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Call of Duty: Ghosts executive producer discusses next-gen transition, new engine
After the dust settled on last week's multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin spoke with Joystiq about the franchise's new current- and next-gen engine, in-game female soldiers and the corporate culture at a very different-looking Infinity Ward studio. Rubin also detailed the process and philosophy behind linking in-game progression to Call of Duty profiles, so that players won't be forced to restart their online careers if transitioning between current and next-gen consoles. For more on Call of Duty: Ghosts (with exclusive in-game footage), make sure to watch Joystiq's hands-on video preview and the interview with CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg. Call of Duty: Ghosts is coming to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year, along with Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC versions on November 5.
Activision Publishing CEO on Call of Duty: Ghosts investment, pre-order pacing and death threats
After dropping the mic and cutting to the first multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Ghosts yesterday, Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg, spoke with Joystiq about the franchise's first console cycle refresh as a cultural icon. Earlier this month, Hirshberg noted that the transition to a new generation of consoles had negatively impacted pre-order sales. Yesterday he expanded on that thought, explaining that much of the hesitation is because players have not yet decided on their next platform or even if they will join the next-generation at launch. Hirshberg also took a moment to respond to overly aggressive (and downright scary) players, such as those that threatened physical harm upon Treyarch's studio design director David Vonderhaar after announcing slight tweaks to weapons and skills in Black Ops 2, calling their actions "unacceptable." Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available "across all the platforms" on November 5, Hirshberg says.
Ken Levine on tackling social issues: Games should not be 'restricted to a certain set of topics'
One of the most surprising things we discovered when playing through the first few hours of BioShock Infinite was the rampant presence of racism throughout the streets of Columbia, a society seemingly lifted to a higher standard in terms of technology but dragging its knuckles on the wrong side of history. Playing another key role in the narrative of the upcoming Irrational Games title is religion, centered around a self-appointed prophet that rules the skyward city and who stands in the way of allowing protagonist Booker DeWitt to complete his ultimate objective.Along with being the President of Irrational Games, Ken Levine wears the hat of creative director and lead writer on the developer's projects. Speaking with Joystiq, Levine made it clear that he doesn't subscribe to the notion that video games should be restricted from tackling any sensitive issues."For my own personal tastes, I'm not afraid of any topic or I wouldn't walk away from any topic because it was controversial. And I wouldn't run towards any topic because it was controversial. There's a story I want to tell," Levine said. Levine noted that the team at Irrational tests narrative ideas, feeling them out to see how they work. Throughout the development of BioShock Infinite, the story of Columbia was forced to evolve as original concepts didn't work alongside the vision for the universe Irrational was crafting."Originally, the conflict in [BioShock Infinite] was one between technologists and luddites, and it just wasn't very interesting for us. The story didn't go anywhere, because there wasn't a lot of historical precedence for it and it didn't really resonate. And it evolved, and it kept evolving many, many times," Levine told Joystiq. "But it's all about how you do it, not what you do."Watch the complete interview above for more from Levine on the state of writing in games, along with widening the industry's narrative to include more female characters and varying sexual orientation.For more on BioShock Infinite make sure to read Joystiq's recent hands-on preview and watch the first part of our Ken Levine interview detailing the game's evolution and the second part focused on the studio's evolving corporate culture.%Gallery-172852%
Ken Levine on the evolving corporate culture of Irrational and hiring Rod Fergusson
"When you work at a company, people leave and people join. We were up to almost two hundred people at one point and just mathematically you're going to have some turnover," Irrational Games president and creative director Ken Levine told Joystiq when asked how the studio's corporate culture changed after key members of its team had left.Irrational's corporate culture really shifted, Levine said, when the studio expanded the team to tackle the scale of BioShock Infinite, the long-awaited follow-up to Irrational's 2007 critical and commercial hit BioShock."That's when things got a little complicated on the management side, because you have to develop structures we had never really developed before." Yet again, the mathematics of a video game project alter the way in which a team operates, Levine noted, saying that when a team is comprised of around 180 staffers, it becomes more complicated to keep a team's culture and