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EA studio boss would love to revisit Bullfrog IP; EA renews Bullfrog trademarks
In an interview with Kikizo, EA's Bright Light Studio head, Harvey Elliot, mentioned that he would "love" to work on old Bullfrog Productions properties like Populous and Theme Park. Elliot cautiously noted that Bullfrog's classics were "right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now." In other words, he's not entirely keen on "just a 'remake' or something." With a new edition of Bullfrog's Syndicate rumored to be in production at Starbreeze Studios, one might conclude that Harvey isn't the only one at EA looking for "what's right for the time now." And one might conclude even harder when database digger Superannuation finds that Electronic Arts has filed new trademarks for Populous, Theme Park, Wing Commander and Road Rash. Pure speculation? Yes. Highly desirable? Also yes. Source -- Why there's hope for Bullfrog IP returning [Kikizo] Source -- Superannuation
Shane Kim talks mobile-izing Xbox 360, Xbox Live brands
Though it's been quite some time since we last heard anything about a portable gaming device from Microsoft, corporate VP Shane Kim recently reconfirmed to Kikizo that the company is still very interested in the idea. "We're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms ... no question about it," Kim told them in an interview earlier this week.He stresses that, with development for Project Natal underway, Microsoft isn't exactly ponying up for extra resources to make portable Xbox gaming a reality. "If we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like ... Project Natal." Surprisingly, Kim even touches on the always touchy (and often not even mentioned) Live Anywhere initiative, saying, "We talked about Live Anywhere a few years ago ... Live is the connective tissue." From the sounds of things, though Microsoft may very well be thinking about the idea of a gaming handheld in the future, it's not exactly right around the corner. [Image]
BBFC doesn't note racism in submitted Resident Evil 5 scene
The British Board of Film Classification does not see an "issue around racism" in a particular Resident Evil 5 scene that may be considered inflammatory. Kikizo asked the BBFC's communication head, Sue Clark, about a specific scene where a (*minor spoiler warning*) white, blond woman is dragged by a black man and "impregnated" with the virus, in a way that evokes racist imagery.Clark explains that the version of the scene submitted to the BBFC didn't have a black man dragging the woman. She explains that if the scene submitted were not the same as the retail version, it would be "illegal under the terms of the VRA [Video Recordings Act ]." RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi told us in a recent interview that when players finally get their hands on the full game, he believes "they will see and understand what it is all about; that there is no racial element to it at all."
Dyack: Too Human campaign will take "around fifteen hours"
If there was a magic ratio between the amount of time that a game is in development and the length of the final product, many of us would assume that the first installment in Silicon Knight's Norse-inspired trilogy, Too Human, would take roughly ten months to complete. However, Silicon founder Denis Dyack has expressed his concerns with lengthy games in the past, so it should come as no surprise that in a recent interview with gaming site Kikizo, Dyack explained that your first playthrough of his upcoming action/RPG hybrid should take "around fifteen hours".Dyack goes on to explain that in order to hit level fifty (the game's level cap) might take between fifty and eighty hours, and searching for the game's "epic loot" will tack even more time to the title. If the length of Silicon's quickly approaching title doesn't interest you, perhaps Dyack's mad vision of a one-console future, discussed in the same interview, might catch your attention -- if only to make you furiously wonder what a console civil war would look like.
Interview with Peter Moore
Kikizo sat down with Peter Moore for a little chat after X06. In the interview Peter talks about the HD-DVD player, Blue Dragon, why Japan is important to Microsoft, XBLA, Peter Jackson, Live Anywhere, why surfing the web on a TV sucks, and why rumble is important. In his own words, "when you hit the wall at 150 miles an hour, you should feel something." The interview is 24 minutes long and well worth watching. See it after the break.
Playstation 3 hands-on....is 1080p gaming in the cards?
Gaming site Kikizo claim to have gotten some seat time with a PS3 development kit running on near final hardware and have found out some very nice tidbits of information from three separate (unnamed) developers.Among other things, they note that the hardware designs we've seen will likely change before launch, native 1080p games with full effects are unlikely, and that launch games are being designed with a 10x DVD drive in mind. There is also much praise for Sony's machine, with developers noting that it will probably be capable of handling more effects and geometry than the Xbox 360. These statements aren't surprising, 720p will likely be the sweet spot for gaming this generation, anything more than that increases memory needs to an almost impossible level, but the PS3 should be able to scale to match whatever your TV accepts just like the 360.Also worth noting is that the developers they spoke to are targeting a fall launch as most likely. Other recent PS3 news from Joystiq has suggested the 2x Blu-ray drive it is most likely to feature will be the same speed as a 12x DVD player. If developers actually do make a 20GB game we could be looking at loading screens for quite a while. The development kit Kikizo looked at had no Blu-ray drive so they couldn't test those capabilities at all.[Via Evil Avatar forums]
