PlayStation LifeStyle » Zak Islam

New Star Wars Game Series to be Revealed Soon

Zak Islam — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:48:23 +0000

LucasArts is currently working on a new Star Wars game series, with the first game due to be revealed next week.

Spike TV announced the developer will showcase the debut of the new franchise via a tease on GameTrailers TV’s pre-E3 episode next Thursday. Following that will be the world gameplay premiere during the show’s E3 All Access Live, which commences on June 4th at 10.00 PM EDT (7.00 PM PDT).

GTTV and Spike TV host Geoff Keighley teased:

I am blown away by both the caliber of the team on this project and their bold vision for this new ‘Star Wars’ title. I can’t wait to introduce our viewers to this game and show off the footage that left my jaw on the floor when I first saw it.

Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was initially in development by Free Radical Design before IP holder LucasArts cancelled their contract with the now-defunct studio.

PlayStation LifeStyle have already booked a mysterious appointment with LucasArts to see an unannounced Star Wars title during E3. So it looks like we’ll be going hands-on, or at least eyes-on with the new title very soon. We’ll keep you posted and offer our thoughts about the game during E3 week.

Square Enix: Activision “Crazy” For Letting go of True Crime: Hong Kong

Zak Islam — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:32:18 +0000

Square Enix believes Activision has “gotta be crazy” for cancelling True Crime: Hong Kong, which the former acquired and renamed Sleeping Dogs.

Mike Fischer, president and chief executive of Square Enix’s US wing, told VentureBeat that Activision canning United Front’s title is his company’s gain:

The game was, in a sense, discovered. I’m making air quotes: ‘discovered’ by the folks in Wimbledon. The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough. Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision. I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy. Because this game is just fantastic. The scale and scope of the game really encompasses all of everything you’d want to do in Hong Kong. The acting, the story, the characters are very deep.

He specifically explained the justification behind the firm purchasing the rights to the IP and compared Sleeping Dogs to several popular franchises:

There’s clearly a lot of inspiration from [the movies] The Departed and Infernal Affairs. You play an undercover cop who starts to feel mixed loyalties. But the open world feels like Arkham City, the combat feels as good as a fighting game, the driving is as good as a Need for Speed, and the story is every bit as rich as compelling as a Mass Effect. All in one game.
In a sense it reminds me a little bit of Dead Island, which Square Enix America did the sales and distribution for. Nobody had heard of that game coming into E3, and in the U.S. alone it sold over 2 million units. It’s great to have a sleeper.

Sleeping Dogs is currently scheduled for an August 14th release in North America and 17th in Europe.

Borderlands Voice Chat, Framerate Issues Fixed in Sequel

Zak Islam — Sun, 20 May 2012 22:42:28 +0000

Gearbox Software has assured Borderlands fans that the game’s sequel will fix the dreaded voice chat, as well as framerate issues.

Speaking on the PlayStation Blog where he answered fans’ questions on Twitter, Borderlands 2 producer Matt Charles stressed that notable technical problems from the shooter’s predecessor will be addressed in the sequel.

The system pertaining to voice chat in the game “will be working for everyone when the game launches.” In addition, while it is “too early for me to give any final numbers,” players will notice that Borderland 2‘s framerate will “see an improvement” over the original.

Charles also delved into the upgraded user interfaces, as well as how players can automatically pick up ammo, in addition to currency dropped by opponents:

There’s a lot more useful data for gear comparison and also more descriptive text on the item cards as well. Having said that, the best way to know what a gun does is to use it.

Borderlands 2 is currently scheduled for a release on September 18th in North America and 21st in European regions.

Naughty Dog on The Last of Us’ Graphics Engine Improvements

Zak Islam — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:10:47 +0000

Following the release of the first trailer of The Last of Us since its VGA reveal, Naughty Dog has explained the considerable improvements being made to the game’s graphics engine.

Speaking on the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast, creative director Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley delved into what specific improvements are being made regarding the PlayStation 3 exclusive’s visuals.

Firstly, they said the gameplay demo recently showcased to the press was an old build stemming from January. The newer build sees Naughty Dog “pushing a lot more environments”. Uncharted‘s lighting engine, meanwhile, has advanced in The Last of Us with the developers taking an ambient approach—this is due to the title’s environments featuring a complete lack of electricity.

The pair went on to stress that in order to pit players into the shoes of lead characters, Ellie and Joel, they’ll be putting a particular emphasis on the textures, rendering style, lighting engine and art direction.

600,000 Players Participated in Ghost Recon Future Soldier Beta

Zak Islam — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:21:34 +0000

Ghost Recon Future Soldier‘s console beta reeled in an impressive amount of players, with 600,000 participants trying the futuristic shooter out.

