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First screenshots of "Banjo Kazooie 3"

Knurrunkulus — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:12:26 +0200

If you hold the N64-era in such a good memory as I do, and this not only for the obvious masterpiece "Ocarina of Time" (which, as designer Shigeru Miyamoto pointed out very recently, was considered at some point to be programmed in first-person-perspective before that idea was finally abandoned) but also for the hey-day of developer Rare, which created some of the best and funniest games I have ever played up til now (yes, Conker's Bad Fur Day, that's right: I'm looking at you), then it could be a very good idea to take a very quick look at the British Gaming Blog right now.

They just announced that Rare have finally released the very first screenshots for Banjo Kazooie 3 (or as some call it: Banjo Threeie), the third instalment in a series that had its glorious beginning on the N64 as well. Of course, the screenshots don't look like N64 at all. You can see the protagonists in two different vehicles (in air and on water), making their way through landscapes that look really fantastic and somehow inspired by upcoming "Little Big Planet", exclusive for PS3. So here it is: proof that this game that was somehow rumoured to not even be in production anymore at the beginning of this year, really does exist.

And it might well be the reason I will at some point buy a XBox360 for.

Bioware/EA: Retreat from Security Measures

Knurrunkulus — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:55:41 +0200

Bioware and EA have done a strategic withdrawal from the harsh privacy preventing measures they announced a few days ago, with which the authenticity of the game would have been checked every ten days over the internet, meaning that if you don't have access to the internet regularly and you wanted to play it without internet access after having had a break for two weeks you couldn't do it because your copy of the game would be automatically blocked till you have access to the internet again.

This seems to have caused an uproar, because now Jay Watamaniuk from Bioware suddenly lets the disappointed fans in the Mass Effect forum know that

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate [sic!] as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

Yes, that's right. We all apparently have to say a big "Thank you" to the armed forces, who are obviously looking forward to Mass Effect and did not really agree with the new security measures, given that their access to the internet and their free-time probably wouldn't allow to play the game and let it check the authenticity every ten days. This is why Bioware now decided to take a step back and to only let the re-authentication process happen every time that someone playing the game wants to download new game content.

Same goes for EA, who announced that the changes made to the protection of Mass Effect will also apply for Spore. The protection of both games will however still only allow users to authenticate each game on three computers. But you don't need the disc in the drive to play or authenticate the game, which is actually a pretty comfortable thing.

All in all, it's good to see that publishers really seem to listen to their customers sometimes.

Take-Two: "Bioshock"-Movie in Development

Knurrunkulus — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:25:44 +0200

Bioshock, influenced by the "System Shock"-series, probably last year's most highly awaited game and definitely its biggest hype, will come to the big screen. Variety announced that Universal Pictures are, together with Take-Two Interactive (the game's publisher), heading for what appears to be the biggest videogame-to-movie deal since in 2005 the "Halo" movie was announced, which was by now already cancelled. Take-Two's executive chairman Strauss Zelnick however promises that this won't happen to "Bioshock" as well. The director will be Gore Verbinski, well known for the "Pirates of the Carribean"-trilogy and for the very succesful remake of japanese horror flick "Ringu", but on the downside also responsible for the flop "Wicker Man" with Nicolas Cage. The screenplay will apparently be written by John Logan. His former screenplays include "Sweeney Todd", "The Last Samurai" and oscar-nominated "The Aviator".

Take-Two have by now also offically announced that this movie deal is by no chance just another rumour but really true and happening. 2K Games, developers of the game, are very happy about this project, as Christoph Hartmann, their president, points out:

BioShock fans appreciate the depth and complexity of the game, and our partnership with Gore Verbinski will introduce the world of Rapture to an even wider audience. In addition to his impressive body of work, Gore is an avid video gamer and true fan of BioShock. That was extremely important to us [...].

