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Propaganda Games shuttered
Propaganda Games -- developer of 2008's Turok reboot and, most recently, Tron: Evolution -- is officially closed. Parent company and publisher Disney Interactive confirmed the unfortunate news to Joystiq this afternoon, issuing this statement: "Disney Interactive Studios confirms the closure of its Vancouver-based internal game development studio, Propaganda Games. The studio has completed all work associated with its most recent project." Propaganda's Pirates of the Caribbean game was canceled last October, and the studio was reduced in size, with the only apparent goal to complete Tron and its planned post-launch DLC. It's as yet unclear if any more DLC will be released beyond the day-one freebie. [Thanks, Alex]
Tron: Evolution dev diary demos persistent progression, Move support
We've had like, one dream our entire lives, and that dream is to drive a real-life light cycle. Is that too much to ask? Tron: Evolution says "No, of course not," as the game's latest dev diary reveals that the PlayStation Move controller pretty much allows you to simulate that experience as well as you can in this, the year of our lord 2010. Unless, of course, some technology manufacturer is holding out on us. We're watching you, Hitachi. The dev diary also shows off the game's character progression system, which remains persistent between single-player and multiplayer modes, and talks a bit about the PS3 version of the game's 3D display support. We're not sure our eyes can handle all those vivid colors presented in such an in-your-face manner. They're delicate, you know?
Tron: Evolution soundtrack features Daft Punk, original music
Ever since we first heard that Daft Punk would be creating the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy (the upcoming film from Disney), we've been hoping that music from our favorite French space aliens would make its way to Tron: Evolution, the game tie-in from Propaganda Games. In a panel at New York Comic Con this weekend, Disney Interactive senior PR manager Eric Wein confirmed as much, answering a fan's question on the subject by saying, "We haven't announced details for the soundtrack, we will soon. We can tell you it'll be a combination of the film's soundtrack and some unique, original music." We'll be holding our breath in anticipation for that forthcoming full soundtrack announcement and, of course, playing lots of DJ Hero.
Preview: Tron Evolution: The Video Game
A new Tron movie signals the arrival of a new Tron video game. Unfortunately, this one could fall into the trap of licensed games -- substandard gameplay leaning heavily on an anticipated license. And the team at Propaganda Games has a big hurdle to overcome, as they're not only expecting to get this prequel out the door by the time the movie releases, but before. That said, even though the game borrows a lot of ideas from action/platforming games like Prince of Persia, what's there is nicely polished and makes good use of both the license's history and the new movie's aesthetic. If nothing else, Tron Evolution: The Video Game might end up being a fun way for fans of the Tron setting to further explore the mythos.
Preview: Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
This week at E3, Disney was showing off its latest Pirates of the Caribbean game, with nary a movie in sight. Armada of the Damned is being developed by Propaganda Games, creators of the most recent Turok titles, and it's ambitious: An open-world action-RPG with a morality system, based on the popular license but not on any specific movie. And it's shaping up pretty well -- the short demo took us through one of the game's quests, with main character Captain Sterling fighting through cursed tribesmen up a live volcano to their (literally) crabby leader. %Gallery-95741%
Avast! Disney milking Pirates of the Caribbean again
Disney Interactive has announced Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, a new open-world action RPG in development at Turok dev, Propaganda Games. According to Disney, the game will take place before the events in the films, with "moral and character choices" promised that shape both the player's character and the game's world. Beyond this, not much is known, though Armada of the Damned isn't scheduled to set sail until fall 2010 on both the PC and "next-generation" consoles. Still, after posting a considerable $45 million loss earlier this year, who can blame the company for diving back into its treasure chest for the few remaining doubloons left at the bottom.%Gallery-64282%
BioWare's Dragon Age producer joins Disney's Propaganda Games
Dragon Age: Origins' Executive Producer, Dan Tudge, just can't be bothered to wait for BioWare's delayed game to get on retail shelves and has taken a job with Disney's Propaganda Games. According to Develop, Turok and Turok 2 designer Propaganda Games will have Tudge in the role of VP and general manager of the Vancouver-based studio, which is currently working on two unannounced titles. Hopefully, Tudge, who has held positions at Relic Entertainment and Morgan Media, will actually stick around to watch those titles go off to market.%Gallery-28224%
Rumorang: Turok 2 was real, now really dead [updated]
Having cropped up amid a slew of recent layoffs at Disney Interactive and related studios, a rumor that Propaganda Games was working on a sequel to its PS3, 360 and PC FPS, Turok, has been given a little more credence. Garrett Knights, a former Propaganda employee and UI designer, has added interface mockups from the game to his online portfolio.One menu screen (above removed) shows what looks to be yet another refresh of Acclaim Comics' dino-hunting character; the rest of the images in Knights' online collection are primarily layout / typography examples, along with two brief menu animation tests. [Update: Mr. Knights has removed the portfolio from his site and asked us to remove the example at the top of this post.]Hey, this is kind of like digging up fossils. Have any of your own to share?
