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Just Cause dev working on another open-world action game
Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios is working on yet another open-world action game, Eurogamer reports. Avalanche Studios is hiring for multiple projects on both current consoles and the next generation – even two games based on film and comic properties – due in 2013 and 2014. One game we knew about: Project Mamba.Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Just Cause 3 – Square Enix has picked up some curious domains on top of publishing the first two Just Cause games, and Avalanche has publicly said it would love to continue working on the franchise. With multiple projects in the works, one of them could be a sequel to 2010's outing.
Square Enix registers domains for 'Just Cause 4' despite lack of Just Cause 3
Just in case the Just Cause series is successful enough to get a fourth entry, Square Enix wants to make sure it can employ any necessary URLs. As such, the company registered URLs in a variety of countries for "JustCause4" via URL proxy registrant Corporation Service Company, as discovered by Fusible.Neither Square Enix nor Avalance Studios have said much about the Just Cause series as of late, though Avalance studio head Christofer Sundberg told Develop in early 2010 that a third entry in the series is very likely. It's also rumored that Avalanche has been working on a Mad Max-based game; we haven't heard about that project since September 2010. Beyond Avalanche's Stockholm-based studio, the privately owned Swedish company opened a New York City office in 2011 to work on an unannounced game only known as "Project Mamba."Regardless, with just a few weeks left until E3, it's likely we'll hear more about whatever Avalanche is working on sooner, rather than later.
God of War 2 director Cory Barlog joins Crystal Dynamics
Cory Barlog, who served as writer and director for God of War 2, as well as "story creator" for Ghost of Sparta and creative director for Chains of Olympus, has joined Crystal Dynamics to work on its forthcoming Tomb Raider reboot and "a yet to be announced new title."Its unclear what this transition may mean for Barlog's Mad Max project, which was reportedly in production at Avalanche Studios. "I can't comment on our project, but all I can say is that the projects we've been working on for the last two years and the one we recently started up in NY are sailing along like never before," said Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg in a statement to Eurogamer.This either means that Mad Max is continuing without Barlog at Avalanche Studios, or that it was never there to begin with. Either way, we're looking forward to seeing what kind of vengeful, face-painting influence Barlog has on Lara Croft's future, and whether his presence at Crystal Dynamics could finally lead to Gex of War.
Renegade Ops DLC adds vehicles, continues campaign storyline
Starting tomorrow, operatives in the field will receive two supply drops from HQ. Renegade Ops agents can opt to bolster their fleet through The Vehicle Pack, which adds two new heroes to your ranks: Crystal and Blazemo. Each has their own unique set of weapons and abilities. They can be yours for 240 MS Points ($2.99). The other option is codenamed Coldstrike Campaign, and adds three new war zones to the Renegade Ops mission agenda. Accepting this mission will require you to produce 400 MS Points ($5) for the cause -- the enemy is entrenched in the icy tundra and is employing new enemy variants such as the Golem, a large factory that pumps out low-flying aerial units. It's much different from our original intel, which showed the enemy enlisting the aid of Jewish sorcerers. Relax, sorcerers do not exist.%Gallery-142099%
Avalanche Studios opens NYC studio, working on 'Project Mamba' for 2014
Right on schedule, Swedish developer Avalanche Studios announced the official opening of its new New York City studio today, headed up by Activision and Atari veteran David Grijns. Avalanche, best known for its work on the Just Cause titles and this year's downloadable Renegade Ops, says the NYC location has 10,000 square feet of space with "an option on an additional 3,000 square feet for future expansion." That space will house "up to 50 new staff within the next 12 months," including a "core team comprised of senior staff from Avalanche's Stockholm headquarters." This is all in service of Project Mamba, the unannounced AAA title teased in June when the expansion plans were first revealed. While the initial announcement only pointed to "next-generation platforms" for the 2014 project, today's announcement cites "console platforms and PC." "Today is a great day for Avalanche Studios as we have achieved yet another goal by establishing a new studio in the greatest city in North America. We are one of the few independent, AAA-budget studios remaining in the world after the disastrous economic recession of the last few years," Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg said in a press release. "While this was a huge wake-up call for everyone in our industry, we have prepared for this expansion for over three years and it is a great feeling to execute our plans with such resounding success." With some of the most expensive real estate in North America, an increasingly competitive AAA video game industry, and a global recession with no end in sight, we're not quite ready to call Avalanche's new studio a "resounding success" just yet, but we wish them all the best regardless.
Renegade Ops review: Twin stick drive
Renegade Ops has a story that can be classified either as an earnest failure of seriousness, or a reminder that parodies aren't obligated to be funny. After an overacting psycho threatens to immolate the world for no discernible reason, General Bryant loses his cool over negotiations and vows to destroy evil -- in operations that have not been granted strict governmental authorization, you see. As a member of Bryant's Z-Team equivalent, your job is to foil terrorism by blowing everything up.
Renegade Ops' co-op modes demonstrated
The latest Renegade Ops trailer introduces the two- and four-player co-op modes in the top-down vehicular shooter. In local co-op, the screen splits dynamically, with the divider rotating as needed; online co-op just puts more cars on your screen. Pretty intuitive, really.
