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TimeSplitters returns with a new game from the original developers
Free Radical Design has risen from the ashes, thanks to Deep Silver.
Joystiq Weekly: Free Radical's Haze, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Tony Hawk and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Yes okay, BlizzCon 2014 was full of announcements. A new team-based shooter called Overwatch, a Hearthstone expansion, Warcraft movie details, the next StarCraft 2 expansion ... Blizzard fans have plenty to look forward to. Thanks to an unexpected announcement however, Tony Hawk fans also have something to look forward to (or dread, depending on cynicism) in the form of a 2015 console game. Sure, the Skate series was a cool take on realistic tricks, but we wouldn't mind getting back to the outlandish challenges, yellow-text specials and SKATE letters of the original killer skateboarding series. If you've never enjoyed injury-supplementing planks of wood with wheels, there's still plenty of good stuff from this week. News of Grand Theft Auto 5's first person mode, reviews for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Lords of the Fallen, a feature exploring the development of the unfortunate PS3-exclusive Haze, and more is all waiting for you after the break!
The game that killed Free Radical
Following the PlayStation 2 era, the transition to a new generation of hardware proved to be extraordinarily difficult for some development houses. In Britain, dozens of mid-range studios were shuttered once the PS3 became a market leader: Midway Newcastle, Pivotal, THQ Warrington, Rebellion Derby and others, all ceased operations. Unlike so many others in the region, developer Free Radical was able to survive and launched a seventh generation game – a PlayStation 3 exclusive. Founded in the PS2 era by the creative forces behind Perfect Dark and GoldenEye, developer Free Radical thrived, piecing together the superlative TimeSplitters series and beloved sleeper hit Second Sight. Despite its success, transition to a new generation was difficult, but Free Radical endured. Beyond survival, its next game had already become a hotly contested icon in a growing forum war, as the developer of a hyped shooter, exclusive to Sony's new hardware. Free Radical's next venture was dubbed, by press and fans alike, as game worthy of the moniker "Halo killer." That game was Haze.
Dead Island developer Techland opens Vancouver studio for work on Dying Light
Polish-based developer Techland (Dead Island series) has jumped across the mighty pond of the Atlantic to open Digital Scapes Studio in Vancouver, Canada. As VentureBeat reports, former Radical Entertainment Technical Director Marcin Chady will serve as the studio's managing director. Digital Scapes will be treading familiar territory, as they'll be at least partially responsible for developing Techland's upcoming zombie-themed first-person melee game, Dying Light, which is set to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive sometime in 2014. In short: the technical director from the studio that brought us Prototype 2 will be leading a team that promises Mirror's Edge-style free-run gameplay plus zombie slaughter. Yeah, we're cool with that.
Star Wars: Battlefront 3 live stream, new footage appears
Over this "May the 4th be with you" weekend, the irrepressible Star Wars: Battlefront 3 once again returned from the grave with new footage and a live stream. "New" is a malleable word here, since all of this comes from a game that was canceled in 2008 and may have leaked in one form or another over the past five years. The first occurrence of game footage was a livestream by PtoPOnline. According to Game Informer, ptoponline.com focuses on "coverage and streaming of pre-release games, betas, and canceled projects." There was also some alpha build footage, reportedly from a reel by developer Free Radical made in November of 2008, that was posted on Vimeo by Blue_Monkey. The Star Wars franchise is now a licensing opportunity for developers and publishers following the closure of LucasArts. [Thanks to everyone who sent these in.]
Crytek-approved TimeSplitters fan project gets title, preliminary details
A dedicated group of TimeSplitters fans have taken it upon themselves to create a new, free game for like-minded folks: TimeSplitters Rewind. Developed with permission from CryTek and using assets from actual TimeSplitters games as reference material, Rewind is being constructed in CryEngine 3 and will focus primarily on multiplayer.While there is no further visual evidence of the game beyond the above logo and this rendered duck person, project manager Michael Hubicka has stated that a demo for Rewind should be available by Christmas. "The demo will be more or less a beta," Hubicka told Cooking with Grenades. "We plan to release patches to fix glitches/bugs/exploits/performance issues and Content Updates to add maps and characters."Eventually, Hubicka hopes that Rewind will also include remade versions of the single-player story content from TimeSplitters' history, but the initial goal of the project is to faithfully recreate the most well-known multiplayer components within CryEngine 3. New multilpayer modes are in the works, however, though their eventual inclusion will depend on if the end result "feels right."
