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See gameplay 'target' footage of Spielberg's canceled Project LMNO
It's common practice for developers to create "target" footage of their games early in the development process in order to give their artists and designers something to shoot for. Following its look back at the now-canceled collaboration between EA and director Steven Spielberg, Project LMNO, 1UP has posted what it says is target gameplay footage from the cooperative "escape" game. It's a (very) brief clip, but it clearly shows the A.I.-driven future girl "Eve" from a first-person perspective, and actions that imply that it's the player's character looking at her. The player sniffs a rose that's sitting in a vase on the table of the diner they appear to be in, and passes it to her. Eve smells it next, showing a range of reactions on her face, then abruptly bolts from the table when a sinister black Humvee pulls up outside. This is presumably the beginning of an escape sequence, and sees Eve performing inhuman acrobatic moves to traverse the restaurant. The footage is clearly pre-rendered, and it's not much to go on, but it's unquestionably neat to see what Project LMNO could have looked like. You can see for yourself just after the break.
1UP examines Spielberg's LMNO, the game that 'tried to do too much'
If EA and the Steven Spielberg couldn't pull of a first-person hybrid built on "escape gameplay" and driven by an emotional co-op dynamic, featuring an AI-controlled partner -- spoiler alert -- from the future, whose character evolution was to be determined by non-verbal interaction with the player, then who could pull it off? Probably no one. "LMNO," as this project was code-named, was officially canned by EA last month -- and it's been dead for at least a year, according to 1UP's new in-depth investigation into the game. The report -- and definitely read the whole thing -- is a compelling tale in and of itself: the inside scoop on a big-budget experiment (a "hyper-replayable" 2- to 3-hour game with no multiplayer) that would later morph into an Uncharted clone (complete with "an alien version of Megan Fox"), dubbed The Escape Artist, before being canceled altogether. But the LMNO story is also a striking reminder of just how inflexible AAA game development has become. EA tried admirably to invest in new IP several years ago, but its actually released games didn't provide the returns the publisher had expected from consumers. Had it come together as original designers Doug Church and Randy Smith once envisioned, LMNO could have been EA's most ambitious original IP to date. Instead, it fell apart as the industry fell back on iteration (you know, "sequelitis") and made jaw-dropping investments in socially-networked casual gaming as the path to future profitability. LMNO once carried the heavy burden of being the video game that would finally "make you cry." Assuming that the industry has yet to recognize this milestone as having been achieved, the mission now seems better suited for an indie developer with nothing to lose; one free from the concerns of the corporate goliath: namely, staying in business. [Pictured: Pre-Megan Fox "Eve" character concept; source: 1UP]
Armature Studio hiring for 'unannounced project' with 'unannounced publisher'
The last time we heard from Armature Studio, the developer founded by ex-Retro Studios executives, it had signed a multi-game agreement with EA. That was in fall 2008, and there hasn't been a peep from Armature since then -- until now. The Austin-based developer is up to something! And hiring people to do that thing that it's up to! A newsletter sent out by the former Metroid Prime dev announced that "We are staffing up for the initial stages of an exciting unannounced project with an excited unannounced publisher!" That "unannounced publisher" bit puts the status of Armature's "long-term, exclusive" deal with EA into question. Perhaps the Armature deal was affected by the EA Blueprint closure -- in any case, this announcement is potentially great news for the millions who loved Metroid Prime and want to see more from the people who created it. Oh, and it's also potentially great news for engineers, designers, animators, or visual effects artists looking for a job in Austin.
Lou Castle talks leaving EA for InstantAction
Even if Lou Castle's name isn't familiar to you, the franchises he's attached to certainly will be. Not only was he instrumental in EA's Boom Blox, the dude founded Westwood and was the driving force behind Command & Conquer. Now, Castle's left EA behind to run InstantAction, the browser-based portal that Castle says is at the vanguard of the industry's future, thanks to their experience with web development and social networking. "So I had an opportunity to join a company that was already proficient in the parts I frankly don't have as much experience with," Castle explained to IndustryGamers. Of course, I have a lot of experience making products, and the company I'm joining has a lot of eager and talented people that could really use somebody with a little bit more experience." Castle was most recently tied to now-closed EA Blueprint, built around the development of smaller, more social games. InstantAction said that, besides Castle's years of experience, they were mainly paying for the coolness of his name, which sounds like it would be perfect for a hardboiled newspaper editor that moonlights as a private dick with fists of steel and a nose for trouble. Can't say as we blame them.
Report: EA shuts down Blueprint, Boom Blox sequel carries on
Was it a project? A division? A windowless room in the basement of EA HQ? Whatever "Blueprint" was, it is no more. All corporate employees of EA Blueprint were lost in the recent layoffs, transferred, or simply quit, reports Variety. The somewhat mysterious experiment, known as Blueprint, was established in mid-2007 as an effort to support a development process populated by individuals and small, independent teams working together virtually. Blueprint was best known for striking a deal with Armature, the studio founded by several former Metroid Prime developers, and for managing EA's trio of Spielberg games, of which Bloom Blox was the first.As it turns out, a sequel to Boom Blox is currently underway, spearheaded by original developer EALA. The project is being shaped by many hands, though, co-created from various locations around the world. "Everybody is integrated, regardless of whether they're in the same physical location," an ex-Blueprint employee told Variety. "It's truly the spirit of what Blueprint was going to be."
Former Metroid Prime devs found Armature Studio, partner with EA
If you'll recall, three of Retro Studios' key developers – Mark Pacini, Todd Keller, and Jack Matthews – left the Nintendo-owned studio, famous for the Metroid Prime series, last April. Now the trio has announced the formation of an entirely new entity: Armature Studio. Armature isn't your run-of-the-mill developer though – a "core creative team" will be tasked with creating new intellectual properties and then partner with an external development team to implement the design. It's an outsourcing model (think Wideload) that allows smaller creative teams the ability to develop AAA titles. But while the model is great, it's not very valuable without a publishing partner to help get those games out there. Cue: "a long term, exclusive publishing deal with EA" – presumably the secretive EA Blueprint, since that imprint's Louis Castle is serving as executive producer for the Armature titles. For the guys at Armature, they're just excited to "rethink how games are developed for this generation of consoles." Yup, "consoles" – no longer limited to Nintendo hardware, Pacini says, "What really gets me going is that now, no platform is off limits." Xbox 360? PS3? Gizmondo?
EA Blueprint developing games for social networking sites
EA has put two of its major players behind EA Blueprint, a new project focusing on creating games for social networking sites like Facebook. The team is lead by EA Los Angeles heavies General Manager Neil Young and Director of Artist and Repertoire Alan Yu. According to Gametap, Blueprint will work with small developers and assist with funding and project management. There will be some new IPs mixed in with extensions of current EA games, but the key focus is high-quality "small-scale transmedia" titles that can reach millions. EA is already testing the waters with a game on Facebook (and its 62 million users) called Facebook Smarty Pants. With EA's own CEO presenting a different type of EA recently, perhaps small-scale transmedia cooperation could take the place of the mega-acquisitions we're used to with the company.