vision while expanding structures to facilitate an expansive project and building the game itself."Everybody's got tasks," Levine said, clarifying that even as president of the company he is the studio's lead writer and is constantly writing material for the projects Irrational develops.Adding Epic's former director of production Rod Fergusson to Irrational's impressive staff roster was an opportunity Levine said he had to explore immediately. "When you get a chance to hire and bring on board a guy like Rod Fergusson to work on BioShock Infinite, you're a fool if you don't do that.""I learn from everybody," Levine said of his team at Irrational, "but Rod has just so much experience he really brought a lot to the table. I think he made it an even better game. Everything benefited from having him on board."For more on BioShock Infinite – which was recently delayed to March 26 – make sure to read Joystiq's recent hands-on preview and watch the first part of our Ken Levine interview detailing the game's evolution.%Gallery-172852%
Origins of Malu shows off combat and house-building in video interview
Seeing is believing, and folks want to see more of Origins of Malu, a promising upcoming sandbox MMORPG. In answer to this, Burning Dog Media has released an E3 video interview with Lead Developer Jason Mitchell interspersed with alpha footage highlighting a bit of combat as well as the house-building feature. Although some of the footage will look familiar from our exclusive E3 interview, there are added combat scenes and a brief demonstration of housing construction. Jason adds a few details about the twitch-based combat such as the ability to dodge and the charging feature for skills. At 3:28, viewers get their first glimpse of the beginnings of creating unique personal structures in game; creative types are going to have fun with the open functionality of construction by which you build literally from the ground up. Sounds promising, no? Go ahead and take a gander at the new footage after the break, and be sure to read our interview for more details. [Source: Burning Dog Media press release]
Creative staff discuss the story setting of The Elder Scrolls Online
MMOs in an existing franchise always present certain issues: You need enough conceptual space to advance a game's storyline, but you may not want to be locked in to never doing another title in the franchise. So The Elder Scrolls Online has to be set in just the right time period for the game to work. In a recent video interview, creative director Paul Sage and content designer Rich Lambert sat down to talk about the why behind the when. Sage and Lambert explain that the real draw to this particular time period was the fact that there's neither a great deal of recorded in-game history nor a lot of huge events that might affect future titles -- it's a time when almost anything can happen without derailing future events in the universe. The duo also discusses keeping the game aligned with existing lore and ensuring that nothing gets thrown off by mistake. Those looking forward to the game will want to watch the full interview, which goes into more details regarding specifics of lore and setting.
Chris McDonough talks about the development of the World of Darkness
With layoffs having hit CCP, there's been a lot of apprehension about whether or not World of Darkness would continue in development or suffer a quiet death. But a recent interview with Senior Producer Chris McDonough makes it clear that the title is still very much in development and very much following in the footsteps of its older brother, EVE Online. Both games will share the single-shard setup, and McDonough states that several technologies developed for World of Darkness have been incorporated into EVE Online (something many players suspected about player avatars from the beginning). McDonough also talks in depth about turning the game into an MMO, claiming that a pen-and-paper game naturally translates into an MMO better than other properties because of the lack of iconic characters who players wish to play. The challenge, of course, is bringing over some of the feel of a tabletop setting into an online environment, with McDonough explaining that several of the computer games such as Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines have been used as a point of common reference. Click past the break to see the full interview.
Video interview with Chris McDonough reveals more details on World of Darkness
There are a lot of gamers pretty interested in World of Darkness, and it's not hard to see why. The game is based in lore that's still hugely influential in the arena of tabletop gaming, and it's hard to imagine a developer better suited to labyrinthine political dramas than CCP. Machinima.com had a chance to chat with Chris McDonough during the recent Grand Masquerade, where McDonough revealed a few more tidbits about what the game would incorporate and how it would cater to existing fans of the property. As McDonough puts it, the overall goal is to bring some of the feel of the game's many LARP activities into the MMO space, with the focus on player and character interplay in a sandbox environment. The full interview also discusses the spread of the overall property, why the team decided to focus on vampires initially, and more about what players can expect from the game world. View the full interview after the break. [Thanks to Pilgrim for the tip!]
