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PAX 2009: Massively's first look at gameplay in All Points Bulletin part 2
In fact, Chris' narration made certain to point this fact out. There isn't any back-snapping to walls and peeking around corners, but you'll want to crouch behind a sturdy object when reloading or trading bullets with an opponent behind some cover of their own. Although I wouldn't hide behind cars, because they can explode in a very kill-you-good fashion.
Rumor: 45th track in Beatles: Rock Band is 'The End'
We can just picture it: Harmonix employees collectively having a laugh at our expense as the forty-fifth (and final) track featured in The Beatles: Rock Band is announced to be ... wait for it ... "The End." The image you see above certainly makes this possibility seem all the more real, as the Abbey Road track isn't listed anywhere on the nearly complete track list we've had for some time now. Apparently, the game has already landed in a few lucky forum-goers hands over at ScoreHero, who quickly revealed the alleged final track. Also revealed: The game's a lot of fun. Shocking! All kidding aside, though, we're fairly confident "The End" made it into the game as track number 45, but we'll have to wait and see with our own eyes when The Beatles: Rock Band launches next week.
Harmonix to 're-energize' its franchises after The Beatles: Rock Band
Sure, The Beatles: Rock Band developer Harmonix has been busy working on next week's big release for some time now, but did you know it's also working on "re-energizing" its "core franchises?" Harmonix PR overlord John Drake told CVG as much, saying that while the studio is ready to refocus on its existing portfolio, it's been busy making sure it got The Beatles game 100 percent right. "We were terrified while making the game, hoping we don't make [Apple Corps] mad at any point -- they're really nice and easy to work with, but this is The Beatles, you can't afford to mess this up." Considering the longtime rhythm game developer more or less re-energized its Amplitude and Frequency franchises with Rock Band Unplugged, we're taking a wild stab in the dark here when we suggest Drake's likely talking about Rock Band 3. And does "re-energizing" in this case mean "adding Project Natal functionality?" We're not sure yet, but we've got our fingers as uncrossed as possible, just in case.
Rumor: Rock Band 2 will import LEGO Rock Band tracks
Wired's GameLife cites a "highly-placed source close to Harmonix" as informing the site that Rock Band 2 owners will be able to rip tracks from the LEGO Rock Band game disc, just as they were able to do with songs from the original Rock Band. The source also notes that a "small fee" will probably be involved -- again, just as with Rock Band to Rock Band 2 song importing. ($5, in case you forgot.) Along with this rumored feature, the site has posted a list of upcoming DLC, including 10 tracks from Queen and three from The Raconteurs due in October. Three songs from The White Stripes are listed for November release. Undisclosed material from Attack! Attack! and The Duke Spirit appears as undated Rock Band Network content.When contacted for comment, Harmonix told Joystiq, "While we don't comment on rumors or speculation with regards to our upcoming downloadable content, we can promise that the Rock Band platform is poised to remain the unchallenged best value and source of music for rhythm games."This supposed "leak" is very conveniently timed, given that Guitar Hero 5 releases tomorrow. Doncha' think?
The Beatles: Rock Band visits Abbey Road
In a 30-second clip that we're not exactly sure came from this decade, MTV Games/Harmonix preview upcoming music/rhythm game The Beatles: Rock Band by way of a big party on Abbey Road. No, we don't mean the street itself, we mean that the enormously famous album cover got turned into a big ol' 30-second party in celebration of the upcoming game. Other than a somewhat creepy faux John Lennon around the halfway mark, this commercial provides yet another reason to be more excited than ever for the day that the Dreamcast turns 10.%Gallery-68343%[Via Kotaku]
Get your hands on The Beatles: Rock Band today at Best Buy
Sure, you could sit on your butt today, thinking about how The Beatles: Rock Band won't be available until September 9. Instead, why not head to a participating Best Buy store today between noon and 3:30PM (EST) to check out the game early? Harmonix and MTV Games are offering a chance to play an in-store demo build of the game for today only before it hits retailers in a few weeks. There's even "special hosted demo events" at certain stores "where you can ask questions about the game, learn some tips-and-tricks, and more" -- we're hoping the "and more" is sensual massages from Sir Paul McCartney himself. Peep the whole list of participating stores right here.[Thanks, JD!]
