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EA announces layoffs in LA, Montreal
EA has announced an unknown number of layoffs affecting its employees in Los Angeles, Montreal and "smaller locations" in an update from EA Labels president Frank Gibeau."Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives. But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance," Gibeau said. "This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job."Which EA developers have been affected, and to what extent, is currently unknown. We've reached out to EA for clarification on the situation and will update when more information is available.
Learn the story behind the bullets in latest Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer
There's more to Medal of Honor: Warfighter's premise than "spot bad guys and shoot them first," apparently. The latest trailer, above, gives a taste of that narrative arc ... and mixes it with lots of shooting and explosions. A little something for everyone, then!
See gameplay 'target' footage of Spielberg's canceled Project LMNO
It's common practice for developers to create "target" footage of their games early in the development process in order to give their artists and designers something to shoot for. Following its look back at the now-canceled collaboration between EA and director Steven Spielberg, Project LMNO, 1UP has posted what it says is target gameplay footage from the cooperative "escape" game. It's a (very) brief clip, but it clearly shows the A.I.-driven future girl "Eve" from a first-person perspective, and actions that imply that it's the player's character looking at her. The player sniffs a rose that's sitting in a vase on the table of the diner they appear to be in, and passes it to her. Eve smells it next, showing a range of reactions on her face, then abruptly bolts from the table when a sinister black Humvee pulls up outside. This is presumably the beginning of an escape sequence, and sees Eve performing inhuman acrobatic moves to traverse the restaurant. The footage is clearly pre-rendered, and it's not much to go on, but it's unquestionably neat to see what Project LMNO could have looked like. You can see for yourself just after the break.
1UP examines Spielberg's LMNO, the game that 'tried to do too much'
If EA and the Steven Spielberg couldn't pull of a first-person hybrid built on "escape gameplay" and driven by an emotional co-op dynamic, featuring an AI-controlled partner -- spoiler alert -- from the future, whose character evolution was to be determined by non-verbal interaction with the player, then who could pull it off? Probably no one. "LMNO," as this project was code-named, was officially canned by EA last month -- and it's been dead for at least a year, according to 1UP's new in-depth investigation into the game. The report -- and definitely read the whole thing -- is a compelling tale in and of itself: the inside scoop on a big-budget experiment (a "hyper-replayable" 2- to 3-hour game with no multiplayer) that would later morph into an Uncharted clone (complete with "an alien version of Megan Fox"), dubbed The Escape Artist, before being canceled altogether. But the LMNO story is also a striking reminder of just how inflexible AAA game development has become. EA tried admirably to invest in new IP several years ago, but its actually released games didn't provide the returns the publisher had expected from consumers. Had it come together as original designers Doug Church and Randy Smith once envisioned, LMNO could have been EA's most ambitious original IP to date. Instead, it fell apart as the industry fell back on iteration (you know, "sequelitis") and made jaw-dropping investments in socially-networked casual gaming as the path to future profitability. LMNO once carried the heavy burden of being the video game that would finally "make you cry." Assuming that the industry has yet to recognize this milestone as having been achieved, the mission now seems better suited for an indie developer with nothing to lose; one free from the concerns of the corporate goliath: namely, staying in business. [Pictured: Pre-Megan Fox "Eve" character concept; source: 1UP]
Report: Rez 2 prototype was in the works, Project LMNO canned
According to industry vet Jake Kazdal, immediately following the completion of Rez, a small group of developers at United Game Artists worked on a prototype for Rez 2. Kazdal -- a man who's worked everywhere from Nintendo to Irem to Sega, and is currently developing Skulls of the Shogun -- also explained on the latest 8-4 Play podcast that another game he worked on, Steven Spielberg's now mythic "Project LMNO," has been cancelled. EA confirmed as much, telling Joystiq this afternoon, "While EA maintains its relationship with Steven Spielberg, we ceased development of LMNO." We pushed EA for clarification about the status of any projects in development with Spielberg and were told again, "EA maintains its relationship with Steven Spielberg. EA has ceased development of LMNO. EA continually monitors development resources and adjusts resources as appropriate. No new title announcements."
