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Archived News:
EA Unveils New Games,
New Relationships and New Online Experiences at E3 has a few EA-related
tidbits, including the announcement that Electronic Arts will be publishing
Rage, id software's upcoming first-person shooter: EA has signed an
agreement to publish RAGE, the next blockbuster from id Software, the inventors
of the first person shooter. Built on the id Tech5 engine, RAGE will be released
on the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360(TM) videogame and
entertainment system from Microsoft, PC and Macintosh(R) computers. More
information about RAGE will be available at QuakeCon 2008 in Dallas, Texas from
July 31st to August 2nd. More information about QuakeCon is available at
www.quakecon.org.
That same EA press
release mentioned above takes the lid off of "Nucleus," a new cross-platform
"identity system" and their recently-acquired complementary
Rupture API: EA Online
Initiatives
EA Online announced new features to make games easier to use and more fun to
play, including a new identity system described in today's press conference as
"nucleus." This identity system stores a gamer's profile such as likes,
dislikes, friends and achievements. The system carries a gamer's identity
everywhere they go -- across games and platforms - so that the reputation a
gamer establishes in their console can follow them regardless of what platform
they play on - anywhere or anytime.
In addition, EA Online has built powerful backend tools that will make
micro-transactions a bigger part of the gaming experience. For example, in the
Battlefield Heroes(TM) store, gamers will be able to get new items such as
weapons, maps and fatigues. The identity system is built into the new The Sims 2
Store, and will also be available in titles like Spore and across titles from EA
SPORTS.
Complementing the capabilities of the online identity system, EA also unveiled
new details about its recent acquisition of Three SF and its service called
Rupture(TM). With Rupture, gamers will be able to track and challenge friends
across all games and gaming platforms. Built around an entirely open,
game-agnostic API, Rupture allows any game developer or gamer with some
scripting knowledge to extend Rupture to support new games, game events, or
statistics. More information about this can be found at
www.rupture.com/developers.
Exclusive Facts about Call of Duty: World at War on PCGH discusses the
engine behind Treyarch's upcoming World War II shooter sequel with Cesar
Stastny. Along the way they say there will be no DirectX 10 support to keep the
game the same on all platforms, though they say they could possibly reconsider:
"Maybe if there is a compelling benefit to doing so, such as new superior
hardware which requires DirectX 10."
The Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest
Website is live as a home to Introversion's upcoming Darwinia evolution. The
site has info and media, and there is a promise of more updates to come over the
time between now and when the game is released in September.
The Fallout 3 trailer from today's E3 presentation is now available for download
or online viewing. The clip, which offers a duck-and-cover style PSA as well as
actual gameplay, is posted on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
The Dead Space E3
Trailer promised on Friday ( story) was posted in the wee
hours of Saturday, going unmentioned until now in spite of nin's best efforts at
a heads-up. The trailer by Saw director James Wan concludes with an October 21
release date.
The E3 trailer for This is Vegas promotes Surreal Software's upcoming
open-world game set in Lost wages Nevada. The clip highlights the four main
diversions in the game, showing how you can gamble, race, fight, and party. The
movie is on AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new Rise of the Argonauts developer diary movie is on the tubes, offering a
look at the gameplay in the upcoming RPG, narrated by Liquid Entertainment's Ed
Del Castillo and Charley Price, who are usually easily understood above the
relentless game music in the background. The main thrust of what they describe
is how the appearance of items and weapons will convey their capabilities rather
than the old +1 +2 style notation, and how they are removing traditional HUD
features from the UI. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
A new Prince of Persia "Speed Art Trailer 3" is online, looking at
production of the upcoming return of the acrobatic prince. The clip is narrated
by Andy Walsh, appropriately enough the Narrative Director on the project, who
outlines the use of motion capture in animating the game. The movie is available
on ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water,
the Hydrophobia Website
offers a new E3 movie showing off Blade Interactive's upcoming game where
wrinkly fingers are the least of your waterlogged problems. Word is: "The first
trailer of Hydrophobia has been released at E3, showcasing the revolutionary
HydroEngine fluid dynamics system. For the first time ever, water in games
behaves exactly like the real thing, flowing from one area to another and
interacting dynamically with the environment."
LEGO Batman: The Videogame is
online for the upcoming brixillated comic book game. The site offers info and
media, and speaking of media, the cinematic E3 trailer from the game can be
found on
MyGameTrailers.
The Full Metal Soccer Website now
offers the release of this unusual game featuring soccer competition using tanks
as players. Info, screenshots, and a gameplay video are on the site to give a
feel for gameplay, and a free two day trial is available to sample the game
before you buy. Windows and Linux are supported. Thanks Chip.
Champions Online Community
Q&A with the Developers on Ten Ton Hammer discusses the upcoming superhero
MMORPG with a few of the developers at Cryptic Studios. Up, up, and away!