You can also find a first interview with Gore Verbinski online, in which he (among other points) states that of course you can't just adapt every single aspect of a computer game into a movie that only lasts about two hours, but he assures that fans won't be disappointed (well, of course he says that). Concerning issues like the controversial "Little Sisters" (one of the morality decisions in the game) and the generally rather mature nature of "Bioshock" he says:

I think we'll go right up to the edge with the Little Sisters. I don’t want to soften it to the point where the core audience feels betrayed. At the same time, the gameplay is completely different than it will be for an audience watching. The movie audience’s imagination is a lot more graphic if you let them imagine it. We'll have to be really clever with that. [...] We're prepared to make it an R-rated movie. I don’t intuitively see it as PG-13. The content and the graphic nature of the story itself is smarter than that. It's not for young kids. The utopian references and the way the characters and world are drawn in that delightfully inspired Jules Verne and Ayn Rand style places the film in a more elevated realm. It's the realm of a graphic novel.

It's not really clear yet when the film will hit the big screen, but taking into account that Take-Two are developing a sequel (or prequel) to "Bioshock" for 2009 makes us think that, from a marketing-oriented point of view, it would definitely be clever to release the game shortly before the movie comes out, or probably the other way round. So: There might be a good chance of the movie coming out late next year, if not early in 2010.

I appreciate that. It would give me some more time to finally play the game.

Bethesda Releases 3 Pieces of Music from Fallout 3

bolle — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:41:56 +0200

New pieces of information for one of my most anticipated games have been released. Bethesda has put 3 tracks from the soundtrack of Fallout 3 online. You can listen to them here

German readers should choose English language, it seems that the link is not working correctly in the german version of the site...

The first track is very imposing and heavy with lots of brass and drums. Later it gets faster. It would fit to anything mighty and impressive, like the Brotherhood of Steel.
The second track is much quieter, it sounds like the music in a Western, with bass and acoustic guitar. It reminds me of the TV Series Firefly, if anyone knows that.
The third one is is quite similar to the second, but it includes string instruments as well, and after a while, it gets quite oriental, could be the soundtrack of Assassin's Creed if I wouldn't know.

The music for Fallout 3 is written by Inon Zur, an Israeli composer who wrote the Soundtracks for Baldur's Gate II Addon and Soulstorm as well. If you compare this to the music of the first two parts of fallout, which was written by Mark Morgan, the Fallout 3 music sounds orderly, civilized; there is much more rhythm and melody, whereas the stuff by Mark Morgan is often done with sound effects, not real instruments, without melody or much rhythm.

I like the old stuff more, maybe because old fans always like the old stuff more, but somehow the music by Inon Zur is too civilized for me. Maybe the reason for this is that the world of Fallout 3 is further developed than it was before, but I hope that the third part does not take the freedom to go where you want, that you had in the first two parts, and tries to force you into a fixed story. The music, although, does that a little bit...

Get Evil with Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Jörg — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:20:19 +0200

The first new title from the recently acquired Pandemic Studios developed for EA is called Lord of the Rings: Conquest. The project is done "in collaboration with New Line Cinema" -- the studio behind the three Lords of the Rings movies (not counting the animated movie from the 80ies, which strangely ended with the Alliance's victory at Helm's Deep). After the two Battle for Middle Earth strategy games and the Final Fantasy inspired PS2 RPG The Third Age, EA seems to bring the LotR franchise back into the action oriented realms of The Two Towers (2002) and Return of the King (2003). Says Andrew Goldman, co-founder of Pandemic: "Our teams have many years of experience in creating epic battlefields. We always wanted to apply that experience to a fantasy world with orks, warriors, archers, wizards and sieges."

Keeping in mind that Pandemic was responsible for the two acclaimed Star Wars Battlefront games which copied several elements of the tactical shooter Battlefield 1942, this most probably means a multiplayer oriented experience. But the first meager information on the official website (including some screenshots) does neither confirm nor disprove that
assumption: "Commandeer catapults, attack from horseback, fight man to man". In fact, many of the screenshots do not look exactly like multiplayer battles, but then again, they are clearly not real screenshots (with an interface etc.) but "staged" ones. EA states that you will see cave trolls, olifants, Balrog and even Sauron himself.

