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Telltale looks to Heavy Rain for Jurassic Park gameplay design
Jurassic Park and Telltale Games may seem like an unlikely combination, but the The Escapist's recap of a new Game Informer magazine interview reveals that IP owner Universal Studios wasn't looking for a straightforward action game, making Telltale a good fit. The developer will still look to add a bit more action to its traditional adventure game framework, telling GI that the game will feature both slower-paced character building and the surprise scares that once propelled the franchise to box office success. Telltale likens this gameplay balancing act to Quantic Dreams' suspense thriller, Heavy Rain. Aside from the possibility of dinosaurs with out-of-place accents, this means that the Jurassic Park game will feature some element of choice, though it's noted in the interview that the gameplay mechanics are still in the works. Additionally, some of the game's story has been cursorily detailed, revealing sub-plots such as identifying where Dennis Nedry's can of dino embryos ended up post-Dilophosaurus attack and a tie into the first film through the eyes of an unknown character. Jurassic Park is expected to encompass five episodes, with the first coming to PC and Mac some time this year.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Six (years) in the city
It's strange to think that City of Heroes is older than my car. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, as the game is six years old as of today and still running strong. Oh, sure, there are some signs of aging here and there, some parts that don't fit quite as well as they did back when it launched... but the game holds up pretty darn well. And that's astonishing, considering that it launched a full year before the game that generally gets the credit for starting new paradigms of MMO design. Of course, you can go further back and point out that a lot of the "innovations" that The Game Which Shall Not Be Named included were present beforehand, and you'd be correct. But after the EverQuest era of game design, City of Heroes stood as a vanguard of a new design philosophy. It was a game with unparalleled customization at the time, a game that put forth the idea that you could be just as cool at Level 1 as you could at max level. So how have things changed? How far have we come in the years? There's almost too much to cover to go over everything... but we can hit the big points.
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Fossil Fighters
We're not hard to please here at Joystiq. When we heard about Fossil Fighters, a game that lets you play as Colonel Sanders' brother (only your dinos fight for sport, making them infinitely better), we turned an ear skyward. It's just a cool concept and, while the jury's still out on the game (releases next week), we thought this extended look at the title was worth highlighting on This Week on the Nintendo Channel. After you've checked out the three minute-plus video above, be sure to head past the break for the rest of this week's content.%Gallery-65413%
Canon unveils augmented reality dinosaur show in Japan
Canon's just unveiled its new augmented reality display in Chiba, Japan, and we have to say, we're thinking about heading over there to check it out... and hopefully experience what it's like to be eaten (virtually) by a T-Rex. Featuring 260 dinosaur specimens, the display makes us of a virtual reality viewer -- one for each person roaming round the exhibit -- putting the dinosaurs at a "distance" of about 5 meters. The exhibit will make use of various Canon products, including an inkjet printer, an LCD projector and several different cameras. The dinosaurs will be on display starting July 18th until August 1st, so you probably want to just go ahead and book a flight right now.
The Digital Continuum: My only problem with Free Realms
I love Free Realms, so don't get me wrong when I say I've finally found a problem with it. What's that problem, you (hypothetically) ask? It's full of regular people and faeries, and what manly guy wants that?No, sir, not me. There's certainly nothing wrong with a man who prefers to flutter about on dainty wings, or a man who just wants to be a 'Regular Joe' -- but what of the rest who just want to express their inner macho man? I think we need some representation!That's why I've done all the creative footwork for Sony Online Entertainment and thought up a bunch of great concepts for manly races to add into Free Realms. That way, when hairy manly men log into the game after a hard day of sweating and lifting heavy things, they'll feel right at home.
