GDC2013
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Diablo 3's missing runestones found at GDC
If you've followed Diablo 3's development for a long time, you might remember the idea of Runestones. They were meant to be actual in-game items that could supplement character abilities in various ways, such as adding a fire attack to a melee hit, or doubling the power of a spell for free. When the game arrived last year, the Runestone system was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the controversial Skill Rune system. So where did those Runestones go? Diablo 3's technical designer Wyatt Cheng said during a talk at GDC that they're still around, in one form or another.The Runestone system was originally created to add flexibility to character skills, and to give players a chance to experiment and play around with new abilities after they had gained them through leveling up. The original idea had ten different effects that could be added to various abilities, including striking, lethality, efficiency, life-stealing, poison, slowing and so on. But ten was too many, Blizzard decided, and they opted to boil them down into five different stone types (Crimson, Obsidian, Indigo, Golden and Alabaster) that would each affect skills in a few different ways.Cheng said having actual stones in the inventory worked in a few different ways. It gave the system a sense of discovery, as players enjoyed seeing which stones granted certain effects, and it accomplished the original goal of allowing players to experiment with customization. Managing the stones in the game's inventory was a "nightmare," according to Cheng, and player expectations didn't always match what the stones actually provided.In the end, the team went with the existing Skill Rune system, which allowed Blizzard to give specific skill and stone combinations more "flavorful names," and let the team make sure that the added effects were appropriate for the skills they matched. But Cheng said the effects were still in there: Some runes still slow opponents or add more damage to attacks, and those were the effects originally conferred by the stones of Indigo and Crimson.
Hands-on with Divekick's minimalist two-button controller (video)
Just a couple days after we got our hands on Tenya Wanya Teen's crazy 16-button arcade stick, we were treated to its polar opposite; Divekick's two-button controller. Created by Iron Galaxy Studios just to show off the game at PAX East, the controller consists of two buttons slightly larger than the palms of our hands; the yellow one denotes a jump or dive, while the blue corresponds to a kick. As a parody of the fighting genre, Divekick's gameplay avoids complicated combo moves, is incredibly simple and immensely enjoyable, if we do say so ourselves. Unlike traditional fighting games, the health bars are essentially meaningless, as a single power hit can take down your rival. Therefore you're focused on just the most basic movements -- a common one involves jumping in the air, tapping the other button for the downward kick, and then tapping it again to fly backwards. As for moving your character about, a jump and kick combo will get you charging towards your foe. Some characters let you fly when jumping, while others reward pressing buttons simultaneously. From our few minutes mashing the controller, it seems that timing and position are more important than ever with such fundamental mechanics, and ones that we picked up pretty quickly. We especially enjoyed kicking our adversary in the head to make them dazed and vulnerable in the early seconds of the next round. %Gallery-184413%
NASA JPL controls rover with Leap Motion, shows faith in consumer hardware (video)
If you think using the Leap Motion controller for playing air guitar and typing without a keyboard was cool, try using it to control a NASA rover. Victor Luo and Jeff Norris from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab got on stage at the Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco to do just that with the ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer), which was located 383 miles away in Pasadena. As Luo waved his hand over the sensor, the robot moved in kind, reacting to the subtle movements of his fingers and wrists, wowing the crowd that watched it over a projected Google+ Hangout. We spoke with Luo and Norris after the panel to gain further insight into the project. As Luo explains, one of JPL's main goals is to build tools to control robots needed for space exploration. Seeing as the gaming industry is already rife with user-friendly controllers ripe for the plucking, it made sense to harness them for the job. "We're very used to the bleeding edge," he said. "From the Kinect to the PlayStation Move, they represent major investments into usability." Hit the jump for our impressions of the simulation software, a look at JPL's grander goal and for video clips of the demo and panel itself.
In conversation with Epic Games' Mark Rein: Unreal Engine 4 support for Oculus Rift (and everything else), and thoughts on next-gen
Epic Games isn't just offering up its ubiquitous current-gen game creation tool Unreal Engine 3 to Oculus Rift developers, but also its next-gen tool, Unreal Engine 4. Epic Games VP Mark Rein told Engadget as much during an interview at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, repeatedly stating he's "super bullish" on the Rift, all the while rocking an Oculus pin on his exhibitor lanyard. "Oh, for sure," he said when we asked about UE4 support for the Rift. "We're working on that now." The Rift dev kit was demoed at CES 2013 running Unreal Engine 3's "Epic Citadel" demo, and Epic's offered support to the Oculus folks since early on, making the UE4 news not a huge surprise, but welcome nonetheless. The next-gen game engine was being shown off at GDC 2013 with a flashy new demo (seen below the break), as well as a version of its "Elemental" demo running on a PlayStation 4 dev kit (shrouded behind a curtain, of course). Rein was visibly excited about that as well, unable to contain random vocal outbursts during the presentation. "It's a war out there, and we sell bullets and bandaids," he jokingly told us in an interview the following day. The quote comes from coworker and Epic VP of business development Jay Wilbur, and it's fitting -- Epic only makes a handful of games, and the company's real money comes from game engine licensees. In so many words, the more platforms that Unreal Engine variants can go, the better for Epic (as well as for engine licensees, of course). "It's a good place to be -- we try to support everything we can. We have to place some timed bets on things that we feel are gonna be the most important to licensees, and also to us where we're taking games. But because the engine is portable -- it's written in C++ -- a licensee can take and do whatever they want," he said.
