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'Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled' gets a dinosaur-themed grand prix
If you've already mastered Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, the game has another challenge for you. When Activision and Beenox revealed their revival of the Naughty Dog classic last month, they kicked off the Nitro Grand Prix. With that first race complete, Activision is ready to launch the second: the Back N. Time Grand Prix.
'TimeSplitters' is coming back
British console game TimeSplitters saw massive popularity in the 2000s. Its humor, artistic style and cheeky pop culture references earned the three-game series a passionate fan base, but despite its success, the title subsequently lay dormant. Until now. Maybe. The series has been bought by Koch Media -- which has built an entire business out of buying and reviving old franchises like this -- and it sounds like they're planning to do something with it.
TCL is reportedly reviving Palm with new devices in 2018
Chinese electronics company TCL boldly claimed it would release devices under the BlackBerry name to revive the brand, and its recently-released KEYone smartphone proved them right. But according to Android Planet, the company is eyeing another classic tech name to resurrect: Palm. And they could have new devices under its name by 2018.
'The X-Files' is coming back, again
It would be hard not to draw a line between the world's current obsession with daft conspiracy theories and the first broadcast of The X-Files. More than 20 years after the era-defining series began, Fox has announced that it's producing another 10 episode run of the show. The eleventh season of The X-Files will air on the channel as an "event" towards the end of this year or the start of the next.
Crowdfunded 'Star Trek: DS9' documentary imagines a new season
The creators and stars of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have launched an Indiegogo campaign to produce a documentary about the show. What We Left Behind will tell the story of the third fourth Star Trek series as told by (most of) the people who made it. More than that, however, the film has assembled the show's writing team (including Ronald D. Moore) to map out what a mythical eighth season of the show would look like. Sadly, the AV Club beat us two pointing out that this is basically that Portlandia sketch, but in real life.
The new 'Gilmore Girls' series comes to Netflix on November 25th
You either love Gilmore Girls or you can't stand it, but those that are fans are very excited the show is coming back on Netflix. Now, some nine months after the show was first rumored to be revived, we have a release date and the first proper sneak preview of the show. The nostalgia-ridden clip shows off various points around the town of Stars Hollow and then cuts to Lorelai and Rory sitting at the kitchen table, talking nonsense. Yeah it's a bit more modern because they're discussing Amy Schumer and Rory Googles something with her iPhone, but the vibe is still there.
'MST3K' needs Kickstarter cash to make its comeback
If there's a much-loved but commercially unsuccessful TV show with enough of a fanbase, then someone's probably tried to resurrect it on Kickstarter. Now, following in the success of Veronica Mars and Thunderbirds 1965, Joel Hodgson is going to use the platform to bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000. He's looking to raise anything up to $5.5 million in the hope of producing a whole new season of 12 episodes mocking classic movies. It's hoped that, after demonstrating that there's enough of an audience out there, a cable channel or online service will help bankroll future episodes after that.
Revival talks about death, decoration, and defenses
You remember Revival, right? You know, the game funding its development by selling in-game houses? That one. The developers haven't been quiet over the holiday season, with several recent blog posts detailing the high-end concepts behind several of the game's key mechanics -- for example, dying, which doesn't simply leave you to run back to your corpse but forces you to traverse the spirit realm, fighting off malicious spirits and seeking the Mortality Gate to drag yourself back from the dead. Of course, you can stay alive longer by making use of combat mechanics like the shield wall to defend yourself from dying. You can also use your continued "being alive" status to take advantage of the decoration kits available for housing, which allow you to convert existing rooms with certain fixtures to more functional equivalents. It's all interesting stuff and worth considering if you're sorely tempted to drop a bunch of money on the promise of virtual real estate.
Revival launches its site, aims to sell houses for cash
Revival has just opened the doors to its official site, and it's a sandbox online game with skill-based progression. Or it will be, at least. Contrary to what you would expect from that description in the first sentence, though, there is not a Kickstarter to link to. Instead, the game is planning to help fund itself by selling houses. In-game houses. For real-world cash, right upfront, before the game is out and in the live world. According to the official site, the rationale is that real estate in the game world is limited, and rather than have generic housing templates, every house has pre-determined architecture and layout to properly fit with the world as a whole. You will also be able to buy ships and take part in sailing, again for real-world money. It's the designer's alternative to ever running any sort of Kickstarter or other crowdfunding campaign; whether or not it seems like a sound investment is up to the potential players. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Massively Interview: How Eleven is fighting to bring Glitch back
The Massively staffers were delighted to hear that one of our favorite quirky browser MMOs might be coming back from the dead. Fan projects such as Eleven and Children of Ur, the latter of which is in a playable pre-alpha, are often at an extreme disadvantage with such resurrection projects, as they can lack legality, resources, and access to the original code. However, in this particular case, it looks as though Glitch might be a go for a return, as Tiny Speck has blessed player efforts and released the source code and art assets to help out. Of course, this doesn't mean that there isn't a huge mountain of obstacles to surmount, but if anyone's to do it it, it might very well be the Eleven team. We reached out to Project Lead Jim Condren and several members of his team to get a better feel for where the project is at and when we might be playing Glitch once more.
