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Spielberg EA project built for Wii
EA Los Angeles VP and General Manager Neil Young slipped a little tidbit about the studio's trio of Steven Spielberg games to GameDaily in an interview to be published next week. "I can't really share any game details, but recall our original announcements was for three projects. Well, two of those are underway right now in the studio," Young told GameDaily, adding, "The second project is something Lou Castle is producing, one of the great producers in this industry, and that's one of the products we're building for the Wii."Apparently Spielberg pops into the studio for a few hours a week to practice his backhand goad the projects along. Aside from the Wii game, he's spinning one of those "big stories shown through the eyes of a small group." The third project remains a total mystery.
Mark Rein says no Unreal Engine 3 for Wii
The Wii is taking a beating this week at GDC by American developers. Between hushed conversations and public displays, it isn't pretty. Epic's vice president, Mark Rein, has never hid his feelings for the Wii. While discussing Unreal Engine 3 games in development for the Xbox 360, he was asked if they'd develop anything for the Wii's Virtual Console? "Ummmmm, well, this is kinda a high definition engine. Designed for a certain level of graphics card and certain amount of CPU. You know, I'm sure one of our licensees will squeeze it down into the Wii. The way Ubisoft squeezed Unreal Engine 2 into the PSP," he explained in a little bit more detail exactly why the Wii and Unreal Engine 3 won't become best buddies, "Unreal Engine 3 is designed for a high level shader architecture and the Wii doesn't have that. I mean, you know, it's just not what we've been aiming for, so it's not something we're looking to do or support."Rein wouldn't go into any details at the number of companies, or cost, to license the Unreal 3 Engine. He says the license is cheap, "We only saw a splinter of the money from Splinter Cell." Epic hopes to sell Unreal 3 mods on Xbox Marketplace. They also said they'd be coming out with a textbook for schools on the Unreal Engine 3.
Valve's Kim Swift talks about designing Portal
At the Experimental Game Design lecture (where, among others, we heard from Crush's Alex Butterfield), Valve's Kim Swift, one of the designers of Portal, talked about the challenges of creating a first-person mind-screw puzzler, which is packaged with the oft-delayed Half-Life: :Episode 2, Black, and Orange sets, and concluded with a video demonstration solving one of Portal's crazy door-opening puzzles."Doing something new can be a really big risk and adding something innovative to something already exists can often disrupt and create new games," she said. Swift told the crowd that she and the team approached Portal problems as small gamelets in isolated environments. To her, trying to innovate too much at one time can lead to failure. Jurassic Park: Tresspasser, she quipped, is an example of a title that "tries a lot, and fails at all." Swift's mantra is to try one thing and polish it to the best of your ability.Following her talk, Swift started a video of one level of portal to explain the depth of the puzzle. In Portal, you can make a blue and orange-rimmed portal that interact with one another. You can attach a portal to most surfaces, although reflective and glass surfaces will not take a portal, "just to make your life more difficult," Swift notes.
GDC 07: Super Paper Mario impressions
Super Paper Mario might've been the happiest game at the Nintendo booth at GDC. This 2D/3D platformer features a lot of character and charm, something the Paper Mario series has been known for. This ex-Gamecube title gathered the largest crowds and lines at Nintendo's booth, and it's clear why: it's simply a lot of fun.You hold the Wii Remote sideways, in classic NES form. Because the game plays homage to the early 2D Mario platformers, the Wii Remote may actually be superior than the Gamecube controller for this game. The D-Pad obviously moves the character, while 1 and 2 allow you to do the basics, like Jump. The game's unique feature, dimension changing, comes through the use of the A button. By simply hitting A, the game world rotates, revealing depth to Mario's once flat world.Even without the dimension-shifting mechanic, Super Paper Mario would've been a fun and imaginative game. There are tons of environmental effects that take Mario to new, surprising places. Also, you'll finally be able to play as multiple characters, such as Peach. With her parasol in hand, you'll be able to go far distances, a la Super Mario Bros. 2. Also, although the game doesn't feature any significant Wii enhancements, it's nice to see the game running in widescreen and in 480p. The game might not feature any truly spectacular graphics, but the playful paper art style still looks great. Definitely keep an eye out for this one when it comes out in April.
