Thursday, August 31, 2006

Assassin's Creed Confirmed for PC

"UPDATE: Ubisoft representative Michael Beadle issued this statement to 1UP this morning regarding Assassin's Creed on the PC: "Assassin's Creed PC will indeed see the light some day. Details will be provided at a later date." What does this mean for the long-discussed Assassin's Creed on 360 business? It probably isn't bad news, but nothing to announce just yet.

ORIGINAL STORY: Ubisoft still won't confirm the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed is coming to Xbox 360 (timed exclusive or not) despite all indications it's on the way, but we're one step closer to, well, something as Computer & Video Games says the latest issue of PC Gamer UK contains a first-look preview at the PC version."
-Patrick Klepek, 08/30/2006, 1up.com

Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express Beta

Microsoft has released the XNA Game Studio Express Beta, available for an open download. Everything that encourages independent development is good, even though it's supposed to advertise Microsofts own services.
"In the future -- we don't have a specific time frame -- we envision investing in the infrastructure to create a friction-free distribution environment very similar to what you see with YouTube. You've got these really cheap accessible tools, now wouldn't it be really cool if you had a way to share this stuff with people online, potentially sell it in time to people online, and what if we, Microsoft, created the platform and the distribution mechanism as a part of the Xbox Live service so you could do that. So our vision and our ambition is to actually create a community-powered arcade."
-Scott Henson, Director of the Game Development Group at Microsoft
XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily create video games using new, optimized cross-platform gaming libraries for Windows and Xbox 360. This beta release targets the development of games for Windows. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season and will enable development of games which target Windows and upon purchase of a XNA Creators Club subscription, the Xbox 360 as well.

While we’re very proud of this Beta milestone, it does not represent all of the great features we are enabling in XNA Game Studio Express which will be available in final release form by this holiday. Some of the key feature areas that were not able to make it into this beta include:
- The XNA Framework Content Pipeline feature is not present in this release of XNA Game Studio Express (Beta). It will be made available in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express
- Support for retail Xbox 360 game development. This feature will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express later this holiday
- Additional starter kits and tutorials will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express
XNA Developer Center

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Burning Crusade Pictures 2

It seems that once we released our Burning Crusade screenshots, and they got spread around the internet, the popularity of our forum increased and we're now up to 6000 members, compared to around 4000 members before 25th August.

More...

Friday, August 25, 2006

Have you ever been Starbreezed?

I just read a mail. In that mail, they asked me if I were able to come up and visit them, sometime next week, for a job interview. I'm almost speechless. There's nothing that says I'll get a job at Starbreeze, but being invited for a job interview is atleast a good sign :D

Oh, right, I sent a job application to them about a Game Testing position, something that suits me perfectly. I wonder if I get to celebrate a little extra on my 21st birthday (2 Sept.) this year?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Burning Crusade - Friends & Family Alpha

Burning Crusade Alpha Download

Leipzig: Fable 2 Fighting System


Download video

Ninja Loves Pirate

Ninja Loves Pirate is a award winning, swedish independent developed, retro ultra violence, platform game. It's very stylish with its hand drawn backgrounds and retroistic pixel art. I'll recommend you to download and try the demo out :)

Ninja Loves Pirate demo
Ninja Loves Pirate website

Raging Boll Super Battle Brawl

2 months ago, I made a post about Uwe Boll challenging the internet community for a boxing match that's going to be held in Vancouver, 23 September. Now he got a sponsor for the event, and the rooster have been announced:

"GoldenPalace.com Presents Raging Boll.

The challengers are: Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello from Madrid, Spain. Webmaster of www.cinecutre.com; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5aD242Ey8

Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka from Lee's Summit, Missouri, Webmaster /CEO for Something Awful, Jeff Sneider from Los Angeles, California, Journalist for Ain't It Cool News, Chris Alexander from Toronto, Ontario, Journalist / Radio Announcer for Rue Morgue, Nelson Chance Minter from Fredrick, Maryland, Website Critic.

The Carlos Palencia / Uwe Boll fight will occur in Malaga, Spain early in September. The date in Spain is still to be confirmed. The actual fight will be filmed for inclusion with the other Vancouver fights. With Uwe Boll receiving a film award from the International Film Festival of Fantastic Cinema and Terror in Malaga, Spain for his work with BloodRayne, this gives us the opportunity to hold our first fight in Spain.

