Author Archive
Woes: EA+E3+LA = :(
I have spent the better part of this month scheduling, rearranging, tamping interviews for myself and the staff at this year’s E3. Due to the fact that the show is now spread out over the city of Santa Monica, squirreled away in a half-dozen or so hotels, on the pier, in a hanger, in restaurants, in a high school, at a studio, the process has not been a fun one.
So you can imagine my delight when I saw that Electronic Arts’ press conference, stuffed between SCEA’s press conference and Activision’s press conference, has magically moved from the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica (where Activision’s will be) to The Brentwood Theater in LA. And it wasn’t the magical that makes things delicious. More the magical that makes you ponder LA’s traffic and the fact that we will only have 15 minutes to somehow teleport ourselves from one presser to the next. Yes, this E3 is going to be a delight of long walks, high temperatures and impossible meeting times.
Clips: GTA IV Trailer
In theory, through the use of arcane arts and technology, this countdown should magically metamorphose into a living, breathing second trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV when it hits zero. Now if only some of the magic can be injected into Rockstar to force them to give us some substance in the vid this time around.
Update: The trailer is up, just not in embeddable form. Click on “Explore the world of Grand Theft Auto IV” to check out the video on Yahoo.
Day Note: I’m A Girl
To: Ash
From: Crecente
I am very much a child of the 70s. I was born in 1970 and quickly embraced the cultural output of my birth decade’s generation. That includes, of course, ABBA. I have, over the years, endured much ridicule for my penchant for ABBA music, but I’ve never let it get me down. Tonight, though, we went out to dinner and Dancing Queen came on over the restaurant’s speakers. My son starting mocking the song and my wife was quick to point out that I liked “that kind of music.” This apparently stunning revelation was met with a moment of open-mouthed silence followed by my 6-year-old looking me straight in the eyes and saying: “You’re a girl.” Ouch.
What you missed:
Best tag/photo combo ever.
Dy-no-mite!
Whoops
I’m so very happy!
Why do all of those medieval cottages have trailer home doors?
I may, very well, be playing this some more tonight.
Ugh, I ate way too much. Oh! Um… how to put this? So, turns out those rooms I booked for E3, the ones that all said double occupancy Queen room? Well turns out it’s double occupancy, SINGLE queen bed. Yeah, thank god I’m not rooming with Fahey. I hear he spoons…wait I’m rooming with Joel. Noooooooooooooo!
Hollywood: Brash Lands Deals With Five Studios
They may not yet have a game to their name, but Brash sure is lining up the film studios for future deals.
The recently announced development studio said today that they have inked “long term deals” with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios and Vanguard Animation, adding the quartet to the already unveiled relationship with Lions Gate Films.
So far all we’ve heard about from Brash concerns money and studio deals, I’ll be interested to see how things shape up once they have a game to show us. We all know that for the most part, games based on movies have plenty of room for improvement.
Death Match: QuakeCon Details Emerge
Maybe this is the year I should finally make my way to QuakeCon to check out all of the coolness going on in my old stomping grounds. (Texas, not Quake).
This year’s QuakeCon will be home to the first ever sanctioned tournament of upcoming shooter Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. It will also host a Quad Damage tourney that will see pro PC gamers playing against one another in all four Quake games.
More than 6,000 gamers are expected at the four-day event which takes place in Mesquite, Texas from Aug. 2 through Aug. 5. The total purse for this year’s QuakeCon will be $100,000, thanks to sponsor NVIDIA. Hit the jump for the press release.
ALL-NEW COMPETITIONS IN NVIDIA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT QUAKECON 2007
MESQUITE, Texas - June 26, 2007 - The NVIDIA Championships at QuakeCon 2007 will be ground zero for never-before-seen gaming competitions with the first sanctioned tournament of id Software’s new landmark game, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars; and the first ever “Quad Damage” tournament spanning all four QUAKE games. The tournaments will take place during the 12th annual QuakeCon which is being held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas from August 2-5. More than 6,000 gamers from around the world are expected to attend the four-day event. The total QuakeCon Championship Tournament purse will be $100,000, courtesy of title sponsor NVIDIA.
“This years QuakeCon is shaping up to be the best one yet,” said Roy Taylor, vice president of developer relations at NVIDIA. “With the first ever ‘Quad Damage’ tournament, more attendees than ever before and the best gaming hardware on display, QuakeCon 2007 is guaranteed to be the gaming event of the year!”
