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Sun Apr 24 04:23:19 EDT 2011
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Article:
Retrospective: Dreamfall: The Longest Journey -
Find her. Save her.
The Longest Journey is my favourite game. It's not the best game ever made. It's not the best-written, although it's up there. It certainly isn't the best example of an adventure game. But it's the game that most touched me – a game that literally changed my life. It changed how I think, an aspect of how my imagination works, and my philosophy. I'm not sure what higher praise could be offered.
So when the sequel arrived, six years later in 2006, I'm not sure I could have anticipated a game more. What's so fascinating about Dreamfall is how it exceeded my expectations at the same time as letting so many of them down. As a game, it's a mystery.
The Longest Journey (and you can expect spoilers for both games here, to their ends) told the story of April Ryan. An 18-year-old who found she could "shift", transitioning between a near-future of our own world, known as Stark, into an alternative reality called Arcadia.
Video: Portal 2 PS3/360 Performance Analysis -
Video: Portal 2 PC/PS3 Face-Off Comparison -
Video: Portal 2 360/PS3 Face-Off Comparison -
Video: Portal 2 360/PC Face-Off Comparison -
Video: Half-Life Episode 2/Portal 360/PS3 Performance -
Article: Going, Going, Gone -
PSPgo is laid to rest. Weeping is unlikely at this funeral.
Published as part of our sister-site GamesIndustry.biz's widely-read weekly newsletter, the GamesIndustry.biz Editorial, is a weekly dissection of an issue weighing on the minds of the people at the top of the games business. It appears on Eurogamer after it goes out to GI.biz newsletter subscribers.
18 months on the market isn't exactly an impressive tally for a games console - especially for one carrying the powerful PlayStation brand. However, just a couple of weeks over that year and a half mark, Sony has confirmed that the PSPgo is to be put to rest, with manufacturing and shipments already ceased. From now on, only those units already in the sales channel will be available.
Sony Japan's statement on the matter, as reported by Japanese site Impress Watch, was rather less equivocal than the one which came from Sony UK shortly earlier - in which the company pledged to "continue to meet... demand" for PSP products. Yet Sony UK's statement cuts to the core of the matter - there simply isn't any demand for the PSPgo, and it's questionable whether there ever really was.
Face-off: Face-Off: Portal 2 -
Through the looking glass.
A wave of incredulity and knowing laughter rippled across the audience of last year's Sony E3 press conference as Valve's Gabe Newell appeared on-stage to announce that Portal 2 was coming to PlayStation 3.
"I've been pretty outspoken in my comments about next-gen consoles," Newell chuckled with a faux sheepishness, "so I'd like to thank Sony for their gracious hospitality and not repeatedly punching me in the face."
The Valve man's expressed opinions on Sony's hardware are a matter of record, with Newell previously describing the system variously as "a total disaster" and "a waste of everybody's time".
Article: Game of the Week: Portal 2 -
First-person singular.
"First-person shooters are in crisis," wrote Dan this week in our Section 8: Prejudice review. "There's a sense that the tide is turning against the market leaders, that too many iterations in too short a space of time have burned out the hardcore, leaving little enthusiasm for new additions to the shooter family tree. We probably won't feel the impact for another few years, but there's a large meteorite headed for these lumbering, violent dinosaurs of the gaming scene."
He has a point, but don't be downhearted, because this week saw the release of three first-person originals that showed a broad an enticing future for pointing guns at things – one of them even in the overburdened military genre.
That game was Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Codemasters' second stab at taking the military sim onto consoles and in a more accessible direction. For the most part, it hits the mark, putting its money where Medal of Honor's mouth was with credible tactics, superb co-op and hard-bitten authencity worthy of Generation Kill.
Blog: Eurogamer bank holiday updates! -
Portal 2 face-off! RAGE! Jacko! Wrestling!
First things first: congratulations to everyone in the UK who booked next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off work, scoring an uninterrupted sequence of 11 days to sit around in your pants playing Portal 2.
See you on Tuesday 3rd May – assuming your eyes haven't atrophied into useless foggy lumps after that much time on holiday.
Some of us are doing that too, obviously, but not all, and we are certainly not planning to let you down with any shortfall in lovely, sparkling feature content – not during the gap between bank holidays, nor on the holidays themselves.
Review: Download Games Roundup -
Starzzle! Dodo! Pants! Yars! Twist!
Now that there's several years worth of quality download content in the respective archives of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft – not to mention the various PC and Mac services – it's harder than ever to make a substantial impact.
