Joystiq

Ludwig Kietzmann

- http://www.joystiq.com

Hands-on: Bayonetta

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

So we're Bayonetta in this city and we're kicking monsters and shooting things with our boot guns and all of a sudden this giant statue comes to life we're dodging and our clothes are disappearing and then there's lava everywhere so we run on the skyscrapers and fight angels and we're chased by a tsunami and then we're in a cathedral and there's a dragon coming through the window and we're fighting it and then it lifts off and it's flying and the cathedral is flying and everybody's flying and fighting and shooting and what is going on.

Gallery: Bayonetta

Continued →

Interview: Assassin's Creed 2 creative director, Patrice Désilets

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

Assassin's Creed 2 is Patrice Désilets' first sequel. If there's any anxiety or fatigue squirming inside of him, it's well hidden by an infectious enthusiasm and candor. Speaking with us during E3 2009 in Ubisoft's den (and thus, din), the creative director frankly discussed several issues with us, including one which you may have heard about, over and over again:

Joystiq: Do you mind if I go back to Assassin's Creed 1 for just a bit?

Patrice Désilets: Yeah, yeah, no problem.

So, that game comes out. You're reading the reviews and people are complaining about repetition.

Yeah.

What do you feel at this point? Do you agree with them?

Repetition for me is a point of view, really. Like, what is repetitive or not? You know, sometimes you go and play the same game over and over again and you are all right with the repetitiveness of it. And in AC1 some people just couldn't bear it. We listened to them while we were making the second one, but, I wasn't nervous or mad. What I was a little disappointed with was some reviewers, how they treated us. They have the right to their opinions and everything, but I felt like they maybe went too fast. But you know what? I also received [opinions that were] the other way around. People being really happy about the game. Doing it two, three, four, five times.

Sure.

And we sold some eight million copies of it, you know.

Eight million people can't be wrong?

Continued →

Report: Battlefield 3, Criterion-developed Need for Speed underway

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

During a William Blair Growth Stock Conference presentation, EA's COO (John Pleasants, FYI) noted the existence of two unannounced titles -- neither of them particularly surprising if you've been keeping up on your spurious internet rumors. The first, Battlefield 3, is said to be in good shape and, even better, in good hands over at developer DICE. Unfortunately, it appears fans of frenzied first-person shootery will have to wait until the next fiscal year before returning to the field.

According to G4TV's Patrick Klepek, the second title is yet another Need for Speed game, this one developed by the team behind Burnout. Pleasants allegedly praised the team for being "online-centric and notably high-quality game developers that we have out at Criterion." There's little else to go on at the moment, but we're certainly intrigued by the collision of those two racing franchises. There will be collisions, right?

Source -- Need for Speed
Source -- Battlefield 3

Interview: Tim Schafer and the art of selling out

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

My name is Tim ... S-C-H-A-F-E-R. [points to my notepad] That's correct.

Do people get that wrong a lot?

They never get it right.

Does it annoy you?

No, I just like to fight for my particular spelling. For no reason it's completely arbitrary but for some reason it's enjoyable to fight for the specific spelling that I randomly have.

You're trying to keep your Google ranking up.

Exactly.

You don't want people messing with it.

And people who spell their names A-E-F-F-E-R. Hate those guys. They're jerks.

Continued →

Hands-on: Red Steel 2

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

After the awkward and misguided mess that was Ubisoft's Red Steel, it must sound like damning praise to say, "Well, the sequel's much better." After all, Nintendo's newfangled MotionPlus attachment has come to save the day, introducing one-to-one movement and finally delivering the sword fighting extravaganza that all those energetic Wii players have been enjoying in the commercials.

Unfortunately, MotionPlus' binding to Red Steel 2 doesn't feel particularly effective in combating the original game's flaws. It's a miss, like sticking a band-aid on someone's knee after they've been poisoned. If the MotionPlus makes a fundamental difference to the gameplay, it's not immediately apparent within the framework of a pretty insipid combat system.

