Joystiq

Wii third-parties nonplussed by surprise MotionPlus reveal

Christopher Grant — 2008-07-23T15:00:00+00:00

We'll level with you: the game industry confuses us. For example: you'd think with games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars, not to mention the recently announced Sonic and the Black Knight, coming to the Wii that Nintendo would have been eager to get the MotionPlus into dev's hands as quickly as possible. Not so, as Game Informer learned when they asked several third-party developers about the peripheral.

Turns out the site uncovered a "general feeling ... of annoyance and betrayal" after Nintendo shared the existence of the device with third parties at the exact same time they shared it with us. Game Informer estimates it would take some six to nine months to incorporate MotionPlus functionality into games and that it's probably too late for games "deep in development." With Wii Sports Resort not due until Spring 2009, that might be just enough time to build some support into upcoming titles. So, let's recap: at Nintendo's E3 showing, the company managed to not only piss off every "core" gamer in existence but a good number of its third-party developers as well. Impressive?

[Via NWF]

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Game inFORMER covers inFAMOUS

Randy Nelson — 2008-06-10T20:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Action

First unveiled during Sony's E3 keynote nearly a year ago, Sucker Punch's inFAMOUS has done a good job of keeping entirely off the radar, despite a knockout trailer (found after the break) that left us wanting more. Well, "more" has come ... in the form of Game Informer's latest cover story, the details of which have begun popping up on message boards and in our inbox.

According to GI's write-up, the game focuses on a protagonist named Dylan who possesses super powers. (In his case, the ability to fire off electric bolts all Zeus-like.) inFAMOUS begins with a literal "bang," with Empire City - the game's setting - descending into chaos following an explosion, a plague, government quarantine, and the rise of street gangs. So far, a definite far cry from Sucker Punch's previous creation for Sony, Sly Cooper.

Beyond Dylan's abilities, which also to include running up walls and leaping across rooftops, the core of the game looks to revolve around whether players will choose to use his powers for good ... or not-so-good. As the article explains, players can zap enemies to death or simply use Dylan's "gift" to impede them (by blowing up nearby objects and the like). Dylan can't use guns, according to GI's report, since the electric charge he gives off would cause the bullets to explode in the chamber of the gun.

GI goes on to mention that Empire City is an "open world," but the game relies on scripted events rather than markers or icons to guide players. An example is given where Dylan must disarm a bomb, but is faced with the decision of being a good guy or wasting precious time when he encounters and injured civilian en route. The article states that the way players treat civilians will affect their feelings about Dylan; help them, they'll help you; hurt them, they'll try and return the favor.

With the promise of other super-human characters to battle and a gameworld where every players decision changes the ultimate outcome, inFAMOUS continues to sound more and more inTRIGUING.

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Game Informer drops Gears of War 2 details

Christopher Grant — 2008-04-08T11:28:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360

The May 2008 issue of Game Informer, available in red and gray flavors, promises a "world exclusive first look at Gears of War 2" - lucky for us, a poster at NeoGAF took the time to share the juiciest Locust-filled bits with the rest of the class. Of course Marcus and Dom are back, but so are several new characters like Chairman Prescott ("an almost dictatorial military leader"), Tai Kaliso ("a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor-bound fighters"), and Maria Santiago (Dom's "lost love"); the Locust also have some new additions like the chanting "Kantus" who can focus those chants into concentrated sonic blasts (you're going to start acting quizzical now? They're underground monsters ...), and resurrect fallen Locust warriors.

New functionality includes upgrades to Unreal Engine 3 as demoed during Microsoft's GDC keynote (obviously), a "SHUT UP" button to skip the yacking and get back to the shooting of the bug people, "drop in and drop out co-op" with different difficulty settings for different players, chainsaw duels, refined cover mechanics that should make it "harder to get hit while protected," a fourth even-more-casual Casual mode, and more. One area they aren't quite talking about yet is multiplayer. Game Informer writes, "We hear hints of ... multiplayer content that takes advantage of Unreal's new ability to deliver huge numbers of the Locust horde at one time, but confirmed details will have to wait until a later date." With most gamers, ourselves included, finding Gears' almost-excellent multiplayer implementation regrettably spartan, this is the one area we want to hear a haloff a lot more about.

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Resistance 2 to feature 60-player online, 8-player co-op, 2 campaigns

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, First Person Shooters

As pictured, the February issue of Game Informer blows the lid off Insomniac's Resistance 2, and thanks to a few good-mannered subscribers posting on NeoGAF (please thank your mommies and daddies for teaching you to share) we get a peak inside the cookie jar. And my, what cookies await!

The Resistance sequel will apparently feature two separate campaigns, one dedicated to single-player and a second for multiplayer. While the second campaign supports two-player split-screen for local play, once taken online, as many as 8 players can take on the Chimera invasion - or will we be fighting the Cloven this time? But the real treats seem to be stored in the competitive multiplayer modes, as Resistance 2 promises to support up to 60 players online - and not just 30-on-30 chaos. Some multiplayer modes will divide participants into 4- to 8-player squads each with its own virtual lobby. Squads will be tasked with unique objectives, and gameplay will be further diversified through three basic character classes: heavy weaponry, special ops (think: sniper) and medic. Insomniac's even promising an extensive stat-tracking database on MyResistance.net, coupled with faster matchmaking than any game of 2007. Oh snap! You listening to this, Bungie?

[Via Evil Avatar]

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Rumor: Command & Conquer FPS inbound, dubbed 'Tiberium'

Christopher Grant — 2007-12-12T02:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

Aptly titled games blog, VideoGameBlogger.com, claims to have gotten a peek at Game Informer's January '08 issue. Featured on the cover of said issue - evidenced by the totally crappy pic over to the right - is a new FPS in the Command & Conquer universe titled Tiberium. Lending credence to the rumor is Game Informer's recent addiction to debuting games on their cover: Borderlands in September, Dead Space in October, Brutal Legend in November, and Ghostbusters in December.

VideoGamesBlogger.com has some additional details of the game, most notably that it's an FPS as opposed to the series' usual RTS format (though not the first C&C FPS, remember Renegade?); it's set 11 years after the end of the third Tiberium war (C&C fanfic writers, get to work); and is a squad-based shooter "described as Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter meets Battlefield meets Rainbow Six Vegas." Wow, that must've been some meeting.

[Thanks, Supa]

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