As Square Enix Group worldwide technology director, Julien Merceron must oversee a great deal of development projects, managing the tech needed to create them. At last month's Develop conference, he told us that while budgetary and staffing limitations mean that bespoke engines aren't always possible, ensuring teams have access to tools that don't inhibit their visions takes precedence.
The Adventures Of Shuggy is by all accounts a buoyant little platform-puzzler with ever-changing mechanics and a cheery sense of its own nonsense. To deal in crude numbers: on this website it rated an enthusiastic seven, and we were trailing a little below the critical average. But then there are those other numbers - the ones that really matter: sales. For all the goodwill towards it, the game has barely troubled the charts since it became available for download on XBLA in June.
Zak Gorman’s pithy illustrations cut right to the essence of the games he draws, an observation cemented by the fact that most of his strips end in horrible, horrible death. Have a look at his personal blog for some animated game illustrations too.
NCSoft has announced Wildstar, a new MMOG developed by Californian developer Carbine Studios, and in an unusual move has a playable build of the game at this week's Gamescom event in Cologne.
Wildstar casts players as one of four character classes - explorer, soldier, scientist and settler - and tasks them with laying claim to a mysterious planet in the farthest reaches of known space. The announcement kicks off a big week for NCSoft, which also has a new playable build of ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 at Gamescom.
When Chris Taylor’s Gas Powered Games took over development duties on Age Of Empires Online in early 2011, it felt like Albert Einstein giving up on the unified field theory to open a doughnut shop. Taylor is best known as the creator of Supreme Commander, a vast, stubborn and mentally demanding strategy game. By comparison, Age Of Empires Online is aiming to be a sugary snack; a cute, colourful, free to play crowd-pleaser.