Neverwinter Nights Podcast Episode 86 has hopeful news for fans of D&D-based
role-playing, as Atari Europe's John Mamais and Raphaël Boyon reveal they are in
discussions for another
Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion pack that they are
"pretty sure" will happen. The other participant in these discussions is not
revealed, though Obsidian seems like logical guess. To get your D20 rolling even
more, they also touch on the possibilities of a
Baldur's Gate III, though
nothing concrete about plans for a next installment in that RPG series is
offered. Thanks
GameBanshee.
Joystiq reports receiving a confirmation of
the report that 30
employees have been laid off at
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.
You'll have to put on your spin-foil hat to protect against the explanation: "We
have increased the focus on the Tomb Raider franchise at Crystal Dynamics,
regrettably this has resulted in the reduction in headcount." On related news,
Times Online reports Eidos is considering revamping the Tomb Raider
franchise after being disappointed in
Tomb Raider Underworld sales
(thanks
Develop), and that they are considering making the Lara Croft character more
appealing to females (since if they tried to make her any more appealing to
males, she wouldn't be able to stand up).
Baldur's Gate
Memories Part 2 on RPG Vault
Continues their retrospective on Bioware's
lauded role-playing game by getting memories about the project from James Ohlen,
its lead designer.
Ask Cryptic on the Champions Online Official Site
Another installment in this series answers a number of new questions about
the mechanics of Cryptic's upcoming superhero MMORPG.
Stalin vs. Martians
interview on gry.o2.pl
A bilingual chat with Alexander Shcherbakov of Dreamlore Games about this
strategy game that he has a tough time categorizing: "The easiest (but not
the most accurate) way to describe what's happening is 'arcade RTS'. Or, if
you will, 'insane RTS' or even 'RTS on drugs' (we don't mean it literally, I
don't even smoke cigarettes anymore)."
Grotesque: Heroes Hunted
interview on gry.o2.pl
Rayk Kerstan of Silent Dreams sits down for another bilingual Q&A about
another game that's hard to pigeonhole: "We are going to develop a new kind
of RPG genre - SRPG. The 'S' means 'social' and 'story' (perhaps also
'special' ;)). In new games the story is mostly too hidden and non reachable
for the player. This is very sad and for us it is a very important part of
our game."
Interview with Steven Peeler from Soldak on GDN and
Kivi’s Underworld interview on Tea Leaves
Two Q&As with Kivi's Underworld developer Soldak Entertainment, the first
more general about Kivi's and Depths of Peril, and the second more focused
on Mac game development.
The Count of Clay
on
Edge Online
Talks with Squashy Software's Anthony Flack about Cletus Clay and his choice
of stop-motion claymation over CG graphics in game design.
NPD Study Stresses Importance of Kids to Game Industry
on GameDaily
NPD on the significance of the often overlooked 9-14 demographic.
WoW Celebrities- An
Interview with NFL Punter Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe on Ten Ton Hammer.
An Interview with LittleBigPlanet’s Leading User-Content Creator
on Gameplayer.
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