After playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iPad, we decided that it was "made for mobile." Perhaps unsurprisingly, turn-based strategy works incredibly well on the touch screen. We chatted with Jake Solomon, lead designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown about the upcoming iOS version, and what it means for the future of 2K.
Read more: Free-to-play doesn't make sense, other 'potential platforms' considered»
Luminous Studio surprised many when it made its debut at E3 last year. Developed by Square Enix Japan, the presentation gave us a glimpse at what a next-gen Final Fantasy game could possibly look like. We chatted with Mike Fischer at the trade show, president and CEO of Square Enix, about the company's ambitions with its new engine.
"Every Final Fantasy game is original. We create a new world with every new number. We need to keep pushing the envelope so that every Final Fantasy game creates a new standard," Fischer told us when describing the project's genesis after the engine's unveiling. "Having a custom toolset like this is really helpful, because it makes that process a lot more efficient."
Read more: An in-house tool, but no Final Fantasy movie planned »
A hapless man struggles on the floor, only to get a shotgun round blasted to his face. Then, thunderous applause fills the auditorium.
The Last of Us' E3 stage demo was incredibly violent, and any unknowing onlooker might see our industry's reaction to such a demo as off-putting. However, Neil Druckmann, creative director for Naughty Dog's upcoming shooter, argues that there's reason for such brutality. "The violence you see inside this world isn't gratuitous and over-the-top just for the sake of being violent. It's setting a tone. It's setting a reality that Joel and Ellie are having to deal with," Druckmann said. "Everything has to feel tense. Everything has to feel grounded in reality. The reason why we're going for such realistic violence is because we want you to believe that the stakes are high for Ellie and Joel."
Something I found surprising in my time with the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was the greater emphasis on stealth. Sure, the game offers plenty of Platinum's unique brand of action, but it still retains a good deal of MGS-style sneaking around. After the game proved me wrong, I asked if the addition of stealth mechanics was the intention from the beginning or whether it was tossed in later to address fan concerns.
"In the beginning, we wrapped around the core concept of just having Raiden moving forward," Platinum's Atsushi Inaba answered, speaking through a translator. "It was based on sole action. But looking back, it would have been very dull and very centered around just cutting."
The Baldur's Gate series was a classic for the PC, and the announcement of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition with updated technology and new content created quite a positive buzz in RPG circles. Now, with the game set to launch in less than two weeks on November 28, we had a chance to chat with Beamdog president Trent Oster about the game's initial delay, the new content, plans for DLC and, eventually, Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced.
Airtight Games started out as a small group of game developers from Microsoft Games Studios. Jim Deal, Matt Brunner, and Ed Fries had a lot of game ideas, so they created the studio in late 2003. The team recently released Quantum Conundrum.
The name widely associated with the game was Kim Swift, swiped from Valve after her work on Portal and Left 4 Dead. Given the acclaim that those two games received, Airtight was interested in working with Swift when she approached the team and formulated the idea for Quantum Conundrum.
In part one of our Chris Roberts interview, the Star Citizen developer talked about what made him take a break from game making in the first place, and why he has returned. Today, he tackles the prospect of financing the development of a high-end PC-only game, and the tendency of the games industry to be bandwagoneers, particularly when it comes to the rise of new platforms like social and mobile.
Earlier this year, a pair of Tomb Raider developers decided to branch off from Eidos and create an independent gaming studio of their own. Not much was known about what would be released under the new Lady Shotgun Games banner, other than it would be released on iOS devices. Since then, former Eidos Executive Designer Anna Marsh unveiled Buddha Finger, a cross between rhythm action and beat-'em up. As the game approaches its targeted October release date, she took the time to talk to Shacknews about the game, her decision to go the indie route, and the current state of women in game development.
Buddha Finger takes players into the rhythmic world of kung fu. A mysterious old man named Shifu teaches players a secret kung fu technique that allows them to target enemy pressure points by swiping, tapping, touching, and spinning. The object of the game is to take out enemies by nailing pressure points in numerical order, which becomes increasingly difficult under more high-pressure situations.
Steve Gaynor worked for 2K Marin, known mostly for its contributions to the BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC. After briefly working on BioShock Infinite, Gaynor decided to branch off with 2K Marin co-workers Johnnemann Nordhagen, and Karla Zimonjato to create their own indie gaming studio called The Fullbright Company. Today, Gaynor talks about taking players on a tour through an abandoned house for their first game, Gone Home.
