Crackdown
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Overheard@TGS: Putting the 'crack' in Crackdown 2
During a behind-closed-doors presentation of Crackdown 2, Ruffian Games lead designer Steve Iannetta broke it down like this: "The orbs are the 'crack,' in Crackdown." It's true, and Iannetta says that orb fiends will not be disappointed when they go hunting for the returning collectible in Crackdown 2. Stay tuned for gameplay footage and our hands-on impressions of the upcoming sandbox title. %Gallery-74365%
New Crackdown 2 screens -- zombies included [updated]
Click to embiggen Is it still kosher to assume zombies are what's being featured in these Crackdown 2 screens? We saw a glimpse of the ... let's call them "mutated" enemies in the trailer released back at E3, but we'd yet to see them being punched, kicked, and exploded so vociferously before. With any luck, we'll nab some new gameplay video -- or maybe just impressions of new gameplay video -- when we check out the game this week at the Tokyo Game Show. Update: After spotting 10 unlisted Crackdown 2 images on Ruffian's Flickr page, we were asked by Microsoft to remove the screens due to an exclusivity agreement with Game Informer magazine. In the interest of playing nice, we've complied with the request. We'll have the images back on Joystiq as soon as possible, we assure you ... though a Google Images search might net you results a bit sooner. %Gallery-74365%
Crackdown shows up in Psych, writers obviously not familiar with video games
Video games often find their way into other forms of media, with cameos of upcoming software in vampire shows or how our consoles will one day rise up and destroy us all. In nearly every instance, TV show and film writers prove they aren't familiar with how games work or ditch logic for a silly premise. During the August 28 episode of Psych, we saw it happen again. When faux psychic detective Shawn Spencer (James Roday) visits his father (played by Corbin Bernsen, above) for advice, we find the retired officer red-eyed and fixated on the console, waving a plastic toy gun as the game's controller. Although the game isn't named, we can see it's Crackdown, which Bernsen's character claims "lets you feel like a cop, without all the guilt after you shoot someone." It's a funny cameo that weaves itself nicely into the episode's story, but goes a little crazy with the wacky video game accessory. Besides, everyone knows Crackdown 2 uses no controller and will be completely mapped to a player's body when Natal hits stores* in 2010. Check out a clip of all the episode's video game related gags after the break. *We kid. We hope. [Thanks, PsychOut]
Microsoft explains why Ruffian is the right choice for Crackdown 2
Before Microsoft revealed that Ruffian Games would be developing the upcoming Crackdown sequel, the original game's developer, Realtime Worlds, expressed some skepticism towards the idea. "I very much doubt that Microsoft would harm an otherwise fruitful existing development relationship by gambling on funding Crackdown 2 with a startup on RTW's doorstep, for obvious reasons," RTW's Colin MacDonald said last year. Things weren't so cut and dry for self-accused Crackdown fanboy (and Microsoft exec) Phil Spencer, who recently told Develop, "When Billy Thomson, the lead designer of the game [Crackdown 1], left Realtime Worlds, there was an opportunity." Apparently, it would seem Mr. Spencer believes Realtime Worlds is simply too busy developing APB to give a Crackdown sequel the attention it deserves. "I wanted to make sure that anything we work on is correctly nurtured ... we had to find the right team who really understood what game it is – and that was Billy [Thompson] and the team at Ruffian." Crackdown 2 will be the first game developed by Ruffian Games since the studio's inception late last year.
Realtime Worlds celebrates new office opening, ever-expanding staff
Like the Scottish equivalent of George and Weezie, Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds is movin' on up. Rather than a deeeluxe apartment in the sky, the company has just opened an 8,000 sq. ft. office, adding to its already existing 26,000 sq. ft. location. Quite a feat considering the company moved into its current studio less than three years ago and has only ever shipped one game. "We've had tremendous commercial and critical success, and have done the lion's share of the work towards a successful launch of our online title APB," studio manager Colin MacDonald says in the press release, referring to the company's upcoming PC MMO. Considering the down economy and flood of layoffs we saw earlier in the year, it's always good to see some expansion -- RTW is looking to reach over 300 employees by years end. And you could be one of them, as the company wants to remind everyone that "over 40 vacancies" exist in the careers section at the Realtime Worlds website. You live in Scotland, right?
