Joystiq

Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Prototypes show the evolution of XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/xcom-enemy-unknown-prototype-videos/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/xcom-enemy-unknown-prototype-videos/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/xcom-enemy-unknown-prototype-videos/#comments
XCOM: Enemy Unknown art director Greg Foertsch conducted a GDC 2013 panel called Art Direction Autopsy: XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Foertsch shared a few internal videos chronicling the different directions considered by Firaxis Games, and was kind enough to share those videos with Joystiq.

Above, you can see a video with a more survival-horror slant - a prototype with methodical pacing, centered around a lone farm house wrapped in dark atmosphere. Jump past the break for two more prototype videos.

Continue reading Prototypes show the evolution of XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Prototypes show the evolution of XCOM: Enemy Unknown originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2k-gamesfiraxis-gamesgdc-2013iosipadmacmicrosoftmobilepcplaystationprototypeps3xboxxcom-enemy-unknownFri, 12 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Laika Believes preview: The robot space dog with a heart of gold]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/laika-believes-preview-the-robot-space-dog-with-a-heart-of-gold/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/laika-believes-preview-the-robot-space-dog-with-a-heart-of-gold/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/laika-believes-preview-the-robot-space-dog-with-a-heart-of-gold/#comments

Believing in Laika Believes

Minicore Studios is a small indie developer in Austin, TX, and it's making an alternate history game about the first dog in space. The game is called Laika Believes, but unlike the legitimately terrible fate that befell the real Laika, Minicore's version of history represents something a bit more hopeful, despite its dystopian overtones.

In this universe, Laika survived her trip into orbit and returned to Earth with robotic augmentations, somehow transformed into a capable canine war machine. Why exactly this happened remains uncertain, though her mysterious metamorphosis hasn't changed her into a mindless killing machine. If anything, Laika's conversational skills are just as important as the various weapons mounted on her back.

Gallery: Laika Believes (Concept Art)

Continue reading Laika Believes preview: The robot space dog with a heart of gold

Laika Believes preview: The robot space dog with a heart of gold originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>GDC-2013laika-believesMinicore-StudiospcWed, 10 Apr 2013 14:45:00 EST<![CDATA[IGDA defines new rules for future industry parties after GDC 'mistake']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/09/igda-defines-new-rules-for-future-industry-parties-after-gdc-mi/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/09/igda-defines-new-rules-for-future-industry-parties-after-gdc-mi/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/09/igda-defines-new-rules-for-future-industry-parties-after-gdc-mi/#comments

During the week of GDC, the International Game Developers Association threw a party that featured underdressed, dancing women as part of the entertainment, prompting two IGDA members to resign and Executive Director Kate Edwards to issue a statement of regret.

Today, Edwards defined a new set of regulations for future IGDA gatherings, starting with the goal to cut back on "parties" and instead offer more "networking events."

"Building a community and providing networking opportunities are part of our core mission, and we want to create activities that provide that opportunity, and to do that in a way that will be appropriate and enjoyable for everyone," Edwards wrote.

If a specific IGDA chapter wishes to throw a party, it may, but the organization still expects "chapters to uphold the IGDA's values of inclusion and diversity, regardless of the type of event and locale." Edwards said the IGDA will be vigilant when dealing with partners in the future, to provide "comprehensive oversight" of the entire event: The dancing women at this year's GDC party were courtesy of party sponsor YetiZen, which said it hired "avid gamers, who happened to be models." YetiZen said the IGDA approved all aspects of the party, including the dancers.

Edwards outlined a set of actions for IGDA members to uphold while at other industry events, including a "walk out and talk out" policy for any party with content "contrary to the IGDA ideals, regardless of the potential value of being present."

"Our humanity makes us prone to mistakes, but that does not diminish our resolve to be a force of change," Edwards concludes. "I hope the IGDA membership will rise to the challenge, and keep working together to help our industry reflect the reality of our diversity, whether it's at events, in the workplace or in the games we create." Read her full missive here.

IGDA defines new rules for future industry parties after GDC 'mistake' originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>GDCGDC-2013igdakate-edwardsnetworkingpartyTue, 09 Apr 2013 20:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Expect more humorous open-world games from Brian Provinciano]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/05/expect-more-humorous-open-world-games-from-brian-provinciano/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/05/expect-more-humorous-open-world-games-from-brian-provinciano/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/05/expect-more-humorous-open-world-games-from-brian-provinciano/#comments

"I'm definitely going to be doing more open-world comedy stuff in the future, but it might not be my next game," Retro City Rampage creator Brian Provinciano told Joystiq following a GDC panel where he broke down sales of his game across the various platforms.

"I have about four open-world game ideas in my head that I'm passionate about, but I'm also very concerned about jumping into another big project. So I'm sorting out my ideas right now and figuring out if there's a smaller game idea or something different I could do in the middle, just as a palate cleanser. When I do my next big ambitious game, again it'll probably be open-world."

While Provinciano is keen on making more games, he wants to "let the dust settle" on Retro City Rampage before diving into his next game. We probably won't see his next project in 2013, unless it's a smaller-scale game. "I would love to ship another game this year, but the only way for that to happen is if I get a small idea and everything just falls into place."

Art was one thing Provinciano had strong opinions about regarding his next project. He doesn't want to become "typecast" as the pixel-art guy - and he wants future games to place a bigger emphasis on art and audio.

"I had an amazing time working with the artist and the audio person on Retro City Rampage, and I really love art and audio so I want to put more of an emphasis on those in the next games - higher production value. As much as I love doing art - so I found this artist that was doing amazing art and it was way better than me, I would still do some of the art because I love doing it and it's fun, but now I'm thinking differently. I would rather have amazing art way beyond my capabilities and have it all done by other people than have some half-assed art I did myself, just for the sake of saying 'I did it myself.' So one of the big goals in my next games is to have really high-quality art and - as much as I do love pixel stuff, and I may do revisit that in different degrees at some point - again, I want to do different art styles, to show to the world that I'm not just a pixel-art guy."

Provinciano said that PlayStation 4 is on the table as a potential platform for upcoming games. At a previous panel, Provinciano confirmed he would also work with PS Vita in the future.

Expect more humorous open-world games from Brian Provinciano originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brian-provincianogdc-2013retro-city-rampagevblank-entertainmentFri, 05 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Molyjam: Building a game jam for everyone]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/molyjam-building-a-game-jam-for-everyone/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/molyjam-building-a-game-jam-for-everyone/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/molyjam-building-a-game-jam-for-everyone/#comments

Building a better game jam with Molyjam

Double Fine programmer Anna Kipnis hosted a wonderful GDC panel about her time creating "What Would Molydeux," a 2012 game jam inspired by the Peter Molyneux twitter parody, Peter Molydeux. The jam was a rousing success, spanning 32 cities worldwide, with Peter Molyneux himself even showing up for the London event. Rather than trying to encapsulate the whole panel here, I suggest you watch it for yourself.

