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Factor 5 Wii engine 'does everything the PS3 did, and then some'
We first heard about Factor 5's Wii project about a month ago, and with DICE 08 comes some new details about the title. IGN spoke with Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht about the game, and learned a bit about the impressive engine being built, which Eggebrecht claims rivals their work on the PS3.According to Eggebrecht, the engine for the Wii title is nearly complete and, according to him, "does everything the PS3 did, and then some, quite frankly." The title is described as being technically impressive, pushing the Wii hardware further than most will expect it to go. Though further details are scant, Eggebrecht does emphasize Factor 5's focus on the controls, specifically the Wii remote's ability to act as a pointing device. We'll have to wait and see how the Wii title will manage to outdo Factor 5's PS3 development (insert snide remark about Lair's abysmal critical reception).
DICE 08: Shane Kim talks Marvel MMO cancellation, Alan Wake
Shane Kim has been getting a lot of coverage at this year's DICE summit, and it's not just because he's got a thousand-watt smile that lights up a room. Microsoft has been pretty cagey about 2008 so far, and it seems like, thanks to Kim's hinting, the first details of a schedule for the year are just starting to solidify. If you want to know where your favorite upcoming title stands, look no further than MTV's comprehensive interview with Kim on all of the company's big 08/09 guns.Besides hearing about how great Fable 2 is going to be (answer: very) we were especially intrigued by Kim's reluctance to pin down Alan Wake as a 2008 title. Also, though we were disappointed by the cancellation of the Marvel MMO, we have to admit we agree with the reasoning: In short, Microsoft noticed the dozens of subscription-based MMO carcasses that littered the road and decided that, perhaps, advancement was unwise. We heartily concur.
GameStop to label Interactive Achievement Award winners
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin has recently announced a unique partnership with American games retailer GameStop. Following the 2008 Interactive Achievement Awards held alongside DICE, GameStop and AIAS will work together to place labels on winning titles, raising awareness of the awards, as well as raising sales of the games.At GameStop locations, copies of games like Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Orange Box will bear labels informing consumers of the categories in which they won at the Interactive Achievement Awards. Rock Band, for instance, will be labeled for "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming" as well as "Family Game of the Year."Admittedly, a lot of the winning games certainly don't need any help moving copies on shelves, but the recognition will help to further legitimize the Interactive Achievement Awards. Check out our coverage of the awards to see a full list of games which will bear the AIAS label.
DICE 08: Riccitiello warns against consolidation, says EA 'blew it'
EA CEO John Riccitiello took the stage during the final day of DICE to preach a doctrine of, well, basically: the exact opposite of everything EA has been doing for the past 15 years. In late 1992, EA gobbled up Origin, and then it was Bullfrog in '95, followed by Westwood in '98, and so and so forth, leading right up to the acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic Studios last October. "We at EA blew it," said Riccitiello, speaking to the woeful fates of those early, and once top-tier developers after they became part of the EA 'family.' Lesson learned, apparently.Riccitiello highlighted "creative failure" as the most telling outcome of consolidation (Hello Activision!) and urged the industry to follow examples set by studios like Rockstar, Valve and Blizzard, who have succeeded by remaining autonomous within the corporate umbrella (Riccitiello used the analogy of "city-states"). Overall, Riccitiello's was a promising message of awareness and change from EA -- at the least, reassurance that BioWare will never be relegated to Madden duty under his watch.
DICE 08: Microsoft owns Crackdown IP, sequel an 'option'
Despite the dynamic pairing of good sales and majority acclaim for Crackdown, Shane Kim grew cagey when questioned about the status of a sequel at DICE, during an interview with Game|Life. "I don't really want to talk about that discussion," said Kim when asked to comment on reports that Realtime Worlds would not develop a sequel to last year's successful super-cop sandbox shooter. What Kim did clarify is that Microsoft owns the Crackdown IP and is free to pursue development of a sequel with a new studio. "I think that customers would like to see more in that space," Kim vaguely noted, "So that's an option for us."
DICE 08: Shane Kim Q&A from AAA to Xboy
In a lengthy and comprehensive Q&A conducted by New York Time's games journo Seth Schiesel with Microsoft Game Studios' veep Shane Kim at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, the two go a couple rounds hitting on everything from big AAA titles like Halo, to ActiBlizzion, to the departure of the Bs (Bungie, Bizarre, BioWare), all the way over to the long-rumored (and so far totally fictitious) Xboy.Gamasutra was there to detail all the good bits in a lengthy writeup that we'd be doing you a total disservice by trying to condense. Check it: digital downloads, Vista-only PC games, console war winners, third-party sales, mass-market appeal, Grand Theft Auto IV, console lifespan, PS3 growth in Europe ... ... phew. See? Comprehensive.
DICE 08: Quirky indie hit 'Juno' to birth a game
Did juno they're making a game based on the blockbuster – and Oscar-nominted – indie hit Juno? Of course, it's not just Hollywood rudely reaching across the entertainment table for video game IPs they can twist and snap into a movie mold (yeah, we're looking right at you Dungeon Siege), game makers are pretty good at it too (now we're looking at you Dirty Dancing: The Game). And now GameSpot brings us news that Juno will be the next lucky film to be rudely dragged across the digital divide, though we're still not clear who the developer is. During a panel at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, "intellectual-property migration specialist" (they have those?) Keith Boesky said, "People are making a game based on Juno just to cater to the [casual] market." While he didn't specify anything at all about the game, another panelist was Minho Kim – director of operations at free-to-play, microtransaction-driven game pub Nexon America – leading GameSpot to wonder aloud "if it would follow Nexon's free-to-play business model." Just brainstorming here, but the property seems ripe for microtransactions ... just look at all those layers. Jeans and a skirt? Cha-ching! [Update: Not so fast, folks.]
DICE 08: Pirates director urges creativity in keynote
While we're often quite protective of our medium – what does some big-shot Hollywood cat know anyways? – Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski delivered a heartfelt keynote speech at this year's D.I.C.E. Summit, asking game designers to "embrace madness" and "to make the suits sh*t themselves." Now, before you lash out and remind us all that this is the same guy who made not one, not two, but three blockbuster movies based on a theme-park ride about pirates, Verbinski was quite candid about his distaste for the conventions of Hollywood ("he noted that some of his Pirates movies actually had release dates before they got scripts"). Indeed, his speech seemed to be more of the "save yourself" variety, encouraging game designers to "pick up the baton" the film industry dropped some time ago.GameDaily relays: "He feels that games are an art form and have far more depth than cinema potentially." That we're in total agreement with. It's when he says "Games will eventually elicit emotional and visceral reactions" that we scratch our heads. Alright, unless you cried during Final Fantasy VII you may not have the traditional "emotional" reaction we presume he's imagining but what about fear? Or excitement? Certainly those are emotional reactions games excel at delivering. And "visceral reactions"? Has he ever played a "video game"?We know he's busy, and maybe that's why he specifically mentioned the first-person genre when bemoaning studios that "phone it in" in a year when first-person shooters excelled – but overall we can't help but get caught up in the excitement and trust that Verbinski has the right message. Now how about some game work, Verbinski? Those Spielberg and Lucas guys are all over it.
