ea-partners
Latest
Respawn: Titanfall server-side updates won't cause downtime
During Titanfall's recent closed alpha playtest, developer Respawn Entertainment instituted several changes at the server-side level. As a result, Titanfall changed, yet players were never locked out of the game during these periods. In a post on the Titanfall forums, Respawn Programmer Jon Shiring revealed the studio "rolled out 3 new server builds and completely moved players from one build to the next without interrupting gameplay." He added that players "never noticed a difference" outside of certain bugs vanishing from the multiplayer shooter. Shiring went on to say this is how the majority of updates will be handled in the final version of Titanfall, though obviously not every problem can be corrected on the server side. "We will definitely be rolling out new server builds to fix issues that we find. Not every issue can be patched entirely on the server, and so some fixes will require a client patch. But new server builds are definitely something we will be doing." Titanfall launches on March 11 for the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. During an investor's call yesterday, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said Titanfall DLC is already in the works and will "evolve over time as we see how the player base evolves through the year."
No mods for Titanfall on PC, studio to 'evaluate' after launch
Titanfall on PC will not support mods or offer any map editor tools to players at launch. Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella confirmed as much on Twitter, though he did say that the studio "will have to evaluate after launch." Former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were dismissed by Activision in early 2010, spurring a lengthy legal battle between the duo and publisher. The two would quickly go on to form Respawn Entertainment, partner up with EA and begin work on Titanfall. Titanfall launches on March 11, 2014, exclusively for the Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. While Titanfall will remain exclusive to these platforms throughout the lifetime of the game, Respawn has said it plans to develop games for PS4 down the line.
EA Partners veteran David DeMartini now head of Oculus VR publishing arm
Former EA Senior Vice President David DeMartini has joined Oculus VR as head of worldwide publishing, the newly-formed branch of the Oculus Rift manufacturer that aims to help developers create games that are compatible with the company's headset. In a statement to Gamasutra, DeMartini described the position as "not particularly different from what I did for seven years" as part of the EA Partners program. "I'm figuring out how to partner effectively with big developers, small developers, all the way down to the individual who just wants to make something great for the Rift," he said. Whether the publishing division will provide financial backing to projects in order to make them Rift-compatible is unknown, though the company did just receive $75 million in funding from Netscape founder Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Titanfall's contrast between agility and agitation
There is a stark contrast between pilots and titans in Titanfall, the new multiplayer-centric shooter from Respawn Entertainment. As a footsoldier, players are mice – hard to hit and scurrying from one crumbled hovel to the next. The titans stand tall, lumbering death dealers in a constant sense of agitation, ever at the ready and percolating with malevolent intent. It makes for a very interesting multiplayer dynamic, adding to the overall sensory overload and chaos of multiplayer in Titanfall.%Gallery-190953%
Titanfall assembles multiplayer footage at E3
During EA's E3 keynote presentation, the first multiplayer footage of Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall was shown. A dilapidated town played host to the match, where mechs and men alike can be seen battling over three objectives. Also, jetpacking aplenty!%Gallery-190953%
Insomniac prototyping new 'Fuse experiences'
It would seem Insomniac Games is "just getting started" with Fuse, CEO Ted Price claims in a missive on the company blog. Price says that the team is already working on the next experience in the Fuse world - and he's not talking about DLC. "We've already begun expanding what we've begun with Fuse. Right now as I write this we're taking the core concepts behind Fuse and prototyping new stuff ... stuff that leverages this bizarre alien substance which is at the heart of the game. No, I'm not talking about DLC. I'm talking about new Fuse experiences altogether," Price said. "What's wonderful about creating and owning one's IP is that you can take it any direction you want. And that's what we're going to do. Stay tuned!" Fuse launched earlier this week on Xbox 360 and PS3. It's a co-op arcade shooter published under the EA Partners program. Our time with the game may not have been the most enjoyable, but there's certainly room for improvement there.
EA admits to more layoffs, still won't give specifics [Update]
Update: According to an internal memo sent to EA staff and obtained by Kotaku, the publisher's latest restructuring plan includes moving EA's Origin business under the organization of Frank Gibeau's Labels group and placed EA Sports head Andrew Wilson in charge of the Origin Network.The memo says "the workforce reductions which we communicated in the last two weeks represent the majority of our planned personnel actions."Original Story: Following more rumored layoffs and the reported closure of EA Partners, Electronic Arts has posted the following statement regarding the constant drip of employees being let go across divisions."In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends," reads a company statement posted this afternoon."These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us."The extent of the EA layoffs and restructuring should come into full view when the company announces its fiscal year results on May 7.
