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Trion's David Reid: 'New era' of premium games inevitable
It's a brutal, cutthroat world in the MMO industry, Trion Worlds' David Reid admits, and he thinks that companies that can't adapt to the rapidly changing scene need to get out of the pool so others can swim. Talking to a crowd at GDC Europe, Reid spoke on an inevitable "new era" of premium games that are being fashioned in the forges of increased competition, challenging business models, higher development costs, and lower social interaction. "It's a lot harder to make your money back in the premium games space than it used to be," he said. Reid used Trion's approach as an example of how MMO studios need to be at the top of their game when developing games, including "AAA ambition and polish, massive scale, persistence, and customization." RIFT, which he cites as having over a million customers and holding the number two spot in the West, made sure that high-quality visuals were a key part of the experience, but also that the team was willing to listen to player feedback when preparing future content. He also pointed to End of Nation's free-to-play model and Defiance's synergy with the Syfy TV show as ways to captivate player interest and stay on top of the game.
Why Epic Games hasn't made Shadow Complex 2 (but 'never say never')
When Shadow Complex was released in 2009, it received critical praise and became a commercial hit. After Epic Games announced that Chair's next game would instead be an iOS title named Infinity Blade, many were curious as to what had happened to the obligatory, post-success sequel. "The reviews were great, it was a record seller for a single-player game on the platform, but at the same time we've got this mobile gaming push that's coming in strong," Epic Games president Mike Capps explained this morning during his GDC Europe keynote. "And the big thing for me was that we were looking what the iPhone could do, and the games that were on iPhone, and we thought there was a huge gap, so we put our engine team on the problem, and that's where we came up with Infinity Blade," Capps said. "We were thinking about the sequel [to Shadow Complex], we were ready and 'Maybe we should start working on this,' and instead stopped everything and went and made Infinity Blade." Capps expanded on the possibility of a Shadow Complex sequel when I followed up with him after his presentation. "Never say never," he offered. Of course, when Chair head Donald Mustard answered the same question earlier this year, he said that such a sequel is "a question of when, not if."
Five games in development at Epic Games, none from the Gears of War franchise
During an Epic Games culture-heavy talk this morning at GDC Europe, company president Mike Capps briefly noted several projects that are currently in some form of development at his company. According to a slide entitled "So what's our next story," there are currently "five new games at various stages of prototyping and development" at Epic Games. "We didn't multiply our team size by five, so you can assume they're smaller games," Capps said. While he's "not ready to announce anything" just yet in terms of consoles or what studios are working on said prototypes (People Can Fly? Chair? Internal?), he said that the PC is now the company's target platform, rather than a recipient of ported console games. I followed up with Capps after his talk, where he added that both People Can Fly and Chair are part of Epic's "big happy family," though wouldn't put any of the projects to one particular label. He also confirmed that the recent job listing on Epic's website is relevant to these five unannounced projects in development at the studio. The "Samaritan" tech demo, however, is not one of them.
'Notgames Fest' to fill IGF-sized hole at GDC Europe [update]
Between GDC Europe and Gamescom in August, you've got more than enough gaming news to read about in the coming months. But Germany's Notgames Fest organizers clearly disagree, with the Cologne Game Lab creating an indie (or "Notgames") festival during the first two days of GDC Europe (August 15 and 16). Like the Independent Game Festival at GDC's main annual gathering in San Francisco, NGF at GDC Europe will feature indie developers showing off their wares, talking to other devs, and giving demonstrations to attendees. Also like the IGF, developers who hope to bring their games must apply ahead of time, only rather than a panel of IGF judges, Tale of Tales' Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn will be "curating" the event. If all that weren't enough for you, the event's organizers promise "BBQ and beer in an open air atmosphere." Sold! Head to the NGF main page for all the pertinent details (like ... uh ... where it is in Cologne). Update: To be clear, the Indie Games Summit takes place at GDC Europe, and the Notgames Fest is not associated with GDC Europe, it just takes place during the event. Head over to the official GDC Europe page for more info.
