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GameFly purchases Shacknews
Online game rental service GameFly has purchased Shacknews and its related websites, including FileShack. Shacknews announced GameFly plans to maintain the sites and even bolster with "additional resources." With an understanding that recent takeovers of beloved editorial institutions haven't gone so well, GameFly's co-founder, Sean Spector, states that the rental service isn't "looking to twist and turn the site into something else."It's certainly an interesting move for the rental service to buy an editorial outlet and talk expansion, especially in this economy. Then again, GameFly's business doesn't seem to be hurting, as it continues to expand its rental service with a new distribution center in Seattle. In the words of a very wise book: Don't Panic.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
Chinese MMO accused of stealing art from World of Warcraft, others
A Chinese browser-based MMO named Aurora Blade has been accused of lifting art and design work from a few other MMOs, including Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, and yes, even World of Warcraft. You can judge for yourself in the comparison above (the little Rogue is Aurora Blade, obviously), put together by ShackNews, but that definitely looks alike to us. The game is hosted in the West by a company called IGG, and they've responded by saying that they only host the game and aren't responsible for the game's artwork.They give no indication, however, who is responsible for the artwork of the game, and there's nothing on the page or in the FAQ that gives a company name out either. Granted, Aurora Blade is hardly competition for World of Warcraft, but at this point it appears to be up to Blizzard whether they'll bother taking further action to get to the bottom of this.Of course, there is a flaw in their plan. If they really wanted to rip off some cool Rogue armor, wouldn't it be Bloodfang? Why bother with Shadowcraft?
Further details emerge on the canceled Halo MMO
Shacknews had the chance to speak with Ensemble director of technology Dave Pottinger, who had quite a bit to say about the Halo MMO. The biggest surprise revealed was that the game had gotten a green light and was in development for a good length of time before leadership changed at Microsoft, and the title was canceled. Pottinger also acknowledge the fact that conceptual screens leaked were in fact designed with a very World of Warcraft mentality, although he stressed that what Ensemble actually ended up with internally at the time had more emphasis on feeling like the traditional Halo universe.Combat was also a topic of discussion. Pottinger says the game's combat had a very classic MMO feel to it, but there was a leaning towards an "actiony" feel. Whether or not Ensemble's Halo MMO was or is a good idea, there's no denying the fact that a properly made title could still appeal to a lot of people.
Mythic: Warhammer Online contributors to go uncredited
Mythic's version of Warhammer Online has been in development for around three years now and many people have worked on it over that period of time. The random nature of life has meant that there have been individuals who actually worked on the title for some time, but are no longer with Mythic Entertainment. Recently, Mythic made the statement that those people will not be accredited for their work on the game.Mark Jacobs told Shacknews, "Accreditation in Warhammer Online recognizes the incredible team that has poured their heart and soul into making WAR an amazing MMORPG experience." The problem is that apparently -- once again, according to Shacknews -- there are many developers who've put in countless days-worth of menial work to help make Warhammer Online a reality. They're not getting credited. This isn't a localized problem with Electronic Arts either, it's happened before, and is common in the games industry.An excuse given says that hundreds of people have worked on the game over the years. That's no excuse, if you ask us. Something as trivial as having "hundreds of people" doesn't stop movie credits from listing everyone involved in the creation process. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Quake creator repeatedly turned down MMO opportunities
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and lead programmer of the historic first-person-shooter games Doom and Quake, told Shacknews that id has been approached by multiple publishers interested in releasing an MMO version of Quake. Each time, the company turned them down.It was implied that id has not pursued (and will not pursue) the idea because of the etreme challenges of developing a triple-A MMO.There's a good point here. It's not as if Carmack and friends were throwing a money printer in the trash compactor by passing on the opportunity. The concern seems valid: MMOs are expensive, risky endeavors. Even with a team of experienced developers and a well-known intellectual property, there's always a risk that id could get in over its head.[Via Joystiq]
Shacknews sees Duke Nukem Forever ... the game ... really
Some of the Shacknews crew are one small evolutionary step away from people who swear they've seen UFOs, the Virgin Mary in their toast, or Elvis at the laundromat. They've seen Duke Nukem Forever. No, we don't mean the underwhelming teaser they dropped last year or, well, that's about all we've seen in the last half-decade; we're talking about the actual game actually running on a modern computer.They "witnessed several different DNF gameplay scenarios, mechanics, and environments being demonstrated ... including environmental puzzles and interactivity, a host of finished weapons, the existence of an in-game forklift, and plenty of heads and arms being blown off." For those skeptics out there disinclined to believe the existence of such nonsense, we point you towards the following comment by one Mr. George Broussard from developer 3D Realms, posting under the name GeorgeB3DR: "... out of the blue I just decided to show them DNF for about an hour ..."... right, and we imagine they were also abducted "out of the blue" by a piece of toast with Elvis' face on it right after that. Duke Nukem Forever exists indeed.
