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Watch the Xbox Developer Direct showcase here at 3PM ET
Xbox's first games showcase of 2024 starts at 3PM ET on Thursday, and you can watch it right here.
Microsoft will finally show off its Indiana Jones game on January 18
Xbox's next Developer_Direct showcase will include the official reveal of MachineGames' Indiana Jones title.
Watch the Xbox Games Showcase Extended here at 1PM ET
The Xbox Games Showcase Extended will feature looks at third-party games along with deeper dives into games like 'Avowed,' 'Towerborne,' 'Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II' and the Dune expansion for 'Microsoft Flight Simulator.'
'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' gets a surprise Xbox Series X/S patch
Ninja Theory says a PC update is in the works as well.
Watch 'Senua's Saga: Hellblade II' running on the new Xbox Series X
Microsoft revealed its next-generation console, the Xbox Series X, in a surprise announcement at The Game Awards -- and no debut would be complete without a fancy, detailed, in-engine demo. To that end, players got another world premiere in the form of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II from Ninja Theory.
Microsoft and Ninja Theory are making games to fight mental illness
In 2015, Ninja Theory released Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a journey through the mind of the Celtic warrior Senua as she faced anxiety, depression, hallucinations and delusions. The Microsoft-owned studio took careful steps to respect people suffering from those conditions, and it worked with Paul Fletcher, a professor at the University of Cambridge, to accurately portray mental illness. Beyond the award recognition, Ninja Theory and Fletcher were encouraged to keep going with their work around mental health. Today, they announced their next endeavor: The Insight Project.
Nintendo announces 'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' for the Switch
The award-winning game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is bound to mess with more people's heads now that it's confirmed for the Nintendo Switch. It came out for the Xbox One and got the VR makeover for the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive in 2018, almost a year after it debuted for the PC and the PS4. Now, Ninja Theory is releasing the dark fantasy action-adventure game on Nintendo's versatile console sometime this spring.
'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' is getting the VR treatment
British developer Ninja Theory is bringing its critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive later this month. The new version will be available as a free update for anyone that has already bought the game on Steam, starting July 31st. According to Ninja Theory, the VR version is almost identical to the original game -- this isn't a side story, or some kind of technical demo that you can blast through in 30 minutes. It will retain the original's third-person perspective, keeping the player locked behind Senua. You will, however, be able to turn the headset to look around and gently guide the Pict warrior in a different direction.
The real-time motion capture behind ‘Hellblade’
In a makeshift changing room filled with Disney Infinity figures, I strip down to my boxers and pull on a two-part Lycra suit. It feels tight, and the top half shimmies up toward my waistline as soon as I stretch or stand up straight. How anyone is able to act in this thing is a mystery to me. Sheepishly, I gather my belongings and trot back to the motion capture studio that sits at the end of Ninja Theory's offices in Cambridge, England. Inside, a couple of engineers scurry about, prepping cameras and cables. For years, movie and video game studios have used mocap to bring digital characters to life. From detective Cole Phelps in L.A. Noire to the powerful Caesar in Planet of the Apes, the technology has delivered some truly moving, actor-driven performances. Normally, however, motion capture scenes are processed by an animator hours, days or weeks after they've been captured on set. It's a time-consuming process, and one that involves some guesswork. In a sparse, lifeless room, directors are forced to imagine how a take will look in the final sequence. Not so with Ninja Theory. The video game developer has a unique setup that allows Chief Creative Director Tameem Antoniades and his team to preview scenes in real time. Pre-visualisation, or pre-vis, has existed before in the industry, but it's typically limited to body tracking. Full-character modelling is rare, especially at the kind of fidelity Ninja Theory is shooting for with its next game, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.
'Hellblade' takes real-time motion capture to the next level
Yesterday, during the Epic Games keynote at GDC 2016, Ninja Theory showed off a live motion capture demo for Hellblade, its upcoming AAA indie title. The results are absolutely stunning. Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory's chief creative director, described the real-time animation performance as historic, and people at the event seemed to validate his excitement. Interestingly enough, the game has been renamed Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, paying tribute to the main character in this combat-heavy story. But you're probably here for the video, so have at it -- we promise it doesn't disappoint.
Former 'DmC' devs are risking millions to make a 'AAA' indie
Hellblade, a third-person game seen through the lens of a mentally ill protagonist, is a multimillion-dollar risk for developer Ninja Theory. Its strong focus on building a unique world and narrative represents a huge shift in creative direction from the company's last AAA effort, the melee combat-heavy DmC: Devil May Cry. Rather than working with a big publisher, the Cambridge, England-based studio is self-funding Hellblade as an "independent AAA" title. It's a decision that's freed Ninja Theory from creative constraints, allowing it to tackle difficult topics and simply make the games it wants to make.
Video games are tackling mental health with mixed results
Mental illness occupies a strange place in video games. After centuries of misdiagnosis and misinterpretation, we've begun to comprehend the reasons behind disorders and their prevalence in modern society. Recent research shows that roughly one in five American adults suffers from some form of mental health issue each year. When it comes to the media, though, these conditions are frequently misrepresented and misunderstood, and video games in particular lean on lazy stereotypes and tropes. Mental illness is used as a motivation for villainy, thrown in as an "interesting" game mechanic or mischaracterized as the sum and whole of a character's personality. There's a worryingly pervasive stigma surrounding mental conditions, and as one of our most dominant art forms, video games need to do a better job in portraying them.
