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Gamebryo creator Emergent snapped up by anonymous party
Emergent Game Technologs has had a rough run recently. First, the developer of the Gamebryo engine puts its whole business up for sale in November. Then, just a few weeks ago, Bethesda reveals that it's breaking with tradition and not employing Gamebryo in the latest Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim. This latest development? Well, it could go either way. The company has been purchased by an anonymous buyer, according to Develop. Whether or not this is good news for Emergent and its staff really depends on who this new buyer is and what their intentions are. Hopefully we'll have a clearer picture when the developer's identity is revealed "soon."
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim built on new engine
In what is perhaps the best news about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim so far, Bethesda confirmed via a tweet that the game's engine is "brand new ... and it's spectacular!" That's meaningless info to most, but for those of us who follow games a little too closely, "brand new engine" is more significantly "not Gamebryo," the troubled, notoriously glitchy skeleton inside Bethesda products like Fallout 3 and a few other titles, including the recent Epic Mickey. Bethesda community man Nick Breckon later tweeted that the new engine was built internally by the company. Will it still feel like a Bethesda game if faces don't occasionally turn inside out, dislodge from their bodies and fly around the room? We'll find out when Skyrim launches on Xbox 360, PC and PS3 on November 11. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Emergent to sell Gamebryo and the rest of its assets
If you've played Fallout 3 or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you're actually familiar with Gamebryo, even if you don't know it. It's a studio owned by Emergent Game Technologies, crafting middleware tech for tons of companies like Bethesda and Square Enix, whose biggest claim to fame is its Gamebryo Lightspeed engine, used in "over 350 games so far." And today the studio, along with the rest of Emergent's properties, including its IP (whole or in part), were put up for sale. The sales of asset notice comes from Gerbsman Partners via a post on the Blog of Intellectual Capital and details the current state of Emergent, a company which managed to lose revenue in the ballpark of $30 million since being founded in 2005 on through 2009. This year, the company actually showed a bit of profit, albeit a relatively small amount, nothing that could get Emergent back into the black. What's unclear as of right now is the future of Emergent: it hasn't filed for bankruptcy, but one could assume that selling all of your stuff means you're getting out of the business for good. We've contacted Emergent for some additional info and will update accordingly.
Gorilla Banana studios and Emergent announce partnership for Red Blood
What do you get when you combine Emergent's Gamebryo engine, a developer with the arguably awesome name of Gorilla Banana, and a bunch of genetically-altered super-humans who each want to rule the world? Red Blood. Emergent Game Technologies and Korean developer Gorilla Banana have put their collective heads together to further create this futuristic MMO. Players of Red Blood will choose one of four countries to join -- Victoria, Kulitie à Khuril-Tai, Normu à Nomos, and Peiladulia à Phratria. Each country has different character traits and attributes to its advantage, but the citizens are all after the same goal: world domination. You'll join your "new and improved" countrymen in a bid to make your country the ruling power. Gorilla Banana's site states that Red Blood has been in alpha since July of 2007, so hopefully the announcement of the partnership with Emergent means that we'll be hearing more from Red Blood soon.
Ragnarok Online II dated for 2010... finally
Gravity Interactive's first major title in the Western market, Ragnarok Online, is well known for its sugary-sweetness and unforgiving experience curve. While the title proved to be a hit for the developer in the Western and Eastern markets, it's newest brother, Ragnarok Online II, doesn't share the same story. RO II was released in 2007 to a mass-panning by the Asian market, and the game has undergone some significant revisions in that time, including a change of the engine from Unreal 2.5 to Gamebryo and an update to all of the in-game systems. However, with those systems in place, Gravity has announced that the title will be seeing a 2010 release in the Western market. Meanwhile, the Ragnarok franchise will be expanded with a social networking game as well, marking Gravity's new focus on the growing social network division of games.
Square Enix using Gamebryo engine, let's guess what for
Square Enix today announced that it has licensed Emergent Game Technologies' Gamebryo engine, the backbone of such titles as Fallout 3 and Warhammer Online. The press release contains no mention of Square's intended use for the engine, but we have our suspicions. We've ruled out Final Fantasy XIII, since even though work on the Xbox 360 version won't begin until the PS3's is finished, Square is using its cross-platform Crystal Tools engine to develop the title. The most likely candidate, then, would be the yet untitled "original action game" being produced at the publisher's new El Segundo, Calif. dev studio. The specific variant of Gamebryo licensed -- Floodgate -- is intended to make porting multi-processor code written for one platform onto another an effortless task, providing extra time to optimize the game for the unique capabilities of each individual platform. Sounds perfect for a new team working on a new title from a Western (read: multiplatform) mindset. When contacted, a Square Enix rep told us the company "will hopefully have something to announce soon."
THQ, Gamebryo vets launch Azo Studios
We look on in anticipation and give a collective "awww" as 2009's newest game company pecks its way out of its shell. Going by the name of Azo Studios, the fledgling outfit was founded by a trio of game industry professionals with intentions of creating games and middleware solutions for consoles, PCs and handhelds. Among those responsible for the company are Dave Eberly, recognized as the driving force behind NetImmerse, technology that eventually went on to become Gamebryo, the engine used in developing such games as Fallout 3 and Warhammer Online. Eberly is joined by former THQ and Rainbow Studios vets Nick Koziupa and Brian Westergaard, and while Azo Studios has yet to talk specifics, the company notes that it plans to develop original properties as well as work with partners in the music and entertainment industries. We wish you well, little bird, and hope as you leave the nest to spread your wings you take flight, and don't smash your beak on the ground below.