Ubisoft detailed the statistics of the beta test, which are as follows (via MP1st):

1,706,013 hours played
2,387,377 melee kills
3,021,628,150 bullets shot
3,040 level-50 players
9,816,310 data hacks
16,101,668 long-range kills
99,474,068 kills
Average lifetime for a player: 54 seconds

Ubisoft’s soon-to-be-released title is set in the near future where a bomb has killed a Ghost team. Another team is sent to locations such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia and Norway tasked with tracking down the source of the dirty bomb.

Following several delays over the course of the past few years, Ghost Recon Future Soldier will finally launch this Tuesday at North American retailers. European territories will receive the shooter on Friday.

Activision: Zampella And West Planned Halo ‘Killer’

Zak Islam — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:21:00 +0000

After Activision settled with Electronic Arts over its $400 million lawsuit out of court, the Call of Duty publisher states that former Infinity Ward co-heads, Vince Zampella and Jason West, planned to specifically challenge Halo, but instead took the idea to EA.

The Associated Press unveiled the claim within their report regarding Activision’s settlement with EA:

Activision has sought access to details about Respawn’s work for Electronic Arts on a new game that has not been revealed. Activision claimed the pair had discussed creating a science-fiction shooter intended to challenge the “Halo” franchise, but instead of delivering that game gave it to Redwood City-based Electronic Arts.

Activision’s claim certainly does have merit. Following West and Zampella’s departure from the company and subsequently striking a deal with EA to form Respawn Entertainment, EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau stated during last year’s E3 that their project is indeed a “sci-fi shooter”. He also said that the game would intend to compete with Gears of War and, you guessed it, Halo.

Analyst Michael Pachter, meanwhile, also believes the game will be a so-called Halo killer.

Bleszinski: Japanese Developers Shouldn’t Ignore Multiplayer

Zak Islam — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:24:09 +0000

Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski believes that in order to have their games attract attention in the West, Japanese game developers should implement a multiplayer component into their titles.

Bleszinski told Gamasutra that this doesn’t necessarily mean just instilling a tacked-on multiplayer, but to ensure it’s being created to offer intriguing experiences. He cites Vanquish as a prime example of a game that missed an opportunity with multiplayer:

My advice to Japan is that in a disc-based market right now, you cannot [ignore multiplayer]. And if you’re going to make a third-person shooter… the fact that [Platinum's] Vanquish didn’t have a multiplayer suite was a crime. That IP, it was pretty good as far as being western, but the gameplay was great, the vibe… and I’ve often said on record that if Gears is the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, that Vanquish is the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything.
There is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.

Grasshopper Manufacture’s Shadows of the Damned, which was headed by Suda 51 and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, is another example of a game which would have benefited from multiplayer, according to Bleszinski:

The dialogue had me laughing out loud, just even the key-door systems in there; it was a beautifully crazy game with really fun gameplay, but no multiplayer co-op experience in there. I’m not saying tack on versus; there’s a billion different ways you can do some sort of ‘players interacting with other players.

He also used From Software’s Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls as an example of having a multiplayer component that is “innovative” because of its unique “connected elements.” In what he believes is “one of the most innovative games” for its multiplayer, he stated “that game is going to continue to inspire a lot of Western developers to figure ways that you can have connected elements in campaign games, and have more of a blended experience.”

While it seems that many games released into the market features some sort of tacked-on multiplayer mode, which has arguably become the norm for developers due to its demand, Bleszinski does have a point in regards to incorporating multiplayer into games which would genuinely benefit from it. Vanquish, for one, was a refreshing experience with its over-the-top fast-paced gameplay; multiplayer would have been a natural fit for the shooter.

Missing Battlefield 3 Servers Clarified by EA

Zak Islam — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:22:52 +0000

Following reports pointing towards EA removing their own and DICE’s servers from Battlefield 3, the publisher has clarified why their free servers have been disappearing.

In a statement to Game Informer, the controversial company explained:

DICE is not shutting down servers. If DICE-managed servers appear unavailable, it is because they have been rented and customized by players. DICE will continue to add servers and will reserve a percentage of servers for players who prefer to connect through DICE-hosted servers.

EA also attributes the disappearing servers issue with players having “confusion” with initially experiencing Custom Servers:

With Battlefield 3, we’ve introduced a Custom Servers program to console gamers. Response has been overwhelmingly positive. Custom Servers gives players the ability to tailor the settings and parameters of a given server, which directly affects gameplay. It also gives players more choice as they select which server and gameplay style they like best.
As with any new innovation, there may be some confusion among players who are experiencing Custom Servers for the first time. We encourage players to use server filters and “favorite” options to find the servers that best suit their play style. We have enormous respect for the Battlefield community and are listening to the feedback. It is our #1 priority to ensure all players are having the best possible play experience.