“For over 10 years gamers have debated who the best overall QUAKE player is, and this year we’re giving our competitors the chance to stake that claim in our world exclusive Quad Damage tournament,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “We’re also giving teams the chance to be crowned the first ever Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars champions, and thanks to NVIDIA’s $100,000 total prize purse, the competition will be more intense than ever.”
Following is the tournament line up:
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars makes its tournament debut at QuakeCon 2007. 32 teams will compete in the incredible battles between Earth’s Global Defense Force (GDF) and the invading alien Strogg. Each 6-person team will battle it out in a double-elimination bracket-style tournament, with each team having the opportunity to both attack and defend. With a focus on objective and class-based gameplay, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars will test each team’s ability to combine skill, strategy, and teamwork in tournament play like never before.
QUAKE Quad-Damage Tournament
This year brings a new twist to QuakeCon’s classic 1 vs. 1 competition with the inaugural Quad Damage Tournament. Spanning all four QUAKE games, this year’s champion will need to be a master of a variety of weapons, maps, and play-styles - from QUAKE’s lightening fast action and dominating rocket launcher, to the more strategic gameplay and precision weapons found in the later QUAKE games. 256 contestants will be divided into 4 man groups with each player battling the others in a set of round-robin 1 vs 1 matches. Two phases of round robin play will reduce the competition down to the top 32 players, who will then battle it out in a single-elimination, best of 3 bracket to determine who is truly the QUAKE Master.
More information, including map names, prize money distribution, detailed format and rules, and sign-ups for both tournaments will be available very shortly at www.quakecon.org.
Rumor: Soldier of Fortune 3 Revealed
Holy CRAP!
Rumor has it, and right now it seems to be nothing more, that Activision is preparing to publish Soldier of Fortune III: Payback. Worthwhile reports, without any attribution, that the game will be coming to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this November. They don’t know if Raven Soft will still be at the development reins, which is sort of like saying they don’t know if it’s going to really be a sequel.
If you were to combine every shooter I’ve played in my life (and that’s just about all of them) and tallied up the amount of time I spent playing them, it would probably equal the amount of sleepless nights I spent playing Solider of Fortune II: Double Helix. I absolutely loved that game, from the GHOUL damage modeling that allowed you to blow off limbs and slowdown attacks with shots to the knees, to the map design and weapon load-outs, Double Helix was in many ways, the perfect shooter for me. That isn’t to say it wasn’t without its problems. But when you’re in love it’s easy to overlook the minor things.
If it’s true, I’m sure all will be revealed at E3. I have emailed both Raven Soft and Activision seeking comment, but no word as of yet.
Soldier of Fourtune III Revealed [Worthplaying]
Impressions: Resident Evil 4 Wii
I know we already did a Frankenreview on this game last week, but I just got a chance to sit down and play the game myself last night.
I was delighted to find that the game not only manages to pack a fairly respectable punch with the graphics, but that the Wii controls go a long way to make my return to a game I haven’t played since 2005 enjoyable.
I know some people have complained about the shooting in the game, but I found it both intuitive and immersive. The aiming seems spot on, and while having to pull the trigger and then tap a button to shoot takes a bit of getting used to, it quickly starts to feel natural.
The most surprising them to me was how it changed the way I play the game. If I recall, back when I played it on GameCube, I almost never relied on the knife or melee attacks, opting to always shoot the bad guys and then run when I was out of ammo. But the fact that you can deliver a knife hit with a flick of the wrist, makes it both more fun and seemingly easier to use. Because of that, I ended up relying less on my gun and being able to better conserve my ammo, something vital in the game.
There are also some other interesting uses of the motion controls, like shaking the remote back and forth quickly to run, which does a good job of getting you amped up in those scenes when you’re running from stuff.
Overall, I’d say that the lowish price tag ($30), zesty combination of GameCube graphics and PS2 aspect ratio and addition of motion controls makes this a worthy addition to your Resident Evil or Wii library.
Clips: Quake Wars Vehicular Onslaught Gameplay
Its like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, but set in a Quake world. Yeah, I realize you probably already figured that out and frankly, all most of us wanted was another Enemy Territory, so this will fit the bill quite nicely.
Day Note: E3 Booking
To: Ash
From: Crecente
Good lord, this booking stuff is taking forever. Now, not only do I have to figure out who is covering what for us, but I have to figure out what hotel it is in and where it is feasible for them to be going to and from before that particular event. To make matters worse companies are spreading themselves all over the place from multiple suites at a hotel to one company (which will remain unnamed) that has three locations and more than a dozen things to schedule for. Sheesh. I think I’m almost done now, so thats good. Should be a pretty packed show. Only two week away too, how time flies.
