Not long ago, I got to review indie developer Stout Games' 'Dinner Date,' a curious character-study that puts players inside the subconscious of Julian Luxemburg, an everyday bloke waiting for a date to arrive at his flat.
Yesterday, it was announced (unofficially) that Jon Shafer, the lead designer of Civilization V who recently left Firaxis, had been hired by Stardock to help with the continuing development of Elemental: War of Magic and eventually lead his own team for another game down the line.
Shacknews caught up with Jon for a quick interview, which is presented below. Enjoy! Read more »
Homefront is the upcoming first-person shooter from Kaos Studios, published by THQ. Potentially the publisher's premiere shooter franchise--according to THQ core games boss Danny Bilson--Homefront will attempt to tackle the competition with a "unique" single-player adventure and a "highly competitive" multiplayer component.
In Homefront, players are thrown in the middle of a near-future "What If?" scenario. What if America were invaded by a brutal army and put under military control? What if the familiar turns alien? As a civilian would you comply or resist? Read more »
With the early 2011 release of Mortal Kombat getting closer and closer, I shot some questions off to series co-creator and game creative director Ed Boon to find out about tournament viability, characters, DLC, minigames, and the switch back to two-dimensions.
Shack: I've heard that the development team has consulted with professional-level players from other recent fighting games on MK. Are you hopeful that MK will become a tournament staple? Read more »
At BlizzCon 2010, I sat down with StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty to talk about Heart of the Swarm, custom maps, cross-region play, bannings, and more.
Shack: You've said recently that the first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, is about 18 months away from being released. It wasn't shown at BlizzCon. What's the status of the project? Read more »
Bungie's Halo: Reach is arguably one of the biggest video game releases of 2010. Over the last week we've featured multiplayer tips for newcomers and dusty veterans alike and a detailed storyline primer of the events leading up the the Fall of Reach.
Shacknews founder Steve Gibson spent plenty of time covering Duke Nukem Forever over the years. His move to Gearbox Software now puts him working for the very developer that hopes to finally finish the game. Seeing both sides firsthand gives him a unique perspective on the story. So I sat down with him at PAX to see how he feels about becoming part of the game's saga and how Gearbox plans to make Duke Nukem Forever a success.
Back at QuakeCon 2010, I caught up with Rage lead designer Matt Hooper after the demonstration of the game running at 60 frames-per-second on all three platforms.
Reading some of your comments about being worried that the game will be "console-ized" or that the PC version wouldn't be its own game, I set out to get answers from id Software. Read more »
Right before QuakeCon 2010, id Software announced that Quake Live, it's free-to-play, browser-launched version of Quake III Arena, had left beta and would be getting two paid plans with additional content.
As for the free-to-play Quake Live, it's going to stay exactly the same, detailed here in a statement by Steve Nix, director of digital platforms at id Software, released to Shacknews prior to QuakeCon 2010. Read more »
After watching a lengthy single-player demo of Relic's upcoming third-person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, we were shuffled into a quiet office to speak with one of the game's producers: Long-time Relic staffer Andy Lang.
From the issues of The Outfit to the problems that may come with naming their latest title "Space Marine" in an industry that likes to use the phrase as a punch-line, we left nothing back. Our preview of the demo is currently live, so you can see what we thought of our early glimpse -- but for answers to some of your burning questions, read this interview. Read more »
[Update - 6/25/10] Added clarification about multiplayer modes available at and after launch.
At E3 2010, I had a chance to have a quick chat with Civilization V producer Dennis Shirk following a demo of the impending strategy sequel. You can read my preview of the demo or just jump right into the interview below.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was playable at E3 2010 (you can read my preview here) and after getting a few session in against Capcom special advisor Seth Killian, I was able to convince him to do a quick interview.
Below, you'll find our conversation, in which we talk about the hype, lessons from Marvel vs. Capcom 2, gameplay systems, and the brand-new X-Factor ability. Read more »
There's been no shortage of opinions on Final Fantasy 13 since its release last week to the rest of the world outside of Japan. Its new battle system stands out as one of the more hotly debated topics. Despite some familiar pieces like the active time gauge, fans are divided over the speed and flow of the fights and only controlling one character in the party. This became the center of the conversation when I sat down with Director Motumu Toriyama and Battle Director Yuji Abe not long before the game's release. Before we were done, I not only had a better sense for the combat, but I had learned Abe's favorite approach.
The matchmaking system in Halo: Reach will be getting a significant amount of improvements along with tweaks to the overall social experience. I spoke with the following group at Bungie to find out more about Active Roster, matchmaking, playlists, Xbox Live integration, and even clan support.
Today, Shacknews revealed several improvements Bungie will be making to the Halo: Reach multiplayer game, one of which is the Arena system. Put simply, this is an area of the multiplayer component geared entirely toward high-skill, hardcore players.
I spoke with the following group to find out more about how the hardcore Arena system will function as well as how the ranking system will determine comparative skill between players. Read more »
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