Capcom just released an action packed new trailer for Lost Planet 2. Also, we don’t know why it’s all squashed up like it is. That’s our Capcom!
Anyway, the footage looks suitably epic and is making Lost Planet 2 look like something that definitely needs to be played. The original game wasn’t my thing, but it’s very tempting to give it another chance with this one. Just look at all the gunfire and pretty colors! That’s enough to get anybody excited, right?
As a huge fan of the first Mafia game, I was more than a little jealous when Brad Nicholson got a chance to play Mafia II earlier this week.
I played through the same demo as Brad Friday afternoon, and I have to say: I came away with a much different impression of Mafia II.
Hit the jump for my thoughts.
The first Mafia emphasized atmosphere, realism and story over arcade-y gameplay or freedom of play, and Mafia II looks to do the same.
If you’re coming at Mafia II with the same expectations you might harbor for a Red Faction Guerilla or a Just Cause, you’ll likely be disappointed: this isn’t an open world bristling with crazy sidequests and fun combinations of mechanics. The world of Mafia II is meant to contextualize the story, to give the player a concrete sense of place and environment. If you’re cool with that, great — if you’re looking for the freedom to jerk around and do a bunch of different things beyond upgrading cars or buying weapons, you simply may not like what Mafia II has to offer.
As an old Mafia fan, however, the focus on atmosphere over playfulness didn’t really bother me as much as it did Brad. Yeah, you could fairly argue that modern sandbox games should have cars that control perfectly, but the same driving controls Brad found sluggish struck me as more genuinely immersive: I was driving 1950’s cars that felt like 1950’s cars, rather than the super-intuitive but fourth-wall-breaking driving controls found in GTAIII.
Same deal with the gunplay. Brad didn’t really dig the fact that most of the guns were hellishly inaccurate, I did. And not just because the guns felt like I imagined 1950’s tommyguns and colts would feel. The inaccuracy of the guns is balanced out by their intense lethality: unlike the first Mafia, most enemies go down after one or two torso shots.
I feel awesome in Uncharted 2 when I pull off three headshots in a row while sitting fifty feet away from my enemies. In Mafia II, I feel awesome when after finally wasting four or five shots on some jerkbag, I slow down, aim, and watch the last bullet in my clip send the baddy tumbling to the ground. The guns are inaccurate, yes, but I wouldn’t say that that’s necessarily bad.
Still, I do agree with Brad that the checkpoint system was needlessly unforgiving.
There was a mission earlier in the demo where the main character joined a bunch of his mafia goons in trashing a diner owned by a rival gang. The diner was closed — nobody to shoot back at us. Me and the rest of the gangsters lined up in front of the diner, tommy guns in hand, before spraying the bullets. Our line of fire shattered the diner’s windows. I shot the individual letters off the diner’s sign.
Even though the scene was scripted and linear (I could choose where to shoot, and not much else), and even without any enemies to fight, I thought: this is what Mafia II is about. A bunch of cool-looking guys wielding period-faithful weaponry, blowing the hell out of some rival gang’s turf. It was an immersive, narratively-driven moment that may completely fail to impress anyone looking for a true sandbox experience, but might very well satisfy anyone looking for an immersive, interactive gangster story.
Four years. Four years this site will have existed when March 16 arrives, if you can believe that. Personally, it still feels like a lucid dream, even after all this time has passed. I don’t think I have ever really taken the time to talk about what it’s like to work here on a deeper level.
Knowing full well how much this Web site means to me, that’s a crying shame, which is why I’m eager to make amends. I wanted to give y’all a closer look at what my time here has been like, as well as some behind-the-scenes coverage, including some “new” photos you likely haven’t seen before.
Think of this as the warm-up for Niero’s post next Tuesday. If you read last year’s article, you know to expect incredible things from our robot-in-chief.
Yes, this is a total lovefest
This month marks four years of Destructoid, three and a half of which I’ve been a part of the dream team. As the youngest person on staff, I get to thinking that I’m probably not the best person to be dishing out the life lessons.
But then I punch myself in the face, remember that I’m getting paid to do something I adore, and snap out of it. Something I actively think about all day and late into the night. Something I get to do with my second family on a daily basis. Something I feel extremely lucky to belong to.