After the panel, Kipnis told me that one of the most remarkable things about Molyjam was that it attracted so many kinds of people. "We really wanted people who had never worked on games to come, because there was such a wide variety of disciplines," she said. Sound composers in particular, she said, were reticent to come and were worried they wouldn't have enough to do. "People die for audio, and what ends up happening actually is that you have one audio guy working on like five different games."

Continue reading Molyjam: Building a game jam for everyone

Molyjam: Building a game jam for everyone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>anna-kipnisgame-jamgdc-2013molyjam-2012peter-molydeuxWhat-Would-MolydeuxWed, 03 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Halo 4 as a love story: The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/halo-4-as-a-love-story-the-personal-origins-of-cortanas-breakd/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/halo-4-as-a-love-story-the-personal-origins-of-cortanas-breakd/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/halo-4-as-a-love-story-the-personal-origins-of-cortanas-breakd/#comments

Halo 4 as a love story The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown

The Halo universe's sentient artificial intelligence programs - smart AIs - have a limited lifespan. After seven years, they begin to break down, acting irrationally and eventually thinking themselves to death. This process is known as Rampancy and closely resembles humanity's own end-of-life conditions such as dementia. In Halo 4, the rampancy of Master Chief's personal AI, Cortana, serves as a central element of the story, putting the Chief in a desperate bid to save the life of his longtime companion.

Speaking during a Halo 4 postmortem at GDC, 343 Industries franchise creative director, Josh Holmes, revealed that telling such an emotional story within the confines of a first-person shooter was no easy task. "At the beginning of our campaign in Halo 4, Cortana is 8 years old, and she's struggling to keep hold of her mental faculties," said Holmes, "and the Chief is faced for the first time with an obstacle that he may not be able to overcome." He's charged not only with saving the galaxy, but with saving his best friend. It was a radically different direction for a Halo game, and one that was difficult for the team. "There was a lot of skepticism from members of the team [about] whether this was something we should even take on."

"Early on, [senior writer Chris Schlerf] was having a crisis of confidence. He was literally tearing his hair out, because he didn't know how to tell this story," said Holmes. "There were times when he came to me, and he said, 'Maybe we shouldn't do it. Maybe we should just focus on the A story and put this story aside, because I don't see how we're going to be able to tell it.'" But for Holmes, telling the story of the relationship between Chief and Cortana was very important. It was "the human heart of Halo 4's campaign." And, as Holmes soon revealed, some of the inspiration for Cortana's breakdown came from a very personal place.

Gallery: Halo Reborn postmortem (GDC 2013)

Continue reading Halo 4 as a love story: The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown

Halo 4 as a love story: The personal origins of Cortana's breakdown originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>343-industriesgdc-2013halo-4microsoftmicrosoft-studiosxboxTue, 02 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Tank Tactics: The prototype that almost ruined Halfbrick]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/tank-tactics-the-prototype-that-almost-ruined-halfbrick/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/tank-tactics-the-prototype-that-almost-ruined-halfbrick/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/tank-tactics-the-prototype-that-almost-ruined-halfbrick/#comments

Tank World Tactics The prototype that almost ruined Halfbrick

After Fruit Ninja was finished, the guys at Halfbrick spent almost two years shipping updates. Finally ready to do something new, Halfbrick started doing prototypes. It would be a simple game that everyone at Halfbrick could play competitively.

This is when Tank Tactics was conceived. Halfbrick chief creative officer Luke Muscat showed off the first version, made of graph paper and little paper squares, at GDC. He quietly set up the game in a corner of the Halfbrick offices, gave everyone an action point and went back to his desk. Three hours later, commotion ensued - the entire game board was a graveyard.

Continue reading Tank Tactics: The prototype that almost ruined Halfbrick

Tank Tactics: The prototype that almost ruined Halfbrick originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013halfbrickhalfbrick-studiosluke-muscattank-tacticsMon, 01 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC 2013 breaks attendance record, GDC 2014 starts March 17]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/gdc-2013-breaks-attendance-record-gdc-2014-starts-march-17/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/gdc-2013-breaks-attendance-record-gdc-2014-starts-march-17/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/gdc-2013-breaks-attendance-record-gdc-2014-starts-march-17/#comments

GDC numbers, next year is March 17 21

You might still be exhausted from GDC 2013 (or asleep!), but don't forget to mark your calendar for March 17-21 next year just as soon as you can summon the energy to drag your mouse all the way to that browser tab. That's the date for GDC 2014. The call for submissions happens this summer, so you still have time to come up with your talk, or work on the game you want to show off.

Chances are, you'll be able to rant and/or demonstrate to more people than ever. This year's GDC broke an attendance record with approximately 23,000 "industry professionals," up 500 from GDC 2012's record-breaking attendance.

Continue reading GDC 2013 breaks attendance record, GDC 2014 starts March 17

GDC 2013 breaks attendance record, GDC 2014 starts March 17 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdcgdc-2013gdc-2014Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Overheard@GDC: 'Thanks for your question.']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/overheard-gdc-thanks-for-your-question/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/overheard-gdc-thanks-for-your-question/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/01/overheard-gdc-thanks-for-your-question/#comments

OverheardGDC 'Thanks for your question'

Speaking at a Halo 4 GDC panel (there were a lot of them), 343 Industries franchise creative director Josh Holmes spent some time discussing the game's story, specifically that of the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana. We asked a question during the Q&A period - the only question, really. Head past the break to find out what it was, and how Holmes responded, but be warned that it involves a major spoiler.

Continue reading Overheard@GDC: 'Thanks for your question.'

Overheard@GDC: 'Thanks for your question.' originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013halo-4microsoftxboxMon, 01 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST<![CDATA[This GDC 2013 CryEngine 3 video is eclectic]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/this-gdc-2013-cryengine-3-video-is-eclectic/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/this-gdc-2013-cryengine-3-video-is-eclectic/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/this-gdc-2013-cryengine-3-video-is-eclectic/#comments
Crytek is showcasing the latest version of its CryEngine 3 technology at GDC and has produced this video highlighting various games built using the engine. Games run the gamut from the expected shooters to racing and even some hack-and-slash action stuff. Also, a golf game.

Continue reading This GDC 2013 CryEngine 3 video is eclectic

This GDC 2013 CryEngine 3 video is eclectic originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>cryengine-3crytekgdc-2013pcSat, 30 Mar 2013 22:30:00 EST<![CDATA[NPD: Digital game sales growing year-over-year 33 percent]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/npd-digital-game-sales-growing-year-over-year-33-percent/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/npd-digital-game-sales-growing-year-over-year-33-percent/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/npd-digital-game-sales-growing-year-over-year-33-percent/#comments

Digital games and downloadable content sales are growing at a rate of 33 percent year over year in the US and Europe, according to data presented by NPD, iResearch and Digi-Capital analysts at GDC. The speakers at the digital games sales talk noted that sales in China are expected to grow over 10 percent every year for the next three years.