Gaynor was the head writer and design lead for Minerva's Den, a plot completely separate from the main BioShock 2 story. What made him decide to leave the world of BioShock for a whole new venture? "We'd all worked together on BioShock 2 and Minerva's Den, and we really wanted to recapture that small team feeling we had on the DLC," he answered. "Being indie gives you a huge amount of freedom to explore ideas that big corporate games can't usually touch, because they have to stick to proven genres. Gone Home is a game we could only make by going indie."
Guardians of Middle-earth is intentionally a very lean MOBA experience. Developer Monolith Productions has trimmed the fat to tailor the experience to consoles, making it feel like a natural fit for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. The streamlining was a conscious choice, according to producer Bob Roberts.
"I think that in general the entry point is, this is more gentle for new players," Roberts told Shacknews. "My guess is that people will get addicted here and might never leave it, but I could see that definitely being a more enticing option for people who, like some of my friends, know about [MOBAs] and want to get into it but feel like it's intimidating."
Read more: The game is 'a little more intuitive to pick up and play' »
The Walking Dead is a game about choices and the people they hurt. Plenty of games feature player agency in shaping the plot, but Telltale's adventure series has caught attention for making the options downright diabolical. I talked to Telltale designer and writer Harrison G. Pink at PAX 2012 about what it takes to build such a complex narrative.
The marketing geniuses behind the classic 1979 horror film Alien once noted: "In space, no one can hear you scream." Aptly-named indie developer Lunar Software is in the process of exploring that adage through the development of a new first-person, survival-horror title set on the Moon, called Routine. The short teaser trailer for the game--which the developer debuted at this year's Gamescom festival--is equal parts creepy and intriguing, even when taken at face value. However, after finding out that the game will ostensibly play out like a survival-horror roguelike, I had to reach out to Lunar Software's Aaron Foster, to ask him about Routine's revolutionary design, and get his take on what makes survival horror succeed in video games.
As the Journey Collector's Edition hits retail stores today, it marks a series of milestones for thatgamecompany. With three critical darlings under its belt and its first retail title now available, the company is preparing to strike out on its own again and develop for a wider range of platforms. Company co-founder Jenova Chen recently took a look back at Journey with Shacknews, sharing thoughts on artistic games, griefers, and touching feedback from fans.
Read more: 'We made one game trying to move people, but many of them wrote back to move us' »
To many fans, Total Annihilation is one of the best RTS games of all time. While Gas Powered Games had already created a spiritual successor with Supreme Commander, many still crave a sequel that plays closer to the original. Uber Entertainment, developer of the Monday Night Combat franchise, is seeking to do just that with Planetary Annihilation.
The team is currently seeking crowdfunding through Kickstarter. We spoke with Uber's Jon Mavor about what is happening with Planetary Annihilation and how he envisions the game to go beyond what Cavedog did almost 15 years ago.
Read more: Updating Total Annihilation for today's audience »
In an upcoming interview later today, developer and former IGDA chairman Graeme Devine said he is frustrated with the "metrics and monetization strategies" that companies are using in games today. He also hinted at a new adventure game to break that mold.
Tetris first made its debut in 1984 as the brainchild of Russian scientist Alexey Pajitnov. American audiences grew to know Tetris as a launch title for the original Game Boy in 1989. It proved to be a game that defined the phrase "easy to learn, difficult to master." Its stranglehold on gamers, both casual and hardcore, has only grown stronger, releasing on nearly every platform known to man. This week sees the release of a documentary called "Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters," which follows the lives of a special breed of Tetris player.
"It's a feature-length documentary that follows multiple world-record-holding Tetris Masters as they prepare for the 2010 Classic Tetris World Championships," explained "Ecstasy of Order" director Adam Cornelius. "On the surface, it's a competition documentary, a genre that has become popular in the last decade."
After three games of stoic silence, Master Chief is finally getting ready to speak. Halo 4 has been pitched as a more personal story for the character; while he'll still be "a man of few words," the voice actor behind the iconic Microsoft mascot is excited to dive into a meatier role.
"Cyberpunk, at its core, is all about the dehumanisation of humanity," Shadowrun creator Jordan Weisman tells. "Both on the micro scale, where we start putting tons of gear and electronics in our bodies because what nature gave us isn't good enough anymore, and on the macro scale, with the disassembly of governments, and their replacement by mega-corporations that owe nothing to their citizens."