EA suffers additional layoffs
Citing a reorganization to focus on new technologies and mobile development, EA announced that it has let another round of its employees go. No firm numbers or estimates on how many were fired have been officially released, however. The publisher released the following statement on its blog: In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends. These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us. A Gamasutra source said that the EA Partners publishing label has been abolished in the reorganization, although the games it was handling are still in the works.
Report: EA Partners label to close
EA is reportedly shuttering its third-party co-publishing Partners label, responsible for bringing out the likes of the Crysis series, Shadows of the Damned, Alice: Madness Returns, Bulletstorm, Brutal Legend, and the Rock Band series among many others.According to Game Informer, who note "multiple anonymous sources close to the matter," the Partners label will be terminated "soon." Game Informer's sources say the purported closure shouldn't affect Insomniac's Fuse and Respawn Entertainment's unannounced project being released, despite both games being tied to the label.The report follows news of widespread layoffs at EA earlier this month, as well as the apparent retirement of its Playfish line. There are also reports of the EA Mobile Brazil and BioWare Social studios closing, as well as one in based in London, UK.We've reached out to EA for comment.
Oddball world of Fuse: Splicing the Insomniac DNA with Smash TV
Fuse is a difficult game to preview; it's a busy experience with plenty of interconnected systems and a HUD that brims over with symbols, numbers and meters of various sorts. Insomniac's coming shooter thumbs its nose at the current era of clean user interfaces, which attempt to disguise vital information in natural ways, in favor of the bright-as-can-be notices found in old-school arcade games. It's a retro style that, in the face of modern titles, feels decidedly fresh. Further complicating the experience is the ever-present nature of your squad, working together as a foursome set out to destroy enemy lines.The trick with Fuse is that the four-person squad is always present: whether you're playing with friends, computer-controlled bots, or a mixture of the two. Fuse features a "Leap" system, allowing players to jump quickly between each character to command their unique skills. Insomniac says its goal is to give players the opportunity to fill every role."We've built this game from the ground up with that in mind," Insomniac president and CEO Ted Price tells Joystiq. "We wanted to make sure that there are always four characters in the game but you can have just as much fun by yourself, or with one friend, two friends, or three friends. So that's been our design mantra from the very beginning."%Gallery-179118%
Fuse trailer sticks its beak where it don't belong
The leader of Fuse starring squad Overstrike 9, Dalton Brooks, has a blanket set of rules he likes to follow – too bad his set of rules don't apply to alien weaponry and waves of murderous occupant soldiers.
Albert Hughes, EA producing Crysis 3 web series '7 Wonders of Crysis'
Acclaimed director Albert Hughes (Menace II Society) is producing a web series centered around Crysis 3 called 7 Wonders of Crysis – and the first episode isn't even about a young kid in a nanosuit overcoming his environment to go on and do great things. It's mostly about dudes getting shot with guns.
Insurmountable odds in Fuse's wave-based 'Echelon Mode'
Echelon mode in Fuse is what Insomniac CEO Ted Price calls "co-opetitive," a variant on the Gears of War 'Horde' mode. Players must survive twelve waves of increasingly more difficult enemies – the exact configuration of each wave is randomized, though you're always guaranteed two boss battle waves.Price calls Echelon "co-opetitive" because while you're ultimately working together to ensure group survival, the constant money drops – essentially experience points – are something teammates will scramble to grab. With collected cash, players can purchase and upgrade abilities, and progress in Fuse carries across all game modes."Part of our goal here is to make this a friendly game – if you've had experiences in multiplayer games before where you jumped in and had your head blown off in the first couple seconds, we don't want that to happen in Fuse," Insomniac CEO Ted Price told Joystiq. "We want Fuse to be a game where you're actually working with players and competing for cash and status. But it's always a friendly competition."