According to GamesIndustry International, NPD analyst Liam Callahan told attendees that digital game content sales in 2012 reached $5.9 billion in the United States. Sales in the UK reached $1.7 billion, followed by Germany with $1.4 billion and France with $1 billion. Callahan also said that digital content composes 40 percent of the United States' total spend on games, an increase from 28 percent in 2010.

NPD estimated that 48 percent ($7.1 billion) of the $14.8 billion spent on games in the US in 2012 came from purchases on brand new games at retail. The other 51 percent was from digital games and downloadable content ($2.22 billion), mobile game sales ($2.11 billion), used game sales ($1.59 billion), subscriptions ($1.05 billion), social network gaming ($544 million) and rentals ($198 million). The NPD also reported a drop in used game sales from 2011 by 17.1 percent.

NPD: Digital game sales growing year-over-year 33 percent originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>digital-distributionDLCGDCGDC-2013liam-callahannpdnpd-groupsalessubscriptionsused-gamesSat, 30 Mar 2013 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Path of Exile version 1.0 is six months away, one expansion per year after]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/path-of-exile-version-1-0-is-six-months-away-one-expansion-per/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/path-of-exile-version-1-0-is-six-months-away-one-expansion-per/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/path-of-exile-version-1-0-is-six-months-away-one-expansion-per/#comments

Path of Exile plans version 10 in six months, and then one expansion per year

The free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile went into open beta this past January, and the next step is putting together a version 1.0, Grinding Gear Games co-founder Chris Wilson told us this week at GDC 2013. Starting with about 250,000 registered players, the game has since grown up to around 2 million, with the devs fixing bugs and providing weekly patches since then.

The weekly patches, which have been adding new skills and items to the game, will continue to roll out. But version 1.0 is going to be the game's full release, when the "open beta" tag comes off, and the game "will be reviewable," according to Wilson. The update will add a full story to the game's Act 3, including lots of new monsters and items, and "do the stuff we had to cut corners on" throughout the game's development, Wilson said.

After that, "we intend to do expansions over the next five to ten years," Wilson told us. The team has no set plans for releases, and if they can put a major feature together in less time, then Wilson says they'll do it. The game already had a lot of success with "races," which are special events that challenge players to speedrun the game under special conditions. But in general, he said, given the current player base, "adding a new act to the game is probably a once a year thing."

Path of Exile version 1.0 is six months away, one expansion per year after originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>action-rpgchris-wilsonexpansionsfree-to-playgdcgdc-2013gdc2013grinding-gears-gamespatchpath-of-exilepcreleaseupdatesSat, 30 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Seen@GDC: Playground games]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/seen-gdc-playground-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/seen-gdc-playground-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/seen-gdc-playground-games/#comments

SeenGDC Playground games

Die Gute Fabrik lead designer Douglas Wilson is comfortable asking people to make fools of themselves, as he demonstrated during his panel at GDC on Friday, "Three Folk Games To Inspire Radical New Video Games." Wilson emphasized the impact that physical, playground games can have on modern video game development, bringing players together outside of the screen. They certainly influenced Wilson's convention-famous motion game, Johann Sebastian Joust.

Wilson asked for volunteers from the audience to step on stage and play three games that influenced Joust: Standoff, Listelanse and the Danish Clapping Game. See a handful of eager audience members hitting themselves and dueling with wooden spoons in the gallery below, and read more about each game after the break.

Gallery: Die Gute Fabrik (GDC 2013)

Continue reading Seen@GDC: Playground games

Seen@GDC: Playground games originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Die-Gute-Fabrikdouglas-wilsonfolk-gamesGDCGDC-2013motion-controlmotion-gamingmoveplaygroundplaystationps3Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Diablo 3's missing runestones found at GDC]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/diablo-3s-missing-runestones-found-at-gdc/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/diablo-3s-missing-runestones-found-at-gdc/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/diablo-3s-missing-runestones-found-at-gdc/#comments

If you've followed Diablo 3's development for a long time, you might remember the idea of Runestones. They were meant to be actual in-game items that could supplement character abilities in various ways, such as adding a fire attack to a melee hit, or doubling the power of a spell for free. When the game arrived last year, the Runestone system was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the controversial Skill Rune system. So where did those Runestones go? Diablo 3's technical designer Wyatt Cheng said during a talk at GDC that they're still around, in one form or another.

The Runestone system was originally created to add flexibility to character skills, and to give players a chance to experiment and play around with new abilities after they had gained them through leveling up. The original idea had ten different effects that could be added to various abilities, including striking, lethality, efficiency, life-stealing, poison, slowing and so on. But ten was too many, Blizzard decided, and they opted to boil them down into five different stone types (Crimson, Obsidian, Indigo, Golden and Alabaster) that would each affect skills in a few different ways.

Cheng said having actual stones in the inventory worked in a few different ways. It gave the system a sense of discovery, as players enjoyed seeing which stones granted certain effects, and it accomplished the original goal of allowing players to experiment with customization. Managing the stones in the game's inventory was a "nightmare," according to Cheng, and player expectations didn't always match what the stones actually provided.

In the end, the team went with the existing Skill Rune system, which allowed Blizzard to give specific skill and stone combinations more "flavorful names," and let the team make sure that the added effects were appropriate for the skills they matched. But Cheng said the effects were still in there: Some runes still slow opponents or add more damage to attacks, and those were the effects originally conferred by the stones of Indigo and Crimson.

Diablo 3's missing runestones found at GDC originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blizzardblizzard-entertainmentcharacterdesigndesignerdesignersDiablo-3gdcgdc-2013gdc2013pcrunesrunestonesskill-runesskillswyatt-chengSat, 30 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Anomaly 2 preview: Tug o' war]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/anomaly-2-preview-tug-o-war/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/anomaly-2-preview-tug-o-war/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/anomaly-2-preview-tug-o-war/#comments

Anomaly 2 presents multiplayer for the first time in the series, pitting human-attacking convoys against stationary alien emplacements. The deciding factor in victory is points - the alien side must defend its generators and build harvesters to mine points away from the human side, while the humans aim to simply destroy every alien present.

It's a frantic tug of war as each side desperately scans the battlefield for vulnerability in the others' ranks. As the humans, ignoring harvesters, purchasing the wrong units or failing to sell and swap out units at integral times will easily spell death. The aliens have an arguably tougher job and lack the resources to build up defenses across the entire map, so it's more about predicting where the humans will go and taking care to build harvesters at the right time.

