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Left 4 Dead is a co-operative, survival horror, first-person shooter video game. It was developed by Turtle Rock Studios, which was purchased by the Valve Corporation part-way into development. The game uses the Source game engine, and is available for Windows-based personal computers and the Xbox 360.

The game pits four Survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic against hordes of aggressive zombies. There are two game modes: a four-player, co-op Campaign mode, and an eight-player Versus mode. In both modes, an AI, dubbed “The Director”, controls level pacing and item spawns, in an attempt to create a dynamic experience and increase replay value.

The game went gold on November 13, 2008, and was released on November 18, 2008 in the United States; and on November 21, 2008 in Europe to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the release of Half-Life. A five-minute trailer was released on Halloween. A playable demo was made available on November 6 for pre-purchasers and on November 11 for the general public, and was closed on November 18, 2008. The demo contained the majority of the first two chapters in the “No Mercy” campaign, and was playable in both single and multi-player co-op.

Left 4 Dead was well received with an aggregate score of 88% on Game Rankings and 89% on Metacritic upon its release, with praise given for its replay value, focus on cooperative play, and movie-like experience. Similar to Team Fortress 2, Valve intends to support the game with downloadable content.

Gameplay

Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter but makes use of the third-person perspective during certain events or player actions. In Campaign and Single-player mode, the player takes control of one of the Survivors; if four human players are not available, then the remaining Survivors are AI-controlled bots. They play through the levels fighting off the “Infected”—living humans who have been infected with a mutated rabies virus to which the Survivors are immune.

The game is focused on cooperation and team play; colored outlines of teammates are visible through walls to help players stick together and coordinate their movement. If a Survivor falls off a ledge, then they may automatically hang onto it and can only be helped up by another Survivor. If a Survivor’s health is depleted, then they become incapacitated and can only be revived by another Survivor, at which point they continue playing with a low amount of health that decreases over time. If a Survivor has been incapacitated and revived twice without tending to their wounds, then they will experience distorted black-and-white vision, and the next incapacitation will kill the player. If a Survivor incurs enough damage while incapacitated, or is not eventually helped up by teammates, then the incapacitated player will die. If a Survivor is killed, then they will respawn in a closet or other enclosed space after a period of time (except during key points in the scenario or in Versus mode), but must be freed by another Survivor to rejoin the team. Otherwise, the player must wait until the next level. Survivors can share first-aid kits and pain pills and help each other heal. Left 4 Dead has friendly fire that cannot be disabled, increasing the need for caution around other Survivors. On the Easy difficulty level, friendly fire does not harm teammates but still registers as having occurred.

The Survivors communicate by voice commands that are accessed by quick menus, and some sound off automatically when performing actions such as reloading or spotting Infected. Over 1000 unique lines have been recorded for each Survivor. Additional communication of player actions is conveyed through character lights. Also, weapon-mounted flashlights and muzzle flashes help the players in determining whether their companions are shooting, performing melee attacks, reloading or moving. Due to control issues and the likelihood of players using a LIVE headset, the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead omits the quick phrases feature.

The game is experienced through four campaigns that take place in various urban and rural locales. Multiple visual in-game hints, including license plates, park signs, and markings on airport equipment, imply that these locations are in Pennsylvania. Each campaign is divided into several chapters marked by safe rooms, which are checkpoints where players can heal, re-arm, and revive players who were killed. Specifically, the four campaigns are: “No Mercy”, an urban setting; “Death Toll”, a small-town and countryside setting; “Dead Air”, an airport setting; and “Blood Harvest”, a woodland and farm setting. The levels are essentially linear, with distinct beginnings and ends, but there are a number of alternate routes to follow with more supplies, helping to create a sense of non-linearity. In the final chapter of each campaign, the players must defend a position from an onslaught of Infected until rescue arrives. Each campaign typically lasts between 45 and 75 minutes depending on the difficulty level.

Survivor characters

There are four playable human characters in the game: Francis (voiced by Vince Valenzuela), a tattoo-covered biker; Zoey (voiced by Jen Taylor), a college student and horror movie enthusiast; Louis (voiced by Earl Alexander), a Junior Systems Analyst in his company’s IT department; and Bill (voiced by Jim French), a former Green Beret and a Vietnam veteran. Early plans were for players to be randomly assigned to characters but in the final release, players can choose any character—provided that the character has not already been selected—or be randomly assigned an unselected character.

