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Square Enix explains why it wants Eidos
Like a middle-aged woman who spends half of Feb. 15 explaining to her mother why a new toilet brush and a night of darts is as much a Valentine's Day as she can expect from Lyle, Square Enix has gone on the record with the precise reasons it has an interest in buying struggling publisher Eidos. In addition to the dev houses included in the deal, the company has its eye on Hitman, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Kane & Lynch.Meanwhile, and surprising no one, 20-percent Eidos shareholder Warner Bros.* says it's putting its support behind the deal and honestly, it's kind of hard to blame it.*Did you know Time Warner is our parent company? Well, now you do.Source -- Warner backs Square Enix's bid for EidosSource -- Square Enix Cites "Major" Eidos Franchises
Czech website reveals new Deus Ex 3 details
New details about Deus Ex 3 have been revealed in a preview article written on the Czech website Hratelne.cz. According to translations found on the Eidos forums, the game will feature protagonist Adam Jensen and is set in a world where cybernetics companies hold more sway than world governments. Those who can afford them purchase cybernetic implants to gain an edge in society, which breeds unrest among the poorer, non-augmented populace.One new feature mentioned is squad AI for groups of enemies. Such squads will have an identifiable leader guiding them and will adjust to player actions, such as changing weapons. Take out the leader and a squad's tactical abilities are reduced. Boss battles will evidently also be affected by players' previous actions, though no specifics are given as to how that works. The article also notes that the dialogue system depends on a player's ability to read facial expressions and body language, the proper judgment of which will help to reveal the best response.The game will visit five major locations, including Shanghai, Detroit and Montreal, all winding towards the formation of UNATCO, the organization served by the original Deus Ex's protagonist, JC Denton (Deus Ex 3 is a prequel, remember?). Hit the source links for more details. Hopefully, we'll start to see additional details hitting the web soon.[Via DigitalBattle.com]Source -- Eidos ForumsSource -- Hratelne.cz (Czech)
Rumor: Deus Ex's Spector working on 'epic' Mickey Mouse project
When it comes to designing games, Warren Spector isn't known for doing a Mickey Mouse job. But the iconic Disney character may very well be the star of his Junction Point Studios' current project, confirmed in July as a "collaboration with folks from Disney Feature Animation and Pixar."According to a post on Gamasutra, "concept art and information" the site has gotten its eyes on reveal a title codenamed Epic Mickey, which is described as having "a distinctly shadowed, steampunk vibe." The game is likely the same project Spector and company have been working on since at least June 2007, and which the Deus Ex designer has said would elicit claims by hardcore gamers that he'd "sold out." In backing up its report, the site references an EGM rumor from March that suggests Junction Point's project will allow Disney to go up against "a certain pesky plumber" with "the mouse himself."If true, Spector wouldn't be the first legendary designer to work with Walt Disney's most famous creation; God of War creator David Jaffe co-designed 1994's Mickey Mania for Sony Imagesoft.
PC Zone: Deus Ex 3 confirmed as prequel, blessed by original creators
As anticipated, PC Zone has headlined its 200th issue with a Deus Ex 3 preview, reports its online counterpart, CVG. The second sequel to the "Best PC Game of All Time" (according to a 2007 poll conducted by -- who else? -- PC Zone) will be a prequel set in 2027 and apparently has received the blessings of the original designers, Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, along with consultative help from the original writer, Sheldon Pacotti. Still, we should remind you that Deus Ex 3 is being developed by a largely untested team, in Eidos Montreal, and the studio has made some, um, changes: Combat won't be influenced by stats, just your FPS skills (or is that "skillz"?) Instead, stats will affect "a vast array of fully upgradeable and customizable weapons" (there will be more than one type of ammo); experience points can be attributed to weapons or augmentations 20 augmentations are promised; examples: "bungee jump tentacles" that fire from your back and anchor into walls (useful when jumping off buildings / faking your death); the ability to punch through walls ... and grab enemies on the other side! Stealth will be implemented into a new cover system Damage will be recovered by auto-healing (think: most FPSs these days -- even ones without so-called "augmentations") The complete 10-page preview hits UK newsstands on October 9th. Scans are hitting the internet right about ... now!