First Prey 2 details and concept art revealed
It's been nearly two years since the release of Human Head Studio's nausea-inducing FPS, Prey -- and subsequently, since 3D Realms' Scott Miller dropped hints of a sequel for the game. From July 2006 to yesterday morning, no news of Prey 2 had surfaced, leading some to believe the franchise had gone the way of the Duke. Luckily, Shacknews caught wind of a Radar Group website (which, for some reason, was taken down shortly after its inception) with some concept art and juicy, but brief, details about the game.Tommy, the astral-projecting hero of Prey the first, will reprise his role as the brash protagonist. Blamed for the disappearance of his family, Tommy "escapes an Earth that no longer wants him for a future that cannot survive without him", according to the short-lived website. This short tidbit along with a single piece of concept art were all that Radar Group had to tease us with for now -- rumor has it that we'll be hearing more about the sequel some time this week. We'll let you know when that update narbuncularly drops into our hot little hands.
Official word: Perpetual lives, STO "still a triple-A game"
There has been a lot of confusion with regards to the fate of Perpetual Entertainment and Star Trek Online over the past few days. First, an SEC report was filed by Gravity that appeared to say that Perpetual Entertainment was liquidating all assets and would cease to exist as a company. Then, Shacknews ran a story claiming that STO had been bought and would be re-invented as a "more casual" experience.Star Trek Online's Executive Producer Daron Stinett addressed panicked fans, saying that not all is as it seems. We have the lowdown here for you. The heart of the matter: it appears that STO has not been canceled or nerfed after all --at least not to the degree that we feared. That said, here's the full story so far.
EA staffer plays history revisionist on Wikipedia
We already know that EA changes its screenshots, but is somebody trying to rewrite its history? Shacknews reports somebody with an IP address linked to the Electronic Arts Redwood City HQ is going into the EA Wikipedia page and altering the past. Using a tool called Wikipedia Scanner made by Cal Tech student Virgil Griffith, they discovered this IP address has made numerous alterations, the most damning occurred on Nov. 20, '06 when they erased Trip Hawkins as founder of the company. Later on, the same IP address added a paragraph emphasizing the work of Larry Probst, current EA chairman, and attempted to remove the scandalous EA Spouse saga.Shacknews concludes saying that the IP address is responsible for one third of the 1,351 changes made by EA-registered IPs. Many of the changes made by the EA IPs have since been reversed by the Wikipedia community. EA would not comment on the issue. Maybe this person at EA is just striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that their next leap ... will be the leap home -- if those pesky Wikipedia people would just stop changing history back to the way it originally happened.
Joystiq Podcast 010 - Banhunt 2 edition (feat. Chris Remo from Shacknews)
After a short delay, we're back with another installment of the Joystiq podcast, marking our first double digit show (about time!). This episode we're joined by Chris Remo, editor-in-chief of Shacknews, who tells us about his time spent with Valve's latest treats and sticks around to go over the rest of the week in gaming news, including Banhunt 2. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Hosts: Christopher Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann Guest Host: Chris Remo from Shacknews Music: "We Weren't Put Together" by David E. Sugar Program: Apple "games" lolz Half-Life 2 / Team Fortress 2 Nintendo is rich! Exclusivity! Haze in a haze, GTA IV episodes, Beautiful Katamari on XBLA And Banhunt 2
Oblivion: Downgraded for PS3, not happening on Wii [update 1]
When we learned that the PS3 version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would not feature the majority of downloadable content found on the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game, it was a blow to fans of horse armor everywhere. An episode of The 1UP Show (02/02) provides the follow-up hook as 1UP relays a juicy bit of info from Bethesda. As it turns out, it may be due to a memory limitation with the Playstation 3 itself.1UP says that Bethesda simply could not find a way to load every piece of downloadable content without affecting the performance of the game. Considering that the Xbox 360 can pull off this feat without a hitch, that seems quite odd. Bethesda will still be looking into getting that content available for PS3 users, as addressed by their VP of Marketing, Peter Hines, who also comments on the "rumors" regarding the memory issue in an IGN interview.As for the PS3 version of Oblivion trumping the 360 in the visuals department, it just so happens that the new shader techniques applied to the PS3 will also be worked into the 360 version of the game. And thus, they are equals once more. Unless you want some horse armor. In which case, you're boned.Finally, Shacknews sat down with Pete Hines and questioned their plans beyond the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. When it comes to waggling your remote in Oblivion, "It's not really going to run on a Wii for example, but if it could we would put it there. Our philosophy is to make a game and make it available to as many people as possible."Read - The 1UP Show, Oblivion Expansion Preview (9:40)Read - IGN Interview with Pete HinesRead - Shacknews, Interview with Pete Hines[Update - We swapped out the Mark Rein quote with the more recent IGN interview to pull the feedback away from gritty, armchair analysis of tech specs and back into the content involved. Cleaned up some wording to not sound so definitive on a complex and unresolved issue. Thanks!][Thanks, Stephen!]
"Only in HD, Please"
It's official. I'm boycotting all things not high def. E3 was the start, and last weekend's Tokyo Game Show sealed it. The high definition gaming era is upon us, and I'm not squinting at low resolution photos and postage-stamp sized movie trailers anymore. I'm going to play it in high definition, why would I try to judge a preview of it in anything less? Microsoft and Sony have taken the right steps in person, displaying their wares on glistening high definition displays at each tradeshow, but finding proper quality trailers and screens is still much like panning for gold, a few shiny nuggets every now and then, but mostly just mud.Bus passes for the revolution after the jump, along with links to the best sources for HD resolution trailers and pictures I've found.