Command & Conquer series discounted this weekend on EA Store
Are you one of the three PC strategy game enthusiasts who refrained from picking up StarCraft 2 earlier this week due to a lack of cash-on-hand? EA's offering a way to console yourself with some retail therapy: It's reduced the price of a handful of Command and Conquer titles on its online store.
Danger Close: The story behind EA LA's new name
"It was literally an exercise of about 20 minutes because it just came up, it happened, we went with it, and there you go," new Danger Close studio head Greg Goodrich told us in an interview last night, explaining how he and two of his colleagues came up with the new name of their studio (formerly EA LA). Late last evening, EA revealed that its Los Angeles-based development house would be rebranded. The studio is now known as Danger Close, which Goodrich told Joystiq is indicative of the reborn studio's direction. "I think the core of what we're doing right now and the sort of DNA of this team and this studio is the first-person shooter genre. I can't foresee us doing anything other than that in the near future, and specifically Medal of Honor." Goodrich did add, however, that his hands aren't tied creatively in terms of what the studio is allowed to do -- be it first-person shooter or whatever else it might have in store. That said, Goodrich wasn't speaking about anything other than Medal of Honor, and he remained coy about his studio's involvement with the game post-release. He's proud of the mutliplayer component built by DICE, but he's not ruling out Danger Close getting involved in multiplayer support, say through DLC. "Personally, I think that would be something that the guys here would be very excited about doing in the future," he offered. "But, you know, we're gonna see how this one works out and see how the fans accept it, and make those decisions at a later time." Goodrich is content to leave his studio's future plans a mystery. "That's also a part of creating your own identity and starting your own future, and throwing up a website that says 'Now hiring,'" he teased. "There's intent there."
Preview: Medal of Honor (single player)
You won't always play as a Tier-1 operative, a.k.a. "the scalpel," in EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot. I got to see a portion of "the sledgehammer" side of the single-player campaign at an EA event last week. While this segment stayed true to the core values that definine EA's vision for the game, one thing was clear: you can't always be the hero. With the player and his squad pinned down by a Gatling gun atop a hill, the situation called for a support effort, not heroics. While most games would have you storming the hill against all odds, or finding a convenient way around, Medal of Honor approaches this situation quite differently. You have to accept that you're rather powerless. You're told that your best option is to simply lay down some suppressive fire. I watched as the demonstrator stayed behind cover, peeking out just enough to roughly spot the target. Then he fired away. While you may not be scoring any kills doing this, you are providing a sufficient enough distraction for your squadmates to plant charges underneath the gunners and blow them to pieces. Seeing as how "modern warfare" was recently interpreted as "riding snowmobiles while dual-wielding Uzis," it's refreshing to see that EA's approach isn't obnoxiously bombastic.
'Danger Close' studio formed at EA by Medal of Honor team
In a somewhat unexpected announcement this afternoon, EA Los Angeles revealed the creation of a new studio, named "Danger Close," responsible for handling the upcoming reboot of Medal of Honor. If you've been paying close attention to the words of your generic soldier comrades in various war games over the past, say, 10 years, you've probably heard the term -- that's because "Danger Close" refers to "information in a call for fire to indicate that friendly forces are within 600 meters of the target" (according to About.com). Given that EA LA was the former studio working on Medal of Honor (alongside multiplayer developer DICE), this appears to be little more than a rebranding of EA's LA offices under the "Danger Close" nomenclature. That said, we've fired off a round of questions to EA and will let you know more about the studio as soon as we do.