Avalanche Studios to open New York City studio this fall
"Kaos and THQ Digital suffers from the twists and turns of the games biz. You are more than welcome to join the Avalanche Studios US family!" Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg teased on Twitter yesterday. Today, there's a proper announcement of a new North American expansion for the Swedish-based Avalanche and it's located in ... New York City? Yup, it's true! Just days after THQ closed its NYC-based Kaos Studios – the publisher was never shy about the prohibitive cost of operating a developer in one of the most expensive locations in the country – Avalanche has announced the expansion, to be headed by Activision and Atari veteran David Grijns and opened in the fall of this year. The studio is expected to hire "up to 50 new staff" in its first two years of operation, to work on "large-scale, online-enabled original IP for next-generation consoles, handhelds and PC." That whole "original IP" bit makes it seem unlikely that Avalanche's long-rumored Mad Max project will be developed in the NYC office. The press release says that the studio's "premiere project is an unannounced AAA title directed by Roland Lesterlin, former Creative Director at Mindspark Interactive, and targeted for release on next generation platforms in 2014." The NYC studio will include "senior staff" from Stockholm and will be recruiting other candidates from, say, recently closed AAA studios in the area.
Renegade Ops trailer blows up everything in the world
If you're jonesing for one of the most explosion-filled trailers we've seen since we woke up this morning, you should peep the Renegade Ops gameplay demo posted below. Man, we never knew vehicles this tiny were physically capable of causing such vast amounts of destruction.
See some Renegade Ops in action
Sega has provided the first look at Avalanche's Renegade Ops in this teaser trailer, which you can see after the break. When the game was first announced, it was described as "all about driving or flying around blowing stuff up while playing with your friends," which seems pretty much spot-on in light of the clip. Renage Ops was also announced as a PSN/XBLA title, but the trailer also shows a Steam logo, and Sega's blog post mentions a PC release, as well. So that's even more people who get to drive, fly and blow stuff up together.
Avalanche and Sega rolling out 'Renegade Ops' for PSN and XBLA
Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios joins the Generic Title Squad (home to recruits like Modern Combat: Domination, Conflict: Denied Ops and Sniper: Ghost Warrior) with its new downloadable game, Renegade Ops. The game itself sounds much more distinctive. The Sega-published PSN/XBLA title, due this year, focuses on vehicular combat, with players taking control of a commando unit fighting to defeat the evil terrorist Madman Inferno. Playing online in groups of up to four, Renegade Op-eratives will have a variety of vehicles at their disposal, capable of attacks " from dispersing electromagnetic shock waves to the deployment of a huge Gatling gun armed to the teeth." In the announcement of the game, Avalanche senior producer Andreas Thorsén said that "the IP is all about driving or flying around blowing stuff up while playing with your friends," which he calls "a dream-project" for the studio. May we suggest a title change to "Driving or Flying Around Blowing Stuff Up?" We think it sticks better.
Avalanche founder talks piracy, hires a lot of people with 'hacker' backgrounds
If you can't beat them, hire them, provided that they have the necessary credentials and skillsets required to achieve the task that you're hiring for. That's a little wordy to serve as a business motto, but it's a philosophy possessed by Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg. In a recent interview with CVG, Sundberg explained that though piracy is worrying, "50 percent of the people that work for me come from a hacker background." Sundberg added that though some pirates "see us as evil," that "in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge... As a studio, we've found that there's definitely a lot of talent [in that community]." Also, it has the added bonus of cutting down on piracy, since all those hired pirates (privateers?) are probably going to get free copies of the game they made, anyways. That's just smart.
'Bourne Ascendancy' was canceled Starbreeze game, corroborates ex-dev
According to one-time Starbreeze Studios game director Mikael Lindgren, a Jason Bourne game was indeed the studio's reported cancellation a year ago. Posting on his freelance game designer company site, Zoetropa, Lindgren lists "The Bourne Ascendancy (Cancelled)" on his resume, referring to himself as Starbreeze game director for the apparent EA-published project. (On his LinkedIn page, Lindgren dates his most recent stint at Starbreeze from August 2009 through April 2010 -- right about when Starbreeze confirmed the unnamed game cancellation.) Lindgren's claim of The Bourne Ascendancy cancellation is further evidence that Starbreeze's surviving EA collaboration -- codenamed "Project RedLime" -- is the rumored Syndicate reboot. A series of trademarks and a US Copyright Office document previously linked the two companies to a possible Syndicate game. Last month, Starbreeze licensed Unreal Engine 3 for long-term use, presumably replacing its heralded proprietary game engine -- which powered its Chronicles of Riddick series and The Darkness -- for current and future projects. Lindgren's resume also reveals a canned Avalanche Studios' game under the working title "Arcadia" that was to be published by THQ. He credits himself as a senior designer for the game and notes his Avalanche tenure as November 2007 – March 2008 on LinkedIn. It's likely that Arcadia was one of two reported publishing contracts lost by Avalanche that led to the studio's significant downsizing in late 2008. [Pictured: Partial screencap of Mikael Lindgren's "Resume" page on Zoetropa.com]
Just Cause 2 now a PS3 Classic, 360 Platinum Hit in the UK
Despite the shortcomings of the product as a whole, there's a lot to love in Just Cause 2 -- most of which having to do with the many, many things you can do with a parachute, grappling hook and some ingenuity. By our calculation, that should earn the game a spot in the video game history books; and it seems Sony and Microsoft agree. The game has reached Platinum Hits and PS3 Classics status in the U.K., with an associated drop in price to £19.99. We've contacted Square Enix to see if the game will receive a similar treatment in the U.S.. We certainly don't see why not. We love explosive stunts just as much as our overseas cohorts.