1.5 million copies of Crackdown sold is 'breaking even' for Realtime Worlds
During a recent interview with Gamasutra, Realtime Worlds CEO David Jones talked about the success of the first Crackdown. Well, okay, maybe it wasn't a really huge success or anything, even though 1.5 million copies of the Halo 3 beta Crackdown were snatched up by consumers. It turns out that Realtime Worlds only broke even, which it partially blames on GameStop's used game sales. "With Crackdown we sold about 1.5 million copies, but even at that we pretty much only managed to break even," Jones said. "It was due to the amount of factors that were out of our control as the developer, influences such as GameStop's amazing used-game sales; we know 1.5 million new copies were sold, but it's likely there were 2.5, three million sold when you include used." Hey, that sounds like another game we've heard about recently! Hopefully this whole game downloading thing will help with some of those trade-ins. Not that it's Realtime Worlds' problem to worry about any more.
Realtime Worlds explains shift to MMOs, says online market is 'untapped'
(click to MMO-size) Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds -- currently working on upcoming MMO All Points Bulletin -- is pretty excited about cashing in on the online market. During his keynote at the Develop conference this week, RTW exec David Jones explained his company's shift to MMO development as one with the intention of heading where "the big dollars are." "Online ... is very, very much untapped -- it's kind of like winding the clock back 10 or 15 years," he said during the speech. Jones apparently cited Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 as examples of games where players "invest hours" in the single-player campaign but "ten times that online" -- but isn't your game PC-only, Mr. Jones? We're not so sure, considering Jones' repeated references to "next-gen technology" throughout the keynote, 100-person servers for online play, and the recent EA partnership announcement -- though we'd be a lot more inclined to believe it if even a single MMO existed on current-gen consoles in any real capacity. When we asked RTW for comment on the possibility of APB coming to consoles, a representative told us, "There's no update on that front." Hey, we tried, right?
Crackdown 2 spotted on iPhone
Get it? It's not an iPhone version of Crackdown 2. It's literally an iPhone with Crackdown 2 emblazoned across its shiny, shiny surface. It's a joke, see? The offending iPhone was spotted on the Ruffian blog, which noted it belonged to an unnamed executive producer at Microsoft. Certainly, it's not quite as cool as a portable version of Crackdown 2 -- assuming it was a good portable version, anyway -- but it's cool nonetheless. At any rate, with the complete absence of any concrete Crackdown 2 details, we suppose it wil have to do for now.
Realtime Worlds to announce second MMO project next year
Not one, but two MMOs are to come out of Realtime Worlds, the Scotland based developer of All Points Bulletin. Even more intriguingly, this second MMO is actually the company's original MMO project!According to Realtime's CEO, Dave Jones, during his keynote speech at GameHorizon, their original investment drive of 30 million dollars was actually for their new product, this unnamed MMO. However, due to the ambitious nature of the project, All Points Bulletin was moved forwards in the production list to give the company a solid foundation before moving onwards. While all details of this next project remain a mystery, Jones has said that the company is very excited to move fowards with this next project, their original MMO project. While we can't first hand attest to how ambitious this project is, we believe that actually moving your project backwards just so you can get another MMO out first really says something about how ambitious the project is.
Crackdown 2 features 4-player co-op, 16-player online
Details posted to Xbox.com reveal that Ruffian Games' sequel to Crackdown -- the sleeper open-world, super-powered crime fighting game -- will feature cooperative four-player gameplay. The original game featured two-player, drop-in, drop-out co-op. Also noted: 16-player online multiplayer -- though not confirmed, this is presumably competitive and team-based. If you haven't done it yet, watch the official reveal trailer. [Thanks, Erluti!]