GameTap Thursday: Cradle of Rome's Astro Fury
GameTap's big news this week was that Fallout would be showing up sometime in the near future, but that future isn't now. This week's new additions for gold members are a pretty standard puzzle game and shoot 'em up; however, freeloaders should take full advantage of Deus Ex joining GameTap's gratis lineup. Astro Fury (Windows) - Arcade style top-down shoot 'em up with vibrant colors. Cradle of Rome (Windows) - A puzzle game. Due to an overzealous spam filter or something, we didn't receive the updated list of free titles for the service this upcoming week, and therefore can't place the list after the break. For now, feel free to browse through the free section of GameTap's site and we'll add our list as soon as we get it.Update: This week's free games list can now be found after the break.
LotRO: Seven genres in one game
Part of the genius of Lord of the Rings Online is how Turbine managed to wrap seven genres into one game. No, I am not talking about their Web games promoting the Mines of Moria. Rather, I am talking about how utterly different the play of each class is while being in the same environment. This is great because it aids the replayability of a game whose content, shall we say, lends itself to considerable replay for the committed player. Each class is its own game – so much so that each actually typifies not merely a different RPG character type, but actually completely different genre of gaming.Can you match the genre to the character class?
Warren Spector talks retirement, Deus Ex 3, selling out
He's got at least three more games under his belt, and yet Warren Spector is already planning his exit strategy, according to a recent interview with Eurogamer. The 52-year-old game designer believes that he will work on a maximum of five more games during his career, "more likely probably three given how long they take."In the interview, Spector also discusses Deux Ex 3, which will be the first of the series which Spector will have no input on. Although he has not been in direct contact with developer Eidos Montreal, Spector expresses concern over the Deus Ex franchise, claiming it to be "delicate" and hoping that the third title might in some way correct some of the mistakes made in Deus Ex: Invisible War.Though no details are given about Spector's newest project -- which is being developed for Junction Studios owner Disney -- Spector does state that the hardcore gaming community will undoubtedly lash out in response to the eventual announcement, and he anticipates claims that he has sold out. According to Spector, it will be "glorious. Just glorious."
Tomb Raider engine to power Deus Ex 3
Adding itself to the rather small list of next-gen titles not using Epic's Unreal Engine, Eidos Montreal studio head Stephane D'Astous has confirmed to Develop that Deus Ex 3 will use fellow Eidos developer Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider engine to render its presumably post-apocalyptic environments. Said D'Astous, "We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios."The other in-house engine D'Astous considered was IO Interactive, who are responsible for the Hitman franchise and Kane & Lynch, the title currently vying for "Most Controversial Game of the Year" award. The original Deus Ex was designed by Warren Spector and Harvey Smith; although Spector is busy at Disney, perhaps the now out-of-work Smith can find a way to contribute to the new game (or, as Ludwig would put it, repent for Invisible War).
Deus Ex 3 gets the green light
Though plans for a return to the world of Deus Ex were revealed back in May, Gamasutra brings further confirmation that gamers will frolic through post-apocalyptic sci-punk landscapes once more. Perhaps frolic isn't the best word ("Behave like a professional, JC!"). According to general manager Stéphane D'Astous, Deus Ex 3 has passed proof of concept and will be the inaugural project for the recently established Eidos Montreal studio. "This game was very highly rated at its release in 2000," said D'Astous, "and we have this great huge mandate to do the third one, and everybody is very excited."We sincerely hope the team also plays great huge disappointment, Deus Ex: Invisible War, and brings the series into the current generation with aplomb. No specific platforms have been announced yet, but the studio intends to churn out "only major AAA games, using only next-gen technology." As it's adopting a 24-month development cycle for its initial titles, don't expect more about the game until next year at the earliest. In the meantime, try to guess how many of the game's fictional technologies will be explained away with nanobots. It's always nanobots.
