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Archived News:
Computer and Video Games quotes Blizzard's Mike Ryder on the company's PC commitment. "Its [sic] certainly not written off by us. PC development has a number of unique challenges that console developers don't face, but Blizzard is one of the few companies that is there making great PC games," he said, admitting that console development would be easier. "We've spent a lot of time in development focussing on scalablity, on new PC hardware and old. If you were just designing for a console it would be a much easier task." Thanks joao.
Glen Schofield's Twitter Feed has further indications Sledgehammer Games is working on one of the three upcoming installments in the Call of Duty series of military shooters. This tweet and this one both have recent mentions of Call of Duty, and this tweet reflects on game content, saying: "Working w/ military guys- their stories will blow you away. Names/locations will change but some situations going in the game- real stuff!" Thanks IndustryGamers.
Dave Perry on How Gaikai Changes the Games Business has reflections from the Gaikai founder on the upcoming launch of this streaming games service. He also levels criticism at competing service OnLive for not having enough servers: "Speaking of servers, Perry really trash talked the competition in this regard. He said OnLive is trying to serve the entire U.S. with just three data centers, which he says is impossible. He added that Gaikai is going to launch in about 60 days with 15 servers and he's aiming to get to 50 servers in the U.S. With the backing of Intel, Limelight and Triplepoint Capital, he has no worries about hitting that goal either. He boasted, 'We can build the biggest network in the world'." Thanks IndustryGamers.
Though it's not reflected on the Alganon Website, word on Massively is that Quest Online's MMORPG is making the full switch to the free-to-play business model. They say the switch will happen on Friday, explaining: "The client will be free to download and play indefinitely, with no time limits. There will be certain restrictions on new accounts, with a lowered level cap and ability cap that can be ameliorated via microtransactions."
A post on superannuation notes several new gaming trademarks, including Double Fine's trademark for Costume Quest, a report which is fleshed out on UGO, where they discuss this as the first of Double Fine's promised downloadable titles. There's also a new LucasArts TM for Bounty Hunter and a couple of gambling-related TMs from PopCap for Plants Vs. Zombies and Zuma. They also note a huge number of new domains registered by PopCap.
DreamCatcher & JoWooD Entertainment announce plans for global distribution of two adventure games from HMH Interactive. They announce that gamers outside of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will be able to play BOOK OF UNWRITTEN TALES in Winter 2010, saying this will be "THE adventure release of 2010," and that: "A big emphasis will be put on rendering homage to the great books and movies of the role game and fantasy genre. Therefore JoWooD will hire the best translators and Voice Actors so that the great quality of the animated dialogues is assured. More than 40 characters will wittily interact so that the gamer can solve more than 150 challenging riddles in more than 60 lovingly created settings." They also announce distribution plans for HAUNTED, the latest adventure game from Deck 13. Word is: "HAUNTED takes the gamer along with the main character Mary, who finds herself all alone on the mysterious streets of London during the 19th Century after her sister’s death. But she soon realizes she is not as lonesome as she thought when she hears her sister’s voice asking her for help. In the course of the game, Mary is also joined by supernatural attendants as ghosts come to support her… - needless to say that the gamer will encounter the typical Deck 13 humor."
GOG.com now offers Raptor: Call of the Shadows 2010 Edition, an update of the 2D vertical shooter. Word is: "Some of you may remember it as the bonus shareware game you got with your old, boxed copy of Duke Nukem 3D, ages ago. You may also remember the fast-paced action, pulse-pounding music and having an aching trigger-finger after you finally let yourself take a break from blowing pretty much everything that wasn't your high-tech, customizable fighter. Aside from being one of the best games of its kind, Raptor is also the perfect way to unwind, let your brain take a break and your instincts take over."
Steam now offers the Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition, an updated version of the offbeat strategy game for PC and Mac. The new version has updated and expanded content including 20 new Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud support, and the interactive "Zombatar."
An automatic update is now available on Steam for Moonbase Alpha, NASA's freeware space simulation. The new version includes a bunch of bug fixes, as outlined below. Continue here to read the full story.
