gdc-10
Latest
GDC Roundup, day four
The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA, and our sister sites Joystiq and Massively are on the scene! No matter what kind of games you're into, there's a ton of news on its way out of the convention, and we're compiling some of the stuff that might matter to you in daily roundups just for you. If you want the whole GDC news experience, check out all of Massively's and Joystiq's coverage, or previous roundups. I apologize for my appalling lack of Michael Sacco-ness. Saccosity? Massively's Interview with DC Universe Online "We're hitting major milestones right now. We're pushing as hard as we can right now to get a launch date out there. [...] We're trying to get it in your hands as quick as possible. The great thing about Sony is we really are taking our time. We have been given the opportunity to make this right." Fable 2 Episodes Massively Successful "That was hugely successful. There were something like over half a million. I think it was 600,000 downloads of the first episode, which was very, very cool." "Save your fork, there'll be pie" After confessing to having a big appetite for Borderlands, the Gears of War developer used the pie analogy to explain to Joystiq how games without any sort of DLC "hooks" are becoming increasingly rare. GDC 2010 Microtalks: Big ideas, tiny speeches Ten lecturers -- all from different sectors of the game industry -- each spoke for five minutes and each were allowed to use 20 different slides. Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand set the stage for the speakers, announcing the theme of the talks as "come play with us." Massively's Interview with Dungeons and Dragons Online Today, the numbers speak for themselves. Their revenue is up 500%, they've had over one million new players, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who would refer to the game as "forgotten." Turbine has arguably set the standard for a hybrid free-to-play business model, and it's paid off very well. However, it wasn't always a sure thing and it certainly wasn't a snap decision. GDC 2010: The Future of Champions Online At the end of our brief discussion on the future of Champions, Bill had this to say, "Past that, I think it's just about remaining as responsible as possible to what the community is telling us they want." That sounds the right approach to us.
GDC roundup, day two
The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA, and our sister sites Joystiq and Massively are on the scene! No matter what kind of games you're into, there's a ton of news on its way out of the convention, and we're compiling some of the stuff that might matter to you in daily roundups just for you. If you want the whole GDC news experience, check out all of Massively's and Joystiq's coverage, or yesterday's roundup. Sony has the power to Move you Though it might look like a black Wiimote topped with a scoop of sherbet, Sony's PlayStation Move motion peripheral aims to take the motion-sensitive gaming field to eleven. Joystiq's got all the Move info you need, and you can dance to it. 38 Studios swings for the fences with two new titles World Series champ Curt Schilling's 38 Studios is developing an "epic single-player RPG" codenamed Copernicus, and an MMO project codenamed Project Mercury. Oh, and fantasy novel fans: R.A. Salvatore is in charge of building the universe where both games take place. Welcome to Poisonville, population 4,000 Bigpoint Studios says their browser MMO Poisonville is the most expensive browser-based MMO to date, with a budget of two million dollars. It certainly seems to have been spent in the right places in this full-featured GTA-alike. It's the DLC Age at EA EA's John Schappert says that Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content has made over a million dollars so far! Digital distribution in total netted them $575 million last year and projections place next year's DD profits even higher. EA is ready with DLC strategies for several upcoming games. Monkey Island 2 Special Edition overflowing with new booty LucasArts' beloved Monkey Island franchise saw a resurgence with the release of a remastered Secret of Monkey Island last year, and now Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is getting the same treatment, with new art, developer commentary, and improved controls. Sakaguchi's latest Story looks like a picture book Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker Studios is hard at work on a new RPG, and they released some truly beautiful artwork of the game's island locale to whet our appetites.
GDC 2010 roundup, day one
The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA, and our sister sites Joystiq and Massively are on the scene! No matter what kind of games you're into, there's a ton of news on its way out of the convention, and we're compiling some of the stuff that might matter to you in daily roundups just for you. If you want the whole GDC news experience, check out all of Massively's and Joystiq's coverage! Sword of the New World: Let's get political GamersFirst's achingly pretty MMO import Sword of the New World, née Granado Espada, is getting new content in its Political PvP system, allowing players to "run for office, control the colonies, and be a tyrant" in the SotNW universe's bizarro-America. Battlestar Galactica MMO on its way to your browser TV space opera Battlestar Galactica follows in the footsteps of that other popular space show and gets its own MMO -- right in your browser. That's right, you can be a forsaken and a Cylon at the same time if you so desire. Somebody knows their audience. Massively gives it an in-depth look right here. Indie Fund wants to help your indie game get off the ground Ron Carmel of 2D Boy -- creators of indie superhit World of Goo -- unveiled plans for Indie Fund, an innovative funding and mentoring system for indie developers who might not have the capital to get a game completed and published on their own. Taikodom blasts its way to America Taikodom takes the mine-space-rocks economy of EVE Online and throws in a dash of twitch shooter for flavor, and GamersFirst is launching it stateside, with plans for a closed beta by summer and a release by year's end. Fallen Earth iPhone app is, well, basically Fallen Earth Icarus Studios wants you stay connected to their post-apocalyptic romp Fallen Earth, and to that end, they're developing an incredibly comprehensive FE experience on the iPhone, allowing you to check out your inventory, browse the auction house, chat with friends, and even craft items, all on the go. Civilization V is bringing hexy back Firaxis' latest entry into the Civilization series doesn't want you bogged down worrying about stuff like cardinal directions. You don't even need most of those anyway! Civ V goes old-school with its hex-based grid. Oh, and they also built a whole new engine from the ground up. Hug that DX11 card.
Warmachine game attacking PC, consoles
According to a statement made to BigDownload, the video game adaptation of Privateer Press' tabletop fantasy war game Warmachine is currently in development for the PC and (unspecified) consoles. Quietly announced in August, the Warmachine video game is being developed by the indie team at WhiteMoon Dreams and will feature player control of "various warcasters and their warjack battle groups" across interactive battlefields in both single and multiplayer modes.WhiteMoon Dreams' Norvell Thomas promises we'll get a chance to see whatever that last sentence even means in a "gorgeous" demo by GDC 2010. Thomas adds that the indie dev's goal is to "wow" publishers at the conference in order to fund full development of the table-top adaptation.