“Single geek meets group of Internet strangers. Copious amounts of rape ensue.” How’s that for an E-Harmony commercial?
All that, and it didn’t take me twenty years of actively searching to find. Truly I am blessed, or was one helluva saint in my past life and am now reincarnated as some dude with a red beard. The dude most certainly abides, my friends.
With literally no idea how to organize this or what to specifically talk about, this is going to come off as a mix of everything I think you might give a damn about. But that’s okay, right? For the older site members, this is a chance to reminisce about the good ol’ times. For the new guys, it’s a fantastic opportunity to see why we are the way we are nowadays.
Destructoid didn’t become a massive hit overnight, y’know. We’ve made plenty of mistakes, no question; I like to think we go out of our way to correct them whenever possible. Live and learn, as they tend to say. “How to start a successful Internet business” isn’t exactly a college course you can take, and even if you could, there’s simply no way it would properly prepare you for what lies ahead.
I want to steal your job, yo
It seems the number-one question people have for fancy Internet types is, “How did you land the gig?” I’m so not the person to answer that. Because for me, everything happened by chance. Random luck, you could say. During high school, I talked videogames with my friends constantly. I wasn’t passionate about writing — quite the opposite, actually — but I was passionate enough about videogames to start up a crummy Blogspot blog.
That lasted for a good year or so, and then, I stumbled across Destructoid. The site was only a few months old, and people were only just discovering its offbeat, often hilarious stories that couldn’t be seen anywhere else on the ‘net; no other sites were willing to brave the dark trenches of the Web to find the super-obscure stories. It was love at first sight. Really, it was.
Flash-forward a couple of months later to September 2006. I had commented enough on the site to be recognizable by name, and somehow worked up just enough confidence to send in a “hey, you guys are swell and I’d love to help out” email. Make no mistake, I had only the most basic understanding of grammar and little to no rhythm at the time. I sucked … but everyone has to start somewhere.
Apparently, potential was found in me (hah, the fools!), although you have to understand that back in those days, we were paid in <3s. Back then, we did it for the thrill of having total strangers hear what we had to say about games. Back then, we were all learning as we went, and even today, we’re still very much learning as we go. So no, simply sending an email saying how much you would love to work for an established Web site probably won’t fly these days.
The lesson here is this: it never hurts to try. You’ll never know when luck, faith, or whatever you want to call it happens to be on your side until after the fact, so go for it like it’s your last day alive and you’ve got literally nothing to lose.
That said, please have semi-realistic expectations, otherwise you’re setting yourself up for regularly scheduled disappointment. Be willing to start somewhere small, and then work your way up to much loftier goals.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
As someone who spends a ridiculous amount of time online, I’m always wondering what my favorite Web sites are like in person, on a daily basis. Assuming you too think about these things late at night, I thought I’d return the favor. Here’s an inside look at what it’s like to work for team Destructoid: a collection of memories brought to you by the fine archiving skills of Gmail and Campfire.
First, a typical email from Chad to brighten your day:
I love you guys!
I am at the Jeep dealership right now getting my oil changed and I just thought it was a good time to tell you all how much I love you.Also, they just played “Caribbean Queen” over the speakers here and it made me think of Nick and Dale.
<3
Only one <3? That’s not the Chad I know. Here’s a more accurate email:
My stuff:
<3Future stuff:
Gay stuff:
8=========D D========8Attachment: “I’m a horse, bitches!.jpg”
Now that’s more like it. Never change. Ever.
Living the dream. Almost
I strongly believe that a company is only as good as its corporate culture, something I think we represent out the wazoo, hence me having enough content to write this article in the first place.
We are not only allowed to be our crazy selves one hundred percent of the time — we’re actively encouraged to do exactly that. This is an integral part of turning an otherwise fun job into something so much more memorable. We aren’t “co-workers,” we’re “family.” We all take a creepy level of interest in each other’s personal lives like only a tightly-knit family can.
Since most of us at Destructoid don’t work under the same roof, we use an Internet chat program to correspond throughout the day — frankly, I can’t believe any work gets done around here. More than anything else, it’s just an excuse to post funny pics that would get most people fired on the spot.
