David Hinkle
Articles by David Hinkle
Disgaea characters assemble in fiend-finder Demon Gaze
NIS America has announced some cross-game synergy is coming to PS Vita dungeon crawl Demon Gaze. After Kadokawa Games' quirky RPG launches for PS Vita on April 22, early adopters will be able to download some popular characters from NIS America's Disgaea series: Etna, Fionne, Sicily, Asagi and Prinny. All five will be free for the first month of Demon Gaze's availability. Demon Gaze stars Oz, a vagabond with the ultimate fashion accessory: a magical eye that can be used to capture demons. When Oz isn't exploring dungeons and sealing away these dark entities, he's hanging at the local inn, befriending NPC characters and probably putting in a bunch of eye drops. [Image: NIS America]
Picturesque platformer Teslagrad lights up PS Vita this summer
Though its name may conjure up some scenario where you help guide Nikola Tesla through the social pitfalls of high school, Teslagrad is a non-linear 2D puzzle platformer where players must explore the abandoned Tesla Tower in a steampunk-inspired alternate reality vision of old Europe. Teslagrad's plot revolves around a young boy and totalitarian king who rules over his nation with no mercy, not an inventor portrayed by David Bowie on film. We just didn't want you to be disappointed when Teslagrad launches on PS Vita this summer. The only place to grab Teslagrad currently is on Steam. The game, available for PC, Mac and Linux, was cleared through Steam Greenlight last summer and made its debut on Valve's digital distribution platform in December. Developer Rain Games is already working on a PS3 port. [Image: Rain Games]
No murder, mo problems in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Ep. 2's '1998 mode'
BioShock Infinite's next DLC offering, Burial at Sea - Episode 2, encourages players to step out of their comfort zone and rely solely on non-lethal tactics in 1998 mode. Avoiding mass murder in a BioShock game? That's just ... weird. Irrational Games says 1998 mode was borne from the testing phase where developers were self-imposing non-lethal playthroughs; the titular date is a callback to the original Thief game (nice timing!) and places "a focus on balance and stealth mechanics," says Ken Levine, creative director of Irrational Games. Burial at Sea - Episode 2 launches on March 25. Irrational Games was severely downsized last week and Ken Levine, its current creative director, announced he was forming a new outfit within publisher Take-Two Interactive. Support from the gaming community at large quickly followed, in both the form of the "#IrrationalJobs" hashtag on Twitter and local Boston studio Fire Hose Games, which has offered free desk space for any affected developers looking to go the indie route. [Image: Irrational Games]
New GTA Online 'Verified Jobs' race around Nurburgring
Rockstar has added another ten jobs to GTA Online's list of multiplayer to-dos today, one of them being an impressive recreation of the famous German race track, Nürburgring. "Verified Jobs" are custom multiplayer match types, created by the community and hand-selected by Rockstar developers. Players create these custom Jobs using GTA Online's creation tools, introduced in late December to both Xbox 360 and PS3. Creation tools are currently limited, and only support race and deathmatch variants. Rockstar plans to expand GTA Online's creation system soon, and expects to add co-op heists some time this year. [Image: Rockstar Games]
Clones groan in puzzler The Swapper, coming to PlayStation
PlayStation portmaster Curve Studios has announced it's working on PlayStation versions of Facepalm's indie sci-fi puzzle game, The Swapper, due on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita sometime in late May. The Swapper strands players on a damaged space station called Theseus. With only a handheld cloning device at their disposal, players must search for a means to escape. The device creates up to four clones at any time and allows players to swap control between them, granted the clone in question is within the original player character's line of sight. The Swapper's visuals employ hand-crafted clay model animations, which helped Facepalm to produce one of the most visually stunning experiences of 2013. The Swapper is currently available (with controller support) for PC, Mac and Linux on Steam for $15, or as part of the current Humble Indie Bundle.