The After Math: a million Z10s, the UnCarrier's new plan and a 16-button controller
Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages This week, there's been a mixed bag of interesting news numbers, from T-Mobile's New York event and the company's new perspective on the phone network business, to San Francisco (again) for the Games Developers Conference. We also got to take a look at BlackBerry's first financial results since the name change and its BB10 launch.
AMD Radeon HD 7990 says hello, plays a bit of Battlefield 4 at GDC
Gamers were down-right spoiled at this year's GDC with a full 17 minutes of beautiful Battlefield 4 in-game footage. Minds blown, AMD took responsibility for the part it played in the mess, admitting the demo was running on its Radeon HD 7990 graphics card. It's the first time the company's confirmed the existence of the long-fabled card, and went as far as calling the case-busting monster "the world's fastest." All we know is the card combines two of the HD 7970's Tahiti GPUs -- AMD's not sharing the full specs -- but the eagle-eyed folks at AnandTech have plucked a few extra details from the limited pictures available. They note the open-air cooling, which would require a drafty case but mean the fans should run fairly quiet, and that power consumption is likely to be no more than 375 watts. Not much to go on, we know, but we'll be waiting eagerly for AMD's full reveal. Now, your BF4 video awaits. (Warning: the game dialogue contains a few naughty words). [Image Credit: AnandTech]
OptiTrack debuts $3,700 PRIME 17W mocap cam for small spaces
Independent creators keen on motion capture have had affordable solutions like cheaper sensors and Kinect-based implementations for awhile now, but a large space for moving around has usually been required. OptiTrack has come up with an answer to that problem, however, in the form of the PRIME 17W mocap camera that it introduced at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The 1.7-megapixel lens has a 70-degree by 51-degree field of view that promises to capture motion in a relatively small space, which also means you need fewer cameras to get a full 360-degree shot. Other features include a global shutter, high-speed 360 FPS capture and low distortion, enabling UAV and sports tracking. At $3,700, it's still not exactly cheap, but it's certainly affordable enough for indie engineers and animators with space constraints to get started in the mocap biz.%Gallery-184366%
The final OUYA retail console is ready, we go hands-on
It's been a long time coming, and now the Android-powered, Kickstarter-funded OUYA video game console is finally heading to backers. Sure, the final retail units for non-backers won't be available until June, but around 50,000 lucky folks who pledged over $99 to OUYA's massively successful campaign will be receiving their units in the coming days. We've already heard what developers have to say about it, but this week we got our first hands-on with the miniature, Tegra 3-powered game console we've been hearing so much about since last summer. Is it the "best Tegra 3 device on the market," as OUYA's claimed? Let's find out!%Gallery-184319%
OUYA available at retail on June 4 for $99
The Android-powered $99 OUYA game console becomes available at retail on June 4th -- a date which was revealed this week during the Game Developers Conference. OUYA's calling June 4th its "official launch date," despite Kickstarter backers receiving units starting this month. Essentially, the two month waiting period between Kickstarter boxes and retail availability is being used as a consumer beta, giving OUYA time to adjust its software after getting feedback from early adopters. It's not clear if bundles will be available, but the game console itself and a controller (as well as power and HDMI cables, plus two AA batteries for the controller) are included in the $99 package. Major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and others are on board, so it shouldn't be too hard locating one in June should your interest be piqued -- and yes, pre-orders are available. Of course, it's a pretty small game console, so it might be a bit tough locating the thing with your eyes.
YouTube API will allow video games to more easily stream in-game content
What's YouTube doing at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco? Talking about integration with video games, obviously. More specifically, the company is hoping to expand an idea we first noticed in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, whereby users could easily stream in-game content to YouTube. Clearly, the company worked in concert with Activision to make that possible, but forthcoming APIs will enable game developers far and wide to add the same functionality to other titles. Unfortunately, details remain murky regarding availability, but we are told that these new tools won't be limited to just consoles -- it sounds as if PC and mobile games will too be able to take advantage.
