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Fable 2 devs trained for maximum authenticity
Commitment. Lionhead Studios has it. As the Microsoft owned developer created the world of Albion in Fable 2 the team felt the only way to truly know every aspect of battle would be to train with professional swordsmen. It isn't the most exciting thing you've seen all day but the trailer does prove the team wants Fable 2 to be more than just another adventure. Also, think about the footage we'll never get to see from Hogwarts when they went to train for magic casting animations!
Mirror's Edge 'proof of concept' clip
The folks over at 1UP have a nice feature about the making of Mirror's Edge. With a little under two months to go before the Parkour-inspired FPS runs free at retail, the site talks with developers at DICE about the title and many people's initial apprehensions about the game's concept -- including EA CEO John Riccitiello. A video of the game's "proof of concept," which can be found after the break, shows just how much of the core mechanic remained intact, while changing the protagonist's gender and use of weapons. The article also covers how Faith was initially a multiplayer character before she took center stage and has several nice pieces of early concept art of the levels.
Go behind the scenes with Stargate Worlds at Comic-Con
For all of you who have been patiently waiting to see some gameplay from Stargate Worlds, the folks from Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment have set up a series of torrents, chock-full of love for you. With the help of the folks from SGWIrc, the Stargate Worlds crew's downloadable coverage boasts not just candid gameplay video like the one above (we love the "run away!" comment) but also pictures of other shenanigans going on at the event. Also, don't forget to head over to the Stargate Worlds blog to check out the convention from their perspective. We also have our people on the ground at Comic-Con, so be on the lookout for some more upcoming footage of Stargate Worlds, as well as all the other news coming out of San Diego! [Via GamingToday]
Cinemassively: A new appreciation for sound design
Next time that you watch a machinima, or even a real movie, think about all of the different elements that go into making the film. Most of the time, we see the video and hear the music, but there are also sound effects that enhance the production. Caruu, the sound designer for Acolyte 1.5, has posted a version of the video without music or dialogue, so that the sound effects stand out. The result is a surprising amount of work that you probably didn't even realize went into the machinima. When you're done viewing and listening, watch Acolyte 1.5 again, and you'll gain a whole new appreciation!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Spacetime Studios reveals character development for Blackstar
Blackstar is a science fiction-themed MMO currently in development by Spacetime Studios, and it looks fantastic. The latest missive from their blog gives a look into their character development process -- in this case, a look at creating an identifiable, iconic aesthetic for each character class.According to the blogpost, by locking down the character type visually, it allows for easier apprehension of the elements of that type by both the development team and publishing partners. This, in turn, solidifies its inclusion into the rest of the game earlier on, which makes further progress that much more effective.Plus, y'know ... it's prettier. We love concept art at Massively, and a look behind the scenes is always welcome. Check out the rest of the article!
Behind the scenes with the LEGO art team
There's a couple new Behind the Scenes interviews on the LEGO Universe website for the month of March, focusing specifically on the art and visual style of the game. They go through the ropes with Phillip Atencio, the art director for the game as he explains his thoughts and philosophies underlying the art process. One surprising confession on Atencio's part was that not only does he not play games recreationally, but he finds that their visual quality is still pretty low compared to other mediums. We're not really sure if Atencio has actually played any games in, ya know, the last decade, but that seemed like quite a strange point for an art director on a major gaming project to make.The second Behind the Scenes interview (or Behind Behind the Scenes, if you like) with Atencio is available only to subscribers of the free newsletter. It only amounts to another three questions, including an interesting one addressing how they plan to maintain continuity in a game with such disparate locales as a modern city and a Black Knight's castle, so it may be worth signing up to the newsletter, just to get the extra goodies.
RuneScape February preview shows off new music, dungeon graphics
The RuneScape site looks ahead to what will be added to the game throughout February. Just as they did back in November, the folks at Jagex lay out the big updates coming to the fantastically popular free-to-play browser-based RPG. This month the two big additions are a brand new music system and a graphics update for the Edgeville Dungeon.The music system sounds particularly noteworthy, with players able to unlock tracks achievement-style. Netting all 500(!) gives you access to a unique emote. The new graphics for the dungeon, on the other hand, are a follow-up to a brush-up that the overground area of Edgeville previously received. Other additions include a new Construction puzzle, a spring-time event involving rapidly breeding rabbits, and a new farming amulet.