Just Cause film optioned, screenwriter attached
Eric Eisner's L+E Productions has optioned the rights to a Just Cause movie script written by Michael Ross, reports Variety. Producer Adrian Askarieh is helping the production company flesh out the project "before shopping it to the studios." L+E Productions' first project, Hamlet 2, was picked up by Focus Features for a reported $10 million in 2008, giving some hope to the possibility of Just Cause actually appearing in theaters at some point in the future. Askarieh also helped to get the Hitman film out the door, to which a sequel is currently in production. The Just Cause film will apparently focus on the story of Rico "The Scorpion" Rodriguez as he takes on "deadly missions for the US government that come in the form of creating chaos and destrabalizing rogue nations from within and turning the bad guys against each other." Sound familiar? Let's just hope the adaptation doesn't take any of that ... questionable NPC chatter along for the ride. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Report: Mad Max game at Avalanche Studios
God of War 2 director Cory Barlog is likely working on the Mad Max game (a supposed tie-in with the 2012 movie sequel) at Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios. Eurogamer reports Avalanche Studios' founder Christofer Sundberg told the site, "I can't comment on the projects we are working on, but Cory is working here with us in Stockholm." We've known Barlog had been working on a Mad Max game since 2008, with production reportedly still going on last year -- we just never knew exactly where he was making the game. The studio's Avalanche Engine would actually be fantastic for driving an enormous, lush Mad Max game -- well, if "lush" existed in the Mad Max vocabulary. The engine certainly proved its graphical power in Just Cause 2. Now, if Barlog could only help deliver a cohesive concept, instead of just an empty sandbox, that could be a truly beautiful thing.
Toy Story 3 Hybrid Premium Edition contains PS3 game and original movie
If your concern for the well-being of mother nature has already led you to purchase a hybrid automobile, you might want to think of incorporating your environmentalist considerations into other aspects of your shopping habits. For instance, if you were thinking about picking up Avalanche's video game adaptation of Toy Story 3, perhaps you'd be interested in the title's "Hybrid Premium Edition," which includes the game and the original Toy Story film on a single Blu-ray disc for $64.99. A recent PlayStation.Blog post announced that the bundle will be released to retailers this week, so keep an eye out for it at your local brick and mortar in the coming days. In the meantime just think about all the endangered species you're preserving by placing the two products into one container.
Just Cause 2 gets free rocket-launching Tuk Tuk DLC
Ah, the Tuk Tuk. Almost universally recognized as the most useless vehicle of all time in regards to its implementation in video games. (You ever try to rack up a huge crash score while driving a Tuk Tuk in Burnout 3? It is impossible.) Avalanche, however, recently gave the poor, pod-shaped vehicle a facelift with a new piece of free DLC for Just Cause 2: Introducing the "Tuk Tuk Boom Boom" (pictured right), available today through Xbox Live, PSN and Steam. You'll notice that Avalanche has peeled the roof off of this particular model of the vehicle, leaving just enough room for a massive, powerful cannon. It's also faster and handles better than the rollover-friendly standard version, meaning the Tuk Tuk Boom Boom might just become your new mode of transportation of choice when it's time to raid that enemy base -- or, you know, that impoverished civilian village.
Avalanche Studios working on licensed action game
Avalanche Studios is working on a new action game, according to studio head Christofer Sundberg. Rather than another Just Cause, this new game will be the start of a new franchise -- a licensed one, in fact. "I can't talk much about our next project, but it's definitively within the action genre," Sundberg told CVG. "But we have made a move towards the more controlled experience to better convey a strong storyline." Of course, "more controlled" than Just Cause 2 is an apt description of pretty much every game ever made. "We'll never leave our big game worlds and spectacular explosive action, though," Sundberg promised. He called the as-yet unannounced licensed project "perfect" for the studio. It's not Toy Story -- that's for sure. That's already in the hands of a different Avalanche.
Hands-on: Toy Story 3: The Video Game (PS3)
Disney Interactive Studios has been making a lot of noise about refining and improving its approach to licensed games, and while Toy Story 3: The Video Game is still meant for the younger members of Pixar's vast following, it's the best evidence yet that Disney is serious about trying to use licenses right. I got to play the game at a recent pre-E3 event, and it was a solid, kid-friendly experience, with bright and beautiful graphics surrounding intuitive racing and platforming mechanics. With innovative features like a very dynamic difficulty system and lots and lots of collectibles and game modes, Disney's Avalanche Studios has created something here that you, as someone who enjoys fine game design, can actually be proud to have your kids play. %Gallery-93421%
