They may not admit it aloud, but the one secret wish of most game designers is that the Nazis could have perfected time travel. Think of it: Splinter cells of the Third Reich that could be at any point or any place in history! Game design would be a simple as "Copy All Nazis", "Load 'Woodstock'", "Paste All Nazis". Instant game! Without the crutch of Nazi time travel to lean on, Codemasters has done then next best thing and created an alternate history where the Nazis won World War II in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.

Now, you can see for yourself how easy game developers could have it if the Nazis were still kicking around with a demo for the game that just arrived on Xbox Live. Hopefully it can scratch the itch that Woodshock: Reich and Roll never will.

CVG has released another morsel of information from their talks with BioShock senior designer Joe McDonagh. In addition to the game being turned down by countless publishers, McDonagh also talked about the game's origins, providing the interesting note that "BioShock for instance started out on a tropical island with Nazis."

We're trying to imagine our surviving protagonist facing off against countless evil soldiers hell-bent on creating superhumans enemies. We envision something of an amalgam between Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Gilligan's Island. The Little Buddy collects life essence while Big Daddy Skipper keeps him protected with coconut-fueled weaponry.

After falling off radar for a little over a year, the "next-gen" version of Wolfenstein continues development with a 2008 release date attached to it. Announced back in 2005, the game was expected last year and just sorta disappeared. Now a random story by a Wisconsin television station about motion capture technology brings news that the game isn't complete vaporware and developer Raven Software (Marvel Ultimate Alliance) is still working on it.

The focus of the news piece is the actress Raven Software hired to play "an elite force assassin" in the game. The actress, Carrie Coon, will have her face scanned for use in the game. Femme fatales always make a game better, just ask Ada Wong (Resident Evil) or Mona Sax (Max Payne). Well, we hope that the game will get a real name soon and some screens to go with the official announcement. With any luck the title won't disappear for another year -- we need more WWII based, Nazi killin', first-person shooters!

Our readers amaze us. In responding to our post about the "perfect" game enemy, reader Brad Lee diagnosed the ailment that afflicts game designers who insist on using the same old slobbering, ugly Zombie-Alien-Nazi enemies. Here's Brad's post, edited for brevity:

The problem is that games are still stuck in the 'Romantic' era. Too many video game developers look to romanticism for inspiration. (Romanticism was an artistic movement that emphasized exaggeration, emotion, nature, tradition, etc.) In Romanticism, an artist who wants to convey an emotion such as sadness uses dark colors. If he wants to convey evil, he makes the subject ugly. And so on.

Games use this art style simply because it's easier. There are a lot of costs to produce a video game -- graphics and game engine being the most expensive -- and I'm sure story and characters are probably a lower priority than other aspects of video games. Keep in mind that most games' stories are not produced by professional writers (or good writers anyway), so it is simply easier to use romanticism than try and craft a realistic story with [realistic] characters.

It is much easier to make a story about demons rampaging through the world (and only one guy -- you! -- can stop them) than to create a story about real people just struggling to do the right thing. Many game developers just don't know any better because they don't bother to take creative writing classes or to learn how to craft a good story. Many think they shouldn't have to [learn these things] simply because they are focused on the game and not the story or the characters.

Game developers are likely game developers because they love games, not because they love great stories. When those developers aren't working they are likely spending their time playing other games. If developers took some time to read [and analyze] good literature and watch classic movies we would probably have better stories and characters in our games. Until that happens, I'll be expecting to slaughter many more hordes of zombies, nazis, demons, and aliens in the years to come.

Any game designers out there care to post a rebuttal or confirmation? Are Brad's charges accurate? From where we sit, it seems he's nailed it.

Call of Duty 3's just been confirmed, and it looks like we were right on the money with our early leak of the WWII-related game.

Back in early March, we printed the following information (and a whole lot more) on the focus of an upcoming sequel: "'CoD 3' ... is being produced by Big Red One dev Treyarch. ... The next Call of Duty World War II-based title will return gamers to the battlefields of Normandy as the Allies take on Nazi Germany to drive them out of France once and for all. This time around, American and British forces are joined by Canadian troops, Polish tanks, and French freedom fighters in a reenactment of the bloody Normandy Breakout campaign spearheaded during the summer of 1944. In the push to Paris, you'll get to choose how you approach each mission, free of menu screens and jarring non-interactive cut-scenes."

Here's what IGN quoted from Activision for the announcement yesterday: "Through the eyes of four Allied soldiers, Call of Duty 3 brings players closer to the fury of combat as they fight through the Normandy Breakout, the harrowing offensive that liberated Paris and changed the fate of the world. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty 3 is the follow up to the #1 next-generation game and is scheduled for a 2006 release." Fingering the developer and the setting? Not too shabby -- while Joystiq pats itself on the back.

Check out the IGN trailer below for a first-person look somewhat reminiscent of the FPS sequence in the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from TGS. At the end of the "official E3 teaser" trailer, a number of platforms are listed, with the major manufacturers (including a small "Nintendo Revolution" in text) and publisher/developer combo listed. We suspect that versions for the PC and possibly the current-gen consoles will be covered with ports as well. Now all we have to do is wait for the word on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. (Infinity Ward, we're looking at you!) More info obviously hitting at E3.

[Thanks, icemorebutts, jason, & Hiro Protagonist]

[Update 1: Had to fix a verb. Thanks, Hiro Protagonist, John Q, & Jiiiiihad!]

See also:

• Official E3 teaser trailer for Call of Duty 3
• Next Call of Duty leaked: Modern Warfare tackles terrorists
• Rumor: Call of Duty joining the Revolution
• Kojima interacts in real-time with MGS4 trailer at TGS