Square Enix's showing of The Last Remnant at the Microsoft E3 event
offered a surprise: They say the game will be available on the Xbox 360 "first
this holiday season," specifying November 20, 2008 as their simultaneous
worldwide release date. This is followed by this announcement about the
Unreal-engine RPG: "The Last Remnant will also be available on Games For
Windows. This will allow us to provide a large community of PC gamers with the
opportunity to experience the game. We will let you know when a launch date has
been decided."
At the MS E3 briefing Activision reveals that Guitar Hero: World Tour
will exclusively feature Van Halen and The Eagles, and will also offer downloads
of an exclusive REM track pack. They will also offer downloads of the GH edition
of Death Magnetic simultaneous with the release of this new Metallica album in
stores. The Metallica release will be for Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World
Tour, but it is not clear if a separate purchase will be required for each game.
Presumably this means rumors of a Guitar Hero: Metallica in the vein of the
recent Guitar Hero: Aerosmith are inaccurate. Here's some more of what
Microsoft announced at today's press event:
- The "first downloadable episode for Grand Theft Auto 4 later this year."
Contradicting rumors this would be delayed to 2009.
- Final Fantasy 13 will be making its way to the Xbox 360. "At long last,"
a first for the series.
- A whole new Xbox 360 interface, with Mii-like avatars and enhanced
social features.
More here.
- Geometry Wars 2 is coming next month as an Xbox LIVE Arcade exclusive.
- Galaga Legions, called a "true sequel" to the original, which was in
arcades over 20 years ago. Also a LIVE arcade exclusive due next month.
- Some sort of South Park game was teased in an odd manner.
- Lips is announced, confirming rumors of an upcoming Karaoke game.
- A Netflix partnership.
A surprising announcement at the Microsoft press conference was made by GLaDOS
herself: That Portal: Still Alive is coming exclusively to the Xbox 360
this year. Here's what she said: "Hello, we hope you've enjoyed your brief
detention in the press event room. The Aperture Science Test Center is pleased
to announce the worldwide debut of Portal: Still Alive, a 2008 exclusive for the
Xbox 360. Due to the previous tests being solvable, we are currently
manufacturing new test chambers for only the most qualified test subjects. Good
Luck." She specifically calls this a "2008 exclusive" for the Xbox 360, and
since computers don't make mistakes, we'll take this as a sign that this will
appear on other platforms after the end of the year.
Mr. Clifford Bleszinski capped off the game presentations at the Microsoft press
conference showing off Gears of War 2. If you were hoping for skinny
soldiers with high voices, you'll be out of luck, as growling steroidal is still
the order of the day. After the lengthy demo, Clifford announces a new
multiplayer mode: "We have a new mode in Gears of War 2 called Horde. It's a
five-player cooperative mode in which up to five players can take on wave after
wave of increasingly difficult locust." He then announces November 7, 2008 as
the release date for Gear of War 2.
The Microsoft E3 press conference is currently underway, and so far they've
rolled out a look at Fallout 3, saying the post-apocalyptic sequel will
be followed by "substantial" downloadable content for the game that will be
exclusive to Xbox LIVE and Games For Windows. Todd Howard's demo of the game
shows off the ability to choose a stealthier or more straightforward approach to
combat, as well as a bit on the moral choices you'll be faced with. Jun Takeuchi
then demoed Resident Evil 5, which will be the first RE game to appear on
a Microsoft System. Word is to expect a simultaneous worldwide release for all
platforms on March 13, 2009 (except Japan, where it will appear a day earlier).
This was followed by Peter Molyneux taking the stage, starting off by declaring
Fable 2 "is finished!" He then showed off the game's intro, quickly falls
back on old habits talking about "you've never experienced anything like" the
game's pet feature, and shows off a new simplified way to initiate cooperative
multiplayer play in the game. In a bit of a surprise considering the
presentation began with the declaration that Fable 2 "is finished," Peter
concludes saying the game will be released in October.
This official
press release for Rock Band 2 fills in many details about the imminent
console rhythm game sequel, confirming the ability to import "most of the" Rock
Band (1) tracks directly into the sequel, confirming online Band World Tour
modes, and offering more details on premium instruments. A track list is not
provided, but Pearl Jam, Metallica, Allman Brothers, Motorhead, Devo, Jane's
Addiction, Megadeth, Paramore, Modest Mouse are all mentioned as artists
included in the game, which will also feature Tangled up in blue by Bob Dylan
(Folk Band?), AC/DC, and confirms the partial truth to recent rumors, saying it
will also include Shackler’s Revenge, a track from the perpetually upcoming Guns
N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy. Update:
The full track list has now been released.
