Friday, December 12, 2008

Quantic Dream mocap studio & Heavy Rain

"I'm not starting with the story and trying to fit gameplay in," he insists, becoming animated, "because that would fail the same way. What I try to do is to think about the story and the gameplay together. At the moment that I have an idea for a scene, I try to think about the potential for gameplay in this scene. Or when I think I think about a nice gameplay mechanic, what's the potential for the story? I wrote many scenes that were deleted because they had a good idea for gameplay but not for story, or a good idea for story but not for gameplay. I need to have good ideas for both in every single scene."
Heavy Rain Preview
Heavy Rain Screenshots & Images
Inside the studio of Quantic Dream

G.E.C.K released for Fallout 3

"Earlier today, Bethesda Softworks released the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, Fallout 3's official editor. As with every other big-name title that has mod creation tools, I fully expect to see you guys come up with all sorts of crazy, disturbing, and even hilarious quests while I sit on my ass and mash on this keyboard."
Official Fallout 3 content editor released
Fallout 3 modding tools coming in December

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mirror's Edge is going to continue as an franchise

“Mirror’s Edge was very strongly reviewed - That one’s going to go forward. We’ll be looking at some issues around the design to make sure that strong IP is married with strong business.”
Well, not exactly, with an average below 80% on Game Rankings. Although I would rank it higher than that of course, and this is really good news :)
EA to reduce roster weight, but Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, sports are all safe

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Mirror's Edge time trial in Stockholm

Well, this was unexpected and quite enjoyable. Today, I've been in Stockholm to dine with my visiting parents. I arrived early at the central station, so I had time enough to stroll around for a bit, when I noticed they were just about to start a contest in Mirror's Edge.

Of course I had to sign up!

I had absolutely no clue about what the challenge was going to be, and it turned out to be a time trial (which I've never played), on the level Playground One, which I've only passed by twice in the campaign mode and hadn't really any memory of its layout.

Fortunately, two people were ahead of me so I got the chance to see the map, and then I was announced to come up to the stage. "That was a really good time that last guy got, do you think you'll be able to beat it?", asked the commentator.

The guy before me had been there earlier that day for the same competition, and it looked like he was certain of his way through the map, so honestly I had no idea if I actually would beat him, even though I saw that his run was flawed. So I tried being humble with saying "Well, I actually got no idea, but it looks pretty hard".

It was a bit awkward using a PS3 controller, and you had to look at a angled TV on the floor, which was screwing up your perspective a bit, and I turned out to be soo nervous/excited that my legs were shaking while standing there. I managed to get a time of 01:02:something... approximately 30 seconds better than the guy before me.

There's a reason why I don't try being modest anymore when it coems to competing against others... I just end up being an sarcastic jackass if I beat them badly. So I was a bit embarrassed when walking off the stage, and when it turned out that no one even got a time close to the guy before me... which meant that I ended up winning :S

I won't say what the price was, since I'm intending to give it away as an Xmas present, but it was definitely worth it :)

Below is an attached video of the same route as I took, with someone that got around the same time I got, even though my delays were caused by stopping to look around for the way rather than failing jumps.

Mirror's Edge - Time Trial DLC pack

Cooking skill +2

French fries, chicken filét, halloumi,
sauce made of chipotle and ajvar pinjur

Pasta, minced meat, tabasco, ajvar relish and an italian tomato mix
with grilled onions, grilled paprika and white wine

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Mirror's Edge - Time Trial DLC pack

"EA has issued a press release confirming a release date of January 16 and a price of 800 MS points on Xbox Live or $10 on the PSN."
Mirror's Edge DLC announced, looks bloody weird

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Trailer

Yay, the Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena trailer is out! Embedding is disabled for now, but I'll put it up here once it works. Until then, follow the link below to check it out in all its glory.

I'm responsible for all the frapsing of the footage, and gameplay, but didn't do the cutting. Yay, PR! :)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Atari Live trailer
Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Preview

EDIT:

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Preview

"The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is quickly shooting to the top of our list of most-anticipated titles of 2009.

