GDC2013
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Havok announces Project Anarchy, a new development engine for mobile gaming
Havok's involved itself with mobile gaming for a few years and it's now taken to this year's GDC to announce Project Anarchy. This new cross-platform mobile dev engine will include access to its own physics, animation and AI tools -- the same as those apparently used in notable series like Skyrim, Assassin's Creed and, er, Skylanders. It will also integrate Havok's Vision engine, adding in "game samples" and tutorials to ease mobile devs into crafting plenty of beautiful mobile games that hopefully involve less bird physics and approach something resembling our (admittedly zealous) mock-up above. We're itching to see those beastly smartphone processors pushed to their limits.
Sony announces more indie partnerships, Blacklight: Retribution and Primal Carnage: Genesis for PS4
At GDC 2013 Sony has decided to focus on its relationships with indie developers, revealing free-to-play PC shooter Blacklight: Retribution and episodic adventure Primal Carnage: Genesis are coming to the PlayStation 4. That makes three self-published games destined for Sony's next-gen console, including Jonathan Blow's The Witness. Blacklight: Retribution is also making use of Sony's Pub Fund for marketing support, the first game on the platform to do so. Sony hasn't forgotten about its existing platforms however, also announcing Spelunky and Divekick for PS3 and Vita, Metrico for Vita, and the handheld debut of Limbo on Vita later this year. Check after the break for a press release that details the announcements, plus trailers for several of the new games.
Stay seated: Valve's Team Fortress 2 ported to virtual reality
If Valve Software's Team Fortress 2 is anything, it's versatile. The company's demonstrating that versatility once more in porting the game to virtual reality goggles, which could result in some serious psychological trauma. Kidding aside, a Game Developers Conference blurb today revealed the internal project -- part of Valve's ongoing wearable computing efforts -- which says the talk, "will describe lessons learned from Valve's porting experience." In another talk, Valve hardware man Michael Abrash is diving into the possibilities he sees in the future of VR, as viewed through his own company's experience. It isn't clear whether Valve is using the much-loved Oculus Rift technology (seen above); the notes of the second talk only detail a general exploration of VR's weaknesses and strengths as they pertain to current technology. One thing is clear: both talks aim to educate game developers on what some Valve employees see as a burgeoning new frontier in game development. We welcome this bizarrely sci-fi future with open arms.
