After climbing down 350 floors of traps, monsters, and ninja ghosts, not to mention the extra levels seemingly without end, I've come to one conclusion: I should never become a ninja. Sure, I should have known that before I even started playing Super House of Dead Ninjas , but it's nice to have confirmation.
I've died a lot. Countless times, really. Not enough to earn the achievement "Dedication," which one gets for dying a whooping 1000 times, but that achievement should tell you that this is a game about living for mere minutes. Thankfully, those minutes are filled with blood-soaked joy, certainly enough so that dusting one's self off and starting again isn't too great a chore.
Ever since Wiz Khalifa shamelessly ripped "Schala's Theme" for the single "Never Been," I've been under the belief that a Chrono Trigger mash-up album would be gold. Chrono Jigga , a Chrono Trigger mash-up that throws Jay-Z's best cuts on top, proves my theory right.
Hearing Jay-Z's coke-slinging, franchise-owning bravado from The Black Album and The Blueprint over classic Chrono Trigger loops and orchestra arrangements just works. "Ignorant Scene," "Wind Cry," and "Marle, Lucca, Schala" are my current favorites.
Chrono Jigga is produced by Lexington artist 2 Mello. He says the project started as a joke, but soon became too good to ignore.
I was recently inspired by a blog entry from a member of Fall Out Boy. If you're already rolling your eyes and making snarky remarks in your head, then this article is targeted at you.
Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy's lead singer, wrote about the environment of hate within pop culture. It's an interesting analysis of the way that we come together to belittle certain artists or people, almost as an entirely new form of entertainment for ourselves. Think about the common reaction anytime a band like Nickelback or Limp Bizkit is mentioned. It's never a simple "I don't care for them"; it's always a verbal barrage of all-encompassing hate.
While Stump's words were aimed at the music scene, they ring true for our little corner of the world -- the videogame industry. Yes, we're just as guilty of buying into the sociocentric phenomenon as everyone else. This trend needs to change.
Naruto fighting games tend to follow a specific formula. The console versions of the Shippuden series have been some of the best fighting games in the franchise, but the content hasn't really been super fresh, as it follows the familiar storyline of the television series.
While the games are ever improving on the home consoles, the portable systems haven't been given as much love. Enter Powerful Shippuden, a unique take on the series that, for once, doesn't exactly focus on the titular hero, nor does it adapt to the standard fighting game form.
And these are actually good things.
In an interview, thechineseroom creative director Dan Pinchbeck told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that the upcoming horror title Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has ended up becoming "more of a natural successor to Dark Descent than we ever thought it'd be. Originally, we thought it’d be this halfway point between Dark Descent and Esther, but in a lot of ways, it's much more like Dark Descent."
Considering that's essentially what I had hoped this project was going to be all along, that sounds lovely. As lovely as a game with this subject matter can be, anyway. Pinchbeck also said that, as opposed to the studio's last game, this one "has definitely got a much more traditional game story to it. I was really keen to write something that was a bit more straightforward.
"What I think we have in common with [Dark Descent developer] Frictional is that kind of emotional, psychological element of, like, what's real and madness, and what mind and personality are," he said. "What's true. What's not true. I think there's an awful lot of that in Dark Descent. I think we didn't want to move completely away from that, because we’re still really interested in that angle."
TCR: Machine For Pigs Now ‘Much More’ Like Amnesia [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Some may call GameStop employees crooks for giving customers pennies for their beloved Maddens, but only Frank Christopher Olivera, former VP of corporate communications and public affairs at GameStop Texas, has been sentenced to prison.
Olivera stole over $1.7 million from GameStop, using fake invoices and a made-up employee, through a fictitious company called Cloud Communications LLC (sounds legit). Olivera redirected GameStop payments to his fraudulent company, located in Las Vegas and in Canada, and would then put the money from Cloud into his personal account.
Olivera plead guilty to charges in November and, on Thursday, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. In addition, he must pay $134,651 in extra costs, though GamesIndustry reports he has returned "most of" the $1.7 mil to GameStop.
