Video Game Development – Page 46

Bioware to use Perpetual’s Online Platform in upcoming MMO

Perpetual Entertainment

Bioware has reportedly licensed Perpetual Entertainment’s Online Platform for use in their new MMO. The untitled MMO in question is currently unnamed and no information has been given out. It is under development at Bioware’s Austin Studio and its team includes veterans from Neverwinter Nights and Ultima Online, which is enough to hint that it has kickass potential.

According to Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin:

“We evaluated numerous technology solutions to serve as the service backbone of our first MMO title and feel Perpetual’s online platform is the best fit. The Perpetual team has years of experience building infrastructure and tools for online games and we are thrilled to be working with them.”

Meanwhile, Joseph Keene, Co-Chairman and CEO of the Perpetual camp said:

“BioWare is one of the leading developers of AAA games in the world and we know they will find the Perpetual platform provides both the functionality and ease-of-use they are looking for to support their upcoming title.

With the Perpetual platform, BioWare’s Austin studio can focus on making great games while minimizing the time and effort required to deploy and support their titles.”

This Online Platform will include all the tools necessary to make a MMO game, like managing a game’s online operations, billing, customer support and so on. If you want one for yourself, head here.

[Via Game Informer]

Fatal Inertia team facing troubles with Unreal Engine 3 for PS3 too!

Fatal Inertia Screenshot

We brought you news of Silicon Knights throwing a lawsuit at Epic Games not long ago. To summarize, they claim that Epic gave them faulty versions of the Unreal Engine 3, that it does not do what it is said to do, that it has problems working on the PS3, that Epic did not help them figure out how to use the Unreal Engine 3 and that Epic stole their lunch money.

Using Silicon Knights’ lawsuit as cover, Fatal Inertia developers Koei have gone public with the statement that they are having problems with the Unreal Engine 3 as well. Koei announced that the Unreal Engine 3 is not functioning well under the PS3’s highly-acclaimed hardware. The game is “not running well enough” to be released for the PS3 yet.

This means that Fatal Inertia for the PS3 has officially been delayed. Since they find it silly to hold up the Xbox 360 version because of troubles with the PS3, Koei has decided to release the Xbox 360 version without a delay.

[Via Games Radar]

Too Human’s problems is Epic’s fault?

too human

Today Silicon Knights, the development team behind the original Legacy of Kane, Eternal Darkness, and the upcoming Too Human title, has file a lawsuit against Epic games because of their Unreal 3 Engine. According to the suit they have failed to provide a working game engine which they paid over $75,000 for.

Silicon Knights claims that Gears of War used a superior version of the Unreal 3 with a half-assed copy sent to Silicon Knights amongst other developers. An adequate, working version of the engine was not made until Epic altered the engine for Gears of war, a version they failed to release to other license holders such as Silicon Knights. Furthermore the suit claims that, after Silicon Knights had numerous problems with the engine Epic games failed to fix the engine, and were unwilling to do so. They had tried, for a year’s time, to resolve the issue with Epic games, but because of Epic games they have had to indeed file a lawsuit.

Silicon Knights has since abandoned the Unreal 3 engine to develop their own engine for Too Human. The title is still tentatively scheduled for release later this year on the 360.

[via GameDaily]

Halo 3 to NOT have online coop.

Halo 3

A few days ago an article for an upcoming EGM article on Halo 3 was leaked. In the article pieces about new weapons, vehicles, and such was shown, but one of the most significant pieces of the article was the part regarding online co-op for the game.

According Bungie’s Frank O’Connor the addition of online coop might not make it to the final product due to the single player level layouts. The levels are so vast that it would be possible for each player to be miles apart from one another at certain points in the game which would cause a major problem. They have ways of restricting this problem, but it would affect the gameplay in a way that would effectively ruin the game’s experience.

So, while it could happen, chances are all online coop modes, not just the rumored 4 person online coop, will not be included in the shipped product. Rather it’s more likely that a patch at some point after the release will add this particular mode if it’s released at all.

[Sources: 1 and 2]

Blizzard working on new, unannounced title

Blizzard dropped a bomb when they announced StarCraft II. It looks like Blizzard is doing it again. During a discussion with Gamasutra, Blizzard’s senior vice president of product development, Frank Pearce said that a team of 40 people is working in “team 3”.

The diplomatically chosen revelation was found in the following context, straight from Pearce:

“Our global headcount is 2,700, and most of that is customer service for World of Warcraft! In terms of development staff it’s probably around 350. World of Warcraft is about 135 people, 40 for Starcraft II, 40 for team 3, our cinematics team is about 85 guys. Then there’s sound and Q/A and that sort of thing.”

Pearcesaid further that Team 3 is working on “something really awesome” (they always say that) and that he couldn’t give any hints. Gamasutra has confirmed that this is not the vaporware Starcraft Ghost, though.

Blizzcon starts 3rd August, which is not far away, as your friendly calendar will tell you. Is it possible that this new game, under construction by “Team 3” will be announced there? Most likely. What is this new game? Nobody knows for sure, though most fingers point towards Diablo 3. We’ll just have to wait for Blizzcon.

[Via Gamasutra]

First glimpses of wireless guitars for Guitar Hero 3 (all platforms!)

Today, Activision announced their new partnership with Gibson Guitar Corp., the worlds leading musical instrument manufacturer and leader in musical technology. With this new agreement in hand, Activision will be featuring some of Gibson’s best guitars in the upcoming Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Fans can expect more than 20 classic and modern Gibson Guitars as well 80 finishes to use! And hell yeah – fans will be doing it all with their new wireless Gibson Guitar controllers.

The game will allow you unlock the following “battle axes” in-game:

Gibson:

ES-335
Explorer
Firebird
SG
Les Paul
V-Factor
Super CES400
Marauder
Corvus

Epiphone:

Casino
Coronet
Sheraton

Kramer:

650
Vanguard

Bass Guitars:>

Marauder
Corvus
Les Paul
LP Double Cutaway
EDS 1275
ES335
Firebird
Flying V
Moderne
SG
X-Plorer

These wireless controllers will be available for all consoles. The Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii versions of the controllers will be using Gibson’s Les Paul model, while the PS2 version will see the classic Kramer.

The exclusive Gibson guitars will include innovative features such as removable faceplates that will allow fans to personalize their guitars, and a new button color design will be integrated for an even greater authentic feel and rock experience.

As you can see, Guitar Hero fans are going to have a field day.

Read on to find out what the guys Gibson Guitar and RedOctane said, as well as to find plenty of photos of the new wireless controllers (the one above is for the Wii, if you didn’t guess).

Continue reading “First glimpses of wireless guitars for Guitar Hero 3 (all platforms!)”