Here’s something you probably didn’t notice until now, but now that you know it you’re going to slap your forehead in amazement: you never physically climb a ladder in any of the Elder Scrolls games or Fallout 3. It’s completely true, and really weird considering how much ladder climbing actually occurs in gaming. Think about it. People climb ladders all the time in games.
Why isn’t it in these two Bethesda series? According to Bethesda’s Game Director, Todd Howard, at QuakeCON it’s because the engine used for both of them just can’t handle ladder climbing. It causes problems with the game’s AI for some reason.
It’s clear that the games don’t really need climbable ladders as they are clearly high quality without the runged tools, but Howard says it is still bothersome. “One day, we tried to figure out why we wanted ladders so bad because we don’t really need them. It just felt like we’re game development pussies because we can’t do ladders,” he said.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Why There Are No Ladders In Fallout [IGN, via TVGB]
Finally, we get a look at what Tony Hawk: Shred is going to loo like. With Ubisoft’s snowboarding franchise head, Shaun White, heading into skateboarding it only makes sense that Activision’s skateboarding king, Tony Hawk, would lend his name to a game that will feature snowboarding. Of course, we knew that before, but now we know that it will be cartoony cell-shaded skateboarding and snowboarding.
I must say that these screens look pretty nice, and if you have the board from Tony Hawk: Ride it’ll be great to dust it off, set it up, play Shred on it for about ten minutes and then remember why it was collecting dust in the first place and forsake it for a standard controller. I’m not really falling for the supposed tighter controls making that stupid board anymore fun.
It’s a bit odd that this is the first we’re seeing of Shred because it’s coming out later this year, but it’s Activision so I’m sure the marketing machine will get rolling any time now.
Last weekend I told you about the fact that Insomniac would be showing something off at PAX, and assumed that it was a foregone conclusion that that something was Resistance 3. Well, you know what they say about assuming. It turns out that we may be seeing a new Ratchet and Clank before we see any Resistance.
Speaking with Shogun Gamer David Kaye, the voice for both Clank from R&C and Nathan Hale from Resistance, said, “Don’t know about Nate. There are some interesting developments always coming from Insomniac games. We’re working on more R & C currently.”
[spoilers] Now, his character did supposedly die at the end of Resistance 2 [spoilers] so it may just be that he really has no involvement with 3 or that he’s under a tight gag. But what could this R&C game be? Insomniac has been alternating development between the console games of the two series pretty regularly so maybe this is another PSP game? Or are we really going to see more of Ratchet and his pal Clank before we get any Resistance?
In a perfect world I suppose we’d be hearing about both in the very near future.
Exclusive interview with voice actor David Kaye, the voice of Clank and Nathan Hale [Shogun Games, via TVGB]
Before this article begins let me update you on where we stand with Milo. We saw him/it at E3 2009 and were told that he/it was the future of gaming. Then we heard nothing. Then we were told he/it was a tech demo. Then we were told he/it was not a tech demo, but had advanced a lot.
Now that you’re up to speed, it’s a tech demo again — for now. Peter Molynuex explains: “I don’t think of it as a released product at the moment. I still think this is a very, very big tech demo. I don’t think of it as something that would be a boxed product on the shelf.”
And then he sort of veers off into pedophilia for some reason: “There’s a lot of huge mountains to climb before that happens,” Molyneux said. “The reason for that is it is enormously contentious for us to do a game, a story, an experience, about a boy. You are immediately appealing to all the dark thoughts of humanity.”
Well yes, I suppose tha… oh, he’s not done being creepy. Molyneux then went on to explain that he sees man/child relationships as a challenge and cited Up, a film “about an old man and a Boy Scout,” as a good example of something that transcended that taboo.
Well, thanks for ruining Up and one of the best relationships in film for many years for me, Molynuex. The thought hadn’t really crossed my mind at all until you brought it up completely unwarranted. Good luck on working out the kinks with Milo and the darker side of humanity.
Peter Molyneux on creating ‘Fable III’ villagers and whither ‘Milo’ [Game Hunters, via Joystiq]
Before this article begins let me update you on where we stand with Milo. We saw him/it at E3 2009 and were told that he/it was the future of gaming. Then we heard nothing. Then we were told he/it was a tech demo. Then we were told he/it was not a tech demo, but had advanced a lot.
Now that you’re up to speed, it’s a tech demo again — for now. Peter Molyneux explains: “I don’t think of it as a released product at the moment. I still think this is a very, very big tech demo. I don’t think of it as something that would be a boxed product on the shelf.”
And then he sort of veers off into pedophilia for some reason: “There’s a lot of huge mountains to climb before that happens,” Molyneux said. “The reason for that is it is enormously contentious for us to do a game, a story, an experience, about a boy. You are immediately appealing to all the dark thoughts of humanity.”
