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LA Noire team's 'Whore of the Orient' headed next-gen, published by WB
A new website for LA Noire dev Team Bondi's next game, Whore of the Orient, popped up this morning (as discovered by OPM), along with new information about the barely mentioned "great untold story." The game is headed to "next generation games consoles and PC" with Warner Bros. Interactive as publisher.The game's set in 1936 Shanghai, China – "Whore of the Orient. Paris of the East," as the website calls it. A "group of Western cops hopelessly trying to keep the lid on and keep the peace" seems to be the focal point of the game (the group's known as the "International Police Force"), though it's unclear exactly what kind of game it is. It sounds to be just as hard-boiled as Team Bondi's last effort, LA Noire, and the gritty look of the image above incurs the same comparison.Team Bondi leader Brendan McNamara is once again at the head of the project, leading the remnants of LA Noire's dev team picked up by Kennedy Miller Mitchell.
Paul Dini explains absence from next Batman game
Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City writer Paul Dini isn't working on the next Batman game from Rocksteady, but we already knew that much. However, other than some vague tweets, we didn't know why that was the case. The reason turns out to be much less thrilling than any of his Batman scripts: "The last talk I had with Warner Interactive about future games was while I was doing promotion for Arkham City last September. Naturally as there was such a rush of interest about Arkham City, everyone was asking me about a third game, and frankly, I had been wondering about that myself. When I asked about the possibility of working on a third game I was told that as Rocksteady had just finished wrapping the second one, it would be a while before everyone was ready to sit down and discuss future plans. That said, it was intimated that for future games, Warner and Rocksteady might not be looking as much to freelance writers, the message being, that if I had something else interesting coming my way, I might want to take it."Dini says he wasn't included in Arkham City's DLC projects, and he hasn't been tapped for work on the rumored Silver Age-themed Batman game, said to be Rocksteady's next project. He's since taken on other work that makes him "unavailable to take on anything new until 2013." He's not bitter, though, even noting that "If we wind up working together again at some point, that would be cool, too."
Guardians of Middle-earth brings MOBA to XBLA and PSN
Monolith Productions has one of the most varied histories in video game development. The studio first cut its teeth on first-person shooters, finding a cult hit in the popular No One Lives Forever series. Then, it was a vast experiment with The Matrix Online, before coming back to shooters with the Fear and Condemned series of games. And now, the company's trying to reinvent itself yet again with two licensed downloadable titles for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment: first Gotham City Imposters from earlier this year, and now Guardians of Middle-earth.Guardians of Middle-earth is a weird one. It's a licensed Lord of The Rings title, starring characters from Tolkien's series. It's a MOBA game, similar to League of Legends or DOTA 2, featuring Tolkien's characters fighting it out across a battlefield full of AI-controlled troops. And it's a complicated, deep online multiplayer title, designed for competitive play."What's so weird about that?" you ask? It's being developed only for consoles.%Gallery-157247%
The first Guardians of Middle-earth trailer puts LOTR's celebs in a fight to the death
Wondering what that DOTA-inspired Lord of the Rings game, Guardians of Middle-earth, will look like? So are we, as the first trailer for the game is little more than a who's who of LOTR, and features zero actual gameplay. But hey, Gollum's got a big rock! Don't you go taking his precious!
Batman gets a big head in this Arkham City Easter egg
Wondering how to take Batman's already Arkham-sized head and make it into something more Gotham-sized? The Rooster Teeth folks have figured it out, releasing a tell-all video (watch out for the F-bomb!) on Batman: Arkham City's "Big Head Mode," which can apparently be applied using the Cryptography Sequencer. The guys warn that the mode is only available in "Normal or higher" difficulties, though it'll also work in New Game Plus mode. Essentially, by holding down both triggers and maneuvering each analog stick in opposite circles of movement, the Big Head mode Easter egg will activate, rendering all forms of Batman and Catwoman (as well as enemies) with enormous noggins and puffy hands. And yes, in case you can't watch the video above just yet, it is absolutely adorable. [Thanks, Geoff.]
Warner Bros. makes cuts across Seattle studios
A WB Games representative this evening confirmed to Joystiq that the publisher has "had to make reductions" across its Seattle-based studios this week. The layoffs were apparently a result of the publisher's "continual review of our business operations and fluctuating market conditions," and no specific studios were named in the comment. We first heard of potential firings at the company from 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard's Twitter account, which puts the cuts at "60ish" folks in the studio's Seattle studios (which includes Monolith Productions, Snowblind Studios and Surreal Software). The latest release from WB Games Seattle was this week's Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
Batman: Arkham City swoops to PC on November 18
Warner Bros. has deemed today the day to reveal Batman: Arkham City's delayed PC launch date as November 18, one month to the day after its arrival on consoles. The Games for Windows version was delayed last month via a terse WB announcement, which didn't provide an explanation at the time. We can exclusively reveal why today: Bruce Wayne is exhausted, y'all. He's got a lot going on, between film and TV and video games, and he just needed a few weeks to chill. Okay, that and PC version bug fixes.
Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster preview: A children's game for adults
I'll let you in on a little secret about me and Double Fine's next game, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster -- I played it back at E3, but unfortunately let my preview writeup fall to the wayside as the days after the big show continued. What's more shameful is that it was essentially the best game I played at E3, so I was more than happy to check out a new area at Gamescom and get a second opportunity to speak about it. A chance for redemption, if you will. Luckily, nothing has changed, and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster remains a magical experience two months later.%Gallery-130943%
MMO Family: A parent's look at LEGO Universe
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Most kids who play video games have at least seen one from the LEGO franchise. There are a ton of them -- enough, in fact, for a whole page listing them. They're fun games; I'll bet you've played at least one of them, at least in bits and pieces in a demo somewhere. After all, who doesn't love LEGOs? Still, there was a decided "ho-hum" reaction among my team of young playtesters when I announced we were going to test the ropes of the brand new LEGO Universe MMO. Oh sure, they were willing enough, but it seemed there was always something shinier and more appealing to play on any given day than the game about good ol' LEGOs. Until they played LEGO Universe -- and had a (brick-)smashing good time.%Gallery-105603%
Video: new Looney Tunes ACME Arsenal trailer
Revealed at the beginning of the year, a new trailer has surfaced for Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal from Warner Brothers. Thankfully, the game actually looks halfway decent. What we see is essentially standard fare for action platformers, but it looks well done at least. The character models look very nice and the backgrounds are appropriately cartoony (we especially dig Wackyland). There are also plenty of outlandish weapons available (including a massive triple minigun). All in all, it's looking like a faithful rendition of some of our favorite characters. Here's hoping someone has the sense to put a budget price on it.Update: Corrected game title.
Promising Looney tunes screens
The new gen Warner Brothers game, Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal was announced only three days ago, and now we bring you the first screens courtesy of our friends at Xboxygen. Earlier, we noted our apprehension concerning an announced redesign of the Looney Tunes characters. We're generally wary of any attempt at redesigning something to appeal to "the kids" -- especially so given recent poor decisions regarding Looney Tunes characters. Imagine our surprise when the screen shots revealed very faithful renders of some of our favorite characters. Granted, we expected some cel shading, but what we've been given is more than enough to lay our fears to rest. The screens show what looks like a fairly standard brawler with projectile weapons. And yes, Daffy is getting ready to throw a pie. Oh, we hope this game can live up to its pedigree. Hit the "read" link for two more shots, including Bugs Bunny and Gossamer.
