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GC 2008: Details for House of the Dead: Overkill escape Leipzig
Apparently, one Bradley Crooks, developer at Headstrong Games, revealed to Gamekyo a few details about the upcoming Sega game on every Wii gamers' mind (if it isn't on your brain, then you should get your head checked) during an event at Leipzig. The list is fairly long, so head past the break, where it's all been organized with helpful bullet points.%Gallery-29952%
Rob Pardo talks about free WoW, Starcraft, Activision
Rob Pardo, SVP of game design at Blizzard, gave the keynote speech at the Game Developer's Conference held in Paris this week. Here are some WoW-related tidbits from his talk and the Q&A session held afterward.About WoW WoW was first conceived as free to play, being supported by advertising. However, the non-subscription business model couldn't support Blizzard's goals for the game. Pardo suggested that Blizzard approached the MMO genre "very naively, or else we might not have done it." He once hired a WoW player who sent him a 16-page diatribe about the game because, even though the guy was wrong, "he was passionate" about improving the game. About Starcraft 2 Blizzard has no problem putting intellectual properties on hold for a while, hence the wait for a Starcraft game. Pardo says that they wanted to make a real-time strategy game but were "tired of green-skinned orcs" so they moved away from Warcraft to Starcraft. Starcraft 2 is at a playable stage in its development and he's having a lot of fun with it. Read more about Rob Pardo's keynote speech.
Freak out with Freaky Creatures!
Having seen this game earlier at GDC, we can definitely say we're excited to hear that Freaky Creatures is now accepting sign-ups for the beta, which has been slated for a Summer release. There's a new website up, myfreakycreatures.com, which contains screenshots, a look at a couple of the different in-game locations, an air hockey game, and a creature designer that shows a bit of the customization the full game will eventually feature.Even better, signing up for the beta automatically enters you in the sweepstakes, with prizes ranging from free play to an Alienware Area-51 m15x Notebook, among others. And in what may be a first, you'll be able to pit your creature against others PC-to-PC, mobile-to-mobile, and PC-to-mobile! Check out our earlier coverage for more details on gameplay and what to expect this Summer, when we'll all be letting our freak flags fly![Thanks, Deborah!]
Sony's PS3 headtracking system does it all with a camera
We were already blown away by Johnny Lee's headtracking demo using a Wiimote, but it looks like Sony's trying to take it mainstream in a much slicker way. The company was demoing a PS3-based headtracking system at GDC that doesn't require any special IR glasses to function -- it just uses a bone-stock Playstation Eye camera to track your ugly mug around the room. Sony says it's not announcing the system for any games yet, but we can't imagine devs aren't clamoring for this to get official -- this would be amazing for all sorts of genres. Video after the break.
Portal, BioShock lead Game Developers Choice Awards noms
Wait! Before you flip your desk over in a fit of disgust, give us just one minute to talk you down, okay? First, that's a really nice desk (is that mahagony?) and we wouldn't want you to pull something flipping it over. Second, these aren't just any Game of the Year awards. Yes, fine, we did say the same exact thing yesterday about the Game Critics Awards but these are different. These awards are determined by designers themselves so, if you want an inside peek into the cheek-slapping that goes on in the virtual locker room we call "the game industry," then you'll want to read this post.There, you're still with us? To be honest, we really wanted to share the nominations with you because they reminded us of something ... what was it again? Oh, that's right, Joystiq's own totally definitive Game of the Year awards. You know why? Not simply because game developers – the people that actually hand carve every game you enjoy so much – had the audacity, the temerity even, to include Portal (note: not The Orange Box) as the most nominated game (a distinction it shares with BioShock) but because they also gave Peggle an impressive three nominations. Yeah, the same Peggle some people thought we were crazy for including in our list. Did we really just ask you to read this entire post so we could feel vindicated, our selections having been affirmed by the craftspeople we so admire? ... well, yeah, but we included all of the nominees after the break so you don't feel totally ripped off. We'll be liveblogging the GDCA slash IGF ceremony from GDC so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Microsoft's John Schappert to deliver GDC keynote
In a keynote entitled "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Community," Microsoft will either discuss the implications of chasing Sound Blaster owners from their homes... or the "Xbox 360 platform's next step in democratizing game development," which is what it says here in the press release. The same informative block of text notes that Microsoft's keynote at this year's Game Developers Conference -- its first since 2005 -- will be delivered by John Schappert, otherwise known as "Corporate Vice President of LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business" since leaving EA in August 2007.Schappert's schpeech will delve into the Xbox 360's schtrategy for 2008, touching on topics such as online gaming, digital distribution and support of smaller developers. Top developers are also part of the talk, with some of their plans for the Xbox 360 expected to be unfurled and plastered across colorful pie charts. Joystiq will provide a full report during the keynote on February 22nd, taking special care to describe a future wide open. We suspect it'll be obnoxiously bright and smell vaguely of gasoline.