Rationalizing Removal with Mark
Jacobs Part 1 on Ten Ton Hammer talks with the EA Mythic
boss about recent announcement that some of the content planned for Warhammer
Online: Age of Reckoning will be cut prior to launch of the MMORPG
( story). Mark concludes looking at the bright side of how the
reduced number of capitol cities can be seen as a positive: What
we’re thinking about doing is rotating in cities, in and out. In the RvR, so
let’s say in the content expansion another city pairing comes up. So the old
cities get turned off to RvR. It’s not going to be there as a focus for that.
Players can focus on whatever the current pairing is, and then we rotate in
another pairing. When we rotate the cities out it gives us time to go back and
make changes to them. To learn from out mistakes, we can say we thought this
scenario was great it isn’t, we thought this design was great for the stuff in
the city and it wasn’t. So we can take it out of production and put a new city
in or update the city and put it back in when a new city pairing comes in. So I
think for the long term health for this game I think that is critical. I think
it is absolutely critical. I am very happy about this decision. I know it is
hard for people to believe, but if you just think about it. Especially for the
people who played DAOC, think about the issues in that game, or any game, that
has RvR or PvP or something similar, getting people to focus on something can be
a challenge. This forces them to focus.
BioWare Presents Dragon Age: Origins is a press release on BioWare's RPG
that's due next year, promising further details to be revealed over the course
of this week's E3 summit. In the meantime the release offers some details on the
game, which they are calling "spiritual successor to BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate."
Here goes: EDMONTON, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading video game
developer BioWare®, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today
announced details of the highly anticipated dark fantasy Role Playing Game
Dragon Age™: Origins which will be featured as one of the premier video games at
the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit, July 15-17.
As the spiritual successor to BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate™, one of the most
successful role-playing games in the industry, Dragon Age: Origins represents
BioWare’s return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of
existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-driven narrative,
heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors. The
spirit of classic RPGs comes of age, as Dragon Age: Origins features a dark and
mature story and gameplay.
“We’re thrilled to be returning to BioWare’s fantasy roots, with Dragon Age:
Origins representing the culmination of over a decade of experience,” said Ray
Muzyka, co-General Manager and CEO, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts.
“Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy that doesn’t pull any punches. Our
fans are in for the most emotionally intense gaming experience we’ve ever
created, and we hope to surprise them with just how dark and gritty it gets!”
BioWare will be demonstrating some of the compelling features of Dragon Age:
Origins behind closed doors at E3, including:
• Epic Party-Based Combat – Dragon Age: Origins will
introduce an innovative, scalable combat system, as players face large-scale
battles and use their party’s special abilities to destroy hoardes of enemies
and massive creatures.
• Powerful Magic – Raining down awesome destruction
on enemies is even more compelling as players apply “spell combos,” a way of
combining together different spells to create emergent unique effects.
• Deep Customization – Players will develop their
characters and gain powerful special abilities (spells, talents and skills) and
discover ever-increasing weapons of destruction.
• Your Story, Your Way – With its emotionally
compelling story, players choose with whom they wish to forge alliances or crush
under their mighty fist, redefining the world with the choices they make and how
they wield their power.
• Origin Stories – Players will select and play a
unique prelude that provides the lens through which the player sees the world
and how the world sees the player. The player’s choice of Origin will determine
who they are and where they begin the adventure, as they play through a
customized story opening that profoundly impacts the course of every adventure.
Dragon Age: Origins is scheduled to ship for the PC in early 2009. For more
information, the latest updates, or to join BioWare’s Dragon Age community,
visit www.dragonage.com.
Apogee Software announces their plans to start doing stuff again, saying they
will be producing new Duke Nukem games on consoles. Apogee is actually
the official name of 3D Realms, but they have not branded anything Apogee since
1996. Of course no such announcement would be complete without an explanation of
all the innovations Apogee/3D Realms is behind (something to do with shareware,
if memory serves). Here's word: Dallas, Texas -- July 14, 2008 -- Apogee
Software is back to re-establish itself as an innovative leader in interactive
entertainment. Apogee is reviving some of its legacy catalogue of 30+ releases
as well as publishing all-new properties in collaboration with diverse creators
and developers.
Apogee is bringing the King of Action himself, Duke Nukem(tm), to the handheld
console market with three new missions, together called the Duke Nukem
Trilogy(tm). Apogee Software is producing the Trilogy under an exclusive license
agreement with 3D Realms and MachineWorks Northwest LLC. The Trilogy is
comprised of three episodes: Critical Mass(tm), Chain Reaction(tm), and Proving
Grounds(tm).
"This marks a new beginning for a famous publisher with a history of
market-making innovation," said Terry Nagy, co-founder and Chief Operating
Officer of Apogee. "I can't think of a better character than Duke or a better
franchise than the Trilogy to usher in a new era for Apogee." "It's funny how
what's old is new again in this industry," remarked Apogee co-founder, Scott
Miller. "Many of the things Apogee pioneered are back in style, so it only makes
sense to bring back Apogee and its properties with a visionary team that will
once again create innovation for gamers around the world."