The Rise of Flight Website now offers a new patch for Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War, updating the World War I combat flight simulator to version 1.014. The new version adds new shadow options for NVIDIA graphics cards, new low-end shader settings, FPS limitation options, a new wingman command GUI, and more.
A new "manifesto" trailer from Guild Wars 2 features the ArenaNet team explaining how MMOG lovers and haters alike should check out their upcoming MMORPG sequel, also showing off some fairly epic footage. They discuss the game's art style, its absence of repetition and grinding, how they are not building the same MMOG as all the others, and how everything in the game is centered around the player. The embedded version of this clip follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Sony Online Entertainment announces that Clone Wars Adventures will launch on September 15, with the subscription-free MMORPG to tie in with the September 17 season three premiere of the Star Wars animated series it is based upon. Here's word on the game: "The ultimate virtual destination for a new generation of Star Wars fans, Clone Wars Adventures is an action-packed virtual world where players can go online to experience fun minigames, daily activities, events, rewards, lively social environments and competition. Clone Wars Adventures lets players duel iconic adversaries with their own custom lightsaber, speed through the galaxy in a custom starfighter, defeat enemies and take down starships."
With Victoria 2 gold and nearing release, a playable demo is now available for the 19th century grand strategy sequel. Here's the content of the demo's read me: "The Victoria 2 demo features 15 years of game play as the USA. Your manifest destiny awaits you. The demo covers colonisation, the borders between the USA, Mexico and Great Britain are not yet final, use your national focus and troops to solidify your claims. Diplomacy, Texas battles for freedom against the Mexicans do you join in on the side of Texas and hope the state will decide to join the Union? Then you have your manifest destiny to claim, research Romanticism to unlock the decision and prepare to battle for a border between sea and shinning sea." The 356 MB download can be found on AtomicGamer, FanGaming, and Gamer's Hell.
The promised playable demo for Mafia II is now available, with the Windows sample of the open-world action sequel provided by Steam. Here's word from the Mafia II Demo page that sets the story for what to expect: "Vito has started to make a name for himself on the streets of Empire Bay, someone who can be trusted to get a job done. In this hot leaded playable demo, you and Joe get one of your first serious assignments, to deal with a chump that isn't playing ball the way the Mob likes it." Update: A post to our forums has a tip on how to hax0r the demo for unlimited free-roaming, overcoming its inherent 10 minute limit.
HEAT Online announces open beta testing of this North American-exclusive racing MMOG is set to begin next week on August 17, offering the only North American edition of Level-R. Leading up to this, publisher Innologin want it clear that this version of Level R is licensed for North America only, and "there is absolutely no connection between us and any other (past or present) publisher of this game." The beta is actually open-ish, as it will only accommodate 1000 players, but it will only run a week, and the game will be free-to-play after that, and will not even require any sort of registration (though registration will be required to retain items and progression). For racing gamers, they also answer the key question of whether this is an arcade game or a simulation: "Since many player [sic] have already tried one or more other versions of Level-R we know that the biggest question is whether there will be simulation handling in HEAT Online. Our philosophy is pretty straightforward on this subject. The Invictus engine offers us a brilliant physics system and a really easy ‘arcade’ support. We have decided to use only arcade mode because it is easy to learn and hard to master, while simulation handling is hard to learn and even harder to master. Our opinion is that HEAT Online with arcade setup is far more realistic than most of the arcade racing games out there, including the most recent big shots."
THQ's Danny Bilson talks with Computer and Video Games in part two of an interview ( part one is here) discussing, among other things, Homefront, their upcoming military shooter. Along the way he expresses concerns about the approach of EA to such projects, revealing plans for a cancelled game based on the Iraq War (thanks Strategy Informer) they were developing while he was there: "There have been games, and we won't mention them today, that were really irresponsible - glorifying parts of, let's say, 'contractors' in the military to a place that I thought was kind of inappropriate. It's something I'm personally involved in and personally sensitive to. Also, we're a global business! I mean ghee whiz! When I worked at my former company [EA], I had to go to the UK in the middle of the Iraq war and try to talk to them about a game that we never wound up finishing - it was well built up - that was that stuff, right? Remember, even in America you're split 50/50 on this stuff."