Speaking of the Dark Lord: You can not only lead the armies of the Alliance into Battle, but the forces of Sauron himself -- another very strong hint at a Battlefront inspired LoTR experience. Most of the locations mentioned on the webiste also sound like perfect battlefields for the two sides in a team oriented multiplayer action game:

The Shire
Weathertop
Rivendell
Moria
Isengard
Helm's Deep
Minas Tirith
Pelennor Fields
Osgiliath
Minas Morgul
The Black Gate
Mount Doom

Most locations still have a "coming soon" label attached, but clicking on Isengard (on the website) will give you screenshots in the topics "Cast Spells", "Strike from a Distance", "Defend the Bridge" and "Fight alongside the Ents". We're sure there's more information coming up shortly: The release of the game is planned for the fourth quarter of 2008 for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Sandbox That Gets Sand Up Your Shorts

Kyle Ackerman — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:53:24 +0200

Elsewhere, I've posted an editorial on the issue of meaningful choices in gaming, specifically discussing Grand Theft Auto IV, called Grand Theft Auto IV: The Sandbox That Gets Sand Up Your Shorts:

The crux is really in letting the player decide how much realism is fun. Many games have crossed the line between realism and fun. The trick with Grand Theft Auto IV is that the game lets you make that choice. So while it's superb that Grand Theft Auto IV brings games to a new level of reality, reality by itself isn't fun. Being able to choose which parts of reality to experience is a LOT of fun. And that's where Grand Theft Auto IV gets my mixed blessing.

id Software announces Doom 4, seeks help

Knurrunkulus — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:52:51 +0200

Today id Software announced that the production on the fourth installment for the "Doom"-series (Doom 4) has begun and that the internal team working on it is currently still expanding. Todd Hollenshead, CEO at id Software, said in a press release that he only wants to pick the very best people for this demanding job:

DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth. [...] It's critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles.

According to the section "Job Listings" on www.idsoftware.com lead designers, level designers, art directors and many other jobs are still available. It can also be guessed by looking at the job descriptions that the game will obviously be programmed for the platforms PC, PS3 and XBox360. It will, however, probably take much more patience till we see the first screens of the actual game, with the hiring process just starting right now.

id Software is currently also working on Rage, Quake Live and Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2.

Mass Effect & Spore: Piracy Preventing Measures

Knurrunkulus — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:54:45 +0200

Many gamers out there were not really pleased last year by the fact that they were only allowed to activate their copy of "Bioshock" on the PC three times before having to contact the support to reactivate it, all thanks to the implemented SecuROM online activation system which was designed to prevent privacy. A big issue nowadays, which made Crytek announce very recently that they would stop developing PC-only games and which also 'caused Iron Lore Entertainment to shut down. And since a long time the following question is up: Will security measures like SecuROM really help or will they actually be more threatening to the popularity of the games than they could ever be to the issue of piracy?

We are probably about to find out very soon, because the security measures will now apparently even go further. In the upcoming pc-version of XBox360 smash-hit "Mass Effect", for example, the SecuROM-system will be implemented again, but its

[...] security goes one step further [...] by dialing in every five to ten days to double check that your current CD Key and computer info matches the data that was submitted when you first activated the game.

Derek French from developer Bioware confirms that the same system will also take effect with upcoming sandbox-game "Spore" in the community forum:

Yes, EA is ready for us and getting ready for Spore, which will use the same system. [...] For clarity, though, an internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after. You can be completely connectionless for 9 days and encounter no problems playing Mass Effect. And you don't need the disk in the drive to play.

