Crackdown fans, all hope is not lost. You do have a reason to get out of bed, clear the room of Taco Bell wrappers, put on a smile and face the world. Crackdown 2? It could still happen, says Colin Macdonald of Realtime Worlds. Sure, the team is neck deep in APB development — which looks completely awesome — but, should the stars align, high jumping supercops may be in your future.

Calling the choice to not immediately begin work on a sequel "a horrible, horrible decision that we still dwell on", Macdonald tells VG247 that "I don't think the door's closed" on a sequel. Sounds like RTW is still willing, and able, to take another crack at Crackdown, should Microsoft call upon them. And they may, one day.

Crackdown 2: "The door's not closed," says Realtime Worlds [VG247]

Put these pieces together. Realtime Worlds made Crackdown. Realtime Worlds are now at work on an MMO called APB, which is not entirely dissimilar to Grand Theft Auto. Realtime Worlds were founded by David Jones, who created Lemmings. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto. Last month, Realtime Worlds bought back the rights to APB from Korean company Webzen, who were originally scheduled to publish the game. Why the buyback? Eurogamer are reporting that, according to "a credible industry source", it was so they could turn around and sell the game to Rockstar, who could then rebadge it as a GTA MMO. Realtime are keeping quiet on the rumours, saying only that they bought back the rights to their game to "give themselves some options".

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]

Kotakuite Michael N. sends in this humorous and rather sad photo from his local Target. It seems that this particular Target had a surfeit of copies of Crackdown and is now offering them all up on an endcap for $US 15 a piece. Michael claims he checked and each and every one of those is a copy of Crackdown. Even for a large retail outlet like Target this seems like a ridiculous amount of copies to have of one game. It's also a bit of a shame considering I really liked Crackdown. It was one of the first games I got for my 360 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. On the other hand, it's a perfect opportunity for those of you who haven't tried it out yet to get it for a cheap price.

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In an article over at Gamasutra, Andy Robertson takes a look at the use of popular culture in video games, specifically Parkour (or Free Running). He takes an in-depth look at some of the games that have used Parkour, namely Crackdown and Assassin's Creed, and discusses what they did really well, and what leaves much to be desired for free-running fans.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Assassin's Creed allows the users to do just about anything, moving up and over the whole sandbox environment using Parkour-style moves, but doesn't reward players for the fluidity and beauty that authentic Parkour demands. On the other side, Crackdown has specific Xbox Achievements that encourage players to be more fluid and artistic with their movements, but permits fewer grab points and forces the player into a more linear, less free and experimental path. What Robertson doesn't refer to is the upcoming game Mirror's Edge, based solely around the art of Parkour. If these two elements are married in Mirror's Edge, it could be a big Free Running hit. Then again, if it's only those elements, I can't imagine long-term play possibilities for the game.

Game Culture Vultures: Parkour

Dave Jones of Realtime Worlds wowed GDC audiences this week with his presentation "My First MMO", debuting the successor to the award winning Crackdown known as APB. APB, Jones explained, is a massively multiplayer online game without the grind, one that draws inspiration from Counter-Strike more than it does from Ultima Online, EverQuest or World of Warcraft. Why Counter-Strike? "There's no persistence, no progression, no customisation, its just damn fun," Jones said.

APB does have persistence and progression, if done a bit non-traditionally. But customisation is one feature that APB has in spades.

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Microsoft's David Edery, who's Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner for XBL, has posted a few helpful tips on how to get a better demo. Presumably because most demos suck. Like the recent Burnout demo, for example, which I refuse to play again thanks to unskippable tutorials and promo vids. The whole post boils down to a single basic point: give players a taste of the game's strengths, not simply the first 15 minutes of the game. Take Crackdown, for example. Prior to that demo's release, the game wasn't generating much buzz. After the demo, though, in which your abilities had been "fast-tracked", people knew what the game would actually be like, and were going bananas. Same goes for Dead Rising. So devs, note for future reference: remember, a demo's a chance to show us why we should buy your game!

How to Increase Trial, Improve Conversion Rate, and Sell More Games [Game Tycoon, via Game|Life]

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Halo 3 sales? We're impressed. Nintendo of America honcho Reggie Fils-Aime, he's not. Like really, really not. According to Reggie:

Will they sell a lot of software? Certainly. Will it sell hardware? I think it's an open question... I think that the Halo 3 consumer already has the hardware, because they're playing BioShock and Crackdown and a variety of games that are, in the end, quite similar: first-person shooter experience, multiplayer capable online. Tell me what's new?

Sega has announced a pair of upcoming addition to the Wii Virtual Console in the form of Crack Down and ESWAT. The former, distinguishable from the more recently released Xbox 360 Crackdown by its space and top down shooting/explosives planting thrills, was originally released on Sega's System 24 arcade hardware.

Similarly, ESWAT follows the arcade to Sega Genesis to Virtual Console path, but uses an Altered Beast brand of sidescrolling action featuring a super cop in a tubby exoskeleton.

Both are 800 Wii Points (aka $8 American) and are expected some time "soon."

Love Crackdown? I assume a good portion of the 1.5 million of you who bought it did—and not just for the Halo 3 beta key contained within. If you're a big Crackdown fan, you'll have to wait a long time for the sequel, as developer Real Time Worlds says they aren't working on it. Why? According to Develop Mag's report, producer Phil Wilson said that "Microsoft were a little late in stepping up to the plate to ask for Crackdown 2, and by then we had already started working on bigger, better things."

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There's a pretty interesting article up over at Gamasutra, examining the testing process behind Crackdown. Microsoft had never had to test a big, sandboxy game like it before, so it tells the story of how they had to adapt in order to get the job done. It also throws up some useless, but handy, statistics on the game. Seems Crackdown was divided into 495 "blocks". There was an average of 12 bugs per block, and these bugs took an average of 12 minutes to locate (using old testing methods; new ones had to be written up to deal with the game's scope). The hidden orbs scattered around the game created over 10,000 environment bugs. All useless, certainly, but an interesting read nonetheless!
GameFest: Testing Crackdown's 495 City Blocks [Gamasutra]