Eidos confirms next Deus Ex game, headed to PS3
If anyone was fortunate enough to play the PC FPS/Action/RPG title Deus Ex, this news should be particularly exciting since the game has become somewhat of a cult hit. The director of Eidos France recently announced on a French-language TV station that a sequel to Deus Ex is indeed in the works. Eidos' new Montreal studio is making this sequel their first priority, calling it the "first mission" for their 40-person staff.The first sequel to the game, Invisible War, didn't generate that much buzz, so hopefully the new crew leading development of this title will deliver an experience matching that of the first. Like ... using more intelligent dialogue like in the original game, as opposed to the sequel. With original devs Ion Storm out of the picture and creator Warren Spector busy with other projects, it's going to be a battle to win over longtime fans. We'll keep you posted on this one -- it may be good.[via IGN]
Warren Spector collaborating with Hollywood on new title
Coupling the refined sensibilities of Deus Ex designer, Warren Spector, with the more commercial tendencies of Hollywood seems like a dangerous situation, especially in how it allows for ill-advised Perfect Strangers references. During last week's Game Developer's Conference, Mr. Spector vaguely described two of his upcoming projects to Eurogamer. One is based on an original gameworld he created with his fantasy writer wife, Caroline Spector, while the other is a "collaboration with a fellow you would have heard of out of Hollywood." The latter title seems particularly interesting, if only because of the unusual cooperation between an entity that traditionally encourages compartmentalized safe bets and another that takes pleasure in smashing genre conventions with a mallet. Since it's unlikely to be a licensed title, it leaves us speculating about how exactly the Hollywood touch will play into Spector's plans. Could a first-person Night at the Museum RPG be in the works? Of course not, don't be reedigulas!
Warren Spector tells us some game stories
Three years ago, Deus Ex creator Warren Spector spoke about the sad state of narrative in the then-current crop of games and challenged the industry to makes some changes. Three years later, Spector today told a packed GDC auditorium that they had made some progress, but there was still a lot of work to be done.Spector broke game narratives down into a few basic forms. There's: The rollercoaster: An exciting story that gives the illusion of a lot of exciting twists and turns, but inevitably ends up going in more or less a straight line. Spector said the influence of this type of game story is weakening, but it will never go away completely. The "Will Wright": Like archetypal games SimCity and The Sims, these games build stories with the player's input rather than overpowering them with a narrative decreed from above. These games are built on the idea that players can share better stories with each other than the ones told to them by developers. Procedurally generated stories – Games like Facade that can alter the story on the fly without following pre-defined paths. These games offer a "terrifying amount of freedom," and provide a great way to "explore the innerspace of personal relationships as much as the outerspace of the game world," as Spector put it. While game stories have made progress on issues like structure and character graphics, Spector said stiff character interaction and animation remained the biggest obstacle to creating engaging stories in games. He also chastised the industry for not offering enough ways to interact with a game story without killing things. "I want the opportunity to play a game and not play the part of Vin Diesel," he said. Spector also encouraged developers to build fully explorable worlds, not simple, flimsy movie sets that are "just an excuse to shoot stuff."Fixing these problems is going to take some major time and effort, Spector said, as well as a willingness by developers to fund something other than better graphics. It also take a fundamental change of perspective for many game writers. "Get over yourself," Spector told the audience. "Your story isn't that interesting. Trust the players a little bit ... let them off rails. ... This is as much a design issue as a technology issue at this point."
Role-playing titles that made a "quantum leap"
Gamasutra recently polled its readers on which role-playing game made the biggest "quantum leap" at the time it was released. Any RPG throughout the history of the genre was fair pickings, but the top entry was the game that received the most votes from readers identified as industry professionals (because grunts like you and me only dilute the quality of the selection process).Classic heavyweights such as Final Fantasy IV, Neverwinter Nights, EverQuest, Baldur's Gate II, and the Ultima series are celebrated as honorable mentions, which illustrates the impressive depth of the genre. I won't reveal the top five vote-getters, but a certain spike-haired dude with a huge sword is absent from the list -- just one omission of many that should fuel some interesting debates among the RPG faithful. What are your thoughts about the list?See also: "Epic" RPGs: too time-consuming for casual gamers? "RPG" missing from today's MMORPGs
Developer spotting: Warren Spector
I tend not to notice the many faces flying by when I'm rushing to and from various booths in the LA Convention Center, but the aura of genius emanating from the man responsible for System Shock, Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows (amongst others) was simply too great to ignore. I managed to snap a picture of Mr. Warren Spector before he had to rush off to a super top secret meeting."I look forward to your next game, Mr. Spector.""Yeah, me too."
GDC: A game worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize
What kind of game concept would be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize? That's the question GameLab CEO Eric Zimmerman posed to the group of developers competing at the third-annual Game Design Challenge.The winning concept (as judged by audience response), Peace Bomb, developed by Deus Ex lead designer Harvey Smith, would be a multiplayer game for the DS. Players would join together and trade resources, eventually leading to real world flash mobs — a crowd that assembles suddenly in a public space, performs a notable act, and then quickly disperses. It's Smith's hope that the Peace Bomb flash mobs would erupt around socially constructive movements, encouraging players to transform an entertaining game into an effective social project.