If we ever do get to the point where we can have a fancy-ass office in which we can all work together, then we’ll know we’ve really made it — at least, that’s how I see it. That’s my motivation. On the flip side, if such a thing were to occur, part of me thinks the people in the next building over would call the police on us for having way too much fun.
The following is representative of an average work day around here, minus the honest-to-goodness porn and scary NSFW pictures we inadvertently find while Google image searching for potential header images:
I like how anyone not familiar with Electro Lemon won’t get this; actually, no one will get this. Period.
Brad is all about getting it on in Dragon Age.
Ever wonder what we do when nothing interesting is happening news-wise? There you go.
We’ve only just recently stopped quoting the critically-acclaimed masterpiece Jurassic: The Hunted.
Other notable moments in Destructoid history
This is the part where I run out of things to gush about, but still want to continue writing. Honestly, this is by no means a comprehensive list or anything. It’s more like a list of stories I stumbled across at 2 AM that made me smile like a smug idiot:
Chad Punches Old Ladies, the videogame
Homage to Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
A recap of PAX 2009, including Chad’s Dtoid panel song
Necros literally gets set on fire
There are hundreds more like these, but I’m running out of time. Please, by all means, post your own favorite memories in the comments. I’ll promise to love you forever and ever if you do.
And finally, if the overwhelmingly awesome nature of these great memories hasn’t melted your face off Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, and I didn’t scare you off with my admittedly personal tales, please hit up the gallery below.
It’s a seemingly random collection of pictures I’ve obtained via email, chat, and from the community that sum up what this fine establishment is about.
Third time’s the charm, so I’m told. So, if it doesn’t work this time, we’re just going to give up and torture you with deliberations on polka. Don’t make us go there.
This episode of Bit Transmission really is going to have a lot of discussion about Mega Man 10, but that’s not all. Oh, no sir. We’re also going to talk about other things. Really important things. And we might let Colette go on about Final Fantasy XIII for a bit. Maybe. Or GDC stuff we didn’t get to check out for ourselves.
Okay, look, I spent a lot of time putting together that header image. Then I had a really good idea for it. Then I ran out of time to write this post. We’ll get through this together. Ask questions, make comments, we’ll include in the show. That’s how this goes. Begin.
And pay no attention to the masked man.
Organized by Naughty Dog co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand, “GDC Microtalks 2010: Ten Speakers, 200 Slides, Limitless Ideas) accomplished pretty much what it said on the tin. Ten different game designers from drastically different background and areas gave five minute talks aided by automatically advancing slides.
Including the likes of Jesse Schell, Ian Bogost, and Suzanne Seggerman, the session was almost overwhelmingly packed full of intelligent stuff, all (or mostly) based around the central theme, “play with us.”
I’ve tried my best to summarize the talks, after the jump.
Lemarchand introduced the audience to the microtalk theme, “play with us,” and introduced each of the speakers.
Kellee Santiago (thatgamecompany)
“When I think of logging onto the Internet to play a game with people,” Santiago admitted, “I feel a sense of dread.” Online experiences aren’t really about the sheer act of play, Santiago argued: they’re about competition, superiority and negativity.
Santiago cited the work of Stewart Brand, founder of the New Games Movement. Formed as a reaction against the Vietnam War, Brand argued that America’s attitude toward sports and games informed our attitude toward war. To combat this, Brand devised games that were focused more on player enjoyment than pure victory. The point of the New Games Movement wasn’t to get rid of competitive experiences, but to change the player’s perspective on play. If you’re not enjoying yourself — and it can be awfully hard to enjoy yourself when a 13-year-old starts teabagging you in Halo – it’s the game’s fault, not yours.
Designers can control the possibility space of what players can feel and to some extent what sort of play they engage in, so why not focus on encouraging play and changing how people relate to one another?
“We can do better,” Santiago concluded. “…let’s start inviting the world to play with us.”
Gary Penn (former games journalist, current game designer)
Penn’s talk focused on the idea that game experiences can be divided into two sections: the end, and the way. The end concerns what the player feels, and the sort of enjoyment they experience. The way deals with the things the designers had to think about in order to effect those reactions.
