Electronic Arts to “Moneytize” id games
Yesterday at the Electronic Arts Press conference John Carmack, founder of id Software, announced that EA would be publishing their upcoming game RAGE which is the first game to use the new id Tech 5 engine. EA CEO John Riccitiello then came on stage to announce that they would add micro transactions to RAGE in various forms to make the game “more customizable” for the user.
The 360 version of RAGE will come with all the controls locked and players will be able to pay 50 EA Points (equivalent to $0.50 USD) to unlock the use of each button on the 360 controller, for example you would pay to unlock the Right-Trigger in order to shoot . Riccitiello said “if some of our players don’t feel that they need to duck in the game, they don’t have to unlock that feature, its all about choosing what you want to be able to do. This new direction we are taking with RAGE will ultimately allow our players to custom tailor the game to their likings”. He also said that the micro transactions would be different for each platform and he hinted that PC players might have to unlock each digit of the serial number.
RAGE is set for release in 2009 on 360, PS3 and PC.
And the World goes “meh”: Nintendo’s Keynote
All eyes are on the gaming world this week with the Expo extravaganza that is E3. While the air is rife with anticipation, things seem to have fallen a little sour for the Nintendo crowd.
With very few things to actually anticipate, Nintendo fans had some pretty fantastic guessing games as to what the Big N would grace us with this year. After their past two relatively stellar performances, Nintendo had quite the reputation to uphold. What new exciting things could they possibly bring us? Fans touted things such as Kid Icarus, or a new Zelda, or redesigned DS. Everyone kept on guessing with bated breath until Reggie “Regginator” Fils-Aime took the stage at 9:30 PMT on Tuesday morning. Then, with all the pomp and circumstance Nintendo delievered…nothing. I’m using that term lightly here. Sure, we got a peek at Animal Crossing and Wii Sports 2. But as for any earth-shattering developments, I think it’s safe to say we’ll have to wait until next year, or the Tokyo Game Show at the earliest to get some shocking new Nintendo news.
E3 Wolfenstein footage
As id continues to cycle through its mainstay franchises (Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein) it seems it is now time for William ”BJ” Blazkowicz to save the earth once again from the occult experimentation of the Third Reich……again.
Announced 3 years ago, little so far has been announced about 2001’s RTCW sequel. Going by the end of the trailer above it seems the assumed ‘Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2′ name has been dropped in favor of simply ’Wolfenstein’.
The visual asthetic has definetely got the feel of RTCW, with the graphical bar being raised significantly. It is unclear what engine Wolfenstein is currently running on, but I’d assume it would be the Rage engine “id tech 5″ rather than an enhanced Doom 3 engine.
At the very least the trailer promises destructible enviroments, jetpack and electricity weilding enemies and a ton of explosions. Good times
The game is being developed for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 by id software and Raven, with publishing duties handed to Activision. Todd Hollenshead has announced more footage is to be shown at Quakecon on July 31st.
Mega Man 9 - Multi-platform Retro
Oh, you beautfiul thing you. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Capcom recently cracked the gaming world in half with their announcement of Mega Man 9. A modern game that is being developed with the same tools and techniques that made it a classic during the 1980s? It’s like Capcom is writing videogame love poetry just for me! Aw Cappy… (that’s my secret love name for Capcom). Anyway, the big reason for this post isn’t to tell you something you already know, but instead, to share something that seems to have slipped past the early warning systems in Autobot City. In an exclusive story, IGN revealed not only the official trailer for Mega Man 9 (which is teh hawtness you see above), but also dropped the megaton bomb that it is indeed coming to XBox 360 AND Playstation 3 and not just WiiWare (even though Capcom categorically denied that information until now). So there you have it. Everyone gets to feel the love now. Capcom… you complete me.
Source: IGN
Ride your music: Introducing BodySurf
In a very interesting use of Wiimote homebrew, Evan Jones has developed a GlovePIE script that enables people to use their Wii remote and Balance Board on their PC to play the new, popular, music game AudioSurf.
For those not in the know, AudioSurf is a music-based puzzle game that develops unique puzzles based on the user’s mp3 input. The sheer number of play-style combinations is mind blowing and if you’re in any way a rhythm/puzzle game fan, I highly recommend you get it.
That being said, this homebrew script for GlovePIE enables players to steer their music ridin’ vehicle using the balance board and utilizes the Wii remote for alternative character specific actions. While there are some demo videos of Body Surf in action, it’s hard to actually distinguish use of the Balance Board. If you’re interested in seeing it in action though you can check out a few videos by clicking the ‘read more’ link below.
From Body Surf
Via Slashdot
AMD’s Cinema 2.0… Wow. Seriously.