Rumor: Turok 2 shelved, Disney Interactive lays off over 200
Joystiq has learned from multiple sources that an as yet unannounced Turok sequel has been shelved due to sweeping layoffs at Disney. According to one source, Turok 2 had been in development for "over a year and a half," before the team was notified the project would be put aside on Thursday, January 29. Turok 2 was set to continue the story of the recently revamped series, which debuted on the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC in 2008. One source told Joystiq that Propaganda was working hard to produce a quality title, with hopes of bringing some familiar weaponry to fans of the original series, including the infamous Cerebral Bore from Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. While Turok 2 may return to development, sources say, "A lot of the core people are no longer there," meaning a future Turok would likely be significantly different from the team's original vision.It was also indicated that Propaganda Games may be the studio behind the recently rumored Tron title. The layoffs were reportedly first announced internally via a conference call by Steve Wadsworth, president of the Disney Interactive Media Group on Wednesday, January 28, hours before the news broke online. After the call it was revealed that 204 employees throughout the Disney Interactive Media Group had been laid off. The groups hit include Disney Online (DOL) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online (WDPRO), Mobile Japan. At least 75 employees have been shed from Propaganda Games and the now defunct Fall Line Studios. Alleged Turok 2 concept art can be viewed in the gallery below. Know anything more? You know where to find us. %Gallery-43764%
Disney Interactive hit with layoffs, consolidates studios
The hardship brought on by the tough economic climate continues today as Disney Interactive Studios has confirmed it will lay off staff and consolidate studios. The rumor began when a NeoGAF user said "enough people" had told him that Propaganda Games would see "in the neighborhood of 50" layoffs. GameDaily BIZ spoke with Angela Emery, Vice President of Communications at Disney Interactive Studios, who confirmed the layoffs. However, the situation is worse than originally rumored. While Propaganda Games will see cuts of "less than 30" employees, other studios will also experience losses. The publisher has decided to consolidate its Fall Line Studio with Avalanche Software, developers of Bolt, Chicken Little, Hannah Montana and The Chronicles of Narnia franchises. Merging the two studios is expected to result in the loss of "less than 20" employees. Emery said that the consolidation would allow the unified studio to focus on the Nintendo Wii, a platform she considers to be "very important." She would not confirm that the cuts at Propaganda Games would cause the cancellation of a rumored Turok sequel. Disney Interactive's other studios, including Black Rock and Junction Point, will not be affected by the round of layoffs. An internal communication sent to remaining employees by Steve Wadsworth, president of Walt Disney Internet Group (and obtained by Kotaku), can be found after the break.
Turok dinosaur murder with the dev team
Tonight, from 5:00PM - 9:00PM eastern, a few guys (and possibly gals) from Propaganda Games will be online playing Turok as part of Xbox.com's Game With Developers program. Twenty or so members from the dev team including engineers, artists and designers will be stabbing dinosaurs and discussing all things Turok with anyone willing to challenge them. You may even get the chance to question someone on the dev team about the game's (now no longer) team kill achievement. Complete list of Turok developer gamertags listed after the jump.
PS3 responsible for Turok delay
How are you enjoying playing Turok? (Don't answer that truthfully, peoples' feelings could be hurt!) Were you aware that you were supposed to be playing it around November of last year? That's when it was originally scheduled to be released, at least. Unfortunately Propaganda Games had some trouble getting the quality of the PS3 version up to scratch, so the game was delayed to earlier this month. Similar delays occurred with other UE3 powered games last year, though none were pushed back as far as 2008.We're expecting Sony to receive a nice "Thankyou!" hamper from Turok's developers any time now. All joking aside though, with the amount of games that were released during the last quarter of 2007, especially shooters, Turok would've been swallowed up and ignored. No doubt the game is receiving far better sales now than it could have in November, considering it has the entire month of February to itself with regards to the first person shooter market. Epic have gone on record to say that the engine is now fully optimised for the PS3 (and has been since UTIII was released, so this should be the last delay of this type that we see. Hopefully.[Via Joystiq]
Turok devs blame delay on PS3 version
The new Turok title was originally scheduled for release in November of last year, but only came out this past week. The reason for the four-month delay? According to developer Propaganda Games, it's the PS3's fault.Josh Holmes, VP and studio manager at Propaganda, tells Canada.com that lead development of Turok took place on the Xbox 360, due to the console's easy compatibility with the Unreal Engine 3. Though the Xbox 360 version was finished on schedule, the PS3 version took a bit more finagling to get it "up to the standard of the 360 version."X3F points out that Propaganda's difficulties stem somewhat from the sub-par PS3 port of Unreal Engine 3, which also led to Silicon Knights' lawsuit against Epic.[Via X3F]
Team kill achievement in Turok is no more
Well, it looks like gamers can finally rest easy. Readers may recall that Turok was to include an achievement called "Grab Bag" that rewarded players for killing their own team members. Specifically, players had to kill "at least 1 creature, 1 enemy, 1 teammate, and yourself in the same round of a public match." With griefing players already ruining multiplayer games everywhere, gamers were naturally upset when Turok's developers decided to actually reward them for it. Thankfully though, the devs at Propaganda have seen the light and will be altering the achievement with a launch day patch for the game. The achievement will remain in the game after the patch, but will now only require players to kill a creature, an enemy, and themselves. So it's mostly fixed, but don't be surprised if your teammates are constantly throwing grenades at their feet.[Via Joystiq]
Turok developers remove team-kill achievement with launch-day patch
Concerns over developer-encouraged griefing can now be quelled, as Game|Life reports that a patch will be released the same day that Turok launches in the US (Feb. 5), removing the controversial team-killing achievement from the online modes of both the PS3 and Xbox 360 version.The patch will keep the "Grab Bag" achievement (and its parallel PS3 "accomplishment") intact, but remove the requirement that players must kill a team-member to acquire it. Once patched, the achievement will only require players to kill at least one creature, one enemy, and themselves in order to unlock.Since the achievement only affects online play, the patch will probably have to be downloaded before any players can engage in multiplayer mayhem. We're happy Propaganda Games decided to release this patch sooner rather than later, though here's hoping eager griefers who heard about the sadistic achievement will also hear about its removal. Otherwise, there or not, the achievement may turn Turok into a TK nightmare.