Knock-Knock dev plagues us with Pathologic teaser [Update]
Dear Knock-Knock developer Ice Pick Lodge, stop freaking us out already. We know you discussed a revival of your 2005 psychological horror game Pathologic back in December, but we didn't think you were serious about it. Now you have this live-action teaser trailer called "Feverish Feeling," and we weren't sure what to think once we saw it. It turns out that feeling is pretty creepy, and not the sort of fever we were hoping for. Knock-Knock was one thing, and we kept our lights on a good four months after that, but now you're talking about The Black Death pandemic and putting viewers in a simulated, contaminated environment to force them to make decisions quickly. Pathologic made us complete quests to find the source of The Sand Plague and make decisions that impacted its meta-narrative. Based on the countdown timer ticking away on your teaser site, we'll learn more about this reanimation on Friday, September 4. Update: Pathologic's teaser countdown ends on September 4, not August 29. We've adjusted the article accordingly. [Image: Ice Pick Lodge]
Asheron's Call 2 producer weighs in on the revived game
It's always a sad day when a game you worked on shuts down. You shed your tears and move on, most likely wishing you could have the game back but knowing it's gone for good. But Asheron's Call 2 has come back against all odds, and while it's not yet clear what the future will hold for the dead-and-revived game, former producer Eric Heimburg quickly jumped in to see how well the game holds up in a more modern sense. Heimburg's main complaints are that the game's interface hasn't held up very well (requiring players to click through several screens just to compare item stats) and the huge world can lead to some travel issues. He also shares some insights regarding some of the strange elements of the beta, including the absence of a friend list feature. It's an interesting look not just behind the scenes of a game no one expected to return, but at the differences between a game long remembered and the game that actually existed. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
The Game Archaeologist: When dead MMOs come back to life
Maybe I'm alone in this, but my jaw just dropped when I came home this past week to see that Massively posted the news that Shadowbane is coming back to life. Granted, it's only going to happen in China, but still, that's pretty incredible. Shadowbane's been in the ground for three years now, and if I had to pick an MMO that deserved resurrection, this particular one would be farthest from my mind (no offense if you liked the game; it's just that there are so many others that are even more worthy). But how can this not give you hope? Many of us have lost an MMO we loved or at least had a decked-out character populating the character select screen, and the thought of that game coming back against all odds is a goosebump-rising one. It may also smack of justice served, as some MMOs fail not because of faulty gameplay but because of mismanagement by the studio, complex legal wrangling, or bad marketing. Today let's look at a few examples of dead MMOs that were brought back to life and what this may mean for the future of the industry. Zombie MMOs! Not, you know, MMOs with zombies.
The Daily Grind: What dead game would you play in a second if it revived?
Amidst all of the new games being released and the veteran titles still chugging along, it can be easy on occasion to overlook the titles that are no longer with us. Games like Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault, and The Matrix Online all had fans, but they are no longer available for players to enjoy in any form, leaving some with memories and others with the wish that they had tried it when they had the chance. So which games would you jump on if you had the chance again? What games stick out as ones that you wish you had tried or seem like old friends that are now sadly departed? We've seen a lot of closures over the past several years, ranging from small free-to-play titles to a few high-profile departures, so there's almost certainly one game you can think of that's no longer with us. What dead game would you play if it got a revival? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Dreamcast resurrection: classic Sega titles coming to XBLA and PSN later this year
The Dreamcast lives on! Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure are reviving Sega's final console, only this time on Microsoft and Sony's hardware. They are the two inaugural titles that will hit the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network later this year, to be followed by other classics from Sega's better days. As the now software-only company tells it, you'll basically be getting the original games, replete with (slightly) higher-res visuals, surround sound, online leaderboards, and Trophy and Achievement integration. We don't know what pricing will be like just yet, but Sonic Adventure will be coming at us in time for the 11th anniversary of the Dreamcast's original launch in the US (September 9, 1999).
Syndicate creator skeptical of a series revival
Syndicate creator Sean Cooper says he remains skeptical any revival of his 1993 cult-classic title will be able to capture the "essence" of the original. "Every time I've seen a prototype of a new Syndicate it's just been misguided," Cooper told IncGamers.In October 2008, rumors swirled about the possibility of Riddick dev Starbreeze reviving the Electronic Arts property. Last March, GI.biz stated that "sources confirmed" the rumor was true. No official announcement has ever been made.According to Cooper, Electronic Arts has attempted to revisit the real-time tactics title many times in the past, citing memories of failed prototypes brought to his attention. However, Cooper fears EA won't be able to capture what made the original so popular: "The essence of the game was killing people - and that was it," Cooper said. "If I have to kill everyone, I will. That to me was the essence of the gameplay."Syndicate was developed by Bullfrog Productions, a company co-founded by Microsoft Game Studios Europe creative director Peter Molyneux. In 2006, Syndicate was included in the PSP-exclusive compilation EA Replay -- unfortunately, it was a terrible version.
Hellgate: London is dead, for real this time
It's up! It's down! It's up! It's down! It's... sideways?That's the story for the ever growing saga of Hellgate: London in a nutshell. This time, however, it's not coming back and there should be no more rumors that it is coming back. HanbitSoft, the Asian publisher of the game, has finally clarified to GameCyte that they do not have the publishing rights to Hellgate: London in the United States or Europe, just in Asia, excluding Japan.Currently those rights are held by Namco-Bandai, who have made the decision to shut down the Hellgate servers as of February 1st.So it's not coming back. Even though it will still have press releases in English and have updates being made by a US developer, it's not coming back. However, if you really want to play, we suggest moving to Asia, as it will still be going strong over there.