id: Xbox 360 Rage may have separate discs for campaign and multiplayer
In an interview with Shacknews, id Software prez Todd Hollenshead brought up a novel approach that the developer may use to minimize disc-swapping with the Xbox 360 version of Rage: give the game's single-player and multiplayer modes their own discs."We'll probably have two DVDs for sure, and then the question is, will multiplayer be on a separate disc or not?" Hollenshead posed. "It makes no sense for a player to swap that disc in multiplayer, right? That's fail. They have to keep one disc in during multiplayer, can you just put all the multiplayer content on one DVD?"Sounds like a good idea to us; although, in the same interview, the id boss implies that the final number of DVDs the the Xbox 360 version of Rage will ship on isn't exactly settled, wondering, "Will we have to go to three?" We don't care how many discs it's on -- just make sure the game goes to 11.
No subscription for All Points Bulletin
This particular chunk of info came from the game's official FAQ, which was recently updated. Well, it sounds like a reasonable price.Sure, we could say more about the news. We could discuss how Guild Wars seems to have done amazingly well with their business model, and that it's surprising that nobody else has followed in their footsteps until now. Also, we could say how almost every aspect of this game breaks the standard MMO mold and that it's incredibly refreshing.These are all things we could say, but that really don't need to be said, because if you're reading this now we assume you're just as excited for Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin as we are -- and really, that's all that needs to be said.
The Beatles: Rock Band execs say Yoko Ono 'gave the designers hell' [update]
Update: Harmonix has issued a clarification of the statements through its forums, saying that quotes were "mischaracterized by some in the press" and the development team was "tremendously grateful that she gave us the gift of her attention." We'll update this post further if we hear more from Harmonix or MTV Games on the subject. (Thanks, James!)The late John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, is notorious for a number of somewhat less than pleasant experiences related to The Beatles' career. According to Wired, she's still offering a controlling hand in The Beatles' affairs -- notably, The Beatles: Rock Band. "She gave the designers hell," said Paul DeGooyer, senior VP of electronic games and music at MTV. Harmonix exec Alex Rigopolous chimed in, saying that Ono "held our feet to the fire" and asked for changes to things that had long been finished. "We were like, 'Oh, gee. Thanks.' It would have been nice to know that six months ago, but yes, 'Thank you very much.'" Though we didn't get a chance to ask during our interview with Harmonix this past week, we doubt that Ms. Ono will be appearing in The Beatles: Rock Band in any form when it arrives this September.%Gallery-68343%
Video: Brutal Legend soundtrack makes everything metal
You might find it hard to believe, but even one of the most non-metal objects in the world (literally and figuratively) can be made metal by the Brütal Legend soundtrack. Above, you will find a video of the Heavy Metal Rubik's Cube Challenge, in which Tim Schafer races against Brütal Legend musical producer Emily Ridgeway to see if he can solve the cube before she can read off all the songs in the soundtrack. We won't tell you who comes out on top but, honestly, with a soundtrack like this, everybody wins. Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack revealed in the video matches quite nicely with the one revealed by EA Denmark over the weekend. Curiously, one song revealed by EA Denmark is absent from the video: "Girlfriend," by Kabbage Boy. We've contacted EA to see what's up and will update this post as soon as we hear anything. In the meantime, enjoy the video and – if you have a Rubik's Cube of your own – play along at home!
