terminal-reality
Latest
Bloodrayne dev Terminal Reality quietly closes its doors
Developer Terminal Reality, a studio best known for creating the Bloodrayne franchise, has apparently been shuttered - though official confirmation of the closure is difficult to pin down. Veteran artist Jesse Sosa, who departed Terminal Reality in 2011 after ten years with the company, confirmed the closure in a Facebook status update this morning, which reads in part, "TRI seems to have finally shut down." As Gamasutra points out, Sosa's blunt statement is the highlight of the scant evidence for the studio's shutdown, though our attempts to confirm the report were met with further evidence that Terminal Reality is now defunct. A visit to the company's website currently asks users to visit Terminal Reality's Facebook page, while claiming that the site is undergoing renovations. The Facebook page was last updated on October 10 - not an alarmingly long time ago - though the update prior to that is from late August. Likewise, the company's official Twitter account hasn't been updated since March 22. In a last-ditch attempt to reach somebody - anybody - at Terminal Reality, we phoned the studio only to find that its phones no longer work. While we still lack an official confirmation of the closure, it seems apparent that the company is not open for business. It's currently unknown how this will affect Terminal Reality's current employees, though we wish them the best of luck.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct launch trailer lingers on
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct honed its senses and held on to make it to retail shelves today in North America. The Wii U first-person shooter crawls across the oceans for its European and Australian releases on Friday, March 22.
Go behind the scenes of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
This behind-the-scenes video for The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct shows Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker discussing their experiences as voice actors for the game. The game will launch March 19 for Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Walking Dead FPS shambling onto Wii U, gnaws on Europe March 29 [update: NA Mar. 26]
Update: Activision tells us the North American release date is March 26.First-person shooter The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is creeping onto Wii U as well as PS3, Xbox 360, and PC when it's released in Europe on March 29. Speaking to Digital Spy, producer Glenn Gamble confirmed the game is headed onto Nintendo's new platform, along with the European release date. A North American arrival remains limited to a '2013' window. We've reached out to publisher Activision for more details.Gamble said developer Terminal Reality wanted to "augment" the game on Wii U rather than alter it. That augmentation comes via "more streamlined" inventory management on the GamePad."We didn't want to change the game," said Gamble, "because the game had already been established, so we tried to say 'What can we augment with the Wii U version?' That's where it's basically a more elegant inventory management system. With the Wii U you have access to your backpack at all times, so you can tag what weapons you want, you can drop stuff. It's a lot more streamlined."
The Walking Dead TV show's Norman Reedus is Daryl in the FPS
Terminal Reality's The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is a first-person shooter based on AMC's television series, which is of course based on The Walking Dead comic series from Robert Kirkman. It's the first new-media extrapolation to be based on something based on The Walking Dead, rather than on the graphic novel itself, which is probably a smart move when a game directly from the comic has already proven extremely successful.All that said, Survival Instinct integrates AMC's TV show directly, grabbing Norman Reedus, the actor who plays Daryl Dixon, to voice the main protagonist."Norman is super-cool, generous, and a real joy to work with," writes Terminal Reality Creative Director Drew Haworth. "And man, does that guy deliver! He gets the scene, the line, and what you're going for instantly and then doubles down on it, effortlessly 'Darylizing' lines for maximum punch. He's the kind of actor that really makes writers look good."From our own experience with the TV show, we have to agree with that last statement. No one on The Walking Dead nails "looking dramatically at another cast member, in silence, for five whole minutes" quite like Reedus.
The Walking Dead FPS has zombies sniff, sound you out
Terminal Reality is the latest company to take advantage of the franchise opportunities in The Walking Dead, hired by Activision to create a first-person-shooter for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC due out next year. Rather than drawing from the source material of Robert Kirkman's graphic novels, Activision wants Terminal Reality to create a game from the AMC television series based on the comic, separating it from Telltale Games' episodic, action point-and-click installment of The Walking Dead."When Activision approached us to help them make The Walking Dead game based off the AMC's TV series, the whole team went crazy," Terminal Reality creative lead Angel Gonzalez writes on the PlayStation Blog. "We are all fans of the show and couldn't wait to get our hands on it. Immediately the team knew that an FPS game based on The Walking Dead was something we wanted to help bring the fans." We assume he means fans of the television series only, since fans of the comic aren't necessarily the same people who enjoy the TV show.The Walking Dead FPS will focus on the zombies as "walkers," as they're called in the show, and will require players to be specifically aware of the sounds they produce, whether when firing weapons or traveling through an area."In the game, you'll need to carefully sneak into and out of some dangerous situations and you may meet a few Walkers along the way," Gonzalez says. "If you show up with guns blazing, you'll quickly find yourself dealing with a much larger crowd and you could easily become overwhelmed."Walkers will also track humans by their scent. The longer a player stands still, the larger his scent radius becomes, eventually traveling outside of buildings and down streets to lure in masses of the undead. Just like McDonald's does.