What you missed:
I really dig Warmonger
Modder gets arrested
Fahey was a bit disappointed in Band of Bugs
The Burning Seas appearing at E3
This Nancy Drew video review from Fahey is HI-larious
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be heading out to meet with some Sony Online Entertainment folks. Still need to do my NetDevil feature, E3 planning keeps getting in the way. Off to eat more tacos. Yes, two days in a row!
Clips: Crash of the Titans Gameplay Montage
For some reason I never really got into Crash Bandicoot. I loved the old commercials for the game, but the game itself was sort of lost on me. This latest installment though seems to have a very Ratchet and Clank feel to it, which is a good thing.
Day Note: Car Toys
To: Ash
From: Crecente
I splurged over the weekend and bought a in-dash GPS, Sirius, DVD, CD, iPod radio for the van. I like gadgets, what can I say. I went to this place called Car Toys figuring that since that is all they do, they’d do a great job with the install. Boy was I wrong. After taking seven hours instead of three to install it I got it back only to discover that the only thing that worked was the radio and GPS. Another trip and a bit of yelling got almost everything fixed. Yeah, that was a weekend well spent.
What you missed:
ESRB’s getting uppity
Thief, Hitman, Bloodrayne coming to GameTap
Only 150 people got this E3 event invite
I really need to play EVE
Look, I played with LEGOs
The site’s backend was down for several hours today, meaning we were a little lighter than usually on updates. So I pushed back my NetDevil feature and Warmonger impressions till tomorrow. E3 is only 15 or so days away. Can’t… Wait!
Clips: The Making of Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword still has great potential and this making of vid for the game shows why. I like the emphasis on the facial animation and how it helps to better convey the story of the game. That and at some point it looks like there maybe a big as medieval pump-action shotgun in the game. HOT!
Lego: NetDevil Swag Bag
Net Devil was giving away these cool swag bags at their anniversary party Friday night. It included an asset CD, a little paper bag and these cool Net Devil LEGO sets. It also included a neat T-shirt, which I promptly lost. I noticed some women at the party walking around with LEGO roses as well. Very cool.
Gallery: More Jumpgate Evolution Screens
I think Jumpgate has to be one of the longest running MMOs around. The game has been playable since 1997, which is damn impressive. From what I saw of the remake, it looks like it could be lots of fun. I particularly like how it seems to have this Wing Commander vibe. After they unveiled Jumpgate Evolutions on Friday and announced they were going to have a beta, I asked one of the developers when he thought the beta would go live. He was hesitant to talk specifics but said it would be as soon as they could make it happen. Hit the jump for the release.
Leading MMO developer revitalizes franchise with exciting new game play, advanced AI engine, and complete graphics overhaul
LOUISVILLE, CO - June 25, 2007 - NetDevil, an independent game company and leading developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today announced Jumpgate Evolution as the latest iteration of the company’s original IP. Jumpgate Evolution is a substantial update to the previous Jumpgate™ MMO released in 2001, which was the world’s first massively multiplayer space combat game. Staying true to its early vision, NetDevil has improved upon the original in every way, with a complete graphics update, and the integration of advanced AI features to ensure unpredictable and compelling situations. The enhanced game play makes the game accessible to the widest possible range of users, while catering to the games’ existing and loyal fan base.
“Jumpgate Evolution offers fun, intuitive game play that is thoroughly engrossing, while the new AI encourages players to immerse themselves in various roles available in the universe,” said Scott Brown, President of NetDevil. “The game has undergone a complete graphics overhaul and has been vastly expanded to offer more weapons, and greater focus on PvE targets, making roles more refined in the process. Advanced social aspects of the MMO are available as well, including player-owned stations, complete with controllable economy, updated player statistics and rankings, and the ability for players to create squads with customizable web pages for each. The overall experience is a vital improvement in terms of playability, accessibility, as well as the overall look and feel. We think it’s a great example of just how far you can transform an existing IP.”
Jumpgate Evolution features:
• New rendering engine scaling from fixed function to pixel shaders for maximum market reach.
• Engaging and responsive AI, creating the feeling of a living, changing universe.
• Several new missions across multiple types including: combat, patrols, mining, and delivery.
• A real supply and demand economy - responsive to player trading activity.