Richard Garriott to deliver Game Developers Conference Europe keynote
Are you planning to venture to the wilds of Europe for the upcoming Game Developers Conference Europe? If so, you're in for a treat, as the father of Ultima will be delivering the keynote speech. That's right, the one and only spacefaring game developer Richard Garriott will give a presentation at the conference discussing social gaming, its future, and what mark it may leave on the gaming industry as a whole. Garriott is perhaps known best for being the creator of the Ultima series (and the victim of assassination in the early days of Ultima Online), but his most recent foray in the industry came in the form of Portalarium, a social gaming company. Frank Sliwka, event director of GDC Europe, notes that "there are few developers with Richard Garriott's history, pedigree and vantage point, having been a defining force in the realm of traditional hardcore games, birthing the RPG and MMORPG genres, to now helping lead the way within the world of social games," so the speech will almost certainly be enlightening for anyone with an interest in the subject. GDC Europe will be taking place from August 15-17, so if you're looking to make the journey to gaming mecca, go ahead and start making plans!
What Killzone looked like before it was Killzone
The E3 2005 trailer for Killzone 2 quickly became well-known (infamous, even) for its supposedly unatainable levels of in-game graphical prowess. But the initial trailer for the game that would become the original Killzone has been much less well known ... until this past week at GDC Europe. Guerilla Games Managing Director Hermen Hulst showed off the circa-1999 concept video in a keynote speech in Cologne earlier this week, calling it a "showcase of technical competence" prepared for their first meeting with Sony. Even though Hulst admits there's "nothing really 'Killzone' about it" at this early stage (for instance, the Helghast and their glowing eyes don't even make a cameo appearance) we thought it was an interesting look at the pre-history of one of Sony's biggest exclusive franchises. To see the video in full, follow us past the break.
Guerrilla Games managing director keynoting GDC Europe
Organizers for the Cologne-based gaming industry get-together, GDC Europe, have announced who will deliver this year's keynote address: Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst. According to the press release announcing Hulst's keynoting duties, his speech will focus on "how the studio has matured, which obstacles had to be overcome and what some of the ingredients behind the success of the Killzone series are." The presser also mentions Hulst's speech "will be located somewhere in the field of tension between hardware and software." We thought we were familiar with the Cologne Congress Center, but we have no idea where that is. Is it close to the cafeteria? Maybe?
GDC Europe returns to Cologne on Aug. 16, 2010
With America's Game Developers Conference 2010 only a few short weeks away, it has now been announced that GDC Europe 2010 will be taking place in Cologne, Germany again this year. The conference will open its doors on Monday, August 16 and run until Wednesday, August 18. The event will include a new area, the GDC Europe Business Lounge, which will "host a VIP lounge area for GDC Europe Plus members to convene and conduct business." Once again, GDC Europe will be taking place alongside GamesCom, which runs August 18-22. In case you don't remember last year's coverage of the two events, GamesCom and GDC Europe constitute a positively massive gaming event. Expect them to generate lots of late summer gaming news in the lull between E3 and TGS.
GamesCom 2009 attendance at 245,000
The inaugural year of GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, was a whopping success, reeling in 245,000 visitors according to the Koelnmesse. Event organizers reservedly noted that they were "very pleased with the result," but we're sure the Kölsch was flowing like the Rhein behind the scenes. The show is already scheduled to take place in 2010 from August 18-22. After the break, you'll find some "official" statistics and some random "unofficial statisticals" from our time at what some now call the third pillar (E3 and TGS being the other two) of video game trade events.
NCsoft dev discusses the genesis of Aion at GDC Europe
Aion dev Yongchan Jee spilled the beans on the game's origins as part of a GDC Europe Q and A session. Gamasutra were on hand to find out what exactly makes the game stand out in Korea. This included addressing a gap in the market for 'AAA' titles after the release of Lineage II and World of Warcraft, as well as focusing on a faction warfare angle which sees the two player-controlled races of the Elyos and the Asmodians fighting against each other and the terrifying Balaur. Jee also discussed how the game was rebooted in 2006 and while this did affect the moral of the developers, it ultimately allowed them to start from scratch and create a truly memorable game.Lee also focused on the character customisation, discussing the concepts of beautiful and ugly characters in MMOs like World of Warcraft, where Korean players often favour the Alliance over the Horde. He also explained why the devs chose to create Aion as a zone-based MMO over a seamless world. Aion fans should definitely check out Gamasutra's write up for even more hints at Aion's gestation and conception.
