July 29, 2008
A fourth franchise has been added to Telltale Games’ ever-growing stable of episodic adventure games, joining the likes of Homestar Runner, Sam & Max, and Bone. (Although that last one has been on a hiatus for a while now.)
Telltale announced yesterday last week that it is developing an episodic series of games featuring Nick Park and Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit. The first trailer was released yesterday.
Well, I’m excited.
July 27, 2008
On Friday, Gamasutra posted an interview with game designer David Cage, the founder of development studio Quantic Dream and the creator of 1999’s Omikron: The Nomad Soul and 2005’s Fahrenheit, a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy. Now, he’s working on the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain, which was debuted to the press two weeks ago at E3.
Cage has a lot to say about game narratives and character development, and previous interviews with him on Gamasutra were in fact a significant source for me while researching my thesis on game narratives in college. Fahrenheit was a huge step forward in the integration of gameplay and story, even if it was a story that went all to hell in the third act.
Really, Cage shares my opinions on the current state of the medium as a storytelling platform. His reaction to Uncharted, another recent game praised for its story, sums it up perfectly.
July 20, 2008
Valve announced at E3 today that they too will be joining the growing number of franchises to be made into small plastic bricks by LEGO. LEGO Team Fortress will be a reality, and the first screenshot has been released:
July 18, 2008
I was just made aware of Gametrailers’ video of Electronic Arts showing off their new survival-horror game Dead Space at E3.
It looks like a neat mix of System Shock and The Thing, with the idea that you have to take down the game’s menagerie of horrific fleshbeasts through “strategic dismemberment.” That is to say, they’ll only die once you’ve literally ripped them to pieces. It looks to be a fun gameplay mechanic, but I was far more interested in the game’s interface.
July 17, 2008
Adam Foster announced today that he’ll be starting work at Valve in October. If you’re wondering who Adam Foster is, he’s the creator of MINERVA: Metastasis. If you don’t know what that is, jab yourself in the hand with a pencil as punishment, then go play it. Arguably the best single-player mod that’s been created for Half-Life 2, MINERVA puts you in the shoes of an unknown protagonist who is being aided from afar by the titular Minerva, a guide with a distinctly female voice.
MINERVA’s critical acclaim was due primarily to Foster’s excellent level design, but it also told a brilliant, if so far incomplete, story. Metastasis was called the first chapter of the MINERVA story, and was itself divided into four chapters, but now all four can be downloaded together.
In any case, Foster’s talents will now be put to work on Episode 3, so there’s at least that bit of news that development is moving forward. Since it was notably absent at E3, it’s good to hear anything at all about the next chapter in the Half-Life saga.
July 15, 2008
The more I see of EA’s Mirror’s Edge, the more excited I am to play it. It’s like a first-person Prince of Persia, and the player avatar’s puzzlesque interaction with the environment, not to mention the somewhat antiseptic level design, reminds me a lot of Portal. That’s never a bad thing.
EA’s demonstration of the game at E3 showed a lot of new gameplay footage, (mostly from the game’s first level,) as well as a new trailer showing more varied environments.
During the gameplay footage on display, the interaction that main character Faith has with her dispatcher as well as other “runners” all occurs in real-time, while the player is in control. The result, as far as I can tell from the small segments of the game I have seen so far, is extremely immersive. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Mirror’s Edge works to tell its story during gameplay.
July 15, 2008
Microsoft announced at E3 today that an expansion of sorts to Portal entitled Portal: Still Alive would hit the Xbox Live Arcade later this year. It will add new levels and achievements in addition to including the fantastic piece of game/story collaboration that is the original game, and apparently will be exclusive to Live.
As thrilled as I am to get more Portal, I’m seriously annoyed that it will be exclusive to the Xbox. I’ve mentioned before my dislike of FPS games on consoles, and a game with the spatial acrobatics of something like Portal would be seriously frustrating for me without a mouse. Plus, Source Engine games are some of the only games that my PC can run these days. Come on, Microsoft. Can’t you give my aging system that, at least?
Then again, the “exclusive” announcement could have just meant on the consoles, and not the PC. Console-centric announcements seem to ignore that oldest of gaming platforms fairly often these days.
July 12, 2008
Speaking of Fallout 3, a new trailer was released today on GameTrailers.com. Still no gameplay footage, though.
WordPress doesn’t allow embedding video from GameTrailers, so you’ll just have to click through yourself.
July 12, 2008
Game developers CD Projekt recently unveiled their latest project. It’s not a new game; rather, it’s a lot of old games. In September, the team behind The Witcher will launch Good Old Games, an online distributor of older PC games that are considered classics by PC gaming veterans.
With the tagline, “We’ve got games your 10-year-old won’t be better at,” CD Projekt is playing up the “old games for old people” angle. In a recent interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, managing director Adam Oldakowski and VP of PR and marketing Tom Ohle* say that their site is mainly marketed towards a nostalgic demographic. Even so, this site will be an excellent way for younger gamers to experience classic games they might have missed the first time around.
July 11, 2008
Rock, Paper, Shotgun turned me on to the news that the first piece of concept art for Half-Life: Episode 3 has been released at Into The Pixel, an online art gallery that will appear as an exhibition at the E for All Expo in October.
Originally reported on yesterday by Shacknews, the piece shows a silhouetted figure with a crowbar, who we can safely assume is Gordon Freeman, facing off against a Combine advisor in what looks to be a ruined citadel. The whole scene has a very cold feel to it, which would match the idea that Episode 3 will take place in the arctic, although it could just be the architecture. Combine construction isn’t exactly known for its warm and friendly design.
I’m just thrilled to see that Episode 3 is finally peeking out of whatever secret vault that Valve keeps it in. Hopefully the last installment of what Gabe Newell has termed “Half-Life 3″ will unravel some of its tangled narrative and answer some questions.
