Frozenbyte is working on the large-scale expansion for Trine 2, targeting sometime before summer. You may have noticed it getting warmer outside, so that deadline is approaching fast; but to hold you over in the meantime, the developer has released a video showing off the concept art for the upcoming DLC.
Naughty Dog has pulled back the curtain on some concepts that didn't make the cut for Uncharted 3. At GDC 2012, the company outlined alternative environments, expanded levels, and gameplay mechanics that were chopped for one reason or another, and now it's making that information public.
You'll be forgiven if the name Toki Tori doesn't ring any bells. The original was released more than 10 years ago on the Game Boy Color. Although it may not have turned into a breakout hit, gamers have since been able to enjoy a remake on PC, Mac, PS3, iOS, Android, and Wii.
Developer Two Tribes is hoping to reach an even larger audience with Toki Tori 2. When asked why the developer thought that now was the time for a sequel, they admitted that they've had "several false starts" over the years. But now, they have the proper resources to finish the game.
MMORPG The Secret World has been quietly gathering buzz. If you're one of the more than 500K users who signed up for the beta test, chances are you'd like another peek behind the Secret curtain. Fortunately for you, developer Funcom gave a nice long presentation at the Game Developers Conference, and now that video is available to watch online.
Quantic Dream, the studio behind Heavy Rain, unveiled Kara at GDC earlier this month. It was a short film running in real-time on the PS3, designed to show off the team's new animation technology. But how was it made? With this new behind-the-scenes video, you'll see how the same tech that went into making movies like Avatar will be used to power Quantic Dream's next game (which Kara is not). You'll also get to see how the digital actor compares to the real one--and judge for yourself how accurate the new engine is.
At GDC earlier this month, we saw Unreal Engine's impressive Samaritan tech demo running on a single GPU for the first time. Epic Games' Mark Rein told us that the demo was being powered by a new Nvidia card, simply codenamed Kepler. While we were able to see the hardware, the graphics card manufacturer was keeping quiet about the card's specs.
Well, until today. The GeForce GTX 680 represents the beginning of Nvidia's next generation GPU architecture. "With Kepler we wanted not only to build the world's fastest GPU, but also the world's most power efficient," Nvidia said in the announcement.
We've heard some impressive details about next year's SimCity, but none of it would actually work without a solid engine under the hood. At Game Developers Conference, EA and Maxis showed off the game's new "GlassBox" simulation engine. Now, you can see a quick recap of EA's presentation in a new video.
Hundreds of participants of the Occupy Oakland movement gathered for their "Move-In Day," an event that proposed to transform an abandoned building into a social center and makeshift headquarters for the Occupy movement. They would have to bring furniture, office equipment, food, lighting, etc. But Anna Anthropy, Alex Kerfoot, and Mars Jokela had another idea: the movement needed a video game.
That's what led to the creation of Keep Me Occupied, a co-op arcade game designed to show off the value of working together.
By now, we hope you've had a chance to play through thatgamecompany's Journey at least once. (Steve's review should convince those of you that are on-the-fence.)
The PhyreEngine-powered visuals help make the experience that much more compelling, with our review noting its "gorgeous graphical flair." But what would Journey look like without its current graphical sheen? At Game Developers Conference, designer Jenova Chen gave us a look at Journey's earliest 2D prototypes. For example, the image above shows how the team was working with a top-down 2D game not unlike Zelda and classic dungeon crawlers.
How do you make a game about extinction? Six developers spent 48 hours during a game jam to answer that question. Their solution? Make a game that dies--and never comes back.
GlitchHiker is was a game that had players collecting coins in an environment that was rapidly deteriorating via intentionally placed "glitches." Through its unique online integration, GlitchHiker's entire existence depended on the collaborative efforts of everyone that played it.
Are you ready for more Trine? Frozenbyte is working on a significant expansion pack to Trine 2. And although it is technically downloadable content, the scope of the project has the developer hesitant to call it "DLC."
Coming later this year (before Summer, the delay-prone developer hopes) is a as-of-yet unnamed expansion that will add a brand new six level campaign, with new enemies and a new story. Best of all, the three heroes of Trine will be granted new abilities that carry over into the original Trine 2.
When I first saw Mortal Kombat's Vita-exclusive touch-screen mini-games, I scoffed. "The touch-screen features seem entirely tacked-on," I said.
Well, having gotten my hands on the Vita version of Mortal Kombat, I have to admit I was wrong. While the gameplay of these experiences is nowhere as deep as the core game, they have enough campy Mortal Kombat personality that it's hard not to laugh while playing.
Mass Effect 3 tops everyone's list. There's no way the Weekend Confirmed crew couldn't talk about it, but there are no spoilers... hell, Cannata's not even finished with it yet and we wouldn't want to do that to him. It's no secret, though, that the game's ending has rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. What we want from game endings and the difficulties faced in putting a conclusion on a story we've invested so many hours offers a lot to consider. We also take a first look at some of our impressions from the game being careful to not give anything story-related away. Other things are happening as well. There's the Diablo 3 release date announcement, finally, and we've got a bunch of stuff left over from GDC last week as well. It's a non-stop ride to Finishing Moves.
Storyteller is "a storytelling puzzle videogame based on comics." It's also one of the most exciting games I saw at Game Developers Conference last week. By placing actors and props across comic book-style panels, players will be able to dynamically create stories. The goal of the game is to create a story that fits the given title.
For example, placing the Adam and Maria character in the same panel will have the two automatically fall in love with one another. In the adjacent panel, if Adam appears alone, the game will automatically conclude that "Maria left Adam," and he will be heartbroken.
Some of the most admirable aspects of PlanetSide 2's ambitious massively multiplayer FPS world are its scale and persistence. With the battle taking place on maps larger than Call of Duty games, it's no surprise that players will want stay connected to the game--even when they're not playing it.
While most multiplayer communities offer web-based stat tracking, SOE promises to take it "a step further" with PlanetSide 2. Creative director Matt Higby told us at Game Developers Conference about their plans to open up the real-time data of the game. "We're real interested in seeing the state of battles that are occurring on the map at any given time, seeing their friends that are online and fighting, being able to see what region they're fighting in."
Comment on this story