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Too Human video serves up co-op 'serving'
Serving, it's not just for restaurants any more. As Too Human's Denis Dyack describes it, 'serving' is a gameplay component of co-op found in Silicon Knights' nearly complete mythical opus, whereby one player knocks opponents skyward while the other makes with a mid-air smack down. Think of it as juggling -- with style.It all looks interesting, though like so much of Too Human, we don't think it comes across quite as cool or inspired as it must look through Dyack's eyes. Feel free to check out the video below and let us know if you feel the same way, or if, like Dyack, you think that this makes Too Human feel "very different" from other action RPGs sitting on your shelf.
Too Human 'just days away' from done
Silicon Knight's controversy-fuelled Too Human is nearly finished, as company president Denis Dyack confirms on his IGN blog that the game "is likely just days away" from being completed. Writes Dyack, the team is currently working to squelch a pair of "rare crash bugs" before sending the long-in-development sci-fi Norse action game off for final approval. The exec also notes that "there will be plenty of time for press to critique Too Human as they will receive evaluation copies well in advance of the release date." This means that when scores come rolling in this August they should not be based on rushed play throughs to meet unrealistic deadlines, at least that's the theory. We admit that part of us will miss the roller coaster ride that has been Too Human's road to retail, though we can't help but wonder what Dyack will be up to next.
GDC08: Hands-on with Too Human
As I violently disassembled insectile robots into their constituent sparks and parts, someone asked me which game Too Human reminded me of. Without pause, I pointed towards Devil May Cry, Capcom's over-the-top display of acrobatic swordsmanship and stylish oneupmanship. It made perfect sense -- the dual pistols, the melee mashing, the juggling of enemies and the utter disregard for the forces of gravity made it a close match, with the exception of whimpering demons having been replaced by spidery robots. I don't think the comparison is inaccurate given Too Human's wonderfully chaotic encounters, but I've since come up with one that more closely conveys my somewhat conflicted opinion. Too Human is very much like Mass Effect, and not just in terms of technology, grand science fiction settings and heroic bald men, but in how it presents a role-playing game within the shell of an action game. %Gallery-16464%
Dyack sees unified console as 'inevitable'
Are we seeing a movement developing? No sooner does EA's Gerhard Florin say he'd like to see an "open, standard platform" then game designer extraordinaire Denis Dyack says he sees such an idea as "inevitable." Writing for the UK's Official Xbox Magazine (as reported by Computer & Video Games), Dyack argues that having multiple competitive consoles is bad for third parties, who have to make tough decisions on how to split resources, and bad for first parties, who have to spend gobs of money on hardware development to attract the third parties. Such an inefficient market can't sustain itself, Dyack argues, turning a one-console future into "a future we can't avoid."Sorry, we don't buy it. Even with the market split between three strong systems, both first- and third-parties seem to be doing just fine by targeting content to the specific audiences of each console. More importantly, a single standard would remove the competitive drive to innovate, meaning the unified platform could quickly stagnate. The VHS format reigned supreme for nearly twenty years partly because of its near-monopoly on the home video market. Can you imagine if the NES had lasted that long? Thankfully Sega and the Genesis kick-started the competitive cycle that has led to today's varied crop of systems. Dyack sees a "consortium of game makers" deciding on the single standard, but such a consortium would inevitably devolve into petty squabbles over hardware issues like type of disc drive, controller design and motion sensitivity, hard drive size, media center features, RAM and a million others. The result would either be a kitchen-sink system that tries to do everything and costs a bazillion dollars (3DO, anyone?) or a splintering of different hardware configurations that would probably look a lot like our current marketplace.Sorry Denis, but it seems to us like a single-console future is far from inevitable.
Too Human trilogy may conclude on next next-gen console
Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack was just keeping it real when he confessed to IGN that the Too Human trilogy might drag on past the Xbox 360's life cycle. Ya think? The ongoing legal drama with Epic is just the latest hiccup in what's close to a decade-long project. (Silicon Knights began development in 1999 and first previewed Too Human, originally a 5-disc PlayStation game, at E3 in 2000.) But if Dyack's prediction comes true, if there is only one 'next next-gen' console, then at least future Too Human sequels will not be slowed by platform transitions.Dyack's newest estimate for the release of the first game is now "early 2008," curtailing total development time to the 9-year mark and improving the forecast from last week's more broadly cited date of "2008." The first truly playable version of Too Human will apparently be shown to media outlets as early as October.
Too Human release date and demo 'coming soon'
According to TooHuman.net, Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack looked up from a huge mound of legal documents on Friday just long enough to leave a brief message on the site's forum regarding the release of Too Human. "It is always darkest before the dawn," said Dyack. "Too Human will be out in 2008. A firm date with tons of new info is coming soon." Given the many delays and uncertainties suffered by the sci-fi actioner since its unveiling, "soon" isn't a word we feel comfortable translating to any sort of time frame (we asked Microsoft to do it instead).While we await further details, consider Dyack's next statement: "[The new info] will be followed up with a playable demo. The demo will speak for itself." Without stuttering, one would think.[Update: Microsoft confirms a 2008 release date, but hasn't "made any announcements regarding a demo."]