Making of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
This look into the making of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams comes courtesy of GameTap and was ripped from a DVD at GameStop (we're not sure if you can pick one up or if it's on those in-store video loops, but we're betting on the latter). It shows some of the backstory on the original Saturn game, as well as why Wii was the perfect fit for the new game. Not only that, but it discusses some of the improvements Sega hopes to make with the new game. It's an overall interesting video, so be sure to check it out.[Via Siliconera]
Access Hollywood behind the scenes of the new ads
Never thought we'd ever see WoW on Access Hollywood, but sure enough, Blizzard's Neal Hubbard, VP of Global Marketing, spoke with them about the new ads, and all the Warcraft references we've been tracking in the media.Hubbard says lots of players have been asking for a "Mohawk" class (the one that Mr. T hacked into the game, of course), and that when they got on set, the realized that instead of Mr. T just talking the whole time, it would be more fun to have shorter, catchphrase lines-- the "shut up, fool" line apparently came from a keychain that spouted Mr. T sayings.The rest of the article just wraps up all the references we've seen so far, but it's cool to have a little peek at the making of these things. Blizzard, take note-- now's the time to start putting together features for the Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Edition DVD.[Via incgamers]
WAR Online Newsletter out, it's elf-tastic!
Even though we knew beforehand that the October edition of the Warhammer Online Newsletter was going to be prefaced with bad news, it was still a welcome surprise when it greeted us in our mailboxes this morning. This month's issue (which marks the two year anniversary for the newsletter) focuses on those always-polarizing High Elves, looking down their noses at the world from their marble palaces in Ulthuan. On the list of goodies, players can watch a video on the High Elf Shadow Warrior (or emo elves, as Paul dubs them), take an in-depth look at the High Elf Swordmaster, read the general description of the High Elf army and the Chrace zone in the north of Ulthuan, and peep at a number of other video updates.As always, the WAR crew does a great job of inundating us with such a quantity of topical and behind-the-scenes content that we almost forget that the game still has a long way to go. While you can find all the information scattered about the WAR site, the easiest way to get it all is to simply subscribe to the newsletter, which we heartily recommend anyway.Make sure to stay tuned, as we'll have our first-hand impressions of Warhammer Online later this morning.
Podcast looks back at Meridian 59 history
Want to work on your old-school cred? Check out Virgin Worlds' "Online Gamer's Anthology" podcast episode #5 and learn a bit about the history of arguably the first graphical MMO ever, Meridian 59.The podcast starts out with a somewhat awkward skit which pays homage to Meridian 59's gameplay, but if you skip ahead about 30 minutes you'll get straight to the meat of it -- an in-depth, tell-all interview with developer Brian "Psychochild" Green, who has worked on the game since 1998. He talks about what makes the game unique and relevant, its demise at the hands of 3DO, and its resurrection by his own company, Near Death Studios. Here's a highlight from the interview -- Green explaining why re-launching Meridian 59 was important to him:If you don't have a good sense of history it's really hard to move forward. Looking at more modern games, you have the level and class based system of EverQuest or World of Warcraft. I think a lot of times people look at only the most recent things and think, "Oh, that's the way it's always been, and that's what we have to follow." I think having a wider range of history -- the Meridian 59s, the Ultima Onlines, even those older games back into the proprietary systems -- knowing more about those can kind of give you a wider perspective.
Behind the scenes of Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Sony's been becoming quite versed in the promomentary -- documentaries meant solely to promote a certain product. Considering the incredible moves Logan can pull off in Logan's Shadow, that's certainly not a bad thing. After a brief introduction to Rucka's work, see how Logan can take out his enemies by using blind fire and grappling. We can describe it, but seeing it actually unfold in front of your eyes is another thing.This latest Syphon Filter title received a 9.0 from PSP Fanboy, and comes highly recommended.