Lessons from GDC Europe: The 'seven pillars' of a Remedy IP
During his speech at GDC Europe – exhaustively titled "From Max Payne to Alan Wake: Creating Intellectual Properties the Remedy Way" (air!) – Remedy Managing Director Matias Myllyrinne laid out the seven pillars the company uses for its games: 1. Strong Lead Character -- Main character is iconic and easy to get on the surface. Things went wrong when Myllyrinne wanted the Max Payne sequel to simply be called The Fall of Max Payne. The compromised title admittedly didn't work out in the sales department. He didn't mention anything about Rockstar's reimagined Max Payne in the latest sequel. 2. Mainstream approachability -- Avoiding niche and cliché settings (for video games that would mean no WWII setting, dragons, sci-fi, etc.). Having gameplay mechanics that are approachable (low barrier of entry to start playing the game). 3. Cinematic -- Taking lessons learned from movies. The presentation of Max Payne makes this pretty obvious. With Alan Wake the company is focusing on the trinity of the flashlight, Alan himself (see: pillar one), and the gun. This also lead Myllyrinne to an anecdote about presentation, saying "It's not what things are, it's what the audience thinks things are." He mentioned the Ingram gun was made bigger in Max Payne because people expect that gun to be larger than it actually is in real life.
CCP Games reveals new EVE Online console MMO: DUST 514
CCP Games CEO Hilmar Pétursson delivered a keynote presentation at GDC Europe in Cologne today, and unveiled the project their Shanghai studio has worked on for the last three years: DUST 514, a console MMOFPS set in the EVE Online universe. Massively speculated in the past that CCP's hiring of console developers was in connection with either the EVE Online FPS or the World of Darkness MMO. The timing of the DUST 514 trademark registration led us to believe this would be the game title announced at this week's GDC event. So then, what is DUST 514?
FYI: CCP announces 'Dust 514,' FPS RTS MMO in Eve universe
Eve Online developer CCP has officially announced its next project: Dust 514, a console-based MMO set in the world of Eve. CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said today during GDC Europe that the game will be a hybrid first-person shooter and real-time strategy game. Gamespot UK notes that the title has been in development for three years at CCP Shanghai. Pétursson did not discuss which consoles would be the first to gather Dust 514. Hints of Dust 514's emergence have been knocking around the online universe since earlier this month. We'll update as we get more information.
Reassuring: Alan Wake is 'done,' being polished
Remedy Managing Director Matias Myllyrinne tells Joystiq that Alan Wake is finished and getting all gussied up for its release next spring. After a GDC Europe presentation on how Remedy handles intellectual property, we asked the executive if the long-in-development title would be ready to wake when the snow melts. Myllyrinne noted, "It's all done, we're just polishing at this point." Wow, great! With something like six months to go before its "spring 2010" launch, Alan Wake should shine by the time it's released. Considering the title has been in development since 2005, it's good to know that the game is "done" and just trying to become its very best. %Gallery-64691%
Dyack muses about clouds, won't abandon current consoles
"We have no intentions to stop making video games for the current consoles ... that would be nuts." That was Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack's response to our question about whether his musing about cloud technology had anything to do with a new direction for the company. During Dyack's "musing about clouds" presentation today at GDC Europe, the SK president mentioned a belief in systems like OnLive -- but he's not ready to take a walk in the clouds just yet. The outspoken executive said that he doesn't believe people should be investing in game stores at the moment, though he was unsure how long the cloud model will take to gain a foothold. According to Dyack, cloud computing could become the dominant form of distribution and access for consumers within the next 20 years. In the meantime, Dyack told us Silicon Knights will keep doing console-based games "as long as the market is there."