Penn contrasted the mechanically identical games Gimme Friction Baby and Orbital, pointing out the various reasons Orbital often feels more rewarding and enjoyable. Orbital feels more tangible and emotionally satisfying thanks in part to its aesthetics: the shots feel more forceful, the angle of your shots is illustrated by a visual trail which informs your play, and thus success and failure always feel like direct results of player action.
The “end” of Orbital, Penn argued, was informed by a “way” full of important desires. The designers of Orbital wanted to make a game full of emotional ups and downs, a game that sympathizes with its player (Orbital congratulates the player for tough shots and laments near-misses, unlike Gimme Friction Baby), gives the player a convenient, fluff-free experience, and exudes a certain magic.
Chaim Gingold (part of Spore concept team, designed Spore creature creator)
Gingold’s talk likened both players and game designers to the Trickster character found in so many myths and folklore.
Tricksters use other animals’ hunger against them, like tricking a fish with a worm, but often the Trickster’s own hunger comes back to kill them. Compare this to a game like Bomberman, where players attempt to trap their enemies with bombs but can accidentally trap themselves. Tricksters are flexible creatures who try things in new ways, just like players.
Gingold was quick to point out that Tricksters weren’t just amoral con artists; they were cultural heroes who in many cases brought wisdom to the world. Where Prometheus brought fire to the humans, designers immerse themselves in complex mathematics and science to bring us games and technology.
Tricksters like Hermes also conned their way into becoming gods. Gingold drew a comparison between Hermes and indies like Kyle Gabler, who circumvented the studio system to become powerful creators in their own rights.
Tricksters also introduce chaos in order to create new life, not unlike how Activision started making games for Atari’s systems. It was an unexpected move, but it changed the entire games industry.
Jane Pinckard (game girl advance)
Pinckard discussed love — ”
specifically that heartaching, heartwrenching heartpounding sensation we know as romantic love.” Pinckard admits there is “room to improve” the romantic aspects of games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, but also argues that,
“I don’t think we’ve been entirely unsuccessful in gettting players to form deep attachments” in these virtual romances.
Given that so many games stimulate only the neo-cortex and the reptillian part of our brains, Pinckard celebrated the attempts of so many games to stimulate the limbic system, which reacts when we feel in love. Pinckard broke down virtual love into four different categories: love as narrative (Final Fantasy 8), love as nurture (Nintendogs), love as discovery (Knights of the Old Republic, where romance often felt like nothing more than picking the right dialogue options) and love as achievement (while mechanically similar to KotOR, Pinckard felt the act of romancing Alistair in Dragon Age felt more legitimate and rewarding simply because of how much content there was in the game — Pinckard felt legitimate suspense in trying to figure out whether Alistair liked her character or not).
In conclusion, Pinckard laid out five suggestions that worked for both first dates, and videogame romances: have a sense of humor, make use of adrenaline-filled moments, let the player express themselves (”I wanna be able to blow a kiss to Alistair,” Pinckard lamented), allow for vulnerability (Ico), and feel like the object of your affection is unique (Pinckard didn’t care for the romance options in Fable II because your potential mates are all nobodies).
“I don’t really care about the Citizen Kane of games,” Pinckard said in closing, “I want the Pride & Prejudice of games.”
Ian Bogost (Persuasive Games)
Bogost opened by reading the imagist poem “In the Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound. The poem consists only of two descriptions — one of faces in a crowd, one of flowers on a bough — without explicitly connecting the two. It’s up to the reader to reconcile the similarities and differences between the two images.
This sort of imagist style is similar to Will Wright’s works. In The Sims (my comparison, not Bogost’s), you can’t understand what your Sims are saying or necessarily why they do what they do, but you mentally volunteer your own opinions and motivations, making the work more personally meaningful.
Braid works in a similar way: Jon Blow sets up a vague metaphorical framework, and it’s up to the player to try to connect the ideas of forgiveness and do-overs in thttp://dt9.destructoid.com/elephant/adminrap3/posts.phtml?me=1&post_gp_mode=edit&post_key=166716&msgs[]=Changes+to+post+savedheir own unique ways. This sort of design doesn’t “get out of the player’s way” in the way designers like Clint Hocking encourages: the designer is constantly present in this sort of experience, creating a machine and inspiring the player to consider “what it means that the gears mesh.” When you play these sorts of games, you’re invited to come away with a unique conclusion about yourself and your part in the experience.
