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First look at Rocksmith, straight out of SXSW
If we were Ubisoft, we would have picked Austin's South by Southwest event as the location for the first demonstration of Rocksmith as well. During that week in March, it would have been impossible to find a person who wasn't totally thrilled about anything involving a guitar. So keep in mind that many of the people interviewed in this trailer (after the break) were already in high spirits (and possibly high on spirits) when they tried Ubisoft's real-guitar-compatible music game. At least you'll be able to see the game for yourself -- the first gameplay footage is contained within, too. Rocksmith looks to feature a traditional Rock Band/Guitar Hero interface, with the guitar's strings represented vertically on top of the note chart. It's harder to explain it than it is to tell you to just watch the video.
Ubisoft's Chris Early on Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy and other 'companion games'
Ubisoft's VP of digital games, Chris Early, delivered a talk last week at SXSW Interactive on the rising phenomenon of "companion games"; small, downloadable or web games that use the same IP as and link in some way to a larger retail product. These games include Dragon Age Legends and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy for Facebook, but also, he explained, titles like Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. After the presentation, we talked with Early more about companion games, their value to core gamers, and how they can be used to completely dominate a player's life.
Interview: EA2D's Mark Spenner on going 'browser and beyond'
EA2D is Electronic Arts's small-team, small-game studio, which just launched Dragon Age Legends on Facebook (today!) and has Fancy Pants Adventures for PSN and XBLA in the wings. We spoke to Mark Spenner, VP and GM of the studio, about these two very different projects. How, we wondered, do these two wildly different things, a console game based on a Flash game, and a Facebook spinoff of a giant RPG, both fall under the same EA2D banner? "EA2D is 'browser and beyond,'" Spenner told us at SXSW Interactive. "We're trying to push from the browser out." That includes projects like Mirror's Edge 2D, which began as a Flash game and moved to iPhone and iPad, and the new Dragon Age Legends, which was already "beyond" and moved into the browser -- and is also moving back out with a mobile app.
The Super Mario Bros. movie that should have been
Attendees of SXSW were privy to a trailer promising a more dramatic version of the tale of the brothers Mario. Now said trailer is online for all to see and we'd be remiss not to bring it to your attention. Joe Nicolosi's take on the Mushroom Kingdom is not only irresistible, it's pretty hilarious -- oh, and NSFW.
GameStop, Sony, Ubisoft on the growth of retail in the age of downloads
"We are looking for ways to make money," Sony's senior vice president of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, said at an SXSW Interactive panel about the rise of digital distribution. "We are not looking for a system -- whether it's iPhone, Android, whatever -- that is this wonderful socialist idea that we can give things away for free. " That helps frame the discussion -- it was from a moneymaking perspective that representatives of Ubisoft, SCEA, and GameStop discussed retail and its role as downloadable content and digitally distributed games become more popular.
Ratchet & Clank All 4 One preview: For all
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One isn't "casual" in the sense that makes gamers cringe. It's not a microtransaction-based minigame collection with friendly avatars. It's "casual" in the universally accepted way: It's fun for anyone who feels like dropping into it, with minimal startup time. All 4 One is also a competent action game, from what I saw, with a series of really exciting set pieces connected by interesting platforming. But it's all about experiencing these set pieces together.%Gallery-118995%
Angry Birds downloads soar past 100 million across all platforms
During a panel at this past weekend's South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Rovio exec Peter Vesterbacka told attendees that the company's bird-flinging pig terrorizer, Angry Birds, has been downloaded over 100 million times. As Vesterbacka revealed during GDC, more than 30 million of those downloads have been of the game's freemium Android version, and both the lite and paid versions topped 2010's iOS charts. Since its release on PSN in January, Angry Birds has also dominated PlayStation Minis sales. So many scared pigs! During his presentation, Vesterbacka went on to make a somewhat dubious claim, however, saying, "Tablets are killing consoles. Four generations of new tablets come before a new console, if one ever comes." While hardware iteration of tablets has certainly been speedier than that of consoles, we don't see tablets "killing" the home console market anytime soon. Nokia interim VP of services Tero Ojanpera apparently agrees with us, as he countered Vesterbacka by arguing that, despite the iPad 2's ability to output 1080p video, most folks won't ever plug their tablet devices into their televisions. Not to mention, Vesterbacka and company recently hired Remedy co-founder Petri Järvilehto to spearhead Angry Birds expansion to consoles. "We want to make Angry Birds a long-lasting global gaming franchise, and we see the console platforms as a way of delivering an even more entertaining, powerful and involving experience," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said last month in an announcement of the company's intention "to take the Angry Birds success story to current and emerging console platforms."