Crytek CEO asks GDC audience to kill 'killerspiel' law, won't leave Germany unless forced out
During his keynote address at GDC Europe in Cologne, Germany, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli requested the audience support the petition against the host-country's bill, which is seeking to ban any games in the region "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or un-human acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." Yerli told the audience toward the conclusion of his presentation: "[This law] means that Crytek will be literally forced out of the country." Yerli's tone about the German law was more serious than his previous statement on the subject, so we caught up with him after the keynote. We asked if he's threatening to leave the country if the law passes, or if he thinks the company will be pushed out. He told us, "This is the point, two or three years ago we were thinking 'What is this?' This is like disrespecting our company.' We said we will not change our strategy. Today we think we are literally forced to make a change." It appears that Yerli still isn't looking to change Crytek's direction, despite the government threats. And it appears he really doesn't want to move, telling us, "If you move a company, you think of it as: let's move the company strategically, so we get more benefit out of this country. But moving it because a law comes in is too reactive for us. We're not thinking of moving unless the law happens." [Image: Dennis Stachel]
Video interview focuses on emergent gameplay in EVE Online
Part of what's so interesting about video games, and MMOs specifically, is that players often do things the game designers never envisioned. This is especially the case with a sandbox MMO like EVE Online where the developers provide a setting and the players establish their own virtual society of sorts. The topic of emergent gameplay in EVE came up in a recent video interview from the Nordic Game Conference, where our friend Petter Mårtensson from Gamereactor spoke with CCP Games Executive Producer Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson. Their conversation touches upon what the players are doing with wormhole exploration (with around 2500 uncharted solar systems) and CCP's excitement when player alliances clash and create their own stories of conflict. The interview also covers Walking in Stations (avatars), the COSMOS social network that will tie in with EVE, and the company's intent to alter 0.0 space with more tools to build empires and more incentives to get people out there into these lawless regions. Stick with us for a video embed of the Gamereactor interview with CCP's Nathan Richardsson.
CCP Games trademark filing hints at new game: DUST 514
What does "DUST 514" have to do with EVE Online? That's something we're very curious to know at Massively. A recent trademark filing from CCP Games for DUST 514, submitted by Atlanta-based attorney Steven M. Kushner, is described as providing 'entertainment services' and an 'on-line computer game'. If you look at the logo of a gas mask above a striped pattern, it bears more than a passing resemblance to the EVE Online logo. The trademark filing description reads: "The mark consists of a masked face with white sunken eyes and a round opening at the mouth. There are two parallel thick lines on either side of the jaw of the face which are a parallel to a third line which runs across the bottom of the face and dips into a V at the center." Definitely not a coincidence.
Heavy Rain's David Cage to deliver keynote at GDC Europe
Administrators of the European version of the Game Developers Conference just revealed yet another keynote speaker for the event -- not at all shockingly, the speaker is Quantic Dream CEO and founder David Cage, whose company has released titles such as Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy, as it was known in the States), and is currently hard at work on Heavy Rain. Considering said studio is based out of Paris, we suppose Cage is European enough to keynote the conference.Cage's address sounds pretty interesting -- it's titled "Writing Interactive Narrative For A Mature Audience." Considering what we've seen of Heavy Rain, he's probably the right person to deliver such a speech. However, considering what we remember of Indigo Prophecy, the first half of the speech will likely be gripping and insightful, and the second half will be nigh-incomprehensible. We fully expect to hear Illuminati conspiracy theories spoken in Esperanto. Backwards. [Image] [Via Edge Online]
The Daily Grind: What is this mystery project at CCP Games?
We know that CCP Games, creators of EVE Online, is going to announce a new project at GDC Europe in August. As CCP acquired White Wolf, creators of pen-and-paper RPG titles like Vampire, Mage, and Werewolf (the World of Darkness setting), we've known for some time that a World of Darkness MMO is in the works. Unfortunately, beyond the fact that the project exists at some stage of development, we know very little. But this mystery project announcement might not be about WoD at all. We're also aware that CCP Games has plans to release a first person shooter based on the EVE Online IP, which they hinted at during EVE Fanfest 2008. The latest info we've found about a new project at CCP Games (via @crazykinux) is a job listing at CCP for a Senior Game Engineer. The successful applicant "will join a seasoned team based in Shanghai, China where they will work on original IP for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3." The listing also mentions development on the Unreal Engine. Regardless of whether they're planning to unveil World of Darkness Online or an EVE Online first person shooter, you don't need to be an EVE player to appreciate how cool either of these releases could be. What game do you think CCP is going to announce at GDC Europe?