The Agency is recruiting again: First Crackdown 2 trailer
"The city is infected. You are the cure." So begins the first trailer for Crackdown 2. The trailer subsequently showcases one of the Agency's supercops doing what he does best. If you've played the first Crackdown, you'll know that what an Agent does best is basically to be a complete and total badass. The only difference is that this time, it looks like the Agents just might have met their match. We won't spoil it for you, so just go ahead and give it a watch.
Crackdown 2 announced for Xbox 360
Microsoft answered many an open-world action game fan's prayers today by finally confirming Crackdown 2 for Xbox 360. The game -- which has been rumored for some time -- was shown in trailer form during the company's pre-e3 press conference, currently underway in LA. The footage appeared to be an in-game cinematic and showed a monster emerging from a sewer. We noticed that, while the game's art style is reminiscent of the original's, it did appear slightly more realistic. Also as rumored, the game is being developed by Ruffian Games, a studio comprised of many former Realtime Worlds staffers who worked on the first game. No release timeframe was teased. We'll do our best to crack down Microsoft's PR walls and get more info on the game over the next four days.
GTA MMO would be a profitable venture, analyst suggests
In a recent set of statements to Gamasutra, Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners, brought up the profitability of an MMO set within the Grand Theft Auto franchise.While Hickey notes that success would only be possible if Take-Two partnered up with another company who had a well designed infrastructure and MMO experience, the whole paragraph is certainly a nod in the direction of online crime games at large -- a genre relatively untapped in the MMO landscape.Certainly a Grand Theft Auto MMO would be the new gorilla of the online space, one can't easily forget about the stylized and anticipated offering from Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds, All Points Bulletin. A GTA MMO would certainly be nice, but APB will certainly be setting the bar for all upcoming crime MMOs, regardless of a GTA entry into the scene.
Ruffian Games expands team by 15, 'itching' to reveal first project
While many other development studios are withering beneath the sweltering heat of the recession, it seems at least one studio is blossoming -- Ruffian Games, founded earlier this year by a number of former Fable II, Crackdown and GTA devs, recently announced that it had bolstered its staff with 15 new recruits. This is great news for the unorthodoxly expanding studio (and for the recently employed developers), but we still don't know what Ruffian is working on. Apparently, this fact bothers them as much as it bothers us -- studio head Gaz Liddon said, "Now we're in full production, we're itching to share the fantastic work these guys have been producing," adding that he hoped said sharing "won't be too far away." We hope so too, as our attention span is pretty limited as far as -- Hey, a butterfly! Neat!
Blizzard legal censures Shakes and Fidget
First the legal crackdown on fan-made iPhone apps, and now this: German-based webcomic Shakes and Fidget, a longtime sight in our Sunday Morning Funnies column, has apparently been smacked with a cease-and-desist by Blizzard. Our German isn't that great (and we've reached out to the comic's creators for further comment), but a translation of this forum page tells us that Activision-Blizzard's legal department suggested to them that there was enough similarity between the official game and the unofficial comic to cause a problem, and while they believe that they're covered under parody laws, they decided to take the "offending" comics offline anyway, and are apparently currently working on editing them so that they can be put back up without any issues.Obviously, since the comics are offline, we have no idea what material Blizzard objected to -- you could argue that depictions of certain gear created by Blizzard artists in the game or specific names are under trademark and thus could be protected under copyright law. But even then, Shakes and Fidget is one of many, many fan-made webcomics to obviously depict World of Warcraft and Blizzard-designed items specific to the game, and we haven't yet heard of any other webcomics that have been approached in this way.Still, as they might say in Germany, wir riechen eine ratte. Without knowing the exact nature of the comics that Blizzard had an issue with, this seems like a complete overreach on their part, especially considering that it's some of their biggest fans who are making these comics, and that many artists have portrayed many videogames in webcomics without anyone confusing the issue of whether they were official or not. We'll keep an eye out for more information (and we've also contacted Blizzard for comment) -- if you know of any other webcomics or fan artists who've been approached by Blizzard in this way, definitely let us know.Thanks, Henry!
