In the first of a pair of new interviews with Bethesda leads (look out tomorrow for an interview with marketing VP Pete Hines on Bethesda's past, present and future), we speak to Skyrim game director Todd Howard. He's has had a rich history with the Elder Scrolls series, having project led Morrowind, executive produced Oblivion and helped design Daggerfall. We asked him about the series, hoping its latest incarnation will build on some of its more idiosyncratic attractions.
Zumba Fitness maintains its hold on the UK chart top spot seeing off competition from an ascending Transformers: Dark Of The Moon which this week rises to two.
Dirt 3 slips one place to three after last week's burst of speed, while Call Of Duty: Black Ops finds a spurt of energy and rises from seven to four.
Valve has rolled out an improved Steam service. According to the Washington-based developer, Steam data will now be sent via a firewall-friendly HTTP system "and will automatically take advantage of web-caching proxies installed at ISPs."
The upshot is that download sizes for patches will be reduced. In the current system, if an individual file required a patch the whole file had to be downloaded, whereas the new system will pull down only the additional data.
Valve has rolled out an improved Steam service. According to the Washington-based developer, Steam data will now be sent via a firewall-friendly HTTP system "and will automatically take advantage of web-caching proxies installed at ISPs."
The upshot is that download sizes for patches will be reduced. In the current system, if an individual file required a patch the whole file had to be downloaded, whereas the new system will pull down only the additional data.
Monday
Ubisoft has confirmed reports that it’s to jump on the online pass bandwagon later this year, joining major publishers like Sony, THQ and EA in restricting online access to its games to those who buy new boxed copies or a one-time use registration code.
Set to be bundled with new copies of "core" Ubisoft games beginning with Driver: San Francisco later this year, the Uplay Passport will offer “access to online features and exclusive content”.
Despite being one of the largest videogame companies in the world, EA has been consistently loss-making in recent times, yet earlier this week it announced the acquisition of PopCap in a deal that could eventually cost $1.3 billion. It's an eye-watering sum, put in context by EA's annual revenues of over $3.5 billion, but rather than fund the deal from its own pocket, EA has carefully structured it to avoid upsetting investors.
This is the third and final part in our series of previews of Hitman: Absolution. You'll find our demo impressions here and discussion of its controversial new additions here.
This is the third and final part in our series of previews of Hitman: Absolution. You'll find our demo impressions here and discussion of its controversial new additions here.
This has been a good couple of days for brilliant free games that pretty much speak for themselves. Impasse, for example, is a minimalist puzzler from Wanderlands where the experience of playing provides its own silent tutorial as you move through a series of deviously constructed levels. If you know too much going into it, the joy of discovery is diminished, so all I’ll say is this: over at the developer’s blog, the team is already discussing the creation of a post-mortem.
THQ's planned closure of its UK studio, Digital Warrington, has now officially taken place with the loss of 36 jobs. A transition team of ten remain to oversee the PSN release of Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team.
"THQ have done all they can through the consultancy period and have treated staff with respect," studio founder Colin Bell told Develop. "I've definitely been proud to have been involved in setting up and running the studio and have no regrets.
Nearly hidden among thousands of missiles is the newfound refinement in Bangai-O HD, the eponymous giant robot’s third outing. While its DS predecessor Bangai-O Spirits blew the series’ doors wide open – offering customisable loadouts and more than 100 levels that could be skipped or solved – this XBLA version sees Treasure opting for a more tightly controlled, if equally ludicrous, experience.