• Engaging PvP system with factional peace and war rating, significantly affecting game dynamics.
• New user interface to make the game more engaging and accessible.
Hermann Peterscheck, lead producer on Jumpgate Evolution, added: “We saw a unique opportunity to expand the existing IP and integrate vast technical and game play improvements to breathe new life into the game. AI controlled cargo haulers can now respond to station supply requests and pirates can actively plunder these ships while being hunted by computer controlled defenders. All these interactions create a series of unpredictable episodes so that players stay completely engaged, immersed, and entertained.”
Peripherals To Rock With: Rock Band’s Drumkit and Microphone
You’ve seen Rock Band’s Stratocaster, but that’s just a neat looking faux guitar. This drumkit looks amazing. I especially like how it comes with what looks to be a collapsible stand and includes four drum pads and a foot pedal. Heck, even that stainless steel microphone looks sexy. I wonder if it will ship with a stand for those guitar/singer people out there.
Eds Note: Keep in mind that Harmonix hasn’t finalized these mic/drums designs, and that these are prototypes. The guitar, however, is final.
Rock Band DRUMS! [TV.com, thanks everyone for the tips]
Exclusive: The LEGO Universe Trailer
I’m hanging out at the NetDevil offices and was lucky enough to get my hands on this copy of their trailer for the upcoming LEGO mmo. Keep in mind, this is just a concept, but it’s a damn cool concept. More to come, plus, I think, a LiveBlog tonight in about an hour or so.
Top: LiveBlogging NetDevil
Sitting in an office at NetDevil where they’re about to walk us through what is going with all of their projects.
First up: Warmonger, then LEGO Universe and Jumpgate Evolution. Hit the jump to follow along.
Warmonger, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, is a PC first-person shooter that uses the Agea PhysX engine.
NetDevil went to the company and said they wanted to make a game for them that would feature totally, really totally destructible environments. The game is pretty far along, they actually have an 8-player tourney running right now.
The game lets you do things like blow up stairs, while people are walking up them, take down walls, destroy entire buildings.
Initially the game allowed you to literally destroy everything, but they soon discovered that after you destroy everything you’re essentially playing on a pool table.
So they had to temper their design to balance the level of destruction with gameplay. You can, for instance, blow a hole in a wall and then go through it to surprise someone. It’s really different, they, because it’s dynamic and procedural, so it’s different every time.
Next up, LEGO Universe.
Ryan Seabury, the game’s producer, is about to show us something its a power point presentation called Everything you want to know about the LEGO Universe… will be revealed someday.
“This is the first MMOG professionally developed or LEGO fans and supported by community members from around the world.”
It is a full-featured MMOG. It isn’t just an online world, a social experience, there will be feature full game features. It will be child safe. It will allow you to customize your mini-figure. “We want you to express your identity through the mini-figure.” The game will be “for kids of all ages.”
“A good game is also a good game for all ages.”
If you are a fan, NetDevil wants you to go to www.legouniverse.com to try and get involved in the process by sending in your ideas.
Now, they’re showing off a short little trailer…oh, it’s the one you’ve all seen, if you’ve been reading the site. Sweet, we got it up before it was presented at the unveiling.
The video got HUGE reaction, especially the Darkling Battle at the end. Poor mini-fig.
Ah, they’re showing one more trailer. It shows a basic waterfall made of bricks, though the water looks incredibly realistic. It’s a nice blending of LEGO and high-res graphics.
Now they’re showing off the art process. They’re showing the different stages of concept art, how they turn something that might be in any game, into something that has been LEGO-ized and then finally into something that appears to be made of in-game art. Pretty amazing end result.
“This is going to be the best MMOG ever,” Seabury said, to laughter… “I’m not kidding. I think this is going to be something that makes a big dent in… my intention is that this is a game that will make a big impact on global pop culture.”
And that’s it for LEGO Universe, on to JumpGate.
Jumpgate was NetDevil’s first ever game, ten years ago. It was a space fight MMO. And now they’re reinventing it and man it looks amazing.
They just announced that they’ve gone live on their website with a beta sign-up for Jumpgate Evolution. The site literally just went up now.
Hermann, producer of the Jumpgate project is up now.
The game has a team of eight working on it and they’ve been developing for about ten months so far.
The first thing we’re looking at is the station where you start the game. It’s also where you can buy things, repair and upgrade your ship. The ship just launched into space. Amazing. The game’s version of space is a beautiful, multi-hued thing, a far cry from the black space of the original game.