RAGE screens show up in id Tech 5 presentation
click to enrage Curious what id Software's John Carmack has been doing with that big brain since the 2004 release of Doom 3? The latest engine out of the Dallas-based developer is called id Tech 5 and RAGE is the very first game to take advantage of it. Thing is, this latest batch of information isn't from Carmack; instead, we've been scanning a PDF of J.M.P. van Waveren's – senior programmer at id Software – presentation at this year's SIGGRAPH conference. Titled "id Tech 5 Challenges: From Texture Virtualization to Massive Parallelization" the 37 page presentation also includes a half dozen high-resolution screenshots of the game, which we've tucked into the gallery below. We know, we know – who cares about screenshots? What you want to hear about is the "texture pyramid with sparse page residency" or perhaps the similarly exciting "latency tolerant computational services model." Well, lucky for you, we've also linked the PDF. Go get 'em! %Gallery-69562% [Via Shacknews] PDF link – id Tech 5 Challenges: From Texture Virtualization to Massive Parallelization
Double Fine countersues, says 'Activision will not kill Brutal Legend'
In the midst of all the confusion of E3 this year, ex-Brütal Legend publisher, Activision, decided to sue the game's developer, Double Fine, in order to "stop the release" of the game this October. But before all the exciting litigation can start on July 30, Double Fine has legally responded, filing a countersuit against Activision and claiming Activision's lawsuit is intended to hurt Double Fine and Brütal Legend itself."Double Fine's countersuit is a demonstration of our intention to fight for this game - Activision will not kill Brütal Legend," DF's Caroline Esmurdoc said in a statement released to Joystiq this afternoon. With this countersuit, the developer is seeking an official judge's ruling that it was free from its contract with Activision and thus allowed to sell the rights to Brütal Legend to the game's current publisher, EA. Interestingly, Double Fine claims that Brütal Legend was dropped in the Vivendi/Activision merger after "an effort to convert the game into a Guitar Hero sequel failed." What?! Now that is a piece of information we didn't expect to get out of this.[Thanks, Stix_Remix!]
Activision sues Double Fine over Brutal Legend
Yahoo reports that Activision filed a lawsuit against Double Fine, developer of the Jack Black-fueled Brütal Legend, on Wednesday to "stop the release" of the game. The mega-publisher claims to have invested "roughly $15 million" into the game's development and that "it still has a valid contract to release the game," despite Double Fine transferring rights to Electronic Arts late last year.Last February, Electronic Arts responded to Activision's saber rattling saying, "We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy." Yeah ... So, to recap: Sierra is subsumed into Activision, following the Activision Blizzard merger Activision drops much of Sierra's lineup, including Brütal Legend Brütal Legend looks for another publisher, but Activision is "blocking the process" EA Partners swoops in as the game's new publisher Activision sues Double Fine (that's this post)
First Bad Company 2 trailer light on gameplay, heavy on death
Light on gameplay but heavy on murder the first trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 got "world exclusive" status on this week's GameTrailers TV (after the break).Showcasing the cycle of "smoke a cigarette, kill a dude, get killed yourself" in a MadWorld-esque aesthetic, we can't help but wish for actual gameplay footage from the game -- the first Bad Company 2 screen was madness! We'll expect to hear more from publisher EA and developer DICE as we near E3 2009 in June. More on murder, that is.
EA is 'very, very pro independent development,' says DeMartini
In what seems to be a multiple year-spanning sea change on the side of EA, the company is not only reaching out to independent developers like Grasshopper Manufacture and Valve, but also working with them to keep their properties autonomous. Chris Remo of Gamasutra sat down with David DeMartini, General Manager of EA Partners, to discuss the idea behind EAP and, in doing so, revealed some interesting truths about the EA initiative."I think that there is very much a renaissance within the EAP based on the leadership of Electronic Arts ... John Riccitiello and Frank Gibeau are very, very pro-independent development," says DeMartini, referring to titles like American McGee's Alice sequel and Suda 51's upcoming game (still untitled), as well as Valve-developed Left 4 Dead. The "renaissance," he believes, isn't spurred by the way in which the EA Partners program has been set up, so much as it's been a focus on "great quality." While last year's Mirror's Edge and Left 4 Dead might not have sold huge numbers out of the gate, there is no doubt that their critical reception has been overwhelmingly positive. To add credence to his argument, sales of both titles have held steady as time goes on."What we've proven is that there is no one model. What we have also proven is quality and innovation always win." Not a terrible truth to arrive at, if we must say so ourselves.
DICE 2009: EA announces American McGee's Alice 2
According to a tweet from Geoff Keighley from the ongoing DICE summit, EA CEO John Riccitiello has just revealed a sequel to American McGee's Alice, coming soon. Details are slim -- in fact, we just told you all of them right now -- but we can assume that Alice 2 will have American McGee's name on the cover, and will probably be another third-person action game that takes elements from the Alice in Wonderland story and makes them all edgy and gothy. We will pass along actual (i.e. non-conjectured) information as soon as it is available. Update: While we've never known Keighley to not be a man of his word, official evidence is always welcome. EA adds that the Alice sequel is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 by American McGee's Spicy Horse studio. Says EA Partners GM David DeMartini: "EA Partners is ready to help [American McGee] bring his innovative vision for the franchise to even darker, more exciting places."