The more content that piles up week after week, the more price promotions for the back catalogue appear. Indeed, only last week we saw Microsoft temporarily slash 50 per cent off the price of the likes of Limbo, Shadow Complex and Trials HD, while Steam and the PSN scene are routinely awash with tempting offers.
And, just like the boxed market, it's not uncommon for canny souls to hold off buying things until the deals appear. And why not? The simpler nature of downloadable games often makes them immune to feeling tired and dated in the same way as a big-budget epic. It's not like you're going to enjoy Limbo any less now than you would have nine months ago, eh?
Hands On: RAGE -
Angry nerds.
When RAGE was announced a few years ago, the common consensus was that it was another big, dumb shooter (but this time with cars); another id Software game where the technology was in the driving seat and the game logic and creativity were riding double-barrelled shotgun.
As more cerebral shooters like BioShock and Deus Ex honed into view, those facts turned into worries. Were the Masters of DOOM being left behind?
The closer we get to release, however, the more RAGE - name aside, perhaps - resembles a grown-up id Software game. It's certainly not just a few ideas thrown at a Megatexture in the hope some will stick.
Article: Hearts and Minds -
Why the games industry could learn something from WWE All Stars.
"I got the opportunity to work with Shawn Michaels, but guys like that are your heroes. I like to keep them at arm's length, because you don't want to find out they're not how you thought."
As a second-generation WWE superstar, son of "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Cody Rhodes is obviously comfortable around professional wrestlers - and comfortable with throwing them around a ring, or he wouldn't be much good at his job.
His attitude towards elder statesmen like Michaels is shared by many of his peers. Rhodes and his former partner, Ted DiBiase, spent a whole summer going back and forth with him in a tag-team storyline of epic proportions. It unfolded across multiple pay-per-view events and weeks of wrestling shows on TV. They probably spent every day together.
News: Shadows of the Damned pushed back -
Mikami/Suda horror gets two week delay.
Shadows of the Damned, EA's forthcoming action horror romp, has had its release date pushed back by a fortnight.
No More Heroes man Suda51, who's co-developing with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, announced its new 21st June US date at a San Francisco preview event earlier this week.
There's no official word on a new UK date, but Amazon is currently listing the game for 24th June.
News: No PS3 Child of Eden until September? -
Ubisoft working on Move support.
Child of Eden, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's forthcoming synaesthetic shooter, will launch on PlayStation 3 in September, according to IGN.
As revealed last month, the Xbox 360 version is still due on 17th June, but Ubisoft is reportedly still working on the PlayStation 3 version, hence the delay. It's "expected" that the game will include Move support.
Eurogamer's Keza MacDonald sat down with Rez-creator Mizguchi last week to discuss the game's development.
News: Project Café tech specs leaked – report -
Plus, $350-400 price, 2011 launch mooted.
Nintendo's rumoured Wii successor, thought to be codenamed Project Café, will run off AMD's R700 GPU architecture, according to a new report.
Anonymous sources told IGN that, on that basis, the system will out-perform the PlayStation 3's NVIDIA 7800GTX-based processor.
Its CPU will apparently be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset similar to that of the Xbox 360 but with faster clocking speeds.
Video: Hector: Badge of Carnage trailer -
News: Hector: Badge of Carnage release date -
Telltale's crime caper due next week.
The first episode of Telltale's Hector: Badge of Carnage revamp arrives on PC, Mac and iPad on 27th April.
Subtitled We Negotiate with Terrorists, it's available for pre-order now on PC and Mac for $9.99, or your local equivalent.
Open your wallet now and you'll get a complimentary copy of Puzzle Agent thrown in, with 10 per cent of all pre-order proceeds going to help the tsunami relief effort in Japan.
News: PSN could be down for next 48 hours -
Sony engineers still working on a fix.
PlayStation Network could remain out of action for the next two days, Sony corporate communication boss Patrick Seybold has announced.
"While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running," reads a new update on the PlayStation Blog.
"Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we'll update you again as soon as we can."
News: Nintendo: Mario 3DS is Galaxy meets SM64 -
Raccoon suit confirmed.
The forthcoming 3DS Super Mario title is a cross between Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64, so says creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
While discussing the title with Edge today, Miyamoto promised that the game was "completely original" and would be released this year.
"It's a combination of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario on N64," he explained.
News: Gearbox dismisses Borderlands 2 talk -
"If we haven't announced it, it doesn't exist."
Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has poured water on speculation that a Borderlands 2 reveal is imminent.
Earlier today, a resumé belonging to freelance artist and animator James Mosingois popped up online listing "user interface concepts for Borderlands 2".
