Archived News:
How AI in Games Works
on bit-tech.net is an article helping the layman better understand good
Artificial Intelligence. Ever had an NPC run into a wall or shoot you in the
back? Of course you have, so you already understand Artificial Stupidity. The
article looks at the tech behind recent releases Empire: Total War and F.E.A.R.
2: Project Origin to help understand the alternative.
PC Games Hardware has video showing new PhysX effects being created for
Sacred 2, showing the new goodies. Word is: "Good news for all Geforce users:
According to Nvidia Sacred 2 will run much smoother, even when the additional
effects are activated."
The ARMA 2 Official Website has a new faction
video from Bohemia Interactive Studios' upcoming military shooter sequel,
profiling the Russians. Word is: "Russian Armed Forces consists of highly
experienced, professional soldiers, equipped with modern weaponry and
technology. This combination together with almost limitless resources makes the
Russian Army a deadly opponent and quite possibly the strongest military
presence in the Chernarus region. Explore the drills, the state of the art
warfare equipment and enormous offensive potential of one of the most powerful
armies on Earth. Is such a limitless power the final deciding factor for a small
country chained to the threat of an upcoming civil war?"
- Star Wars: The Old Republic on
the Official Blog.
"Creating the Polluted World of Hutta."
Dejobaan Games announces a half-off sale
for The Wonderful End of
the World, offering a $9.99 price for the game they call "A joyous trek
around the Earth to gather everything you can before it's eaten by a giant fish
head." They are looking to raise capital to help fund development of
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A
Reckless Disregard for Gravity the base-jumping game they
announced earlier this year. Word is: "Dejobaan now plans to use the proceeds
from Wonderful to fund development of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, due out in
Q3 2009. While the new title has generated the most buzz of any of their games,
most gamers' comments demanded that they update the aesthetics to somewhere
post-1997. The studio therefore intends to split Wonderful's sales evenly
between graphics, gameplay, and grande espressos." A playable demo for The
Wonderful End of the World is available.
Kotaku notes that Electronic Arts has
applied to trademark "Visceral Games", suggesting this will be a new label
or studio, though their plans for Visceral are unclear. Also unclear is the
purpose of
this
trademark application by Crytek for "Warface" (including a logo) that's
noted on
Destructoid by way of
superannuation.
Presumably we'll learn more in good time, but meanwhile feel free to speculate
wildly.
Development of I Am Alive has been pulled away from French developer
Darkworks and the survival game will be completed by Ubisoft Shanghai, the
internal studio that has collaborated with Darkworks on the title over the past
couple of years. This seems related to the game's recently announced
delay to 2010, as the move is being made "in order to respect the new launch date for
this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations." Ubisoft is
nonetheless complementary towards the developer: "The team at Darkworks has
respected its contractual obligations on the project and will be a part of the
success of the game when it launches." Thanks
GamesIndustry.biz.
UK paper
The Guardian has an interesting article on the gold farming business in
China, which they estimate to be up to a £700m a year industry employing some
400,000 Asian workers to generate and sell currency for MMORPGs. The article
describes working conditions that range from livable to pretty dire, and the
reasons gold farming has become a major industry. They also examine the
motivations of the players who purchase virtual currency from such sources. The
article concludes by touching on the obvious question of whether an industry
based on paying for goods to be used in a video game is equipped to cope with
the current tough economic climate. Thanks Ant and
Boing
Boing.
GamesIndustry.biz has word that LucasArts has renewed its deal with
Activision to distribute games in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia. The
article notes that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the best-selling
Star Wars title of all time, in spite of
mediocre reviews. The next game to be released through this partnership will
be Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, due this June.
There's a
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X interview on Student Life talking with Shane Bierwith
about the upcoming aerial combat game. The conversation covers the game's more
accessible approach than a full flight simulator, but they also discuss ways of
achieving a more realistic experience: "There are also settings in the game
where you can switch...to expert mode, and it’s more of a realistic,
simulator-type experience. I’m not going to say that this is a flight simulator,
because that’s not what it is, but if you use a flight stick, if you change the
settings to expert mode [and] if you play in the cockpit, all these different
elements will definitely give you more of a simulation experience. We don’t want
to count out the hard-core guys, because I think they’d love this game as much
as newcomers would." Thanks Chris.
CNET - Why
video game developer acquisitions scare me?
"If we consider Hollywood -- the model to which the video game industry is
always compared -- it doesn't take long before we realize that it's
dominated by a handful of studios that effectively control a large
percentage of the industry, while the independent studios are left trying to
defy the percentages and get their innovative and artistic films to the
masses. Since most fail, it's the big studios that enjoy profits as the
independents try to find some way to stay alive."
Edge Online - Why China, Brazil, and Poland Matter.
"Emerging market countries like China, Brazil, and Poland, with large,
expanding populations, are slowly accelerating the development of their
broadband Internet infrastructure. As Internet-access technology becomes
more readily available, so too will the opportunities for online media
production, particularly highly-accessible, browser-based casual games."
I'm sure I don't have to tell most of you The Watchmen movie opens today,
and I am quite eager to see it. I probably won't go today, though, as I have
plans this evening, so it will be a bad day to steal a couple of hours for a
movie trip too. I'll do my best to catch it over the weekend, though, and
there's even a chance that MrsBlue will overcome her hatred of movie theaters to
attend with me.
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