Margaret Robinson (game designer, consultant)
Briefly pimping out her new audio-only iPhone game Papa Sangre, Robinson asked the audience how she should price it. By a show of hands, Robinson noted (I wasn’t looking at the audience, so I can’t verify this) that most of the people on the left side of the auditorium supported lower price points, and the people on the right side of the auditorium supported higher ones.
At this point, Robinson revealed that she’d tricked the audience, and had expected this outcome. Before the talk, Robinson had placed fliers for the game on every chair. The fliers on the left side of the auditorium said the game was coming out on April 4th, while the fliers on the right side claimed the game was coming out on June 28th. Those who saw a high number were subconsciously primed to gravitate toward higher numbers, Pinckard said, while those who saw a low number thought the game should be priced lower.
(I call bullshit — I was sitting on the right side of the auditorium, and I was fine with a $5.99 price point because iPhone games are too goddamn cheap in general. But maybe that’s part of the hypnotism or something.)
This is what Robinson does as a consultant — through “behavioral economics,” Robinson argued that there are methods of understanding players that go beyond simple, mathematical analysis like what regular economists deal in. If there’s more to the player’s motivations than what we initially see, Robinson argued, then perhaps it’d be worth further exploring those motivations and acknowledging them in our game designs. Robinson suggested it might be worth worrying about, in addition to a traditional difficulty curve, a “curiosity curve.”
Sam Roberts (director of Indiecade)
Before getting into games, Roberts adapted works of fiction for the stage. As a fan of Bertolt Brecht, Roberts discussed the way Brecht focused on setting up the identity of the speaker in order to give the audience a more informed perspective from which to consider the work. Hunter S. Thompson did the same thing: when you read Fear and Loathing you’re not just reading some guy’s opinion on America, you’re reading a drug-addicted, gun-loving libertarian’s take on America.
Similarly, George Carlin has a bit on football and baseball that points out the vocabulary each sport uses directly informs the way each game is played. Football has the blitz. Baseball has the sacrifice. These placards give the viewer a clearer understanding of the nature of each sport.
Videogames do the same thing: Grand Theft Auto’s vocabulary concerns shooting people while Harvest Mooni’s concerns farming, even though both games are essentially about the player’s status in a community.
In Grand Theft Auto, you can only steal vehicles: if you instead commandeer them, then the game suddenly becomes about a cop rather than a thief.
Games’ basic pattern of inputs and outputs isn’t dialogue in and of itself: the interaction comes between “the meeting of a game’s expectations and the player’s desires.” When Roberts played Ultima III, he spent hours trying to kill a friendly NPC just for fun. To him, the game became a unique experience, a unique dialogue about power and trust and, ultimately, failure.
Roberts ended his talk by arguing that most player/game dialogues are very limited, with poorly thought out placards that don’t say much about the “active metaphor” of the game. “Say something with your games,” Roberts encouraged.
Jesse Schell (professor, CEO of Schell Games)
As mentioned in an earlier news post, Schell effectively took his DICE talk, removed all the optimism, and tackled the question of what designers can do right now to combat the impending gameification of modern life.
Schell emphasized that the “gamepocalypse” is definitely coming. Moore’s law shows that tech will soon be cheap enough that you’ll see electronic games on soda cans, and nobody’s going to stand up against it. Nobody stood up and revolted when the number of commericals in relation to real TV content jumped from 13% to 36%. Nobody revolted when TV stations started permanently keeping their logos in the bottom-right corner of the screen, burning the image into your brain. Nobody revolted when Shea Stadium became Citibank Stadium. Even if you did, Schell said, “it didn’t do a damn bit of good!”
“Corporations are gonna be creating customized games to fit every activity, every day,” Schell said. And with that impending change, designers have to decide what part of that fight they want to be on. Are you a designer who just wants to make money at all costs, or are you interested in fulfilling your audience, or making social change, or creating art? The romantics can win out against those designers who want only money, but only if the romantics “wake the hell up,” in Schell’s words.
