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'The Wolf Among Us' season two delayed into 2019
It has been nearly four years since The Wolf Among Us wrapped up its original episodic run, but fans will have to wait a bit longer for a follow-up. Telltale Games announced that season two is delayed from its original late-2018 release window into 2019 due to "a few fundamental changes here at Telltale since we first announced the game last summer." As Eurogamer notes, this could refer to layoffs last year that cut its staff by 25 percent, even though at the time, the studio stated that upcoming releases including The Wolf Among Us season two would not be affected.
Eidos Montreal cuts the QTEs from Thief
When Square Enix launches its Thief reboot in February 2014, it will ship a game with one fewer gameplay element than was previously seen at E3: quick-time events. Developer Eidos Montreal revealed in a recent community blog that the game's QTEs were stripped out of the adventure entirely. "To begin with, there were very few instances of QTEs in the game; in fact there was only one in that whole hour-long E3 demo," the blog post reads. "However, given the strong reactions it evoked in the press and the community, it was an easy decision to do away with them entirely. So we're not doing it. No quick time." Our time with Thief last month didn't spotlight those now-absent timed button-press moments, but focused on the stealthier elements of the game and the ways it enforced resource conservation. The game will arrive on February 25, 2014 for Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Molyneux says Heavy Rain offers the 'first glimpses of the future' of games
If only Sony had waited until after the South by Southwest festival to release Heavy Rain, the publisher could have printed several glowing quotes from a known Xbox consorter on the back of the PS3-exclusive's game box. Oh, well -- there's always the "Game of the Year" edition. During a a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at SXSW this week, Fabled designer Peter Molyneux heaped praise on Heavy Rain, calling it "absolutely brilliant." "I recommend anyone who wants to start to see the first glimpses of the future of video games to go out and buy it," Molyneux advocated, before exposing his softer side to the audience. "But, personally, I could not bring myself to play more than 90 minutes, because the world that was there was so dark and so emotionally involving I felt emotionally beaten up." Aww, Mr. Molyneux. "But there's no question in my mind that games like Heavy Rain -- games that have a new fidelity in the way that they present their experiences; obviously made with cinematography and motion capture in mind -- can really show the way forward to a new form of entertainment, which is evolving the story and choices and consequences." Molyneux steadfastly declared, having apparently recovered from painful memories of the game (perhaps cries of Jason? Jason? Jason! still faintly echoing in his head). Molyneux also commended developer Quantic Dream's design choices, observing that the QTE interface "really meant that you had to pay attention all the time because you didn't know whether these quick-time events were going to come up"; though he noted that such gameplay mechanics "may be a little bit tired after a while." Still, he said, "I have to take my hat off to [Quantic Dream] ... There's a couple of things they do in that game which were really revolutionary, and what they do with quick-time is fantastic." "Us designers were just laughing because we thought quick-time was dead, but that really was part of the drama of Heavy Rain."
Heavy Rain's David Cage wants to set the record straight on QTEs
"No! We don't make Dragon's Lair! This is not Dragon's Lair – do you think I'm crazy? I'm not stupid. Do you think I develop on PlayStation 3 to do Dragon's Lair again? It would be absurd. Of course it's not." We typically lead into quotes with a bit more background than that, but those who've read message board diatribes dismissing the upcoming Heavy Rain as nothing more than a series of Quick Time Events surely understand the frustration of Quantic Dream founder David Cage -- who owns the mouth from which the above quote was uttered during a press demonstration at GamesCom 2009. Cage went on to explain "when there is an action sequence, yes we integrate [these] QTE sequences," but the rest of the time, the player will have full control as they navigate the game's four characters through a deep, choice-riddled story. That actually sounds pretty reminiscent of Quantic's last game, Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit. That's great and all -- but we actually wouldn't be disappointed by a new installment in the Dragon's Lair franchise. We admit it -- we're Dirkheads, through and through.
Video: Ninja Blade QTEs into your heart
What is this Ninja Blade Fanboy? Nah, it's just one of those days ... you'd think it was New Years Eve or something. Yesterday, GameTrailers threw up a few videos ripped from the Japan-exclusive demo of Ninja Blade and we thought we'd share. The opening cinematic starts with a transport plane flying high over the Tokyo skyline as a group of organized ninjas prepare to jump out and destroy some ancient evil. We've never been to Japan but we'll agree this is probably something that happens on a regular basis. For the rest of the Ninja Blade goodness, QTE yourself to GameTrailers.
Disaster: QTEs of Crisis?
Little is known about the actual gameplay in Monolith Soft's Disaster: Day of Crisis (even though it comes out in Japan on the 25th), but a series of short video clips on the Japanese website make it seem like the gameplay may be divided into small, diverse segments (which we would hesitate to label as "minigames"). Each video in the "player action" section of the website shows Ray performing a different action, from jumping across chasms to rescuing survivors to driving -- all with different, context-sensitive control schemes. Many of those actions involve pressing buttons at the right time according to onscreen prompts.If the game is really divided into discrete chunks of gameplay -- drive in this level, perform CPR in this level, shoot guys in this level -- then Disaster could end up being a sophisticated Dragon's Lair-style game. If these actions are all part of a consistent style of gameplay, then it's an adventure game in which a lot of different stuff happens.%Gallery-30942%
