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Supreme Commander confirmed for Xbox 360
The announcement of Supreme Commander marching to the Xbox 360 comes as little surprise following the comments made last month by Gas Powered Games founder, Chris Taylor. Though he didn't specify an exact destination at the time, Taylor did reveal that the Xbox 360 was "the platform of choice" when shifting titles from PC to console. Supreme Commander will join a growing number of real-time strategy titles on the system, not to mention the always pleasing group of games featuring impossibly huge robots. Other fascinating bullet-points sure to riddle the back of the Xbox 360 packaging are "new units," "new multiplayer modes," "updated maps" and lest we forget, "the most epic hostilities ever seen in an RTS game." The port will be completed with the aid of Hellbent Games and then published by Aspyr in early 2008.
Supreme Commander to conquer consoles
Gas Powered Games founder, Chris Taylor, has admitted to Pro-G that console owners can safely expect to partake in the strategic giant robot action of his studio's well-received Supreme Commander. That is to say, the action is strategic and involves robots -- the actual giant robots aren't all that strategic. Featuring in a real-time strategy game, they're not too bright and usually require you to tell them what things to step on. Though Taylor didn't specify which platforms the game would ultimately be headed to, his comments on potential console versions of the upcoming Space Siege point to the Xbox 360 being the first recipient. "If you look at pure development economics, it's the platform of choice for moving stuff from the PC," he said. "You can get stuff over there economically, very quickly." That includes a mouse-driven interface, which Taylor hopes Supreme Commander will further ingrain on consoles. We'll see what Halo Wars has to say about that.
Gas Powered Games CEO: reward, don't punish gamers
CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games Chris Taylor (Supreme Commander, Dungeon Siege) wants to retire the old-school game design philosophies of punishing gamers. In an essay on GameDaily BIZ, Taylor notes an observed trend towards games that now reward players. It started with casual games, says Taylor, when The Sims and Railroad Tycoon were selling millions and bringing women gamers on board. He compares the old punishment system to Carnival games -- you get three lives, a few options for more, but if you die then you start all the way over. Taylor uses Grand Theft Auto as an example where, if you screw up, you simply walk out of jail or the hospital. "The punishment is quite small, and perfectly integrated into the gameplay. Hats off to Rockstar," he said. Much of his essay is muddled, however, in defining the line between making a game universally accessible and dumbing it down in difficulty. "Games shouldn't punish the player, but rather reward them. Oh, and it should be a whole lot easier to win," he said, followed by "Duh! Can I say duh?" You can, but a game like Ninja Gaiden serves as an opposing example to that argument, where toning down the difficulty would likely result in a less satisfying and indeed, less rewarding experience.
No DirectX 10 update for Supreme Commander
Those of you just itching to put that DirectX 10 hardware to good use will be disappointed to learn that Supreme Commander -- the Games for Windows-branded RTS from Gas Powered Games -- will not be getting that DirectX 10 patch they've been promising. Turns out it's a matter of timing: Vista release coupled with DirectX 10 hardware coupled with driver support ... you get the idea. They write, "The bottom line: DirectX 10 support will not be patched into Supreme Commander or its expansion packs." There is light at the end of this tunnel, however. They intend to integrate "this exciting technology into future projects." In the meantime, if you've just got to test out the capabilities of that $600 video card, download the Lost Planet PC demo here and have your butler let us know how it is. [Via Next-Gen]
PSP Fanboy review: Dungeon Siege Throne of Agony
PSP gamers have been waiting eons for a great system-exclusive RPG. The Untold Legends series did a fair job of satisfying my hack and slash needs, but didn't bring anything new, inventive, or exciting to the table. Enter Dungeon Siege. This beloved RPG series has been considered one of the PC's best. While the original games were developed by Gas Powered Games, this PSP-exclusive sequel is taken care of by newbie team SuperVillian Studios. And unfortunately, it appears this team simply wasn't ready to handle such a large game: although many elements of the game are excellent, numerous bugs, general sluggishness, and a repetitive formula, make it just another game to pass the time.
Metareview - Dungeon Siege II: Broken World
It would appear the lines are starting to blur between episodic content and bona fide expansion packs, as evidenced by the relatively short and uninspired campaign in Dungeon Siege II: Broken World. 2K Games probably should have hacked and slashed ten bucks off the $30 price tag and labeled this one "DS2: Episode 1". It's all in the marketing. GameSpot (63/100) was disappointed that Gas Powered Games failed to break new ground: "After the lengthy and far-reaching campaign of Dungeon Siege II, this short and narrowly focused 10-hour expansion feels like more of a throwaway side quest than a compelling new chapter in the history of the troubled world of Aranna. Beyond the dungeons, the story brings nothing to the Dungeon Siege universe and could just as well go untold." IGN (63/100) enjoyed putting the beat down on the grunts, but the build up had no payoff: "As inventive as the rank and file enemies are, the bosses aren't as dramatic as they could be given that you face each of them multiple times. Every time you kill a boss, you're going to have to face another one just like him somewhere down the road. In a few cases, you're even going to fight him in a location that looks the same too." 1UP (60/100) thinks it's time for a shiny new engine: "Broken World is using, essentially, a 3-year-old graphics engine. So, like most 3-year olds, it can be unpleasant to deal with (and look at) -- especially when it comes to framerate issues and those pesky camera angles." See also: Metareview - Titan Quest
Dungeon Siege II toolkit released
If you've been bit by the modding bug while playing Dungeon Siege II, Gas Powered Games has released an official toolkit to help you begin crafting your own adventures. They've also opened the doors to Siege University II where you can learn all about Flick scripting, town portal restrictions, and map building. Nice curriculum!
