Trademarks! They usually tell us absolutely nothing and give us just a random name for something that may never see the light of day. In the case of Bungie's latest trademark the former is true, the latter probably not. Bungie has trademarked Bungie Aerospace, and while the trademark filing tells us absolutely nothing, this seems to be something big from the company.
It's unclear if Aerospace is a game or something else as the trademark pretty much says it applies to almost every aspect of gaming ever. However, that is pretty standard for any gaming trademark, so it really could be anything. However, if you'll pardon my rampant hypothesizing, since the trademark is called BungieAerospace and not simply Aerospace it does seem like this is something other than a game. Companies don't usually put their name before their game's name so we are most likely looking at something different.
What this could be is up in the air. Maybe they're planning on selling a game engine so other companies can use it. Attack of the Fanboy postulates that this could be the engine 343 Studios will be using to make the next Halo game, which as postulations go, is a pretty good one.
Microsoft demagogue Aaron Greenberg has responded to this week's official unveiling of the PlayStation Move ... by talking about how great Project Natal is. When asked about Sony's Wiimote, the Hype Meister simply explained how Natal, with its lack of physical controller, was the future.
"Xbox 360 has a strong history of innovation," he coos. "Halo, Xbox Live and instant-on 1080p HD. With each of these, we had our sights set on the future -- and it paid off for us, the industry and Xbox 360 owners. We are doing it again with Project Natal on Xbox 360. We believe controller-free experiences are the future of gaming and entertainment.
"Only Project Natal makes YOU the controller, putting you in the middle of the action and in complete control. Jump and your Avatar jumps. Speak and characters respond. Combined with Xbox Live, Project Natal will transform how you connect with your friends, family and entertainment - as only Xbox 360 can do."
No offense Aaron, but I hope to frigging God that Project Natal isn't the future. I can accept it being part of the future, but if Microsoft's plan is to turn us all into flailing, idiotic gimps, then you can count me out.
"@PL,
Nintendo has a library of awesome games, with varying degrees of motion control. Some of them have none, believe it or not. You're an ignorant douche that is obviously limited in his abilit..."more
Each year, Gamma entrants are asked to make games under certain constraints. This year, all Gamma4 entries must be controlled with a single button. I plan to write up my impressions of all six Gamma4 games.
"Think of a color," the game says. "Tell it to no one."
We do.
"Take five steps back."
We do.
After a brief countdown, we run toward the buttons.
"Everyone loses except the fourth person to press their button," the game says. Confused, excited, and having just jogged a short distance, I panic and press my button immediately, as do two of the other players. As promised, only the fourth player wins.
This is B.U.T.T.O.N. (Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally Okay Now), the Copenhagen Game Collective's entry in to Gamma4.
You can read my impressions (and the color I was thinking of) after the jump.
"Yes, was what I thought of during the first sentences. But only with less randomness and completely crazy batshittery. And I wouldn't have to put it down after 30 seconds and rethink my life. I..."more
Cobbling together a Quake Engine shooter with Quake 3 mod tools is rough work. Introducing a twitch FPS to a new audience, and then getting them to buy it, seems like a brutal challenge.
Weeks back we received word that open-source PC shooter Nexuiz was headed to PSN and Xbox LIVE Arcade in 2010 with the help of indie developer IllFonic. The studio has licensed the engine and continues to sharpen the visuals, tighten the mechanics, play around with the UI, and fiddle with the formula. But they’ll never make Nexuiz less than what it is: a Quake or Unreal-style FPS.
"I'm a huge fan of the PC version. The latest iteration 2.5.2 is fast as hell, looks great even on old hardware (Windows, Mac, Linux), and plays the way it should, which is awesome.
If you haven'..."more
Want real proof that videogames are just as big as the film industry, if not bigger? It's not in the big budgets of games, it's not in the massive amounts of money the industry makes, and it's not in the fact that game launches are just as big as movie openings. No, the real proof is that the Creative Artist Agency is actively trying to represent game developers and they've just had quite the coup.
For those not down with Hollywood, the CAA is one of the largest talent agencies out there and represent many of the big name stars and directors on the silver screen. They do not, however, represent many game developers. They've just landed two of the biggest fish out there though. Fired Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason Wes have agreed to be represented by the company.
The pair were being wooed by at least one other major talent agency and it seems they've decided on CAA. Getting representation will probably help the pair land an even sweeter deal with whatever company wants them (all of them, most likely) and will hopefully keep what happened at Activision from repeating.