The war is already here, Schell warned, and if you don’t decide what side of it you’re on, someone else will decide for you.
Suzanne Seggerman (co-founder, Games for Change)
After describing games as a meaningful part of our culture, “potentially the most important of the 21st century,” Seggerman urged the designers in the room to create relevant, honest, realistic games. Games have the ability to tackle real-world issues, which is exactly what Games for Change is all about.
Seggerman pointed out the enduring genius of Bob Dylan, who rose to fame not because of his awful singing voice or talent with a guitar, but because of his honest desire to express a view of the world around him. Impactful, relevant media doesn’t have to preach, Seggerman argued: MASH is one of the most-watched TV shows of all time, and it was also an insightful critique of the Vietnam War.
“Let’s make games with realism and relevance,” Seggerman said. “…do you wanna spend the next few years working on a me-too shooter” when you could isntead be making personal, relevant art that might stand the test of time?
The PAX East Two Worlds II contest saga comes to an end. For the better part of February, we asked you to submit a video telling us why we should pick you to go to PAX East. The winner would receive an all expenses paid trip to Boston, thanks to TopWare and Two Worlds II.
A panel of judges was assembled to watch the videos from the five finalists and we’ve finally come to a conclusion on who the grand prize winner is. And the winner is … right after the jump!
Congratulations, Funktastic! You’ve won the all expenses paid trip to PAX East this month. Along with the trip, you’ll be receiving a behind-closed-doors preview of Two Worlds II and a chance to interview the team working on the game! Look for his upcoming coverage on Destructoid soon. (Editor’s: We’re going to work you like an animal. Also, where’s my coffee and green M&M’s?!!)
We’d also like to thank everyone that participated, with special thanks to Sentry, Scary Hair Studios, Duncor, and Garison. Be sure to check out our PlayStation 3 and God of War III contest that’s still going on for more chances to win free stuff from Destructoid!
I got to take an early peek at Gameloft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction on the iPhone here at GDC. It’s still early, but I was able to see several locales and game play elements, and I feel like it’s already shaping up to be worthy of the name, and a good portable companion to the full-blown console title.
Speaking of the console version, the cutscenes, music and voice work were pulled from it and plugged right into the iPhone game. You’ll also find that some of the console game’s concepts and artistic direction have also been brought to this portable version. The in-game directive that shows on surfaces like walls and floors is also present in the iPhone title. Most importantly, there’s more of the stealth game play you’d expect from something called Splinter Cell.
I took a tour of Malta Market, sneaking around the pier area, quietly nabbing enemies from behind in the dark. It was here that I got to see how the Mark and Execute feature works: by quietly marking unsuspecting victims, you can take multiple targets out with a silenced weapon from a safe place. Later I saw Irak, a dusty battleground with lots of places to take cover. This stage was a bit more action-heavy, but gave more options to use missile launchers and grenades. Too bad those up-top snipers were hindering some of that. One of the best looking sections involved an infiltration into a building, and a marked change of pace. This area is where I got to do some very Splinter Cell-ish things: popping lights, disabling communication antenna, snapping necks.
The control focuses on a virtual d-pad, which seemed to work well. Touching and dragging anywhere on the screen moves the camera. There’s a couple of action buttons that change according to the situation, and two sliding menu spots in the upper right hand corner of the screen change weapons with a flick. You’ll be able to pick from a pistol, suppress pistol, shotgun, submachine gun and rifle. You’ll also play with toys like thermal goggles and radar, though I didn’t see any of these in action.
It’s really early (not even in beta yet), but this game looks to be shaping up already. There’s 10 levels in all, set in five different environments. We were told to expect about five hours of game play when it’s all said and done. The game follows the same story line as the console game, giving you a miniature taste of stealth action. Being early, there’s no set release date or price, but I’m sure we’ll hear more on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction for iPhone very soon.
As if we really needed the confirmation, Gene Simmons has announced that the next chapter in its mercilessly raped music game series, Guitar Hero 6. Yep, that’s right, it’ll be starring everybody’s favorite Kiss frontman and part-time lizard.
