edge-magazine
Latest
Crysis 2 details abound in latest Edge
Make sure to buy a box of Wetnaps along with that copy of the new issue of Edge Magazine, because that thing's got Crysis 2 details leaking out if it all over the place. We already know the game will take place in New York, but according to the developer, it'll be "a New York City like none in games or cinema." Crytek is more interested in having the city environment act as a focus on the action rather than a big open sandbox, so while you'll see lots of the city above, you'll only be able to travel in "constrained freedom," or only about "three storeys up and down." The magazine also contains info about the new Nanosuit 2, which seems to augment not only your physical powers, but sensory perception in various modes as well, giving you the ability to hear conversations at a distance or see directional bullet trails or x-rays. The suit can also increase your powers of memory, apparently, as the devs promise the game should have "five big things you'll remember forever." Oh no, wait, wrong switch -- it was set on the increased hype setting there. Our bad. [Thanks, Peter!]
Director says next console Zelda will start with scale, go from there
Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma says in the latest Edge magazine that the scale of the upcoming Wii release is what's foremost in his team's mind during development. Twilight Princess, he says, was the first Zelda game where they went for a more realistic feel in terms of size and scope of the world, and yet he feels that they weren't quite able to adapt all of their gameplay ideas to that larger space. As opposed to the DS-based Spirit Tracks, which Aonuma says started out in a much more traditional place, and thus was a little easier to "realize." Aonuma says his team is starting out with a larger, grander world in the new Wii Zelda, and from there hopes to fill it up with all sorts of Zelda-esque game ideas. He and the team may not have been able to do everything they wanted with the adult Link-sized Hyrule the first time around (not that it wasn't well-received anyway), but they're planning to give it another hookshot in the next game.
Ex-Midway Newcastle dev spills the beans on the studio's closure
GUI artist Steven Pick has detailed on his blog the last five or so months of working at Wheelman developer Midway Newcastle (with heartbreaking detail, might we add). In doing so he reveals the various happenings at the developer while things at Midway HQ were falling apart. "The company was still operating as normal, but the Chapter 11 thing was like a silent dread-spectre hovering over all of us," Pick says of the February bankruptcy filings. And as for Necessary Force, the IP from Midway Newcastle that was revealed not too long ago? "We got to a point where the game could be pitched - at the same time, we had a 60 day notice through from the London office," Pick says. Unfortunately, the pitches fell through and the game disappeared -- aside from a handful of Edge Magazine writers who saw it, that is.Though he notes that a group of employees were picked up prior to the studio's closure by Crackdown 2 dev Ruffian Games, the remaining employees in Newcastle were caught off guard by a surprise early studio closure -- a surprise that brought with it the news that they wouldn't be receiving their final paychecks. In all honesty, it would be impossible to do Mr. Pick's entire story justice in a concise blog post, so do yourself a favor and give the whole thing a read at his site.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
Edge magazine subscribers receive coolest poster ever
Seems like somewhat inconsequential news for us to report on, right? "Magazine subscribers get cool bonus item?" Who cares? Well, we care, you probably care, and anyone who has ever picked up a video game controller should care about the poster in question -- drawn by gaming obsessed artist Gary Lucken and packaged with the latest edition of Edge magazine, this pixelliustrated work of art contains references to every video game ever made.Seriously, we were going to try to list the video games referenced in the poster (visible in somewhat higher res here), but really, it would probably be easier to list the games that aren't. Let's see ... Klax, and ... well, just Klax, we guess. Sorry, Klax!
EA Sports' Peter Moore: Current PC business model isn't working for us
If EA Sports head honcho Peter Moore knows one thing really well, it's handling controversy surrounding his particular division of EA and the PC games market. After getting in trouble last year with PC gaming football fans for choosing not to produce Madden '09 on PC, he's back in it this year, telling Edge Magazine, "The business model right now, shipping a physical disc for the PC, simply isn't working for us." He's explained in the past his company's reasons for choosing as such, citing low sales numbers and PC gamers trending towards console sports gaming, and this time is no different. "I've got to find innovative ways to bring our content to life on the PC and online is the way that that's going to happen," he claims. Sounds like EA Sports has some digital distribution ideas up it's collective sleeve then, eh?
DICE's Lars Gustavsson says game industry is at a 'crossroads'
Lars Gustavsson is no stranger to risk. After last year's first-person parkour-based action/platformer Mirror's Edge stumbled off shelves during the holiday season, you'd think DICE's creative director might be dissuaded from continuing to push the envelope. However, speaking at the Design Innovate Communicate Entertertain Summit (conveniently shortened to D.I.C.E.) last week, he told the crowd "the games industry has come to a crossroads." According to him, the situation is multi-faceted -- the poor economy is forcing lower overhead costs on developers and people are less willing to spend their money while consumers are also less likely to invest in new intellectual properties (such as the aforementioned Mirror's Edge). Should developers play it safe with proven IPs or take risks in hopes of breaking in?He pontificates that "more customization offerings, new business models, data-driven development and the active tuning of the games" will drive innovation and allay risk going forward. "It's totally different from anything we've done," Gustavsson noted when referencing upcoming online-only multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1943. And he seems to be putting the development costs where his mouth is, as Battlefield 1943 sticks to his plan (on paper at least) to a tee. It remains to be seen whether they'll work out. After all, we're still waiting on that other Battlefield game.
A day in the life of Tabula Rasa
With the closing of Games For Windows magazine, it's easy to say that Edge magazine is one of the finest videogame-related periodicals on the planet. They collaborate with the folks at the Next Generation site to bring their content to the web, and today they have up a fantastic piece on NCsoft's Tabula Rasa. The article walks through an exhaustive amount of information on the title's launch, and the issues that have come up for the Destination Games team since then.The article kicks off with background on NCsoft's expansion into the western marketplace, and the long road Tabula Rasa took to market. Although they don't have any pictures of the space unicorn days, they're definitely implied. The article's author speaks extensively to Starr Long, discussing the miscommunication about the number of people fired and TR's financial success from a few months back. Long offers, "It's not as big as we wanted it to be, but it's big enough right now, and people are still buying the game and we're getting lots of retail activations every day."From there, they launch into a discussion of the the game's growth, and the endless customer service battle any MMO has to put up with. Long concludes with hopeful comments for the future of games on the PC: "I think Peter Molyneux was saying at GDC something like PC gaming is 'all Sims and WOW', which I think is a little too doom and gloom for me ... There have been plenty of times when you've had the one game to rule them all, I mean I remember in 1994 when Myst came out and everyone was saying: 'If you're not like Myst you're screwed.' I don't really buy into that philosophy."
Minter to Sony: "Lose the 'tude"
In the new issue of Edge magazine, llama-loving industry vet Jeff Minter accuses Sony of being "arrogant" and "smug" -- referring to the PlayStation 3's high price point and lack of quality games expected at launch. A choice quote: "Just making the shiniest, most expensive hardware doesn't cut it these days. Sure the PSP was beautiful and posh, whereas the DS was definitely the ugly sister. But hey, the ugly sister is better in the sack."Minter made a name for himself way back in the day writing games such as Gridrunner and Andes Attack for Commodore and Atari computers. He also produced updated versions of Defender and Tempest for the Atari Jaguar, as well as the Neon light synthesizer technology for the Xbox 360. Jeff did not comment on how well these other systems perform in the sack.[via GamesIndustry.biz]