E308: Dinosaur King unearths a trailer
Our unfaltering love of dinosaurs makes us want to also love any video game having to do with such awesome and mighty creatures, like Dinosaur King. Yet, once again, the juxtaposition of cartoonish graphics with real-world imagery leaves us uneasy. We were really feeling it until the anime sprites showed up out of nowhere. Perhaps we need to actually see the show this is based on to understand the allure. At the same time, thoughts of digging up fossils, having a dinosaur compendium, and fighting dino battles are incredibly tempting. Too bad Sega didn't forgo the license and just hunt for the meat of it all. The music in the trailer makes one thing clear, though: dinosaurs rawk. Not that we needed another confirmation of that fact.Interested parties can also check out the new screens in the gallery below.%Gallery-22668%
Watch dinosaurs be kings
If you like watching dinosaurs beating the snot out of each other, you'll probably enjoy the Dinosaur King trailer above. The battle animations looked pretty cool to us, and we found ourselves letting go of some of the worries that plagued us earlier.Even so, we were disappointed when watching the second gameplay trailer (embedded below), only to see that the stegosaurus has the exact same moves as the triceratops. If all the dinosaurs can do the same things, we can foresee the battles in the game getting old fast.It does seem that each dinosaur has an attack specific to its own kind, though, so we hope that will be enough to keep things interesting. Gallery: Dinosaur King
Excavating more details on Dinosaur King
We were more interested in Dinosaur King when we thought it was just a paleontology sim. Now that more details have surfaced, though, we're a bit more wary. According to Sega, the fossil digging is only the beginning. In this anime-based game, you also have to use the different dinosaurs that you collect to fight -- think of it as Pokemon, only with extinct creatures rather than cute, fictional animals.Sounds good, right? So far, yes. The dinosaur-loving dorks inside of us were also excited to hear about the game's compendium, which keeps track of the dino bones that you've collected and lists facts about the beasts they came from, too. With seventy different dinosaurs to collect, as well as stylus-utilizing excavation processes and Wi-Fi battles, this seemed like something we could really get into. Then why our hesitation? You'll probably have to check out the screens in our gallery below to fully understand, but it has something to do with the game's clashing styles. Bright colored anime and realistic-looking dinosaurs just don't seem to mesh well. Add that to a cheesy storyline (as members of the D-Team you're trying to stop Dr. Z and the Alpha Gang from destroying the world), and we can't help but lose some of our initial excitement. Still, we'll be keeping our eyes on this title, which is scheduled to release this September.%Gallery-22668%[Via press release]
Digging up fossils in Dinosaur King
Oddly enough, screens for a game called Dinosaur King popped up on Sega's press site, but there's been no official word or press release as to what the game is or when to expect it.Still, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this title involves. The screens are pretty telling; it looks like some sort of paleontology sim, in which you dig up dinosaur bones and restore the extinct creature's skeletons as completely as possible.In fact, it sounds very familiar to what we know of We Are Fossil Diggers, a second-party game that was only released in Japan (and happens to be selling quite well over there). Some of the screens for Dinosaur King also hint that the title has an added drama element, though, so we'll wait until we hear more information.%Gallery-22668%
We are First Impressions
Bokura wa Kaseki Horidaa (English name: We are Fossil Holders) doesn't launch in Japan until next week, but Siliconera got its hands on a copy early, and wrote about the experience of excavating one of the in-game fossils; apparently, it's a little more complex than casually chatting to an owl in a bow-tie.There's a range of tools and techniques required to successfully excavate fossils without damaging them, including an X-ray device (to detect what lies underground), a hammer (to break down rocks and soil), and a drill (to chisel away smaller pieces of earth). Blowing dust away (using the DS's microphone, a la Spectrobes) is also an important part of recovering pieces for your dinosaur army.Beware, however, for if greenish cracks appear on the fossil, that means that it's getting damaged, and could break. We'd recommend reading Siliconera's write-up, as it actually sounds like quite a tense (and delicate) process!
A brief dig unearths Kaseki Horidaa site
An official site has just appeared for Kaseki Horidaa, Red's dinosaur-based title in which players dig up fossils, assemble them to create a dinosaur army, and then send them out to fight with other dino armies. For the winners: ultimate victory! For the losers: uh, we presume they just perish and eventually become fossilized all over again. It's a vicious cycle. But we digress.There's plenty of screens and character art over at the official site, and also (more interestingly) some footage of the game, including a brief slice of action from the battles (here), and also a video showing an actual excavation in process, with the stylus being used to gently chip away at the dirt around a fierce-looking skull (here - scroll down and you'll see it). There's elements of both Spectrobes and Pokemon on display here, and that's no bad thing.[Via Go Nintendo]
Dig up fossils and enslave dinosaurs on your DS
Famitsu has a pretty interesting look at a new game for the DS. Developed by Red and published by Nintendo, Kaseki Horidaa looks like Pokemon on steroids. Instead of deceptively cute creatures that hide dangerous attacks, the game will feature blatantly scary dinos with unspeakable power. Unlike Pokemon, the game will allow players to compose a 3-dino team. Gaining a new dino comrade demands the player dig up fossils, as each ferocious beast is made up of 4 different parts. And digging up fossils isn't as simple as blowing away virtual dirt by blowing into your DS's microphone.There's a real sense of tension here, as players can just as easily destroy a fossil as liberate it from its earthy confines. But, with over 100 different types of dinosaurs in the game, breaking a fossil or two won't be too much cause for concern. And, based on what dinosaurs you make, they'll be adept at attack, defense or support.That's about all we could get from the Famitsu page (machine translation is being a royal pain with this, for some reason), so for some more eye candy, be sure to head on past the break to see screens. And keep an eye on DS Fanboy for more news on the game as it develops.