Games on Demand: Medal of Honor Airborne, SoulCalibur IV
Microsoft has added two more popular Xbox 360 titles to the console's Games on Demand system -- Medal of Honor Airborne and SoulCalibur IV are now available for download, priced at $19.99 each. Those of you overseas (or in the US with amazing memories) will know that MoH Airbourne actually appeared internationally back in February, but now everyone can enjoy the relentless slaughter of WWII soldiers from above. Oh, and playing a fighting game as Yoda is fun, too. Xbox.com: Add Medal of Honor: Airborne to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add SoulCalibur IV to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99)
Killspace Entertainment pulling from ex-Pandemic, EALA; working on two unannounced games
Ever heard of Killspace Entertainment? Yeah, neither had we until Supererogatory spotted the unannounced development studio's website (replete with strange video). In a Digital Development Management brochure (warning: PDF link), the studio is advertised as having one "Original IP with major publisher" in development and one "Licensed IP -- TBA," though it's said to be working on games for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, iPhone, and Facebook. A quick search on LinkedIn shows that the dev house has been picking up employees from the likes of Obsidian Entertainment, Pandemic Studios, Red 5, and EALA, and will be focusing on "3rd and 1st person character action" titles. It also appears that some employees have been with the studio for over a year, meaning it's not exactly a brand new venture. Odder still, it appears that one Douglas Markland of Killspace Entertainment is down as the contact on a WHOIS of both ApocalypseNowGame.com and WarIsNotAGame.net (though both sites are still devoid of content as of this writing). We've reached out to the studio for information on any of this and will update this post if we hear more.
Medal of Honor trailer defines Tier One Operative (in case you were wondering)
The latest trailer for EA's upcoming reboot of the Medal of Honor series, which debuted this week on GTTV, really goes out of its way to explain exactly the kind of gentlemen you'll be piloting this summer. These guys are Tier One Operators -- "experts in the application of violence." That seems pretty self-explanatory ... but we've never been able to turn down a video featuring expertly applied violence. Check it out after the break. %Gallery-79326%
Supergiant Games: New studio of former Command & Conquer vets
A new company debuting at GDC 2010, Supergiant Games is largely comprised of ex-EA LA members -- you know, the guys and gals who made those Command & Conquer games you like so much. The new studio's project is something for "digital platforms," destined for a 2011 release. Sadly, there's no more info to go on right now. The studio is on-hand at GDC with said title, so we've contacted them to try and schedule a visit. [Via Big Download]
Impressions: Medal of Honor
It's impossible to avoid comparisons between EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare series ... so, I'll just get it out of the way: Medal of Honor unapologetically follows in the footsteps of Call of Duty. In fact, I'm willing to raise the possibility that Medal of Honor could be the "true" sequel to the Call of Duty 4 campaign many of us are still waiting for after suffering through Modern Warfare 2's increasingly preposterous storyline. Recently, I got a peek at a new Medal of Honor trailer which lays it out like this: There are two sides to every war: the sledgehammer and the scalpel. What Call of Duty 4 did so well was to portray exactly how these two components work in tandem, as it featured scenarios in which large assaults aided small elite forces, and vice versa. Medal of Honor promises to recreate similar battlefield situations, with the "scalpel" represented by the Tier 1 Operators, an elite branch of SOCOM. %Gallery-87981%
Command & Conquer 4 shows off 'Night Moves' pre-order bonus mission
If you've hopped on the Command & Conquer 4 bandwagon with a reservation at your local game retailer, you're in for a treat: Pre-orders will get access to an exclusive in-game prequel mission, titled "Night Moves." You can learn about this scenario by watching the trailer above. Basically, you'll be tasked with sneaking some heavy weaponry into a GDI-controlled city without attracting too much attention to yourself. In other words, you'll want to avoid "making some front page drive-in news." For even more information on C&C and "Night Moves," we suggest watching this instructional video we've thrown together. [Via Big Download]
Command & Conquer 4 won't have LAN support or dedicated servers