Dyack breaks Too Human silence, talks four player co-op
If you're Denis Dyack and the crew over at Silicon Knights you've had a rough time since last year's E3. The company unleashed on the gaming press and attendees the stunningly awful demo for Too Human, which ran like a stuttering flip book and played like a poor man's God of War -- like cat food is all you've got left to eat poor. Dennis Dyack is now breaking the silence by plopping a big ol' exclusive over at IGN and saying Too Human is too different now. He just wants people to M.I.B. flashy-thingy last year's demo from their memory. The big shiny reveal for this too new Too Human is the very ambitious four-player cooperative mode that can be played over Xbox Live.Dyack says, "With Too Human, we're trying to seamlessly integrate multiplayer with the single-player. If you're really going to do that, you should be able to jump in any time, anywhere and go on a 15-minute mission with friends or play five or six hours straight if you want to. In order to do that, the world has to be pretty open and hub-based so you can jump anywhere and come back very much like Diablo."The cooperative mode will have players utilizing different character classes in a team structure. There are five initial classes to choose from and more will be available through downloadable content -- the talk of downloadable content in the piece smacks of trying to regain lost development revenue, otherwise why not just put it in the game upfront? Dyack says the single-player campaign is balanced differently from cooperative to keep players on an even playing field. IGN talks about the game a bit saying, "It's functional, it's fun, but so far it lacks the graphic umph that we would like to see accompany the combat scenes, especially since they play such an integral role to the game ... the fluidity, which drops below 30 frames per second, should be locked." Dyack says they haven't optimized the frame rate yet (video after break) and that they're going "to hit a solid 30 frames per second." We hope so ... we really hope so. Last year's lashing will be nothing compared to what Silicon Nights will experience after an extra year of development and delivering another Too Human flip book simulator.See also: Too Human's Dennis Dyack pokes fun at Penny Arcade
Too Human's Denis Dyack pokes fun at Penny Arcade game
Ever since Too Human got savaged by the press for sporting a decidedly wonky framerate at E3 2006, Silicon Knights frontman, Denis Dyack, has been somewhat frigid towards the issue of unfinished games and the media's ability to influence opinion based on early code. Not too long ago, the first part in the sci-fi action trilogy emerged from a "very cold place," hoping to set things back on track and get people to focus on all the good things that were, perhaps unfairly, overlooked in favor of counting the number of frames per second. The Penny Arcade duo has discussed (some would say dissed) the game several times in the past, most recently posting a comic literally illustrating the dangers of revealing premature products.Dyack has continued the trend by posting his own modified Penny Arcade strip on his IGN blog, taking a jab at the generally unfavorable reaction to Gabe and Tycho's upcoming foray into interactivity. With the greener shoe now on the other end of the turning tables (or something along those lines), it becomes clear that presenting your unfinished game to the public is a tricky business indeed. Perhaps that's too serious a tone to end on considering Dyack's amusing contribution, but it's an interesting dilemma nonetheless.How do you convey the big picture in a cursory glance? When do you show too much and when do you show too little?[Thanks, Adam]
Denis Dyack shows he is only 'Too Human'
Too Human to outside observers is slowly becoming the Duke Nukem Forever of the Xbox 360. After making a -- oh, how to put it kindly -- laggy presentation at the last E3, it went MIA for X06 and *poof* Too Human was gone.Now Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack has allegedly made a statement following a heated NeoGAF thread about another Too Human delay. Dyack says, "I am sorry to see not much has changed here on the GAF. There should be no question as to why many developers do not post here. Thanks to those who were positive and made some logical comments ... In time these comments will be bearers of fruit. Unfortunately for many here, they are going to be very bitter."At this point nobody has any idea when this game will come out. It could be Q4 2007 or sometime in 2008. Rumor has it that we'll get another chance to see Too Human at Min-E3. As long as it doesn't chug at 25 frames per second, it'll be a vast improvement over last E3.[via CVG]
Too Human emerging from a "very cold place"
Silicon's Knights founder Denis Dyack crawls out from a dark hole to deliver a new Too Human screenshot (pictured) and a few promises. Too Human went AWOL after its sketchy E3 showing (slide show, anyone?), but Dyack vows the game has undergone some significant tuning. The evidence is in the image, he claims. Hmmm ... maybe we're missing a cybernetic upgrade or something, but we're not able to judge frame rate, camera movement, and load times from a still shot. But oh yes, those are indeed some soft shadows...Microsoft is expecting Too Human by July. The onus is on Silicon Knights to deliver. Is the pain from shame enough to drive this project beyond crushed expectations? We can't wait for this one to be dumped outta its ice bucket.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Too Human peeks out, reemerges soon
On his latest developer blog, Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack explains just what happened to Too Human, an action title about cybernetic gods. Savvy readers will know that Too Human dropped from the public radar after a highly criticized showing at E3 2006. Many publications were quick to point out the E3 demo's low framerate and less than perfect camera. All in all, Silicon Knights took quite a beating for an unfinished demo of an unfinished game. In his latest entry, Dyack explains the reasons they took an unfinished demo to E3 and the reasons for Too Human's subsequent disappearance. Dyack explains that Too Human had to "go dark" after E3 in order to make the necessary improvements (many of them made as the result of E3 feedback). He promises that all of the E3 problems have been fixed and that "sweeping improvements" have been made all around. He concludes by offering a single screenshot of the current build and letting us know that Too Human should re-emerge "soon."Hopefully, "soon" means that the game will make an appearance at GDC before its expected June release date.