In 2012, a study called GameStop the 10th worst place to work in America. With someone like Olivera running the show, I can see why.
Former GameStop VP jailed for fraud [GamesIndustry]
Square Enix has kicked off a massive Xbox Live sale, discounting a ton of games at 50% off, some of which have discounted DLC. You'll find the list with links below, which consist of anything from Deus Ex: Human Revolution for $14.99, to Sleeping Dogs for $19.99 with DLC sales.
If I may make some more obscure recommendations, Geon is a lovely little puzzler and is easily worth $4.99. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is also a nice diversion (get the Raziel and Kain pack and support that IP!), and although Mini Ninjas isn't quite worth $14.99, it's still a decent bit of weekend fun if you have kids.
The great big Square Enix Xbox Live sale [Square Enix]
On the PlayStation Blog, we're told about some new content for Sound Shapes that you're going to want to take a look at. Namely, the game has gotten vehicles (!!!) with a $1.99 Car Mini-Album & Creator Pack that is a bit crazy -- but in a good way. If the game's slower pace bothered you, this add-on might be more your speed.
Additionally, there's a free update that introduces six hand-picked albums created by the Sound Shapes community. Can't argue with that price. The game has also been given an Offline Play option, which is always nice to see.
I was able to snag a copy of Sound Shapes during a sale, and although the purchase was easily worth it for the Beck album alone, it was difficult not to be left wanting more content, even with the community-made levels. So, yes, this new stuff is relevant to my interests.
This week, GOG.com is offering a discount of 80 percent on select games when you purchase five of them together. Depending on the gaps in your PC library, this is a rather great little deal.
For instance, Legend of Grimrock ($3), Defender's Quest ($3), Pid ($2), Alan Wake ($5), King's Bounty: Crossworlds GOTY ($5), and Divinity II: Developer's Cut ($4) could be worth a look, especially at those prices. I'm almost tempted to try Lucius for a laugh, but something tells me that is probably a poor choice which will end in regret.
Ken Levine has come out about the BioShock film, first announced in 2008 with Pirates of Caribbean director Gore Verbinski attached, admitting to personally cancelling the film.
After the poor box office reception to The Watchmen, Universal got cold feet about funding a $200 million R-rated BioShock adaptation. Universal gave the project two options: Ditch the R-rating or accept a budget of $80 mil. Verbinski wasn't happy with either and soon left the project.
"They brought another director in, and I didn't really see the match there," Ken Levine said at BAFTA talk, "and 2K's one of these companies that puts a lot of creative trust in people. So they said if you want to kill it, kill it. And I killed it."
In an interview on TechnologyTell, David Welch of 505 games discusses some of the challenges and successes that the studio has encountered while bringing Terraria to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Interestingly, some of the new content to be included in the console ports was directly inspired by tools and programs that the PC version's modding community produced. "The in-game world map in particular was very inspired by some of the existing tools," said Welch. "And our redesigned crafting system was approached with the philosophy that console players can’t easily access the online wikis the same way that PC players can."
Toward the end of the interview, Welch admits that the touch-screen interface of the PlayStation Vita "could be a very natural fit" for another port, and that the studio is "looking into it." While that is far from any sort of official confirmation, it's pleasing to hear about the possibility of Terraria reaching a wider audience.
Interview: Making the Terraria experience work on consoles [TechnologyTell]
Recently, we got word of how Poseidon's crew would roll in God of War: Ascension , and now we have some info on Hades' posse. Evidently, followers of Hades don't particularly excel at offense or defense, but through spells like curse, drain life, and invisibility, they can coast into various roles.
So his faction poses a challenge to players to overcome statistical deficiencies, and offers them interesting abilities? Yeah, I'm rolling Hades later. \
The blog also highlights the game's "a substantial DLC plan," which is included in the $79.99 Collector's Edition Season Pass. Future plans will be revealed at God of War's website.
Is anyone else digging into this game today? Stay tuned tomorrow for my Carter's Quest on the whole series.
God of War Ascension [PlayStation Blog]
On the heels of the recent news that Xi3's Piston would cost $1,000, Valve has taken measures to disassociate itself from the unofficial Steam Box manufacturer.