AI can control other ships, which don’t just appear, they actually launch out of station tubes like you do. The game also has transports. In the original game there was a living, breathing economy, the remake will have one too, but the AI will play a role in keeping the economy moving.
OOOOOH, you can be a space pirate.
The game includes these really cool looking Jumpgates. They sort of looklike floating balls of water. As you come out of the gate, it looks like you’re looking up through water.
The game has these floating asteroids which you can mine for minerals. They asteroids can actually be mined out, but over time they will rebuild. You can also find these special asteroids which have really hard to find resources.
There are also rare hidden artifacts hidden throughout the universe. The game will also support player-owned stations which you can customize by attaching modules.
The game has an amazing sense of scale, planets, moons, asteroids, stars all loom or hover in the distance. The ship looks very zippy, but not too zippy. The stations themselves are incredibly detailed, you can see little hull lights.
Hermann said the game won’t require a high-end system. You won’t even need a shader card to play the game.
The game is currently being played in third-person, but there is also a first-person view, but no cockpit view… yet. It will also support both mouse/keyboard and joystick controls.
No ship date yet. Oh, if you want to sign up for the beta head to: www.netdevil.com.
That’s it, time to go get my ass handed to me in Warmonger.
Netdevil: LEGO MMO Details Tonight… Maybe
I’m off to NetDevil, driving up to Lousiville, near Boulder, to meet with the guys at their new studio tonight. Besides a chance to talk with the founders and the dev team leaders behind the LEGO MMO, Warmonger and Jumpgate, I believe they may also have some announcements and even some game assets to show off.
Keep your fingers crossed that it’s for the LEGO game. I’ll be tying to Liveblog, if it makes sense, around 5 p.m. Mountain Time. So check back to see if there were any live announcements made.
Hands-On: Manhunt 2 Impressions
I come from a background as a police reporter, so I’m very jaded and it’s hard for me to believe in coincidences. Take for instance the coincidence that the day Take-Two revealed the Adults Only rating Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 was likely to get, happened to be a day that the developer was doing press impressions for the game in their New York offices.
Or the fact that now, during the slowest period of the summer and just after the AO rating appeared, GameSpot has posted their impressions of the game, writing , among other things, that Manhunt 2 would lose a lot of its dark story if it was reworked to be less brutal.
Coincidence?
Hit the jump for a run down of the non-political things GameSpot said about the game.
From GameSpot’s impressions it sounds like the game is very much a sequel to the original Manhunt, in that it is meant to be something just shy of an interactive snuff film. The developers, it sounds like, were hoping to capture the same look and feel as movies like Hostel and Saw.
…downstairs things become even more extreme, with the human experimentation and torture looking like something out of the movie Hostel. However, there are environmental kills aplenty, with wire cutters and electricity offering some particularly gruesome opportunities to take out the torturers.
Personally, I think the most likely candidate for the cutting-room floor are the sex club and brothel levels. Sex and violence are often what trigger a censors Pavlovian response. But what about those Wii motions controls, how do they work?
The basic system was laid out on the controller pretty much how you’d expect. Melee combat is performed by waving the remote left and right. The big hook to the action is the way the controller is used during the various kills. You’ll now have to actively follow onscreen motions that approximate your actions. Throwing a chair? Hold the Wii Remote and analog stick as if you’ve got the chair in your hands and move it accordingly. Stabbing someone? Jab that Wii Remote. The kills we saw typically involved three steps that varied according to the level of the kill. In addition, the minigame for hiding in the shadows requires you to follow onscreen prompts in order to stay unseen. The system is a cool use of the controller and gives the game a good, unsettling feel that works well with its story.
Sounds like a pretty neat idea, though I wish they would have touched on how responsive the controls were and if they made the game feel more gimmicky than the PS2 version.
GameSpot wrap up their preview by pointing out that plenty of movies have tread the same ground without the same repercussions, lending more credence to what the head of the ESRB told me about the impact interaction has on a game’s rating. When I had a chance to see the game in action it was more about the interface and look than the plot, so it’s nice to see that the game has an involved story as well as the other aspects of a horror/thriller movie.
The full impressions are definitely worth a read, if for no other reason than to be better informed on this particular debate about the ratings system.
Manhunt 2 Hands-On Preview [GameSpot]
Clips: Mushroom Men Trailer
Wow, is this actual gameplay? If it is it looks like it has got some amazing potential. I love the idea of a super slow hero. That could really change the way your play a game.