However, Pitchford has since told Eurogamer that the CV is just a red herring and no such title currently exists.
News: Miyamoto discusses Project Café rumours -
"Don't trust all the stuff you read."
Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted work on a successor to the Wii is underway, but suggested not all the rumours doing the rounds about what Nintendo has planned for the machine are true.
While speaking at an event in London today, Nintendo's creative mastermind was inevitably questioned about recent speculation that the platform holder was planning an imminent reveal of a new home console – dubbed Project Café.
"Don't ask!" he said, as reported by Edge. "Even when the Wii launched we were developing new hardware, work on 3DS had already started. It's a matter of when we announce it."
News: GAME runs out of Gears 3 beta codes -
More due from Microsoft next week.
Many customers who were expecting to receive Gears of War 3 beta keys this week thanks to their GAME pre-order have been left disappointed, with the UK retailer running out of access codes.
A number of customers have received an email from GAME explaining that Microsoft had been unable to send them enough keys to distribute.
"We are currently awaiting the next shipment of codes which is due to arrive early next week. As soon as they arrive we will dispatch them to you. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused," it read.
News: Portal 2 PC patch released -
Valve plugs a few holes.
A new update for the PC and Mac versions of Portal 2 is now live on Steam, offering a number of bug fixes.
The patch, which will be applied automatically when you restart your Steam client, smooths over a few glitches and makes a couple of minor gameplay tweaks.
Here's the full list of changes:
Video: Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version -
Gallery: Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version -
News: Mega Man Legends 3 kicks off 3DS eShop -
Prototype Version is download launch title.
Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version will be a 3DS eShop launch title when the service goes live next month, Capcom has announced.
The download will be a work-in-progress sneak peak at the full action adventure sequel due out on an as yet unannounced date.
First revealed last year, Legends 3 is the first game in the series to offer fans the opportunity to get directly involved in development. The dev team has been collating user's ideas over at Capcom Unity, with the best suggestions making it into the final game.
Video: Hunted trailer answers Call of the Forge -
News: Is Anonymous behind PSN outage? -
Sony investigates possible "targeted behaviour".
Sony is investigating the possibility of "targeted behaviour by an outside party" as the PlayStation Network continues to remain offline across the US and Europe.
It has been impossible to sign in to the PlayStation Network throughout today.
This morning Sony described the problem as an "outage", but in a new message posted on the EU PlayStation Blog, manager James Gallagher suggested hackers may be responsible.
Video: Guild Wars 2 footage features Charr -
News: Fable III PC to launch on Steam and GFWL -
Pre-order bonuses revealed.
The PC version of Lionhead role-playing game Fable III will launch on Steam and Games for Windows Live, Microsoft has announced.
Pre-orders begin today. Those who do so through GFWL receive Fable: Lost Chapters for free.
Those who pre-order through Steam get the Rebel's Weapon & Tattoo Pack, a collection of four weapons and five tattoo sets.
Video: Sims 3 video spoofs Royal Wedding -
News: Scream 4 slashes on to iPhone, iPad -
Play as Ghostface, kill nerds.
The Weinstein Company has released a movie tie-in game for slasher flick Scream 4.
Available from the iOS app store, it turns the long-standing series upside down. Players must control series villain Ghostface.
There are four levels to kill people in, including a high school. Inside are three enemies to murder - a jock, a cheerleader and a nerd. If victims notice you, police will appear, but they can be stabbed, too.
News: New Mario & Sonic game announced -
At the London 2012 Olympic Games.
SEGA has announced Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
It is the latest in a series that has shifted 19 million copies.
New events for the Wii version include football and equestrian, which feature alongside traditional athletics, aquatics and table tennis events.
News: Borderlands 2 shows up on resume -
Speculation points to E3 reveal.
Borderlands 2 has been spotted on a game developer's online CV – sparking speculation that the sequel will be announced at E3 in June.
Internet sleuth Superannuation spotted the resume of freelance artist and animator James Mosingois who, under the heading "notable freelance", lists "user interface concepts for Borderlands 2".
The tweet has since been removed.
Gallery: Scream 4 iPhone screens -
Video: Prototype 2 early gameplay glimpse -
Gallery: Super Meat Boy Ultra Edition screens -
News: The Shoot developer closes down -
Dundee's Cohort Studios no more.
The Shoot maker Cohort Studios has shut down, Develop reports.
The Dundee developer blamed the closure on the "difficulties of being a console developer in a declining console marketplace".
"It really is with great saddness that we have been left with no alternative but to start winding down," CEO Lol Scragg said in a press release issued this afternoon.