Based on the precedent set by your reaction to similar news for StarCraft 2 and Modern Warfare 2, we're guessing you're not going to like the information Command & Conquer 4 lead designer Sam Bass recently shared with Destructoid. According to him, the FMV-filled strategy title won't provide any LAN or dedicated server support to its players. These two features were apparently struck from the game in favor of a server-based character progression system. Bass explained "if you go to another machine -- friend's house, Internet café -- whatever, you can login with your profile and all the stuff you've unlocked is accessible to you there. It all lives on a server so you can't really do dedicated servers with that." He also explained that the game's online networking is "a lot more solid," so you won't be left completely high and dry, as far as multiplayer skirmishes are concerned. Still, we're worried about the future of the LAN-friendly strategy game, which appears to be turning into an endangered species. We've contacted Bono to see if he'd lend his musical support to a charity concert event. %Gallery-67669%
Command and Conquer Classics free to download, tricky to install
The free game wagon just keeps on a-rolling -- our PC-obsessed sister site Big Download recently directed our attention to three classic installments in the Command & Conquer franchise which are currently available to download for nary a penny: Tiberian Dawn, Tiberian Sun (with the Firestorm expansion pack), and Red Alert. Installing the games might exact a price upon your patience -- Dawn and Alert both require a fair amount of tinkering to work on your futuristic computing rig. Still, we'd rather pay for games with patience than hard-earned dollars any day of the week. Download: Command & Conquer Classics
The 'Medal of Honor' Beard Cover Interview
In early December, EA revealed the cover for its Medal of Honor reboot and all anyone could say was: "BEARD!" Well, after months of trying to get an explanation of how that grizzly (Adams) decision went down, Craig Owens, director of marketing at EA Los Angeles, has finally delivered the answers. Here are the declassified details of our exchange: Joystiq: How did you select the cover image for the Medal of Honor reboot? Craig Owens: What you see today as the key art (or box front image) is the result of a long process that's been going on for nearly a year now. When we set out to reboot the Medal of Honor franchise, we knew that the key art of the new game had to accomplish two very important things. First, it needed to stay true to the authenticity that the brand is known for. Secondly, it had to be unexpected not only for the brand but also for the shooter genre. After several months of reviewing many, many concepts, it wasn't until this past summer that the new face of Medal of Honor was born. During an agency pitch meeting with several creative agencies, our current partner – Ignition Creative based in Santa Monica, California – revealed a concept, using a photographed model with this real, epic beard. That concept was nearly identical to the final image you see today. When the development and marketing team first saw it, we immediately knew that was our guy. He was authentic to a Tier 1 Operator and unexpected for both MOH and the current characters out there in the gaming space. %Gallery-79326%
First gameplay footage of Medal of Honor revealed
It's been a while since the Medal of Honor franchise has found its way on to store shelves, but we're interested for what the series will bring to the crowded realm of modern shooters. At tonight's 2009 Video Game Awards, the first footage of the recently revealed Medal of Honor impressed with solid visuals and a metric ton of explosions. Not enough for you? The gameplay trailer concluded with one NPC kicking a booby trapped prisoner through a high rise window. Now we're not marketing pros, but that should be the first bullet point on the back of the game's box. Check out the trailer -- in all its YouTube quality glory -- after the break. Update: Hi-res version now available above.
New Medal of Honor promises 'most authentic modern war experience'
Click to enlarge Shrugging off years of mediocrity and partially descriptive subtitles, EA's newly announced Medal of Honor reboot will thrust players into a modern milieu: Afghanistan. Set for release in 2010 on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the new first-person shooter follows the Tier 1 Operator, described as "a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle," and not described as an oddly militant member of ZZ Top. EA claims that "Tier 1 Operators from the US Special Operations Community" have been involved since the earliest stages of the game's development. The publisher seems intent on throwing the gauntlet down in the modern war arena (do they still use gauntlets?), promising a "best-in-class single-player campaign" from the minds at EA Los Angeles, as well as a multiplayer component developed by the Battlefield veterans at DICE. You can bear witness to the game's full unveiling during Spike TV's 2009 Video Game Awards on Saturday, December 12 at 8:00PM PT. You can witness beard in the gallery below. %Gallery-79326%
