euphoria posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Video: Backbreaker asks us how it feels

by Dustin Burg { Jul 31st 2008 at 11:00AM }

NaturalMotion just released a new "How Does it Feel?" trailer for their upcoming (American) football contender Backbreaker. A no-name football game that NaturalMotion is confident can compete against Madden 09 solely because of their gameplay trump card: the Euphoria engine. Promising realistic tackles, unscripted animations and dynamic fumbling goodness, Backbreaker sounds pretty decent on paper. So that's why we have trailers, to actually see with our own two eyes what the game has to offer. But, oddly enough, this Backbreaker trailer doesn't even show a hint of Euphoria goodness. No crunching bones, gang tackles or helmet to helmet collisions. Come on NaturalMotion, let's see your Euphoria trump card.

Missing@E3: Indiana Jones and the Vanished Game

by Kevin Kelly { Jul 18th 2008 at 1:00PM }

One notable absence from LucasArts E3 room was any presence of Indiana Jones whatsoever. While they were highly touting Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Fracture, they didn't even have a poster featuring a silhouette of Indy and the Hat anywhere to be seen. Not only that, but LucasArts employees visibly bristled whenever we asked about it. "No comment" stung us like a whip several times.

Matt Shell, marketing manager at LucasArts, finally let us know that yes, they're working on something. However, they didn't want to talk about it at all. It just seems odd that they have one of the highest grossing movies of the year, based on one of their most iconic properties, and they don't even want to show us a photo of a whip and say "It's in the game." Jump on that opportunity, Lucas! Especially after you were honking your Euphoria physics engine so loud in 2006.

Get a physics lesson with this Euphoria tech demo

by Griffin McElroy { Apr 26th 2008 at 7:00PM }

With the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV and the building anticipation for titles such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Backbreaker, we're constantly asked about the Euphoria physics engine featured in said games -- and by constantly, we mean never. However, to prevent such a onslaught of queries, we present you with a recently released tech demo from Euphoria creators NaturalMotion, which exhibits some of the differences between their engine and those of the ragdoll variety. Yes, we truly have reached a new era of making Michelin Men fall down in increasingly realistic ways.

Euphoria-based Backbreaker gameplay video is intriguing

by Justin McElroy { Apr 18th 2008 at 5:30PM }

It's far too early to pass any sort of judgment, but we're intrigued by this first gameplay video of the upcoming football game Backbreaker, which seems to be more focused on putting players into the shoes of the athletes than the godlike skycam view of most football titles. No, it has no license, but it does seem to be a different take on the genre, and really, isn't that just as important?

The tackles also look fairly realistic and with good reason: The game is powered by the euphoria engine, the same one used in The Force Unleashed and Grand Theft Auto IV. We're going to hear more about this game (slated for a vague 2008 release) in the coming weeks. As such, we just want to be the first to make this joke: Gridirons of War. ... We don't have a wider context for it, but when you see it start to pop up just remember who dropped that bon mot first.

The three physics engines of The Force Unleashed

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 26th 2008 at 7:00PM }

If you don't feel like watching an awesome, six-and-a-half minute long tech demo of the physics engines featured in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, allow us to briefly summarize the above video -- things are going to move around very fancily in this game. With the Havok engine controlling the movement of objects, the DMM engine regulating what objects are made from what substances, and the Euphoria engine deciding how enemies react to their environment, the game appears to push the boundaries of physics in gaming. Now we just have to wait until its summer release date to find out whether or not the rest of the game is absolute schlock.