Setting the standard in marketing creativity, GoldenPalace.com has devised some of the most exciting and outrageous advertising campaigns in the past few years. Items such as the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Britney Spears' Pregnancy Test, and William Shatner's Kidney Stone have garnered extensive worldwide media attention for the casino. GoldenPalace.com has also used their items and marketing to raise awareness and funds for over $1,000,000 for various charities worldwide."


Blood Rayne: 2.5/10 (IMDB bottom 100: #44)
Alone in the Dark: 2.2/10 (IMDB bottom 100: #25)
House of the Dead: 2.0/10 (IMDB bottom 100: #11)

Worth nothing though, is that his non-game related movies got a 3.5 average. I don't know about you, but on a scale of 10, that's not too impressive. This looks more like a case of denial to me, that Uwe refuses to believe that he's a bad film maker, and then project the blame on "internet voices".

Uwe Boll: "Bring it on!"

Portal & Team Fortress 2


Saturday, August 19, 2006

Nogg-aholic Forum - 4000 members

I'm just glad to report that our forum has exceeded 4000 members now. That's quite much for some thing that just "happend", and for being a community that started from the movies I've made. Although it's grown beyond "my" creation now, and they've formed themself and grown a will of their own, which I'm glad to see. It's all about exploration.

Nogg-aholic Forum

Friday, August 18, 2006

F.E.A.R. Combat, now available

Get yourself a cd-key
F.E.A.R. Combat - Torrent (1,8 gb)
F.E.A.R. Combat - Download (1,8 gb)

F.E.A.R. Combat, for F.R.E.E.

Politicians sickens me

Politicians sickens me. Pirated software is organized crime and funds terrorism, Doom brainwashed kids to shoot people in school, Grand Theft Auto trains people to kill cops, Battlefield 2 is Al'Qaida recruitment.

Pentagon have found a fanmade ingame movie from Battlefield 2 on a "hostile" website, and hence connects it with terrorism recruiting video. Politicians sickens me.

Terrorist War Game?

Game Violence in Swedish TV
Only a hitman or a gamer would make a headshot
You don't know Jack about Thompson
Jack Thompson, a sub-machine gun?
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
Jack bullies Bully... it will be another Columbine
I'm OK

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Game Idea #6: Push-the-Button MMO

Game Idea #6: Push-the-Button MMO
Just one more push.

High Concept:
Push-the-Button MMO is exactly what it sounds like, a massive multiplayer online game where you're supposed to push buttons together. Start a button war against others and push each others buttons. Constantly rewarding with a push counter that will make you want to do just one more push, and just one more after that.

Platform:
PC, Nintendo DS, PDA

Why it needs to be made:
If you strip modern day MMO games of all their visuals, it will all come down to this; pushing buttons. The game is very intuitive, and as long as you know how to press a button on the mouse, everyone can play it. Since it doesn't require any heavy calculations or graphics, it can be easily run on any computer aslong it got a internet connection. It will be easy to create and will be cost-effective to run.

Description:
The game is using a chat interface and the only graphical representation is the buttons that varies in colors, numbers and size. The colors represents the buttons faction and behind each faction is some button lore.

"The green buttons once existed solely on web pages on the internet, then the red buttons came and pushed them away, and they've been pushing each others ever since."

Special epic buttons recover themself from pushes and require a group of people to push them together to be able to overcome them. After creating a group, you can choose to challenge another group at a button war, where you need to push each others buttons until the other teams buttons are all gone. The more people, the more buttons to press.

There's also boss encounters and epic boss encounters, where you need to push some buttons in a order, push all buttons at the same time, or push buttons in a specific rythm.

Why it will be fun:
So idioticly simple, yet highly addictive. Since it's soo pointless it's ridiculous, it's fun by being bizzare alone. Alot of people pushing buttons together. It's easy to just login any day to do a few more pushes, or do some pushes when you got nothing better to do and just want time to pass.

Also, to finally get a good group of button pushers to be able to push a epic boss button, is rewarding by doing something together with other people, contributing, feeling necessaryto the group and finally being able to overcame the hard button.

Final thougths:
The original idea comes from a website, with a single button to push, and that keeps tracks of those who've pushed it the most. But this idea started out as a joke with "for next week I'll write "PUSH THE BUTTON MMO", and then developed from there, and actually started to sound both fun and interesting.