Survivors are armed with various firearms. Each player starts the game with a M1911 pistol. It has unlimited ammo and is the only weapon that the Survivor can use when they are incapacitated. When a second pistol is found, the player can dual wield them. Regardless of what weapon a player is using, a melee attack can be used. At the beginning of each campaign, the player can choose between an Uzi submachine gun and a pump-action shotgun. As the Survivors progress through a campaign, more powerful weapons can be found: the M16A3 assault rifle, Benelli M4 Super 90 combat shotgun, and Ruger Mini-14 rifle. In addition to firearms, a player can also carry three other items in their inventory: improvised grenades (either a Molotov cocktail to create a wall of fire or a modified pipe bomb designed to attract the Infected to it, with a blinking light and alarm attached to it); a first-aid kit, which heals the Survivor on which it is used; and pain pills, which provide temporary health and can be handed to teammates for later use. Also available are environmental weapons, such as gasoline cans, oxygen cylinders, and LPG tanks, that explode when shot. These can be picked up and moved by the survivors, however while carrying an object they cannot use their pistols or primary weapons.

Infected characters

The “Infected” are the Survivors’ foes in Left 4 Dead, and they appear to be partly inspired by the infected from several modern films, including 28 Days Later. The Common Infected encountered during the game are fast and agile, weak individually, but may be overwhelming in numbers. They occasionally attack en masse, referred to in game as a “Horde”. In addition to the Common Infected, there are five “Special Infected” whose mutations grant them special attacks that make them much more dangerous: the Hunter, an agile Infected that can pounce on Survivors from a great distance; the Smoker, an Infected that ensnares Survivors with its long tongue at a distance and, upon death, releases a cloud of smoke; the Boomer, a bloated Infected whose vomit and bile (which may be released at will or upon death) blind the player and attract the Horde; the Tank, a huge, muscular Infected that is the most powerful and difficult to kill; and the Witch, a passive female Infected that, when provoked by a loud sound, light, gunshots, or a Survivor approaching too close to her, will attack her provoker. The victims of some of these attacks require assistance from a teammate before they can regain control. Each of the Special Infected, as well as approaching Hordes, have a distinctive sound or a timely musical cue, making their presence easily recognizable by players.

More Information

• Developer(s)  Valve Corporation, Certain Affinity (Xbox 360 version)
• Publisher(s)  Valve Corporation
• Distributor(s)  Electronic Arts (retail), Steam (online)
• Designer(s)  Mike Booth (director)
• Writer(s)  Chet Faliszek
• Composer(s)  Mike Morasky
• Engine  Source
• Platform(s)  Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
• Genre(s)  Survival horror
• First-person shooter
• Mode(s)  4 player Cooperative multiplayer, 4 vs 4 Versus multiplayer

Links

• Left 4 Dead official website
• Left 4 Dead on Steam

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Chrono Trigger is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. The game’s story follows a group of young adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe. Square re-released a ported version by TOSE in Japan for Sony’s PlayStation in 1999, later repackaged with a Final Fantasy IV port as Final Fantasy Chronicles in 2001. A slightly enhanced Chrono Trigger was released for the Nintendo DS on November 25, 2008 in North America and Japan, and will go on sale in Europe in early 2009. It has never been released in PAL territories on the SNES or the PlayStation.

The development team of Chrono Trigger was headed by three designers that Square dubbed the “Dream Team”, consisting of Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series, and Yuuji Horii and Akira Toriyama—two freelance designers known for their work on Enix’s Dragon Quest series. The game was produced by Kazuhiko Aoki. Masato Kato wrote most of the plot, while composer Yasunori Mitsuda scored most of the game before falling ill and deferring remaining tracks to Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.

Chrono Trigger was well-received by reviewers and commercially successful. Nintendo Power magazine described certain aspects of Chrono Trigger as revolutionary, including its multiple endings, plot-related sidequests focusing on character development, unique battle system, and detailed graphics. The game has shipped more than 2.36 million copies in Japan and 290,000 worldwide as of March 31, 2003.

Gameplay

Chrono Trigger features standard console role-playing game (RPG) gameplay with several innovations. The player controls the protagonist and his companions in the game’s two-dimensional fictional world, consisting of various forests, cities, and dungeons. Navigation occurs via an overworld map, depicting the landscape from a scaled down overhead view. Areas such as forests, cities, and similar places are depicted as more realistic scaled down maps, in which players can converse with locals to procure items and services, solve puzzles and challenges, or encounter enemies. Chrono Trigger’s gameplay deviates from that of traditional RPGs in that, rather than appearing in random encounters, many enemies are openly visible on field maps or lie in wait to ambush the party. Contact with enemies on a field map initiates a battle that occurs directly on the map rather than on a separate battle screen. This concept had previously been featured in such titles as Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy Adventure, but was uncommon at the time for RPGs outside the action RPG genre.

