Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
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 Yesterday, I approached Auran in the hopes of setting up a Q&A between the developer and you guys. Auran was happy to oblige.
For those of you out of the loop, Auran is the Brisbane-based developer behind the RTS Dark Reign and more recently, the massively multiplayer hack’n'slash Fury.
All you have to do have your question considered is to submit it as a comment to this post. Once I’ve had a look, it’ll be published for the world to see. If it’s particularly good, it might even end up in the final Q&A. We’ll be accepting questions until Friday afternoon so get your thinking caps/shirts/fertility pants on and your mind cogs turning.
This is a great opportunity to chat candidly with a great Australian developer. So consider your questions carefully as only serious efforts will be accepted.
As a little something extra, Auran is offering two copies of Fury, signed by the developers, for the two best questions we receive. That’s a treat in anyone’s book.
If this goes well, I’d definitely look to organise further open Q&As with other developers.
Now, start commenting!
Martin Slater’s killer Bioshock post-mortem at the most recent Game Connect didn’t just highlight the less glamorous aspects of DirectX 10 – the 2K Australia lead programmer also discussed the issues facing quality assurance, and how important good QA is:
There’s a nasty trend in the industry right now, QA is not taken seriously enough. It’s not a career for people, it’s a step up for people coming out of AIE [Academy of Interactive Entertainment] , coming out of Qantm, coming out of wherever. Their first taste of the games industry is a stint in QA for six months on 15 bucks an hour, [where they]knock out some bugs until they’ve been known and hopefully chat it up with a few of the other people and get a job.
According to Slater, QA needs to be taken seriously, not only as a crucial aspect of development, but a career as well. Currently, it’s perceived as a rung on the ladder to a “better” position – one that has nothing to do with QA.
More from Slater after the jump.
Fair warning now – there’s going to be a deluge of Assassin’s Creed coverage over the next few days, as the game’s creative director, Patrice Desilets, has ventured out from Ubisoft’s Montreal studio to visit Australia. We saw a presentation of Creed today, and there’s a one-on-one Q&A tomorrow, so expect me to make the most of it.
For now, here’s a shot of the official Assassin’s Creed faceplate for Xbox 360. Ubisoft handed them out today along with a quill and some pink ink, just in case I suddenly feel the need to scribe how hetero I am on the walls of my house. There’s also a close-up shot after the jump.
If you have any questions you’d like me to take to Patrice, be sure to leave a comment!
Over on the MTV Multiplayer blog, they hit up Harmonix to get some answers about their upcoming corporate collaboration, Rock Band. There’s not really new info, but we’ve seen a lot of questions in our own comments like “will Guitar Hero controllers work with Rock Band?” (yes) and “will a Wii version come out?” (unannounced at this time) and we thought everyone could use a quick brush up on their Rock Band knowledge from the horse’s mouth. Not that we think Harmonix is a horse. Or MTV. They all seem like nice guys. And gals. And transgenders. And possible aliens living in human skin.
Your “Rock Band” Questions Answered (“Guitar Hero” Compatibility, Bundles, Etc) [mtvmultiplayer]
Nearly seven years ago Microsoft snatched up Bungie Studios, lock, stock and barrel. Today Bungie snatched themselves back.
I know the press release doesn’t really spell that out, but Brian Jarrard, Community and Franchise Director of Bungie, confirmed it for me today:
Bungie is privately owned by Bungie, not Microsoft. We are Bungie, LLC now.
Jarrard was nice enough to take the time to do an email Q&A with me today about a bunch of things. Questions ranged from how Bungie managed the break-up, to whether we can expect to see PS3 or Wii titles to them to what exactly the deal is with Halo DS. Hit the jump for the full exchange.
No Mutants Allowed caught up with Jason D. Anderson, one of the original designers of Fallout – along with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky – and coerced him to put fingers to keyboard for the benefit of nostalgia. The interview is all part of NMA’s 10th Anniversary celebration of the release of the first game.
Along with the requisite Fallout tid bits, Anderson also tells of his activities after the demise of Troika, which you may remember pushed out three excellent, if flawed, RPGs – Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire: Bloodlines.
Once Troika shut down, I took a little (much needed) vacation. 10 years in the game industry is a good haul, and it was time for a little break. I spent about 6 months rehabbing an old house – I had forgotten how hard construction was, but it felt great to do physical labor again. (Game development is bad for the physique.)
Even though they no longer exist, Troika enjoyed the unique honour of being the first Source engine licensee to release a game based on the technology.
If you’re just as crazy about Fallout and Troika as I am, you’ll really get a kick out of the Q&A.
Fallout Developers Profile – Jason D. Anderson [No Mutants Allowed]
Bethesda Software’s Fallout 3 community forums is currently hosting a list of 25 questions culled from its members, and answered by executive producer Todd Howard. Questions are broken up into groups according to subject matter and cover a range of topics including combat, NPCs, AI. mature content, quests and dialog. It’s a nice, hefty Q&A and sure to make great weekend reading for all of you out there anxious to get more info on Fallout 3. And don’t worry, Howard is still pretty cagey on some subjects so you can still remain blissfully spoiler free (with the possible exception of the semi-BioShock spoiler which is clearly marked towards the end of the bonus questions).
Community FAQ – 20 questions [Bethesda] [Thanks, Patrick]