Nibris licenses Gamebryo for Sadness
Could it be -- possible forward motion on Sadness? According to a recent press release, Polish developer Nibris has licensed Emergent's Gamebryo platform for the long-discussed, never-seen title ... and word is that the recent screenshot was real. Gamebryo is the base of several recent and forthcoming titles, including Civilization IV, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Fallout 3. Of course, it's also being used for Chiquititas.But don't get excited just yet. Nibris has been promising screenshots and video from purported black-and-white thriller Sadness for two years now, but according to the press release, they've only recently chosen the Gamebryo engine and have been working on the title for "several months." They recently said we'll see something concrete next month, and while we're not holding our breath, we will be pleasantly surprised if the game actually seems to be under active development.%Gallery-12425%[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Gamebryo floats on vapor, powers Sadness
We do declare Emergent Technologies, you must have caught the vapors. The middleware company's Gamebryo engine, which lurks beneath the hood of a number of games including Oblivion and the forthcoming Fallout 3, has been licensed by Nibris for its vaporous Wii title Sadness.The Polish company celebrated the news by offering up what it calls the first official screenshot from the oft-delayed black-and-white "crime noir thriller," which we've posted above for your perusal. Says Nibris project manager Tomasz Wisniowski, the team is using the tech to include "quite a few graphical effects...which some believe are impossible to attain on the Wii." We have to wonder, however, if one of those effects includes actually making it to retail? Gallery: Sadness
Tiny Angels coming to Wiis with the help of Gamebryo
Are you keeping up with your South American telenovelas? If so, you've probably heard of Chiquititas. If not, which is probably the case, the show (known in English as Tiny Angels) is a fictional series about a group of orphans in Buenos Aires.You're probably worriedly wondering what this has to do with the Wii, so let's just rip the band-aid right off. Portugal based developer Biotroid is making a Wii game about the series. Interestingly enough, though, the game is being published by Emergent Game Technologies, who are giving Biotroid access to the Gamebryo engine. In case you haven't been keeping up, that's the same engine that's been powering games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Civilization IV. Obviously, Emergent is looking to cash in on the success of the popular Argentinian show.Let's be honest -- we don't have high hopes for this game, which will be a platformer of sorts. Aside from licensed games usually being terrible, Tiny Angels seems like a particularly stupid license to use. But, in some crazy twist of fate, this has the potential to be one of the prettiest titles on the Wii.
SOE teams with Gamebryo for PSN game shows
PlayStation Network titles "based upon gameshow IPs" are being developed by Sony Online Entertainment using Gamebryo middleware and will be released before next month's Game Developers Conference. Gamebryo, owned by Emergent Game Technologies, has been previously used for games like Civilization IV and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. No word on what game shows will be used, and there is no indication that these projects began before this year. Given the quick turnaround with the titles, we're not anticipating AAA effort. However, should Deal or No Deal end up being one of the "gameshow IPs," then we expect to see HDR rendering on Howie Mandel's dome.
SOE and Gamebryo bring game shows to PSN
Who wants to be a millionaire? Today, Sony Online Entertainment and Gamebryo announced a partnership that will bring games based on game show IPs to the PS Network. Gamebryo technology, used in games like Civilization IV and Oblivion, will be used to cut down on development time. "Gamebryo gives us a great deal of flexibility in creating downloadable titles for the PlayStation Network," said Shalom Mann, Senior Vice President, SOE. "The codebase provides an solid foundation for our Downloadable Games Framework that allows us to bring a variety of different types of games to the PlayStation Network in a fraction of the time had we coded the base engine ourselves."No titles have been officially revealed, but we're hoping for some familiar shows like The Price is Right or Deal or No Deal. The games will be released before Game Developer's Conference next month.[Via Joystiq]
Oblivion's Gamebryo engine ported to Wii
Don't be fooled: this is not a sign that Bethesda is bringing its Elder Scroll series to Nintendo consoles. However, Emergent Technologies' Gamebryo engine -- which runs both Oblivion and the upcoming Fallout 3 -- now supports the Wii.Gamebryo is also optimized for PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360. We haven't seen any screenshots of the engine in use with Nintendo's hardware and no projects have been announced; the Gamebryo engine has also been used to make Freedom Force, Civilization IV and Dark Age of Camelot. Will we start seeing a significant visual improvement in Wii games? That's entirely up to the game makers, to be honest.[Via Gamasutra; thanks, vidGuy]
Emergent porting Gamebryo Engine to Wii
The Gamebryo development engine, used for games including The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Civilization IV, and many Xbox Live Arcade games, is being ported to the Wii.The engine, which is specifically designed to facilitate multiplatform development, should make it easier for developers to create Wii games using the same development tools as Xbox 360, PS3, and PC games. The new version 2.3 includes in its Wii support "a Wii-specific viewer, extensive libraries and APIs to simplify pipeline integration."We don't pretend to know the first thing about technical game development, and we're certainly not going to applaud porting by any means, but we think that anything that makes it simpler or more cost-effective for developers to create Wii games is a positive development. Does this mean a Wii Oblivion is on the way? Not without a hard drive, it doesn't.