GameX 2009: Victorian spaceships with Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of the infamous Zero Punctuation reviews on The Escapist is a bit tricky to track down, but we were able to get some time in with him at this year's GameX in Philadelphia. We pitched the fast talking reviewer some questions to get his opinion on the MMO genre beyond his reviews of Tabula Rasa and EVE Online, and found out some interesting things -- like victorian steampunk spaceships are awesome. So what breaks the MMO genre for Yahtzee? Will more MMOs be smash... er... featured on Zero Punctuation? If you're wondering the answers to these questions, then wonder no more! Just click on through after the break to check out our video interview!
GameX 2009: Massively talks with Lee Hammock on what's next for Fallen Earth
Content, community, and epic beards ahead fair readers! When lead game designer Lee Hammock walked into the media room at GameX 2009, we immediately tackled him into a chair and demanded he answer our many questions on what's coming up for Fallen Earth. What we got (after he figured out that we wanted to interview him and not kidnap him) were answers on the upcoming "social" patch for Fallen Earth, a look at the brand new crafting skill, construction, and the camps that will be added to the game, what lies beyond Sector 3 (hint: it's Sector 4) and how much the team loves their community. So if you're interested in Fallen Earth, or are looking for a reason to get into the game, look no further than the interview that lies beyond the break! Unfortunately though, we must make a slight correction to what Lee says in the interview. Fallen Earth did send us 2,000 trial keys, but thanks to an overwhelming response, we're out of keys! This makes us sad pandas, but you can still enjoy what Lee has to say about the game, and be amazed by the hypnotic beard.
GameX 2009: Video interview with Nathan Richardsson and "Alli" Óttarsson
After their panel at GameX 2009 (and some free lunch) we got to sit down with "Alli" Ottarsson and Nathan Richardsson from EVE Online and talk shop about the future of the game. Where are we going directly after the Dominion expansion releases this year? What other product tie-ins can we expect from the White Wolf end of the company? And what's Neocom all about anyway? Nathan and Alli were happy to take our questions and give some direct responses on what they hope to tackle in Neocom, how EVE's model is multiple game models, and what we might see take place in the highly-anticipated Incarna in regards to gambling and missions. To check our exclusive video interview, jump after the break with the "continue reading" button below!
GameX 2009: Massively.com talks with The Guild
GameX 2009 was insane this weekend and we were all over the place, but one of the first groups that we set a chunk of time aside for was Jeff Lewis (Vork), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), and Robin Thorsen (Clara) from The Guild. We weren't missing out on catching up with those three. The interview that ensued answered some of the important questions in life, like how many MMO real life experiences get moved into The Guild's script, what it was like to work with Wil Wheaton and Jed Whedon, and is that a real Sandeep Parikh Backflip (TM) in the "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video? If you're curious to these answers and more, then you should click that button below and continue reading after the break. We have an exclusive video interview for you!
Video interview: Inside Halo 3: ODST
We train the lens on Bungie game designer Alex Pfeiffer and Microsoft global product manager Ryan Crosby for this look into the design and marketing of Halo 3: ODST, and the future of the franchise. Be sure to check out Joystiq's Halo 3: ODST Review, as well as in-depth analysis of the Campaign and Firefight games modes.