Players and enemies may use physical or magical attacks to wound targets during battle, and players may use items to heal or protect themselves. Each character and enemy has a certain number of hit points, and successful attacks reduce that character’s hit points, while hit points can be restored with potions and spells. When a playable character loses all hit points, he or she faints; if all the player’s characters fall in battle, the game ends and must be restored from a previously saved chapter, except in specific storyline-related battles that allow or force the player to lose. Between battles, the player can equip his/her characters with weapons, armor, helmets, and accessories that provide special effects (such as increased attack power or defense against magic), and various consumable items can be used both in and out of battles. Items and equipment can be purchased in shops or found on field maps, often in treasure chests. By exploring new areas and fighting enemies, players progress through Chrono Trigger’s story.

Chrono Trigger uses an Active Time Battle system—a staple of Square’s Final Fantasy game series designed by Hiroyuki Itō for Final Fantasy IV—named “Active Time Battle 2.0″. Each character can take action in battle once a personal timer dependent on the character’s speed statistic counts to zero. Magic and special physical techniques are handled through a system called “Techs”. Techs deplete a character’s magic points (a numerical meter like hit points), and often have special areas of effect; some spells damage huddled monsters, while others can harm enemies spread in a line. Enemies often change positions during battle, creating opportunities for tactical Tech use. A unique feature of Chrono Trigger’s Tech system is that numerous cooperative techniques exist. Each character receives eight personal Techs which can be used in conjunction with others’ to create Double and Triple Techs for greater effect. For instance, Crono’s sword-spinning Cyclone Tech can be combined with Lucca’s Flame Toss to create Fire Whirl. When characters with compatible Techs have enough magic points available to perform their techniques, the game automatically displays the combo as an option.

Chrono Trigger features several other unique gameplay traits, including time travel. Players have access to seven eras of the game world’s history, and past actions affect future events. Throughout history, players find new allies, complete side quests, and search for keynote villains. Time travel is accomplished via portals and pillars of light called “time gates”, as well as a time machine named Epoch. The game contains thirteen unique endings; the ending the player receives depends on when and how he or she reaches and completes the game’s final battle.[10] The re-release of Chrono Trigger for the DS features a new ending that can be accessed from the End of Time upon completion of the final extra dungeon. The ending is reported to contain a new optional final boss. Chrono Trigger also introduces a New Game+ option—after completing the game, the player may begin a new game with the same character levels, techniques, and equipment (but not money) that he or she ended the previous game with. Certain items central to the storyline are removed and must be found again, such as the sword Masamune. Square has since employed the New Game+ concept in later titles, including Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy X-2.

More Information

• Developer(s)  Square, TOSE (PS and DS)
• Publisher(s)  Super Nintendo Entertainment System, JP Square, NA Square Soft, Inc., PlayStation, JP Square, NA Square Electronic Arts, Nintendo DS, Square Enix
• Designer(s)  Takashi Tokita, Yoshinori Kitase, Akihiko Matsui, Yuuji Horii, Hironobu Sakaguchi
• Writer(s)  Masato Kato
• Artist(s)  Akira Toriyama
• Composer(s)  Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda
• Series  Chrono
• Platform(s)  Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, Nintendo DS
• Genre(s)  Console role-playing game
• Mode(s)  Single-player

Links

• Official Japanese Chrono Trigger for Nintendo DS website
• Official North American Chrono Trigger for Nintendo DS website
• Chrono Trigger guide at StrategyWiki

Continue reading »]]> Burnout Paradise (formerly known as Burnout 5) is Criterion Games’s newest installment in the Burnout video game series. It was released in January 2008 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was also released on the PlayStation Store in September 2008 and will be available on Microsoft Windows from February 2009. It has an open world set in the fictional Paradise City, with no loading times and no traditional online lobbies or game menus. The song “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses is the game’s title music and also featured on the in-game soundtrack.

Gameplay

According to Alex Ward from developer Criterion Games, this game is a “complete reinvention” of the Burnout series. He also said “To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from the ground up.” Despite being in an open world, the game still retains the 60 frames-per-second most Burnout games have used. Initially day and night cycles were not included in the game but a software update entitled “Davis” added this element to the game. Records will now be kept on players’ drivers licenses and there will be statistics such as fastest time and biggest crash for every street in the game. Unlike in previous Burnout games, Crash Mode, now called Showtime, can now be started at any time and place in the game; though Showtime mode is rather different from the usual Crash Mode. Also, for races, players may now take any route to get to the destination. Races and other events are simply started by stopping at any of the 120 traffic lights around Paradise City and applying the accelerator and brake at the same time. Multiple settings have been confirmed to be fully customisable such as:

• Boost Rules”, where the player may choose cars that use the boost styles from previous Burnout games.
• Whether or not there is traffic in an online event.
• Start and finish points for online events with up to 16 checkpoints.