Sweet mother of Carmack! Did somebody say gaming on the PC was dead? Well, ok, I’ve been accused of saying that, but the flood of game titles has been on a tremendous decline since developers discovered that consoles print money. But I digress. So, what are the PC hardware manufacturers doing to combat the dreaded console menace? That video you see right up there. Take a moment to watch it. I’ll wait. Done? Good, now watch it again. Seriously. Pay very close attention. That my friend is REAL-TIME. Yeah, not pre-rendered. Not some fancy Sony video that claims gameplay but is obviously a cutscene. Real. Time. Text can’t express the emphasis I’m trying for here. Hit the jump for the full scoop on this piece of lovely from our friends at AMD/ATI.
Unreal Tournament 3 hits Xbox 360 in July
To quote Victor Lin from Bloodsport “It’s about f**king time!”
Epic Games announced today that the long-awaited (or rather ‘late-coming’) Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 4.. er, I mean 3 (I guess Epic forgot about UT2003) hits North American store shelves on July 7th. The 360 release gets a split-screen multiplayer mode, new characters, new maps, and all of the official downloadable content released for the other versions. Now before you get too excited, keep in mind that the mod support that is in the PS3 and PC versions is missing thanks to Microsoft wanting to keep a short leash on what players can put on their consoles. So what was the hold-up in getting this released? They didn’t say, but I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with UT3 being treated as another cog (get it?) in the Gears of War 2 hype machine. What makes me think that? The fact that along with announcing a shipping date, they also went out of their way to point out that UT3 will contain “an exclusive video that gives a never-before-seen first look at some of the new gameplay modes in Gears of War 2, hosted by Cliffy B”. Whatever…
Source: Shacknews
Is Apple serious about games this time?
Apple has always had a hot and cold relationship with game developers. They’ve occasionally hinted at core-level API support and better integrated hardware for the Mac. They’ve even showcased luminaries from Bungie, id Software, EA and other developers during Steve Job’s MacWorld Expo keynotes. Most every time, though, the thunder has died even before the last of the faithful have shuffled from the cavernous Moscone Center conference halls.
Now, Apple appears to be ramping up the hype again, this time touting iPhone and it’s updated 2.0 platform as a legitimate player in the burgeoning market for mobile games. At Monday’s WWDC 2008 keynote, Jobs and friends demoed a number of games in development. One in particular showed that iPhone may be able to compete (at least on a performance level) not only with other mobile phones, but also against dedicated game platforms like PSP and Nintendo DS.
Enigmo, by Pangea Software, has been around for a while on the Mac. It’s a 3-D puzzle game where you’re given a number of tools to try and manipulate various liquid droplets from point A to point B. Each type of liquid (water, oil and lava) has its own physical properties and behaves differently with the various obstacles and tools at your disposal. It’s a game that seems to be perfectly suited to the touch-based controls on iPhone and shows off some serious processing power as well.
Along with Super Monkey Ball from Sega developers are showing that they can utilize iPhone’s unique qualities in their games. I’m hoping that these are just two of many more to come.
Via Pangea Software
90s gaming… I just can’t quit you.
I’m of the opinion that there are few eras in gaming more important than the 1990s. Yes, gaming started in the 70s, and took the world by storm in the 80s, but the real beginning of the industry as we know it today happened in the 90s. I mean, just look at the list of gaming related things from the 1990s article on Wikipedia! The 90s set the stage for gaming as we know it now; console wars, mascot wars, Doom-clones, the rise of Sony, the downfall of Sega… ahem, excuse me… I just need a mintue… that last one always gets me teary eyed…
So what’s my point with all this? The video at the top of the post, that’s what. If you were to say that you’ve never heard of NAViGaTR, I wouldn’t think less of you. There’s not a tremendous amount of information out there other than their website, which looks like GeoCities and MySpace had a love-child and left it in a dumpster on prom night. And to tell you the truth, I’m not convinced that the whole thing isn’t a big put-on. However, there is a diamond in the rough. Apparently, NAViGaTR had a series of video reviews for games released throughout the 90s, and through what I’m sure was accidental genius, decided it would be a great idea to upload them to YouTube. The series is called “Gaming in the Clinton Years“, and while these may all be part of an elaborate ruse, it doesn’t change that what we have here is a treasure trove of greatness. Most of these reviews are laughably bad, some of them are surprisingly good, but overall they offer an amazing look into the decade when gaming lost it’s innocence. And besides, any videos that start with a stage from Battletoads on the SNES, a drawing of Bill Clinton, and the music from Shadowgate over it is OK by me. Hit the jump to see more of my favorite picks from the series.
What do you think of fighting games?
After wandering around gaming related videos on YouTube I came across the above video.
It’s got a nice number of views and one hell of a lot of angry comments. It shows some guy pretty much completely bashing all fighting games.
I feel he makes some really good points but he does tend to go overboard on how bad the games are. I’ve never been a fan of fighting games but I still see why people like them. I can also see why they are starting to become pretty stale these days.
So what do you think? Do you agree with the video, or does it make you angry?
