Just a few short years ago, as you’re sure to know, rhythm based games rulled the airwaves. However, after seeing an influx of different releases (from Guitar Hero, in particular) the market was overwhelmed and the buzz quickly died off – not before the Guitar Hero franchise made it all the way to Guitar Hero 5, that is.
Well, here we are almost 5 year’s after the original Guitar Hero’s November 8th, 2005 release and the hype has died down so much that Activision has announced their plans to completely shutter the franchise and their staff that develops it. This, quite obviously, means that there won’t be any more Guitar Hero games in the pipeline marking the end of an era.
Make note that despite featuring similar gameplay, Guitar Hero is not associated with Rock Band therefore the latter will live on.
via arstechnica
It was recently announced that LucasArts is gearing up to launch a brand new original franchise on Game Trailers TV at some point this week.
According to Game Trailers TV’s host’s, Geoff Keighley, twitter account:
LucasArts will announce a brand-new original game on this week’s GTTV – with first footage. More details soon.
So folks, either stay tuned into Spike for the announcement of a new, original LucasArts franchise, or check back here as we’ll keep you posted.
Whether they transform into cars, jets, or simply bring incredible amounts of firepower to bear on anything in their path gamers have a long love affair with giant robots. The sheer number of games involving mechanized engines of destruction is daunting, in many ways making up its own sub-genre whose titles range from ancient titles in the dim origins of gaming to modern titles brimming over with special effects.
The undisputed king of the giant robots though has always been the now-defunct FASA’s Mechwarrior series, known for its customization and strategy as much as for its action. The last two titles in the franchise have both been Xbox releases which were met with less than open arms by the majority of Mechwarrior fans.
Since then the studios behind them have been closed by Microsoft, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for fans of the IP, because in 2007 FASA founder Jordan Weisman bought the rights to his company’s old games and now word is beginning to slip that we might be looking at the revival of the franchise. Piranha game’s website lists that they are working on a AAA licensed franchise for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360, while Voodoo Extreme has a nine second clip posted that shows a single leg of a gigantic machine.
I know I’m going to offend some Resident Evil fans when I say this, but let me make my case before you crucify me. I think the Resident Evil movies were the best video game movies so far. I’m well aware that they weren’t faithful to the actual plotline. There’s an incredible amount of inconsistencies, but when you ignore the specific details the spirit and general plot motivation remains the same, with Umbrella being a shadowy corporation conducting secret research for their own ends, the ultimate repercussions to the rest of the world be damned.
They also featured a ton of action sequences that were a delight to watch and a refreshing propensity for killing off characters. There must be some people out there who enjoyed the films as much as I did, because next year we’re going to see the fourth chapter of the game adaptation. Apparently an internal memo circulating in Sony’s offices says that they’re excited to get Resident Evil: Afterlife in theaters by September 17th 2010. Paul W.S. Anderson says he probably won’t be back to direct, but Milla Jovovich will likely reprise her role as Alice, especially when you consider this is likely the most profitable film series she’s done in some time.
Need for Speed: Undercover was nothing short of a flop but EA hopes to regain the community’s loyalty to the brand with Need for Speed Shift and Need for Speed Nitro. However, if these games still don’t prove to be a success EA has a little secret up their sleeves; Criterion Games.
Yes, the guys behind the popular Burnout franchise will in fact get their hands on a new Need for Speed instead of merging the two franchises. There’s no word on when this Criterion developed Need for Speed will come out but lets hope they do a better job than previous developers because the franchise really needs it.
Read (Kotaku)
Those hoping for World of Warcraft 2 or World of Starcraft to be Blizzard’s new MMO are met with a sad day — Zarhym, Blizzard community manager, has recently confirmed via the official World of Warcraft forums that the new MMO will be based on a “brand new franchise”.
That’s all we have to go by for now but Joystiq is reporting that the game is being developed using the World of Warcraft engine for the time being. Whatever the new franchise is, Blizzard is sure to be rollin’ in the dough by the time it rolls around.
Working on a franchise is a difficult task. Every sequel has to add something new to the gameplay without deviating too far from what made the original games popular. Survival horror games began quite often with characters who were either ill suited to defend themselves or with the proper skills but limited resources. Later series eventually changed things so that many titles became a little more action based.
Rumors have been circulating regarding a new Silent Hill game that’ll be bringing the series back to its roots and today Konami officially announced Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, PS2 and PSP for this fall. It’s being developed by Climax UK, the team who were behind Silent Hill: Origins.
The title features Harry Mason once again searching the town of Silent Hill for his missing daughter Cheryl. For old fans of the series they’re adding in some new features, making NPCs frequent new areas and adding in new clues and details. As you explore the game will be keeping track of where you go, what clues you find and how you react to other characters and altering the overall experience accordingly, a feature they’re calling ‘Psyche Profiling’.
The Wii version will of course feature motion controls. The Wiimote functions as a flashlight to illuminate the dark corners of the town and a cellphone, allowing you to take photos and access a GPS function to help navigate. Some puzzles will also be solved by manipulation of the Wiimote.
The biggest downside of advances in gaming technology is that the more complicated the games get, the longer they take to create. More features equal more complex coding which means there are even more things that can go wrong. Every company loves a good franchise, since they can keep churning out titles with familiar characters and a high chance of success.
Capcom just released Resident Evil 5 to happy fans everywhere and unsurprisingly there’s already people talking about the next game. Technically the ‘next game’ will be The Darkside Chronicles, the next lightgun style game for the Wii, but people are most concerned about the possibility of Resident Evil 6, the true successor to the most recent title.
Despite the near-guarantee of profitability for any new Resident Evil title, it seems that Capcom isn’t sold on making Resident Evil 6: “We haven’t decided whether we’re going to make Resident Evil 6 yet… But if we do, it could take anywhere up to eight years, but hopefully only four,” said Masachika Kawata, producer on RE5.
As you may or may not know, Nintendo is holding a press conference in Japan on Thursday. So far the only hint of what the conference might hold is a new Nintendo DS. Today, however, there is news that Nintendo will also announce a new title for Wii. Of course, by “new” they mean that they will revive an old franchise. The only other hint about the game was that it is something that everyone is waiting for.
At this point, I would like to see how Nintendo could pull off delivering a game like this which is not called Kid Icarus. Either way, core Nintendo fans will finally have something to be happy about.