Playing Escape from Butcher Bay again, remade for the Xbox 360 is exciting in its own right, and the promise of new adventures, new multiplayer modes, new finishing moves and the lot is just a huge pile of icing on the cake."
Chances are, that any screenshot you'll see from the new campaign was taken by me, like the above two :)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Preview
Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Spring 2009
Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is almost done

The new Nintendo DSi gets working flash cart

Acekard produces first DSi flash cart
The new Nintendo DSi blocks DS flash carts
The new Nintendo DSi has shorter battery life

Monday, December 01, 2008

Left4Dead SDK coming "shortly"

wilsonwiz asks: Have you any idea when the Source Development Kit will be released?

Chet Faliszek: Shortly. I know we are working on it and want it out as soon as possible. I really think this is a game that brings back that urge to make maps like Doom did back in its day. You want to make your place of work and unleash the zombie apocalypse on it. When we release the SDK we will also be releasing tutorials for level makers, from newbies who have never used hammer to experienced mappers.
Left 4 Dead live interview

Black Mesa: Source trailer

Black Mesa - Half-Life 2

Friday, November 28, 2008

Hacker Evolution: Untold

"It’s not an indie-dev ego-outburst, but the name of the lead character. I’ve played a couple of the previous versions, and it remains the serious competitor to Introversion’s classic Uplink.

From my brief look at the demo, it maintains its main separating point - that is, you actually use a text interface to type DOS-line orders to go about your hacks."
More Software Crime: Hacker Evolution: Untold
Exosyphen Studios - Hacker Evolution: Untold

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Fallout 3 modding tools coming in December

"Bethesda has announced that the Fallout 3 "Garden of Eden Creation Kit" -- or in simpler terms, Fallout 3 mod tools -- will be released for free for the PC version of the game in December, allowing gamers to create and add their own content to the game."
Fallout 3 Mod Tools and First DLC Announced

Monday, November 24, 2008

Gabe Newell on procedural narrative

"To come up with a theory for how to do narrative in a multiplayer game we started by looking at the players’ different behaviors – exactly how they’re playing, what their actions are, where they move.

We tried to note as many interesting contexts of their actions as possible. Are they moving together as a group or are they splitting up? Is their mouse jerking around a lot, or are they interacting smoothly? Are they agitated or are they relaxed? How much damage are they taking? How accurate is their shooting?

Then, using all that data we tried to come up with a model to tell us how the player is faring in the game.

The data can tell if a player is comfortable or if they are starting to be overwhelmed. Once you have that concept, then you can start to create pacing and events in response to the player."
Gabe Newell Writes for Edge

Grin's Terminator Salvation coming May 2009

"Warner Bros has confirmed it will distribute the upcoming Terminator: Salvation game, set to launch in-line with the film’s release in May 2009.

The third-person action game is currently being worked on by Swedish game developer Grin, whose recent work includes the PC version of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 as well as the PSN and Live Arcade downloadable remake of Bionic Commando."
Terminator: Salvation Set for 2009
An ordinary day in the offices of Grin
Lattjo Lajban featuring Grin
Avalanche - Game Developers Evening Pictures

"Immersion" - Video of gamer faces

Gordon Freeman at the Large Hadron Collider

"You may recall that back in September, an anonymous CERN researcher working on the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator gained a small amount of Internet infamy when it was pointed out that he bared a striking resemblance to Half-Life hero Gordon Freeman.

Since there was some concern at the time about the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to explode the world, the bloggers at Reddit took the necessary precautions by sending this researcher a few safety tools: a crowbar, a headcrab hat, and a Half-Life strategy guide.

Not only did he receive this survival package, but it seems he put it to fantastic use."
'Real Gordon Freeman' Saves CERN from Headcrab Invasion
Large Hadron Rap

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Deus Ex Ultra High Quality Mod v0.1

Deus Ex Ultra High Quality Mod V0.1
Deus Ex Enhancements
First release of Deus Ex - HDTP
Deus Ex - Burden of 80 Proof mod
Deus Ex - Cassandra Project mod
Deus Ex - Zodiac mod

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - Developer Diary

Project Origin - Developer Diary 1 & 2
Project Origin - Developer Q&A Round 1

Afro Samurai - Beatbox Trailer

Brash sued by developers for non-payment

L.A.-based 7 Studios says Brash owes it $468,000 for its work on “9,” an adaptation of an upcoming animated film from Focus Features produced by Tim Burton (one of the few games on Brash’s slate I didn’t previously know about) and $113,000 for “Six Flags Fun Park,” (pictured left) a Wii and DS mini-game collection that’s supposed to be coming out right about now (has anybody seen it on shelves?). Slovenian developer Zootfly, meanwhile, says Brash owes it $748,000 for work on the videogame version of the Fox TV show “Prison Break.”
Brash sued by developers for non-payment
Brash officially shutting down

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Eve Fanfest 2008: CCCP developing an FPS?

