Services like Xbox Live Arcade have done a good job of reviving classic genres and reinventing them for modern audiences. Unfortunately, one genre that’s been sorely under-represented is the top-down dungeon crawler. Arrowhead Game Studios’ Magicka is looking to fill that void, mixing in classic Diablo gameplay with elements of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles . The premise should be familiar to anyone that’s played a fantasy adventure game before.
“Are you saying BioWare fast turnaround?” company co-founder Greg Zeschuk asks jokingly. The respected RPG developer has been known for taking its time with producing hits like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate , but has seemingly never been as prolific as it has been in recent months — just over two years after being acquired by EA . How’s this for fast turnaround? Dragon Age: Origins in November 2009, Mass Effect 2 in January, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening in March and several DLC packs in-between (and more on the way ).
He doesn’t know exactly when the third Killzone game will be announced, but SCEA prez Jack Tretton does know that it’s gonna happen. When pushed by GTTV host Geoff Keighley about a sequel to last year’s Killzone 2 on last night’s episode, the Sony exec openly answered, “You know, we own Guerrilla Studios, and uh, they did a great job on Killzone 1 and 2 … I don’t know when you’ll see announcements about it, but I can promise you a Killzone 3 .” Pretty straightforward, Jack! Though he didn’t make any promises regarding Killzone for E3, he did additionally note that the news from Sony out of GDC was “the icing on the cake,” referring to big announcements at E3 this year as “the batter.” And if there’s one thing we really, really like, Jack, it’s cake batter. You’ve won this round .
Q-Games is teaming up with Japanese artist Baiyon once again for another PSN collaboration. Baiyon, who created the visuals and sound for PixelJunk Eden and Encore , is directing an interactive music visualizer for the PS3, to be distributed via the PlayStation Network. Unlike Q-Games’ Earth visualizer , this upcoming project will not be built into the PS3 operating system. Instead, this will be a standalone application, akin to .deTuned .
As the first PixelJunk game from Q-Games, Racers was largely misunderstood by most. Now, after the success of Monsters , Eden and Shooter , Q-Games is ready to go back to its first concept and give it a second chance. PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap isn’t just an add-on to the original PSN game, but a new game (with new features like Trophies) that warrants a second look from fresh PixelJunk fans. Like the original, 2nd Lap is a unique interpretation of classic top-down racers of yore.
You wouldn’t expect to find “We’ve tightened up the graphics on Episode Three” among the usual list of noted improvements between Telltale ’s episodic releases. After all, with endearing, demented characters like Sam and Max taking up quite a bit of the screen, who cares how many polygons are left for that pot plant in the corner? “We wanted to bump everything up presentation-wise for this season,” said designer Chuck Jordan, drawing attention to the Telltale engine’s impressive — nay, tight — visual enhancements. The Penal Zone , the first of five monthly episodes comprising Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse , features noticeably improved lighting, real-time shadows and more expressive facial animation.
Multiplayer first-person shooters are a dime a dozen lately, meaning Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West has a lot to prove for itself. The gameplay is definitely fun, but it’s clear that its main selling point is the format. As a downloadable game (confirmed for PC, planned for XBLA and PSN), it’s one of the most polished multiplayer shooter experiences available in the space. Priced at $15, Paradox Interactive’s shooter is competing against the likes of Battlefield 1943 .
Though Uncharted 2 may have snatched away most of the Game of the Year trophies, Assassin’s Creed 2 stands out as another of 2009’s most acclaimed and successful titles. Lead game designer Patrick Plourde candidly discussed Ubisoft Montreal’s development process at one of the final panels during this year’s Game Developers Conference and gave some surprising insight into what happens when a project’s scope is altered in the midst of development. From the outset, Assassin’s Creed 2 took aim at the commercial success of the first game, as well as its vocal group of detractors. “I’m not gonna lie about it,” Plourde said, “some people liked it, some people despised it.
While Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto may not have played Shadow Complex , the XBLA darling ’s creators definitely played Metroid . During a panel titled “Designing Shadow Complex ,” Chair Entertainment Creative Director Donald Mustard encouraged the audience of prospective downloadable game makers to embrace genre limitations. “So, genre is one of your limitations because you aren’t just competing against other games that are released in the downloadable space,” Mustard said, pacing across the stage. “You really are competing against Gears of War , Mass Effect 2 , Uncharted 2 .
Bumps in the night. Unexplained sounds. A chill up your spine. Extreme terror.
Ghostwire lead developer Tom Soderlund told us at GDC that his upcoming DSi-exclusive Nintendo DS game will be coming to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. The DSi version, published by Majesco, is set to come out near Halloween this year, and it’s possible the other flavors will be ready by then as well. One advantage these systems have over the DS is the bonus of GPS, which could lead to some interesting location-specific ghosts. We hope Elvis’ grave is first on the list.
On the last day of GDC, a little room in the back of the North Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center was packed. Most of the audio design and sound creation panels in that part of the building weren’t very well attended for most of the week. But on Saturday morning, it was standing room only for the panel hosted by a surprised Vincent Diamante and Steve Johnson, the respective composer and sound designer on thatgamecompany ’s downloadable gem, Flower . They started off by explaining a little bit about how thatgamecompany developed the game: It all started from the narrative, as co-founder Jenova Chen wanted to try and create a rise and fall story with no actual protagonist to speak of.
In a demo of its upcoming streaming service, OnLive president and CEO Steve Perlman confirmed something long suspected — players will not be able to adjust graphics settings. “We don’t want somebody going and changing the settings to something different for what the game is optimized for,” he told Joystiq in an interview during the 2010 Game Developers Conference . “We’ll go and scale or adjust or do whatever changes we need to make in order to make it work.” Perlman also demoed an OnLive “cloud gaming” feature which will allow players to “suspend” action at any time and retrieve the session later through any OnLive source (PC, Mac or on TV). “This is also good if something happens to your connection,” Perlman said.
Click to Jabba-size LucasArts and BioWare have thus far released information for their upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic , at a painfully slow pace — the same goes for the hands-on opportunities they’ve offered us over the past year. When we finished our demo of the game at GDC, we were still left with a number of the same questions we had when we checked out the game back in December: Will there be space combat? What community features will be available? Can we build our own sentient, wise-cracking droids which secretly possess hearts of gold (and tin)?
ModNation Racers has come a long way since the release of its public beta last year. Since then, Sony San Diego Studios and United Front Games have expanded the franchise quite a bit, adding a number of new creation tools, four-player split-screen support and even a PSP counterpart . We chatted with ModNation Racers producer Dan Sochan about what’s new, and what we can expect from the future, including support for the PlayStation Move motion controller. Joystiq: What’s new about the code we’re seeing today at GDC?