GameInformer.com has details on an especially well-hidden Easter egg in Batman: Arkham Asylum, showing the location of an Arkham City map that seems almost impossible to find without help. This is background to a preview of Batman: Arkham City. Also, VG247 points the way to a new Batman Arkham City Fan Page with "leaked" information purportedly from that print preview, basically outlining the game's story.
The Bethesda Blog takes us to the BRINK with the BRINK video developer diary #1, titled "The Last Stand," which lays the groundwork for the apocalyptic setting of Splash Damage's upcoming shooter. They explain the nature of the game's Ark and the ambiguity that allows players on both sides of the game's internal conflict to feel that they are the "good guys."
A story on USATODAY.com outlines how Obsidian is rolling the dice on some high-profile voice talent for Fallout: New Vegas. their upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG sequel. Voice actors in the game include Wayne Newton, Matthew Perry, Zachary Levi, Ron Perlman, Felicia Day, Danny Trejo, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Dorn, and more. They also have an interview with Wayne Newton about his participation in this project. Thanks Eurogamer.
The Valve Company Publications Page now offers output from Valve's attendance at Siggraph 2010. There are slides from a presentation called "Water Flow in Portal 2" from a seminar on "Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics." From earlier in the year they also offer Game Developer's Conference presentations on "Rendering Wounds in Left 4 Dead 2" and "Shading a Bigger, Better Sequel: Techniques in Left 4 Dead 2." Thanks elvis.
Steam now offers a new automatic patch for Commander: Conquest of the Americas to update the naval strategy game to version 1.03. The new version includes bug fixes, balance changes, and new features, all outlined below. Continue here to read the full story.
Game Theory - Today’s Industry: Has Anything Changed?
Not that these outfits or popular franchises ranging from Call of Duty to Assassin’s Creed will go the way of the dodo anytime soon, just like retail boxed products as a whole. (People still love the feel of physical products, and the lure of familiar franchises when disposable cash is too tight to risk on unknown series can’t be understated.) But as today’s most savvy business leaders know, the hottest action in gaming and most innovative industry developments are actually happening outside the shelves of your local GameStop. Not to mention, of course, increasingly being dominated by a mixture of venture-funded start-ups, scrappy indies and resourceful garage developers, who are quickly flipping the traditional game publishing model on its head, and running circles around larger corporations as a result.
LGRNexus.com - Whatever Happened to the Puzzle Genre?
Is it wrong to enjoy a video game that doesn't rely on graphics, but on a solid story that requires mental aptitude to puzzle out? Is it wrong to be disgusted at franchises that pump out the same title year after year, yet deliver only a few superficial changes in each rendition? Is anyone else as angry as I am that all the big titles in console games these days are First Person Shooters? As you can see, I am one seriously disgruntled consumer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Call of Duty as much as the next guy, but the same type game gets old fast.
BitMob - Complexity Is Killing the Japanese RPG.
Modern-day JRPGs have evolved to become more complex and engaging, but in slightly altered ways. Instead of challenging the player to overcome obstacles using basic rules, gameplay has morphed to force the player to utilize complex mechanisms to achieve straightforward tasks. The player doesn't have to think more; they just have to do more. I acknowledge that things cannot remain stagnant in order for the genre to progress, and it should come from quality, not quantity.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops on IGN. "Five Awesome Additions to Multiplayer." Thanks Joker961.
Thanks Acleacius and Ant.
Getting back into the swing here after a hectic week last week. Not to belabor the point, but I just wanted to thank everyone once again for their sympathy and patience over this time, as it is greatly appreciated. Also, sorry for failing to mention 08/09/10, especially since the next such date in US notation will be the eve of a somber anniversary.
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