Google VP lays down mobile stats, boasts 150 million Maps users
Care for a cup of Google data, anyone? At SXSW, the vice president of location services, Marissa Mayer, stated some interesting facts about the state of all things mobile at the Goog. Most notably, the company provides its map service to 150 million users. Just to give you an idea of how many peeps that is -- it's about half the number of individuals in America. Crazy, we know. What's more, Mayer claimed that Google Maps guided users 12 billion miles per year and that its latest build of the app saves people an average of two days worth of travel time each year. Another bit worth noting is how the company feels about Google Maps for iPhone. "We like being the default provider, but we'd like to get some of these updates out to a broader audience. That's still a debate / question we're considering." Updates? An actual Google Maps application that works as a GPS on an iPhone? Wake us up when iOS 5 is previewed, or we can just keep dreaming.
GLiD wins Independent Propeller Award at SXSW
During an awards ceremony on SXSW's Day Stage, hosts Meredith Molinari and Adam "Atomic" Saltsman revealed the winner of IndiePub's Independent Propeller Award -- GLiD, also an IGF Student Competition finalist. The creators received $50,000 (in novelty check form) and a publishing deal from sponsor Zoo Publishing -- and a trophy. Other developers won awards sponsored by Intel and Unity, and subcategory awards worth 25,000 damn dollars each. Find the full list of awards handed out after the break.
Ratchet & Clank All 4 One features 3D
During a SXSW Interactive demo event, Sony let us know that Insomniac's co-op action platformer Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, will add new depth to its Lombax-tossing action by featuring stereoscopic 3D visuals. You know, as first-party Sony games tend to do. It's like your eyes are playing in co-op! The announcement was actually first made by Sony's Jack Tretton on CNBC. You can see that presentation here. We got a chance to play All 4 One during SXSW (in 2D, however), and we'll bring you our impressions soon.
Interview: Click here to learn more about Insomniac Click
Insomniac Games made the surprise announcement at SXSW Interactive that a new division would make games for Facebook and other social gaming platforms. The newly hired team is already at work on an unannounced project based on a new IP. I wrangled the two Insomniac panelists, marketing director Ryan Schneider and lead artist Tony Mora, to discuss how the new division will integrate "social gaming" into the Insomniac style, and to find out just what a "social game" is.
Deep Sea: The scariest game ever
I don't even know if Wraughk Audio Design's Deep Sea is intended to be scary, but it's more effective at generating real fear than any game I've ever seen. And it does so with no graphics at all. The Independent Propeller Award finalist is daunting from the outset: first, the player is helped into the gas mask contraption seen above, with blacked out eyes. Then, noise-canceling headphones are lowered onto your face, and your hand is guided to a flight-stick style joystick. The game is simple: you use recorded audio direction from an AI character, and directional audio cues, to locate enemies underwater, then "ping" them with your sonar to target them. You'll get feedback from the AI commander character when you ping: things like "It's far to the left," essentially. And that's it! What makes it terrifying is the combination of instant claustrophobia due to the oppressive mask, and the helplessness of total sensory deprivation. Being scared to death actually makes the game harder, as it tracks your breathing and plays exaggerated "breathing" sound effects over the audio, drowning out commands. I've never considered myself a claustrophobic person, but panic set in immediately upon playing this game. This seems like one of those games best suited for a proof of concept, or an experience to be had at events. I doubt Wraughk is going to be selling blackout gas masks to anyone. I hope that doesn't happen.
Insomniac launches social/Facebook game division 'Insomniac Click'
Insomniac Games is now the company behind Ratchet & Clank, Resistance ... and Facebook games. Timed to coincide with a SXSW Interactive panel (at which Joystiq is seated right this second), Insomniac's Ryan Schneider announced the creation of "Insomniac Click," a division of the company devoted to the creation of web and mobile games. It's based in Burbank, home of Insomniac's current operations. But it's a new team, made up of people newly hired for social games, so it shouldn't take resources away from games about shooting aliens or making prurient jokes about weapons. In a blog post about the new division, Brian Hastings said that "Insomniac Click is dedicated to taking the qualities that define our brand – deep worlds, rich stories, accessible gameplay – and applying them to new game experiences that anyone in the world can play." Insomniac hasn't said exactly what its first social game will be, but you can read a lengthy manifesto about game design and social games (and why they aren't really great yet!) here.
What is Zynga doing to that sheep? Brian Reynolds on the power of innuendo
During a presentation at SXSW Interactive yesterday, Zynga chief designer Brian Reynolds shared an emergent game feature that the team discovered when making Frontierville, one designed to appeal to juvenility. The "tutorial" mission in Frontierville involves finding a lost sheep and bringing it back, he explained. Because it's a Facebook game, you get the option to post when you've done so, which shares a little blurb about your achievement and a picture of a cartoony character struggling to pull a stubborn sheep. But that's not what players' friends saw. "What is she doing to that sheep?" was a common refrain from people who saw that post, Reynolds said. "The look on the sheep's face kind of sells it." But this wasn't a problem, as it turned out. That pseudo-scandalous sheep image "has our highest post rate and our highest clickthrough rate," he explained, with many more replies to those posts creating increased visibility, and thus inadvertently promoting Frontierville. And so Zynga went forward with innuendo-laden status messages, more examples of which you can see above. At the end of the presentation, Reynolds answered a question about his reaction to Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote, during which Iwata pretty clearly denounced social and mobile games in general. "I don't understand why they'd feel threatened," he said, suggesting that social games and console games can coexist. "Maybe that person thinks a lot about console games," but not about mobile games.
BlackBerry Playbook to feature 7digital's 13 milllion track music store (update: PIN seemingly confirmed, too)
7digital and RIM are back in bed with news that the BlackBerry PlayBook will ship pre-installed with access to 13 million high-quality (320kbps) MP3 tracks from the London-based media company. At launch, the deal affects the US and Canada only, with more countries promised in 2011. PlayBook users will be able to search and preview tracks before purchasing with a discovery assist provided by 7digital's music recommendation engine. The whole kit will be previewed this week at South by Southwest where we hope to get some hands-on time. Full press release after the break. Update: RIM's now also announced a new BlackBerry Podcasts app to go along with the music store, and it's provided a video showing off both. Check it out after the break, and hit up the link below for some additional details. Update 2: The eagle-eyed folks over at Crackberry have noticed an entry for a PIN around the 2:37 mark. This certainly seems to jive with the fact that the PlayBook will eventually be getting native BlackBerry services, so the presence of a PIN shouldn't be too surprising -- though hard evidence is always welcome. Screencap after the break.
Microsoft confirms Internet Explorer 9 will launch on March 14th
We had a hint that Microsoft would be releasing the final version of Internet Explorer 9 on March 14th, and now the company has finally, officially confirmed it. That launch will coincide with a press event / party at SXSW, and downloads will be available starting at 9PM Pacific time (or midnight Eastern time). Wondering what's in store? Then you can always check out our review of the beta version, or simply download it yourself, of course -- suffice it to say, it's no Internet Explorer 6.
SXSW debuts Propeller indie game awards this March
Between schmoozing with record company executives and debating the merits of Lester Bangs, you may want to take a breather at South by Southwest to play a video game or two. Beyond relaxing in the ScreenBurn Arcade, you'll have a chance to demo games submitted to the first annual SXSW ScreenBurn Independent Propeller Awards. Indiepub Games is sponsoring the event, where finalists for "Best Art, Best Audio, Best Design and Technical Excellence" will show off their games from March 11 - 13. If you're a developer interested in competing, submissions are open now through February 18 -- finalists get a free flight and accommodations to SXSW at the very least, where they'll be tasked with impressing attendees. One grand-prize winner will be decided on March 13, closing out the awards as well as the first annual SXSW ScreenBurn Game Developer's Meetup (a series of "informal round tables, impromptu talks, and a barrage of industry war stories").
HP's Phil McKinney teases three mystery prototypes on Twitter
Well, this is certainly interesting -- that's HP CTO Phil McKinney pictured above in a pair of redacted shots that were posted to Twitter by HP's Mark Budgell. Described only as "early protos" by McKinney himself, the pictures show what appears to be phone-sized device, a tablet-sized device and, perhaps most curiously, something on McKinney's wrist (all mysteriously blacked out). Before you get your hopes up too much about a new wave of webOS devices, however, you might want to take a look at the second part of Budgell's tweet, which encourages folks to vote for McKinney's SXSW 2011 panel -- a panel in which McKinney promises to make some "bold predictions for the future - backed up with a number of breakthrough prototypes," and specifically talk about what the future will look like in "5 to 10 years." Now, we can't be certain of course, but that doesn't exactly suggest these are right around the corner. Head on past the break for a slightly bigger image.
