Obsessive Gamer

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Joystiq —

Filed under: Business

A handful of folks left jobless in the wake of EA Chicago's closure last November have banded together to form their own independent development studio, Robomodo. The company was actually -- and quiet stealthily we might add -- formed in January 2008 by a number of EA Chicago vets, including Robomodo president and director Josh Tsui, who revealed to GameDaily that the fledgling studio has already been tapped by Actiblizzard to create a new title based on one of the publisher's IP. As for what exactly Tsui and company are up to, the team isn't talking specifics, saying only that it is a "high-profile extreme sports title," familiar territory for developers who worked on such franchises as Fight Night, Mortal Kombat and Def Jam. Given the group's experience with these sorts of titles, coupled with Tsui's admission in a separate Gamasutra interview that a "good chunk" of those working on the project also helped create Fight Night Round 3 for EA, we wouldn't be at all surprised if Robomodo's plans include trying to go toe-to-toe with their former employers in the ring. Stay tuned tomorrow for an interview with Robomodo's Tsui and Michicich.

 

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Broken Pixels: Virtual Hydlide It's Tuesday, and Tuesdays mean a new episode of Broken Pixels! At least they do up until the Tuesday of November 4, when Broken Pixels Season Alpha Zero comes to a tragic end.

This week, Seanbaby, Crispin Boyer, and Shane Bettenhausen played Virtual Hydlide, a Saturn game about a large man sissy-running through swamps and killing the occasional slime. It's almost as good as it sounds.

And tune in next Tuesday for a very special Broken Pixels, in which the crew leave the studio and visit the developers of Target: Terror for an afternoon of trust exercises and life coaching, followed by mandatory executions. More… (More from this feed.)

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Wipeout HD had some issues preparing for launch, like the delay due to epilepsy concerns. Now that the game is out, it has one more obstacle to overcome: reports have come in that it's been locking up for some players. An article on VideoGaming247 cites a PS3 developer source confirming that the problem is not a software bug and it relates to the PSN friends list. Indications are that the issue crops up among users who have 50 or more PlayStation Network friends on their lists.

A PlayStation representative told 1UP that the Wipeout team is aware of the problem and "working hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible," and promised more information soon.

1UP Videogame Editor-in-Chief James Mielke, who has been singing the praises of Wipeout HD, had problems of his own with the game freezing. "It locked up on the menus while it was scrolling through a city scene, while playing from my custom soundtrack," he said. Of course, that didn't stop him from giving the game a sparkling review, and it looks like a fix is in the works. More… (More from this feed.)

Joystiq —

Filed under: Sony PSP

Features to be included in the next major PSP update, v5.00, have allegedly been detailed translation by an unnamed French developer working with the beta version of the firmware. 5.00 will supposedly include direct access to the PlayStation Store, which was promised last month for the fall in Japan, at least, along with an improved RSS reader with text file support and a screen capture mode that supports in-game screenshots. The source could not confirm a date for the firmware's public release, but speculates that it could coincide with the launch of PSP Brite, the new hardware revision, on October 14th or in the weeks following. PSP's current firmware version is 4.05 -- if true, it would be a big leap to 5.00, by Sony standards.[Via PSP World; thanks, Skylar]

 

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What They Play posted a well-considered article today speculating that Nintendo intends to unleash an HD successor to the Wii by 2011. Citing game developer and publisher sources, the story specifically calls the new hardware said to be in development "next generation" and a "true successor to the Wii." Those sources declined to detail any specifications but did describe the capabilities as including high definition video output, emphasis on digitally distributed content -- with the storage solution to make that viable -- and continued backward compatibility.

Along with the anonymous sources, What They Play examined recent Nintendo financial reports. From these they found the company to have dramatically accelerated its research and development R&D spending in the past few years. Putting more pieces of the puzzle together, the story further notes that the joint development agreement between IBM and AMD that in part resulted in the Wii hardware internals expires at the end of 2011. If backward compatibility is a priority that could provide a good bit of incentive to get the next machine together.

At the same time, the current hot rumor is that Nintendo intends to unveil a new DS handheld at any moment. With hinted at specification like a camera and music player taking it ever closer to that of the iPhone, you have to start wondering whether slowly but surely Nintendo is positioning itself to make a play for more than just your gaming dollar. Considering the high aspirations the company once held for connectivity between the GBA and GameCube, it's not that difficult to imagine the new DS as first link of a new tandem. More… (More from this feed.)

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id's Growing Pains Tim Willits, Todd Hollenshead talk about Rage, Quake Live, Wolfenstein. Digital distribution is still on the table.

By Billy Berghammer

Id's long been known for its philosophy of working on one game at a time. But that's changing for the storied developer. With Quake Live, the production of Wolfenstein, and the preparation for the release of their new id Tech 5 multiplatform engine -- which powers Rage -- it's no surprise that id is getting bigger. Can id juggle so many projects at once? And after years of working with Activision, why is id going with EA for Rage? We sit down with id Software creative director Tim Willits and CEO and co-owner Todd Hollenshead to catch up on all of these topics and more.

1UP: I have to ask -- why EA? Why not stick with Activision as your publisher?

TW: Well, we're still working with them on Wolfenstein. We've always had a good relationship with Activision, but [with] each game that we do, we like to license them out separately. When we were looking at Rage, we had proposals from all of the publishers, and we were actually most impressed with the upper management at EA. Those guys actually play more games and are more informed about gaming than you would actually expect. We felt that a new partner and a new IP [would be] kind of a fresh start. It wasn't actually about money, because they were all basically the same deal. We felt EA Partners and EA would actually do the best job for us and were the most enthusiastic about the title. That was it.

