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Archived News:
IGN's Team Fortress 2 Q&A
talks with Robin Walker about Valve's coming shooter that was announced back in
the 20th century. Included is word that they have PC versus Xbox 360 gameplay
working, which may or may not be a feature of the finished project, but either
way, there's little chance that PS3 owners will be able to compete with PC
owners, and no chance that the PS3 edition will support cross-platform gameplay
with the Xbox 360: Robin Walker: From our perspective, we did the
Xbox port of Half-Life internally, and we did that because we wanted to have the
expertise from doing that. Like controller expertise and all the sorts of
decisions you've got to make that are different on consoles we wanted to have
that in-house because we knew we'd be doing more Xbox titles and more console
titles. And so the same guys that did that are working on TF2, we have all the
tweaks we did to the controls, the sticks and everything. One of the advantages
of TF2, relative to something like Counter-Strike, is that it's not so much
about aim. Some of the classes like the sniper it is about aim, but as an
engineer or a heavy or spy, aim's not too important, it's more about the
decisions you're making other than aim. I mean heavy has a big hose so you just
have to keep people somewhere in the middle of the screen and they're going to
take damage from you.
IGN: What about the PS3 version?
Doug Lombardi: The PS3 version is being done by EA over in the UK, and
they don't have all the networking stuff in yet to do anything other than
[pause] it's rending and running the games and whatnot, but they're still
dropping in the network layers. They're going to be using a piece of code that
EA uses for its PS3 multiplayer stuff. Chances are the PS3 version will only
play other PS3s. There's zero chance of them talking to 360s.
Robin Walker: Yeah if PS3 and Xbox people play together they'd just argue
the whole time.
Ubisoft announces the acquisition of Sunflowers, the German owner of the
Anno/A.D. series of RTS games, along with an interest in Related Designs,
developers of the last and next installments in the series: SAN FRANCISCO
– APRIL 11, 2007 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game
publishers announced that it has concluded an agreement to acquire SunFlowers,
owner of the Anno brand, one of the most successful strategy games with five
million units sold worldwide and one of the best-selling games in the German
market.
"With the acquisition of Anno, Ubisoft reinforces its position in the real-time
strategy market. Anno, along with Ubisoft's The Settlers, is one of the most
well known franchises in Germany, reaching a wide audience that includes not
only traditional gamers, but also women and families. We are proud to add
another top-quality brand to our rich portfolio and we are looking forward to
bringing the brand to an even wider audience," said Yves Guillemot, president
and chief executive officer of Ubisoft.
Through the transaction, Ubisoft will acquire a 30 percent stake in Related
Designs, which developed Anno 1701, the latest entry in the Anno series and is
currently working on a future Anno title.
Mr. Adi Boiko, cofounder of SunFlowers stated "I'm glad to confide Anno to
Ubisoft, a company known for the innovation and creativity of its development
teams. The brand will benefit from Ubisoft's global strength, allowing new
audiences to discover the pleasure of empire building through new Anno games."
The agreement between the two companies is subject to normal closing conditions.
The acquisition is expected to close in Ubisoft's fiscal year 2007-08 first
quarter.
The
Neverwinter Nights Forums offer patch notes and download link for a new
patch to update Neverwinter Nights 2 to version 1.05. The update includes
changes and bug fixes, including some fixes over the 1.05a beta, as well as beta
implementation of "Multi-Select." Thanks
Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault.
RPG Vault's White
Gold: War in Paradise Q&A talks with Deep Shadows about their upcoming
action/RPG: "First of all, White Gold is a true combination of RPG and action.
Simply shooting everything around is not the goal of the game. We're trying to
create a beautiful and interesting gameworld with a non-linear plot attached to
it. The remarkable things in our game are a big but very detailed territory,
Latin American environment, the ability of using every vehicle, the
interactivity of all things around and, of course, numerous original endings.
The player has a lot of possibilities, from collecting pearls and empty bottles
to sell for money, and up to attacking military bases in a tank or chopper."
