Video Game Development – Page 41

Atari is Dead (Again)

One of Atari’s most profitable franchises, Dragon Ball Z (of all series) might be moving away from the crippled video game studio. The licensor holder FUNimation claims that Atari has breached its licensing agreement.

Of course Atari says otherwise. If Atari was to lose Dragon Ball Z it could spell the end for this company. Atari has had issues in recent years because they can’t figure out how to develop good games. Hopefully Alone in the Dark 4 will relaunch that series and bring Atari back from this near death experience.

Nothing has been finalized and Atari is in talks with FUNimation to keep Dragon Ball Z.

Dragon Ball Z

The Wii is for Everyone

Manhunt 2

Capcom’s touting that Resident Evil 4 for the Nintendo Wii has surpassed the 1 million unit mark. This milestone is proof that the Wii is a system for all ages. This is the first time in a many years that Nintendo is not having any issues reaching out to gamers and now previously non-gamers.

But there is another issue that Nintendo has been dealing with for along time and it still lingers today: where are the hardcore gamer games? While news about Resident Evil 4 breaking 1 million units is great, the game was released on the Gamecube and PS2 back in 2005. For the hardcore gamers out there, this game has been played and loved to death again and again.

Sure there’s the upcoming Manhunt 2 to look out for, but if reviews have any correlation to revealing the quality of a game – you might want to avoid this title. Not for its violence, but for its bland gameplay.

While Nintendo might say they’ve got hardcore gamers covered with games like Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, I say we look to third parties to answer our prayers. It’s not like either of these Nintendo games are bad titles, but seriously can you compare either game to the awesome power that you get when you cut off an enemy’s head? You won’t ever see that in a Nintendo game.

Hopefully there will be a positive side effect that today’s news causes. Maybe, just maybe third parties will wake up and make more great hardcore titles for the system. I for one I’m tired of mini-games.

Bioware’s top-secret MMORPG based on KotOR?

Good followers of gaming news will have known by now that Bioware’s Austin Studios have been working on an MMORPG project for quite a while. They still haven’t announced what the hell it really is, then again, they didn’t tell us the meaning of life when we asked them. But Primotech is reporting a rumour that this mysterious game is in fact based on Knights of the Old Republic franchise, owned by LucasArts.

KotOR, entirely developed by Bioware and published by LucasArts, quickly became an RPG masterpiece and yet another notch in Bioware’s worthy hat. It’s a really great game – you should go play it right now. It was followed by a very rushed sequel, developed by Obsidian. While Obsidian didn’t do a bad job on it, LA gave them an unreasonably small development time, which made for a hurried game. It could have been an epic game had it been given its time. Even then, it’s a decent game worth playing.

This is Bioware’s first MMORPG project, but it isn’t a first for LucasArts (that is, if the rumour is right). LA had earlier come out with Star Wars: Galaxies, whose popularity graph resembles Microsoft’s sales graph – in reverse. With a world so dense and rich to tap, there is no doubt that LA will persistently try open-world games in Star Wars, and another MMORPG, based on one of their best property’s – KotOR is rather predictable.

Now, I’m a KotOR fan and my response is mixed. First off, KotOR is LucasArt’s first singleplayer RPG in the Star Wars universe, which makes it an important game. It did not ship with a multiplayer, and hence was completely built on singleplayer (which ended up in one of the most richly-made singleplayer game I’ve ever played.

Taking KotOR straight into massive multiplayer is a bold, albeit predictable step. After all, the stories of both KotOR games were epic enough – it’ll be sort of silly to have a string of epic events within a span of fifty years. A MMORPG’s story will be considerably toned down and open. How that will fare for KotOR-style gameplay, I find it difficult to guess. But even then, I’m a little disappointed, because if the rumour is right, there is a good chance that a singleplayer KotOR III will not come not. (

But fear not, spacers. We will bring you more news and toilet paper as they become available.

