Archived News:
Massively follows up on yesterday's rumors about layoffs at NCsoft Europe
and the possibility that the future of Tabula Rasa is in doubt
( story). They point to an itsy-bitsy post on
PlanetTR.com from NCsoft's "Ziggidy Zaggidy" saying simply: "There are no
current plans to can TR. Long Live TR." As for the concurrent rumor that layoffs
are coming to NCsoft Europe, the news isn't so good, citing
another post on PlanetTR.com that seems to confirm that jobs have been cut.
Kim-
We Still Believe in PC Games on Edge Online quotes Microsoft Game Studios'
Shane Kim following news that Ensemble will be shuttered ( story),
saying MS remains committed to first-party PC games. He also says that the end
of Ensemble by no means signals the end of the Age of Empires series:
"We’re still super excited for the potential for the franchise. The Windows
gaming world continues to evolve, and we believe in the future of that
property."
Computer
and Video Games quotes BioShock designer Ken Levine saying he received some
"nasty f-ing threats" over the copy protection for BioShock, which had a
limited number of allowable installations and the constant desire to phone home
for authentication. He doesn't seem embittered by the experience, rather talking
about the need for someone in his position to take responsibility for such
decisions.
MTV Multiplayer has a candid comment from Mythic's Mark Jacobs, as the
Warhammer Online lead designer admits that the release of the Burning
Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft actually prompted a delay for
the release of Warhammer Online: "…they put in some of what we call ‘water
cooler quests,’ the things that you talk about around the watercooler. We looked
at the amount of content they put in that and said we need more time if we want
to add some of those things, if we want our own water cooler quests or more
water cooler quests. So our choice was to delay the game and spend more time on
it. It was a major bump."
A new Ultima Online: Stygian
Abyss Website is live as home to Mythic Entertainment's upcoming Ultima
Online expansion, finally offering official details on the ninth add-on for
the MMORPG. They say: "By visiting
www.uo.com/stygianabyss, players can unearth information on the
newly-playable Gargoyle race, never-before seen spells, powerful new weapons and
armor, an expansive and dangerous dungeon, and a variety of new, tough-as-nails
monsters."
Clint Hocking on Far Cry 2 on Rock, Paper, Shotgun is a Q&A discussing
Far Cry 2, the upcoming shooter sequel. They discuss various aspects of the
game's ambitious open-world, discussing non-linear storytelling,
open-world design, whether they've had to scrap ideas during the development
process, whether the linear shooter is fading, as well as questions about other
aspects of gameplay. There's also a new Far Cry 2 Africa Trip Video Diary on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and
Gamer's Hell recapping the development team's research expedition.
A new 'From Movie to Game' trailer for Quantum of Solace looks at footage
from the upcoming Bond game and the movie and discusses the process of
recreating characters and scenes in the game. The clip is available on
FileFront and
Gamer's Hell. On a semi-related note, the
official Quantum Of Solace theatrical trailer is online from the movie.
Thanks nin.
Scientists Activate Particle Collider. I think we're still here. Update:
Yeah, I was able to confirm this via the
Has the Large Hadron
Collider destroyed the earth yet website. Thanks banddirector.
A playable demo for FIFA 09 is now available, offering the chance to kick
around the next installment in the football/soccer series. The demo features a
couple of gameplay modes and the choice of six different clubs. The download is
available on AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro,
FanGaming,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. On related notes,
EA Sports Reveals New Online Mode in FIFA Soccer 09 For Xbox 360 and Playstation
3 and Konami:
No PES 2009 demo tomorrow.
NCsoft announces
the formation of NC West a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on western
regions including the US and Europe "with a dedicated focus towards becoming the
world’s premier western publisher of MMOs." NC West will be headquartered in
Seattle, WA, and will unify existing subsidiaries NC Interactive, NC Europe, NC
Austin, and ArenaNet, with ArenaNet cofounder Jeff Strain serving as the new
outfit's president of product development. The announcement doesn't reveal any
specific plans, just an overview from Chris Chung, NC West's newly minted CEO:
"There is an unparalleled opportunity for growth in the massively multiplayer
online market. By combining the strength of our US and European teams, NCsoft
has the best global infrastructure to win in new and existing markets, and the
best developer talent capable of creating blockbuster MMO franchises." Rumors
from yesterday spoke of cuts at NCsoft Europe ( story), but no such
plans are mentioned in the announcement.
VideoGamer.com
quotes Valve honcho Gabe Newell saying they plan on releasing a playable demo
for Left 4 Dead for both Windows and Xbox 360, and that the demo will include
co-op support. The sample of the zombie-fest will include the beginning portion
of one of the campaigns, "probably" the Hospital. No release date is set at this
point.