The damage system has also been reworked. There are now two different types of crash based on the car’s condition after the crash. If the player’s car manages to retain all four wheels, and not break its chassis, the player may drive out of the crash and continue playing; this is called a “driveaway”. If a player’s car loses any of its wheels, has the engine damaged too much from an impact, or winds up outside of the game’s map, the car is in a “wrecked” state and the player will have to wait until their car is reset. Cars can also be torn into several pieces, be compressed and deform around objects as you crash into them. However, Alex Ward confirmed in the Official Crash FM podcast that cars may not be ripped in half, as concept pictures and early information had stated. There are also other cars which can be obtained by typing in a sponsor code. These only work for certain regions. One of these sponsor code cars is the Steel Wheels version of the Carson GT concept car, which features the car with an armor plate and supercharger. The code for this car could be obtained from pre-ordering the game from certain retailers. When starting the single player mode you are assigned with a learner’s permit and a single car. While playing you race and win events to earn points towards a higher license, from a Learners Permit (E-class), D-class, C-class, B-class, A-class, Burnout Paradise (S-class), Burnout Elite (SS-class) up to Criterion Elite (SSS-class). After earning a new license every event that you complete is reset so you can replay the event again to earn credit towards a new license.

Cars now have manufacturer and model names, which are loosely based on real-world cars but are mostly fictional (some of the cars are even based on those from a previous Burnout game, e.g. the Hunter Manhattan is the Classic from Burnout 2). Cars may not be “tuned up” or customized apart from color changes, which may be done in real-time by driving through the forecourt of a blow shop, which will randomly assign a color to the car, or by selecting the color in the Junkyard where you select your vehicle (after taking the car through an Auto Repair drivethru at least once). Other real-time changes include driving through the forecourt of a gas station to automatically refill your Burnout meter, and driving through the forecourt of a repair shop to automatically repair your car, allowing you to extend a Road Rage or Marked Man event beyond the car’s damage limits.

The online lobby system used by most video games has been replaced by a streamlined system known as “Easy Drive”. While driving, players simply hit right on the D-Pad and the Easy Drive menu pops up on the bottom left hand corner of their screen. From there, players are able to invite another player from their friends list. Once friends have joined the game, the hosting player is then able to pick from a variety of events to play. There are also special Burnout Racing Team cars that you can get.

Car types

Cars in Burnout Paradise can have one of three types of “Boost Standard”, showing what a player will have to do with the car in order to build up their boost bar:

• Speed: Driving the car at high speeds through oncoming traffic and/or weaving through traffic (performing a “Near Miss” where the car avoids another by a few inches or less) builds up the boost bar. This is the only type of boost in which the boost is not available until the meter is completely filled. When it is filled, the boost bar becomes inflamed and the player may use it until they crash, let off of the boost, or run out of boost power. However, the depletion of boost power on a Speed Boost can cause a “Burnout” if the player keeps the boost button pressed after their boost bar is depleted, after which the bar refills allowing the player to continue using their boost. As long as the boost is continued to be used and the car is continuing to be driven, the player can create a “Burnout Chain” for as long as the player is able. This is the only standard that allows a Burnout chain.
• Stunt: The player can only build up this boost bar by performing stunts with the car (driving through oncoming traffic counts). However, as long as there is boost power stored, the player is able to use it. The Stunt boost is the longest boost bar initially.
• Aggression: The player can fill up this boost bar by reckless driving, such as performing traffic checks and/or takedowns, knocking over signs, performing stunts, and driving through oncoming traffic. Initially, the boost bar of these cars shows a “x2″ at the end of the bar. If a player performs a takedown, the bar can be extended until the player switches cars (the only boost standard that has this ability), thereby showing a “x3″ at the end of the bar instead. Like the Stunt standard, boost can be used immediately, regardless of if the player has the bar completely filled.

Cars are also rated on three merits when viewed at the Junkyard:

• Speed: How fast a car can go. The higher the rating, the higher the top speed in which a car will be able to reach without using boost.
• Boost: The cars boost power. The higher this rating, the longer the boost power on that car will last before running out.
• Strength: How long a car can go before becoming completely totaled. The higher the rating, the more likely the car will be able to survive a crash or be able to make another car crash instead of them (if a car is stronger than another, it is more likely that it will takedown the other in a collision). This rating also determines how many crashes a car can withstand in a Road Rage or Marked Man event if the car enters when it is in perfect condition.