Aside from telling us that Zampella and Wes are ready to move on to their next projects despite their ongoing lawsuit with Activision this marks the first time where game developers have been heavily recruited by a talent agency. Those nerdy developers at the dawn of gaming are becoming rock stars, and it seems the rest of the entertainment world is noticing.
I'd read about Brenda Brathwaite's Train before but, in honesty, I'd never bought any of the hype. A board game about trains with a twist ending that reveals you're actually sending your pieces to Auschwitz? Please. You're telling me that people not only break down sobbing while playing the game, but that people actually started crying during Brathwaite's talk about the game?
I mentally called shenanigans. Chalked up the overzealous reactions to the sort of artsy-fartsy desire for games to be Taken Really Seriously, without any basis in actual emotion.
After exiting Brathwaite's updated version of her talk, "
Train (or How I Dumped Electricity and Learned to Love Design)" with the unmistakable sensation of my tear duct beginning -- just beginning -- to fill, I understood just how wrong I'd been.
"Wow. That's an incredible perspective, excellently explained through a very human example.
Games don't have to be fun, . I think the more people that come to this sort of understanding, the be..."more
As time progresses and technology races forward gaming engines start to get old. At some point game developers must put their old game engines out to pasture and start to develop new ones so that they can keep up with the ever advancing gaming marketplace. Square Enix is preparing to do just that by hiring a plethora of developers and programmers to get them where they need to be.
In a Japanese ad featuring the eyes of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII the company has put out the call for a new game engine system programmer, 3D graphics core programmer, online system programmer, Windows application programmer, rendering programmer, server/DB programmer, plug-in programmer, technical artist and technical writer. The positions are all based in Tokyo and require experience with both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, with the online system programmer position dealing heavily with MMOs. In the ad they explain that in order "to meet the quality demanded of games in the coming years while dealing with costs, game development environments will need not just 'reforms,' but 'revolution.'"
Going on to say, "At Square Enix, in anticipation of the appearance of next generation platforms, we've started development on a new generation game engine for competing beyond the level of the strong developers throughout the world, and are presently seeking a lot of talent."
This sounds like a pretty major overhaul for Square Enix's game engine, which could mean very good things for us. But lets not think about that. Instead we can all jump on the train of speculation and wonder why they chose Cloud's face in the advertisement. Is it because he's one of their most popular characters and instantly recognizable? No, this clearly means that we will be getting a remake of Final Fantasy VII. Confirmed.
スクエニ、次世代プラットフォームも見据えた新世代ゲームエンジンの開発をスタート [Game Jouhou, via andriasang]
"I do want a FF7 remake but I highly doubt it's for that. As other people have stated, it's for the next generation of console launches as well as a possible PC game."more
Final Fantasy XIII masterminds Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have stated that they'd be very interested in doing a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, though they're waiting to see how well the current game does in the West before dreaming up a XIII-2.
"In the past three years we worked both on the world and on the various systems," says Kitase. "Creating these systems isn’t very glamorous and can frankly be a bit boring. If we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built."
That would be nice. It seems, with XIII, that they spent so long working on pretty colors and a battle system so inherently contrived that it needs to play itself for you, that they forgot what an RPG should be about -- the story. As for a possible Final Fantasy XV? Again, it all depends on how XIII does.
We do not know if there will be a XV. This depends a lot on the success of XIII. Also, it is difficult to pinpoint elements that are typical Final Fantasy. They are mostly invisible: part of the DNA of the game, that everyone recognizes as typical Final Fantasy. But ifthere is a XV, I hope the way we wrote our characters carries over. We strived to create believable people of flesh and blood. They are not robots. And they are not super heroes. I hope this humanity is something we will see again."
The trouble with your "real" characters though, is that they're simply not remarkable. I'd take a sentient cat puppet that rides on the back of a Moogle over characters that have nothing outstanding about their personality at all.
"@Syn - Firstly "GodofWarDarksidersDantesInfernoDevilMayCryAssassinsCreed1and2MassEffect1and2LostOdysseyPersona" != Final Fantasy. Different types of games benefit from different types of designs...."more
Many consider "Generation II" of Pokémon to be the highlight of the pocket monster series, and indeed it does represent the perfect point between depth and convolution, the moment before Pokémonbecame needlessly complicated and required fifteen spreadsheets in order to maximize its potential. Did you know that Silver and Gold were intended to be the last in the series, too?
