Exploring Stuff That Makes Life Great
Jim Ward, president of one of the greatest games publisher (and developer, in some cases) announced his departure, citing personal reasons as the cause. He will be quitting in a couple of weeks – quitting the company he had been working for 10 years (with only 4 as president).
He talked more about how great LucasArts is, and what we should expect from it now. Hit the jump for more and such.
Continue reading “LucasArts president Jim Ward resigns abruptly”
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!
Continuing today’s series of most unexpected developments in the gaming industry, we have Futuremark entering the gaming industry as a full-fledged video game development studio. Or in short, Futuremark will now be making games. This announcement is, in my opinion exactly as random as the Valve’s “Steamworks” announcement.
For those who are not well-versed with hardware manuals, Futuremark is best-known for 3DMark, a benchmarking tool whose primary purpose is to rank your hardware with shiny numbers so that you can numerically prove that you have a better and more geekier computer set-up than your friends (if you have any). To read more on Futuremark’s dive into game development, hit the jump.
Continue reading “Futuremark enters Gaming Industry as Developer”
Valve, the gaming industry legend known for its Half-Life line of games and their revolutionizing “Steam” video game distribution platform has made a surprise announcement and release – Steamworks. Pretty cool name, but sounds too professional for a game, right?
Right. Steamworks is a video game publishing suite, that helps game developers save lots of time and money by giving them lots of instantaneous features, including piracy protection, auto-updating, voice chat and lots more. And all this for free. No money – no currency – no slavery.
Hit the jump to learn more of Valve’s newfound altruism.
Continue reading “Valve unveils game publication suite “Steamworks””
You must probably be sleeping for the past week if you don’t know about the sort of flak Mass Effect has been facing for its ever-so-pornographic sex scene, which was like, so much more obscene than prime-time television or the average movies you have going these days. I mean, games rated “Mature, 17+” simply shouldn’t have sex – mindless, bloody, gory violence, maybe – but no boobies, ever.
Okay, we’re no experts at sarcasm, but the guys at Loading.Ready.Run sure do look like they are. Check out the awesome spoof they made of the controversial Fox report on Mass Effect:
The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the “B-Ballnacht”. Thousands upon thousands of the world’s greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the “Verboten Jam”…
Flash forward 12 years to the post-cyberpocalyptic ruins of Neo New York, 2053. A Chaos Dunk rocks the island of Manhattan, killing 15 million. When the finger is put on the aging Charles Barkley, he must evade the capture of the B-Ball Removal Department, led by former friend and baller Michael Jordan, and disappear into the dangerous underground of the post-cyberpocalypse to clear his name and find out the mysterious truth behind the Chaos Dunk. Joined by allies along the way, including his son Hoopz, Barkley must face the dangers of a life he thought he gave up a long time ago and discover the secrets behind the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S.
A tale of zaubers, b-balls, and atonement; brave dangers unheard of, face spectacular challenges that even the greatest ballers could not overcome, and maybe… just maybe… redeem basketball once and for all.
From that description, you’d expect a game continuing the internet’s tradition of absurdist humor… and you’d be half right. But what sets aside Barkley’s Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is its entirely deadpan, nearly cliched Japanese RPG delivery. While you’ll be doing things as absurd as searching for “manufacted jamicite,” fighting a surgeon who fufills the wishes of the furry community by turning people into animals, and running away from the anti-B-Ball authorities, you’ll never hear genre-savvy characters remark on the inaneness of the situation. Rather, they take the world entirely seriously, as Barkley comes to terms with the loss of his wife, and Cyberdwarf deals with the intolerance of a society that can’t handle a person with skin made of basketballs. This juxtaposition is quite satisfying, and makes for a far more hilarious experience than most run of the mill internet humor. Add in decent writing, a turn-based battle system that’s better than a lot of commercial releases, tight dungeon design, and excellent music, and you’ve got a game good enough to distract me from Crackdown and Call of Duty 4. Oh, and it’s free.
Download the game here.