The future of gaming is all in the mind on CNN is an article profiling the
Emotiv EPOC headset, the latest attempt at using non-physical input as a game
controller, called "the first Brain Computer Interface" by its creators. Other
similar products in the past turned out to rely on reading forehead muscle
movement more than your thoughts, but this time the claim is: "The EPOC detects
and processes real time brain activity patterns (small voltage changes in the
brain caused by the firing of neurons) using a device that measures electric
activity in the brain. In total, it picks up over 30 different expressions,
emotions and actions." The article also quotes industry analysts about the
potential of such a device. Thanks Mike Martinez.
ComputerWorld reports that NVIDIA has been hit with a class-action lawsuit
over defects in its GPU line, the suit alleging the company knowingly concealed
information about the problem from its investors. The suit is seeking
unspecified damages. Here's a bit: "Highlighting the seriousness of the charges
laid against Nvidia, the lawsuit said Hewlett-Packard issued a BIOS update to
mitigate the chip problem eight months before Nvidia revealed its existence to
investors. Nvidia and computer makers have used BIOS updates that cause system
fans to run more often in an attempt to reduce heat stress on the affected chips
and prevent them from failing." Thanks Mike Martinez.
New patches are now available for Warhammer: Battle March to update Black
Hole Game's RTS expansion based on the Warhammer universe to version 2.14. The
new version fixes a number of issues with the game, all detailed in
these patch notes.
There are patches for the US and European editions as well as the European Gold
edition; downloads can be found on
ActionTrip,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The
Patches Scrolls.
Gas Powered Games
announces that beta testing of Demigod is now underway for those who have
preordered the action/strategy/role-playing game that's planned for release
early next year. Word is: "Demigod's publisher Stardock will continue to provide
limited access to the Betas through pre-order signups." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
GameSpot reports a
confirmation that Microsoft Game Studios is planning on closing Ensemble Studios
after completion of development of the console RTS game Halo Wars
( story). The statement is complementary of the studio, saying the
closure does not reflect on the quality of their work, going on to explain this
was about the bottom line: "This was a fiscally rooted decision that keeps MGS
on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one,
Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the
newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible." The also
say the "leadership team" will form a new studio that will support Halo and
"work on other MGS projects." Update:
GamesIndustry.biz has what is purported to be an internal email from
Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer to the MGS staff explaining the move,
and offering reassurances that in spite of whittling down to two internal
studios (Lionhead and Rare), Microsoft is still committed to first-party
game development. On the other hand, WildTangent CEO
Alex St John made a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, the former MS evangelist
and current MS naysayer says that this represents Microsoft Game Studios
entering a "cost recovery phase" where they will be concentrating less on
first-party development in an attempt to become profitable, saying Sony is in a
similar mode.
The
Hydrophobia Q&A on Three Speech chats with Pete Jones and Rob Hewson of
Blade Interactive about Hydrophobia, their upcoming waterlogged
survival/adventure game. The conversation offers some insight into the nature of
gameplay with quotes like this: "If this wall gives way and a stray bullet
shoots out that window, the water flow is dramatically altered. As such
branching in the levels becomes more a result of endlessly testing the
simulation in each area to cover every possible scenario than a cut and dry
level design decision."
The
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods Q&A on PC Games talks with Kevaad Abdool of Trine
Entertainment, the Indian company that turns out to be the developer of the
upcoming Forsaken Gods add-on for Gothic 3. Since the notorious
bugginess of Gothic 3 is probably the first thing that springs to mind when
discussing an expansion, here's an answer that directly addresses that issue:
"Gothic 3 was a great game, but it had the potentially [sic] to be much more.
Unfortunately it had technical issues which hindered its performance. Several
patches were released to help fix its various problems, but many of these lie
deep within the foundations of the game. We spent a lot of time making
improvements to the engine code trying to squeeze as much performance as we
could. We have also done some work on the character creation process. We
extended the artificial intelligence system to take into account more variables.
This gave us more control over how we want characters to behave."
The debut release of the
Fragging Free modification for DOOM 3 is now available. The mod actually
requires the DOOM 3: Resurrection Of Evil expansion, and the goal of the
project is to recreate the fast-paced style of gameplay found in earlier id
shooters.
Well our phone problem was cleared up yesterday, so thankfully this won't end up
being one of these protracted mysteries. A different technician came to check
things out, and thankfully he started from scratch, so he was not distracted by
the previous tech's misdiagnosis. It turns out that there was a short in one of
the phone wires in my office... the problem cleared up when I unplugged
everything from the jack, and when he asked me if I had a splitter plugged into
it I had to laugh, as this one jack has a three-way two-line splitter, which has
a two-way splitter plugged into it, as well as a couple of DSL line filters, and
of course, a whole bunch of wires. The silliest part of all this is that when I
figured out which wire it was, I traced it around to, well, nowhere, as it was
not even plugged into anything. D'oh!
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