Simmons made the announcement on ITN, a news program in the UK. He declared he was going to be “the voice of Guitar Hero 6” during an interview. Evil publisher Activision is yet to make an official announcement, but you don’t get much more authoritative than Gene Simmons.
So there you have it. Guitar Hero 6. Likely one of fifteen Hero games we’ll be getting this year!
The friendly folks at Gas Powered Games were nice enough to give us some free things and we want to pass them on to you. In our possession we have two autographed Supreme Commander posters. I won’t lie to you; if you’re a Supreme Commander fan then these posters are cool enough to warrant drooling over in the first place, but when they’re signed by the development team at Gas Powered Games they’re even more drool worthy. Seriously, look at them. They’re frickin’ sweet even if you have no idea what Supreme Commander is at all.
What do you have to do for these two pieces of badassness? Well, Supreme Commander is all about the crazy vehicles (what they call Experimentals) so we want you to come up with your most “experimental” vehicle possible. It’s up to you to really decide what that means and how you want to present it to us (text, video, picture). The winner gets both posters, and because we’re feeling nice, a limited edition copy of Demigod to boot.
Contest starts now and will end on Sunday at 11:59PM CST. Open to US residents only. Get your vehicles rolling.
While Europe got its furry little EyePet last year (and we even reviewed it), the North American version was hit with a delay just prior to its fall release. When I noticed that retailers were listing the PlayStation 3 virtual pet title for an extremely late 2010 release, I knew what was up — Sony was working to adapt the game for its motion controller.
At GDC this year, Sony revealed the PlayStation Move, and sure enough, EyePet was among the titles to support the new controller. I sat down with the game’s lead, Nic Doucet, to check out some of the game’s new features, which SCE London is working hard to implement before the game’s North American “re-launch” this fall.
Hit the jump to find out how you’ll use the move to interact with you pet, including making sure he’s the cleanest little dude with the shiniest coat of fur in gaming.
The EyePet concept is simple — a virtual pet game that uses the PlayStation Eye camera to put an adorable creature in a player’s living room. The game has players pointing the camera at the ground or a table, the on-screen pet running around and reacting to camera movements, such as chasing hands or string teased by the player.
The game shipped with a card which the player could hold in their hands, the camera converting the card to in-game items that the pet could interact with — a bubble machine, a trampoline, and more. It was a neat system that showcased the augmented reality capabilities of the EyeToy, but there was room for improvement.
“The card was cool, but it had its limitations,” Doucet explains. “Whenever it wasn’t facing, it would stop working. Especially for an audience that really didn’t understand technology, they could get frustrated. With PlayStation Move all that goes away because it’s just tracking its movement.”
That’s where the PlayStation Move comes in. Sony London is working hard to adapt the in-game tools to work with the motion controller, which can track movement not only more accurately, but in a 3D space. The first example we were shown was the new version of the game’s bubble maker, a handheld machine that when waved through the air would produce bubbles that the EyePet would playfully interact with. On-screen, the Move in the player’s hand is turned into the machine, which can be move, twisted, and turned to see from all angles.
Next, we were able to give the pet a shower. In this case, the Move is turned into a shower head, a shampoo dispenser, and finally a blow dryer. The one-to-one motion of the Move made this easy (and kind of fun, actually) to do; it responded rather quickly to subtle twists and turns of the wrist. Using the shower head, steam would fog up the screen, and you could use your hand to “wipe” away the fog.
Between Dale North and I, the pet was cleaned at least four times, in order test the accuracy of the motion controls. By the time we were done, our little dude had a slick, shiny coat of fur, which Doucet pointed out uses similar tech to that used to bring Sully’s fur to life in Monster’s Inc.
With months to go before the game launches in North America, Doucet and his team are still working on converting some of the game’s toys for use with the PlayStation Move controller. He says they’re about “a quarter to a third” done with the conversion, but are fortunate enough to take their time, as the core game is already done. The team is going through five or six designs for each toy, taking its time to “use it properly.”
“It’s going to be a showcase,” he says. “It’s going to make sense.”
[Note: It appears the screenshots provided by Sony aren't actually representative of any of the new Move content; the shower image above is one example -- it still clearly displays the old "card" object. The newest version features an actual shower head.]
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