Industry professionals having trouble finding work
Things are tough all over, and after months of industry cutbacks and studio closures, a number of video game professionals have been left holding the bag in one hand and a pink slip in the other. While last week's Game Developers Conference gave many jobless developers the opportunity to hand out resumes, a new report from the LA Times writes that many are still having a difficult time finding work.One issue is that with so many industry professionals pounding the streets, studios have their pick of talent. According to the Times, Ray Miller, an exec at Crackdown dev Realtime Words, collected a shopping bag full of resumes from job seekers at GDC, commenting, "We've been so busy talking to people that we haven't even touched our lunches." Still, as ECA blog GameCulture points out, all is not doom and gloom for those still on the outside, and with game sales in the US showing a steady increase so far in 2009 there is reason to hope that the recently unemployed will be able to find work soon. Then again, they could just start up their own company instead. That's working out alright for some of the downturn's victims so far.[Via GameCulture] [Image]
Vivox to provide voice solutions for urban crime MMO All Points Bulletin
If you're a fan of GTA-style urban crime games, you might be interested in what Realtime Worlds is cooking up for the MMO space: All Points Bulletin, which could very well prove to be the online evolution of single-player games like Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown. While new details on this title are still light, Vivox announced today that they'll be providing voice solutions for APB. The integration of Vivox with the All Points Bulletin client will include voice fonts, where players will be able to alter their voices to better fit their character. Vivox has already established its presence in EVE Online and Second Life, and recently announced plans to extend gaming VOIP to web browsers as well. There could be interesting times ahead with this agreement between Vivox and Realtime Worlds in All Points Bulletin.
Ruffian Games job ad is decidedly Crackdown-free
Scottish development house Ruffian Games has been the subject of a long-running rumor -- a rumor it is developing a sequel to Realtime Worlds' open-world 360 action title, Crackdown. To date, much of the speculation has centered around the high percentage of former Realtime Worlds staff now employed by Ruffian; staff that previously worked on Crackdown. Now, up pops a Ruffian recruitment ad on Flickr, featuring a piece of artwork that looks wholly un-Crackdown-like. In fact, it's some sort of hideous beast. (In the good sense; no offense to the artist who drew it.) So, is this proof against the studio producing the rumored sequel or just Ruffian trying to throw us off the trail? We'd still wager we're not barking up the wrong developer, er ... tree.
Wheelman, Crackdown designers join Ruffian Games
It's fully a month on and we're still no closer to discovering just what newly founded Ruffian Games is up to than we were when it first broke ground. The fledgling company was first announced in January, formed by team members having worked on such titles and franchises as Fable 2, Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown. Now a pair of new faces have joined the Scotland-based studio's eclectic cast, including Steve Iannetta, former lead world designer on Wheelman for Midway Newcastle. Iannetta was also a designer on Crackdown alongside Ed Campbell, who also joined the company. With so much former Crackdown talent on Ruffian Games' payroll (most everyone at the company had at least some part in the game's development), the smell of open worlds and explosions coming out of the Ruffian's kitchen is unmistakable.
Joystiq gets its hands all over DC Universe Online
Our fellow (sisterly?) bloggers over at Joystiq were given some hands-on time with DC Universe Online, which is good since it appears they seemed to enjoy much of the experience. What primarily interests us is their mention of Crackdown when speaking of movement through the world. This isn't the first time we've heard the comparison being made, and it's a good sign that SOE is on the right track with the travel powers.While the game was still in pre-alpha -- a fact stressed a lot by the understandably cautious SOE -- Joystiq came away impressed by what they saw. And since another repeated point by the developer is that DC Universe Online isn't being built around the classic MMO success model, there's already a better chance for this game to find a loyal following. Can you say lower, if not non-existent monthly fee? We certainly know console gamers like the sound of that particular tune. Gallery: DC Universe Online