TimeSplitters 4 couldn't find a publisher through a haze of mistrust
We've been talking about TimeSplitters 4 since 2007. We guess that's better than talking about TimeSplitters 4 once in 2007 and then never again, but it's still tedious when no news other than, "Sure, it's still in development," comes out of Crytek.Crytek bought series developer Free Radical in 2008, following the studio's closure. At the time, TimeSplitters 4 couldn't find a publisher because its story was too complex, series co-creator Steve Ellis and Karl Hilton, a former Free Radical staffer now at Crytek UK, tell GamesTM."TimeSplitters 4 was in the very early stages of development when Free Radical went into administration," Ellis says. "A small playable demo was shown to several publishers, but it didn't attract any publishing deals."Hilton says Free Radical's FPS flop, Haze, contributed to publisher hesitancy. Marketing people would play the demo, and then ask what happened with Haze, stressing a lack of trust in the studio."Secondly, their marketing person would say something alone the lines of, 'I don't know how to sell this,'" Hilton says. "The unanimous opinion among all publishers that we pitched TimeSplitters 4 to is that you can't market a game that is based around a diverse set of characters and environments – you need a clear and easily communicated marketing message, and TimeSplitters doesn't have one. Perhaps they are all right. Perhaps this is why the previous games in the series achieved much more critical success than commercial success. For these reasons, one by one they all declined to sign the project."Earlier this year Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said that public interest in TimeSplitters 4 was high, but "not high enough yet."
This is what happened to Star Wars Battlefront 3
Despite our infinite sadness that TimeSplitters 4 is not in development right now, at least we have some closure regarding developer Free Radical Design today. Steve Ellis, one of three individuals who left Rare after the completion of GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and founded Free Radical Design, has shed some light on what happened to the UK-based developer – and why we never got Star Wars Battlefront 3, even though Free Radical basically finished it in 2008."It was a big thing, we were very excited and for a long time it was going very well," Ellis told GI.biz in an interview that focuses on the rise of Free Radical and how it eventually became Crytek UK. "That was a big deal for us because it meant putting all our eggs in one basket. It was a critical decision – do we want to bet on LucasArts? And we chose to because things were going as well as they ever had. It was a project that looked like it would probably be the most successful thing we had ever done and they were asking us to make the sequel to it too. It seemed like a no-brainer." But then things got a bit rocky due to a shift in LucasArts management. Key individuals left the company and suddenly things were looking grim for Free Radical's Battlefront 3."LucasArts' opinion is that when you launch a game you have to spend big on the marketing and they're right. But at that time they were, for whatever reason, unable to commit to spending big. They effectively canned a game that was finished." As of March 2008, Free Radical had a competent working build. "It was pretty much done, it was in final QA. It had been in final QA for half of 2008, it was just being fixed for release," Ellis concluded.
Crytek: TimeSplitters 4 is not in development
Despite rumors to the contrary, Crytek has shot down the notion that the studio is currently developing TimeSplitters 4. The company joked to CVG it had attempted to employ the infinite monkey theorem to develop the game, but ran over budget after purchasing only seven monkeys. Thus far, said Crytek, the chimps "haven't written any code but just tease the press from time to time." In a more serious response, a Crytek spokesperson said quite plainly, "No, it's not in development."Rumors of a Crytek-developed TimeSplitters 4 have been swirling for years now, with the most recent story popping up last summer, when PlayStation magazine reported that a new TimeSplitters announcement was imminent.
More Star Wars: Battlefront 3 footage from 2008 hits the tubes
The above version of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was canceled and will never truly exist outside of the YouTube time portal, but sometimes it's nice to get a glimpse of what could have been. We can learn from its failings, reanimate its successes and keep talking about how great the old days were, forgetting that one day right now will be the "good old days."All premature nostalgia aside, the video above is reportedly a pre-alpha version of Free Radical's vision for Battlefront 3, shot in 2008, and it covers the menu, character creation, general gameplay and a few flight scenes.
Crytek discussing possibility of TimeSplitters 4, needs Crysis 2 shipped first
Our anticipation for Crysis 2 just skyrocketed for a terrible, terrible reason. See, in a recent interview with CVG, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli responded to a query about the possibility of a new entry in the TimeSplitters franchise by saying, "Yeah, we have been discussing it, but nothing has been confirmed yet, so let's see after Crysis 2." The developers of the chronologically unstable series, Free Radical, were purchased by Crytek back in 2009, and now have their hands full with developing Crysis 2's multiplayer component. Don't get us wrong -- we're definitely looking forward to Crysis 2 based solely on its own merits as an innovative first-person shooter. But we also want a new TimeSplitters, and if that means we have to ship Crysis 2 before it's ready to free up resources, then, well, that's an egg we're willing to break.
Crytek UK still shopping around new TimeSplitters title
The studio formerly known as Free Radical Design may now be called Crytek UK, but that doesn't mean it has abandoned its popular TimeSplitters franchise. Managing director Karl Hilton said the developer is still shopping around that IP to publishers to see if it's something they're interested in. We've known that Crytek UK has been working on both another TimeSplitters and some sort of original FPS IP for a while now, but Hilton says the coin flip hasn't landed yet. "If [publishers are] keen for a TS game," he says, "then we'd be happy to do one. If they'd like us to develop something new then we'd do that." Hilton also says that even if it is agreed that Crytek UK will create a new TimeSplitters game, it may not look like the old ones. Publishers are excited about the brand, he says, but they may need it to be updated or tweaked in some way. But Hilton guarantees players that no matter what personality a new TimeSplitters game might eventually bear, it will definitely be a strong one. Doesn't matter to us, either, Mr. Hilton -- just please make sure that we get to play as a monkey at some point.