GDC 07: Legend of Zelda impressions
DRAW! That's probably the best way to describe the experience of playing Phantom Hourglass, the upcoming Wind Waker sequel. The demo at this year's GDC was multiplayer-only, and had you going against one other person in a Zelda version of Capture the Flag (the Flag being pieces of the Triforce, of course). There were two sides that you played as: either as Link, or as a villian trying to stop our beloved cel-shaded hero. As Link, you had to make your way through a maze, search for pieces of the Triforce, and bring them back to your "base." Easy enough, right? Well, there's one catch: the Triforce is crazy-heavy, and your movement will come down to a crawl, making you quite an easy target. A Nintendo representative explained a technique that makes the process slightly easier: pick up the Triforce piece, and then throw it afar. By tapping on the Triforce again, Link will automatically run forward, picking up the piece.While it's usually fun to play as the Chosen Hero of Time, Phantom Hourglass' multiplayer mode was much more fun when playing the villain. In this mode, you have three controllable characters on an map. By drawing a line from the character, you'll be able to control where they move. If they run into Link, the boy loses, and the round ends. Drawing paths, attempting to corner off Link, feels incredibly empowering. It certainly brings a smile to have all three of your characters slowly trap Link into a corner, making him await certain doom.It certainly was an amusing demo. However, controlling Link was simply not fun. Moving him through stylus control instead of using the face buttons seems clunky and imprecise. I'm hoping that the single player will incorporate more of the drawing elements from playing as an enemy, as they were very satisfying. Nintendo already has the graphics down: it looks beautiful. With just a little more work on the controls, Phantom Hourglass may become a truly excellent addition to the Zelda franchise.
GDC 07: Crush highlights experimental design panel
There is one PSP game in everyone's mind here at the Game Developer's Conference: it's called Crush. Kuju Entertainment's revolutionary puzzle-platformer was highlighted in an experimental games panel, due to its highly innovative gameplay concept. One of the greatest challenges of creating such a unique project is trying to predict how the player will respond to it. Will they be able to understand how the gameplay works? Will they get too confused? Stuck? Through endless hours of QA & debugging, the team decided that the game has to explain to the player why one failed: it becomes a learning process, rather than a frustrating, alienating one. Although Crush hasn't been released yet, Kuju's Alex Butterfield wasn't afraid to think of other possibilities to expand the Crush idea: What if you could crush time? (For example, a block could turn into a bridge; a cockroach into a centipede.) What if you could crush multiple realities, in multiplayer? Would each player have their own reality? The questions become far more challenging to answer, but much more exciting at the same time. Hopefully, Crush will meet an appreciative audience when it debuts on the PSP--I'd love to see a sequel that explores these mind-numbing concepts.
Revolutionary Fable 2 feature is a dog
There's a reason Peter Molyneux is smiling in this picture. He was nervous to reveal the "revolutionary" new feature in Fable 2. Several people on his own team told him not to do it. In fairness, it's definitely a risky feature. No one in their right mind would call it revolutionary at first glance. Yes, the intertubes were right: Fable 2's secret new feature is a dog. That's it. So, why is Peter smiling? He's smiling because he just convinced a room full of jaded journalists that a dog is revolutionary. Yup, it's a dog, but believe it or not, you will love it.
Miyamoto Mii graces Nintendo chests
Perched proudly on the chests (okay, the shirts) of every employee at the Nintendo expo booth is an adorable Miyamoto Mii -- the same one he showed off a few moments ago in his keynote. Though last night's Lifetime Achievement winner graces the fronts of men and women workers alike, this particular Miyamoto came off a female chest. You know what that means: if you try to sneak a peak at those cute Nintendo blonds, you're bound to get nothing but an eyeful of Miyamoto's cheerful but knowing smile.
GDC 07: Pokemon Battle Revolution impressions
Connectivity is back: the question is, does it really add anything? The Pokemon Battle Revolution demo available at GDC seems to suggest that DS-Wii connectivity does little to truly enhance the gaming experience. The DS is used as a way of inputting your commands without your opponent having a look, but seemingly offers nothing else.At least Pokemon Battle Revolution looks good: it easily trumps the two Coliseum games on the Gamecube visually (although that doesn't say much). Although I only played a non-localized Japanese version of the game, the cinematic presentation and incredibly enthusiastic announcer really added a nice touch of realism to the game. Certainly, Pokemaniacs will enjoy the game's highly animated character models: obviously, the Pokemon come to life in a way above and beyond anything the GBA or DS games will ever provide.Without being able to see any single player component, it's hard to gauge if Battle Revolution will feature any gameplay "revolution." From the looks of it, the game appears to be quite a derivative product of the previous Coliseum games. However, considering the continued popularity of the franchise, maybe that's enough to satiate fans.