Where was Too Human at X06? Dyack explains
Eclipsed by a plethora of announcements at X06, Too Human's absence went without much of a fuss. In a recent post on developer Silicon Knights' blog, President Denis Dyack explained that the decision was "made immediately after E3. We made the decision to next show the game when we are ready and we knew that X06 would not be the right time." Leaving Too Human MIA from X06 was likely the best decision after their less-than-stellar slide show presentation at E3. Dyack asserts that the game is "shaping up to be our best game to date." and concludes that "there will be a preview of the game in the future ..." As we understand it, future tense spans a rather wide time period, giving Silicon Knights the right to show Too Human sometime in 2046 without breaking its promise. We would've preferred Dyack given the most-reassuring-yet-more-confusing future perfect subjunctive tense: "We will have had shown a preview of the game in the future."[via Pro-G]See Also:TGS: Gears of War, WRU?!TGS: Killzone 2, WRU?!
High-res Too Human magazine scans reappear
Those scans from this May's EGM featuring tons of Too Human coverage that we posted about last week, and had already been taken down, have (unsurprisingly) cropped up elsewhere on the internets. If you didn't think Too Human was ambitious before, prepare to read a compelling argument otherwise. If you're familiar with Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack, you already know his interests are varied; Too Human ranges from Norse mythology, Nietzsche, and Shakespeare to God of War, Metroid, Zelda, and Phantasy Star Online.[Via Le Garonne]
Too Human gets cover treatment in May's EGM
Turns out those small shots of Too Human that we linked to last week were from a print mag, May's issue of EGM to be precise. Silicon Knights' upcoming title -- part of a planned trilogy and one of the much anticipated "second-wave" of 360 games -- gets some real VIP treatment, with a dozen pages of coverage, including the cover and the table of contents. Super fansite TooHuman.net got their hands on high-res scans of the entire spread but, as to be expected, were asked by the powers that be to remove them. They are still hosting the low-res camera shots ... though I'm going blind trying to read that text.
A preview of Silicon Knights' Too Human
Following their preview of Bioware's sci-fi RPG Mass Effect, UGO has a preview of another developer's game that had some striking similarities: both are being developed in Canada; both are sci-fi stories; both are written in-house, and not licensed; both are part one of a planned trilogy; and both are part of the highly anticipated "second wave" of 360 exclusives. This game is going to come as a huge surprise to those of you that didn't read the title to this post... Silicon Knights' Too Human!The preview is pretty by the numbers, covering the story and basic gameplay. They do remind us that although the game began its life on the PlayStation, then the GameCube, the 360 version is being developed from scratch, differentiating it from titles like PDZ and Kameo that were criticized for their long development time and last-gen heritage. See also:Denis Dyack on Too Human and the future of gaming
Denis Dyack on Too Human and the future of gaming
Denis Dyack is the head honcho of Silicon Knights, the Canadian game-developer working on one of the 360's most anticipated "second wave" titles, Too Human. Formerly a second-party developer with Nintendo, Silicon Knights is known for darker titles like Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and their excellent Metal Gear Solid update, The Twin Snakes. Expectations are high for Too Human and--especially if you've played any of their other titles--probably justified. Several years ago, Dyack was being heralded as one of gaming's most thoughtful and interesting game designers, paving the way for collaborations with industry giants like Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima. Following their departure from Nintendo, Dyack and co. have laid been laying low. Now GameSpy has posted a 10 minute interview with Dyack where he lives up to those expectations with some cogent commentary on the console wars and content: "I really think that the perceptual threshold of what people see with different technologies is getting smaller and smaller, so what they're going to see with different technologies--the PS3 and the 360--are going to be so minor and small that I don't think the average consumer is going to notice anymore. So what you're going to start to see is the commoditization of technology, where really the technology becomes less and less valuable. So the most important thing is going to be the software. And when that happens, people are really going to focus on content..."[Transcript grunt work by John at Gamerscore]
