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Firefall dev diary discusses SIN
The folks at Red 5 Studios have put out a new Firefall dev diary video today, and this one is all about how much they love SIN. Senior Designer Scott Rudi and Lead Designer Scott Youngblood dedicate this video to talking about the wonders of Firefall's Shared Intelligence Network. SIN is described as a network that connects all Battleframes within a given area, allowing them to share information with one another on-the-fly. The use of this network is extensive. In combat, it allows you to see what your allies see, causing nearby enemies and other points of interest to be marked on your HUD. Players can also designate specific objectives, such as downed teammates or damaged vehicles, to other players within the network. The pair stress that liberal use of SIN's capabilities will be essential for success, as its information is fed not only to your teammates but to deployables such as turrets as well. For the full details on Firefall's SIN, just click on through and watch the video for yourself.
Explore Faxion Online's seven deadly sins
Does the angel on your right shoulder take a lot of union-approved time off, so much so that you end up listening to the devil on your left shoulder more often than not? Then Faxion Online has a temptation that's right up your alley -- seven sinful zones, each revolving around one of the classic seven deadly sins. Taking heavenly and hellish themes with a strong dose of humor, Faxion Online's world becomes a literal battleground for the soul. By taking each of the deadly sins and turning them into a zone to be fought over and conquered, Faxion has created a unique twist on the genre. If the forces of heaven take over a zone, it turns nicer, and if the forces of evil are triumphant, then there will be hell to pay. UTV True Games' Frank Lucero says that the PvP over these areas will keep players transfixed: "These zones offer all of the competitive combat play that players desire including PVP, innovative territory control and an ability ranking system that will keep players engaged in the timeless struggle of good vs. evil." Hit the jump to read up on Faxion's themed zones and see for yourself what your sins have wrought!
Switched On: Kin's seven deadly sins
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. There may have been a lot of behind-the-scenes machinations at Microsoft and Verizon that resulted in the discontinuation of the Kin One and the Kin Two, but there were also many marketplace miscues that resulted in the demise of the handsets. Here, then, were Kin's seven deadly sins: Lust. With the Kin handsets, Microsoft was too eager to get its hands into the pockets of young social networkers for whom the smartphone market had proven elusive. The key paradox of this was that the Kin data plan was the same for that of other smartphones at Verizon, and that continued to shut out those who aspired to mobile digital sharing nirvana. Gluttony. If Microsoft was angling to get Verizon to offer a sweetheart deal for Kin data, it certainly didn't help its cause with the automatic backup of rich media to the Kin Studio website. If there was one aspect to the Kin handsets operation that may pave the way toward future success, it was the Silverlight-based web interface to all the media that was captured with the device. This also allowed Microsoft and Sharp to minimize the amount of on-device storage. However, constantly backing up high-resolution photos and even standard-definition videos to the cloud required a lot of bandwidth, making it difficult for Verizon to justify a "light" data usage plan for Kin users.
The 7 Deadly Sins of EVE Online
EVE Online is by design a darker game than most other MMOs, which means certain actions unthinkable in other games are allowed in EVE's setting of New Eden. It's a game that rewards cunning and brutally punishes stupidity. Players can assume many roles in New Eden, but the villains in a story are often the most interesting. In EVE, you get to be one. While there are many wrongs a pilot in New Eden can commit, these are seven of the worst. Some players specialize in one of these 'sins,' while others manage to indulge in all seven. Come explore the darker side of EVE >> %Gallery-29722%
Hulger's confessional booth lets sinners vent on luxury handsets
Hey, we know that purchasing one of Hulger's avant-garde handsets could very well leave you feeling guilty considering the lofty pricetag, but the company is looking to give you sinners a way out with its communication-enabled confessional booth. The bizarre setup will be erected at Designersblock Milan 2007, and is being constructed in partnership with "communications specialist Associate" to offer visitors the chance to "play the priest or the penitent." Of course, we've no interest in interviewing with a unordained minister, but so long as the unit features Hulger's latest ASTOR & SOPHIA limited edition handsets (pictured), we'd most definitely stop in for a courtesy chat.[Via Textually]
Ritual not done with SIN just yet
When developer Ritual was acquired by casual games producer MumboJumbo, we figured that SIN Episodes had gone the way of the Mexican landfill. It turns out that it may just be taking a seat next to Duke Nukem on the bench of the infinitely postponed. Fielding questions from fansite Ritualistic, Ritual co-founder Richard "Levelord" Gray reveals that while the initial episode performed decently at retail (150,000 units in sales), it wasn't enough to fully fund a second. Development on the follow-up episode was already underway but came to a halt as the well ran dry.Gray goes on to say that Ritual is still interested in returning to SIN at some point in time and that perhaps MumboJumbo's casual outlook will play a part in it.
Geek out with SiN Episodes: Statistics
Poor Ritual, they get out the door with their (admittedly pretty decent) episodic title first, only to get shown up by the superlative Half Life 2: Episode One a short while later. It's a little early to be declaring victors, especially when Ritual and Valve are allies in the fight for episodic content, but if you're eager to compare the two, now you can do so ... empirically.Following the 1.4 patch, SiN Episodes is collecting data automatically (but anonymously of course) so they're able to analyze this stuff and (purportedly) create a better game. So, using the recently released data from SiN Episodes: Emergence and the data released for Valve's HL2:E1, we can determine that, in fact, HL2: E1 is the longer game on average clocking in at 5h 23m versus SiN's 4h 49m. The other metrics don't match up as nicely, but there's plenty to geek out over. Hardest level: se1_highrise03. Killingest weapon: Magnum. You get the idea.
More maps and modes for your Sin Episodes
Ritual Entertainment is about to release four extra maps and a new gameplay mode for Sin Episodes, at no extra charge for auto-download via Steam (the "no charge" bit will no doubt make many console owners jealous). The four new maps will be dedicated to the new mode called "Arena"--which is a single player experience akin to many games' survival modes--and will be designed around typically generic first person shooter situations like an office, a turbine room and a processing plant. Shawn, the lead game designer of Sin lays it down on his blog; "It's an infinitely repayable single player mode where you continually try and beat your high score". Our translation: "shoot loads of people and then obsess over the number of enemies you shot in the groin".Other bits mentioned on Shawn's blog include a comprehensive stat tracking system, enabling yourself and other players to compare their groinshot score, the mention of the impending release of a Software Development Kit (SDK) and a Sin development Wiki, and absolutely no news about when Episode 2 is going to hit Steam; Shawn got a little excited and forgot to give us any information beyond saying that he'd "be on the look out for some Episode 2 media in the near future" if he was you. We want dates dammit![Via EuroGamer]
Valve planning something for Xbox 360...episodic?
Valve announced today development of future game releases for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, with the first (unnamed) title "coming soon." Valve's Gabe Newell said, "The combination of Source and the 360 provides game designers the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences...Whether developing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, the Xbox 360 is a great platform for expanding Source and our game experiences.”Of course there is no mention of what this mystery title is, as they're undoubtedly saving the big reveal for E3. But what could it be? We know Microsoft is interested in episodic distribution (Peter Moore told me so himself) and that Ritual is interested in bringing their Source-based SiN Episodes to the 360 (they've said so), so it seems a reasonable assumption that Valve could be bringing the episodic efforts of SiN and Half-Life 2 to the 360 platform, with Microsoft making the big announcement at E3. What say you Joystiqers?[Thanks, Nate, Jeremy, and Crimson]
SiN preloading on Steam; retail drops 5/9
The first installment of SiN Episodes, Emergence, is now available for pre-loading now on Valve's digital distribution network, Steam. Though the official May 9th release date is still over a month away, you'll be able to save 10% off of the $19.95 purchase price, and get instant access to the original SiN via Steam for a grand total of $17.95. Don't have broadband and/or think Steam is the debil's bidness? Similar to their arrangement to distribute Valve's Half-Life 2, EA will be handling the retail distribution of SiN Episodes: Emergence. Both the retail version and the downloadable version will be available on May 9th.If you're nervous about the episodic playing length and the gameplay-to-hard-earned-money ratio, you'll have to wait to read the reviews ... then again, you'll miss out on the discount and the freebie. Sneaky buggers.[Thanks to everyone that tipped us off]
A SiN-terview with Ritual Entertainment
FiringSquad has an interview with some members of Ritual Entertainment, the team bringing us the Steam-distributed SiN Episodes any day now...Following the big Sony announcement at GDC, Nintendo's plans to offer downloadable games on the Revolution, and Microsoft's own prospering Xbox Live Marketplace, it's now crystal clear that digital distribution is the biggest thing since sliced bread 4x anti-aliasing. The guys from Ritual make a couple really cogent points; their Dickens analogy is particularly apt, discussing how the 19th century benefits of serial distribution are no different than many of the benefits the model aims to offer today's gaming audience. Some choice quotes: "I believe we are going to see more and more high-quality game content being released digitally via services like Steam and the Xbox Live Marketplace. That is not to say that the traditional retail channel is going away, digital distribution is merely another avenue for developers to get their games out there...." "As a developer, making a game under the episodic model has been MUCH easier. This paradigm forces us to encapsulate our efforts into more manageable pieces, and to compartmentalize our development cycles." "We’re in talks with Microsoft about getting SiN Episodes on Xbox Live Marketplace, which is a really great outlet for the game. We’ll have more on that at a later time." But what about the hard drive, man?
Video interview with SiN: Episodes guys
GameTrailers has a video interview up with some of the key players at Ritual Entertainment creating the upcoming episodic SiN series. There's some interesting talk about episodic delivery, including staying ahead of the tech curve due to the familiarity with an evolving engine, the dynamic difficulty system, which aims to remove the frustration some gamers have with games, and they even hit some tech buzzwords like iPod when discussing the jump to a short-form, serialized product. There's still no date for the "first AAA episodic" game but it should be soon (just not early March-ish). There's two versions of the video, be sure to check out the HD feed if your system can handle it.[Thanks, Nick]
SiN Episodes: Emergence trailer
Ritual has posted the official trailer for their upcoming title, SiN Episodes: Emergence. The Source engine looks great, as is to be expected, and while the characters and setting are typical FPS-generic, the distribution method is what distinguishes this puppy from the litter. Six hours of gameplay for $20 is what we're hearing; not a bad deal considering there are plenty of games that last only marginally longer for the full $50. The trailer is available in both HD (1280x720) and itty-bitty (640x360). More on SiN Episodes: EmergenceSiN Episodes coming "early-ish March"SiN Episodes Xbox 360 bound?New Year's resolution: SiNRitual reveals episode based SiN sequel[Via CVG]
SiN Episodes Xbox 360 bound?
Ritual Entertainment, developers of the soon-to-be episodically distributed SiN Episodes, has revealed their interest in porting the title to the Xbox 360; after all, the two are a natural pairing. We've written about the immense potential of the Xbox Live service as disruptive technology, capable of undermining the retail channel by distributing games digitally right onto your console. The episodic nature of SiN Episodes demands this kind of distribution, and Valve's Steam platform is capable of handling it on the PC side and it would appear Ritual is hoping Microsoft's Xbox Live service can do the same on the console side. While there is great promise in this strategy, both for Microsoft and developers, there are limitations, not the least of which is storage requirements. The Xbox 360's hard drive is just not designed for massive game downloads. With just 13 gigs free, and the SiN package coming in at over 2 gigs on the PC, the option of purchasing games and leaving them on your console forever is simply not a possibility. Will they release larger hard drives or simply allow you to download games over again when you want them, swallowing the bandwidth cost?