Prior to EA’s clarification, it was found that official servers in the PS3 version of Battlefield 3 stemming from developer DICE were completely removed, while EA lowered their free server access to 17.

EA Terminates Free Battlefield 3 Servers, Wants Players to Pay Instead

Zak Islam — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:18:47 +0000

Electronic Arts has removed a substantial quantity of both their own and developer DICE’s servers from Battlefield 3. Instead, they’re pushing the servers which requires payment from players.

VentureBeat found that after the exclusion of a large amount of servers, there’s currently only 17 servers from publisher EA on the shooter’s PlayStation 3 version. DICE severs have been pulled altogether.

Privately rented servers have now populated the server selection list, which EA charges for; they’ve been leasing them out to players for $30 a month.

Community manager Daniel Matros said on the decision:

There is only so much physical space and digital space where you can have servers. The community requested [rental servers] and we delivered. Everything in the wonderful world of Battlefield is dynamic.

It was recently confirmed that Battlefield 3 shipped over 15 million units worldwide. Despite its massive commercial success, and indeed taking a noticeable market share from Call of Duty, EA’s reputation of unconventially squeezing money out from its consumers is still a common practice and it certainly speaks volumes for this situation in particular.

GTA V Won’t Release in 2012, Analyst Expects

Zak Islam — Sat, 12 May 2012 20:18:30 +0000

With BioShock Infinite‘s delay from its 2012 release into next year (purportedly due to the inclusion of a multiplayer component), it’s natural to believe that Take Two would replace the initial October release for Irrational’s title with GTA V. An analyst, however, believes that despite the delay, Rockstar Games won’t be releasing their blockbuster until early 2013.

Baird analyst Colin Sebastian stated that Grand Theft Auto V won’t see its launch this year, but rather accompanying BioShock Infinite‘s pushed back release during the opening stages of 2013.

According to Sebastian, the best-selling games this year will be the following:

Max Payne 3
Diablo III
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Halo 4
Assassin’s Creed 3
EA’s sports games (Madden, FIFA, etc.)

Elsewhere, Grand Theft Auto V has been pegged for a 2012 release by analyst Michael Pachter who believes BioShock Infinite‘s delay paves the way for just that. His claim holds credence when taking into account an animator’s CV, which listed the game for an October launch.

[Via]

Max Payne 3′s Arcade Modes Detailed

Zak Islam — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:31:04 +0000

Rockstar Games has detailed Max Payne 3′s Arcade Modes, which includes a Score Attack mode, in addition to a return of the New York Minute mode.

The former mode sees players being able to score higher points following the completion of any level. The latter, meanwhile, is inspired from the first two Max Payne games, as detailed by Rockstar below:

Score Attack – After you’ve completed any single-player level, you’ll be able to replay it in Score Attack mode, where you gun for the highest score possible – acquiring points for each shot that hits its mark and each adversary you vanquish.
New York Minute – This fan-favorite bonus mode from Max Payne and Max Payne 2 returns as a frantic battle that puts one minute on the clock and awards you with additional time for each enemy that you kill.

High scores in each mode will deliver a considerable amount of XP, as well as unlocking character avatars for the multiplayer deathmatch component including Fabiana Branco, Passos and several more.

Max Payne 3 releases on Tuesday in North America and next Friday throughout Europe.

Capcom Expects Resident Evil 6 to Ship 7 Million, DmC 2 Million

Zak Islam — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:45:49 +0000

Capcom has already stated that Resident Evil 6 will be the biggest game the company has ever created. In fact, they’re so confident of the game that they expect it’ll ship seven million units.

The company’s latest financial briefing revealed expectations of seven million units to be shipped for Resident Evil 6. Ninja Theory’s DmC Devil May Cry, meanwhile, is expected to ship two million copies. The publisher also hopes Dragon’s Dogma will ship 1.5 million units while Lost Planet 3 will ship 1.4 million units.

It’s a bold prediction, but let’s not forget the pedigree of the Resident Evil franchise itself. In addition to the series’ 49 million units sold, the last major installment in the IP, Resident Evil 5, sold (not to be confused with shipped) 5.8 million units. Even spin-offs of the franchise has experienced commercial success; multiplayer-centric Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – despite its unimpressive critical reception – has shipped two million units worldwide.

Resident Evil 6‘s initial November 20th launch has been replaced with an earlier October 2nd launch.

[Via]

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Won’t Break Sales Records, Suggests Analysts

Zak Islam — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:43:33 +0000

Despite the game already setting pre-release records, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 won’t be able to surpass sales record upon its retail launch, according to several analysts.

Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter explained to GamesIndustry International:

I don’t think Modern Warfare 3 is going to sell more than the last Black Ops, so I doubt that this one will break a record. I think that Call of Duty is a phenomenon, selling way more than 20 million units annually, and it’s unrealistic to think that number can grow meaningfully with each annual release.

RW Baird’s Colin Sebastian, meanwhile, also echoes his fellow analyst’s thoughts. He believes Treyarch’s sequel will sell the same amount of units as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2011, which was 22 million.

We are forecasting Black Ops 2 to sell roughly the same number of copies as Modern Warfare 2 in 2011. Call of Duty is the only mass market core video game and the console industry continues to consolidate around a small number of top franchises. Halo 4 is a potential wrinkle in the ointment with a November launch, but on the flip side, GTA V likely not shipping until March helps.

Additionally, Sebastian believes that if AAA titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 want to reap the benefits of consoles, the next-generation of consoles has to be introduced:

Overall, I think games like Call of Duty need new console hardware – developers are working with 7-year-old technology in an environment when tablets and smart TVs will soon be just as powerful.

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, however, states that the Call of Duty brand should not be underestimated, along with publisher Activision’s marketing pull:

The entire HD market is very soft at the moment, and it is understandable that retailers, publishers, and analysts are likely to be conservative on any Black Ops II forecast. Whether Black Ops II sets any records this year will depend entirely upon the overall engagement of HD consumers, which is largely out of the control of Activision and Treyarch.
Every year we question whether the Call of Duty franchises can set new records, and for the last four years they have proven us wrong. Personally, I wouldn’t under-estimate Activision, even against the odds of a more torpid HD market this holiday season.

M2 Research’s Billy Pidgeon also believes the game can set sales record upon its fall launch:

Call of Duty should continue to do very well and is likely to continue to break records as it will sell into a larger installed base of consoles. I think other big hits will also continue to perform strongly until we get into the console transition and enthusiast spending begins to shift towards hardware again.

The recently announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releases worldwide on November 13th 2012.

Ubisoft Could be Preparing Avengers Tie-In

Zak Islam — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:43:01 +0000

A recent domain registration of ‘Avengers: Battle for Earth‘ points toward Ubisoft preparing a video game tie-in based on the recent movie release.

According to whois data (via Fusible), a domain for Avengers: Battle for Earth was recently registered by Marvel in the form of brand protection company MarkMonitor. The domain itself is currently parked on a server belonging to Ubisoft, hinting to the company’s involvement in the potential tie-in.

To add credence to Avengers: Battle for Earth being a console game, TQ Jefferson, vice president of games production for Marvel, had told Forbes:

We launched Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook; which is just the tip of the iceberg. This is the first in a much larger effort to support the Avengers franchise across not just one but multiple video game touch points. The Avengers are bigger than just one game, and we’re planning to allow consumers to enjoy The Avengers regardless of their preference in gameplay style or platform. Look for more announcements in the weeks to come.

An Avengers video game had already been in production from THQ but it was canceled following the closure of its developer, THQ Studio Australia.

TimeSplitters Developer: “Pretty Much Every FPS Loses Money” Except COD

Zak Islam — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:19:46 +0000

The co-founder of Free Radical, the now-defunct developer who created the TimeSplitters series, has stated that nearly all first-person shooters in the market lose money.

The bold statement was made by Steve Ellis who told Edge that only Activision and EA can profit from the genre via their Call of Duty and Battlefield franchise:

Nobody really buys any FPSes unless they’re called Call Of Duty. I guess Battlefield did okay, but aside from that pretty much every FPS loses money. I mean, [look at] Crysis 2: great game, but there’s no way it came anywhere close to recouping its dev costs.

A rumor regarding TimeSplitters 4 being playable recently surfaced, before being debunked by Crytek UK, who were formed via the Crysis developer’s purchase of Free Radical. Ellis says that the game not coming into fruition in 2008 was because publishers weren’t willing to take a risk in something different.

I spent the whole of 2008 going round talking to publishers trying to sign up TimeSplitters 4. There just isn’t the interest there in doing anything that tries to step away from the rules of the genre – no one wants to do something that’s quirky and different, because it’s too much of a risk. And a large part of that is the cost of doing it.

As for Ellis’ thoughts on how nearly all first-person shooters lose money with one of the exceptions being Call of Duty, Activision’s last installment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, had failed to make it into the top 10 games sold in March to which it was then revealed the series has, for the first time in years, experienced a decline in sales. The shooter trails significantly behind the usual 20 million units sold in the IP, achieved by both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

That said, the game managed to make $1 billion in 16 days — a world record — but for how long can the Call of Duty brand keep making billions before it really starts to show signs of decline? We’ll have to wait and see until Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releases, although the game is already setting retail records.