Friday, January 11, 2008
The Making Of: Portal
11:30PM Luke Plunkett | If you’ve never read a copy of Game Developer magazine, it’s interesting stuff. Lots of tidbits in every issue that, while not exactly news-worthy, are still handy to know. Case in point, the latest issue, which has a big feature on the making of Portal. Gamasutra have published an extract from the piece, which explains how the combination of Erik Wolpaw (Old Man Murray) and some bored playtesters hit on GLaDOS, the game’s starlet: A week after the meeting, Erik came back with some sample dialog he’d recorded using a text-to-speech program. It was a series of announcements that played over the newly-christened “relaxation vault” that appears in Portal’s first room. Everyone on the team liked the funny, sinister tone of the writing, and so Erik continued to write and record announcements for other chambers, while still searching for the story proper. At some point, however, it became apparent that these announcements were providing playtesters with the incentive to keep playing that we’d been looking for all along. Better yet, in the sterile, empty test chamber environment, players were actually becoming attached to the alternately soothing and menacing computer guide. We’d found the narrative voice of Portal. Just goes to show, you can’t plan an act of genius. It just happens. Exclusive: Inside The Making Of Portal [Gamasutra] More »
Not a Balance Board, It’s Bandai’s Wii Mat
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Taking a page from Konami’s DDR handbook, Bandai Namco Games is releasing a mat based title sometime this year in Japan. Called Family Trainer, the game originally appeared on the Nintendo Famicom back in 1986 and is an exercise game that used both a bundled mat and the Wii-mote. Mini-games include log jumping, canoning, mountain “sliding”, Whack-a-mole, waterfall climbing and a Temple of Doom-style train ride. Nice to see such strong third party support for the Wii, but too bad they couldn’t figure out a way to get this to use the Wii Balance Board. Amusing publicity shots of it in use below. Family Trainer [Game Watch Impress] More »
2007’s Year In Review (Game Mags)
10:30PM Luke Plunkett | Kevin Gifford, who we’ve covered before, is a magazine fiend. While most of you lot have given up on paper-based gaming news and opinions, he has not, and not only picks up nearly every major mag on the shelf but pores over them, incessantly, so that he can critique them and pass that information on to you. If you still care. Dude normally runs a monthly feature over on GameSetWatch, covering the latest mags, but as a treat has this week given his rundown on the industry as a whole, giving out his best-of and worst-of awards for 2007. Why should you care? Who else read every issue of every magazine last year? Not you, that’s for sure. Retrospective: The State Of Game Magazines In 2007 [Gamasutra] More »
Don’t Expect Wii-mote Lightsaber Peripheral
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | When the Wii-mote was first announce, immediately everyone thought of one thing: the lightsaber. Apparently, Nintendo wouldn’t even let Lucas Arts release its own “bat like attachments” (think lightsaber add-ons) for its talked about Wii game. The reason? Nintendo is worried about safety issues. Perhaps if there was some sort of training course on how to use such attachment, Nintendo’s mind could be persuaded? We’re sure. No Lightsaber Add-ons [MAXCONSOLE via WiiNintendo] [Pic] More »
This Is What The PS3 Can Do To Your Brain
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | IBM and The Mayo Clinic have teamed up to open a research facility, which they hope will bring about advances in the field of medical imaging, and in particular to things like CT scans. At present, it can take a doctor hours to look over a set of scans, which in some cases can endanger a patient’s life. It’s hoped that by using the PS3’s Cell chip they can not only create 3D images of a patient’s brain much faster, they can also then compare those to earlier 3D images in only minutes, a feat which once took hours. Pretty neat, considering the Cell was built to, you know. Play games. The Mayo Clinic’s chairman Bradley Erickson says this is not the first time games tech has been used to aid medical science. In addition to their current research using the Cell chip, Erickson says that “other games technology”, including high-end graphics cards, are often used in medicine, particularly in the field of imaging. IBM, Mayo Clinic team up to improve medical imaging [Computerworld, via io9] More »
Haruhi Figures You Can Move All Smooth Like
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Wow, we’ve made it 11 days into the new year without posting the Haruhi Suzumiya dance video. WTF is wrong with us?! (Hit the jump for that.) This Japanese ad features a Max Fatory “Figma” figurine of character Yuki Nagato from hit anime/manga/game Haruhi Suzumiya. The Figma line supposedly poses very well. By the looks of that stop motion animation, it does! Goes on sale Valentine’s Day. How romantic. More »
Ban Kids From Games Til They’re Seven?
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | As someone who’s been gaming constantly since the age of four, I don’t really buy into this, but whatever. A panel held at CES, where specialists discussed the impact electronics are having on kids, has thrown up some interesting arguments about videogames. One, from educational psychologist Jane Healy, is that because games teach kids “fight or flight” skills rather than “considered reasoning”, they adversely affect a child’s learning development. So she argues they should be kept away from games until they’re seven, which is old enough to have allowed their brains to have developed “normally”. More »New Japanese Street Fighter IV Trailer
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Old footage, though. We’ve seen the in-game and teaser footage before. But now, they’re mash-up together. Look at what fancy editing can do! Very much looking forward to this one. More »
Alone In The Dark Delayed. Again.
7:30PM Luke Plunkett | Sure, you know Alone in the Dark 5 is coming. You also probably know that, while the protagonist’s name is Edward Carnaby, he has absolutely nothing in common with the original, more dapper Carnaby of the first game. But what else do you know about the game? Not much, I’ll tell you, because for a game that was supposed to be coming in March (itself a delay from a 2007 release), we’ve not heard much new info for a while. So don’t act too surprised, then, at news it’s been delayed for a second time, this time to September. Bummer. Alone in the Dark delayed again [AITD5 Blog, via Go Nintendo] More »
