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Joystiq Weekly: Free Radical's Haze, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Tony Hawk 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. Yes okay, BlizzCon 2014 was full of announcements. A new team-based shooter called Overwatch, a Hearthstone expansion, Warcraft movie details, the next StarCraft 2 expansion ... Blizzard fans have plenty to look forward to. Thanks to an unexpected announcement however, Tony Hawk fans also have something to look forward to (or dread, depending on cynicism) in the form of a 2015 console game. Sure, the Skate series was a cool take on realistic tricks, but we wouldn't mind getting back to the outlandish challenges, yellow-text specials and SKATE letters of the original killer skateboarding series. If you've never enjoyed injury-supplementing planks of wood with wheels, there's still plenty of good stuff from this week. News of Grand Theft Auto 5's first person mode, reviews for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Lords of the Fallen, a feature exploring the development of the unfortunate PS3-exclusive Haze, and more is all waiting for you after the break!
Shh: A Bird Story dev speaks up about pre-release silence
A Bird Story is Kan Gao's follow-up to To the Moon, a quietly emotional and surprisingly deep game about life and love that's been well-received since its release three years ago. Now, with A Bird Story launching on Friday, Gao is proud of his new game, but he feels the need to warn players that it may not be what they expect. It's simpler, he says. "The one thing that I'd like to be clear about is that I'm certainly not unsure about the game – to me, it's perhaps the one thing I've made that I'd choose if someone were to ask me to," Gao tells Joystiq in an email. "That being said, I don't expect everyone to share that sentiment (it doesn't have a more intricate story like To the Moon, for example), and I think some folks (naturally) have a certain expectation about what the next game is going to be like – I think that's what I'm worried about. I really think it's the kind of game that's best enjoyed with a blank slate." A Bird Story is a short bridge between To the Moon's first and second episodes, the latter of which has yet to be released. The series deals in time travel and the final wishes of people on their deathbeds: The main episodes feature two scientists as they enter a dying man's memories to alter events and make his final wish come true, at least in his mind. A Bird Story stars a boy who grows up to be the dying man in episode two. In a video posted yesterday, Gao says multiple times that A Bird Story is different than To the Moon – for starters, it has absolutely no dialogue. Similarly, Gao hasn't been very vocal about developing A Bird Story, providing minimum updates and releasing just one trailer back in August.
To the Moon follow-up, A Bird Story, coming Nov. 5
The follow-up to Freebird Games' emotional To The Moon is finally spreading its wings and flying toward release. A Bird Story will launch for PC, Mac and Linux on November 5, the developer has announced. Last year, when Freebird Games had anticipated a mid-2013 release for its next title, the developer pitched A Bird Story as a "narrative-driven, top-down adventure short." A press release announcing the game's new release date this week calls it "an hour-long adventure game about a boy who found an injured bird." A Bird Story is the "bridging episode between episode 1 (To the Moon) and episode 2 of the series" and will be available on Steam, GOG and other unnamed digital platforms.
To the Moon follow-up mini game, A Bird Story, set free mid-2013
Freebird Games' A Bird Story, available for PC in mid-2013, bridges the gap between stellar 2011 indie game To the Moon and its coming sequel. A Bird Story is a "narrative-driven, top-down adventure short" that chronicles the young life of the old man in the sequel, and while it is a narrative game, A Bird Story features almost no dialogue. It does have an original soundtrack composed by creator Kan Gao; check out a sample in the title screen above.To all the players expecting certain things in the next full To the Moon game, Gao says even he isn't quite sure what it will look like, but he won't develop it just to meet certain quota or mirror previous games."However, what I can promise is that I'll always be making what truly means something to me - and hopefully, to you too," he says. "I hope everyone could take them as they come, and enjoy them for their own merits."