Gallery: Anomaly 2

Continue reading Anomaly 2 preview: Tug o' war

Anomaly 2 preview: Tug o' war originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>11bit-studiosanomaly-2gdc-2013linuxmacpcSat, 30 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[X-COM could've had bunny monsters, Chryssalid was a happy accident]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/x-com-couldve-had-bunny-monsters-chryssalid-was-a-happy-accide/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/x-com-couldve-had-bunny-monsters-chryssalid-was-a-happy-accide/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/x-com-couldve-had-bunny-monsters-chryssalid-was-a-happy-accide/#comments

XCOM could've had bunny monsters, Chryssalid was a happy accident

X-COM's cast of alien characters could have looked vastly different. During a postmortem at GDC, X-COM creator Julian Gollop showed some of the alien design mock-ups that were created by one of the game's artists, John Reitze. "This is the visual piece de la resistance of my entire presentation, because it is the only surviving concept work from the whole game," said Gollop. Many of the aliens are variations on the familiar X-COM enemies we all know today. There are different takes on Sectoids and Ethereals, for example. And then there's the giant bunny monster, which you can see in the first row of the image above. Probably for the best that one didn't make the cut.

Another interesting tidbit is that Chryssalids, one of the toughest enemies in X-COM, was something of an accident. "You'll notice that the Chrysallid is right next to the zombie character," said Gollop (third row, far left). "John didn't really imagine them to be connected in any way, but I very quickly had this idea that a Chryssalid would infect your soldiers, and this would turn them into zombies, which would then sprout new Chryssalids, and probably created the most annoying monster in the entire game." We're not sure "annoying" is really the right word - we'd probably go with "terrifying."

During the same panel, Gollop also revealed that X-COM was briefly canceled in 1993, when publisher Microprose was acquired by Spectrum Holobyte. See a larger version of the menagerie in the gallery below.

Gallery: X-COM alien concepts (GDC 2013)

X-COM could've had bunny monsters, Chryssalid was a happy accident originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013MicroProsepcx-com-ufo-defenseSat, 30 Mar 2013 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Unreal Engine 4 not designed to work on Wii U [Update]]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/unreal-engine-4-not-designed-to-work-on-wii-u/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/unreal-engine-4-not-designed-to-work-on-wii-u/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/unreal-engine-4-not-designed-to-work-on-wii-u/#comments

Unreal Engine 4 not designed to work on Wii U

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 won't support the Wii U, Epic VP Mark Rein said during GDC. During a theater presentation of the Infiltrator demo, Rein laughed and said "no" when asked if UE4 would run on Wii U.

"Our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles," he explained to Kotaku. "That's really what our energies are focused on. If you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it's powering some of the best games on the Wii U already."

Battlefield series executive producer Patrick Bach told Eurogamer this week that not only is Battlefield 4 not coming to Wii U, the new Frostbite 3 engine on which it runs is also not designed for Wii U. "We right now don't have support for the Wii U in the Frostbite engine," he said. "The reason for that is it takes development time."

Update: Rein spoke with Engadget and clarified his comment from the presentation, noting that it's totally possible to run Unreal Engine 4 games on Wii U. "You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U," he said. "If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen."

Unreal Engine 4 not designed to work on Wii U [Update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>EAepic-gamesfrostbitefrostbite-3gdc-2013mark-reinnintendounreal-engineunreal-engine-4wii-uSat, 30 Mar 2013 05:00:00 EST<![CDATA[PS4 'Elemental' demo of Unreal Engine 4 gets an extension]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/ps4-elemental-demo-of-unreal-engine-4-gets-an-extension/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/ps4-elemental-demo-of-unreal-engine-4-gets-an-extension/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/ps4-elemental-demo-of-unreal-engine-4-gets-an-extension/#comments
In addition to the new 'Infiltrator' video, Epic Games brought to GDC an extended version of the PS4 'Elemental' demo highlighting its Unreal Engine 4 engine, the demo first shown at the console's reveal event. You can now see two more minutes of Epic's next-gen engine running in real-time on Sony's next-gen console.

PS4 'Elemental' demo of Unreal Engine 4 gets an extension originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>epic-gamesgdc-2013playstationps4sonyunreal-engine-4Sat, 30 Mar 2013 03:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Where Retro City Rampage made its money]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/where-retro-city-rampage-made-its-money/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/where-retro-city-rampage-made-its-money/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/where-retro-city-rampage-made-its-money/#comments

During his GDC panel, "One Man, 17 SKUs: Shipping on Every Platform at Once," Retro City Rampage creator Brian Provinciano provided a clear breakdown of the game's fiscal performance across various platforms.

PSN was where Provinciano saw most of his profit come in: over $600,000 earned across over 35,000 units sold on PSN. These numbers do not account for PlayStation Plus downloads and the period of time during which RCR was offered for free with membership.

The PC platform yielded the second-highest revenue for Retro City Rampage, earning over $400,000 from over 40,000 copies sold - the majority sold on Steam. Xbox Live Arcade came third with around $200,000 earned across 15,000 units sold, and WiiWare earned under $10,000 with fewer than 2,000 units sold. After the panel, Provinciano told me sales currently sit around 97,000 total, and that he anticipates total sales will exceed 100,000 next week.

Provinciano said he spent the most development time on the Xbox Live Arcade port, on a platform he called the most expensive. "Knowing what I know now, I would've skipped it," he said. Though he considered the WiiWare version a $20,000 gift to fans, the XBLA port ended up costing more.

Update: Brian got in touch to tell us some of the numbers in his panel were a bit off thanks to an Excel issue. "Looks like Excel didn't line up the bars up correctly." The WiiWare version sold under 2,000 units, he tells us. "It's also sold significantly more than 35K on PSN, 40K on PC and 15K units on each of the other platforms."

Where Retro City Rampage made its money originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brian-provincianogdc-2013microsoftnintendopcplaystationps3retro-city-rampagevblank-entertainmentwiixboxFri, 29 Mar 2013 23:59:00 EST<![CDATA[Rome 2 looks to continue building Total War's empire]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/rome-2-looks-to-continue-building-total-wars-empire/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/rome-2-looks-to-continue-building-total-wars-empire/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/rome-2-looks-to-continue-building-total-wars-empire/#comments

Rome 2 looks to continue building Total War's empire

Showing off a strategy game like Total War: Rome 2 at a convention can't be easy. With only so much time to show off to the awaiting journalists, games have to rely on spectacle. Yet the greatness of Total War derives from longer play sessions. There, the series' two halves - tactical battlefields and grand strategic decisions - work in harmony. Those moments are impossible to achieve in a single gameplay demonstration, but developer Creative Assembly still has to make that attempt, which it did, with the historical Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

The most notable part of the demonstration was that the game's graphics are fantastic, but that's also the least surprising aspect of a new Total War game. After all, the Total War series has taken major leaps forward in graphics ever since its inception over a decade ago. 2011's Shogun 2 may still look great, but Rome 2 appears to surpass it. The background geography, like the trees, cliffs, and marshes look particularly detailed, while the soldiers had a slightly grittier, less cartoonish look than their samurai counterparts.