In a statement to Eurogamer, Doug Lombardi, the company's marketing director, emphasized that Valve is no longer affiliated with Xi3. "Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs," Lombardi said.
It was common belief that Valve had backed or supported the Piston, though to what extent was unknown. After the uproar over the grapefruit-sized PC's price, Valve was probably wise to sever ties entirely.
Valve-backed Xi3 Piston console starts at $1000 [Eurogamer]
Sometimes, the sting of a smaller indie team can hurt. Evidenced by how many sleepless nights Team Meat had to put in to patch the PC versions of Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac , occasionally, fixing an indie game can take nearly as long as making one.
Such is the case for Hotline Miami' s development team when porting the game to the Mac platform. Evidently the project has been in development for months, and now more than a few Mac fans are anxious to play the game on their platform of choice.
Today, the developers responded to the cavalcade of fans who want some sort of timeline: "Since then we have updated on the ongoing issues with porting the game and are still working on it every single day. Hoping that we get it done soon but want it to be right, not rushed."
Well, there you have it. Although they've been working on it for quite a while, they'd rather release a finished working product rather than a rushed buggy mess. Makes sense! I just hope Mac fans get to experience this great game sooner than later.
Hotline Miami [Twitter]
It’s a well-known fact that the gaming industry is sorely lacking in strong female leads, with the game shelf at the local Best Buy sometimes looking like a page torn from “Who’s Who Among Expressionless White Guys.”
Thing is, developers are definitely taking some steps in the right direction, with the March 5th release of Square Enix’s Tomb Raider showing that women in games can be portrayed as more than a pair of boobs carrying a gun.
Still, it’s worth noting that another female-led game dropped on the exact same day, one which, though perhaps less progressive than the adventures of Miss Lara Croft, is still a fine example of female protagonists done right.
Retention rates for subscription based MMOs are a really hard thing to regulate. After all, why do you think so many of them drop their fee to go free-to-play?
Trion Worlds has somehow managed to survive the switch, and is still offering subscriptions. Due to a little imagination on their part, they've managed to increase the daily active user count by 470 percent by offering simple in-game rewards through the website Raptr.
The developer saw results in as little as a few weeks. One of the biggest ways they got people into the game is by offering a free copy of Rift with a one month subscription for reaching an "Experienced" rank playing other RPG games like Torchlight II. There's also an entirely different tiered system once you start playing Rift itself, that will net you free items.
I played Rift off and on for nearly two years now, and it's a great game. I haven't resubscribed in a while because I've moved on to many other MMOs, but every once and a while I enjoy going back and seeing what Trion Worlds has to offer.
Case Study [Raptr]
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is nearly here for the Wii U and 3DS, and Capcom has a pair of trailers to celebrate the occasion. The video above contains the intro to the game, which shows off Monster Hunter's unique ability to go from "cute" to "terrifying" at the drop of a hat.
Below, you'll find a recap of the features that will be present predominantly in the Wii U version, like the ability to play online with voice chat.
Did you get a chance to play the demo? Gated with single player, I thought it was a pretty poor representation of the real Monster Hunter experience -- but we'll find out soon enough if Ultimate delivers on March 19th.
If the best way to learn is by ‘doing’, students on the University of Northampton’s new game courses should be well-served by an ambitious three-year MMOG project.
From September new starters will set to work creating a 3D massively multiplayer game that will be released by the UK institution in 2016. The aim is to accelerate student learning by giving them experience of the development process from the concept stage to release and beyond.
“We’re trying to give students a feel for working in the industry,” says senior lecturer Martyn Simmons. “The coding and the graphics are majorly important, but we want them to learn the ins and outs of releasing a game.”
Simmons is one of a rare breed of academics whose job straddles two disciplines and therefore two faculties. As course leader for the BA (Hons) Game Art and BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development undergraduate degree programmes his brief is to ensure learning is firmly interdisciplinary. And that goal is critical as part of a wider drive towards getting students a job in the game industry, he says.
