Joystiq

First GDC Online 2011 summits announced

Jordan Mallory — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:45:00 EST

Despite the brutal, anti-nerd reality that is Texas weather, Austin has become a major hub for development houses that produce MMOs and casual/social online titles. BioWare, NCSoft, Blizzard, SOE, heck, even Zynga; they've all got offices in Austin and collectively they're responsible for a sizable growth spurt in the city's already impressive technology sector. It makes sense, then, that GDC 2011's "Online" chapter should return to the Lone-Star State's capital city.

GDC has, historically, been a conference "for developers, by developers," meaning that it's probably not the sort of show Jimmy Halo and Ricky Killzone want to spend their tuition money on. However! If you're in the industry, or just really, really into game design, you just might find something worthwhile at one of GDCO's recently announced summits.

The Game Narrative Summit, for instance, returns for its 6th year of lectures and dissertations with Eidos Montreal's Mary De Marle giving a talk on "Building the Story-driven Experience of Deus Ex: Human Revolution," and Volition's Steve Jaros hosting a roundtable discussion of development mistakes and war-stories in "Sins of the Past." PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile will be contributing his knowledge of pocket-sized, casual gaming to the Smartphone and Tablet Games Summit, and while the GDC Virtual Items Summit has been announced, no specific session details have been listed as of yet.

If extremely-inside-baseball discussions really are your bag, baby, then summit lectures will be open to GDCO attendees with "All Access" and "Summits & Tutorials" badges during the first two days of the conference's October 10-13 run at the Austin Convention Center.

First GDC Online 2011 summits announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Report: Three SOE studios close, layoffs abound

James Ransom-Wiley — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:05:00 EST

Following a series of tweets from George Broussard, co-owner of 3D Realms, which indicated that Sony Online Entertainment would be undergoing layoffs and possible studio closures around its five locations today, Kotaku reports that a source "familiar with the matter" has confirmed the closures of SOE's Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios. Additionally, half of the Austin staff has been reportedly laid off, along with a "sizeable" number of workers at SOE's San Diego headquarters. In all, the layoffs are said to affect nearly one-third of SOE's total workforce.

Notably, SOE Seattle has been the lead development studio of The Agency, which had been slated to launch in the second half of the year (after a long delay). Neither SOE Denver nor Tucson has been working on anything as high profile as The Agency, though both have continued to operate a number of SOE titles, including Denver's Legends Of Norrath and other digital card games, and Tucson's PoxNora strategy game.U

Update: SOE has issued an official statement confirming the report and providing further details.

Report: Three SOE studios close, layoffs abound originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Joystiq interview: Wes Yanagi on creating DC Universe Online

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:15:00 EST

UPDATED: We've updated a few interview answers with clarifications from Wes Yanagi after the break.

While there's been a lot press coverage on DC Universe Online, a variety of topics have emerged that we felt needed some solid "yes" and "no" answers: Will there be cross-platform play between the PS3 and PC versions? Is the game really coming out as early as "late 2009 / early 2010?" If we create a character with stretchy appendages, can we stretch everything?

Yesterday, we put the questions to DCUO senior producer Wes Yanagi during a hands-on with pre-alpha code -- the same code playable on the show floor at this weekend's New York Comic Con, in case you're wondering. He debriefed us on the current situation regarding cross-platform play, character customization and a whole slew of other interesting stuff -- including how his current gaming (Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics) is affecting the development process.

We'd like to give you an audio option but, unfortunately, the recording conditions of the room were less than ideal. Hit the break for the whole thing in text form.

Gallery: DC Universe Online

Continue reading Joystiq interview: Wes Yanagi on creating DC Universe Online

Joystiq interview: Wes Yanagi on creating DC Universe Online originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments