TheCollective
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'The Collective' steampunk USB drive is the stocking stuffer Jules Verne always wanted
Miffed you didn't buy that $300 8GB steampunk USB drive we shared over the summer? Well, the good news is if you've got $395 worth of shillings lying around, Will Rockwell's 16GB steampunk USB drive christened "The Collective" is yours for the taking. Besides its J.J. Abrams-like name, particularly cool details to highlight include a brass manifold featuring four coolant pipes, a large framed cabochon which acts as a service light, and a faux-gauge made from a domed cover and watch hand. A storage tank serves as a cap for the drive and there's even a tiny plaque bearing Mr. Rockwell's engraved John Hancock placed smack dab in the middle. Last but certainly not least, the elaborate thumbdrive ships with a velvet platform and a glass museum case, so that all who visit may bask in its craftsmanship and finally see the rusted version owned by that Victorian-poser down the block as the tetanus carrier it really is.
Foundation 9 melts together Collective and Shiny into Double Helix
Whatever last remnants of identity clung to by both Shiny and The Collective were lost today as the duo were merged together by owner Foundation 9, creating a new, wholly unfamiliar entity known as Double Helix. Studio head Michael Saxs Persson calls the new name and logo, which were chosen from a pool of employee submissions, a "perfect" match for the company, adding that "making games is in our DNA." The founding follows the initial merger, announced last October, and according to Foundation 9 creates a studio "that is now able to build upon its previous experience to gain new heights in quality and efficiency." And all it cost us was our fond memories of a simpler time spent playing the likes of MDK and Earthworm Jim. While the company remains coy regarding what it's up to currently, today's announcement notes that Double Helix is developing a trio of multi-platform licensed games, one of which we assume to be the already announced Silent Hill V.
PLAY magazine scares up new Silent Hill V info
The fine folks over at SilentHill5.net have uncovered new Silent Hill V details by way of PLAY magazine. We have learned that the flashlight and static emitting radio will make a return after they went inexplicably missing in Silent Hill 4. Also, monsters will react to your flashlight (or any light source), particularly the series' trademark nurses -- this becomes especially apparent (and frightening) when you have to use an X-ray viewer to solve a puzzle. Thankfully, Silent Hill V abandons cinematic camera angles in favor of a player-controlled camera, so hopefully you won't get jumped while solving said puzzle. Speaking of puzzles, the game incorporates button matching segments similar to those found in God of War and Shenmue for certain segments -- like loosening the straps on your gurney, for example. Why are you in a gurney? Don't ask. Finally, the game incorporates a new system in which players must tend their wounds. Untended wounds will affect gameplay. In a nice twist, wounds affect enemies too. Somehow, we doubt that fact will be of any comfort as scads of demented nurses use your body for surgical practice.[Via PS3F]
Foundation 9 to merge Collective and Shiny
Pour one out today for Shiny, which will soon be merged with another dev team, The Collective. Gamasutra's reporting that the developer collective that controls the two teams, Foundation 9, will be fusing them into one as-of-now-unnamed entity. ... May we suggest Shillective?Spearheaded by Dave Perry, Shiny was once a bastion of creativity in the industry, with titles like MDK, Earthworm Jim and Wild 9. The Collective is no slouch themselves, currently helming Silent Hill V, making them the first American company to develop a game in that series. While Shiny has lost some of its luster in recent years, and this new developer's going to be packing a lot of talent, it's hard for us not to be a little sad at the prospect of the house that Jim built finally being dismantled.
Turn out the lights: first videos of Silent Hill V
Survival horror fans rejoice, for the first footage of Silent Hill V has emerged on GameVideos. Don't rejoice too much though, because the three videos available are very short, clocking in at just under thirty seconds each. But you can rejoice a little bit again, because GameVideos has also posted a seven minute video featuring interviews with The Collective, the developers that have taken over the series. Judging by what the folks at 1UP have to say, it looks like the game is in good hands. If you don't believe us, check out the three videos embedded in this post. The first video features the new real time transition between the real world and the dark world. We were skeptics before, but the fluidity of the effect really is a sight to behold. Check out the other two (somewhat less exciting) videos after the break, and hit the "read" link for the much longer video feature.
1UP previews Silent Hill V, shows in-game footage
Much like a Tootsie Roll-brand Tootsie Pop, deep below our hardened, candy exterior of cynicism is a center of gooey, chocolatey cowardice. As you might have guessed with that information nestled inside your breast (you won't tell anyone, right?) we don't typically get anywhere near Silent Hill games. That being said: This new 1UP preview of Silent Hill V has us intrigued.It's in the hands of an American team, and we're interested in the way they're going with it. We do wonder if it will be possible to still enjoy the real-time disintegration effects and more responsive combat if we watch the game through a slit between our index and middle finger with wads of cotton in our ears. Here's hoping.
Silent Hill V taking cues from Gan's movie
Silent Hill V developer The Collective is borrowing a few Christopher Gans film devices for its upcoming game sequel, according to an article in the latest EGM. Inspired by the Silent Hill movie, SHV will feature real-time shifts between reality and the 'Otherworld,' forcing helpless players to suffer through the ghastly transformations of their immediate environments. Enhancing this horror, The Collective will use motion-capture techniques to model the game's monsters, just as the film crew did, creating vivid movement, like the sexually charged lure of the Siam, a perverse fusion of genders.
Silent Hill V breaks down before your eyes
The latest issue of EGM contains quite a spread on Silent Hill V, and the contents have begun popping up on the internet courtesy of SilentHill5.net. First and foremost, we know a little more about the game's story. The story centers around one Alex Shepard, a 22 year-old war vet. The game begins as Alex wakes up in a VA hospital where he was undergoing treatment for a near fatal wound (Jacob's Ladder, anyone?). In the hospital, Alex has a premonition that his younger brother is in danger. Like any good brother, Alex rushes home to Shepards Glen, only to find that his mother is catatonic, his father and brother are gone, and that the New England town is covered in fog. As Silent Hill fans could probably guess, things are about to get weird.
Silent Hill 5 featuring real-time world deterioration
The latest issue of EGM details the return of this fan-favorite horror title. Since Silent Hill 5 involves a military veteran recovering from his wounds at a hospital, it's clear this game shares a lot more with the franchise's inspiration film, Jacob's Ladder. The grain filter will make its return in this entry to the series, which a lot of fans are very happy about. However, that's not the interesting part.The Havok engine is being used for real-time physics within most environments. Bumping into chairs, desks, weak floor boards, with produce noises that alert enemies to your presence. We're sure domino effects are likely too: knocking a chair into a table could knock a lamp down and break it (where there is, of course, a hidden key). Much like the film, Silent Hill 5 is going to employ real-time world deterioration. The transition between the normal world and the world of ... well, the messed-up world, will be visible in real-time and you can move the camera to check it out in great detail. That's some exciting stuff.A final note is on the revival of boss battles. Bosses have been fairly tame in the Silent Hill games outside of the first and third, which featured large, monstrous bosses. The Collective, the game's developers, want to bring epic boss battles back into the game, relating the experiences to Zelda-like encounters. We're interested to see how that works. We'll keep you up to date as more info gets released.
Dirty Harry developer booted from project?
Foundation 9 developer The Collective is no longer working on a Dirty Harry game for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, according to a GameSpot report. Apparently the studio has undergone a significant downsizing, with an alleged 30 employees being laid off or in the process of being relocated to other Foundation 9 studios. An undisclosed source also told GameSpot that the WBIE team managing the project had "been dissolved."Despite the upheaval, WBIE senior vice president Samantha Ryan confirms Dirty Harry is still on, stating, "We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy." Part of that change involves transitioning the game into the hands of a new developer.The future of The Collective and its other title, Harker, are yet unknown.
Harker website launches, new video
An official website has launched for Harker, the Collective's Dracula themed action game. The site gives a brief rundown of the game (you're a guy named Harker and you kill a lot of vampires, 'nuff said). There are also some screenshots, concept art, and a gruesome, bloody trailer for your enjoyment. The graphics look sharp and the visceral combat that the development team is so keen on promoting looks like brutal fun. Harker has all kinds of combat abilities at his disposal. Apart from the requisite stakes, he's got a nice big cross, a bite guard on his forearm, and some nice environment-based attacks as well. Harker's not too bad at pounding nosferatu with his bare fists either. Check out the video after the break (not for the faint of heart).
Harker, of Bram Stoker's Dracula, will rise onto PS3 in 2008
Getting tired of Castlevania? Don't want to watch Brad Pitt and a very young Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire anymore? Fear not, lovers of the children of the night (since, as far as we know, none of you actually are vampires!), for a new survival horror game by the name of Harker is in the works for 2008. The game is based on the classic tale of Dracula as writ by Bram Stoker. You take control of the macho Jonathan Harker, who decides to avenge Dracula's attack on his beloved Mina with a variety of weapons (enabling brutal and effective deaths for all of those low-class vamps).The producer of the game at The Collective, Nigel Cook, said this about the style of play found in Harker: "Harker's goal is to bring an in-your-face, visceral, and personal style of combat to the survival horror genre... None of these vampires are going to die with one shot. They're going to fight for their survival, which will give the player a huge level of satisfaction when they successfully execute one." Nice. Nothing like working really hard to get that satisfying head pop. Speaking of vampire games... what was the last vampire-centric game you played, if any?
