Hit the jump to find out what EA said!
Continue reading “EA talks about Burnout, Skate, Mass Effect 2 and next NFS”
EA talks about Burnout, Skate, Mass Effect 2 and next NFS
Category: General Game Development
Gearbox working on new, top-secret project, is hiring!
Gearbox Software, known for being the guys behind remarkable titles like Brothers in Arms series, the Half-Life expansion packs, the Halo: Combat Evolved PC port and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero have revealed on their forums that they are working on a new, top-secret project and are looking for talent!
We knew that Gearbox is busy with the upcoming Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway and an original project called Borderlands that we covered earlier. This new project however, is not among the two of these and will not even be coming for a while – hit the jump to find out more!
Continue reading “Gearbox working on new, top-secret project, is hiring!”
Doug Lombardi confirms more Portal
Hungry for more cake? Valve says it’s ready for more servings! Talking to Eurogamer, Valve’s Doug Lombardi confirmed rather vaguely that there will be more Portal, although of course, he said nothing more about that.
If you remember, we also talked to Doug Lombardi previously, and managed to extract the fact that there will be more Half-Life after Episode Three. Doug also says that he loves Eurogamer, which has sent the StuffWeLike spiralling into a depression.
Still, I bet you want more on the news itself. Hit the jump and find out!
Harmonix, Activision brawl over Guitar Hero PS3 controllers
In what is a most amusing series of events, Harmonix and Activision are fighting like kindergarten kids over who’s responsible for not releasing a patch for Rock Band.
Harmonix, with some help from MTV, thought that releasing a patch for Rock Band, which would allow Guitar Hero III controller compatibility is a good idea. The idea did, after all, come after thunderous public request. However, it didn’t go down as well as they had expected. Harmonix’s patch was approved by Sony, but not by Activision, who supposedly objected to the patch.
This makes Harmonix and MTV heroes who want a free and liberal gaming area and where everything is good and compatible. Activision is suddenly a dark, evil EA-esque villain who wants the depraved gamers to buy Rock Band controllers. And because we need a fine background for a fight, we have Sony and their PlayStation 3.
Sony promptly replied that this is a matter out of their hands, and one that should be “amicably resolved” by Harmonix, MTV and Activision. Well, at least Sony has nothing to do with the whole fiasco. Then again, it’s the ill-fated, all-cursed PlayStation 3 that serves as a setting for this tale.
Activision struck back yesterday by saying that MTV/Viacom is unwilling to participate in a healthy tussle discussion about the issue. According to their press release, Activision were the good guys all along and Harmonix/MTV have been the ones who were not talking with Activision about their technology.
This fight is almost like the Silicon Knights/Epic brawl, except there’s no legal matters here and the subject is ridiculous. What’s bad is that the gamers are suffering in the long run. They are the ones who haven’t gotten the patch yet, while the big corporations talk about how they love gaming and want gaming to be accessible.
How will Harmonix/MTV respond? Is the PS3 really cursed? Isn’t watching this silly fight fun? Comment and conquer!
Call of Duty 5 heading to Pacific theatre?
As we have reported earlier, Activision has taken the dark corporate path of the EA, and will now most likely exploit two of the most succesful current franchises – Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, so that a new version of each game comes out every year. Check out the article above for more and the interesting rumour.
Call of Duty 5, is reportedly (but unofficially) under production at Treyarch, and some interesting rumours have invaded the Internet about it, saying that with no. 5, the CoD series shall return to its roots in World War 2. However, Kotaku has been tipped that not only will CoD 5 go back to World War 2, but it’ll actually give the Pacific theatre of the war a shot. Of course, we know nothing more than this, so we are left with speculation.
Since Call of Duty games have a tradition of letting you play the war from the perspective of various countries, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game took you to Pacific islands, to play as an American, and then Burma, China or other Asian countries, to play as a dapper Englishman. It would be interesting to play as an indigenous soldier fighting in the war, to see the war from his perspective (check the map I hijacked via Google above).
We are not sure if this game will turn out to be actually good, even though it’s taking a different angle at the War. The Medal of Honor series took a shot at this with Pacific Assault, which was somewhat lacklustre. Add the fact that Treyarch is developing this, whose CoD 3 is already considered the black sheep of the CoD line. Treyarch has a lot to prove, certainly!
Call of Duty 5, Guitar Hero IV, and what we know about them
We have no doubt that you know of the random Activision-Blizzard merger, which happened yesterday to give birth to Activision Blizzard. A fact sheet for the merger has leaked detail that there are several sequels and games coming from Activision worth knowing about. The two biggest stars here are Activision’s current favourite money-milking franchises – Call of Duty and Guitar Hero, as well as another Tony Hawk game.
As for originals (which are not quite so original), we have a James Bond game to tie up with the next James Bond movie, some games for Marvel comics and then some for Dreamworks movies like Madascar 2 and Kung-Fu Panda. There’s also a racing game from Bizarre Creations (the makers of Project Gotham Raving), which Activision bought earlier this year. You can view the entire fact sheet here.
Decided to do some research on the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero sequels, and found some interesting stuff. Call of Duty 5 was talked about waay back, when in early 2007 a rumour said that Infinity Ward will not handle CoD 5. The reason is that Activision wants a new CoD game every year (much like EA’s sport games and their general be a lousy corporation strategy). Infinity Ward stated that this does not match their interests.
This resulted in a compromise – Infinity Ward churns out a new CoD game every two years, while the middle year’s game is filled in by Treyarch, the guys responsible for CoD 3. So, if this rumour is right, Call of Duty 5 will be done by Treyarch, and Infinity Ward’s next will be Call of Duty 6. I’m not complaining about CoD 4’s quality or anything, but all of this just sounds filthy. 🙁
As for Guitar Hero IV, RedOctane had already announced this April that they will be churning out a Guitar Hero game every year. Not much of a surprise, then, that Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero IV will just be a “2008 Batch”. This saddens me in that instead of looking forward to create great games, or creating games for gaming’s sake – corporations have seized franchises to milk money from them, reducing the franchise’s name itself to shame. 🙁 This works only in sports games, Activision Blizzard.
Also, Aerosmith is involved in Guitar Hero IV and hence we should expect quite a few Aerosmith songs in it. If the guys of Aerosmith are right, they are a major theme in the game, and will have much influence over it. Wowie.
What do you think of this? Do you praise Activision Blizzard for the idea? Hate them? Think you smell? Discuss below!