What do you global gamers think about that? I mean: The internet access should not be the big problem. Everyone with a pc decent enough to run "Mass Effect" or "Spore" on it will have internet access anyway. But still: I always bought my games legally, and having to encounter such security measures kind of makes me feel like the publishers and developers say: "Hey, I know you just spent several bucks on our game, but: that still doesn't mean that we trust you." I will most probably still buy the games, but it's the same awkward feeling I get when I buy a DVD and have to watch an "anti-piracy"-spot at the beginning which I can't even skip.

Is "customer-friendly" simply not an option anymore in the move against piracy?

A Convenient Truth? Harvard Research on Games

Knurrunkulus — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:15:40 +0200

It's not really fun to be a videogame these days. Well, videogames can't pick their destiny themselves, they are just produced, no one ever thought about asking them how they feel with this. But: It's easy to guess. Because: How would you feel, when by most critics you would be the main reason made responsible for the bad behaviour of children and for youth violence? So, it's good to know that the day has come where videogames can finally rejoice a bit. Because there was a new study done in America. And the results are surprising.

Since 2004 Drs. Lawrence Kuttner and Cheryl K. Olson who are directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media have been researching the effects of videogames on young teenagers with a budget of $1.5 million, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. They now publish their results in the book "Grand Theft Childhood. The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games". This surprising truth looks as follows:

One very encouraging finding was how sophisticated middle-school boys were in their understanding of violent games. They could enjoy playing bad guys without wanting to be them. As one boy told us, "When I play violent games like (Grand Theft Auto) Vice City, I know it's a videogame. And I have fun playing it. But I know not to do stuff like that, because I know the consequences that will happen to me if I do that stuff." We were especially struck by how protective these boys were of younger kids; in fact, their concerns about video game influence were almost identical to those expressed by parents. But their biggest concern was not violence; it was "swears." Another boy said, "I don’t like my little brother or sisters to watch me play Vice City because they might swear at other people, 'cause of how they do in Vice City. They always give people attitude and take swears at other people. That could make my family look bad, like my mom isn't raising us regular."

Olson recently said in an interview with german magazine "Der Spiegel" that people should stop worrying so much about the effects of videogames on their children because according to her research kids that don't play videogames often seem to have much more problems in school and at home than kids of the same age that are pretty much into gaming. Her explanation for this is that nowadays, if you don't play videogames, it's a sign of missing social competence. She also says that a connection between videogames and incidents like the Columbine High School massacre was not found during the research. This leads her to the conclusion that all the other research that has been done over the last few years and that led to bad publicity for games has actually been ill-concepted, because

the most-publicized studies came from a small group of experimental psychologists, studying college students playing nonviolent or violent games for 15 minutes. It's debatable whether those studies are relevant to real children, playing self-selected games for their own reasons (not for cash or extra credit!), in social settings, over many years. But media reports and political rhetoric often ignore that distinction.

But Olsen's research is debatable as well, of course. The question is if research can achieve very much in the whole discussion about new media anyway. But still: for gamers it might be a little stretch of light on the horizon that there is finally a research available which kind of fights for them. Or, to quote Mike Fahey from www.kotaku.com:

After several years of reading contradicting reports on the effects of violent gaming on children, I've come to the conclusion that there is no real research we can trust. What can we do? Exactly what the mainstream press does - pick the one that comes to the conclusion we want!

If you are interested in the topic, you might want to delve deeper by reading another interview with Cheryl K. Olson over here . She ends it with the words: "Parent education seems the only feasible way to go." Well, we already knew that before her research.

But: nobody ever listens to gamers. Let's see if someone listens to Harvard for a change.

Theater of War is Gold for the PC

Kyle Ackerman — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:17:35 +0200

cdv Software Entertainment's game Theater of War is gold, in duplication and should arrive in stores for the PC on May 19.

Developed by Battlefront.com, the game is a World War II-themed real-time strategy game that has players recreating around 50 European battles ranging from those in Moscow to the landing at Normandy. Much of the game is arranged as a campaign, and Theater of War includes eleven multiplayer missions.

(see original source)