gamescampus and the GNGWC for helping make that happen. SEE YA IN KOREA!"
Indeed, that sounds like sound life-advice for gamers everywhere.
The 2008 Tournament is the 3rd annual GNGWC, in which a total of six countries participated by holding local contests. The November finals held in Korea will be hosted by KIPA Korean Industry Promotion Agency) and sponsored by KT Corporation.
Even more amazing is the fact that a game like Shot-Online even exists. A hybrid massively multiplayer online golf simulation that incorporates "elements of traditional role-playing" enhanced by "proprietary" physics software -- who'da thunk it?
The World Cyber Games organization, a premier competitive gaming league, is having their USA finals this weekend in L.A
Taking place in the October 3rd through the 5th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the weekend of gaming will put a $100k up for grabs. The hard, green cyber-cash will be won in competition over the following games:
Counter Strike 1.6 (PC), StarCraft: Brood War (PC), WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne (PC), Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (PC), Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (PC), FIFA Soccer 08 (PC), Need For Speed: ProStreet (PC), Carom 3D (PC), Red Stone (PC), Halo 3 (Xbox 360), Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360), Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) and Virtua Fighter 5 (Xbox 360) Asphalt 4 Elite Racing (Mobile)
Twenty five top gamers will be selected for a spot in the Cyber Games Team USA. Team USA will be competing for a cool half million USD in Germany in November, at the World Cyber Games World Championships in November.
Some girls...of the WSG or something
If you live close to L.A maybe you'd like to check out the event, or participate, if you have the skill. Oh ya, and Microsoft is sponsoring the event, so Gears of War 2 will be on location, with the first legal public playing of the cooperative 'Horde' mode of the game.
Los Angeles will be the epicenter of both pro and recreational gaming action as the World Cyber Games USA National Final lands at the E For All expo as a spectacular 'event within the event.' Gaming fans and aspiring competitors can come out and see America's very best video game players battle to become stars in e-Sports' most prestigious tournament," said Michael Arzt, general manager of World Cyber Games USA.http://us.wcg.com -- if you can't make the event in person, on the web site you can check out coverage and blogging of the cyber-tacular.
Mark Wanlass of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory invented an inverted solar cell, and his design was improved on by a team led by John Geisz.
The improved cell provided a 40.8% efficiency in converting light from the sun to electricity; mind you, the sunlight was concentrated 326-to-1.
If the cost of production can be reduced, such high efficiency may lead to solar power plants in desert areas that could produce great deal of power without requiring any fuel other than sunlight.
Yesterday SpaceX has achieved orbit with their Falcon 1 vehicle.
Sure, Nasa and others have been orbiting craft for a long time... but this time, it was a private company, and a brand new design not based on old ICBM's.
It is also interesting that the Falcon 1 capsule is big enough to house one man... and the future Falcon 9 could house several.
"Feel like you're really farming with the Nintendo Wii Remote!"
Further expanding the Wii's family-friendly image, developer and publisher Natsume announced today that Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility has shipped to retail.
Available for the standard price of $49.99, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility continues Natsume's 10-year anniversary celebration with special commemorative packaging, retail promotions with collectible pre-order plush toys, strategy guides, a special 10th anniversary DS Lite Kit, and various other offers.
Harvest Moon fans will enjoy the new title as much as any newcomer to the franchise with another engrossing storyline, accompanied by a plethora of activities typical of Harvest Moon fashion -- cultivating crops, caring for animals, partaking in festivities, etc. This time, players must save an island after the mystical Mother Tree that once watched over the land disappears.
"We are proud to release Harvest Moon for the first time on the Nintendo Wii platform," said Hiro Maekawa, president and CEO of Natsume Inc. "With the new setting, characters, motion-sensitive controls, and the most refined gameplay yet, we're sure that both Harvest Moon fans and new players alike will be delighted with Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility."
Hundson Soft announced today the official launch of Bomberman Blast, available for download on WiiWare for the Nintendo Wii.
As promised back in August, the new Bomberman game will retain classic features for long-time fans, such as online multiplayer battles in numerous arenas. Bomberman Blast incorporates various new elements like Mii support, 8-player online matches, and Wii Remote motion compatibility. Shaking the Wii Remote will allow players to use one of three items -- Bomb Change, Rocket, and Shield.
"We are thrilled to deliver Bomberman Blast to the WiiWare gamers," said Sabine Duvall, VP of Product Development at Hudson Entertainment. "Hardcore fans and casual gamers alike will enjoy this new rendition of classic Bomberman created specifically for play on the Wii with three new Wii-specific items and Miis."
Bomberman Blast also introduces ten unique level designs, and once players have played through all ten they can unlock the ability to use their Mii in-game. New battle arenas include Hyper Feet, Bomb Bowling, and Potholes, and players can choose to play solo or co-op in a team. Scores can be submitted with the new Rankings feature via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Many of the game's new gameplay elements are highlighted in a promotional trailer released by Hudson with the launch of Bomberman Blast:
Website neocrisis.com has gotten a hold of the full list of weapons found in upcoming sand-box FPS, Far Cry 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360.)
The list is yet another piece of encouraging information on this promising game -- it has a total of 29 weapons on it, and all the guns resemble real-world designs. Most FPS games have closer to half Far Cry 2's amount of usable weapons. Here's hoping that things like recoil and aiming are different between say, the MP5 and the SPAS-12.
Your merc in the game will be able to hold one primary, secondary, and special weapon at any given time. Guns also will require maintenance, else you might run the risk of bullets jamming in firefight.
Far Cry 2 is coming to North America on October 21st, and Europe on the 24th.
Grenades, explosives and mines are suspiciously absent from the following 'complete' list; but here it is:
A lot of robots you see on television have an amazing amount of stuff they can do, but they often have one fatal flaw: they are really, really slow. Like they can figure out the mass of a planetoid by looking at it (Data), or can single-handedly shutdown an illicit drug factory (Robocop), but if you break into a brisk jog, you have them beat.
Well now robots can ride bikes. How about that.
From Murata Manufacturing, the Murata Boy is able to ride a bike forwards and backwards, can be controlled via BlueTooth, and is nimble and smart enough to avoid obstacles. And the Murata Boy just isn't programmed to know the concept of fear -- as you can probably tell, when watching him ride, flawlessly, over a balance beam.
Murata Boy's terrific balance is courtesy of the fantastic power of the gyroscopes in his chest.
Although all is not fun and games in Murata Boy's existence. A huge tabloid controversy was ignited in Japan when video footage of Murata Boy using his bike-riding skills to lure young children off of a playground was leaked onto the Internet.
Murata Boy's spokespeople have denied any allegations of wrong-doing, although it the robotics underworld, it is a well known fact that Murata Boy is one of the many underlings of criminal mastermind fembot Actroid.
Partnership also suggests potential motion picture adaptations for the as-of-yet-unannounced/unknown titles
(Image source: Business Wire)
Hollywood director Zack Snyder, responsible for "The Dawn of the Dead" as well the big budget motion picture adaptations of the graphic novels "300" and "Watchmen", will soon be lending his talents for upcoming video game from Electronic Arts. The games publisher confirms it has ironed out an agreement with Snyder to produce three original games. At time of writing no console platforms or even any titles were announced, but these details ought to be in the pipeline. Snyder's noted for the wide angle shots in his films, so one can imagine how this will translate into games.
"I think video games are cool because they offer an opportunity to tell a story in an entirely unique way,” said Zack Snyder. “Bein
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