Def Jam Icon demo heads to the PlayStation Store
On Thursday (tomorrow), Sony will be updating the PlayStation Store with a new playable demo that (shock!) isn't a racing game: Def Jam Icon. EA's music-inspired fighter hasn't earned the greatest critical praise, but at a price of "free," it'll probably be worthwhile to check out the demo. Also available on the store will be videos of the already-released Resistance: one trailer and three behind-the-scenes features that cover gameplay, concept art and level design. [Via 1UP]
The tech behind Death Jr. 2
IGN's Death Jr. 2 blog has been revealing some real gems of info. The latest entry goes into the technical aspects of creating the game. Read the lengthy, but genuinely informative, blog to find out more on what kind of evil magic programming the team had to do to get HDR lighting running in the game. It gets pretty complicated, showing off scary XML code. I was personally fascinated by the images from the developer's tools (PB Viewer and Maya Viewpoint)-- this is the kind of behinds-the-scenes stuff that we don't get enough of. The blog also explains more complicated-sounding things like vertex lighting and light seams. Finally, they reveal some of the special visual effects the game will employ: softening, eggcrate, fisheye, ripple, and vortex.All this technical mumbo-jumbo's being thrown around to razzle dazzle us, and I have to say it's sort of working. Although the game is going to pretty, the real test will come the game ships this Halloween, when we'll be able to test all of its gameplay.
Cheap ass media pass
David Abrams of CheapAssGamer amused the inner Beavis of everyone in Denny's last night by managing to get the word "ass" on his media badge. We wondered just how far the names could go before someone in the E3 registration process decides to create a list of dirty words. It's only a matter of time before some dude from Alaska starts a show called the "Scrotum Gaming Hour." By the way, it turns out CheapyD isn't so cheap after all. He picked up the dinner tab.
Joystiq checks out prototype XPS desktop
Question: How can you tell that a Dell XPS desktop is still in the prototype phase? Answer: You'd be willing to put it in plain-sight on top of your desk. Excessive paint jobs aside, there isn't a gamer alive who doesn't get a little excited when reading an XPS spec sheet featuring such terms as "Quad-SLI," "4.xxGHz," and "free 30-inch display," so we're sure there will be some interest in this backroom shot that Joystiq captured of an XPS work-in-progress. As you can tell by the photo, the protoype that Dell was seeking feedback on is nowhere near ready to be adorned with a $10,000 price tag, and the journalists on hand got absolutely nothing from the suits in terms of specs or features. Still, we are able to speculate that the open grating in the front will lead to better airflow -- and thus cooler components -- which a good sign for whatever insanely overclocked processor gets stuffed inside.[Thanks, Einhanderkiller]
Straight from a GM's mouth
Over at Something Awful, an alleged ex-Blizzard Europe GM is answering questions from the fray on what it's really like behind the curtain. From 25-year accounts to GM Island, there are some interesting questions and answers on the front page, although you'll have to subscribe to Something Awful if you want to read the entire thread.GMs don't speak out frequently about their jobs, but it can be a thankless task. From newbie questions to insults and petty disputes, the GMs have to put up with a lot from us; but without them the world would run much less smoothly. Yesterday was France's Labour Day, meaning that no GM tickets were available, so I dread to think what they will be deluged with this morning.There's more about the life of a GM on the WoW website; Blizzard are often recruiting, if this sounds like a dream job. Of course, there are other ways of getting paid to play WoW![Via AFK Gamer]
WoW Documentary DVD Now Available
Looks like with all the other folks making documentaries about WoW, Blizzard decided there was too much action there to not get in on it themselves. Now available from the official shop is the official WoW Behind the Scenes DVD. it features commentaries by the devs, re-mastered WoW cinematics, and some other goodies.I'm a sucker for any gaming documentaries, and this one I'm sure will contain some interesting stuff, but the real bonus is that it's only ten bucks, so it can't be that bad a purchase. Or you can just wait for all the cool stuff to show up on YouTube...