Well yes, I suppose tha… oh, he’s not done being creepy. Molyneux then went on to explain that he sees man/child relationships as a challenge and cited Up, a film “about an old man and a Boy Scout,” as a good example of something that transcended that taboo.
Well, thanks for ruining Up and one of the best relationships in film for many years for me, Molyneux. The thought hadn’t really crossed my mind at all until you brought it up completely unwarranted. Good luck on working out the kinks with Milo and the darker side of humanity.
Peter Molyneux on creating ‘Fable III’ villagers and whither ‘Milo’ [Game Hunters, via Joystiq]
We have all been desperately waiting for it; seeing more of The Last Guardian is pretty much something that everyone in gaming, around gaming and kind-of-near gaming wants to do. But we were disappointed by its no show at E3 and there was no confirmed hope on the horizon. Consider hope confirmed.
Now Fumito Ueda has tweeted that he will be showing something at the Tokyo Game Show this year. In response to a question over Twitter as to whether he was the real Ueda (please stand up) he said: “Yes, it’s me. Thank you for the support. We should be able to show something at Tokyo Game Show, so look forward to it.”
Now he could simply be talking about the killer new pair of shoes he just bought and is really looking forward to showing off at TGS, this is Twitter after all, but the more likely scenario is that we are actually going to see more of The Last Guardian this year. I doubt he’s been working on any other game, and there was that interesting hint that Sony’s Ron Eagle made at E3.
TGS starts September 16 and Destructoid will be all over bringing you the news.
Fumito Ueda Gets Himself a Twitter Account [Andriasang via 1Up]
This is what I get for calling dibs on something before watching it. I figured this ad would some kind of funny little spot starring some hockey players for the Wii-exclusive NHL 2K11. I was wrong. It does star hockey players, but it is not funny. No sir, not funny at all. The ad does bring to attention the tour dates for NHL 2K11’s “The REAL Hockey Experience on Wii” tour, but everything else in it falls flat (other than the music).
Is this some kind of hockey humor that I don’t understand? Is showering with your jersey on an inside joke? Are cover athlete and Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler and LA Kings defenseman Jack Johnson so great at subtle humor that it has gone right over my head?
It’s a good time to be a Sonic fan. Right now you’re high on hope that the blue hedgehog’s next two games, Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors, are going to be good and now you have six new toys to play with thanks to First 4 Figures releasing a set of figures for you to buy.
The figures, done by artist Goran Sadojevich, tilt towards the cuter side of Sonic look wise, but are still badass overall. The pack includes Classic Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Super Sonic, Tails and Metal Sonic. You can finally recreate that Sonic on Sonic on Sonic threesome diorama you’ve been working on. Just remember it’s not complete until you put Tails in the background looking on in horror.
Whatever you want to do with these six Sonic staples you’ll have to wait until September to land them. You can, however, pre-order them now for $29.95.
More pics over at Tomo.
Check out First 4 Figures Sonic 6-pack collection! [Tomopop]
Sigh. Yet again I am tasked with filling Jim Sterling’s shoes and yet again I feel miserable failure coming my way. I’ll just have to buckle down hard and try to get through this Free App of the Day as best I can.
Here we go: there is an app that is free today. It is Civilization Revolution. You can play it on iPhones and the like.
So far so good.
I haven’t played the game, but since it’s free I have just now downloaded it. The opening screen is very nice and it has pretty pictures. The App Store rating is four stars so that tells you something (or nothing at all depending on your take on user voting). Also, this would normally cost you $6.99 so this is a pretty solid deal.
Ummmm… things… download it now…
Yea, not so good at this.
[Thanks, Stokesy7 and Dnex]
EverQuest may not be as genre-dominatingly popular as Wolrd of Warcraft, but the Sony Online developed series isn’t something to be scoffed at in any way. With two games in the series under their belt the EverQuest devs have just slightly revealed what the third will be at Fan Faire 2010, the annual Sony Online event.
During SOE president John Smedley’s community address he discussed some of EverQuest 2’s upcoming features before revealing what SOE is calling EverQuest Next (working title). The screenshot above (yes, screenshot) is from said game, which is said to be more of a re-imagining of the series than a direct progression from EQ 1 and 2. Few other details were revealed as the team is very early in development on the game, but we do know that there will be a focus on Player vs. Player gameplay and a more engaging battle system.
I’ve made my lack of love for MMOs readily apparent almost every weekend, so I’ll leave the commentary to you guys. Assume I’ve placed a generic question about beating World of Warcraft right here.
SOE Community Address Rollup [EQ2 Wire, via Massively, via Giant Bomb]