Event types

Races, Marked Man events and Burning Routes can start in any location around Paradise City, but the destination is always one of eight: the Maplemount Country Club, the Coastguard HQ, the Waterfront Plaza, the Paradise Wildcats Baseball Stadium, the Fort Lawrence Naval Yard, the Lone Stallion Ranch, the Paradise City Wind Farm and the Crystal Summit Observatory. Road Rages and Stunt Runs have no set end destination.

• Race: Races consist of the player and at least one other car (races with just one opponent are known as ‘Duels’). The player is given a location to race to. The player can take any route through the city to the location, with the aid of a flashing road names at the top of the screen when the player is advised to turn. The first to arrive at the destination wins; there are no points or prizes awarded for placing second or third, unlike most racing games. Online races can also include checkpoints that need to be crossed before reaching the finish.

• Road Rage: The player is given a target number of takedowns and a time limit. A Road Rage event is won by meeting or exceeding this target in the given time limit. A variant of this event was made available for online play in the “Cagney” update.

• Marked Man: In this event, the player is given a destination. At least one opponent is trying to stop the player from reaching the destination by scoring takedowns against them. The player must survive from start to finish in order to win (the player can be part of collisions, but loses the event if he totals the car). A variant designed for online gameplay was included in the “Cagney” update.

• Stunt Run: Players are given a target score. They must earn points towards that score by using boosts, jumps, drifts and other such stunt moves. An online version of this event type was added to the game as part of the “Cagney” update.

• Burning Route: Each Burning Route requires the player to use a specific car. Once the player is driving the required car, they race against the clock to a specified location. When a Burning Route is won the player wins an upgraded version of the vehicle they completed it with. The upgraded vehicle can boast extra boost power, more base speed or a stronger body (but usually in exchange for another category being made weaker). This event is unique in that it does not reset when the player earns a new license, because it’s tied to the car used to run it rather than the license level the player is presently at.

After the “Burnout Bikes Update” (formerly called “Davis”), two new events were added that are exclusive to the Motorcycle

• Burning Ride: Same as a Burning Route but for the motorcycles. However, some of these are now timed checkpoint events wherein the rider must ride through a set number of checkpoints before the time limit expires. These checkpoint events also do not have to end at one of the predetermined endpoints in Paradise City (they can terminate at intersections).

• Midnight Ride: Same as a Burning Ride but takes place between the in-game hours of 8PM and 8AM.

More Information

• Developer(s)  Criterion Games
• Publisher(s)  Electronic Arts
• Designer(s)  Alex Ward (Creative director)
• Series  Burnout
• Platform(s)  PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
• Release date(s)  Retail, PS3, Xbox 360, NA January 22, 2008, EU January 25, 2008, Download, NA September 25, 2008, EU September 25, 2008, Ultimate Box, February 2009
• Genre(s)  Racing, Sandbox
• Mode(s)  Single-player, Multiplayer

Links

• Official developer web site
• Official publisher website
• Wiki on this subject at Burnout Wiki

Continue reading »]]> Its about the shift from teamwork to individuals’ goals and the third-person camera.

Battlefield Heroes: Better than Team Fortress 2?

Work continues on Battlefield Heroes despite the recent closure of the game’s beta, and producer Aleksander Grondal recently talked it up with Gamasutra. Grondal isn’t a Battlefield developer veteran, instead having previously worked on Anarchy Online and Dreamfall at Funcom. As such, he brings a different mentality to the team working on Heroes, which he claims is a mixture of half newcomers to the series and half previous Battlefield developers.

The different mentality is largely an MMO mentality – which is most immediately apparent in the game’s new third-person camera which has been one of the main attention-getters ever since Heroes was first shown. Grondal said of the new view:

• The main thing about the third person: It’s about seeing your character. I don’t think many people are interested in investing in their physical, visual appearance of the characters when they never can see them.
• Seeing your character, and seeing that the new item that you have is actually on your character, adds a feeling of attachment to him, from a visual standpoint.
• The other thing is, we tried to make this more accessible, and I think that seeing your character in the world next to a barrel makes him more connected to the world.
• For new players, it might be more accessible, seeing your character – if I run up to something, and suddenly it stops in first-person, it’s, “Oh! I need to look down; there’s something there!” But when you’re in third-person, you actually see a bit more of the world, and your character’s relation to the world.
• Initially there, were some concerns, with Heroes, that third-person was wrong for a Battlefield game, but I think that once you actually try to play around with it, it feels pretty much the same. Once you actually get the hang of it, it won’t be such an issue anymore.

Another of the major changes to the game’s formula is the focus on individual goals rather than previous Battlefield’s focus on working as a team towards a singular goal. While the one current game mode in Heroes does involve capping points as a team and eliminating enemies, that’s pushed towards the wayside by the mission system, which is ever so faintly reminiscent of Quake Wars. You now select goals before you start playing and then set out to accomplish them by the end of that game. Goals range from getting a certain number of kills on a particular class or running over a certain number of enemies. Grondal explained, “It’s like, ‘Why is this guy always trying to drive over people?’ So I think that creates cool moments that aren’t just getting the best kill-to-death ratio; I think it’s about cool experiences.”

Following the delay that was announced in November, Heroes is now expected to have a proper release in 2009. We’ll see then if Electronic Arts’ gamble will have been worth it.

Continue reading »]]> Sequel to Naughty Dog’s archeological action-adventure will apparently bring new arctic locale to the PS3; full reveal at SpikeTV VGAs.

Though third-party console exclusives are an endangered species, first-party titles remain in fairly abundant supply. One of the best-regarded PlayStation 3-only games is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, developed by Crash Bandicoot studio Naughty Dog. After receiving solid reviews in 2007, the game sold over 507,000 copies on Sony’s console. That’s despite the third-place installed base of the PS3, which took the bronze again in October US sales, according to the NPD Group. (The game is also included in the recently launched 160GB PS3 bundle.)

Despite the not-quite-stellar sales, Uncharted is getting the sequel treatment. Today, two sources revealed new details about the Tomb Raider-esque archeological action-adventure’s follow-up, titled Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Game Informer teased its January edition, which will feature the game as its cover story. According to the Minnesota-based magazine, which is owned and published by retailer GameStop, the sequel will be an all-new adventure focused on 13th-Century Venetian explorer Marco Polo.

Polo became famous for his books recounting his travels across central Asia and time in the Beijing court of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. The explorer’s route might explain the snowy setting for Uncharted 2, a teaser trailer for which has appeared on GameTrailers. The 30-second cinematic shows now-series hero Nathan Drake, bloodied and exhausted, wading through snow on a mountainside to recover a mysterious dagger. The original Uncharted featured a tropical locale.

According to the teaser, a “world premiere” for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will be staged during the 2008 SpikeTV Video Game Awards. The awards will be broadcast on Sunday, December 14 at 9 p.m. EST/PST. The ceremony will also sport the first footage from Fight Night Round 4 from Electronic Arts.

Incoming search terms:

• LEGO MONGOL

Continue reading »]]> Following in the footsteps of Nintendo’s popular “Wii Fit,” the video game publisher known for the “Madden” football games is jumping into fitness software targeted mostly at women.

Electronic Arts Inc. on Thursday announced a new line, EA Sports Active, that runs on the Nintendo Wii console and aims to complement, not compete with, Nintendo’s “Wii Fit” exercise title.

Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, called the new brand, whose first title launches next March, a “somewhat radical departure from the normal game experiences we provide customers.”

EA’s sports audience has been mostly young men, who have flocked to football, soccer, basketball and hockey titles to make the company the world’s dominant player in sports video games.

But to stay competitive with rivals such as Activision Blizzard Inc., whose success with games like “World of Warcraft” and “Rock Band” seems to be weathering the recession, EA needs to continue to expand its audience.

The company’s new brand seeks to take advantage of the popularity of the Nintendo console and of exercise games. While the “Wii Fit” is already enormously popular, Moore, a former physical-education teacher, said EA’s sports software will run people through an exercise routine with a more Western approach than the Japanese company’s product.

“Wii Fit” includes activities like running, skiing as well as yoga, and it emphasizes balance as well as fitness. EA’s products will include exercises like running and lunges, as well as simulations of sports such as tennis.

The games use straps to attach the Wii’s controller and “nunchuk” attachment to a player’s body, so the fitness routines can be performed without holding the controls. It also includes a resistance band. Titles in the line will cost about $60, the same as a regular video game.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Electronic Arts Wants to Help People Get Fit, Too

Continue reading »]]> Google is adding click-to-buy links to its YouTube video-sharing site. The new feature will let customers purchase songs and video games they like while watching videos on the site.

Google calls it instant gratification. Click-to-buy links, the company said, are non-obtrusive retail links positioned on the watch page beneath the video with other community features. That means users can buy products the same way they share, comment on, and respond to videos.

Google’s first step is to embed iTunes and Amazon links in videos from companies like EMI Music, and provide Amazon product links to the newly released video game Spore on videos from Electronic Arts.

Just the Beginning

According to Glenn Brown, YouTube’s strategic partner development manager, and Thai Tran, YouTube product manager, this is just the beginning of building a broad e-commerce platform for users and partners on YouTube.

“Our vision is to help partners across all industries — from music, to film, to print, to TV — offer useful and relevant products to a large yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos,” they wrote in the company blog. “And those partners who use our content identification and management system can also enable these links on user-generated content by using Content ID to claim videos and choose to leave them up on the site.”

The retail links are being gradually added to YouTube’s library of music videos — and only in the United States. But YouTube is looking to expand the program to additional content and product partners, and to international users. YouTube also said it will be experimenting with the user interface over time to make sure this works for the community and will innovate based on feedback.

Ads as Content

Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said the YouTube concept is novel, but not new. There has long been talk about a hypothetical merger of television and the Internet that would allow viewers to stop the programming to purchase a product featured in the broadcast. But little progress has been made.

“There’s pressure on Google from various sources to squeeze more revenue out of YouTube and do it in a way that aligns with the content,” Sterling said. “Google’s search empire is built on the premise that ads are content when a consumer is interested in a particular topic. This is broadly consistent with that philosophy. Google is trying to generate more content without infringing on the user experience too much.”

Sterling isn’t willing to predict how much revenue YouTube could generate through the click-to-buy strategy. However, he does predict there will be more experimentation with tactics for getting more dollars from online videos.

“Google is making a worthy effort to do drive revenue without crowding the user experience with more ad units,” Sterling said. “It’s not exactly like search because people aren’t necessarily in buying mode when they are watching these videos. However, over time, if people become aware of these capabilities, then they may be prepared to buy.”

Google Launches Click-To-Buy Links on YouTube (NewsFactor) by NewsFactor: Yahoo! Tech

Continue reading »]]> NEW YORK (Reuters) – Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, until recently an acquisition target of bigger rival Electronic Arts Inc, plans to remain an independent company, the makers of the popular “Grand Theft Auto” series said on Thursday.

Take-Two said the decision followed detailed discussions with “various interested parties” over the last five months.

Take-Two repeatedly said that it was weighing its options while talking with other potential suitors, although it has never named any other interested parties.

“Take-Two’s Board of Directors has determined that it is in the best interests of stockholders to conclude its review of strategic alternatives and to continue operating and building Take-Two as an independent company,” the company said.

In September, EA pulled away from an offer to buy Take-Two after pursuing the company for more than six months. They had been in private talks after EA dropped its hostile bid, worth roughly $2 billion, which the “GTA” publisher had rejected as inadequate.

Analysts have cautioned that by losing out on the wider distribution and cash reserve that Electronic Arts offered, Take-Two faces declining near-term sales and risks losing key employees — namely Sam and Dan Houser, the Rockstar North executives seen as the driving force behind GTA. Both of their contracts expire early next year.

But Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick on Thursday reiterated that the company, whose roster of hit games also includes “Bioshock” and the 2K Sports series, is solid.

“We are strongly positioned creatively, financially and competitively to benefit from the opportunities we see in the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry,” he said is a statement.

Take-Two shares declined 6 percent to $14.98 on Thursday afternoon, and have dropped more than 38 percent over the last six months, a decline which Cowen & Co analyst Doug Creutz said presented a chance to buy at a bargain price.

“The official end of the strategic review process marks the return of management’s full attention to the business of running a video game company,” he said in a note to clients. “In our opinion, current share levels present investors with a compelling opportunity to get back into Take-Two shares …”

Take-Two Interactive to remain independent (Reuters) by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

Continue reading »]]> Spore is a multi-genre massive single-player online metaverse video game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. It allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. It has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation.

The full version of the game was released on September 4, 2008, in Australia and the Nordic region, but Australian stores prematurely broke the street date on September 2, 2008. The game was released September 5, 2008 in Europe, Japan, South America and New Zealand, and was released on September 7, 2008 in North America and Asia Pacific territories. Spore is also available for direct download from Electronic Arts. A special edition of the game, Spore: Galactic Edition, additionally includes a “Making of Spore” DVD video, “How to Build a Better Being” DVD video by National Geographic Channel, “The Art of Spore” hardback mini-book, a fold-out Spore poster and a 97-page Galactic Handbook published by Prima Games.

Development

The name Spore was originally a working title, suggested by developer Ocean Quigley, for the game which was first referred to by the general public as Sim Everything. Even though Sim Everything was a first choice name for Wright, the title Spore stuck. Wright added it also freed him from the preconceptions another Sim title would have brought, saying “…Not putting ‘Sim’ in front of it was very refreshing to me. It feels like it wants to be breaking out into a completely different thing than what Sim was.”

Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson joined EA Maxis to work on Spore.

Genre

Spore does not fall neatly into any single video game genre. While the game’s creators and several media sources described it in 2006 as a god game, other journalists have described it as a real-time strategy game and life simulation game. The game is made up of several phases of gameplay that draw on a multitude of games, and thus a multitude of traditional genres.

Gameplay

Coined Creatiolutionism, the game allows the player to develop a species from a microscopic organism to its evolution into a complex animal, its emergence as a social, intelligent being, to its mastery of the planet and then finally to its ascension into space, where it interacts with alien species across the galaxy. Throughout the game, the player’s perspective and species change dramatically.

The game is broken up into distinct yet consistent, dependent “phases”. The outcome of one phase affects the initial conditions facing the player in the next. Each phase exhibits its own style of play, and has been described by the developers as ten times more complicated than its preceding phase. While players are able to spend as much time as they prefer in each, it is possible to accelerate or skip phases altogether. Some phases feature optional missions; when the player completes a mission, they are granted a bonus, such as a new ability.

If all of a player’s creations are completely destroyed at some point, then that player’s species will be respawned at its home base.

Unlike many other Maxis games, Spore has a primary win condition which is obtained by reaching a quasar placed in the center of the galaxy, and facing a large NPC race. However, the player may continue to play after the goal has been achieved.

Links:

• More on Spore (2008 video game)
• Official Spore website

Continue reading »]]> William Wright (born January 20, 1960 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American computer game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, now part of Electronic Arts.

The first computer game Wright designed was Raid on Bungeling Bay in 1984 but it was SimCity that brought him to prominence. The game was released by Maxis, a company Wright formed with Jeff Braun, and he built upon the game’s theme of computer simulation with numerous other titles including SimEarth and SimAnt.

Wright’s greatest success to date came as the original designer for The Sims games series which, as of 2008, is the best-selling PC game in history. The game spawned multiple sequels and expansions and Wright earned many awards for his work. His latest work, Spore, was released in September 2008 and features gameplay based upon the model of evolution.

Early life

Wright was born in Atlanta, the son of Bill Wright, Sr., and Beverlye Wright Edwards; his father was a graduate of Georgia Tech’s engineering school, and was an entrepreneur in the field of plastic packing materials. In the early 1960s, Wright Sr. founded a successful company, which allowed the Wrights to live comfortably in Atlanta. Beverlye was an amateur musician and actress. Wright was educated at a local Montessori school, where he enjoyed its emphasis on creativity, problem solving, and self-motivation. Wright admitted to having been inspired to create certain elements of SimCity from his experiences in the school.

Montessori taught me the joy of discovery… It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori—if you give people this model for building cities, they will abstract from it principles of urban design.

Wright later described himself as “obsessive” in his pursuits. “I would usually get very obsessed with some subject or area of interest for six months or a year, and just totally learn everything I (could) about it.” As a child, Wright was an avid builder of models, “ships, cars, planes—I loved to do that”, he told the New Yorker in October 2006. At 10, he built a scale model in balsa wood of the USS Enterprise’s flight deck. Wright later found these early experiences to be formative in his vision of game design. “Well, one thing I’ve always really enjoyed is making things. Out of whatever. It started with modeling as a kid, building models… I think when I started doing games I really wanted to carry that to the next step, to the player, so that you give the player a tool so that they can create things. And then you give them some context for that creation.” Wright would discuss with his father the possibility of life on other worlds, NASA, and the stars. His ambition was to be an astronaut, and form colonies in space to relieve overpopulation. His father was sympathetic to his ambitions. He was also a fan of Avalon Hill’s board games, which he enjoyed particularly for their propensity to descend into a form of rules lawyering.

When Will Jr. was 9, his father died of leukemia. His mother moved the family to her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Wright was enrolled in the local Episcopal High School. He enjoyed it for the chance to debate the faculty. During his time at the school, he became an atheist. Overall, he found the methods of the school inferior to the Montessori, and came off with a bad impression of conventional schooling in general. In 1994, he declared that he had   always been somewhat disillusioned with the educational system. Some people have said it was originally based on the idea that we’re training factory workers, so it was very important to teach them to do some repetitive task for eight hours a day. What’s going to be really exciting is when this Nintendo generation gets a little bit older and starts becoming teachers in schools. I think that’s going to make a bigger difference than any kind of educational reform ever will. In the future a lot more learning will happen in the home.

Games designed by Wright

• Raid on Bungeling Bay
• SimCity series: SimCity (1989), SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 3000 (1999) (Will Wright was not on the SimCity 4 (2003) or SimCity Societies (2007) design teams)
• SimEarth
• SimLife
• SimCopter
• SimAnt
• The Sims (Wright is credited for, but did not design most of The Sims 2, and is not designing The Sims 3)
• Spore

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