Zynga IPO fraud lawsuit dismissed, plaintiffs plan to amend complaint
A US judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by shareholders against Zynga today. The lawsuit alleged that Zynga purposely misled shareholders about the financial state of the company, its active user count and potential business prospects in the run-up to, and after, Zynga's initial stock offering in late 2011. US District Judge Jeffrey White said the 110-page complaint failed to offer "relevant, basic factual details" worthy of the indictment against Zynga, Reuters reports. White also threw out a complaint filed against Zynga's secondary stock offering in April 2012, citing the plaintiffs in the case had no standing due to the fact none of them had purchased any of that stock. White has given the plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their complaint and re-file. Months after Zynga's initial public offering, the company was hit with an insider trading lawsuit. While all Zynga stock holders were "locked up" and prevented from selling their stock until May 28, 2012 – months after Zynga's IPO in December, 2011 – executives within Zynga's ranks used underwriters to sell their stock at $12 a share. This loophole allowed executives to profit from the stock, which made its debut at $10 a share but quickly fell. Currently, Zynga stock prices hover at $5.29 a share on the NASDAQ. [Image: Zynga]
Burnout Paradise salutes Harold Ramis with free 'Legendary Cars'
Hollywood legend Harold Ramis passed away this week and the few folks left at Criterion Games are going full stream by honoring him with a free car pack in Burnout Paradise. The "Legendary Cars" pack features homages of iconic whips from Knight Rider, The Dukes of Hazzard, Back to the Future and, of course, Ghostbusters. These aren't exact replicas of the cars in question, but rather eerily-close copies. The car pack is available as a free download on both Xbox 360 and PS3 today. Burnout Paradise, the last entry in Criterion's lauded arcade-inspired racing series, takes place in Paradise City and gives racers free rein of an open-world metropolis. Initially, the game only featured cars, but Criterion's post-launch diligence introduced motorcycles and a completely new island to explore. [Image: EA]
Lego The Hobbit PS3 bundle goes on an adventure this spring
Sony is preparing a new PS3 bundle for the spring to capitalize on the hype surrounding the third and final The Hobbit film due in theaters this December. For $270, interested adventurers can snag a 500GB "super slim" PS3 – which comes with one DualShock 3 controller, appropriate wires and documentation – and a copy of Lego The Hobbit. The latest from TT Games in the long line of Lego revamps focuses on the first two films in Peter Jackson's adapted trilogy, and sees Bilbo Baggins and his band of Dwarves (and one wizard) trek across Middle-earth in order to help the Dwarves reclaim their homeland. Lego The Hobbit launches this spring on just about every current platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS, PC and Mac. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Fez, Starseed Pilgrim, Beatbuddy arrive late to the Humble Bundle 11 party
The already-tempting smorgasbord of Humble Indie Bundle 11 has been bolstered by the addition of three new games today: Fez, Starseed Pilgrim and Beatbuddy. Fez is Polytron Corporation's puzzle-platformer about Gomez, a cute sprite stuck in a seemingly 2D world. After receiving a magical hat, Gomez discovers the ability to rotate 2D planes, unlocking a third dimension within the game world. Starseed Pilgrim, an IGF design nominee, is all about tending a symphonic garden. As a galactic gardener, you must populate the vast white void of space with color and music. Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is an underwater exploration game driven by music. As the titular Beatbuddy, players navigate beautiful hand-drawn environments in search of a way to save the residents of Symphonia. As with previous Humble Bundles, all three of these games are immediately unlocked for those who have already purchased the bundle. Would-be spenders need to contribute more than the going average, which is just shy of $5 right now, in order to snag these three. [Image: Polytron Corporation]
God of War studio Sony Santa Monica hit with layoffs
Sony Santa Monica, the studio best known for its work on the God of War series, has suffered layoffs today. Sony representatives confirmed the dismissals with IGN, citing "resource re-alignment against priority growth areas" within Sony Worldwide Studios as the cause. The statement reads: "SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted." Sony Santa Monica most recently shipped God of War: Ascension. Currently, the studios is working on three collaborations due to launch this year: Hohokum with Honeyslug; The Order: 1886 with Ready at Dawn; and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture with The Chinese Room. It's currently unclear how these layoffs will affect ongoing projects, so we've contacted Sony for clarification. We wish the best of luck to those affected. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Age of Wonders 3 launches Mar. 31, pre-orders get passport to Elven woods
Triumph Studios' turn-based strategy game Age of Wonders 3 will launch on PC next month, on March 31. The fantasy game was originally due late last year, but had to be pushed back for "additional polish." All those who pre-purchase the game through GOG or Steam will be guaranteed an additional mission, playable in both single-player and multiplayer. Called "Elven Resurgence," this mission takes travelers to Heartwood Forest – once a meeting place for the Elven High Court, the forest is now an abandoned battlefield where scattered clans of Elves wage war for its control. Age of Wonders 3 will be available in both a standard version for $40 and a deluxe edition for $45. The latter tosses in the Age of Wonders 3 soundtrack and an additional single-player mission revolving around eight lords feuding over a discovered dragon's egg.
Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop selected to oversee Xbox
After choosing Satya Nadella to replace Steve Ballmer as CEO, Microsoft has elected to appoint Stephen Elop as head of its Devices and Studios division. The news comes from an internal memo posted over on TechCrunch. Microsoft's Devices and Studios wing oversees Xbox, Surface, entertainment and games. Elop was the former CEO of Nokia, which Microsoft announced it intended to purchase last year. Elop will replace Julie Larson-Green, who will shift roles from hardware over to Microsoft's My Life and Work team, a subdivision of the Applications and Services Group. Prior to her appointment as head of Xbox last year, Larson-Green was in charge of all Windows products. At one point, Elop was in the running to replace Ballmer at Microsoft, at which point insiders claim he was considering selling off the Xbox division. Elop served as CEO of Nokia for three years. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Papers, Please dev split on how to handle PS Vita port
Lucas Pope, creator of border-crossing management game Papers, Please, has expressed interest in a PS Vita port, but is unsure if he should handle the port himself or hand it over to a third-party studio. "Up until now, I've been the only guy who's ever touched the source code or anything related to the game. And that's just kind of a control issue," Pope told VG247. "For a Vita version, I'm 50 percent I want to do it myself and 50 percent I should just hand it off to somebody who knows what they're doing and can take it over for me." Last year, Sony formed a third-party production division whose chief responsibility is facilitating ports. "I do want to do a Vita version, but the thing is there's a lot of kind of interesting UI challenges to make it work well on Vita: much smaller screen, much smaller hit targets. So that kind of stuff interests me to try to figure out how to make it work well on Vita," Pope said. "So that's the part of me that wants to be really involved in the port, but the other part is like, 'I got to do something else, I got to move onto something else' so I haven't really decided what to do there." In Papers, Please, players assume the role of an immigration worker checking passports at a border checkpoint for the fictional communist country of Arstotzka. Papers, Please made its debut last year on PC and Mac; a Linux port launched earlier this month. [Image: 3909]
Interceptor CEO on Duke Nukem case: We 'acted in good faith'
Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber has acknowledged yesterday's surprise lawsuit between Gearbox Software, the current license holder of the Duke Nukem franchise, and 3D Realms and Interceptor, the two studios currently collaborating on top-down shooter Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. "We are aware of the lawsuit against 3D Realms and Interceptor," Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber told Game Informer. "It's an unfortunate situation, but we have acted in good faith and are working towards a resolution." 3D Realms has yet to comment on the situation. The Duke Nukem license was purchased by Gearbox in 2010. Yesterday's filing claims 3D Realms "sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened." This isn't the first time Gearbox and 3D Realms have gotten into a legal kerfuffle. After Gearbox purchased the Duke Nukem license and shipped Duke Nukem: Forever, 3D Realms sued over alleged unpaid royalties. A few months later, 3D Realms offered a public apology and dismissed the lawsuit. [Image: Gearbox]
EA's Peter Moore: Digital revenue will overtake retail in two years
EA COO Peter Moore is betting on a dominating role for digital revenue in video games. Speaking at the Digital Entertainment World conference, Moore said (via GI.biz) he expects digital sales to fully eclipse retail numbers in two years. He likened the rising prominence of downloads as a type of "creative destruction," in which an industry is unable to regulate the evolving purchasing habits of its consumers. Moore compared the scenario to the music industry, which he says is still recovering from its shift away from relying primarily on physical disc sales for revenue to a more download-centric model. Moore relates that EA's "customers" used to be retailers but, in the global always-online environment of the modern era, those "customers" are now the players. This has caused EA to triple its customer service operations over the last five years and even affected the company's marketing efforts – TV advertising spend is down and online and social advertising is up. Social media is more important than ever to EA. EA just reported third-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2014. While the massive games publisher suffered an overall net loss of $308 million during the period, digital sales accounted for over half of all earnings. EA attributed this big upswing to a 60 percent increase in transactions in EA's lineup of collectible card-based simulations, FIFA Ultimate Team, Madden NFL Ultimate Team and NHL Ultimate Team. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Story of Nintendo vs. Sega coming to the movies