"I worked with the assumption that after we put out Gold and Silver, my work as far as Pokémon was concerned would be done," explains Pokémon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara. "I didn’t intend to make any more Pokémon titles. I even thought that once we entered the twenty-first century, it would be time for me to do something else entirely.
"I remember that when Gold and Silver were released, I felt like a burden had finally been lifted from my shoulders. We’d had our sights set on the finish line of Gold and Silver for so long, and now that we’d finally completed the major series running right through from Red and Blue, I felt I could say to Tajiri-san: 'I’ve fulfilled my duty!'"
Of course, Pokémon just kept making money, so GameFreak just kept making games, right?
HeartGold and SoulSilver, the remakes of these classic games, are due in stores tomorrow. We're playing it right now for a review, and I'll get that written as soon as I stop building my shrine to Ekans.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has got to be one of the most visually stunning videogames I've ever played. There were moments in the middle of all out gunfights where I would die because I accidentally swung the camera over some amazing vista and started paying attention to that. From characters to levels to backgrounds, Uncharted is crammed with amazing artwork. Of course something that good looking takes a lot of work to make, and now all that work is being collected.
Ballistic Publishing is partnering with Sony (more books on other games to come) to release The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The 272 page book collects the artwork that was done while creating the game in a stylish hardback or paperback cover. This includes concept art, character studies, environment art, character modeling, game art, cinematics, motion-capture, animation, effects, and insight from the guys at Naughty Dog on developing the game and gaming art in general.
The book is landing in a paperback edition for $65, a leather-bound Special Edition for $129, and a collector’s Limited Folio Edition with hand-crafted, leather-bound presentation case, and hand-signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity from Naughty Dog’s key creators for $300. You can pre-order it now, and if you're one of the first 300 people to get the softcover edition or any of the special editions then you will receive a 15 minute walkthrough video of three of the concept pieces for the game.
Now to scrounge through my couch for $300 worth of change.
"That's quite expensive. Shipping price is also quite a lot, $28 to ship to the Netherlands. Bioshock's "breaking the mold" had a much better price tag."more
If you haven't noticed yet, there's a great meme going on over in the Community Blogs right now. Go participate!
Also, Destructoid is turning four next week! Jordan reminisces on some of the good times that have been had and we'd like to hear from you what some of your favorite memories have been too! Go write up a blog!
As you know, Yakuza 3 had some of its content cut in order to be released here in America. The content was got for our benefit though. As you can see in the latest Mega64 video, the American version is just as good as the Japanese version.
We are not missing out at all. Bold italic emphasis!
Seriously. The subject line of the latest Dead or Alive Paradise PR is "18 Days until Paradise. Babe of the Week #5 Inside. She's over 18." Yeah.
So this week's babe is Christie. Yet even though it's her week, a peepshow video of Ayane is the latest video on Tecmo's YouTube channel. Either way, I guess Tecmo believes you'll choke your chicken no matter who the babe is.
"I really wish they would make an actual fighting game to follow up on DOA4, but in the meantime I appreciate that Tecmo is doing its best to help me masturbate on the bus."more
It wasn't just the hostess bars and the obscure history trivia minigame that were cut out, it seems that the mahjong, shogi, "loser song" minigames were axed, as well as dozens of side quests. Estimates are placed at about 13% of the content available in the game's first 6 chapters were absent from the English version of Yakuza 3.
And it's not just a problem of most players not knowing what they'll miss. Many of those sidequests are worth experience and cashed used to buy upgrades and items, potentially making the game more difficult or grind-heavy.
I don't really understand why they had to go and do this. Why were they concerned about releasing the game ASAP? Were they in that much of a hurry to get steamrolled by Final Fantasy XIII and God of War III? And it's not as if cutting content suddenly makes an already very Japanese game more appealing to western audiences. After all, it was the constant whining by Japanophiles like myself that convinced them to bring the game over in the first place. Sega's continuing inability to properly gauge its audience is maddening.
All that said, I'm just glad Yakuza 3 is happening at all. There's plenty more content available to play, even with the cuts, and I encourage everyone who's interested to take the plunge. If nothing else, you'll get a good game, and Sega might be convinced to bring Yakuza 4 over in a more complete state.
"i dont understand this stand towards those cut things...cutting content is bad BUT be greatful to even get the game and hope for yakuza4. its allready a hard genre....so not even a cut game would..."more
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