New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle Ubisoft’s I Am Alive is set in a Chicago ravaged by one hell of an earthquake. You’re playing a survivor, and…we don’t know much more than that. What we can guess, though, is that zombies and other assorted hellspawn will be kept to a minimum, as the game will be “a more realistic approach to survival”. Your questions on what constitutes “realistic” will have to wait, however, as we’ve a more important question: if Jade Raymond’s not working on this game, where’s Patrice?!? Is Patrice Still Alive?!?!?
I Am Alive takes “more realistic approach to survival,” says DarkWorks [VG247]
Among Japanese game developers, Capcom’s done really well this generation. The company has launched new IPs, gone multi-plat and even still churns out big arcade games. Part of the reason for that success, at least on home console titles, is Capcom’s own multi-platform engine, the MT Framework. While other Japanese developers are just starting to acknowledge the need to launch truly multi-platform titles in this next generation, Capcom was ready from the get-go. What’s more, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi explains:
No crotch jokes today, kids, just a literal serving of Tomb Raider Underworld. And we’ve got to hand it to Crystal Dynamics; no idea how this plays, but they’re really taking to this whole “take Lara back to her roots” thing, aren’t they?
Rockstar gets lots of things — like how to make and launch hugely successful games. But what’s one thing Rockstar does not get? Like at all? Company co-founder Sam Houser explains: The division doesn’t make sense to us; good games will usually sell and be popular, bad games will struggle – of any type or genre or style. But we still believe big, high impact games will help the industry evolve and further surpass the movie industry as the next mass-market story telling medium.
…We always tried to make games that anyone could pick up and play. They may, over time, reveal a lot of structural and mechanical complexity, but the first mission of more or less any Rockstar game is very easy and engaging for a reason – because new people playing the game have to be gently led into the world of 3D action games, or open world racing games or whatever. This is the way we try to cater for a mass market - but we are focused on making digital worlds that are fun to explore and interlaced with rich narratives, that even the most casual player can become a part of, if they want to. The challenge is to make a game in which ‘depth’ does not result in complexity the first minutes you play. This is a challenge we’ve always tried to embrace, and I hope we are getting better at it, just as I hope we are getting better at everything.
Also, in the interview, Houser says Rockstar doesn’t believe in focus testing, saying “it’s like asking an audience what album they want to hear – they don’t know until they hear it!” Yep, that sums it up perfectly. We’ve always wondered why there is a separation between “casual” and “core” players. Should all games support both? Otherwise, game companies are being elitist or just pandering.
Grand Theft Auteur – Part 2 [Develop]
There’s nothing like a demo of a Star Wars game to take the edge off a chilly August. I imagine a heater or a hot water bottle might have the same effect, but why would you bother when there’s absolutely nothing Jedi-related about them? Yeah, I thought so.
If you can keep yourself warm for just a couple more days, you can enjoy the fiery gameplay of The Force Unleashed on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. According to the Activision release, the demo will feature the TIE Fighter construction facility and a tutorial on how to Force Grip like a pro.
Text resembling a cut-and-pasted press release can be found after the jump.
While I never managed to craft a complete module in Neverwinter Nights‘ Aurora toolset, or find my way around the mess of utilities that came with Neverwinter Nights 2, I did spend days just playing around with script, level and dialogue editors. Figuring out how things work behind the scenes has always been a hobby of mine, especially with RPGs.
So when I heard that Bioware’s Fernando Melo and Ferret Baudoin are to give a 45-minute presentation on Dragon Age‘s toolset at this year’s PAX, I got excited. True, I won’t be able to see it, but maybe a video will hit the Internets and I can watch it that way.
Anyway, the pair plan to create a module on stage and play through it, which says a lot about the power of the tools. I can’t wait to check them out.
Dragon Age Toolset Plans [Blue's News]
It’s not quite the 80GB of goodness Sony will unleash on August 28, but 60GB of storage is nothing to sneeze, cough or squirt at. In the words of Microsoft (and anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic), it’s three times the space of the original Xbox 360 Pro. All this for the same $500 price, though MS would have to be cheeky to charge more. Going by the current cost of a 500GB HDD, a 60GB unit should only set you back $12. That is of course, if you can find one.
Nice and tidy press release after the jump, which includes the current costs of the Arcade and Elite as well.
Reader Jesse’s keen eyes spotted a pair of arcade machines set up next to the entry of the “Galactic Circus”, a video arcade situated in Melbourne’s Crown Casino. Yes, that’s Street Fighter IV, and for $2 you too can enjoy its fierce fearsomeness.
In Jesse’s words: “Best thing is, this place never closes, so If I get the urge to play as Guile, I can get my ‘Sonic Booms’ on at 3AM”. You can find a second shot after the jump.