Edge also asked to clarify the rumor that CCP is working on a console-based FPS (of which a brief video of the ‘Halo-like shooter’ was shown at this year’s EVE Fanfest). Petursson would not confirm or deny the speculation, though he did say that “historically at the EVE Fanfest we give the attendees glimpses of what we’re working on in terms of future EVE developments. And we do this in part to gauge the audiences’ reaction to figure out how we should prioritise our future work.”
CCP Games: Why We Chose Atari

More Deus Ex 3 Concept Art

PC Zone #200 - Dues Ex 3 (magazine scans)
First Deus Ex 3 Concept Art?

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fallout 3: Better graphics with ini Tuning

Fallout 3: Better graphics with ini Tuning

IndustryBroadcast.com

Just want to spread the word of industrybroadcast.com

Every morning before getting ready to make sure my team is on track with development I sit down, put on my sexy voice and do a quick recording.

Before really seriously persuing anything in this industry I realized that before I even thought to come here and expect anything out of this industry I better find a way to contribute something to it.

Industry Broadcast seemed like as good an idea as any other so I went out contacted 30 or 40 of thetop minds and with the support of some great developers started recording.
-Ryan Wiancko, Creative Engineer at Netflow Developments LTD
IndustryBroadcast.com

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sacred 2 free on P2P for a timed duration

CDV’s to allow people to access Sacred 2 for free via P2P sharing, the publisher’s announced, although play with be time-locked to a day before you’re supposed to pay for the game.

The code will be cracked, of course, but the publisher is simply hoping that people will reward it in return for allowing people to get the full client for nothing.

“Nothing is, of course, uncrackable in the world of video games,” CDV chap Mario Kroll told MTV.

“Our intention is not to build Fort Knox (and thus surely irritating paying, legitimate customers), but instead to offer a sensible sharing solution that works for publishers and gamers.”

“Surely there will be cracks and unlock solutions,” he continued, “but we’re hoping that by extending the spirit of sharing and trying to be really unobtrusive in our approach, that consumers will do the right thing and reciprocate by paying for a high-value, high-quality game.

“I think with this approach, if it can be proven a success story, it will encourage other publishers to follow suit, rewarding those consumers that are fed up with other, overly draconian copy protection schemes impacting their enjoyment of games they bought.”

More through there. Sacred 2’s out in the first quarter of next year.
Sacred 2 to have legal game-sharing
Introversions thoughts about piracy and DRM
Some dungeons I built for Sacred 2

Left4Dead Art Direction, Part 1: Filmic Effects

L4D Art Direction, Part 1: Filmic Effects

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

EVE Online: Walking in Stations Demo

Video: EVE Online Walking in Stations Demo from FanFest 2008
Geomerics to light up EVE’s Walking on Stations expansion

The new Nintendo DSi has shorter battery life

Faster Processor Shorter Battery Life For Nintendo DSi

The new Nintendo DSi blocks DS flash carts

R4 carts incompatible with DSi

Machinima.com receives $3.85 millions

Machinima.com has "received $3.85 million in capital from MK Capital and other private investors to help fund business expansion."

The press release indicates five "influential entertainment industry leaders and entrepreneurs" have been appointed to the company's board of directors to assist in the expansion. The new members include Yair Landau, former head of Sony Pictures Digital, Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, Matt Coffin, founder of LowerMyBills.com, Mark Terbeek, partner at MK Capital, and Allen DeBevoise, CEO of Machinima.
Machinima.com Received $3.85 Million to Fund Expansion

Ubisoft acquires Massive Entertainment

UBISOFT® ACQUIRES THE ASSETS OF MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT®
Paris, France - November 10, 2008 - Today Ubisoft announced that it has acquired from Activision Blizzard the assets and all of the personnel of esteemed Malmö, Sweden- based studio Massive Entertainment®, as well as the real time strategy brand World In Conflict®.
Created in 1997, Massive employs over 120 developers and was ranked as one of the top 50 best game studios in the world by Game Developers Research in 2008.
UBISOFT® ACQUIRES THE ASSETS OF MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT®