Ubisoft has issued a recall for Collectors Edition copies of the submarine sim Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic, According to a report from the German site ComputerBase. Apparently, some offending World War II-related symbols (we're guessing swastikas) were left in some of the bonus content, which violates German law. This only affects the Collectors Edition.
The ComputerBase post briefly mentions the Ubisoft DRM that has been so problematic for players of Assassin's Creed 2 and this game, confirming that the same scheme is in use there. It must not be as bad in Germany, because someone was able to play long enough to see a swastika.
Immediately following his well-attended GDC panel, Nintendo's Yoshio Sakamoto talked with us about (what else?) Metroid: Other M. In addition to all sorts of questions on the unique Team Ninja collaboration, we asked Sakamoto about the long-rumored Metroid Dread project and, barring a confirmation of that product, when we'd see another 2D handheld Metroid.
Joystiq: Speaking of the core Metroid development team that last worked on the GBA, there have been rumors of a game known as 'Metroid Dread' - purportedly a 2D Metroid game for DS. First question: Was 'Dread' a real project? Second question: If not, where is a 2D Metroid on DS?
Yoshio Sakamoto: It seems we get a lot of questions about Metroid Dread, especially at interviews following E3 for example. But nothing's ever been announced about this game; it's all just been rumors so far. So we never know exactly how to respond to questions like this.
While there actually was a point where some teams were meeting to discuss if it was possible to create a 2D Metroid for DS using a relatively small team size, it's not something that we ever really announced or thought of as "Metroid Dread." But whenever people bring out that idea, we recognize that the basic concept is something that we can't say never existed. But at the same time, we can't of course, make any official comment about a Metroid Dread-like project coming out.
Our main goal [with Metroid: Other M] is to, as I said earlier, first raise knowledge about the Metroid universe and the Samus character before we start to introduce different elements like online or even going back to another handheld game for the next in the series. So there's nothing coming immediately, we want to think about these new challenges first.
There was an interesting moment during the Q&A session of Peter Molyneux's Fable 3 panel at GDC this year. When asked if Fable 3 will be released on PC, Molyneux was cagey though he did say that he would 'love' to see the game appear on the platform. He was careful not to raise the ire of Microsoft's "PR police people ... with sniper rifles," but went on to state, "I can say, mystically, that I love the PC." He continued, "I love what's happening to the PC, and I would love to see the Fable franchise on the PC." He concluded that he would want to make sure it was "a truly amazing experience on the PC and that, you know, it's brilliant."
Hardly a confirmation of any actual plans for a PC version of Fable 3 -- and it should be noted that Fable 2 has remained exclusive to the Xbox 360 since 2008 -- but it's clear that Lionhead would jump at the opportunity if given the chance.
Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore took the stage at GDC 2010 today and, while he made it clear that his talk about how to create believable fantasy worlds wasn't specifically about his work with 38 Studios' Copernicus project, he did talk a little bit about what he wants from an MMO game and gave the first mention of what the world of Curt Schiller's game is like. Salvatore talked for quite a while in his thick Massachusetts accent about his time in Everquest, which he said was "the best world in a game I've ever seen." He also lauded the idea of a death penalty in an MMO, and said that during his formative MMO experiences the threat of death (he once lost a hard-earned level when he was killed by an NPC that he accidentally clicked to attack) made living that much better. "If you take the pain out of the world," he said, "you lose the accomplishment of winning."
And while he admitted that the Copernicus designers were fighting with him on whether or not to include a death penalty in the game, the company would at least make sure that a return from death was explained. His team has written over 10,000 years of history for the game's world (all compiled on "a wiki with over hundreds of pages in it"), and one of the major features of the setting's lore is a "device that's perfected" called the "Well of Souls." The Well, "when you die, will bring you back -- if you meet the conditions." He didn't elaborate about what those conditions were, but he asked the audience what a worldwide death-prevention device would do to institutions like kings and religions. "What happens when you take power away from powerful people?" he asked rhetorically. "How would it play out?" And, he suggested, if there were people who "turned the Well on," what if they threatened the rest of the world with turning it off?
Vague, but intriguing. Copernicus still seems like it has a long way to go (Salvatore didn't show any slides or screenshots during his talk), but fans of the old EQ might find the game a return to the old ways if R.A. has his say.
We don't just go to GDC in search of hot scoops. We're also constantly scanning our periphery for the next big movement in video game technology. This year, it came in the form of the VirtuSphere - a device we've heard about since 2006 but haven't seen in person until today. No, it's not a magical orb which infuses its user with moral excellence; it's a virtual reality peripheral controlled by its enveloped user's strut.
The technology was demoed on the show floor at GDC with a rudimentary first-person shooter. The player wears a visor (which changes the camera's view as the player looks around in real time) and holds a light gun peripheral. They can walk around the rolling sphere, which moves the player's in-game avatar around the level. Sounds too awesome to be true, doesn't it? Hey, we'd never lie to you. Check out a video demonstration of the device after the jump.
What? Did we try it out? No, unfortunately, we've got a thing about dizzy-puking in public.
Platform holder vows to avoid avalanche of poor party games.
Sony has pledged to avoid an avalanche of party game 'shovelware' being released for PS3 Move - calling the prospect "a concern".
Piracy protection damages the value of games, says Valve boss.
Valve bossman Gabe Newell has criticised the inclusion of DRM measures in games - claiming that copy-protection systems diminish the value of releases.
New PlayStation Move Sub-Controller to Accompany the Release of the Motion Controller This Fall and 36 Developers and Publishers Set to Support PlayStation Move Platform.
Following this year's Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, we were able to grab Valve's Gabe Newell for a brief chat about Portal 2, wherein he mentioned that he thinks it is the best game Valve has ever created. Here's the transcript of our interview:
1UP: Was Portal 2 from the beginning always going to be a full price game?
Gabe Newell: "One of the nice things about The Orange Box was it allowed us to try out a couple of different things, and Portal really seemed to resonate. We got the signals that we wanted -- this is what people liked; this is what people didn't like. And to us, it was like, 'OK now we know how to take this big,' so that's what we're going to do with Portal 2."
One of the featured games during Sony's PlayStation Move press conference was the nifty looking fighting simulator called, for now, Motion Fighter (Sony is quick to use the phrase "working title" in all the official paperwork). The premise is simple: beat the crap out your opponent (in my case a burly street-tough biker type) while acting out the movements you want to happen on screen -- basically, boxing. The fighting system, which consists of just blocks, punches, and the occasional "dirty move," are exactly what I would want out of a boxing game where I'm actually doing the punching.
Maneuvering your fighter is done completely via two Move controllers -- no Sub Controller here. Punches are thrown by physically swinging the controller in accordance with the type of punch you want to do and which arm you want to use. You're not going to get away with limply waggling the controller, as you?d be lucky to land a weak jab (if anything at all) that way. Instead you must follow through with your punches to get the most out of your actions. EA Sports Active, look out, you can work up quite a sweat in this digital pugilism simulation.
Shank "had me at hello" due to its ultra-stylized and violent debut back when it was first announced at PAX. Recently picked up by EA, Klei Entertainment's endearingly brutal brawler (coming to XBLA, PSN, and PC this summer) has a lot of things going for it.
Right off the bat, Shank just feels extremely smooth. With its simple attack commands, you're able to focus on actually tearing enemies up rather than fumbling around with complicated button presses. You have three basic modes of attack to play with: The namesake shank for quick (yet not extremely powerful) strikes, the slower chainsaw that's perfect for inflicting lots of pain, and dual pistols that are great for keeping enemies at bay. You're also given a pounce attack to pin enemies to the ground while you rip at them, as well as the ability to grab foes to make sure they don't get too far away. To round out your attacks, you've got a finite number of grenades to use against some of the tougher goons.
Okay, let's just get both the "personal hygienic massager" and the "Wii HD" comments out of the way. Done. Now, we've already covered some of the basics of the upcoming PlayStation Move, and we also checked out a traditional hardcore enthusiast game that supports motion-control functionality. But what about the rest of the initial lineup so far?
Sure, Sony had the requisite tech demo that showed off all sorts of Move-specific possibilities, such as a marionette demo, or a "paint the screen" demo, a "wield a club/sword/object" demo, or even a "choose the color of your motion controller's light." But besides that tech, Sony also showed a fair number of actual games, and here's our quick round-up of how they felt after some Move time. In following Sony's "It can do everything" campaign, here's a quick question: so what can the PlayStation Move do, after all? Why, it can...
In an interview with 1UP after accepting the Pioneer Award at tonight's Game Developers Choice ceremony, Valve's Gabe Newell offered a few details about his company's upcoming Portal 2.
When asked if he could provide a piece of trivia about the game that people wouldn't know, Newell mentioned, "Jonathan Coulton is awesome -- he's just brilliant; he's a joy to work with," referring to the songwriter behind the now-famous end credits song in the original Portal. I followed up asking about a new song in the sequel, to which Newell replied, "He's brilliant."
You may or may not know about this new addition to the Prince of Persia series. Ubisoft released a hands on preview at the Tokyo Game Show to reveal a bit of the play style that the new game will…
Sins of a Solar Empire was one of the best strategy games on the market last year. It took the strategy and civilization building of Galatic Civilizations and put it into a powerful RTS game. If you liked the original,…
This new PSP title should be a nice boost for starved fans of action RPGs. This new addition to the Star Ocean line should be a pleasant addition to the PSP’s lineup. There isn’t anything too groundbreaking. The combat is…
This looks like a fun little title from Nintendo. Wario is back for some old side scrolling adventures and they are all centered around the Wii’s shake ability. You basically do just about everything in the game by shaking or…
Alright. It looks like Molyneux is actually staying realistic with the game in not promising the world with this game as it approaches its release. He recently did a demonstration of the game at London and it looks fairly solid. …
Just yesterday we heard that Razer at the GDC announced the availability of the SDK and the FPS library utility for its new motion controller. Now at the Game Developers Conference, Razer has...
It’s been almost 8 years in development according to OnLive Founder and CEO Steve Perlman. He writes on the official OnLive blog that the revolutionary OnLive service is coming to the US this...
Final Fantasy XIII certainly made news headlines in the past two months prior to its release into stores in North America and PAL regions. There was a limited collectors edition announced for the...
Around a year ago, Ubisoft announced a brand new game complete with an acronym title. The game known as R.U.S.E. is noted to be a real-time strategy fashioned by Eugen Systems. Now the company...
Owners of various consoles can now do much more than just play games. They can also catch up on their favorite movies as well as view loads of extra content. Sony Computer Entertainment America has...
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