It was left to a question and answer session after the demo with three of Rome 2's developers to understand what might make this installment particularly interesting. Much of what they said indicated that they understood the series' flaws and were actively working to fix them. Although not directly stated, many of their statements implied a move away from micromanagement, the bane of Total War and many other strategy games.

Gallery: Total War: Rome 2 (10/4/12)

Continue reading Rome 2 looks to continue building Total War's empire

Rome 2 looks to continue building Total War's empire originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Creative-AssemblyGDC-2013pcSegatotal-war-rome-2Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/what-went-wrong-with-halo-4s-prometheans/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/what-went-wrong-with-halo-4s-prometheans/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/what-went-wrong-with-halo-4s-prometheans/#comments

What went wrong with Halo 4's baddies

"We had a number of concerns about the Forerunners that we thought went not completely according to plan and could be improved upon," 343 Industries design director Scott Warner told the audience at his GDC 2013 panel, "The Design of New Enemies for Halo 4," which discussed the design philosophies behind the game's new breed of bad guys.

First and foremost, communication issues between the design and artwork departments exacerbated problems early in the studio's existence - growing pains associated with starting a new company. "We were a brand new team at 343," Warner said. "You have to consider the challenge that we had was starting from zero people and going to about 340 before we shipped."

In a similar vein, the "absence of high level vision" on the various creatures' gameplay mechanics caused 343 to spend time developing ideas that would eventually prove fruitless: "It would have been easier for us to understand if we'd had more definition around these characters early on, as far as who they were." An early prototype build was shown as an example, in which two Promethean Knights balled themselves up like Samus and attacked Master Chief.

Continue reading What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans

What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>343-IndustriesGDC-2013halo-4microsoftScott-WarnerxboxFri, 29 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[MechWarrior Online to fully launch by end of summer]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/mechwarrior-online-to-fully-launch-by-end-of-summer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/mechwarrior-online-to-fully-launch-by-end-of-summer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/mechwarrior-online-to-fully-launch-by-end-of-summer/#comments

MechWarrior

Free-to-play mega-machine simulator MechWarrior Online will exit beta and launch by late summer. The game is currently playable in open beta. Asked to narrow down that launch window a little more, Russ Bullock, president of developer Piranha Games, noted it'll be "no later than" September 21 (the official close of summer).

Since the game is wholly player-versus-player, we asked if the company plans on implementing a player versus AI model. We were told at GDC that it's not in the plan and Piranha hasn't explored the option.

There are currently three major features the studio is planning to add before launch as they maintain their updates for the game every two weeks. The first is upping the number of mechs on the battlefield from eight versus eight to 12 versus 12, this will happen in "the next 60 days." They are also doing another complete revamp of the user interface. Finally, the "granddaddy feature," is community warfare that incorporates the lore from the BattleTech universe and allows players to pledge allegiance to houses.

MechWarrior Online to fully launch by end of summer originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013mechwarrior-onlinepcpiranha-gamesFri, 29 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Jason Rohrer buries a board game, wins Game Design Challenge]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/jason-rohrer-buries-a-board-game-wins-game-design-challenge/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/jason-rohrer-buries-a-board-game-wins-game-design-challenge/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/jason-rohrer-buries-a-board-game-wins-game-design-challenge/#comments

Jason Rohrer's crazy deserthidden game wins Game Design Challenge

Game designer Jason Rohrer designed a board game, built it out of 30 pounds of titanium, then buried it in the Nevada desert. A Game for Someone was his entry in the last GDC Game Design Challenge, which carried a theme of "Humanity's Last Game," and it won.

Rohrer has never played his game, and he doesn't expect anyone else to for 2,000 years, when future humans discover the mysterious artifact in the desert. Instead, he designed it first as a computer game, using repeated AI playthroughs to automatically refine its rules.

Rohrer then handed out sheets of paper loaded with GPS coordinates. One coordinate, on one of the papers, leads to the game; Rohrer estimates that if one person tried one coordinate per day, it would take 2,700 years to find the game. Imagine hundreds of game designers, programmers, artists, academics, students, and journalists dragging metal detectors through the desert. Now that's a game idea.

Jason Rohrer buries a board game, wins Game Design Challenge originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-game-for-someonegame-design-challengegdc-2013jason-rohrerFri, 29 Mar 2013 14:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Metanet working on N++, 'the final iteration of N']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/metanet-working-on-n-the-final-iteration-of-n/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/metanet-working-on-n-the-final-iteration-of-n/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/metanet-working-on-n-the-final-iteration-of-n/#comments

Metanet working on N, 'the final iteration of N'

Metanet Software is returning to its platforming classic N, one last time. Studio president Mare Sheppard announced a game called N++ during a GDC panel, intended to be "the final iteration of N." The impetus behind this reexamination of side-view minimalist ninja jumping isn't entirely happy, as Sheppard said Metanet has had difficulty working with non-N games since N+.

"We were clinging to the idea that N might be the only proof we had that we weren't completely idiotic or utter failures," she said. Despite worries that it would be a "step back" for Metanet, ""at this point in our lives, this feels like the right thing to do... We can work on N again after all that emotional trauma."

The good news out of this, which Sheppard's statements may not get across, is that Metanet really is quite good at making N games.

Metanet working on N++, 'the final iteration of N' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013metanet-softwarenn+n++n-plusn-plus-plusFri, 29 Mar 2013 12:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Ouya: Joystiq goes hands-on]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ouya-joystiq-goes-hands-on/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ouya-joystiq-goes-hands-on/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ouya-joystiq-goes-hands-on/#comments

Handson with Ouya

For being such a little thing, the Ouya is surprisingly heavy. The Kickstarter unit I tested was etched with the names of $10,000 backers, Minecraft creator Notch at the top of the list. Ouya's development kit (the ODK) is in the hands of 8,000 developers, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman told me. "New games are getting loaded every single day, all different types of genres."

The hardware is finalized, she said, having been improved over the original development kits based on developer suggestions. With units now shipping to Kickstarter backers, the next two months will be spent improving the software prior to the official public launch in June. "Like every other sort of typical software platform, it's always going to continue to evolve, and we'll add more features and functionality."

Gallery: Ouya (GDC 2013)

Continue reading Ouya: Joystiq goes hands-on

Ouya: Joystiq goes hands-on originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 23:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>androidgdc-2013julie-uhrmanmobileouyaThu, 28 Mar 2013 23:23:00 EST<![CDATA[IGDA party features dancers, prompts controversy, resignations]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igda-party-features-dancers-prompts-controversy-resignations/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igda-party-features-dancers-prompts-controversy-resignations/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igda-party-features-dancers-prompts-controversy-resignations/#comments

The International Game Developers Association's GDC party resulted, rather than merriment for all, in the resignations of several IGDA leaders, after the appearance of underdressed dancers on stage at the event, reportedly hired by party sponsor YetiZen.

