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Shadow of Mordor enemies less devious on Xbox 360, PS3
Monolith Productions is doing "whatever we can" to ensure feature parity between the Xbox 360, PS3 versions of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and the Xbox One, PS4 offerings. But the developer admits this may be an impossibility and reveals the game's core hook, the Nemesis system driving its procedurally-generated enemies, will likely lack some complexity on Xbox 360 and PS3 when the game launches this year. "To break it down, some of the stuff we're pretty confident will still be very similar on current gen: the core mechanics, like combat, stealth, ranged and movements; the basic control and gameplay, that should all be really solid," Monolith Design Director Michael De Plater told IGN. "What it won't have is the same level of depth and variety and simulation within the 'Nemesis system.'" De Plater added that the Nemesis system is "just so huge in terms of content, calculations and AI we'll just have to try and get as much of it in as we can." The Nemesis system is the mechanic driving Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's core gameplay loop. Protagonist Talion, on a mission of revenge, explores Mordor and isolates Orcs in order to extract information on Sauron's army. This information reveals not only Orc hierarchy, but also the vulnerabilities and strengths of individual Orc commanders, each of which are procedurally-generated by the game. We were able to go in-depth with Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system last month, though admittedly all we saw was the next-gen version running on a high-end PC. Monolith was unwilling to discuss the planned Xbox 360 and PS3 versions at the time. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Ubisoft: EndWar sequel on hold
The news, as presented in EndWar voice-command style: -- VG247, report, EndWar sequel, halted. -- Ubisoft, elaborate, "on the backburner." -- Joystiq, clarify, "on the backburner?" *END TRANSMISSION*
EndWar creator sounds off on 'brutal' holiday market
In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft's Michael de Plater, who served as creative director for EndWar, gave some context for the Q1 2010 release window for the developer's next strategy title, RUSE. It's fairly familiar territory -- de Plater explained, "it's a bit tough to launch a new IP exactly at Christmas when you're head-to-head with blockbuster sequels," and added that the RTS title was following in the footsteps of many other Modern Warfare 2-fearing franchises.That's just the thing, though -- de Plater mentions that the ol' Q1 shuffle is a popular move as of late. We wonder if he (and Ubisoft as a whole) realize that RUSE might have jumped out of the frying pan, and into ... an adjacent frying pan, filled with even more delicious, sizzling bacon.
Tom Clancy's EndWar confirmed for DS
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Tom_Clancy_s_EndWar_confirmed_for_DS'; GameStop was right again.In October, the game retailer listed Tom Clancy's EndWar for the DS, which garnered the attention of DS fans like ourselves. Michael de Plater, the game's creative director, recently confirmed this information to be true at GDC. As of now, it's intended to be released along with the PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP versions. EndWar takes the player to World War III, during a time when most of the world's resources are depleted. Of course, what better way is there to use up the remaining resources than with a war?In this strategy game, you can choose to play as Russia, Europe, or the United States. There's no word yet, though, on what features the DS version will include. No official date has been announced either, but the game is intended for release before March 31, 2009.While we appreciate that Ubisoft is showing the DS some love, is this a game that you would choose to play on your DS over another system?