A day of woe: EA buys Bioware, Pandemic

’tis truly a sad day in the gaming industry. Two of our most loved game developers, Bioware and Pandemic have been bought by the corporate giant that is EA. Well, I don’t need to list EA’s evils before you, but let’s just say that they are a large corporation, and Microsoft and Sony are also large corporations.

Bioware is one of the most popular and trusted game developers in the industry, standing by the likes of Valve, Epic, Bungie and so on. Their forté was RPGs and not just any RPGs, but really good ones. Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate series, and for God’s sake, Mass Effect, all of them are from Bioware. With EA’s acquisition, we may just be looking at a writhing death for any more awesome titles like these.

Also, Bioware is working on a top-secret MMORPG project for release somewhere in the future. EA is now going to get all the cash. EA’s CFO Warren Jensen stated bluntly: “”In fiscal 2009 and 2010, we expect the BioWare and Pandemic properties to deliver revenue in excess of $300 million annually.” That made me chuckle. Halo 3 brought in that much in a week. But it does make you wonder: Is the Bioware/EA acquisition headed for a model similar to the Bungie/Microsoft one?

Pandemic Studios is famous for its Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront lines of games. They also created Destroy All Humans! and its sequel, two fun games that went unnoticed. Again, all their base now belongs to EA. They have no chance to survive, make their time.

The total deal has cost EA $860 million, which is more than a hole in the pocket. Regardless, it could be possible that EA is not only trying to diversify its portfolio, but gain a substantial lead over its competitors. Besides, Pandemic is known for its LucasArts games (Mercenaries, Battlefront) and one of Bioware’s finest is also an LA title (Knights of the Old Republic). Is EA trying to humiliate LA? Is LA going to strike back? Are both LA and EA fronts of an organization planning to take over the gaming industry? God, I hope so.

Leaked info on Battlefield 3 shows 80-player battles, late-2008 release

It looks the waterworks just got broken, because the leaks have started afresh. DigitalBattle has gotten their murky hands on a PDF that outlines Battlefield 3’s (which has not been announced yet) features and stuff. The document was supposed to be for investors, but, ya know.

The game looks fantastic from where I stand. There will be two factions – the NATO and the Middle-Eastern Coalition, who will fight it out in “ticket-based” battles. 8 maps will be included in the release and 40 players will be the max for each team – making for a humongous 80 player standoff! Wow!

Maps will mostly be set in Middle-Eastern cities, with one map titled “Baghdad Burning”. There will be 24 vehicles per faction, (total of 48!) 17 weapons per faction and 22 unlocks – which makes for a whole lot of weapons included. The game will also introduce “Battalions” which will consist of 3-4 squads. Five classes – Five playable classes; Sniper, Assault, Engineer, Medic and Support are present – not a big surprise there.

Other features include:

Online stats tracking, awards and “real world ranks”
“Soldier” feature, looks like MMO-styled characters and avatars
Ranked servers will be available for resellers weeks before the game ships (for testing, apparently, ed.)
In-game replay and recording feature
VoIP, friends list, in-game IM-client and “extensive clan support”
Built-in auto software updater (no more patches!, ed.)

As for release and stuff – here’s what we know. It will be released in late 2008, with a teaser and announcement in January. Vista and OS X are supported, with no mention of XP (oh noes!). EA has played the diplomatic corporation and has given a stern “no comment” comment right now. We stand by for updates.

Microsoft Bundles 2 Games with 360

Xbox 360 bundle

Just in time for the Holidays, Microsoft has bundled Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance in both the Xbox 360 ($349.99) and Xbox 360 Elite ($449.99) packages.

Microsoft is really giving consumers a ton of reasons to buy the Xbox 360 this Holiday season. Price drop, free games, and tons of great new AAA titles has made their offerings indubitably the best on the market today.

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not games like Super Smash Bros Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy will be reason enough for most consumers to buy Wii’s this Holiday seasons than Xbox 360s.