Brutal Legend began with multiplayer (don't you remember?)
It's true that here at Joystiq, we know everything there is to know about the French joystick industry (c'est magnifique!); however, MTV Multiplayer does not, despite its namesake, know everything there is to know about multiplayer gaming. So, you can imagine their surprise upon learning that Brütal Legend – newly partnered with EA ... Partners – does in fact have a multiplayer component. Well, if you want details, the Game Developers Conference panel description they pulled this factoid from specified it would be "multiplayer" of the "rich" variety but that's all its got. Of course, being video game experts, we vividly remember every detail of that November 2007 IGN Australia interview with Tim Schafer, wherein he revealed that Double Fine actually "tackled [multiplayer] first and that's how [it] came up with the core gameplay mechanic that [it's] now using in the single player game." Want more details on the multiplayer mechanic? According to Tim "Freaking" Schafer, "It's more focused on ... large battles" – what IGN calls, and Tim confirms, is real "army versus army" stuff.Wow, we can't believe MTV Multiplayer didn't remember that interview. A classic!%Gallery-41208%[Via MTV Multiplayer]Source – The Brutal Art of Brütal Legend GDC listingSource – Brutal Legend - Tim Schafer AU Interview
EA hoping to sign up more Japanese developers
Having already come to an arrangement with Japanese star developers Goichi "Suda 51" Suda and Shinji Mikami to publish a mysterious horror franchise*, who could blame EA for stalking showing interest in other Eastern talent? Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, David DeMartini, who oversees the EA Partners program and a board swathed in secret plans, candidly admits, "EA looks at the top 20 developers in the world and we try to sign anything those guys are working on." DeMartini explains that deals such as the Suda/Mikami one represent "something that is very unique and very special," despite being, like many of our relationships, "slightly uncomfortable for both parties." We're dying to see the results of EA's collaboration and share DeMartini's unshaken hope that it "will serve as a springboard to a successful formula that we can apply to some of the other great Japanese designers." You know, like Gackt.*It's the franchise that's mysterious, not the horror. We're quite certain it'll have obvious, horror-inducing things like ghosts or Rihanna albums.
EA publishing new action horror 'franchise' from Suda51, Shinji Mikami
EA has just announced a publishing agreement with eccentric No More Heroes developer, Grasshopper Manufacture. The deal concerns an "all-new action horror game" produced by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and directed by the master of self-referential weirdness, Goichi "Suda51" Suda. The mysterious title, which also boasts the involvement of Q Entertainment, is slated for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii. Goichi Suda has nothing but good things to say about EA Partners in the press release, praising the group for sharing Grasshopper's "commitment to quality and innovation," all the while respecting its "independence as a studio, which is very empowering." EA Games' Frank Gibeau is equally polite, saying, "It is an honor for EA to sign Grasshopper Manufacture and help bring their new franchise to gamers worldwide. Franchise, you say? Of course, neither of them say anything about the actual game. Way to leave us hanging, guys!
Got some cash? Valve 'happy' to talk acquisition
Just like your favorite indie band – those guys that issued a giant middle finger to The Man and made it their own way, retaining credibility the way a sponge retains water – Valve isn't averse to an acquisition. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Before you tear down your Gabe Newell poster or throw away your Robin Walker découpaged Trapper Keeper, hear 'em out: Valve's veep of marketing Doug Lombardi simply said, "anything is possible" and that he'd be "happy" to discuss an acquisition of the hugely successful independent developer. He's not talking about "selling out" ... like that band ...Valve's always done plenty in-house, but partnerships with Sierra and now EA Partners have provided the dev with significant marketing and distribution resources that it would rather not take on. Speaking of EA, Lombardi relayed some details behind Valve's decision to partner with the Big Bad Publisher, concluding, "We haven't seen the boogeyman." It's clear both Valve and EA have eyes for each other and, with recently acquired devs like BioWare and Pandemic calling their relationship with the publisher "mutually beneficial," it wouldn't surprise us if EA took Lombardi up on his offer to talk.
