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First GDC Online 2011 summits announced
Despite the brutal, anti-nerd reality that is Texas weather, Austin has become a major hub for development houses that produce MMOs and casual/social online titles. BioWare, NCSoft, Blizzard, SOE, heck, even Zynga; they've all got offices in Austin and collectively they're responsible for a sizable growth spurt in the city's already impressive technology sector. It makes sense, then, that GDC 2011's "Online" chapter should return to the Lone-Star State's capital city. GDC has, historically, been a conference "for developers, by developers," meaning that it's probably not the sort of show Jimmy Halo and Ricky Killzone want to spend their tuition money on. However! If you're in the industry, or just really, really into game design, you just might find something worthwhile at one of GDCO's recently announced summits. The Game Narrative Summit, for instance, returns for its 6th year of lectures and dissertations with Eidos Montreal's Mary De Marle giving a talk on "Building the Story-driven Experience of Deus Ex: Human Revolution," and Volition's Steve Jaros hosting a roundtable discussion of development mistakes and war-stories in "Sins of the Past." PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile will be contributing his knowledge of pocket-sized, casual gaming to the Smartphone and Tablet Games Summit, and while the GDC Virtual Items Summit has been announced, no specific session details have been listed as of yet. If extremely-inside-baseball discussions really are your bag, baby, then summit lectures will be open to GDCO attendees with "All Access" and "Summits & Tutorials" badges during the first two days of the conference's October 10-13 run at the Austin Convention Center.
Report: Three SOE studios close, layoffs abound
Following a series of tweets from George Broussard, co-owner of 3D Realms, which indicated that Sony Online Entertainment would be undergoing layoffs and possible studio closures around its five locations today, Kotaku reports that a source "familiar with the matter" has confirmed the closures of SOE's Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios. Additionally, half of the Austin staff has been reportedly laid off, along with a "sizeable" number of workers at SOE's San Diego headquarters. In all, the layoffs are said to affect nearly one-third of SOE's total workforce. Notably, SOE Seattle has been the lead development studio of The Agency, which had been slated to launch in the second half of the year (after a long delay). Neither SOE Denver nor Tucson has been working on anything as high profile as The Agency, though both have continued to operate a number of SOE titles, including Denver's Legends Of Norrath and other digital card games, and Tucson's PoxNora strategy game.U Update: SOE has issued an official statement confirming the report and providing further details.
SOE trademarks 'The Agency Covert Ops'
In the world of videogames, trademarks can mean just about anything. So when Sony Online Entertainment filed for the trademark to The Agency Covert Ops it's no surprise that rumors of a name change were floating around, especially since we haven't seen hide nor hair of The Agency for some time now. We contacted SOE for a statement. Here's their response: "We are always trying to plan ahead for our titles in development and at times that means acquiring TM's or URL's that we feel we may want to own in the future. At this point SOE has made no official announcement regarding this Covert Ops TM and any information in the marketplace about it is premature." What could this mean? Well, it could be a name change, but SOE has several studios from Seattle to L.A. down into Tucson and Austin, too. So, while it's very possible that Covert Ops could be a name change, our bet would be on either a wholly different game or potentially a future expansion. That's just our guess, of course. And there's always the possibility we may never know.
Fan questions answered in DCUO Q&A video
SOE Austin recently put up a call for DC Universe Online fans to ask questions via Facebook for a video Q&A. Well, the team's answers are now live over at the social networking site and we think you'll be pleased with the results. New information has been fairly sparse for the last few months, which makes this video feel like a sudden spring shower after a long dry winter. The questions run the gamut from weapons and equipment to PvP and how the game's tech and design goes the distance to make players feel like a DC style superhero. And don't worry if you missed out on submitting a question or if yours wasn't answered this go around, because the devs are very careful to say more of these are scheduled for the (hopefully near) future. [Thanks, Max!]
Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, DC Universe Online screenshots
"In brightest days, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"If you're a comic book fan, then chances are you've heard this at one time or another. If you're a Green Lantern fan, then what's more likely is you say it at every opportunity you get. But let's face it, life doesn't really offer many favorable circumstances for reciting the Lantern's Oath. That's why we're hoping against hope that SOE goes all out and allows players to join the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps, which is essentially an intergalactic police force, in DC Universe Online.Considering Geoff Johns, who is currently finishing up his amazing Green Lantern comic run, helped pen the game's storyline, we expect nothing less than amazing things when dawning our green (or otherwise?) ring once DC Universe Online is out. Check out the rest of the bevy of new Hal Jordan screenshots in our gallery.%Gallery-50201%
Alpha and beta status updates on DC Universe Online
There hasn't been a lot of new information flying about on DC Universe Online, which is probably just a sign that the SOE team over at Austin, TX are keeping their collective noses to the grinder and pushing for beta sometime in the coming months.Actually, according to a Gamasutra interview with Wes Yanagi that very much seems to be the case, although he doesn't out and say as much. It sounds like cross-platform and controller/UI iteration are probably giving SOE the most grief. We take it as a good sign that they're not rushing it, though, as it shows their seriousness at making this 'massively multiplayer action game' work.As for alpha and beta? According to Wes, "We're still pre-alpha. We're really close to hitting our alpha goals, so hopefully in the next several months, we'll start talking about it." Seems like the game is still a ways off into the future. So long as SOE doesn't release near a World of Warcraft expansion, we think they'll do just fine.
DCUO interview alludes to Aquaman issues
In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, DC Universe Online's creative director, Jens Andersen, defends the seemingly "simple" powers of Aquaman, while stating that there are no water-based powers in the game at the moment. "Aquaman is a badass," Anderson made clear. "And he's really, really powerful. People don't give him credit because they think he just talks to fish but he's more than that." This sentiment is taken as far as having "Aquaman Wednesdays" at the SOE Austin studios where DCUO is being developed. If Aquaman can't swim and speak with the fishies, then what good will he be in the game? "Well, Aquaman is a founding member of the [Justice League of America] and the JLA are a huge factor in our game," Anderson explained. "And so the JLA will be a broader roster than it was in its initial launch way back in the day, but it will also have the core members; so Aquaman will be included in that, for sure. And it will be the Aquaman, not the new Aquaman."
Joystiq interview: Wes Yanagi on creating DC Universe Online
UPDATED: We've updated a few interview answers with clarifications from Wes Yanagi after the break.While there's been a lot press coverage on DC Universe Online, a variety of topics have emerged that we felt needed some solid "yes" and "no" answers: Will there be cross-platform play between the PS3 and PC versions? Is the game really coming out as early as "late 2009 / early 2010?" If we create a character with stretchy appendages, can we stretch everything?Yesterday, we put the questions to DCUO senior producer Wes Yanagi during a hands-on with pre-alpha code -- the same code playable on the show floor at this weekend's New York Comic Con, in case you're wondering. He debriefed us on the current situation regarding cross-platform play, character customization and a whole slew of other interesting stuff -- including how his current gaming (Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics) is affecting the development process.We'd like to give you an audio option but, unfortunately, the recording conditions of the room were less than ideal. Hit the break for the whole thing in text form. %Gallery-43826%
Killer Croc comes to DC Universe Online
The most recent update to the DC Universe Online MySpace page has given us a new look at an old Batman adversary: Killer Croc. The bestial figure depicted in the newest batch of screenshots appears to call back to the heavily-mutated villain fans of the Hush story will be used to. Croc has gone through numerous permutations over the years, and this newest appears to be extraordinarily inhuman. The team will apparently be offering up these character focuses as the months progress. You can read up on Croc's place in DCUO, or click on through to our gallery to see the new screenshots on offer.%Gallery-27752%
Star Wars Galaxies Dev Diary and video: Behind the scenes at Echo Base
The Star Wars Galaxies developers have been neck-deep in snow for months now, it seems. Since the launch of the Hoth heroic encounter in late November of last year, the SOE Austin devs have been tweaking and fine-tuning the experience for the enthused playerbase.The actual encounter is massive, and introduces a number of new roles and play opportunities for even longtime SWG players. We've talked about that before, with a highlight being a look at the encounter from the dev viewpoint at SOE Fan Faire.Today we have the pleasure of offering up a brand-new developer diary from SOE designer Stephen Wyckoff, all about the "engineering support" required to put players in massive Imperial vehicles! Join Stephen below the cut as he talks AT-STs, design, development, and tuning encounters to meet high player expectations. We also have a fantastic new video from the developers that will give you just a taste of what it's like to experience the frozen fury of the Hoth battle. All that and more is beyond the cut.%Gallery-37499%
Massively in Metropolis: Why your time online trumps game design
We've been exploring the game mechanics and design philosophy of DC Universe Online for the last week. We've talked about superpowers, factions, and questing, among a host of other issues. Today we want to be sure to highlight a fascinating exchange we had with DCUO Creative Director Jens Andersen and SOE Austin Creative Director Chris Cao about the role of fun in DCUO. Check out our back-and-forth on this issue in our new interview-style format below. What is it about DCUO that's compelling the team to concentrate on the amount of fun a player is having moment by moment? It seems as thought that's a major focus for the the game. Jens Andersen: It's a design philosophy. The key to us is: the most valuable thing the players have is online time together. So anything we do that provides an obstacle to that means we're wasting your time. It might be a great way to keep players in the game, when we ask you to run across an entire continent to go get something for your group. For you guys, it stinks. We don't want to waste your time.
E308: The DC Universe Online trailer explained
Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming title playpen at E3 offered several different delights. Prior to our lengthy conversation with DC Universe Online Creative Director Chris Cao and SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely (in which they noted the game is 'already released'), we got to see a lengthy trailer which included some pre-recorded interview snippets. We aren't going to be able to provide you with the video itself for some time, but the voice content of the video is well worth reading up on.Alongside Mr. Blakely and Mr. Cao, DC comics veteran Jim Lee also appears in the video. Mr. Lee is Executive Creative Director for the project, connecting the DC comics creative minds to the developers at SOE. We managed to sit down with Jim Lee to talk about his role on the project, a discussion we'll be able to share with you sometime next week. Read on for our introduction to the game, some hints about what they'll be offering at Comic-Con next week, and the vocal stylings of voiceover guy.
E308: DC Universe Online already 'released' inside SOE
We had a lengthy chat with the folks behind Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming super-hero MMO, DC Universe Online. Creative Director Chris Cao and SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely were extremely forthcoming with details and preview information on the gigantic game. Make sure to check back over the next day or so for more on your passage into the world of the DC heroes. For now, we wanted to mention that (surprise) the game is already released! At least, within the halls of SOE, the game is very much a live product. Chris Cao: John Blakely has started a "play it like it's live" initiative. We actually run everything like it's a live service. We do update notes to ourselves. We basically do everything you would do as a normal MMO that's already live because we've learned that changing that rhythm going from pre-launch to live is where most of the mistakes happen. Suddenly you are doing things faster, suddenly you're assuming consumer concerns instead of your own. By being our own consumers and being a provider to the company we get that experience up-front. By the time we get it out to you guys, we'll be old hat at it. We've already been doing it a year and we're going to keep going throughout the development process.%Gallery-27756%
Patch notes available for Star Wars Galaxies Game Update 4
The Test Center server was updated yesterday with patch notes for the fourth Game Update to Star Wars Galaxies. This time around Commandos, Officers, and Smugglers are all looking at fairly significant changes. All three classes are popular (as popular as class without a lightsaber can be), but needed some serious overhauls. Officers now have toggleable group buffs instead of timed ones, making one of their core functions far more utilitarian. They also have two types of rally points now, one offensive and one defensive. Commandos received a rework almost from the ground up, remaking their abilities to be more effective and understandable. Stackable element-based DoTs, all new expertise options, improvements to existing abilities ... GU4 is definitely Commando Christmas.Smugglers snagged across-the-board tweaks, making their abilities generally mesh more cohesively, and even Bounty Hunters pulled down a few useful changes. Officers, Commandos, and Smugglers will receive free respecs when they log in, allowing them to make use of their new abilities. The update includes a number of smaller tweaks, supporting both the new DoT mechanics and the wearable equipment concealment code. There's even a brand new weapon for the reworked Commandos, the CC-V 'Legion' Cryo Projector. It's always nice to get new toys.