GDC 07: Pokemon Pearl impressions
The Pokemon machine just doesn't stop. Pokemon Pearl was available at GDC on a pretty pink DS Lite, and while no one was looking, I got to get my hands on it. While the Pokemon franchise isn't known for its graphics, the first thing I noticed as a long-time Pokemon fan was how improved the graphics have become. The screens may not show it off too well, but the game features much better character sprites in the game world. Looking at the aliasing issues in the game, it appears that the world may even have a psuedo-3D engine behind it as well. Unfortunately, the battles haven't received as nice of a makeover: they still look incredibly primitive, even by GBA standards: the uninspired battle animations certainly don't leave a good impression.Other than the cosmetic changes, it doesn't appear as though the world of Pokemon has changed too much. Like previous iterations of the franchise, this version introduces even more pocket monsters to capture ... but not much else. The game doesn't stray far from the original Pokemon formula: classic elements, such as being forced into a fight when spotted by a rival trainer, are still retained in this latest update.Strangely, use of the touch screen seems conspicuously absent. Of course, with other titles like Pokemon Ranger trying to take the franchise in a different direction, maybe it's best that Pokemon remains unchanged for its next major DS release.
GDC 07: Super Mario Galaxy screenshots and footage from Miyamoto's Keynote
Scrutinizing Miyamoto's GDC keynote for information on upcoming games might have been about as productive as trying to squeeze water from a rock, but the new Super Mario Galaxy gameplay trailer and screenshots that were brought out did not disappoint.Along with the clips of planet-hopping and lava stages that we've already seen, we were treated to shots of climbable vines, menacing Thwomps, and ... Planets made of fruit? There are a lot more surprises in the video, but don't take our word for it! Check it out and let us know what you think.
Joseph Saulter: 'Why should I have to be a white man?'
Joseph Saulter, chairman of game design and development at American Intercontinental University, has been a vocal advocate about the role of minorities within the industry.Speaking about Microsoft's Blacks in Gaming gathering last night he says, "It's great to see that things are happening and we are getting toward the vision, but it's still not the reality." He says the potential influence that diversity would bring to the industry isn't being recognized. Explaining he's spent his life as a black man, he half-jokingly says when he looks around the game industry he feels himself asking the question, "Why should I have to be a white man? ... Meaning I bring a unique characteristic in my African-American culture. It would be nice to bring my cultural expertice into an arena. We go into this white business -- and it's not that the business is white. It's that the culture in the business is white. I'd like to see people create what I am in games and be accepted for what I do."Saulter says the industry is like a "horse with blinders" on when it comes to issues of diversity. It's not that they are outright ignoring minorities, it's just that the focus is so straight ahead and narrow, companies don't take the time to reach out. He says there are programs like the Urban Video Game Academy based in Atlanta, Maryland and Washington D.C., which attempt to get kids into game design and should be looked at as an opportunity by developers to find potential talent. He compared getting a job in the industry like riding a horse. He believes that minorities don't care if they get knocked off the horse, that's only fair -- but they'd still like a chance to ride.
GDC 07: Big Brain Academy impressions
GDC's Nintendo booth has been packed over the past few days. With enough begging and pleading, I was able to shove away an elderly woman and work out my brain with the upcoming Wii rendition of Big Brain Academy. The demo on the show floor was multiplayer-only and was decidedly quite simple. You must race against your opponent to solve a series of puzzles: due to the competitive nature of the game, you'll find yourself rushing through the puzzles as quickly as possible. Each puzzle involves doing a simple task, a la Wario Ware, but the game somehow feels much less intuitive than Nintendo's fast-paced microgame collection. Maybe if I were a more careful reader, I would've noticed that I had to repeat a certain image sequence backwards, instead of spending a few minutes feeling like a complete moron. The game feels a lot like Wario Ware in many ways: the game is short, fast-paced, and very simple--almost to a fault. The graphics certainly won't win any awards, and although they get the job done, it's still somewhat disappointing to see such an uninspired look throughout the game. Your Mii can be seen throughout the game, but they serve little more than hovering decapitated avatars. The game's not particularly great, nor is it bad. It'll certainly serve as little more than an innocent way of killing a little bit of time.
Fable 2: Man's best friend
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/New_Fable_2_feature_a_dog'; Though his calm and and exceedingly eloquent manner might suggest a more languid pace, Peter Molyneux wastes little time when raising expectations -- and he knows it. "I'm going to get into trouble for saying this," says the British game designer before launching into his Fable 2 GDC presentation. "If we don't think it's going to be a landmark game, it's going to be bloody pointless to make it." Several moments later, I find myself thinking about what a horribly cruel man he is.And that's a good thing. You see, one of Fable 2's key features is, well, a dog. Not some sort of magical beast or a disturbing, anthropomorphic St. Bernard. A tail-wagging, ball-chasing, honest-to-goodness dog. Fable's gesture system makes a return here, with petting and cries of scorn eliciting different reactions from the dog. At one point, Peter's on-screen character screams and waves his hands menacingly at the dog, frightening it into a quivering pile of fur. It seems mean, but the press members in the room chuckle appreciatively. Those monsters.