Preview: Spider-Man: Edge of Time -
Sling when you're winning.
Much like Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room or the sudden death of a minor enemy, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions was an unexpected small-scale delight. It may not have been the openworld swing-'em-up a lot of fans are still waiting for, but its loadout of four different – well, kind of different – webslingers, coupled with a really excellent pun-riddled script and some decent brawling, made for one of the licence's better outings.
Activision clearly thought so, as it's kept developer Beenox on board for the sequel: Edge of Time. Beenox, however, may not have been so sure, since the team has promptly brought the Spider-Man head count down to just two – ditching one of the most potentially interesting incarnations in the process.
If you played Shattered Dimensions even for a few levels, it's likely that the Noir Spidey was the one that stood out. Love it or hate it, this 1930s version of Peter Parker, clad in leather and cast into a grim sepia-toned New York, saw the developer taking risks, even if, granted, some of those risks had already been explored by the designers of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
News: Super Meat Boy Ultra Edition for the UK -
Boxed PC version due this year.
PC game Super Meat Boy Ultra Edition will launch in the UK as a boxed title between July and September this year.
Brighton publisher Lace Mamba Global is doing the honours.
"Super Meat Boy is an absolute crazy phenomenon on the internet," boss Jason Codd said.
Gallery: Latest round of Serious Sam 3 pics -
Sandy screens show scary Sand Whale.
News: Get 3 PlayStation Plus months for free -
Sony offers 15 months for price of 12.
Sony has launched a new PlayStation Plus offer that allows subscribers to get 15 months for the price of 12.
Become a member before 3rd May and you'll nab the deal.
Existing members can sign-up at the lower price, too. A new subscription service means if you renew your membership before it expires, your new cheaper member ship will begin as soon as it ends.
Video: Mortal Kombat - first 15 minutes -
Gallery: Fresh Shadows of the Damned shots -
It's a monster bash.
News: Boon recounts SNES Mortal Kombat outcry -
"We hoped success would pay for development."
On the day of Mortal Kombat's UK launch, series creator Ed Boon has recounted the controversy that marred the very first game in the gory fighting series.
Mortal Kombat, which launched on the SNES and Mega Drive in 1993 after its arcade release, sparked a moral panic after politicians noticed its digitised, over-the-top violence, particularly in relation to its Fatalities.
Nintendo decided to censor the game, insisting that blood spurts be converted into grey sweat puffs and Fatalities be altered.
News: Skyrim's Todd Howard: Actors come to us -
"You will all be very impressed."
Video games have penetrated "mass consciousness" to the such an extent that Hollywood actors now approach developers asking to do voice over work.
According to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim developer Todd Howard, agents now encourage their clients to work on video games – whereas before they weren't considered "cool" enough.
"Video gaming overall have reached this level of mass consciousness," he said last week at Bethesda's video game showcase.
Review: Operation Flashpoint: Red River -
Crimson tidings.
Call of Duty and its ilk are fairground-ride approximations of modern warfare. Their designers carefully arrange buildings, beams of sunlight and terrain to turn the head and draw the eye as you move along the rails. Explosions blast and enemies pop up as you pass through invisible triggers, only to be reset by the SFX team as soon as you're done, ready for the next tourist to gawp at.
These games are often exhilarating and absolutely deserve their place front-and-centre of mainstream gaming for their visceral, immediate thrills. But they are, nevertheless, a Disneyland rendering of contemporary combat. The primary emotion you feel travelling through the mechanical string of set-pieces is one of puff-chested power, rarely fear.
It would be senseless to imply that Operation Flashpoint, console gaming's only military sim series, is anything like real war. But the emotions the game elicits are undoubtedly more nuanced and realistic than those of its corridor-shooter cousins. There are still the invisible trigger points that cause enemies to burst out of buildings on cue. But in this world, ammo is scarce, bullets drop height the longer they are asked to fly, and there's no precision-engineered path through these wide-open desert spaces to bustle you mindlessly along to your next objective.
News: Yoostar 2 adds YouTube functions -
Rate, mash-up videos via Facebook app.
Yoostar 2 has gained the in-game ability to upload videos directly to YouTube.
The "movie karaoke" title, in which players act out scenes from classic films, can now post the resulting footage to YouTube, as well as to users' Facebook walls. Rejoice! The world could soon have another Justin Bieber.
Snuggling up to the world's biggest video-sharing site and the world's biggest social network gives Yoostar 2 powerful tools to spread word of the game - so long as users don't mind their own squeaky-voiced Arnie impressions doing the rounds at work the next day.
Video: Op Flash: Red River launch footage -