“The MMO will be a sales pitch for us and our students,” explains Simmons. “We’ve looked at the market and it’s mainly geared towards online gaming and 3D environments. We want them to get the skills for that.”
The game will begin to flicker into life when concept art is created in September. Simmons says the project will be akin to Second Life, ruling out the possibility of a violent or fantasy setting. He also anticipates a strong social strand. The MMOG will be designed to edge into some of the space in students’ life currently occupied by social media platforms such as Facebook.
“We will approach the task just as you would in industry. There will be group discussions and we will work with clients,” says Simmons. He also confirmed that, while the game will be initially hosted and set in the University, it could be released to “the wider world”.
Future students might be engaged in expanding and maintaining the as-yet-unnamed game. But Simmons says it is also possible development on a new project could begin with every intake.
Officially, September will be the first year of the new courses which had previously been known as BA (Hons) and BSc (Hons) Creative Games Development. Now the titles reflect traditional student expectation of the split between art and coding.
The post University of Northampton to create MMOG with students appeared first on Edge Online.
Ken Levine hosted a BAFTA event last night in London, at which he told the story of his career to date and how those experiences all feed into Irrational Games’ next project, Bioshock Infinite. Here, he tells the story of what happened several years after his career as a Hollywood scriptwriter fell flat, in his own words.
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Levine’s first job
“I’d always played videogames – I didn’t even realise people made games, I just thought they sort of showed up in a box somewhere. I was reading this magazine at the time, a great magazine that doesn’t exist any more called Next-Gen and there was an ad in the back for game designers and I’m like: ‘what’s a game designer?’
I applied for the job and a week later Looking Glass flew me out there and [another] week later they hired me. I found myself in a room with Doug Church, who is one of the great unsung heroes of videogames, he was the guy behind Ultima Underworld, he was the guy behind System Shock 1 and he and I worked together on Thief. It’s like getting hired into the film industry out of college and getting put in a room with Steven Spielberg in your first week. It was incredible. And I’m forever grateful for that opportunity.”
Forming Irrational Games
“When we started Irrational there was three of us. Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier and myself and only one of us had shipped a game. Robert Fermier had worked on the original System Shock and John and I hadn’t. And I’m not exactly sure – again – how I lucked out with this, but we managed to make a deal with Looking Glass and EA to develop System Shock 2.
And at that point we didn’t know what we were doing at all. Here I was, president of company, lead designer and I had never shipped a game. I had worked on Thief but it hadn’t shipped yet. We were really wondering how we were going to make this game with the Dark engine, which is the same engine that Thief was built on, it was not really a shooter engine. It was getting compared to Quake’s engine at the time, it was sort of slow but it did some things really well – it did a level of detail really well.”
Developing System Shock 2
“So we looked at the engine and said okay, so it’s not going to run very fast, it does a lot of detail, what if we combined shooting and RPG and really focused on the story? And because of that limitation we sort of stumbled into Irrational Games’ mission and that mission has been to bring players not in [as] an observer of narrative, but a participant in narrative.
Generally, especially at that time, full-motion videogames were supposed to be the big Hollywood thing and probably why they’d hired me because I had worked as a screenwriter, I always hated those games so I was really excited to say ‘how can we combine these two aspects? How can we make a player participate in a story without pushing them back and making them observers?’
System Shock 2 was our first attempt at it. One of the key things here is that we wanted to make a player interact with characters but our tools were really, really limited. At that point they were practically non-existent. They had innovated this notion of these radio messages and audio logs in the first System Shock, a guy named Austin Grossman brilliantly came up with that concept, and we had inherited this character, Shodan, which is great.
When we got the rights to make System Shock 2 I knew I was going to put all the money on Shodan as a character. But I started thinking about how could you start to make a dialogue between the player and Shodan, is that possible? And I didn’t want dialogue trees or any of those old, traditional things.
It was our first sort of stab at really interacting with characters without pausing, without cutscenes, without any kind of dialogue tree.”
The post First person: Ken Levine on his break in games, forming Irrational and the making of Bioshock appeared first on Edge Online.