Dinosaur theme park coming to Dubai
In the 90's, you might have been convinced by certain bestsellers and major motion pictures that if someone created a theme park full of man-made dinosaurs, you'd probably get eaten. What no one could have predicted back then was that you wouldn't be getting eaten by a dinosaur... you'd be getting eaten by a robot dinosaur. At least that's likely what you can expect when Dubai's $1 billion "Restless Planet" park opens in late 2008, a 500,000 square foot recreation of our planet at a time when dinosaurs roamed -- replete with giant, animatronic / robotic versions of over 40 extinct species. According to the park's managing director Mustafa Galadari, "The Restless Planet provides a visual, audio and tactile experience allowing visitors to experience some of the exciting things that have gone on in the Earth's history," adding that the effect will be, "Extremely realistic and scary – but at the same time, educational." The dinos will contain embedded potentiometers and motion sensors (amongst others), apparently allowing the reptilian re-creations to follow visitors with their eyes, track specific colors of clothing, regulate their own movements, and even lunge at viewers... then eat them. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Turok clips show off multiplayer
It's difficult to watch these recently released multiplayer clips of Turok and be completely satisfied. Sure, what's here looks solid, but the one key omission is so glaringly obvious, we're not even going to mention it. ... What, don't you see it? It's the only thing we can see: None of the players are dinosaurs.It's a fact that playing as a dinosaur is considered by many experts to be the raddest thing you can do in a video game, short of skydiving into a dynamite factory. In our younger years, we went so far as the pick up the Genesis version of Jurassic Park just so we could experience the thrill of playing as a velociraptor. It's been nearly 15 years since then, and our thirst to rend human flesh with our razor-like teeth and talons still has yet to be slaked. Come on, Touchstone Studios, just think about it. The opportunity is lying right there, like a golden ... thing, just waiting to be picked up and pawned. ... Or is that pwned?
Unload on dinos in Jurassic Rage
Far Cry got a dinosaur mod a few years ago, now Unreal Tournament 2004 gamers have an impending dino crisis on their hands. Jurassic Rage is a new team deathmatch mod that features an objective-based co-op mode, RPG-style character attributes, and a certification system to enhance your player proficiencies. There are a few dinosaur models at the mod's official site, but right now it's all about the weapons. Beretta PX4 Storms, Mac 10s, and 18-inch machetes highlight the growing arsenal you will use to take down the opposing team and some hungry prehistoric predators.Jurassic Rage will also be ported to Unreal Tournament 2007, although there are no release dates mentioned for either version.
Wowwee's Roboreptile reviewed
PC Mag, always one to get the scoop on these types of products, got the chance to play around with Wowwee's upcoming Roboreptile for a little bit, and frankly, the toy bot sounds like it leaves something to be desired. The main problem with this model is that its constant aggressiveness has the potential to scare off younger kids (it's not for children under 8, cautions Wowwee), while at the same time limited programmability will probably cause the older crowd to quickly tire of its basic functionality. Still, PC Mag does report that the $120 Roboreptile indeed performs as advertised, skulking around and avoiding objects (mostly) on its constant search for "food." The included remote supposedly allows you to calm Roboreptile long enough to slide a cowl over its head, but PC Mag found itself chasing down the bot more often then necessary due to its quick reflexes. All-in-all, if you're looking to buy your kids a dinosaur-inspired plaything, it sounds like you're better off with either a Pleo or Wowwee's other dinobot, the Roboraptor, unless the little ones have been real brats lately, in which case they probably deserve the frightening and/or frustrating experience that Roboreptile offers.[Thanks, Dave Z.]