Our chat about the hugely successful Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter campaign has gotten a bit carried away. After discussing fan-funding the cyberpunk RPG adaptation and its unexpected pressures, modding, MechWarrior, and multiplayer, I gaze out my window at the London skyline, sadly lacking in glowing neon and towering blocks, and wonder why 1980s visions of a future which will never happen still draw such adoration today.
In just a few days, fans will be able to play what should've been an impossibility: a crossover between the world warriors of Street Fighter and the kings of Tekken. Ahead of its March 6th release, Capcom held a launch party for Street Fighter x Tekken in downtown Los Angeles. There, I caught up with Capcom's community manager, Seth Killian.
I brought up the recent announcement of the Vita version of SFxT and how it would introduce a dozen new characters. While it was exciting to learn about the new additions (including Killian's personal favorite, Elena), I brought up concerns of how soon these characters would reach console players. Killian assured me that console players would get these characters at some point. "We'll find a way to make sure that console fans are happy, as well."
A few months ago, when I first heard about indie developer Carbon Games' upcoming action-RTS title, AirMech, I was immediately instilled with cautious optimism. One reason for my excitement is that several members of Carbon's team worked at Titan Studios on the downloadable PSN title, Fat Princess, but most of my enthusiasm stemmed from the new, yet familiar, type of gameplay experience that AirMech is aiming to provide. I recently had a chance to spend some time playing the latest alpha build of AirMech, and though it's still very much being actively developed, I'm pleased to report that it's already wicked fun.
Partnering with Game's Workshop has been a lucrative investment for publisher THQ, which has launched a variety of titles tied to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Sometime in 2013, THQ is set to jump into the massively multiplayer online space with Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online from developer Vigil Games. But the MMO landscape is changing, with more games launching (or eventually turning to) free-to-play as its business model.
Speaking with THQ executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson, he discussed his company's plans for Dark Millennium Online and responds to Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley's comments that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the last game with a traditional pay-to-play model.
Read more: 'A lot of different models' for Dark Millennium Online »
Interviewing Danny Bilson, THQ's executive VP of Core Games, last night at a preview event for an upcoming title, I asked whether or not Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine sold well enough to "deserve" a sequel.
"Perhaps," Bilson told me. "But there's an issue--a very interesting one around that. I can't speak to it too much without giving away too much about the MMO that we're working on," he said, referring to the long-in-development title Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online from Vigil Games.
As mentioned in our preview that launched earlier today, developer Eidos Montreal is putting the finishing touches on the upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution downloadable content 'The Missing Link.' Scheduled to launch sometime in October, the DLC will take place during a three-day span missing from the life of protagonist Adam Jensen during the main campaign of the game.
Edios Montreal game designer Antoine Thisdale visited the Shacknews office to discuss some of the changes made for 'The Missing Link,' the corporate culture at the Montreal studio, and more.
Watch: Video interview with Deus Ex designer Antoine Thisdale »
Developer Red 5 Studios hopes to make the upcoming free-to-play shooter Firefall ready for the tournament scene. To do so, the company has hired Morgan "Rhoulette" Romine, founder of the Frag Dolls, Ubisoft's all-female professional gaming team. Romine visited the Shacknews offices to discuss her new role and what it means for players of Firefall.
"We have a lot of guys on the team who are former pro gamers," Romine told me in an interview last week. Her official title at Red 5 Studios is eSports Maven. She's extremely animated during our conversation, but it isn't nerves going from a team dedicated to game promotion to a new management role focused on an important element to the most dedicated game players, she's excited. "Everybody on the team takes competitive gaming really seriously," she admits.
"There's a big request for mustaches. We're going to hire a physics programmer just dedicated for mustaches, I think," Red 5 Studios founder and CEO Mark Kern joked during an interview last week at the Shacknews office.
It's impossible to ignore the explosion of attention Red 5 Studios' upcoming free-to-play shooter Firefall has received throughout the Shacknews community. After publishing our recent preview, Kern urged the Firefall forum community to jump into Chatty to discuss the game. In a few short days over 1,000 comments were made on the story.
A few days later, Kern was in the Shacknews office, sitting in front of a video camera under bright lights. In the ensuing interview, Kern detailed Firefall's story, outlined the game's business model, and more.
"Its a good fit for mobile, but not my WiiU?! Thats bananas man."
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