News – Page 53 – StuffWeLike

CryENGINE 2 Licenced by Indie Developer

Mobster

The guys from Paleo Entertainment, based in San Diego have announced that their new, shiny FPS, Merchants of Brooklyn will be using the CryENGINE 2. Never heard of it? Remember the upcoming game with awesome tropical graphics that made you cream your pants, called Crysis? Yep, it uses CryENGINE 2.

The game in question, Merchants of Brooklyn, is set in 3100 A.D. where you see the main character, Matteo Savio make his way from a young boy to “Dr. Savio, PHD – Director of Genetics on Planet Paleo”, through an adventure featuring “MOB life, Scientific Education and Galactic adventures.” Definitely original stuff there. Especially considering that most of the characters are going to be Neanderthals. In a mob. How cool is that?

To quote Troy Latimer, president of Paleo (heh, alliteration):

Before licensing the CryENGINE 2 for our new project we looked carefully at all our options, and concluded no other engine could produce the kind of AAA quality game we were aiming to develop, nor were any other toolsets as advanced or user friendly as the ones delivered with the CryENGINE 2.

Sounds as good a reason as any. A second worthy reason being that this makes the upstart developer very famous indeed.

Paleo Entertainment was born out of a modding group that created Paleolithic Revolution, a Half-Life 2 mod based on Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon domination of caves and stacked rocks. Personally, I like the originality of these buggers.

Right now, we know nothing more than what I have presented already, though there is a bunch of concept art (more like doodles) out there.

[Via Gamasutra, Kotaku]

New ‘groundbreaking’ PS3 Exclusive to be made by Indigo Prophecy devs

Indigo Prophecy

You might have heard of a game developer called Quantic Dream, if you’ve ever heard of a highly-acclaimed game known as Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit). If you haven’t, Indigo Prophecy is a fairly recent adventure game that won accolades for its breathtaking storyline, freshness and the semi-cinematic experience it delivered. You can tell just by looking at those adjectives that this was one hell of a game.

Quantic Dream has signed a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios to make a PS3 exclusive title, which will “set a new benchmark in delivering emotionally compelling experiences to gamers.” Considering Quantic Dream’s record, they may not be bluffing. The game will reportedly be using the Cell Broadband Engine™, but no other important details have been announced.

You can find the whole press release at the source, but the interesting parts of the same are as follows:

Michael Denny, Vice President, SCE Worldwide Studios, said: “We’re really excited to be working with Quantic Dream for the first time and to have this opportunity to once again push the gaming experience to realise a new level of interactivity and, in particular, to engage players at an emotional level never experienced before. We’re looking forward to revealing more news on this special title later this year.”

I’d be really glad if I get to play a game that actually touches me. No game has come close to doing that since LucasArts’ masterpiece Grim Fandango.

David Cage, Founder, President and CEO of Quantic Dream, said, “We always believed that “next generation” meant more meaningful content based on players’ emotional involvement. To us, PS3 is the only platform that can truly deliver on this promise, and SCE WWS is a group that is both inspiring and pleasant to work with.”

Finally, somebody realizes that next-gen doesn’t necessarily mean bigger and better graphics and sound.

This is one project I am really looking forward to. More details are expected to be released “soon”. Hit the source for the full press release.

[Via Kotaku]

Japan to build Huge Gigantor statue

Gigantor!

Kobe in Japan is going to be the home of a massive Gigantor statue! The hulking figure will be 18 feet tall and 70 tons heavy to boot. Estimated cost: ¥135 million, which makes about $1.09 million. Those Japs sure have lots of money!

Kobe will also simultaneously commemorate the life of Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the creator of the original Gigantor manga series. Gigantor then appeared in a 1963 anime series and in 2005, in live-action! The movie was made in Japan, which is probably why I’ve never heard of it.

Regardless, the might of Gigantor shall finally manifest itself as a great statue!

[Via Engadget]

Big-time Iraqi cleric loves video games!

Muqdata al-Sadr is a famous Iraqi Shi’ite cleric and has a rather radical personality to boot. He’s well known for criticizing the American presence in Iraq, but apparently he has another passion. Playing video games.

In the July 9 issue of Time, Joe Klein writes One Last Chance, a report on U.S. General David Petraeus and the situation of the “surge” by American forces. Here, writes:

But the most important man in Iraq is the other Shi’ite prince, Muqtada al Sadr, who is 33 and the nominal leader of the most powerful militia in the country, the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr is often called mercurial – he’s supposedly a fervent video game player – …

I wonder what side he picks in Counter-Strike…

[Via GamePolitics]

A Vampyre Story; Right-click to drink blud. Blah!

OMG OMG OMG! Old-school point-and-click with vampires? Where do I sign up?

Slated for release in fourth quarter 2007, the upcoming A Vampyre Story comes to us from the mind of Bill Tiller, founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment, and former LucasArts employee known for his work on fan favorites The Dig, Indiana Jones, and The Curse of Monkey Island. From the press release:

The point-and-click adventure game “A Vampyre Story” tells the tale of the beautiful, gifted opera singer Mona De Lafitte, whose life is brought to an abrupt end by a vampire baron named Shrowdy Von Kiefer. Henceforth, she is doomed to a miserable existence as a creature of the night in Von Kiefer’s gloomy castle in Draxsylvania. Confronted with her seemingly hopeless fate, she decides to run away and try to fulfill her dream of singing at the Paris Opera. Accompanied by her mischievous bat Froderick, Mona must face a number of challenges in her odyssey and learn not only to accept her vampire nature, but also to use the abilities she has acquired to her advantage.

Featuring over 50 hand-drawn locations and some creeped out cast members, this is certainly one I’ll be looking forward to. Check out the pics gallery for some for a few uber-huge screen shots, and read on for the full press release.

Continue reading “A Vampyre Story; Right-click to drink blud. Blah!”

Tomb Raider Anniversary going episodic on 360

Eidos Interactive has announced that their upcoming game, Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be the first ever full retail game to be serialized through Xbox Live Marketplace. The game will be split into four episodes, with episodes 1 & 2 available in September, and episodes 3 & 4 following “shortly afterwards”. All the episodes will total 2400 Live points, which I think equals $30? Stupid point system.

You know there’s a catch, though. The episodes will require the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Legend disc to play, so this nifty little distribution is only for owners of the previous Xbox 360 title. D’oh! Happily, a full retail version of the game is planned for later in the year, just in case you didn’t buy that steaming pile of crap that was Legend. Read on for the full press release.

Continue reading “Tomb Raider Anniversary going episodic on 360”