Student Alicia Avril first brought the appropriateness of the dancers into question in a Forbes report, noting that it doesn't square with the professionalism or advocacy the group espouses. "Knowing there are such concerned women as members of this group," she told Forbes, "you'd think that the IGDA would be more thoughtful in their own party and how they're portraying themselves."

Some members' concern led to the end of their membership, including game designer Brenda Romero, who publicly resigned from her position of co-chair of the IGDA Women in Games SIG, and developer Darius Kazemi, who "formally resigned" following the party.

The IGDA issued a statement in response to the controversy. "We recognize that some of the performers' costumes at the party were inappropriate, and also some of the activities they peformed were not what we expected or approved," the statement reads. "We regret that the IGDA was involved in this situation. We do not condone activities that objectify or demean women or any other group of people." The group pledged increased vigilance toward "encouraging inclusion and diversity."

During the IGDA meeting today at GDC, executive director Kate Edwards elaborated on the organization's position, Gamasutra reports. "We realize that we make mistakes sometimes, and we want to make sure that all of our programs and activities are considered inclusive and professional." She called for participation from all members, including those who left, in order to know "what we can do to do a better job in the future."

IGDA party features dancers, prompts controversy, resignations originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brenda-romerodarius-kazemigdc-2013igdasexismThu, 28 Mar 2013 23:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Destiny GDC 2013 'character development' video lands online]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/destiny-character-development-gdc-2013-video-lands-online/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/destiny-character-development-gdc-2013-video-lands-online/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/destiny-character-development-gdc-2013-video-lands-online/#comments
During Bungie's GDC panel Brave New World: New Bungie IP, a teaser video full of character development renders highlighting Destiny's races played for attendees. Thankfully, GDC attendance is no longer a requirement.

Outside of a look at the three player classes, some of the other aliens of our solar system conjured up by Bungie are on display: the zombie-like Hive, multi-armed Fallen, metallic Vex and bulky Cabal are all here. There's also some preliminary animation work to check out.

Gallery: Destiny (GDC 2013)

Destiny GDC 2013 'character development' video lands online originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bungiedestinygdc-2013microsoftplaystationps3xboxThu, 28 Mar 2013 22:21:00 EST<![CDATA[Seen@GDC: 'Imagine Dante in a Western movie']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-imagine-dante-in-a-western-movie/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-imagine-dante-in-a-western-movie/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-imagine-dante-in-a-western-movie/#comments

SeenGDC 'Imagine Dante in a Western movie'

When Capcom tasked Ninja Theory with rebooting Dante, the main character of its classic Japanese franchise Devil May Cry, it wanted to draw a clear distinction. This was a new Dante, a new Devil May Cry, and the series told through a westernized lens.

"Imagine Dante in a western movie," Capcom told Ninja Theory's art team. And so it did. There's Dante above, shooped into a scene from Brokeback Mountain - a very western movie, after all - and below Dante takes a breather with Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

Continue reading Seen@GDC: 'Imagine Dante in a Western movie'

Seen@GDC: 'Imagine Dante in a Western movie' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Brokeback-MountainCapcomdantedmc-devil-may-cryfight-clubGDCGDC-2013microsoftninja-theorypcplaystationps3xboxThu, 28 Mar 2013 21:30:00 EST<![CDATA[PS4 project from Paradox won't attempt 'cheap PC port']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ps4-project-from-paradox-wont-attempt-cheap-pc-port/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ps4-project-from-paradox-wont-attempt-cheap-pc-port/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ps4-project-from-paradox-wont-attempt-cheap-pc-port/#comments

Gordon Van Dyke teases Paradox's PlayStation 4 project

Speaking to Joystiq at GDC, Paradox Senior Producer Gordon Van Dyke offered a few hints as to what shape the company's PlayStation 4 project may take. "There's something in the works - I can't say yet, but we are looking into it."

Van Dyke pointed to a recent addition in War of the Roses, an online medieval battle game that he oversees. "Obviously we've added controller support [to War of the Roses], there's a proof-of-concept that definitely works." Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean War of the Roses is coming to PS4 - in fact, Van Dyke said Paradox still isn't sure what exactly it wants to do on PS4 yet.

"We first need to make sure we can get the game running on the hardware, but the hardware is much more easier to work with than it was previously when I was at DICE on Battlefield, where there were struggles with Sony's hardware - especially the way they allocated memory. They've eliminated a lot of these hurdles [on PS4] and x86 makes it much more plausible that we can do it."

For now, "it's definitely a realistic possibility and something we'd like to happen, but we're not entirely sure we can deliver on that." He said it's a bit of an inverse scenario for Paradox, where the developer wants to ensure its PS4 game isn't interpreted as "a cheap PC port on console."

PS4 project from Paradox won't attempt 'cheap PC port' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013gordon-van-dykeparadoxParadox-Interactiveplaystation-4ps4war-of-the-rosesThu, 28 Mar 2013 20:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Ubisoft Toronto working with Ubi Montreal on another Assassin's Creed]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ubisoft-toronto-working-with-ubi-montreal-on-another-assassins/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ubisoft-toronto-working-with-ubi-montreal-on-another-assassins/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/ubisoft-toronto-working-with-ubi-montreal-on-another-assassins/#comments

Ubisoft Toronto is collaborating with Ubisoft Montreal on an Assassin's Creed game coming after AC4: Black Flag. and has plans to be involved with the development of four other unannounced games. Speaking with Polygon, managing director Jade Raymond said the studio, involved with Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rainbow Six: Patriots, has plans set for five further games in total.

"We have two big collaborations coming that we're not talking about, on two of the biggest franchises at Ubisoft. We also have two new IP," Raymond told Polygon, noting that the fifth project is a Splinter Cell game.

Raymond's comments follow on from the intentions she laid out in 2010 to eventually have five triple-A projects going on at Ubisoft Toronto at the same time, with a staff of some 800 people involved. In other words, Ubi Toronto's plans for world domination are beginning to surface, and we should call the authorities immediately.

Ubisoft Toronto working with Ubi Montreal on another Assassin's Creed originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>assassins-creedgdc-2013jade-raymondsplinter-cellubisoft-montrealubisoft-torontoThu, 28 Mar 2013 18:40:00 EST<![CDATA[Seen@GDC: The 'camp' poster that led a Pomeranian to PlayStation]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-the-camp-poster-that-led-a-pomeranian-to-playstation/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-the-camp-poster-that-led-a-pomeranian-to-playstation/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/seen-gdc-the-camp-poster-that-led-a-pomeranian-to-playstation/#comments SeenGDC The 'camp' poster that put a pomeranian on PlayStation

SeenGDC The 'camp' poster that put a pomeranian on PlayStation

During a GDC panel covering the early formation of Tokyo Jungle, Yohei Kataoka, president of developer Crispy's Inc, shared a poster that caught his eye and - eventually - put a Pomeranian on PlayStation.

