At Gamescom prelude GDC Europe in Cologne yesterday, Brian Gomez, design director of the forthcoming Silent Hill: Downpour at Czech developer Vatra, spoke of the importance to the survival horror genre of breaking accepted development conventions.
A cute puzzle game with a cleverly used mechanic, Spacelings is an object lesson in how to make a decent game rather than a great one. Each level begins with a number of Spacelings, usually surrounded by nasty bombs, mines and obtrusive walls, while somewhere else on-screen a spaceship sits with a tractor beam extended. The player controls the direction of the beam, and must suck in the Spacelings while avoiding bombs and mines – simple.
One feature prospective Vita owners want in their new, rear-trackpad, front touch, tilt-controlled device is... a UMD drive?
Perhaps the most convincing Xbox Live phishing attempt we’ve ever seen. You nearly had us, Xbox Modiator.
Anyone buying Football Manager RPG under the impression it's made by Sports Interactive is in for a shock. This is nothing less than the anti-Football Manager: no stats, no tinkering, not even any simulation of matches. The closest equivalent to what it offers is a personality quiz: this is football management with the emphasis on 'man'.
European videogame trade show Gamescom 2011 kicks off this week, taking place in Cologne between August 17 - 22. This year's show is the event's third, and looks set to be its biggest yet with 550 confirmed exhibitors (up ten per cent on last year's event) including companies such as Sega, Sony, Nintendo, Capcom, Microsoft and EA.
Here we detail some of the highlights.
The Xbox 360's life appears to be coming to an end in Japan, with hardware sales falling, retailers beginning to turn their back on the console, and the system's last high-profile Japanese exclusive headed to PlayStation 3.
There is a philosophy of game development that seems to resurface from time to time which asserts the idea that ‘design is law’. Back in 1996 when
John Romero first founded Ion Storm in Dallas, design-as-law may have been an idea that needed its time in the spotlight to help us grapple with dramatic shifts taking place in the industry.
The curious mix of binaural audio, survival horror and traditional adventuring in Somethin’ Else’s iOS adventure Papa Sangre creates an experience quite unlike anything else. At last week's Edinburgh Interactive it came to light that Apple encouraged the developer to sell the game at a premium price, saying it was "worth more than the price of [a] coffee." We sat down with company director of digital, Paul Bennun, to find out more.
Austin-based illustrator J.R. Barker transforms an irritating internet meme into an irritatingly unavailable NES game, working his fantastic illustration into a Konami NES box circa 1988, complete with slightly creased corners. Okay, everybody sing along now: “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!”
In news that will come as no surprise to anyone, Zumba Fitness is once again number one in the UK all-formats software chart.
It's now the ninth straight week that 505 Games' workout title has taken top spot, and the twelfth week in total since its release late last year. Chart compiler UKIE notes that its sales are slowing, dropping seven per cent since last week. Disney Interactive takes the next two spots with Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean and Cars 2.