'Hellblade' is a terrifying journey through one person's mental hell
Hellblade has been shrouded in shadows since its announcement at Gamescom last year, but the veil is finally lifting. Developed by Enslaved, Heavenly Sword and DmC: Devil May Cry studio Ninja Theory, Hellblade is a dark, fantastical battle through the mind of the Celtic warrior Senua. Senua suffers from anxiety, depression, hallucinations and delusions, and the game presents some of these intangibles as literal demons for Senua to destroy. The studio wants to treat the subject with respect: The Hellblade team is working with Paul Fletcher, a professor of Health Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, and the game is supported by global mental-health foundation Wellcome Trust.
Joystiq Weekly: Intel's diversity initiative, IGF awards, GOTY roundtable and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Talks of diversity within the technology and gaming industries has amplified over the past several months, encouraging a consideration for walks of life that are unfamiliar to personal perspectives. Intel added a noteworthy talking point to the discussion during CES 2015, announcing plans to invest $300 million into increasing diversity among its staff and within the general tech space. It's easy to forget about humans when we're closing the gap on robot chefs, but sometimes the basic stuff that has nothing to do with pretend wardrobes and curved screens is just as cool. Plenty happened outside of CES 2015 however, including the announcement of nominations for the IGF awards, the Joystiq staff's video (and audio)-based roundtable Game of the Year discussion, and a potential end to the "Who's the true Commander Shepard" debate. All this and more is waiting for you after the break!
Report: Ninja Theory's Hellblade coming to PC as well as PS4
It may still be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 in the land of the consoles, but Ninja Theory's upcoming action game Hellblade will also find a home on PC. "I think PC offers us a level of freedom that we haven't had before," Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades told PC Gamer. "We're looking at everything we do on this project and figuring out better ways of doing things compared to how the traditional AAA console model works. And consoles are following suit with PC, but I think they're years behind what things like Steam are doing." Antoniades adds that the platform restrictions imposed by console manufacturers like Microsoft and Sony hinder Ninja Theory's ability to rapidly tweak and playtest Hellblade. Obviously, this isn't an issue in creating the PC game. How the PC version will differentiate itself from the console game is currently unknown, though Antoniades notes that Ninja Theory is aiming to make Hellblade technologically open-ended, both to support player-made modifications and so that the developers can add to the game in the future. "I think we want to get to the point where we can invite players and fans to add to the game, and do things that are unexpected, and suggest ideas or add-ons that can make the game richer," Antoniades said. [Image: Ninja Theory]
Ninja Theory: Hellblade isn't tied to Heavenly Sword at all
Like many of you, when Ninja Theory showed its new game at Gamescom we turned to each other and whispered "Heavenly Sword 2? Come on, that's totally Kai!" But no, it was Hellblade, and in an Eurogamer interview the studio's confirmed the PS4 game has no ties whatsoever to the 2007 hack-and-slash. And no, it's not even a spiritual successor. "It's a brand new IP," Ninja Theory's Dominic Matthews said. "Senua is a new character. It's not tied to Heavenly Sword at all. I saw someone describe the name as someone just putting Heavenly Sword into Thesaurus.com and going, oh it's Hellblade. It's not something where we've gone, 'Yeah, let's make people think it is this.' We really like Heavenly Sword. We loved making that game. So it's actually more just we like making female protagonists that look in a certain style. And we like swords. And we like hell. It's more that."
Ninja Theory reveals Razer, a prematurely cancelled MMO
Ninja Theory, the makers of the upcoming Hellblade, revealed today that it previously worked on an MMO called Razer that has since been canned. Razer was "an epic massively co-op sci-fi adventure" for Xbox One, PS4, and the PC that would have pitted players against a gigantic alien that enveloped Earth. Three months of concept design and previsualizations were performed on Razer before Ninja Theory decided to pull the plug on the project. According to the studio, Razer "was a game we designed in conjunction with a publisher to satisfy their desirable feature list." To enlighten the community and fellow developers about the complex and involved process of creating a game, Ninja Theory released concept art, previsualization videos, and documents from Razer. You can check out the gameplay experience trailer after the jump.
See Ninja Theory's canceled game, Razer, in action
Yesterday, we told you about Razer, a game in development at Ninja Theory that had no luck finding a publisher and was canceled in favor of the newly-revealed Hellblade. Today, we bring you internal footage of what could have been. According to a series of Ninja Theory tweets, the trailer found below the break is "genuine pitch materials," meaning it depicts a game that is far from completion. Despite this, we can see a few novel ideas in play. Apparently Razer would have allowed for multiplayer cooperation between players within the game itself and those using tablets to observe the battle, not unlike the Commander mode in Battlefield 4. Where EA's game is a first-person shooter, however, Razer is closer to a third-person action game both gunplay and melee combat in close quarters. Unfortunately, since no publisher agreed to fund Razer, it's unlikely the game will ever see the light of day. That said, if any budding developers want to take up the task of completing what Ninja Theory has begun, the developer has announced plans to release the game's development materials to the public. [Image: Ninja Theory]
Quick take on Sony's Gamescom 2014 press conference
Joystiq's Ludwig Kietzmann and Sinan Kubba reflect on Sony's Gamescom 2014 press event held today in Cologne, Germany. The event featured new game announcements from Rayman creator Michel Ancel (Wild) and Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory (Hellblade) among many other bits of news covered in our recap of the event. Did the PlayStation press conference resonate with you, or were there announcements you wished you heard that weren't part of the event? Share your own reactions in the comments.
PlayStation Gamescom 2014 press conference round-up: Wild, Hellblade
After Microsoft rolled out a whole bunch of announcements earlier today, it was Sony's turn to take the stage for its Gamescom 2014 press conference. We watched the stream, we followed the liveblog and now it's time to recap all of the event's announcements. Head past the break to dive into our round-up.