The Walking Dead FPS's Comic-Con swag is all ears
Like, literally. As in, "Here's a necklace of zombie ears," which might be a bit less disgusting if it weren't a necklace of human ears. San Diego Comic-Con attendees can snag the gruesome jewelry by rushing over to Activision's booth and (ugh) pre-ordering the upcoming Terminal Reality-developed Walking Dead FPS.Only the first 100 on-site pre-orders get the "extremely limited edition version of Daryl's 'walker ears' necklace," so, uh, don't rush if you don't want the super creepy necklace. We're kinda leaning toward that option, actually.The Walking Dead first-person shooter is getting its first big showing at SDCC 2012, but it won't be playable. Take a look at the 2013 title in a new trailer below the break.%Gallery-159964%
The Walking Dead becoming an FPS from Terminal Reality
It turns out the mythology of The Walking Dead is enough to support more than one game. Activision announced its own game based on the franchise (the TV show, specifically), which will be a first-person shooter developed by Terminal Reality. It's due next year for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.Players take the role of Daryl Dixon, traveling with his brother Merle toward Atlanta, attempting not to get zombitten on the way. An IGN post about the game suggests players will have the option of using stealth to avoid the zombies, and will have to manage scarce resources. In addition, other characters will appear, and you'll have the choice to have them travel with you or not. Our tip: if they're zombies, don't invite them along.
EMI sues Def Jam Rapstar creators
EMI Music Group has filed a suit against Def Jam Rapstar creators 4mm Games and Terminal Reality, claiming the game contains unlicensed tracks from Kanye West, Lil Wayne, DMX and more, and uses unlicensed compositions from DJ Khaled, MIMS and Daft Punk.According to statements given to The Hollywood Reporter, EMI demanded royalties from the game makers but never received a response. EMI is looking for compensation on 54 songs from Def Jam Rapstar's total tracklist, and with EMI looking for upwards of $150,000 for each "infringement" that total tab is looking mighty steep. In the worst case, that brings us to total of $8.1 million.The karaoke aspect of Def Jam Rapstar, and its online video-sharing capabilities, also make this dispute trickier, since EMI owns the rights to display, publicly perform and distribute these songs. Please excuse us while we try to get Richard a good lawyer in case EMI targets us next.
Kinect Star Wars trailer is exactly what you'd think
Remember when you used to play Star Wars with your friends in the schoolyard, pretending to choke people with your mind? Well Star Wars Kinect doesn't quite allow for that (at least that we've seen), but it does allow for some bit of arm waving verisimilitude. See how silly you'll look, just after the break.
'Kinect Star Wars' details Forced out into the open
Don't you want a Kinect game in which you use your hands to do that Jedi mind trick thing? Well ... we don't know if that's in Kinect Star Wars. But at least we know some of the other Star Warsy things you do with hand motion thanks to Entertainment Weekly, who just took the wraps off of the new Xbox 360 game (which was first announced during E3 last year). In several different gameplay modes, up to two players use gestures to lift objects with the Force, swing a lightsaber, drive a podracer, fly an X-Wing, and, according to the video on EW, defend themselves against the lasers that are flying out of the TV. The game also includes some unspecified "voice component," which we're going to pretend is an expansive C-3P0 minigame about saying "Oh my!" to things. In addition to these experiences, there's a "Jedi Destiny" mode, being shown at E3, which sounds more story-driven. You play one of a selection of new characters made for the game, through sequences set in movie environments from both trilogies.
Xbox 360 Ghostbusters patch fixes broken Achievements
We've heard some horror stories about the arduous nature of the Xbox Live certification process, but whoa man, this is a little excessive. Do you guys remember back when they made a video game interpretation of the Ghostbusters franchise like, a hundred years ago? Well, the 360 version of that game had some niggling issues preventing users from unlocking four of the game's multiplayer Achievements -- issues that were fixed in a patch which went live earlier this week, some eighteen months after the game's initial release. Of course, we're only assuming the certification process is to blame for the patch's late arrival. Maybe it just took that long for developer Terminal Reality to fix these problems. Or maybe Slimer was up to his old tricks, delaying the dev team with his incorporeal shenanigans.
Amazon: Ghostbusters for $15 today only
Who you gonna call? Your friends, to tell them they'd best hit Amazon straight away if they've shown any interest in Atari's Ghostbusters for PS3, Wii or Xbox 360. For today only, all three versions are on sale for $14.99. Tomorrow they'll be back up to $20. Louis Tully would advise against waiting.