Gallery: Red Steel 2 (Wii)

Continued →

Hands-on: Brutal Legend (the umlaut breaks our RSS feed, sorry)

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

This is going to be the easiest preview ever. Though Tim Schafer calls Brütal Legend the most personal game he's ever done, it's possibly the most widely, inescapably appealing project he's been involved with. I don't need to champion the amazing band of kids at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp or Manny and the delightful denizens of the underworld this time. We're talking about a hilarious, open-ended heavy metal epic starring Jack Black. Do you really need me to tell you it's awesome?

Because, you know, it is.

Gallery: Brutal Legend

Continued →

Hands-on: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

"I've heard 'Shat-On Memories.' That's a good one," remarks Shattered Memories producer Tomm Hulett, taking the complaints from the so-called "unreasonable" Silent Hill fans in stride. Remaking -- or "re-imagining," rather -- a horror classic is no easy task, least of all when the leading platform's scariest trait is its abundance of minigames. Calling it a re-imagining seems appropriate, with familiar characters and themes returning in unfamiliar ways, but that belies the fact that the upcoming Wii title (PSP and PS2 versions are also en route) is the freshest and riskiest Silent Hill game to come along in years.

Conveying an intense, unnerving experience in the din of E3 is like reciting a poem behind an airplane barreling down a runway. The packed show floor, filled with colossal sub-woofers and eccentric excessiveness, couldn't be a less ideal place to play a survival-horror title. And yet, despite the copious distractions and some truly awkward sensor bar placement, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories managed to fool us -- if ever so briefly -- into thinking we were skulking around the world's least hospitable and most perplexing town.

Gallery: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

Continued →

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is ... mom-friendly?

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

Not even Silent Hill is afraid of the Wii's casual audience. Speaking to Joystiq during E3 2009, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories producer Tomm Hulett described the game as being very much a true franchise entry (and we can attest to that!), but one that would enjoy the benefits of a wider audience and an intuitive control system on the Wii.

"For the casual gamer, we say this like it's strange, but casual gamers go to horror movies," he explained. "There's a reason that we all started playing survival horror -- it was new and different and, 'Oh, it's like a scary movie that I play.'" According to Hulett the game's control system, which thrusts the Wiimote into the role of a flashlight, is intuitive enough to accommodate ... your mom. "I've had my mom try it out and she only plays Animal Crossing, but she can walk around as Harry Mason and run from creatures. It's really easy to pick up and play. If there's a casual gamer who enjoys going to the movies and seeing The Ring, they can go to the store afterward and buy Silent Hill and have a horror experience at home."

Well, as long as they don't pick up The Room. That's a different kind of horror experience at home.

Gallery: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

Gallery: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (PSP)

Overheard@E3: Silent Hill will hate me

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

At the start of Konami's Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a psychiatrist performs an evaluation on players, prodding them with some fairly personal questions. Answering the "Do you roleplay during sex?" question is probably one of the tougher ones to answer truthfully in full view of other E3 attendees. (Hell yes, if you were wondering. Also, stop that.)

This was the discovery made by one young lady, who appeared to be answering some questions (another example: Do you think of other people during sex?) unfavorably and nervously. With the cursor hovering over another negative answer, she quickly looked around her and exclaimed, "This game is going to HATE ME!"

Mass Effect DLC to be announced soon

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

While speaking to BioWare's leaders slash doctors, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, Joystiq managed to confirm that the second batch of DLC for Mass Effect (that's the first game!) would be announced and detailed soon. According to Muzyka, he was even playing it at the BioWare office slash fortress before departing for E3 2009.

Previously, it was suggested that the next Mass Effect DLC would include some sort of fight club or arena setup. So, lots of shooting in preparation for some real shooting, then.

Assassin's Creed 2 will end with a cliffhanger

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

"I'm telling you. At the end of AC2 you'll say‚ 'Holy crap, I never saw it coming.'"

That's according to Assassin's Creed II creative director, Patrice Désilets. In addition to saying "Holy crap," you should also prepare yourself to exclaim, "But what happens next?!" Désilets noted that his first Ubisoft sequel will answer plenty of questions -- but not all of them.