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Fable 2 has gone gold and is on its way to retail. Whether it is actually finished is an entirely different debate online co-op is coming in a postrelease patch, but regardless, you'll have a chance to play it starting Oct 21. In our recent hands-on preview of the game, we noted that Lionhead lead designer Peter Molyneux had "said enough" about the game -- which would be true for nearly any other developer -- but anyone that's followed the man and his previous releases knows that he's not one to back down from an interview.

Back at E3, Molyneux shared with us an anecdote about Lionhead composer Russell Shaw, with tears in his eyes after completing the game, telling a worried Molyneux that Fable 2 was the most incredible game he'd ever played. That isn't the first time that someone's told us that Fable 2's intended to tug mightily at players' heartstrings, so during a recent phone chat, we asked Molyneux to explain what makes it such an emotionally compelling experience.

SCREENS: Click the image above to check out all Fable 2 screens.

"What makes Fable 2 different is that you start with absolutely nothing," says Molyneux. "You start as a little kid with no power, no sword, nothing at all -- you've just got a wooden sword and a pop gun. When you end the game, you're absolutely your own unique hero. Whether or not you've chosen to have a family, whether or not you've chosen to make friends, whether or not you've chosen to become a part of the community -- it's all your choice, and that is what makes it so emotionally significant. When you actually play the game, if you start getting more people involved in what your choices are, they get wrapped up in the story, so we've really tried to pull on your heartstrings a couple times with things like the family and the dog.

"When you get to [the game's ending], it's more than a moment; it's a whole sequence of events -- [it's] so much more emotionally engaging than it would be [if you were] just going out and being a predescribed hero. We don't take that approach at all. It really is your story and your journey as a hero, and whether or not the world likes you or loathes you, it's completely up to you."

'Have you seen Doctor Who?'

Despite strong sales and very positive reviews for the original Fable, Molyneux criticized the game in previous interviews for not meeting his expectations in numerous regards. When asked about the lasting impression he has of Fable, Molyneux says, "It's kind of like a really good episode of the old-style Doctor Who. Have you seen Doctor Who? It's like a B science-fiction movie. The story is OK, the effects were OK, but when it was put all together, you weren't on the edge of your seat the whole time. And that's what I really wanted from Fable -- to put you on the edge of your seat, to make you feel like a hero.

SCREENS: Click the image above to check out all Fable 2 screens.

"I think Fable failed on that front. It failed to really surprise people, and I think mainly because -- and we put a huge amount of passion into it -- but I think where it failed was the drama and the story and the pacing, the balance of the game and the gold -- they were all very slightly off, just like watching a B science-fiction movie. It's not like you can pinpoint anything and say, 'That is horribly wrong,' but it's just slightly off. And now, coming to the second time around, we've seen that. We've listened to a hell of a lot of people. We've actually listened to the community, listened to a lot of press, listened to a lot of people who've played the game before and ourselves, and we've really tried to address some of those issues."

Molyneux says he is "absolutely without question" more satisfied with Fable 2 now than he was with its predecessor prior to its 2004 release, though he admits that some things could have been refined further. "There are things in Fable 2 which I'm kind of thinking, 'Well, that's a bit clunky.' But that's on the fringes. The [Graphical User Interface] -- I'll be honest with you, it could be a little bit better. It could be more sexy and polished, but it's a very functional, very RPG-like GUI. The game was much, much bigger two years ago, and as we've refined and distilled things down, we've cut a few things -- because that was right for the game -- which I'd love to revisit again. But I am incredibly happy with Fable 2. As a designer, I've probably learned more from Fable 2 than I've learned on any other game before."

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Joystiq —

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure

Lionhead technical art director, Ian Lovett, tells Eurogamer that consumers are "visually illiterate." Wait a ... what cha talkin' 'bout, Ian? Turns out that the man behind Fable 2's lurveliness - following a verbal double-take by concept artist Mike McCarthy - actually appreciates the fact that most people don't notice every single, on-screen visual effect.Lovett explains himself, saying, "I want [players] to be drawn in, and that's more than the sum of the parts. Nobody's going to look at this and go, 'what amazing normal mapping on that! I'm so glad they did that!'" Really, Ian? We hear what you're getting at, but we have, oh, an entire internet full of gamers we're pretty sure will pick every itsy-bitsy last facet of your game engine apart, count the polygons, then email us a picture of an improperly applied tessellation and ask for a free car.

 

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Joystiq —

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3

Sure, it's been only 690 days since the PlayStation 3 officially launched, but it's never too early to for discussion on the next next-gen consoles. According to reputed Impress Watch technology writer Hiroshige Goto via IGN, Sony is looking into using an upgraded version of the Cell processor for the PlayStation 4. Goto speculates that Sony's upgraded processor would feature between 10 and 20 cores current Cell uses 8 and boast twice the power. Keeping with the Cell -- as opposed to developing a new chipset -- would not only be cost-efficient for the company, but it would also likely prove beneficial to manufacturing costs, software development it'd be a familiar architecture and backwards compatibility. Remember that although this is from a reputable source, the news is unconfirmed and, given the PS4 is likely many years away, subject to change even if true.Fun fact: There are approximately 1900 days over 5 years between the PS2's March 2000 launch and Sony's E3 2005 unveiling of the PS3.

 

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GameVideos Latest 10 videos — Ubisoft sponsored FPS team interviews developer. More… (More from this feed.)

GameVideos Latest 10 videos — Metal Slug 7 blasts its way onto the Nintendo DS. More… (More from this feed.)

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GameVideos Latest 10 videos — The team at Lionhead get hands on with real weapons. More… (More from this feed.)