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June 27, 2011

Adventure mode nixed from Minecraft 1.7

Creator Markus 'Notch' Persson has announced that the fortcoming 1.7 update for Minecraft will not feature the intriguing and hotly anticipated adventure mode on which he and developer Mojang has been working. "Me and Jens [Bergensten] have been independently working on stuff for the adventure update, and it’s been growing in scope as we’ve been working on it. That means it will take quite some time to finish, but that it will hopefully change the game a lot to the better." 1.7, which will released 'soon', will therefore only feature bug fixes and the new addition of pistons, which are pretty exciting in themselves, as they will allow players to create mechanical devices. Adventure will follow in version 1.8.
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/6969771554/back-in-the-office-and-some-words-on-1-7-and-1-8
The Word of Notch


Yu Suzuki leaving Sega management role

Shenmue and Outrun creator Yu Suzuki is to leave his management position at Sega's AM2 studio in September. Suzuki will remain at Sega as an advisor, but will concentrate on his own company, YS Net.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/24/yu-suzuki-leaving-management-role-at-sega-in-september/
Joystiq


Star Wars Galaxies to go offline in December

Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts have announced that MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies' servers will be switched off on December 15. All services related to the game - including the trading card game - will cease, apparently making way for BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic. An SOE statement regarding the decision read: "We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans. We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online gaming communities and we truly appreciate the support we've received from each and every one of you over the course of the past eight years." The statement went on to hint at an apocalyptic event to close the curtains on the game: "We also plan to go out with a bang with a galaxy-ending in-game event in December and hope to see you all there."
http://www.soe.com/
Sony Online Entertainment

 


Ocarina Of Time 3D preserves N64 bugs

Speaking during the latest Iwata Asks interview, Shun Moriya, a programmer at The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D developer Grezzo, has revealed that the studio deliberately retained some of the N64 version's bugs for posterity. "The staff members who had played the old game said the bugs were fun!" he said. "We were like, 'What?!' It wouldn’t be fun if your friends couldn’t say, 'Do you know about this?' So we left them in if they didn’t cause any trouble and were beneficial." Anything that might break the game was removed, albeit reluctantly: "If something simply could not be allowed to stand, we begrudgingly fixed it, so some bugs don’t appear, but we left in as many as we could, so people will grin over that."
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/3/0
Iwata Asks

 


Report: Microsoft preparing Live free-to-play

Xbox 360 manufacturer discussing microtransaction deals with developers according to sources.

Microsoft is preparing a free-to-play service for Xbox Live, incorporating Microsoft point-funded microtransactions, according to Develop sources.

The sources claim that Microsoft is courting developers to discuss possible free-to-play game deals monetised through either in-game purchases or premium upgrade options.

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LulzSec disbands after parting shot

Hacking group publishes user details from EA's Battlefield Heroes beta.

Hacking group LulzSec has disbanded following one last attack on EA's free-to-play Battlefield Heroes beta. Announcing an end to its activities via Twitter and a statement posted on a file sharing site, the group said that its "planned 50 day cruise has expired."

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June 24, 2011

Relentless on Kinect and iOS

Company co-founder Andrew Eades discusses free-to-play and new opportunities.

Until late last year, Brighton studio Relentless Software had spent its entire seven year history bound by an exclusivity deal with Sony.

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Relentless on Kinect and iOS

Company co-founder Andrew Eades discusses free-to-play and new opportunities.

Until late last year, Brighton studio Relentless Software had spent its entire seven year history bound by an exclusivity deal with Sony.

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HTML5 still lagging behind Flash

High-end mobile browser gaming still some way off as research finds HTML5 routinely outperformed by Flash.

Despite constantly being touted for some time as the future for mobile gaming, new research has shown that HTML5 remains some way behind Flash in terms of performance.

Software architect Sean Christmann used his benchmarking tool, GUIMark, to assess the current disparity in performance between HTML5 and Flash on nine different mobile devices.

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Bungie's Marathon set for iPad

The Halo developer's 1994 sci-fi FPS is to be released on iPad, with the port being handled by lone independent developer Daniel Blezek. He has ported the game's original source code to iOS, and says his conversion runs at a steady 30 frames per second. “Digging into this code base to make the port happen and follow the iOS conventions was a huge effort,” he said. "It was months before the code even built without errors.”
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=marathon_ipad
Bungie


The Friday Game: The Outsider

Gothic horror gets the point-and-click treatment as Lovecraft is reworked in Flash.

If the short story, as John Updike argued, is a room upon whose walls a number of fake doors have been placed, then a videogame adaptation offers it the chance to be transformed into a series of rooms upon whose walls a number of locked doors have been placed. That’s certainly been the fate of H. P. Lovecraft’s famously ghoulish tale The Outsider.

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Duke Nukem retains Nordic top spot

Holds onto number one for a second week despite the release of Ocarina Of Time 3D.

Duke Nukem Forever is number one in the Nordic chart, which collates sales data from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, for a second successive week.

The Take-Two shooter, which became a byword for protracted development before Borderlands developer Gearbox Software was finally able to finish off the work started in 1997 by 3D Realms, retains top spot despite the release of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D, which makes its debut in third.