"There will be a cliffhanger," he admitted. "It's cool to have a cliffhanger." The director feels that players need to experience just a little bit of frustration at the game's completion, though a new way to replay completed missions should counter at least some of that. Oh, and remember that glowing writing on the wall?

"It has nothing to do with Assassin's Creed II, what's written on the wall has to do with the Assassin's Creed universe, not the second one."

Bayonetta: Not just for the 'hardcore maniac player'

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

Well, that's a relief. Having previously expressed his desire to make Bayonetta "sadistically hard," director Hideki Kamiya was ready to address our concern that the game might turn off less dedicated gamers. Shortly after demonstrating some of the game's absurd action, Kamiya told us (via translator) that the over-the-top insanity and brutal difficulty stemmed from personal taste -- this is the kind of game he likes to play!

However, Kamiya acknowledged that he won't be the only one to play it, and has added both "easy" and "very easy" modes, which introduce less complex combo controls. You'll be able to experience Bayonetta's dazzling attacks and mad set pieces without having to be a "hardcore maniac player," he explained.

We'll be playing on hard, by the way. Ahem.

Hands-on: Dragon Age: Origins

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 5 months ago }

Despite being set in ye olde fantasy lands of impossibly large swords and questionable female attire, there's something anachronistic about Dragon Age: Origins. An uncomfortable, zealously juvenile spirit seems to permeate the dragon-slaying proceedings, a feeling that seems to linger even after the game's obnoxious marketing has left the room. Paring BioWare's scenes of war and blood and guts with a Marilyn Manson tune is such a strained ploy, it's almost embarrassing.

The thing is, not all of Dragon Age's awkwardness comes from the suits on the upper floor -- sometimes they come from the clothes discarded in front of a romantic campfire. BioWare is really playing up your character's playboy tendencies, chatting up members of his party, plying them with gifts (that have immediate stats and ability benefits) and weighing up his futures with the adorable redhead or the hard-edged sorceress. It's wrapped up in BioWare's traditional dialogue menus (a strange regression from Mass Effect), but approached -- at least in EA's E3 walkthrough -- with the verve of Grey's Anatomy. And you thought leathery-skinned fire breathers were the only things those two had in common.

Gallery: Dragon Age: Origins

Continued →

Jesper Kyd returning to compose Assassin's Creed 2 soundtrack

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 6 months ago }

Aural assassination accompaniment news now, with the first confirmation that composer Jesper Kyd will be returning to score Ubisoft's upcoming foray into ye olde stealthe, Assassin's Creed II. Speaking to producer Sebastian Puel, we established that the first title's musical talent would tailor a new soundtrack for Ezio's Venician killing spree.

We also spotted Jesper Kyd at the Ubisoft E3 booth. After assuring him that Puel had already spilled the beans, Kyd noted that he was still in the process of composing the music, ahead of the game's November 17th release. We can't wait to hear it! Oh, and play it, obviously.

Just how exclusive is Splinter Cell: Conviction?

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 6 months ago }

If there's one definitive way to push publishers, developers and public relations personnel off balance, it's broaching the subject of console exclusivity. Begin the line of inquiry and you're sure to get darting eyes, an elongated "Wellllll ..." and an answer that crumples in on itself as soon as it's spoken. Perhaps it's appropriate that the topic of Splinter Cell: Conviction's exclusivity is steeped in a cloak-and-dagger mystery.

When asked if the ambitious Xbox 360 and PC stealth title was exclusive in the really real sense, producer Alex Parizeau simply stated, "It's exclusive," and admitted that it was a business arrangement with Microsoft. Prodding about timed exclusivity (a la BioShock and Fallout 3 DLC) didn't yield anything less enigmatic, so we turned to lead game designer Steve Masters. "As far as I know," he said, "this is completely exclusive."

Aha! Complete exclusive confirmed!

"But that may change in the future."

Oh. We suspect the game may make its way to PS3 eventually, but for now ... Wellllll ...

Previous Page|Next Page