Xbox Ghostbusters multiplayer glitches to be busted this fall
A year after its release, you may have thought there wasn't a ghost of a chance of any fixes being made to Ghostbusters. But Terminal Reality is going to give Xbox 360 players a reason to start busting ghosts in multiplayer again, with a patch that fixes glitches in the multiplayer Achievements. That means that, following the update, you should be able to get the "Egon's Guinea Pig" Achievement! Tell your mood slime -- it'll be thrilled! You'll just ... have to wait a little longer. According to the announcement on TR's Facebook page, the patch is "currently awaiting approval for distribution, which is likely to coincide with the Xbox 360 firmware update this Fall." %Gallery-21636% [Thanks Adam!]
Preview: Def Jam Rapstar
Essentially everything you need to know about Def Jam Rapstar's gameplay can be seen in the video after the break, in which I square off with Def Jam Enterprises' James Waller. If throwing your dignity out the window and throwing down in a singing contest is your idea of a good time -- and it is for me -- you'll have a lot of fun with Rapstar. Incidentally, the game features more than just rap; pretty much anything in the hip hop / R&B realm is fair game. 4mm Games marketing director Devin Winterbottom told me that Def Jam secured rights for over 200 tracks from various labels -- including Aftermath, Death Row, Sony and Warner -- and the plan is to release weekly DLC after the game launches later this year. %Gallery-95466%
Def Jam Rapstar visited by surprise musical guest
One week ago: Joystiq's Andrew Yoon: Are you any good at rapping? Me: What? No. Andrew: Good, I just scheduled an appointment for you to try Def Jam Rapstar at E3. One week later, having vigorously studied Biz Markie's "Just a Friend," I can present you with the video after the break. Big thanks must go to Def Jam Enterprises' James Waller for rapping along with me and enduring my glaring whiteness.
Uwe Boll is adapting everyone's favorite video game, Bloodrayne 3
At the risk of being repeatedly pawnched, we think we can accurately describe all of Uwe Boll's video game-based films as "wretched." However, we've got a theory for why that is -- his attempt to adhere to the plot of these games limited his otherwise limitless directing potential. Fortunately, that won't be a problem on his next film project: Bloodrayne 3: Warhammer, a film based on a video game which does not exist. We'll contact Majesco to find out if this means another Bloodrayne title is secretly in the works -- but let's be honest, now. This sounds a lot like some good ol' fashioned Bollnanigans. Bollshines. Bollduggery. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Terminal Reality seeking programmers for 'seriously high-quality' Natal project
Wait a minute. Now we're confused. We thought one of the major development incentives for joining the motion revolution was to conserve resources in the production department. When your players are busy flailing and flapping -- surging with euphoric endorphins -- they don't exactly notice that you've scaled back on the fancy schmancy rendering and physics; all that excessive cutting edge tech. Heck, they'd barely notice if you repurposed and resold them a game you'd made 5 years ago. Motion control, man, it's about getting back to our roots -- a simpler time -- when games were, like, about connecting with our bodies, you know? So when we caught wind of a job opportunity posted by Ghostbusters developer Terminal Reality and calling for experienced Xbox Live programmers to create "an exciting AAA Natal title," we were sorta like, whoa, guys, you're kinda missing the point. Check this: "If you have a passion to create seriously high-quality action/adventure titles, we're interested in hearing from you!" Really ... passion? That makes it sound like there will be sweat involved -- that's the players' job now. You guys gotta dial it down, maybe dig up some of that old BloodRayne code, put a little "kick-punch-slap" control in there ... Save. Press. Box. Ship. Done. [Via Shogun Gamer; thanks, Ian]
Atari announces Ghostbusters for PSP, we're left speechless
From the day Atari first announced it would be doing a new video game installment in the Ghostbusters franchise to the day said installment was released, we had to maintain a careful linguistic balancing act. We had to ration out quotes and references to the Ghostbusters films in our posts, working tirelessly not to exhaust our resources. We made it to the game's release by the skin of our teeth -- but earlier today, Atari did us the great discourtesy of announcing that the title is coming to PSP. We've just ... we've got nothing left. The debut trailer for the title is posted above. It looks like a fairly faithful recreation of the console versions, only, y'know, tinier. It's got a launch window of November, meaning you can look forward to a month of uncreative, reference-free posts from our end. Just make sure you don't ... cross the ... oh, forget it.
Ghostbusters PS3 patch is close to 720p, but no cigar
We were moved -- genuinely moved! -- by Terminal Reality's efforts to improve the lackluster visual quality of the PS3 version of Ghostbusters with a recent patch. However, while the implementation of multi-sampling anti-aliasing and a slight bump of resolution make the PS3 title look prettier than its launch iteration, a recent Digital Foundry comparison came to a startling conclusion. Even post-patch, the game fails to deliver on its promise of 720p resolution or equality with the 360 version of Ghostbusters. The Eurogamer-hosted blog has a few enormous image comparisons for the pixel-counters among you. We're not experts on visual fidelity (What's an alias? Why must it be anti'ed?) but we do know that we are owed. Does one penny per missing pixel sound fair to you?