Video interview: Bethesda's Pete Hines on WET
We're calling it "this year's Mirror's Edge" -- WET is dripping with style, but will its unconventional controls and arcade-inspired combo system jive with mainstream gamers? We chatted with Bethesda's Pete Hines to talk about the publisher's late involvement with the A2M project. Below is a text excerpt of the entire video interview:What does WET stand for?WET is short for wetworks, which is a CIA term for operations where your hands are literally going to get wet with blood. We want you, as the player, to always be shooting, always be taking people out, whether it's with your guns or your sword. You're running around walls, jumping, spinning, sliding. It's about comboing together cool moves to take out your enemies and doing in this cool 70s Grindhouse look.What gives WET its Grindhouse feel?You really get that Grindhouse feel from the VO work from folks like Eliza Dushku, voice of Ruby (the character you play), Malcolm McDowell. There is a lot of music in the game, both from Brian LeBarton, who works with Beck, created an original soundtrack for the game that's kind of really cool and hip and funky; and then layered on top of that are all these tracks we got from indie bands that have this cool rockabilly type sound that fit really well with both the original soundtrack and with the game.%Gallery-40639%
Age of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns
Erling Ellingson, Funcom's Product Manager for Age of Conan, recently gave a video interview with Jon Wood from MMORPG. Wood brought some tough questions to the interview regarding the problems many players are having with the game, questions that may not have simple, clear cut answers as the footage implies. Or perhaps they're just not the answers many gamers are hoping to get. Wood's interview covered the gambit of player concerns about the game: the lack of DX 10; missing and upcoming features; and speculation about changes in mature content. Perhaps of greatest significance to the Age of Conan player base is the content drop off after level 20. On the post-20 game experience, Ellingson likened Age of Conan to being two titles in one -- a single player experience and an MMO. The introduction to the game is meant to be very detailed to draw the player into the setting, but the second part is a different experience. Some people may like the first part more than the second, he says. Also, in terms of content thinning as levels go up, he feels that this happens with most MMOs when they launch, and states that even when World of Warcraft launched, "the higher level content was relatively sparse." To remedy this, Funcom is now focused on adding higher level content, including level 80 dungeons, and Ymir's Pass -- a level 55+ zone.
Age of Conan product director, Jorgen Tharaldsen: "You'll see titties"
Gamesblog.it managed to score a video interview with Jorgen Tharaldsen, product director for Funcom and Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures , and just in case you weren't sure yet, he makes it clear -- this game is not for kids. The interviewer poses a few questions relating to how AoC will be different from other MMO's out there, in particular its more mature and violent approach.The passionate Tharaldsen does not hold back -- much like the game itself -- with his responses. He places a lot of emphasis on Funcom wanting to be faithful to the Conan story and license, and not having to "dumb it down" or remove elements for a younger audience. Decapitations, prostitutes, and copious amounts of blood are some of the things mentioned that you may not find in your average MMO. Tharaldsen said that it was liberating to not have to worry about including aspects like this -- anything that they wanted to add, they did.It remains to be seen how the proposed server-side ratings system will pan out, and whether there will be an uncut edition of the game available in every region, but it's nice to know that at least somewhere, the game will exist in a form that is exactly how the developers envisioned.
More WotLK and future content info from Leipzig
Monde Persistants, a French Warcraft site, has released their full interview with Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan and Art Director Chris Robinson from last week's Leipzig Games Convention. Some of this information we already know, but there's quite a bit that was new to us. You can read the entire interview (in English!) and see the video at MP. Here's the summary of the new items: Part of the lore behind the Wrath of the Lich King expansion has Arthas trying to seduce players to the dark side, both Alliance and Horde. Part of the Death Knight lore will have them "break away" from the Lich King influence to be free agents, the way the Forsaken have broken away from being mindless undead. Death Knights will "probably" be able to inscribe any weapon with their Runes that give them power. Ulduar is going to be a new raid instance. It's controlled by storm giants and is a fortress of the Titans like Uldaman and Maruadon according to WoW lore. The Nerubians (spider guys) will host a few instances at the underground Azjol'Nerub. The Nexus will have a L70 5-man instance. The main boss in the CoT: Stratholme instance will be Mal'ganis. Possibly new daily quests introduced with the Sunwell Plateau patch (2.4?) Previous information gathered from Leipzig can be found here.Via World of Raids