Shipping this week: manly edition [update]
You know, when you think about it, Turok is a manly game. In fact, it's just about the manliest game it could possibly be. Let's take a look at the facts. One, you play Joseph Turok, a burly, burly man with a jaw hewn from marble and cheekbones to die for. Two, he kills gun toting soldiers using a bow that fires exploding arrows. Three, he hunts dinosaurs with a knife. Finally, don't tell anyone, but we have it on good authority that he goes bear wrestling with Chuck Norris every other Saturday. So yeah, Turok looks to be a game you can show off to impress menfolk without fear of reprisal. Oh, and it's the only new game on 360 this week, so here's hoping it's actually good.Update: While GameStop notes that the game launches this week, many readers have pointed out that the official Turok site still maintains the February 5 release date. In other words, it looks like gamers will be waiting another week before controlling Turok and his manly shoulders.
Team kill achievement may be pulled from Turok
Speaking to CVG, Turok developer Propaganda Games made it known that the developer is considering the removal of the now infamous "Grab Bag" achievement. For those that don't recall, the "Grab Bag" achievement awards gamers 20 points in Turok multiplayer for killing "at least 1 creature, 1 enemy, 1 teammate, and yourself in the same round of a public match." The online community received the achievement with almost universal disdain. Apparently, Propaganda was listening, as vice president Josh Holmes said that the developer is considering the release of a patch "it if it does become an issue when the game releases." Holmes noted that the achievement was created as the result of many first-time Turok players managing to kill themselves and teammates during their first match. The achievement was intended purely as a joke, but Holmes admits that Propaganda underestimated just how far "achievement whores" are willing to go.It's important to reiterate that the patch to remove the achievement is not a certainty yet, so expect the early days of Turok's release to be filled with griefing, team killing bastards.
Turok goes dino hunting on PC
Turok still has every intention of making his console debut on Feb. 5, '08, but Propaganda Games has announced that a PC version is also in the mix. The PC version will release on the same date and is being converted by Aspyr Media, complete with multiplayer mode supporting 16 players. Turok really was a sleeper surprise as last year's E3 and our hands-on time with it had us wanting more. The console versions should get a little more attention from a post-holiday lull and will hopefully match our initial impressions. 'Cause, you know, hunting dinosaurs is cool.[Update: Added PC version release date.]
Turok gets rebirthed with launch of developer blog
The dinosaur infested, bloody mess, survival game known as Turok will be releasing early next year to the 360 and what better way to connect to the gaming community (and play the marketing card) than with the launch of a new developer blog? And that's exactly what the crew over at Propaganda Games just did, making their first blog entry into their official IGN sponsored Turok / Propaganda Games blog.In their most recent entry, they talk about the history of the Turok franchise, how they got involved with the game and tell of the basic storyline. Be sure to note that the new Turok has no relation to the story presented in the previous games, it's what the industry calls starting on a clean slate. So, if you're looking forward to dinosaur killing next year, be sure to bookmark the new Turok blog for upcoming interviews, dev talk and other random dinosaur bits in the weeks to come. All we're hoping for is a glimpse at a triceratops. We love triceratops'.
Turok coming February 5th, revitalizes franchise
During Disney Interactive's Press Conference this afternoon General Manager of Propaganda Games, Josh Holmes cames on stage to show off Turok's facelift and how Propaganda has plans to reinvent the series. The video they showed included stealth kills by stabbing someone in the face, and using the bow and arrows. It's rather unfortunate the main character got eaten by a T-rex. They also anneaournced that Turok will be released on February 5th, 2008. Let us know if this this game coming in Q1 2008 piques your interest, you must.