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HMV offers discounts over StreetPass

The UK retailer has devised an innovative use for the 3DS's social application: take your system into a participating branch - see the source link for the full list - collect an HMV store Mii, show it to staff and get 10 per cent off the purchase of a 3DS game.
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?pPageID=5235
HMV


Thatgamecompany confirms Journey beta

The developer announces that its upcoming PSN title Journey will undergo a "very limited, private beta", with details to be posted to its Facebook page and the PlayStation Blog next Monday.
http://twitter.com/#!/thatgamecompany/status/84046392833748992
Twitter


Gamefest tickets on sale

Tickets for UK retailer Game's first consumer show, to be held at the Birmingham NEC from September 16 to 18, are now on sale, priced at £10 for those over 12 years of age and £5 for under-12s. Only Game reward card holders can purchase tickets - those without one can sign up at www.game.co.uk or at any Game store. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, THQ, Bethesda, Activision and Sega will all have a presence at the show, with attendees able to get their hands on those firms' latest wares. Click the source link for more.
http://events.game.co.uk/gamefest/
Game


Sony facing fresh class-action suit

Court filing accuses Sony of laying off security staff shortly before the attack.

Sony is facing yet another lawsuit over its handling of the April attack on PSN which resulted in the personal data of over 100 million users being stolen.

Reuters reports that the lawsuit, a proposed class action filed at San Diego federal court this week, makes fresh claims that Sony did not do enough to protect its customers' data, and knew it was at risk because it had previously suffered smaller security breaches.

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King Of Kong director to remake WarGames

Deadline reports that Seth Gordon, director of the 2007 documentary about Steve Wiebe's Donkey Kong world record attempt The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters, is to remake WarGames, the 1983 Matthew Broderick film about a computer prodigy who inadvertently hacks into US military systems and almost starts World War III. Wouldn't he prefer a nice game of chess?
http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/king-of-kong-director-seth-gordon-ready-to-play-war-games-in-mgm-reboot/
Deadline


Japanese PSN still offline

Western gamers have had full access to Sony's online service, PlayStation Network, for three weeks, but those in Japan are still awaiting its return. Andriasang reports that Sony has issued a brief statement regarding the continuing outage, in which it apologises and explains that more time is needed to make adjustments with various related parties. While declining to go into detail it seems safe to assume that Sony is yet to satisfy regulators that it has made sufficient changes made to improve PSN security to ensure no repeat of the April attack that resulted in the personal details of over 100 million users being stolen.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/24/sony_psn_notice/
Andriasang


Japanese PSN still offline

Western gamers have had full access to Sony's online service, PlayStation Network, for three weeks, but those in Japan are still awaiting its return. Andriasang reports that Sony has issued a brief statement regarding the continuing outage, in which it apologises and explains that more time is needed to make adjustments with various related parties. While declining to go into detail it seems safe to assume that Sony is yet to satisfy regulators that it has made sufficient changes made to improve PSN security to ensure no repeat of the April attack that resulted in the personal details of over 100 million users being stolen.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/24/sony_psn_notice/
Andriasang


Team Fortress 2 goes free-to-play

Valve's shooter the latest and highest profile game to embrace freemium.

Class-based multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 has made the switch to the free-to-play model, developer Valve has announced.

Valve recently opened up its Steam platform to free-to-play games, and just this week admitted it was at work on a free-to-play title of its own. Few expected, however, that an announcement was just around the corner, or that Valve's first free-to-play project would be one of the most popular multiplayer shooters around.

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Dungeon Siege III review

Obsidian's RPG can't match its competitors' polish, but it certainly doesn't lack soul.

To truly appreciate what Obsidian Entertainment brings to Dungeon Siege III, you need to speak to the automaton standing watch at the mechanical gates to the city of Stonebridge. His animation is limited, his character model is lacking in detail and, to tell the truth, the location he guards isn’t a particularly rewarding place to explore. Yet, if you ask him to tell you a little about his home town, along with the usual fantasy shtick about goblins and men forging alliances, he’ll also admit that Stonebridge is home to hundreds of feral house cats.

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June 23, 2011

Plants Vs Zombies hits Windows Phone 7

PopCap announces that its typically unique take on the tower defence genre is now available for Microsoft's mobile operating system through the Must Have Games promotion. The £3.99 download includes adventure mode, zen garden, all of the PC original's minigames, and two modes - Vasebreaker and iZombie - that are making a first appearance on mobile devices. It also supports Xbox Live for Windows Phone for leaderboards and achievements.
http://www.popcap.com/
PopCap


Valve takes Portal 2 to school

Gabe Newell reveals plans for a special version of the Portal 2 authoring tools for use in the classroom. "If you give us a lesson plan, we can give you a tool that allows kids to build content to lock down those lessons," he told Joystiq.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/22/portal-2-authoring-tools-for-schools-newell-explains/
Joystiq


LA Noire headed to PC

Take-Two confirms that the Team Bondi-developed detective adventure game which was released last month for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be released for PC this autumn. Developed by Rockstar Leeds, the PC version will offer keyboard remapping, gamepad functionality, and 3D support.
http://ir.take2games.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86428&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1578005&highlight=
Take-Two


Levine wary of "enforced" motion control

Bioshock creator Ken Levine tells OXM that motion control should always be "firewalled off", and never forced on players. "Any experience that sits in the realm of motion play needs to be kept separate from the main experience," he said. "What you don't want to do is add something in and enforce it on anybody."
http://www.oxm.co.uk/30660/bioshock-infinite-dev-we-need-to-protect-traditional-gaming-from-motion-play/
OXM


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