Microsoft showcases Windows Phone middleware partnerships at GDC, we go hands-on (video)
Building on yesterday's announcement that Temple Run and several other games are coming to Windows Phone, Microsoft's been actively courting developers at GDC 2013. To that end, the company's booth showcases several games that highlight cross-platform development and middleware. Now that WP8 and Windows 8 share the same NT kernel, DirectX APIs and tools, it's easier than ever to write games that use the same code base for both platforms. Microsoft is sweetening the deal with a few significant middleware partnerships -- Unity, Marmalade and Havok, to be specific. We talked with Larry Lieberman, Senior Product Manager for Windows Phone development, who was kind enough to explain what these partnerships mean for developers and to give us a tour of the games. Hit the break for our hands-on video. %Gallery-184180%
Hands-on with Katamari Damacy creator's crazy 16-button game controller (video, update)
You don't often see a video game specifically designed for a 16-button bespoke controller and for a special one-time party, but that's exactly what Keita Takahashi has done with Tenya Wanya Teens. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Takahashi is responsible for the enormously popular game franchise that is Katamari Damacy along with cult favorite Noby Noby Boy. Teens is his first foray as an independent creator under Uvula, a studio he formed with his wife Asuka Sakai, and is a result of a collaboration with event organizers Wild Rumpus and video game website Venus Patrol. As for the party in question, it's one that is being held concurrently with the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which is where we saw the controllers and the game in action. As you can see above, the controller looks a lot like a modified arcade stick. A hand-made effort by programmer George Buckenham, both boxes were built in about five days for around £200 ($302.50) each. According to Buckenham, the easiest part was assembling the electronics; it was the plywood housing that took him awhile to master. As for the game, Tenya Wanya Teens is a highly whimsical affair that is described as "a coming-of-age tale about love, hygiene, monsters and finding discarded erotic magazines in the woods." Tasks include peeing in the shower, punching monsters and taking on grizzly bears. %Gallery-184156%
Don't call it OUYA: hands-on with PlayJam's GameStick (video)
The GameStick is the second of two Kickstarter-backed Android-powered game consoles announced in the past 12 months, and its arguably the less visible of the two (the other being OUYA, of course). It's a bit different than the OUYA as well, in terms of both form factor and specs: the GameStick is roughly the size of a USB thumb drive and runs a dual-core Amlogic processor, rather than the Tegra 3 found in the OUYA. Similar to the OUYA, the GameStick also comes with a proprietary wireless controller -- the standard four button layout, two analog sticks, two shoulder buttons, and a d-pad make up its inputs -- though the GameStick's controller is actually the bulk of the hardware. The GameStick itself actually nestles into the back of the controller, making the whole bundle rather portable. But perhaps you already know all of this? We have been hearing about the GameStick for some time now. Should that be the case, you'll wanna know how the thing actually feels, and we can deliver that just beyond the break, as we've just put GameStick and its controller through the paces.%Gallery-184155%
PlayStation 4's Blu-ray drive is 3x as fast as PS3's, PSN friends list cap raised, and other tidbits from Sony's GDC panel
The PlayStation 4's new DualShock 4 controller can be charged even while the PlayStation 4 is turned off. The PlayStation 4's new Eye motion camera has a tilt sensor so it can tell players when its facing the wrong direction or if it's fallen off your TV stand. The PlayStation 4's Blu-ray disc drive is three times as fast as the PlayStation 3's. In case it weren't clear, Sony's PlayStation 4 panel at this week's Game Developers Conference wasn't chock full of major revelations, but it did provide plenty of interesting little details about the PlayStation 4 and its various hardware companions. For instance, the console's "True Name" social functionality isn't automatic -- you have to opt-in to who will see your real name versus your PlayStation Network ID. That is, unless you find a friend through Facebook or another social network where your real name is already your main ID; in that instance, the console defaults to displaying your actual name. That's not the only change coming to your friends list, either, as the standing 100 friends cap is being raised to an unknown amount. Additionally, the Gaikai-powered Remote Play functionality between the Vita and PS4 is said to be "much better," according to Sony senior staff engineer Chris Norden. Not only can it display your PS4 games in the Vita's native resolution (960 x 544), but it can be activated at any given time rather than having to be preset. And unlike Remote Play on PS3, with PS4 the game being pushed to the Vita is mirrored on your television screen. None of this stuff is what we'd call red hot, but we're hungry for PS4 details and this is what Sony's delivering. Here's hoping the company's more forthcoming at E3.