Hollywood is turning the bitter battle of bits between Nintendo and Sega into a feature film. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation, an upcoming book by Blake J. Harris, attempts to outline the biggest video game rivalry of the '90s. Through backchannels and behind-the-scenes accounts, Harris' book chronicles Sega's rise from a stalled arcade company to direct competitor in a period when Nintendo dominated the industry. Sony acquired domain name rights in August, 2012. Oddly enough, Trident Media Group broke news on November 28, 2012 that Sony Pictures had acquired the rights to the book, and that prominent writing team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (This is the End, Superbad) had already been attached to write and direct the film. That same day in November, both Rogen and Goldberg tweeted about their involvement, yet news outlets missed the scoop. (Turkey Day comas, most likely.) Scott Rudin, who helped produce Moneyball and The Social Network, has been signed on to produce Sony's adaptation of Console Wars, and author Blake J. Harris will serve as executive producer. Harris is also working on his own version of a film for Console Wars – a documentary. Console Wars will be released on paperback and eBooks on May 13, 2014 in the US, and in August in the UK. [Image: Blake J. Harris]
PS Vita celebrates anniversary with deals on Hotline Miami, Flower and more
Most birthday celebrations involve a cake, paper hats and some light tomfoolery, but celebrating the life anniversary of an inanimate object is understandably a little less rowdy. The PS Vita enters its third year of existence by slashing prices on a bunch of games, starting tomorrow. The PS Vita Anniversary sale, which runs through March 3, makes it a good week to be a PS Vita owner. PS Plus subscribers can grab games for up to 75 percent off, while everyone else can enjoy deals of up to half-off. Cheap downloads for Hotline Miami, Escape Plan, Flower, Killzone Mercenary and many more are available. If you're a PS Plus member, you can grab Machinarium for a paltry $1.75. A supplemental Back to 2013 sale provides further temptations tomorrow with discounts on Dragon's Crown, Guacamelee, Spelunky, Super Motherload and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Many of the PS Vita games are cross-buy enabled, and PS3 users can enjoy discounts on Diablo 3, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Rayman Legends, Terraria and more. Both promotions will be active after the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow. There's quite a lot to pore over, so we'd suggest taking a second to review your checkbook first. Checkbooks are still a thing, right? [Image: Sony]
All Gran Turismo 5 DLC drives off into the sunset April 30
Online play for Gran Turismo 5 is set to expire in May, but the company has announced it's pulling the plug on the game's DLC early. On April 30, all Gran Turismo 5 DLC will vanish from the PlayStation Store. In order to access Gran Turismo 5's "Racing Car Pack" and "Course Pack" after April 30, PS3 users will need to download and install a free supplemental piece of DLC called "Family Upgrade." Sony points out that, after online services have been terminated, some DLC can be re-downloaded through PSN even if local game data is erased from the hard drive – but not all of it. Sony also announced Gran Turismo TV is shutting down on March 14. Gran Turismo TV is a video-on-demand service where users can access a variety of car-focused content, including pay-per-view videos. [Image: Sony]
Garry's Mod earns $30 million, but Rust is the bigger cash cow
Garry Newman's physics sandbox, Garry's Mod, has surpassed $30 million in revenue, the creator has revealed on Twitter. The $10 download has been available on Steam since 2006. More surprising, however, is Newman's latest Rust, which has already earned him more than Garry's Mod. In a follow-up tweet, Newman said Rust sales have earned .34 percent more for the indie developer. Rust, a sandbox survival game inspired by DayZ, has only been on Steam for about two months. More than one million individuals have purchased Rust, which is currently available as an Early Access release for $20. [Image: Garry Newman]
Iconic PC shooter Descent 2 sets sights on Steam
Little over a week after its predecessor came to Steam, Descent 2 is now available on Valve's digital distribution platform. You can grab Descent 2 on Windows PC for $10 right now. Descent 2 takes place directly after the events of the first 3D first-person shooter. At the outset of Descent 2, players are outfitted with an experimental warp core and blackmailed into exploring mines beyond our solar system. The sequel was initially planned as an expansion, but due to the popularity of the first game, Descent 2 was fleshed out to be a full-fledged follow-up. [Image: Interplay]