Apogee pioneered the shareware game revolution in 1987 by inventing the concept
of game demos, distributed online, which advertised the remaining episodes in a
series. Before this time, game demos and episodic releases were unheard of.
These concepts created by Apogee have become mainstream today. Apogee's amazing
history includes the original releases of Commander Keen(tm) (1990), Duke
Nukem(tm) (1991), Wolfenstein 3-D(tm) (1992), Raptor(tm) (1993), and Rise of the
Triad(tm) (1994), just to name a few.
Warren
Spector's blog has word the designer is working on a project in
collaboration with Pixar, the movie studio recently acquired by Disney, who are
also owners of Spector's Junction Point Studios (thanks
Next Generation). Here's part: Needless to say, I don’t even remember
what I was going to say about GDC back in March, when I promised to post
additional thoughts! Since then, my game (about which we will say nothing) has
made amazing progress. My team and I have been working hard on our own and (get
ready for the cool factor to go way up) in collaboration with folks from Disney
Feature Animation and Pixar. If I say anymore, I’ll get in trouble, so let’s
just leave it at that.
Carmack IDs Quake Live on GameSpot is a Q&A with the id Software Technical
Director discussing their upcoming Quake Live project. Along the way he
clarifies where this does and does not depart from Quake III Arena: The
core game has had very little changes to the engine. The idea was to wrap this
really state-of-the-art--player interaction, score-boarding, leaderboards, chat
forums--all this stuff, around a stable, consistent game. So there are some
advantages to that, in that every computer that anybody is at all going to sit
down on, and is connected to the Internet, can play Quake Arena well. You know,
most of them run it at 120-something frames per second on there. There are no
driver issues, because everybody used this game as a benchmark for five years
before it was superseded by other things on there.
The data has actually been touched on every single level, though. While the core
rendering engine has only modest tweaks on it, nothing particularly to improve
what you really call rendering things. But every map has been touched where
there's a level of polish that modern games have that, when we look back nine
years ago, standards were a lot more lax. I mean, Quake Arena was the first
mainstream, hardware-accelerated game, and it was much more about, "Wow, look at
this. Isn't it cool?" And people weren't looking at all the details, like making
sure the textures line up or the lighting is appropriate.
And we have had the designers make a path through every single level in the
original Quake Arena, the Team Arena content, and there's a little bit of custom
new stuff that goes on in here also. So everything is cleaned up, brought up to
a modern level of polish, the billboards and advertising scoreboards are very
nicely integrated. It's not a matter of just finding a bare spot of wall and
throwing up two triangles that you can stream an ad on to. They're actually
built into the levels in a very stylish way, where you've got the boards with
spotlights, lighting them up as things change. And all that's been done really
nicely.
But, you know, 90 percent of the work on the project has been stuff that goes
around the game--the Web site experience, the game rankings, all the
stat-tracking and database management, and all of this stuff that really is
better than probably any game, anywhere has done. We went out, we surveyed the
landscape of what was available, what we could integrate, what we could take,
and what we could improve.
And we make no claims or try to hide the fact that the core of the game is
essentially nine year old technology. But everything around it is modern, 2008,
state-of-the-art stuff.
The
E3 trailer for Far Cry 2 is posted on IGN, the clip shows off gameplay from
the shooter sequel. From appearances, hostilities are still underway. Boom!
A new "The Hunter Returns" trailer is now available from Crysis Warhead,
Crytek's upcoming shooter follow-up. The clip is posted on
Tiscali Games
along with a lot of Czech text we don't understand. Nano nano.
A new E3 trailer on
GameSpot
offers a look at the Empire of the Rising Sun faction in Command & Conquer:
Red Alert 3. If that sounds a little stale, rest assured this faction spends
a good deal of time making things blow up. Thanks Mike Martinez and
Planet Command &
Conquer.
Prepare For The Future is
online as a new home to Fallout 3, the upcoming post-apocalyptic sequel in the
works at Bethesda Softworks. Currently the stylized Flash site offers a teaser
clip and newsletter signups. Thanks
GamingTarget.
The Operation Peacekeeper
Website now offers version 0.25 of this Battlefield 2 modification, and a password for
those who downloaded the passworded archive via bit torrent prior to the release
(thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield). The mod is based around a conflict between German and Serbian
armed forces, with a full explanation
on this page.
A new version 1.3 of the Obsidian
Conflict modification for Half-Life 2 is now available. The new version of
this co-op mod adds 11 new maps along with a number of other changes and fixes.
Thanks Ant and
Planet
Half-Life.
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