The
Civilization V Podcasts Page offers a new podcast episode 5 about the upcoming turn-based strategy sequel titled All About the Engine. Word is: "Elizabeth talks with part of the team who created the new engine for the game. As you are probably aware, building an engine from scratch is not an easy task."
The
Interstellar Marines Website has an article called
The Sound of Running Man - Part Two, as Zero Point Software once again discusses the audio in their upcoming first-person shooter trilogy, and how they are attempting to use it to enhance its realism (part one was released
two weeks ago). They discuss the player's sounds, such as footsteps and breathing, saying that breath sounds have replaced the stamina bar in their HUD. They also touch on the game's bots, and how sounds play into their behavior. Finally, they offer some details on audio occlusion, which they have coded themselves, since it is not natively supported by the game's Unity engine. This is accompanied by a
trailer on the immersion of the game's mechanics and audio, showing comparisons to Modern Warfare 2. Thanks joao.
Cliff Harris tweets about a new patch for
Gratuitous Space Battles, Positech's space strategy game: "Patch 1.43 for GSB is now live. some minor fixes and tweaks, and 1 new weapon support module (Imperial shield support beam)."
The
THQ Online Store offers a big sale on a ton of games, offering 75% off on the
Company of Heroes series,
Red Faction games,
Dawn of War games, and more. Thanks
Joystiq.
The Official Ubisoft Online Store is now holding a Summer LOL sale, saying "turn your summer lull onto a summer LOL." They are offering 20%-67% off on a boatload of games.
Not to be outdone, the
EA Online Store is also offering a weekend sale on
Crysis and
Crysis Warhead, offering both shooters at 50% off. This sale ends July 18.
There's a Strategy First simulation sale on
GOG.com offering a sale on the following items:
Apache vs. Havoc,
Comanche vs. Hokum,
Darkstar One,
Pro Pinball Big Race USA,
Pro Pinball Fantastic Journey, and
Pro Pinball Timeshock. They also offer a discount on a bundle of all those games.
A couple of follow-ups have appeared to
Cliff Harris' recent comments about Epic Games.
Eurogamer points out
a tweet by Cliff Bleszinski saying: "I haven't spoken with Mark today, but I'd wager he thought the comment was silly that only indy devs reply or interact to customers." Also, a
tweet by Cliff Harris looks to put this all in the past: "I got a reply from Tim Sweeny [sic], which is kind of cool, and I hope just draws a line under it so everyone can just make games now :D"
Thanks
Ant.
Hellmode - The Inconsequential Game Over- Dying for a Change. Thanks Digg.
When I had to restart after being so close to the end of Super Mario Bros., it killed the game for me. Today, realizing I never beat the game, I wonder why it bothered me so much. For some reason, I felt entitled to a save feature and a restart, but it makes me wonder why restarts even exist in video games in the first place. After all, there are rarely second chances in any other forms of entertainment–nor are there any in real life. Yet in video games, it seems, we take them for granted and get disgruntled when they aren’t there.
ExtremeTech - The State of Windows 7 Gaming. Thanks Digg.
On the software side, Windows 7 has smoothed over a lot of rough edges. In addition, Microsoft's DirectX 11 has brought some interesting effects to the table. The biggest improvement is probably tessellation, which produces smoother curved surfaces by deploying increasing numbers of polygons. It can make floors and walls look truly three-dimensional, even when close-up. Other DirectX 11 features include multithreading, which increases frame rates on multicore GPU-equipped cards; transparency anti-aliasing for smoother, layered surfaces; and improved post-processing, for effects like heat distortion and depth-of-field focusing that are applied after an image is rendered.
'Arrested Development' Movie Is Definitely Happening, Say Will Arnett and Mitch Hurwitz. Thanks
Ant via
Digg. Good news, and hopefully the last word on this, as the constant back-and-fourth rumors have been exhausting.
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