Sony's Creator Audition Mashup Project - or C.A.M.P - called on new Japanese talent to submit innovative game ideas in need of funding. In the absence of longterm financial support, and with no desire to work for someone else, Kataoka and his newly formed studio submitted several game ideas for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. "I only created what I wanted to create from the bottom of my heart," he said. (Those ideas are worth their own story, which we'll have for you later.)

Kataoka didn't settle on his "action survival" game of Tokyo Jungle at first. In 2008 his seven-person team released MyStylist, a clothing database and style advice game for PSP. It would presumably frown upon a C.A.M.P. Elvis impersonator.

Seen@GDC: The 'camp' poster that led a Pomeranian to PlayStation originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>campcrispys-incgdc-2013playstationpspsonytokyo-jungleyohei-kataokaThu, 28 Mar 2013 18:20:00 EST<![CDATA[IGF grand prize winner gives his booth away to 'Howling Dogs']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igf-grand-prize-winner-gives-his-booth-away-to-howling-dogs/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igf-grand-prize-winner-gives-his-booth-away-to-howling-dogs/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igf-grand-prize-winner-gives-his-booth-away-to-howling-dogs/#comments

IGF grand prize winner gives his booth away to 'Howling Dogs'

IGF Seumas McNally grand prize winner Richard Hofmeier, the man behind Cart Life, vandalized his own booth on the GDC show floor and handed it over to Porpentine, the developer behind text adventure Howling Dogs.

Hofmeier hit up Porpentine on Twitter on Thursday morning, to kindly request he show Howling Dogs at his "booth thing." Oh, you know, just that booth for the awards that Cart Life totally swept last night. No big deal. Porpentine responded in the affirmative, and Hofmeier got to work tagging his own sign.

"IM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT HOWLING DOGS WINNING THE IGF," Porpentine later tweeted. For those at GDC, check out Howling Dogs in the IGF booth roundup in Moscone South. You can't miss it. Everyone else, play it here.

IGF grand prize winner gives his booth away to 'Howling Dogs' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>cart-lifeGDCGDC-2013howling-dogsigfigf-2013pcporpentinerichard-hofmeierThu, 28 Mar 2013 17:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Cart Life follow-up, Blood of the Ortolan, sets the table in a few weeks]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/cart-life-follow-up-blood-of-the-ortolan-sets-the-table-in-a-f/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/cart-life-follow-up-blood-of-the-ortolan-sets-the-table-in-a-f/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/cart-life-follow-up-blood-of-the-ortolan-sets-the-table-in-a-f/#comments

Cart Life followup, Blood of the Ortolan, sets the table in a few weeks

Cart Life developer Richard Hofmeier wants to launch his follow-up game, Blood of the Ortolan, in the "next few weeks or so" on PC, he told Joystiq during Wednesday's IGF awards. Blood of the Ortolan is, perhaps unsurprisingly, inspired by the humanity behind obtaining, consuming and interacting with food.

"It's about food," Hofmeier said. "It's a food-themed murder mystery in the way that Cart Life is a retail simulation. I haven't said much about it yet because I don't want to over-promise and under-deliver, which I did with Cart Life."

That last part is debatable - at the IGF awards, Cart Life picked up the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the Nuovo Award for innovation, and the Excellence in Narrative award, for a cash total of $38,000. Blood of the Ortolan streamlines Hofmeier's development approach: It uses only mouse and touch interfaces. Yes, touch, since he has an "explicit interest" in getting Blood of the Ortolan onto mobile devices and consoles. First he'll see if Steam is interested in putting another one of his games on its service.

Blood of the Ortolan, if it flows in Cart Life's vein, will be about food only on the surface, while the true tale unfolds within the interpersonal relationships and emotional, introspective tensions of real life.

"Money is of concern to everyone, much more so than, say, ammunition or military fundamentals or the vocabulary of racing," Hofmeier said. "We all worry about money. Also we all have to eat and we all confront the neuroses of food. It's one of those things that mainly when we're alone we feel that we are especially perverse in our relationship to food and then we find, maybe through catharsis, through art, that other people have these experiences too and maybe we have more in common than we might have thought otherwise."

Don't expect Blood of the Ortolan to take it easy after Cart Life's positive public reception.

"If people put up with Cart Life, I feel like I've gotta try harder to upset them," Hofmeier said.

Cart Life follow-up, Blood of the Ortolan, sets the table in a few weeks originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blood-of-the-ortolancart-lifeGDCGDC-2013microsoftmobilepcplaystationps3richard-hofmeierxboxThu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The original X-COM was briefly canceled, boosted by X-Files]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-original-x-com-was-briefly-canceled-boosted-by-x-files/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-original-x-com-was-briefly-canceled-boosted-by-x-files/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-original-x-com-was-briefly-canceled-boosted-by-x-files/#comments

The original XCOM was briefly canceled, boosted by XFiles

X-COM is a household name among many gamers now, but the 1994 original almost never came to be. During an X-COM postmortem at GDC, creator Julian Gollop revealed that the original X-COM: UFO Defense was actually canceled for a brief period during 1993. At the time, the game's UK publisher, Microprose, had been purchased by Spectrum Holobyte. Looking over Microprose's portolio, Spectrum Holobyte was unimpressed with the in-development X-COM and decided to pull the plug. "They took one look at X-COM and said, 'Nah, we don't like this. Cancel this project,'" said Gollop. "The project was actually officially canceled."

Unbeknownst to Spectrum Holobyte, Microprose allowed development to continue. "What happened was, that in Christmas 1993 Spectrum Holobyte wanted a product from Microprose UK for the end of their financial quarter, which was in March 1994," said Gollop. "And [Microprose publisher] Pete Moreland said, 'Well, you know this project you told us to cancel? Well, we still got it." The final three months of development were grueling, with Julian and his brother Nick working 7 days a week and putting in 12 hour days.

Another interesting tidbit: X-COM was helped by the TV show The X-Files, which began airing in the US in 1993 (It's on Netflix, kids!). "When The X-Files was aired for the first time in September 1993, there was a real benefit for the game because it drew on a lot of the same source material," said Gollop. "So the whole theme of the game had a real hook, and it was just luck, really, that we had the X-Files on TV shortly before the game was launched."

X-COM was a hit, selling 470,000 units worldwide as of 2000, earning Julian and his brother $1.57 million in royalties (and significantly more for Microprose). The game cost $180,000 to develop. After the game achieved such great success, Spectrum Holobyte demanded a sequel within six months.

The original X-COM was briefly canceled, boosted by X-Files originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-2013julian-golloppcx-comx-com-ufo-defenseThu, 28 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Total War: Arena announced, enters free-to-play stadium]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/total-war-arena-announced-enters-free-to-play-stadium/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/total-war-arena-announced-enters-free-to-play-stadium/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/total-war-arena-announced-enters-free-to-play-stadium/#comments

Total War Arena something something

Total War developer Creative Assembly has just announced Total War: Arena, the company's first free-to-play game.