Ex-Free Radical (Crytek UK) working solely on Crysis 2 multiplayer
Despite earlier claims that Haze developer Free Radical (now Crytek UK) were working on an "original FPS" for its new overlord Crytek Studios, it appears that the UK-based studio is actually hard at work on Crysis 2's multiplayer component. In an interview with VG247, CEO Cevat Yerli revealed "several online functionalities" for the game, as well as the team behind said functionalities. "That is all they [Crytek UK] are doing, with a full team on it, and they are blasting forward at full speed with more focus and dedication than I've ever had before at Crytek." Jeez you two, get a room! Yerli unfortunately couldn't expand on the various types of multiplayer we'll find in Crysis 2 when it arrives later this year, though he did note that the team at Crytek UK will be "making the gameplay unique to both the console and PC versions." Presumably he means that in a sense greater than "The PC version has way, way prettier graphics."
New Mindscape studio pulls EA, Free Radical staff for downloadable games
Mindscape has established a new development studio in France called Punchers Impact, Develop reports. The news here isn't so much that the team will be focusing on downloadable games for XBLA, PSN and PC -- rather, that many of the 40-odd staffers come from noteworthy devs EA and Free Radical. The studio is being led by Guillaume Descamps in the role of studio director and executive producer. Previously of casual game devs ZigZag Island and DK Games, Descamps is in charge of Punchers Impact's yet-unnamed first release, which Mindscape says will be ready for the end of 2010. While the team's makeup may lend itself well to delivering a solid downloadable action title, we have a sneaking suspicion that, given Mindscape's track record of games such as My Pet Hotel, the chances of a TimeSplitters-like release have been neutered.
Crytek UK making original FPS
If you were holding out hope that Crytek UK (formerly Free Radical) would be finishing up TimeSplitters 4 any time soon, you may want to store it way down in your heart. We're talking like way down, back where you keep your secret wish to find an unopened box of Nintendo Cereal System at your local grocer. Studio manager Karl Hilton recently told Develop that the company is working on an original FPS. While the news is good on one hand (it's not Haze) it's also bad, because it likely means TimeSplitters 4 is either a long ways off or dead altogether. [Via GoGamingGiant]
Free Radical founder forms Facebook studio
We promise this isn't one of our bizarre and contrived theme days, we just happen to have two stories about now-defunct Free Radical, the founder of which has gone on to form his own Facebook game design studio. It's called (tragically) Zinkyzonk.Before he created the House That TimeSplitters Built, David Doak was one of the designers on GoldenEye, so he's definitely got the experience and chops. But if he's looking to unseat Dolphin Olympics 2 as Facebook game king, he'd better get that nose to the grindstone yesterday.
PS3 struggles hurt Haze development
It's no secret that some developers have a tough time with the PS3. In fact, Gabe Newell hates the thing so much he once forced an elephant to eat a crushed up 20GB model, jammed a cardboard cutout of Jack Tretton into the resulting dung pile and burned the whole thing in effigy. Karl Hilton of Crytek UK (formerly Free Radical) brings a more restrained (though ultimately more hygienic) protest today, telling Develop that the developer's technical learning curve hurt the development of critically maligned PS3 exclusive, Haze. "We spent more time trying get the game running properly and less time to design the game properly," he said. "The PS3 is a powerful machine but a difficult one to get the best out of." And no, before you ask, Hilton doesn't expect to have similar PS3 problems with Crytek's CryEngine 3. Shockingly.
Crytek: Free Radical devs doing things 'they always dreamed to do'
When Crytek snatched up Free Radical, we imagine some dreams of not being jobless came true, and now that the acquisition is complete, it would seem Crytek is giving free reign to Free Radical. In an interview with Develop, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli says the new Crytek UK is working "on things that they always dreamed to do." "We are providing the team a roadmap and the chance to grow, which is why we were picked as a partner, and not anyone else," Yerli added. Could such a "dream project" be TimeSplitters 4, which is what Free Radical was working on before the acquisition? Hopefully we'll hear more at E3.
Crytek's Free Radical acquisition speeds up console development plans
Crytek's past console experience has been nonexistent, and with the company doing away with PC exclusivity, it needs to get its feet wet in the console arena. Now that the company has acquired what is left of Free Radical, it can do just that."We always planned to enter the console market and it was part of our strategy even before the acquisition," said Cevat Yerli, president and CEO of Crytek. "This step will certainly bring us forward a bit faster to achieve our goal to develop high quality games on consoles." Before you start getting excited for a console port of Crysis or something, know that Crytek has not revealed any projects yet, though we could be hearing about something sooner rather than later. Employees there are set to begin work on a major project soon, Yerli confirmed.
Crytek's Free Radical purchase confirmed, 40+ jobs saved
The administrators responsible for selling off the remnants of Free Radical have confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that Crytek's rumored acquisition of the company has gone ahead. Cameron Gunn of ReSolve Partners stated, "We are pleased to announce that a sale completed to Crytek late last night thus preserving over 40 jobs." A full announcement is expected at some time later today and will hopefully include more detailed information, as it's not yet clear whether Free Radical's IPs have also been obtained by Crytek. We'll keep you informed.