GameStick dev unit found at GDC 2013, we go eyes-on
GameStick is here ... er, sort of. The development units are at least here at GDC 2013, quietly hanging out behind a nondescript computer monitor running a few Android games paired with a Nyko wireless controller. That's right, it wasn't running with the proprietary GameStick controller, but a third-party wireless -- we'll go hands-on with the company's internally built controller later this evening, and thusly we didn't want to offer a half-impression with the third-party units available on the show floor. Stay tuned for more, and take a gander at the gallery below for now.%Gallery-184131%
Sony's PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 controller and Eye found at GDC 2013, we go eyes-on
Sony's next-gen console, the PlayStation 4, is getting an updated DualShock controller when it arrives at retail this holiday. It's also getting an updated PlayStation Eye camera, which brings the camera much more in line with Microsoft's Kinect than any previous versions. We found the PS4 peripherals trapped under a glass box on the Game Developers Conference show floor, and Sony sadly wouldn't let us free them. We of course snapped a mess of pictures regardless, which you can see just below in the gallery. We anticipate the first hands-on opportunity with the DualShock 4 and PS4 Eye at E3 2013 in June, so hang tight for a few months!
Metal Gear Solid V is Kojima's first next-gen FOX Engine game, developer reveals (update)
Kojima Productions head Hideo Kojima this morning announced that The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes combined is actually Metal Gear Solid V, the first next-gen game from Kojima Productions running on its powerful FOX Engine. The news was revealed today during a FOX Engine panel at the Game Developers Conference. Kojima announced the combination of the previously announced concepts in a dramatic fashion, with his head wrapped in bandages, presumably as his alter ego Joakim Mogren. They provided a sneak peek trailer at the game's opening sequence, where Snake is attempting to escape from a hospital -- the trailer previously teased in late 2012. As FOX Engine is a next-gen platform, we're assuming that the game is heading to next-gen consoles, but Kojima's not saying anything solid just yet. Update: GamesHQMedia managed to snag a trailer of the game, which we've embedded below. Update 2: We initially thought that The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes were combined into one game, but Siliconera has learned that they are actually two separate titles. Ground Zeroes is essentially a prologue to The Phantom Pain, and will be available on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
MOGA to support Kindle Fire and Windows Phone 8, $50 Pro controller slated for April 15th
After nearly six months on the market, the MOGA Bluetooth-powered gaming controller is finally ready to open up its Android-restricted doors. We were told at the Game Developers Conference that starting today, developers can add MOGA support to Kindle Fire and Windows Phone 8 games, thus marking the device's first foray outside of the Google Play ecosystem. Consumers shouldn't get too excited by this announcement just yet, however, as this is just a call for developers -- it'll still be awhile until we see MOGA-compatible Kindle Fire and Windows Phone 8 games pop up on that MOGA Pivot app. In the meantime, we also learned that the MOGA Pro controller we saw at CES will be available in stores starting April 15th for $50 a pop, so hopefully those newly-ported apps will be ready by then.
DICE+ launches $99 developer kit, pre-orders for $40 consumer model start this summer
Game Technologies, the Poland-based company behind the little electronic die that is DICE+, has just announced a $99 developer edition that bundles a transparent-cased model along with its software development kit. As a reminder, the DICE+ is an inch-sized rubberized cube packed with Bluetooth, an accelerometer and a rechargeable battery, with the aim of bringing human interaction to electronic board games and beyond. We had a look at a demo DICE+ here at the 2013 Game Developers Conference and it looks relatively unchanged from the one we saw at E3 last year. However, the microUSB port is now revealed via a sliding mechanism instead of a pull-out flap, which should result in a more balanced roll. Marketing director David Gatti also told us that the cube's internals have been revamped and simplified for more cost-effective production.
HP introduces Unreal Engine 4-ready 'turnkey solution' workstations, collaborating with ALT Systems
Hewlett-Packard may not be well-known by consumers for creating the machines that power the industries that power the world we live in, but the company's workstation business does just that. From film to oil drilling to medicine, HP's workstations have their hands in a lot of pies -- and today, that expands more directly to yet another major industry: video games. With its Z1, Z820 and Z620 workstations, HP is collaborating with Epic Games, Autodesk, and ALT Systems to create what they're calling a "turnkey solution" to game development workstation woes. The three aforementioned units can be customized to arrive with a variety of variables, including Unreal Engine 4, Autodesk, and NVIDIA GTX-line GPUs. In so many words, ALT Systems will take the disparate pieces of hardware and software from HP, NVIDIA, Autodesk and Epic Games to provide an all-in-one buying solution for game dev studios. As ALT Systems president Jon Guess laughingly explained, it provides clients "one neck to wring" should things go wrong, rather than dev studios having to suss out hardware issues on their own. The first fruits of the partnership arrive this year in game developer-centric versions of the aforementioned three workstation models. For a full rundown of the various workstation configurations that'll arrive this year, ALT Systems has a site set up just for you.