"Arena will focus entirely on online multiplayer, mixing elements of RTS and MOBA gameplay," the company stated.

Those interested in the game can sign up for the coming closed beta; sign-ups are available at the Total War: Arena site.

Total War: Arena announced, enters free-to-play stadium originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>creative-assemplygdc-2013total-war-arenaThu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Diablo 3 Director Jay Wilson: Auction Houses 'really hurt' game]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/diablo-3-director-jay-wilson-auction-houses-really-hurt-game/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/diablo-3-director-jay-wilson-auction-houses-really-hurt-game/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/diablo-3-director-jay-wilson-auction-houses-really-hurt-game/#comments

Former Diablo 3 Game Director Jay Wilson admitted during a talk at GDC 2013 in San Francisco that both of Diablo 3's Auction Houses (both the real-money and the in-game gold item auction house) "really hurt the game." Wilson said that before Blizzard launched the game, the company had a few assumptions about how the Auction Houses would work: He thought they would help reduce fraud, that they'd provide a wanted service to players, that only a small percentage of players would use it and that the price of items would limit how many were listed and sold.

But he said that once the game went live, Blizzard realized it was completely wrong about those last two points. It turns out that nearly every one of the game's players (of which there are still about 1 million per day, and about 3 million per month, according to Wilson) made use of either house, and that over 50 percent of players used it regularly. That, said Wilson, made money a much higher motivator than the game's original motivation to simply kill Diablo, and "damaged item rewards" in the game. While a lot of the buzz around the game attacked the real money Auction House, "gold does much more damage than the other one does," according to Wilson, because more players use it and prices fluctuate much more.

"I think we would turn it off if we could," Wilson said during his talk. But the problem is "not as easy as that;" with all of Blizzard's current players, he says the company "has no idea" how many players like the system or hate it. Blizzard, Wilson said, doesn't want to remove a feature that lots of players will be unhappy to see go. But he did say that the team is working on a viable solution, without giving any other details about what that would be like.

Diablo 3 Director Jay Wilson: Auction Houses 'really hurt' game originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>auction-houseblizzard-entertainmentDiablo-3gamegdc-2013jay-wilsonpcreal-money-auction-houseremoveThu, 28 Mar 2013 15:43:00 EST<![CDATA[Muramasa Rebirth finds new life on PS Vita 'early summer']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/muramasa-rebirth-finds-new-life-on-ps-vita-early-summer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/muramasa-rebirth-finds-new-life-on-ps-vita-early-summer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/muramasa-rebirth-finds-new-life-on-ps-vita-early-summer/#comments

During a GDC demo of Muramasa Rebirth, the PS Vita port of Vanillaware's 2D action game Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Aksys PR coordinator Russell Iriye confirmed with Joystiq that the game is currently penciled in for "early summer."

"We have not talked about a release date yet. Right now all we're saying is early summer. Within the next couple weeks we should be announcing that," Iriye said.

Aksys will also offer a pre-order bonus for early Muramasa Rebirth commitment, plus a limited edition. The standard edition will run $39.99, while the limited edition will cost $59.99. Iriye couldn't reveal any of the contents in the limited edition yet.

Muramasa Rebirth finds new life on PS Vita 'early summer' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aksysAksys-Gamesgdc-2013Muramasa-the-Demon-Bladeplaystationplaystation-vitavanillawarevitaThu, 28 Mar 2013 15:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Crawling in the dark in Among the Sleep]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/crawling-in-the-dark-in-among-the-sleep/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/crawling-in-the-dark-in-among-the-sleep/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/crawling-in-the-dark-in-among-the-sleep/#comments

My demo of Among the Sleep begins in complete darkness, the sound of rain pattering a window somewhere. A woman informs me that it's time for bed and begins to sing a lullaby. The music stops and I open my eyes. Rising above me are the unmistakeable bars of a crib. I am a child, and my mother is missing.

The next thing I see is my teddy bear slowly moving away from me - by itself. It slides to the back of the crib and up the bars. No, that's not quite right. It's being dragged out of the crib by some invisible force, which proceeds to carry it across the room and out the door.

Gallery: Among the Sleep (Screenshots and Concept Art)

Continue reading Crawling in the dark in Among the Sleep

Crawling in the dark in Among the Sleep originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>among-the-sleepgdcgdc-2013krillbite-studiopcThu, 28 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Overheard@GDC: 'Absolutely']]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/overheard-gdc-absolutely/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/overheard-gdc-absolutely/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/overheard-gdc-absolutely/#comments

OverheardGDC 'Absolutely'

The PlayStation Vita Development panel featured a lineup of veteran Vita developers, who for an hour espoused the benefits of working with Sony and getting a game on its handheld platform. The panel featured Brian Provinciano of Retro City Rampage, Bobby King of Pinball Arcade, Chris Harvey of Guacamelee and Richard Hogg of Frobisher Says, and it was moderated by Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse.

Neuse was interested in the panelists' answers since Runner 2 is on its way to Vita sometime in the summer. To help set his mind at ease, he asked the developers if their next games would show up on Vita.

"Yes," they all said. "Absolutely," one of them added. When Neuse later asked the crowd who was considering developing for Vita, a sea of hands shot straight up. For those interested in developing for Vita, a Sony representative suggested this website.

Overheard@GDC: 'Absolutely' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>frobisher-saysGDCGDC-2013guacameleepinball-arcadeplaystationplaystation-vitaretro-city-rampagerunner-2vitaThu, 28 Mar 2013 14:20:00 EST<![CDATA[DayZ free-to-play was considered]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/dayz-free-to-play-was-considered/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/dayz-free-to-play-was-considered/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/dayz-free-to-play-was-considered/#comments

During his GDC talk chronicling the ascension of the DayZ mod, creator Dean "Rocket" Hall revealed that there was a time - albeit a brief window - when he considered turning DayZ into a free-to-play game. "Every one likes having four Lamborghinis parked in their driveway," Hall joked.

"When I looked at signing with a bunch of companies, some of them were interested in free-to-play. We're talking a lot of money, like stupid money. I felt like - I just knew it wouldn't work. DayZ is about survival and not buying your way into it. I still think there's room for free-to-play games - I've got one idea I think could actually work quite well as a free-to-play game - but it's like trying to cram a round peg into a square hole."

Hall also touched on the infamous shops found in some free-to-play games, where players can purchase good gear or bypass certain mechanics by throwing down real money. "The DayZ experience is about what you find in the world, so introducing a shop and things like that, like cosmetic items. It's not about cosmetic items, there are no cosmetic items in DayZ - it's not like, 'I worked at Burger King for an hour and bought this hat,' you know; it's 'I found that hat in a barn fight.'"

DayZ standalone is currently in development at Bohemia Interactive. The alpha build isn't expected to launch until at least June.

DayZ free-to-play was considered originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bohemia-interactiveday-zdean-hallfree-to-playgdc-2013pcThu, 28 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST