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Warlords of Draenor: Gameplanet interviews Alex Afrasiabi
Gaming news website Gameplanet has posted an interview with Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi featuring a detailed discussion about the next expansion for World of Warcraft. Along with discussing the development of Garrosh Hellscream, Afrasiabi dropped some interesting new tidbits we hadn't heard before. Ner'zhul will be allied with the Iron Horde, but only for, as stated in the interview, a short time. In addition, garrisons are shaping up to be a massive, interactive experience -- and sound much more expansive and interesting than the farms introduced in Mists of Pandaria. And if that weren't enough, there's some new details on the introduction to the expansion itself. The Iron Horde is trying to push through the Dark Portal into Azeroth, and players are immediately thrown into a frenetic 45-minute gameplay experience in which they are immediately confronted by thousands of Iron Horde. Afrasiabi states that players will, in that moment, realize where the orcs that have been streaming through the Dark Portal in the weeks leading up to the expansion's release have been coming from. It looks like we'll have our return of pre-expansion events -- something that was sorely missed leading into Mists of Pandaria. But the most interesting part of the interview involves the discussion of flight on Draenor.
The Secret World gets a new game director, title and date of Issue #3 announced [Updated]
Funcom's finally named a replacement for The Secret World's game director spot: Joel Bylos. Bylos is moving up from his previous position as lead content designer, and Ragnar Tørnquist is pulling back from his role as senior producer to pour his energies into being creative director. Bylos is psyched at the move: "Being given the opportunity to lead the game into a bold, new future is definitely a dream come true for me. I am very proud of what we as a team have created with The Secret World, and it is truly a brilliant canvas that will allow us to create more groundbreaking MMO experiences for many years to come. The Secret World is only really getting started, and with a game world that draws upon our own, real world, there is no limit to what sort of amazing stories we can tell and fantastic locations we can visit in the upcoming content updates." Bylos and Tørnquist are hard at work leading the team through the next two patches. Funcom announced that this month's Issue #3 is titled The Cat God and Issue #4 will feature the New York City monster raid. [Update: We've now learned that Issue #3 releases tomorrow. Thanks to Dalazar and Elania for the tip!]
SWTOR's Daniel Erickson 'actively looking for new opportunities'
Is Star Wars: The Old Republic's lead designer and creative director looking to move on from the studio? This is the question that comes from reading Daniel Erickson's LinkedIn profile, in which he includes the phrase "actively looking for new opportunities" in his header. Erickson has been with BioWare for well over seven years at this point. We're cautious about deducing too much from a single blurb on LinkedIn, but then again, he puts it right up front and center. What do you think: Is Erickson looking to move on from BioWare, and if so, what impact will this have on SWTOR? [Thanks to Soeren for the tip!]
Assassin's Creed: Revelations creative director Alexandre Amancio leaves Ubisoft
Alexandre Amancio has left Ubisoft in order to serve as Chief Creative Officer for Cossette, a marketing company located in Quebec City, Canada. Amancio leaves the developer seven years after joining in 2005. He was most recently credited as the creative director for Assassin's Creed: Revelations and also served as art director for Far Cry 2. This marks the second time in as many years that the Assassin's Creed series' Creative Director has left Ubisoft Montreal, following Patrice Désilets' resignation in 2010. "Video games and advertising have many common elements," Amancio said in a press release issued by Cossette. "In both industries, we are always looking for new ways to engage the consumer to the brand." Sounds to us like Amancio will be right at home in the warm bosom of a marketing agency. We give it two years before Ezio is slammin' back 5-Hour Energy shots between trips to Wells-Fargo and 24-Hour Fitness.
Guild War 2's art director illustrates cover of National Geographic
ArenaNet's Daniel Dociu has another high-profile project in addition to his work on Guild Wars 2: the cover of National Geographic. In this month's issue of the magazine, Dociu provides artwork to illustrate a "magical mystery treasure" of Anglo-Saxan origin that was recently found. Both the cover and the article piece show an era soldier with appropriate armor, clothing, and weapons. Dociu currently holds the positions of both creative director and art director for Guild Wars 2. His skill and prestige certainly isn't hurting the game's profile any, as this achievement comes on top of the Exposé 9's Grand Master Award he won this past July. The National Geographic issue is on news stands (or, to you whippersnappers, the "website") now.
LucasArts finds replacement for creative director role
LucasArts has appointed journeyman Frederic Markus to its vacant studio creative director position, reports IndustryGamers. Markus brings with him a long career of credits -- in more than 35 games -- from a variety of positions and publishers, including most recently director of game design at Disney Interactive. He's also served as director of pre-production at Ubisoft and consulted on game design and pre-production for Atari, Microsoft and Rockstar, among others. Markus leaves Disney in the midst of its restructuring away from console development, and he joins LucasArts following a difficult end of 2010 for the studio. Clint Hocking's arrival at LucasArts last fall brought a new hope in the wake of Haden Blackman's resignation, but two rounds of layoffs closed out the year with an "Episode V" type of feel. Prior to Markus' appointment, former BioShock senior designer Joe McDonagh held the creative director position at LucasArts. In December, McDonagh joined PopCap as the company's new director of production. [Image source: MMArchive]
Lady Gaga named Polaroid creative director, puts that liberal arts education to good use
As you know, Polaroid recently went Chapter 11 (again), relegating the once great brand to little more than intellectual property to be exploited by the likes of Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers -- a couple outfits that know the power of branding. You know who else understands the power of branding? That's right: Lady Gaga, the newest creative director of Polaroid Imaging Products (insert your own Paparazzi joke here). Apparently the chanteuse will be working "behind the scenes" to develop "prototypes in the vein of fashion / technology / photography innovation." We just hope the Haus of Gaga has learned a thing or two after that Monster debacle a few months back. PR after the break.
Black Prophecy Q&A explains weapon systems and combat
Black Prophecy is one of the ship-based science fiction MMOs we see on the horizon, but at the same time we're not sure how long it will be before we can play it. As the game's developer, Reakktor Media, seeks a publisher, they've been dropping details about Black Prophecy here and there. Some of the info we've read comes from their "Behind the Scenes" series of in-house Q&As. The latest is with Black Prophecy's Creative Director Timo Krahl and Art Director Nick Ebenhoch. The Q&A covers a fairly wide range of topics, from the various space station interiors players will see depending on which station feature they're using at the time, to death penalties. While there will be no permadeath in Black Prophecy, the ships players fly will take damage in a modular system. Timo says, "A ship gets 'disassembled' slowly during a fight, single ship parts can be destroyed and alter the overall values of the ship -- a ship with only one engine will become slower -- if you lose a wing the attached weapons won't be available anymore."
Stargate Worlds receives new funding, development to continue
The sci-fi MMO Stargate Worlds had mostly fallen off of our radar, and with good reason. It's seemed that Stargate Worlds would not see a release -- the developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment faced major cash flow issues resulting in employees not being paid and subsequent lawsuits. There were also departures of some of the major individuals connected with the game's development that painted a grim picture. There has been the occasional glimmer of hope of obtaining more funding, though, and some of the Stargate Worlds team has stuck with the project as additional financing for the title was sought. Now it seems things may be turning around for Stargate Worlds with the latest bit of info we came across, that Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has gotten that needed funding. Dana Massey over at MMORPG.com recently spoke with CME about where the project stands. Massey writes, "Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has received the funding that they believe will allow them to complete work on Stargate Worlds, and eventually pay back vendors and past and present employees who are still owed back pay."
Dave Jones: All Points Bulletin shelf life 5 to 10 years
The crime-focused title All Points Bulletin is one of the upcoming games we've taken a fairly keen interest in here at Massively. While we're still hoping for more gameplay footage in the video podcasts that APB developer Realtime Worlds has been releasing since E3 2009, but there's been a fair amount of general info revealed about the game in recent interviews. Although APB's design is a departure from some of the game mechanics found in massively multiplayer online games, Realtime Worlds is banking that their urban crime title will have the longevity of a solid MMO. Dave Jones, Creative Director on All Points Bulletin, says they could be looking at five to ten years of life in the game.
Amateur sculptor molding Illidan into shape
This is awesome -- Jason Babler (who apparently works as a Creative Director at a videogame company during the day and sculpts for Mantle Studios at night) is putting together a sculpture of everyone's second favorite baddie, Illidan (Arthas is number one, right?), and as you can see above, it's coming along nicely. He started using a material called ProClay, but found it wasn't hard enough, so he's now using a wax called FUSE. It sounds like it's been quite a journey -- he says that he's resculpted every part of the figure at least twice. That's a lot of work.But it does look good. As professional as his site looks, this is just a hobby for him, so unfortunately we probably won't get a chance to someday get a copy of this. But then again, you can really tell that Jason is doing this just because he loves it so much. The finished product will probably turn out great, but you can tell he's more interested in doing it the way he wants to rather than getting it done fast.
Jim Lee on his influence over DC Universe Online
When it comes to the super-hero genre in massively multiplayer online games, two new names seem to be on the lips and hearts of all man-children (and we're hoping a fair number of women, too): Champions Online and DC Universe Online. The latter title is of particular interest, given how it builds on the DC Universe comics legacy which is significantly older than your average gamer. Given how much comics legend Jim Lee is involved with fleshing out the DC setting into an online world as the title's Executive Creative Director, Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield interviewed Lee about the extent and scope of his influence over the game. The interview is a good read, showing us a bit about Lee's approach to DC Universe Online, both in terms of his overarching view of how the game should be, and his attention to detail. It also touches upon what it's like for Lee to step away from the flexibility he's always had with 2D, and into the more concrete 3D of game design. Did you enjoy this? We've donned our capes and tights to explore SOE's DC Universe Online in-depth. Come explore more of Metropolis and Gotham with your friends at Massively!
RuneScape acquires former THQ Creative Director
Since its launch in 2001, Jagex's RuneScape has steadily established a solid presence in the highly-competitive MMO market. Now into the millions of players across the world, the game is said to currently be at its highest surge in popularity. Building from that comes the news that Jagex has just appointed former THQ exec Vince Farquharson to head up their flagship fantasy MMO.Farquharson' role at THQ included Creative Director and Development Director for three years, overseeing titles such as Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command and Broken Sword: The Angel of Death. He will focus on expanding RuneScape through content development and global distribution. This news comes almost exactly one year to the day after Jagex acquired former European PayPal CEO Geoff Iddison as their own CEO. We wish Farquharson and the rest of the folks at Jagex the best of luck with their future growth.
Scott Hartsman of EQ2 gets profiled
Now that EverQuest II's latest expansion Rise of Kunark has been released, you'd hope that Senior Producer and Creative Director Scott Hartsman would be able to take a bit of a break -- but you can be sure it won't be too long, because its obvious that he really digs his job. TenTonHammer has a two-page interview with Hartsman that isn't so much about EQ2 as it is about the man himself.In the article, Hartsman discusses how he broke in to the industry -- his first industry job was with a text-based online RPG at the age of 15! -- his favorite games of the past and ones that influenced him, things that he does outside of work, and even some tips for anyone that would like to get involved in the gaming business. On this, he mentions that being competent with algebra comes in very handy, something that not everyone may realize.Even if you've never heard of Scott Hartsman, its a worthwhile read to hear what things are like on the other side of your favorite pastime. The link below will take you through to TTH's full developer profile.