Insomniac boss Ted Price explains Fuse's box art
As soon as it was revealed, commenters on popular gaming websites and communities around the internet called the Fuse box art out, citing its odd aesthetic of cutting off the four main characters' faces and intense use of the color orange."I'm very clear on what the reaction has been from some of our critics to the cover, but we wanted to pull attention to the Fuse weapons: the Xenotech. That's why they're featured prominently," Insomniac CEO Ted Price told Joystiq during a Fuse preview event showcasing the multiplayer mode Echelon."Fuse is – the game revolves around 'Fuse,' storywise and gameplaywise. I think that we wanted to do something that was different. Cutting off characters' heads is not something you see in other game covers. The standard approach is to have the full character, front and center, right in the middle of the box – and we took some creative risks with that. I think some people have spoken out about the fact that we took a creative risk. Some people liked it, some people didn't."The cover itself was created in collaboration with Petrol Advertising, an LA-based outfit whose clients include Activision, Capcom, Konami, Nintendo and numerous other gaming entities. "We worked with them and came up with a whole bunch of different approaches," Price admits. Eventually both parties decided on the image above."Our goal was to very clearly indicate that this is a four-player game, a four-character game. We also didn't want to do something that looked like Charlie's Angels," Price joked. "I think the temptation with four characters sometimes is to have a very high-action shot where they're posing. And we would've been raked over the coals for that."
Crysis 3 sneaks to North America Feb. 19, Europe Feb. 22
Last night, EA hosted a preview event focusing on its early 2013 lineup, including Crysis 3. There, Crytek founder Cevat Yerli announced Crysis 3 will launch on February 19 in North America and February 22 in Europe.Last month, EA revealed the pre-order bonuses for Crysis 3, which include multiplayer perks – the Predator Bow, Recon Arrow, Hunter Nanosuit Module, an instant start at level five and three exclusive dog tags – plus a free digital copy of the original Crysis.%Gallery-172780%
Respawn Entertainment's big reveal won't be at E3
Respawn Entertainment employees will attend this year's E3, but no, the studio won't be showing any new project at the big show. "Some of us will be present at E3, but we won't be showing anything or doing any press related to the game," Respawn community manager Abbie Heppe told Joystiq.Thus far, little information exists on Respawn's first project. Aside from a single, extremely blurry screen and news that it's an EA Partners title, Respawn has kept the game out of the public eye. But with a team comprising many ex-Infinty Ward folks – the same folks who helped launch Call of Duty into the world of sports playoff trailer debuts – it's hard to imagine Respawn working on anything small.Respawn wouldn't tell us whether the mystery project will be revealed this year, nor if the studio would attend the various gaming events scattered across the next several months. We're hoping for a surprise reveal during Tokyo Game Show, just to mess with the Japanese market.
Crysis 3 screens both new and 'new'
You see that dude above, straight chillin'? Yeah, you've seen him before – like, a few weeks ago, when the image leaked alongside several other Crysis 3 screens. Well here he is again, but this time he's got a whole bunch more totally official screens, straight from EA. Thrilling!
Crysis 3's main man is a crack shot with a bow, apparently
Guys! Guys! Can you imagine if that Crysis 3 nanosuit dude is actually just Ted Nugent on a wild bow hunting spree after civilization collapses? That's the Crysis 3 we want to play. Don't you? Take a peek at the gallery below and get all up in this crazy headspace we've got going this morning.
'The Legend of Dead Kel' is Reckoning's second DLC, arrives on March 20
Interested in buying a fancy virtual house? Beyond a handful of new objectives on an island paradise (Gallow's End), that's exactly what you'll get out of the upcoming downloadable content for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, arriving on March 20 to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.The content claims to add 15% more space to the overall world map in Reckoning as well, and introduces new enemy types, dungeon areas, and loot. More importantly, though, it introduces Gravehal Keep, a fancy new domicile for your fate-less explorer to, presumably, throw garish parties. No pricing was given for the content, but we'd wager a dollar that it'll cost at least $10 when it arrives later this month.Update: EA confirmed the price at 800 MS Points/$9.99 across all platforms.%Gallery-149106%
Warp review: Patchwork puzzle action
The premise behind Warp is as easy to remember as its name. Captured by a group of scientists and their dimwitted security squadron, an adorable alien named Zero breaks free from his shackles to run amok throughout an underwater installation. How does he move about? He warps, of course, from one spot to the next and even into solid objects.Warp borrows heavily from multiple sources to craft its world. It may be immediately compared to the puzzle propensity of Portal, the stealthy progression of Metal Gear Solid, and the chaotic tone of 'Splosion Man, but the game follows the longstanding blueprint we've all come to regard as Metroidvania. Zero uses his warp ability to get around, first through walls and then into objects.It all looks innocent -- especially when Zero cutely chirps and animates his emotions -- but it's all a ruse. Zero eventually earns the ability to warp into humans, where a few liberal shakes of the left stick causes them to explode. Like the remnants of a popped water balloon, Zero's victims are splattered all over the laboratory's pristine interior. It goes from cute to horrifying very quickly -- in a good way.%Gallery-147694%
