The event schedule for this year’s Game Developers Conference reveals that BioWare will provide new details on its sci-fi action RPG sequel Mass Effect 2 at the event.
The studio’s project manager Corey Andruko and lead technical designer Dusty Everman will host an hour-long session that will explore the design process of levels in the coming game.
The GDC will run from March 23 to 27 at its usual venue – the San Fransisco Moscone Center. The event is geared towards developers, so the information revealed may only be understood or appreciated by tech-heads themselves; it’s not known how much of the details will be of interest to gamers.
A digital download expansion is on the way for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, publisher Electronic Arts announced today. Dubbed Uprising, the standalone expansion will offer four mini-campaigns for each faction, as well as an additional campaign that focuses on the origins of the Japanese commando Yuriko.
The add-on will also introduce the Commanders Challenge, a mode where you will be able to test your strategy skills against a set of nine commanders from different territories and difficulty levels in 50 challenges, all with their own conditions and game rules.
There will also be new live-action cutscenes, with actresses Gemma Atkinson and Ivana Milicevic returning to reprise their roles.
“We’re giving gamers more of what they want – more of the fast, fluid and fun gameplay, more of the story we began to tell in Red Alert 3 and more cutscenes featuring top-notch Hollywood talent, said EA LA senior producer Amer Ajami. At the same time, we’re excited we’re going to be able to bring new things to the mix, including new units and the Commander’s Challenge, which is a great way for players to hone their skills and get deeper into the combat.”
After it turned out Microsoft had backed the wrong high-definition horse, people began speculating how long it would be before the Xbox 360 would get Blu-ray capabilities, be it a new SKU with a built-in drive or more likely an external drive similar to the HD-DVD add-on. Microsoft has continually denied any rumors that they plan on using Blu-ray for the Xbox 360. Robbie Bach gave an interview to Todd Bishop of FlashTech at Microsoft’s booth at the CES. Bach is the president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division and in the interview he explained the reasons why we won’t see a Blu-ray player for this generation of Xboxes.
Bach explained that first and foremost there is very little demand for a Blu-ray player: “when you ask people the list of things they want to see us spending time creating in Xbox, Blu-ray is way, way down on the list.” He also points out that a Blu-ray drive would be of no use for developers. Even though a Blu-ray disc would greatly expand the storage capacity that Xbox games have, allowing for higher quality visuals, more intricate textures and more content in general, it would severely limit the number of people purchasing these games.
There are twenty-eight million Xboxes that have already been purchased or shipped, none of which currently have the capacity to utilized Blu-ray technology. Even if Microsoft did release an external drive, there would be no guarantee that people would purchase it, and developers would be hesitant to create Blu-ray Xbox games.
While Microsoft might be sticking to their new ‘digital download’ guns as far as video content goes, by the time the next Xbox comes out it will likely have Blu-ray capabilities, or at least some other comparable technology, if only because DVD storage will be insufficient for the games of the future.
Next week the oft-delayed Fable 2 DLC will be released. Fans of the game can re-enter Albion and journey to Knothole Island where new quests, treasures and items await. Lionhead has been releasing a steady stream of screenshots to keep it fresh in everyone’s mind due to the long delay (the content was originally planned for a November release).
The screenshots don’t reveal much but they do seem to show the island in slightly different states, indicating that whatever quests you undertake or decisions you make will have the potential to change the landscape. One shows a village with houses on stilts although the landscape is sandy and arid. Another shows the same village as rain falls and the stilts do their job of keeping the houses above the water around them. See all the screenshots after the break. READ ON »
Those looking to suck up every ounce of information regarding Blizzard’s forthcoming Diablo 3 are in for a treat. Blizzard has recently updated the game’s official website with 5 new, never before seen screenshots.
Featured in the screenshots is a plethora of eye candy sure to make any Diablo fan go crazy. Unfortunately there is still no set date for when the game will be released.
I don’t know about you guys, but it is getting increasingly harder to make a descision about which upcoming Blizzard title I am looking forward to more; Diablo 3, or Starcraft 2.
You can check out the new screenshots at the official website, or you can head over to Big Download which has them in a gallery for easier access.
The release date for the demo of Ensemble Studio’s Halo Wars was not the only thing released at the Microsoft CES keynote. What you see above is all new gameplay footage from the convention.
Featured in the video is basic gameplay, but what it really showcases on is the seemingly easy control scheme. Many thought that when a Halo RTS for the console was announced, it was doomed to fail.
After watching this video, many of the haters may be intrigued to at least try out the demo because it really doesn’t look that painful. I guess we’ll have to wait until it’s March 3rd release date before we pass judgement.
As a fan, usually anything baring the Halo moniker will catch my attention that’s why this news at Microsoft’s CES keynote definitely caught my attention.
Robbie Bach, a Microsoft exec, announced via the keynote that a demo for Ensemble’s upcoming console RTS, Halo Wars, would hit Xbox Live on Feburary 5th.
That’s not all though; Bach also let us know that Halo 3:ODST would in fact be hitting shelves this year, exactly when we are still not sure.
Just in case you missed it yesterday, here’s a friendly reminder. The demo for EA’s upcoming skateboarding game, skate 2, hit the Xbox Live Marketplace yesterday.
Featured in the demo are 2 different game modes; campaign and party play. The campaign demo is just a general run through of the new features added to skate 2 such as new tricks in the trick book, and the ability to move objects. The party play, on the other hand, showcases one of skate 2‘s new multiplayer game types; Hall of Meat.
Unfortunately, the demo will not allow for play over Xbox Live as previously thought, but it’s still fun to completely wreck your skater with or without friends along side you. skate 2 is currently scheduled to hit shelves on January 23rd.
However much peripheral manufacturer Nyko had to pay in legal fees settling their lawsuit with Nintendo over the Kama it seems that it wasn’t enough to derail any of their plans for the future. At the Consumer Electronics Show they’ve unveiled a few of the new accessories they’ll be releasing for the Wii this year.
Already announced is the Charge Station Quad, which allows you to charge all four of your wiimotes at once and it’s joined by two other chargers and a new controller. The Charge Station EX is the newest version of the classic wiimote charger. It allows you to charge two wiimotes at once, but it now features an LED battery level indicator on the front so you can tell just how charged the battery packs are. Next is the Kama Charge Kit. This allows you to charge both a wiimote and Nyko’s wireless nunchuck peripheral the Kama at the same time. It includes the charger station, a Kama controller and battery pack.
Lastly and most interestingly is the Wand, a controller replacement for the WIimote. The layout of the buttons is more or less the same, although following the Kama lawsuit Nyko was careful to ensure that the appearance is vastly different from the official wiimote. The biggest difference is that the Wand features ‘Trans-Port’ technology which allows for new sorts of accessories that the original Wiimote would be incapable of interacting with. Wiimote accessories can only allow mechanical manipulation of buttons, essentially any peripheral such as the zapper can only manipulate existing buttons by including some mechanism that physically presses them. The Wand will allow for controllers that interface electronically.
All three products are scheduled for an April 2009 release date, but only the Charge Station EX has been given a price, which is $34.99.
The event schedule for this year’s Game Developers Conference reveals that BioWare will provide new details on its sci-fi action RPG sequel Mass Effect 2 at the event.
A digital download expansion is on the way for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, publisher Electronic Arts announced today. Dubbed Uprising, the standalone expansion will offer four mini-campaigns for each faction, as well as an additional campaign that focuses on the origins of the Japanese commando Yuriko.