GDC 07:The Ward sneaks into the news
Brand new for GDC week -- The Ward, a horror-themed FPS-plus set in a hospital. Developer Renegade Kid is brand new and looks to be bursting out of the gate with this one. Per their website, the company only received an official stamp of approval last month, and they're already showing off a (very short) teaser for the game. The Ward both sounds and looks interesting, and while the idea of waking up in a world gone wrong isn't particularly new, a game doesn't necessarily have to be the most original idea to be good. If we're to believe the developers, The Ward is an ambitious undertaking. "We're pushing the Nintendo DS to its' limits, with chilling environments, demented enemy characters, and real-world weapons all realized in 3D," says Gregg Hargrove, owner and Art Director at Renegade Kid. The nominal FPS is also set to contain many other gameplay elements, such as touchscreen exploration (a la adventure gaming?), puzzles, and oh, hey ... multiplayer!That's a lot of goodness out of nowhere. Let's hope it delivers! The Ward is set for this fall, if it finds a publisher, and our man on the floor at GDC, Andrew Yoon, is going to see if he can't find these guys for a closer look. After the jump, you can check out the teaser trailer and more screens.
A very early look at Schizoid
Among the news from GDC we learned that the first ever XNA created game Schizoid will be coming to the XBLA sometime later this year. 1UP posted some screenshots from the game and talked with a few people from Torpex's dev team to learn a little bit more about the gameplay. Per Microsoft, Schizoid is "a co-op action game in which teamwork matters like never before, as gamers and their friend or AI ally protect each other from barrages of glowing enemies". Presumably, the game is heavy on the co-op gameplay, where each player can only kill their corresponding color's enemies and protect their partner from the evil that they cannot kill. Think top down space shooter, with color coded gameplay, and a little bit of fl0w thrown in for good measure. Make the jump for a few more screenshots and some speculation goodness.[Via Game Stooge]
MIDI is the future of game audio
Jason Page and Michael Kelly spoke to GDC attendees about creating next-generation audio on the PS3. In a surprising discussion, Sony's Jason Page admitted that the future of video game music may be based in technology that's considered antiquated by most: MIDI. Many developers have been moving away from MIDI to pre-recorded, orchestrated background music, but in the process, the interactivity of game music has been sacrificed. The incredible processing power of the next-generation consoles has changed the rules of MIDI: gone are the days where MIDI sounds like R2-D2 singing. MIDI samples used by consoles can be just as good, if not better, than the samples used on dedicated synthesizers. Because MIDI loads in real-time, it retains the interactivity that composers like Koji Kondo would need, and it would allow games to load more quickly. MIDI in the next-generation could potentially retain the same fidelity that an orchestrated score might have. With the increasing need for interactive 5.1 and 7.1 music and audio in games, the sound of "chip music" may change quite drastically in this new console generation. [Update 1: Corrected name source: Jason Page is from Sony, not Dolby.]
GDC: CliffyB wants Jazz Jackrabbit on XBLA
Speaking at GDC, Cliff Bleszinski, the mad genius behind Gears of War, noted that he'd like to see his classic platformer, Jazz Jackrabbit, on Xbox Live Arcade. Cliffy noted that many people have told him the game would be good for Live arcade. "Honestly, I'd love to see it, too," said Bleszinski, but noted that Epic is too busy to take on the task themselves. "If anybody knows a person out there that can do it for us, more power to them," he said, stating that Epic was currently focusing on Unreal Tournament 3 and a "potential sequel" to Gears of War. "Potential sequel," by the way, was said with tongue planted firmly in cheek.So, any developers out there want to take on Jazz Jackrabbit?
GDC Awards: Gears takes home the hardware
The GDC's Game Developer's Choice Awards were announced last night and our very own Gears of War came away with a handful of metal statuettes. Gears walked off stage with a few trophies for best in technology, visual arts, and of course game of the year. Gamespot reports that when Cliffy B went on stage to accept the game of the year trophy for Gears he, in all his Cliffy B glory, exclaimed "holy sh**!". We congratulate you Epic Games (again) for the numerous awards you've received for Gears of War. Though, you'll probably have to invest in a new trophy case pretty soon.
GDC 07: Miyamoto keynote reveals design inspiration
Shigeru "The Man" Miyamoto has just finished speaking at the GDC in San Francisco. A massive crowd waited for the famed Nintendo designer to discuss the inspirations behind his game designs. See how Mii evolved from early NES concept, and read about a brand new Wii channel that Miyamoto is working on. The full Nintendo Wii/DS Fanboy liveblogging transcript is available after the break.