The Elder Scrolls Website
now offers a beta patch for the Shivering Isles expansion for The Elder Scrolls
IV: Oblivion. The patch, available on
the
downloads page, applies to all language editions of the game, but not the
Direct2Drive edition.
The
patch notes have all the details on the patch, along with warnings and
precautions appropriate to the beta. Among the various issues addressed by the
update is the recently reported FormID bug ( story).
The bilingual Exodus from the Earth
Website and the Russian-language Exodus
from the Earth Product Section are each online, dedicated to this
just-revealed first-person shooter from
Parallax Arts Studio (thanks Gamer's
Hell). No release date is offered at this time for the game, which follows a
science fiction theme. Word is: Action takes place simultaneously in two
worlds, in the nearest future on the Earth and on a distant planet with uncommon
inhabitants and landscape. During gameplay the player will meet with various
characters from security service agents to cyborgs, robots and mutants. The
player will have to solve numerous quests and eventually to find out if human
life and civilization are possible beyond the Earth's confines.
Outstanding visual effects, realistic physics, destructible objects, various
characters and means of transportation, dynamic and unpredictable gameplay
combined with nice hi-poly locations and unique weapons will ensure players the
highest possible feeling of action and dynamics incidental to the best modern
shooters.
The Russian Adrenaline 2 Website
features a new trailer from Adrenalin 2: Rush Hour, Gaijin Entertainment's
upcoming racing/reality show game. Also, a new Russian-language demo for the
game is now available, the 366.8 MB download can be found on
FileFront and
Gamer's Hell.
Matrix Games'
Battlefront Website offers the first patch for Battlefront, updating the
World War II strategy game to version 1.01. The download is available on
the Battlefront
Downloads Page, where word is: "The changes and improvements number just
under a dozen and will give gamers an even smoother and more enjoyable wargaming
experience."
A new Seven Kingdoms: Conquest Product
Section is a Flash destination dedicated to the upcoming return of the
strategy series. Also, a new
NecroVision Product Section is
another Russian-language home to The Farm 51's upcoming Painkiller-engine
shooter. Thanks Gamer's Hell.
- Auto Assault
The
Auto Assault Q&A on Ten Ton Hammer looks back at the first year of
operation for NetDevil's MMORPG: "That’s a tough question. I think that AA
suffered from high degrees of difficulty, complexity and the style was just
too different for people to actually commit to the game. It was too much all
at once. That said, we’ve actually seen a pretty serious “stick” rate for
players that play long enough to really see the depth in Auto Assault. We’re
still trying to soften the edges a bit for the new player so that the
learning curve is not quite so steep. We think this will bring in a much
bigger audience, while giving new players a real feel for just how cool AA
is."
- Episodic Gaming
Telltale's
Connors On Episodic Gaming's Future on Gamasutra is a Q&A with
Roseanne's husband about episodic gaming: "GameTap's distribution has
introduced us to a whole new level of people who are outside of the game
world and might not have heard of Sam & Max before. We even saw a commercial
for Sam & Max on The Colbert Report one night, so it's getting good exposure
on that level. From a financial standpoint, it's definitely a profitable
endeavor for us, and what more can you ask for than that, really?"
- Game Ads
Double
Fusion's Epstein On The Game Ad Landscape on Gamasutra is a conversation
about in-game advertising: "The deal contemplates that there will be of
course billboards, but also video ads and, where appropriate, the use of 3D
product placements, but fundamentally those decisions are made at a
game-by-game level, as we go and work with the studios to see what works and
what doesn't. A video ad that's out of place isn't a good video ad for
anybody, game publisher or developer, but a video ad in the right place
makes more money for the publisher, works for users, and is great for
advertisers. We take it game-by-game."
The 2007 Into the Pixel deadlines for
art submission is May 4, 2007.
Man! The weather report calls for more cold and snow around these parts over the
next week. It still doesn't even out for the way winter didn't really start here
until February, but I really would like it to be spring already.
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