We discussed this over irc and the log is downloadable below. It includes several ideas that I didn't write here and is a funny read, so I recomend a download :)

Press-the-Button MMO (Chat Log)

Console Control Concept

Analogue stick, track ball, cordless, microphone,
tilt sensoring, 8 buttons

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

F.E.A.R. Combat, for F.R.E.E.

"Sierra Entertainment today [08-08-2006] announced that the multiplayer component from the award winning PC title F.E.A.R.™ (First Encounter Assault Recon), has been renamed F.E.A.R. Combat, and will be made available to the public as a free download on Thursday August 17th, 2006.

F.E.A.R. Combat is the complete multiplayer component of F.E.A.R. and includes all the updates, additional official maps and additional official game modes all in one downloadable file. F.E.A.R. Combat users will be able to play against the owners of the retail version of F.E.A.R. as well as the other F.E.A.R. Combat users.

F.E.A.R. Combat features:
- 10 Multiplayer Game modes.
- 19 Multiplayer Maps.
- 12 different weapons.
- Punkbuster support for anti cheat support.
- The capability to download user generated content.

To play F.E.A.R. Combat, consumers simply go to www.joinfear.com and register to obtain their free, Combat keycode. When the file is made available for download on Aug 17th 2006, consumers can install, enter their keycode, and get ready to join F.E.A.R. Combat!

F.E.A.R. Combat will be available for download on August 17th 2006."
F.E.A.R. count: 11
F.E.A.R. Combat

Barbequed Wild Boar and the Middle Age Week

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Contour, Face Capturing Camera System

Contour captures faces, avoids Uncanny Valley

Game Idea #5: Grappling Hookies

Game Idea #5: Grappling Hookies
The Grappling Hookies are inseparable.

High Concept:
Grappling Hookies is a 2D, platform, puzzle game, where you need to get past obstacles and solve puzzles together with a friend. Being geneticly modified to be able to extend their arms as grappling hooks, they'll be pulling objects, pulling each others, swing and climb, as they work together to make it through.

Platform:
Any

Why it needs to be made:
Most games is about competing against each others, while this is about cooperating to complete the levels together. There's alot of people that don't want to play some games because of the violence in them. Those people might be tempted by a coop game like this.

Description:
You start out together with your friend in the labratory that you were modified in. In front of you is a stack of heavy boxes. You try to pull one of them down, but instead you drag yourself towards it. Next, you try to pull it down together with your friend, and with your combined efforts you successfully pulls it down.

Next up, there's a chasm and a ledge above. There's no ceiling for you to grab onto, and you're unable to swing yourself up on the ledge. One of you attach your arm onto the ledge, creating a catwalk for the other one to walk up onto the ledge. Once he's past the chasm, you attach to him and try to pull yourself up to, but instead you pull both yourself down in the abyss below.

Next try, your friend attach himself to the ground first, making him impossible to pull down, and you're able to drag yourself up to. From there is another edge with a pitfall that you easily swing over together. The next pitfall is too big for you two to be able to just swing past because your arms can't extend long enough.

You decide to attach yourself to the ceiling first, and then your friend attach himself to your body while you're swinging, and you're able to swing him over where he activates a switch that creates a bridge beneath you, and you're able to walk over to.

There's alot more puzzles and possibilities than these few examples.

Why it will be fun:
The feeling of accomplishment when playing together and cooperating past the puzzles and obstacles. There's always fun to swing and play with physics. Sometimes there's just fun to deliberately sabotage for your friend by letting go of your attachment at a crucial moment.

Final thougths:
Haha, I thougth it was better to name the game "Grappling Hookies" than "Grappling Hookers", or else it could be easily misinterpreted. The idea came from playing the Sega Genesis (MegaDrive) classic "World of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck", where the coop mode made it into a completly different game, and you needed to help each other out, to be able to proceed.

Also, the grappling hook idea is somewhat inspired by the Worms clone (but in realtime) game Liero. Originally I just wanted to come up with a idea that let two people cooperate together, and this is what I came up with for now :)

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Cooking skill +2, Pizza Baking Bonus

Nope... I didn't order this, I actually made it by myself :)
Gyros, paprika, onion and just a little bearnesé